(Pure Testimony) the Burning Bush — Zac Poonen

So, the burden the Lord has placed on my heart for this conference, you know we have it only once a year here now, this is not an outreach conference, we are not trying to reach the lost in this conference.

That all of you do the 361 days of the year when you get back to your churches, that's the place for outreach. But we are going to spend four days for building up those who have already come to the Lord.

Meeting With God Rather Than Seeking Entertainment

It's going to be a time of teaching and consolidation, we are not here to be entertained, even the music is only to help us to worship the Lord, that's all. But primarily our aim is to meet with God and if you are met with God, even if everything else goes wrong, even if it rains every day and we get wet and the food is bad and the accommodation is not convenient, if you are met with God, I will tell you it will be worth it.

You come with that attitude and you will really get a blessing. But if we are occupied with other things and I want to especially warn you in these four days at least, stop gossiping, stop speaking evil of others.

And perhaps if you stop speaking evil of others and gossiping, fast from that, fast, if you can't fast from food that's okay, but fast from gossiping and speaking evil of others and murmuring and complaining just for four days, can you do that?

You know what may happen? You may be cured of it forever and you will be thankful. So try fasting from expressing your opinions of other people and complaining and murmuring for four days. I guarantee it will bless you.

My life has completely changed since I completely decided to obey the command in Philippians 2, 14 which says, do all things without murmuring and grumbling. I decided to do that long ago, my life was transformed.

It just made me a very happy person. I guarantee it will make you. Your whole life, you will spread happiness wherever you go and the most wonderful thing is God will be with your mouth. Every time you open your mouth, whether in a pulpit or in ordinary conversations, you will bless people because God sees that the rest of the time, you don't lend your tongue to the devil to accuse or criticize or backbite or murmur.

Around the world, there are lots of churches waiting for revival. They'll never be revived until we learn to control our tongue. Any amount of prayer, prayer, prayer, all night prayer, nothing will happen.

The Burning Bush as a Picture of a Pure Testimony

It's holiness that's going to bring God's presence. So my burden is, you see there, preserving a pure testimony in the picture of the burning bush. The first dwelling place of God mentioned in the Bible is the burning bush.

Why is that important? Because our body is to be the dwelling place of God. Our home is to be the dwelling place of God. Our church, churches, our local churches are to be the dwelling place of God, not just preaching centers.

I never want to build a church which is a preaching center which gathers crowds. I'll tell you quite honestly, I'm not excited when I see a crowd. Because I don't know whether all of you are wholehearted, radical, disciples.

I don't know how many of you sitting here can really look up to Jesus right now and say with all your heart, Lord, I desire nothing on earth other than you. That's a spiritual Christian. Perhaps many of you sitting here desire 101 other things other than Jesus on the earth.

You want Jesus, but along with him you want so many other things. That's fine. I hope by the time these four days are over, you'll want only Jesus. You know, many of you have come from many, many conferences, and you still find your home life is pretty much the same level.

The disease is not cured. You've taken a thousand spiritual tablets. The disease is not cured. You know why? You'll be cured when you can say, Lord Jesus, I desire nothing on earth but you. I'm not going to pursue anything but you.

And when I get to heaven, I'm not interested in the golden streets. I'm not interested in mansions. I'm not even interested in a crown on my head. I want you. In heaven, I desire nothing but you. Whom am I in heaven but you?

You come to that place, you'll be a worshipper. And I tell you, I'll tell you that from 50 years of experience as a believer, all the things you need on earth, God will add to you without your running after them.

Are you worried you'll never be in debt? No. I'm giving my personal testimony. I'm 70 years old and I've never been in debt for one day. I decided, if you want Jesus only, many things get sorted out in your life.

We must not be religious Christians who are just, you know, excited during a conference time or stirred up for a while and then die out again. We must be on fire for God all the time, like that burning bush.

I want to be like that burning bush. For many years, I wanted to be like that. That all the time in my heart, there's a fire burning for God, a fire of purity, a fire of love for everybody, whether they love me or not.

It makes no difference. You see, that burning bush, it didn't depend on anybody else. If somebody threw some water on it, it would just continue to burn. The water would become steam. That's what happens when you're a burning bush.

