Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

2/22/2025, 1:00:03 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 23.02.2025 *"Right Attitude of a Godly Man"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/right-attitude-of-a-godly-man In Genesis 13:7 we read that there was strife between Abraham’s servants and Lot’s servants. Abraham and Lot obtained vast wealth through their trip to Egypt and now that wealth causes problems. Wealth always causes problems. Lot and his wife were affected by what they saw in Egypt. They wanted to make more money. But Abraham was a man who would not fight with anybody. But his servants fought. _“There was strife between the herdsmen of Abraham’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling there.”_ Why is that last sentence included there? Because those heathen people were watching this fight. This is very relevant to the situation in today’s Christendom too. The heathen are dwelling in the land and what do they see? Christian groups fighting with each other. And in the midst of all this can we find a godly man like Abraham today who will call Lot (the worldly person who loves money) and say to him, _“Let there be no strife between you and me, we are brothers”_ (Gen. 13:8)? They were not brothers. Abraham was the uncle; Lot was his nephew. See the graciousness of this 75-year-old man to his 35-year-old nephew. “We are brothers!” A godly man is a humble man. He was 75 years old, but he could look at his young nephew and say, _“We are brothers. You are equal to me. I will give you first preference. Choose what you want.”_ Jerusalem is built by such men. Christendom needs such leaders - and they are not easily found. Today, we have many leaders who assert their authority, who would have said, “I am 75 years old, I am your uncle. I am the one whom God called, not you. You just came along with me.” But Abraham did not speak like that to Lot. He said to Lot, _“If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left. And if you go to the left, I’ll go to the right. You take what you want first.”_ And Lot, greedy man that he was, with the spirit of Babylon, grabbed first. He looked at the lovely fields of Sodom, saw the opportunity to make money there, and the rich people who lived there, and said, _“I’ll move there and serve God there as well.”_ Many Christians and Christian leaders like to move to wealthy countries. But invariably, they lose out spiritually. When Abraham was taking this decision, the Lord had come down (as in Babel), to see what he and Lot were doing. And the Lord saw the godly way in which Abraham conducted himself. Immediately after Lot had left him, the Lord said something very important to Abraham (Gen. 13:14). God separated him first from his father (by death), and then He separated Abraham from yet another relative (who would have been a hindrance to him through his covetousness). The Lord said, _“Now you are alone and now I can get you to go where I want you to go and to be what I want you to be. I saw exactly what happened.”_ Do you know that God watches every transaction that takes place between people? He watches our attitudes. Have you given up your right to something because you are a Christian? God says to you, _“I have taken note of that.”_ Then God said to Abraham, “Just stand here and look north, south, east, west. All the land that you can see will one day belong to your children. I promise that. It will not belong to the descendants of Lot. God said that to Abraham 4000 years ago. Look at that land today 4000 years later and ask yourself who is living there. The descendants of Abraham, not the descendants of Lot. God keeps His word. Thousands of years may go by, but if God has said to Abraham, _“I will give this land to your descendants forever,”_ (Gen. 13:15), then it will be exactly like that. Then we see in Chapter 14 how Lot got into trouble. You always get into trouble when you go outside the will of God. He was captured by his enemies. Abraham could have said, “Serves him right. The fellow grabbed something from me.” But Abraham didn’t react like that. There you see another time that Abraham was tested: What would Abraham’s attitude be when he hears that this man who cheated him has got into trouble? When somebody who has cheated you gets into trouble himself, then you will discover very quickly whether you are a man of God – or not. Abraham’s reaction was, _“Let me go and help Lot. It’s true that Lot cheated me. But what did he cheat me of? Some garbage of earthly wealth. That’s nothing. I’ve got heavenly riches. I feel sorry for Lot because he went after earthly things, and now he has got into trouble. Let me go and help him.”_ And Abraham went and delivered Lot himself. That’s the attitude of a godly man. Only such people can build Jerusalem. *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

