Nehemiah - Part 3 — Joshua Daniel

True Friendship Requires Rebuke and Accountability

Has your friend ever rebuked you? What are the kind of friends you desire? The people who pat you on your back and say you're a wonderful fellow. No, no, no, no, no. Such people are not your friends. My dear people, you know what we love and what we desire shows our spirit of vanity.

Ask any man. What kind of retreat did you have? Wonderful retreat. Oh, we had marvelous singing. And some buffoons on the platform. Oh, you know when preachers play the clown, they do so perfectly. When the spirit of God leads you, you become a clown.

Teaching Children to Put God's Kingdom First

A father must lift his children. You know it's not easy to teach your children to seek first God's kingdom. I saw it in my parents. I saw the kingdom of God coming first and the consequences thereof. From my childhood.

And I took to it. And in my life, God's kingdom came first. Not my comforts, not my wishes, not my convenience. God's kingdom and His righteousness came first. Now that is what I have tried to teach my children.

One of my boys, he preached on seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness. And in Delhi, years ago, when he was working with a firm, which sent him hither thither. He said, Dad, Oh, there's no work in North India.

The Emptiness of Religious Advertising and Worldly Recognition

Very little, if any. You know, this business of advertisement is a curse. I know what a bane it has been. Oh, you have a little work. And you speak of it and publish it and make it known. And everybody thinks, Oh, great work is going on.

If you go to a city like Bangalore, it is not only capital for computer companies, but it is a concentration of numerous Christian organizations. Go ten miles outside Bangalore. Walk along the road. Talk about Jesus to passers-by.

They will not have a notion what you are talking. And these are prestigious movements. And their advertisement can be so flashy. You know, when you lose the spirit which is in the prophets, you need to substitute or try to fill in the gap with all this kind of stupidity.

Ignoring God's Testimony Leads Back to Slavery

Now, that seems to be the order of the day. What God says, testifies against them by your spirit in thy prophets. Yet would they not give ear. Therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the land.

So slavery. Now, that was the history of these people. A repeated enslavement. Sometimes you get used to slavery. And that is your natural habitat. You seem to know nothing else. And you don't really desire a heart change.