Sunday Message - Pastor Tony Augustus (July 27, 2008) | Life Bible Church

Great. I don't know if you guys have ever remembered

Pastor Tony coming and speaking. Was anybody

here the last time he came? Oh, they're excited

already. So I want you to do me a favor, OK?

I want you to give a huge and welcoming Life

Bible welcome, OK, so that he can come and be

blessed all the way from India. Let's give it

up for Pastor Tony as he comes this morning.

Hallelujah. Thank you very much. Thank you very

much. Thank you very much. Certainly appreciate

the Lord for this wonderful morning. I just thank

the Lord for what he's doing in the land of India.

Amazing things are happening and I want to appreciate

you for your prayers and for your generous giving

and for sending people different times to the

land of India. It is a harvest, real harvest

time in India and things that are happening now

have never happened before and we've never seen

doors open like they are open now and we appreciate

the Lord for what He is doing. As some of you

know that God allowed us to speak on television

and we were doing nationwide television and a

very popular program. We were speaking on a channel

called Sahara One and this was broadcasted in

50 nations and almost 500 million people were

viewing this program or listening to this program

and great things were happening. So much so that

when last time we did a convention and went to

a city three years ago and we had 600 people

in that convention and this time when we did

the convention the same place we were amazed

there were 2900 people in the meeting. and I

said why how come there are 2900 people then

we were told that when they heard that glory

to God people are here because our television

program is called glory to God there were so

many people and hundreds of people got saved

and I wanted to go to a city for a long time

and we didn't have any church we planted church

all over India but this is the capital of one

of the state called Bihar and the name of the

city is Patna. We were coming from this place

Rachi and going to this place called Allahabad

and we had to go through Patna. So I talked to

my coordinator and they said, well we are going

from Rachi to Allahabad and we go through Patna,

why don't we stop here for one day because we

have one day gap. in between, why don't we stop

here and do a one -day meeting? He said, but

we don't have any time for publicity. I said,

well, I don't care if there are 50 people, but

because we are going from there, let's take a

haul and do it. So he found a haul. He wanted

to find a small haul, but the smallest one that

he could find was 550 accommodation. So he took

that haul, and we didn't know what to expect.

We finished our convention here and we're going

to Labat. When we came to this place, Patna,

we arrived there in the night and we slept that

night. Next day we went to the hall and we set

up the hall and went back to get dressed up.

When we came back, the hall was packed. And the

more people started coming and the people were

standing in the hall. And I asked the people,

well, Why is this hall packed? Because we had

only just few days notice and everybody told

us that we watch your program on television and

when we heard that you're coming we were happy.

We finished that meeting and people asked us

to start a church there. So we took two young

men from that city and we're already training

them and pretty soon we will have a church in

this place. we were going from this place and

going to Allahabad and then we had to go through

a place called Hazaribagh and somebody called

from Hazaribagh said we have come to know that

your team is passing and could you stop at Hazaribagh

and have your lunch and we said well it would

be very good because we have to have lunch somewhere

and so they said okay we'll stop and have lunch

there So we got late because we were going through

the mountains and there was a traffic jam and

we got five hours late. So when we got there,

instead of two o 'clock, it was seven o 'clock.

So we thought probably there will be nobody there.

We got there and there were so many people lined

up there with flags and with garlands and the

food tables were laid there. and we went there

we had a small meeting and they wanted me to

say a few words and we did our team did one or

two songs and then we had our lunch seven o 'clock

lunch and it was very good there was a man who

was serving us all the time and he was introduced

to us that he is the chief police officer of

a police station that's about one hour from there

and he told me that I'm a regular viewer, I'm

a Hindu, idol worshiper, but I said I'm a regular

viewer of your program and I wanted to meet you

guys. So he was very happy and we prayed for

him. He goes back to his police station next

morning and he found out that the terrorist had

bombarded his police station and killed everyone

that was in police station and because he had

come to us He was saved. So he called my pastor.

He said, well, this is what happened because

I came to meet Brother Tony. I was saved. Otherwise

I would have been killed. And my pastor said,

well, I will give this testimony in the church.

He said, no, I'm coming personally. And he went

to every church and he gave this testimony because

of Jesus Christ. I'm alive. And he accepted the

Lord as personal savior and took water baptism.

And now that police officer is a Christian man.

One more thing that happened that I was I came

to my house one day I've been to preach in one

of the meeting and I came to my house and as

I arrived there I saw a family there at my house

and Family of four people and this girl was about

20 years and she's sharing her testimony. She

said well I'm come from Delhi traveled ten hours

in a train Indian train 10 hours in Indian train

and I've come here to just tell you what the

Lord has done in my life and I said well you

had no appointment suppose I was gone from here

they said well today was the only day when the

ticket was available it was a Hindu festival

and in two hours time we have another train to

go back to Delhi 10 hours so she shares her testimony

and she tells me that she had a terrible disease

that her flesh was totally rotten and was falling.

The pus had formed in her whole body and she

smelled very bad. She couldn't wear any clothes

also. Her brother was flipping the channels on

television and here my program comes and she

was watching and I started saying, Jesus can

heal you. You don't have to die. And I was pointing

my finger toward her. And she said, well, how

does he know that Jesus can heal me and I need

that healing? And then when I prayed, she prayed

with me. And then we have a number on screen.

We have a 24 hours prayer center. And she called

the prayer center and the prayer warriors prayed

for her. She tells that after an hour, I started

feeling that something is drying in my body.

And then in 24 hours everything dried up and

she was totally healed. She kicked. She shows

me the body. There's no sign of any sickness

or any boils in the body. She was totally healed.

So she asked that, is there any church in Delhi?

