We Want We Prepare and He Comes – Ps Sharon Bendixen (JHB)

Scripture Reference: Luke 1:17 (AMPC); 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 (AMPC); Exodus 25:8-9(AMPC); Exodus 29:43-46 (AMPC); Leviticus 26:11-13 (AMPC); Ezekiel 37:26-28 (AMPC); Revelation 21:3-5 (AMPC); Ephesians 4:11-13 (KJV); 1 Thessalonians 2:4-8; 1 Thessalonians 2:11-13 (TLB); Acts 2:42 (NKJV) (AMPC) (TLB) 

Hallelujah. Well, good evening, everybody. How are you all? Are you all well? Good. Good, good, good. Oh yes – all the children. They don’t need me to tell them that they can go. Hallelujah.

So I do have a surge or a mandate from the Lord in terms of teaching today and I actually realised after this morning’s service, He has been saying many things to me about what I’m going to speak to you about, tonight. He’s been saying many things to me and for about three weeks, He’s been speaking to me about Legacy Transfer that the time when I would minister this morning and this afternoon, would be a time where He is transferring legacy and I understand that a transfer happens in many ways but one of the ways it happens, is through teaching, through teaching and He’s also launched something very fresh and new. He will launch something fresh and new in you today too as you just receive the words that God gives me to speak to you this afternoon.

Oh, Love from Pastor John. He is in Ethiopia with Brother Joe for Brother Jerry and Pastor Walter, so, right.

So I’m going to just come this way, how God gave it to me, to remind you of Pastor John and I – our mandate and our calling. You know that Pastor John asks the question: “What is the point of being a Christian?” What is the point of being a Christian? And the point of that is: “To be spiritual.” That is how God has given our mandate. What is the point of being a Christian? It’s to be spiritual. And then, “What’s the point of being spiritual? Is so that we can access everything that heaven has and bring it down on earth, in our personal lives and in our corporate lives.”

We’re supposed to live heaven on earth. We’re supposed to, because the prayer is: “As Your, Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” but it comes through the way of the Spirit, so, and then I want to tell you very clearly, also what Pastor John and I are called, we are called, that Scripture that he brought out of Luke chapter one, it was either last Sunday or the Sunday before, …to make ready for the Lord, a people… to make ready for the Lord, a people. That’s Luke 1:17, I believe, from the Amplified, I didn’t put a chapter there but I believe it is, is it up? There we go, so just that part over there …to make ready for the Lord, a people. Can you see that?

God is always looking to make ready for the Lord, for Himself, a people. Not a person, yes, a person but a people, a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit, … spiritual people and adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state]. Well, if you are spiritual, those immoral things fall off and fall away. When you are adjusted in, when you are in a spiritual state, and for you to be spiritual and for me to be spiritual, is the same way. It’s not some way you’re going to find of being more spiritual than someone else. Your spirituality is your choice. It’s your choice, because to be spiritual means that you receive words from Jesus, you’re abiding with Jesus, you’re intimate with Him in Your personal life. You want to be with Him and He says, “The Words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are life.” It means, you’re wanting to be in fellowship with Holy Spirit constantly, who fills you. The Holy Spirit is the one, when you’re engaged in that intimacy with God, whether it’s through the Word or through talking to Him or through prayer, that’s how Spirit-life flows. It doesn’t flow different for someone else than for me. When I’m praying in the Spirit, it is spiritual. When I’m wanting to receive from God’s Word for my spirit, the food for my spirit, that’s spiritual. When I’m coming to assemble with the brethren together, to hear the messages from the messenger, that’s spiritual. When I’m obedient to what He is saying to me out of the Word, that’s spiritual. Right?    

So there’s not one way for you to be spiritual and for me to be spiritual. We all be spiritual through the Word, through fellowship with the Father, fellowship with Jesus, fellowship by the person of the Holy Spirit, isn’t it good news? Isn’t that good news? Glory. And so why, …okay, to prepare for the Lord, a people. Why does the Lord want a people prepared for Him? Why? Why does the Lord want a people prepared for Him? Because He wants to come, He wants to come and be with them, dwell with them, ah, I was wondering if He was going to use this, what He gave me this morning, let me see. Hmm.

John ministered last week on ‘wanting God’, now these Scriptures you won’t have, Daniel, but I’m just going to read them to you. I’m going to just read them, just let them wash, let them just go into your heart. 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 Amplified Bible 16What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (2 Corinthians 6:16-18)

Can you see the want of God? It’s His want. He wants us. He wants a people prepared for Him, that He can come. He’s always wanted that since the Garden of Eden, He’s wanted that. Right. In Exodus 25:8-9 (AMPC) He says this, 8Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. He wants to dwell among us. If we think, and we don’t, because we know. We don’t have God dwelling among us to the degree that He can. We were reborn, recreated to want Him and want more of Him; to want to know Him. So Exodus 29 from verse 43 says, 43There I will meet with the Israelites, and the Tent of Meeting …You see, He likes to meet, He likes to meet.  Every morning when I get up, I like to meet Him and He likes to meet me. And I’ve been doing it for, just about a couple of decades. He wants to meet with me. I know I’m the temple but He also says, “I’ll be in you and among you.” He wants to meet with me. 43There I will meet with the Israelites, (a people), and the Tent of Meeting shall be sanctified by My glory [the Shekinah, God’s visible presence]. 44And I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar; and I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me …45And I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.

