Three Virtues to Pursue — Zac Poonen

Growing in Wisdom Alongside Zeal

Speak on three things. And before I speak on those three things, just some introductory comments. As young people, when we are zealous, which is a very good thing, we must remember what the Bible says, the glory of young people is their zeal.

And if you are not zealous when you are young, I say something is wrong. The glory of older people, if older means mature spiritually, is their wisdom. There's a lot of difference between zeal and wisdom.

And if you have zeal and wisdom, it's really great. That's what you should strive for. Jesus grew in wisdom. Let me show you two verses concerning Jesus. First of all, Luke chapter 2, it says about Jesus twice.

Luke chapter 2 verse 40, he kept increasing in wisdom. Verse 52, he kept increasing in wisdom. That is when he was a child. Don't try to follow Jesus when he's 30 years old, walking on the water, casting out demons, preaching.

That's not where to start. You can reach there. Start where he started as a child, growing in wisdom. The most important thing that a young person needs to do is to grow in wisdom. But there are some older people who have a lot of wisdom, but don't have any zeal.

They are not passionate about what they believe. Whereas Jesus, it says about Jesus when he drove the money changers out of the temple, his disciples remembered in John 2 verse 17, remember that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me, burn me up.

Jesus was like a burning bush, burning with zeal. But because he had grown in wisdom for 30 years, his zeal could be directed in a wise way. Now when you are young, it's good to be zealous, but you must acknowledge that wisdom doesn't come overnight.

Sometimes when you are zealous, you can despise others who don't appear to be zealous, but it may be because they are a little wiser than you. A zealous person wants to do things immediately, and he can be very critical.

When young people are very critical about this and that, and even about sin and about things going wrong in a church, you can think that they are very radical. They may be, if they are also humble enough to acknowledge, I don't yet have wisdom.

I have seen young people, bachelors, criticize the children of elders until they grew up and got children themselves, and their children are a mess. Because when they were young, they criticized something which they had no experience in.

We have worked in CFC, I have worked in CFC with Ian for 32 years, and I'll tell you something. The folks who have come to me and criticized me the most and told me how to run the church are the people who have never planted one church themselves.

Those who plant churches realize how difficult it is. It's like the man I heard, whether it's a true story or not, I don't know. When he was a bachelor, he wrote a book called Ten Commandments for Parents, and when he got married and had a few children, he withdrew the book from publication.

He probably wrote another book called Help. A father who has ten children may not write a book on how to raise children, but a bachelor knows everything about raising children. You must remember that Jesus only spoke about what he had done.

Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verse 1. That was part of his wisdom. Acts 1, verse 1. He did and taught. The whole book of Luke, the first account I composed Theophilus, this is Luke writing, the first account was the Gospel of Luke, was all about what Jesus began to do and teach.

What came first? Doing, then teaching. How many hours do you think Jesus took to prepare the sermon called the Sermon on the Mount? Thirty years, right. I've had people come and ask me, Brother Zak, how long did it take you to prepare that sermon?

I say, forty years. Jesus didn't sit down overnight. I mean, it's good to, now I'm not against writing notes, please, you know, I have tried for years and years to tell, you know, in all our churches, I tell the elders, please write notes for your sermons.

I used to do that a lot in my younger days. I still have them, detailed notes with verses and points. But do you know how many elders in our churches, we have about 70 elders, do you know how many of them listen to me?

Less than 5%. That's why I get complaints from most of the churches, Brother Zak, our elders are boring. Will you please tell them that? Now, you brothers and sisters, take pains to write your notes whenever you share something anywhere.

That's a mark of humility. I did it extensively in my younger days. Now when you get to my age, if you've done it for forty years, you may not need it. But that's a different thing. So, it's like a doctor doing his first surgical operation, he probably needs all the instructions there.

If he's done a 500 operations, he doesn't need the instructions anymore. It's like that. You know, it's like, here we had a problem with this camera and recorder and someone who knows about it comes and fixes it in five seconds where others who don't know it, we work at it for hours and we don't get there.

So in all these, everything in life, you do and teach. Why is it you have never heard me speak about urging you to go to North India? Can you tell me? Because I haven't gone and lived there in some village myself.

