Let Your Love Grow In Discernment — Zac Poonen

Heavenly Riches and Faithfulness With Money

I told you that we have to be careful with our money and with our mouth if you want to receive, you want to be God's mouth and you want to receive heavenly riches. Who will give you the true riches if you are not faithful with money?

Partaking of God's Nature as the Highest Riches

What are the true riches? The true riches are number one partaking of God's nature. There's nothing greater than that. See there are many reasons why we can avoid sin. We can avoid sin because I don't want to go to hell.

It's the lowest reason or I can avoid sin because it will spoil my testimony before others if I lose my temper. It's also a good reason but that is not the best or better than that. I want to avoid sin because I want God to use me or there could be other reasons like that.

I want to avoid sin because it's good to be a holy man. My testimony before people will be good. That's also not the highest. The highest is why did Jesus avoid sin? Not because I want my father to use me.

No, it is displeasing to God. God hates it. That's why I want to avoid it. You can avoid sin because it's harmful for me. Sin is like poison. I want to avoid it. It's harmful for me. I don't drink whiskey because it's harmful for me.

I don't sin because it's harmful for me. That's not the reason. It displeases God but the highest reason is that it's not my nature. You know the difference between a worm and a snake? You stamp on a snake, you know what it'll do?

Sting you immediately. You stamp on a worm, it'll just curl up. Why? It's not because it's trying to be spiritual and say I must not sting. I must just humble myself. No, it is nature. It's automatic and that is the highest level but it has become my nature.

I just don't sting. If somebody stamps on me, I curl up. Now it doesn't begin like that because in the beginning we are used to stinging back and we gradually progress in different stages. Ultimate is we partake of God's nature.

There is nothing higher than that. God does not sin because that's his nature. It's not because he's afraid of going to hell or because of some punishment or some sickness. Nothing. It is his nature. Holiness is his nature and that is the ultimate goal we want to come to where holiness becomes my nature.

It's not because I want a testimony in the church or I want God to use me or anything. All that is stages but we come to say Lord I want to partake of your nature. It says in 2nd Peter chapter 1 that the divine power of God verse 3 has granted us verse 4 precious and magnificent promises.

The whole bible full of God's wonderful promises and that's not just victory over sin but that you might become partakers of the divine nature and that will help you escape the corruption in the world by lust.

This is more than victory over sin. This is where nature you know which just rejects sin, just flicks it off, flicks it off. That should be our goal. Lord I want to come to that place where I can be partakers of your nature.

There's an expression in English called water of a duck's back. I don't know how but it's really true that if you pour water, the water will not stick on a duck or the wings will not get wet. I don't know.

I never tried it but there's an expression water of a duck's back means you pour the water and it doesn't stick. If you pour water on me, it'll be there on my skin but not on a duck. Nature. I said what a wonderful thing if I can have my reaction to sin is like that temptation comes and it just falls off.

That is part, that is God's goal. So in the same way I can come to the place where little by little by little I come to the place where money doesn't have any hold on me and I'm not thinking about it.

If I lost something, I'm not going to be worried about it and if I gain something, I'm not going to be excited about it. In the beginning you know particularly if you are in need and you get some money or a promotion you're excited.

It's all right, good. I had a need and God met with me but you gradually come to the place where you say Jesus was never excited when he got money. That's why he let Judas Iscariot handle it and if Judas Iscariot stole it, he was not disappointed.

He had come so much above that that he knew that my father will provide my need however much Judas steals or whatever happens. He was free from it completely and when we say we want to be like Jesus, it is in this area to be completely free, partaking of God's nature.

God has zero love for money. I say Lord I want to be like that. I'm supposed to partake of your nature, my nature which is just like Adam's nature did such a perfect job in us, right? What a perfect job Adam's nature has done in us.

From Adam's Nature to Christ's Nature

Makes us get angry, makes us selfish, make us murmur, complain, love money. It's a perfect job in every area. In the same way the Holy Spirit can do a perfect job of giving me God's nature. If Adam's nature can come so perfectly in me from childhood that it is no effort to tell lies, there's no effort to be selfish, it's no effort to think only of myself.

It's not at all, it's not a great strain to think of myself. It's natural. It's natural to gossip and natural to criticize and naturally find fault, natural to defend myself. Adam has done such a fantastic job in perfectly giving me his nature.