Somebody throws some bad words at you, it doesn't disturb you, just evaporates in steam. Somebody throws accusations and everything, it all gets burnt up. But if you're not a burning bush, then that water sits inside and destroys you.

So this is the solution. God dwelling in man, that is the pure testimony. I want you to turn to Exodus. We read in chapter 2 about this burning bush, sorry, chapter 3. You know, the way God prepared Moses to lead his people was first of all, first of all, to see him dwelling in that burning bush.

It's almost as though God was saying, Moses, you're not going to lead my people with a supernatural ability to preach or to sing or administrative abilities, a lot of people seeking for all that. You will lead my people when you become like this burning bush.

I want to say to every elder brother here who wants to be a leader among God's people, you will be a leader when you're like this burning bush. And if you're not like this burning bush, you may be the greatest preacher in the world, you'll be useless as far as being a representative of God.

It doesn't matter how well I preach. It doesn't matter whether I can't preach or I can't sing. If I'm a burning bush, I can lead other people to God. Because it says here in Exodus 3, I believe this was a parable that the Lord was speaking to Moses and applies to all of us.

It's not just leaders. Every single brother and sister must be a burning bush. In the Old Testament, this is only for certain people. But the wonderful thing of the New Testament, oh, I wish you would see it.

The Holy Spirit and the Fire of God

I feel the fundamental problem with most Christians today is they have not believed what the promise which Peter said on the day of Pentecost, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. We've got 10 ,000 counterfeits of the baptism in the Holy Spirit going around the world today.

Fooling people that just because they shook some or babble something, they're filled with the Holy Spirit. They're not. You look at their life. There's no burning fire in them. They're not filled with the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist said when Jesus comes, he will not only save you from your sin. He's the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And he said, secondly, he is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit and fire.

And fire. And that fire begins here. Exodus chapter 3, you read in verse 2. The angel of the Lord, I believe that's the word angel means a messenger. Jesus Christ in his three, before he arrived in Bethlehem, before that you read occasionally in the New Testament he manifested himself by this expression, the messenger of the Lord.

It was the Lord himself, the second person of the Trinity. There in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. As far as I can remember, that's the first time in the Bible that you find Jesus Christ coming from heaven to this earth and appearing, you know, in spirit form in a burning bush.

And there was a prophetic picture of what he was going to do on the day of Pentecost. By the spirit of fire he was going to come and dwell in the midst of people and make them all into burning bushes.

You know, some of us are struggling with sins and worldliness and how to be free from the love of money and oh, I'm attached to this and I'm attached to that. Brother, you need the fire, the fire will burn up everything.

You try to crush this, crush this, it'll grow again, it's like crushing weeds. You try to crush the weeds in your garden, they grow again, burn it up! The Lord will come as a burning fire and burn it up and that will solve the problem permanently.

You won't love money anymore, you'll love better things than that. And you won't need to go to any revival meeting in your life because you'll be always revived. Revival is for dying people, they say in a hospital, this guy's dying, we've got to revive him.

And if your church needs to be revived, that church is dying, it's pathetic, that's the condition of so many people. And I will tell you, many, many churches, what they need is not a revival meeting, they need a resurrection meeting.

They're dead, how can you revive a dead man? Any amount of prayer, what they need is not revival, they need resurrection. And we need to stay in that resurrection. And it says here that the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire, verse 2, from the midst of a bush.

And he looked and the bush was burning with fire and it was not consumed. Burning with fire, all the bugs and no bug could stay inside that, whatever germs there were in that bush up till that time when the Lord came, they vanished.

What a life, I want to be like that. That no bug of this world or sin will have any place in me. Because the fire of God burns in my heart, no bitterness in somebody, no unforgiving spirit, no worldly attitude, it'll all be burnt up by the fire of the Lord.

And yet I myself am not consumed. My personality remains, that's what it means, the bush is not consumed. I'm still Zach Poonen and my personality remains the same but all the other things in me are burnt up, every wretched thing that I inherited from Adam.

That's what God wants to do through the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord manifests himself through that burning bush. And the interesting thing here is, Moses had gone by there so many times, there are probably hundreds of bushes there, but there was one bush that made him stop.

Dear brothers and sisters, I don't know whether the longing that you have, but I remember when I read this, I said, Lord, I wanted my life to be like this, that when people know more about my life, they'll stop and say, how is it possible for a man to live like this?

