Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

Word For The Week - Zac Poonen

5/31/2025, 12:55:58 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 01.06.2025 *"God Has a Specific Plan for Each of Our Lives"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/god-has-a-specific-plan-for-each-of-our-lives Man's greatest honour and privilege is to do the will of God. This was what the Lord Jesus taught His disciples. He once said that only those who did His Father's will would enter the kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 7:21). He also said that His true brothers and sisters were those who did the will of God (Matt. 12:50). This emphasis was duly passed on by the apostles to their generation. Peter declared that God sets men free from sin so that they can do His will (1 Pet. 4:1,2). Paul asserted that believers are created anew in Christ Jesus so that they can walk in a path God has already mapped out for them. He therefore exhorted the Ephesian Christians not to be foolish, but to understand what the will of the Lord was for their lives (Eph. 2:10; 5:17). He prayed for the Colossian Christians that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will. He told them that his co-worker Epaphras was also praying for them that they might fulfill all the will of God (Col. 1:9; 4:12). The apostle John taught that only those who did the will of God would abide forever (1 John 2:17). Acts 13:22 seems to imply that David was called "a man after God's own heart" because he desired to do the will of God alone. David himself tells us elsewhere that he delighted in doing God's will (Psa. 4:8). He was not a perfect man. He committed many sins, some very serious ones, for which God had to punish him severely. Yet God forgave him and found pleasure in him because basically David wanted to do all of God's will. This encourages us to believe that in spite of all our imperfections, we too can be men and women after God's own heart - if only our hearts are set on doing His will. The New Testament urges believers to walk as Jesus walked, following His example. The guiding principle of Jesus' entire life and ministry was to do the will of His Father. He never moved until His Father told Him to. And when He did move, neither the threats of His enemies nor the pleadings of His friends could stop Him from doing what His Father required of Him. His daily food was to fulfill His Father's will (John 4:34). As men crave for food to nourish their bodies, He craved to do the will of the One Who had sent Him. Every believer should have a similar hunger to fulfill all the will of God. How easy it is to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," and then to do just as we please, without seeking God's guidance in our daily lives. The Bible teaches that God has a specific plan for each of our lives (Eph. 2:10). He has planned a career for us, chosen a life-partner for us and even planned where we should live and what we should do each day. In every case, His choice must be the best, for He knows us so well and He takes every factor into consideration. It is wisest then to seek His will in all matters - major as well as minor. Many have made shipwreck of their lives by failing to seek the will of God right from their youth. It is indeed _"good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth"_ (Lam. 3:27). In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites us to take His yoke upon us. What does it mean to take the yoke? Oxen that are used to plough fields are kept together by a yoke upon their necks. When a new ox is to be trained to plough, it is yoked together with an experienced ox. The new one is thus compelled to walk in the same direction and at the same speed as the older ox. This is what it means to take the yoke of Jesus upon us. We shall have to walk with Jesus in the path that pleases Him, never rushing ahead to do anything without His leading, nor lagging behind when He calls to some new step of obedience. Few understand this meaning of the yoke. Fewer still are willing to accept it. The ox is forced by its owner to take the yoke upon its neck. But Jesus invites us. There is no compulsion here. How foolish we are to reject this invitation! We would rather take the heavy yoke of our own self-will with its accompanying frustrations, defeats, and regrets, than the light yoke of Jesus that brings true liberty and deep rest! We read of Enoch that he _"walked with God"_ (Gen. 5:22) - i.e., he did not rush ahead nor lag behind, but walked in God's appointed path as one under the yoke - for three hundred years. As a result, God testified that He was pleased with Enoch's life (Heb. 11:5). This is the only way that we please God - by living and moving under His yoke, in His perfect will. Only thus shall we be able to stand before Him without regret when He comes again. It is possible for a believer to miss God's perfect will for his life. Saul was chosen by God to be king over Israel, but eventually as a result of his impatience and disobedience, God had to reject him. True, he remained on the throne for some years more, but he had missed God's will for his life. Solomon is another example. He pleased God in this earlier years, but