An Immovable Life — Zac Poonen

Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters, it's always good to come back home, just like when you travel somewhere, how you feel when you get back home. And also because, like I always say, saare jahan se achha hai CFC hamara, which means that there's no place on earth like CFC.

You've got to go to other places and other churches to appreciate it. Sometimes those who have lived here and been here for so many years don't appreciate sufficiently what we have here and the tremendous work that the elders of this church have done to make this church what it is today.

If you have not learned to appreciate that, it's either because you're blind or because you haven't seen what it is like in other places. We have this promise here, Isaiah 60 verse 2 and 15. So I want to turn to something there in Isaiah chapter 60.

God's Glory and Hope for His People

The Lord says, first of all in verse 1, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Darkness will cover the earth, verse 2. The Lord will rise upon you and his glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light.

Now remember, the Lord was speaking to Israel at that time, it applies to us as a church. If we had looked at Israel, we would have hesitated to say things like this because there were problems there.

There were difficulties. They were not perfect. But the Lord has hope for his people. And more and more as I get older, I've come to look at God's people more and more like God himself looks at them. I can understand how Paul in his old age said, whenever he wrote to a church, he said, I thank God whenever I think of you.

It came naturally to him. I mean, I'm sure Paul had discernment to see that all those people sitting over there were not perfect and there were so many things wrong with them. But he thanked God upon every remembrance of the different churches.

He said, you are my joy. To the Philippians, he says, I have you in my heart. That is the way any godly person will look at God's people. Don't you look at your children like that? Despite all the mistakes they make, you parents have seen the blunders and mistakes your children have made, but you still have them in your heart.

It is only such people who can build the body of Christ. I believe God wants all of us to work together to build the body of Christ here and in other places. But you cannot do it unless you have this attitude.

Spiritual Fathers and Mothers in the Church

Paul once said to the Corinthians, you can have 10 ,000 teachers. But I'm your father. Meaning that one father is better than 10 ,000 Bible teachers. You can have 10 ,000 Bible teachers teaching so many good things, but they don't have a heart.

You're speaking from their head and telling people instruction, but a father is someone who's got God's people in his heart. And I want to encourage all of you, my brothers and sisters, even though you may see faults in different ones, and many of us have got very sharp eyes to find those faults, grow up to become a spiritual father.

Many of us have been in this church long enough that we should be in that place, that we have a care for the people around us. You can't leave that in the hands of just three or four elders. We want many, many brothers and sisters here to be like fathers and mothers towards the new people coming in, towards many others coming in.

And to say to them, the glory of the Lord will rise upon you. Imagine what an encouragement that can be to someone who's discouraged. And he goes on to say, as we've seen here in verse 15, I will make you a joy, a joy from, in the NASB it says, from generation to generation.

And that is our burden, because an older generation is moving on and a new generation is coming up. And that new generation must also know the Lord exactly like the older generation. The most important thing in the last days will not be knowledge of the Bible, will not be the ability to sing, it will be knowing the Lord.

Knowing God in the Last Days

And that has been my burden for many years for God's people in our midst and the others. I'll show you a verse in Daniel chapter 11, which is particularly referring to the last days, just before the Antichrist rises on the earth in Daniel chapter 11.

It speaks here about, you know, Jesus spoke in verse 31 about the abomination of desolation as one of the things that's going to be there in the last days. And it says in that time, by smooth words, verse 32, people will turn others to godlessness and who act wickedly toward the covenant.

But the people who know their God will be strong and take action and do exploits for God. It's not people who know their Bible. It's not people who come to church. It's not people who sing. People who know their God.

So glibly today people say, I'm born again. Even nowadays, people very glibly say, yes, I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit. Yeah, these are all catch phrases that we use, but I want to ask you personally.

Can you say that you know the Lord, that you know Jesus intimately? This is the thing that's going to help you in the days to come. Even if you don't know the Bible so well, even if you don't have gifts, I want to encourage you to develop getting to know the Lord, to know Jesus personally.