The big thing I have against missionary organizations in India is that all their leaders live in the comfort of the South, send their children to good schools in the South and tell other people to go and live in some village in North India where their children don't get a proper education.

To me, Jesus would never do that. That is why I don't have any respect for a lot of the mission leaders in India. I say, you must do first. Is it necessary to go to North India? Yes, but who can speak about it?

One who has gone there. I have often said to people who have never been in full time Christian work, don't ever criticize full time Christian workers. You have never been in that yourself. I have been in it.

I have a right to speak about people like that. But if you try to imitate me, you will go wrong because you have never given up your job at any time to serve the Lord full time. So don't just imitate what somebody else does.

Remember these are some principles you must bear in mind if you want to grow in wisdom. Do and teach. Very often you can see in little groups of people, I remember when I went for selection for the National Defence Academy, I was just fourteen and a half years old, and there were group discussions.

They test you for four days in all types of situations to see whether you are fit to be a military officer. One of the things they put you is in little groups and they see whether you sort of control the whole group with your words and discussions, etc.

Extroversion Is Not the Same as Discipleship

Now, that's okay if you want to be a military officer. But if you want to help people spiritually, that may not always be the wise thing. You see very often in groups of young people that some people just dominate the conversation and don't follow their example.

They may be extroverts, but they are not disciples. Many Christians mistake extroverts for disciples. They see someone who is an extrovert who is always talking, talking and saying this, that and the other, and say, I wish I could be like that.

I say, please don't be like that. An extrovert is not necessarily a disciple. An extrovert may be a loud mouth, proud snob. And the other person who is a little quieter, who obeys the word which says, be quick to hear and slow to speak, may be a better disciple.

Don't think the person who speaks the loudest and has got the maximum number of opinions to offer is always the spiritual one. I'm just giving you little warnings so that you don't follow wrong examples.

Because many of those people who are so loud mouthed and express themselves all the time, I'm just trying to show how dominating they are. I don't believe Jesus was like that. I think Jesus would speak, he would listen, he would give a fair opportunity if there were others around to listen to them as well.

So these are little things that if you learn, you will really grow in wisdom. And you must learn that when you are young. I say this particularly because some of you may not be extroverts, some of you may be introverts, who are always very quiet, and you may think, oh well, I can never be a disciple.

You can be a disciple. I know when I was a young Christian, I was an introvert. And I said, Lord, I want to follow you. That's the main thing in my life. And I want to say to all of you, remember Jesus did not say, go into all the world and make extroverts.

He said, go into all the world and make disciples. So don't envy a person who is loud mouthed, who can give an opinion on every subject under the sun, and who takes control immediately. That's alright in the military, but not in Christianity.

In Christianity, very often, it's the person who is quiet, who may have more wisdom, and who is not always eager. Be careful about people who are always eager to give you advice. Many of you have known me for many years.

How often do I come and give you advice? You should do this, you should do that, you should do the other thing. You go and ask my 70 elders how many letters I write to them. Almost none. When people come to me for advice, I'm ready to give it.

And I give it straight from the shoulder. See, the person who is very eager to give you advice very often has got the least amount of wisdom, even among older people. Beware of older brothers and sisters who are eager to pounce on you to give you advice.

And beware especially of younger sisters and brothers who are very eager to pounce on you and give you advice. These are little principles. Grow in wisdom. And let your life be such a light that people come to you and say, Hey, I want to get some advice from you on this.

Then give it. It's far better that way. You know, salt doesn't make a lot of noise in the food, but boy, you really know whether there's salt in the food or not. Light. If a tube light starts making sound, you know it's about time to replace it, right?

A good tube light doesn't make any sound at all. Jesus said you're like salt, you're light. And I tell you, light doesn't have to shout and say, I'm here. You come into a dark room and you know immediately whether the light is on or not.

You put one spoon of food into your mouth and you know immediately whether there's salt or not. That's how we must be. Think if you can be a young person that you can come into a room, you don't even have to open your mouth, and people sense, well that's a godly person.

He doesn't even open the mouth. I've heard of young people like that, you know, people sitting, talking, all types of filth. And this young person, in a college sometimes, and this young person comes along and they immediately sober up in their conversation.