Can't the Holy Spirit do a perfect job in giving me Christ's nature? As when I had Adam's nature, I was not struggling to tell a lie or struggling to be selfish. You know I'm so battling unselfishness.

No, selfishness comes naturally. Pride, anger, everything comes naturally. That is the work that God can do in us through the Holy Spirit where it comes naturally over a period of time but it is a stage.

You'll get there only if you're faithful in the lower stages. So that is God's desire and that nature God gives us is love. But in leadership, I want to tell you something about this love which is God's nature.

Love Growing Through Knowledge and Discernment

It says in Philippians in chapter 1. Philippians 1, Paul prays for the Philippians and says, I pray that your love will increase. A good prayer to pray that our love will increase but it must abound more and more in real knowledge and discernment.

Discernment is more than knowledge. Discernment is where you love people. There's no hatred in your heart against anybody. You love people, that's why you help them. You love people, that's why you correct them.

It's like you love your children. You discipline them because you love them. The Bible says if you don't discipline your children, you don't really love them. And if I'm a good elder, I will have to discipline people in the church.

It's a part of my love to protect them, preserve them. So, but that love must abound in discernment and that means as we grow, as we walk with the Lord, God, it's one of the very important requirements for elders that God should be able to make me discerning that people can't fool me with their language.

Somebody comes and talks spiritual language and I'm not fooled. You can come to the place where some new person comes to your church and five minutes of conversation with him, you know where he stands.

You don't know anything about his private life but you talk to him for five minutes and you know where he stands. Discernment. Sometimes you just look into his eyes. I remember one person came here from Tamil Nadu, a new person to a CFC.

I looked into his eyes and I knew he was a crook. Not a crook in terms of cheating money or something. He was a wealthy businessman but something lacking straightforwardness in his life which became evident later on.

If you don't have discernment and you don't seek for it, you will end up giving responsibility in your church to the wrong people. That has also happened. I must give responsibility to this person because otherwise he'll get offended.

I gave responsibility to this person but not to that person. So in order to not offend him, I'll give him also a responsibility. If you do that, I would say to your face, you are totally unfit to be an elder.

CFC, go and join the Catholic church or something like that. To give a responsibility to a person because you're afraid he'll get offended? Are you a disciple of Jesus or what? Are you building the kingdom of God or some private club?

You cannot be an elder if you're not willing to offend people. Just forget it. Resign. We must be willing to offend people. Discernment, that you discern that this person speaking the right language but I don't feel is right.

Something wrong there. It's very important for us that beyond the language, you must be able to discern. That is how Peter detected Ananias. Ananias never said anything but the way Ananias came and kept the money there and his look, Peter said, come here, there's something not right in you.

Avoiding Partiality in Church Leadership

Discernment, very very important requirement for an elder and there's no course you can take for discernment. There's no bible study you can take about to get discernment. It only comes through faithfulness in your personal life.

If you are faithful in judging sin in your own flesh, God will give you discernment. Otherwise, you'll remain a blind elder, able to see things only when everything happens. When calamity happens, then your eyes are open.

Oh, I didn't realize this man was like that. Okay, at least you woke up then. But if you had discernment, you'd have known that long ago. So it's very important that you don't swallow everything that people say.

I had to be careful when I say that also because you can take that and make a law about that and you look at everybody with suspicion. Everybody who comes, you're suspicious till you drive everybody out of the church with your suspicious looks.

That is the other extreme. You know, always remember that the narrow way has got two extremes. One cliff is this side, one cliff is this side. You know, I can warn you so much against this cliff that you fall over that side and you say, yeah, I'm not going to be fooled by anybody.

But you fall over the other side. The narrow way is between these two extremes. It's not that you're looking suspiciously at everybody. At the same time, you're not swallowing everything that people say.

Isaiah's Narrow Way of Discernment

Find that narrow way and who will show to you what the narrow way is? I'll tell you. Turn to Isaiah chapter 13. How to have discernment? This verse has many applications. It is an application for personal life, but also for discernment.

Isaiah chapter 30 and the last part of verse 20 and 21. Number one, verse 20, last part. Your eyes will see your teacher. That's why you have to begin. You have to see Jesus Christ in your spirit. Look at his example.

Seek to follow him. And as you see him in your spirit's eyes, you will hear a voice in your spirit saying, this is the way. When you're going too much to the right or too much to the left, when you're in danger of falling over this side or falling over that side, the voice will say, no, you're going too far.

