Testing Discipleship Beyond Religious Enthusiasm I am in the new covenant, so reverence for God is manifested in these little things and that's how the bush comes on fire when God's you know God tests us in little situations to see whether I want what his word says, do I really want him to be first in my life, for example you know when Jesus saw a great multitude, I always think of this verse whenever I see a crowd, I mean we have a big crowd here, it's great, it's wonderful that so many people come to hear such a strong message but it doesn't excite me, you know why, I'll tell you why it doesn't excite me, I'm never excited, in Tamil Nadu sometimes we have what 2 ,000 people, public meetings 3 ,000 people, in Karnataka we have 3 -4 thousand people, I'm not excited that people have come to listen to a strong word because I'll show you a verse, it says in Mark's gospel chapter 6, Mark's gospel chapter 6, it says about Pharaoh and John the Baptist, so as I was saying in Mark chapter 6, it says here in verse 20, Mark 6 20, that Herod, that wicked evil King Herod used to enjoy listening to John the Baptist, you read that verse, it's one of the most amazing verses, that Herod used to enjoy listening to John the Baptist, why was that, because he was a fiery preacher, not like these boring Pharisees who had nothing to say, but do you think it changed Herod's life, no, he would enjoy listening to John the Baptist and then a couple of verses you read later, verse 22, Salome the daughter of Herodias came and danced in her half -naked clothes and he enjoyed that too, he was an amazing man, he could enjoy listening to the fiery John the Baptist and in the evening go and watch a television where there's some half -naked woman dancing, he would enjoy both equally, just like some believers today, it doesn't make a difference to them, they enjoy listening to a powerful preacher, remember that all your life my brothers and sisters, just because you enjoy listening to a fiery preacher, does not make you one bit different, different from King Herod, not one bit different, does it bring in you a fear of God, does it bring in you the repentance that John the Baptist asked for, if not, do you find that you can enjoy a wonderful conference like this and then go and watch a movie which has got, you say, only five seconds of some dirty sex scene, five seconds, it's like saying, oh there's a little bit of poison only in this glass of milk, 99 .9 is milk, 0 .1 poison, how many of you would be honest and say, yes I've been like King Herod, I've enjoyed listening to a powerful message and a few days later I'm watching a little bit of a dirty movie or some filthy scene somewhere, you know what you need brothers and sisters, a radical repentance, a radical turning around, a reverence for God, so when there was this big crowd that followed Jesus, we read in Luke 14, amazing words in Luke 14, Luke 14 he said, in verse 25 we read, large crowds were going along with him, I wonder what a preacher today would say when a large crowd comes to his church, I'd like to meet a preacher today who gets a large crowd coming to his church and who turns around and tells them exactly what Jesus said, if you fellas don't hate your father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and your own life, verse 26, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus, what does that mean, it means that Jesus is more important to me than my father and my mother and my wife and my children and my brothers and sisters, I'm not going to do anything to please my children if it's going to displease the Lord, let my children get offended with me, I will not offend the Lord, do that my brother, take that attitude and your children will all be disciples of Jesus one day, but you pamper them and don't want to offend them, no wonder they're going astray and gone into the world, you didn't love Jesus enough, you loved your children more than Jesus, you pampered your wife instead of saying Lord you're first in my life, I'm not going to please my wife, I'm not going to fight with her, but I'm not going to spend my life pleasing her, I want to please the Lord, I'm not going to watch the tears of my mother and change my plans about what the Lord wants me to do, put the Lord first, above your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children and you'll be a disciple, you know the trouble with a lot of Christians today, good Christian ministries and Christian leaders is the popular thing to do is evangelism, let's collect more bushes, never mind whether they're on fire or not, let's get more bushes, bushes, bushes, bushes, brother I'd rather have one bush on fire than a thousand bushes in my congregation, sure what's the use of that, God wants a bush on fire, so we can go out, it is true the Bible says go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, I believe in that with all my heart, I do not believe it's the calling of every Christian to go into all the world, nobody can go into all the world, we're all called to be witnesses for Christ, every believer must be a witness for Christ, but every believer is not an evangelist, God has made some people evangelists, just like you cannot try and teach the Bible like me, unless God gives you the gift, I cannot be an evangelist like somebody else, unless God gives me the gift and the burden, the burden God gives you in your heart is the will of God for your life, so here is this evangelist who goes out doing a very good work, reaching out and preaching the gospel to those who've never heard it, I appreciate them, I respect them, I get a number of missionary magazines