Scripture Reference: Proverbs 8:12-13, 17-21 (NKJV); Ephesians 2:5-7 (MSG); Ephesians 2:5-7 (MSG); Proverbs 3: 1-10 (NKJV); Genesis 26:1-14 (NKJV); Luke 10:38-42 (NKJV); Luke 10:38-42 (MSG); Luke 10:38-42 (TPT)
Hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. You know, that is so powerful because we don’t fight with swords. And with guns and all kinds of things, we fight with words. And when we fight with words, we fight in a light. Hallelujah. And when we speak the Word of God, there is nothing that can stand against us. There is nothing that can defeat us. We are undefeatable. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. We fight in the light, we fight in the light, we don’t try and live in the darkness. We fight in the light, Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Glory to God. I mean, with a victory song like that. You know, you want to dance all over the show. Run around and go crazy for a few minutes. You know, Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. You may be seated. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
It’s always good to be in the house of the Lord. It’s good to be with the people of God. Glory to Jesus. It’s a good place to be. It’s a place of privilege, it’s a place of honour to be in a house of the Lord with God’s people. To worship Him, to be with people that will worship Him with you. Hallelujah. There is a great strength that comes from worshiping God together in a corporate space. Hallelujah. It’s greater than any other. Amen. Amen. Well, I’m going to show you first a short, short video clip. There’s a lot that we’re going to share with you over the weeks ahead, but I wanted to just give you a little short clip feedback of our destiny tour with MiXchanges and so let’s roll it. We’ll do this, this one. One, two, three roll. [Video plays].
Hallelujah. Well, I mean, that’s 11 days in about two minutes. And that just gives you kind of a taste of what, where we went and, and some of the things that we did. Obviously, we’d like to spend a bit more time sharing with you all the things that happened. And as we have more time over the, perhaps over the weekend, and all over the weeks to come, we’ll be sharing more with you, so that you can get a better idea of how God moved, how He spoke, how He touched, and how we changed. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
Because giving a, giving a just an idea of the places that some of the places we went to and in the way that we traveled. That was a long convoy. Let me tell you, that was a long convoy. There were sometimes when we were on our way to Merry Pebbles, from the Manyaleti, we didn’t show anything of the Manyeleti here, but when we were on from the Manyaleti they were, it was a day when they were stopping traffic, and they were doing strikes and all that kind of stuff. And we had to go through Bush Park Ridge.
Praise the Lord, we had no, absolutely nothing stopping us. We had no incidents, we had no issues. God was with us all the way. But, you know, cars will come around a circle and then you get behind another car that’s not part of your convoy, and so on and so on. And there was times when our cars were like, two three kilometers apart as a convoy. And then you got to turn right someplace. And then you go to sit there and wait, and you wait, and you wait 10 minutes. And then finally Matthew is at the back of the convoy arrives. And he says, I’m on. You know, now we can go further. So, yeah, it’s quite a, it’s quite a logistical thing to move that many people, but we had the grace of God. And we just had a really special time. Praise the Lord.
There is no greater gift that you and I have, there is no greater gift than the gift of salvation. There is no greater gift of a relationship that you and I can have than the relationship that we have with a mighty living God. That’s it right there. That’s the beginning and the end of all things right there. We have life that He gave us. And we have the opportunity to live a great gift of faith, and life and salvation, and we can live in Him. That’s the greatest there is. Hallelujah.
And so I trust that, as I minister this morning, that once again, the word of God is going to be significant in the way that it brings us to a new understanding of things to come. Hallelujah.
I want to just share another significant thing that’s happening next Sunday, we are sending our missions team into Africa. So, we have two parts of our missions team and your missions ministry. One is local missions ministry or that we as a local people, local church, we’re going to encourage you over the months ahead, we’re going to encourage you to get more involved in what we’re doing with the local missions and outreach and what we do in the ministry. And then we have cross border missions. You know, Brother Brother Jerry’s mandate is, you know, he’s a missionary to Africa. Well, where can we be a missionary to, if we’re in Africa? Right. So, we do cross border missions in Africa, as opposed to missions at home. Amen. So, we got a clip for you. Then we’ll just show you what, what’s going to happen. [Video plays].
Praise the Lord. Well, that is our local missions. Our missions on Sunday is going to be into Malawi. We’re going to go through Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and they’re going to be gone for 23 days. We’re going to pray for them next Sunday and we’ll give you an idea next Sunday, when we pray for them, we’ll give you a map of where they’re going to be, what days they’re going to be at. We had such an amazing encounter this week. It’s been on my heart for some time that as we’ve gone into missions and what I’m about to tell you is going to sound like, well, that’s the way it always should have been. But as a ministry, these are things you grow into rather than things that immediately make themselves known to you, you know. But it’s been in my heart for a long time that when our people go into cross border Africa that we have a way of remaining in contact with them all the time.
I want to say, you know, I’m grateful to Syd and Pat – there they are – to Syd and Pat for being responsive to and responding to the call of God as missionaries because in the beginning they were willing to travel with a tent, with a camping tent, trailer a caravan and they would just be gone for a long time. They were going into unchartered territory, territory that we now know as familiar to us, they went into territory that was unfamiliar to us. They went there and made connections with people. They went to take the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to people that we had not previously touched as a ministry. We kind of put them in their vehicle and most of the time, at that time, our ministry could only really afford it. That’s why I’m so grateful to them because we could only afford for them to go on a camping kind of self sustainable basis as opposed to what they’re doing now. I’m grateful to God that they were willing and able and capable of doing that.
