(Church Leadership) 15. New Covenant Ministry — Zac Poonen

The Glory of New Covenant Life

I am personally convinced that one of the main things that God wants to emphasize through our churches is the glory of the New Covenant life. And for that we must be New Covenant servants. Jesus shed his blood to establish a New Covenant.

Just think of that. It's called in Hebrews chapter 12, the blood of the Eternal Covenant in verse 20. This New Covenant was sealed with the blood of Jesus. It's not like an optional extra, you know, like at the end of the meal if you want to eat the ice cream, you can eat the ice cream.

To many Christians, they say, yeah, yeah, this New Covenant teaching, OK, it's not the main thing. Main thing is evangelism. Get people to believe in Jesus. Get all the poor people to become rich in Jesus' name.

The people who preach this never go to the really poor people in the villages of Tamil Nadu. All these deceivers, they only go where somebody will give them $10 ,000 per meeting. I'm not surprised at them.

I'm surprised at the thousands of believers who sit with their mouth open and think these are men of God. We're living in such an age of deception, where entertainment has come into the church. The way of the cross is gone.

Freedom from sin is not preached. Because, well, the New Covenant is an optional extra. And many people in our churches are being influenced. Because they haven't seen that Jesus shed his blood to establish this New Covenant.

Nobody would shed their blood and die for something worthless or optional. It's fundamental. I would encourage you to study Hebrews. It says in Hebrews 8, verse 13, the first covenant is obsolete and ready to disappear.

There's no more of that. It's obsolete. It's over. It's like, you know, before 1947, we were ruled by the British. It's like somebody saying today, we must be under the British. No, we are free now. Why should we go back to be under that bondage?

Old Covenant Christianity and the Knowledge of God

But most Christians, I would say 95 of born-again believers are living under the Old Covenant. And I can give you numerous examples of that. They don't know God as Father. Even though they say our Father in heaven, they don't know Him as a Father.

They don't know Him as Dad. They don't know what it is to be under grace, so that sin does not have any dominion over them. They don't know that Jesus, whose name itself, Matthew 1 .21, means He shall save His people from their sins.

They don't know the Father. What it says about the Father in 1 Peter 1, verse 17. A lot of people say, I know the Father. Peter says, okay, if you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's worth, then conduct yourself in fear during the time of your stay on earth.

They don't know the Father. They don't know Jesus, who saves people from sin, only a Jesus who forgives. They don't know a Jesus who tells us to take up the cross every day and die to ourselves and follow Him.

And they don't know the Holy Spirit. The H-O-L-Y Holy Spirit. You know, a spirit who excites them and makes noises and teaches them to praise and shake their hands and play instruments. They don't know Father, Son or Holy Spirit.

Then I say, they don't have eternal life. Jesus said, John 17 .3, eternal life is to know God. The one who knows God reverences Him. The one who knows God hates sin. Because God had to pay such a price to deliver us from sin.

How can you have anything to do with it? Jesus didn't die to make us rich. He died in order to save us from sin. He didn't die to make us sing better. It doesn't matter if you can't even sing at all. He died to save you from sin.

And I'll tell you, He didn't die to make you look happy and smile. He died to make you free from sin. So many wrong things today. Tithing. Not a word mentioned after the day of Pentecost, but everybody preaches it.

Because people haven't seen the new covenant. Paid workers like the Levites in the Old Testament who expect a salary. Christendom is full of it. Divorce permitted in the Old Covenant, not in the New Covenant.

We see it coming into the church. And standards are being lowered. Divorced people getting married in the church. You wait a few years and there'll be compromises in our midst. Who will do that in their church?

Because not all the elders in our church know God. They don't fear God. They are still under the Old Covenant even though they say they are in fellowship with God. Paul told that he preached the New Covenant for three years to the Ephesians.

New Covenant Fellowship Beyond Buildings

He said, I know what will happen after I go. And you know, in the Old Covenant, they had great emphasis on buildings. And when we are more interested in constructing a church hall than in building the fellowship between people, we are back under the Old Covenant.

And when you get a satisfaction that the building is built, what about the fellowship among God's people? Are you in Old Covenant or New Covenant? There are many, many ways we can find out we are back in the Old Covenant.

If I have even this much of satisfaction over this building, I am in the Old Covenant. I have zero satisfaction from a building. Not one, but zero. Zero out of hundred. It's there because we need a place for people to sit down and eat.

