Growing Up In Christian Life by Zac Poonen

Growing Up In Christian Life by Zac Poonen

i have spoken in more meetings across the world in the last two years than in any other two-year period in my life so i praise the lord for that there's nothing that can hinder

 spreading of god's word in the early days they tried to kill the messengers and thought christianity would die by killing all the apostles and other christians and torturing them in the roman amphitheaters with

 spears and lions and all that but it never killed christianity two thousand years it spread more and more and more and more and pandemic or no pandemic god's word

 still goes on  so we praise the lord for that but now when we come together at the end of two years it's good for each of us to look back over the last two years for example a lot of our children have anyway in most

 countries in the world the children have not suffered by losing their school classes they studied at home online and most of the ones i know in india and u.s and elsewhere they got promoted every year to the next class

 they completed their courses and we expect our children at the end of two years if they were in six standard two years ago they should be in it standard now if a child of ours was in second standard two years ago we expect the child to be in court standard now not sitting in the same class even during a pandemic time they are eager to complete their courses they don't want to sit and fail and sit down in the same class year after

 year they want to progress and that is where each of us need to ask ourselves in the last two years since we met together how much spiritual progress have we made has our life become purer have our thoughts

 become purer today than it was two years ago have we become a little more humble that's the mark of progress that you don't have such high thoughts about yourself like you had two years ago if so praise the lord

 have you learned to love others more first of all in your own family husbands you love your wives more today have you got a

 promotion from       how is Jesus God 

whichever class you were in two years ago to where you are now or you're sitting in the same class i know some married couples in some parts of the world

 where they go from fourth standard back to second center in their married life and sometimes to the kindergarten and

 sometimes drop out of school altogether that's how it is in the world they don't make progress they go backwards 

in their married life they may have loved one another and the day they got married but four years later 

they fight and quarrel and [Music] that's all right for ungodly worldly people but if christ lives in your heart and that's not enough if you're listening to him when he speaks to

 you and when he tells you to deny yourself and take up the cross every day and follow him and when he urges you to seek to be filled with his holy spirit because you cannot live a christian life

 without the part of the holy spirit i mean it's like trying to run a car without petrol or trying to turn on the lights without

 electricity it's not possible we know that but you can't live the christian life without the power of 

the holy spirit and you know the holy spirit is like a dove we read when jesus was baptized a dove came over him the holy

 spirit came in the form of a dove the holy spirit's a real person he's almighty god the third person of the trinity but why did he

 come in the form of a dove you know i heard a story once it's a true story of a man who was a christian man who was in his just outside his house outside the window 

a dove came and built a nest and was there sitting peacefully but if the dove heard a door bang in that room it 

would fly away 

he heard the husband and wife shouting at each other the dog would fly away and he said that was a parable to him doves don't like 

noisy situations the holy spirit moves away when a husband and wife decide to fight with each other he comes and settles

 wherever people are humble and quick to ask forgiveness it has become my habit over the last few years now whenever i meet a

 married couple whom i haven't met for some time to ask this question do you still forgive one another are you quick to ask forgiveness from each other well many of

 them are honest and they say well brother zack it takes a little time sometimes i say okay thank you for being honest but just like a man running the 100 meters likes to

 improve his time or a man running a marathon likes to improve his time you also should improve your time in the make it less and less the time taken to ask forgiveness maybe you waited one day to ask

 forgiveness okay reduce it to half a day and gradually over a period of time why don't

 you come to one second as soon as you've discovered discover you've done something wrong immediately say i'm sorry it is my

 fault please forgive me do you know what that that will do to your marriage if both of you follow that rule simple rule your home will be like heaven do you think the devil

 wants that no and that's why he keeps telling you no no you told him exactly what you think he needs to hear

 that or she needs to hear that and if you don't speak straight they won't they'll take advantage of you all these stories lies as he was singing that song just now that's the cfc stage you'd have probably seen the verse

 hanging up on top of the singers be merciful to others just as god has been merciful to you you know when we built our first meeting hall in 1981 

which is 41 years ago in bangalore the brothers asked me brother zach what verse should we put on this screen at the back behind the pulpit i thought 

about it and i said what is the biggest problem that people pursuing righteousness and holiness like we in cfc are going to do