Over the years our ministry has progressed into Africa. It’s always been my heart from the beginning that number one, we are able to stay in contact with them, reach them and they’ll be able to reach us at any given moment. Some of these things have been in place already for some time but some of them are just coming into place now; have insurance policies, have medical facilities in place that if something went wrong they would be taken care of and their families would be taken care of. We are able to – this trip – we are able to give them technology that allows them to not only allow us to know where they are at all times but also, if they have an emergency that they can just press a button on a Garmin device and it sends via satellite an emergency signal directly to a Garmin response facility, who will immediately try and make contact with them. If they can’t make contact with them, they will go to the next level of assistance, which will be to activate an emergency rescue service so that if anything needed to be done that they can be reached and that we can get to them. Hallelujah.
You know, that has been on my heart that we would get to this level of being able to look after the people that God has given us in our care to go and serve the world with the Gospel. Amen. Praise the Lord. So, if you want to know where your tithes and offerings go to, this is part of what it’s doing. Amen. Praise the Lord.
Okay, it’s time for me to preach the Word. You’re ready for the Word this morning? [Congregation: “Yes, Pastor John.”] (Pastor John changes microphones) They switch me off to remind me that I actually have got another microphone on. This is a small detail but because of this microphone – you can just turn up a little bit if it’s possible – because of the way this microphone works, when the sound systems are all going and I come up here and I speak, I have to speak through a handheld mic because the two systems give feedback to each other. That’s the best way I can describe it today. But so, praise the Lord. Thanks for switching me off and for switching me on. Hallelujah.
Will you agree with me that everything that I say today will be said by the leading of the Holy Spirit, under His direction and His full control. That my body and my mouth and my mind are just His vessels and that everything that is said and done today will be to His glory, will honour Him, will exalt Him, give praise to Him, bring light to you, bring change to you, bring revelation truth to you. Will you agree with me that this will happen with us today? And that you have hearts ready to receive, ears to hear and that there will be no other distractions that will come against you in your mind and any other way in Jesus’ name. Amen. Hallelujah.
Over the last number of weeks I’ve been sharing with you and we’ve been talking about weeks and months that God is doing relationship restoration. I’ve been talking to you about a beloved person who is precious and adored and loved, is highly regarded, admired, esteemed, valued. I’ve also been talking to you about honour. The two are very close to each other because honour refers to holding in high esteem and having a high regard for, respect, look up to, think highly of and appreciate. I’ve also been talking to you in the context of the relationship model that God gave me many years ago which is to touch, integrate ways, strategic intentions, divine productivity and then covenant. These are amazing and wonderful truths that God has given.
I’d like to read to you – it’s not in my notes that I sent out to them – but I’d like to read to you from Proverbs chapter eight. Last week, I said to you, so we’re moving into faith, finances and fasting next weekend and the Lord is really helping me to connect relationships and the honour that we have for God. He’s helping me to connect it with faith and finances. I’d like you to read with me Proverbs eight, verse twelve. I’m going to read a few scriptures here. 12“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion. 13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate. I’m going to go down to verse eighteen, verse seventeen is better. 17 I love those who love me. What does your Bible say? 17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. Hey, it’s not just those who seek Me, it’s those who seek Me diligently.
In other words, diligence is an important component of the way you seek. It’s not just, you know, sometimes if I walk into the house and say, “Sharon, I’m home. Hi, babe.” I’m not seeking. You know, that’s just letting you know I’m around. But if I, “Hi, babe,” I hear nothing and I start to walk and say, “Well, why is she not answering me?” Well, maybe she’s in her study down in the garage area and so maybe I’ve got to go down there or call her, just let her know I’m home. I’ve got to seek her, it’s different. If I still can’t find her, then I will start to diligently seek her because now, why is she not here? Why have we not communicated about this? 17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. 18 Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness. This scripture says both natural world riches and eternal riches and righteousness are with God. Right? Are we reading the same Bible? Okay? So, if this is the way God speaks, then we can be rich – financially and spiritually. We can be both but it takes those who love Him and seek Him diligently to have both.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver. 20 I [d]traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, 21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries (Proverbs 8:12-13, 17-21 NKJV). Treasuries, treasuries. 21 … That I may fill their treasuries. This doesn’t sound like God wants us to be poor. This sounds like God wants us to be rich. But He doesn’t just want us to be rich. He wants us to be rich because we love Him.
He wants us to be rich because we seek Him diligently. Because then when we have those kinds of riches, we know what to do with them. What to do with riches is a big responsibility. People who don’t have money have a very limited view of the responsibility of finances, in this sense – that their focus on riches or the focus on money is survival. So, it’s all about allocation of scarce resources. Allocation of scarce resources.
If you make money, from a poverty, where you are once poor, and now you become rich if you make it without loving God and without diligently seeking Him, the way that you will manage wealth will be out of the same poverty. You may change your circumstances; you may have a nice house; have nice cars; you may have a lot more other goodies that your money can afford. But you will still view money through poverty, through a scarcity mentality. It’s the allocation of scarce resources.
Last week, I said something, and I said, money for a Christian, money’s not a problem. The problem is a relationship problem. Well, I’ve just got to reading to you what the Bible says. The Bible says, clearly God says, “Money’s with Me, wealth is Mine. I’ve got riches plenty, so that I can fill your treasuries,” God says, “But I want you to love Me and I want you to seek Me.” God says. So, this is not a money problem. This is a relationship problem. It’s the way you relate to God, Who has unlimited resources. How many? How much? How much limitation does God have with resources? Come on now.