This is going to be the most important thing. This is the thing that will help you to stand in the difficult days that will come. And when you know the Lord, I'll tell you one characteristic of your life will be, you will be an encourager.

Everybody you meet, you will encourage. It's not that you'll overlook their sin. We've certainly not overlooked sin in this church. We speak strongly against sin, but we seek to encourage people that there's hope.

Jesus’ Encouragement of Imperfect Disciples

I was, I'm often challenged by this. Words of Jesus in Luke chapter 22. You know, it is the Last Supper. And these words, he says, Luke 22 verse 15, I have earnestly desired to have this Passover with you before I suffer.

And in the message translation, it says, You all have no idea how much I have looked forward to being with you. You have no idea. Imagine Jesus speaking to people who are all going to forsake him. They're all going to run away from him in the Garden of Gethsemane.

One of them is going to betray him. Another one is going to deny him three times. But he overlooks all that and he says, You have no idea how much I look forward to being with you because God has chosen you.

And I want to say that to you, dear brothers. There may be a few crooks here and there. OK. There was a crook in Jesus' church, too. So I'm not disturbed if there are a few. In our midst, we're not straightforward.

It doesn't disturb me. But I believe that most of you are sincere. And I believe you must recognize that God has chosen you. And therefore, our attitude towards fellowship must always be, You have no idea.

I can say that. Honestly, I can say it. I'm not just repeating the words of Jesus. You have no idea how much I look forward to fellowship with God's people. For 40 years, this has been my family. I have not known any family like this.

And you have no idea how much I look forward to always being with you all, even in the midst of all my travels. And he goes on to say to them, You know, they had a dispute there in verse 24 as to who's going to be the greatest.

See, these were not a bunch of perfect people, those 12 people sitting there. And neither are you. Neither am I. They had their imperfections, and Jesus was not blind to it. Why was he eagerly looking forward to a whole lot of people who were arguing about who was the greatest?

He says, yeah, they have a little weakness, but they'll get over it. He knew they'll get over it, and they did get over it. But if he had kept on condemning them, they would have got discouraged and left him.

Don't condemn and discourage your children. Encourage them. Encourage one another. It's the greatest ministry you can fulfill. He says, there was a dispute among them, among who's to be the greatest. And what does he tell these people?

He says, in verse 28, You are those who have stood by me in my trials. My father has granted me a kingdom, and I'm going to give a kingdom to you as well. What a word to say. You have stood by me. In that moment of weakness, a little later, one of them denied, and all of them ran away.

But in all those three years, three and a half years, when Jesus was called Prince of Devils, they stood by him. When they tried to kill Jesus, these 11, 12 people stood by him. That's what he's saying.

You guys are not perfect, but you've stood by me. I think of brothers who have been with us almost from the beginning, some 25, 30 years. And if you know the way we have been attacked and ridiculed and mocked and called all types of bad names through all these 40 years, even now, I have to say, you stood.

You stood true to CFC and stood true to what we have stood for. You have been faithful. You have not run away and gone away somewhere else. I can say that. You stood by me in the trials, and God's going to give us a kingdom.

Strengthening Those Who Have Failed

And even to someone like Peter, who was going to fail and deny him, he says to him in verse 31, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, and I know you'll fail, but I'm praying for you.

See, that was the reason why he had faith for them. He prayed for them. And that's one thing that any of us can do for one another when you see somebody fainting or discouraged. I prayed for you, and he says, when you have turned again, I know you will turn again, Peter.

Can you imagine how much those words encouraged him when he finally fell? When you turn again, strengthen your brothers. Imagine telling that to a man who's going to deny Jesus three times. Oh, I know it's going to happen.

But that's not the end of the story, Peter. God's going to turn you around. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. God wants you to be one who will strengthen your brothers and sisters.

So we want to be men and women in the coming days who strengthen our brothers and sisters, because we are going into difficult times in this country. And not only this country. It's difficult to be a Christian.

Like in the Living Bible, 2 Timothy 3, verse 1 says, in the last days, it will be difficult to be a Christian. Everywhere. In one country, it may be one way. In another country, it may be another way.