3/1/2025, 12:45:29 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 01.03.2025 *"The Kingdom of God"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/the-kingdom-of-god-1 John the Baptist was the last of the prophets to the nation of Israel. His primary message, described in Matthew 3:2, was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He came to these people, with this message, for a very important reason. To repent means to turn around. The best analogy I can think of for this could be from the military command, "About-turn." When a soldier is facing forward and the Sergeant Major on the parade ground says, "About-turn," the soldier turns around instantly with his back toward the direction he was facing and looks toward the direction where his back was facing formerly. That gives us a clear picture of the word repent - to turn around. We have to turn around in our mind. In English and in most languages, the word repent is not translated very clearly, but in the Tamil language it is very clear. In _Tamil,_ repent is translated as _"manam thirumbudhal',_ which means t͟h͟e͟ t͟u͟r͟n͟i͟n͟g͟ o͟f͟ t͟h͟e͟ m͟i͟n͟d͟. An about-turn of the mind is exactly what John the Baptist was preaching to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was promised a whole lot of earthly things. Throughout the Old Covenant, there is no promise that they could partake of the divine nature of God, or have a treasure in heaven, or about a heavenly life on earth, etc. It was all earthly. In Deuteronomy 28, we see clearly that they were promised material wealth, material prosperity, physical health, a number of children, and blessings on their businesses, crops and cattle. They were promised that they would be very prosperous, they would never be in debt, their earthly enemies will all be destroyed, they would be a great nation, and they would have a land, the land of Canaan, which was called Israel. All the blessings promised to Israel up to this point in time were earthly, and their face was completely set towards the things of earth, all the time. But John the Baptist came along and said, "turn around now, about-turn from this. Stop facing the things of earth and turn around because now a new kingdom is coming. That is the kingdom of heaven, where earthly needs become secondary, even physical health becomes secondary. Material prosperity becomes unimportant because God provides us with material necessities. Turn around, because now God is going to give you spiritual wealth, that is, heavenly wealth. God is going to give you spiritual children, not necessarily physical children. You will have a spiritual, heavenly land to possess, not an earthly land, primarily." He was telling them to turn around because the kingdom of heaven had not yet come, and was near at hand. It was going to come on the day of Pentecost. John the Baptist was also the forerunner for Jesus Christ, who was going to open up the way to a new covenant that God was making with man, which would bring people of all nations into a relationship with God as their Father. We read in Matthew 4:12-13 that John was taken prisoner by Herod. When Jesus heard this, He withdrew from Galilee and left Nazareth, where He had grown up and lived for thirty years, and came and stayed at a house in Capernaum, which is beside the sea. Then, from that moment onwards, Jesus began to preach the same message exactly as John the Baptist had preached. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). John, as it were, had run the first leg of the relay race and handed over the baton to Jesus and He took up the same message - _"Repent"_ When Jesus ascended up to heaven, we read that the apostle Peter took up the baton from Jesus' hand and preached the same message - _"Repent"_ (Acts 2:38). He preached to the people on the day of Pentecost, _"Repent and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the kingdom of God within us."_ Then, it had finally come. When John the Baptist and Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, they said that it was going to come, or it was at hand. Jesus once said the kingdom of God is in your midst, referring to the fact that, in Christ Himself, the kingdom of God was already present. But it was not present in the people around Him. That would take place only on the day of the Pentecost, when those 120 disciples waited for baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then the Spirit of God filled them and the kingdom of God came to dwell within them. That is the kingdom they proclaimed - the kingdom of heaven (or the kingdom of God) - where the Holy Spirit dwells within us. It is not an external kingdom of physical healing and material prosperity, as it is, unfortunately, being preached by a lot of Christian preachers today. Plainly put, that is a deception, and is not the kingdom of God. But what is it, exactly? In Romans 14:17 it says, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. It is not something earthly like prosperity or healing - it is not an earthly blessing at all. According to Romans 14:17, the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit: • *Righteousness:* The righteousness of God Himself, first imputed to us when we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord, and