Showing Jesus by Our Life — Zac Poonen

God’s Witness Through the Generations

सारे जहाँ से अच्छा है, CFC हमारा. The best place in the world is our church. I want to read a verse, first of all, in Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 14. There's a little expression here that has rung in my mind for many, many, many years.

I've often thought about it. Here it's referring to something else, but I want to apply it to our testimony as a church. It's in John, sorry, Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 14, and verse 16 and 17. In the generations gone by, God permitted all the nations to go their own ways.

Yet, He did not leave Himself without a witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. The expression I want you to notice is in verse 17.

God did not leave Himself without a witness. From the time of Adam, God's desire was that man should be a witness for Him on this earth. Adam failed. God picked up Abraham and started a nation through him.

And His purpose, again, was there should be a witness on the earth concerning the true God who created the universe and created human beings. Israel also failed. But this is the beginning of the New Testament age in Acts 14.

And the Apostle Paul tells this crowd of people in Lystra, saying, but there was still a witness that God had on this earth in the fact that He gave you rain and fruitful seasons and allowed all of you, whether you're atheists or idol worshipers, to have food and health and many, many physical blessings, which a lot of people take for granted, but which are all indications of God's goodness.

And here it says that was one way God was wanting to have a witness on the earth. I want to apply that to the church. When Jesus went up to heaven, He said, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you shall be my witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit coming upon us and filling us is to make us witnesses, not that we will bear witness with our lips, which is what most Christians have misunderstood that verse to mean.

Acts 1 .8 says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you shall be my witnesses. Now there's a lot of difference between being a witness and bearing witness. Bearing witness is words. You get up in a court and you bear witness to what you saw or what you heard.

And unfortunately, most of Christendom has been taken up with bearing witness. The emphasis has been on evangelism, give out the word, spread the Bible, give out the written word. But like that little statement I heard once where somebody says, your life speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you're saying.

You understand what that means? That means your life is so much in contradiction to what you're speaking that I can't hear what you're speaking because your life is shouting something else. The way you're living is giving another message from what you're speaking.

And this has been the tragedy of Christendom throughout these 20 centuries. Jesus taught us to pray, first of all, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. There must be a witness to the name of God.

The name refers to his nature on earth. And there we have to say most of Christendom has failed throughout the years. But God has not left himself without a witness. Remember that expression, God did not leave himself without a witness.

In every generation, right from that first day of Pentecost, God has always had in the world somewhere or the other, not necessarily in every place. I mean, God would love to have it in every place, but he's never left himself, never left the world without there being some pocket of believers here and there who were a witness to the true God, who manifested by their life and their words what God was like.

The Church as Christ’s Dwelling Place

Because the commission that Jesus gave to his disciples on the day of his resurrection, when he came into their midst, we read in John chapter 20, he said these words. It says here in John 20 verse 19, this is the first day of the week, Jesus had just risen from the dead.

The doors were shut and Jesus came and stood in the midst. Now, this is a beautiful picture of the church. There were maybe 10 of the disciples, Thomas was not there, and of course, Judas Iscariot had fallen away.

The other 10, I presume, were there. And here were 10 believers, disciples of Jesus, and Jesus in the midst, it says, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst. That's the definition of the church.

The mark of a true church of God, of the new covenant church, is that Jesus is in the midst. Just like in the Old Testament tabernacle, the most important thing in that tabernacle which nobody could imitate was the fire.

All the other things of the tabernacle, anybody could copy, even the Philistines could make a tabernacle exactly like that. And people have sometimes tried to look at a good church and imitate the pattern.

That's like the Philistines making a tabernacle. It looks exactly the same. But the one with discernment, and you don't need much discernment in those days anyway, will say, hey, there's no fire there.

Everything else is right. I mean, the color of the curtains and the size of the tent, everything is perfect. The measurement is perfect, but the fire is missing. And if the fire is missing, then God doesn't have a witness on the earth.

