Scripture References: Romans 11:16 (NKJV), Matthew 6:9 (NKJV), Deuteronomy 26:17-18 NKJV), Ezekiel 44:30 (ESV), Genesis 14:14 (AMPC), Leviticus 23:10 (AMPC) Malachi 1:6-8 (NIV), Genesis 22:1-2 (NKJV), Genesis 22:16-17 (NKJV) Genesis 22:7-8 (NKJV), Hebrews 3:1 (NIV), Malachi 3:10 (NKJV), Jeremiah 23:18 (NKJV), Ephesians 2:19-20 (NKJV), Isaiah 56:7 (NIV), Hebrews 12:22-24 (NKJV), Matthew 17:18-20 (NIV), 1 John 1:9 (AMPC) Colossians 2:13-15 (NKJV), Matthew 5:17-20 (NKJV), 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (NKJV), Acts 22:17-18 (NLT)
Pastor John: Praise the Lord. Well, it’s always good to be in the house of the Lord. I am grateful that God has given us an opportunity to have this weekend that we can do this together. First fruits are a very, very special thing, first fruits. It’s very special. If you have an understanding of what first fruits is, it’s the most powerful example of or most powerful activator of the blessing of God in your life. So, Jesus was the first fruit and that in itself, should tell you a whole lot. Amen. So, Pastor Christi was one of the first fruits of people that became disciples in this church and so, she’s going to come and minister to you this morning and to me. I’ll be sitting on the front row. Pastor Christi, come and share the word of the Lord with us, please. Hallelujah.
Pastor Christi: Thank you, Pastor John.
Pastor John: I just want to have you agree with me in prayer that everything that she says is blessed of the Lord. She will speak as God calls her to speak and says what she needs to say, and that we are all ready to receive from the Holy Spirit what comes through her in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.
Pastor Christi: Thank you, Pastor John. Thank you so much, Pastor John. Well, like you can see, I’m aiming to be like Pastor John fully. I’m not yet only on my iPad. Pastor John hier is baie papiere (here are lots of papers). I must still put it on my list to cross over. The iPad is working very hard, Pastor John when you are ministering. But then if I have to minister, I’m more like Pastor Sharon going back to my files and going back to my papers. Pastor John, thank you for the prayer and for the blessing.
Good morning everyone, and wonderful to be in the house of the Lord. Hallelujah. Will you please open straight away your Bibles in Romans chapter 11 verse 16? Most of my scriptures will be in the Amplified Bible. I’m going to dive in straight away. I would like to share with you just like Pastor John said about first fruits, but in the light of our crossover, discipleship, territory and repentance. So, we’re going to dive deep this morning Pastor John. Hallelujah. God wants us to have dominion. He wants us to govern through the Continuous Perfect State of Being. Praise the Lord. Romans 11 verse 16, 16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; Paul says, “If the first part that you are giving to God is holy, the rest will be holy.” Let’s read the second part of that scripture. It is as important, and if the root is holy, so are the branches also holy. (Romans 11:16 NKJV)
Now I want to take you straight away to Matthew 6 please, in your Bibles. Pastor John spoke about it yesterday and actually, I had to stop myself not to summarize everything he spoke about yesterday, and I’m almost there. We’re going to see if God says something is holy. Pastor John described it very beautifully, but let’s just see it again in the word of God in Matthew 6 verses 9 to 10. Jesus says, 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. (Matthew 6:9 NKJV) That means holy and set apart. Holy and set apart.
Please let’s go to Ezekiel. Let scripture speak this morning. Thank you, Lord. Did I say Ezekiel? I’m going to just ask you before we go to Ezekiel 44, please go to Deuteronomy 26 in the flow that God’s got for us this morning. Hallelujah. If we say something is holy, it’s set apart, but it’s very important that we listen to the language that God is bringing us through Pastor John. Holy is the perfect integration with God’s will and not our own will. So, this weekend is the actual bringing of our first fruit offering to the Lord. This is glorious. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 26. This is the only one I don’t have in my notes here but I think there’s a few more. Pastor John prayed but I want to add this prayer this morning. Lord, we pray that you will receive our offering as a sweet-smelling aroma to you because this is our crossover. First fruit offering.
You’re going to hear this morning, it’s actually very important to bring it and not only to say it. Very important in the word of the Lord. Now Deuteronomy 26, look there at verse 1. I’m working from the New King James Bible and you will see that it talks about offerings and first fruits and tithes. Now go and have a look and study that whole chapter because that’s what it’s talking about, offerings, first fruits, and tithes. Then we jump to verse 17. Today, the Lord says you proclaim. You see we are actually bringing our first offering and our seed speaks. We actually make a proclamation today. 17 Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments ….. (Deuteronomy 26:17 NKJV) Not to take the holy days for yourself anymore, but to consecrate and bring them to the Lord. Look at verse 18, you see when you give your seed, when your seed speaks, God is going to speak back directly. God is so wonderful. The Lord says, “Also today, the Lord is proclaiming.” So, yesterday already we started to hear the word of the Lord and today we’re going to continue with that.
18 Also today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, Heritage of Faith just as He promised you, our forefathers (Deuteronomy 26:18 NKJV) We can walk in all the promises today. So, this is our prayer that what we are actually bringing God is acceptable to Him this morning. Hallelujah.