then imparted to us from within by the Holy Spirit, where the righteousness of God becomes manifested in our life. • *Joy:* An inward joy that delivers us completely from discouragement and depression in the Holy Spirit. • *Peace:* An inward peace, primarily given by the Holy Spirit, freedom from anxiety, fear, tension, discouragement, gloom, bad moods et cetera and an outward peace with all men, where we refuse to fight with people or anything. So this is the kingdom of God. It's an inward thing. The kingdom of God is within us. It is the life of Christ coming within, through the Holy Spirit. It is the life of heaven, here on this earth, inside our hearts. As we look ahead, let us heed the words of John the Baptist: _"Stop facing the things of earth and turn around because now a new kingdom is coming, where earthly needs become secondary, even physical health becomes secondary. Material prosperity becomes unimportant because God provides us with material necessities. Turn around -- repent from facing this world -- because now God is going to give you spiritual wealth."_ Let us enter into the kingdom of heaven. *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

2/15/2025, 1:50:46 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 16.02.2025 *"The Path of the Righteous: Daily Purification"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/the-path-of-the-righteous-daily-purification Jesus taught us to pray every day, _"Forgive us our sins as we forgive others."_ Do you know that we need to pray for forgiveness every day? Even if we do not repeat Jesus' prayer each day, we must at least recognize that we need to pray for forgiveness daily. I pray every day, _"Lord, forgive me of my sins." How do we know forgiveness is something we need daily? Because the previous line in the prayer is, "Give us this day our daily bread"_ (Matthew 6:11). Therefore, it is a daily thing. Lord, I need my daily bread today, and my follow-up request is that You forgive me of my sins today as well. You might ask, "How you can claim to have victory over sin, but also say that I sin every day?" There is a difference between overcoming conscious sin and unconsciously sinning in areas that we do not even know about. We are really only aware of about ten percent of our lives. Just like we can only see the tip of the iceberg, we can only see the top part of sin in our life. There are a whole lot of areas in our life where we are unconscious of sin and of un-Christlikeness. We need to pray that God will forgive us even in those areas. That is the meaning of asking for forgiveness every day. We can live in total victory over conscious sin as the Apostle Paul did. In 1 Corinthians 4:4, Paul says, _"I am conscious of nothing against myself."_ In other words, Paul is saying, "I am living in victory over all known sin. I might not be aware of any sin in my life, but that does not mean I am acquitted or completely free from guilt. The one who examines me is the Lord Himself, to whom I am answerable. He sees a lot of areas in my life that I do not even see myself. That is why I cannot carelessly say that I am acquitted. I have to ask God to forgive me. When He gives me light on areas I had not previously been conscious of, then I can seek to overcome in these areas." This is sanctification. The Lord gives us a simple command, _"Follow me."_ The Lord then shows us the pathway to a wonderful life of progressive sanctification. Proverbs 4:18 says, "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." If we are born again, we are declared righteous because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us. The moment of conversion is like the sun rising over the horizon at dawn, chasing away the darkness. The sun becomes brighter while it slowly rises into the heavens until it comes to the perfect noonday position when it is brightest. Similarly, if we are righteous, we should progress in practical righteousness to a greater degree day by day. The sun should not remain on the horizon all the days of our lives. It must increase in brightness. The path of the righteous is like the shining light of the dawn that gets brighter and brighter until the day Christ comes back. Then we will be like Him. We will be completely like Him only when He comes, but we can walk like Him today. 1 John 3:2 says, _"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is."_ Notice the distinction made in 1 John 3:2. We are already children of God, but what we are going to be is not yet manifested. What are we going to be like? We are going to be like Jesus completely. Our total personality including all our thoughts, words, deeds, attitudes, motives, every area of our inner life, and our unconscious life will be like Jesus. And when will this happen? When He comes again, and we see Him as He is. But until that day, what should we do? 1 John 3:3 says that if you have this hope that one day you will be completely like Jesus, you will keep on purifying yourself every day until you reach His standard of purity. This is similar to what is written a little earlier in 1 John 2:6, which says that if I say I am a Christian, I must live like Christ lived and walk as He walked. Then one day, I will be like Him. There is a difference between 1 John 2:6 and 1 John 3:2. The message of 1 John 2:6 means that we need to walk by the same principles by which Jesus lived His earthly life and follow Him. We must have the same attitude that Jesus had towards material things, men, women, Pharisees, religious hypocrites, and enemies. For example, Jesus prayed for those enemies who crucified Him, _"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do."