He wants to live here. Every time we get together He wants to come and He wants to manifest Himself and be with us, just be with us; and walk, and be with us; and just presence Himself with us. Hallelujah. Glory. Hallelujah. Thank You Father. Thank You Father. Thank You Father. That’s why in the Book of Revelations, all those different churches, He says, “I walk around, I walk around and I see what you do. I walk around and I see what you do.”

46And they shall know [from personal experience] that I am the Lord their God. And then Leviticus 26 (AMPC) from verse 11 says, 11I will set My dwelling in and among you. 11I will set My dwelling in and among you and My soul shall not despise or reject or separate itself from you. 12And I will walk in and with and among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people. 13I am the Lord your God, Who brought you forth … He’s always bringing us,  wanting to bring us out of Egypt. He’s always wanting to bring us; the Gospel’s, always wanting to bring us out of Egypt. 13… that you should no more be slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect [as free men]. Hallelujah. I mean it just goes on and on and on.

Ezekiel 37:26 (AMPC), He just showed me all of these scriptures this morning. 26I will make a covenant of peace with them. We have that Covenant because of Jesus. 26… it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them, and I will give blessings to them and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. That’s why He wants a people. He wants a people for that, just to be with us. A people that want to just be with Him. A people that just want to be with each other, want to assemble to see – How’s God going to be with us now, at this time. I believe Brother Jerry came here with a ‘bag of seeds’ to call it hungry, hungry for God. 27 My tabernacle and dwelling place also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Isn’t that wonderful.  28 Then the nations shall know, and understand, and realize that I the Lord do set apart and consecrate Israel (my people) for holy use, when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forevermore. (Ezekiel 37:27-28 AMPC)

And then in the Book of Revelation, I just don’t know what verse it is, I just put it down like this, (Revelation 21:3-5 AMPC) 3 Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne of God and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God. 4 … and wipe away every tear from their eyes; That’s what He does when He’s with us. He wipes away our tears. You know. 4… and death shall be no more … He delivers us from death, every death. Everything that’s not life. 4… neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away. 5And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Hmm. Right. See, this is not for a time to come. This is happening now. Revelation, the Book of Revelation is happening; it’s not still to come – it is happening.

And so, He wants to have a people prepared for Himself so He can come and manifest Himself. And so how does He do this? How does He do this? Ephesians 4:11-13 (KJV), 11 And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints … Or for preparing for Himself a people, making ready for Himself a people.  13 Till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13 KJV). The Amplified says 13[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him (Ephesians 4:11-13 AMPC)

So the messenger’s part: God sends a messenger – an apostle or a prophet, He sends a messenger. So the messenger’s part is Acts 22:14-15 (AMPC).This is a messenger’s part: 14And he said, (this is Ananias saying to the Apostle Paul; so Jesus gave gifts, He gave apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists, so here Ananias is saying to the apostle Paul;) The God of our forefathers has destined and appointed you to come progressively to know His will …and to see the Righteous One (Jesus Christ, the Messiah), and to hear a voice from His [own] mouth and a message from His [own] lips; 15For you will be His witness unto all men of everything that you have seen and heard (Acts 22:14-15 AMPC).

So I call you messenger, I call you messenger Paul to know My will, to see Me, in other words, be with Me, be with me to see Me, be with Me to see me. When you be with Him, you see Him, when you be with Him, when you want to be with God, you will see Him, Jesus said that in John 16, He said, “I’m going away but I’ll come back in the person of the Holy Spirit and you’ll see Me.” “So I want you to see me Paul and then I want you to hear a voice from my own mouth and a message from My own lips, a message/ messenger, message from My own lips and you will be a witness unto all men of everything that you’ve seen and heard.” And the Living Bible says this:

1 Thessalonians 2:4-8 (Living Bible) 4For we speak as messengers from God, (that is what messengers from God are supposed to do for you). If you don’t believe this, you don’t believe God’s Bible, you don’t believe His word, if you don’t believe this. If you can’t believe a basic like this, what you going to believe? What you going to believe? What are we going to believe? That men cannot speak to you as a messenger from God, trusted by Him to tell the truth, trusted by him to tell the truth; we change his message not one bit to suit the taste of those who hear it.

I want to tell you, Pastor John and I don’t do that. We’re not, we are so one track minded, we’re so one track minded to prepare for the Lord, a people – which is all of you, to prepare you, you, you, you to prepare you for the Lord; not for us, for you to be spiritual and for that reason we see God but because we’re with Him to see Him, to know His will, to hear a voice from His lips and receive a message from His mouth and we’ve been doing that for twenty years.

Well, you should be spiritual giants by now, those of you that have been with us for twenty years. If you’ve been with us for one year, you should really be exceedingly spiritual already. Because you’re receiving the messages from a messenger and the two key turning point messages that God gave us all this year, was from Pastor Christi and Pastor Garth: Put Your Foot in Every Message, put your foot in it. You’re not planted because you come to church, you’re not planted because you come to church; you’re planted because you grow root and you can only grow root from seed. The seed comes from the Word of God. By now you should know Mark 4 already – the sower sows the Word, the Words of God that we bring to you. There’s seed in every word, every message! There’s at least Word-seed, there’s at least Scripture for you to sow; even if you don’t want to go with the statements we make, you can at least take the Scripture brought to you for the week for seed. Right?