Well, you know when Pastor John ministered these few weeks, when Brother Dennis was here as well, God is already proclaiming and answering us. God is amongst us as the supernatural. So, by studying the word of God today and looking at first fruits, Lord we declare that we’re going to skip things. We are going to pass over things because it is the pass-over. So, we bring this as holy unto you, Lord. Now I’m going to take you to Ezekiel chapter 44. There’s so many wonderful scriptures, but this one is a very important one in the Old Testament. We’ve started in the New Testament, Ezekiel chapter 44 verse 30. The word of the Lord says, 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, (Ezekiel 44:30 ESV) I really just want to read that again. 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, (Ezekiel 44:30 ESV) It can be money, it’s your income. It can be produce, it can be houses. It can be your first book. It can be the first sound and song CD album that Pastor John sowed. And of course, we see here today it is our holy days.
In the New Testament by the leading of the Holy Spirit, it will always be what the Holy Spirit is showing it to be. Not because we work it with a formula, being led by the Holy Spirit. So, let’s read the rest of the verse. And please take note, 30 And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. And oh boy, we’re going to go there today. You shall also give to the priests the first of your course meal and bread dough, that a blessing may rest on your house. (Ezekiel 44:30 ESV) And Pastor John went there yesterday that a blessing may rest on your house.
This blessing you and me cannot receive by someone laying hands on you. This is very important, they brought the things, the first fruit things. Now if you’re not bringing it, you are not giving it. You see if you did not come, if it was not purposed in your heart to come this weekend and not to use the holy days for yourself like we did in the past. We also going to talk about that today, our repentance of what we did in the past. But you had to make a choice to actually set this apart this weekend and of course, this year to bring it, to cause it to be holy that the blessing may come on our house. The house of the Lord first and then of course our houses.
Pastor John said this so beautifully, what does it mean to be blessed? When God says, “If you obey me,” there’s just certain things in His way, in His ways and in His principles. If you’re going to obey Me and follow My commandments, then everything that you do and where you go, the Continuous Perfect State of Being is already there to make the way that the things will turn out perfectly for you. Thank you, Lord. This is God having a high regard when we obey and we bring Him the first and the blessed.
Every believer, every believer you will not ask one believer and say, “No I don’t want the blessings.” We all want the blessing, but we have to practice the principle that gives God the legal right to cause the blessing to come onto your house, and first of all the house of the Lord. Blessings on your house. Now a house is not only the natural building and the structure and of course it includes this, but I want to show you here and please go to Genesis 14. I’m not going to go too deep into this today, but you will see why we are touching this. Genesis 14, 14. Now when we talk about a house, yes, number 1 it’s the church. It’s always the individuals, the sons of God. It is the congregation. It is the assembly. If you talk about assembly, you talk about ecclesia. It’s governmental. It’s judicial. It’s the House of Parliament, its lineage, it’s generations to come.
So, just an example in, Genesis 14, 14, 14 When Abram heard that [his nephew] had been captured, he armed (led forth) the 318 trained servants born in his own house and pursued the enemy as far as Dan. (Genesis 14:14 AMPC) Now out of Abraham’s house came an army, sons in his house that will make up a household. You must first be a spiritual family before you can actually be called a house.
So, this is very important. I’m going to take you to Leviticus chapter 23 verse 10 today. When it comes to tithes and offerings, we’re going to go there. God has already chosen and determined how and what we will give Him because He is God. There is a history, His story about people bringing their tithes. There’s a history, His story when you bring and how you bring your first fruits. So, Leviticus 23 verse 10, 10 Tell the Israelites, When you have come into the land I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. (Leviticus 23:10 AMPC). Now in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, they brought the first fruits to the house of the Lord. They gave it to the priest. There is protocol. Later we will talk more about that. And the priest would receive it and lift it up before the Lord.
By the leading of the Holy Spirit, when Pastor John asked me to minister, I did not think I would go where the Holy Spirit let me to go. We’re going to go deeper today talking about first fruits. Like I said, we’re going to talk about first fruits in the light of our crossing over, plantedness, discipleship, the ecclesia, territory, and repentance. Can you really connect all of that with first fruits? You’re going to see. We have a covenant cry this morning and we say, “Lord healing, cleansing and anointing.” This is our hearts.
When you bring your first fruits and I really want you, it’s so wonderful to be here with your family members, people that you are sitting with, and this is for us as a congregation, as the Ecclesia, but it starts with your and my understanding. It really starts with my and your understanding, how to walk in the ways of the Lord. Please go to Malachi, chapter 1 with verses 6 to 9. Very important to lay this foundation because when you bring your first fruits, you are doing two things and you may never forget this. When you are bringing your first fruits, two things are happening. Number 1, in your actual bringing it, means you are giving it. Many people talk but they never bring it.
It’s an act of consecration and an act of alignment. So Malachi chapter 1 verse 6. 6A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord Almighty. It is you priests who show contempt for my name. But you ask, How have we shown contempt for your name? 7 By offering defiled food on my altar. But you ask, How have we defiled you? By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you? says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 1:6-8 NIV)
When Pastor John shared with us about Cain and Abel, we have this understanding already in the congregation. It’s not to say that God’s going to accept our offerings. Because it has all to do with the heart. How you purpose and how you live with God. Is He first? Do you first give to Him? Do you first seek the Kingdom? It all has to do with the heart. Pastor John knew we had to bring our best. Not just a few services but absolutely the best and the first part in this weekend.
Let’s look at Genesis 22 verses 1 to 2. God will not take our blind and lame offerings. 1Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am Lord. Verse two 2 Then He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. (Genesis 22:1-2 NKJV) I really want you to get the magnitude like Pastor John says this morning of what it means to give first fruits.