fell away later through marrying heathen women. Twice in the New Testament we are exhorted to take a warning from the example of the Israelites who perished in the wilderness. God's perfect will for them was that they should enter Canaan. But all except two of them missed God's best through unbelief and disobedience (1 Cor. 10:1-12; Heb. 3:7-14). Many believers have similarly missed God's perfect plan for their lives through disobedience and compromise - often in marriage or in the choice of a career. Each of us has but one life. Blessed is the man who like Paul, can say at the end of it, that he has finished his God-appointed task (2 Tim. 4:7). _"The world and all its passionate desires will one day disappear. But the man who is following God's will is part of the Permanent and cannot die"_ (1 John 2:17- JBP). _"Live life then with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life, but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don't be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God"_ (Eph. 5:15-17-JPB). *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

6/21/2025, 1:00:24 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 22.06.2025 *"Being Persecuted for Righteousness Leads to the Kingdom of Heaven"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/being-persecuted-for-righteousness-leads-to-the-kingdom-of-heaven _“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”_ (Matthew 5:10). Earlier on we saw, _“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”_ When we take a position of humility and pursuing peace and hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and we pursue gentleness and we don't fight for our rights, we will find that we will run into people in the world who are evil persecutors. All those who seek to live in a godly way will be persecuted. So if we seek to live in righteousness, we will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 is an absolute statement inspired by the Holy Spirit. Paul says, _“All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”_ It doesn't say “some;” it doesn't say “many;” it doesn't say “most.” It could be some, many, most, or all. It says “all.” All includes every single believer in Christ Jesus (not every single person who _calls_ himself a believer, but everyone who desires to live a godly life). What does it mean to be persecuted for righteousness? We need to consider what it means to _stand up_ for righteousness. It means that in your place of work or in some situation, you say, “I will not do that wrong.” There are many jobs in which people compromise - they tell lies, they cheat, and they give bribes in order to get something unrighteous done. When Christians go that way, they of course will not face persecution; but if they refuse to go that way, if they refuse to take a bribe, or to do something unrighteous, they may face threats from the people above them, who want a share of that bribe or something. There are many cases like this. When you stand for uprightness, you may lose your job or find disfavor with your bosses, but the kingdom of heaven belongs to you. You may lose something of earth in that process - maybe a position, maybe some promotion - but you will get something of heaven in exchange. Is that worth it? Is it right for a person to tell a lie to get admission or to get a job in some situation? It’s not worth it! It’s never worth it for a Christian. It's far better that he doesn't do it because he will be out of the will of God. If you get admission into some situation by telling a lie, you can be pretty sure that God didn’t lead you there. When you face a tight spot, the devil may tell you, “Tell a lie here because a lie is almighty; it can get you anything.” And the Holy Spirit says, “No, that's a lie; God is almighty. Telling a lie is not the most powerful way to get what you want. Stand up for God. God is able to give you what He wants you to get.” Then you will find that God will give you what you should get. I remember numerous situations when I was working in the Navy, where I had to stand up to my senior officers and say, “I'm sorry, sir, I cannot do that because my conscience does not permit me. I'm a Christian.” And that is a very risky, dangerous thing to say in the military. If you say that in a secular job, you just get sacked and turned out of your job. But when you say that in the military, you're in danger of being court-martialled, which means being taken before a court and probably put into jail, because it is a very serious thing not to obey orders in the military. I remember numerous situations where that happened and I had to trust God to take care of me. If they asked me to do something that violated my conscience, I would say, “Sorry, sir, I am a Christian, I can’t do that.” It didn’t matter how senior the officer was. It’s possible that I would have suffered in some way because of that, meaning that the commanding officer wouldn't give me a good recommendation for a promotion. Once I was transferred within half an hour to another post. I could suffer inconvenience, but that's okay. You can’t call this persecution at all; these are like little mosquito bites compared to the lions that ate up the early Christians. But the early Christians faced these too. God will test you in this. I know God has tested me at different times and I believe that if I had failed that test in those places, I would not be where I am today and I would not have the ministry God has given me. Perhaps you could have had a ministry if you had been upright and had been willing to suffer earthly loss in some places for the sake of righteousness. The kingdom of heaven would have been more greatly yours to some extent, but you lost some of that. You can't do anything about the past; what you have lost is gone and you can’t get it back. But you can do something about the future. Say, _“Lord, at least in the days to come, I want to stand up for what is righteous and upright.”