With Christ We Can Do Everything — Zac Poonen

Knowing God Under the New Covenant

So there are two important lessons that God wants to teach us in our Christian life as we get to know him. In the Old Testament, as I said, they could not know God. They could not have eternal life. When you say Old Testament people could not have eternal life, eternal life is to know God and they could not know him.

But one of the great privileges we have in the New Covenant is to know God. And Moses was like a New Covenant person living in Old Testament times. That even though he lived in Old Testament times, he came to know God, God's ways.

Just like today, even though we are living in a New Covenant time, there are many believers who live like Old Covenant people who don't know God. That means they are not laying hold of their privileges as New Covenant people.

So in our last session, we were thinking of learning God's ways that he wants to teach us one lesson, first of all. That without his help, without Christ, we can do nothing of eternal value. And that's why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Eternal Value and the Knowledge of God

The whole purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit is so that with our life, we can accomplish something that will last beyond the grave. When we leave this earth, we cannot take anything of our wealth with us that we all know.

We cannot take our education with us. We cannot boast in our earthly accomplishments when we get beyond this world. But there is something we can take with us when we leave this world. And that is the knowledge of God that you have acquired in your earthly life.

The measure in which you have partaken of God's nature. That you can take with you when you go beyond this grave, beyond the grave. So all the rest of the things we do, we have to do it because we have to live on this earth, we have to bring up our children, we have to feed them, clothe them, educate them.

But beyond it all, we must remember that we are creatures of eternity. If we have only worked hard to educate our children and to get them married and settled and then sit back and enjoy our grandchildren and that's it.

We are going to be very disappointed when Christ comes. When Christ comes back, if that's all we have done. Have we learnt God's ways in our life? Have we grown in humility? See, when we are born we are full of pride.

That one year old child is full of pride. You see that by the time it's two years old. That's why it fights with others. So I want my way. Pride and selfishness are found in the smallest child. And as we grow up, we have just that pride and pride and selfishness all over us.

And that's why every married life is full of conflict because of pride and selfishness. You go through life like that and you haven't eliminated those things. We haven't really learned anything in our earthly life.

Whatever amount of money you earned and however big or famous man you became and if you only brought children into the world and got them married, that's what the dogs and the pigs also do. What do the dogs and pigs do?

They also bring up their little ones and take care of them and those little ones grow up and they have other little ones and it goes on like that. That's an animal level. They don't get to know God. Those pigs and dogs don't get to know God and many human beings also don't get to know God either.

That's not the way we're supposed to live. Especially if we say that we know Jesus Christ as our Savior and we've got the Bible to guide us. My dear brother, sister, you must be someone who knows God's ways.

The Holy Spirit and Understanding Scripture

God's got a plan for your life and he'll help you to fulfill it. When the Bible speaks about being filled with the Spirit, you must have a tremendous hunger to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You cannot understand the Bible without being filled with the Holy Spirit.

I'll tell you that. You can understand it intellectually. You can study it like a history book and learn a lot. But if you really want to know God through the Bible, you have to say, Lord, please fill me with the Holy Spirit every day and open my eyes that I can see things here and get to know you better and see that without you I can do nothing.

So the other lesson God wants us to learn is in Philippians 4 .13. Philippians 4 .13 is the opposite of what we just heard in the last session. And that is, I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.

So here are the two lessons that we have to learn. Without Christ, I can do nothing of eternal value. With Christ, I can do everything. Everything means what? Everything that is planned for my life. That's what it means.

So without Christ, I can do nothing of eternal value. With Christ, I can do every single thing that is planned for my life. I don't have to miss out on God's plan for my life because I'm not educated or because I'm not smart or even if you've got some mental retardation.

You know, there are children who are born with some mental defect. I believe with all my heart that even that child can accomplish God's purpose for it because it's got nothing to do with education. It's not got to do with degrees or how much money you can earn.

It's a question of knowing God and whatever. God may not want that child to accomplish so many earthly things and the earthly wise that mentally retarded child can't accomplish much. But in terms of God's purpose, even that child can fulfill God's purpose and have a glorious eternity.

