Sunday Message - Pastor Tony Augustus (July 21, 2013) | Life Bible Church

Pastor Tony with us from India. He's been here

several times, but he always brings a challenging

word to us. He always brings a spiritual song

to us, which I greatly enjoy. And so would you

just extend a warm welcome to Pastor Tony this

morning. Thank you very much Church. Certainly

appreciate the Lord and appreciate each one of

you and your warmth. Greetings from India. Greetings

from Lucknow. Farthest you can go from here is

Lucknow. If you go any farther, you'll be coming

back. Right now, when it is 12 .06 here, it's

already tomorrow. in India Monday morning. But

the good thing is that I feel at home. I'm not

that far. I'm not on the other side of the globe.

I am at home. And I just thank you very much.

Thank you very much for your prayers. Thank you

very much for coming to India and for making

a change by your coming. by your ministry. India

has been blessed by Life Bible Church and by

your prayers, by your generous giving. Some of

you have and are giving monthly and some of you

have given in big projects and we appreciate

you very much for what you're doing and work

is big but God is doing it. Millions of people

are coming to the Lord in India. And if I give

you the right statistics today, there are more

Christians in India than in America. 1 .3 billion

people, almost like 8 % of them, have accepted

the Lord. Government still says 3 or 4%, but

there are millions of people all over India One

eight percent means like more than a hundred

million and Every day they are coming to the

Lord in thousands and I've been preaching gospel

for last 47 years But I've never seen a time

like this in the history of India as it is now

when Every area of India, every part of India,

every state of India, people are hungry and they

are turning to the Lord and God is doing great

miracles. Amazing things are happening and I

appreciate you for your prayers. This morning

I've got another issue of thankfulness. I have

a friend of mine sitting here whom I've known

for... more than 35 years. Ron Montez, I met

him for the first time in the month of June 1978.

And we had great fellowship and I'm Indian from

India and he's real Indian from America. We think

alike, we walk alike, and look alike. Even our

complexion is the same. I appreciate this man

of God and what God has done through his ministry.

I just thank the Lord. I remember when Mark came

for the first time, it was with Ron, and Ron

and Mark, I remember they played a song, they

sang a song. Rain. Let it rain. And when they

left India, it rained so much that it has never

rained in the history of India that much. Rain

everywhere. And, you know, something happened

after that. It really started raining spiritually.

No one knew anything about guitar. praise and

worship. We only sang hymns. No praise and worship.

People didn't know how to lift up their hands

or dance in the Lord. And today we dance more

than you. I tell you, we dance more than you

and the thousands of people all over who play

guitar, small children. You know, they bring

their small guitars and they're playing. We,

in the main church in Lucknow, we have five worship

teams. And the smallest worship team is very

small children, you know, like under 10 years

old. And they play keyboard. It's because God

used these two men in India. And I just appreciate

the Lord. That's wonderful. I thank the Lord

for this miracle. My watch stopped. So you know,

I'm not time -bound. My watch stopped. And that

clock is very far. I can't see it. Thank you

very much for praying for PCF. PCF is the ministry

that God has used in India as the bait ministry

to catch soul and that is educating poor children

and we educate poor children. We have been doing

this for like about 15, 16 years and it has proved

to be very good ministry and all over India now

we are teaching these children in the villages

we started going and building the church building.

The first when we went to the village we thought

nobody will be interested in village about the

Lord it may be very difficult and we found out

that when we went to the villages, villages were

open to accept the Lord as personal savior and

in one day we got enough people saved to plant

a church in this village and then we started

building a church building. We completed the

building. The church had done outreaches all

around this village and then we started building

church buildings in different villages and so

far we have almost built around a hundred church

buildings in the village areas all over India

and now I think we have more churches and villages

than in this city and I think about seven years

ago or ten years ago we had no church in a village

not even one and now we have more churches in

village and this is a church that we did in Lalganj.

Rai Bareli is a district and Lalganj is a village

in Rai Bareli district. This guy, Hindu guy got

saved and he came to the Lord and he started

a church with 20 people and then he had a land

that was dedicated, donated and he started building

a church building. And when he started building

the church building, we completed the building

and he invited all of us to come and do the ribbon

cutting. So the church building is here about

200 yards before the church building on the main

road. When we got there, we had to park our car

there. There was a room and there were about

200 people waiting. So I said, who are these

people? He said, well, these are all my members.

I said, how many? He said, 200. And so he didn't

want anybody to go in the building, wait outside.

And we got there, we cut the ribbon, and we found

out from the time when we started building Chanchal,

there were 20 people, because of the excitement

that they're building the building, when we did

the ribbon cutting, there were already 200 people.

No more we could take. So he started going in

another village, and he has already started six

churches around this church building. An amazing

thing has happened to this guy. And recently

we got the opening in the town, Ribarelli town,

and we have been given this campus and this church

that was already there, but it was struggling

and Amazing doors are being opened and we always

said wow India is such a big country How would

we go everywhere and how we get all these souls

saved? We don't even know where all these villages

exist because these places are not even on the

map So many village and no roads no power But

God had it organized and he opened a door for

me to start preaching on the largest television

network which is called ZTV. And this goes to

every village that you can think of. Now two

things very important in India. People may not

have anything. They don't even have power but

they have TV. And they operate TV by battery.

Battery operators, and they will have small TV

and 30 people will come from a neighborhood and

watch TV like glued to TV. TV and cell phone.

Everyone has cell phone everywhere. So TV and

cell phone, both of them are happening. They

watch the program and there is a number on TV.

And this is 24 hours, seven days a week. prayer

center in Campo. So when they watch the program,

they say, oh, we've never heard anything like

that. There's a telephone number. They call us

and they tell us where we are. Sometimes hard

to locate their village because they live in

a remote village. But we know where they are

and they're calling us. They ask us, we go there

and we get people saved and church established.

