Constant Fellowship with God in The Light — Zac Poonen

Constant Fellowship with God and One Another

In the church, the most important word is fellowship. Fellowship in two directions, vertical, horizontal. With God, with one another. With God first, and with one another. I want to encourage you to buy two books, if you haven't already got them, before you leave.

If you don't have the money, we'll give it to you even free. If you have the money, pay for it, because we can give it to somebody poorer than you. That's the only reason we ask people to pay for the books.

We like to give to the poor. One book is what Brother Joji Samuel mentioned yesterday. The Congregation, the Club, and the Church, written by Santosh Poonen. We have it in Hindi, we have it in Malayalam, we have it in Tamil, we have it in Telugu, and in English, and in Romanian.

So, and it may be translated into other languages. We don't have all those languages here, but if you need any of them, and you give your address, we'll put you in touch with those who are distributing those books.

It's only a small booklet, you can read it in a couple of hours. 32 pages, small booklet. I would really encourage you to read it, to find out if you are in a Congregation, or a Club, or a Church, and if you have a burden, to buy at least one extra copy, to give it to somebody in some other Church who is a believer, so that he can discover whether he's in a true Church or not.

That's how we can help others. If you are not bold enough to witness to people, we can give them a cheap book. It doesn't cost much. Have a burden to witness to others, not only that Christ died for our sins, but what a Church is like, you've experienced it.

It's a very easy way to witness. Instead of spending 25 rupees on a birthday card, spend 10 rupees on a book, and give that as a birthday gift. You can bless them more than with that birthday card, which you'll tear up and throw away.

I really want to encourage you to pass this on to other Christians, who you can help, it can be a form of witness to them, and you can help them. And if you know them well, their blood will not be on your hands in the day of judgment, because you've told them the truth.

God's Work Done in God's Way

The second book is a book that I took 43 years to write. It's called God's Work, Done in God's Way. That's a little thicker book. It's the first two chapters speak about our own experience in building a new Covenant Church, and the remaining chapters speak about certain principles of spiritual leadership.

And I also want to say, if you have an internet connection, you can read both of these books free on the internet, at your convenience. You can download it onto your phone and read it conveniently anytime.

We have tried to provide everything we have free. Every book of ours is freely available on the internet, even through the Bible is available in video, 70 hours on video. We have a CFC app, which you can download onto your phone from your Play Store.

And that has all the Bible studies that we have, many hundreds of hours that with that app you can access for personal life, for foundational truths, for building the Church, entire New Testament verse by verse from Matthew 1 to the last verse of Revelation, a study of every verse.

Everything is there. It's all free. I have heard many years ago the statement, the devil is always stealing, man is always selling, and God is always giving free. The devil is always stealing, man is always selling, and God is always giving free.

We want to be like God. And even the books that we ask you to pay for is only to print more books. If you want it free, everything is available on the internet, free. For the whole world. That's how we believe Jesus would want us to do it.

And that's how we've done it. So I encourage you, please remember these two books, The Congregation, The Club and The Church, and God's Work Done in God's Way. I believe it will be a blessing to you, both of them.

And that book also, God's Work Done in God's Way, Pray prayerfully, give it also to others, who may be helped to see how God's work should be done. Pastors, preachers, be a witness. Give it prayerfully, not in a condemnatory way.

Oh, you're not doing it right, here, read this. No, God will not bless that. God loved the world and came to save it. He did not come here to condemn. The message of condemnation is not the message of the new covenant.

God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. I've seen people give out tracts down the street, walking down the street, tract. Everybody who comes, you go 100 yards up the street, you see most of those tracts on the floor.

I've seen people put tracts in parking lots, on the windshield wipers of cars. And those people come and pick it up and say, who is this wretched Christian who tries to put a tract on my windshield wiper?

That's not the way to witness. You'll offend people. God so loved the world. Jesus was known as a friend of sinners, before he was known as the savior of sinners. We must present Jesus as a friend, before we present him as a savior.