 what is the biggest problem that we shall face the biggest problem or danger is the danger of becoming pharisees 

self-righteous thinking that we are better than others and being very unmerciful when somebody else makes a mistake so i said i want you to put this verse up on top we've

 had that verse for 41 years be merciful to others just as god has been merciful to you i followed that rule myself to be quick to say sorry to anyone whoever it is i've gone

 sometimes and apologized to people who are younger than my youngest son not that i lost their temper at them but i remember once in cfc where i corrected a young

 brother very strongly for the way he was handling the electronic equipment and the recording equipment and something went wrong and something was damaged and

 somebody told me this brother would make the mistake so i went up to him and i said you're going to be very careful handling these things they're expensive and

 afterwards somebody told me brother zach that was he was not the one it was somebody else who caused the problem so i

 immediately rushed back and put my arm around that young brother whom i had corrected and said

 i'm really sorry i thought it was you please forgive me he was younger than my youngest son i have followed 

that policy all my life

i used to tell my children in india you know how the beggars come to the gate and bang and so many

 people will get upset with them and say go away go away i say you must never be rude even to a beggar because

 he's part of adam's race made in the image of god maybe due to circumstances he's become poor and if you are ever rude to a

 beggar go back to him and say i'm sorry i tell you if you follow some simple rules like this your life you'll make you get a promotion just like you expected your

 children to get promoted every year you'll be promoted every year and you'll get to know god better and better and better see god filled me with

 the holy spirit 47 years ago and to six months after that that cfc started in bangalore and i can really see how god has led me these 47 years i'm not i'm not sitting in the same class i can say that that's not something the glory

 about the lord has just kept lifting me up to a higher class nearby here i wish the same for all of you because your life will be so much more wonderful and peaceful and blessed i want to share a verse with you

 from proverbs chapter 4 please remember this verse proverbs chapter 4 and verse 18. [Music] you must remember this verse all your life it's the worst i usually quote to people when they're birthdays it's a good

 verse to remember when the on the first of on a new year and at other times the path of the righteous person and when you accept

 christ as your savior your sins are forgiven and god declares you righteous and the path of this righteous person in god's plan is to be like the sunrise sunrises when you're born again before that you dissolve darkness

 whole dark night and then one day you were born again you can say the sun rose in your life but the sun doesn't stand there on the horizon the sun goes up and up and up

 and up and up and up and up until it comes right overhead at noonday and that is a picture of how our christian life should be

 from the time we are born 

again that we get our christ alive become more and more christ-like christ like christ

 like and till finally it reaches 

overhead that day when christ returns that is when the sun is overhead and we'll be exactly like him so from that time we are

 born again till the day christ

 returns and we are made like him we should not be in the same condition 

 we should not be defeated by the same sins we were even one year ago in the schools

 they don't give them promotion every month no you know that they wait 365 days teach them for 365 days and then check out whether they're ready for promotion okay

 that's a good way god has ordained the earth goes around the sun in 365 days it's a good time in which we can check up 

so since the last time we all came together in this hall two years ago have you had a

 promotion to do higher standards in your life how's your thought life how is your speech how's your attitude towards money

 there's nothing wrong with earning money you know you can be a millionaire and still be a wholehearted disciple but if you love money you cannot be a disciple 

and you don't have to be rich to love money poor people love money too we have many beggars in bangalore who are absolutely

 poor they sit on the streets do you think they love money of course they do they're the poorest people in bangalore but they

 love money what does that prove that love of money has got nothing to do with your bank account nothing to do with how much you earn it's an inner thing you can be as poor as a beggar and love money and i know

 some very rich people extremely rich people millionaires i know some christians who do not love money who are large-

hearted and generous and so those are areas where we need to check up with them i'm not saying whether you become perfect i'm

 not saying whether you've got your phd whether you come become like christ no have you got at least a promotion to two

 higher classes in the last two years since we met don't let the years go by without checking out which of your parents would not be bothered whether your children get

 promoted at the end of the year not even one you're eager when the report card

 comes at the end of the year hey son did you get a promotion did you go to the next class and how disappointed you will be you will feel if you feel that he's sitting in the same class next year too [Music] god is like he's disappointed you're not angry with your

