Following the Ways of the Apostles — Zac Poonen

When I started sitting and preaching a few years ago, that's the first time I decided to study in the New Testament how Jesus preached. What was his posture? Was he standing or sitting? And you know, I was amazed to discover almost every single time he sat and spoke.

I had never discovered that for 50 years. So then I asked the Lord, why did you sit and speak? I saw in the Old Testament, the prophets always stood and spoke. So then I understood something. The prophets were like teachers, you know, like in a school, the teacher always stands and teaches, proclaiming a message.

But Jesus was trying to build a family, like a father. And when a father sits with his children around the dining table, teaching them the word, he doesn't stand. He sits. So more than whether you stand or sit, the main thing I discovered was Jesus wanted to build the church as a family.

The Church as a Spiritual Family

The church was never meant to be an organization or a group, it was to be a family, where the leader is like a father. And a father is always very close to his children. He doesn't keep himself distant from his children.

Today we have many preachers who are very distant from their congregation. Very difficult to meet them, very difficult to speak to them. Jesus was not like that, Paul was not like that, none of the apostles were like that.

Recovering the Apostolic Message

Christianity has drifted far away from the faith of the apostles. Not only in these external things that I mentioned, but in the message. So I want to show you something from Acts of the Apostles chapter 17.

Here is the background of this. It says here in Thessalonica verse 1, there was a synagogue of the Jews. Acts 17 verse 1. In Thessalonica there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went there and took the scriptures and began to reason with them.

He proved from the scripture about Jesus Christ having to suffer and rise again from the dead. And he said this Jesus verse 3 is the Christ, is the Messiah. The Jews had the same Bible, that is the Old Testament, which Paul was using.

But they said no, Jesus is not a Messiah, he is a false prophet. See, it was not just a slight difference, they were complete opposite. Using the same Old Testament, the Jews said he is a false prophet and Paul said he is the Messiah.

How is that possible? I mean, if two people study the same mathematics book, they get the same answer. They won't find two opposite understandings from the same chemistry book or mathematics book. The reason is, in all earthly books you only need to use your mind.

And two intelligent people will get the same answer. But when you come to the word of God, the mind is not enough. It's the heart that determines whether you understand God's word. Jesus once said in Matthew 11 25, God has hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent people.

And revealed it to children. So, why is it clever and intelligent people can't understand it? What do children have which intelligent people don't have? Humility. Do you need humility to understand chemistry or maths or physics or any other book in the world?

Any book in the world, all you need is intelligence. Except one book. That's the Bible. And that's why it says there in Matthew 11 25, God has hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent and revealed them to babes.

He has hidden it. They can't understand it. But little children can understand it. That means those who have the mind of a child. And that is the mind of humility. So, when Paul read that book with humility, he saw this is Jesus is the Messiah.

But the Jews were proud, so they thought he is a false prophet. Now, the New Testament is written by the same God who wrote the Old Testament. So, the same principle applies now. You try to understand it with your intelligence, you can go astray.

Because it's not like a history book or a chemistry book. The number one requirement to understand the Bible is the humility of a child. So, remember Matthew 11 25. God has hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent.

And he has revealed them to little infants. It is there in the Old Testament, it is there in the New Testament. So, if I want to understand the Bible, the humbler a man is, the more likely he is to know the truth.

So, to understand the Bible, I will not go to an intelligent man. He will lead me astray like those clever Jews. But a humble man like Peter or John or Paul, he can explain the truth to me. So, I want to say that to all of you, dear brothers and sisters.

All the differences you find in Christendom are because intelligent people are trying to understand the scriptures. And so, they get different answers. So, among the Jews also, there were different groups.

The same Bible, the Pharisees read it one way, the Sadducees read it another way. But neither of them got the truth. Both of them felt Jesus is a false prophet. Can you imagine how blind you can be that you read the Bible and believe the exact opposite of what the Bible says?

The one whom God sent to earth, they killed thinking he is a false prophet. The whole Old Testament was referring to Jesus coming to earth. But when he came to earth, into the synagogue, they said, this is the devil.