This is not just for Isaac or for any pastor. You must listen with an ear for your own life today. Isaac was the first fruit offering of Abraham. It could not be Ishmael because that was the flesh. It was Isaac. We are praying currently for Israel and we will always, but do you really know why no one will be able to destroy Israel or why they will stay a nation? Because Abraham consecrated them, Israel to God. Through his first fruit offering of Isaac before Israel existed. If the first one is holy, the rest are blessed because they were given to God through the act of giving. The act of giving first fruits by a son named Isaac, then God could bless all the others that were coming. Abraham did not know that this would happen. How could he? He did not know. He did not have the full picture of why the Continuous Perfect State of Being can be so smart to bless a nation by his act of first fruits giving. This is profound. This is profound.
Pastor John said yesterday the gift, that he and Pastor Sharon would sow into JD’s life. They did not have the full picture of what would be happening. They just obeyed the Lord and God could do beyond what they thought. What do you think can a legitimate, an Ecclesia before the Lord do with an offering, a first fruit offering, what we are willing to give God? Not only this weekend, this whole year to come.
Abraham could not see this coming. Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his best? I mean his son that he loved. Why Lord, Abraham almost believed 20 years? It took almost 20 years for Isaac to show up. Because God is first even in what He grants you to have. We may never forget this. You cannot take an answer from the Lord a blessing in your business, in your family, anything that you have believed God for, it doesn’t matter how long it took. You can never take that blessing and that outcome and put it before God as more important. This is where we are maturing as believers. We cannot do this.
Genesis chapter 22 verse 16. I love this. I’ve already shared a bit there and we’re going to go deeper. So, Genesis 22, 16 16 and God said, I swear by myself, Just look at this. Abram sowed, the seed is speaking. Like Pastor John yesterday said, our seed was speaking. God could do things beyond. The seed is speaking and God is answering. This is always how it will be. 16 and God said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, again, 17 I will surely bless you. (Genesis 22:16-17 NKJV) And God says, “Abraham this was so important, that you did not keep a backup plan. Now I can trust you with all the things that I am doing.”
In 2018, you will remember, Pastor John ministered Every Moment for your Future. Where you start is not where you’re going to end. By faith this morning, what we are giving the Lord this weekend and what we are giving Him this year is not where we’re going to end up. Pastor John yesterday said, “We believe God.” He will show us how we’re going to spend our holy days, days of rest, and blessings because He already goes ahead there because He has prepared that for us. This is not where we’re going to end. Every moment for our future as we obey God. Praise the Lord.
You know, we will never stop saying this to one another by faith. By faith, Abraham offered Isaac. By faith, by faith we are coming this weekend. By faith this year we will continue to give God our best. Now this is very important, Pastor John said and it already had a very big impact in my life in 2018 when he said this. When Abram did this it was not a test of faith the test of faith was to push through to receive Isaac, that was the test of faith. But to offer Isaac was a test of the future, a test for what’s waiting for us by God.
Genesis 22 verse 7, I’m just quickly going to show you this. I wanted to skip this part but I know in my heart I must just show you this morning because let me tell you, I heard the sounds. You will be confronted by your offering. You will be confronted by your offering. Genesis 22 verse 7, 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood is here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide…” (Genesis 22:7-8 NKJV)
How many of you thought, must we really come all the services? Your offering will speak to you, you better be ready for that, you better be ready for that. So, God is not going to ask you for not your best and because you’re going to give your best, your soul, your emotions and people around you will say, “What are you doing?” I am giving God my best. But spiritually and the spirit man must always be ready because your offering will talk to you.
Remember I’ve said to you that when you bring your first fruits you are doing two things, it’s an act of consecration just like I gave you an example of Abram. And then in the second place, it’s an act of alignment. Now we’re going to talk about plantedness, discipleship and the apostolic. Please go to Malachi 3 verse 10, we really going to go deep this morning. How can we talk about plantedness, the ecclesia and the apostolic when we talk about first fruits? You will remember how many times Brother Jerry said, “Many people were planted in his church, God called those people to him but they did not walk with me.” Divine alignment for assignment. Now Pastor John can tell you the same thing.
Let’s read Malachi 3 verse 10, New King James. God says, 10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house,” now God is talking about God’s assembly and the congregation here, in My house. So ah, I don’t know if you could get it right for me, I’ve, thank you, I’ve asked you to put Malachi 3:10 on the board. But I just asked them if they could do it the way Pastor Sharon ministered it to us. Do you remember when Pastor Sharon brought the word about the tithe, and that not enough. Meaning God says, “Bring your tithes and your offerings.” But, it’s just beautiful to see 10 … “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you such blessing. That there will not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10 NKJV). Because the yellow should not be there, can you see the italics? I just wanted to put that on for you, but I want to go back to the beginning of the scripture.
Bring your tithe to the house of the Lord. It’s talking about the congregation. So, bringing your tithe is a covenant connector and we’ve talked about that. But I want you to hear this, this morning, bringing your tithe connects you to the house of the Lord that there may be food in My house, enough in the house of the Lord. So, bringing your tithe connects you to the household of the Lord, it connects you to the pastoral care. Very important to see this. It connects you where God is planting you because He’s not planting you with all pastors. And there where He’s planting you and you bring your tithe so that there may be enough in His house. It is specific about the pastors, the pastoral care that God is connecting you and me to.