I mean, with all the anti-Christian activities that are going on, and the Hinduization of India, which we are seeing a lot. I was reading the other day in the papers that they're going to make yoga compulsory for 11th and 12th standard students in CVSE.

What are you going to do? What are you going to tell your children to do? If it is just physical exercise, that's fine. But I hope you'll tell your children not to repeat all those mantras to Hindu gods.

What are you going to do? Education is important. Yeah, we need to know how to stand firm. In other countries, it is in different ways. In the United States of America, now the Supreme Court has made a law that men can marry men, and women can marry women, and live together as husband and wife.

Two women and two men. No, Hinduism doesn't accept that. Islam doesn't accept it. But people who call themselves Christians, it's come there, and the worst part is if you are a government officer who is supposed to authorize a marriage, you've got to conduct that marriage of two men.

What are you going to do if you're a believer? There are people who are standing up against it, and have been imprisoned, etc. So, in different ways, that word which the Lord says in 2 Timothy 3, when in the last days it's going to be difficult to be a Christian, and to stand up, but we're not scared.

Because the Lord will be with us. There is a great secret of Jesus' life, which came home to my heart, which I want to share with you. That's the thing that will make us unmovable. Turn first to 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58.

Steadfast and Immovable in Faith

1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58. Beloved brethren, be steadfast. Immovable. That's the word I'm thinking of. Immovable. That means nobody can move you from the position you have taken as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

No matter what price you have to pay. No matter what you lose. I have this painting in my sitting room of the early Christians being thrown to the lions. And those poor people in torn clothes kneeling down there and praying while the lions are coming out.

And I look at that and say, Lord, these are my brothers and sisters. They are my forerunners in the 2nd and 3rd century. And they inspire me. I'm facing mosquito bites. They face lions. I thank God for their example.

It challenges me. I want to be immovable. They were immovable. All they had to say was, Caesar is Lord. They said no. We will not say it. We say Jesus Christ is Lord. Throw him to the lions. It would have been very easy.

Just like in that story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. How people could have suggested to them, listen, you are not bowing down in your heart. Just bow down your head and escape. Otherwise they will throw you into the fire.

They said no. If we bow down, we are giving a wrong impression to people. That we accept this idol and we don't. So, they refused to bow down and the Lord was with them in the fire. Immovable. Immovable.

How shall we be immovable in the days to come? How shall we be immovable? That is the thing which we need to know. How shall we be immovable in the days to come? Whatever may be, whatever may happen. Turn with me to the example of Jesus in Acts of the Apostles in chapter 2.

Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 and Peter is speaking here about how it was with Jesus and there is a verse he quotes from the Psalms, from Psalm 16 which he applies to Jesus. It says in Acts 2 .25, David spoke about him.

This is from Psalm 16 verse 8. Referring to Jesus, I saw the Lord always in my presence. He saw the Father always in front of him and he is at my right hand and so I will not be moved. I will not be shaken.

Nothing will shake me. Jesus said, because I see the Father in front of me always and he is at my right hand in front of me always means he was living in the presence of the Father all the time. This is what we have to develop, this habit of living in the presence of the Father all the time and then he will be at my right hand means he will be there to strengthen me.

That's the meaning of his being at my right hand. You see, it's because we don't have Jesus always in front of us that we speak so rudely sometimes to one another. You think you would speak like that if Jesus was right there?

How would you husbands and wives speak to one another if Jesus was right there in your presence? When you get angry, when you get upset, when you lose your temper, you're wobbling, you're shaking. You're not unshakable then but you can be unshakable.

Every one of us, if we say, Lord, I want the Holy Spirit to so fill me, that's the only way to do it. You can't sort of try to remember. It's not a thing of the mind, you know, to try and imagine, oh, Jesus is here, Jesus is here.

How long can you do that? In the moment of temptation, you'll forget all about it but the Holy Spirit can do it. The Holy Spirit can so make you so aware in the moment of temptation of the Lord's presence.

In the moment when you're facing a trial, whether it's a lion or whether it's some compromising situation in your place of work or where you may have to lose something because we take a stand for the Lord, the Holy Spirit in that moment will make us aware of Jesus' presence.