in my home regularly, I'm interested in what my brothers and sisters are doing in North India and other parts of the world and etc, but then the same Jesus said, when you go out into these nations, make disciples, that's the part that's being left out, then they will become like a burning bush, otherwise they'll be just bushes with one or two twigs on fire and if you are happy with collecting bushes with one or two twigs on fire, then you'll have a third rate, good for nothing, useless church that is not a testimony to Christ and that's the condition of most churches in India and most churches that I've seen in other countries too, because we want to collect twigs, we want to collect bushes, whether they are on fire or not, it doesn't matter and you'll never be on fire till you become a disciple, till you say Lord Jesus, whom am I on earth but you, I'm not here to please my father or mother or brother or sister or children or whatever they say, I want to please you and you'll find that they come along, I remember when I was very young, my father sent me to the military academy to go and become the top admiral of the Navy and one day, just about five years after I got my commission in the Navy, the Lord told me to quit and serve him, did I ask my father or mother, who had an ambition for me, no sir, I put in my resignation letter and sent a letter to my dad saying, dad, no admiral, I resigned and then he said, okay, if you're serving the Lord, I'm happy because he was a believer then I started serving the Lord and for eight, nine years, I traveled around like that and gradually becoming more and more famous as a preacher, traveling here or this country, that country, radio program, books and all that and one day the Lord said, what are you building, you're just like a visiting consultant going around preaching, build my body, I said okay, how can I do it and God forced me into circumstances where I was thrown out of some church and started meeting with seven or eight people in my house, I could have quit that, I could have continued my worldwide travels and all that, but the Lord said to me, this is what you want, then my father came to me again and said, okay, you quit the Navy so that you want to preach the gospel, but what a fantastic gift you have of preaching, you can be like Billy Graham, instead of sitting with these seven or eight people in your house and nobody knows you, just working with people, I wish my dad were alive today to see what God has done, it was a day of small beginnings, he's in heaven today and if they can see from there, I don't know, then he would see and rejoice, but what I'm trying to say is, if I had tried to please my father, I would not be doing what I'm doing today and some of you who are concerned to please your parents when God's telling you to do something else, concerned to please your wife or you want to keep your children happy, you'll never, God sees that you put your children above the Lord, that's what happened to Eli, Eli put his children above the Lord, he honored God, said you honor your children more than me, it's never going to go well with you and that was the end of Eli and his whole tribe, finished, you know what was the result of mine, my mother was from a Orthodox Syrian Church, it was pretty close to the Roman Catholic Church and one day she came to me and when she was 75 years old and said I want to be baptized and I baptized her, you honor God, your parents will follow in your, the way you're going to follow Jesus, your children will follow, but if you try to please those other people, you lose everything, so I've seen that in many cases, I've seen people who tried to please somebody, it never goes well with them, if you want the bush to be on fire, if you want to be a witness for Christ, the Lord says you got to be a disciple, it's not enough to go and preach the gospel to every creature, praise God for those who are doing that, but get that person and make him a disciple, otherwise the job is not complete, otherwise it's exactly like, you know, bringing people to Christ is like giving birth to spiritual babies, what would you think of a mother who gives birth to a baby and throws them on the road like these pups and cats, throw their kittens away and then gives birth to another baby and throws it on the road, what type of mother is that, I say you're not fit to be a mother, you're not, you know it takes 20 years at least to bring up a child to be able to stand on its own legs in India, perhaps 25 years at least, what are you going to do, just have a baby and throw it on the street, you've got to make that person into a man, into a woman, we understand that in our physical homes, how many of you would throw your babies out into the street as soon as they are born, what a lot of labor you have to work with those babies till they grow up to manhood and keep able to stand on their own legs, God is looking for men, that's what one of our burdens in this conference is that there'll be a younger generation, a younger generation who will take the torch from the older generation and say, or the baton from the older generation, say we're going to continue to run this race, we want to be available to God to be able to build a church that glorifies his name, not just a bunch of people who like to sing good songs on Sunday morning and listen to a good message and go home and then five years later or ten years later you suddenly discover this great preacher was living in adultery or homosexuality or something like that and you know what surprises me in such cases, what surprises me in such cases is not that this guy fell, what