If you read in the book of Job, it’s quite an amazing passage of scripture to read actually. From about Job, I haven’t read it in a short while, but from about Job chapter 34 onwards, if you start reading there, you will find out when God begins to speak to Job, He speaks to Job and He says, “Were you there present, when I weighed the heavens and the earth and I drew out the heavens? Were you there when I made the strength of a horse and made him breathe out of his nostrils and paw the ground with his strength? Were you there, and it goes on and gone on.” And God talks to Job about the creation of all things that He made by Himself. And He said, “Now you presume to actually think that My counsel is not worth anything listening to? That your wisdom of what you think you know about Me is that great?” And then, of course, Job repents. And he said, “There was a time, there was a time when I only knew about You. But now I come to know You.” Hallelujah.
So, money is not an issue for the Christian. How much money you should have. Is not a question that Christians should ask. You shouldn’t even ask the question about money. You shouldn’t ever need to actually have any conflict about whether money should be yours in abundance. If you have a relationship with God, He will give you His view of wealth. He will make wealth be your portion. And the Bible says, also in the book of Proverbs, no the book of Isaiah, that He will make you wealthy and He add no sorrow to it. The Book of Proverbs, He will add no sorrow to it. That means you won’t have to work for your money the way the world works for money. How does He make money come to you then? You love Him. You seek Him diligently and then He pours out wealth into your treasuries. Hallelujah.
You may say – I’m preaching good already this morning. Hallelujah. You remember when I talked to you last week, about Ephesians chapter 2. And I particularly focused on verses 6-8. Because He died for us. I’m going to just read it out of the Message translation. Verse 5-8. 5 He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! 6 Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. 7 Now God has us where he wants us. Where? In the highest heaven, in the company of Jesus, our Messiah, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:5-7 MSG). He wants to shower what? Grace and kindness upon us.
If you have any alternative view of God, it’s because you’re viewing God through a performance mindset. A worldview that is about – what I perform, I reap the rewards from. You may be viewing God from a perspective or you might have a relationship with God from the perspective of what is fair and not fair. What is right and what is wrong? Well, if you have a relationship with God, I’m trusting these messages like that, I’m trusting these messages will help you change your worldview. God is not a fair God. I’ve said this many times and every time I say it, I hear an earthquake because so much of the human experience is based on right and wrong. Fairness and inequality. God is not to be judged by our version of fairness. Because, what do we think God thinks about being fair in any situation? Who determines what’s fair? If I work hard, work hard, work hard, and I earn a little money, someone else’s working hard and they earn a lot of money. You might say, “God’s not fair, I’m working harder or just as hard as someone else. They’re earning much more than me. God is not a fair God.”
Can I tell you that right now there is a clash of ideologies happening in the earth. And a lot of the clash is about what’s right and wrong, and what’s fair. Because there is a move in Europe. And there’s a move now in America with the current government that’s in place, that they want to bring socialism as the order, which means big government controls all choices. And the whole idea about it is to not have a capitalistic view of life, but to have a shared view of wealth so that everybody has an equal share of wealth. So therefore, unions have to have a big say. And then there’s another ideology that says big government tells you what to do, whether you like it or not, and we will force it down your throat. And that’s Russia and China, North Korea. They have a dictatorial mindset, which says, “We know so much better than you, we will tell you how to live your life. But of course, there’s always the elite. And the whole function is to gather all the power in the hands of a few, so that all the masses of the people may bow down to the power of the few.
Well, isn’t that what happened when Lucifer tried to make a claim against the throne of God? He said, “I’m equal to You. And so, it’s not right that everybody worships You only. I deserve as much worship as You do. I will make myself equal to the Most High God.” And so, the two wills, they couldn’t. There is only one will in the universe, the will of God. He is the author. He is the founder. He is the beginning and the end of all things. It is not something you can understand intellectually, because you cannot fathom God intellectually. It is something you believe spiritually, the real you.
I read it to you from another translation, verse 6, 6 He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ! 7 Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of his grace and kindness, which was showered upon us in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:6-7 TPT). Thank You, Lord.
I spoke to you last week. And the weeks before I spoke to you about honour your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth. I’ve been speaking to you about honour. Because honour is much more than having a relationship that’s based on equality, or fairness, or right or wrong. I have honour for my wife, even if she treats me wrong. Hello. Honour is not about how well you perform. That’s respect. Honour goes way beyond respect. Honour goes way beyond recognition. But you can’t have honour unless you have recognition. You got to recognise who God has given to you. You have to recognise who you are in God.
You won’t honor your mother and father unless you honor God first and recognize His word that if you honor your mom and dad, your parents that you will have a long life with fullness. You see the law of recognition has to work before you can understand honor. And then I talked to you about and I read to you Psalm 3, My son do not forget my, Proverbs 3, I beg your pardon. 1 My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. And then I go down to verse 9, verse 8. 8 It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.9 Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine (Proverbs 3: 1-2, 8-10 NKJV).
Does that sound to like to you? Does that sound to you like God is wanting us to have limited resources in our hands? Or does it sound like to you that God wants us to have abundance? If you will stick with me today, if you will stick with me and if you will keep working with me and with a spirit of God as He ministers through this vessel over the next weekend, in particular, I’m trusting that you will have a shift and you will begin to see that anything that is a scarcity mindset, a poverty mindset, a fear mindset, a right or wrong mindset and a fairness mindset. These things are a worldview that you have been, you have been continuously bombarded was from when you were a little kid. And you have to be delivered and set free from that worldview to be able to have God’s view that gives you a world, a view of the world, seated with Him in heavenly places. There is a level of trust and honour that comes with understanding that, and it will change your whole way that you see your future. It will, it will change the whole way you see your future. Hallelujah. I’m going to read to you a number of scriptures this morning and I’m trusting God that I’ll get, I’ll get through most of this today. What I don’t get through today, I’ll get through, we will start with on the weekend. But I’m going to read you the story. I’m going to tell you the story and read you, select the scriptures out of the book of Genesis Chapter 26.
