Seeking God — Zac Poonen

The Long-Term Consequences of Early Decisions

There are some wonderful examples in scripture of those whom God chose when they were very young. And it is challenged me Because I gave my life to Christ When I was a teenager. Okay. As I look back over my life The only regret I have is I wish I'd given my cry life to Christ earlier because looking back from now I I See all those early years were wasted.

You don't realize it then when you're going through it. You don't realize that life is short. And you've got plenty of years to live but I Wish I had that extra years in which I could have been available to the Lord some of the things you don't know and decisions you take and Things you do in your life.

You will not realize the full effect of it till Many years later and then it'll be too late to set it, right? The Bible speaks about people who took certain decisions and the effect of it was much later right in the beginning.

Adam, Eve, and the Appeal of Immediate Satisfaction

Why did Adam and Eve Listen to the devil more than to God, you know when God created them He Spent he asked them to spend one day with him. It was called the Sabbath day they were they were created on the sixth day and God asked them to spend one full day with him.

So they spent one day. Adam and Eve spent one day in fellowship with God the very first day of their life. And the reason why God did that was so that they would know how wonderful it is to have fellowship with God and knowing that the very next day.

They went and listened to the devil because Because the devil offered them an immediate Satisfaction of their physical senses see how Wonderful this this Fruit is it will make you taste nice. It'll taste nice and make you wise and all that.

Now that's written right in the beginning of the Bible. To teach us that Satan will offer certain things to us. He doesn't tell us it's poisonous. He doesn't tell us the long-term effects of it. He will tell you how much you can enjoy it right now.

In those days there were no other human beings but today he adds one more Argument he says everybody's doing it. So what's wrong and you're doing it? But he offers us that immediate enjoyment. Supposing the devil had told Eve you know, you're really going to enjoy this fruit that that was right and Tastes nice and all that is good.

But you know what's going to happen this you're going to be kicked out of this beautiful garden and this tame lion that you see there will become wild and You're going to live for 900 years and you're going to be fighting with your husband for 900 years.

And you're going to have a son. Who will murder your second son and then all your children grandchildren and all your seed for thousands of years? There'll be war and sickness and disease and suffering and all types of problems.

But for some time you'll enjoy it. Do you think she would have taken it if she had seen the whole future? God had shown her listen, you can eat this but this is what's going to happen Next year 10 years 30 years 40 years is going to happen.

She wouldn't have touched it and there are a lot of things that Look very attractive to you in the world. Particularly when you're young and they are attractive. Sure. It's fun to have a boyfriend and girlfriend and Lot of the movies that people see.

I have to say that I'm sure they must be enjoying it. Otherwise, they wouldn't spend so much money to keep seeing movies. They must be enjoying it. But they don't realize the long term effect which will plague and trouble you for years to come and that's what the devil hides.

We can say that We're in a much better Position to understand because we've got a whole Bible to see the result of people who took those wrong decisions. Adam and Eve had no example. So I Think God is not going to expect as much from them as from us.

I Believe the punishment of Adam and Eve is going to be one millionth of the punishment he gives to other people who have read all this in the scriptures and Still choose the devil above God, you know, whenever you choose something in the world You're really saying to Satan I'm gonna choose you above God you may not realize it, but that's what actually you're saying and the Bible says that God cannot be fooled.

I want you to look at this verse. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7 Do not be deceived. Do not be deceived sentence begins like that means You be careful because this area you can Easily be deceived if you're not careful God cannot be mocked.

Whatever a man sows That he will also reap so just like a farmer He sows something and You don't see anything immediately particularly trees and all, you know, if you plant a mango tree You won't see the fruit for years and there are bad mango trees and good mango trees and if you're not careful when you plant it Years later when the fruit starts coming you say hey I Put a wrong seed here.

It's too late to do anything about it. You got to cut it down and plant another one take another Ten years to get the fruit. So some seeds are like that you sow something you don't see the result for many years even good or bad and that's why some people don't Take sin seriously, and that's why some people don't persist in doing good.

Because they think what reward am I getting from it? What am I getting out of it? You know here it goes on to say verse 9. First of all verse 8 if you sow to your flesh One day you're gonna reap corruption from it it may take many years, but one day that corruption will come.