And amazing thing is this any village you go,

first day. When you take a meeting, they say,

well, you came here and you took a meeting, but

what about a weekly church? And lots of churches

are started under the tree. And immediately on

the first day, somebody will say, hey, I want

to donate my land. You build the church building.

And there's no money for... building but they

donate the land. And we get the land donated

and then we start raising finances and build

the building. Every village building that we

build is 10 ,000 US dollars. Just 10 ,000 dollars

for 200 people to sit. And when we do this building,

we do a pastor's office and do a small bathroom

and we use this building five days a week for

poor children to come and be educated there,

free school. We hang a board, free school. Government

came to us, they said, well, you are building

all these church buildings, we have given you

FCRA number, which is Foreign Contribution Regulation

Act, not to build churches, it's all for social

work. We said, yeah, that's what we're doing.

It's not a church, it's a school. And because

we are Christian, we meet there on Sunday. They

said, OK, you can do that. And because we wanted

to find out what can we do for these village

people. We love them. They are our family now.

They accepted the Lord. So we found out that

we can't give free food to everyone. We can't

give blankets to everyone. But we can give them

something that is very needful for them, and

that is clean water. They drink dirty water,

and 60 % of them have a stomach disease. So we

started doing this. We will build a church building,

use it for the school at the corner of the church.

Outside the church we'll drill a well. We'll

go 200 feet to get clean water. And we have a

hand pump because there is no power, so we have

a hand pump. And we allow the whole village to

come and take the water, whether they go to our

church or not. And education also, we'll give

education to anybody, whether they go to our

church or not. But it works like a bait. The

fish comes for bait and we catch it. More souls

are being added to the kingdom of God right now.

We started from 33 people on the 21st of October

1973 and we have almost like 70 ,000 people in

churches now. Everywhere. We started in Lucknow,

now we have our churches in 15 states of India.

Even in southern state Karnataka, in Bangalore,

we have started a church. And now we are planning

to go into each state one by one. When we send

the first pastor to any new state, we send a

pastor who has a goal to plant 100 churches.

We prepare him and equip him. When we pray, we

don't pray for one church. When we do the Presbyterian,

pray for him and we send him, we send him like

this, 100 churches. We're sending him to plant

100 churches in that state. And it's happening.

up to Punjab and we're going towards Jammu and

Kashmir, the top state. And we've gone to Nepal.

We planted five churches in Nepal. We built a

couple of buildings in Nepal also. And we have

a head for Nepal. We didn't have any work in

Nepal. We had a work on the border of India and

Nepal. And because in Nepal you can't baptize,

so we built a church just at the border. and

entered into Nepal and started planting churches.

When people get saved in Nepal, we bring them

out of the border and baptize them here and send

them to Nepal. It's legal to baptize in India,

but not legal to baptize in Nepal. And so they

don't get to go to jail because they're taking

baptism in India. an amazing thing God is doing.

And we are building church buildings every day.

Before I left India, we were doing seven buildings

on the 24th, 25th I left, 24th I did the one

of the building, inaugurated one of the building,

six building will be inaugurated in next couple

weeks time. And then we will take another seven

buildings. Anybody comes and tells me, hey, I

want to build a church building. I said, how

do I do it? I just write a check, $10 ,000. And

if you don't know the spelling of 10, I'll tell

you. I just recently, last week I was in Alaska

and a guy came and met me and he said, hello,

what can I do? I just wanted to talk to you about

building a church in India. I said, what do I

do? I said, you write a check. Then he called

me. I was in Mark's house. I got this call and

he said, well, um, I've already talked to live

Bible church and I'm sending in a cashier check

and uh, but tomorrow, probably Monday we'll have

a church building is coming. But you know, it's

amazing. We were excited to see that all these

buildings are being built everywhere and uh,

church are planted. One church is planted every

week. But our goal is more than that. Our goal

is to plant one church every day. Until we go

to 10 ,000. How many churches we had, Mark, when

you came for the first time? Eight churches.

We had eight churches when Mark came first time.

And now we have close to 600 churches. Some of

the churches I don't even know, when we gathered

together in October, they come to me and say,

Because we have a big apple tree and then every

church is there and they say oh, we've got three

churches You you don't have us on your tree.

Well, we said we had no idea you go to the office

You go to the office and give the names and we'll

put the apples. So we and now We have a problem

We have a problem. We had a small tree tree started

becoming big. We have a wall like You have 15

by 20 or 25 Every whole wall is covered So he's

saying oh now hundreds of more churches are how

to put more apples here. There's no place so

somebody Suggested instead of apple I have Grapes

now Have a cluster of grape So we're gonna have

on the grapes you have to write very small the

name of the church It'll be a great tree, but

you know It's very exciting time You know what's

increasing there? Well, you know what is increasing

the joy is increasing joy Folks let me tell you

it's very important to have the joy enemy Tries

to steal the joy and give you a lot of other

things Don't be satisfied with the building.

Don't be satisfied with the instrument. Don't

be satisfied with number. But joy is very important.

That's why the man of God said, Restore my joy.

Give me the joy. And we see everywhere young

people are on fire. People get ready in their

houses for Sunday morning service as if they

are going to some special party. They iron their

dresses Saturday night. They're coming to church.

I tell you, in India, there is a sport very popular,

and that's cricket. Very popular. It's like your

baseball or your basketball. It's more popular.

Only one game is very popular. And whole India

is glued when the Pakistan and India game takes

place. No officers do anything. Everything is

closed. They all watch the TV. And they all are

busy. You know, when we had Pakistan and India

game on one Sunday morning, the church No young

man will watch the game. They will all be in

the church, and they say, we'll watch the game

after the church. They love church more than

the game. This is amazing to see. I remember.

20 years ago when I went to somebody's house

and I said to a young man, hey, you should be

a pastor. The father said to me, get out of my

house. You want my son to be pastor? It was considered

a low class job. And they didn't want us to encourage

their children to become pastors. But today,

they all want their children to become pastors.

