Three Stations Where You Can Be Empowered In Your Life — Sandeep Poonen

God’s Promise to Do a New Thing

It's from Isaiah 43, verse 18 and 19, where he says, Isaiah says, do not remember the former things. I will do a new thing. It will spring forth. I will make a road in the wilderness. He will make what in the wilderness?

A road, roadway. And rivers in the desert. Can we, is it okay to put up those words for that? Okay. I will do something new. Now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness.

Rivers, rivers in the desert. Hold one more time. I will do something new. Now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness. Rivers, rivers in the desert.

Do not bring to mind the former thing. And benither not the things of the past. The people whom I've chosen and formed for myself will declare, will declare. Do not bring to mind, do not bring to mind the former thing.

And consider not the things of the past. The people whom I've chosen and formed for myself will declare, will declare my praise. Behold, I will do something new. Now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway in the wilderness. Rivers, rivers in the desert. Father, we pray that may be true today, Lord, as we come to your word and around your table. That there will be a new thing that you seek to do.

Lord, that there will be a new thing that you seek to do. Help us to focus our eyes on you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. These verses are very important to us. They were given to us. And we put them on music.

But it has a special meaning for us. And one of the subjects that I was given to speak on what we thought about when I was talking with brother Arjan was the pure truth. I grew up in a Christian family as you heard.

But I had a lot of questions. But I had a lot of questions. I still have a lot of questions. And that's how I learn, that's how I grow. So young people here, if you have questions, it's not a bad thing.

But then it's good to meet people who also ask those questions. Not all answers are good answers. Some answers are terribly wrong. But still we have to keep asking the questions. And look for the truth.

The Search for the True God

One of the questions I ask here is, with which God do I interact? I grew up in India. On one side I had a neighbor who was a Hindu. My family, my family was Christian. But next to me was another neighbor who was a Muslim.

The Muslim went away and then a new neighbor came and he was a Buddhist. And my best friend in high school was someone who believed in Jainism. With which God do I interact? In the time of Jesus there were also different Gods with whom one interacted.

But Jesus introduced a new way of looking at him. I also want to say this about revival. I've been to a few revival conferences. I've spoken at a few. I've listened to a lot of revival messages. But I've also looked at what it has done to my life.

It has not produced a lasting fire. Because I don't think revival conferences can do that. So I'm not interested in lighting a fire in any of you. Because there are only a few saints of God who have done that to me.

Or many have done that, but the fire does not last. But I want to do something else. But I want to point you to a gas station. Do you know what happens when you go to a gas station? You can completely smear yourself with gasoline.

And set it on fire. You can provide other things with energy. And that remains, like cars. You understand that. We have to give our bodies as a living sacrifice. Do you know why we are not fiery? Maybe we need more fuel.

A revival message can make you fiery for a while. But then the fire goes out. There is another preacher who called it fireworks. A big fireworks show. But then it goes out. What we want is fire. I want to show you three gas stations.

Three gas stations where you can always be filled with fuel. Or another analogy. Always pushing the car. Down the narrow way. Trying to get to the end of the road. What if I could point you to a gas station?

And that car can zoom. I want to show you gas stations in my life. Which God do I interact with? I had an opportunity once when I was attending to a woman who died. And the nurses were washing her dead body.

I watched her take her last breath. As I stepped outside so the nurses could take care of her dead body. This was the picture that was hanging outside that room. Now, you need to know something about this woman.

This woman had AIDS. She died of that sickness. She was not a holy woman. She gave her life to Jesus shortly before she died. As I saw her and I thought about her, what she was experiencing as they were washing her dead body.

This was the picture that I saw there. And I imagined that this was her. You can't see the AIDS here. But it is there. But what I loved about this picture is that you couldn't see her face. But you could see the face of Jesus.

And I saw her. And I saw relief in his eyes. I saw compassion in his eyes. I saw joy in his eyes. That his daughter had made it home. She had not always lived for him. Most of her life she probably didn't.

She didn't even have a home, a family where she could take care of her. That's why she ended up in a nursing home. And she died alone. Being taken care of by strangers. But now she was home. Because she had asked the Lord Jesus to come into her heart.

And there was no judgment on Jesus' eyes. Just relief. And the Lord Jesus asked me at this time when I was in my life. I was doing a lot to help the poor. Things like this. And the Lord said, you know that's how I look at you when you come home.

That's how I respond every time you come home to say hi to me. What you call quiet time. What you call alone time. I see how you look. You're so sorry for all the sins you've committed. You feel so miserable for the time you should have spent in my word.