_ The Holy Spirit will enable us to walk like Jesus, but it will only be in our conscious lives, which is only ten percent of our full lives. The remaining ninety percent is hidden. God will reveal more of that hidden area to us so that we may overcome in those areas and increasingly purify ourselves. God cleanses us from sin (1 John 1:7), but we must also seek to purify ourselves by getting rid of sin through the power of the Holy Spirit (1 John 3:3). *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

2/8/2025, 12:45:19 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 09.02.2025 *"The Meaning and Importance of Repentance"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/the-meaning-and-importance-of-repentance Jesus taught us that the very first step towards a life where the Holy Spirit flows from our innermost being is to repent, or turn around (Matthew 4:17). Not only turning around from seeking the things of earth, but most of all, from sin. We don't have to _overcome_ sin before we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes in to help us overcome sin. We don't put the cart before the horse. The horse should be in front of the cart. I can't give up sin and then say, "Lord give me the Holy Spirit." Instead I say, "Lord, I need the Holy Spirit to be able to overcome sin." But _I can turn around in my mind_ from sin; that means my attitude is that I genuinely desire to give up all sin. That's all that God is asking you. Do you have an attitude where you _want to_ give up every single thing that is dishonoring to God in your life? It may take you some years before you actually overcome them, but it doesn't matter. Make sure your attitude is always one of repentance, where you turn around from your old way of life. It is through repentance and faith in Christ that we come to the starting line of the Christian race. Hebrews 12:1-2 says that the Christian life is like a race, and I can come to the starting line only if I have repented. That message of repentance and turning around from sin is the message that is lacking in Christendom today. How many gospel messages do you hear on repentance? How many songs do you hear on repentance? Look at any hymnbook and see how many songs there are on repentance - hardly any. You will find many songs about believing. For example, there is a well-known song that says, 'To God be the glory, great things He has done'. One of the lines in that song says, "The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives." I disagree with it. Suppose there is a man attending a meeting - a complete wretched sinner - who doesn't know anything about the gospel. And he comes there and listens to that song - "The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives." He says, "Yes, I am the vilest offender," and he acknowledges that and says, "that is all I've got to do, just believe in Jesus. I believe in Him, He is the Son of God, He died for my sins." Is he forgiven? Not if he has not repented. The vilest offender who _repents_ and believes is one who is forgiven. Many people will say, "Well that's the meaning of 'truly believe'". But that is a theological explanation that an unconverted, godless sinner does not know. He needs to be told that he has to repent. That is what the Apostle Peter made clear on the day of Pentecost: repentance. And that is what Paul preached everywhere. He preached two things - "Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Repentance toward _God,_ not toward prosperity and healing. Repentance is not turning away from sickness to healing. I am not turning away from poverty to prosperity. No! That is a false gospel that is being preached today. It says here I repent toward God from everything that was against God in my life and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says the same thing when he writes to the Thessalonians. He tells them that the Word of God came to them and they turned to God, having turned away from idols to serve the living God" (1 Thessalonians 1:8-9). What is an idol? An idol is anything that takes the place of God in your heart. It could be your health, your wealth, your job, your house, your car, your wife or your children. It could be anything that takes the place of God in your heart. Just like Isaac took the place of God in Abraham's heart and God told Abraham to get rid of that idolatry. Turning to God from idols and from everything that prevents God from being first and