praise the Lord we thank God that

we have freedom in this country to

meet together and

preach his word

we must never take that for granted

our dear brothers and sisters in some

countries

are not able to meet so freely like this

I every week I

received

an email to

that gives information about the latest

state of

persecution in different countries and

it’s very very challenging

it makes me deeply grateful that we

still have freedom

in this land to meet

and we praise the Lord for that freedom

we pray that doors will continue to

remain open

for the preaching of the Gospel

so today

we want to continue our series on the

marks of true faith

you remember the last two Sundays we

talked about

two of them

one was

a good conscience

one mark of a true person who is true

faith is that he always keeps a good

conscience

victory over sin may take time to come

but he’s quick to confess a Christian is

not one who never Falls

but one who gets up when he falls

and is quick to acknowledge his mistake

to God

and what is more difficult to man as

well

a person who’s got faith will do that if

you don’t do that there’s something

lacking in your faith

if you

don’t keep a good conscience before God

and man the Bible says you make

shipwreck of your faith

there’s a lot of counterfeit faith in

the world

true faith is that which is found in the

scriptures

and when a person has that he’s quick to

acknowledge his mistake he doesn’t try

to cover it up like Adam

so which means that if you find it

difficult to apologize to your wife you

need to seek God for Faith you don’t

have the real Faith a person whose real

faith has got no problem apologizing

even to a child

and that is where I believe a lot of

Christians deceive themselves with their

God faith 1 Timothy 1 is very clear

verse 19 if a person does not keep a

good conscience he makes shipwreck of

his faith and I believe a lot of

Christians have made shipwreck of their

faith the second thing we saw was

Faith brings The Obedience of Faith

which is different from The Obedience in

the Old Testament

Disobedience that comes out of trusting

that God

is

God every God every command of God is

for our good

and we obey him

now today I want to speak

on faith one Mark of Faith is

total dependence upon God

when I say I have faith in God it means

I’m totally dependent on God not

partially dependent on God and more

dependent on myself

or somewhat dependent on God and on

myself I mean take this matter of

forgiveness of sins first of all

because that’ll make it very clear

do you think a person’s sins are

forgiven who believes

that

they are partially forgiven because

Jesus died on the cross

and partially forgiven because he’s also

done a lot of good things

how many of you believe that

isn’t it a total dependence on

Christ Alone

his work on the cross

is the only basis on which our sins can

be forgiven that’s what I mean by total

dependence with zero works of mine

now in the same way

the rest of our Christian Life the Bible

says that righteous will live by faith

now many of us start the Christian Life

right

but we don’t continue along the right

way

we start by recognizing that our

forgiveness is entirely dependent on

Christ’s death on the cross

but we don’t believe that the rest of

our Christian Life we need to entirely

depend on the power of the Holy Spirit

to live

the way God wants us to live

and that’s why Christians live a

substandard life most of the Christians

I’d say more than 95 percent of

Believers I have met

live far far below the standard God

wants them to live and they are quite

content with it

I mean it’s something like you’re being

content that your child child is failing

in second standard

for 25 years

it’s amazing none of you you’ll be

terribly Disturbed if your child is 27

years old and sitting in second standard

why are we not Disturbed

when we’re not making progress and we

try to find out the reason

if you find your child is weak and

Mathematics you send him for special

classes for tuition in mathematics so

that he can pass and move on for the

third standard we need to find out what

is the reason why we never seem to

progress in our personal life or in our

family life or in our ministry or in

Effectiveness a lot of preachers in the

world never seem to seek God why there

is not a greater anointing upon their

Ministry they seem to be content with

the level they

their level of anointing they had 20

years ago when they preached God’s word

it’s pathetic and some of them are sink

even lower

there is a reason

the reason is a lack of total dependence

upon God exactly like we would tell

a person who’s not really born again

with the trouble with you your sins are

not forgiven because you don’t trust

fully in Christ you’re trusting

partially in him and partially you think

that all your sacrifices and pilgrimages

will add to that and somehow forgive

your sins and then you’ll never be

forgiven

we understand that clearly but that’s

the same answer I’d give to a lot of

believers who are perpetually defeated

or why there’s a greater not and not a

greater anointing an Effectiveness in

your life do you know that all of us are

supposed to have a Ministry in the body

of Christ not preaching not standing in

the pulpit

but every single member of the body of

Christ has to have some Ministry

there is no part not even the nails no

part of this human body that God made

without a function

every single part has a function

but every single part down to the Little

Nail functions

because it is 100

dependent on the head

on the brain

you remove the brain and nothing in your

body can function

it’s dependent on the brain you can cut

off your left hand the rest of your body

will function you cut off your legs the