You're becoming too suspicious. Or you don't have any discernment there. Be careful. And he will keep you on that narrow path. You're becoming too legalistic there. You back away from that and the Holy Spirit will say, now you're becoming too worldly.

The Christian life is a walking a very narrow path with steep cliffs on either side. So you see a particular danger and you back away and back away and back away from it. Remember there's a cliff behind you.

So you can hear certain things and get so taken up with something. I'm going to do that. Remember there's a cliff behind you. So I pray that you will love and your love will grow in discernment. That's what he read in Philippians.

Not just discernment. You start with love and you can't have spiritual discernment if you don't begin with love. You go home now and say, okay, I'm going to discern everybody. You'll destroy your church.

Begin with love, but say, Lord, don't let my love be foolish. I want to be discerning, not suspicious. Who will show you the difference between suspicion and discernment? Holy, you'll hear a voice saying, this is the way, this is too much to the right or much to the left.

And look at your teacher. That's how that word began. Your eyes will see your teacher. Look at Jesus, how it was. He knew the right answer always. There were times when he would answer a person. There are other times when he would say, no, I will not answer you.

Or I'll ask you another question. They say, we can't answer that. Then I also won't answer you. So Jesus did not have a standard reply for everyone. So in our dealing with people, turn to Proverbs 26.

Here's a great two verses. Tell me how you interpret it. Proverbs 26 verse 4 and 5. What is the right answer? What should you do when you meet a fool? What should you do when you meet a fool? Do not answer a fool according to his folly.

Otherwise, you'll be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he be not wise in his own eyes. Wonderful. Are you confused? No, you need to be confused so that you don't depend on your intellect.

But on the Holy Spirit will tell you, this is fool A and this is fool B. This is fool according to 26 verse 4 and this is fool according to 26 verse 5. Who can tell you that? Only the Holy Spirit. Answer this fellow.

Don't answer this fellow. Jesus lived by that. That's why sometimes he would answer, sometimes he wouldn't. We have to follow him. And it's not a technique. Nobody can train you in this. You have to walk with God.

The secret of discernment is to walk with God with a clear conscience all the time. And then God sees that you're taking a responsibility in the church seriously. He will give you discernment. I believe one of the great lacks in Christian leadership today is discernment.

Discernment in Evaluating Leaders and Influences

They get taken up with all types of things. Some film star, you've seen that in India also. Some film star says, I've accepted Jesus. Ah, finished. Every church wants that film star to come to that church and give a testimony.

That brother, a film star accepted Jesus Christ. Oh ho, so Christianity must be the true religion because that film star also accepted Jesus Christ. What a level our Christianity has come to in India.

If a film star comes to CFC, they'll be made to sit at the back. And I'll get some brother to examine that film star whether he's born again. No, we don't show any preference to anybody. We've had people come from the Gulf.

You know, these Indians who go to the Gulf after some time, they suddenly begin to think they are somebody important. Just because they have a lot of money, they built their own house and all that type of stuff.

And they come to CFC and they expect to be given some special place. There's no special place. I always make them sit at the back. And after some time, they get offended. They're never asked to share.

They're never asked, given any responsibility. They get offended and they'll join some Pentecostal church. They suddenly become elders there. Ah, that's where you're supposed to be, brother. You came to the wrong church.

You're supposed to be over there. Discern, discern, discern. If you want to build your church in purity, you need discernment. And you must have absolutely no partiality for a rich person or your relative or your friend or your father, mother, uncle, anybody.

No partiality. You won't give your wife responsibilities in the church because she's your wife. I have been so blessed, I'll tell you, beyond measure by having a wife who had no desire for any prominence in CFC.

In the early days, people would come for our conferences and they'd say, who is Zak Poonen's wife? And I told her, that is a good testimony, that people come there, they don't know who you are. You're just like the other sisters in the crowd somewhere.

Have you seen Pentecostal pastors' wives? Very different. They are assistant pastors. Don't let your wife be like that. I'm sorry to say, there are some elders who are slaves to their wives. And I've seen it when I go to the conferences and all in the past, I've seen how they try to give their wives some prominence.

They don't say anything. They think brother Zak is a dumb person, he doesn't know what's happening. I know everything what's happening. And I can make out and immediately makes me lose my confidence in that elder down to zero.