uppermost in your heart - that is repentance. That is the meaning of seeking the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, in such a way that all our earthly necessities will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). You can be absolutely sure that you will never lack earthly necessities -- even if you never become a millionaire, He will make sure your earthly necessities are added to you -- if you seek God's kingdom first. Thank God for that. This is the way every Christian should live. It's a very sad thing today when Christians think that material prosperity and physical healing are the marks of God's blessing. That cannot be true because there are a lot of non-Christians who have a lot more material prosperity and a lot more physical health than even spiritual Christians. That itself proves that that is not the gospel. Moreover, they don't have freedom from sin that a true disciple has. The message that Jesus proclaimed first, and that we need to _keep proclaiming,_ is repentance. When Jesus said, "Teach them to do all that I have taught," what did He teach? The very first step is to turn around from sin, turn toward God and open your heart to the kingdom of heaven so that your mind is now set on things above, on the things of God - righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

2/1/2025, 12:31:11 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 02.02.2025 *"Don't Test God by Insisting He Does Something Spectacular"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/dont-test-god-by-insisting-he-does-something-spectacular In the second temptation in the wilderness, Satan said to Jesus, _"If You're the Son of God, why don't You just throw Yourself down from the top of the temple and claim the promise of God?"_ (Matthew 4:6) He even quoted Psalm 91, _"He will give his angels charge concerning you; in their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone."_ In Matthew 4:7, Jesus replied, _"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test."_ This is a very important principle. How does this apply in practical terms? Here the temptation to Jesus was to jump off the roof of the temple, claim the promise in Psalm 91, and descend to the courtyard of the temple unhurt so that people will see and exclaim, "Oh, what a great man of God! Look at His faith, how He claimed that promise and was not hurt." And Jesus said, _"I will not tempt God like that."_ When there are stairs provided from the roof of the temple to go down, there is no need to jump off. The meaning of Jesus's refusal is that we can use means that God has provided and not tempt God by asking Him to do something for us in some spectacular way. For example, in Acts 8:39, we read of an instance where, after Philip had preached to the eunuch, the Holy Spirit snatched Philip up and transported him all the way to another place called as Azotus. The Holy Spirit gave him an airlift like a helicopter would today. Now, if you want to go from one place to another place, and you try to tempt God saying, "Do that for me Lord," that's tempting God. If God has provided buses, trains, scooters, and airplanes, why do we need to ask the Holy Spirit to take us like that? Another way to tempt God is to try and claim a promise so that I can perhaps testify later of a spectacular thing God did for me. For example, there are people who, when they are sick, say, "I am going to trust God to heal me even though medicines are available on the next street and there are doctors available to advise us. We don't use those doctors and those medicines." And there are many foolish Christians who have died like that, or allowed their children to die and their wives to die, because they try to claim a promise that "the Lord is my Healer, and so I don't need medicine." When God has provided stairs in the temple, He expects you to use them instead of trying to jump off the roof and claiming Psalm 91. Similarly, when God has provided medicines, He expects you to use them and not foolishly claim some promise that the Lord will heal you. It is as foolish as trying to ask the Lord to transport you from one place to another like He did with Philip. We also must remember that God does certain things for certain people. He doesn't perform every miracle for every believer. We need to be very careful in studying the Scriptures that we're not trying to do something spectacular in order to get some honor for ourselves. The desire for honor from men is so deeply rooted in our flesh, but sometimes we are not even aware of it. It's one of the great things that Jesus taught His disciples to battle against. Here the basic temptation was to get honor, to claim God's promise and descend unhurt to the courtyard of the temple and people will acclaim you. But the temptation can come in less spectacular ways, too. Jesus said in Matthew 6, "When you pray, don't pray in such a way as to get honor from the men who are listening to you praying, and don't fast and inform everybody how many days you've fasted for." If you do that, it's to get honor. He also said, "When you give, don't let anybody know what you gave." Yet many Christians have disobeyed these commands, seeking honor and tempting God. *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