How is it possible for a man to rejoice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, never to be in a bad mood 365 days of the year, never to be interested in money or the things of the earth, even if he has little.

How is it possible for a man to be devoted to God, to be on fire for God every single day, even if he never attends any meetings, even if nobody is there to stir him up. I mean, if you get on fire only when somebody stirs you up, that's good.

But you need to go one step further, where you come to the place where you're on fire for God when nobody stirs you up. See, this bush did not need somebody to pour oil and put some fuel into it. No! I'll tell you this honestly, when God fills you with the Holy Spirit, you don't need even conference meetings.

You'll be on fire for God whether you go to a conference or not. And you won't backslide after the conference is over. You'll be the same and you'll be setting other people on fire. If you always need fuel and fuel and fuel and fuel, that's good, that's the early stages.

But how long are you going to sit in the early stages? How long are you going to be a baby? We've got to grow up and we've got to communicate that fire to our children till our homes get set on fire. Very important.

And then people will stop. You know, if you're a man on fire for God, people will stop and see, hey, there's something different about this man. They may not agree with you, they may criticize you, but they'll never forget you.

Because they met a saint who lives before God. And every one of us can be like that. Think if we can be scattered across India and just be one individual here and one individual there whom people will never forget.

I remember when I was in the Navy, I was second in command in a ship where I had a senior commanding officer. And of course, every ship I was in, they knew I was a disciple of Jesus Christ and a Christian.

I was a witness for Christ wherever I was. And I remember I heard that on his deathbed, when somebody went to visit him, he spoke about me. And years later, because I was perhaps the only man he came across who reminded him of eternity.

That's how we must be. They may forget about us, they may criticize us, but years later on that deathbed, they will remember there was one man I met in my life who made me conscious of eternity. Who showed me that eternal things were more important than the things of time.

Not one man who was a joker and made fun and could make me laugh. I don't want that type of reputation. What type of reputation do you want? There are so many people whom you know who will never come for a conference like this.

Who I never know, but they meet you. One day they will die. And on that deathbed, I want to ask you, will they remember you? That you were the one who made them aware that there is a world beyond this world.

That the things of eternity are more important than the things of time. And if they saw you getting upset over some earthly loss, then they will believe that you are just like the rest. You get disturbed with ugly things.

Jesus Came to Save From Sin

But if they see that you are not disturbed, because eternity is more important than time. Like I have often said to people. Remember this brothers and sisters. The only thing serious on this earth. The only thing that is serious on this earth is sin.

That's all. Jesus did not come to save us from anything other than sin. The rest are byproducts. The angel Gabriel when he came to Joseph. He said don't hesitate to take Mary to be your wife. Because this is born of the Holy Spirit.

And that holy thing is going to be born of him, born of her. You shall name him Jesus. Because there is a meaning to that name. Gabriel told Joseph. He shall save his people from their sins. And you have heard me say this often.

That's the first promise as you turn to the pages of the New Testament. That's a new age coming. Someone has come from heaven. To save me from what? Not to save me from my poverty. I will tell you honestly.

I am not afraid of poverty. My wife and I have gone through poverty in our early married days. And we are thankful for it. It taught us a lot about God. Thou shall call his name Jesus. Because he shall save his people from poverty and make them wealthy.

That's a false gospel. That he will save his people from all their sicknesses and make them healthy. That's a false gospel. Read Matthew 1 .21. Thou shall call his name Jesus. Because he is going to set in order all the political injustice going on in the world.

No. He has not come here to set right all the injustice in the world. That he will do when he comes and reigns in the millennial kingdom. You shall call his name Jesus. Because he will deal with man's biggest problem.

And that is not political injustice or dictatorships. Jesus hasn't come here to remove dictators and make countries into democracies. I am not interested. I am not interested in anything to do with politics.

I am interested in doing what God sent Jesus on earth to do. And called me to be a member of his body to save people from their sin. If they are healthy, praise the Lord. But if they are sick, at least let them be saved from sin.

If they have enough money to meet all their needs, praise the Lord. But if they don't have and they are poor, never mind. Let them be saved from their sin. I mean, I am not preaching what I didn't practice.