And through the years, when we look at many movements that God has raised up, God would raise up a man and start a movement to restore New Testament Christianity, to bring people back to the scriptures.

And by the time that man has died, another generation comes up and it's no longer the same. It's been true of Christendom throughout the ages. Now, I've wondered why. See, we must learn from the mistakes of others, otherwise we will make the same mistake ourselves.

A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. An ordinary man learns from his own mistakes. And a foolish man does not even learn from his own mistakes. There are three types of people. So, if you're a wise man, you will not have to make a mistake in order to learn.

You will observe other people and say, why did that happen to that person? Why did that happen to that church? And let me not make that same mistake. But there are very few wise people. Most people seem to make the same mistake and then learn or sometimes not even learn.

For example, if you look at a good family, you must ask yourself, why did that family turn out well? And then you look at a bad family where the children are wayward and you ask yourself, why? I've done that for years.

I've looked at families, I'm not here to judge them because God is the only judge. So I'm not here to pass judgment or give marks to any families. But I wanted to learn for myself. Whenever I've heard of a servant of God who has fallen, I've tried to find out, not to judge him, but to find out where can I learn a lesson, protect myself.

And I've looked at a family, good and bad, what can I learn from it? Or a church, good and bad, what can I learn from it? Or when I hear, when I see a movement or a church drifting away, why is it? God does not want to leave himself without a witness.

So throughout the generations, God has wanted to have a witness. And here it says in John chapter 20, Jesus came and stood in the midst. That's the church. We read in 1 Corinthians 14 about people sharing the word in a church and verse 24 onwards, people standing, sitting together, sharing a word in a church and a complete, a person who's got nothing to do with the church walks in, a stranger.

And he comes and sits there. And as he hears the word of God, the Bible says there that the hidden things in his heart get exposed. Means he discovers corruption in his heart, which he didn't even know was there.

He discovers sins that he did not even think was sin. Then he gets convicted by the Holy Spirit of ungodly behavior in his life. If it's a Christian who walks in, he discovers unchristlikeness in certain areas of his life as he hears the preaching of the word, which he didn't even know was unchristlikeness.

And it says in that verse that he falls down and says, God is here. What is his testimony? The Lord is here. That's the mark of a New Testament church. And that's the thing that we have longed to have right from the beginning, to have Jesus in our midst.

The Church’s Mission: Making Disciples

We have not wanted people to come to our church to listen to the music. We want to have good music, but not, I tell you, you cannot compete with the worldly people in music. They practice for years. We don't have time to practice.

We have more time to read the Bible and pray. Where's the time to practice music? I mean, just a little bit, we do it. So we're not in competition with anybody to show that our music is better than anybody else's.

No, we're not here to show that our building is better than anybody else's. We're not here to show that the people in our church are cleverer or richer or poorer and whatever, you know, whatever people glory in.

We're not here to show any of those things. The purpose of the church is for one thing. We're not here like a social service institution to feed the poor and clothe the naked. That's all good. I'm not against that.

But I say that's not what Jesus told his disciples to go into all the nations and do. He never said go into all the nations and clothe all the naked people and feed all the hungry people and heal all the sick people.

I mean, if he had said that, we would do it. He said that in Matthew chapter 10, when he sent his disciples out to Israel, he said heal the sick and raise the dead. But when he sent his disciples out to the world at the end of his time on earth, he said, go and make disciples.

That's what he said. Go to every nation and make people those who are willing to learn from me and follow me all their life. And I want to say that every servant of God who has gone anywhere and not made disciples has failed the Lord in that commission that he gave.

Those are his last words in Matthew 28 verse 19. And the next verse he said, once you have made them disciples, teach them to do every single thing I have commanded. And a servant of God or a preacher of God's word, or anyone who is seeking to build a church who does not teach people to do every single thing that Jesus commanded in the New Testament, he has failed.

And every church that is not teaching people to do every single thing that Jesus commanded has failed to fulfill the commission given in Matthew 28 verse 20. That is a witness. Jesus was a witness on the earth by doing everything the father told him to do.