I've seen it. I remember in one conference where my wife was, you know, some, they wanted to take some video of the conferences or the message and the crowd and the, when my wife was, you know, she usually has a clinic for the poor women and children, giving out medicines and this elder wanted to bring his wife to sit there next to, to help give the medicines and the video person is focusing on his wife.

My respect for that elder went down to zero and it has been at zero since then. What is this, promoting your wife? You want her to be in the video? He who has years to hear, let him hear. You need discernment, brother.

Don't be fooled by such people. You will not build the church of Jesus Christ. If you are fooled by people who are trying to promote their wives or promote their children or promote something else like that.

Guarding Against Nepotism in Ministry

Many few years ago, I had a tremendous battle in, should I ask one of my sons to speak in the conference or not? I never thought of it until all by themselves without my help. They had a church on their own in the United States and they were invited in different places to speak.

I remember we're going to one meeting where one of my, Sandeep was speaking and I was introduced by the way, this is brother Sandeep's father who has come here. I was so thrilled to be, they didn't know who I was.

I said, great. It is after I saw such things that I said, okay, I feel they've got a ministry there. I might as well ask them to speak here also. But I was so hesitant. I said, Lord, let's cause misunderstanding.

I don't want to stumble anybody. And then I saw that Jesus, when he selected his disciples, he selected two of his cousins. James and John were the children of Mary's sister. His mother Mary had a sister called Salome and her sons were James and John.

And when Jesus selects the three close to him, he takes James and John and the others because he's just choosing his cousins. That's not why he chose them because they were spiritually minded. And the Lord spoke to me that time.

I was not disturbed what people said about my choosing James and John. Don't be disturbed. But I said, Lord, I still want some confirmation. I want to be very careful. And as I sat there, brother Ian Robson came up to me and said, Zach, I think you should get your sons to speak.

Thank you, Lord. I got that confirmation. I'm very careful, very careful because I've seen the calamity that has come. All over India, you see preachers promoting their children. You know, they have contact with America and they built a huge organization with American money.

And they go, they're the ones who raised that money and the organization after their name. And they say, I've spent 20, 30, 40 years building up this organization. Why should I give it to a stranger? This is my business.

I'll hand it over to my son and the son will be the next in charge of that Christian organization. See it all over India. Some ministry, they start connect up with some organization abroad and then their son or son-in-law or somebody will be in charge of this.

This is the corruption there is in Christendom. I got sick and tired of it. Be careful that you don't promote your children unless you see that God has anointed them and given them a ministry quite independent from your trying to promote them on their own.

I believe God can use your children, sure. But make sure that God himself promotes them, not you. Because I tell you, God will not spare you. He'll take away the anointing from you if you try to touch the work of God with your dirty hands.

Definitely, it's touching the work of God with your dirty hands to push somebody up whom God is not pushing forward. Don't push your wife forward in any ministry in the church as well. Always take the low seat and encourage your family members to take the low seat.

Let God exalt them, not you. I've seen people trying to do it to their wives and their children and I've seen it always destroys that whole family. If you want to destroy your family, you can do it. I've never done it and I'll never do it.

I want to preserve my family for the kingdom of God. His earthly honor and all means nothing. So discernment is so important in this area. Discernment, discernment. People can come to our church who are crooks.

They're coming for some benefit. Discern it. We won't be perfect. Once or twice we may be fooled. And I've seen that also in the church that sometimes I've been fooled by people who I thought were really spiritual.

But over a period of years, it got exposed they were not spiritual. They got pushed out and that's what I'm thankful for. I say if a man comes to CFC with a crooked intention, seeking something for himself, I know that one day or the other he'll get exposed.

It may take time. Like Judas Iscariot got exposed after three and a half years. Jesus knew this fellow was a crook but it was not time for him to be exposed. And some of the people sitting in your church, Jesus may know right now this guy is not really fit to, he's not a spiritually minded person.

He's a crook. He's seeking his own. He's just pretending to be spiritual. Okay. I say Lord, I don't know. My discernment is not perfect. But I know one thing. He'll get exposed one day or the other. He'll definitely get exposed.

How do I know? Because I've seen what has happened in the last 40 years in CFC. One day or the other, these crooked people get exposed. They become elders and they get exposed and they're removed from eldership.