That's meat. That's all. I am not an Old Covenant Christian. We are temple, house of God, all this rubbish. Jesus was the manifestation of God's temple. His body. And now the church, which is the people.

It doesn't matter whether we meet in a house or in a hut or out in the fields. Ask yourself, those of you who built meeting halls, whether you have a little satisfaction seeing a meeting hall there. Ask yourself if you are satisfied that people are happy and smiling and still defeated by sin.

You know, we can find how the Old Covenant spirit is ruling in many of our churches. We are not emphasizing the New Covenant. God is a Father. Jesus came to save us from sin. The Holy Spirit came to make us holy.

Spiritual Gifts for Holiness and the New Covenant

He gives us gifts. He has given me the gift of prophecy. I prayed for it for 40 years. I keep praying. I know He has given it to me. It's to encourage people, to exhort people, to comfort them, to challenge them.

To what? To holiness. To enter into the New Covenant. Do we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Certainly. Seek for healing if you can lead people through it into the New Covenant. Not just heal their bodies and send them to hell as healthy people.

What's the difference between a sick person going to hell and a healthy person going to hell? What's the difference between a sick believer who lives under the Old Covenant and a healthy believer who lives under the Old Covenant?

I want all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but it is to lead people into the New Covenant. Not just to make life comfortable. Jesus didn't come to make life comfortable for us here on earth. If that was His purpose, we have to say He totally failed with those early apostles.

Their life was comfortable before He chose them. After He chose them, their life was not at all comfortable. It was a life of suffering. You read 2 Corinthians 11, what Paul went through. He never went through all those things before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.

But after he met Jesus, look what his life became. But he didn't have enough money sometimes to buy a blanket to cover himself. He didn't have enough money to buy food sometimes. Chased by robbers, chased by false believers, chased by the Jews, whipped 195 times, stoned, shipwrecked.

He was much better off earthly wise before he met Jesus. Christendom today is following another Jesus. Live comfortably at home. Come Sunday morning and everybody must learn how to sing properly. That's the main thing, brother.

God sits on the throne of His praises. And they do that. And they go back to sit their own comfortable life till next Sunday. New Covenant is missing. How do they live at home? How do they relate to husband and wife?

How do they bring up their children in the fear of God or not? Haven't you seen that all this emphasis and all these other things are not leading to a godly life in our home or in the church or anywhere?

One New Body in Christ

So, we need to lead people to the New Covenant. And here is one of the wonderful things of the New Covenant. It says in Ephesians chapter 2, I really believe that we need to pray that God will give us light on these things.

Paul says in Ephesians 3 .3 that this mystery was made known to be by revelation. And this mystery is in verse 6 that the Gentiles and the Jews can become one body. And like it says in Ephesians 2 that these two can become one.

We read in verse 14, 15, 16. He has abolished all enmity. Verse 15, broken down everything that divides people. The dividing wall in verse 14 is broken down. And he made the two, verse 15, into one new man.

And what is he going to present to God finally? One new man. One body. He is not going to present a multitude of people. One body. All barriers broken down. All prejudice is gone. The world is full of barriers, prejudices.

White man, brown man, yellow man in China, black man in Africa, each thinking they are superior to the others. According to color. The brown man thinks the white man is superior. And the brown man thinks he is superior to the black man.

Don't think it's not there in your heart. All broken down in Christ. There is no difference now. Can you look at all human beings now in Christ without these distinctions? They couldn't do that in the old covenant.

In the old covenant they mingled with people of their own type. Are you a Jew? Do you speak my language? Then I'll have good fellowship with you. That person is not a Jew. He speaks another language. Yeah, we'll say hi, but not much more than that.

But when that continues today, are you a Malayali? Great, I'm also Malayali. Are you Tamil? Wonderful, I'm also Tamil. Are you Anglo-Indian? Great, wonderful, I'm also Anglo-Indian. Are you Telugu? I'm also Telugu.

These are barriers. How many of you can honestly say that it makes no difference to you whether that person is a Malayali or a Tamil or Telugu or an American? If there is a language problem, I can understand.

But if it's not a language problem, but I gravitate towards the people of my type, that's old covenant. I also gravitate towards certain type of people. I'm drawn to them. Those who are godly. If I meet a godly man somewhere, I couldn't care less if he's American or Russian or African or Chinese.