So, the same thing can happen today. So, when Paul went into the synagogue and preached from the same Old Testament that they were studying every Saturday, some people accepted the truth. Who? The humble people.

Their eyes were opened. And all the clever, intelligent people there said, no, this is wrong. So, it was a conflict between the intelligent people and the humble people. The humble people also may have been very intelligent.

But their primary quality was not intelligence but humility. See, if you look around, most of the clever people in the world are quite proud. Even in a school classroom, the boy who comes first is quite proud.

You don't find a humble person who is right at the top. There are a few, but they are very rare. So, these humble people understood it. And they joined Paul and Silas. But the others opposed them. And I want you to see what those who opposed Paul said.

Listen to these words. Acts 17, verse 6, the last part. They shouted saying, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here. What did they say Paul did? They turned our world upside down.

That means their world in the synagogue. They have turned everything upside down here compared to what we believed for so many years. But what was Paul actually doing? He was turning an upside down world right side up.

The Fall and Humanity’s Upside-Down Values

See, when God created man, he wanted man to walk upright. He created him in his own image. That means, and he told Adam, all things will be under your feet. That means, if God was his head, all the earthly things would be under his feet.

That's how God created Adam and Eve. All material things were going to be under their feet. And God would be his head. But that's what the devil changed in the Garden of Eden. He made them disobey God.

That means God is no longer the head. And the devil got that place. And immediately, Adam and Eve became upside down. Physically, they were still standing upright. But spiritually, inwardly, they became upside down.

They got a wrong sense of values now. And the devil's values became more important. And God's values went down. And these upside down man and woman, Adam and Eve, produced upside down children also. Their first son Cain was upside down.

That's why he killed his brother. A person who is walking with God on top will never kill anybody. It's because he was upside down that he killed his brother. And they had upside down grandchildren. And ever since then, every human being in the world has been spiritually upside down.

That's why you never have to teach your children to tell lies. They know it automatically. Because they're upside down. What you have to teach your children is to speak the truth. You never have to teach your children to fight with people.

They know that automatically. What you have to teach your children is how to live at peace. You never have to teach any human being how to grumble or complain about things. No need because they're all upside down.

What you have to teach them is how to be joyful always and stop complaining. So, this is the upside down world into which Jesus came. And Jesus lived with his head up, spiritually. So, everybody in the world thought this man is upside down.

Because he was the only man walking upright. Jesus was the only person walking upright. And all those who followed him, like Paul, also walked upright. That is the meaning of repentance. And where such a repentance is not preached, Christians will remain upside down.

Repentance as a Change of Values

Supposing you tell a group of people, Jesus died for your sins. Believe in him and he'll forgive you. And you don't tell him to repent. They will remain upside down and believe in Jesus. And they think they have become children of God.

They have not become children of God. Because their values are just like the people in the world. That is why you have Christian husbands and wives who fight just like any worldly husband and wife fight.

That is why Christians grumble and complain just like worldly people grumble and complain. That is why Christians love money just like everybody in the world loves money. What is the difference? They believe in Jesus.

But they are still upside down like everybody in the world. Because whoever preached the gospel to them never preached about repentance. Repentance means telling people, your values are all upside down.

If you want to come to Christ, turn around. So when a preacher comes along preaching such a message that you've got to give up these worldly sense of values. No, when a preacher says, you've got to give up this world's sense of values.

And get God's sense of values. Then people think this man is preaching something wrong. We can preach the values of God and people think that's wrong. Because they are upside down. So that's what happened to Paul.

The Jews could not understand that. So that is the question we need to ask ourselves. See, in the Old Testament, because people did not have the Holy Spirit, a lot of people in the Old Testament believed certain things in their lives, but their lives did not change.

They did some foolish things. For example, Abraham was a godly man according to the standards of 4 ,000 years ago. But when he was in a difficult situation, he thought people will kill me to take my wife.

So he said, my wife is my sister, to save his own life. Now, Peter would never have done such a thing. He would never have said his wife is my sister. Why the difference? Because Peter had the Holy Spirit.