4We speak as messengers from God, trusted by Him to tell the truth; we change his message not one bit to suit the taste of those who hear it; for we serve God alone, who examines our hearts, Pastor John and I, deepest thoughts. 5Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you very well know, and God knows we were not just pretending to be your friends so that you would give us money! 6As for praise, we have never asked for it from you or anyone else, even though (as leaders or special messengers of Christ) as apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to some honour from you. 7But we were as gentle among you as a mother feeding and caring for her own children. 8We loved you dearly—so dearly that we gave you not only God’s message, but our own lives too (1 Thessalonians 2:4-8 TLB)

Pastor John and I give you our lives, people. We don’t only give you messages. We love you dearly, we love you dearly, we take our responsibility to God very seriously. This here, let me just find it here: We do this, we live this with God. It says here:..17Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them continually recognising their authority over you for they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare (Hebrews 13:17 AMPC).

We’re guarding your spiritual welfare. So we know when you don’t come to church, you’re not receiving our messages; so we know you’re not….you see, I remember once I said to the Lord, I said, “Lord these people don’t come, they don’t come to hear these messages and He said, “That makes no difference, I will hold them accountable for every message they did not hear because they were supposed to hear. I planted them there, they were supposed to come, they were supposed to hear, they were supposed to receive, they were supposed to believe, they were supposed to allow that Word to work mightily in them” – that’s spiritual and grow like strong oaks, righteous and become sons of God. So it doesn’t matter, don’t even worry and think about where are they, where are they, why don’t they come – they were supposed to come, they know they were supposed to come. So I will hold them, I will hold them accountable to that; they can’t say they didn’t know. They could have known.

So it says here, They are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual well-being. Well there are many in the Body of Christ that say, “Please don’t do that for me. Not applicable to me. This is not the part of the Word that I adhere to. I don’t.” Like Pastor John brought that Scripture about ‘who’s supposed to call for the elders’. When are the – the elders are not supposed to come to you when you’re sick, you’re supposed to call, because your faith calls them to come. And that prayer of faith will be prayed for you. Hallelujah. Because you called, you call. See here, you see here. Majority of the Body of Christ do not live in this Scripture and yet it’s a major to God, because it’s God’s way.

Can you see this. It says here, 17Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you]. (Hebrews 13:17 AMPC). Just because some spiritual leaders abuse spiritual authority does not exclude you from your obedience to this verse. “Well, I don’t agree with this.” Well, you don’t agree with God’s Word then. If your heart is true blue, God will lead you to a true spiritual leader who will not abuse his authority, but will tell you the truth and not change the message for you, because he’s interested in your spiritual welfare, and your spiritual development, and your spiritual growth. He’s not going to make it easy on your flesh.

And so then, what happens to many people who come and sit and listen to Pastor John and I, and now because we’re so focused on pleasing God this way, is they say, “We will heed onto ourselves our own teachers who will satisfy – the Bible says, ‘our itching ears -who will give us something to hear what we want to hear? We don’t want to hear this.’ But it says here, 17Obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them [continually recognizing their authority over you]. This is Hebrews 13:17. So beautiful this scripture. And recognizing their authority over you. For they are constantly keeping watch over your souls and guarding your spiritual welfare, as men who will have to render an account [of their trust]. [Do your part]. We’re talking about the messenger’s part now. We’ll come to – this is your part. This is your part. Do your part to let them do this with gladness. I tell you there’ve been people we have watched over their souls with gladness. Shoo. So many of wonderful ‘yous’. Such a joy. Such a glad thing for us to see your spiritual development and watch you over the years. Just, and your children coming into it and you just growing and you just loving and you living by faith, cause you listen to the messages and you’re part of the house of prayer, because you recognize that that is what Jesus wants; not what Pastor John wants but what Jesus wants – house of prayer. Pastor John brought that Scripture where Jesus walks into His own Father’s temple, and it’s all about other things. You come to church for that reason and that reason, get out! My Father’s house shall be called a house of speaking to God. In this house we speak to God and He speaks to us, and we speak to Him, and He speaks to us. Glory to God. Hallelujah.

Wow, do your part to let them do this with gladness. He’s so much gladness in Pastor John’s and I’s heart. So many of you. And not with sighing and groaning. Groanings, but there have been those, there are still those. We sigh and we groan, we really do. We groan, we groan in our spirits and we sigh. Hah, they don’t listen. Hah, they don’t care, they don’t want You God. The Bible says, ‘if you can’t love man whom you can see, how can you say you love God, who you can’t see’. Okay, that’s interesting. It says, Not with sighing and groaning, for that would not be profitable to you. So here God is saying… Have I finished with that one in the Living Bible? Ja, I’ve given you not only God’s message but our own lives too.