So, the house of the Lord the Levites in the Old Testaments and the priest they ate of that tithe, they ministered in the house of the Lord but, but, but. I was in awe when the Lord showed me this. The first fruit offering goes to the high priest. The first fruit offering in this church is not coming to Pastor Malusi or Pastor Garth or to me, it goes to Pastor John. It goes to the senior, the visionary leader. So, your tithe connects you to the house and you do have the blessing of the pastoral care. But then the first fruit offering will be offered up to the high priest.
Look what the New Testament says, Hebrews 3:1, 1“Therefore holy brothers and sisters, also set apart ones who share in the Heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus whom we acknowledge as the Apostle and the high priest…” (Hebrews 3:1 NIV). God makes the connection between the apostle and the high priest, not us. This is apostolic, Jesus is both the Apostle and the High Priest. So, by bringing your tithes to the house of the Lord we are blessed with the pastoral care that God’s got for us. But that first fruit offering belongs to the high priest that is apostolic, we cannot, we can not go into the territory, occupy what we’ve got to occupy, receive the blessings that we’ve got to receive without the apostolic order set in place.
You know what Brother Dennis when he ministered you heard this, he confirmed every single thing Pastor John ministered about. He also said, “Sheep just want to be sheep, don’t want to come to church, just want to do the easy thing.” Pastor John brought that message. But listen to this. I was just in awe when the Lord showed me this. Brother Dennis said, “Most churches are not being led by the apostolic they are being led by pastors.” Not in this church, not in this church. But can you see it for the first time? Can you see tithes and first fruits like Pastor John said, “How significant this is?” Pastors are the ones to care for the people but none of them is called to be strategic and moving God’s people in strategic directions. That’s the work of the Apostle, very very important.
Now, still your own life, you and me, we are listening this morning. We all want impartation, but you cannot have impartation without alignment. So, where are you taking your tithes? Where is your first fruits going? Because alignment talks about plantedness, it talks about discipleship, because your tithe must go to the right place.
You know what? When God showed me this in this week, He showed me this, I got up in the morning and I said, “Lord, I don’t want to say this.” He said to me, “I’ve showed you this. You have to say this.” Who are you called to? Judas was God’s choice to walk as a disciple with Jesus. Jesus says in John 17, Father those that You gave me, the disciples. Judas did not want to walk with the Lord. Listen how the Lord gave it to me, “and I had to get another one.” And I had to get another one. Everyone here, the Lord said to me, I must share this with you. Everyone here in Heritage of Faith, we’ve got a choice. We know that we are called, divinely aligned to our Lord Jesus – and we’re going to talk about that – to our Lord Jesus and Pastor John. Called to Him.
The Lord gave it to me, God wants to know today if you will take your place or must He get another one? He had to replace Judas, and then even the second choice, the rich young ruler did not say yes. So, He had to get a third one, He will get a third one, I believe a fourth one. He will, but it’s been given to you and me by our Lord Jesus. And why do I say it like this this morning? This is your journey. God brought you here. It’s not just for me and Pastor Garth and Pastor Melusi and some people to take their place. God is asking you this morning. He brought you here to be in divine alignment with Jesus and Pastor John. For some, the Lord said, “This is hanging in the balance now.” So, thank you, Lord.
I have to go. I have to speak about territory right now because when you talk about territory, it’s apostolic. Adam and Eve lost territory because they have exchanged with Satan. They traded sin for dominion. They traded away the dominion that God gave them. Territory was given away. Territory can only be taken apostolically. Jesus the Apostle and the High Priest, He took back, that’s what He did on the cross, He took back the lost dominion. And now through Jesus, and our Apostle, we can only get territory back through the sent ones, the apostles, from the Apostle. You will never be able to take territory, it’s apostolic. Jesus took it back on the cross.
But for us to occupy, for us, for Pastor John to build and to go in the territories that God has given him, for me and for you to do what God has called us to do. You cannot occupy and go into spaces and places if you are not aligned to the Apostolic territory that’s been given to you as a believer. It is apostolic. It is apostolic.
So, Pastor John shared with us Genesis 1:26, and I’m not sure if we have put that on, and it’s not the end of the world. I just want your ear to hear this because Pastor John ministered on this. Just listen and God says, “Let them have dominion.” Let them have dominion. God did not say Satan. He did not say the fallen beings. Let them have dominion, and He got that territory back. Hallelujah.
Pastor John shared with us about the fallen angels and the demonic powers. They are spirit beings. They are creatures around us all the time. You just can’t see them. These are principalities and powers. They are legitimate rulers of this world. How can they be legitimate rulers? Because like, where Adam and Eve or people today, like Pastor John said, through words, give away territory that’s supposed to be yours, you can still give it away.
Why are we giving our first fruits, our holy days? Because number 1, God is bringing correction to us, because we have exchange with the enemy. The enemy has hijacked God’s holy days, and we worked with him. We did exchange. We did. Why do you think the iXchangers, and we are all iXchangers, they are here to exchange their plans with God’s plans. If we are not exchanging our plans with God’s plans, we are exchanging with someone else.
So, when it comes to holy days that Satan hijacked as holidays, we worked with him. That is why the enemy has the right and the realm when it comes to holidays. I’ve shared with the iXchangers last week just to use an example. The enemy has the right in the realm because we know this for years. In summertime, if you want to go to Europe, you’re going to pay for tickets. In December times, everything is more expensive, and we learned to live with the death toll on the roads. Why? The enemy has the right and the realm. So, we have to repent. We have to repent and we will talk about this.