Abraham did not have the Holy Spirit. He tried to fear God and all, but in a difficult situation, he behaved just like any worldly person. And you read a second time, Abraham did the same thing. He said, my wife is my sister.

Why did he do that? To save his own life. He said, they may kill me and take my wife. So he told his wife, say you are my sister. And the king took his wife away to his house. Imagine, Abraham did not mind his wife being taken away by the king, just to save his own life.

See, that is how many Old Testament people were. You see David, he is a good man in many ways. But when he saw a pretty woman, he committed adultery with her. And killed the husband and married her. And this is David, the great man in the Old Testament.

But do you think Paul would have done that? If Paul saw a pretty woman, he would have just turned away and go away. He would not keep looking at her. He would never commit adultery with her. Because David's life, he did not have the Holy Spirit within him.

It makes a tremendous difference when the Holy Spirit comes inside. Without the Holy Spirit coming inside, some of our values are still all mixed up. Our value changes when the Holy Spirit comes in. That is one of the clearest marks that the Holy Spirit has come inside and taken control of your life.

That my value system has changed. Things that I valued before, I don't value so much now. Other things that I did not value, become more valuable now. See, before I was converted when I was 19. Before that, I was a nominal Christian, going to church, reading the Bible, praying, everything.

I didn't kill anybody or commit adultery. I never robbed people. You know, I lived a decent sort of life. But my value was just like the people in the world. They were Hindus, I was Christian, but our values were the same.

Conversion and the Holy Spirit’s Transforming Work

That's how it is with many Christians. I used to go to the movies and watch movies just like anybody in the world. But one day, Christ came into my life. And the Holy Spirit came in and changed my values.

And immediately, something happened. I did not want to go to those cinemas again. And the next day, a few days after that, a couple of my friends, I was in the naval base there. And we used to have in the naval base in India, there was a cinema theater inside the base for all the naval people.

There was a cinema theater inside the naval base. And some of my fellow officers came and said, let's go and watch today's movie. And I did not have the courage to say to them, I've stopped going since two days ago, I've stopped going to the movies.

Because before that, I myself used to take them. But how to tell these people, I've become a Christian now? They would have thought, what were you before, were you a Hindu or something? What would they think?

They don't understand being born again and all that. So I didn't have the courage to say, I've stopped going to the cinemas. And so, I started going with them. And as I walked down the road, there was a cry in my heart, Lord, please, deliver me from this.

I don't want to go to the cinema today. Because I don't have the courage to tell these people, I'm a Christian. And it was about half a mile to the cinema theater. And we walked and walked and walked there.

And when we reached the theater, there was a big notice there. We did not get the cinema reel, so it is canceled. Today's cinema is canceled. I felt like shouting, Hallelujah. God has answered my prayer.

Those other two friends of mine were very discouraged. They were wondering why I was so happy. That was my first experience of answered prayer. And it was only a silent prayer in my heart. There, I learned that if there's a silent prayer in your heart, sincerely, God answers that.

Then I came back home, came back to my room. And the Lord said to me, next time, I won't do that for you. Next time, you must have the courage to stand up and say, I'm a Christian. I've stopped going to the movies.

Because if you don't say that, you won't become strong. I want to make you a bold witness for me. And you must not be ashamed to say that your value system has turned upside down now. Not upside down, but right side up.

Now I've become upright. Till now, I was crooked. So, that's what repentance does. It makes you right side up. Till now, till then, we are upside down. The whole world is upside down. I mean, spiritually speaking, if you look at the world, everybody is with their head down and legs up.

And even many so-called Christians are like that. They say they believe in Jesus. But they have the same values as the people in the world. They fight like everybody else. They get angry like everybody else.

They lust with their eyes like everybody else. They love money like everybody else. They murmur and grumble like everybody else. They are upside down like everybody else. But with their upside down, they say, we believe in Jesus.

They are not true Christians. Because they have never repented. See, the word repentance is very clear in Tamil. It's a turning of the mind. The turning of the mind. The mind which has got other sense of values has now got the right sense of values.

The mind which has got other sense of values has now got the right sense of values. This is the question we need to ask ourselves. I am not asking you to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's not enough.