I said, yeah, we have 50 churches in Delhi. So

I gave the phone number of the closest church,

phone number of the pastor, and they boarded

the train. And right from the train cell, they

called the pastor and said, hey, we are coming

and we want to be in your church. And I had given

them a number to pastor. So these people went

to the church accepted the Lord Jesus Christ

whole family and just couple weeks from today

when I was still in America I got a phone call

from India that this family is coming to Lucknow

They have taken okay from their pastor and they've

coming to Lucknow to take water baptism whole

family have been baptized So things like that

are happening and in one calendar year 10 ,000

people accepted the Lord through their prayer

center those who have called and said that we

are accepting Jesus Christ and pray for us and

they did pray to sinners prayer and apart from

that there are thousands and thousands of people

there just viewing this program watching this

program and getting saved Amazing result is coming.

We were doing all these things and we were so

excited and one day we Got a phone call from

a Muslim guy and she said he said your television

Program is going to be stopped from the next

week Some Hindu has bought that program and there's

going to be idol worshipping instead of your

program At that slot and I just said well all

things were for good so I didn't know what to

expect. Next day I get a phone call from that

Muslim guy again and he said, I am giving you

this call to tell you that I am trying to get

you, or glory to God, on the biggest channel

of Asia and that's ZTV. Oh, I said, no, you can't

get me ZTV. That's very, very popular. And next

day he got back to me and he said, yes, you got

a slot and you will be preaching on ZTV. So now

we are preaching on ZTV and we are reaching 65

nations and 600 million people. Tremendous result.

And all over India, everywhere people are writing

from and they're saying come to this village

and start a church, come to this town and start

a church, come to the city and start a church.

We have at least 100 places on waiting where

we can just go and start a church. So at one

time we used to think, how can we get the whole

India? You know, we have got only one church

in 10 years, 1973 when we planted the first church

from that. time to 83 we only planted one church

and then 83 to 93 another six churches how will

we get this whole India 1 .2 billion people 1200

million people how will we get there and now

we know how would we get there by this television

and in 19 from 1993 in 2003 we did 146 churches

and then we started doing then we started doing

a church every fortnight and now we're doing

church every week. A church planting every week.

And we are praying to plant a church every day.

ABC planting church every day. People are very

excited. Great things are happening. And I want

to appreciate each one of you for partnering

with us. That side of the planet, something great

is happening. And somebody said, don't put all

your eggs in one basket. So put your eggs in

two baskets, one basket here and another basket

is in India. And I appreciate what God has done

through partnership with this church and I appreciate

my friend Mark very much. God took him amazingly

in 1993 to India and last 15 years time. God

has done so many wonderful things through this

man, especially in the area of praise and worship.

We had no idea about praise and worship. We only

used to sing hymns. And we had one instrument

that we used to play like this. You blow with

hands. It is like a keyboard. But you blow with

hand and play like that was all ahead. And we

had another electronic instrument, this one.

my tamarin and that's what all we had and the

people started watching Mark when he was playing

guitar and Gradually, they started learning guitar.

The marks started taking instruments from here

and valuable people from here to teach them.

And something happened. Hundreds of people started

playing instruments and started leading praise

and worship. And one day, we prayed a prayer

in India. I said, we should have a school of

worship here. That was a big thing to do, a school

of worship. And we prayed and we started building

a school of praise and worship. And we finished

that building. Four years we have taken four

batches in this International School of Worship.

Students from all over the world come there and

they learn about praise and worship, style of

worship, pattern worship, New Testament worship

and Old Testament worship. What's the difference

between Tabernacle of Moses and Tabernacle of

David and how you can be a successful young man

and young people have been blessed. Four batches

have already gone and we're getting ready for

the fifth one in January. People from all over

are coming from America, from New Zealand, from

Cambodia, and lots of students from India. And

if there's anybody who is interested to go there

and do this school of worship for two months,

it's an amazing training place. You can talk

to Mark, and Mark will take a little interview,

and then you will be there. We just appreciate

God for what He's doing in the life of small

children. Couple months ago, in my house, we

had a VBS, Vacation Bible School, and in my house,

we had 250 children in my house. 250 children

and 22 teachers in my house. Amazing. And we

had a summer youth camp in our convention center

this year. 1300 young boys and girls were there.

1 ,300 and next year we're going to open it for

1 ,500 and gradually we're increasing the number

and God is really moving there and we want to

appreciate you. There's a team that's going from

here to India in October and they're going to

be a great blessing. Pray that the hand of Lord

continues to bless us there in that part of the

world and our goal is 1 million souls and 10

,000 churches and when we get there we'll just

celebrate. want to appreciate each one of you

for what you're doing, your prayers and your

generous giving. We are all the time busy in

building church buildings and when I travel all

over, I raise funds, local people buy their land,

some of the village churches start in one day,

people get saved and they have no building and

you know so we start building the church building.

buy the land and I raised the funds for them

to build a building in the village or in the

town or in city and we spent $3 ,000 to build

a building in a village, $5 ,000 to build a building

in a town and $10 ,000 to build a building in

a city and you have some people sitting in this

congregation who have done more than one building

in India. And it's so amazing when those people

have the building. When a church in the village

has a building, we call it a hub church. That

means a village will go 10 different directions

and plant churches in 10 villages. And then the

first one from those village builds the building.

that becomes the hub church, and they go to ten

directions. And it is multiplying. Same thing

in the city. When you have a building, then you

can do so many things, and some of the buildings

are busy every day. And in the village, when

we started building buildings in town, we started

building buildings, government was not very happy.

And we have a number to get the foreign exchange

legally, and that's called FCRA. Foreign Contribution

Regulation Act. And the government said to us

that you cannot have this money from outside

India and build church building. This is for

the social work, especially for the school work

because in India they don't have a lot of schools.

So the government encouraging you to start school.

So we sat and we talked and God guided us. The

next time they sent us a notice, we went to them.