This year and this weekend is the actual bringing of our first fruits, because God is bringing correction to our lives. Pastor John said in Isaiah 55:6, let the wicked integrated person – we were there, we have to repent, – let the wicked integrated person forsake his interaction so that he can exchange for a different integration with the Lord. That’s why we are here this morning. That’s why we are here. Alignment, being planted under apostolic authority.
When Brother Dennis came now a second time, I saw when he ministered not only to our congregation and to other people, and things came up in my heart. And I had a conversation with the Lord, and I thought back to my own lawless days, where people wanted to do all sorts of things with blessings and curses just like Pastor John said yesterday. Wanting to work with bloodline cleansing and the way they’re interpreting the Bible. And I said to the Lord, “Lord, I saw many of those wrong things” but I said, “Lord many of the things that they talked about were right in principle.” And then the Lord answered me. He said to me, “Christi, just like in your lawless days, people touch the principles but they do not have access, apostolic access. They see the principles in the Word of the Lord but not being planted, not being aligned, not being submitted. They do not have this.”
You know what? The Lord gave it to me when Brother Dennis was here. When I sat there yesterday and Pastor John said, “You know what? The Holy Spirit is just on me to use this language. This language,” the Lord said to me, “They do not have the words and the language to access the places and the spaces they supposed to access. They don’t have it. So, they will be all over the place.” I was all over the place. The principle is there but you have no apostolic access because you are not planted.
Please go to Jeremiah 23. Now, Jeremiah 23, Pastor Sharon has and will always still minister powerfully about it. It is talking about the shepherds and the prophets who go and do things but God says, “I did not tell them to go. They steal the words from one another.” They’re not from the Lord. They’re doing their own thing. Now this is very different what I’m going to read you here. We are called to our Lord Jesus and to Pastor John. Now those legitimate, you remember when the Lord said to me, when I was planted in Witbank, “Now you are under legitimate spiritual authority because Pastor John is my sent one.” I mean, it changed my whole life and I know yours as well.
Now I want you to see where these words and the language is coming from, an apostle. I’m going to show it to you and then I’m going to talk about Pastor John and Pastor Sharon. Jeremiah 23 verse 18. This is so powerful. 18 For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, And has perceived and actually heard His word? Not just taking words from one another and speaking about it, but actually hearing His Words. Who has marked His word and heard it? (Jeremiah 23:18 NKJV) His legitimate sent ones that stand in His council, in His presence, being led by the Holy Spirit to bring words and the language that gives access. And you know what? And this is why I have all mine. I do have it on my iPad but nou ja, the paper is just wonderful.
I mean, I can tell you this because personally it changed my life and I hope you get it. And I want to say to all of you guys today, you have to get your behind side in Bible School. You’ve got to come and be trained in the Word of God. You’ve got to come and sit at the feet of Jesus and learn. This whole revelation about the ecclesia and the apostolic, I did not even know that God would grant me the privilege of being in the ministry. I was in business with Grobbies. But when I received the truth of God’s Word, it changed everything in my life. Everything. Business changed in such a dramatic way. Where do you want to go and do business and occupy the spaces and places if you’re in the wrong place and you don’t have apostolic access? Where do you want to go and do that? Of course, chasing the world system.
The apostolic anointing is on Pastor John that gives us the access to spiritual truths and passages into heavenly realms, into deep spiritual truths. I mean I had books and CDs and things, and with all of those things, I could go nowhere. And many people today are going nowhere with that. So, the apostle provides the passage from one spiritual dimension to another, and we will talk more about that. I just want to say this. Oh, thank you Holy Spirit. When I’ve asked the Lord about this thing coming out of my lawless days, the Lord said to me, “Christi, anyone planted.” That’s why it’s so important businessman, every gift that God is calling to be around Pastor John, the apostolic crew. He said to me, “Now by Pastor John’s invitation and being around Pastor John and Sharon.”
He says, “Only now you may speak because you will bring forth through plantedness. Through being in the right divine alignment with the one that I’ve sent to you.” Your gift can and will and must not have anything to say. If it does not speak through plantedness, divine alignment, unity, submission, irrational honour, what do you want to say? Because then, of course, we are lawless and this is not who we are as a people.
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-20 NKJV), Now I want to go a bit further. Nothing will happen if Pastor John did not receive the apostolic calling, but the Lord said to Pastor John, “The time has come to build.” I have witnessed the years, by God’s great grace, 20 years ago, where people wanted to go. Pastor Sharon had a word from the Lord. It’s too slow. Nothing is happening. Away I will go.
Pastor John was laying a foundation, but now Pastor John is building. How will He build? With the apostle and the prophet. Where are we getting the words and the language in this house? From the messages, from the apostle and the prophet. God will not build any other way. You will not have access any other way. Those are the words that is the language that God is giving us. Hallelujah. We will not come with other words. That is why so many believers touch the principle but they have no access into what God has granted for them on assignment, territory given to an apostle.
So, you will remember, Di had a song from the Lord. Holy, holy, holy territory. Step into this place with me, says the Lord. The moment that happened, we all knew that’s apostolic. Do you remember that Sunday morning that was very powerful before Pastor John and Kit went to do the Epic? Pastor John said, when he said those words, I knew immediately what was happening. Pastor John says, “Before you sit down, you should tell somebody I’m glad that I’m not doing the Epic and Pastor John is doing it for me.” Do you remember that? I can tell you, when Pastor John said that, I turned to Grobbies and I said to Grobbies, “Grobbies, I’m so glad I’m not doing the Epic and that Pastor John is doing it for me.” I made a spiritual declaration because I knew it was apostolic, that everything that Pastor John is giving his yes to the Lord, everything that he will work with God here, will now break open for me. I took it, that was not a light just good morning, hello. I knew what Pastor John was saying.