People come to me, they say, oh, I've got a daughter,

I want you to give me a suitable match for my

daughter, preferably a pastor from ABC. They

want pastors everywhere. And with the result,

hundreds of people all over want to pastor. We

had one Bible college, then we had two Bible

colleges, then three, then four, and now we have

seven different places where we train people

almost like... 200 people every year. And anybody

who wants to become the pastor in ABC has to

be graduated from one of these places. One of

them is International School of Worship, in which

Mark is International Director. And we have had

nine bachelors graduate from there. And now next

year 10th batch will graduate and it's amazing

to see how they come to learn about praise and

worship and how they go back in their situation,

train other people about praise and worship and

have good worship groups. They lead worship,

amazing thing. Next year we are having a gathering

of all the 10 batches and we have reunion. in

the month of March when everybody will gather

together and it will be a fun time next year

in March. If there's anybody who wants to go

in the International School of Worship, it's

60 days program. Get together with Mark and we'd

love to have you there. Come to India and learn

about praise and worship. Learn any instrument

you want to learn and it'll be great. Just a

couple days ago I met a young man and he came

to me. I was preaching in Longview and he said,

I want to come to the School of Worship. So I

said, okay, I'll send you the brochure and Mark

will take the interview and he'll be there. And

from many countries people have come and have

been blessed. Thank you very much for bringing

praise and worship to India. And now we are sending

it all over India and to other countries. Continue

to do this job is big, but God can do it. Continue

to do what you're doing. Your prayer and your

coming and your generous support is doing amazing

thing. This is the last year of our Convention

Center. It's going to be completed in October

and we will have a facility ready for 4000 people

to sleep outside. arena will be big enough to

accommodate 12 ,000 people. We will have an auditorium

for 1 ,000, for 500, for 200, for 150, and for

125 places. And it is amazing to see what God

is doing. It is completed. It is going to be

a big blessing. Not only we do our five conventions

there, we do our summer youth camp, we do a ladies

camp, we do a pastors conference, we do annual

convention, and we do our bishop. council meeting

but other people from other churches do use our

Convention Center and that money is to maintain

the Convention Center. It is self -supported

thing and amazing to see what it is doing. Thank

you very much for investing your money for it.

Continue to do it. God bless you. Let's turn

to the Word of God and Want you to turn with

me and some 149 some 149 and verse 4 and it reads

like this For the Lord takes pleasure in his

people for Lord takes pleasure in his people

God is not sick and tired of His people. He doesn't

say, hey, do I have to go there again? Is it

Sunday? Gabriel, go and see who's calling me.

I am tired. I don't want to meet them. But God

takes pleasure in His people. He's happy to meet

His people. This morning, it is God's joy to

be here and to listen to our prayer. He takes

pleasure. But that's not my message this morning.

My message is the second part. What is the second

part? He will beautify the humble. He will beautify.

God wants to beautify. Hey, the whole world believes

in beautification, you know. They made them all

and they want to beautify them all. They want

to put a tree and they want to put some more

shops and some more lights They had the ordinary

lights and now they are putting LED lights You

know some focuses because everyone believes in

beautifying it because some people are beautifying

the kitchen Some people are beautifying church

building the whole world isn't beautiful. God

also believes in beautifying You know not that

you come to the Lord and God did something and

this is it no a day day day by day God wants

to make you more beautiful. He's beautifying.

He beautifies. And how does He beautify? He says

He beautifies with what? With salvation. Wow!

My topic is salvation beautifies you. Deliverance

beautifies you when you come to God you become

beautiful and then he calls you closer and closer

and he does a little bit every day and makes

you more beautiful because you got delivered

one day you're continuously getting delivered

and one day you will be totally delivered so

his work is going on there is remodeling and

making you better and better and better and better

and better but there there is thing that he needs.

He says, God will beautify you with his salvation,

but there is one more thing in the midst of these

things. Now listen to this, what is that thing?

He will beautify the humble. Humble. Wow. What

he needs, you know, for beautification, we need

different things. We need, we need different

items to beautify. But God says, I need... I

don't want to beautify you, but I need your humbleness.

What you need to do, many times you and I can

go to God, God, you want to beautify me. What

do you need? God says, I need humbleness. I need

meekness. I need meekness to beautify you. That's

a must ingredient, you know. I'm a kitchen man,

so I use the kitchen examples. If you want to

do beef stew, you can do beef stew without carrots,

can't you? You can do beef stew without onion.

You can do beef stew without garlic. You can

do beef stew without carrots. But you cannot

do beef stew without beef. And don't you ever

try to do beef stew without beef? That's what

God says. I can do it. I can do without so many

things. He can do without English. He can do

without a building. He can do without your intelligence.

He can do without a car. But He cannot beautify

you without meekness. Humbleness is the most

ingredient in order for God to beautify us. He

will beautify the meek. Let me ask you to read

the scripture and this is Psalm 10, 17. Psalm

10, 17. The first scripture, Psalm 10, 17. Listen

to this. Lord, you have heard the desires of

the humble. This is what problem is. Many times

we say, oh, I don't know why God is not hearing

me. I don't know why God is not here. You see

how stubborn you are. You see how arrogant you

are. You see how proud you are. And God says,

I will not listen to anybody until they are humble.

You want your prayer to reach heaven? You want

the answer to come from there? You need to become

humble. And you know, it's in your hand to become

humble. You don't have to have a million dollars

to be humble. You don't have to go to Rome to

become humble. And you don't have to be six foot

five inches to be humble. You could be five foot

two inches to be humble. You could weigh 40 pounds

to be humble. Okay, listen to this. God says,

I will hear humble. You want God to hear your

prayer? You need to be humble. What else He says?