But now you're here. Did you ever take a look at my face when you came home? Have you ever looked at your mother's face when you go home? How happy she is. You want food. She's happy to see you. That's what Song of Solomon says.

That you prepared a banqueting table for me. You, God, prepared a banqueting table for me to eat. But your eyes were on me. My eyes are on the food. God's eyes are feasting on me. This is the story of the lost son.

I like this picture too. You don't see the prodigal son's face. You see the father's face. Dear brothers and sisters, is this the view of God that you have? Is this the default view of God that you have?

For many years I never interacted with this God. I interacted with the Holy God. But I never interacted with God who was a loving father. I always thought about how I was failing Him. But I never saw the reset that Jesus was bringing.

And this is massive. It's life changing. When we see that this is the new covenant. The same God in the old covenant is the same God in the new covenant. God hasn't changed. But this is so amazing. But this is so crucial.

God interacts with us in a different way. He doesn't interact with us in the same way He interacted with Moses. He doesn't interact with us in the same way He interacted with Daniel. It's completely different how He interacts with us.

If we don't see that, we read the old covenant and we get a different view of God than how He interacts with us. It's the same God. But the framework, the covenant in which God interacts with us has changed.

And it's so different that God said, I tore up the old covenant. And He said, I won't interact with you like I interacted with my people Israel at the mountain Sinai. That has to sink in. It's torn up.

It's not the way He interacts with us. I can read the old covenant, but I cannot put that way of interaction between God and me. John 1, verse 18. There are so many verses that talk about how God is radically, completely different in the way He interacts with me.

John 1, verse 18. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is on the lap of the Father, He has explained God. I used to think that there were thrones in heaven. God the Father had one throne.

God Jesus had one throne. And God the Holy Spirit had another throne. But this verse told me differently. Where is Jesus? John 1, verse 18. On the lap of the Father. It's in the Bible. And where are we?

We are seated in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1. Or Ephesians chapter 2. So where are we? In the lap of the Father. Abide with me. Jesus says. Dwell with me. Come up higher, He says.

Be seated in the heavenly places, He says. Where? Where are we seated? At the end of the dining table of this long dining table where God is at one end and we are at the other end? He says, come sit on my lap.

I know it's very difficult for some of you to think that you deserve to be there. Romans chapter 8, verse 15. You have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again. You have a spirit of adoption by which you cry out, Daddy.

This is what children do who are sitting on the lap of the Father. Jesus came to introduce God as a Father. In John chapter 5, verse 18, it says that the Jews tried to kill Him because He dared to call God Father.

You know what Jesus said? I don't care if you kill me. I'm not going to stop calling God my Father. Because I'm tearing up the old agreement. I'm bringing a new agreement for humans. And they killed Him for that.

But He said, I don't care if you kill me. That is who God is to all of you. This is the new agreement. The question is, do we deal with God this way? This is the massive difference between the old covenant and the new covenant.

In the old covenant, the prayer is the prayer in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Hear, O Israel, God is one. In the old covenant, the prayer in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. And everything in the old covenant is holy, holy, holy.

But when Jesus comes and His disciples ask Him, how do you pray? Does He say, O holy God in heaven? No, that became the second rule in the prayer. But before that, there's another line above that. Jesus said, before you get to everything else, even about how holy God is, before that, let me change everything to say, our Father who art in heaven.

It's not, O holy God in heaven, thank you for being my Father. It says, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. He took the fatherhood of God and made it the number one thing in the prayer.

The Lord had me stop for a season on the first line of the Lord's prayer. Stop at line number one. Our Father who art in heaven, stop, you just need to let that sentence sink in. Stop for a moment, let that sink in.

Before you get to the next line. Let your will be done as it is in heaven, as it is on earth. But our Father who art in heaven, let that sink in. Let that face of the Father, full of joy that the Son has returned to Him, let that sink in.

Dear brothers and sisters, I don't want to give you fireworks here, I don't want to set you on fire. But this is a gas station for the rest of your life. I don't care if you contract AIDS in five minutes.

I don't care if you contract AIDS in five minutes. And you're deep in sin. There's still a gas station for you. I sure hope you don't. This is the life that Jesus has opened up for us. This is the best life we can live.

To live with God as a Father. Let me show you a couple more verses before I go to my next point. This is all over the new covenant. 1 Peter chapter 1. As you're turning there, what is the beginning of wisdom?

I think some of you may have a guess. But I'll tell you what I think your guess is. I have a feeling it's an old covenant guess. I had it on the front of my school, so I know that verse very well. Proverbs chapter 9 verse 10.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Is that the beginning of wisdom for us? I'm sorry, before I go to 1 Peter chapter 1, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 30.