1/25/2025, 12:15:27 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 26.01.2025 *"The Gospel of the Kingdom"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/the-gospel-of-the-kingdom Before Christ returns, there's going to be a proclamation of this gospel of the kingdom that reaches the whole world (Matthew 24:14). What is the gospel of the kingdom? Romans 14:17 clearly teaches that it is a gospel of righteousness in the Holy Spirit, peace in the Holy Spirit and joy in the Holy Spirit. There are very few proclaiming it. Most people are only proclaiming the forgiveness of sins, which is a very good first step. To me it is like the cleaning of a cup. If my little boy comes to me and says, "Daddy, can you give me a glass of milk?", and he gives me a dirty cup (a picture of our hearts), what I do first is clean the cup. I would not pour milk into that dirty cup. I would take that cup and clean it thoroughly. But then, what's the purpose of that? I don't give him an empty cup! I fill it with milk and then give it to him. Likewise, when we come to Christ, the first thing He does is clean up our hearts, like cleaning the inside of the cup. But does He leave it like that? No! He fills it with the righteousness of God, the peace of God, and the joy of God, through the Holy Spirit. This is the gospel. If we only offer the truth that Christ will clean up the heart and clean up the cup, we are offering people an empty cup, and that is why so many Christians are thirsty. They are not satisfied because they are going around with an empty cup that may indeed be clean, but it is empty. What's the use of giving my son an empty cup that's clean saying, "Son, you gave me a dirty cup, here it is, clean". If that is all God gives us, it will be frustrating. My son would say, "Hey dad, I wanted some milk." Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? The trouble is that a lot of Christians are not hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and that is why they go around with a clean empty cup. The difference between the old covenant and the new covenant can be pictured like this: the gift of the Holy Spirit, who brings the kingdom of God to earth, as given to an old covenant believer, is like a cup that is placed on a table, upside down. And you pour water from a jug on the cup. This is the picture of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is how it was in the Old Testament times. The water flowed; the Holy Spirit was upon people and flowed out around them and probably blessed thousands and millions of people. There were two million people in the wilderness who Moses, the anointed servant of God, led. But the inside of Moses' heart was dirty. He could not overcome anger. Despite his anger, the blessing flowed from him to bless the multitudes. It was like that with David, Samson, Gideon and so many other people in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God was upon them. Even the great John the Baptist, who had the Spirit of God _upon_ him from his mother's womb, had doubts about Christ when he was imprisoned. He questioned whether Jesus was really the Messiah, even though he had heard a voice from heaven. He had unbelief because the inside of his cup was not filled with faith. But on the day of Pentecost, the Lord turned this cup right side up and poured the Holy Spirit inside the cup, which is the heart. Then it would not only overflow and bless people, like in the Old Testament, but much more than that, in the New Testament. It would be from the innermost being. That is the kingdom of God flowing out from within us. This is the kingdom that Jesus prophesied would come on the day of Pentecost. That is why on the last day of the great feast in Jerusalem Jesus said, "as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:38). That would not and could not happen before the day of Pentecost. That is why it says in John 7:39, "This He spoke referring to the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given," that means _not given in this way,_ "because Jesus was not yet glorified." Christ had to die and rise again and present His blood before the Father. Only then, could the hearts of men be cleansed. The blood of bulls and goats could never cleanse people's hearts, and that is why God could not put the Holy Spirit within people. The kingdom of God could not come within people in Old Testament times. But now that Christ has shed His blood and ascended to the Father, every sin of ours can be cleansed if we confess it to the Lord. So God turns the cup right side up and cleanses us in the blood of Christ and pours the Holy Spirit within us first, so that He strengthens us to do God's will. Then, His life flows out from us in words and actions, so that we can also lead other people to do God's will, like we've done it ourselves. The Holy Spirit flows from our innermost being. If the Spirit does not flow from our innermost being, then that is an old covenant type of ministry. *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