Childlike Faith and God's Different Values

Because you know, Jesus, when he said, they asked him, what is the kingdom of heaven like? He took a little baby. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like this. What does a little baby know? He said, the kingdom of heaven is like this child.

If you become like this little child, you enter God's kingdom. So God's values are very different from human values. No college will take a little child and say, this is the greatest person. Only Jesus taught things like that.

So on one side, I have to say, without Christ, I can do nothing of eternal value. But at the same time, I don't stop there. If I stop there, I'll do nothing. But I've also got to say the other side of the coin.

With Christ, I can do everything God has planned for my life. And if God has planned something for your life, you can accomplish 100 of that. If you believe that with Christ's help, I can do it. With the power of the Holy Spirit, I can fulfill God's plan for my life.

And I hope all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, will be gripped by this. You know, we don't want to boast that we are better than any church. We don't compare ourselves with any church. And we refuse to do that because God is the judge.

We don't say there are no hypocrites in CFC. CFC has got hypocrites. Just like every church has got hypocrites. But I have gone to many churches in my lifetime. I've heard many preachers of all types of Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, Anglican.

I've heard all of them. And I say, what we hear in CFC is probably the purest truth of the entire Bible that you can hear anywhere. And if that is the case, we're not boasting. We're just saying God has been good to us.

You have the opportunity to accomplish all of God's purpose in your life. It will be tragedy if you sit here year after year and just accumulate knowledge and don't get to know God, where your life is transformed and you're really able to fulfill God's plan for your life.

There must be no feeling of inferiority, saying, oh, I'm so useless, I can't do anything. No, no, no. With Christ, I can do everything. That's the other side of the truth. If you just rejoice in the first message saying, oh, without Christ, I can do nothing.

Yeah, I'm sure I can do nothing. That's not it. You must also be able to say with Christ, I can do everything God wants me to do in my life. God's got a plan for my life and all of it can be fulfilled once I learn the first lesson.

Moses as an Example of Dependence on God

So we see there, Moses, I spoke about Moses. At the age of 40, he thought he could do, but God had to teach him in the next 40 years, you can do nothing. Come to zero. Then, in the last 40 years of his life, he did one of the greatest works that any man, can you imagine delivering two million people from slavery, from the greatest superpower in the whole world, a pharaoh who did not even want to let anybody go, and Moses goes up to him and delivers two million people completely out of that country, takes them through the wilderness and plants them in another country.

Amazing what God could do through one man because he first learned the lesson that without God, I can't do anything. And then he had to learn that with God, I can do such fantastic things that the world will be amazed what God can do through one man.

These things are written for our instruction and we will discover in eternity when Jesus comes back and we stand at his judgment seat and we look at the different saints, you will discover in that day that nobody can boast in God's presence, that God fulfilled his purpose through very, very humble people who did not have any high thoughts about themselves, who felt they were weak and helpless and who kept praying to God for his power and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Men and women whom God used and you will discover in that day that very often, sometimes God did through one man like Moses and Paul, things which thousands of others could not do. And to believe that you can be like that, my brother, sister, you and I can be like that, these examples in the Bible of men and women like that, you must say, Lord, don't sit back and say, oh, I'm useless, I don't know much.

No, no, no, no, no. I believe many of you are sitting like that and year after year has gone by in CFC and you're not really accomplishing much of eternal value. So I want you to pray that God will help you to be gripped with the truth in such a way that you say, Lord, at least from now on, I want to accomplish something for you.

Not something big and famous that your name becomes famous, and maybe nobody will ever know about you, but that God will be able to accomplish his purpose for your life, whatever it is. I don't know what it is for your life, but you must be gripped by this.

Lord, you've got a plan for my life that was made before I was born and I want that to be fulfilled. I don't care whether people think it's fulfilled or not. You've got a plan for my life, it must be fulfilled.

If you pray that prayer. So Paul said this, that with Christ I can do everything. And that is the main reason why God asks us to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 5 and verse 18, it says, don't get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Distinguishing Spirit-Filled Life from Ministry

Now, whenever there is a very important command in Scripture, like be filled with the Holy Spirit, you can be quite sure that the devil will do everything to confuse people on that. And I believe there is more confusion concerning being filled with the Spirit than almost any doctrine in the New Testament.