That's the thing that will make us unshakable and He'll be there at our right hand to strengthen us. I want to encourage all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, please pursue this with all your heart, old and young, no matter how senior you are in the Lord, pursue with all your heart to say like Jesus, I see the Lord always in my presence.

As I said, let me repeat, it's not a mental exercise. You can try and do that. Okay, I'm going to imagine I'm in the presence of the Lord all the time. It won't last because while you're busy doing other things and other work, you'll completely forget about it.

I've heard people say every 15 minutes I'll try to remember that Jesus is there. These are all mental techniques. If there was some technique like that, it would have been written somewhere in the scripture.

But it isn't. But what Jesus said was when the Holy Spirit has come, He will take of mine and show it to you. He will make you aware of my presence. That's why we keep on saying you must be filled with the Holy Spirit all the time, not a once-for-all baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The Need for Continuous Filling of the Holy Spirit

That's good. I believe two of the greatest dangers I've seen in Christendom and doctrines. One is once-saved, always-saved. The other is once-filled, always-filled. Both are wrong. Once-saved, always-saved has sent more people to hell than probably any other doctrine.

Because a man accepted Christ some time ago and then he backs away and he thinks he's okay. It's a deception. Hebrews 3 and verse 12 says, we are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm until the end.

And in the Acts of the Apostles you read about people who are filled with the Holy Spirit and then people who were full of the Holy Spirit. That means they were continuously full. Always full. And that was not true of everybody.

That's what we need to seek for. There is no such thing as once-saved, always-saved, or once-filled, always-filled, once-baptized, forever filled with the Spirit. It just is not true. But because there are people teaching that, the emphasis on that, are you saved?

Are you baptized in the Holy Spirit? And the guy may be the biggest backslider in town. But once he was saved, once baptized in the Holy Spirit. He doesn't live in the presence of the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit and each one of us can do that.

God loves you, my brother, sister. God loves you intensely. He gave His Son for you. What greater proof can you have than that He gave His Son to die for you? Each one of you must say, God gave Jesus to die for me.

He loves me. There's no doubt about it in my heart. There must be no doubt in your heart that God loves you personally. Not God so loved the world. That is a doctrine. But God so loved me that He gave His only Son for me.

Make it personal. And if that is true, and it is true, how shall He not with Him freely give us all other things? I've set the Lord always in my presence. He's in my right hand and I will not be shaken.

Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exulted and my flesh will also live in hope. Those words are for us too. Because this is why we can follow in Jesus' footsteps when it says, be unmovable, unshakable.

Diligently Seeking the Lord

Here is the secret. Always have the Lord in front of us. And in practical terms, what that means is, as you pray that the Holy Spirit will make that real to you, it will take a little time because we have not pursued it.

God is a rewarder of those who diligently diligently seek Him. And I want to say in the midst of many, many believers, there are only a few who diligently seek Him. There's no partiality with God. If you see another brother or sister who knows the Lord much more than you, don't think he's some special favorite of God.

God has got no special favorites. Even His own Son, when He came to earth, God the Father treated Him just like another man. He had to pray to get power just like you and I. He had to humble Himself to get grace just like you and I.

He had to be wise and not go where people were trying to kill Him, just like you and I. He was just like a man, just like you and me. God has got no favorites. He didn't even treat Jesus like a favorite when He was on earth.

That's why it says God loves us as much as He loves Jesus and that's why we sing in that song what He did for Jesus, He will do for you if you take living in the Father's presence as seriously as Jesus did.

I hope you'll be gripped by something today that will change the direction of your life. Was there a time in your life, once upon a time, when you were a more serious Christian than you are today? What has happened?

Has the love of money, the pursuit of earthly advancement taken you away from what you could have become for God? An effective instrument. I find so many people, they just want to ease their conscience.

I must go to some meeting because I'm a Christian and I ease my conscience. Yeah, I go for a weekly meeting or I go for two meetings a week and I'm taking a Bible study. Is that all? Are you fulfilling God's purpose for your life?

