This sermon series by Brother Zac at RLCF Summer Conference 2010 is now available online:
http://rlcfchurch.org/zac-poonen
Here are some quotes from this series:
1. Doing God’s Will as Jesus Did
* The times of ignorance God overlooks, but now God calls all men to repent (Acts 17:30).
2. Giving God a Pure Offering
* Obedience to God is as much of a burden as wings are to a bird (Matthew 11:30, Isaiah 40:31).
* Jesus is our dictionary. When you want to know the spiritual meaning of a particular word, look it up in His life.
* The Spirit can only come after Jesus is glorified (John 7:39), and that starts with the forgiveness of our sins, but progresses from there.
* A crow will always love carcasses, no matter how much you try to educate it; a dove, on the other hand, doesn't need any such rules.
* Christians don't need "significance, security, and success". They need the Spirit!
* God is looking for a pure sacrifice in every place in this world (Malachi 1:11).
3. What to Avoid in Prayer
* Praying in public in order to be heard by others, is like speaking your love to your husband/wife in order to be heard by others. Only "actors" (Greek: "hypocrites") in movies do that (Matthew 6:5)!
5. Thinking the Way God Thinks
* A legalist who has been a Christian for many years is like an adult who still needs a nanny (Galatians 3:24-26).
* "God's work done God's way will never lack God's supplies."
* When you prophesy, it must be according to the level of your faith (Romans 12:6), which is the level of your life (Romans 1:17).
* The ones who have influence in the midst of Babylon are those who determine never to defile themselves (Daniel 1:8).
* A legalist who obeys all of God's commands but then judges others who don't, is like one who cooks delicious chicken curry but then throws a dead lizard into the pot.
* If you want to be great in God's kingdom: 1. keep and teach even the least of God's commandments (Matthew 5:19); and 2. humble yourself like a little child (Matthew 18:4). Then God will look on you with favor (Isaiah 66:2).
* It's the easiest thing for God to bless someone. It's the most difficult thing for Him to keep that person humble after blessing him.
7. God’s Sovereign Power
* God doesn't want "volunteers" to serve Him. He wants disciples who have forsaken everything (John 6:11).
* God is in the production business. He calls us only to be in the distribution business.
8. The Few Who Find the Way
* Babylon is the "foolish man's" house -- that is, hearing God's words and not acting on them. "Great is its fall" (Matthew 7:26-27; Revelation 18:2).
* The mark of the antichrist can be taken on the forehead (public) or on the hand (secret). The mark of the Lamb, however, can only be taken on the forehead (Revelation 13:16 - 14:1).
* The only ones who can learn the new song are those who have been redeemed from the earth (Revelation 14:3) -- those whose mind is set on things above and not on the earth.
* The reason there isn't much joy in the lives of many Christians is that they don't really hate sin (Hebrews 1:9). The ultimate hatred of sin results in the fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).
* If you don't have a Bible, take at least this one verse with you and live by it: "Have the same attitude in you which was in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
* I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand or to stand up. I'm going to ask you to sit down and count the cost: is it worth it to follow such a Lord? Are you going to continue your life of hypocrisy and pretense and religiosity and legalistic rules? Or are you going to throw it all away and say, "Lord Jesus, I want to follow You all the days of my life; I'm your disciple."
9. Reverence for God
* One difference between the world and the church is that the people of the world have no reverence for God (Romans 3:18).
* Trying to learn the wisdom of God without having reverence for God is like sending a child to 5th Grade who hasn't learned to read or write (Proverbs 9:10).
* If you don't believe what the Bible says about heaven and hell, no book by any man will convince you (Luke 16:31).
* You can't play the fool with God and get away with it, any more than you can play the fool with electricity and get away with it.
* You cannot worship God if you aren't dressed in holiness (Psalm 29:2).
* Even Jesus' prayers were heard because of His reverence for God (Hebrews 5:7).
10. Seeking God’s Interests
* A second difference between the world and the church is that the people of the world seek after their own interests (Philippians 2:21), while the church realizes that we are created for God's pleasure not our own (Revelation 4:11).