by your many parts of your body will

function but you cut off your brain

that’s the end

so it’s total dependence why is it for

example Believers can’t work together

why is it husband and wife can’t get

along with each other

how many Believers seem to accept it as

normal

that my wife and I will fight every day

or at least once a month that’s normal

how many Believers accept that as normal

that is not the will of God that’s the

will of the devil and if you are living

like that you are accepting the will of

the devil in your life

now you say what can I do my partner is

like that let your partner be like that

why should you be like that

you can’t make a noise without both

hands cooperating to clap if one hand

refuses there’s no sound

there will be no fight that one person

and one partner refuses to fight

they say it’s not only in home it’s in

the church in the office or in you see

how people fight in the buses and trains

and on the roads and everywhere there

cannot be a fight if one person refuses

to fight

the reason for all this is how is it on

the other hand in our human body every

part cooperates so well have you ever

tried doing things with two hands

together so easy

you don’t find one hand refusing to

cooperate unless it’s paralyzed

paralyzed means it’s not listening to

the head it’s not connected to the head

it’s not dependent on the head anymore

that’s the reason not only for failure

in our individual life but also the

reason why we can’t get along with each

other

is because of a lack of total dependence

upon God

so the one mark of true faith is total

dependence upon God

let me repeat just like we totally

depend on Christ’s sacrifice on the

cross for the Forgiveness of our sins

plus zero

plus zero

so you say brother Zach does that mean

that I have to do nothing for victory

over sin let me ask you did you do

nothing

to get forgiveness of sins

you didn’t do anything to earn it

but you certainly had to repent and say

and to come to the Lord and say Lord I

believe and I receive you didn’t you

have to do that

I people didn’t have to do anything then

the whole world would be saved and yet

only one percent or less of the world is

saved why is that

the work is entirely what Christ has

done he said he’s finished you can’t add

to it

faith is to depend on that

is to receive what God is giving

I don’t have to produce anything but I

have to receive if you don’t receive

you don’t get the benefit

forgiveness of sins is offered if I

don’t receive it I don’t get the

Forgiveness of sins the power of the

holy spirit is offered if I don’t

receive it and I think I can manage on

my own I won’t get it

so if you go back to the beginning of

the Bible in Genesis chapter 3

many people have a question why did God

punish Adam and Eve for such a small

little thing

like

eating a fruit from a tree

I mean supposing you told your little

child

don’t

open the fridge

and take any of that food inside

till I come back

when you have come back you find your

little child has opened the fridge eaten

up some of the

sweets or something you kept there

what do you do

you send the child out of your house and

say I never want to see you again

I mean

even a cruel father and mother wouldn’t

do that

you say why did God send Adam and Eve

just for eating a fruit from a tree

yeah there’s more to it than that

you see the tree was not just a mango

tree or an orange tree God wouldn’t have

minded if it was that

those two trees symbolize something

there is no tree in the world today

called the tree of knowledge of Good and

Evil

there is no tree in the world today

where which is called the Tree of Life

which God said if they eat if they live

forever

it’s obvious there was more to it than

just a tree

so let me explain to you

these two trees

symbolize two ways man could live

let’s take the knowledge of Good and

Evil

Adam was created

without the knowledge of Good and Evil

he didn’t have it

and

he could have it

in two ways

one was by

going to God

being dependent on God to say God show

me what is good and evil

because I could be wrong

and the other is where you get

information stored in yourself

and I decide from then on on my own what

is good and evil that was the choice of

these two trees

the knowledge of Good and Evil the devil

says let me expand on what the devil is

saying

Adam take this into yourself

and you will be like God

isn’t that what he said Genesis 3

let me say see what he said to Eve

the mom

um

God verse five Genesis 3 5.

when you eat this tree

your eyes will be opened

and you will be like God

in other words

you will not be dependent on God anymore

you will know good and evil yourself did

you get it

you missed that verse right that is

what

the Temptation was to be like God so

that we don’t have to depend on God to

know good and evil we can no good and

evil ourselves

that’s what Adam was he was tempted

and

she said hey that’s great I don’t have

to keep going to God every time in

future to know what’s good and evil I

can have that thing resident in myself

it’s like a battery that’s all charged

up I don’t have to plug in to the socket

anymore

everything in myself I don’t need God

anymore I can live on my own

and

what happened she died

so the lesson there is if you depend

upon yourself

we are gonna die

if you depend upon God you will live the

other tree was the Tree of Life where

you

depend on God where every time you go to

God God go to God and ask him

please tell me what is right what is

wrong tell me what’s right now what

shall I do here what shall I do there

now that’s not the way we want to live

right

now let me show you in the New Testament

how Jesus explained that

in John’s gospel chapter 15.