Then Pastor John said, “Me and Kit, we have trained. Thank God that we have been diligent. We have been faithful, we have explored every opportunity. Everything that we need to do, we’ve explored to get here.” That was one of the things why God said to me in the spirit, but even when I saw Pastor John before he ministered, “It’s done.” Even in using those words, it’s apostolic to explore. It actually means to travel for the purpose of discovery, a geographic expedition, to travel like an apostolos, to penetrate into territory. It was done because of Pastor John’s “Yes” and his preparation before the Lord. It’s territory. It’s territory.
Now I want to start to end with 2 very important points and I want to take you to Isaiah 56 verse 7. We are still going deeper because of this first fruit offering that we are bringing the Lord. Pastor Sharon has so powerfully ministered about this word over and over again and will still go from glory to glory in the name of Jesus. Isaiah 56 verse 7. ⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain, I want you to listen, and give them joy in my house, holy mountain, in my house, house of parliament, its house of prayer. Their burnt offerings, what are we doing here? Offerings that we are bringing to the Lord, will be accepted on my altar; for my house, my house, on this mountain, will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7 NIV)
God says, “I will bring My people to a holy mountain.” And that of course is through, not only through Prayer Connect. Pastor Sharon said in the one Prayer Connect, “Every time we pray because we are planted, called to legitimate apostolic authority.” If you pray in the morning, if we pray at PCG, our prayer language is full of legalities. Full of legalities because God brought us to this place. Now I want your ear to hear this morning. Mountain speaks of a place of government, always. God gave His Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai in the Old Testament. And I just quickly, I’m not going to go deep into this, but I want you to see where this mountain is, where the Ecclesia is. Look at Hebrews 12 verse 22. I’ve also asked them to do something for me if they could do it on the screen today. Can you see I’ve asked them to highlight those words? As a born-again believer, not because one is more special to the other one. As a born-again believer, planted son of God, with your giftings and callings that should be in the apostolic crew around Pastor John. Where are you? It’s Isaiah 56 verse 7.
Where have you come to? Where have we come to? ²²…We have come to Mount Zion. That’s the mountain of the Lord. We have come to thousands of angels. Look at verse 23, we have come to the church. That’s the word ecclesia. It’s judicial. It is all the activities of the ecclesia on the mountain of government in God’s, in His house. And then continuing from verse 23, verse 22 “…you’ve come ²² to the thousands upon thousands of angels, verse 23, to the ²³church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven, you have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, many people are talking about the cloud of witnesses but like Pastor John and Sharon says, “It’s the righteous ones, we, right here with God.” ²⁴ to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and, Pass over, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks. (Hebrews 12:22-24 NIV) Pastor Sharon went there, the cleansing flood of the blood to keep on cleansing us anytime we make a mistake, we have come to this place. But I want you to see today that this is the mountain, it’s the place of government, the judge of all. That’s where you find the ecclesia.
Then the Lord showed me this, Matthew 17 and I’ve never seen this before because of the apostolic. I’ve never seen this before. Matthew 17 verse 18, ¹⁸Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment, but the disciples could not. ¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” Jesus replied..²⁰ “Because you have so little faith. Very very important. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move…(Matthew 17:18-20 NIV) And then the Lord showed me this. I saw what God wanted me to see. The Lord said to me, “Christi, I’m not talking about the Drakensberg. I’m not talking about the literal mountain. I’m talking about a mountain, a place of government that the enemy owns because of territory being given to him. It’s a legal place to govern.” That’s the mountain that Satan has. We are on the mountain of God, the Ecclesia.
You know what? Recently in one of our education meetings, the Lord said this to me. He said to me, “Christi, this mountain of education, it must move.” Now in this Ecclesia, I knew immediately when God was speaking to me. He said to me, “I have given an increase apostolic.” That anointing on Pastor John is increasing to pray for the nation. The Lord has called Pastor John to create apostolic order in education. What is the ecclesia in its simplest form? The called-out ones of God to overrule the called-out ones of the enemy. The enemy, they do have their mountains given to them. It should not have been but they own those mountains, those territories.
So, the Lord said to me, “We’re not going to fight them.” Why is it so important in Pastor John’s walk? Every single time Pastor John is talking to the Lord, God gives him territory, territory. We have it in this city. We have it in this nation. We don’t have to go and fight satan. We have to come with the words and the language God is giving us to have the access to take away spaces and places from the enemy. That’s what we are doing. When we have, for example, education meetings, we know this is not difficult. Do you think we do not see the giant in front of us like we see all the other giants? No problem. It’s not your territory anymore. It’s been given to Pastor John. We only come to say, we only come to use the words and the language that we don’t get in another place, that we get in the place where the apostle and the prophet is building the way that God builds His church. And that goes for all areas of our lives. So, you can see how big this is.
You know, I brought 2 of the last messages here with me. I just sometimes do that, take them out of my big file and you guys know you’ve got it on your iPad. But Pastor John keeps on speaking about repentance and I want your ear to hear this morning. It’s so important that’s why I’m using the words in the light of, in the light of the words and the truth that’s coming to you and me. You cannot turn dark in the light. Now we’ve missed it in the past. We have sinned. The Lord said, “Don’t say you have not sinned. Then you deceive yourself.” The enemy did not see repentance because he had no chance to repent. But repentance is such a wonderful thing to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We just have to in the light say, “Yoh Lord, this is what we have done.”