_ A Christian is not supposed to be crooked in any area. A Christian is not supposed to tell a lie or cheat for any type of profit. God is looking for those who will stand upright so that he can commit a greater ministry to them. *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

6/7/2025, 1:00:04 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 08.06.2025 *"Peacemakers Will Be Called Sons of God"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/peacemakers-will-be-called-sons-of-god _“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”_ (Matthew 5:9). Do we have a right to call ourselves the sons of God? It says here that it's not us calling ourselves sons of God; it says _they shall be called_ sons of God. That means that God is going to call us His sons when we are peacemakers. We must have a reputation as peacemakers. The opposite of a peacemaker is a troublemaker. What is your reputation in your church? Maybe you say, “I'm not a troublemaker and I’m not a peacemaker, but I’m neutral.” Well then you can’t be called a son of God! It says here _“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”_ Peacemakers are those who are always seeking for peace. When Jesus was born, the angels from heaven came saying, _“Peace on earth, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among the men with whom He is pleased”_ (Luke 2:14). God is pleased with those who pursue after peace. The world is full of all types of quarrels, fighting, grumbling, murmuring, and complaining. If we were to look at this earth from heaven’s standpoint, we would see it filled with darkness because of this. But in the midst of this darkness there are a few spots of light - those are the children of God, the sons of God; and one mark of these sons of God is that they are peacemakers. We find the same thing repeated in Philippians 2. Why does it say that we must do all things without grumbling, disputing, and complaining (Philippians 2:14)? We must do every single thing in our life without any grumbling, without any complaining, and without any disputing - that's a pretty high standard. But it says in verse 15, that that's the only way we can prove ourselves to be blameless, “Innocent children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” That's the only way we can appear as lights in this dark world. How is that? What is the darkness? It’s murmuring, grumbling, and complaining. What is the light? It’s people who make peace and do not grumble or complain. When Jesus sent out His disciples to the people of Israel He appointed seventy to go two by two, ahead of Him to every place where He Himself was going to come later (Luke 10:1). He directed them to look for a man of peace to stay with whenever they enter a town. He said, _“Whenever you enter a house, say ‘peace be to this house,’ and if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And if you find a man of peace, stay in that house - don't move from house to house because you will hardly find another house like that in a town”_ (Luke 10:5-6). In other words, what He was saying was: “You will probably find only one house in a town where a man is a man of peace.” Otherwise why did He tell them not to move from house to house? What if there were 10 or 20 or 30 or 100 houses like that? Jesus knew that it is very unlikely to find such homes. But such homes are exactly the type where God dwells. Is your house a house of peace? Can it be said about you as a husband that you're a man of peace? It always requires two people to quarrel; you can’t have a quarrel if one person refuses to fight. It’s just like how both of your two hands have to collide with each other to make a noise. You can’t have a noise with just one hand clapping. If one hand refuses to clap, the other hand cannot make a noise; quarreling is like that. If anyone (say husband or wife) refuses to fight and dies to him or herself, there will be no fight. Instead, there will be peace. So I can never blame the lack of peace on another person, whether it be in my church or in my house or anywhere else. You can’t say, “My wife is the one who disturbs the peace,” or “My husband disturbs the peace.” It is because you _cooperate_ in that quarrel and fight that there's no peace. There can be no sound if even one hand refuses to come together with the other. So in a situation where there is conflict, if you are pursuing peace, then you will die to yourself and let the other person agitate as much as he or she likes. Then there