But with repentance. See, John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus Christ. And what did he preach? Matthew 3 verse 2. This is the first message you read in the New Testament as soon as you open it.

The first message in the New Testament. Before that it was only about the birth of Jesus. No, his birth. But now, it's the first message in the New Testament. What is it? Matthew 3 verse 2. Repent. Turn your mind around like the Tamil says.

No, like the Tamil says. Turn your mind around. Because the kingdom of heaven has come. Till now you are having a kingdom of earth. You Jews were taken up with this land God gave you. The land of Canaan God gave you.

Now, he is going to give you something heavenly. So, turn around. Make your mind heavenly now. That is the first message in the New Testament. Now, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost.

Repentance in the Apostolic Preaching

Acts of the Apostles chapter 2. Peter got up and preached a message about Jesus Christ dying for their sins. Peter preached a message that Christ died for your sins. And they said, what shall we do? No, they asked a question.

Acts 2 verse 37. What shall we do? And Peter replied. Acts 2 verse 38. Repent. Same message that John the Baptist preached. So, the first message on the day of Pentecost was also the same thing. Repent.

Turn around. Get your mind on heavenly things now. And when you come to the end of the Bible. In the book of Revelation. See, this is about 65 years after the day of Pentecost. 65 years after the day of Pentecost.

Where John, at the age of 95, was writing the book of Revelation. 95 years old. He was writing the book of Revelation. The Lord had given him a message to 7 churches. And 5 of those churches had gone back into sinful ways.

And what is the message that Jesus gives to those churches? To the first church. Chapter 2 verse 5. Repent. Church at Ephesus, repent. To another church. Verse 12, the church in Pergamon. What is the message to them in verse 16?

Repent. Third church, Thyatira in verse 18. In verse 21, the message is repent. And the fourth church is Sardis in chapter 3 verse 1. Same message. Repent. In verse 3. What you have heard and received, repent.

And then the fifth church. Which is in verse 14, 3 .14. The church in Laodicea. The same thing. Repent in verse 19. Be zealous and repent. So you see, the entire New Testament begins and ends with repent.

Turn around. Even these churches that started well, after sometime they became upside down again. So that teaches us that a church can start repenting and after sometime become upside down again. That means, I am sure all these churches when they first heard the message of repenting, they turned and put heavenly values first.

But over a period of years, slowly slowly, they started going back. And after a few years, they were upside down again just like before they were converted. And so, they are upside down again like the rest of the world.

Like all the idol worshippers. They are now calling themselves a church. But they are upside down. That's the condition of many Christian churches today. The doctrine is we believe in Jesus. Jesus died for our sins.

He rose up. But their values are upside down. So what is the most important message for such Christians? Same message that Jesus gave to the five backslidden churches. You people were once upside down.

Then you repented and came right side up. And now after a few years, you have become upside down again. So again, I have to give you the message which I gave you at the beginning. Repent. That is actually a message for unbelievers.

Peter preached it to unbelievers. John the Baptist preached it to unbelievers. But in Revelation, he is preaching it to believers. He is saying become right side up again. So if the Apostle Paul were coming to a church today.

And he sees them all with this worldly sense of values. And not a heavenly sense of values. What is the message that Paul will preach today in most of Christian churches today? He would say to them. Look at your lives.

You love money just like everybody else. You watch dirty movies like everybody else. Some of you even watch pornography like other unbelievers. Sexually dirty movies. But you say you believe in Jesus.

And you even break bread. Paul will say don't deceive yourself. If your values are upside down, don't call yourself Christians. It is not just a label you stick saying Christian. You need to turn around again.

See it is a fact that many believers loved Jesus more many years ago when they first accepted him. And how did they backslide again and became upside down again? I will tell you. I think they were sincere when they were first converted.

Even some who came from non-Christian religions accepted Christ and became Christians. But then they joined a church. That church was full of worldly Christians. They said so many wonderful doctrines but they loved the world.

Their pastors loved money. And so gradually these Christians went back to their upside down life after a few years in that church. And after a few years that church is full of upside down people. So instead of the church helping these people the church corrupted these people who came there.