Pastor John shared this with us yesterday. It was so powerful when he read the scripture and I’m going to close with this now, just two more scriptures. Pastor John read from the Young’s Literal Translation, reform you for coming to you the rain from heavens. Jesus is saying, there’s an old way you have been living. Repent from that old way because; come to you is the way of heaven. Yes, Lord. This is what’s coming to us and we need to repent. I want to finish with this because I want you to see it for yourself. 1 John 1, 7 to 9. We love verse 9. I’m just going to jump there first, 1 John 1 verse 9. 9 If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just. (1 John 1:9 AMPC) Sin is a legal issue.
You see those mountains that the enemy may have, we have to repent and say, “Lord, we have missed it. We have missed it.” But then the pure blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us. And judicially, how do we want to be the Ecclesia, the house of parliament interceding and coming for the nation and coming for the city, but we do not repent and then that thing is not just before the Lord. The same thing for your personal life. The same thing for us as a congregation. So, Pastor John also ministered, come and ask for forgiveness. Jesus died so that we do not have to be judged. We don’t have to be. Lord, in the light of the truth that’s coming, we see, Lord. We run to you. Thank you for the pure blood in your veins, Lord, because it’s not running in my natural veins, but in Christ Jesus, I come for the cleansing flood of the blood.
And then I’m going to end with Colossians 2 verse 13 today. I want you to see this. This is one of the scriptures that the Lord gave me regarding education, but it goes for everything that we do in the ministry. This apostolic team that includes you in your prayers in the morning for the nation, in your prayers in the morning for Pastor John. How can you go there if you do not pray for him first and come in that slipstream, come in that wake? We see these mountains. We see these mountains, but God is giving Pastor John the territory and we’re going to take it. This is a profound scripture for us to understand what it means to occupy the spaces and the places that God’s got for us.
Colossians 2 verse 13. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him Jesus, having forgiven you all trespasses. Does your Bible say all? Mine says all. Now listen to this where we stand in covenant with Him. 14 Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, you and me, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14 NKJV) Because that’s what we have. And then the Lord said to me, “Christi, in the light of the messages, you come and you repent. You come and see to it that this thing is just and right between you and me because if you come this way, if you are planted in the place where you must be,” He says, “Now in your time, I did this on the cross, it’s nailed on the cross.” But in this apostolic crew for us to walk it out, He says, “In your day, I’m going to publicly it’s already 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them,(Colossians 2:15 NKJV) but publicly, I’m going to make a spectacle of them in your day.”
This is what we are doing. This is how Pastor John is building with the whole apostolic crew around him. Every and anything we touch, where your gifting is coming in, where you have to slot in. Judas, must God get another one? Because in our day to come and govern and not just be sheep that wants to come to church now and then again. God says, “I’ve already disarmed them. But because you take that territory that I took back and I’m giving it to Pastor John,” He says, “Come to me and ask Me for this because I am making a spectacle of them in this ministry, in this assignment and in everything that we’ve got to do.” And we say, “Yes, Lord.” We say, “Yes, Lord.”
I just really want to leave this with you today. Repentance is very important. We cannot just look at the word of God and think, oh Lord, I see what you mean, and then do nothing. I cannot do it. You cannot do it. In the light of the messages, in the light of the words that God is bringing you and me. In the light of the language. So, important what happened yesterday. That’s why, I mean, I made notes like never before because I really want you to just understand this. Pastor John said it so beautifully, God said, “Use this language that you don’t get stuck, that you can access the realms of revelation the way the Word came to us yesterday.”
How many of you because of the Continuous Perfect State of Being in me and through you, Pastor John said it this morning, “How could God ask Abraham to give Him his best?” God says, “Because I did it first. Before the foundation of the world, the lamb was slain.” You think God’s going to ask Abraham or you and me to do something that He did not do? That Perfect State of Being, God in us and then God said this to me. He said to me, “Why do I show you this, Christi?” He says, “Let’s talk about occupation.” If Christ is the first, God gave Christ for many Christians. And now we have that Perfect, our God, Perfect, Beautiful, Continuous State of Being in my heart and your heart, how’s that for occupation?
The Lord said to me, “Let’s talk about governing and ruling and reigning.” So, this seed that we are giving, can we even have a picture? And then the Lord said, “Can we have a picture of what this Ecclesia is doing to really in the light of the word to repent?” Really in the light of the Word to come in the words and in the language that God is bringing us. For the first time, I personally understand how God can take a nation and a culture. He said to me, “You that traded with the enemy and you took, you helped the enemy to make my holy days holidays.” Now you are repenting and you’re offering up to me the first fruit. What do you think God could do with this gift in a culture? He can shift a culture. He will shift cities, and He will shift nations.
It is apostolic, and this is what God wants us to understand today. We will go deeper. We will go higher because God is giving Pastor John the territory personally and in the Ecclesia together. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We just want to say, “Lord Jesus, on this day, thank You. Oh, Lord Jesus, that you Father, we want to say to you we will never forget. It’s in your word. It’s in our lives every day that you so loved. You so loved that you gave us your best. We just want to say to you today, it’s our desire to so love, so love You to continually give You our first and our best. And we all say amen.” Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Pastor John.
Pastor John Bendixen: Thank you, Pastor Christi. Wow. Praise the Lord. What a wonderful teaching the Lord has given us through a teacher this morning. A pastor-teacher. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Well, before we have a short break, I just want to, re-emphasize what Pastor Christi has just said. I ask you a question today. Would you rather have perfect planning or perfect obedience? So, I face this challenge all the time that, I change plans that we make, and I know that when I change our plans as a church, it has an impact on your plans and the plans that you make. And I’ve had to face this with the Lord because I’m aware of the impact that planning has on the ministry.