Boy, wouldn't you like to be like that? He didn't say anything. And that girl or boy may be a very friendly type of person, not critical, but there was something about that. You know, I remember, I'll never forget a scene I saw in a movie called Ben-Hur, where Jesus, you know, you don't see Jesus' face, but here was Ben-Hur being dragged by the Roman soldiers to the galleys, and he passes by Nazareth.

And the Roman soldiers would refuse to give these slaves any drink. And there was a man, you could only see his back, and you knew it was Jesus. He decided to give water to these poor straggling slaves.

And the Roman centurion said, lifted up his whip or something to stop him. And Jesus just looked him in his face, and that Roman centurion walked away. I've never forgotten that scene in my life. I said, Lord, that's how I want to be.

A man with a dignity, a man who knows God, that the greatest men in the world will recognize, there's a man who knows God. You know, that's how we can, but you can start working on it when you're young.

A young girl, a young boy, it's all got to do with wisdom. It's all got to do with living before God's face, where the glory and the power of God and the authority of God is upon your life, and people recognize it.

You know, you may not be gifted. Not everybody has gift to speak, but the authority of God can be in a person who doesn't even have much ability to speak. You know, one of the, among all the speakers I heard in Christendom, speaking in English, I would say one of the worst speakers in the English language was a man called Brother Bakht Singh.

Most people couldn't even understand his English. But I never met a man in India, till today, who had such spiritual authority like him. You could see that in his face. There was a radiance. There was a glory of God on it.

On the day of his funeral, there was a rainbow right round the sun. I've never seen one like that in my whole life. God honored that man. But if you heard him speak, you wouldn't even be able to understand his English.

And most people understood him because he was translated into Telugu or Tamil. So I saw there, you know, I knew him as a young man. I saw spiritual authority there. He was not a great eloquent speaker, but he was a man who lived before God's face.

And then I saw that as a young man, I said, Lord, this is what I want to be. I want to be a man who, when people come to know me, they say, there's a man who knows God. However, I speak or not is secondary.

So I want to say to all of you, be a man or a woman who knows God, not a loud mouthed advice giver, not a busybody or a gossip, but one who knows God. And now I want to come to these, you know, let me just say, you've often heard me use this proverb, it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Doing Before Teaching and Becoming a Light

What does it mean to curse the darkness? Supposing it was night here and the lights were on and suddenly the power went off, like it happens often in India. And a whole lot of people say, oh, there's electricity board, they don't give us a warning and there are different different criticisms.

And one sensible person shines a torch. That's the only sensible man in that whole crowd. It's better to put on a torch, shine a torch, than keep on cursing the darkness. The same thing, you know, we can look around at Christendom today and see, oh, that church is like this and this group is like this and that brother is like this and that preacher is like this.

And it's all true. It's all darkness. I remember in my younger days, I saw so many wrong things and the Lord said, why don't you do it the right way? Are all these preachers running after money? You be a preacher who doesn't run after money.

Are all these groups using the gift of tongues in the wrong way? Okay, you build a church where they do it the right way. Whatever you see wrong in a church, the Lord says to you, don't curse the darkness, light a candle, do it the right way.

Are these people bringing up their children the wrong way? Good that you saw it. You get married and bring up children the right way. And then you'll realize, when it says about Jesus, he did and taught how difficult it is.

It's easy to teach. It's easy to give advice. It's easy to be a loud mouth advice giver and teach like Jesus did. And when it says in Acts 1 .1, he did and taught what Jesus began to do and teach. We can say the Acts of the Apostles is what Jesus continued to do and teach through his apostles.

So what am I supposed to do 2 ,000 years later? I'm supposed to continue to do and teach what Jesus began to do and teach. But I must do first. What I haven't done, I have to be honest and say, I haven't reached there yet.

I'm climbing the mountain. I want to reach the top. For example, I speak about never be anxious. But I can't honestly say that I'm completely free from all anxiety. But I say it's a mountain I'm climbing.

I haven't reached the top of this Mount Everest yet. But I'm climbing and I'm a lot higher today than I was 10 years ago. And I invite you to follow me. I don't have to reach the peak before I tell people to follow me.

No. I mean, you may reach the peak only when you get to heaven. It'll be too late to tell people to follow you. But while you're climbing, if you've climbed 1 ,000 feet, someone who's at 100 feet, you can tell them, follow me.