I'm drawn to him. It's godliness that draws me, not language. I happen to have a particular language and I happen to be from a certain part of the country. I don't think of myself like that. And I succeed if nobody else smells that in me.

I can't avoid the fact that I was born as a Malayali. What to do? But I can cleanse myself from that, that nobody smells this Malayali in me. Or if you're a Tamil, that nobody smells that you're a Tamil.

I mean the language naturally we can't avoid. But there are barriers in our heart that need to be broken down. And I believe that's one of the wonderful things, one of the wonderful advantages we have in Bangalore, which many of you do not have in your own localities.

Most of you, I'd say more than 90 or 95 of you, in your local church, if you look around, 100 are the same language. Isn't that right? 95 of you face that. In your church, everybody is the same language.

In Bangalore, we are about five different languages and cultures and backgrounds and everything. Now, I'm just saying that's an advantage we have here to break down barriers. You don't have that advantage there.

So, you have to fight harder. And we help you for that by having conferences. But you may not cooperate with God during a conference time to break down those barriers. You may come to the conference and meet with the same people you're going to meet for the next one year in your home.

And God is trying to break down something in you. And he didn't succeed. You know, it's difficult to get out of the old covenant, I tell you. It is rooted in our flesh. These barrier walls that Jesus broke down, all had such a difficulty to tell people, there is no Jew or Greek or barbarian or Greek, anything in Christ.

Fellowship Beyond Language and Intellectual Class

Another thing I have found is not just language but intellectual level. You know, we are naturally drawn to people who are the same level of education and intellect that we are. And if you live like that, you'll be extremely poor spiritually.

In your work, you're mingling with such people, naturally, because only such people could get such jobs. But in the church, we have the opportunity for all that to be broken down. In Christ, it makes no difference if you're an educated Paul or an uneducated Peter.

God can use the intellectual Paul and the fisherman Peter equally. And I can get revelation from a highly intellectual brother or a fisherman. If he knows Christ, if he knows Christ. What I'm saying is, in the new covenant, Christ is everything.

And all barriers are broken down. All enmities are broken down. It says here in Ephesians 2 that there is an enmity in our flesh. Jesus took that flesh and he broke it down. He took the flesh of a Jew and he went and blessed the Gentiles.

Because he refused to be a Jew. He came to be a man. And he called us to be Christians. I'll tell you, I'm not even an Indian first. And the reason, I mean, why we avoid too much contact with Western Christians is to protect our testimony in this country.

Not because I'm against them. Because, you know, this Christianity in our country has such a testimony of dependence on Western people coming here to preach. They have to come here and preach. They have to set up their organizations here.

They have to finance all the work here. That's the reason we say we wanted to be different. We wanted to be self-supporting. But we're not superior to them and they're not superior to us. We're not against anybody.

Well, our hearts are open to everyone. And if you're a God-fearing, humble man, I don't care what your language is, what your nationality is. There's something I can receive of Christ from you. I have been greatly blessed by a statement made by a worldly poet, unconverted worldly poet.

He said, every man on earth is superior to me in some area. And I thought, when I heard that, let me apply that to the body of Christ. In the body of Christ, everybody has something of Christ which I may not have.

And in that, I can learn from him. I can learn from Billy Graham and his passion for evangelism, even though I may not agree with him in ten other areas. I can learn from Mother Teresa and her compassion for poor, suffering humanity.

And I become rich as I learn from these people. I don't go into their ministries, because that is a specific calling. Or I can learn from some man who is a genuine healer in his compassion for sick people.

I mean, there have been a few genuine healers in the history of the world. I'm not talking about the people who are making money today. I'm talking about people who are poor, who had a tremendous gift of healing.

I read the writings of people like Smith Wigglesworth and John Lake. These are a couple of people. I mean, they died long ago. These people who lived before 1950, evangelists, healers and all were more genuine than the ones after 1950.

It's that somehow, after the Second World War, a lot of flood of evil spirits have come over the world, deceiving spirits, just like the Bible says. And Christendom since 1950 has been flooded with deception.

And so I'm very careful about people who are since that time. But many others before that time, people like Watchman Nee and Bhagat Singh, Sadhu Sundar Singh, a lot we can learn from these men. They didn't preach that you can make money.

They lived before God. And I have personally been tremendously blessed by opening my heart to the writings of these men. When people are sick and suffering, to have a compassion for them. Some of these people with a genuine healing gift had that compassion.