will be peace. If I believe that God is sovereign and will never allow me to be tested beyond my ability, I'll be willing to die to myself. Many people say that if you pursue this path, people will just take advantage of you; they will treat you like a doormat and walk over you. Not so. If you believe 1 Corinthians 10:13, which says, “God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability,” then you will recognize that He will not allow people to take advantage of you, and you will confidently pursue the way of peace. You'll find, like it says in the book of Proverbs, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). When you find controversy, take refuge in the name of Jesus and then you'll find the fulfillment of Proverbs 16:7, that “When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, you come and hide in the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” It's amazing what God can do! I've experienced that. If _you_ try to please the Lord, you too will find that even your enemies get subdued. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called be the _sons_ of God.” The meaning of &sons_ of God is different than the meaning of _children_ of God. Children of God are babies; a son is a mature person who knows how to die to self and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. *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

6/14/2025, 1:00:06 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 15.06.2025 *"Mercy Must Triumph Over Judgment in Our Hearts"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/mercy-must-triumph-over-judgment-in-our-hearts _"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy"_ (Matthew 5:7). Jesus taught us to pray, _"Our Father in Heaven, forgive us our sins in exactly the same way as we forgive others for their sins against us"_ (Matthew 6:12, Luke 11:4). What does that prayer mean? It means, if I don't forgive somebody for his sin against me, the Lord will not forgive me. What I am praying to God is, "Lord, forgive me in the same way that I have forgiven this other person." But if I have not forgiven this other person, I am really asking the Lord not to forgive me. Do you realize that when you pray the Lord's prayer, you are asking God to forgive you in exactly the same way as you have forgiven others? When you refuse to forgive another, you are praying, "Forgive me in exactly the same way that I have forgiven this person; since I have not forgiven him, You do not forgive me." Or, "I have forgiven him but I have a terrible grudge against him because of what he did toward me, so Lord, when You forgive me, You too keep a grudge towards me." Whenever people do us harm or hurt us in some way, there are two contradictory thoughts that arise in our mind. One is a thought of mercy and the other is the thought of judgment. The Holy Spirit tells us to forgive and to be merciful, but our flesh tells us to be hard on that person and to judge him, and to pray that God will judge him as well. But it says in James 2:13, _"For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy to others."_ If I am merciless towards someone, God will be merciless to me. And in the day of judgment, we are going to get a big surprise when God imposes a very heavy judgment on believers who did not forgive others - they will not enter God's kingdom. James 2:13 goes on to say, _"Mercy must triumph over judgment."_ That means that when there is a conflict in my heart between judging someone and being merciful to him, let mercy triumph, and not judgment. That is the mark of a man of God. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Romans 12:19 says, _"Never take your own revenge"_ because that is God's business. God says, "Taking revenge is My business. It is not your business." _"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,"_ says the Lord. So if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. We must not take revenge. We must be merciful and seek to do good wherever we can do good to others. We will discover on the day of the judgment that if we have not forgiven others, God will not forgive us. Jesus repeats that same instruction again in the Lord's Prayer. _"If you do not forgive others, then your heavenly Father will not forgive your transgressions"_ (Matthew 6:15). "Your heavenly Father" implies that He is already your Father and you are a child of God. He did not say, _"God_ will not forgive you." If He had used the word "God," then we could say that this verse refers to unbelievers. But notice it says "Your Father" in Matthew 6:15 . Is God the Father of unbelievers? No! But if you are a born-again child of God, then God is your Father. And it says "Your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Why? Because you did not forgive somebody else. If your transgressions are not forgiven, how in the world can you enter God's kingdom? Do you think they will be forgiven after you die? Is there a second chance after we die? If you die without forgiving someone, what is going to be your fate in eternity? I have no doubt in my mind that you will go to hell, because no one can enter heaven with their sins not forgiven on earth. There is no chance of sins being forgiven after we die. They must be forgiven now, and that is why it is so important to be merciful to others. That is not a kind act that you are doing to someone else. It is actually a kind act that you are doing to yourself, because you want God to be merciful to you. *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