You can't tell the fellow who's at 5 ,000 feet, he's ahead of you. But you can tell the fellow who's behind you, hey, we're climbing this 29 ,000 feet mountain, come follow me. He's at 100 feet and you're at 1 ,000 feet.

There are always people whom you can say, follow me, at different stages on this mountain peak. It could be different areas. So, three things I want to speak about. And you see them all in Jesus. First of all, faith.

Faith That Comes From Jesus Rather Than Religious Counterfeits

And not the wrong understanding of faith that we have in the world today. The Christian world today speaks about faith, faith, faith is the thing which they speak on every television program. But if you look, examine it closely, it's a counterfeit currency note.

It's not a real currency note. There are people who make 500 rupee currency notes that look exactly like the real thing. And if you're not careful, you can be fooled. And if you don't look carefully and come, how to find out if a currency note is 500, if I have a doubt, I will take it to the reserve bank.

They look at it, they've got their machines with ultraviolet lights and all that and they say, ah, that's wrong. I saw a machine like that in a checkout counter in a supermarket once. I think it was Dubai or somewhere.

And they put that Durham note under the ultraviolet and they immediately know whether it's genuine or not. So, how do we find out whether that faith which is being preached over there on television and many preachers is genuine or not?

Very simple. Let's go to the reserve bank, let's go to the Bible and see whether Jesus, it's in this ultraviolet light of Jesus' life that I immediately detect, is this what Jesus preached about? Let me see, let me read the Gospels.

Did Jesus tell me how to get a better house and a better car or was that what he preached about all the time? Did he even teach how to get healed? Shall I surprise you? You know Jesus never preached one sermon on healing.

He never told anybody how to get healed. Today we have multitudes of sermons on healing. Jesus healed thousands but he never preached one sermon on healing. Today we have thousands of sermons on healing and occasionally one or two people healed.

Don't you think there's a difference? What should you be doing if you think healing is important? Heal! Don't preach sermons on healing. What I hear today is a lot of sermons on healing and a lot of emotional building up of people with songs and moving emotional things and television cameras focusing on somebody with tears coming down their face and all that type of stuff and they say, ok now, trust the Lord.

It's a psychological gimmick. Don't be fooled by all that. Do you think Jesus did all that? Put it under the ultraviolet light. Check it out. Faith. The Bible says, let us look unto Jesus, Hebrews 12, 2, the author and finisher of our faith.

Now if I held up a book here and said I am the author, do you know what it means? That means from the first word to the last word I wrote that book. When you say Jesus is the author of your faith, that means from beginning to end it is his faith, what he wrote in your heart, not what some TV preacher wrote in your heart.

I want to ask you, the faith that you say you have, did you get it from some TV preacher? I feel sorry for you. No wonder your Christian life is so messed up. Because you got your faith from that TV preacher or some Pentecostal magazine or book, which you heard some testimony from somebody.

I've heard all these people, but I would not let them write into my heart. Only one person has the right to write into my heart. Jesus, the author of my faith. That's how I have preserved my life. And I'll tell you as a result of that, you know what is one of the marks of faith?

You always praise the Lord. I'll show you that from scripture. Psalm 106. You got to make sure your faith is genuine. Psalm 106, verse 12. It's a very important word to remember. They believed his words, they sang his praise.

When you believe God's words, you will sing his praise. When you don't sing his praise, you don't have faith. I don't care what you say you believe, you don't have the faith of which Jesus is the author.

When you complain and grumble about your circumstances, when you complain and grumble about the way people are treating you. What are you saying? You're saying the devil's got into my life. The devil's got control of my circumstances.

God is not anywhere around. The devil's in control. That's what you're saying. I refuse to honor the devil like that by complaining. Complaining about the food or complaining about something not done.

Something not done by my wife, which I think she should do at home. I'm saying, well, the devil runs my home. Is the devil running your home? That's what you're saying when you complain. Why didn't you do this?

You know, Christian homes in this country and around the world are full of Christian so-called believer, tongue speaking husbands and wives who are yelling at each other and complaining against each other and this and that and the other.

And as long as we keep on complaining, you're saying God is powerless here. It's no use asking God to change the situation. He is powerless. The devil is in full control here. I want to say the devil isn't.