So the people’s part, here’s the people’s part. Here’s your part: 1 Thessalonians 2:11-13 from the Living Bible. 11We talk to you as a father, we talk to you as a father and a mother, Pastor John and I. We do, 11We talk to you as a father to his own children – don’t you remember? – pleading with you, encouraging you and even demanding 12that your daily lives should not embarrass God but bring joy to Him who invited you into His Kingdom to share His glory. 13But we will never stop thanking God for this: that when we preached to you, you didn’t think of the words we spoke as being just our own, but you accepted what we said as the very Word of God – which, of course, it was. Which of course it is. These are the very Words of God that He’s having me bring to you today. I know that. How do you know that? Because I do see Him, I do abide in Him. I do, I do know His will. I do hear a voice from His mouth and a message from His lips. What? Right. And so, it says here, And it changed your lives when you believed it. Wow. It changed your lives when you believed it. It changed your lives when you believed it. I mean, God, you know. I mean I know this; I grew up in – I mean when God planted us and we were in our church for 17 years, I would see people come to church every Sunday, in the one ear out the other. They don’t believe a word what the Pastor is saying, not a word. And they would just remain unchanged because it’s the Word that changes you, the Word that you believe that changes you. It’s the Word that you receive, it’s the word that you believe, it’s the word you sow, it’s the word you grow, it’s the word you act on. That’s the only way any born again believer can grow spiritually – is by the Word of God. Receiving it, loving it, hearing it, obeying it I grow, again. I receive it, I hear it, I love it, I obey it, I grow. It’s your guarantee spiritual growth. I receive it, I hear it, I love it, I obey it, I grow some more. I receive it, I hear it, I believe it, I sow it, I grow it, I weed it, I water it, I harvest it, I grow. I receive it again, for all the days of my life.

I have got a messenger with a message that’s preparing me to be part of a people, to be a person for the Lord, and a people. To be a person for the Lord and a people. Hallelujah. Its how I grew all those years. I’d bring my notebook and write down those Scriptures, didn’t have iPads. And on a Sunday and during the week I would look at the Scriptures and I would receive it, and love it, and hear it, and do it as best as I could, you know. And then came the next message, you couldn’t keep me away and you still can’t keep me away from the Word, hallelujah. And I would look at other people that came to church every Sunday, just like me, and they would just never grow and I could still hear all the garbage, and all the unbelief, and all the doubt and all the – I could not touch the spirit life in them. And yet there would be another born again Christian sitting there, they’re doing the same as me – boy, and could we touch the spirit life in each other. Wow, wow! And there are those of you that have put your feet in the messages and I touch your spirit life and you touch mine, and we’re growing together as sons of God. There’s nothing more exciting for me than to grow and mature with other people that God has put in my life. It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful.

Some of you are already unrecognisable. I know you’ve grown and I know you touch me and you go, I mean, you know when the people that know me the best tell me, “Wow, you know.” When the people, you know. I mean when my son Garth looked at me the other day and he said, “Mom, you’ve changed so much.” And every now and again Pastor John will say to me, “Babes, Yoh!” The people that know me the most see it then I know it’s real. Cause as I’m growing and I experience God again then the next day when I’m with God again and I’m abiding in Him and I’m speaking to Him and I have my time with Him, now I know I’m different with Him, and He’s different with me cause I’m growing up.

He speaks to me. His communication with me is not anymore, “Mama, Dada,” you know. His communication with me is different because I’m growing. I’m growing in Him. I’m looking more like Jesus and He talks to me now maybe like a, I don’t know, where He will scale me on that, you know. But, when you’re a teenager then you’re, you know, He talks to you in a certain way and then most times you find yourself in forced discipline, you know, because you think, “I can do this spiritual thing myself,” you know, “I don’t need,” you know. And some Christians never get out of that, actually, you know, even they stay as like toddlers. Some babies when you are feeding them they don’t want you to feed them. “I want to, I want to.” You know what I mean? So ok, God leaves you to your wants. Remember Pastor John said that, “If you want to do what you want to do, He will leave you to your wants.” Glory to God.

So Thessalonians, from the Amplified Bible, 1 Thessalonians 2:13 AMPC says this, puts it this way, 13We [especially] thank God continually for this, you Thessalonica Christians, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe. Which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it] (1 Thessalonians 2:13 AMPC).

That’s what they did in the early Church, Acts 2:42 and 43, and they, 2And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42 NKJV). See the sequence? See the sequence here in this verse. They continued steadfastly in the doctrine in the teaching of the apostles’ and fellowship. Fellowship is different to friendship people. Wow! People in the Church want to have friendships like the world. Fellowship is: you’re in the apostles’ doctrine, I’m in his instruction, I fellowship with you as I fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and the Word. It’s so much higher, much higher. Glory, glory.

So, Amplified Bible verse 42 says, 42they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord’s Supper] and prayers. 43And then a sense, can you see the sequence of fear came upon them. There can be no fear of the Lord if you’re not in the Apostles’ doctrine. (Pastor Sharon laughing). You know what I mean, how can you say, “We fear the Lord,” or “May the fear of God come upon us.” No, continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ instruction and breaking of bread and prayers, and prayers and speakings to God and God’s speakings to you and prayer connect group. And then we will see the fear of the Lord in you and in me, ok.

And then wonders and signs will be performed. The Living Bible, I’m quickly going to read that out of the Living Bible, 42They joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the Apostles’ teaching sessions, they joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the Apostles’ teaching sessions, and at the Communion services and prayer meetings. (Acts 2:42 TBL). Right, so now, I mean you can’t really put it plainer than that can you? Hey? You didn’t have that up there? It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter – I’m going to read it again to you. It’s magnificent out of the Living Bible, I just discovered it yesterday, this way out of the Living Bible. 42They joined with the other believers in regular attendance at the Apostles’ teaching sessions. (Acts 2:42 TLB). It’s at least every Sunday. The Apostles teaching sessions. (Pastor Sharon laughing). At least every Sunday, hey? And they steadfastly, 42they joined with other believers in regular attendance at the Apostles’ teaching sessions, and at the Communion services and prayer meetings. (Pastor Sharon laughing). It’s God’s way, this is God’s way this is not man’s way. This is God’s pattern, it’s God’s pattern that we live this way.