 child you're disappointed you say you probably didn't pay attention to the teacher in the class and i would say you probably have not paid attention to what the holy

 spirit tried to teach you in the last year or two years i'll tell you something you can do nothing about the past remember that and it's no use weeping and weeping and weeping over the past it's good to feel

 sorrow but there is a saying in english don't cry over spilt milk if you're carrying a bowl of milk in your trip when you accidentally spill something [Music] once she's crying it's on the ground you can't drink that milk

 anymore it's on the ground just be careful for the rest of your trip with that bowl of milk that you don't spill anymore so don't cry over spilt milk yeah be feel sorrowful about your failure but make sure you don't spill

 anymore and what is the reason for lack of progress primarily a lack of repentance if you were to you can test this out you ask the average christian what is the last message that jesus gave to the church go and ask any christian [Music] most of them will tell you the last message jesus gave to the church

 was go into all the world and preach the gospel well that's the last message he gave when he was on the earth i say more than that he said go and make disciples don't just preach the gospel but make disciples but

 that's not the last message the last message that jesus gave to the church is in the book of revelation and you know that in his

 messages to the seven churches in revelation chapter two and chapter three and when you get look time you look at it to five of those churches who are living in sin he said repent repent otherwise i will come

 and punish you in some way

 and to all seven churches he said if you overcome i will give you a reward so what is the last message of christ to the churches in the bible it is not go and preach the gospel to all

 nations 65 years after he gave that message he says repent that's the last message to the church be an overcomer that's the last

 message to the church john had heard jesus saying when he was 30 years old john and the apostle heard jesus saying go into all the world and make disciples and 65 years later at the age of 95 he hears the same jesus saying tell the churches to repent they are not the type of churches i wanted on the earth only two of the seven are the type of churches i want the other five are

 backslidden and the elders were backslidden and the last church of laodicea you know what he says you're supposed to be a christian church revelation 3 17 [Music] and you say revelation 3 and verse 17.

 you look at your earthly wealth and you say i'm rich i become wealthy i'm not in need like all the other poor christians around me in the world but you don't realize that

 spiritually you're not rich you're not wealthy earthly wise oh yeah you got a grand house and you got a car and you got a nice clothes and you got so many other things like that but you don't realize that

 spiritually you're wretched miserable poor blind naked i say lord jesus how many adjectives do you need to use to describe

 your people isn't one verse one word enough wretched no wretched miserable poor spiritually blind spiritually naked to whom is it written to the messenger of the church and leadership to the leader and when the leader is like that the whole

 church is like that so what does he say i given up here no he did not give up even on that church that's the encouraging thing

 brothers and sisters he never gives up on us even if you are in this wretched condition he doesn't give up on you he says it's because i love you verse 19. remember this verse

 revelation 3 19 [Music] whom i love i rebuke and i discipline be zealous therefore and repent so he doesn't want this bad student in his class this christian who has failed to

 remain like that he says i want you to pass i'm giving you another chance so revelation 3 19. do you know this verse everybody

 knows john 3 16 god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not

 perish but have everlasting life that's a mark of god's love when i was a young

 christian and somebody asked me how do you know god loves you [Music] i quote john 3 16. he loves me because he sent jesus 

to die for my sins when i was a sinner but today if you ask me how god loves you i have one more answer he rebukes me if i make a slight slip up he disciplines me like a father using a rod on his son to make him more perfect and that is the proof of his love

 revelation 3 19 it is only those who i love the lord says whom i rebuke and discipline [Music] i want to ask you my dear brothers please be honest with me or be honest with yourself have you ever heard the lord

 rebuke you in your spirit rebuke no that's wrong what you did just now that's not the way to speak that's unrighteous what you

 did there in the office it's a mark of his love if he had given up on you he would not rebuke you you know the bible says those

 who are without discipline are not real children a man does not discipline all the wayward children on the streets he

 disciplines his own children and so god god's discipline is a mark of his love and the purpose revelation 3 19 is to repent so i see that repent is the last message 

of the lord to his church and be an overcomer the two are connected if you repent you can become an overcomer and immediately after that he says in verse 20 revelation 3 20 i stand at the door and now now many people quote that word to the