And this is about Isaac. And Brother Jerry is probably, well certainly his message on sowing in famine was one of the greatest messages that changed my life. 1 There was a, verse 1, 1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine the word famine means hunger, or lack. that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 Then the Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you”. Okay, hold on a minute here. There’s a famine. Egypt has always been a land of abundance, because there’s, the Nile River would have lots of land and fertile soil. So, even in famine, Egypt was the place people went to. Famine, you go to the place where you can be sustained through lack and hunger. And when the famine is over you go back to your land. But God said don’t do that.
Hold on a minute, logic, famine, logic, I see this in my circumstances. No rain, hard soil. No can plow here, no can work here and livestock no can eat here. Logic, circumstances. This, I can’t stay here. So, he goes on his way to Egypt. He stops with the Abimelech. And when he comes there, God says “Don’t go to Egypt. Don’t go to Egypt.” Stay in the land here that I’ve given you. There’s so much here for me that I can teach on because he comes to Abimelech the king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 Then the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, live in the land of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 26:1-2 NKJV). I want you to notice that he went to a worldly king but God said you stay in the land that out tell you to stay.
Anyway, there’s a whole lot of stuff that happens here. He’s married to a very gorgeous, beautiful wife. She, by all accounts from what the Bible tells us, she was so beautiful that all men desired her. Or all men certainly looked on her beauty and thought how great was this beautiful woman. And it caused Isaac to have some, some challenges because he was, he was afraid that these men would kill him, so that they could have his wife. Come on now! That means that she was pretty gorgeous. She is. And he said, verse 7, 7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” 8 Now it came to pass… Long time Abimelech they are living with each other, and Abimelech sees Isaac having affection towards his wife. If you study it a bit further in the Hebrew, what was happening is what he saw was them having laughing, joyful, affectionately playful interaction, that obviously only exists with two people that have had intimacy, and that continue to have intimacy, and that have a very wonderful relationship.
This is what he saw. He didn’t, he saw them having joyful affection. Have you, have you seen young people that are really kind of getting to know each other and they, they already know that they can spend their life together, but, but they’re not yet together, but they’re nearly getting there. Have you seen the kind of joyful affection that they have? It’s like, an anticipation it’s a, it’s a, and then if you see … I’m just trying to create what the Hebrew says. Really. This is what the Hebrew says. If you study it, you’ll find out. And it’s like; Have you seen a young man like then he tickles the girl and she laughs and slaps him on the shoulder or something like that. “Nee man. Don’t do that.” You know, playful, joyful, affectionate interaction, something that two people who know each other, not the way a brother and sister would behave, but two people that know each other. So, the king sees this going on.
And he calls her and he says, 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ ”10 And Abimelech said, He has an understanding of what is happening here and then he said “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
This is an important thing, because everything we’re talking about is relationships. Right? This Abimelech had an understanding of the relationship between Isaac and Rebecca, to the point where he said, any man who touches this man and his wife will immediately be put to death.
In other words, God has now effectively created a safety net, a relational safety net. 12 Then Isaac sowed in that land of famine and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. 13 The man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; 14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him (Genesis 26: 13-14 NKJV).
I want to tell you, when the Lord begins to bless you, and you’ve done nothing to earn it, other than obey Him. People start to envy your relationship that you have with the most high God. Envy drives you or envy will drive people that they see God’s blessing on your life. Because they can’t understand how God can bless you when their map, their worldview is about fairness, about right and wrong, about performance, and about how you get rewarded for what you put in. God does not bless you by what you put in. God blesses you, because you love Him, and you diligently seek Him. Then He can share things with you that brings wealth to you, that is beyond the performance system of the world. Come on, this should be good news to you. Because all he did was obey God. God said, don’t go to Egypt, where the abundance and the wealth is, in other words, don’t go there and have to go work hard there. The way everybody still has to go work hard there. Obey me, Isaac, stay in the land that I gave you. So, what do you do if God has given you land and it is the season to plant? Famine. Can’t plant here. No. Famine. Must plant here. Why? Because God said, “Stay here and I will bless you here.” Hey. Come on! Come On! I need you guys to be alert with me this morning.
So, he sows in famine. Everybody’s looking at him and says, you’re crazy, you’re mad, you shouldn’t be doing this work. Nobody plants when it’s famine because the rain is the thing that comes – there’s no rain. Excuse me, how did God actually water the earth in the Garden of Eden? It didn’t rain. He watered it from the ground. How did He prosper Isaac in the time when he sowed in obedience to God in a land of famine? It didn’t come because it only rained on his land. God supernaturally watered it. We need a supernatural component of God in every thing we do as Christians otherwise God can’t show Himself to be our living mighty God, if we just do what the world does and get the same results as the world and keep doing what the world does to get the same results as the world has.