And we need that compassion to pray for them, that God will heal them. Sure, when a person is suffering pain because of some sickness, whatever gospel you may give to him, the person is so much in pain.

We need to pray for them. We need to pray for someone whose child is seriously sick. So, there are areas where we need to learn. Yeah, we don't have to follow these hypocrites and humbugs. But we can follow those who are genuinely godly.

Especially people who did not make money out of their gift. I always see, is this fellow making money out of his gift? Is he producing music CDs to make money? I am no interest in that. If you want, you can listen to all of them.

I have no interest in that. That's alright for worldly ungodly people. I want to follow men and women who didn't make money out of their gift. You tell me, do you think a man who makes money out of his gift is a man of God?

Tell me honestly. Whatever gift it is, preaching gift, healing gift, singing gift or TV preaching gift. Do you think a man who makes money out of it is a man of God? And if he is not a man of God, how in the world do you think he can bless you with that gift of his?

You will get some of his spirit. And your edge will be blunted. And you will become a compromiser. And the worst part of it is you won't even know it. You will think you are whole hearted. That's why I don't admire all these people.

I admire those missionaries in North India who are suffering and sacrificing whose names we don't even know. I believe the miracles taking place there with those unknown people who are healing the sick.

Those are the miracles I believe in. I would like to read something they say. They may not be able to sing so well, but I would like to listen to them. I have only one life to live. And I don't want an entertaining Christianity.

Entertainment, Godliness, and Costly Ministry

The great God entertainment has taken over Christendom. Entertainment in singing, entertainment in preaching and real godliness has disappeared. You know that's what the psalmist said. Lord, godly people are disappearing.

Help, Psalm 12. Help, Lord. Help, please help. Godly men are not to be found. Faithful men have disappeared. They are all speaking lies. They are talking about a life which they don't have. They are flattering and with a double heart they speak.

They are pretending to have a great burden for the Lord. They are only interested in making money. Lord, godly men are rare to find. Do you feel like that? When God says, I want you to increase the number of godly men.

By your life, by your words, you won't be popular. If you are seeking popularity, I would suggest you join some other church. Don't waste your time here. And if you are interested in gathering a crowd to whom you can be popular, forget it.

Go somewhere else. But if you want to build the body of Christ, that's another thing. Paul said in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 1, that in order to build this church, he had to go through so many afflictions.

And it says, God, 2nd Corinthians 1 verse 4, strengthened him in his afflictions, so that he can strengthen other people who go through their afflictions. Because that's how the church is built. See Hebrews, it's a tremendous verse.

Suffering as the Way to Glory

Hebrews in chapter 2, there's an expression here, I don't know how clearly it comes in Tamil, in verse 10, it says, it was fitting for him. Do you understand that? You know, like you say for a king, it's fitting for a king to dress in a particular way.

It's fitting for the president of India to travel in a very expensive car. It's not fitting for the president to be driving a scooter and going around Delhi. It's not fitting. It's fitting for so and so to be like this.

It's fitting for a principal of a school to come to the school with a suit and tie. And it was fitting for Jesus to come on a donkey, the stupidest animal, when he rode into Jerusalem as king. And Zachariah says, behold your king, coming on a donkey.

Like Isaiah would say, Lord, who has believed this message? Are today's preachers the type who go on donkeys? Not at all. It says it was fitting for him. For whom? Greater than president of India. The one for whom are all things.

Everything is for him. All is created for him. And through him everything was created. This almighty God and ruler of this universe, what is fitting for him? He had a plan to bring many sons to glory.

That's you and me. What was fitting for him? It was fitting for him to make the leader perfect through a lot of suffering. Lord, who has believed this message? That this is fitting for almighty God. That when he sends his own son into the world, it is fitting for him to go through a lot of suffering.

And then he says, verse 11, he is the one who sanctifies and we are the one who are sanctified, but we are all from one. And if we are all from one, and this one is the captain of our salvation, and we follow him, I suppose our way will be the way of suffering too.

Have you understood that? Ninety-nine percent of Christians, believers, haven't understood that. They think Christianity is just good singing and good preaching and have a good time. Things which are not even mentioned in the New Testament.

Oh, very little. Two, three verses. They've made a mountain out of that. How much the New Testament speaks about salvation from sin, holiness, suffering, the way of the cross, self-denial, messages that are completely missing from today's preaching.