Okay. You will prepare their heart. He will prepare

their heart. God says, I'll prepare you. I'll

prepare you. I'll prompt you. I'll lead you.

I'll guide you. I'll govern you. I'll tell you

where to go. I'll tell you how to do it. I'll

tell you how to become beautiful. I'll prepare

your heart. I'll prepare your heart. I'll make

you something. God is about to make you very

beautiful. He wants to make you very beautiful,

but He wants our humbleness, our meekness. The

word that is used in other translations for God

to beautify, there's another word. If you read

Psalm 149 verse 4, other translation. Anybody's

Psalms 149:4

got another translation? There are many translations.

One translation reads like this. Somebody else

has another translation. Psalm 149 verse 4. What?

Psalms 149:4

Yeah. Beautify. Anybody has another word? What?

Read it man. You are the one. He crowns the humble.

He turns you into a king. He takes a beggar and

he puts a crown on beggar's head. He makes you

king. The people next to you, left and right,

they look at you, there's a king, the bar before

you. Why? Because you're humble. You want God

to make you a king? He, you want to have the

authority of a king? Just become humble. He crowns.

Another translation I read and it says he adorns.

And adorns, this word adorn is used only for

bride. Bride is adorned. He makes you so beautiful

that you can become his bride. He's the groom.

He first makes you worthy to become his bride

and then he marries you. You don't have to do

anything, you know. You don't have to become

anything in order to be married to Jesus Christ.

Many people say, well, I'm not that good. You

don't have to be that good. You just stay where

you are, and God is going to equip you. He's

going to train you. He's going to direct you.

He's going to make you, and He's going to be

able to find you. He's going to adorn you. He's

going to put a crown. You know, right? They have

a crown. At the time of the wedding, He gives

you a crown. He says, I marry you. But what do

I do? You only become humble. Humble. You let

me do it. A lot of times, don't touch me here.

Don't do this. No, I don't want that. Don't tell

me this. I just came to church because I like

the music. But don't tell me that. You only like

music. You can never become anything. I cannot

beautify you because you have to become very

humble. When somebody tries to make you, when

the Spirit of God is leading, when the worship

team is leading, when the pastor is preaching,

you allow the Holy Spirit to make you. And if

you don't allow the Holy Spirit to make you anything,

you can't become anything. You'll stay 15, 20,

30 years all your life as you are and you'll

blame God. I came to the church. I gave all my

tithes and offering. I've been in the church.

When the church building was done, I did this

and I get so much money. My name is not even

in the flyer. Because he can't do anything. He

wants to do it. He wants to beautify you. He

wants to put your crown on your head. He wants

to make you king. He wants to take you from beggar's

place. And he wants to put you as a king. But

that is something that is needed. Read Psalm

Psalms 25:9

25 verse 9. Psalm 25. Verse 9 25 comes after

24 See I made it easy Psalm 25 verse 9 listen

Psalms 25:9

to this one The humble he guides in justice what?

Humble he guides in justice Folks he'll make

you a judge you will be able to differentiate

between right and Wrong. Many times we say, well,

I didn't know that thing, you know. I made a

wrong decision. I took a wrong choice. It's not

because you didn't know. It's because you didn't

become humble and you didn't surrender yourself

to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You

didn't say, God, you promised that you'll beatify

me. Now here am I. Here's my money. Here's my

family, my children. You teach me how to judge.

between right and wrong. He guides people humble

in judgment. He will not guide you. He will not

make you the right judge until you're humble.

If you say, God, I joined this church. You know,

I make so much money. I've got this. That's why

I come to you. Never say to God, hey, God, you

can use me. I'm there. You probably don't have

anybody like me. No, don't do. Go. Go to God

and say, God, I want your judgment. I want your

direction. I want your beautification. I want

your crown on my head. I want you to tell me

what to do and what not to do. I am poor. I am

needy. I don't know how to do it. I become humble.

Many people would do anything, argue for 150

hours and never say, OK, sorry. Husband and wife

will fight together. And that's the reason why

the house is not becoming beautiful. The family

is not becoming beautiful. Both of them have

a job and make $55 an hour. Where is money going?

Houses in bad shape. Why? Because none of them

is humble. Because she says, it's me. And he

says, it's me. I did it. It's because of me.

I built this house. I bought this car. This is

my car. Somebody needs to say, I'm sorry, my

mistake. I will not do it. Honey, forgive me.

You want to beautify your family, your house,

your children, your future? You want God to do

it? You want God to stretch out His hand and

do it? He wants you to say, Have thine own way,

Lord, have thine own way. Don't say, what are

you doing? Tell me, show me what you're going

to make. He says, the good thing is this. You

never know about the potters because you don't

have potters here. But in India, you go to any

village, there's potters. And the good thing

is potters and builders, two different people.

Builder has a plan. And builder builds the car,

and you ask him, you are the owner of the house,

you can ask builder, hey, what is this wall?

He say, this is a bathroom wall, and this is

a lounge wall. He can tell you. But you go to

the parlor, parlor will say, what are you doing?

What is it? I've got it here. I've got it here.

I can't tell you. You will see it pretty soon

after I've done it. Potter cannot tell you what,

but Potter has a plan and our God is a potter

and he's got a plan in his mind and simply say,

have thine own way Lord, have thine own way.

I know you know what you're making, I'm just

a dust, I'm just a dirt, I'm just a mud, I'm

just clay and you turn and twist your finger

to make me, I know what you're gonna make me,

make of me, it's good. It's good. Psalm 76 verse

Psalms 76:9

9. Psalm 76 verse 9 listen to this one Psalm

Psalms 76:9

76 and verse 9 and it reads like this Psalm 76

Psalms 76:9

verse 9 when God arose to judgment to deliver

all oppressed of the earth when God arose for

judgment to deliver the word that written my

language is to deliver all meek or humble who

say, Oh, I'm nothing. I don't have anything.

