Living By Every Word That God Speaks — Zac Poonen

Seeing Life From God’s Point of View

First of all a verse in Colossians in chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. You you heard me a number of times. You probably know I read many paraphrases of scripture even those which others think are heretic.

Not because I don't treat a paraphrase like actual scripture. I treat a paraphrase like a commentary. There are good bible commentaries which are not scripture but which can give you an insight into a verse which you wouldn't have otherwise.

So I read Living Bible, and I think that's about the best paraphrase and others like J .B. Phillips, Weymouth Message etc, which give us a highlight on some words, which I wouldn't think of. Here's one of those Colossians chapter 1 verse 9.

For this reason since the day we heard of it we don't cease to pray for you. And ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So J .B. Phillips paraphrase says in the last part of it That you may see things as it were from God's point of view.

Lightens up that verse to me more than to Be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. To see things as it were from to see things from God's point of view. This whole, you know, we speak so much in the church about walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

That in the new covenant we have an example and not exhortations like old covenant. Old covenant was laws, exhortations, but in the new covenant Jesus said follow me. So The secret of Jesus life was this and to become like Jesus basically means that I look at everything from God's point of view because Jesus said if you see me you've seen the Father and Whenever Jesus looked at a situation or a person Or the future or Anything in the world he looked at it from God's point of view.

Now we have grown up seeing everything from man's point of view from childhood and then we Go to school and mingle with so many others in the world and more and more. We are reinforced and looking at things from man's point of view.

We look at money from man's point of view. Very often we look at people. From man's point of view we can be prejudiced against certain people we don't like or partial towards certain people we like it's a battle to renew our mind and that is very often the reason why We can be uncertain of God's will the reason why Jesus could say at the end of his life 33 and a half years.

Father I have finished the work you gave me to do. I believe the reason was that he Every day in his life as a man Just listen to what the father had to say and did that. One of the classic examples of that is in Luke chapter 4.

Jesus Listening to the Father in Luke 4

There are many examples. Luke chapter 4 is one of them. This is the place where he went to Simon Peter's house in verse 38 and healed her. She was immediately healed Luke 4 39 and Then that was sunset verse 40 and at sunset the whole village was brought all those who were sick to him and Instead of doing a mass prayer.

He laid his hands on every single one of them and he healed them. That must have gone late into the night. Demons came out verse 41 and when day came even though it was late. He got up early in the morning and went along to some place To say father.

What should I do? Know. From a human standpoint when there's a revival like this. So many people healed demons cast out in such a tremendous manifestation of God's power. Where? Each one of them verse 40 healed every single person in that crowd healed.

And so many demons cast out is the ideal opportunity now to their hearts are so open to know this is The Son of God, this is the Messiah to take the opportunity to give them the gospel and tell them about What he had come for to free people from sin.

That's the human. Even a spiritually minded man would think like that. That's the common-sense thing to do. But he wanted to find out the father's will. See that to me is an indication of how He did not depend on himself even in such a situation where one would think the spiritual thing to do is this and By the time he had finished prayer people came to him.

They were searching for him and tried to keep him from going away from them in other words They were sweet trying to persuade him. This is the place where we need you. Think of the open doors here. He said no, I have to go somewhere else because I was sent for this purpose and he went.

It looked like a missed opportunity. Yet at the end of his life, he said I finished the work. To Have our mind renewed like that. It says in Romans 12 is the secret of finishing the will of God in our life.

Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 says about offering our body and our mind. Therefore verse 12 means in the light of The wonderful explanation of the gospel in Romans 1 to 11 more clearly than in any other book in the Bible.

The gospel is explained in verses chapter 1 to 11 and in view of this therefore, what should you do? First of all present your body. As a living sacrifice. This is the equivalent of the Old Testament type the type in the Old Testament.

We present our body to God. And since it's more difficult to present a body most people Just pay the type. But this is what God wants. What is acceptable to God is Is presenting my body saying Lord, here's my eyes and here's my tongue.