surprises me is how these 5 ,000 people in his church never even knew about it, what type of person, wasn't there any discernment there, you see there's something wrong here, this is not a brotherhood, there's no disciple making here, there's no discipleship here, it's just outreach, outreach, outreach, let's have more babies and then throw them on the streets, let's get more babies and throw them on the streets, God is a father, he's not the director of an orphanage, he's building families, he's not building orphanages, so when we think of this burning bush where God dwells, remember today he dwells in the church and you can never build the Church of Jesus Christ in a locality if you only do evangelism, you've got to make them into disciples, Jesus said that, it's like two sides of a coin, go into all the world and make the disciples of all nations, great, what's the other side of the coin Lord, make them disciples and what do I do after that, teach them to do every single thing I have commanded you, Matthew 28 20, teach them to love all their enemies, teach them to be free from the love of money, teach them to stop lusting in their eyes, teach them to stop getting angry, teach them to do all their prayer, fasting and all in secret, teach them not to judge others, teach them to do unto others exactly as they would want others to do unto you, unto them, boy, you think you can do that in one week, it takes years, so which is more important, both are equally important, one must lead on to the other, if you have babies, you must build them up and you must have only as many babies as you can take care of till maturity, there's no use boasting, I've got thousand babies, how many of them are mature, how many of them are bushes on fire, I'll tell you honestly, I'd rather have a church with two or three people who are on fire for God, than a huge crowd, that's why I said I'm not excited when I see crowds, Jesus was not, he looked at this crowd and said, you guys, I don't know how many of you are interested in hating your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, you're just coming along to have a good time, to listen to a good message and he said, you've got to be detached from all your attachment to earthly things, etc., this is the type of church Jesus is building, this is the type of people, that's why it says in John chapter 6, so many people got offended and left him, I believe that if we follow Jesus in his ministry, there will be people who get offended and leave us, if people are not getting offended and leaving your church, you are not following Jesus, I can give it to you in writing, because the church that Jesus built, people got offended and left, because his message was so strong, he preached the cross, he preached death to self, he didn't just make people people and make them happy, he didn't just conduct conferences, he told Isaiah, I'm sick and tired of all your meetings and conferences, we need to lead people to be delivered from sin, God needs young men and women, who will be like spiritual mothers, traveling, you know Paul was the greatest evangelist of his time, I believe he put any evangelist today to shame, but he did not stop with evangelism, I want to read to you in Galatians chapter 4, what he says in verse 19, Galatians chapter 4 verse 19, read the Bible slowly, slowly, slowly, have you got it, Galatians 4 .19, my children, you're already born again, that means once upon a time, I labored like a mother in labor, a mother going through labor, I brought you Galatians to birth, and now I'm in labor again, a second time, have you heard of a mother going through a labor a second time, for the same child, yes, a mother going through labor a second time for the same child, so that this child will now grow up to maturity and be a man or a woman, that's what Paul is praying, I am in labor again, until you become like Jesus Christ, that is discipleship, or in other words, until you're like a bush on fire, every aspect of your life is Christ, where people touch you, they touch Christ, people walk into your home, they sense this is Jesus here, dear brothers and sisters, that was Paul's burden, and a lot of people were not interested in it, and so Paul had the same experience that Jesus had, it says in 2nd Timothy chapter 1, the last letter he wrote, he was around 67 years old, he had labored for the Lord more than 30 -35 years, and at the end of his 35 years of labor, here is what he has to show, 2nd Timothy 1 verse 15, you are aware of the fact that all those who are in Asia have turned away from me, they were with me, but they found the message too strong, and they left me, they go to other preachers who will not hold them to such high standards, and all, all who are in Asia have turned away from me, he speaks later on about Demas, chapter 4 verse 10, Demas was once my co -worker, he left me because he loved this present world, he saw there's not much, we can't make much money hanging around with Paul, I can think of at least two elder brothers who were in our churches, very good elder brothers, who were with us for a number of years, who left us because they couldn't make money in our churches, they went out, and pretty soon they made a lot of money, fine, God bless them, I would like to see in eternity, what they think of their decision, I would like to know in eternity, what you took a decision one day, to go into a ministry where you could make more money, okay, now you come to the end of your life, you stand before the Lord, and the Lord shows you what your life and ministry could have been, and what your ministry became, tell me, do you