I believe this is one of the clearest

definitions of faith in the New

Testament

John 15 and verse

five

I’m the mind and you’re the branches

he who abides in me and I in him

he has fruit for apart from me you can

do nothing

you see that how does a branch depend

upon the tree

it’s helpless

he doesn’t say to the tree

I’ll produce some of the fruit myself

and you produce most of it okay you

produce 99 of it I’ll produce one person

on my own the branch can produce zero

without the dream

this is one of the most beautiful

pictures of faith in the New Testament

total dependence

without me

you can do zero

I believe this needs to sink into our

mind if you want to understand Faith try

and understand this without me you can

do zero

do you really believe that you can do

zero

without Christ I mean of Eternal value

in terms of the world you can accomplish

a lot

without Christ look at all the Godless

unbelievers and atheists who

accomplish so many things in the world

without Christ a great scientists great

athletes and great everything

but in terms of Eternal value it’s going

to be zero

do you know that everything you have

done in your life everything you’ve done

in your life

apart from dependence on Christ you’ll

find when you get into eternity is wiped

out there’s nothing left of it

and you may have even a lot of things

which you think are Christian things

with zero

it’s good to realize that at least now

the righteous will live by faith

lived by faith means Live In Perpetual

dependence upon God

you see that requires a lot of humility

that’s why faith and humility are very

closely linked

Pride

and goes with unbelief

I don’t know whether you see that

connection it’s important to see it

let me show you this great verse in

habakkuk

you know this is the verse that’s quoted

three times in the New Testament

um hardly any verses that are coded

three times in the New Testament the

righteous will live by faith

how about cooked and chapter 2

and verse 4.