Even in the days when we were rock bottom poor. My wife and I never prayed, Oh God, make us wealthy. No. When I am sick, I say, Lord, you either heal me or give me something better than healing. Holiness.

I choose holiness any day. I want to ask you a question. How many of you can honestly say before God. That if I speak a rude word to somebody. It will disturb me much more at night. Than if the doctor told me that I had incurable cancer.

I can say that. That if I speak a rude word to somebody. That will disturb me much more when I sleep at night on my pillow. That if the doctor told me today, Zach, you got incurable cancer. You got another week to live.

I say, fine. If I got another week to live, I want to live another week without sin. You know why so many people say, Oh brother Zach. I have been trying for victory over sin. I haven't got it. You will never get it.

Till you see sin is much more serious than every sickness in the world. I am asking you honestly. Can you honestly say. That you hate sin more than any sickness. Can you honestly say that if you have Jesus.

You don't want a comfortable life. You don't want a good bed to sleep on. You don't want a good food. You can sleep anywhere, live anywhere. Eat, drink anything because Jesus is everything. Oh, we are all so fussy.

About so many things. We want this and we want that and we want the other. And at the bottom number 85, we also want Jesus. Where in the world are you going to be on a burning bush for God. We come to God.

Wanting Jesus Above Every Other Desire

You know like God told Solomon. In a dream once. Ask what do you want. He said I want wisdom. And the Lord gave him so many other things. Because you have asked for wisdom to rule my people. You know that in the book of Proverbs.

Wisdom is a picture of Jesus. It's a synonym for Jesus Christ. He is the perfection of wisdom in a human being. And as a man when he came to earth. And if God were to wake me up in the night and say Lord.

Zach what do you want. I say Lord I want Jesus. I want to be like him. You will do that for me. I promise you I will never ask for anything on earth. I don't want a car. I don't even want a cycle. I will walk.

If you want me to do that. I will never desire anything on this earth but you. Please take this prescription. And do it. And tell me when you see me next year at the conference. Whether you got victory or not.

I tell you you will be astounded. At how quickly God answers your prayer. You will be astounded at how God transformed your home. Into a heaven. From the complaining grumbling place it is right now. Say Lord I want to be like that burning bush.

Where every bug in me is burnt up. Where Jesus is everything. The angel of the Lord. Jesus came into the midst of that bush. And manifested himself. I want that to happen in me. That Jesus comes into this bush.

This dry good for nothing bush. Call Zachoonen. That he come into me and make me burn. I can never take any credit for it. If I burn and another bush is not burning. I say that's not me. I was a worse bush than you.

But the Lord came in. And the Lord can come into you. And it made Moses stop and listen. And that's what should happen. That people look at your life and they stop. And then God is able to speak to Moses through the bush.

And God is able to speak to people through you. And to preserve yourself like that. All the great need is for consistent Christianity. Day by day by day by day. I don't want anything that stirs me up temporarily.

And leaves me like that for a few days. God's desire is that we must be like that. And it says here in verse 4. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look. Then God spoke to him. There's something there.

People have to stop and say hey. See that's what happened on the day of Pentecost. People said hey this is something supernatural. Or whatever it was. It was people speaking in other languages. But it doesn't always have to be that.

But something that people stop and say hey watch this. And God can speak. And that's how he wants us to be. Years later, 40 years later. We read in the book of Deuteronomy. In the book of Deuteronomy.

Moses is blessing all the tribes of Israel. And he says when it comes to Joseph. Of Joseph verse 13. Deuteronomy 33. He's blessing the tribes of Israel. And verse 13. You know Joseph was the one of Jacob's sons.

Who was most upright. Most godly. And the tribe of Joseph. Moses said blessed be the Lord. Of the Lord be his land. Blessed be the Lord be his land. And then he says. May you be blessed. Verse 16. With the choice things of the earth.

And its fullness. And the favor of him. Who dwelt in the bush. Let it come to the head of Joseph. And to the crown of the head. As one who is distinguished. Among his brothers. One who stands out. Among his brothers like a bush stood out in the wilderness.

The favor. Of the one who dwelt in the bush. Oh when I read it. I said Lord. I want that. Moses remembered God. As the one who dwelt in the bush. For 40 years. He never lost that vision. This is what God wants.