think those two brothers would have regrets or not, one of them is already dead, I do not want to go that way, and I want to say to you my brothers and sisters, many times in your life, you will come to a fork in the road, it's not a straight road, there are many forks, you come to a choice, and the road you take, will determine where you end up finally, there was an old American poet, who wrote a secular poem, about wandering through the woods, in the forest, and he saw a path diverging in the forest, and he says he looked for the path, that was less trodden, he saw one path that was more trodden by feet, all the grass has gone out, and he saw another path, not so trodden by feet, and he says, I took the path less traveled, and at the end he says, that has made all the difference in my life, I would say to you in the Christian walk, choose the path that is less traveled, when you come to that fork in the road, it'll make all the difference in my life, many a time in my life, I've come to a fork in the road, and I've had to make a choice, I know which direction most of evangelical Christianity is going, and I see another path, where I look in front, and I see Jesus, and I've chosen that, it's made all the difference in my life, it's made all the difference in my ministry, and my burden is that there'll be a younger generation growing up here, who really believe in a life of overcoming, who really believe in a godly home life, who will not pamper their children, but bring them up in godly ways, and who will choose the way of the cross, and find at the end of their life, as they look back, thank God, I took the decision that other Christians wouldn't take, it's not just once, many many times, you come to the fork in the road, many times, I can think of numerous times in my life, that God has said, what are you going to choose now, sometimes he doesn't even say anything, doesn't say anything, I say Lord, you want me to take this path or that path, silence, Lord I'm asking you, answer me, I'll do whatever you say, silence, he's testing me, it's almost as if he's saying, you already know, why do we have to have a voice from heaven, you know, which is the pathway of seeking your own interest, and which is the pathway where my name will be glorified, you have to ask me, and I say Lord that's right, I know, this is the way that will glorify you, I want to choose it, even if it becomes a very lonely path after a while, some people get offended, it's fine, never, never make a mistake in those, where the road becomes a fork, I believe that many of you, fine brothers and sisters, would have been miles ahead in your spiritual life, miles ahead in your effectiveness for God, if somewhere along the way you had taken the right decisions, you can't do anything about those paths, there are many more decisions in front of you, say Lord, I want to take that right decision, I want to be a witness for you, think of the devil, think of Job and the devil, the devil saying, I've traveled all over the world God, your children are just a bunch of hypocrites, they're only interested in meetings and conferences and what they call praise and worship and giving money for missions and evangelism, but show me the disciples, where are the people who love you more than everything on earth, where are the godly homes, show me a godly home, where a man has brought up all his children in the ways of God, God show me, people who want to live for you, who will not seek their own, whose every decision is based on how will this honor Christ, not how will it advance my interest and my family, and the God looks around and says, I agree with you Satan, but not, look at that family there, look at that person there, here and there, God's heart is thrilled that he can find one, somebody here, somebody there, and the devil's mouth is shut, you cannot say anything against that person, will you be a person who will shut the mouth of the devil, I hope so, say Lord, make me one like that, who will shut the mouth of the devil when he accuses your children of seeking their own and no reverence for you and they're all lovers of money, they're all seeking their own interests, another thing the devil says, look at these two fellows, two people in a church can't get along with each other, what type of church is this God, there are only 10 people in that church, they can't get along with each other, and God says that's true of 99 .9 of churches, but have you seen that church there, how many of you want to build a church like that, or the Lord says, or the devil says to the Lord, look at all these homes, they all preach about wonderful things, but look at the way their children are growing up, all carnal, just nominally having accepted Jesus, and the parents are happy, ah, my child took baptism, I can get some honor in the church now, that my children are all baptized, shame on you, for seeking honor that your children are baptized, they're not disciples, what's the use of being happy, my children took baptism, for your honor, I tell you, so many Christian parents, they want their children to take baptism for their own honor, what do people say, if my children are not baptized, and so their life is complete, when their children are baptized, how many of you would pray like this, Lord, if my children are going to live for the world, give them a road accident, break their legs, till they take their life more seriously, you'll be thankful in eternity, we're all too soft, oh Lord, don't let anything happen, let them be worldly, but don't let anything happen, God sees that you're worldly in your heart, no wonder your children are