We said, no, they're not churches. They are free

schools and every village. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday, Friday we started a free school because

village has no school and they were very happy

when we started the school and children of all

age can come there and they read and write, they

learn how to read and write and we teach them

and we call them free school and then we said

okay this is free school Monday to Friday and

because we are Christian on Sunday we worship

in that. So they said, oh okay, this is okay,

this is okay. So now we don't even have, we don't

only give them the spiritual education, we also

give them natural education. and one more thing

we started doing very recently and now we will

be doing it that every village church when we

started building churches we started going in

the village and we said God what can we do with

this village very poor people what's the main

need they have we found out half of the village

is sick and the reason for their sickness is

bad water dirty water Some of them have a well

and they fetch the water from the well and then

they wash their face there only and the same

water goes in the well again and they fetch it

again and drink it. So a lot of them have stomach

disease and skin disease and other things, blood

pressure and heart diseases. So we said, what

can we do? So we decided that every church at

the corner will have a hand well, a hand pump.

and we'll have a boundary around it and a door

and the church caretaker will open the door 8

o 'clock in the morning and whole day village

people can come and take the clean water and

we drill 50 feet extra instead of 150 we drill

200 feet. So when you go very deep the water

is good. And then that good water, the whole

village drinks it. We did in one village and

it worked so good. People are so happy. So we

give them the water of life. We give them natural

water, we give them a spiritual education and

we give them natural education and it's doing

so good. And when we ask people to give money

for the church and we build a church, then we

ask anybody who wants to provide the whole village

a well, it's only a thousand dollars to have

a well and a building around it. and it is doing

so good and people are so happy. So this is what

I'm doing, building church, building all the

time. We have our own six masonry teams and they

go to different places and they build all the

time they're building. And we have our own fabrication

shop and we fabricate windows and doors and trust.

Amazing things are happening. Thank you very

much for praying with us. I'm just excited with

what God is doing. I'm going to sing this chorus.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I want you to turn with

me in the second letter of Paul to Timothy, second

letter of Paul to Timothy and second chapter.

In fact, these letters shouldn't be called Paul's

letter because every time you and I write a letter,

we use a pen, don't we? We use a pen to write

a letter and at the end, we write your beloved

brother, Tony. We don't say your beloved brother,

Pen. Although Pen wrote it. But we write my name

because Pen only is used. But it's my letter.

In the same way, I feel like the Holy Spirit

is writing this letter and Holy Spirit is using

Paul like a pen. Like a pen. So this is Holy

Spirit's letter to Timothy. And Holy Spirit wants

to talk to each one of us. And still the Holy

Spirit is writing letters to you and I. And because

this was a Holy Spirit letter, it was not Paul's

letter. That letter still talks to you and I.

Even after 2 ,000 years, the letter is talking

to you and I. So every time when you read those

letters, don't think these letters are written

to those people in that time. It's the letter

of Holy Spirit that talks to you and I. It's

for you and I also. Now what's written in this

second chapter, first verse, I've asked Mark

to read this scripture portion. Listen to this

one. You therefore, my son, be strong in the

grace that is in Christ Jesus. Have you ever

talked to somebody and said, hey, you don't look

very strong. You look very weak. And he's saying,

my son, I want you to be strong. Sometimes when

people talk, even before coming to the church,

before entering into the building, when you're

standing outside and the way sometimes people

talk, oh yeah, I'm in the church. I don't know,

everything is very bad. I don't know where the

world is going. Nobody likes to come to church.

People don't have any heart for God. I also don't

know how long I can come to church when sometimes

we feel very weak, very discouraged. We are down

hearted and somehow the Holy Spirit has come

to know that this is what's happening in Timothy's

life. Timothy is not very strong. You know what

it is to be strong? And when you talk and you

walk, people can tell you that you are not strong,

but you're very weak. And in order to become

strong, he's talking, the Holy Spirit is talking

to a weak person, a weak man, a weak man of God,

a weak Christian, I want you to be strong. And

the Holy Spirit is saying, go to Jesus. The Holy

Spirit is going to go to Jesus and get what?

Get grace. Go to Jesus and say, Timothy, go to

Jesus and be thou strong by the grace that is

in Jesus. Don't you go to anybody else. Don't

you go to any other person. Nobody can give you

that grace, but go to Jesus Christ. And you know,

like when you see somebody very weak, you prescribe

something, why don't you get that medicine, you

know? Why don't you go to and get that? pill

or that capsule you know and sometimes you say

hey take the original company don't take the

duplicate company and you know this is what happened

lost of time we don't go to the original company

we don't go to Jesus Christ to get the grace

we go to other people and nobody can give you

any grace But you need to go to Jesus Christ

to get strong. And you and I need to become stronger.

And when we are very weak, go to Jesus Christ

and have grace and grace will make you strong.

What is grace actually? What is grace that will

make me? Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit

to give you strength to do those things that

you couldn't do in your own strength. It is God's

ability. It's a supernatural ability. Grace is

something that is just like a bulletproof jacket.

You wear the grace, and you know, this is what

happened in Christian life after you accept Jesus

Christ as your personal Savior. People start

shooting at you. They start shooting at you.

They don't shoot you until you have accepted

Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. They don't

say any bad thing to you. You know, you are a...

bad manner, you have a gun or a pistol, and you

have all the bullets here, and you walk in the

public, nobody's going to say anything against

you. But you know, you change, and you become

a meek and a humble person, and you bow before

God, take water baptism, leave all bad habits,

and you are not a terrorist anymore, you are

a preacher, you take a Bible, start going to

church, everybody starts shooting at you. They

know that you won't do anything against them.