Not as a legal judge. He's going to be a judge one day, but that is in the future. Don't present an old covenant God to people. The God is the same, but the old covenant understanding of God was more under the law.

Today, our understanding of God is clearer. So it's very important that whatever we do, we do with prayer and in love. If you cannot do it in love, don't do it. All that you do must be done in love. If it cannot be done in love, don't do it.

Do you know this verse? In 1 Corinthians 16, verse 14. Let all that you do be done in love. A-L-L. Let all that you do be done in love. For many years, I think for about 30 years, I've had that verse framed up in a big wall plaque in my house.

Let all that you do be done in love. To remind me all the time. I have a couple of other verses also in my house. If you fear God, you need fear of nothing else. I've told the story once of a local city official who came to my house to try and frighten me.

He wanted a bribe from me. Saying, we have a question about the taxes you are paying for your house. We think you have not given a correct dimension of your house and you are not paying enough tax. I said, sir, we have given the correct dimension and I always pay the correct taxes.

No, no, no, there's a question about it. And I'll have to deal with this. And I know these techniques. They want some money. Say, okay, here's some money, keep quiet about it. But I was absolutely right, so I was not afraid.

Then I said, sir, you see this verse on top of my head? If you fear God, you need fear of nothing else. This is how I live all my life. God bless you. He went away, never came back for the last 30 years.

I don't think he'll ever come back. No, I'm not saying you put that verse to frighten away city officials. Live in the fear of God. The other verse I have is, if you love God, he will make everything work for your good.

I wish the thieves who came to my house would have read that. But they probably don't know English. They would have seen, they are doing me some good now. I believe that. There's never been a person till today, believe me, who's been able to harm me.

Never. Not one person alive has been able to harm me today. Whatever they try, whatever they try, it has always worked for my good. Mistakes that doctors have done in trying to treat me, it worked for my good.

Believe it or not, I have no complaint against the doctors who made mistakes in some treatment of mine. No. You think God was not watching when the doctor was doing that? What a lot of complaints people have against doctors.

Oh, he gave me the wrong medicine. The surgery messed up. Brother, your problem is not the doctor. Your problem is you don't love God. You're not called according to his purpose. That's your problem. Don't blame that fellow.

If you have a complaint against a single human being, I'll tell you the reason. You're not enduring in love. You don't love Jesus with all your heart. That's the reason. At least from today onwards, stop all your complaints against people and say, Lord, the problem is that I don't love you.

And so all things are not working for my good. Why blame him? Why blame pickpockets and thieves and crooks and those who harm you or take you to court or even try to hurt you or hurt your children? Lord, I love you.

I have no desire to live on this earth for anything but to fulfill your purpose and your will for my life. Tell me who can harm me. Either that or you don't believe the word of God. If you don't believe the word of God, I'll tell you, take the Bible and tear it up and throw it in the trash can.

Give it to the garbage man. Don't keep it there as a holy book on your table and you don't even read it and you don't believe it. That's disfooling people. Keeping the Bible as a holy book there for everybody to see and you don't read it and you don't believe it.

No. Throw it away. Believe it and obey it. Otherwise, it's useless. And then you will see in every situation God is in control. So these are two or three verses I have in my house. And for many years I had another verse.

Galatians 1 .10. If I seek to please men I cannot please be a servant of Christ. That's now written in my head. I had it in my sitting room for years. If I seek to please men I cannot be the servant of Christ.

And it's drilled into my head. I will never in my life seek to please any man. I will not even seek to please my fellow elders. No. I'm willing to speak the truth to my fellow elders in India. If they get hurt, they get hurt.

But I'll speak it in love, that's for sure. If I don't speak it in love I'll go home and repent. But if I speak it in love sometimes love, open rebuke is better than secret love. And the Bible says in the Psalms that one way to pour the anointing oil upon people's heads is by smiting them.