It has happened again and again and again. And God determines the time when it should happen. And then as it happens, we get more and more discerning. So don't be afraid because if you're honest and upright, God will back you up.

And even if you slip up somewhere, he will expose. You know, like these in the military institutions, there's a checkpost. It's down and the car comes. They say, stop. I must check your identity and all.

Checked. Okay, go. So like that, somebody comes to the church. I lift up the, okay, brother, come in. But I tell them, listen, there's another checkpost further up, which is manned by God. He will send you back.

You can fool me, but they don't forget there's another checkpost up there. This is not the final one. He'll check you out of the church. And it'll be very bad when that happens. So that has happened to us also, where sometimes in the early days, particularly, we were deceived by some people who came with wrong intentions.

They wanted money. They wanted some type of benefit. But we grew in discernment. We didn't start. I mean, we all started in the kindergarten. I did not know multiplication when I was three years old. I know it now.

The same way discernment. I did not know when we began, but little by little, we grow. Don't be ashamed to say, I'm growing. I'm not in the PhD level yet. I'm maybe gone from kindergarten to first grade, first standard, but I'm growing.

But we must grow in discernment. I pray that your love, Philippians 1 .9, what is that verse we read? I pray that your love will grow more and more in real, come back to that verse and see it, and don't ever forget it, that your love will grow more and more in real or true discernment.

So, the growth of love is in real knowledge of God's ways and discernment, because when you have discernment, verse 10, then you can approve the things that are not the things that are good, but the things that are excellent.

Have you heard this English proverb, which says, the good is the enemy of the best. Good is here and best is here on top. I choose the good, I can miss the best. The good is the enemy of the best. So, I must sometimes reject the good because I want the best.

So, it says here that you may approve not the things that are good, but the things that are excellent. That means you choose the absolute top thing, because this is the church, this is the church of God.

We don't want things that are good, we want things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. And this discernment comes through the Holy Spirit, and that's why it's very, very important, dear brothers, that first of all, you have a genuine experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Being Filled With the Holy Spirit

I remember the years when I sought for it, and I said, Lord, I know that something is missing in my life. I was, I knew the Bible, I was preaching, but this is before CFC began, and I was praying and fasting and seeking the Lord, and I said, something is missing.

I knew I needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and I know that it's a continuous thing, but I needed to have this anointing for ministry. See, in Jesus' case, let's see the stages. He was born of the Holy Spirit, conceived in the mother's womb, born of the Holy Spirit.

We are also born of the Holy Spirit when we are born again. The Holy Spirit comes there. The Bible says in Romans 8, 13, that if you're, Romans 8, 9, isn't it, which says, if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't belong to him.

Romans 8 and verse 9, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you don't even belong to Christ. So, that is the verse that teaches us, when you're born again, you receive the Holy Spirit. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, who comes in?

Jesus is in heaven. It's the Holy Spirit who comes in. When Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was walking on the earth, you could invite him to your house, he would come to your house, like Mary, Martha, Lazarus invited him.

Today, it is not the second person of the Trinity, it's the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit was here, and you invite Christ to come into your heart, it's the Holy Spirit who comes in. It's the Spirit of Christ.

That's why when it says, in the early Christians, they receive the Spirit, is what we say, we are born again. They told early Christians, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. We combine the two and say, receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart.

There's a reason for it. If we tell people in India, receive the Spirit, there are all types of people wanting to receive the Spirit. What Spirit? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart, the one who comes in is the Holy Spirit.

So, don't have any doubt whether you have received the Spirit, if you're born again. I'm trying to clarify confusion in your mind, but you may not be filled with the Holy Spirit, because our heart is like a house with many rooms, and the Holy Spirit will only come into the rooms that you open up to Him.

The guilt room, guilty of my sins in the past, all of us want the Holy Spirit to come there. Please cleanse the guilt of my sin. We are ready to have Him come there, and so light comes into one room. So, if you look at a house on top of a hill, and there's light in one room of the 10 rooms of that house, and you look at it, and I ask you, is there light in the house?

Yes, there's light in the house. Is it filled with light? No, nine of the rooms seem to be dark. That's how many believers are. Have they received the Holy Spirit? Sure. Are they filled with the Holy Spirit?

Discernment in Media and Entertainment

No, because they have not allowed the Holy Spirit to come into certain rooms. There are believers who are more interested in watching the Tamil television serials. Some of them are not very clean, so I've heard there are Malayalam serials.