Not in my life, not in my home, not in my ministry. Now if you knew some of the problems I've faced in 32 years in the different churches, it's like having 40 teenage children. But I don't complain. When I face problems with my elders or different churches, I say God, you're on the throne.

They believed his words, they sang his praise. Do you want a life like that? Don't let some TV preacher write his faith into your heart. They get angry, they complain, they even, I've heard one of those lady preachers say, I got angry against my husband.

She should be thoroughly ashamed to say that from a pulpit. What in the world is she getting up and preaching that message there to encourage all the women there to get angry at their husbands? Can you imagine Jesus saying, I got angry, I lost my temper, I couldn't do, I'm human.

Jesus was human. He was tempted like we are. He was tempted to get angry, but he didn't. He was concerned for the glory of God's house. That's why he lost his temper. When people tried to make money in the name of religion, he was furious.

Drove them out, but otherwise they slapped him or spat on his face or anything. Didn't have a place to lay his head. No complaint. Faith means you believe God is in control of your circumstances and that God is almighty.

You can ask him to change things. I'll tell you a story. I heard of Hudson Taylor, who was a great missionary to China. You know, these are the men who challenged me when I was young. Not these television preachers, not one of these television preachers I admire.

I'll tell you honestly. I'll tell you who I admire. People like C .T. Studd, world famous cricketer, millionaire, who gave up his cricketing career, gave up his money, gave it all away and kept 500 pounds for his wife who was getting married.

He told his wife, I've kept 500 pounds for you. And she said, what did Jesus tell the rishi and ruler? Oh, so he gave away that 500 pounds also. He was determined to get a wife just like him. And they both went to China.

And he was so sick that the medical board said, you can't be missionary, go away. No medical board would accept him in any mission. So you know what he did around the age of 50? He started his own mission.

Nobody will accept me, what to do? I go on my own then. And he went to Africa, to the Congo. There were no believers in that place where he went to. When he died, there were about 10 ,000. He used to live in a little hut and call it Buckingham Palace.

That's the residence of the Queen of England. He used to write from there. And he never went home. He was there. His wife couldn't be there with him because she was sick and he had to look after the children.

14 years they stayed apart. She came once to see him. And when she said goodbye, she walked away. She never looked back. She just went on. See, these were men. They were not loud-mouthed advice givers.

They did something with their life. These are the men I admired. There was sacrifice. There was faith. And CD study used to tell people, when you come to bring your luggage as a missionary to Congo, bring it in a coffin.

Because you may die here and we don't want to waste wood making a coffin for you. Don't bring a suitcase, bring a coffin and put your luggage inside that and come here. I mean, if you're coming here for fun, like today we have people going on short-term missions.

They come for two weeks to India and go back to testify. These people, can you compare them with C .D. Studd? We have such a third-rate, good-for-nothing, useless Christianity today, which is not author of their faith.

I tell you, I like that 19th century Christianity of C .D. Studd and Hudson Taylor. He was a man who wanted to learn how to move men through God. You see, it's a wonderful lesson to learn. God can move men's hearts.

God can move your boss's heart. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He can turn it wherever he wills, whoever he is. Hudson Taylor worked for somebody and that man would pay him at the end of the week.

They were paid at the end of the week those days in England. And he said, listen, I've got a very poor memory, Hudson Taylor. If I forget to pay you on Friday at the end of the week, please remind me, because I may walk off and not pay you.

So Hudson Taylor decided, this is a great opportunity to trust God to remind him, especially if he's got a poor memory. I really know whether there's a God in heaven or not. And he would trust God and every week he got his pay.

And one day, one Friday or whenever the week finished, his boss walked off without paying him. And Hudson Taylor didn't have any money. He said, what to do? Okay, Lord, you're in control. And he was about to close up the office and his boss had gone off.

About to close up the office, he finds his boss coming back. And his boss said, I forgot something here. I just want to pick it up. So he went in. Still no talk about paying Hudson Taylor. He picked up that thing and as he was going out, he said, did I pay you this week?

Hudson Taylor says, no, he didn't. Oh, you should have reminded me. Anyway, here it is. Can you imagine how that strengthened Hudson Taylor's faith when he went to China and decided to follow the same policy in supporting not only himself, but a lot of missionaries.