Holiness, Freedom, and the Narrow Way

Why was that important? Because right from the beginning of time, right from the garden of Eden, the devil has always told man, God's commands are a burden. They are impossible to fulfill. You cannot be a believer who obeys all of God's commandments.

No, no, no, no, no. You have to sin. As long as you live in the world, you will sin. It is only normal. It is natural. And I'm sorry to say, most Christians are a witness to that lie of the devil that we have to sin.

It is natural to sin. It is natural for husbands and wives to fight with each other. It is natural for them to quarrel. It is natural for some of them to divorce. That's the lie of the devil and multitudes of Christians are a witness to the lie of the devil.

In the midst of that, God does not leave himself without a witness. He has a few people. I don't expect that number to be many because at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7 verse 13 and 14, he said, the way is very narrow and few there be that find it.

So I don't expect the whole world to get converted or any country to get converted. I don't expect millions and billions to find the way when Jesus said, few there be that find it. Many will understand it, but few will find it.

You know, you can sit here and listen to a message and if you've got a good brain, you can say, yeah, I understood that. But in the time of temptation tomorrow, you may not find the way of the cross. Did you understand it?

Yes. Did you find it? No. Jesus did not say few will understand it. No. Read what he said in Matthew 7, 13. Turn for a moment there. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 13. He said, enter through the narrow gate, verse 14, the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it.

Therefore, I have not looked for multitudes personally. I've never prayed, Lord, bring the whole of India to Christ. I mean, there are some people who think they are very spiritual to pray such prayers, bring the whole world to Christ and all that.

God loves the whole world. There's no doubt about that. He loved the world more than you and I did. And he didn't just pray. He sent his son to die for the world. So let's not think that we love the world more than God does.

God wants all men to repent, it says in 2nd Peter 3. God wants all men to be saved, 1 Timothy 2 verse 4. But he also wants them in the same verse to come to the knowledge of the truth, it says, that sets them free from sin.

You shall know the truth. The truth shall set you free. And there's no lack of love on God's part. But one wonderful thing about God is that he doesn't force anybody. And that's a principle that we have followed in this church right from day one.

We have never compelled anyone to come to the meetings. We have never compelled anyone to give money. We have never even asked for it. We have never forced people to be holy or forced people to love others because anything forced is of the devil.

God gives freedom. He shows us the way, sets before us the way of life and the way of death and says, choose. Because nobody can be holy without choice. God could have made Adam holy, but he couldn't have done it if he didn't give him the power of choice.

He couldn't make him holy without choice. You know, he had to have the power of choice. Obedience is not holiness. Remember this. The planets have obeyed for thousands of years. They're not holy. They're not sinners.

Planets cannot be sinners, cannot be holy because they don't have free will. And if God took away our freedom of choice, we could never be holy. We'd be like the planets, even if we look like human beings.

I mean, God could make me look just like this and program me inside in my brain like a planet that I would obey every single commandment in the Bible perfectly. But I would not be holy. Do you know that you can obey every single commandment in the Bible perfectly and not be holy if God has programmed you to do it?

The most important thing is choice. And one more thing. A dog has got free will, but it still can't be holy and it can't be a sinner because free will alone is not enough. You need one more thing. You need a conscience.

A dog doesn't have a conscience. You can train a dog to obey you, and there are people who train dogs and horses to obey them implicitly. I mean, so many animals in the zoo and different places, they train them in the circuses to obey immediately.

But that obedience is not holiness. God made us like animals without a conscience, trained, trained, trained to obey. That's not holiness. We have to train our children so that they don't become wayward.

But don't fool yourself that just because you've trained your children through punishment and reward that they become holy. No. For holiness, two requirements are freedom of choice and a conscience. God has only given that to man.

And man can be holy or a sinner. The angels could be holy or sinful because they had freedom of will and the power of choice. And because of this, very few find it. Very few people find the way. And then in the next verse, Jesus said in Matthew 7, 15, but beware of the false prophets.