God doesn't want us to say, Hey, God, you want

to fight for me? Okay, fight. I'm a great man.

God wants us to say we were in the prayer room

yesterday and God was speaking to different people.

And Kelly was leading the prayer, and he asked

everyone, do you have anything, do you have anything,

do you have anything? When he came to me, and

he asked me, do you have anything? I said, I

was scared when you got up to preach, when you

got up to share. You got scared? I said, yeah,

you started preaching my message. And I said,

God, if he preaches everything here, what am

I going to preach there? Exactly who is... So,

you know, he quoted a verse, and I can quote

it now because he's not here. Is he here? No.

Good. And that was the 21st verse of Judah. 21st

verse of Judah. Judah only has one chapter. So

Judah, 21st verse. Anybody has Judah in your

Bible? Before Revelation. Before Revelation is

Judah, or Jude. Book of Jude, we call Judah.

Book of Jude, 21st verse. Listen to this one.

This is very good. Book of Jude, 21st verse.

You get it. We don't have any other meeting after

that. You simply have to go home and have lunch.

Book of Jude, 21st verse. Here it is. Keep yourselves

in the love of God. Keep yourself in the love

of God. This is probably a bit easy. Okay, what

else? Looking for mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Looking for what? I mean this is written by people

who know the Lord. Looking for mercy. Now there

are two things. When you're looking for mercy,

that means you're telling it I am not worthy

mercy is Expecting somebody to do something for

you, which you are not worthy for Looking for

mercy for what looking for mercy And to eternal

life of our Lord Jesus Christ you are looking

for mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for the eternal

life the eternal life. Oh, I get the eternal

life because I left my old life, you know, I

gave my whole house, two million dollar I gave

and you know, I'm the elder of the church, so

I'm going to get the eternal life. Because I've

done. No, you looking for eternal life, you say,

God, please give me eternal life. Please give

me eternal life. It's a mercy. You don't get

eternal life because you earned it. You get the

eternal life because of the mercy of God. Or

on the last day before you die, you could have

stumbled and finished. and gone. But when you

ask God, don't say God because I did this, because

I did that. I deserve eternal life. Nobody deserves

eternal life. We're only looking for the mercy

of God. Mercy of God. Mercy of God. Every day,

when you go before God, God, you design me, you

enthrone me, you put a crown on my head, you

adorn me, you build me up, Lord, you beautify

me, you do the things you promise. I cannot do

it. And only thing you need to do is just become

humble, you know, trembling before God after

you have done miracles, after you have done preaching,

after you can sing best song, after you're the

best player. musician of the world you come trembling

before God because he needs only one thing only

one condition and that is what meekness humbleness

because of stubbornness we are not able to do

anything a king in the Old Testament becomes

Stubborn he he heard the word of God. He knew

he's doing the wrong. He's chasing a man of God

He wants to kill him, but he was so stubborn

in the battlefield He asked his arm a bear to

kill him, but he said no I'm not going to do

it So he fell on his own sword instead of saying

God, please forgive me Why all these things happening

to me because I send against you for would you

please one day you anointed me with the oil you

made me king but I'm sorry I went astray." He

wouldn't say sorry to God. One day he was facing

the man of God and he said, I did everything

what God wanted me to do. And Samuel said, no,

how can I hear this noise if you have done the

will of God? He could have fallen before God

and said, sorry God, I didn't do you. But you

know, many opportunities God gives us to accept

that we are wrong. and allow him to start working

on him. He designs and makes you into a beautiful

poet. I want you to read about this man. 1 Timothy

1 .15. 1 Timothy 1 .15. 1 Timothy 1 .15. And

listen to this. Paul is writing something. A

man like Paul would say that. I don't understand

how... How can a man like Paul will say, 1st

Timothy 1 .15, listen to this one. This is a

faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.

Worthy of all acceptance. This is a faithful

saying. There is nothing wrong in it. What is

that? That Jesus Christ came into the world to

save sinners. Yes. Whom I am the chief. What?

A lot of people want to be called chief. But

they want to be called chief musician, chief

preacher, chief counselor, chief pastor, chief

businessman. But this guy is calling himself.

He didn't say, I was the chief. He said, I am

the chief and the biggest sinner. and that's

the reason why God was able to design his life

and he wrote 13 books and probably 14 and the

guy established churches and he did things and

even today everywhere in the world people are

reading his books you know his letters are being

blessed why because the guy was able to recognize

even though he's a scholar even though he's the

friend of the governor he used to sit with the

king even though he's He's a very qualified man,

but he's the chief sinner. There will be no fight.

When a wife said, no, sir, my husband, it's my

fault. And husband said, no, it's my fault. No

fight. No fight. I made more mistakes. Oh no,

I made more mistakes. The house will be like

heaven. It will be a beautiful house. The children

will be beautiful. everything will look like

heaven you know try to decorate your house with

flowers and be stubborn like this nobody's talking

to anybody why did you say that to my mother

why did you say to my mother oh I hate my father

-in -law I hate my mother -in -law Instead of

all those things you could say, I'm sorry, my

mistake. I should not have said this thing. I

would not have done this and things will change.

Job 22nd chapter, book of Job 22nd chapter, verse

29 and 30. Book of Job 22nd chapter, verse 29

and 30. Listen to this one. Then they cast you

down. You say exaltation will come. When somebody

cast you down? then you say exaltation is coming

somebody kicks you somebody is going to respect

me next when you cast you down you say what do

you say when somebody casts you down see they

cast me down see they are mocking at me see they

are ridiculing me see they didn't invite me all

over the world people are just talking about

how they are casted how they were neglected,

how people ignored them, how many people didn't

call them, I'm not invited in the party. Instead

of saying that, you say no, but they will invite

me in a party, they will call me, they will forget

me, but next day they will do it. When they cast

you, you say exaltation is coming. Okay, what

else? Then he will save the humble person. Then.