Because you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. What's the beginning of wisdom? Not the fear of the Lord. Not for those who are in Christ. Jesus Christ is the beginning of wisdom. Not the fear of the Lord.

Jesus Christ is our wisdom. It's not something we have to do. It's somebody we have to be with. 1 Peter chapter 1. What is the beginning of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. See what it says in verse 17. 1 Peter 1 verse 17.

If you call God Father, live your life to the full, or live in holy fear. So which comes first? This is a logic question. Maybe teenagers can figure this out. If you call God Father, live in holy fear.

Which comes first? Calling God Father, living with God as Father, or living in holy fear? It's crystal clear to me. Knowing God as a Father comes first. Now we're absolute fools if we know God as Father and don't live in holy fear.

1 Peter 1 verse 15 and 16 says, conduct yourself in holy fear, because I am holy, so you shall be holy. But it's so important to get the order right. Otherwise we are no different than devout Old Testament Israelites.

That's about the best we can get. And a lot of Christians are living no different than Old Testament Israelites did. Because the first step we've gotten wrong. God is our Father. We have received a spirit by which we cry out, Daddy.

That's the first step in the journey. Everything comes after that. Now, what gives us the right to call God Father is extremely important too. But what gives us the right to call God Father is also very important.

And what makes us receive Christ Jesus as our wisdom is extremely important. And as we all know probably in this room and 1 Corinthians chapter 1 talks about it we can turn there so that I can show that point.

He says there in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 22, 23 We preach Christ the crucified. Because He is the wisdom of God and the power of God. So if I say it's not the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but Christ and Christ crucified is the beginning of wisdom then it's extremely important for me to understand Christ crucified.

The Cross and the Blood of Christ in Scripture

So I wanted to go to the next slide. Okay, there you go. So the next slide is what role does Jesus the Son of God have in my life? Now we talk a lot about Christ crucified. I pull different pictures of the cross.

We could have used the background that was there for your songs too. One of the backgrounds is the ones we use for our songs in our church. We got some very pretty looking necklaces that I see showing up there that I googled.

I have some theological crosses with a sheet which somehow doesn't have any blood on it on the bottom right. It looks pretty. Which is the cross of Christ? Which of the ones do you pick? Which ones do you like for your background of your phone?

Is that how we look at the cross of Christ? There were some people who were walking in a forest. And they saw a big there was a fire in the distance. And there were some people gathered at a distance looking up at a tree.

So these people went up closer. One of these men was a very godly man. They were godly men? One of the men there was a godly man. He is the one who told the story. And this is in India. And as they went close to the tree they saw what all these people were watching.

There was a nest in the branches. And there was a fire coming and the tree at the bottom had caught on fire. And the fire was going up the tree. But there was a nest and there was the mother bird squawking very emotionally.

And circling around it. Because the babies were in the nest. And the babies were not big enough to fly. What does the mother bird do? All it could do was squawk and run around in circles. And they saw the fire was creeping up.

And the mother bird would swoop down and try to pick up the birds but it couldn't pick them up. It was too heavy for the bird to pick up. And it would get more frantic. And the fire was getting closer and closer to the nest.

And the mother bird. And finally as the flames were getting right to the nest. And starting to burn the nest. The mother did something really interesting. The mother bird swooped down to cover the babies.

To somehow protect the babies from being burnt out. And the mother and all the baby birds were burnt. And the man of God said you saw something really interesting today. You see the love that God has put in a little baby bird.

Such a small bird. How much smaller is its heart? But how much love there was in that heart? That it didn't know what to do except to give its life. To protect its babies. What did God the Father do when he saw the creation plunging into hell?

He sent his son. Gave up everything. He gave up everything. And he died so that we could escape. And that's the difference between the story of the bird and us. The mother bird in the story of the Lord Jesus died while the children, the young birds could also escape because of that.

And Jesus says in Matthew 23 Oh people of God, people of God. Jerusalem, Jerusalem how did I long for you to gather your children like a hen and her chicks? But you were not willing. So Jesus just gave up everything for us.

Here's the problem with all of these pictures of the cross. It's okay for a background of songs. But it leaves the word of God untouched. Dear brothers and sisters in the Old Testament 99 of people who read the Bible of the day missed Jesus completely.

They read the right book but they missed Christ. Do you think it's different today? I believe it is different. It is no different. Most of us who are reading the Bible are missing Christ. So when we say Christ crucified is my wisdom it's not something simple.