 unbelievers jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking but read carefully to whom was that word written in verse 14

 to the leader of the church in laodicea he's telling an elder of a church to open the door of his heart does it mean that he's not a

 christian he was a christian but he backslid so how can you open the door of your heart according to verse 19 by repenting

  when he says behold i stand

 at the door and knock verse 20 the word immediately before that is repent how do you open your heart to jesus to come and repent repent means when you see

 something wrong in your life say lord i'm sorry for that i'm sorry i did that i've got that attitude wrong attitude towards that person i got upset there forgive me i repent i want to turn from it and i want to give it up lord

 please help me you don't have the power to overcome sin [Music] but god's promises if you come under grace sin cannot rule over you you preach that for 47 years in cfc and

 we've also preached the only people who get grace those who humble themselves now you say brother zach these are all

 elementary lessons we have heard for so many years right absolutely right but what i ask you is if you've not made progress in your life you haven't learned those

 elementary lessons you know i remember years ago i went to an automobile factory in india i think they were making the new

 maruti cars many years ago in india and i saw on the wall a little notice written on the wall in that factory i'll never forget it it was written on the wall we aim for zero defect we aim for zero defect in making a car i've never forgotten it i said lord that's my aim too they are aiming for zero defect in

 making a car and here god wants to make me his child and make me like jesus i'm also gonna aim for zero defect i'm not happy if the lord says well you're only one percent

 wrong one percent wrong i'm aiming for a hundred 100 i'm not aiming for 99 i'll tell you that i'm aiming for 100 in every area of

 my life every subject in the christian life lord i want to do what it says in hebrews 6 1 let us press on to perfection i mean if you saw those people singing from cfc at the

 beginning of this meeting you saw what was written on the pulpit that's another word that i chose i said everybody who comes to this church must see that pulpit and see what we preach here let us press on to perfection hebrews 6 1. the path of the

 righteous should be like the sun do you know the sun never backslides no it never backslides from the sunrise all the way up to noonday position it keeps going up up up up up up up up does it go back that is the

 example for us in proverbs 4 18 the path of the righteous it's like the sun rise that shines brighter and brighter and brighter until it comes to the perfect day when we have

 become 100 like christ you know that is the message we preach continuously because that is the most needed message it's like a doctor who says if you've got a family doctor the family doctor will tell you hey listen i

 want everyone in this family to have perfect health that's what you would want for your children supposing your child has got say a number of sicknesses say seven or eight different sicknesses and you take it to the

 doctor and the doctor says okay we'll cure one or two of them you say no i want my son to be cured of all eight doctor says eight why do you want to all eight to be cured why not at least be happy with at least six or seven

 are cured no i want all eight to be cured isn't that what a loving father or mother would say if your child had eight diseases would you be happy with the doctor says i'll cure it of six or even seven and leave one disease

 still in his body no neither does god want one sin remaining in our life whatever it is and you know what sin 

is remaining in your life or whatever sins are remaining in your life i want to say to you god is very patient he's very merciful

 but he wants to make you perfect he wants to make me perfect and that's why we say let's press on to perfection so the way to

 press on to perfection jesus said we've got to do something every day we must certainly ask god to fill us with the holy spirit because it is only the power of god that keeps us

 strong god gives us grace to the humble so we must humble ourselves every day we must listen to god's word every day i want to encourage all of you my brothers and sisters when you get up in the morning 

 before you get out of bed did you hear me you say many of you say i've got a good habit of reading the bible in the morning okay

 before you even get out of the bed to read the bible as soon as you wake up talk a few sentences to jesus to your heavenly father

 begin the day the day begins for you when you wake up before you get out of bed say heavenly father my dad in heaven i'm so happy that you're my dad but i'm not telling you words to say but speak to him take a

 minute i'm not asking you to pray for one hour take one or two minutes that's not too long when you wake up and say lord jesus i want to be a little more like you today i want you to make me sensitive to sin treat me

 with the holy spirit and help me to do what you told me to do in luke 9 23 you all know luke 9 23 very very important verse luke chapter 9 verse 23 the path of spiritual progress the pathway to perfection luke