Becoming One Body Through Suffering and Self-Denial

And ultimately the purpose is that we become one. See, that's the ultimate purpose. That all of this is so that we become one. You know, like supposing there is a dish in English called mashed potatoes.

Now if you get twenty potatoes, how to make twenty potatoes into mashed potatoes? Mashed potatoes, I know how to make it. There is only one way. You can't treat these potatoes delicately. You have to take some hammer type of thing and crush it.

And then take that other potato and crush it. And another potato and crush it. And mix it all together so that no one potato says, hey, this is me. I'm just part of this mashed potatoes. That is the body of Christ, where God is not robbing us of our individual gifts or personality, not robbing us of our individual value before God.

But if you can understand this in English, robbing us of our individualism, where I want to be on my own, where when all this work is being done, I want to lift my heart and say, hey, this is me, potato, doing this.

No. One body. One human. You know, in the history of, particularly since 1950, I told you all these strange things have happened. And there have been a couple of people who have arisen who have said they were Elijah.

Even before 1950, there was one guy in America who said he was Elijah. Then after some time, another fellow said he is Elijah. You know, Elijah prophesied in Malachi, before the coming of the Lord, Elijah will come.

And there were thousands of stupid people who believed these people. And not only that, there are thousands of stupid people in India who still believe one of them is an Elijah. I have thought about this.

There is an Elijah coming before the day of the Lord. It is very clear to me. It is the body of Christ in the last days. It is not any individual. This day of the individual prophet is finished with the day of Pentecost.

It is the body of Christ. If you are a prophet, you have got to build the body of Christ and disappear. That is the ministry of Melchizedek. What did Melchizedek do? Have you noticed how Melchizedek was like what they call a shooting star?

A shooting star is something that you suddenly see it gone. It is gone. You cannot see it anymore. But for a short time, it just lightened up the sky. No, I mean, what I am saying here is that there is a ministry where we do something and disappear.

No, in another sense, we must be shining all the time as a light. I mean, don't misunderstand the illustration. But Melchizedek comes up in Genesis 14 and disappears in Genesis 14. You don't know where he came from and you don't know where he went after that.

You don't know who his father was, who his mother was. He was certainly a descendant of Adam and Noah, no doubt. But there is no record of his father or mother. And that's interesting because his name comes in a book where everybody else's father and mother is known.

Everybody in Genesis, you know their father and mother, including Nimrod, you know his father and mother. You go through Genesis and you find one person whose father and mother you don't know. That's Melchizedek.

He just comes suddenly, does a fantastic ministry, very short time, and disappears. You don't know what happened to him after that. All the men of God in Genesis, you know when they were born, when they died, how long they lived.

Everything is there. Except Melchizedek. And the father says to Jesus, you are a priest after the order of Melchizedek. High priest. So we are the junior priests of the order of Melchizedek. That's why I say all these full-time workers who say we are like the Levites today, they don't understand the new covenant.

There are some full-time workers who say that we are the Levites of today, you have got to give us the tithes. Well, at least they are honest that they are under the old covenant. They don't realize it.

That's the old covenant, man. New covenant is the priesthood of Melchizedek. There is no Levitical priesthood now. So what is this priesthood of Melchizedek? Here was Abraham who had gone to fight a battle with so many armies.

Abraham, Melchizedek, and the Possessor of Heaven and Earth

He did not have one soldier with him. He had 318 servants who knew how to cook and clean the tent and put up tents and things like that and look after the sheep. They were not soldiers. And he is going to fight with 5 or 6 kings trained armies.

Who had conquered the king of Sodom and his army and taken away all his goods and lot and everybody. And this farmer goes with a few of his fellow servants and goes and defeats all these kings and captures all of them and brings them all back.

And in those days if you won a battle, all that you won in battle, all the gold and silver was yours. And you know that Sodom was a rich country. There were two things Abraham faced now. One was to be proud that I defeated all these fellows.

And the second was his wealth was suddenly going to increase by about 10 ,000 times. He was in danger. So how does God protect him? Somewhere there is a fellow called Melchizedek. God fearing man. He does not know Abraham.

He does not know what is happening over there. He is praying one day. God says, take a whole lot of food. Lots of it for hundreds of people and go in that direction. You know something like the spirit told Philip to go to the Gaza road.

So take this and go. And you will meet one servant of mine there. And when you see him, just tell him two things. Say, Blessed be God who gave your enemies into your hand. And tell him that God is the possessor of heaven and earth.