But if in your younger days you sow to the spirit you will reap eternal life. Therefore It says in verse 9 don't get discouraged in doing what's good because in due time You will reap if you don't give up and that's the wisdom which I wish I Could give to all teenage boys and girls.

But I'll tell you Most of them don't understand it. They think no no it'll be all right with me. They mess up their life. They get into all types of Relationships which cause all types of problems, and there are scars in their mind through these experiences.

And they can never get rid of. God will forgive them, but you must remember even though God forgives us our sins. We get there are certain things we cannot get back opposing. You Spend five years in sin.

Say from the age of 15 to 20 you decide you're gonna live in sin. And when you're 20 years old you repent, okay good. But you've lost five years you can never get it back for example the year 2010. Even Almighty God can't give it to you.

Almighty God cannot give it back to you. It's gone. It's gone forever and If You wasted it. It's wasted. I look at it like this. You know you can use an illustration like this that God gave you when each of us were born.

He decided how many years we're gonna live on earth and supposing you count each day as one rupee and Or ten rupees. I Think it's worth more than that let's say a hundred rupees each day is a hundred rupees.

So one year is About thirty six thousand five hundred rupees. And if you live for ten years, that's three and a half lakhs, and if you live for 50 years, that's But 20 lakhs and so look at it like this that God gives you all these millions of rupees when you're born and You're if you waste it.

It's wasted. You can you're not gonna get it back. It's gone. You still have some money. But so many of so much of it is gone. It's gone is gone and every day you live without God. What God gave you? It's just being wasted.

But Every day you live for God. There's a sense in which you can say That what you have gets multiplied. You know it's like a businessman two businessmen. They both say two children of a father they both inherited 10 million rupees each.

And one one of one son just wasted wasted wasted was in the other chap invested it. And in the end of 20 years one son has got about 1 million left and the other Who started with 10 million has now got a hundred million?

Now I'm using the example of money. Because that we understand that. But we must realize that time that God gives us is not something we're going to get back again. So we must be wise. There's a very beautiful prayer in Psalm 90 in Psalm 90 and verse 12 Lord teach us to number our days.

So that we may present you a heart of wisdom at the end of it. So that we can apply our life to wise things a lot of the happiness and joy and Peace that I experienced today. I mean I can't describe it.

It's When Peter says joy unspeakable and full of glory in 1 Peter chapter 1. It sounds like a fantastic statement. But when Peter wrote that when he was around 65 years old I Can understand that it's really joy unspeakable and full of glory, but Peter Didn't get that in one day.

He sold and sold and sold and sold and came to a wonderful life where I Mean he was living with God every day, but it took time and if when he started when he was young. So what I'm saying is If you start when you're young your life after many years others will envy you and say How did you manage to get a life like this and you know that it didn't happen overnight?

Supposing you went by two two compounds and in one you saw a beautiful garden of flowers and the other all weeds and stones and Grass that is not cut etc. And you compare the two and you go to this chap and say how did you get such a beautiful garden?

This chap next door doesn't have anything. Well, he'd say I worked at it. I Worked at it, and I worked at it and worked at it. And then people passing by see what a wonderful thing is our life can be like that but if we listen to the What our friends tell us saying immediate joy and let's get some fun right now long term you're going to Suffer for that, and I want to tell you something else that every sin Will one day be punished and it says in I don't know whether you know this verse Ecclesiastes chapter 8 you know where Ecclesiastes is right.

Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes chapter 8. And verse 11. That's a good verse to know Ecclesiastes chapter 8 and verse 11 It says because the punishment against an evil deed Does not come immediately. Therefore people's hearts are set on doing evil.

Sin, Forgiveness, and Reaping What We Sow

For example I when I was in the Navy We used to get alcohol very freely on the ship and so a lot of people became drunkards. Because he didn't have to spend much money everything was duty-free. And all of a sudden you'd see this 45 year old man die.

Died he looked very healthy to us. But as he drank little by little his liver Was getting spoiled and spoiled and spoiled finally died it's like that with people who smoke cigarettes. Every cigarette you smoke Your lung becomes a little blacker the lung of a baby is pink beautiful pink but people who smoke it's just like if you go behind the lorry and And inhale those fumes.

Your lungs will become black. It's the same thing when people smoke. The lungs become black and black and black they get lung cancer and they die, but they don't see it immediately. You know it's it's an invisible destruction.