I've never seen any of these, but I've heard there are things like this, which even if there's not open sex in it, there's suggestions which can influence your mind. I'll tell you honestly, I'm not against watching clean movies, children's movies, pilgrim's progress, different Christian ones, or even other secular ones which are clean, but you have to be very careful.

You must not become enslaved to it, and definitely if it's got some dirty scenes in it, better not to watch it, and don't let your children ever see such things, but it's a form of education today. Movies and children can be educated in various ways.

It's just like what they say, what you see through your eye goes more into your mind than what you hear. So a lot of education is by visible things on DVDs and all that, so I'm not against that type of thing, but we have to be very careful.

To me a television or internet is like a library. I don't tell people you can't go into the library. There are lots of books in the library. I say listen, be careful what books you pick out of the library.

So when you go to the internet, I go to the internet, I check my email every day, I go to the internet, but I have to see what am I checking here. In the same way with movies, you can say what type of, is that a good book to read?

You want your children to read that? You don't say don't go to the library, but be careful what you select. I say if you watch television, be careful what you watch, but it's very important that we are discerning in all these things, because if we are careless, we can pollute ourselves and defile our children and families and everything.

So we have to be very discerning in these days, because the devil is so subtle in everything, make us waste our time and spend a lot of time on unprofitable things. So let's seek to be discerning and saying Lord, and if you're in doubtful, say Lord, please give me wisdom in this area.

And if you have neglected the Bible, then definitely that's not the time to spend time watching movies. To me, watching a movie is like a, it's a clean one, it's just a form of relaxation. We need relaxation, especially if you're working very hard in offices nowadays, the work is so tense, the mind is so occupied with, particularly people who work on computers and technical stuff.

You can't come home and read the Bible, they need some type of relaxation. So there's nothing wrong in that, just be very careful in this area and great need for discernment. That way we can protect ourselves and protect our children as well.

Opening Every Room to the Holy Spirit

And as I said, it's the Holy Spirit who gives that discernment. So we need to really seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what I sought for. I knew I had the Holy Spirit, but I wanted to be filled.

So the Holy Spirit says, can I come into this room and decide what TV programs you watch? And you say, no, no, I'm a little free there. Oh, okay. Holy Spirit says, okay, I won't come there. Let that room remain dark.

Can I come into your finance room to see how you're handling your money? How are you earning it? Is it absolutely 100 righteous? Are you paying your taxes honestly? Are you spending your money also wisely?

And you say, well, Lord, you know, this wicked, corrupt world, we can't always do everything honestly. So if you come here, you'll tell me to do everything righteously. Then I won't be able to make it.

Life is so struggle. I have to do a few things underhand. And they say in America, they say cook the books. That means the financial books and all. If you are worried that those things are wrong, the Holy Spirit will say, I won't disturb you.

Just keep doing what's wrong. I won't disturb you. That room remains dark. Can I come into the library and see what books you read? What magazines you read? Many rooms remain dark, not because, and this person may be praying all the time, fill me, fill me.

Oh God, fill me with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit says, how can I come? Any room I knock at, you say, I can't come. Are you loyal to your wife? 100%. Do you speak with other women in your office or somewhere else in a very loose type of way?

Or even some sister in the church? I would never speak to a sister alone. In a public place like this? Yes. But alone in my house? No. And speak at the door. And say, sister, my wife is not here, so maybe come some other time.

If I have to speak to her, I'll speak to you along with the other elders. But never alone. Never, never speak to a sister alone. Unless it's a public place like this, if it is in your home with another elder, or let your wife sit there.

Even if the sister wants to talk to you, let your wife sit there. Very, very important, brothers. The devil wants to pollute us and corrupt us. And there are many sisters who are a bit loose. They're not evil.

And especially sometimes I've seen some sisters are so admiring a preacher who's so powerful and anointed, that they want to be a little close to them. Not for any sex or anything. No, no, no. They're not immoral.

But they like to be a little close to this elder, this anointed elder. Keep them at a distance. And that's why you need discernment. I remember in the early days when I didn't have that discernment, the Lord would give me a dream of some face of some sister in the church.

You say, Lord, what is that? Be careful of her. Now I don't need it because I've developed a little more in discernment. But it's how good God is that he can want you in a dream because he sees you're not discerning enough yet.