It is the one area where there is maximum confusion in Christendom. Because we have some people who say you must speak in tongues and that's the main thing of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And some people say, oh, I got it.

And it's led to a lot of confusion. So what has helped me is to see, whom can I see? Can I look at an example of a man who is really filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the most Spirit-filled person that ever walked on this earth.

I'm not talking about ministry. Ministry is different. I'm talking about his life. He was Spirit-filled when he was 25 years old. When he had not done any miracle, he never preached a sermon. So I'm not talking, you must distinguish between life and ministry.

Very often, whenever people talk about being filled with the Spirit, they think of ministry. No, ministry is different function in the body. So we admire great preachers or some great healer, but that's a ministry.

You can't follow Jesus in his ministry. When he said, follow me, what did he mean? To walk on water like him? To go to somebody like Lazarus who was dead four days and raise him up? No. That's not what he meant.

To feed the 5 ,000 with five loaves? We can't do that. Don't get mixed up with ministry and life. Each person has got a specific ministry. That's like saying every part of the body has got a function and you can't do another's function.

For example, the finger can't do what the tongue can do. The ear can't do what the eye can do. So we don't have to become all eyes or all tongues. Each of us has got a different ministry like the different parts of the body, but every part of this body can have the same life.

So when Jesus said, follow me, he was not talking about ministry. To live by the same principles by which he lived. When Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. He's not telling us all to be apostles and to go around planting churches to give up our jobs.

No, you keep your job, but live your life by the principles by which Jesus and Paul lived. That is what it means to walk as Jesus walked or to live as he lived. So, for this we have to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Manifesting the Life of Christ

That means, to me, the power of the Holy Spirit is like electricity. A bulb has got the capacity to produce light. It's got the ability to produce light, but only when the current goes into it, it produces a light.

We have the capacity, like that bulb, to show forth the life of Jesus Christ. But like that bulb can remain dark until electricity comes in. We, though we have the capacity, will not manifest the life of Jesus if you're not filled with the Holy Spirit.

So, what will we manifest? Darkness, the life of Adam. This is how it is in so many Christian homes. Husband and wife are manifesting the life of Adam with conflict and tension and strife, just like their three-year-old children are fighting with each other.

Those three-year-old children are manifesting the life of Adam, fighting with each other. And the 50-year-old husband and wife are fighting with each other, just like those three-year-old children.

They never developed from the life of Adam. That's not God's will. The devil is glorified by that. The devil is glorified by the way so many Christians behave in their office, in their home, and everywhere.

You must say, Lord, I've been like that in the past, but I don't want to be like that anymore. How many of you feel that that's the way it's been in your personal life, that's the way it's been in your home life, that's the way it's been in your relationships with other believers.

But how many of you say, Lord, I don't want to be like that anymore. I'm sick and tired of that defeated life. I want to change, and I want to change from today. I want to be gripped by the possibility that with Christ I can do everything that God wants me to accomplish.

I may never become a great preacher, I may never become a healer, but I'll be able to walk as Jesus walked by the same principles by which he lived. Even if I'm just an unknown person in the church, that God can make me a blessing to everybody who comes across my path.

That God can make me a blessing to every family. You go and visit a family, and you bless that family, and you come away. Imagine if all of us begin to live like that. I tell you, it'll be like a revolution.

That is God's will for you, and you must believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is available for you. So many people, when they pray for the power of God's Holy Spirit, they always wonder, will God give it to me or not?

I used to be like that for many years when I prayed. Not sure, will God give it to me or not? But I finally came to a place, I said, Lord, I believe. Though I don't deserve it, I'm just going to believe that you will give me the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish your plan for my life.

So I want to encourage you to believe that, my brothers and sisters. You cannot accomplish God's work without the power of the Holy Spirit. Don't think of that as something only for certain preachers or somebody.