Something like that happens in your soul. Every time you sin. You sin. Do again something wrong something wrong you don't see anything just like the guy who's smoking and drinking he says I'm okay I'm okay, and he looks okay, but inwardly something is being destroyed suddenly when he's 45.

He's dead. There's something like that in our soul something gets destroyed every time we commit sin and It gets worse and worse and worse and worse and worse and some part of us is destroyed completely you know I've heard of young people who take drugs and Afterwards they repent.

And they are forgiven. God forgives any sin. Even if you are 70 years old and you repent God will forgive you. But the guy who has taken drugs, and it was forgiven is a part of his mind. Which is permanently damaged.

Which he can never get back, I mean God can forgive the sin, but he's not going to repair that part of the mind Which is permanently damaged. That is what I mean by reaping what you have sown he won't be able to concentrate.

He won't be able to do his work properly. Even though he's forgiven now. He's become a child of God. But he has to live with that. And you say why doesn't God heal it? God can heal that mind. But if he heals that mind People will take sin lightly.

They'll say ah it doesn't matter because God will still Make me okay. No he won't so God keeps that mind of the man defective and You know part of it dead to teach him don't do any more. It's like You know when we are young we are Sexual beings and we are attracted to the opposite sex.

It's normal, but if you see movies and in those movies you see something related to sexual stimulation. It doesn't have to be pornographic. Just you know ordinary movies that are shown in theaters. Which are stimulating?

Without any actual sex scenes, but stimulating the romance and this like that. It's very interesting to watch and nice story to listen to and watch it, but There's something deposited in your memory. Which will remain there forever?

Even after your sins are forgiven supposing after some time you say Lord. I'm sorry that I watched all these filthy movies. Lord say I've forgiven you, but the memory of that will never go from your mind ever even after 50 years.

You will remember what you saw see. I Can remember things that I read in my unconverted days when I was 16 years old. Some things you don't forget. Some of those things I want to forget. But I can't forget it's in my memory.

Has God forgiven me for reading all that rubbish. Yes He forgave me long ago. But the memory is there After 55 years. What can I do about it? I can only say Oh God Don't let me add any more rubbish. I Say I'm glad That I stopped reading such rubbish when I was 19 years old so I didn't add any more.

Otherwise my life would have been a torture today with all that stuff if I had accumulated in my mind. I can imagine a lot of people who are careless for many many many years. Reading all this rubbish, and I think it must be terrible.

I have never watched too many movies in my life thankfully because my parents never allowed me to go for movies and Because I was converted at 19, but the few that I did see. Some memories are there in my mind after so many years.

I can't get rid of it, and I said boy I wish I'd never seen them. I Can only wish now have I been forgiven. Oh, yes, I've been forgiven. But The memory is there, and I'm telling you from my experience.

So be careful when you're young what you read. And what you see? Don't think oh, it was wrong, but I lost Jesus to forgive me. He'll forgive me. He will forgive you. But you will still reap what you have sown even after 50 years.

Think about it now. God has made it like that. There's a difference between forgiveness and reaping what we have sown. There's nothing I can do about it. I Wish I could go into my memory and remove certain things from there.

I can't. I Wish sometimes God would remove it, but God doesn't remove it, and I know why. Because it the Meant the fact that I remember things I read 55 years ago, which I shouldn't have read Warns me today.

Hey be careful. Because if you put some stuff into your mind again, that'll hang on to you forever, too. So dear young people be careful what you read. What you see what you watch? Don't think that you can just ask Jesus to forgive you and the effect of it will be removed completely.

It will not be removed. I Have tried to be a wholehearted Christian for most of these 50 years 52 years, but in spite of that I Cannot remove certain things from my memory so I know that you can be a wholehearted Christian and Still you will not be able to remove the things that you put into your mind when you're young if you have bad memories of fighting with your parents and yelling and screaming at them.

You won't be able to remove it from your memory one day when your parents are dead and gone and You can't Even say a thank you to them or a sorry to them. These memories will haunt you for years. That's why I say to young people.

Honoring Parents and Rejecting Peer Pressure

It's not worth it fighting with your parents you disagree. I mean express your Dad mom. I don't want to do that. Please don't force me to do it fine. Don't go into a fighting match with them because that produces the most strongly you say things Remains in your mind.