But what happens lots of time when you know people

shoot at you because Jesus Christ said they did

it to me. So they will do it to you. They did

it to me. do it to you but what God wants us

to know that they will do it and we need to have

the jacket of the grace when we have that bulletproof

jacket of the grace people will say all those

things but you will not hear anything you will

continue to go in God and say hey I am happy

I like it I like to go to church I am so happy

when people talk against me and I am so happy

when people ridicule me and when I go through

all these adverse situations I like it because

I am wearing a bulletproof jacket and that's

why when this man and was very weak. Father is

writing a letter. Paul is writing a letter saying,

go to Jesus and get grace and bear that grace,

take that grace. And because of that grace, you

will become so strong. Your testimony will be

strong. Your Christian life will be strong. Your

Christian work will be strong. And you will no

more be weak and weary and tired in your Christian

life. And you'll no more be saying maybe and

could be, I don't know. But you will be sure

for whatever you do and you will know what God

is doing in your life I want to take you to some

places and show you some more verses for the

first scripture that we show you I'll show you

is Hebrew 1228 Hebrew 1228 and listen to this

one Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom

which cannot be shaken. We are receiving a kingdom

This is this is spoken to Prince Princess Prince

and princess, this is spoken to king sons. We

are receiving a kingdom, temporary kingdom for

four years. No, this is a kingdom that cannot

be shaken. You and I are receiving a kingdom

which is permanent. Our king is king forever.

Lots of Christians know this that we are receiving

a kingdom that cannot be shaken Okay, since now

this is to those people written to those people

who are in the kingdom This is not written to

people who are out of the kingdom inside the

kingdom now What is he saying to the people who

are in the kingdom? Listen to this one since

we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Let us have grace. Let us have grace Now what

is very important in the kingdom of God when

we enter into the kingdom of God we are more

concern about other things. How can I be a miraculous

healer? How can I be a great apostle? How can

I be a prophet? How can I be the greatest preacher?

How can I be the greatest singer? But here, one

thing is very important. The word of God says,

let us take care of one very important thing

and that's grace and hold on to grace and don't

let anybody steal the grace from your hand. Grace

because the enemy he will let you have everything

else if you have 13 different translation of

Bible He will say have it don't worry, and he

will let you have all other things But he would

just like to snatch the grace from you Grace

from you so that the grace is taken away from

you and you become empty You become weak and

discouraged. And you know, this is what the enemy

wants. The enemy wants you to stay as a Christian

and call yourself Christian, but be very, very

untired Christian. You know, like, I'm a Christian.

I'm a Christian. But no, God wants you to be

a strong Christian. God wants you to walk with

Him and say, hey, I am so glad that I belong

to Jesus Christ. I feel so happy. So he said

because we are in the kingdom hold on to what

grace don't let the enemy snatch He's about to

snatch the grace from you and do listen to this

one. Let us have grace by which we may serve

God acceptably Wow by which By which we may serve

God Acceptably that means if the enemy has snatched

the grace from you Then you won't be able to

serve God acceptably. You will still be serving

God I'm not saying you will not serve you still

be coming to church. You'll still be reading

Bible You'll still be giving your tithes and

offering but the way you give your tithe you

bring your tithe in the church and say hey This

is too much. You know, I I give it every month

I don't know if this tithe is going to do anything

good in the church. I don't know how they're

using it, you know. But I'm giving it anyway,

you know, because I've been giving for the last

six years. Moreover, my wives want me to give

it, so here it is. You won't be doing it very

happily! One man came to me one time in my church

and I was preaching about tithe and he said you're

talking about tithe He said brother Tony, you

know, I make thirteen thousand rupees. This is

about 20 years ago He was making twenty thousand

thirteen thousand rupees He said do you mean

I have to give thirteen hundred rupees every

month in this church? I said, yeah, he said,

that's too much. And I said, OK, I can make it

easy. And he said, oh, yes, brother. Could you

please help me make it easy for me? Because I

want to stay in this church. You know, I like

this church very much. So I said, OK, I can make

it easy. I said, come here. So he came to me,

and I started praying. I said, God, this man

earns 13 ,000 rupees. It's very difficult for

him to give 1 ,300 every month. Lord, let him

lose this job. Let him be fired from the job

and give him a small job and let him make only

two thousand rupees He said what are you doing?

I said, I'm making it easy when you get a job

of two thousand rupees You will only have to

give two hundred rupees every month And folks

I got a news for you I got a news for you I still

pray those kind of prayers if there's anybody

in this congregation wants me to pray after the

meeting you come here and I can pray for you

I guarantee you will lose your farm and you will

lose your business and you will lose your job.

And then it will be easy because you will be

making very little money. But you know lots of

time we can't we don't serve God we don't serve

God Acceptably, what do you mean by that? I mean

like when you serve God got your check come on

back up good Good my my son very good. I like

your offering the way you gave I like your type

I like you're working in the church you're cleaning

the church and you're so happy that you're cleaning

Sometimes I see people who clean the church is

a 17 years. I'm the only one don't clean in the

church. There's so many people in this church

and nobody wants to give me a hand, but I'm clean.

I will clean the church anyway. I've been doing

it for 17 years. You know, you are clean in the

church. Church is very clean. But your service

is not accepted. You want to serve God. And that's

why many times you and I feel hollow in ourselves.

We have done good things, but we don't feel very

good. We don't feel we are accepted. You know

when you are accepted and when you are not accepted.

You go to somebody's house for a dinner and you

know if they accepted you or not. You know they

accepted you, you know, and you talk on the way.

I don't think they are going to call us again.

Because you're not accepted you know that and

you also know when you were accepted hey, we

had such a great time I think they're going to

call us again next week because they accepted

you But this is what this verse is talking about

if you allow the enemy to snatch grace from your

hand Then you will be serving God and you'll

still be in the church There are a lot of people

who've been the church 58 or 68 years very good

But I'm asking you when you are in the church

when you're serving God when you are coming to

church and worshipping God do you feel that you

have been accepted? Do you feel can you jump

and dance and say I've been accepted the Lord

accepted me and the Lord accepted me and you

know your children say hey mom God accepted our

house God has accepted our business hey daddy

we are accepted even we feel like our dog is

accepted in the sight of God That's why this

verse is saying so that we serve God acceptably.