Every single person sitting here, mother, father, young boy or girl, you, you, even if you have been a big backslider till today, or you have not taken the Christian life seriously till today, today you decide, Lord Jesus, I am going to pursue this life of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

I want it. I may never become a great preacher or healer or any such thing, but I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that I can, like a light, I can burn. Do seek the Lord about this. This is very, very, very important.

The Spirit Changes People

Because this is the thing that changed those early apostles who were so scared and timid and weak. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They suddenly became like completely different people. In the Old Testament, there is a verse which I have often thought about in 1 Samuel and chapter 10.

You know, you can read this and say, Lord, make this real in my life. 1 Samuel chapter 10. Sometimes you read a verse in scripture and say, God, can you do that in my life also? Here is a good verse too.

You read it and say, Lord, do that in my life also. 1 Samuel chapter 10. And Samuel was telling Saul, verse 6. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you will prophesy you will be changed into another man.

Think of that. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you will become another man. You won't be the same person anymore. Your whole personality will change. You will not be the shy, timid person, afraid of everybody.

You will be a bold witness for Jesus Christ. This is what the Spirit of God can do for you. You will be changed into another woman. You won't be that quarrelsome, troublesome wife or mother anymore. You will be another woman.

You will be changed into another person. That means the Holy Spirit is going to do that changing. So pray that God will do that in your life. Lord, I look at the way, the type of life the Bible speaks about and I don't feel I can ever accomplish it.

New Testament Standards for Christian Conduct

You know, the standards in the New Testament are so high. Shall I show you some of the verses which show how high the standard is? Let me show you a few verses. It's enough to discourage anybody. Colossians 4, verse 6.

Colossians 4, verse 6. He says, let your speech, the way you speak, always be with grace. Always with grace. Seasoned with salt so that you can know how to respond to each person. In other words, he's saying here that every single day, and conversation is the thing that we do every day, your speech in your home to other people, to everyone must always, always be with grace.

Imagine a husband and wife always speaking with grace to each other. Is it possible? What does the devil tell you right now? What? Impossible. God says, it's possible. If you're filled with the Spirit, it's possible.

If you're not filled with the Spirit, you'll be like that bulb without electricity. The bulb has got the tremendous ability to burn if only the electricity comes in. Without electricity, it's like a fused, useless bulb.

So that's what I'm trying to show you. I'm trying to show you the standard which God wants in the New Testament. I'll take another verse. Ephesians 5, verse 20. Ephesians 5, verse 20. Always giving thanks for everything in the name of Jesus.

Always giving thanks. Don't you think it would be a wonderful thing if you're the type of person who's always giving thanks for everything? You have no complaint about anybody or anything. People will love to be with you.

There's a brother or sister I know who never complains about anything. They're always so thankful. I like to be with such people. Your personality will be changed. You know how to do it? Ephesians 5, verse 18.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the answer. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. But that is the standard God wants. Philippians 4, verse 6. No, verse 4, sorry. Philippians 4, verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.

And just by the way, Paul wrote this when he was in a prison. And the prison those days was a dungeon with rats and cockroaches running all around. And he's sitting there and saying rejoice. Again, I say rejoice.

Not in my circumstances. You can't rejoice in your circumstances. Rejoice in the Lord. He hasn't changed. He's not telling you to rejoice in your circumstances. Maybe you lost your visa. Maybe you have to go back and you don't have a job.

You can't rejoice in that. Rejoice in the Lord. He hasn't changed. Verse 6. Be anxious for nothing. Think of the standard in the New Testament. Be anxious for nothing. Never get worried about anything.

Can you live by that standard? What does the devil say? Impossible. I can show you verse after verse after verse. Ephesians 4. And verse 27. No, verse 31, sorry. Ephesians 4, 31. Let all bitterness and all wrath and all anger and all clamor and all slander be put away with you from all malice.

Put away these things. All. All means all anger, all slander, all backbiting. Put away completely. Is it possible? I'll show you verse after verse after verse in the New Testament where the devil says impossible.