notice here what it says the proud

person

his soul is not right in him

so what is the opposite of proud

humble but the humble person

but that’s not what it says

it’s not contrasting the proud person

with a humble person

is contrasting a proud person with a

person who’s got faith

you see the difference

the opposite of pride in this verse is

faith

the proud

the soul is not right

but the one who lives by faith

he’ll be righteous

so there you see the connection between

faith and humility so clearly

back there in the

Old Testament

and that’s quoted three times in the New

Testament to show us

that the the true faith is always goes

with humility

and what what does humility mean

humility doesn’t mean you know hanging

our head down and walking in a

stooping way or wearing simple clothes

or

living very simple simply or riding a

bicycle or

you know saying I’m good for nothing I’m

useless I’m nobody

you know the greatest example of

humility was Jesus Christ

and he always walked with his head held

upright

and he never hung his head down in shame

and or and he never walked around with

dirty ragged clothes and he never gave

people the impression that he’s very

poor and he never that’s all nonsense

there are a lot of poor people are the

most proudest the proudest people I met

on Earth

and there’s some rich people have men

who are very humble he’s got nothing to

do with wealth

it’s got to do with something else

Jesus was not the poorest person in

Israel there were a lot of beggars in

all on the street and they were much

poorer than him

but Jesus was the humblest

and Jesus was not humility was not

manifested in saying oh I’m useless I’m

good for nothing he never said that not

even once

so don’t these wrong understandings of

humility

have made a lot of Christians act humble

and acting humble is worse than anything

real humility if you want to know

whether you’re humble here’s the test

are you totally dependent upon God for

everything

then

you’re humble if you’re not even if the

whole world thinks you’re humble you’re

just a plain old hypocrite

getting a reputation for humility which

you don’t deserve

and the proof of that is God doesn’t

give you Grace to overcome sin God gives

Grace to every humble person why didn’t

he give it to you because even though

the world thought you were humble God

didn’t think so ultimately it’s only

God’s opinion that matters for myself

I’ve discovered one thing some years ago

in my life that there’s only one person

who knows whether I’m humble and that’s

not me it’s not you it’s God

he alone I can fool myself and I can

fool you but I can’t fool God

and the proof

that God believes I’m humble is that he

gives me Grace

because he gives Grace to every humble

person

and if he gives me Grace the Bible says

sin cannot rule over you when you’re

under grace

that’s the proof

that I’ve got Grace

so I remember times in my life where I

fell for me I lost my temper a little

bit or had a bitter thought against

someone

for some time and I woke up and I said

Lord

why did I fall

why is that bitter thought come into my

mind why did I speak that rude word

I don’t want to know

why because I know it’s because I didn’t

get Grace

if I had Grace I would never have had

one bit of thought

person who’s getting Grace never has a

single lustful thought a person who’s

getting Grace never gets angry

he could say his anger about the glory

of God but never concerning himself

he doesn’t get impatient

when these things happen just honestly

acknowledge you are not getting Grace

I’ve learned to say that

and then so I say Lord I know I didn’t

get Grace there that’s why I slipped up

why didn’t I get Grace please show me

where I was proud and then the Lord

shows me somewhere in the last week some

situation where I thought too much of

myself ah

thank you Lord

I can cleanse myself from that

filthiness of the spirit filthiness of

the flesh is easy to cleanse ourselves

from but filthiness of the spirit

so that next time

I can go down a little bit and

be a little more empty of myself

so that I can depend completely on God

so dear brothers and sisters remember

this the mark of true faith is not that

your sicknesses get healed

the mark of true faith is that you

overcome sin which is a billion times

worse than any sickness

and if you don’t overcome sin

you don’t have Grace and if you don’t

get Grace it’s because you’re not humble

that proves you don’t have faith because

I just showed you from habakkuk the

opposite of faith is pride

so we need to understand that

humility is not all these external

giving people Impressions it’s in my

private life I’m totally dependent upon

God

I’m just completely open you know like

the branch is completely open to the

tree to let all the sap come in no

resistance at all no constricting of the

channel through which the sap comes in

completely open

and it bears fruit effortlessly you go

to a branch that’s producing so much

fruit

boy how do you manage to get so much

fruit when I see that other Branch

completely dry

the branch will say I don’t do anything

I just stopped giving any resistance to

the tree when it tries to put sap into

me that’s all

do you know the Christian Life is

supposed to be that simple

it’s when we think that it’s by our

effort that we’re going to serve God and

do something for God that we’re mistaken

so the choice that Adam and Eve had in

the Garden of Eden was

either I live with all the knowledge of

Good and Evil Within Myself like God has

like the devil told see the devil didn’t

tell Eve you will be like God with

Almighty power and great uh strength and

all that and you’ll be able to run the

universe no no no no he said you’ll be

like God in one area

I mean if if the devil had told you

you’re going to be like God and fill the

universe

said you’re a liar

but when he told her there’s one aspect