Now what does God say to such a church? If the Apostle John was here the Lord would say go to that church and tell them come right side up again because you have become upside down again. Do you know what the church will do to the Apostle John?

What will the church do to the Apostle John if he preaches that today? They will kick him out. They will say get out of here. They say you are preaching all wrong things. We are all okay. We believe in Jesus.

And that's what happens to true servants of God today. A worldly church will never accept the truth which God wants to tell them. That's why the Bible says the prophetic word is rare in the last days.

That means most preachers do not hear a word from heaven. They have just gone to some Bible school and accumulated knowledge in their head and their preaching is like a job to earn their living. They only preach for money and they know that if I preach something that will hurt people I won't get any money.

No, let me not hurt anybody let me get a good offering from everybody. Just let me say some nice things to them and God will comfort you and care for you and heal you and all that. And never rebuke them for their sin.

Never rebuke them for their worldliness because if you do all that they won't get any money in the offering bag. And the preacher won't get so much money. That is the tragedy of today's preachers. So God's people remain upside down and that is why we need to again hear the message to those five churches repent, turn around.

You saw in the book in the New Testament how the message which was first preached to unbelievers by John the Baptist and Peter on the day of Pentecost for the unbelievers they preached to the unbelievers.

In the last book of the Bible the same message is being preached to believers. Revelation. See how it has turned around. The message to the believers is now the message to the believers. That is exactly the condition of Christendom today.

And that is the message that is not being preached. Everybody is being comforted saying God will make you rich and God will make you healthy and God will make you rich and God will make you healthy. You got to believe.

You got to believe. That is what they hear. But if you were to go to the Apostle Paul See Paul you preached to Jews and Gentiles and so many people all over the world. What was your message to all these people?

What was your message to all these people? He said ok I will tell you. This is the answer of the Apostle Paul. Acts chapter 20. Here it says Paul sent to the verse 17. He called all the elders of the church in Ephesus.

Acts 20 verse 17 He called the elders of the church in Ephesus and he told them. You know verse 18 from the first day I came here what I was preaching Verse 20 publicly and from house to house. I was preaching only this.

To Jews and Greeks verse 21 I was preaching the same message. Two things. Only two things. See verse 21 Repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That repentance part has been lost now. Everywhere in Christendom what you hear is Believe in the Lord Jesus.

Believe, believe, trust Him. Trust Him to forgive your sin. Trust Him to make you healthy. Trust Him to make you wealthy. Trust Him to solve your problems. Trust Him to give you a good job. Trust Him to do many wonderful things for you.

And you ask them what about this first message of repentance. If you preach all that the offerings will go down. That is what has happened in Christendom today. Do you know what the Old Testament prophets did.

Any of the Old Testament prophets. Elijah Elijah Elisha Isaiah Jeremiah Hosea Amos Amos Zechariah Malachi Zechariah Malachi. They always preached what was missing in Israel. Every one of them preached repentance.

All the prophets preached repentance. John the Baptist preached repentance. Peter preached repentance on the day of Pentecost. And we saw John preach repentance to those five churches in Revelation. And Christendom will say you are turning the world upside down.

Our church you are turning it upside down. No no no turning it right side up. You need to understand what it means. Let me show you Colossians in chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and you will understand what I mean by being right side up.

Setting the Mind on Heavenly Things

See. Our mind is in our brain in our head. And it says here in verse 2. Set your mind on things above and not on the things of earth. When your mind is set on the things of earth your head is down. So your legs are up.

When you are right side up your mind is set on the things above. This is the meaning of straightening up and repentance. So repentance means your mind is now set on the things above. Why? Verse 1. Because we are raised up with Christ.

Now we must seeking the things above. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So my mind must be there. That is a true Christian. But if your mind is down here on the things of earth. Then you need to repent.

So let me use an illustration. See supposing these are the this thing is the heavenly thing and this is down earthly thing down here. So if I tie a rubber band here and I stretch it down to the things of earth.