After your response is like this, what is your

response? When your response is positive, then

he will, he will, what? He will save the humble

person. Okay. You won't got to work? your situation.

Don't talk about the negative. Don't talk about

what people did. Don't talk about people who

tried to cast you down. You only talk about the

exhortation. You talk about good people. You

talk about good parties. You talk about people

who recognize you. When you do this, and God

knows you're humble, you're not talking against

anybody, you're not backbiting, you're not worried

about those things, then God starts raising you

up, lifting you up, and he blesses you, and then

what happens? Next verse, listen to this one.

This is a great verse. You can record this verse

and listen to it every day. Listen. He will even

deliver the one who is not innocent. What? You

are not innocent. You did it. You are at fault.

You are mistake. But He said, who cares? I will

still deliver that person. A humble man with

mistake is blessed by God and proud man without

mistake is not blessed by God. I never made a

mistake. Okay, you never made a mistake. You

are a mistake yourself. I wanted to go to six

examples, but that will be like an evening meeting.

And you don't have a meeting in the evening,

so I have to finish in the afternoon. But I'll

definitely take some examples. The number one

example is Luke's Gospel 15 chapter. I'll start

reading from the verse 22. Luke's Gospel 15 chapter.

But the father said to his servant, bring out

the best robe and put it on him. What? What are

you saying father? Master? Best robe? This guy

was kicked! He was not even allowed to eat the

food that pigs were eating. And look at his clothes.

He's wasted your money and you want the best

clothes? Because he said, Father, I've sinned

against God and I've sinned against you. Because

he said, I'm not worthy to be called your son.

Because he said, put me to work. A lot of people

would not like to work. They would select what

they will do He said give me any work keep me

as a servant and servant in Eastern culture servant

is no job description you only Settle the money

you servant and you know job description. Whatever

you ask. He has to do it his servant No job description,

but the guy was a ready to do anything. He humbled

himself so much He said I have sinned against

God and you and father said I want you to get

the best robe listen to this He didn't ask a

servant read it again. Who did he ask he asked?

But the father said to his servant bring out

into servants servants plural That means it's

not only one coat It is a coat and a show and

a trouser and Undergarment and all things more

than one servant goes to get this and they're

talking about theirself I don't understand this

guy wasted everything and you know this guy should

be kicked out because he lost everything and

I don't understand why we are supposed to take

the best of the cloud and why and then somebody

said hey, no this guy came repented and he said

sorry so father said go and bring the best robe

listen to this one very carefully when you read

bible read every comma and full stop don't miss

anything because there are meanings in comma

and full stop also okay listen to this he said

to servants go and bring the best robe and put

it on him and put it on him don't just give him

this is only Royal treatment in the Eastern culture,

the kings never wore their own clothes. The king

will do like this, and somebody put one sleeve.

Then they will do like this, and somebody else

will put another sleeve. There are two people

to put the coat on him. Wow, I can't understand.

This guy has lost everything. He was living with

the pigs. Dirty man. He wasted all his money.

He was not even allowed to eat the food the pigs

were eating and here he's got this treatment.

Why? Because he humbled himself and he said I've

sinned against God. Okay. You ready for the next

one? Listen to this one. And put a ring on his

hand. Put a ring on his? Just don't, just don't

give him a ring. Who put the ring on your hand?

There's a time which is called a very, very important

time. And a guy comes and says, I give you this

ring. And that ring is in your finger. God wants

to put a ring on your finger, marry you. He's

not even asking what you have been in past, but

he's saying with this ring. I marry you, and

I give you the authority. You can take my wallet

and spend the money. You can take my plastic

card and charge it. You can do things. Giving

you authority. In India, I don't know if you

say it in America or not. In India, when we marry,

we say, and I make you partner in all my wealth.

All my wealth with this ring I marry you and

I make you equal partner in all my wealth I have

What I have I give to you Somebody giving you

who lost everything before who's been a bad man

Because you just said I've sinned against God

and you Moreover in the Eastern culture in early

days the ring used to have a seal and you write

a document and you seal the document with that

ring and son does not have that he cannot sign

any document and father said I give you that

ring again so that you can write anything you

want and sign the document but why are you giving

him again servants cannot he said did you not

hear he said I sinned against God and you I'm

not worthy God wants to hear this from you your

unworthiness Don't brag about what you have done,

but just say, I'm nothing, I'm nothing, I'm nothing.

I've preached the gospel 47 years, but today

before preaching the third message, I said it

again two dozen times, I'm nothing, I'm nothing,

I'm nothing. This is my pledge with God. I will

not preach a message until I've said I'm nothing,

because there is a chance after preaching 47

years, after preaching to a big congregation,

after having 600 churches. You could be puffed

up and you could think that it's me I'm preaching.

But it's not me anyway. It is the Spirit of God.

It's God. When I started preaching, you got a

very big witness. You can ask this man. When

I came to his church for the first time, I couldn't

even speak English. They couldn't understand

me 35 years ago because I'd never been to school

for a language, so I didn't know English. And

people used to say, well, it sounded something

good. We couldn't understand. We couldn't understand,

you know, a guy who was the poorest in the city

of Lucknow. I was poorer than a beggar. I lived

with my whole family on the street. A week before

I was leaving from India, I got an invitation

from a guy who is the top preacher and the biggest

ministry in India. He's a friend of Benny Hinn

and he said, I have bought a one big floor in

Jerusalem for prayer center. And that's going

to be the world prayer center. I have invited

Benny Hinn to come and do the opening and 150

people from the world are coming and you are

one of them. I pay for your coming and going

fare, your hotel and your food on the 3rd and

4th of November. I will be there. And there is

a luncheon. A guy who was so poor, couldn't speak

a word of English. You know, it's not because

of my father was a rich man. It's not because

I am very intelligent and I did it. It's not

because of my labor or because I worked hard.