Money should never be the issue with a Christian, relationship is. Remember, Isaac obeyed God. You know the reason I wanted to read you this thing about him and his wife, I wanted you to understand that even though he was being obedient to God there was a fear component to his life. How is it that you obey God to not go to Egypt and stay in this land, but you’ve got this fear issue where you will even tell people that your wife is your sister in case, they kill you for her? I want you to see that we all have a human component that we have to deal with in our lives, but it doesn’t stop us from loving God. It doesn’t stop us from diligently seeking God. You mustn’t let your human component – that component that allows you to have all manner of wrong thinking – you can’t let that component stop you from doing what God tells you to. The devil wants you to stop doing what God tells you to do. And so, when He does, you not only become wealthy, you become very, very, very wealthy. You become very prosperous so that other people begin to envy you with your wealth and your prosperity.
I’m wanting to read this to you out of a different translation. Out of the Message translation, I want to read to you from verse 12, “Isaac planted crops in that land and took in a huge harvest. God blessed him. The man got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy. He accumulated flocks and herds and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy him. They got back at him by throwing dirt and debris into all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham, clogging up all the wells. Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: “Leave. You’ve become far too big for us.” (Genesis 26:12-16 MSG).
He was saying, what Abimelech said, your blessing that you’ve got from God is a threat to me. You’ve become so strong in your walk with your God that we are afraid of you and your God. You must leave us because you are too powerful for us, and we envy the way that God blesses you. I know, I had a very, very, very real, very vulnerable conversation with the MiXchange’s and with people that are employed in the ministry at this point, and I was very grateful for it. But one of the questions that they had was if we obey God and God for example says that we must continue to be here, how is God going to take care of us? Many of these young people had either been to university or have the opportunity to go to university, or some of the people that are in the MiXchange program have given up their careers that they have built to come and give their best to God. Some of them have been in business and successful business for many years and find themselves being in the ministry here, serving in the ministry – how is God going to take care of us? How are we going to take care of our future?
And my answer to them and to you is, day by day. But you’ve got to have a long-term plan! You’ve got to find out what the world says success looks like! Really? How do they know what success looks like? Tell me what you think the world tells – what do you think the world says – I look at you and I say you’re successful – what do you think they say that is? They say, for you to be successful you have to go to university, you have to get a degree, or you have to start a job and you’ve got to be a entrepreneur but either which way it’s either you’ve got a degree so you can be employed securely in a good organisation and earn money, or you start a business and you work very, very, very hard at that business and then if you know the right people and you get a lucky break you’ll have enough money. Or you’ve got power and status and wealth in the community. Talk to me.
For them, everything is what they can see with their eyes. For them everything is what they can tell other people. God says, if you love Me and you diligently seek Me, I will give you wealth; so much wealth that you won’t – everything will be filled in your life. But Ps John, how’s it going to happen? If I’m living every day in my relationship with God – seeking Him, diligently seeking Him, loving Him – He will make it happen. But I need to know how it’s going to happen. Well then if that’s what you need to know, then you don’t have faith because faith doesn’t mean that you know what the long-term plan looks like. I want to be in control of my future therefore I will do everything that the world tells me so that I can live in the world at the highest level of success in the world. God says, what about all your highest level of success in Me?
Relationship, honour, means you will be rich spiritually and you will be rich with money – natural wealth. But how is it going to happen? How did it happen for Isaac? Supernaturally. Supernaturally. It’s time for us to live supernatural lives. Not just natural lives. Hallelujah.
So, you know the way that they got back at Isaac was they started to fill the wells of Isaac’s, that Abraham dug because they thought that his hundredfold return was based on the water that he was drawing from the wells, that’s not how you get a crop of a hundredfold – that you could draw enough water out of wells, that you have such a big harvest, that you are so prosperous, that you have so many cattle and people and everything that you serve, because you are drawing water out of wells. But what they said was, we don’t believe that it’s God, that’s prospering you, or we don’t want you to stay with us because of the God that is prospering you, we want you to leave us, so we are going to close the wells that you drink water with and that is your personal human life source. Where did it come from? Where was the source? Envy. That’s from the devil. Right? Envy, envy that God could bless him in such a supernatural way. Are you ready for me with the next bit? I wonder if you’re ready for the next bit of revelation.
Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So, remember money – money, money, – should never be the Christian’s problem – money is a relationship problem because the way that you relate to money is either through performance, right or wrong, fairness, reward for performance – all of the things that you have to do naturally. Come on. If our financial wellbeing is a relationship problem this is much easier to fix than you think. Well, it’s about opportunity, it’s about knowledge, it’s about information, it’s about performance – no, it’s not about that. You go and ask; let me tell you that same – we had such favour with the people at Garmin when we told them what we wanted the technology for, that, that. Ya, I don’t want to spill the beans yet but they gave us a special discount that only certain organizations can get and this guy he gave us a special discount so that we could buy all the technology that we needed for to make this happen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
Number one, you know it’s scarce to get all the products you want. We walked out of that shop with a box full of products. We got everything we wanted. The one thing we couldn’t get, they’re shipping it to us for free. It’s in stock in another store so they are just waiting for it to come to their store so they can ship it to us. Which will happen this week before we go before we leave on Sunday. Hallelujah.
Let me tell you, you go and try and buy a Garmin product at any store and try and get a discount on a Garmin product; don’t happen. Either, there’s a Garmin special or you don’t get a discount. It’s one of those products. It’s like Apple computers. When you’ve got such a high, high product value in the marketplace, you don’t discount it. You don’t have to. Hello? Hallelujah.
Are you ready? Luke chapter 10 verse 38. 38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you know, “Martha, Martha,” it’s like, “Martha, Martha. Listen up, Martha.” You know, listen up. You are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42 NKJV).