Maybe some things you don't agree with your parents you can speak to them. Definitely I'm not saying just be like a dumb person and do whatever they say. If you disagree you say dad mom. Please let me express my opinion, but say it gently always.

Remember that they took so much trouble for you when you were a little baby and helpless otherwise you wouldn't even be living today. Don't forget the sacrifices they made for you. And they don't want evil for you.

None of your parents want evil for you, but they know some things Harmful for you, which you don't know yourself, so be thankful and Don't let your Goal in life be to become popular with your friends in your neighborhood or in school or college.

Because if you become a slave it is a being a slave. Most young people are slaves. Some of you are probably slaves, maybe many of you are slaves. Slaves do. What will other people say about me? If I do this.

What will other people say about me if I dress like this? Or if I do that What will other people say about me if I don't join them in this thing that they all want to join in? They're a slave to that opinion.

What will other people say. Do you want to be a slave? Terrible being a slave. You're a child of God. You're a slave to the opinions of unconverted people. You think those unconverted people know more than Almighty God?

And you know that way you can miss out on some wonderful thing that God has for you in the future. By listening to the opinion of others what they think about you you have to be free from that and It's not easy because Everybody likes to be popular in school and college and to be accepted.

You don't want everybody to reject you and you're sitting there all by yourself. Nobody's your friend and so in order to okay I have to become popular with some girls or boys because otherwise I'll be lonely.

I'd say I would rather I tell my children. How is it with Jesus when my children were going to school I used to tell them. How do you think Jesus was when he went to school? You have you had to wait till you're 30 years old before you follow Jesus.

You can follow Jesus when you're 10. But Jesus is also 10 at one time. So follow the 10 year old Jesus. Some of you are 16 17 18 20 follow the 16 year old Jesus the 20 year old Jesus. That's why he came as a baby, you know.

So that we could follow him at different ages. Whatever your age is say Lord. You were once on earth my age. And I can I used to tell my children think of how Jesus went to school. Was he worried that?

I'll be lonely and unpopular if I say no to. I'm sure the boys in the school in Nazareth were just as naughty and unworldly. As today, maybe they didn't have all the opportunities to sin like today's children have.

Because there's so much of rubbish that people watch on television. And if you have a television at home, it can be a mixed blessing. Because all types of things come through there. Just like on the internet and few folks Have access to the internet.

Internet is a like a library the television is like a library where Good books bad books really filthy books. So you go into this library? Where you're gonna go. You're not gonna go for the good books or the bad books of the really filthy books.

That's your choice. But if you keep on seeing Filthy stuff it's gonna affect you so A lot of your students in the class in college watch all that stuff. They've been influenced by that. I remember in the school in Bangalore some of the seven-year-old children had been watching this World Wrestling Federation Television programs where they throw each other over the head and all that type of stuff.

I Mean, they don't realize that those people are just acting Pretending to fall and pretending to be hit but these seven-year-olds think that they are really getting hit and They go to school and practice it on their fellow seven-year-old students in the class and One parent in CFC Bangalore came to me and said What shall I tell my child to do when this other guy is practicing wrestling and hitting on him?

It's very difficult. Yeah, I said we got to be different and tell them We're going to ask the Lord to protect us. That's one thing. But it's good that others in your class see that you're different and you know, God will bless you for that.

I Can tell you? Fortunately in the days when we lived my children were at home. We never had any Television at home. There were others who had but we decided not to have it and My children were like you Dad, why can't we have television at all?

I Said sorry, we don't have it. Well, we can't watch cricket. I Say, okay. I know there's an important cricket match out That you go to a neighbor's house and watch cricket for one hour and come back.

I'm not against you're watching cricket, but a Lot of other things. I don't want you to see now today. I'm thankful That I did not fill their mind with rubbish. It's like feeding them with a little poison every day.

You you know today my boys are 35 40 you will appreciate the value of all these things only then. So be very careful now As to what you watch what you read Because you will reap what you sow on the other hand if you read what is good I'll tell you honestly my life To a large extent has been founded on From the age of 21 to 26 or 28 seven years from the time of my baptism to the time of my marriage seven years I Spent most of my time while I was working Studying the Bible and today I'm so thankful because it gave me so many good thoughts and It produced good spiritual dreams because I filled my mind that also you reap what you sow and Cleaned out all those dirty stuff if you want to clean out the dirty stuff in your mind.