It's because, because... When you give yourself

in the hand of God, and you humbly say, God,

do it, He designs you. He makes you, molds you.

He can change everything. He can turn you and

make you a king. He can put a crown on your head.

Father said, give him the ring. What next? Listen

to this one. This is very good. And sandals on

his feet. Put on sandals. Anybody putting the

sandal, number one thing he has to do, he has

to bow. You are very much unhappy. Nobody ever

bowed before you. You have to bow before everyone.

But I want to tell you, you will have servants,

you will have coats, you have the best of the

robe, you will have the authority, you will have

the ring. God will own you. He will marry you.

And people were bowing before you. They're not

bowing because you are a great man. It's because

you repented. Put on the shoe. That's not all.

Listen to this one. And bring the fatted calf.

Do you know this story pretty well? You all know

the story? Do you also know what the other guy

was saying? The older brother? What was the complaint?

The complaint was, you never gave me a goat.

That was the complaint. You never gave me a goat.

I don't know what group you belong to. Are you

complaining that you never gave me a goat? I

never got a hammer. I wanted a hammer. God never

gave me a hammer. You never gave me a goat. This

guy was complaining. You never gave me a goat.

That was a complaint. And if you have this complaint

that God never gave you respect, God never gave

you honor, you were never on the pulpit preaching,

or you never sang a song, or you never made an

elder, or you never did this thing, you know,

you have a complaint. This guy had a complaint.

You never gave me a goat. That guy had a complaint.

You never gave me a goat. But this guy did not

only get a goat, but he got calf. Bigger than

goat! especially even today, especially in India,

they raise such calf not to sell. That's for

a party at home. That's for a party, very, very

unique gift. Fairer calf that's raised at home.

But God gave us His only begotten Son. He was

slain for you and for me. What bigger thing you

will need from God. Because somebody repented.

Somebody said, I'm sorry, I'm wrong. I should

not have done it against God. I did against you.

I left your house. I'm totally wrong. No argument.

Daddy, no argument. Sister, brother, uncle, aunt,

no argument. An argument is bad. It'll lead you

nowhere. You will argue for ages and you will

never reach anywhere. The best thing is if you

want God to do a work and put a crown on your

head and design you, make you, and adorn you.

Beautify you. Simply say, yes, I did it. I should

not have done it. I'm sorry. Your humbleness,

your meekness will make you something. You read

the last part of 24th verse, last part of 24th

verse, the last sentence of 24th verse. This

is the last last sentence. If you want to have

the sentence in your house, you got to do that.

Listen to this. He was lost and is found. Last

sentence. And they began to be married. And they

began to... If you're like this, where are you

going to search? Whose car is this? Mine. When

did you buy it? Yesterday. Oh, that's very good.

How are you? Good, thank you. People ask you

to lift up your hand. You can't. Dance? You can't

dance. You want to dance. You want to have a

party. God wants you to have a party. Every Christian

family used to have a party. It's a very important

thing. Come to India if you don't know how to

have a party. I'll show you. Party. Party. You

don't need a lot of food for a party. You don't

need a lot of money for a party. There are people

in the church, there are people who have no dinner

because they had no money. Nobody worked today.

No dinner. But in the church, they're partying.

You ask them, what are you partying? Do you have

a lot of money? No, no food. I know. Ten months,

food was not cooked in my house. And I used to

go to the house, I knew knowing no food, I would

sleep. But I was partying in the church. Partying.

Partying does not mean money. When your God makes

you so happy, He puts a crown on your head, and

He changes your life. And He says, I will beautify

the meek. And they will party. I'm talking to

you about party. God will enable you to do party,

party that you will never think that you will

do. You'll do it. Hallelujah. You know, good

thing I am a Christian for last 47 years, but

the good thing I've enjoyed every part of it.

Every part of it. When I meet you people, I enjoy

it. I love it. Hallelujah. Great, because Christian

life is a party. But this party only starts after

you say, I've sinned against God and against

you. I'm not worthy. I don't have any talent.

When you say I'm not worthy, God gives you so

much of worthiness. You'll be shocked. How much

worthiness? I designed my building. I've designed

100 buildings. I have never been trained as an

engineer. And people come to me and say, how

did you design this? Who taught you this? I said,

I don't know. I said, sorry, God, forgive me.

And he forgave me. I became a Christian, and

God, here I am, doing it. I cook for 8 ,000 people.

I've got my own recipe. I did it. But what did

it? It's the salvation. You know, salvation,

accepting that you are nothing is a great experience.

Oh, I wish I could talk about all these things.

But you will kick me out if I do that. I don't

want to be... Go through that. I tell you. I

tell you. You guys are wonderful. And God is

designing you and making you into a beautiful

part. And He's putting the crown on your head.

You don't have to have all those things that

people talk about as you are. Simply say, I am

nothing, God. I cannot do it. But just one more

example I will give you, and that is Revelation

3 .20. Revelation 3 .20. It's a very popular

example. Even if you don't read, you will know

what it is, but let's read it. It won't be harmful

if you read once more. You may have done 99 times,

let it be 100 times now. Behold, I stand at the

door and knock. Yes. If anyone hears my voice

and opens the door... You know when you're talking

to somebody, you know if he's opening the door

or not. Don't you? People say, but you know,

but you know, but you know, but you know, but

you know, but you know, but you know, but you

know, but you know, but you know, but you know,

but you know, but you know, but you know, but

you know, but you know, but you know, but you

know, but you know, but you know, but you know,

but you know, but you know, but you know, but

you know, but you know, but you know, but you

know, but you know, but you know, but you know,

but you know, but you know, but you know, but

you know, but you know, but you know, but you

know, but you know, but you know, but you know,

but you know, but you know, but you know, but

you know, but you know, but you know, but you

know, but you know, but you know, but you know,

but you know, but you know, but you know, but

What is the difference between opening the door

or not opening the door? You know Peter was in

the prison. You know that? Peter was in the prison

and the angels delivered him from the prison.