of God’s nature that you’ll get

you’ll be able to no good and evil on

your own you won’t need God’s help after

that

he fell for it and a lot of Christians

fall for it today

the other tree the Tree of Life

symbolized a life of total dependence on

God where I’m dependent on God for

knowing what is good and he

now

today the equivalent of that is to be

filled with the Holy Spirit

when I’m filled with the Holy Spirit the

Holy Spirit from within tells me

that’s wrong

that’s evil

a television program that looks quite

innocent to most

uh human beings the holy spirit will

tell you as a Christian not for you

it’s evil for you

I turn it off I don’t watch it

a Christian TV program

which a lot of dumb blind ignorant

Christians even Believers sit with their

mouths open and watch and watch and

watch and watch the holy spirit says to

a spiritual Christian

that’s not for you

if you keep on listening to that you’ll

get brainwashed

into having the wrong type of faith

you’ll get brainwashed into loving money

more than God

you’ll get brainwashed into thinking

that healing is more important than

victory over sin

turn it off

but

most Christians say no there’s nothing

wrong in it

I know it’s okay they are living by the

tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and

that’s why there’s so much of death in

their life

whereas a spiritual Christian for the

proof of death is this one example they

they get depressed they have bad moods

why is that because they don’t listen to

the holy spirit in these little

promptings but you look at this other

spiritual spiritual Christian who

listens to the Holy Spirit even when he

prompts him not to watch a Christian TV

program

he’s the joy of the Lord 24 hours a day

seven days a week how is that

do you have brothers and sisters the

knowledge of Good and Evil

is not a simple thing like avoiding

adultery and murder which you don’t need

the Holy Spirit to tell you that even

worldly people have got that type of

knowledge of Good and Evil it’s talking

about a much more sensitive it’s like a

weighing machine that registers

milligrams not grams or kilograms but

milligrams and decimals of milligrams

because the Holy Spirit tells you this

is good that’s evil what a wonderful way

to live

I mean think of the

uh strictness with with which in a good

Hospital the doctors will scrub their

hands in the surgery in the operating

theater to make sure that all the germs

are gone and after they’ve done that

they put on sterilized gloves on top of

that can you imagine

how careful they are would you like to

go to such a hospital

or would you like to go to a hospital

where a doctor just puts his hand inside

your stomach and pulls out things and

all that I don’t want to go to hospital

like that

we’re so careful with our body

but something a million times more

important than our body our soul in our

spirit we’re so careless you know why

the devil has blinded us about the

knowledge of Good and Evil we have

inherited this poison that

our forefather Adam and Eve parents

took into them it just come down to us I

know good and evil myself

why do I need to go to God for example

why don’t people read study the Bible

more carefully

why is it tell me honestly

do you know that there’s only one book

in the whole world written by God

all of you would agree there

but that’s the one book you read the

least

you read the newspaper more than you

read the Bible

you read other novels

you watch movies more than you read the

Bible

you know why

because you think

you can know good and evil without

studying this book

no wonder your spiritual life is in the

level it is it’ll be like that even for

the next 50 years if you live I

guarantee it won’t change it’ll probably

get worse

because this poison of

which Adam took in I don’t need God I am

clever I know what is good and what is

evil you think so

but look at the result

look at the bad moods you get into look

at the loss of temper you get into

look at the selfishness and the

miserliness there is in your life a

miser is a man who doesn’t know God

look at the stinginess with which you

are with you which you treat money when

it comes to giving to God and blessing

God’s word and the lavishness with which

you live spending it on yourself that is

the proof that you don’t know what is

good and evil

oh

dear brothers and sisters

knowledge of Good and Evil is not just

knowing the Ten Commandments

it’s a lot more than that

this is what it means to live totally

dependent on God

see now for example

the story of Abraham

in um

Romans chapter 4 we are told about

Abraham’s

getting a child

as a Mark of Faith you know Romans 4 is

the great chapter

on justification by faith and he is

trying to prove that

justification that is being declared

righteous before God Is by faith

and not by words in other words in total

dependence upon God

and it says here that God told Abraham

that he was going to be the father verse

17 Romans 4 17.

um it says those of our first of all

verse 16 the last part those of us who

are of the faith of Abraham who is the

father of us all

he’s not writing to the Israelites there

who for whom Abraham was a physical

father he’s writing to the Romans

who were not Jewish people Gentiles like

you and me and you see Abraham is the

father of us all spiritually speaking he

was an example to us of what faith

really is

and he says we are we are of the faith

of Abraham

that’s the closest to the faith of Jesus

Christ

and as it is written a father of many

nations I made you in the presence of

God

who gives life to the dead and calls

into being that which does not exist

so he believed it says in verse 18 in

hope against hope he believed that he

would become the father of many nations

in verse 19 without becoming Faith weak

in faith

look at what he contemplated he looked

at his own body

as good as dead verse 19.