That is his God. He gets up, gets all his food together, goes in that direction. And sure enough, when you are led by God, you get led to the right person. And he meets Abraham with his soldiers. Never met each other in their life.

And he tells Abraham just these two things. God is the possessor of heaven and earth. Your God. And he delivered your enemies into your hand. Here is the food for all of you. Praise the Lord, Abraham.

See you later. He never saw him later. He just went off. And Abraham sits there. This is amazing. My servants are also hungry and this guy comes all of a sudden and gives me food. And I realize now it is God who gave me the victory.

I was in danger of becoming proud. How at the right time God sent a servant with one sentence to deliver me from my pride. Yeah, and I see that I was thinking of doing what the worldly people do to collect all the wealth from the war.

But I see now that my God is the possessor of heaven and earth. What is this? This is nothing. All this is only worth a shoelace. All this wealth. Little later the King of Sodom comes. Yeah, it is all written in Genesis 14.

King of Sodom says, Yes Abraham, thank you for saving us. And as according to the rules of war, you can take all this wealth. Abraham says, No, I won't even take a shoelace. Because I have sworn to the possessor of heaven and earth.

Where did he get that title from? He had just got a revelation from Melchizedek. So what does it mean to be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek in our churches today? To do what he did. To wait on God.

The Ministry of Melchizedek Through Encouragement

Lord, make me sensitive to the need of brothers in my church. Maybe physical need, financial need, spiritual need. Make me sensitive, Lord. I don't know who is in need. But you know. There is a meeting this evening, Lord.

Give me a word. I am not a preacher. I am not a prophet. I am not going to preach long. Melchizedek preached for half a minute. I can do that, Lord. If you lay a word on my heart, and you go to the meeting with that sensitive heart, God gives you a word.

You don't even know who it is for. You get up and say two sentences, just for less than a minute, and you sit down. And somebody who was sitting there, after having listened to all the boring sermons that the great elders preached before you, says, Hey, I am glad I came to the meeting.

That one minute message really blessed me. That is the ministry of Melchizedek. That is how we are to live. All the time, people ask me, Brother, how to know what to preach? I will tell you how I do it.

I say, Lord, I want to listen. I don't know what the needs of people are. I have got no clue. But I know one thing. They have the same flesh as me. That I know. I know they are being tempted exactly like I am being tempted.

And I know how much it helps me when somebody encourages me. And therefore I know how much it will help them if I encourage them. And I know how depressed I feel when somebody discourages me. I have to fight it and overcome it.

Lord, don't let me go and discourage people today. Don't let me take a whip and beat people today. Melchizedek didn't come like that. He didn't come and say, Hey Abraham, you are getting all proud now.

Humble yourself. Who do you think you are? Or you think all this money is yours? It is not yours. Don't be a lover of money. He didn't speak like that. He said, Blessed be the most high God possessor of heaven and earth, who has given all these enemies into your hands.

Thank you Abraham. See you later. He wasn't even preaching. He wasn't even preaching to him. But a message went so strong to his heart. That's the way to preach. I took a long time to learn to preach like that.

I didn't preach like that 20 years ago. But I have come to know God better. I have understood the priesthood of Melchizedek better. I have apologized to CFC for the wrong ways in which I preached before.

Not wrong doctrine, right doctrine, but in a wrong spirit. It is getting better. You listen to me 5 years from now, I guarantee it will still be better. Because I judge myself. I want to be a junior priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Providing for Physical and Spiritual Needs

And I want to provide material needs of people too, like he did. Whatever God gives, I want to pass on. Not so super spiritual that we only talk about spiritual things. No. Melchizedek was a king. He could easily provide lunch and dinner for 300, 400, any number of people.

So, if you don't have those abilities, don't worry. God may not give that type of ability for financial and physical provision to everyone. There is no need for it. But according to your ability, especially the word.

A word that builds fellowship. Who is the most valuable person in your church? It may not be the elder. It is the brother who can build fellowship. Blessed are the peacemakers, they are the sons of God.

Are you a peacemaker? You are a son of God, brother. Can you shine upon the good and the evil, like the sun shines on the good and the evil? And you are a son of God. That's what Jesus said. The one who can build fellowship, the one who can go and lift up a person, encourage a person.

I believe that is one of the greatest needs that we need. And I will tell you where you can practice this. You know, like in cricket, they practice in the nets before they go out into the match. They practice catching and batting and bowling, then they go out into the match.