The Tabernacle as God's Dwelling Place

And 40 years later in Deuteronomy 33. He calls God as. The God who dwelt in the bush. And that has been God's desire all along. You know after dwelling in the bush. We read in Exodus. In chapter 25. The second dwelling place of God.

That you read is the tabernacle. Again God. You know you got to see something of God's heart here. I want to encourage you my brothers and sisters. When you read the Bible. Please try and see God's heart.

Say Lord. I want to see your heart here. What are you trying to say to me? I want you to turn to Exodus 25. And verse. Eight. The tabernacle. Let them construct. A sanctuary for me. That I may dwell among them.

I wish you could see God's heart here. And not just read those verses. Stop. Read the Bible slowly. Don't rush to the next verse. You're missing a lot if you do. See God's heart here for you. God saying to you.

This is how I take it. Will you build something for me. In your heart. Where I can dwell. Will you build a home for me. With your wife and children. Where I can dwell. Will you build a church for me. Where I can dwell.

And I say Lord yes. What's use living for anything else on earth. When God told Noah once. Will you build an ark for me. I don't find anybody else on the earth who's interested. Noah said yes Lord. Even if I'm the only one on earth.

I'll do it for you. I want you Noah. You're the only one I can find on earth. Lot of people talk about God. But you're the only one Noah who's serious. And I want to use you to build an ark. And Noah said sure.

And because he was whole hearted. And radical. His wife joined him. His three sons joined him. And their wives joined. There were eight people. Because one man was whole hearted for God. When God told him I want to build something.

Noah volunteered. And he never asked the question. Which so many Christian organizations. And churches ask today. Where is the money going to come from. Noah never asked. Because he knew. That if he asked that question.

God would have told him from your pocket. It's understood. We have never asked anybody for money. In the 35 years. That we have built 40 -50 churches. In different places. Because we believe that God's work.

Must be done with our money. And what the Lord told me is this. Many years ago. As long as you got one rupee. Left in your bank account. Don't ever ask anybody for money. When your bank account comes to zero.

Then you have the right to ask other people. And I'll tell you my bank account has not come to zero. That's the reason I don't ask other people. How can I ask another person when I've got money. In my bank account.

Supposing I want to go and buy some food for my children. And I've got money in my bank account. Will I come and ask you for money. How many of you would do that. When you want to buy food for your children.

And you've got money in your bank account. You go and ask your neighbor can you give me some money. Wouldn't that be shameful. Why do Christians go and ask other people for money. Christian preachers and others.

When they've got money in their bank account. I'll tell you why. Because they don't consider God's house as their own house. They consider God's house as an orphanage. All the people there are orphans.

So they've got to send reports to other people. Saying please give us money to support these orphans. I'll tell you I don't have any orphans. I've got children. Somebody asked me this question. Brother Zach your four children are in America.

When are you going there. I said I've got 4 ,000 children in India. Where's the question of going there. They're children. We don't run orphanages. We run families. We build families. And who's going to provide for the needs of the family.

The father. And if he's got money in his bank account. He's not going to beg and borrow. And he believes that God will provide enough. We may not be able to build all those fancy buildings. And have all those extra gadgets.

That other churches have. But with the little resources we have. We take five loaves and two fishes. And put it in Jesus hand. And he'll bless multitudes. We believe that. We've experienced it. But it all depends on beginning.

With being a burning bush. Willing to let God burn up. Every desire in me. That's outside of his will. You don't know what you're missing. You don't know what you've missed. By listening to the devil's lie.

That you'll have a better time in life. If you do a few things to please yourself. It's a lie. Look at the mess that's come into your life and your home. Because you did things to please yourself. Follow Jesus.

The Cross, Self-Denial, and the Normal Christian Life

About whom it's written. That for 33 years. 33 and a half years. Jesus lived. It says in Romans 15. And verse 3. Never pleasing himself in anything. I say Lord. You never pleased yourself in anything.

For 33 and a half years. And I sing these empty words. Follow, follow. I will follow Jesus. Everywhere, anywhere. Rubbish. If I don't want to follow Jesus. Who never pleased himself in anything. That is true Christianity.

Everything else is substandard. That is the real normal Christian life. I've read. There's a book called the normal Christian life. And by watchman it's a great book. But I find a lot of people who read it.