And never want to use them for myself anymore. You know, it's easier to be the type and to say that I won't use my eyes and tongue as I like for the next 31 days and Then the mind verse 2 Conformity to the world is in our mind.

Not in our dress, I believe, you know must be dressed decently, women must be dressed modestly, but essentially a Woman dresses in a certain way or even a man dresses in a certain way because of a certain thing in his mind.

It's in mind he has certain values. Or he does not have certain values or she does not have certain values. That's why the dress comes. So you just change a person on the outside. You haven't really changed them a lot of people who Dress women who dress very modestly are pretty arrogant in their mind.

They're not Christ-like inwardly. It's in the mind that the world you can be conformed to the world. So our aim is to change people's thinking in their mind. To be you know, we are born thinking like worldly people from childhood.

The things that are important to people in the world are important to us. Honor of men, money, pleasure eating good food sleeping and not taking study of the scriptures very seriously is bare minimum and To have that all changed.

To be renewed in our mind means to think like God thinks to see things as it were from God's point of view. Thus I can prove what the perfect will of God is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Look at the words used to talk about the will of God. It's good acceptable and perfect and I have to prove it. It's not like in the Old Testament where from outside God spoke Abraham or Samuel. No, it's the Holy Spirit now dwells within.

See with all the hearing of God's Word from the outside. They never could think like God thinks. It's in a moment. God said something and they did it whether it's Abraham or Samuel or anyone. There was no permanent change in their mind.

To begin to think like God that's that could only be after the Holy Spirit comes with him. It's a tremendous privilege to have the Holy Spirit within and fill us so that we begin to think like God thinks and we look at people the way God looks at them and We judge discern people.

In the way God discerns people we don't condemn people that is God's business. But we see people from God's point of view and that happens only if we have this habit of Being open to what God has to say to us every day.

Living by Faith Rather Than Self-Reliance

Let's turn to a verse in Habakkuk. See in the world the difference between a wicked person and a righteous person is. One who does a lot of evil things is wicked and one who does. You know good things and go to church read the Bible and pray and decent behavior is a good person, but the real definition of a Wicked and a righteous person is very different in God's eyes.

Here we read Habakkuk 2 in the Living Bible again, it reads like this in verse 4 the wicked Person trusts in himself. Like these Chaldeans or like the worldly people do but the righteous person lives by trusting in me.

So the difference the definition of wicked and righteous in God's eyes is not Doing wicked things doing good things. It's a question of who you lean upon. You either lean upon yourself you're a wicked person.

Lean upon God you're a righteous person. Wicked one Trusts in himself like the worldly people do. That's the verse. I like that paraphrase because I believe in the context of this that's exactly what it means.

But as the righteous person Trusts in me. And that is faith. So when it says you must live by faith or without faith, it is impossible to please God. What it means is that without This life of constant dependence on God, you're not really going to please him even if you do a lot of good things.

And essentially that is the choice that Adam had in the Garden of Eden. Tree of knowledge of good and evil. Where you partake and I've got it in me now. I know good and evil now. See one would think what's wrong in knowing good and evil to do evil again is evil is bad.

But in the day you get the knowledge of good and evil you will die. The day you get it you'll die. The day you have the knowledge of good and evil resident within yourself. You will die. But if you refuse to have it resident within yourself and you go to the tree of life, which is a life of God.

I want to live by your life not by a store of knowledge of good and evil. Which is dependence on myself that's how the death came and Life is say Lord. I don't want to live depending on myself. I could be wrong.

There is a way that you know Proverbs 14 27 is it it's repeated twice in chapter 16 as well. There is a way that seems right to a man. You know that verse but the end is death. You don't know it let's know it it's good to know these verses you know if you are young and You remember these verses it could be Oh First 12 14 12.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is The way of death and that's repeated in chapter 16 also twice. So there's a way that seems right to a man. But his end is the way of death. Now if I really believe that there's so many things that appear right to me and it's dangerous to go that way.