because he was 100 years old he looked

at Sarah’s womb dead so you’ve been

married so many years no children

okay so what did he do you’re going to

see very carefully what faith is here

it’s a beautiful expression of faith we

saw it in first example in Adam and Eve

you know

trying to know good and evil without

God’s help without the witness of the

Holy Spirit ourselves deciding what is

good and evil that’s a mark of a man

without faith here’s another example of

faith

when God gave a promise

first of all he looked at his own body

NoHo

of having a child he looked at Sarah’s

womb no hope of having a child and third

it says in verse he looked in verse 20

he had the promise of God

ah

and he said that’s great it doesn’t

matter now whether I’m 100 years old or

Sarah’s womb is Baron makes no

difference God he said I’m gonna have a

child normally I’m gonna hurt a child

through that child Nations will be born

and he grew strong in faith verse 20

giving glory to God because he looked at

the promise of God and not at his own

body

or his own abilities

that is Faith where I don’t depend on my

own abilities but I look at the promise

of God and I depend on that God is going

to do what is it saying he was verse 21

here’s Faith one definition of faith

being fully assured

that what God has promised

he’s able to do

what a man has promised he’s able to do

may not work because the man May

sincerely be willing to help you but

he can fail

you know a surgeon may say I’ll do a

good job and cure you of this cancer he

may not succeed even though he really

wants to help you but when God says

something there’s no chance of failure

zero

so he looked at the promise of God

and he was absolutely convinced what God

had promised he is able to do therefore

God said Abraham you’re righteous

why was he declared righteous just

because he said

what you said you’ll do you I believe

you can do

and that faith that was credited to this

righteousness was credited not only to

him but for our sake as well

so you see there a definition of faith

now let’s look at Abraham’s development

God told him

in Genesis 12 when he was 75 years old

we read that God told him you’re going

to be a blessing to all the nations

and he had no children

and after a while when he was about 86

years old or 85 or so

he decided he had waited 10 years

for the Fulfillment of that promise

and nothing happened

Sarah was still not having any children

so he decided to help God out a little

bit

you know how

a lot of preachers today also try to

help God a little bit

like saying

uh Lord I said the other day you know

God is going through a tough time right

now because of financial difficulties up

there in heaven

and uh you know it’s a recession time in

heaven and business is bad so all of you

people must help God out and give him

some money for his work

God’s work he will bless you in this

time of recession

God is going through a recession and if

he will help he will bless you if you

will help his work in this time of

recession

it’s not a New Concept Abraham thought

of it first

God is having a tough time

trying to produce a child through Sarah

I’m capable

I am not impotent I can have a child but

Sarah God’s having a tough time let me

help God a little bit

I’ll take Sarah’s servant woman

we’ll have a child

and they did

the preacher does succeed in collecting

a million dollars

he succeeds just like Abraham succeeded

in getting Ishmael with all those

tactics and clever words

they make people

uh

collect money I heard a joke the other

day about

a man who has wanted to collect a lot of

money from people in his church you know

he wanted to say

who all will

pay uh it’s in America somewhere usually

things like this happen there

how many of you will give a hundred

dollars stand up

each

and there was a new pianist that day

he said can you play some really moving

Melody of the piano

so while I’m giving this invitation for

people to give a hundred dollars each

Mr smart

so when the preacher was giving this

invitation

who all will give a hundred dollar stand

up he played the national anthem foreign

and of course now these guys that stood

up they had to keep their word and the

piano is not the job also

these clever tricks well Abraham also

had a clever trick up his sleeve

to

help God out

he said I’ll help God and he got Ishmael

and he took Ishmael and said you know

these words are in the Old Testament oh

that Ishmael might live before you and

God said rubbish set him away

you’ll never see him for the rest of

your life

and you take that work

that you do for God with all these

carnal tactics and say oh God bless it

and God says

throw it in the Dustbin it’s rubbish

what is work for you Lord but it was not

done Independence upon me it was done

with all your clever tactics and your

own human methods

manipulating people with psychological

tricks

a lot of Christian work today is wood

hay and straw that will be burnt up

in the day of judgment

because it’s not not because it’s not

good work it’s not the thing is what was

wrong with Ishmael years were okay his

eyes everything everything is okay what

is wrong with him he’s a healthy child

he was not born Independence upon God

that’s all

that’s all

what’s wrong with that work you’re doing

it’s not done Independence on God that’s

all

God won’t accept it

however healthy Ishmael may be you need

to understand this and so God said send

him away and you’ll never see him for

the rest of your life Abraham

how sad do you think Abraham felt very

happy that day

do you think you’re going to be happy

when all your work gets burnt up at the

Judgment seat of Christ and say God says

it is all nonsense it is not done

Independence on me it is done with the

spirit of Adam and Eve

Spirit of the tree of knowledge good and

evil I know what to do I know how to do

God’s work and I can do this and I can

do that

so

God had to wait we read another 13 14

years

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed this

very interesting Passage

how should we read the Bible

slowly

turn to Genesis

and

if I think it’s chapter

seven

no 16.

the last verse of chapter 16.

the last verse Genesis 16 last verse

Abraham was 86 years old

when Hagar

bore Ishmael

got it

now don’t stop these chapter divisions

were made by men so don’t stop at a

chapter division just move on

Abraham was 99 years old when the Lord

appeared to him what happened in these

13 years

next verses Abraham was 99 did it ever

strike you till today

that suddenly 13 years is absent

what was God waiting for

he was waiting for Abraham to become

important

[Music]

unable to produce a child

says Abraham you’re smart right you

think you can produce a child

without Sarah fine but I’ll make it such

that even you can’t produce each other

even if you want to

takes 13 years okay let’s wait 13 years

takes time for a fellow to become

important okay let’s wait

he waits

and now Abraham even if he wants to have

a child he cannot have through Hagar or

through anybody else

God says no

says no I’ll give you the child of

Promise through whom Jesus Will Come

and the next year

Sarah becomes pregnant

Ishmael is born Isaac is born when

Sarah is 100 years old

that’s the meaning of those 13 Missing

Years

you know what God is waiting for in your

life brother sister

long silent years

God saying nothing

doing nothing

and you wonder why

he’s just waiting for you to be

important spiritual

for Abraham it was sexual impotence for

you it is spiritual impotence

where you come to say Lord

I cannot do anything

without you

that’s why I need to pray

that’s why I need to be dependent on you

for everything

that’s why I need to pray about everyone

people who are spiritually who think

they can do so many things they don’t

pray I need to pray I can do a lot of

things on my own

prayer is also has weak fellas

I’m okay

look at the result of your life

faith is total dependence upon God in

helplessness like a branch in a tree

for knowing Good and Evil

or for producing

fruit like Abraham

in Adam’s case it was to no good in you

that’s where you got to begin Lord even

to know what is good and what is evil in

this world

I need the revelation of the Holy Spirit

otherwise I’ll be deceived I want to be

dependent on God it’s it’s a gift which

the New Testament calls discernment

you know what discernment is

this spiritual discernment is the Tree

of Life dependence on the Holy Spirit

showing me what’s right and wrong

let me show you 1 John chapter 2.