I’m going to read this to you in the New Living Translation, and The Passion Translation, then I’m going to come back and explain it to you. Not that it needs a whole lot of explanation. 38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, this is a different version of “Martha. Listen up.” “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42 NLT). Mary has discovered it. Mary has discovered it.
Let me read it to you out of the Passion translation. 38-39 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their journey, they came to a village where a woman welcomed Jesus into her home. Her name was Martha and she had a sister named Mary. Mary sat down attentively before the Master, absorbing every revelation he shared. 40 But Martha became exasperated by finishing the numerous household chores in preparation for her guests, so she interrupted Jesus. What!!! “You should tell her to get up and help me.” So, she interrupted Jesus and said “Lord, don’t you think it’s unfair, that my sister left me to do all the work by myself? You should tell her to get up and help me.” Lord, answer, “Martha, my beloved Martha. Why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions? Are they really that important? 42 Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet. She is undistracted, and I won’t take this privilege from her” (Luke 10:38-42 TPT).
What is it that she discovered? What is it that she discovered that Martha couldn’t see? She discovered that the secret of her life was, so if you study the Greek, and you read commentaries and you understand what is being said here. In those days, people would sit at the feet of a teacher. So, they didn’t have chairs, they sat at the feet; listening to a teacher. What Mary learned was, “This is the Lord, this is a Prophet sent by God.” Maybe she had a revelation of, “This is greater than just an occasional teaching that happens to be at the synagogue.” But she understood that He had words of life that she wanted. She understood, culturally, she fairly well understood that all these guests are coming to her house, her sister’s house, and her responsibility would be to help her sister culturally; to prepare for all the guests that are coming to the house because Jesus was there.
She said, “What’s more important for me? To do what’s culturally acceptable or this discovery that I have that I’m sitting at the feet of my Master, who is teaching me life, from which I understand life, from which I get all of my life? What’s more important? Cultural value systems or what I have discovered where the Word comes from?”
She responds to her passion for the Word, and the Master Jesus. And she says, “I take a conscious decision that I will not be influenced by the culture, I make a conscious decision to sit at the feet of the Master, as a student to learn.” When Martha comes to Mary, she comes to Jesus, and she says, “Jesus, You should be the arbitrator of cultural issues. Culturally, she belongs working with me. She’s out of order to sit at Your feet while I’m doing all the work.” Jesus says, “You don’t understand, Martha, she already has a revelation you don’t have. You don’t have it because you’re so busy, worrying about the culture. You’re so busy worrying about performance? ‘What is everybody going to think about me that comes into my house? What is everybody, I’ve got to prepare the best meal, I’ve got to have it looking good. I’ve got to be ready that when all of these people that are going to be guests, there are going to be high level guests that are going to come here because Jesus is here, I’ve got to be ready for this. So, I’ve got to worry about doing all of these things.’” Right? “I know what’s right or wrong. I know what’s fair. I know what’s culturally acceptable. I know what performance and reward systems look like. Because as a woman in culture, my whole life is geared towards performance reward. And so I come to You, Jesus, Master, to implore You, don’t let her sit at Your feet while I’m busy doing the cultural thing. Tell her what’s right and wrong here.”
His answer is, “I will not take that away from her. I will not take that away from her. She has discovered who I am. She has discovered what comes from Me. She has already chosen to sit at My feet and she cannot be wrong culturally.” Is it possible that with many cultural things happening that people could have judged her differently? Did she care? Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. There’s more coming. I’m nearly done here today but this is very important. “Jesus given Your status in the community, and given that everybody You know, either loves You or hates You but certainly everybody recognizes that You are a teacher, that You are a Rabbi, that You are a Prophet. Because nobody can do the work that You do. I’m bringing this funny little detailed cultural issue to You to solve for me.” Do you understand how petty this is?
Do you understand how petty this is? Do you understand how petty this issue is to Jesus? Do you understand that Mary sees how petty this issue is? Mary doesn’t give a hoot what anybody thinks about her, I’ve discovered the word of life. I’ve discovered the source of the words of life. That’s where I want to be. Who cares what people think of me when Jesus is going to leave my house. I’m going to get stuff from Him that is going to live in me, way beyond what culture can do to me. But Martha could not see who Jesus was to her. It’s the very same Martha, who had a brother, whose name was Lazarus. And Jesus, well, I can’t go into this now otherwise, I’m going to go into a whole new level of teaching. When she has an encounter with Jesus, Jesus has to ask her the next time He sees her that Jesus has to ask her.. Well, the Bible records it anyway. Jesus has to ask her,” Do you believe in the resurrection from the dead?” Yes, I believe in the resurrection of the dead at the time when old people will be resurrected. She still didn’t understand who Jesus was. She still couldn’t see that Jesus was asking her a question so that her enlightenment could come because Jesus is the life.
And her whole thing is, You’re late, You’re too late, Lazarus is dead. If You’ve only come earlier. If you read different translations, Martha goes back to call Mary. And she tells Mary, “Jesus is looking for you.” When He wasn’t. But she tells him Jesus is looking for you. She goes to Jesus and says, “Master, if You had been here, he wouldn’t have died.” He doesn’t ask her another question. He gives her an instruction.” “Move the stone.” Two completely different relationships. One is worried about details, one is worried about what’s right or wrong. One is worried about what’s fair, one is worried about the performance reward system. One is worried about everything that the world says that you can get if you do this. The other one says, “My life is based on what I hear, what imparted to me, what’s revealed to me, that’s my source of my life.” So, could He give her instruction to Martha to move the stone? No, He couldn’t, because she said already, “He’s too far gone dead, You can’t raise him from the dead.” Mary, you know the words of life Mary. You know the words of life, Mary, “Move the stone, move the stone.” Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
I’ll tell you what, I stand before you today. And I boldly declare to you that money is not a Christian’s problem. Relationship is. If you will sit at the feet of Jesus, because you want His word to be your life. He will reveal Himself to you. And He will reveal ways of how wealth can come to you. He will. He will reveal ways that wealth can be transferred to you. You should all be joyful about this. Praise the Lord. I have no personal testimony about how wealth came to me. My personal testimony about how wealth came to me was because I did what Mary did. I sat at the feet of Jesus. And I gave my attention to all the words all day, every day when I was not busy on a phone or working or talking or doing something. When I had free moments I would speak the Word of God, speak the Word of God, speak the Word of God. I would hear them coming out of my mouth. I would hear them by way of other messages.