This is why the person who lives in dependence on God and says Lord. I have no confidence in myself. Is really going to be the one who? Accomplished the most in his life. That's what we see in Jesus in that Peter's hometown it looks right to me to be here now.

Because it's such a response. And the door lots of people are open, but the Lord says no it's not the place for you to you got to move on. Because God knows the hearts of people he knows exactly where we can Fulfill his will for us in the one lifetime we have.

And I believe this is how Jesus lived from the time. He came to an age of understanding as a little child. That was not just by an academic knowledge of scripture even though he knew the scriptures well enough to even Discuss it with the scribes.

Of course he must know the scriptures well. But that's not an academic knowledge. It was listening to God. That was the way Jesus lived. See in Isaiah 15 and verse 4 he knew what to say in each situation because He says the Lord's gonna give me the tongue of a disciple the father that I may know how to sustain the weary one with one word and The secret of it was that every morning He woke up and His ear he allowed the father to wake up his ear in a year to listen.

As a disciple means to listen in order to obey. So he woke up in the morning and say okay, I got a year now what's the father saying to me and It's not something we can just say okay, I've written my Bible today because I found That a lot of times when I read the Bible.

I wasn't listening to God necessarily. And a lot of other days when I did not necessarily started the Bible in the morning I listen so You know 1 ,400 years Christians never had a printed Bible. How could they listen to God?

How could you follow the good evangelical rule of reading the Bible in the morning? If that was so important God would have allowed printing to be discovered about 200 years before Christ. So that everybody would have a Bible.

I see the wisdom of God. I see the wisdom of God to allow printing to be discovered 1450 or 70 or something in other words. We are to be dependent more on the Holy Spirit. Like the early Christians were they didn't have a Bible man coming to a meeting without a Bible and the preacher coming without a Bible either and many of us have read the Bible so much, but I've Sometimes thought I haven't tried it out yet anywhere.

Is it wasn't we come to a meeting like the first century Christians all of us come without a Bible? And we're all going to prophesy and You can't say. See what the verse before this says and see what the verse after this says all that intellectual stuff is gone.

If you have to speak what God spoke to your heart. That is how the early Christians they did hear a scripture. They would probably go to the synagogue and read Scriptures there were scrolls, but people were not rich enough to afford scrolls.

Each of them individually. But this is how God wanted man. Man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word That proceeds from the mouth of God. That's what we see here he listened and When he listened it says the verse by the Lord God opened my ear and I was not disobedient.

And when he was like that he could face any situation whether people spat on him. Hit him verse 6. It doesn't matter in whatever situation he faced after that Verse 7 he knew that his father would help us and it didn't matter therefore.

I've set my face like a flint. And I know I will not be ashamed because I'm going the direction which my father told me to go you know it says in John 7 that he is He told his brothers. No, I'm not coming to Jerusalem.

Following the Spirit’s Timing Rather Than Human Pressure

And five minutes later he went. This is amazing. He lived by listening to the father all the time so Verse 9 the Lord God will help you and if you fear God verse 10 You're a servant walk like that. And if you think there's no darkness, there'll be light but Don't, verse 11, don't kindle your own fire.

That means your bright ideas and Uncycle yourself because you You lie down in torment. It's quite an interesting passage that whole section from Verse 4 to 11 teaching us what you read in Habakkuk. The righteous one man is the one who depends on me.

And listens to what I have to say. This passage I referred to is one that often comes to my mind in John chapter 7. It says he had his brothers by the way, you know didn't believe in him and verse 5 it says His brothers didn't believe in him and they told him Verse 3 leave here and go to Judea so your disciples can see what you're doing.

Because it's the time of the Feast of Tabernacles verse 2 and all the Jews had to go to Jerusalem in that feast and He said so Jesus told him my time is not yet here verse 6. So your time is always opportune you can go wherever you like whatever you like, that's how man is but I can't do that.