1 John chapter 2.

and verse 27

verse 26 first and 27.

these things I have written to you

concerning those who are trying to

deceive you and we have lots of that

today particularly on Christian

television

lots of deception

as but

listen to this

when you listen to a preacher preaching

from a platform or listen to somebody on

Christian television think of this verse

as for you

the anointing which you receive from God

that’s the Holy Spirit that’s the Tree

of Life

if you come to the Tree of Life abides

in you and you don’t need anyone to

teach you now don’t misunderstand that

don’t take a verse out of its context

if you don’t need anybody to teach you

why does it say in Ephesians 4 11 that

Christ has appointed teachers in the

church he’s not talking about teaching

the Bible or teaching the things of God

he’s talking about teaching you

concerning that deceiver notice the

context concerning those deceivers verse

26 you don’t need anybody to teach you

whether that preacher is a deceiver or

not

you don’t need brothers act to come and

sit next to you and say hey don’t listen

to him you got the holy spirit inside

you

the anointing inside you will teach you

about every preacher about all things

and that is truth and there is no lie

and as the anointing teaches you abide

in him

it is one of the greatest needs of our

day

to have to listen to the voice of the

spirit that says I know there are many

times

when I have listened to some of these

preachers who get exposed

Ten Years Later

10 years later

I hear them

I’ve heard them 10 years earlier before

they got exposed

something wrong I don’t know what is

wrong there’s something wrong with that

guy

I can think of numerous examples like

that

I I listened to him and I sense in my

spirit there’s something wrong with that

person

and it’s not because I don’t agree with

them doctrinally there’s something wrong

with the person

and later on it gets exposed the guy is

fooling around with women or something

which nobody knew for 10 years

now how is it that such people remain as

preachers in churches for

20 30 years it’s because the whole bunch

of people sitting there got no

discernment even the elders have no

discernment they accept this guy is

their pastor and then suddenly he gets

exposed that he’s a homosexual or is

adultery or something

you need discernment in these last days

my brother sister you need to get rid of

the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil

and come to the Tree of Life

discernment discernment I can’t give it

to you the Holy Spirit can give it to

you if you seek to be filled with the

Holy Spirit and abide in him

he’ll give you that discernment let me

show you in other words

it’s in Philippians in chapter one

verse 9 and 10. have you read this verse

read it slowly

false prayer for these wonderful

Philippian Christians who was one of the

best churches that Paul had

I’m praying for you wonderful Christians

Philippians 1 9.

that your love may abound more and more

in knowledge and discernment

now we think love abounding more and

more means giving money to the poor and

giving money for God’s work no no no no

he’s talking about love abounding in

discernment

to know whether that guy who’s coming to

your church is a crook

a lot of people don’t

have that discernment Jude says in his

letter there are certain people are

crept into your church unawares

the elders didn’t have discernment there

they just allowed the guy to walk in not

walk in he crept in

said the right words

I remember in

one of the

one about churches in another state

the smaller ones

I

told them about one person

when I went there I mean I go there

early maybe two three days a year but I

saw this guy and I said hey there’s

something wrong with this guy

I don’t think he’s safe

I think you better tell him

anyway the elders thought they knew more

than me I said okay fine

finally he caused some confusion and

left on his own I said great

but then there was another Elder there

after some time that fellow wanted to

come in because he couldn’t

be accepted anywhere else

and he and his wife you know buttered

the Elder and got back in I said to them

I said be careful that guy will destroy

your church

why did you let him back in maybe you

think you’re more compassionate than

brother Zach who’s so hard

what happened

sure enough because of that one person

that whole church hold it up

completely

close down

and now the Believers have to travel 30

kilometers to go to another church

what is the reason

human compassion

I pray that your love will grow in

discernment

Paul says I pray that your love will

abound more and more in real discernment

so that you may approve the things that

are excellent not just the things that

are good did you read that slowly so

that you may approve the things that are

excellent

the good is the enemy of the excellent

when you choose the good you may be

missing the excellent the best

I want the best

you young fellas who want the best when

you want to get married you young girls

who want the best when you want to get

married why not also choose the best in

spiritual life you who want the best

when you choose a house and the best

when you choose a job what about

something more important than that the

best spiritually I don’t want what is

good will you say to God I don’t want

what is good I want the best I want

discernment that’ll come through

dependence upon God give me discernment

give me discernment

how important young people when they

consider marriage

to have discernment discernment

like you don’t have the discernment go

and ask some Godly older brother for

some wisdom

look at the mess so many young people

have made of their lives by getting

married without

discernment

human oh I fell in love well first of

all you shouldn’t fall that’s what the

Bible says Jesus can keep you from

falling

you must rise up in love not fall in

love

that’s a spiritual way where I choose

because God

shows that is the person

of course we can love the person all our

heart you love the person much better

in all areas faith is total dependence

on God

you know when Paul was in danger of

becoming proud once because God was

using him mightily

and

he was doing fantastic things and God

said ah

there is a danger that my servant may

now

think that he knows Good and Evil on his

own he may think that he can do because

he’s done so much

and God gave him a sickness

we read about it in second Corinthians

12.