And so I’m going to make another point now. Pastor Johns’ particular gifting and anointings ok, my particular giftings and anointings – they both so different, but their difference – I’m bringing you up to speed of where we are – God uses me like that with you sometimes, you know that by now, and just calibrates the whole lot of things and brings it to the point where we are now. Where we’ve come from. How we got here. How we’re going to go, still go forward. We will never stop attending the Apostles teaching sessions and communion sessions and prayer meetings. We will never stop until our last breath. “How did Pastor Sharon go?” “She was at a prayer meeting.” Hallelujah. Well, that’s how Smith Wigglesworth went – he was at a meeting. Glory. That’s how my father Kenneth Hagin went – he had finished with a meeting and he was with friends around the table after a meeting – just checked out. That’s how I’m going. I’m going because I’m constantly…(Pastor Sharon laughing) attending the Apostles’ teaching sessions and I’m at prayer meetings. Glory to God. Can you envision the rest of your life like that with joy? Or is it a drudgery to you, hey?

Isn’t there a security and a stability in this – to know that it’s God’s way for me for the rest of my life? It’s God’s way for me for the rest of my life; and that’s how I grow and that’s what pleases Him; and that’s what I live with; full of my rewards of what I did in the Body. Because it says that in eternity we’re going to get rewards for what we did in the Body. “So what did you do in the Body?” “Well Lord, I did in the Body what You said I must do in the Body; I regularly attended the Apostles’ teaching sessions and I was at the communion services and I was at the prayer meetings, Lord. And I received all the messages. I believed them and I trusted and I loved them and I obeyed them and I grew and I grew and I abided in You and You know that Lord. You know what I did in my Body while I was on the Earth; You know what I did in my Body. I fellowshipped with You, and I fellowshipped with others, and I grew. And I did what You told me to do Lord; that’s what I did in my Body.” “Well done!” Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Hey, isn’t this good news? This is such good news to me all over again.

So this is my next point, okay, our particular giftings and anointings – both so different. Their differences gives the Lord what He needs to do through Pastor John and I, in preparing Him a people. So if my gifting was exactly the same as Pastor John’s, you’d just be getting double of what he does, but because He’s made us so different – what He’s put in me and what He’s put in Pastor John is so different. The differences together make up what you all need to be prepared as a people spiritually. So, He had us both born; He brought Pastor John by a way and He brought me by a way and He prepared us. I was born, my parents were pastors in the AFM. Pastor John was born five years after me and his parents were in the Assemblies of God – and we grew up and He had us come up a way and He prepared us. He prepared us so that we could prepare a people. Glory to God. And you know what our rewards are going to be too in Heaven one day? He’s going to say, “You prepared them John and Sharon, you prepared them. Look, look at Simon and Tarryn. Look at the Roos family. Look, look at the Caveney family. Look at the Van Stadens. Look at Elrika. Look, look you’ve prepared them.” A people for me! Praise the Lord. Glory to God.

So now for twenty years in the ministry, Pastor John and I have gone about listening, obeying the Lord. I find God quite nostalgic with me these days, bringing things to my remembrance and saying, “You know, and it has, it’s been twenty years next year. And it’s been… ” And me being quite nostalgic with Him and we’ve gone about listening and obeying the Lord, seeing Him, knowing His will progressively, hearing messages from His mouth and hearing the voice from His lips – and bringing it, and bringing it – week after week, after week after week, you know. Glory to God. Laying strong foundations in building. That’s what you do it with the Word and the messages and we brought to you what we have learned from our spiritual fathers to a people. We brought it to you people.

Now Pastor John’s quotation from the 25th of August; he said this, “Here is a quotation from somebody I don’t know and the quotation says this…” So when I first heard it, I did the same thing as you – I went “What, what, what, what?” Okay, you didn’t immediately just get it and it went off in your spirit? Come on, come on, come on, please. Okay, okay neither did I. It went like (Pastor Sharon suggesting it went over her head) Wow! Okay, but that’s why I was in it the next week. So he did a quotation here; he says, “Here’s a quotation from somebody I don’t know and the quotation says this: “True civilisation hangs suspended from generation to generation by the gossamer strand of memory; if only one cohort of fathers and mothers fails to convey to its children what it has learned from its parents, then the great chain of learning and wisdom snaps. The guardians of human knowledge stumble only one time and in their fall, collapses the whole edifice of knowledge and understanding…

Then he said this, “It’s quite significant actually that it doesn’t talk about Google. It doesn’t talk about what you can learn on the internet. This talks about a learning that is given from generation to generation. It’s not just the transmission of information. Information – you can get from anywhere, you can get information from all kinds of sources. Knowledge and understanding is a completely different experience. Knowledge and understanding is a different way that you receive information. Information is something given, then it is explained, then it is helped to be understood and that is real learning. Real learning is not “Well, I’ll just find out what information says about it.” Learning is something that comes from the whole experience, the whole experience of what I’ve just spoken to you about: a messenger, a message, the part of the messenger, the part of the people, it’s the whole experience.