People like Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagen, all of these men, I would be listening to messages that would uplift my spirit and fill me with faith. I understood that my source of my future was in His Word, not in my performance. I want to just give you one example. I’m going to give you one example. When my previous company, which it was, is now known as Hewlett Packard, but those in South Africa is where apartheid years and so no one could be seen to be actually having a company in South Africa anymore. So, Hewlett Packard became HP high performance systems. So, it was independently owned by a group. And so when they decided because of what they considered my performance. Hello?It was not my performance at all. It was the working of my words, because I was sitting at the feet of Jesus. So, when they considered a performance evaluation, they decided that actually, they’re going to promote me and they are going to give me share options in the company. And that of all the people that were at my level, and of all of the people that were at the level that I then became as a senior executive at High Performance Systems. Only two of us were given share options. Only two of us.
There was a man that was working there before I got promoted. It was the guy that was at the same management level that I was. He was an absolute genius. Dinkum genius. Boris Johnson likes to present himself as a genius because he’s got all this hair that’s all over the place. You know, and he speaks in a kind of English that makes you think you don’t know what you’re talking about. The British ex British Prime Minister. You know, Bernie Sanders has the same kind of look in America. It’s like he doesn’t care what he looks like, I’m just smart. You know, the absent minded professor, look. I’m a professor, I don’t care what I look like. I’m just smart, I don’t have to care what I look like, I’m just smart. This guy that worked with me at the same level of degree was working with me. He was dinkum dinkum that smart.
One day somebody told me that they have some records, or it was spoken that he had an IQ of in excess of 155, or something like that. I don’t know. But that dude was smart. No question about it. He had an engineering degree. He had a master’s degree in business administration. And, his ability to create solutions that would bring hardware and software solutions together was genius. It was genius. They never offered him any shares. He had been at the company when I joined the company. He’d already been part of the Hewlett Packard fold internationally for about 15 years. I’d been there four years. I have no degrees. [Pastor John stamps his feet twice.] That’s my way of saying exclamation marks. [Pastor John stamps his feet.] And another exclamation mark. I had no degrees. They didn’t offer him shares. But surely with all of his degrees and with all of his genius and all of that he was just too valuable to actually let go of in their way of assessing future life. They didn’t think enough to give him shares. But they thought I was valuable enough that they didn’t want to lose me.
That’s not fair. Performance reward system. Man, he’s done all the right things and he’s a dinkum genius. That’s not right. That’s not right, that you should get shares and he didn’t. And nogal he had been, hear this now. He had been the sales director in the company before and they decided that he was not a people person. So, he was in the wrong position, they needed to create a whole new subtitle for him to have his own title. Because he was a genius. And he could configure solutions, but he didn’t know how to deal with people so well. So, they really valued what he could do, but not enough to give him shares. Or maybe it’s just that I had favour that they didn’t have. That means I was never subject to the performance evaluation on how smart you are, or how many degrees you have. On the contrary, I should say this to you,” That most of the people that worked for me all had degrees.” Pastor John, how does this happen? That you have all these degreed people that have put in all the work that the world system says they asked the guys that are supposed to get promoted. Many of them had master’s degrees, I had niks. Zero, yet they were working for me in a corporate environment that is structured to reward degrees and performance and rewards. How, how Pastor John?
How, how Pastor John? I sowed in famine. How did you sow in famine? When I didn’t have enough, I took my faith, and I sowed words out of my mouth, that He is the one that meets my needs. He is the one that I live for. He is the one that I live, move, and have my being in Him. He is the one that is the author of the beginning and end of my faith. He is the one that I live for. Everything else is a sideshow. I live for Him.
He said, “John, you’re in the right place for Me.” Because I don’t need someone to go and give all of their attention to a system that is going to fail them anyway. I need someone who is going to give all of what you’ve got to Me. And watch Me bless you. Watch Me bless you. But what will the people say, who cares? Mary said, “Who cares?” Martha said I care. I care so much. I’m going to bring this detail to God and He must, He must decide now. And He must tell her she can’t just sit there doing nothing. You see, in her mind, she was doing nothing. In Jesus’s mind, she was doing everything. Because she was giving her life to His words. Mary was busy doing detailed stuff. She was giving her life to His words, His words, His words, His words. We sang that song – we fight with words. Wow. Hallelujah.
You want to know, you want to know what God has got for us in our future? I don’t care what the government says. I don’t care what the cost of fuel becomes. I don’t care whatever happens. We, we people, we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. We people have got the answer to economic problems. We have the ability to provide solutions. We have the opportunity to hear from God and do things that other people say, “How did you know the timing was right for that?” You say, “Well, I don’t know, I just was obedient to God.” “Oh, you are one of those people?” “Uh, yes, I’m one of those extreme people. I’m extremely blessed, extremely wealthy, extremely healthy, extremely restored, extreme. I’m extreme, I’m extreme. I’m extreme in Him. And I don’t let the devil put his performance mentality on me.”