Your song that you're singing, you may have made

four mistakes and got three times flat in your

song, but the song was accepted in the sight

of God. I would rather sing a song that had nine

mistakes, but accepted in the Lord than to sing

a song that was perfect and it was not accepted

because I did not have the grace. Hallelujah.

Now let me go a little further first Peter 5

10 first Peter 5 10 But may the God of all grace.

Oh may the God of all grace. What is the name

of God? The name of God is God of all grace Say

all now how much is left? So how much of grace

other people own none don't go to anybody You

go to Brother Tony, he'll give you a recipe for

Indian chicken korma. You go to Mark, he gives

you a 50 pound sack of grass seed. You go to

Alton, he'll give you a puppet. But don't you

go to these people and say, hey, I want some

grace. Please get me Brother Tony, could you

give me some grace? I don't own any grace. I

don't have any grace. I myself need grace from

Jesus Christ. If you want a real grace, don't

go to dictionaries and don't go to British people.

They are all languages, words, but the real grace

is with Jesus Christ. God of all grace. Let's

go further and read this one, Hebrew 416. Let

us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.

What? The name of the throne of God is the throne

of grace. It's not the throne of bombastic. It's

not the throne of miracles. It's not the throne

of the biggest God. The name of the throne of

God is the throne of grace. If you tell me that

I've been to the throne of God and you have no

grace I will say well, I don't know where you

went to Because you don't have any grace go to

the throne of God means go to the throne of grace

You bring grace from there the other time we

go to the throne of God and we're asking God

to give us of house and money and give me healing

gift and discernment and Gift of wisdom and give

me this and give me that and gossip. This is

the throne of grace And the first thing we should

have in the hand is grace. And when the grace

is there, everything else is there. And the first

thing is to have the grace so that you feel so

strong in God. You don't have to have a lot of

money in the pocket and you don't have to have

a lot of bank balance. You don't have to have

a lot of people clapping behind you and patting

your back. That's good. That's good. That's good.

Do it. Come on. But you have the grace and you

feel so strong because grace of God is upon you.

You are wearing a bulletproof jacket and nobody

can shoot you. Lots of time we are so broken

hearted and because of being broken hearted we

are so bitter inside because we don't have the

grace. We come to the church We come to the functions

and come to the convention, and we only see negative

things. Children running around. I don't know

what their parents have taught them. They're

running around. They don't know how to do it.

And we only talk about negative. I don't like

these lights, you know. I don't know why they

have this brown color of the chairs. Can't they

have the green ones? Because, because you don't

have the grace. When you are full of grace, everything

is okay. Everything is okay. Everything is okay

When you're full of grace and when you go to

somebody's house, you are so So such a pleasant

person in that house They love you and they like

you because you're full of grace and like everything

you like the food you like the lawn and you like

their car and everything no complain and you're

full of grace and people want you people want

to be around you and they want you in their house

because you are full of grace and you feel like

are a very important person in that house and

you are so full of strength and you are not weak

and you're not discouraged you're not talking

negative and that's why man of God wrote to his

son he said son I like your preaching I like

your church I like everything everything is very

good but I want you to be full of grace because

not by not having by enemy snatching grace from

your hand often you look very Weak and very discouraging

and you You go to somebody and you say hey You

you you want to accept my Jesus as your personal

Savior? I'm in the person who said no fans It's

like eating your food and say it's bitter it's

tasteless you want to have it Why will I have

it if it is bitter and tasteless? But you know,

when you're eating something, you say, hey, this

is good. I like it. You want to have it? That

man will say, oh yeah, please, could you give

me a little bit? And you know, you want your

neighbors to be Christian. If you want people

around your house, your community to be changed,

you don't have to walk a feeble Christian life.

But you need to have grace. Grace makes you feel

in every situation. Let me tell you, I have lived

in a house, 10 by 10, 10 by 10. India in the

summers, it is 130 degree. 10 by 10 room with

no power, no electricity. Inside the room, if

you sit, it's just like being in the furnace,

in the furnace. And I've lived 10 years in that

house. And I lived with my three brothers and

one friend and my mother and father, six of us

used to live there. And in the night we will

take our cot and bring it outside because you

can't sleep inside. And I like to sleep outside,

it's better outside. And when it starts raining

we'll have to take the cart and go inside and

we have we don't have enough place to put the

carts inside So we have to make the cart stand

and I'm sitting at the door post like this Door

post like this and I remember ten years, but

I never said go. What are you doing? I was a

believer Everybody else was saying in my house,

it's because of you, you have become Christian.

And that's why, you know, you have taken, you

accepted the wrong God. But I felt on top of

everything in that house, 10 by 10. And people

used to come and you don't feel bad. You live

here. I said, yeah, I live here. But I was jumping

and preaching and people used to invite me in

their house because full of grace. Grace makes

you so strong. I'm going to give you an example,

the best example that I've had in my life. We

have a pastor. His name is Kamal George Messi.

He came from a very poor background. His father

was a peon. You know, peon is just like a servant

in an office. who cleans desks and tables and

chairs and everything and he got only three hundred

rupees less than ten dollars about eight dollars

a month and they had a family of five people

they lived in a house that had adobe walls and

no ceiling they had a plastic on top and they

had a dirt floor very poor He accepted the Lord.

He came to one of the meetings, accepted the

Lord. He wanted to go to the Bible college. So

we sent him to a Bible college. We didn't have

our Bible college at that time. We sent him to

a Bible college in Dehradun. He comes in summer

to Lucknow and said, Brother Tony, I want you

to go with me to one of my friends. He's sick.