It’s not something you can Google: “How to be a Christian?” I Googled it, I’m fine thank you! I said to Pastor John, “My lovey, when we go on TBN, they’re going to kick me off the very first time, because I’m going to look into that lens, and I’m going to go, ‘and TBN is not your church and TBN is not your church; you should be planted by now.’ And when they move the camera off me, I’ll just… ‘I told you, TBN is not your church, you’re supposed to have those in authority over you that are watching out for your souls.’ And then when they move the camera off me, I’ll go, ‘and I told you, TBN is not your church… [Congregation laughs.] You’re not planted in TBN.’

So he said this… “it comes with a whole experience”. And then he said this, “There are things that are passed from generation to generation – this is knowledge and understanding that is available in churches where there are constructive, purposefully developed relationships, that you can get to learn how you can pray. You can get to learn how you can live for God successfully. You can get to learn how you can live by faith. How did you get to learn? Not from the internet, not from Googling it, from us living together and living by faith together. And Pastor John sharing his life you. This is how my faith works for me. He’s not sharing that to impress you, he’s sharing to be an example to you – Faith works people. Sharing with you prayer, praying with you praying, this is how we pray together. This how you can pray when you’re on your own, so sharing our life experience, our lives with you; not just the message. Sharing our lives with you; not just a message. And this is how we did finances, and this is how we believe God, sharing our lives with you; not just a message. Hallelujah.

Having the whole experience through relationships with each other, Walking Together, those eleven, twelve messages of Pastor John, Walking Together.  Praise the Lord. So wonderful to walk together with you. We’re walking this life, this Christian life together. Passing, we’re passing to you what we’ve learnt from one generation, we’re passing it to you. And we are passing it to your children, and you’re going to pass it to your children, living by faith. Your children’s children that’s what He promises in Isaiah 59, the last verse says  21 this is My covenant and league I make with you, My word shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your  children, or your children’s children.(Isaiah 59:21) (AMPC).

This is how I learnt to live by faith, Brynn, this is how I learnt to live by faith, Garth. This is how I learnt to live by faith you all. When you pass it down, you pass it down to your children’s children, you pass way of life from the Bible down. Wow! Glory to God. And so, He says here: This kind of revelation knowledge of how you can live in the order of God, is not something you learn from a set of teachings, this is a level of discipleship that is learnt through human interaction. That’s why we, Pastor John and I, we groan, and we sigh when there are some people who do not go to prayer connect group because they don’t actually understand what they, they not interacting with. They don’t actually realise what they not going to get, because they are not there. They not interacting with the rest of Body as we’re going into pray together, and speak to God about the Nation, speak to God, ask Him things for Brother Jerry, Pastor John, and for each other. This is a level of discipleship learnt through human interaction, and it’s through relationships and its through people living together, by the Word of God.

Don’t you just want to say, “Thank you Lord,” that we can live together by the Word of God, we can live together, and when I can see your weakening, and you’re going through a trial, I say come on, I say come on, come on, encouraging you in your faith, don’t stop now, keep your switch of faith turned on. Come on Jo Jo, I’m not trying to have a friendship with her, and sympathise with her, and fellowship by the Word, come Jo Jo, come on! Hallelujah. Hey! Wow!

So, this is how God gave me the quote that Pastor John brought, listen to it:

“True Christianity hangs suspended from generation to generation, by the gossamer strand of memory – what I can remember. If only one cohort, (a cohort is a group of people that have the same characteristics), if only one group of spiritual fathers and mothers fails to convey to their children what they learned, well their spiritual children what they learned from their spiritual leaders, and then the great chain of learning and wisdom snaps. If the guardians of spiritual knowledge stumbles only one time, in their fall collapses the whole edifice of knowledge and understanding.”

Brother Keith Moore was saying it’s been a shock to him that he goes to churches and has young people run up to him, and they say we didn’t hear about faith, they didn’t know about the Word of faith, we didn’t know you can live by faith, we didn’t know that faith is the substance of things you are expecting, and the evidence, we didn’t know that faith comes from hearing and by hearing the Words of God. We didn’t know you can sow and grow God’s Word. Somebody failed to convey it and transfer it to them. Somebody failed and an edifice of wisdom and understanding and knowledge snapped, snapped.

What is a gossamer strand? I had to go and look up gossamer. Gossamer is something delicate, it’s easy to fly off in the wind, it’s like a butterfly’s wings, gossamer, sheer; its delicate. So, if, a gossamer’s strand of memory, if I have to come to you and say I remember the days of God use to manifest Himself in me and you know, we use to pray… Just gossamer strand gone. Right?

So, he said this to me, Pastor John said: “I’ve been telling you a long-time church what God’s busy with us here is not just for us; its for the generations to come. God needs a people that will stand for our message. What is our message? House of prayer, house of faith, house of praise, and rejoicing with many other things thrown into that mix. My, my, my, my, my. So, its for generations to come, he needs a people, preparing for the Lord, a people, who can stand for our message and the way we have created relationships based on the Word of God. You’re not a church that is a programme driven church; we’re not a church which is about hype and awe; we’re a church that’s based on the Word of God, based on the relationship that we have with God, and we have a relationship with each other in God. It’s a generational church this; it’s a generational church, why?  Because we have fully embedded generational truths into it. That’s the reason it’s a generational church, we’ve embedded, we’ve given our lives for this, to embed generational truths because faith is generational.  It’s in God, it comes from God, it went to Noah, it went to Abraham, it went, …faith with Abraham, it went faith, it came down, it came down faith. It came down, came down, it came to us. Faith is generational, it’s…, glory to God. Hallelujah. To believe God is generational, spiritual, generational, we’ve embedded it, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer. Prayer is generational, it’s come from God in God, talk to you, talk to me, you talk, you talk, you talk to me. Powerful spirit being, recreated Son of God, speak to God. Ah – Wow! You don’t know what to say, let your spirit speak to me, oh, give you powerful communication. (Pastor Sharon praying in the Spirit). Come to me, speak my Word to me, put me in remembrance, come, come, speak, speak – generational truth.