Pour the clean water God's Word into it little bit every day. It'll clean out your mind slowly your memory will still remember certain things, but it'll become very difficult now if I want to Remember what I read 55 years ago.

I have to make an effort and struggle to remember it. Thank God It's there, but I can't access it easily. If I were to use an illustration, it's like on top of those Bad files of 55 years ago. I piled up so many Good files of the Word of God.

And that is so much at the bottom that very difficult to take it out. Very difficult for me to remember it, but so if you fill your mind with God's Word when you're young It'll protect you from so many things in the future.

It's not a popular thing even in you know in CFC for example, Bangalore. I'll tell you what I told some of the young Girls, especially I said in CFC's young girls of the children whose parents are in CFC.

I Said there are two types of girls In CFC. I'm not talking about the world there are those who are following the fashions of the models and the film stars of the world and pattern their hair and their dress and everything like that and there are others who are more modest and reserved and Who are Not following all those fashions, and I said to the young girls.

I said you have a choice now. Which of these girls are you going to follow? That's up to you. You can choose to follow this one because you want to be popular with this group or you're going to choose to be popular with That one, but which do you think Jesus would approve all?

So I said I have to say that you should not even be like some girls in CFC Bangalore. No, you should not follow them. Because their parents allow them to Dress in ways, which I would never allow anyone to impress if I had a daughter.

But what what to do we were not Some type of communist system saying everybody must do this we give freedom. And I thank God that some young girls have really chosen the right decision to be taken that freedom of choice to make the right decisions.

The same thing with young men there are some young brothers in CFC Who watch the wrong type of movies? They're not converted. I don't know why their parents have allowed them to grow up like that. And I see that a lot of others who don't do it at all.

So I tell the young brothers you can have a choice who you're going to be friendly with. You make friends. This is not in the world. This is right in CFC. You make friends with this type of brother. You're gonna be corrupt like him, but there is another alternative in the church of people who Are really seeking to follow the Lord and if you keep fellowship with them, you'll grow spiritually.

So we shouldn't come to a church thinking everybody here is spiritual. All the young people are spiritual. They're not. They're not all the young people in CFC are not spiritual. All the young people in your church are not spiritual.

But God wants you to be spiritual and the first step to that Is very simple, you know, some people think I have to reach a great height before I can be a Christian. No. You can be a born-again person in one moment.

I'm gonna tell you how. See, we're all born. We're all born facing Selfishness and sin. That's why children fight and grab and we don't like that. But as we grow up our conscience tells us some of these things are wrong and we still do those wrong things and We don't really have God.

We've got a little bit of religion Which our parents give us we are taught to pray before we eat and go to church and all that but it hasn't really gripped us and And Because of that we go into so many worldly habits but if you decide one day to be a Christian, all you have to do is Lord, I am a sinner and I want I don't have the strength to give up some of my bad habits, but I want to turn around.

How long does it take to turn around not ten years? Two seconds. You turn around and say Lord. I Got a long way to go to become spiritual, but I have turned around that is called repentance. I turn around.

And I asked Jesus to forgive my whole past life Lord I'm sorry the way I hurt you. I see that these sins are what crucified you came to earth because of me sometimes, you know, I used to think like this I'm the only sinner in the whole world.

All the others are good people and I'm the only one and Jesus comes from heaven to die for me that makes it personal and I say Lord. Thank you. You took my sin on the cross and That means sin must be such a terrible thing I don't understand it, but it must be such a terrible thing that even Almighty God could not find a way To save me from it except by allowing his son to die on the cross.

But I say Lord it must be something terrible. And I want to hate it. I don't have the strength to give up. You know when I was converted, I didn't have the strength to give up all my bad habits immediately.

I Struggled I struggled but I said Lord. I'm on your side now I'm not on the side of the enemy anymore. I haven't won the full victory over everything but I'm on your side and I'm gonna fight. I'm gonna fight and Some things it took me many years to overcome many years.

It didn't happen overnight, but I was born again. Born again means I turned around and When I take baptism, I took baptism about a year and a half after I was converted. I Wasn't saying when I took baptism now, I'm a perfect man.