Because I have to be occupied with my job 8 hours a day. I have to look after my family provide for them take care of my children. I have to spend many hours being occupied with many earthly things. But when I have finished all that and I leave it this rubber band comes up here again.

The rubber band which is stretched to earthly things for 10 hours a day. Once it is over the rubber band comes up to the heavenly things again. Is that how it is in your mind? That you stretch your mind to finish all your earthly tasks.

Even 12 hours a day 16 hours a day. But when it is all over it switches back to the heavenly things again. In other words when you are free from all your earthly tasks where does your mind go? Is it to think about heavenly things?

Then you are right side up. But with many believers it is not like that. They are just like the unbelievers. The rubber band is tied down here to the earthly things. In the unbelievers the rubber band is tied down to the earth.

On Sunday the rubber band comes to the earth. I worship I praise. On Friday they stretch it for 2 hours. Once the meeting is over back to the earthly things again. The exact opposite of a spiritual Christian.

But this is inward in the mind only you know which side your rubber band is tied to. Is it tied to the heavenly things and stretched to the earthly things? No no no. Is it tied to the heavenly things and stretched when needed for earthly things.

Or is it tied to the earthly things and taken up to the heavenly things once or twice a week. This is how most Christians are. What is the message for such Christians? You will never never never have a satisfying Christian life till you repent.

Repentance and Faith as Complementary Necessities

See Christians are divided into so many different doctrines. Infant baptism. Adult baptism. Some say speaking in tongues is the devil. Some say everybody must speak in tongues. So many different doctrines.

But all of them their mind is attached to earthly things. The most important thing in the doctrine is earthly things. All these other doctrines are just like a different color wash. Yellow wall White wall Green wall.

It's all just color wash. That is the tragedy of so much of Christianity today. Because they have heard only one message. They have heard. Believe Believe Believe Believe. The important part before that repent is missing.

In electricity at a switch open a switch. You will see there are two wires there. When you put on the switch all that the switch does is make the two wires touch. That's all. You open any switch. I have done it myself I know.

The moment you put on the switch it touches. No. When you put on the switch the wires touch. The lights come on. When you turn off the switch the wires are separated. The light goes off. You can never have a switch with only one wire.

No light will work. You open any switch anywhere in the world. You open it. If you open a switch anywhere in the world there are always two wires there. The switch makes it touch the light comes on. You turn it off the wires are separated.

The light goes off. These two wires are a picture of repentance and faith. When they touch you get the light of God in your life. You remove one and you only have faith. It will be darkness darkness darkness.

You only have repentance. No faith. Then again darkness darkness. You can't have one alone. You need repentance plus faith. Then the lights come on. Then the light of God comes into your life. That's why you can have two believers believing the same thing.

100 agreed in that doctrine. But one is a bright light for God. And the other believer believing the same thing is full of darkness. Why is that? Because one has got repentance and faith the other has only got faith.

I hope you have discovered what is missing in your life. Whether you accept it or not that's up to you. But I believe that if you accept it it can bring the light of God into your life. If you ask yourself one simple question Are your values about worldly things the same as people in the world or complete opposite?

Testing Our Values by the Priorities of God’s Kingdom

What do people on the earth value? Money. The honor of men. The glory of women. Sinful entertainment. And more interest in worldly things than in knowing the word of God. More interest in reading the news on the internet or the newspaper than reading the scriptures.

And if a Christian is like that his mind is on earthly things. Ease his conscience he will read the Bible for five minutes. But his mind is not on that. His mind is 100 on the world just like everybody else.

He only has got a little Christian whitewash. That's not Christianity. So I hope we take this seriously. Whether you call yourself believer or unbeliever doesn't make a difference. What are your values?

That is the important thing. Let us pray. While our heads are bowed in prayer let us ask ourselves if God spoke to us anything today. And if God has spoken something to you. Say Lord please help me to take that seriously.

Because this is a matter of life and death. So you say Lord please help me to choose the right to choose the right way. Heavenly Father we pray that you will let this word sink into everybody's mind. And when they go to bed tonight help them to think about it.

We pray in Jesus name Amen.