Have you read that verse in the Psalms? Let the righteous smite me. It is like oil on my head. Yeah, so sometimes we have to do that. But never anything not in love. I believe when Jesus used the whip he used it in love so that those fellows who were making money would wake up and not go to hell.

I hope some of them repented after Jesus used the whip. Always his aim was to save people. Whether he forgave the adulteress or used a whip his aim was always to save this person from the deception of the devil.

So love is very strong sometimes. It's not a wishy-washy saying nice things. Firm. You can't be a good elder if you don't have grace and truth. If you don't see the kindness and the severity of God. Both.

The Kindness and Severity of God

But that's one thing the Lord showed me once in Isaiah 61 about the kindness and the severity of God. Isaiah 61 we read is the verse that Jesus quoted when he spoke in the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke chapter 4 he said the spirit of the Lord is upon me Isaiah 61 because he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted and so on.

And verse 2 listen to this to proclaim two things the year of favor and the day of judgment. 365 days of favor one day of judgment. God is loving 365 times more than he is judging people. That's what I see in that verse he has called me to proclaim 365 days of favor.

And in the church I want to proclaim 365 days of favor and one day of judgment. That's the proportion. It's not just God is kind and God is severe. God is 365 times more kind than he is severe. That's what I see in that verse.

It's not 50 -50 so it must be like that in my life we are not usually like that usually most of us begin with 365 days of severity and one day of kindness. How is it with your children? Ask them whether you are more severe or kind.

There must be kindness and severity otherwise you are not a good father or mother. But kindness is the basis on which we can be strict. If you really love a child and you the child has seen your tremendous love and compassion, one day when you correct it and spank it, you know what it will do after you have spanked it it will come and hug you.

I would always pray with my children after I punish them in some way because I say, my dear boy you have sinned against God not just me. You must ask his forgiveness. So love is strong. Let all that you do be done in love and fellowship as I said 1 John chapter 1 love brings fellowship.

John is writing at the end of his life and he says, I am not preaching a doctrine. I am telling you what I have heard 1 John 1 .1 what I have seen what I have looked at what I have touched. The word of life.

The word of life was made flesh in a human being in the old testament it was in a book printed or handwritten those days the word was in a book the word of the law and the scribes would explain it to us.

But then God sent his son and that word which was in a book came as flesh. The word became flesh in Jesus Christ and that is the word of life and that we could see we could hear, we could touch. And then Jesus said before he went up to heaven as the father sent me so send I you.

Manifesting the Life of Christ

So I am now to let that word become flesh in me. The word of God must become flesh in me so that people can see and touch and hear the word of life that is Christ speaking through me loving through me looking through me hearing the problems of people through me.

The word dwelt in the flesh came in flesh and this life, verse 2 was manifested not a doctrine not a word, a life was manifested. I want to ask you brothers is that life being manifested, can people say we have seen, verse 2 and we testify we can proclaim to you this eternal life which is not a doctrine, which was with the father and was manifested to us in Jesus Christ and now to be manifested through you and me in John chapter 9 verse 4 Jesus said as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.

Who is the light of the world today, not Jesus Christ. You read Matthew 5 verse 14 Jesus said you are the light of the world. So I sometimes people surprise people when they ask me who is the light of the world, I say me and my fellow believers they say where is that, you are so arrogant.

You and your fellow believers are the light of the world. I say I believe what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 14 you don't believe it, that's the problem. I believe what Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 14 that we are the light of the world the church, and I also believe what Jesus said in John chapter 9 and verse 5, that he is the light of the world only as long as he is in the world he is not in the world today.

He has made us the light of the world. So many things in the bible Christians don't preach. How many preachers have you tell me in your whole life, you have heard many preachers. Have you heard any preacher say to you follow me as I follow Christ.

You hear them say listen to me, do what I say. No. No no, I am not talking about that. There are hundreds of preachers like that. There are politicians like that. I am talking about someone who can follow me.

Follow my example as I follow Christ. Paul said that we can follow Paul and say the same thing follow me as I follow Christ. In other words, look at my life. Come and live in my home. See how I talk to my wife everyday morning till night.