 chapter 9 verse 23 jesus said if anyone wants to come after me 

he must deny himself take up his cross every day not just at the beginning of his life it's not a thing you know you accept accepted the lord once and say okay i'll take up the cross no every single day do you know

 there's no verse in the bible where it says read your bible daily it's a good habit but for 1400 years after christ there was no printed bible the first printed bible was around the end of the 15th century so how could people read the bible for 1500 years a good habit

 but this is the only thing the bible says you must do jesus said you must do daily the only thing is take up the cross and follow

 him so what does it mean to take up the cross it means to die to myself in my heart there is a throne and self sits there from the time we are born that's why children fight grab yell scream hurt one another disobey their parents it's all because self is in the throne [Music] that's why we must teach our children from childhood to um to their

 parents to break that power of self sitting on the throne and when we become a christian [Music] there's someone competing with christ in our heart for the throne self self is saying i've ruled in this man's heart a

 woman's heart for so many years i want to continue to rule self is the one that tells you don't apologize it's his fault there is no

 situation where it is 100 the other person's fault except it was 100 man's fault and god god's fault was zero but in every other

 problem that has ever happened between you and somebody else part of the problem is with you even if the major part of the problem is with the other person always

 remember there's never a situation where 100 the problem is with your wife or with your husband or with that person and zero

 with you impossible as long as we have a flesh that is corrupted by sin there is sin even in our good actions we can be seeking our own honor motive your attitude to

 somebody even if you never speak about it that's a sin you have a wrong attitude how much do you want to be cleansed you only want to be cleansed like the pharisees on the outside of the cup let me show you two good qualities of the pharisees have you heard me speak on the two good qualities of the

 pharisees turn with me to matthew 23

 jesus himself condemned the pharisees for many things he says you exploit the widows and you travel as missionaries and make

 people double the children of hell but you have two good qualities number one good quality your pharisees have is your

 doctrines are all correct matthew 23 verse 3 jesus told the disciples everything that the parent sees tell you to do do how can he say that if their doctrine was not correct jesus tell you everything that the roman catholics tell you to do do for everything that the

 jehovah's witnesses tell you to do do never because they've got some wrong teachings but when it came to the pharisees

 everything that they tell you to do do that means their doctrines are all corrections jesus is saying your parents your doctrines are all correct second 

good quality verse 25 matthew 23 verse 25 you clean the outside of the cup but the inside is full of robbery inside their hearts is full of sin but their outer life it says jesus said is clean they were not committing

 adultery on the outside they were doing a lot of good things on the outside they were paying their tights they're going regularly to the meetings every week the external life was good isn't that a good thing there are many people whose external life is bad

 pharisees were not like that you remember the fantasy you prayed lord i thank you that i'm not like other men thieves and adulterers and all that it's true they outwardly their life was pure so that's the second certificate of the lord gives the pharisees your external

 life is very good when people look at you on the outside they think you're a very fine person so what are the two good qualities absolute right absolutely right in doctrine

 and very good in your external life now you examine your own life what can you boast about sitting in a cfc church i thank god that i got the right doctrine good i thank god that my external life is very pure i'm righteous

 with money and so many other things my external life is all very good if that's all you can say my brother sister

  you're no better than the pharisees it's the heart that's important the thoughts the attitudes to people even if you never speak about it the motives with which you do

 certain things the things you do in secret in the dark when nobody can see 

 how you behave yourself at home which is really 90 of your life that is where god wants us to become truly godly and i want to tell you that god wants to fill you with the holy spirit to make you do that let me give you

 one last verse hebrews and chapter four one of the things we have taught in cfc through the years is that jesus christ when he came to earth came with a man just like us and was tempted like us but he did not sin

 hebrews 4 15. this is the verse that helped me to overcome sin in my life when i said jesus was tempted like me and he did not sin through the power of the holy spirit then he can help me also hebrews 4 15 he

 sympathizes with us because he knows the struggle we have against sin but he was also tempted but he did not sin so what he say so what so what is in the next verse therefore

 because he did not sin what shall we do just worship him and say oh lord how wonderful you did not say no therefore don't just

 worship him therefore you draw near to the throne of grace and say lord give me mercy mercy is forgiveness from my past failures