Doing Everything Without Grumbling

Now why has God written all these things here? Is it just to tease us? Say like Paul said, Philippians 4, 13. I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me. It's like the bulb saying, if only you will send the electricity through me, I'll burn and give light.

But don't ask me to do it without the electricity. I can't do it. Or take another verse, Philippians 2, 14. Do everything without grumbling or disputing or complaining. I'm telling you, these are verses I've taken very seriously.

Everything in my life I must do without grumbling or complaining. Can you imagine what your home will be like if there's nobody grumbling in that home? This is the standard for Christians. Why don't we hear it?

Because most preachers are not even trying to live according to that. How can they preach it? I remember one brother in CFC Bangalore. He thought all these standards are too high what I was preaching.

Brother Zach preaches so hard. I called him and I put my arm around his shoulder and said, Brother, you may not value it today. One day when Christ comes back and you see the condition of all the other believers who did not listen to these messages, who rejected it, you see the condition of what will be the condition of those believers in that day, where they end up and where you end up because you listened and submitted to what you were taught here.

That day you will thank me. When you see where all the others went who were taught by other preachers that these things are not important. I said, I don't want you to thank me now. But that day you will realize the value of what you have heard for so many years in CFC.

Maybe you don't realize it now. But this is what God is calling us to be as a church if we call ourselves a CFC church. And you look at it and say, Lord, how in the world can we do this? How in the world can we live this life?

Faith for the Impossible

It's like when God told Moses, I want you to deliver 2 million people out of Egypt. It doesn't matter if Pharaoh is the most powerful person in the world. Think if you were in Moses' place and Pharaoh is the most powerful person in the world and 2 million of your family is there and you've got to take not one or two people, 2 million out from there.

What do you say? I say, Lord, it's impossible. God says, if I am with you, it will be possible. The Bible is full of examples like that. These are the examples that should challenge us. So dear brothers and sisters, please take this challenge seriously.

One, on one side to say without Christ I can do nothing and the other to say with Christ I can do everything. Every single thing that God wants me to do, I can do. Take one of the most difficult things to do in this day and age.

Raising Godly Children

One of the most difficult things to do is to bring up children in a godly way. Let me show you two verses. Malachi chapter 2. In Malachi chapter 2 it says, Why did God make you husband and wife one? In the middle of verse 15, in the margin of my Bible it says, Why did he make you one?

So that, because he was seeking for a godly offspring. Why did he make you, in the middle of verse 15, Malachi 2 .15 in the middle, Why did he make you both one? Because he was seeking for a godly offspring.

Why did God make two people husband and wife? Because he wanted godly children. Children anybody can produce, but godly children, that is God's will for you. It says in Ephesians 6, fathers. Ephesians 6, fathers, verse 4.

Bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Some of your children or all of your children? All your children. If you got two children or six children, all of them must be brought up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

What does the devil say? Impossible. Not in this day and age. It's so difficult in this day and age to bring up children like that. You mean God is telling us to do impossible things? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That must be the confession of our mouth. If God has commanded it, he will give me the power of the Holy Spirit to do it, and I can do it, because Christ will strengthen me. He cannot give me a command and not give me the resources.

If you send your child to go to the store, to the shop, and buy something for 20 rupees, or 20 dirhams, or whatever it is, you give him 20 dirhams. But if you send your child to a shop to buy 200 dirhams worth of stuff, you won't give him 20 dirhams, you'll give him 200 dirhams.

Because he wants to be given a big list of what to buy. And if you send him to buy something very expensive that costs 2000 dirhams, you'll give him 2000 dirhams. If God has given us a number of things we have to do, you think he won't give us the resources to do it?

Which of you will send your children to a shop to buy something and not give them enough money to buy it? I cannot imagine any father or mother doing that. And yet we think that God gives us a big list of things to do, and he won't give us the power to do it.

It is unthinkable, unthinkable, that God will ask you to live this life and say, sorry, I won't give you the power. But that's exactly what many Christians believe. Yeah, yeah, it's all there, but God won't give us the power.

Why have we believed the lie of the devil for so many years? Why do we just sit back and say, oh well, children are all different, some children turn out bad. No! Not one of my children should turn out bad, that should be what you should say.