See how I wish you could come home. See how I brought up my children 30 years ago. Come and look at all my finances. See how I handle my finances. See the type of books I read. See the type of things I look at on internet or anywhere, come anytime, surprise me.

Come and see what I am watching on the internet or reading. Follow me as I follow Christ. I am not perfect. Christ has reached the mountain top but I see his footsteps and I am getting closer and closer.

I am not saying I have reached the top. Paul said I am not perfect but forgetting how much I walked I pressed towards that mark but you see my footsteps, you can follow me. It's like somebody climbing a mountain in the snow, you see the footsteps and he says follow me.

He is not saying he has reached the peak but he says look at my footsteps and follow me and you will reach the peak. Jesus is at the top, I am trying to get there. So when you say follow me as I follow Christ you are not saying you are perfect but you are pressing on to perfection.

That's why we have this verse on our pulpit. Let us press on to perfection. People read that and say oh you guys think you are perfect. I say no, you haven't read it properly. We are saying let us press on to perfection.

That is we are acknowledging we are not perfect. You are the guys who don't believe in that verse. You think you are perfect, we are not but we are pressing on to perfection. We are not sitting back and saying we are not perfect.

We are not perfect but we are pressing on to perfection every day and every conference will help us to press on a little more to perfection. But it's a life we want to manifest not a doctrine. And we want to proclaim this eternal life which is with the father, which is manifested in Christ and which is now being manifested in the church.

Fellowship With the Father and the Church

And what is the purpose of all this? It's not just to show off hey this is what we preach in CFC. And these are the type of people we have produced in CFC. No, or these are the type of families we have produced in CFC.

No. The purpose is verse 3 that you may have fellowship. That wonderful word fellowship. Not friendship. Not a congregation or a club but a church that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father and his son Jesus Christ.

And you cannot have fellowship with us. If you don't come into fellowship with the father and his son Jesus Christ. You can have friendship. I can be friendly with anybody in the world even an atheist.

I can be friendly with pickpockets or robbers who cheat me. I have got no enemies. I have got zero enemies in the world. Zero. But fellowship I have with very few. There is a outer court fellowship. There is a holy place fellowship.

And there is a most holy place fellowship. Jesus had that outer court fellowship 70 disciples whom he sent out holy place fellowship with 11 and then a closer fellowship with 3. It is like that with me also.

There is an outer court fellowship. There is a ministry fellowship. And there is a fellowship with those who worship the father in spirit and in truth. So like Jesus had the small circle 3 circles I also have 3 circles of fellowship in CFC churches.

I don't have equal fellowship with all the elders. I will tell you honestly I don't have equal fellowship with all the brothers and sisters. There are 3 degrees. It doesn't depend on me. I am not the one who makes a choice.

They are the ones who make a choice which of these areas they want to live in. If you want to live in the most holy place you have to deny yourself every single day rent the veil. The veil is rent. But you have to walk the way of the rent veil every day.

You automatically come into fellowship with all those who are in the most holy place. But if you are not denying yourself you are seeking to exalt yourself seeking something for yourself. You may be either in the outer court or in the holy place.

Good, thank god you are not outside the camp. At least you are born again. But you won't have fellowship with the truly godly worshippers of Christ. And you will see the loss that has come to you only when Christ comes again.

I hope you realize it now. I often say in our church if you listen to everything I teach you you will see in the judgment seat of Christ that you were saved from so much of spiritual loss. You will have no regret if you take everything that I say seriously and say lord give me the power of the holy spirit to live according to this.

I guarantee you will have no regret in the day of judgment fellowship with the father and with one another. And that is the way that our joy can be full. The Christian life is one full of joy. Romans 14 .17 says the kingdom of god is righteousness peace and joy.

In the old testament it was righteousness full stop. No peace and joy. In the new testament it is righteousness plus peace and joy. If you have a righteousness without peace in your heart towards god and towards every human being and without constant joy in your heart it is an old covenant righteousness.