he calls it a thorn in the flesh you

read the first nine verses

and he prays oh God he’ll be in Jesus

name heal me in Jesus name I claim this

healing I claim the promise to the Lord

is my healer nothing happens

you’re not the first person who had that

experience by the way don’t get

discouraged Paul had it before you

nothing happened

it didn’t mean Jesus is no power it just

means that that sickness was necessary

to teach Paul a lesson and probably

necessary for you to learn a lesson too

and he never got rid of it till the end

of his life he had that thorn in the

flesh he called it a messenger of Satan

sickness is a messenger of Satan it

buffeted and buffeted him and he just

couldn’t get rid of it

and

finally he says

the Lord told him verse 9.

my grace is sufficient for you because

my power is made perfect in weakness or

as the living Bible says my power shows

up best in Weak people

how do we get the power that comes

through faith we got to become weak we

got to be reduced to zero we got to be

helpless like the branch in the tree and

God is using so many circumstances to

break us if you resist that breaking

you’re delaying you’re coming down to

zero

why do you think he has given you that

difficult neighbor difficult boss

difficult wife difficult children to

break you brother sister why is he

giving you those difficult circumstances

to break you to Humble you why is he put

you into tight circumstances where you

can’t you don’t have freedom to move

like you could in the old days to Humble

you to break you learn to give thanks

there and say Lord look what Paul said

verse 10 I’m content with weaknesses

with insults why does he allow people to

insult you

with distresses with persecutions with

difficulties I’m content I can imagine a

man saying I am perfectly content with

all my difficulties with all my

distresses with all the insults people

give me praise the Lord because these

things make me weak

these things make me small and when I’m

weak then I’m strong verse 10 and last

part of verse 9 the power of Christ

dwells in me why do you think Paul was

such a Mighty Man

because he was weak he allowed God to

make him weak whereas when God has tried

to make you weak perhaps you’re resisted

and say why does that guy treat me like

that and you remain strong

there is a reason why God has allowed

your circumstances your peculiar

circumstances your financial

difficulties

the difficult people you have to live

with in your home in your office in your

neighborhood God has allowed it to break

you there’s nothing impossible with God

he can remove people overnight why

doesn’t he do it because he’s doing your

work in you to break you if you

understand that

you will say I rejoice in it

in conclusion chapter 13.

verse you’re seeking verse 3 13 second

Corinthians 13 verse 3 you’re seeking

for a proof that Christ speaks in me

who’s not weak toward you but Mighty he

was crucified because of weakness

Jesus became weak on the cross

weak means he chose to be weak I can

call 72 000 Angels but I will not call

them that’s weakness

we also are weak in him because we want

to live by the power of God

the secret of the Christian Life is

total weakness total dependence upon God

so that we live only by God’s power and

not by our own

this is the fundamental reason why many

people do not live the Christian life

the way they should the righteous will

live by faith by total dependence on God

like someone has said in Abraham’s case

at 86 it was difficult to have a child

by 100 it was impossible then it was

done so if there are three stages in

God’s work

difficult

impossible done

where are you

have you got to the place where

something is impossible

then you go to the place where you’re

zero you can’t do it then God will do it

but as long as you think it’s a little

difficult you’re still struggling to

produce one more Ishmael maybe the last

one didn’t work but the next one God

will accept you can produce a hundred

ishmaels God will accept nothing

he’s trying to reduce you to zero

God wants to bring us down to zero so

that all the glory will be his

I’ve seen that in preaching God’s word a

lot of people think oh brother Zach is

so gifted

it’s not brother you don’t know me

if I don’t remain plugged in

I’ll be as dry and boring and worse than

the most boring preacher you’ve ever

heard you remove the plug it doesn’t

matter the plugs mean there 50 years

current is gone

this is what faith is keep plugged in

all the time

and recognize you have no electricity

within yourself look at this lamps and

all they are humble today we don’t have

any electricity

plug in plug Us in we’ll shine

even after 50 years we have no

electricity

that is

and imagine anybody can do it you can

live like that that socket is there go

and plug in

humble yourself

it’s powerful for God In Prayer

Lord

in this confused deceived World confused

deceived Christendom

teach us to live

Independence upon you so that we shall

have discernment

and we shall have power

to live the way you want us to live

make us weak

that’s our prayer

because we know how to pray now make us

weak

we pray in Jesus name amen