Praise is generational. Oh, my, my, my, my, my, my my. That’s why we’re a generational church. Glory. Glory to God. In the mix of all of this, of a house of prayer and faith; they were gossamer strands in the beginning but they’ve become quite a thick cord right now. So I’m trying to just get this to you. It’s become quite a thick cord now. Living by faith has become quite a thick cord as we listen to it, as we heed it, as we live it, as we walk, as we listen to it, as we share our lives with you and you say, “Well, I can do that,” and we’re living it together. It’s not just a gossamer strand in your life. It becomes quite a thick rope, a thick cord, you know. Because you hear it again and you hear it again and you just take that one and before you know it, you’ve got this thick rope in your life and you can’t help it but you live by faith. You can’t help it but you live by faith, you can’t help it but you pray. You talk to God and He talks to you, and you hear His voice and you know His voice and that’s it. And you can’t help it because you hear about praise, and praise is the joy of the Lord. And rejoicing and the joy of the Lord is your strength and you can’t help it because it was maybe a gossamer strand but it’s becoming a thick cord in your life. Generational truths. Glory to God.

And then, in the mix of all that, we learnt about identity change and irrational honour and we learnt about walking together and we learnt about unity and the fear of the Lord and ‘fear Me here first’. If you fear Me here first (Pastor Sharon sings). We don’t love money. You don’t love mammon. We love God. The blessing of the Lord. Abundant harvest. All of these things – it just gets passed down, and passed down, and passed down. And if you get tired of it, it’s because you’re not receiving, believing, loving, obeying. You stopped that cycle. Now you want something different, somewhere else. Who’s preaching something different to this? And that’s why Pastor John says, people that leave this kind of teaching are looking for a different God. “Oh no, we’re not. It’s the same God.” No, you’re looking for a God that will not tell you to live by faith. You’re looking for a God that – you don’t want this God this way any more.

So now, we all, these are now our characteristics. It is who we have become. It is what we always will be. We’ve become a people of faith – that’s how you become. Because you become by the messages, you become people of praise, a people of rejoicing, a people of faith, a people of prayer. We’ve become it. That’s who we are now. It’s not just what we do – it’s who we are. We are becoming a people  prepared for the Lord. We can expect Him – on the basis of that I’m here to tell you with great confidence – we can expect Him to manifest Himself mightily. We can have confidence to make a demand on Him. We’re preparing, we’re getting ready. We’re getting ready for You to come. We want You, more than we have You. You can expect Him to come. Why? Because He wants to. He’s coming. Garth is busy with a song right now and I’m just chomping at the bit to, for us to sing it. It talks about I’m wrapped up, tangled up, intertwined with You. I’m into You, You’re into me, (Pastor Sharon sings), I’m coming, I’m running. Glory to God. Here He is, He is on His way. The Message Bible says, immense as He comes into view. He is coming. He is coming.

We are this kind of tribe. A tribe is a group of people with a specific set of characteristics – it’s what they do; it’s who they are. It’s how they sound. It’s how they move. It’s who they are. That’s why you don’t want to marry out of your tribe, people. You don’t want to marry out of your tribe. God had wisdom when He said to the Old Testament people, “Don’t marry out of your tribes. It is better if you marry in your tribe. Because you marry out of your tribe – they pull you out.” This is not our way, this is not who we are, this is not how we do things. I remember Matt with Kate. I mean, he fell hard. And he didn’t care; he didn’t care; he fell hard. He didn’t care that he fell hard. He came to me, I’ll never forget, I could just eat him up, he’s so cute you know, but I had to be serious. Because he was serious. And it was serious. He said, “But I told her Pastor Sharon, I’m planted. This is who I am and this is how we do things and it’s the faith and it’s the this and it’s the that and he was just preaching all our messages.” It was like, Wow, you’ve been listening. “And I told her, and I told her.” And he had already made up his mind, “I’m smitten, but if you don’t come, then you stay with your tribe. You stay with your tribe. I’ll stay with my tribe. I’ll find someone in my tribe so that we can worship God like this in the generation of faith; in the generation of prayer.” Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory, glory glory, glory, glory, glory. Thank you, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You. Oh hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory. Hallelujah.

And you make it a wonderful thing, you see. You make it a wonderful thing. Jeanine also always knew she’s never going to leave us, because God told her. He said, “You’re not going to, you’ll always be here.” So, when she met Hein, “Well I’ll just always be there.” And Hein has been here ever since. Glory to God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Oh, and so. And so. We’ve walked together. We’ve walked together. We had Pastor John in 2010 – It’s a shift of God, Church. And we heard Brother Jerry in 2011, Our exodus has begun. And God had me say then, we are going in together. We are going in together. And we were not as together then as we are now. Our words change our world. Our words change our world.