I can only go Feast of Tabernacles or no Feast of Tabernacles. I can go only if the father tells me to go. Not because of a law says do this. You can do whatever you like and So you go verse to the feast.

I won't go because my time has not fully come and so they go and When his brothers had gone he himself went up secretly verse 10. Now, doesn't it look like he told them a lie? As it were I don't want to go with you fellas.

So I'll say I'm not going. No. That's the way a man would think. But I understand it completely. It's like I often compare this to these police people who have this wireless sets in their car. They can't go to are you going there?

No, I'm not going there. 10 seconds later they get a Command from headquarters go there they go and it looks as if he's told a lie because he said I'm not coming in 15 seconds. Later he's going there.

This is how Jesus lived. But the brothers wouldn't understand that when they when he's they see him in Jerusalem. He said why you said you were not coming here, man. You didn't want to walk with us. But one who listens to God is going to be misunderstood by people who don't listen to God.

I'm sure brothers misunderstood it. Jesus is always misunderstood. He never one of the wonderful things I see about Jesus. He never tried to explain himself. See Mark's gospel. Many of these things, you know little little things that you see in scripture where Mark chapter 11.

Where you see I mean if your passion in life is to walk as Jesus walked. Like it says in 1 John 2 6. That's become more and more a passion of my life looking under Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

Which Hebrews 11 40 says is the better thing? Then pulling down the walls of Jericho and splitting the Red Sea. All the wonderful things shutting the mouths of lions and all the wonderful things that we wish we could do which Old Testament People did it says that the last words of Hebrews 11 God's provided something better.

That better thing is to look under Jesus and Live as he lived or walk as he walked or run as he ran. And when you see that then you you read the Gospels in a completely different way. You read this as well between the lines.

You don't read just the facts. Which is like children's Sunday school. Jesus did this and did that but you see behind it all. For example, you read here Jesus Was going to Jerusalem verse 12 he left Bethany and he became hungry.

And a distance he saw a fig tree and he came and found nothing in it and he Cursed it may no one eat fruit from you again verse 14 and his disciples are listening. Now if you were to judge Jesus from the outside.

You would say he got so upset because there were no figs there. He was hungry it says Verse 12 and he came there to see. If he would find anything on it, and this is one of those places where you see clearly that though he was God he did not use the prerogatives of God knowing everything omissions.

You're here to come to the fig tree. He was hungry a hundred percent of man. You see there and Seeing oh, there was no figs. And then what is he cursing and it says it's very interesting when Mark writes his disciples were listening.

And This guy's upset. There are no figs. He's hungry and there are no figs here, but he was not upset he says He was trying to teach them a lesson in faith you see that next morning verse 20. They saw the fig tree withered and He said Lavi this thing you cursed us.

It is already withered. He says have faith in God, that's what that's the reason why he cursed it there's always a reason why Jesus does something and Like it says in 1 Corinthians 2 the natural man cannot understand a spiritual man.

Faith, Forgiveness, and Spirit-Led Action

Why does this spiritual man do certain things certain ways? If you are not spiritual you will not understand. You think he got upset? We're not to judge by what our eyes see or our ears hear. He wanted to teach them faiths is not only this fig tree if you say to this mountain be cast into the sea.

It'll happen. So when you pray believe that you receive them and when you stand praying forgive. Because it's because you don't forgive that you can't have faith very often. And then your father will forgive this close connection between forgiveness and faith as well forgiving others.

So important Jesus stressed that so much make sure you're forgiven everybody dear brothers. I really believe many people don't have enough faith because there's someone they haven't forgiven. Something somebody did is always a wrangling in their mind.

We can't get rid of the memory of it. But if I don't have an attitude of forgiveness, I always have a way I look at him or think about him. No wonder I find it difficult to believe in times of stress or in a difficult situation.