Do you feel challenged to get people to know God or just teach them the Bible? There are multitudes of Bible studies going on in the world today. But people are not coming to know God. I've seen so many of those groups.

I meet so many people who tell me, oh, Brother Zak, I listen to your messages regularly, I read your books. I say, what's the use of that? Have you come to know the Lord better? I find many people in many places, they do not want to build fellowship with other godly people.

They just want to listen to my messages on the internet and sometimes they get points for their own sermons from that. Imagine! They're not interested in their own edification. They want to get some points for a sermon.

Where do you think such people are going to come to know God? They're just seeking their own honour. There's no partiality with God. He's the rewarder of anyone who diligently seeks Him. If you say, Lord, every message I hear, I want to use it to get to know you better.

Not just to get to know the Bible better, but to know you better. I want to know you. I want to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to always live in your presence, so that my life, my conversation, my behaviour is always as if Jesus is right there.

That I will not say, there's no question of it being any other way. Then we'll be unshakable in the days to come. God will give us wisdom, what to do when we face these difficult situations or what advice to give to our children when they face some difficult situations in school.

Knowing God for Wisdom in Cultural Pressure

It hasn't become as bad here. You know what they're teaching 10-year-old children in the United States in the schools that it's perfectly alright to have sex and there are some children who have no mother but two fathers and some children who don't have a father and mother but two mothers.

This is what they're teaching 10-year-old children. What do you do if your children are being taught that and they're being taught the details of sex and being given videos and all in government schools and books on it?

Here it may be another way but I want to tell you you will not have the wisdom to guide your children aright in the coming days, whatever it is, if you don't know God. If you know God, you'll have an answer for every situation.

God can solve every problem. Do you believe that? Sure. Do you think there's any problem that Almighty God who runs this universe can't solve? I sometimes look up into the skies at night and see what a massive universe this is and you know, having studied a little bit about geography, I know that the universe is huge and the earth is like a small speck of sand.

This whole planet earth which looks so big in the size of the universe is like a speck of sand. And I say, Lord, on this speck of sand is me, one small man. Let me not think too much of myself ever. This small, teeny-weeny person on this speck of sand daring to tell other people about Almighty God.

Lord, please let me have low thoughts about myself. I'm amazed how so many people teach the Bible, who don't have this awesome fear of God, reverence for God. It's because they don't know Him. That's why there's such a lot of Bible knowledge in the world today but very little knowledge of the Lord.

Very little knowledge of the Lord. I want to know how many of you are passionate to know Jesus better, to know Him better, to know Him like in the Song of Solomon, the bride and knew her bridegroom intimately.

This has been my passion for virtually all my life. My passion is not to preach the Gospel. My passion is not to teach the Bible. My passion is not to travel here and there or even plant churches far from it.

My passion, honestly, I can say before God, is to know Jesus, my bridegroom, better and better every year. And it's been true. And as I know Him, He takes me here, He takes me there, and I tell people about Him.

That's another thing, but it all comes out of a relationship with Him. I want to live in His presence. Do you want that life? I said, Lord, if I live in Your presence, I will never lose my temper at any time in my life, 24 -7, 365 days of the year.

I want that life. I want that life. I want a life where I'll never be anxious, 24 -7, 365 days of the year. Because the Bible says, be anxious for nothing. The Bible says, put away all anger. I take those things seriously.

The only way to do it is if you can say to Jesus, I've set the Lord always in my presence. Then He's at my right hand. He'll never be moved. I wish you young people would be gripped by it right from this day onwards so that you can be the Lord's witnesses in the next generation, to proclaim the same truth that we as your fathers have proclaimed to you in this generation.

Young Believers, Failure, and Restoration

There's a great need for young people to rise up in our midst with the same passion and fervency to lead other people to know God. Some of you have been here so many years. Don't you think it's about time?

Like the Lord told Peter, when you have turned against, strengthen your brothers. Strengthen your brothers. Even those of us who have made a mess of our life, failed so many times, like Peter, failed.