Think they've got the normal Christian life. I'll tell you the normal Christian life is where you desire nothing but Jesus. If you've got there, you've got it. If you haven't got there. I don't care how many books you've read on it.

You haven't come there. And that's the root cause of all the problems. That's why Jesus said. You must take up the cross every single day. And follow me. And we know what it means to take up the cross.

In those olden days if you saw a man taking up the cross. You know he was going to die. What Jesus was saying is you've got to die everyday. If you want to follow me. You've got to die to your own choices.

And your own preferences. And I'll tell you most Christians don't want to do that. That's why there are so many problems. I remember when I was a young man. And I was trying to understand the word. The way of the cross.

The Lord first revealed the way of the cross to me. When I was about. I think 23 years old. And I was seeking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And the Lord showed me that. You can't have the baptism in the Holy Spirit without the cross.

And the Lord showed that to me. From the baptism of Jesus. Where he went down into water baptism. Accepting total death. You know if you allow somebody to submerge you under the water. It's like a burial.

Total death to yourself. And then you're raised up. It's no longer I but Christ. And that time the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus. And the Lord showed me the connection there. Between dying to myself. Being dead to the world.

Dead to the flesh. And coming up in resurrection life. And the Holy Spirit coming upon. I saw something there I've never forgotten. And the Lord said to me that day. This is way back in 1963. The Lord said to me.

If you walk this way. My power will rest upon you every day. I'll be with you when you live. I'll be with you when you speak. But the day you think. That you graduated from the way of the cross. And think that you're going to some higher class.

My power will depart from you. I will never graduate from the way of the cross. I will one day when Jesus comes. There will be no cross in heaven. But until the end of our life on earth. There's to be a cross.

The Cross and the Fire of the Holy Spirit

There's a close connection. Between the cross and the fire. I want to show you that. The first time. In the Bible. Where you read about fire. Is not in the burning bush. That's the first place where you see God dwelling.

As a fire. But the first time you see a fire. In the Bible is after sin. Has come into the world. In Genesis chapter 3. That's the first time you read about fire. And that's the first time you read about the cross.

You read about the cross. First of all. In Genesis chapter 3. Verse 15. Talking about Jesus. Being born through a woman. I'll put enmity between the serpent. That's the devil. And the woman. Between your seed and her seed.

He shall bruise you on the head. Satan would bruise. The head of Jesus. The crown of thorns and bruise. No. Sorry. Satan's head would be bruised by the devil. Satan's head would be bruised by Jesus Christ.

But Jesus. You shall bruise him on the heel. But Jesus would crush his head. Jesus. Would be bruised in the heel means. He would be crucified. But in the process. Jesus would crush. The serpent's head.

He. The seed of the woman. Will crush. The head of the serpent. While he himself. Would be bruised by the serpent. That's the cross. The cross is right there. Jesus would be crucified. And the devil would be crushed.

Now a lot of people. Haven't understood that. They only know that Jesus was crucified. Half the truth. And he died for our sins. But in the same sentence. As his heel is bruised. Satan's head would be crushed.

It's a very important result of Calvary. Then. Comes the cross in our life. Also in Genesis 3. All these things are in seed form. Right in the beginning of the Bible. And the Lord said. In verse 22. Behold the man has become like one of us.

Knowing good and evil. Now he might stretch out his hand. And take from the tree of life. And live forever. As a sinner. I don't want him to live forever as a sinner. So I'm going to make sure. He doesn't go to the tree of life.

And so he drove the man. Out of the garden. And he stationed cherubim. Verse 24. With a sword. That was on fire. It's the first mention of fire. In the Old Testament. After sin came. A sword. And a fire.

The sword. Speaks of death. Killing. That's the cross. And the fire speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit. So it's there. Even there in the Bible. Right in the beginning. You see it in the baptism of Jesus.

The baptism of Jesus is the cross. And the spirit coming upon him is the power of the Holy Spirit. The tragedy in Christendom. Is. Many people who preach about the power of the Holy Spirit. Have not. Chosen.

Explained. And walked the way of the cross. And therefore there's no power. They get counterfeits. And then there are other people who talk about the cross. The cross. The cross. The cross. The cross.