You are paying your taxes, you are not cheating anybody. You are upright and you don't lust after women and you do so many things which are good but there is no peace in your heart. You are in unrest all the time about something somebody cheated you or somebody did something against you or you don't like that person or the other person in the church and you are always in unrest and you don't have a joy all the time.

That's not new covenant righteousness. New covenant righteousness in the kingdom of god peace and joy. Psalm 16 .11 in his presence is fullness of joy. How do I know I have fellowship with the father.

Your joy will be full it says in verse 4. Psalm 16 .11 says it is only in the father's presence there is fullness of joy. And any time in my life I lack that fullness of joy. I say to myself at this moment I am not in my father's presence.

There may be 101 things going wrong around me in the world. I refuse to let my joy go away because whatever may happen around me in the world I am going to live in the father's presence. Whatever news which people call bad news there is no bad news for me.

Everything Romans 8 .28. Everything is good news for me. The worst news that you can think of come and tell me. I believe I converted to good news from Romans 8 .28 and therefore I am full of joy. I am in the father's presence.

If there is anything that comes to you that disturbs you immediately you know you are not living in the father's presence. And I thank God for such situations because that wakes me up. Hey you are not living in the father's presence.

Thank you Lord for waking me up. Thank God for the situations that come in our life that show us we are not living in the father's presence even though we have got all the theory of the new covenant. And we can even teach other people the new covenant.

But we don't have joy in our heart. We are gloomy, depressed looking sad at other people. It's like the gloomy looking Christian who went to witness to somebody and said would you like to be born again.

And he looked at his face and said no thank you. I have got enough problems already. I have got enough problems already. Thank you. I don't want your Christianity. Looking at your face. Is that the type of Christianity that you are portraying to others.

I believe in the father's presence is fullness of joy. And I have said to myself particularly in the last few years. I say to myself I am not here to judge you anytime. I don't have fullness of joy. I am not in the father's presence anytime.

I don't have peace in my heart. Something is wrong. I don't have fellowship with the father. Maybe I don't love God at this time enough. Or maybe I don't love people enough. That's why this peace is lost.

Let the Peace of Christ Rule in Your Heart

See Colossians in chapter 3. These are things I have taught for 40 years and I don't mind repeating it for new generation growing up. Children who have grown up who have never heard these things before.

New people who have come to the church. Some preachers are afraid to preach the same message again in the church. I am not afraid because I say newcomers have come. I have to teach them. Our children have grown up.

What are you saying. I preached on that 20 years ago. 20 years ago. They were little one year olds. They couldn't understand it. I have to preach it again. That's why I keep on preaching the same messages.

And I say if you are tired of hearing the same messages go somewhere else. I read the same bible. I don't get a new bible every year. The same bible I read every year that I have read for 60 years. And I always get something out of it.

So I am not afraid of preaching the same message. Colossians 3 and verse 15. Let the peace of Christ be the referee in your heart. Great verse. You know all those who play games. You know referee blow the whistle.

Stop the game. If you are playing soccer or football as we call it here when the referee blows the whistle it's no use. You can say everybody is standing still. Good time for me to kick the goal. Go run around and kick the goal.

Referee will say bring it back. That's not a goal. You thought everybody is standing still and it's a good time for you to go and score a goal. You haven't understood the rules of the game. When the referee blows the whistle everything stops.

Let the peace of Christ be the referee any time in your life peace has gone from your heart. Stop. No kicking the ball, no nothing. And the referee will say don't keep the ball there. Bring the ball to the exact spot where the foul was committed.

You can't keep the ball there. You have to bring it here. Find the exact thing that caused the lack of peace in your heart, what was it something that person said something the other person did yesterday.

Something that your mother-in-law told you. Bring the ball to that spot and say Lord what my mother-in-law told me disturbed me tremendously. And seek for peace with your mother-in-law? Yes, even with your mother-in-law there is only one person we are not allowed to seek peace with.