I remember, I had Pastor John’s messages transcribed and I remember one Sunday morning, many years ago, and I brought one and I said, and I had on the spine here – the apostle’s message. And I said, “This is what I do, this is what I do.” It was at Witbank and they were like – they didn’t want it. I said, “This is what I do with Pastor John’s messages, this is what I do. Look how I underline, look, look, look, look.” And they were like, “Okay, you know, whatever floats your boat. Whatever floats your boat.” You know what I mean? “Don’t bring it near me. I’m not doing that. Not applicable. Not applicable.” And I would just transcribe all of Pastor John’s messages because that’s what God told me to do. And now we have fanatics. We have fanatics now. Now I am saying where are those messages? Let them come – come, come, come – they can’t get to me by Wednesday; I need them by Monday. I need them by Tuesday. Come, come, come, come. And now we’ve got these fanatics and everybody that is on the transcription team goes, “Whoa, what we see when we transcribe; whoa what we see when we transcribe,” and all the messages are available to everybody now.

We are producing after our own kind. That’s what a tribe is. Glory, glory. We are producing after our own kind. We belong to the tribe of Brother Jerry Savelle because he’s just like that. We belong to the tribe of Kenneth Copeland. We belong to the tribe of Kenneth Hagin. We are the tribe. We are in that tribe. Hallelujah. Passed down from generation to generation. We are going to have no gossamer strands here, glory, because these are generational truths. Ha, this is good stuff hey? Glory glory.

I think I’m done for today – very different to this morning, very different, very different. I do want to remind you, okay, no let me carry on a little bit here. Now we are here, so it was 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, it was 4 x 4 x 40. It was; …we’re on this journey together. Those of you that came in afterwards, you don’t have to feel bad that you weren’t there, then. You’ve come into an environment and a tribe that’s already adopted certain characteristics; we’ve got quite sharp features. We look like this. We do. You’ll come into our conversation and the way we speak quickly. That’s why Pastor John said this is the perfect environment for a baby Christian to be born into. We know who we are, we know where we are going, we know what to do, we’re following the Word, we do this, we like this, we speak like this – welcome. Welcome to Heritage of Faith. No we don’t do that; we don’t talk like that.

God loves it. He loves us. He loves us. He keeps telling me, “I’ve chosen you.” “I’ve chosen you Heritage of Faith people.” “I’m coming. I’m coming.” I’m out of my skin. My kind of people, who think like Me, who look like Me, who want Me. Yes! Yes! You are not ashamed of Me like this. You are not ashamed of Me; you love My Holy Spirit. You love when My Holy Spirit moves in joy and laughter and praise, and you love it when worship and praise is on earth as it is in Heaven. You are not ashamed of Me. No. Bring it on. We are like David. Michal, the wife, wanted to say, “Oh you dancing like that.” He said Honey Bunch, you haven’t seen anything yet. What you saw me do today, I’m going to get more crazy tomorrow and in the months and years to come.” And it says she became barren; she never bore fruit. She never; she became barren. There’s fruitfulness and a freedom in the Holy Ghost I’m telling you – living waters.

And that is something in the weeks to come now I’m going to be transferring to you, legacy of High Praise. I’m going to be transferring it to you by way of teaching, learning, experiencing it together – the power of high praise. God’s going to bump us up because He said, “Don’t let it be a gossamer thread. It is essential for My people to be entering into high praise; experiencing high praise,” and I’m going to teach you what high praise is. I’m going to give you the Hebrew word and definition of what it is, when it takes place. There are many different Hebrew words for praise but the “Tehillâh” – the high praise of God, is what He inhabits.

And God said, “Don’t let it be a gossamer thread. Don’t let it go. Bring it strong to the people. They have need of it for victory. They have need of it for victory,” along with prayer and faith – high praise.

Can I pray for you? Father I pray for Your precious people here today. And Joyce and her beautiful boys. Hey. Wow! We’ve been so privileged hey, Joyce. Joyce and your beautiful boys; we’ve watched them grow up. Lillian, Daniel, and I know your sister, and the Forgey family. He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming. Hallelujah hey Melusi; he’s coming, big time. You know when Pastor John said that day, “The big thing’s coming; the big thing’s coming,” – I’m like in that message and I’m like “Woo, woo God, God” – and He said yes it’s Me; it’s Me, I’m coming.

Father I thank You for these precious people; these precious people. I bless them each and every one – families, those that are, …you know the book of Psalms says He puts the solitary into families – widows and orphans and you know, every single one part of this family of Heritage of Faith – I bless them each and every single one and I declare over them today that the Word and the Blood of Jesus surrounds them and protects them this whole week; the entire week. Thank You that angels are encamped around every single one to keep them, in all their ways. Father, I thank You for extreme protection and extreme providence in the lives of every single Heritage of Faith person, Father. I release fully with my faith now, the power of the Blood of Jesus to surround them and set everything right for them this week Father. Hallelujah. Hallelujah Father. No weapon formed against any of them will prosper in the Name of Jesus. Glory, glory.

And I thank You for this Word that they received tonight that will settle down in them that will take root and bear fruit, Father; that they will love this Word. That they will be haunted by the Holy Spirit with this Word Father, even in their sleep Father they will hear these Words which You brought them today Father. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And that they will take hold of it and not let it go and let it grow Father; let it grow in them and hear it and love it and receive it and obey it. And I speak fruitfulness to Your people; abundant harvest Father. In the precious Name of Jesus, and we all say, Amen.

God bless you all. Bye everybody.