And whenever you read a verse, read it in its context, the meaning is there will be false prophets who will come and say the way is not narrow. Don't believe these fanatical prophets who say the way is narrow.

It's pretty broad. You're permitted as a Christian to do this and to do that and to do the other thing. And who said you can't do this and can't do the other thing? And they have made the way broad through these 20 centuries.

And many have come in. You have these mega churches and great numbers and everybody is very excited. But I don't believe they have found the way. They're just got a religion. And maybe it's a little better religion than another religion.

If you compare all the religions of the world, some are better than the others. That doesn't prove they have found the way that Jesus showed. It doesn't mean they have become disciples. Because a disciple is one who is a witness by his life.

And that's what we have stressed here from the beginning in all these 35 years. And if you have not understood that, my brother and sister, you have not understood why God raised up this church and why he's kept it going for 35 years, why the devil has tried to attack it in so many, many ways.

Only those who are in the leadership understand that. But he's never succeeded even once. No, he's never succeeded even once. Let me turn back to John chapter 20. When Jesus came in the midst, it says here that they rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Peace in the Church and the Home

John 20, verse 20. And he said, peace be with you. Twice he said that, in verse 19 and in verse 21. Peace be with you. I believe one of the primary marks of a New Testament church where Jesus is in the midst must always be peace.

A church where there is strife, the Lord is not there. A home where there is strife, the Lord is not there. Why have you heard me speak for 35 years against husbands and wives yelling and screaming at each other?

Why? I'll tell you why. Because I don't want you to drive the Lord out of your house. I want the Lord to be in your house. That's why I say stop fighting with each other. Stop yelling and screaming at each other.

Peace. Jesus once told his disciples in Luke chapter 10, when you go to a house and you speak peace and if you don't find that there's a man of peace there or a house of peace, don't stay there. Go and find another house.

See that in Luke chapter 10. Luke's gospel chapter 10. He said when you come to a house, when you go to a new city, he was sending his people to different parts and he said whatever house you enter, Luke 10 verse 5, first say peace be to this house.

It's exactly what he used to say when he came into the midst of people. And if, there's a big if there, if there's a man of peace there, your peace will rest on him. But if not, it'll return to you. And if you find a house with peace like that, stay in that house.

Otherwise don't stay there. The Lord will not stay, whether you believe it or not, the Lord will not stay in your beautiful mansion if you and your wife or you and your husband are quarreling with each other.

He's not interested in all the beautiful tiles and bathroom fittings and everything else. No, he's not looking for that. He's looking for peace. And that depends on the man who is the head of the house.

It depends on the man. And if you're not a man who can bring peace in your house, I want to tell you, Jesus is not there. You can put up any number of verses on your walls. You can say Christ is the head of this house and all that.

But he is not there because he does not live where there is no peace. And that is why the Bible says the literal translation is run after peace, hunt after peace, run after it. The picture I get in my mind is the last bus is leaving and it's already left the bus stand and is moving.

You better run, brother, if you want to catch it. Do you run after peace like that in your home? I have done that. I'm not speaking what I have not pursued after. When I got married, I was just like any other born again Christian, defeated by sin, defeated by anger.

But I realized after God filled me with the Holy Spirit that that was not the way. I had to make my home a home of peace if the Lord was to be there. Otherwise, I'd just be a Christian with verses hanging around singing songs and the Lord is not there to be like the tabernacle is there, the fire is missing.

I believe there are most Christian homes are like that. There's not much difference between their home and the homes of the others. Jesus says, peace be unto you. Very few find it. There are very few Christian homes in the world like this.

And I don't blame the people, I blame the leaders and teachers who have not taught them the importance of this. What's the use going out giving tracts if you don't have a home of peace? Your home must be like an island of peace in the midst of a world full of turmoil.

The world is like the wicked are like the troubled sea, it says, and the world is full of wicked people with the troubled sea in the midst of it here and there. God wants islands of peace, a home, a home here, a home there, a church here, where there's peace.