He used to be in school with me. So I go to this

man's house and this man is a rich man. He works

in television station as a director. So his son

is sick. So when I go to his house, we ring the

bell. big drawing room, very fancy building and

his wife, his mother comes and opens the door.

We go inside and sitting in the drawing room

and the guy is in the room. He's sick. So mother

looked at me and she started crying and she jumped

at me. You know what she said? She said, what

do you feed him? What do you feed him? Pointing

towards Kamal George Mersi, small child, wearing

only his shorts. What do you feed him? What do

you feed him? I said, why? She said, I know where

he's living. He doesn't even have a house, lives

on a dirt floor. He doesn't have any food to,

but see his face shining. Shining! And she...

pulls me by the hand and ticks me in the room.

Say, my son, I give him all the capsules, all

the medicine, all the Horlicks, Bonvedant, milk

and dairy fruit, and dry fruits and juices. See

his face. I got a chance. They were Hindus. I

said, you want to know the difference? And then

I started talking. And you know, I was talking

from the very depth of my heart because I was

also very poor at that time. I didn't have this

house that I've got now and all that. And I said,

you know what? The difference is this man has

got Jesus. This man has the grace of Jesus Christ

upon him and his face is shining. And this lady

said, I gave my son Jesus, gave my son Jesus.

So I made them all stand and I preached the gospel

there. And next day I said, send your son to

our church. No matter what happens, even if he's

sick, send him to the church. He came to our

church. We prayed for him. His face started shining

because of grace of God. You know, it doesn't

matter how much money you make or what a big

house you have, a small house, what kind of car

you drive, but you know. Don't let this grace

go out of your hands because the grace goes out

of your hand. You will look like a very weak

and feeble Christian, but the grace will make

you strong. Everything is good and you would

be, because of the grace, you'll be able to talk

to everybody. You will relate with everybody.

You'll allow everybody come to your house. You'll

be able to face everybody and you will not have

malice and dirt for everybody in your heart because

of grace. hey but you know but that man smokes

how can you invite him for the dinner oh don't

worry you know he smokes he can smoke outside

but I've got the grace and by grace something

will happen a student in the Bible college one

day this new batch coming The new batch coming

to the Bible college and the old batch, we are

seniors, so the old batch is feeling very senior.

So one of the old batch students brings me a

pack of cigarettes. And he gives me and he's

shattered because in India it's a very big huge

thing if somebody some Christian is smoking and

he said Brother Tony brother Tony did this this

young man in his bag who's just come to the Bible

college I found this cigarette from his bag.

I took the okay Oh cigarette, so I took the cigarettes.

Okay, good. Don't worry I will take care of this

and I took this area and I hid some various I

Need this young man. The young man started working

And I gave him some work. I gave him some work

in the convention and that he was busy and busy

and busy and busy. And 15 days he never searched

his bag because he's in a situation where everybody's

serving the Lord. So after 15 days, we were talking

about the situation or fellowship changes people.

The topic was fellowship. Fellowship changes

people. So I was talking about fellowship and

this man, he lift up his hand. He said, yes,

Brother Tony, I want to say. Something I say

what he said, you know 20 days ago when I left

from my house, I had to go to another place and

then join here he said I was a chain smoker and

I was thinking how would I go to the Bible College

and how would I be trained and Yes, I accepted

the Lord of my personal Savior and everything

happened in my life, but I couldn't leave the

cigarette And he said, when I came to the Bible

college, I decided, well, I will go out and do

the smoking. So I put my cigarette in my bag.

And he said, but 15 days, I've been so busy with

boys singing and giving testimonies and all that,

that my entire life has changed. I've never had

a crave for a cigarette. And I never went and

searched my cigarette and smoked even once. I

said, really? You haven't smoked once? He said,

no. I said, you really had a cigarette in your

bag? You came with a cigarette? He said, yeah.

I said, go and bring the cigarette. So he goes

upstairs, and he searches his bag. It took 10

minutes. He didn't come. So he comes back. He

said, I can't find the cigarette in my bag. So

I went inside my room, and I brought the cigarette

pack. I said, you want to have it? How did you

get it? How did you get it? You know? This man

left smoking. He became the top student of the

Bible college. He graduated from the Bible college.

He went to a state where we had no church, in

Rajasthan state. He planted a church in Rajasthan,

the toughest state. Started a church in Jaipur.

He got another student next year. He planted

another church. Then he is going to plant the

third church. He's a very, very valuable pastor.

He married a very good girl from Delhi. Wonderful

pastor. But what made him to leave smoking? A

grace of God. Grace of God. I want to tell you

grace of God. I tell you, this grace is so good

that it makes you so strong without that grace.

For each other, you will be so weak. Relationships

will be okay. Let's go, go, go for the second

be there. Uh, three 18 second be to three 18.

Yeah. You therefore beloved. Yeah. Yeah. 18.

Yes. But grow in grace, grow in grace. You want

to grow in money? You want to grow in knowledge?

You want to grow in respect? Yeah. I don't want

to go. But lots of time, 39 years ago, I had

one kilo grace, I came to the Lord, and after

39 kilo, I still have one kilo. I'm 39 years

in the ministry. Don't talk to me. I'm 39 years.

Your father was very small when I took my water

baptism. But I'm not asking how many years you've

been in the Lord, but I'm asking how big is your

grace. Grow in grace. I wanted to say many things,

but the time doesn't permit me to let me go to

the next one Hebrew 2 9 Hebrew 2 9 But we see

Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels

for the suffering of death crowned with glory

and honor That he by the grace of God might taste

death for everyone taste death for everyone.