That's the devil, don't say your mother-in-law is like the devil, it doesn't matter. Satan is the only person with whom you must not seek peace. Whoever you are, I am serious. I know there are people sitting here who have problem with their mother-in-law or their daughter-in-law or their father-in-law or their brother-in-law.

Let them have a problem, why should you have a problem? Why should you lose your peace? Why should you lose your joy? Because that fellow has lost it. He cheated you? God can give you much more than this.

You remember that verse? 2nd Chronicles 25. God can give you much more than this. Many people have cheated me in my life. It is part of my education. I would not be able to preach today if people had not cheated me.

I would not be able to preach today if I did not lose money through my own mistakes. I would not be able to preach today if I had not gone through physical pain, suffering through the mistakes of doctors through criminal cases filed against me through thieves coming into my house.

I mean that is a recent education. But I am getting an education all the time. God says your education is not over. I said praise the Lord everything is for my good. I am getting an education. I am going from 10th standard to 11th standard to 12th standard.

I am going to college. I am going to 1st college degree 2nd college degree. I am going to post graduate. I want to finish with whatever Jesus had all the way at the end. Do you want that? Then face everything you face and say Lord give me the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome this.

I will remain in joy. I will remain in peace through the power of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. If you don't have these three whatever you talk about being filled with the Spirit is a lot of garbage.

Fit for the trash can. If you can't love people you are not filled with the Spirit. Anybody. I don't care how bad that person is. Again I say the only person you must not love is the devil. I don't care who the other person is.

It's got nothing to do with the other person. Look at the flowers which give a beautiful smell. I mean I don't know which of the flowers is the most beautiful smell. Is it the rose? Whatever it is the flower doesn't say who is this guy coming to smell me.

Is it a bad person? Then I won't give a smell. Or I'll give a bad smell. Is a nice person. I'll give a good smell. Which flower in the world behaves like that? It's got nothing to do with the person. It's got to do with the flower.

That's how it is. If God does a work in you it will have nothing to do with who comes and does something to you. How can your nature be affected by that other person? Oh you can't make a dove into a vulture by treating it badly or shouting at it.

No. I remember hearing a story true story of a man who was living in a house and a dove came and built a nest there just outside the window. That's so wonderful. What a a symbol of peace. And he said every time he banged the door in the house the dove would fly off.

If he yelled at his wife the dove would fly off. I said this is great. I wish we could have a dove in all of our houses since we are not listening to the Holy Spirit. At least a dove with its nest telling us something is wrong here.

Walking in the Light and in Love

True story when peace is gone your fellowship with God is gone. When joy is gone whatever you may say you may say you are in a CFC church. You are not in fellowship with God. We believe in fellowship with God and with one another as we read in 1 John 1.

1 John 1 5. And this is the message if you want to live in this fellowship. 1 John 1 5 God is light. There is no darkness at all in Him. There are two things that John says God is read the Bible slowly.

Read the Bible carefully. Compare scripture with scripture. And I find this God is number 1 light and number 2 God is love. 1 John 4 verse 8 God is light. 1 John 1 5 God is love. 1 John 4 verse 8. It's the same thing so I understand light is love.

God is light, God is love. So to walk in the light. Verse 1 John 1 7 if we walk in the light if we walk in love as He is in love we have fellowship. Otherwise we don't have fellowship. And the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from those areas of our life where we don't have light.

Don't worry, there are many areas in our life where we don't have light. Don't feel condemned. The blood of Jesus will take care of that. But in the area where you have light walk in love endure in love till the end.

Are you having difficult people in your life? God is allowing you to face them so that you can learn to love so that you can get a promotion to the next class. Do you want your children to get promoted next year to the next standard in school?

What about you yourself? Supposing you tell your child oh my son today is examination day, don't go to school. No no no examination is tough. Then your son will sit in the same class next year also because in many Indian schools it is the final examination that determines whether you get promoted or not.