Every one of them must live a godly life, and when it comes to their marriage, every one of them must marry a godly boy or girl. That must be our, we believe because God is on our side. Why should we yield to the devil?

Oh, the devil will get some of our children. Why should he get even one of them? Why can't God have all of them? My dear brothers and sisters, please, God needs you to be a testimony for Him in this age.

You must not be satisfied with just attending CFC meetings. No! Your life must manifest it in your home and in your children, and if you have made a mess of your life, let me tell you that God can take a messed up life and straighten it out.

Believe that. Don't say, Oh, brother, I wish I'd known all these things when my children were small. It doesn't matter. You learned about it all in now. God can pick you up even from now, from the messed up situation you're in, and straighten it out.

Faith for Marriage, Family, and Personal Trials

Otherwise, the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. Don't let the devil make you make excuses like, Oh, that couldn't happen. You know, I've heard people say to me, Oh, brother Zag, you don't know how bad my wife is.

She's so bad, it's impossible for me to live a godly life in such a home. You know what will happen in the final day? When you stand before Jesus Christ and He asks you, Why did you live such a messed up life?

And you tell the Lord, Lord, you don't know what my wife was like. She was such a witch, and that's why I couldn't live this life. And the Lord will say, Okay, hang on. And He'll call somebody from that corner, You, come here.

And He'll tell you, I'll show you this guy's video of his life. His wife was 10 times worse than yours. And see how he lived this life. I'll show you the video of his life, and you'll feel ashamed of yourself.

And you'll say, How did he do it? He trusted me. And his wife also changed. That is the end of the video. Then you'll say, Oh, Lord, I wish I had trusted you like that on earth. I'm telling you the truth.

There's nothing God cannot do. If you have faith, I don't care how bad your husband is, or how bad your wife is, or how bad your children are. You come to God and say, Lord, there is nothing impossible with you.

I want my home life to honor you. I don't want anything for myself. My home life is honoring the devil right now. My children are honoring the devil right now. I don't want it to continue like that. And I believe you're mighty.

You're almighty God. What's the devil before you? He's like an ant before you. Can't you do something for my home? Can't you do something for my children? Maybe there's some relationship that you have with somebody which is in a messy situation.

Can you believe God can come in and alter that? Or maybe you're so much in debt, you don't know how to clear it. You think God can't help you there? Dear brothers and sisters, God loves you as much as he loved Jesus Christ.

He cares for you. He will care for you as much as he cared for Jesus Christ. Do you think there was any situation where God would tell his son, Sorry, I'm going to leave you to yourself. I won't help you.

Not a single situation. If you trust him, I want to say to every single person here, if you trust in your heavenly father, he will do such miracles in your life that you cannot even imagine. I've experienced that in my life.

Not because I'm cleverer than you, not because I'm smarter than you. I just believe God. I said to the Lord, Lord, without you, I will be able to do zero. I cannot do anything without you. But I also believe the other side, that with you I can do everything that you have commanded.

Not everything in the world, but everything you have commanded. So that's all I want to ask you to believe in today. Just to make these two simple statements and that this will be true for you throughout this year.

Trusting God to Transform Relationships

Lord Jesus, I'm absolutely convinced that without you, whatever I do will be useless finally. And that with you, I'll be able to do every single thing you have commanded. And I want to believe you from today onwards.

And I want to trust you that you can do miracles in my job, in my home, in my children, in my marriage relationship, and in relationship. Do you have a problem with some brother or sister here in this church?

Somebody you can't get along with? You can't change the other person, but God can change you. See, I can't change other people. There are a lot of people who hate me in the world. Any servant of the Lord, like Jesus, was hated by others.

Paul was hated by others. And I'm also hated by others. But that doesn't disturb me. My question is, can I love them? That's all. I'm not here to make them love me. No. I don't have faith for that. But I have faith for this.

That God can make me love them. No matter what they do, what they say. That I believe. That's all I'm asking. Do you have faith that God can do something in your heart? Do a miracle in your heart and make you Christ-like in your attitude towards other people?