 jesus never needed that he never 

sinned but we needed mercy and let's ask god for grace to help me in my time of need what is my time of need verse 15 when we

 attempt it so we could read it like this let us come to the throne of grace every day and say lord first of all give me mercy for all my past failures cleanse it in the blood of jesus

 and give me grace today in my time of need when i'm tempted to overcome because if grace is upon me romans 6 14 sin cannot

 rule over you it's a wonderful message for the last 45 years and more it changed my life completely it changed my married life it changed the way i brought up my children

 i'm very thankful now my four sons are following the lord and they are bringing up their children also in that way so so many

 results come when we humble ourselves and god takes care of our needs and also as we have served the lord through the years annie and i god has helped us to support

 ourselves so that we don't ask anybody for money we never send any prayer letters and we have trusted god and we we're not

 supported by anybody the lord himself has supported us through our own resources and i'm very thankful for that when god has done that and that's how the apostle paul lived you know he tried his best not to be a burden to anybody and that's what we have taught in all of our more than 100 cfc

 churches around the world now you know 11 countries that's what we have taught all the elders yeah support yourself and build the church and you praise god and i thank god for that you all in the church in

 singapore that god raised up a few years ago and through the years he's added different ones of you there and i pray for you my dear brothers and sisters that you will press on to perfection we can do nothing about the past what about if we have failed in the past

 maybe i should show you one more verse acts of your apostles it's one of my favorite verses acts 17 and verse 30. acts of the apostle chapter 17 verse 30 we have all

 failed in the past so if you look back over your life any of you and you say well in my past one or two years has not been too good take this verse god is overlooking that means he's not bothering about the time of

 ignorance ignorance means you knew about the lord but you didn't know how serious sin is you are ignorant about the seriousness of sin that's why you sinned and hopefully you become a little more serious about sin today god is overlooking your times of ignorance and now he's declaring that you should

 repent you should repent and turn to turn around repent does not mean give up sin it may take some years to give up some sins it means change your mind about it in tamil tamil translation of repent is the best

 translation i've ever heard in any language in the world that means the mind must turn around that is repentance not overcoming sin that's the second step first of all the mind must turn around that means my attitude to sin has changed i hate it now that's the

 question i want to ask you has there been a manant terrible in your life has there been a change of mind towards sin in your life say lord i want to hate sin just like i hate snakes it's like i hate poison and i hate all filthy

 things i want to hate it i don't want to see it just like why do you flush the toilet after you finished using it you don't want to see that anymore you want to finish it all get rid of it take that attitude towards sin lord i want to hate sin in my thoughts my attitudes and my word well from today onwards i want to take this very seriously i want a man in

 pyramid the change of mind even if it takes me the another whole year to overcome some sin never mind my mind has changed today i tell you if all of you do that

 something will happen your life will change from today onwards your married life will change your home will become a little taste of heaven yeah i can say my home is a little taste of heaven i wanted my children to

 grow up in a home which is a little taste of heaven i don't want my children to grow up in a home where they're fighting and yelling their husband and wife no but there's peace reigning thank you for listening patiently brothers and sisters let's pray our heads in prayer please examine your heart ask

 yourself one question is there anybody you need to forgive why your head is bowed forgive that person say lord i want to forgive that person that person and the other person and that person one one sentence that's all you will remember what he did all your life you'll remember but you've forgiven him today second 

 is there anybody you need to ask forgiveness from whom you hurt make a decision now lord at the first opportunity i'm going to call up that person or meet that person or write to that person and ask that

 person's forgiveness i decide right now done there's been a mananan terrible in your life today turning your mind and ask the lord to cleanse your heart from that unforgiving attitude or the pride that prevented you from asking forgiveness and say lord thank you cleanse me in your blood heavenly

 father we thank you for these dear brothers and sisters it's been such a joy after so many years to be able to meet them and to see how you have added to their number you've given them good

 leadership and been able to meet together peacefully and pray that they'll grow in love for one another and together become one body so that others in singapore who are

 needy can come we're not looking for a big church we're looking for a pure church

 we're not looking for rich homes but we're looking for godly homes thank you father we know that you will do more than we are starting pray in jesus name amen 

God bless you 

Umn ministry Chennai