Think about the mother bird that died. That story and what Jesus did has to influence my reading of the word. This is a picture of the Bible that I preferred. Because there's something happened to the Bible here.

There's been blood spilled over the Bible. I have to read my Bible as if the blood has been spilled over it. There's something I don't know if you've ever seen blood pouring out of somebody else. It's different.

Even from an animal. It's different. The Bible says the life is in the blood. That's why I can understand our instinct when we see blood coming out of somebody. It's different. We sing so much about the blood.

We keep it sacred. But somehow it does not get into the text. So we miss Jesus. And Jesus said to the Old Testament people, go and learn what it means. You're reading the right text. But go and learn what it means because you've completely missed it.

And God tells us too, you're reading the right text. You're reading the Holy Bible. Yes, you sing about Christ and Him crucified. But go and learn what it means. Let the blood of Jesus and what that really means spill into the text of the Bible.

That's what it says in 1 Peter chapter 1. If you call God Father, let's go read it. Live your lives in holy fear. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 17 and 18. Because you were redeemed not with silver and gold but verse 19 with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

This is what gives us the right, this view of God and the Bible and the cross is what gives us the right to call God Father. This is the proof that we're calling God as a Father correctly. This is the proof that we're calling God as a Father correctly.

Because it results in this view of the Bible. We treat it as the blood has been spilled on it. And it's not your mother's blood. Somebody more precious than your mother. This very Savior whom you killed.

That's whose blood is spilled over the Bible and we preach Christ. And we preach Christ crucified. And when we preach Christ crucified we're preaching who killed, who crucified Christ. And it's not you, it's me.

When I preach Christ crucified I'm saying I'm the one who killed Him. And when you, we talk about Christ to your friends you're talking about the Christ you killed. And when you talk about Jesus to your friends you're talking about the Jesus you crucified.

It's the blood you and I spilled. So, when I read the commands of Scripture when the blood has not seeped into the text His words become heavy. His yoke becomes heavy. His burden is not light. Jesus' words remain true today.

Come to me all of you whom the words of God have become heavy and weary and heavy laden. Come to me and I'll give you rest. Dear brothers and sisters this is a gas station. At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burdens of my heart rolled away do you have burdens today?

It's at the cross. But it's not just a picture of the cross like we see one of these crosses. A lot of us are worshipping on a lot of very pretty crosses. And the cross is empty for us because we haven't seen the blood that was spilled.

We haven't properly recognized whose blood it was that was spilled. And we have not considered who spilled the blood. Dear brothers and sisters this is a gas station. You don't need revival meetings. You've got to go to the gas station.

You know the way to get there. Have you been with me all these years and you've not met the Father? That's what Jesus asked Philip. And Jesus asked us today have you been coming to the church for so long and you do not know how to get to the gas station?

Let's open up the scriptures with new eyes. Whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament. For me now God is a Father. He's always running down the road to meet me. The moment I turn to face Him.

That is the meaning of the word repentance. The moment I turn around to face Him again. He's running down the road to meet me. I have to interact with that God. And never make God anybody else but this God.

I put this picture on the backdrop of my computer for years. I printed this out full screen and put it on my wall. Because I needed to see that this is the view of God. I needed to keep reminding myself of because I had different views of God in my background.

And my own failures kept telling me this is not the God who you're worshipping. And the word of God and the prodigal son's story kept telling me no this is the word this is God. But the word of God and the likeness of the lost son kept telling me this is the God who you're worshipping.

The slide won't go any further. Dear brothers and sisters it's not something that happens magically. Don't think that all of a sudden putting this picture up will make such a big difference. No, but it says on thy law I will meditate day and night.

And Jeremiah 17 says this is the one who's planted by the river is the one who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. This has to sink in. This view of why this word of God is so can be so powerful.

Jesus told the Israelites the Pharisees of that day you search the scriptures because you think in them you have life. But you're unwilling to come to me that you might have life. You're not willing to see the blood that was shed over the text.

To give you the right to even call God by His name. You know the holy Jews don't even want to spell God out. They say G-D. They don't even spell the whole of Yahweh out. That's how holy God was. Now we just say Jesus.

We have to see what it took for us to climb on God's lap. Because of that He's the only one who matters. We know that verse if God be for us who can be against us? You know where that verse is from? You should know.

Romans 8 .31. The reason why you should know Romans 8 .31 is because you should keep reading. Because then it says in Romans 8 .32. He who did not spare His own son but gave Him over us for us all how will He not along with Him freely give us all things?