1/18/2025, 1:30:27 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 19.01.2025 *"Difficult People"* _*- Bobby McDonald*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/difficult-people Jesus had His share of difficult people to interact with in His life. Some scorned Him, some persecuted Him, some scoffed at Him and others just neglected or ignored Him. He had people yelling at Him, spitting on Him, arguing with Him, trying to trap Him, and trying to kill Him. Every one of us will have difficult people to interact with throughout our lives. They may seem ungodly, mean, cruel, annoying, and evil. Here are a few principles the Bible has to say about difficult people that have helped me: John 8:7 _"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone"_ *The most important thing I’ve learned about difficult people is that I’m one of them!* Other people may be sinful, difficult and selfish toward me... but I have exactly the same flesh as them and I'm just as guilty. I’ve experienced that the more clearly I see how difficult, selfish, and sinful I myself have been toward my Perfect Father in Heaven, the easier it is to have mercy and patience toward other people who sin against me. A Pharisee is one who looks down on others in frustration, but a Christian is one who is mostly frustrated and fed up with themselves and their own sin (Luke 18:9-13). The kingdom of God belongs not to people who are fed up with difficult co-workers, evil government, selfish family, bad churches, or lukewarm Christians. It belongs to people who are fed up with themselves! These are the “poor” in spirit who come to the Lord like poor beggars and say “Lord, I’m the one who needs help, I’m just a poor sinful beggar, forgive me and help me!” _“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”_ (Matthew 5:3) *Another important principle I see the Bible teaching me is to love difficult people, no matter how they treat me in return:* Matthew 5:44 _"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."_ Romans 2:4 _"The kindness of God leads you to repentance."_ I once heard a story: Early one morning the wind challenged the sun to a competition. There was a man walking along the road with his coat on and the wind told the sun 'I think I can get that man to remove his coat before you can.' The sun agreed to play the game. The wind said he'd go first. The wind blew and blew as hard as it could, and the harder he blew, the tighter the man held his coat. Then the sun said, 'ok now let me try.' So the sun raised himself up in the sky and shined just a little bit, and in a short amount of time, the man gently removed his coat. The moral of the story is that it's better to warm a person with love, rather than to try to blow them around and control them with anger and force. Is our Father in Heaven like the wind or the sun? The Bible says that it's God's love that has caused us to love Him (1 John 4:19), and His kindness that has caused us to repent (Romans 2:4). I believe we'll see that principle in our life as well when dealing with others. Loving others diligently and selflessly is the way to bring unity and agreement into relationships rather than fighting with them and trying to force them to agree with us or treat us right. Many times love won’t change an enemy’s heart toward us right away (and maybe never), but that’s ok. If we continue to love our enemies and the unrepentant people who sin against us we can have the privilege of being like our Father in Heaven, because that’s how He is – He is immensely patient and loving even toward evil people who still consider Him their enemy: Matthew 5:44-45 _“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”_ A son is someone who is just like his Dad. Jesus said to love our enemies, and in that way we can be sons of our Father who is in Heaven. Proverbs 15:1 _"A gentle answer turns away wrath."_ The tongue is a powerful thing. _“The tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!”_ (James 3:5). By it wars are started and ended. Even better, wars are prevented! The Bible says that instead of answering anger for anger, wrath with wrath, it’s best to give gentle words and gentle answers in return to a wrathful person. This is the best way to peace. God does not desire fighters (returning evil words for evil words), but peacemakers (Matt 5:9). We can be a peacemaker by responding to the wrath of others with gentle words. Proverbs 17:13-14 _“He who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.”_ *Note:-* Please Visit: https://www.cfcindia.com : For more Books, Articles, Sermons, WFTW, Q & A and Studies by Bro.Zac Poonen *Christian Fellowship Church* *Office* #69-71, Paradise Enclave, (Behind Supertech Micasa Apartment) Bellahalli, Kannur - Kogilu (Airport Link Road), Bangalore - 560 064, Karnataka, INDIA. Phone : +(91) 80 2547 7103 +(91) 948 194 1079 Email : [email protected]