Never mind. The Lord says, don't let your faith fail. When you hit rock bottom, Peter, remember when you hit rock bottom that your Father in Heaven still loves you no matter how much you fail. I want to say that to all of you, some of you are disturbed because you messed up your life so much and failed so much in the past.

When you hit rock bottom, remember that God still loves you. Your Father still loves you. He's got a plan for you. He wants you to turn and one day still strengthen your brothers and sisters. He wants to do that.

God's taken me in the years before CFC started through very deep valleys of failure and rejection and brokenness and all that and that's the way He prepared me for what He had for me. But because He took me through those parts, I can never have high thoughts about myself because I know what I was.

I know what gutter the Lord picked me up from. I'll never forget it. That's why I have hope for everyone. I'm speaking the absolute truth. I have hope for everyone. No matter how messed up their life is, no matter how messed up their marriage is, no matter how much they have failed in bringing up their children properly, I have hope even if you don't have because I know my God.

I know that God has got hope for the worst. He's the God of hope, the Bible says. So, I want to encourage you. Seek that the Holy Spirit will make you aware of the presence of the Lord. As I said, one practical thing that you can do is as soon as your conscience tells you something is wrong, stop everything and set it right.

That's one practical advice I'd give. And let me give you a verse for that in Colossians in chapter 3. You must know these verses. Colossians chapter 3. It's good that you have your Bibles with you and turn to this verse and get to know it.

Colossians 3 .15. Let the peace of Christ rule, or as the margin of my Bible says, be a referee in your heart. Let the peace of Christ be a referee in your heart to which you were called in one body. We are one body in Christ in our relationships with one another.

Peace as the Referee of God’s Will

Sometimes we can have difficulties. The Bible is not unrealistic. You can have difficulties with your wife, with your husband, with your children. And when the peace is disturbed in your heart in some relationship, that means the referee has blown the whistle.

And you know in a soccer game, football game, when the referee blows the whistle, the game stops. People who don't know the rules, some guy who doesn't know the rules can still kick the ball and say, hey, nobody's stopping me, I'm going to score a goal.

He thinks he's scored a goal. He hasn't. The referee says, come back. Nothing is going to move in this game till that foul is set right. That's why I blew the whistle. That's the meaning here. Let the peace of Christ be a referee in your heart that blows a whistle saying something is wrong.

That means when you lose your peace about something, and doesn't that happen to us sometimes? We're disturbed. I've often said whenever you are in that type of irritated state of mind, don't ever open your mouth because you'll say something stupid which you'll regret later on.

You know, if you have some disturbance in your... Something's disturbing you, let's say, in your relationship with your husband or wife. That can happen in every marriage. Keep your mouth shut because there's a little disturbance in your heart.

The referee's blown a whistle. Don't open your mouth. Don't say anything. Be quiet. And say, Lord, help me to set this foul right. That means I get the peace back in my heart. If you're in the Lord's presence, you'll have peace in your heart.

That's the way you know. That's how we know the mind of the Holy Spirit. When we are seeking God's will about something. When you're considering somebody for marriage, or considering a job, or considering a move to some place.

Romans 8 and verse 6 says, Romans chapter 8 and verse 6, the mind set on the Spirit, the last part of that verse, the mind set on the Holy Spirit is life and peace. Peace. That means when I'm considering a proposal, you're considering a proposal for marriage.

The more you think about it and pray about it, you have more and more peace in your heart. That's the Holy Spirit saying, go ahead. But if you have disturbance, you feel uneasy, whatever the reason may be, you feel uneasy.

Holy Spirit's saying, hold on. Now you have to be spiritually minded, of course. If you're uneasy because the boy doesn't have enough money or the girl doesn't have enough money, He's not referring to such cases.

If you're sincerely seeking the will of God, peace is the way He shows you His will. So the mind of the Spirit is peace. Peace is the referee by which I know I've done something wrong. If you haven't done this till today, please follow from today.

Lord, whenever I lose peace in my heart, I'm going to say to myself, I have to stop. However close I am to the goal, I have to stop. I can't kick that goal. I have to stop and settle this matter, maybe ask forgiveness from somebody, settle it, and then move on.