5/24/2025, 1:00:26 AM

*Christian Fellowship Church,* Bangalore *"Word For the Week"* 25.05.2025 *"Blessed Are the Pure in Heart"* _*- Zac Poonen*_ *Website Link:-* https://www.cfcindia.com/wftw/blessed-are-the-pure-in-heart _“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”_ (Matthew 5:8). It is lack of purity in our heart that blinds our eyes. There are many things about God that He reveals to those whose hearts are pure. Jesus spoke about the eye being the lamp of the body in Luke 11:34. I want to connect that passage with Matthew 5:8 _(“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”)._ _“When your eye is clear your whole body is full of light”_ (Luke 11:34). If you want to know what it means to be blind, just shut your eyes and you know what blindness is. All the light outside is not coming in anymore and so you cannot see anything. _“The lamp of the body is the eye, but if your eye is bad or blind or full of cataracts, then your whole body is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, then it will be wholly illumined”_ (Luke 11:34-36). This verse is a reference to the conscience. The conscience is the eye of the heart. When you keep your conscience clear, your heart is filled with light, and you can see God. But when you neglect to keep your conscience clear, which means you did something wrong and you don't confess it – if you don't take the blame for it, and you try to put the blame on somebody else - the eye becomes dim little by little and you lose your vision of God. You can still have a head full of knowledge of the Bible, but you won't see God anymore, because that has nothing to do with head knowledge; that has to do with purity of heart. There is another possible way of looking at this verse. We can say that this also refers to seeing God in all our circumstances when our heart is pure. When my heart is pure, I can look around and I see God in all my circumstances, in everything He does and in everything He says. I can say that God is in control, and even in the evil that other people do to me, I can see God using that for my good. Jesus could see God in the most evil thing that happened to Him. When the Roman soldiers came to capture Him in Gethsemane, all that Peter could see was this crooked betrayer Judas betraying Jesus Christ and the evil Roman soldiers coming to capture his Master. But Jesus did not see them. He said, _“The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”_ The postman may have been Judas Iscariot, or the Pharisees and the high priest, but ultimately the cup came from the Father. What does it matter if the postman looks like an evil man, if the letter came from your beloved? Jesus’ heart was pure; therefore, He saw God in everything. That is why He could accept being captured, humiliated, and crucified. His heart was pure and He saw God in everything. When we love God with all of our hearts and we are called according to His purpose, then everything works together for good (Romans 8:28). If our heart is pure, then God makes it all work for good, and when we look at the evil that other people do to us in circumstances that don't seem to fit in with our desire, we can say “God is there.” This is why there is tremendous blessing in pursuing purity of heart. As we understand more Scripture, we will see Jesus more clearly in Scripture. Many people study Scripture and don't see Jesus. They see a doctrine and they fight for a doctrine. But when our heart is pure and our eyes are clear, the same Scripture, where somebody else sees a doctrine, will reveal Jesus. We see the glory of Jesus that the Holy Spirit brings out, and it draws our heart to Him and helps us be able to follow Him more closely. We must have a constant cry in our hearts to God day and night, as Jesus said, in the parable of the widow (see Luke 18:7 – _“God’s elect cry to him day and night”)._ We must have a cry like that widow for freedom from our enemy’s power, and for a life of purity and power, where we never lose the fire of the Holy Spirit. We must fear even a single sinful thought (whether of impurity or hatred or worldliness or the love of money), more than we fear the disease of AIDS. God said at one time in Israel that there was no one who _“stirred himself to lay hold of God”_ (Isaiah 64:7). Even Timothy had to _“kindle afresh”_ the fire of the Spirit that was within him (2 Timothy 1:6). God does nothing automatically in us, for that would rob us of our free will. But He is mighty to help us, when He sees the slightest desire within us, for Him, and for His best in our lives. Blessed are those who seek with all their heart to keep their conscience pure before God and men, like Paul did, and who are thereby pure in heart, because they will see God all the time — in the Word, and in their circumstances. *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

2/22/2025, 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]