Pray you believe but if you want to believe you better forgive everybody. So that is what Jesus this amazing section from verse 22 onwards 26 came up through the cursing of a big tree. So it's not because he was upset.

So that's the first thing I want to say. The second thing is Because Jesus was listening I believe he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to curse the tree and he did it. I can't imagine. I mean, you know, I wouldn't be upset if I didn't Get what I wanted.

I went to store to buy something and ran out of what I wanted. And Jesus was way ahead of us. He's not upset about anything. His life was a perfect rest. He was prompted by the father Cursed the tree and Then they came to Jerusalem and listen to this he entered the Temple but before this I want you to see verse 11.

Just the previous day Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple. Now what is happening in the temple that is mentioned in verse 15. There were people selling Tables of money sellers of doves. They were all there the previous day as well verse 11 and it says he looked around at everything and It was late and he went away.

He saw all these people selling doves. Making money tables of the moneychangers. He looked around Looking around at everything verse 11. He went away. Next morning, he comes back to the same temple just 24 hours later and he drives off these people Overturned the tables of the moneychangers and seats of doves and wouldn't permit it.

Lean says my house is called a house of prayer. You made it a robber's den wasn't it a robber's den the previous day as well. He would not act Until prompted by the father even if he sees something terribly wrong.

There's a time and a season for everything like it says in Ecclesiastes. See there are people who can see this. Jesus took a whip and chased out these people making money in the name of religion and say well God's called me to have a whip and.

And There are people who when they preach every single Sunday they have a whip. They say I'm following Jesus, but remember Jesus used the whip only two days in three and a half years. So many times he went to the temple.

Only twice in three and a half years. See the proportion three and a half years about a thousand days and two days out of a thousand is point two percent. So he didn't do it every day. I don't know whether you know that Jesus did it twice.

This is towards the end of his life. Because very soon after that he goes to the cross. And the other is in John chapter 2 at the beginning of his ministry right at the beginning. John chapter 2 is. The first miracle is at Cana and then he went into the temple John 2 15 and he made a scourge of cords and he Turned the people out and overturned their tables.

John 2 15. And he said stop making my father's house a place of business verse 16 last part. That's the beginning of his ministry, but in three and a half years. Those fellows that all come back. You know, it's something you Cleanse even in a church and after a while, it's all come back again.

That's why sometimes we need to preach the same message again and again and again again. Things that you cleanse once come back again and pretty pretty soon so these guys that come back again in this time and and He didn't get upset every day and keep on chasing them out.

Yet the time in a season for everything. But notice one difference here. We're 16. It's a you made my father's house a place of business and In Mark, these are little things that you can see in Mark 12 or Mark 11.

He says in Mark 11 17. You've made my father's house the robbers again. The house of business it was bad as it was verse 16. And had become a robbers that these people were doing business in God's house were now become thieves.

They had descended to a lower level in those three and a half years. Well, I'm sure after the crucifixion resurrection, they went back to that business again because we see it happening all over Christendom today.

The money changers are back in the temple so it's but Jesus was Led by the father and all these things. So many things I see in his life, you know, you're well familiar with John chapter 12. Just showing you a few instances like this to show the way he lived to walk as Jesus walk John.

Sorry John chapter 11. You read he got a message. Verse 3. When Lazarus was sick verse 2 John 11 2 3 Lord he whom you love is sick. That's all they know. He'll understand who it is and Again his reaction now we hear somebody seriously sick.

We love we rush. Jesus heard this it's interesting Jesus heard this and. And He stayed we're six when he heard that he was sick he stayed two days longer. It's so contrary to human reaction. Somebody I love is sick.

Oh, and I better stay here two more days. Don't go yet and not just two days. By the time he reached Lazarus was dead for four days. Because that's because Jesus had to walk all that distance. But anyway, there was a he moved only when he Was prompted by the father once the two days were over then in verse 7.

He said, okay, let's go to Judea now and He went there he was. He lived according to a timetable that the father had made for him. And that's why his life is so effective every day. He accomplished exactly what the father wanted him to do.