I remember another time where I heard in China, now it was in China, years later, there was some urgent need for money for the mission work. And he prayed to God, Lord, we need this money within a few days.

I don't remember the exact details, but this is how it was. I need it by tomorrow or next week. And within the next two, three days, a check comes from England for that exact amount. But remember, it took about three months by ship to come, this check.

So when was the check posted? Which arrived three days after Hudson Taylor prayed. Have you read a verse in Isaiah 65, verse 24, which says, before they call, I will answer. Here's an example of that.

It's amazing. These men, they had a faith, which was something that resulted in something for the kingdom of God. George Muller, you should read the biographies of these men. I tell you, that will challenge you much more to the real faith, faith for the supernatural, that there is a God in heaven.

You know, you must have this testimony at the end of your life, that there's no explanation for your life except that you've got a loving father in heaven. Think of some of the folks sitting right here who come from Hindu homes.

Do you know how much they have to sacrifice in order to be a Christian? Many of you who are from Christian homes just don't have a clue of what it means. I visited a Hindu home recently in Bangalore, and I saw them with their idolatry and all that whole atmosphere.

And I believe God took me there just to give me a feel of what a Hindu who gets converted to Christ in their home has to go through. I really had a far greater appreciation for those who come from Hindu homes, who find so many things so difficult when they go back to their home.

I mean, they're so delighted to be in the midst of God's people, because it's darkness back in their home. Remember that whenever you see a Hindu convert. It's not easy for them. I've heard of some very difficult things that people have done to some of our brothers and sisters who have been converted from Hinduism in the villages in Tamil Nadu.

One of them was made to stand in a circle in the village in the hot sun and say, you can't get out of there until you renounce your Christianity. Of course, he refused to renounce his Christianity. Finally, they got tired and left him.

They make it difficult for these women to draw water from the village well, but they hold on to their faith. When Jesus has written faith in our heart, we're willing to die for it. The other thing I want to say is there's a lot of difference between faith in the mind and faith in the heart.

Many of us, we think we have got faith. It's only in our mind. We believe all the right things in our mind and we have logically come to the conclusion there must be a God, because after all, if all these stars and all run in perfect precision, there must be a God, right?

And various proofs of why the Bible is true and all that, so I believe, yeah, it's right. And then I found certain people who seem to trust in this God, so there must be a God. It's all in the mind. I've come to a logical conclusion, like 2 plus 2 is 4, so 4 plus 4 is 8.

So I've come to a conclusion, like a mathematical thing. And that type of faith won't hold you in a time of trouble. Faith is through a personal knowledge of God our Father and of Jesus. You know, there are various expressions people use to find out whether a person is born again.

Born again, converted, I've accepted the Lord, I've given my life to Christ, etc. But the best of all these titles is knowing the Lord. So, I prefer to ask people, do you know Jesus? That's what I want to ask all of you.

Do you know Jesus? If I were to ask you, do you know Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, do you know about him? Do you know him? You probably can rattle off a lot of facts about him. Do you know him personally, that you can pick up a phone and call him and he'll answer you immediately?

No. There's a lot of difference between knowing about Jesus and you can come first prize in the Bible quiz competition about the Gospels. You may not know Jesus. Make it your passion in life to know Jesus.

This is eternal life, to know God. Your faith must result in knowing Jesus. You can understand 10 ,000 principles of how to live the Christian life. You won't be able to live it. But if you know Jesus, and you've opened your heart to the Holy Spirit, and you really ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will prompt you to do the right thing, even though you didn't study those 100 principles of the Christian life.

That's the best way to live. Jesus is the author of your faith in the heart. Like love, you can know about love in the mind and know about love in the heart. And I tell you, there's a world of difference between the two.

The person who can write a poem on love is completely different from another fellow who's fallen in love with somebody who can't write any poem. He knows the real thing. So it's not a question of how much you can express it, but do you know Jesus in your heart?

And I believe that if you have faith in your heart, you will experience certain supernatural things in your life. It may not be physical healing, but something for which there's no human explanation. And God did something there for which there was no way of doing it unless God intervened there, it wouldn't have happened.

And you don't think of it just as an opportunity to give a testimony about it to somebody, but it helps you to know God better. We must all have a few experiences like that in our life. That's why God allows us to come into difficult situations.