We don't want to taste for ourselves Taste death

for everyone What allowed him what made him to

taste death for everyone was the grace of God

in Garden of Gethsemane Which is about to taste

death for everybody He was so weak and he said

father if it is possible, let this couple be

removed from me very difficult but it's a father

I know you are the you are the sole owner of

grace give me some grace I need your bulletproof

jacket you know it's very difficult the angels

came there and guard him you know that angels

came and Bible tells us the angels gave him the

strength the grace and that with that jacket

with that grace with that strength he was able

to walk He was able to go to the Calvary and

he was able to say, Father forgive them for they

know not what they do. because he got grace from

his father. Folks, many times we'll come to the

Garden of Gethsemane when everybody will leave

you, when they will point fingers towards you,

when they will call you a thief, they will call

you a robber, and they will laugh at you, ridicule

you, they will gang against you, they will print

handbills against you, and there will be rumors

against you. But you know, if you have the grace

in Garden of Gethsemane, if you have prayed and

the angels have come and given you that bulletproof

jacket, you'll still be walking like a great

man. I am still walking with God in spite of

everybody talking against me. Today we have people

in my church in Lucknow who one time wanted to

kill me. People who were against, who printed

the handles against me. They went to the police

station and reported against me that I am doing

drug dealing. Those people are Pastors in my

church the elders of my church the members of

my church. They give me Tyson offering they give

me money to build churches Because of what because

of the bulletproof jacket Bookers of the grace

of God, you know God owns the total grace The

name of the throne of God is the throne of grace

and you grow in grace. Okay, let's go further

and see acts 433 And with great power, the apostles

gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord

Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. They

cast demons, they did miracles. What did they

have to do that? The only thing that is mentioned

there, that great grace was upon them. Would

you like to do, like the first century disciples

or apostles, you would be able to do exactly

like they did. Only pray to God to give you grace,

great grace. Not only great grace, great grace,

great things happen, great miracles happen, great

peace, great joy in the house, great blessing

and great growth if there is great grace. Okay,

let's go further and read the same book Acts

of the Apostle, 20th chapter. And 24th verse,

20th chapter, 24th verse. But none of these things

move me nor do I count my life dear to myself

so that I may finish the race with joy and the

ministry which I received from Jesus to testify

to the gospel of grace of God. Testifying what?

Gospel of grace? Wow, the name of the gospel

is gospel of grace. How can you go to somebody

without grace and take the gospel of grace? You

are taking the gospel of grace without grace

is like trying to cook beef stew without beef

Of course you can cook beef stew without onion

you can do it without garlic without potatoes

You can do without carrots, but you can never

do beef stew without beef. You have to have beef

The gospel of grace without grace. The name of

God is God of grace. The name of the throne of

God is throne of grace. And the name of the gospel

is gospel of grace. And 32 words of the same

chapter. So now, brethren, I commend you to God

and to the word of His grace. What is the name

of the word? Every time you preach the word,

what should be the title of the word? Word of

grace. It's word of grace when you talk to somebody

when you talk to a teenager when you talk to

a young man When you talk to a sinner, how do

you talk you give a message of grace? but we

give message of We try to cut everybody we try

to destroy we give a gospel of disgrace But it's

the gospel of grace is the word of grace And

the word of grace changes the people. You know,

you say, my wife doesn't want to hear anything.

I go from church and she doesn't want to hear

anything. Oh, she doesn't want to hear anything

the way you say, but you go with grace. Honey,

you're my wife. I love you. You are a great lady.

You have blessed me with so many things, but

I want to tell you, my personal testimony, something

happened. Jesus came to me, you know, and speak

with grace. She will say, my husband changed.

My husband has changed. I want to follow Jesus

because Jesus changed my husband. Your preaching

of grace will change your spouse, your brother,

your sister, your neighbor. Your preaching is

very weak. Your Christian life is very weak.

Your faith is very weak without the grace. In

spite of spending 39 years in God, it's very

weak. You can buy all the gadgets. You can buy

everything for Christian life. You can buy a

Bible with a cover. But cover doesn't change

your neighbor. It's the grace. But I'm not against

the cover. The Bible bookshop people did no harm

to me. You can go and buy two covers very good

because I like to have covers. My Bible has a

cover. But that cover is not going to change

anything. You need to have the grace. Okay another

scripture Colossians 3 16 Let the word of Christ

dwell in you richly with all wisdom teaching

admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and

spiritual songs singing with grace in your singing

Lord singing with Grace singing with grace But

where does this singing with grace start? Mark

read again this last part Singing with grace

and listen to this one singing with grace Colossians

3 16 Singing with Psalms and hymns and spiritual

songs sing with grace and in your heart in your

First video practice your song Where do you practice

your song in the heart? Practice the song, practice

it with grace. And then when you sing the song

in the audience, you'll be singing with grace

because you practice with the grace. In the house,

you practice the grace. With your children, you

practice the grace. With your wife, you practice

with the grace. With your friends, you practice

with the grace. You go to a neighbor and practice

with the grace. Then you go to the other more

part of the world and you will be full of grace

and grace will make you strong. Okay, that's

not my punchline, but my punchline is this John's

gospel one chapter 14th verse That's this is

my punchline John 1 14 listen to this Yes, and

the word became flesh and word became flesh and

dwelt among us. Oh word became flesh big God

God became flesh if God suppose today God becomes

flesh boom So what will happen? God become flesh.

It'll be very important place. You know, there'll

be all these place will be all laid with globe

because gold because God is there in India if

anything happens like this in a village You can't

even go there that village will become a very

important village and they will throw gold and

silver and money and everything When God became

flesh Jesus Christ, I listen to this God became

flesh and dwelt among us and dwelt there dwelt

ordinary places, same alleys, same dirty lanes,

same gutter and same carpenter's house, same

table, same chair, same bed. He dwelt. See, a

lot of time when we are big God's servant, we

want a big important place. There is my place.