Because he was listening like you read in Isaiah 50 verse 4 in the morning. You opened my ear and That doesn't mean like in the early days when I read it right in the beginning of my Christian life walk I thought it means in the early morning.

Hearing God Throughout the Day

I was not reading the Bible good. You know at each stage we live according to the understanding we have that God leads us further but then I realized that It was the morning his ears were open and it was never shut Throughout the day.

He was just listening the whole day. So I realized that it's not just a question of reading the Bible in the morning. But listening throughout the day. It's an attitude of listening. While I'm doing all my other work.

It's not conscious listening. But conscious listening at times, but unconscious listening most of the times like breathing maybe times when you do some deep breathing exercises, but Otherwise we are breathing unconsciously all the time and that's how we live.

You can say physically man should live by breathing all the time. Spiritually man should live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God Again all the time. See. That's what Jesus said in the temptation in Matthew 4.

It's interesting that this is the these are the first words of his public ministry Matthew 4 for man shall not live bread alone, but every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God the very first words of his public ministry began with his response to Satan in time of temptation saying This is the most important thing to Hear every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Not that proceeded 1 ,500 years ago when Moses wrote Genesis and Numbers and Deuteronomy but proceeds present continuous. Present continuous means something that's happening all the time. So God is speaking all the time.

I may not be listening all the time. God is speaking all the time. I use the example of You know there are voices right now here all I need is a radio set here to hear those voices and I can choose which frequency to turn to.

Which of these voices in this room I want to listen to. It's like that the devil is always speaking. God's always speaking. And if I'm not tuned into that frequency, I don't hear a thing I don't. I don't hear all the music going on or there are sermons going on here right now in the air.

But I don't hear anything. I have to be attuned to that frequency and I believe that's the picture I get of. In the midst of a world where there's so many voices so many things that come into our mind.

I Can in the midst of it all listen to the voice of God if I develop the habit. And if I if God sees in my heart Lord, I want to hear you it's the greatest longing in my heart to hear you because According to your word the first word you spoke in your public ministry all spiritual life is dependent on Listening to the word that is proceeding Constantly from the mouth of God.

I want to live spiritually. I don't want a spiritual death to come into any part of my life and Because if I am living spiritually, I know I'll be a blessing wherever I go. And I'll be a blessing All the time.

I'm awake. I'll be a blessing and he's other life fulfill your purpose because I've Attuned to the voice of God it doesn't come quickly. But over a period of time you'll be amazed to see how the Holy Spirit works in you because he sees in you a great passion to live by the word that's Continuously proceeding from God's mouth.

Think of how much we have missed in our past years be renewed. By the spirit of your mind that you may prove the perfect will of God means the more God speaks to you and you obey the more your mind will begin to think like God thinks.

That is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It means to think like God thinks. Then I can walk like Jesus walked. I can I begin to think like God thinks. Then I can walk like Jesus walked.

Rest, Prayer, and Dependence on God

You know go into the temple one day and see all the terrible things happening and do nothing. Come back the next day and do something violent. And people won't understand it. The best part of some of these things is where you know after he Jesus did see Jesus come to the temple so many times.

And they saw all these things three and a half years. It was going on. And he never does anything. One day he You know he made the whip. The first time the second time. I don't know where he got it from but in John chapter 2 It says he sat down and made a whip.

And he's telling the disciples get a little cords few cords together, and they're wondering what he wants. He sits down there. Makes a whip if you didn't notice that I'm gonna show it to you. These are little little things.

John chapter 2 Verse 15 he made a scourge of cords. I don't know where the disciples went and got all those cords from whatever they got it. And he sits down there and twists it all together, and they're wondering what the world is doing and he Chases these people out the.

I don't think he whipped the people. He whipped the sheep in the oxen. Turn the tables and and the best part of it at the end of it is. He doesn't tell his disciples. Hey fellas. I didn't lose my temper.