I'm not a perfect man. I can't even say that today, but I when I took baptism, I was saying I have turned around. I've decided to follow Jesus. I may slip and fall tomorrow, but I'm gonna get up and And after my baptism I slipped and fall many times like all people but we get up and run again.

So I want to invite all of you to make that decision and you don't have to postpone it right here in this camp. Even today or tonight in this meeting or when you go home and sleep tonight as you lie down in bed.

Think of what you heard in this meeting, you know, sometimes it's difficult to take a decision in the midst of other people. We like to be alone with Jesus and you'll be alone with Jesus when you sleep tonight and all the lights are out.

Everybody's asleep. I find those are some of the best times to speak quietly in my heart to Jesus without even opening my mouth. I Want you to say to the Lord. Thank you Lord Jesus for dying for me. I want to make a decision today to turn around and Receive you as my Lord and my Savior and you know, I had a problem after that to Believe as God really accepted me and there's one verse that really helped me and I want you to look at that.

It was John chapter 6 and verse 37. John chapter 6 and verse 37. That verse really helped me the last part of it. The one who comes to me I will never cast out John 6 37 in the second part of that verse the one who comes to me I Will certainly not cast out or reject certainly He will not reject you and I'll tell you in my case.

I Think I must have first asked Jesus to come into my heart. Maybe when I was 13 I didn't know whether he came nice to go for meetings and between 13 and 19 I Must have asked Jesus to come into my heart.

Maybe 500 times. Or 1 ,000 times. I don't know and I was never sure. How do I know whether he's come or not? I didn't feel any different, but one day I believed this verse I said Lord. Now I know You did not cast me out.

I just believed it. I didn't have any feeling or experience or any such thing. No sensation. No light. No sound. Just God's Word Lord I Believe it. I've never seen an angel in my life. I've never seen a divine light or heard God's voice with these years never.

I've never had a sensation of shaking and all like some people say. My life has only been based on what I've read in God's Word and It's changed my life. I can tell you that Don't look for all these experiences that some people testify to.

I had this I had this. Some of it may be imagination. And some of it may be because they are very emotional type of people. And you may not be that type. So what? The reality is there. So I Said Lord, I believe you have not cast me out and somehow.

From that time. I never doubted it. So I want you to take that verse and believe that if you pray like that, Jesus will not reject you. He's accepted you and You can be his once you're sure of that. You should not wait To take baptism because baptism is a testimony.

You know like you bury a dead man. You don't keep him in the house after he's dead. You're saying Lord. There's something in me that is dying. Something else is alive. I'm now a new person. Not perfect, but a new attitude towards sin.

It's like a pig has become a cat. You know, the pig is one that loves dirty stuff and muck and all that any pig that you see is always dirty. But any cat that you see Is always Clean. Have you ever seen a dirty cat?

It's almost impossible. Dirty pig you see everywhere. It's in fact, it's difficult to see a clean pig. But a clean cat everywhere every cat that you see is clean. It's nature but now my question is Here's a cat that's been a cat for six seven years.

Do you think it never got dirty in its life? Oh Yes, it may have fallen into dirty water. But it got it got out and licked itself clean. Maybe some other time some car went by and splashed dirt on it licked itself clean.

So when you're born again I'm not saying you'll never get dirty. No, it's like a cat the cat can never say I never got dirty, but I'm a clean person. That's what happens when you're born again. You know.

Some people never get baptized because you say oh then after baptism people say why you sinned again? Well. If I slip I get up. The cat is not going to say I'm gonna walk through this world and never get dirty.

That's impossible. But it can say if I get dirty, I'll cleanse myself immediately. That's the difference between me and a pig so the difference between a Christian who is born again and the one and others who are not born again is not that Christian never falls, but if he falls he gets up like the cat.

Whereas the other person loves the same so I say that because sometimes you may have such a high Standard of Christianity that you'll never be able to reach it and that's another thing the devil does I?

Find among Christians the devil does two things when he makes the Christian standard so low. That people live in sin and call themselves Christians, and then he knows he can't fool you with that. So he makes the Christians and it's so high that you can never reach it and you die like that.

Don't let the devil make a fool of you. When you say you become a Christian you are you're not saying you reach the finishing line. You're just saying you turned around and came to the starting line. I'm at the starting line.