They didn't give me a chair. They didn't entertain

me good. They didn't look after me. Because when

God becomes flesh, He lives in ordinary places.

Listen to this, then what happened? That's not

my punchline. My punchline is this. And we beheld

His glory. We beheld His glory. His glory. Glory.

Great glory. What kind of glory? Listen to this.

And the glory as to the only begotten of the

Father. Glory as to the begotten Son of the Father.

Great glory. Okay. Then what happened? Full of

grace and truth. It was full of grace. Oh, what

is it full of? Full of miracles, full of walking

on the water, full of provision. No, it was full

of grace and truth. The truth was number two.

We put truth number one. Prove truth number one.

One of my pastor one day called me and he said,

you know, you and I will separate. I said, why?

He said, I've got a different doctrine. I said,

what's your doctrine? He said, well, we should

wash feet before we give Holy Communion. I said,

I'll come and talk to you. I'm not one to listen

to you. This is my faith. So what will you do,

Brother Tony? I said, okay, I'm coming to you.

I'll wash your feet. You wash my feet. We're

still friends. He said, you will? I said, yes.

And he's never left ABC, still ABC. He plant

many churches. His son is a pastor. His son -in

-law is a pastor. And he's a great pastor. He's

planted so many churches and villages because

of grace. I said, okay, I'll wash your feet,

whether I believe it or not. You want me to wash

your feet? I'll wash it five times. Who cares?

And if the Lord says anything to me, I say, Lord,

he wanted me to. That's why I did it. And God

will say, okay, I don't care. You do it, but

you know Grace so what happened? I saw the glory

of God full of grace and truth Listen to this

what happened in the verse 16 and then something

happened and the people who saw Jesus Christ

They were enticed and they wanted to get something

from Jesus. Oh full of Bombastic glory of God

upon Jesus Christ. Okay, and his fullness we

have all received Jesus you got so much. Can

you give me a little bit? Can you give me a little

bit? That's what we do. We go to Jesus Christ.

Jesus, you did so many things. Can you give me

something? So, His fullness, we grab everything

that we could take from Jesus Christ. What we

got? What we got? And grace for grace. What we

got? When you get the fullness of Jesus Christ,

what would you get? Two million? Five million

dollar? Healing gift? Demon casting? No, His

fullness. When you go to Jesus Christ and start

grabbing things that He has, You'll find that

you only got the grace grace upon grace. So you

say God we wanted the truth Jesus will say if

you got the grace you got the truth Grace is

the truth God's grace is God's truth and God

wants you and I to go and grab everything and

when you grab lots of people We say hey, I went

and got a lot of things from Jesus Christ. What

did you get? Hey, this is the bombastic I got

this is the preaching I got this is the miracle

I got Is that all you got? No grace? No, no,

he didn't have any grace. Oh, you went to the

duplicate Jesus. You didn't go to the real one.

The real one is covered with the grace. And if

anybody goes and tells me, hey, I want to Jesus

Christ and he gave me all these things and he

shows you things, you better see grace. If he

doesn't show you any grace, that means it's not

from Jesus. Paul is writing a letter. Paul is

writing a letter to his son. Today the Holy Spirit

is writing a letter to each one of us. The Holy

Spirit knows that you're very good, you're doing

good things, you're giving money to the church,

you're a wonderful person, but the Holy Spirit

knows that you're lacking in grace and you're

feeling weak. And I know Timothy, in spite of

doing everything, why you are feeling weak? Because

you need to go to Jesus Christ and this time

don't ask Jesus to give you anything else, but

say, Jesus, I only want your grace. And He'll

give you and you become a mighty man. I'm glad

father spoke to his son. I'm glad Holy Spirit

wrote a letter to Timothy. He got that bulletproof

jacket, and that's why we are able to read about

Timothy. He was a man of God. You want to stay

as a man of God. Things are discouraging you,

but say, God, give me more grace. I had to ask,

I had to go to Jesus Christ thousands of times,

and every time I lacked grace, I had to go to

Jesus Christ, go to him every day, and get some

grace every day, because grace will give you

strength. Strength to walk for Jesus. Shelby

Bauerhead. Shelby Bauerhead. I just want to give

you one minute call. If there's anybody who said,

Brother Tony, I need to repent. I've got everything,

but I've never been to Jesus Christ for grace.

And that's why I'm not able to do the things

that I feel discouraged. And I want to repent.

And if there's anybody who wants to repent, just

stand wherever you are to repent. Not for anything

else to repent. If there's anybody in this congregation,

just stand wherever you are. And I'm going to

pray for you. Just stand. God bless you. God

bless you. God bless you three anybody just four

anyway five Quickly, I just take one minute six

seven Anybody else just stay and say I need grace.

I need grace from Jesus Christ So that I become

a strong person and my witness is strong. God

bless you nine ten eleven twelve anybody else

Just stand wherever 13 14 15 anybody else 16

just stand wherever you are. God bless you. God

bless you Just stand wherever you are. This is

my last call. If there's anybody else who wants

to stand, just stand wherever you are and I'm

going to pray a prayer that God's grace will

be upon you and you will be able to do those

things that you have not been able to do. Anybody

else? 16 people here, 17. Anybody else? 18, 19,

20. Anybody else? Just stand wherever you are

and I'm going to pray for you. I'm going to pray

for you. 21. Anybody? 22. Anybody? 23. Just stand

wherever you are. I'm going to pray for you.

Hallelujah. Just reach out to God and I'm going

to pray for you father. We thank you for these

people who are standing They need your grace

Lord. We all need your grace, but they have recognized

Lord and they're repenting of not having enough

grace Lord stretch forth your hand and bless

them and change the life give them the bulletproof

jacket Lord That is your grace So that they feel

strong and walk with you Help them Lord in Jesus

name Amen, and Amen. You may be seated, please.

Thank you very much. Grow in grace.