What shall we say? Who is the one who condemns? God is the one who justifies. Jesus the Christ is the one who died who rose and is sitting at the right hand of God and interceding for us. And the reason He was able to do that is because He gave up everything.

And He could do that because He gave up everything for us because He spilled His blood. That is why He is the only one who matters. It is a response to seeing the blood to seeing the word of God. I must have that response.

What shall separate me from the love of Christ? Romans 8 .35. Nakedness Famine Hunger Sword Peril Danger. We are being delivered like sheep to be slaughtered. Romans 8 .36. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Why do we overwhelmingly conquer? When we are being offered up like sheep to be slaughtered because it is all worth it for Him who gives us the right to call God our Father who gives us the right to go into His presence at any time.

He is the only one who matters. It is not a thing we have to work up. Got to go to the gas station. You don't work it up. You have to fill up in the love of God. This is the next question. Who hates God, the Holy Spirit in my life the most?

The Powerlessness of Satan and the Enemy Within

For those who are born again we've got the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We are born of the Holy Spirit. And dear young people those of you who have given your life to the Lord maybe older people too.

This is a big mistake that I have made. Who hates God, the Holy Spirit the most in my life? Most Christians think it is the devil. And we often have an unholy and an unjustly high perspective on the devil.

We think that the devil coming this way. We think of him big way bigger than us. Fire and lightning coming out of his belly. His claws and his nails could kill us. He could crush us with his wrist. Or we could have this view.

This is the scriptural view. Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Just like that Colossians chapter 2 verse 15. It is so important dear brothers and sisters we understand who the real enemy is.

Maybe that is why our lives are so defeated. Maybe that is why we are so afraid of the devil. We don't read scripture to understand how powerless he is for the Christian. We don't recognize how powerless the devil is for every single Christian.

Colossians 2 verse 15. Having disarmed rulers, powers that's including the devil he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them. 1 Peter says the same thing. Resist him. That's all it takes to resist the devil.

The devil is less powerful for the Christian who has Christ in him. The devil is less powerful than an ant crawling around his pulpit. You can just flick him and he goes. That's how powerless the devil is for the Christian.

That's how powerless the devil is for the Christian. This is God's word. It feels weird to say it. But we stand on the word of God. And God's word is our strength. So when God says that he has disarmed the authorities.

And when Romans chapter 16 says that God will trample Satan under your feet. That's the same Bible that says that Jesus died for your sins. It's the same Bible that says resist the devil and he will flee from you.

And that's the only thing Jesus did. He quoted the word of God and the devil had to flee. The devil had no chance. Jesus resisted him by the word of God. So who hates the Holy Spirit the most in our life?

Who is the greatest enemy to the Holy Spirit in your life? It's not the devil. That's another thing I realized. That I was fighting the wrong enemy. And Romans chapter 8 told me that it was somebody different.

Romans 8 told me that it was my selfish will inside of me. He was an enemy of the cross an enemy of the Spirit. Because it is hostile towards God. Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 7. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8 verse 8. The greatest undefeated enemy of Jesus is my selfish own will. If I had the time and I would have been in my own country I would have driven with the car and I could have bought a mirror.

Because I didn't have a slide for that I would have brought it here. And I would have asked Do you know who is the greatest enemy? And then I would have shown you the mirror. That is the greatest enemy.

Not you as a person who has been redeemed but the will inside of you that hates God. That is what Romans chapter 8 verse 7 says. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And this is what we need to do to this enemy of God.

Crucifying the Flesh as a Daily Way of Life

Galatians chapter 5 verse 24. And I want you to pay attention to the word that is used. And I want you to pay attention to the word that is used. But those who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with his heart and desires.

Pay attention to that. Paul does not say you have to resist your selfish will your flesh. For many centuries they hung people. If you wanted to kill someone you would crucify him or hang him. But do you know what is the good news about hanging?

It is done in a few seconds. Nowadays they electrocute or give you some poison. Today if they execute someone they give you the electric chair or poison. But that is not what crucifixion is. In those days of Jesus there was also the concept of hanging.

Judas hung himself. Paul could have said those who are of Christ have hung their flesh. But no he did not say that and he had a purpose. They crucified they have crucified their flesh. What does that tell me?

It is slow. It is long. It is dirty. It takes time. But that is the way you are going to defeat the greatest undefeated enemy of the Lord in your life right now. It is crucifixion not electrocution. And we want snap your fingers just get rid of this thing inside of me that hates God.

And there is no such thing. The devil resists him and he flees from you. But your selfish will. Jesus said if you want to follow me you have to deny yourself take up your cross and follow me because that is what I did.