worldly too, pray serious prayers, Lord, I don't want any of my children to be worldly, if they are worldly, break their legs, give them a road accident, don't take away their life, give them something serious, that they wake up, and start living for you, you'll be thankful in eternity, that with their broken legs, lying in a hospital, they turn to God, you don't want that, do you, you want them to be protected, no harm to come to them, let them lose much in eternity, doesn't matter, you know, we don't really believe what we preach, we don't believe what we preach, there are a lot of people who, I've seen people who appear to have a great burden for missions, oh, we want to have burden for missions, we want to give money to that mission, brother, did you train your children to be missionaries, no, then don't pretend that you have a burden for missions, it's a lot of rubbish, which of your children became missionaries to North India, none of mine, I'm called to be a teacher, I don't even pretend that I have a great burden for evangelism, I thank God for those who do it, that's not my calling, I do my calling and a lot of people have tried to make me change my calling, I know God too well to change my calling, but I'm not against them, I say, God called you to do that, do that, but don't be a hypocrite, that's what I say, don't pretend to have a burden for something, if you don't train your own children for that, you're a first -class hypocrite, there are a lot of people like that, they'll never train their own children to be missionaries, but they want to pretend that they have a great burden for missions, it's all hypocrisy, I have a great burden to build the church of Jesus Christ, to make disciples and that's what I'll spend my money in and that's what I'll train my children for, if God has called you to be an evangelist, be a first -class evangelist, if God called you to be a shepherd, be a first -class shepherd, if God's called you to be a teacher, be a first -class teacher, if God's called you to be a prophet, be a first -class prophet, but don't be a downright hypocrite, the way you train your children will show me what your burden really is, no matter what you say with your lips and that will determine the type of church you build, so I want a generation of young people who are gripped by the fact that every part of my life must burn for Christ and when I build a home from day one, I want my children to grow, I want them to be wholehearted for Christ, I'm not here to determine what their calling in life is going to be, that Jesus will determine, but I want them to be wholehearted for Jesus, I want them to build wholehearted homes and on top of that, we'll build a wholehearted church, I really pray my dear brothers, young brothers and sisters who've been in our churches for many years, please recognize that your elders are getting old, they're not going to live forever, you can't be dependent on them forever and you can't produce a man of God in one year, it takes 10 years for God to make a man, you better start and say, Lord I want to be one of those, so that by the time if the Lord carries and our elder brothers are no longer there, there'll be somebody to fill their shoes and be on fire for God and keep the church, so that it can be said that God did not leave himself without a witness and I'll tell you something, if God doesn't find folks like that here, he'll find them in some other church, yeah sure and I'll say Lord do that, but let there be a witness for you in India, don't leave India without a witness, don't leave the states in India without a witness, not talking about evangelism, people will just raise their hand and say I've accepted Christ or signed some decision card, I'm talking about bushes on fire, if we have a few like that in India, I believe the Lord will be delighted, he'll be able to shut the mouth of Satan with these maybe 10 bushes in this whole country, 10 that are on fire for God, do you know that 10 people could have saved Sodom and Gomorrah from being destroyed, 10 righteous people could have saved Sodom and Gomorrah from being destroyed, but a hundred compromises could not have done it, I believe India will be preserved through righteous people, determined to be one of them and I tell you this, you seek his righteousness, you will never lack the earthly things that you need, you may not become a great man or an extremely wealthy man, thank God, but you'll have enough for your needs and God's purposes will be fulfilled in your life, let's pray, if you have given your life to Christ, you are a member of Christ's body and as a member of Christ's body, exactly like every member in your body has a function, you have a function, it is your responsibility to seek God and say Lord, what is my part in the body of Christ, I want to fulfill it at any cost, I want to fulfill it, I don't want to be a lazy paralyzed member in the body, I want to fulfill whatever my function is, secret, hidden, public, doesn't make a difference, I want to fulfill my function, Lord, show it to me, I want to be wholehearted for you, I want to be a disciple, I don't want to be just a convert, Heavenly Father, I feel a tremendous sense of limitation in trying to communicate what I believe is the burden of your heart, I know it has not been done as well as it should have been done, but I pray that many here would have got a glimpse of the burden in your heart and that your Holy Spirit will touch them and there will be in this land another generation that is a witness for you in many places through whom you can shut the mouth of the devil when he accuses your children.