Which means I don’t wake up in the morning thinking about how much I’ve got to repent from yesterday before I can encounter God today. I wake up in the morning and I say, “Thank You that You are the deliverer of all of me, and I come to You with an open clear conscience of the blood of Jesus. And here I am to worship You today, to thank You today, to praise You today, to honor You today. Not because I’m well disciplined but because I trust you, my life is in You. Hallelujah.
I know, I know this will leave you with more questions. So, you’re going to have to come back on the weekend so you can get some answers. Hallelujah. So, do I do that on purpose? No, I just preached what God told me to preach today. And so there you have it. You got all of it. Praise Jesus. Glory to the Name of the Lord. Praise the Name of Jesus. Glory to the Name of the Most High God. He is the one that we serve. He is worthy of serving. He is the worthy one of sitting at His feet, at His feet and hearing everything that He’s got to say for us and to us. Hallelujah. He’s the most high God. He is Jehovah. He is Jehovah and everything that Jehovah represents; your healing, your health, your protection, your blessing, your everything is in Him. It’s in Him people, it’s in Him. Hallelujah. When there’s famine in the land, He can answer it. No one else can. Glory to Jesus.
Stand up before I preached for a whole day today. Hallelujah. So next week, when I do this again, you know that I’m making an exclamation mark, you know? Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Glory to the Most High God. Come on, just raise your hands and just give Him thanks for 10 seconds. Thank you, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You. Thank You, Lord, that You got every answer for all of our lives for every part of our lives, you have an answer for it. You give us strength and ability and you give us all the power we need. You enable us and empower us to live in victory, and blessing and joy and peace, and all the good things that You have prepared for us. Way before we were even born that we should walk in them. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
Wow. You know, I was so committed to the Lord when I was in the military. We went into many, many dangerous situations with my unit. Basically, when I did the service after our training, we were a military response unit. In other words, when other units got into trouble, or they hit the firefights as they would call it, we were the ones they called as backup. So, whenever we went into a situation, we were always going into a war. We were never, we didn’t do patrols. We didn’t do stuff like that. We were always on standby. The choppers were on standby. The pilots were on standby. The aircraft that we needed everything we were at a military airstrip base. Everything happened from there. And I said to the Lord, I said, “Lord, as long as I’m with these men, and these men are with me, I asked You that not one life will be lost.” It was a simple request that I asked the Lord. I said, “Lord, I’m the only one who has the understanding of life that I know of in this whole company that I’m in. And I’m asking You that because I’m here, all these 90 100 men that I fight with, and I’m asking You to protect us that not one life will get lost.
One day, we hit we hit six contacts at that time, it was a record it was… we became, as a company, became quite famous in the army at that time because we hit six contacts in one day. Because we were called in. And then as we were moving out they hit us and they hit us and they hit us, and they kept… and they started off by ambushing us with three, three, like machine guns that they had time to set up because we were in a temporary base, having food to eat set up in a protective temporary base. We were doing all the right military procedures. But they waited for us. They silently set up three like machine guns on a tripod. And they aimed it at us. And the moment when we were kind of in our most vulnerable position, they let fly. We were sitting ducks when they opened up those three machine guns to fire at us. We had two guys wounded while I was in that military, not one life was lost. And none of the wounds that happened while I was there. Not one of the wounds that happened were wounds that were so bad that they couldn’t live life normally.
I mean, one guy got shot through the hand. They could repair his hand. One guy got shot through the ankle they could repair it and one guy got shot somewhere else. I won’t tell you exactly right now, but a man can function with one of them. I function normally, normally with one of them. Huh, that’s how close we got, we came to actually having our lives snuffed out, but God, but God. “What are you saying pastors John?” “I’m saying, if you are in the right place with God, He will answer you in ways that you can’t even begin to think about.” He will answer you, He will answer you. Hallelujah.
Won’t you put your hand on your heart like this, and just say, “Jesus, I honour You. I honour You with my life. I honour You with my words. I honour You with my heart. And wherever I’m weak, I thank You that You that You make me strong. I live in Your strength. I live in Your grace. And I thank You, Lord it’s not about how good I am. It’s about how great You are in my life, in Jesus’ Name. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
I’ll tell you I’m so fired up about this stuff. I’m so fired up I can hardly wait for the weekend to come. I want to tell you because the devil has been keeping God’s people under a bond of… under restraints of bondage. He’s been keeping us in a way that has been preventing us from moving into a whole new sphere of relationship with Him. And it’s enough! Hallelujah. And so if you want to get yourself ready, praying and fasting, you pray that this weekend that’s coming, that God is going to move amongst us. The power of God is going to touch us and we are going to be changed and transformed and renewed and we are going to have a whole new way of living ahead of us in Jesus’ Name.
We are going to seek Him, we’re going to pursue Him, we’re going to love on Him and He’s going to just pour out His blessing upon us. Hallelujah. Do you know that your harvest grows when you’re asleep? Asked the farmer, your harvest grows when you’re asleep, even when it’s nighttime your harvest is growing [Pastor John makes a roaring sound]. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. I want to start preaching already for next weekend. So you better go home already. Thank you for coming to church. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His light shine upon you and give you peace and give you joy and no weapon formed against you will prosper in Jesus’ Name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to Jesus. Go praising, go praising, go praising, go praising. Okay bye.
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TOUCH | TEACH | TRAIN | TRANSFER