And we can testify to that. I don't have to hide anything. You can come and ask the people who have lived here, been here all these years and find out if the elders have fought with each other about anything.

Divine Love Amid Disagreement

Now, let me say this, it doesn't mean we don't disagree. Your wife and you, my wife and I may disagree, but that doesn't mean there's no peace. Because until we become perfect, like Christ, our mind will not agree 100 with somebody.

It doesn't matter. I asked the Lord once about this. I said, Lord, why haven't you made it such that you explain everything much more clearly so that there is no argument about certain scriptural doctrines.

So many Christians are divided on some little doctrine. They interpret this way, the other way. And I said, Lord, if you would only just make it a little clearer, add about 20, 30 more verses, a lot of controversy would have gone away in Christendom.

And I got an answer from the Lord. And the answer was this. It is easy to love somebody when you see eye to eye with them. It is a human love. But I want my children to have a divine love, which can love people when you don't see eye to eye with them.

That means you don't agree with them and you still love them. You don't agree with them and still you can live in peace with them. That's amazing. That's divine. And that's what we have experienced in the church, among the eldership.

And I would not say in all of our homes, but certainly in some of our homes. And I hope the number of those homes are increasing. Where our homes, instead of becoming places of turmoil like the rest of the world, are becoming islands of peace.

Peace With God Through Confession and Forgiveness

Jesus came into the midst and he said, peace. And that is what we have stressed from the beginning. Peace with God. That means not a single sin is unconfessed. That's how we have peace with God. We have kept on stressing that for 35 years, that you must confess your sin immediately.

If you fall, you must get up as soon as you fall. We have not taught that a Christian will never fall. 1 John 2, 1 says, my little children, I write these things unto you that you may not sin. That is God's will.

But if any man sin, we have an advocate. That means there is the possibility of falling. But if you fall, you shouldn't be lying down there even for one second. You must get up, stand up immediately, just like you would do if you physically fall.

Confess your sin. Get back in peace with God immediately. And turn from that sin and learn a lesson from that failure so that you don't make that fall again. I mean, think if you were, you suddenly in your business lost 10 ,000 rupees or 50 ,000 rupees.

Wouldn't you sit down and say, how in the world did I lose that? I want to be careful next time. I think we'd be very careful about if we lost such money in our home, maybe by carelessness or leaving it lying around.

You wouldn't do that a second time. Because we are so careful with money, we should be more careful with our life. That we are always at peace with God and always at peace with one another. That's another thing we have stressed all these 35 years.

That we must never, never, never have anything in our heart against anybody. Because then God will not hear you. Not only he will not hear you, if you die in that state, you'll go to hell without any doubt in my mind.

Because Jesus said, Matthew 6, 15, if you do not forgive others their sins, your heavenly father will not forgive your sins. There are very few churches that preach that today, but we have preached it.

There are souls that have been saved before they died, because they set that matter right before they died. I remember one man telling me on his deathbed, that Brother Zach, the Lord brought me to your church two years ago just to hear one message.

There were so many people I had not forgiven. Christians who had told lies about me and harmed me. But I never, no church I went to did I hear that if you don't forgive others, you'll go to hell. When I came to your church, I heard that straight.

If you don't forgive others, you'll go to hell. And you showed me from scripture, Matthew 6, 15, that if you don't forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins. And if your father does not forgive your sins, and that moment you die, can you go to heaven without your sins forgiven?

Is there anybody here, any Christian in the world who can dare to tell me that even people whose sins are not forgiven will go to heaven? Show me a verse in the Bible which says those whose sins are not forgiven will also go to heaven.

But it says here, your father will not forgive you if you don't forgive others. And I tell you, I've hardly heard any church preach that God has not left himself without a witness concerning this truth.

That's one reason he's kept us going for 35 years, and I pray that till Jesus comes, we will proclaim it and save many deceived Christians from going to hell. I once told a brother in this church, I said, brother, I don't care whether you think I'm hard.