So he thought, where should I go? I said, the

only place that I should go is church. And he

knew the church will be praying. So if I go to

the church, church will be very happy and maybe

we'll have great time and thank the Lord. So

Peter came to church. Peter came to church and

the 12th chapter of Acts, Peter comes to church.

Now Peter came to church and listen to this word

happening. Peter came to church, 12th chapter

of Acts, 14th verse. 12th chapter of Acts and

14th verse. Peter comes to church because he

knew church will be praying. Church is the only

place that is not sleeping at this time. They're

praying. 14th verse. Yeah. When she recognized

Peter's voice. Immediately she recognized Peter's

voice. Church recognizes Peter's voice. Okay.

She recognized Peter's voice. What happened?

Because of her gladness, she did not open the

door. Because of the gladness, she didn't open

the door. That's what happens sometimes. We are

so glad we kicked Jesus out. We're so glad about

the Christmas and about the Christmas tree, about

the Christmas father. We have Christmas father,

and Christmas tree, and Christmas present, but

there is no Jesus. She was so glad, and she did

not open the door to listen to this. Okay. But

ran in and announced that Peter... Even if you

can, you can even be a preacher. But don't open

the door. You don't have to open the door to

be a preacher. Go and tell everybody Peter has

come. Peter has come. Peter has come. Peter has

come. Peter has come. Did you open the door?

No, I didn't open the door. Peter has come. Peter

has come. Jesus is the Savior. Have you accepted

Jesus? No. Jesus is the Savior. A lot of people

are preaching to others, announcing, but they

have not accepted Jesus. They have not opened

the door. Wow. You know, it's a culture. It's

a job. She went inside and she started announcing

and didn't open the door, listened to this after

that. Announced that Peter stood. No, no, no.

No. Did not open the gate, but ran and announced

as Peter stood at the gate. And what Peter doing?

Peter is knocking. She's announcing, I'm telling

you, Peter's got and she Peter standing. OK,

what else? But they said to her, are you beside

yourself? Are you are you crazy? That's why people

are calling you crazy. What mistake she did?

She should have opened the door and Peter come

in, then people have not called you crazy. That's

why they are called crazy. Yeah, the world will

call you crazy because Peter is outside. You

crazy? If anybody's calling you crazy, if you're

having a very bad time, you know I'm in the ministry

but I hate it, it's because you didn't open the

door. If you repent and say, God, I'm nothing,

I'm nothing, I'm nothing, God, you are everything,

you are designing me, then you will never have

a fight and you will not feel the whole world

is calling you crazy. This is what sometimes

we face. We think everybody calls us crazy. Listen

to this after that. Sometimes I'll preach a message

on this thing. I've done message after message

on television on this. Listen to this. Yet she

kept insisting that it was so. She kept insisting,

Jesus is the savior. I'm telling you, I can give

example, 19 books, Quran says this thing, Gita

says this thing, Old Testament says this thing,

but not open the door. Okay, listen to this one.

So they said, is it an angel? All these arguments,

simple thing is open the door. Now say it see

this thing I'm coming up to the punch line. Okay

now Peter continued knocking Peter Peter continued

knocking what's happening is Peter continued

knocking Don't forget this there's somebody Continuously

knocking that Sunday what happened? He was knocking

Radio he was knocking television even knocking

when you fell down broke your leg. He was knocking

You had a problem? It was knocking. There this

thing happened? All knocking. There are different

ways of knocking. You can knock with my ring.

You can knock with the pen. You can knock with

the kick. There are different ways, but they're

all saying somebody wants you to open the door.

Somebody wants you to say, sorry, forgive me

my mistake. I should not have done it. Peter

continued knocking, but listen to this one. This

is amazing church. Sorry, forgive me if I'm wrong.

But this happened. Listen to this. And when they

opened the door and saw him... No, no, no, no.

Peter continued knocking. No, some other translation.

There is one mistake in English and direct. And

then they opened the window. Original, they open

the window. Otherwise Peter would have come in.

They open the window and that's what happened.

Many times you don't open the door. My Bible

said they open the window. So that's why Peter

went to another place. It's okay. You don't open

the door. Jesus will never come through the window.

He cannot. You have to open the door. And there

is a difference between opening the window and

opening the door. Opening the window is, oh good,

message, good, wonderful. That's how I like it.

But opening the door is, I'm sorry God, forgive

me. me. I have done wrong. I am sorry. He will

beautify the meek with salvation. He's about

to beautify you and your family, but he only

requires one ingredient. He wants to make you

beautiful and that's humbleness, eekness. Open

the door and then what will happen? He said,

you open the door, then I will come in. I will

come in. He didn't say I will send Gabriel I

will come in and I will sit with you and you'll

sit with me I will eat with you and you will

eat because what is this? This is designing your

life Who's sitting with you King of King and

the Lord of Law sitting with me at the table?

And you will have no problem. This is what God

is designing for you and for me shall we pray?

Shall we pray? Does anybody will say brother

Tony pray for me. I want him to design my life

I'm sorry I have never opened the door. I've

opened the window all the time. I'm going to

pray for you. Just lift up your hand. If you

want me to pray. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. I will not fight.

I will not argue. Father, I thank you for our

time. I thank you for your word. Father, I ask

you to stretch forth your hand and shake us,

Lord. Bring us to a place where we'll say, I'm

sorry. I have sinned against God and heaven and

you. I'm not worthy. You design us, Lord, after

our repentance. Make us meek and humble, Lord.

Crown us with your crown from heaven. For we

look at you and ask Everything in your name.

Amen and amen. Thank you very much God's people.

God bless you Amen, let's give pastor Tony a

hand If you are interested in hearing other podcasts

or contacting Life Bible Church, go to www .lifebiblechurch

.org or call us at 541 -995 -8282.