In the day of judgment, you'll turn around and thank me for what I taught you. That's enough for me. I'm not looking for your praise right now. Because you don't understand. It's just the way I brought up my children.

I mean, I was very strict with my children about many, many things. And sometimes they thought daddy was a bit hard, strict. But today, every one of them thank me. They don't understand it when they're small.

Why are we so strict about certain things? I don't expect little children to understand when they're small about what is good for them. That's why God puts fathers and mothers over them. That's why I encourage you, don't let your children decide which way they should go.

Be the man of the house. And if your wife is weak, put your foot down and be the head of the house. You know that our sisters veil our head here to show submission to the man. But if you're submitted to your wife, brother, you should cover your head and come to this church and veil your head and say, I'm in submission to my wife at home.

Don't tell a lie by coming here without veiling your head. If you don't veil your head, then that means you are the head of your home. And I hope you are. Then make sure that you instruct your children in the right way and bring up your home in a way that can be a witness.

God wants a witness in every generation. And so that's another thing that we have stressed. Peace with God and peace with one another. If we don't forgive others, we will not get into God's kingdom. And peace inwardly.

Inner Rest in God’s Providence

That's another thing we have taught. Peace with God, peace with one another and peace inwardly. That means there's no unrest in our heart. We have taught that repeatedly. There is a rest for the people of God.

The Old Testament Sabbath was to describe this inner rest where this heart, which is like a turmoil, the wicked are like the troubled sea. When it cannot rest, it says in Isaiah, and my heart is like that.

And God makes it like a sea of glass, says in Revelation 15 and verse 1 about the saints who stand on a sea of glass. Absolute calm. That's how our heart must be all the time. Things may happen around us.

But we come to rest in God by bringing that matter up to God and saying, Lord, this sudden thing has happened in my life. I didn't anticipate that. But you knew about it, Father, long before I was born.

You knew that on such and such a day, this particular unexpected calamity is going to hit this child of mine. When did he know it? He knew it before you were born. Do you make provision for your children's needs before that need comes?

How many of you have stood in a queue to get an application form to get admission for your children in the kindergarten or in a school or in a college? The child is not interested. You go and do that anticipating your child's need.

Do you think your heavenly Father does not anticipate your need before you come to it? He does. That's the thing that's brought rest to my heart whenever anything has hit me. I say, Lord, I didn't expect this.

It's a surprise to me. But it's no surprise to you. You knew all about it before I was born. And you have made some provision. I've just got to look around and find what that provision is. That is why we are at rest in our heart.

And I feel sorry for all the people in the world who don't have a heavenly Father. It's like the story of the two birds that I've often quoted here. One bird tells another bird, why are these human beings always so anxious and worried about so many things?

And the other bird says, maybe they don't have a heavenly Father like we have. That's why they are so worried. We are okay. We're not worried. Do the birds say that about you? Peace in our heart. Jesus in the midst means peace towards God, peace towards one another, peace in our home, peace in our hearts.

Sent to Represent Jesus

We have stressed that from the beginning and we continue to stress it. And I want to say something more. In John's gospel chapter 20, we read when Jesus came into the midst, this is a beautiful picture of the church.

And this is what the church should be. This is what we should be in the days to come. Jesus coming and standing in our midst and saying, peace be unto you. And then saying, now I go to the next step. John 20 verse 21.

As the Father sent me, I send you. As we look into the future, the days ahead in this church, let us listen to the word of the Lord. All those who are committed to this church, who are not coming here just to listen to good messages, but I hope who are coming here because they want to be a witness for Christ in this generation, in this city.

The such people I say, here is what the Lord is saying to you and me for the days to come. As the Father, John 20 verse 22, 21, sorry, John 20, 21. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Have you got the commission?

Those who have years to hear, listen, I don't mean these years. If you got a year in your heart now, listen, Jesus in our midst right now, who has led our church all these 35 years, is looking towards the future, which he alone can see.