So, you know, when we first planned to have meetings this weekend, I was before the Lord about it, and so, I wanted to give out of the shepherding component of what we do together as a people that lived together for many, many years. So, I want you to just understand the foundation of what drives me and drives us. It’s more beneficial for me. It’s more, it’s of greater value to me that we live together for a long time, and we grow together for a long time in God, than to have lots of people that fill big buildings, but they come and go.
So, this is the way God called me. I’m not judging any other ministry. I’m just saying it’s the way God calls me. I see how God calls a people together to walk together a long time. So, I’ve seen people that are involved in Ministries where a lot of people come, a lot of people go, they use the people resources. And most often those people get burnt out in a few years, and then they leave the church because they’re not valued for their walk with God. They’re valued for their gift. They’re valued for their energy and how they can serve the vision of the church.
I’ve not only watched it, I’ve been part of it. So, in all my dealings with the Lord, I’ve said, “Lord, you obviously when you dealt with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, with everybody, you had a long-term legacy in mind in every relationship that you have. You don’t have a vision that is the major thing that destroys relationships because of the abuse or the use of excessive energy.” Get here this time. Do this. Do this. Do this. And the more you give, the more the ministries will take. So, I’m always in this place with the Lord where I care for the long-term amount of energy that you give into the ministry because I want us to live together for a long time. I don’t want you to burn out. I want you to be steady, stable, established and have a place where you can give adequate time and energy to your wife, to your family, or your husband, your family, the things, the other things that you need to do in your life. So, I attempt always to live as a ministry with understanding. With that long-term plan in mind.
So, when I initially came out with the timing for, and the plan for this weekend, and then later on the Lord was dealing with me and He said, “But, John, this is first fruits. You better give it the best you got. Don’t hold back.” So, then we change the plan. So, I ask you, what do you want more, a perfect plan or perfect obedience? So, if that’s true then that should apply to your life too. If you’re making plans that are the total thing that controls your life, and you never change a plan for what God says, then you’re not – you’re either doing one of two things. You so perfectly hear from God that actually every one of your plans are God’s plans. Then I need to introduce you to Jesus. Because as far as I know, He’s the only one that’s ever been able to do that.
So, I’m just being real with you today that I’m always seeking the Lord about what’s next and what’s next. And sometimes in my own conversation with God, I say, “Alright Lord, I’m hearing You. I’m hearing You. You want first fruits, so let’s do this first fruits.” And then the Lord has to deal with me and He says, “No John. That’s not enough. You got to do more”. And then I’m saying, “But Lord, what about the people?” And He says, “I want your obedience John. Let the people decide for themselves. And you set the standard of obedience and let the people decide for themselves.”
So, what Pastor Christi is saying is, “We can’t take territory if we are always living with our plans to such an extent that our plans are so structured that God can’t use us to take territory because sometimes territory’s got to be taken when there’s a God-created moment.” We can’t occupy places when there’s a God-created moment and we’re not ready for it, because we’re so busy doing our plans, we can’t hear God’s plans. Because God, don’t you dare change my plans cause I’m a planner. I’m structured. I’m organized. I’m planning. I’ve got allocated resources to the plan. It’s part of my vision. I know what’s going on in my life. Well, I’ve got to go this way.
Well, I’m sure that when you’ve got all of those things and you say all of that to God, God says, “Go for it. Go for it. It’s yours to run. Go for it.” But there’s nothing that’s happening in your heart that says, “Actually Lord, everything that I’m doing is actually available to you. Change it. Change it. Whatever you want, change it.” So, that’s why I say to you, and I have said to you the whole weekend, “Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for making your time, your energy, your effort. And if any of you have changed holiday plans to give time for holy days, I thank you. And may the Lord bless you, and may these revelations that God has brought to us and He’s continuing to bring to us, may they make the difference in your heart. May it be the difference maker. May it be the enlightener. May it be the aligner. May it be the thing that blesses all of the rest of what we can do in our lives. Amen.”
And so, I’m just wanting you to know that always, even from this day onwards, everything that I do, I measure carefully what is the impact on the people’s life. Pastor Christi will know – all the other people know. I call them into meetings. How many holidays? What are the school holidays? What are the private school holidays? What are the big major things that are happening? Sometimes, I’m even aware – I have done that in the past, I don’t do it anymore because it’s nonsense. But even times when the Springboks were playing New Zealand and having a big game at the big time, all kind of stuff like that, I’d say, “If we’re going to do that, half the people are not going to come to church because they’re going to be watching that game because that’s what they planned.” So, I don’t do that anymore.
I’ll tell you this, the church in America, this is a real thing, the church in America stopped having Sunday night services a long time ago because they were competing with the National Football League, NFL. So, they stopped having church because people didn’t come to church anymore because their team was playing. And so, now the whole culture has changed in America that church is no longer on Sundays because of the NFL. Because the pastor said, “What is the point of having church when everybody’s staying at home watching NFL?”
So, I’m sharing with you today the tension that exists when someone who’s leading people that I know what you do, you got lives to live. But at the same time, the more we give our lives to God, the better our lives are going to be. So, we’re all actually wanting to lead better lives and have better in our lives and more in our lives. And the whole thing about it is not give me more time so I can have more time and less time for church. Actually, the thing is give your first always to God and then you have a better life. Everything gets better. Amen. Hallelujah.
Pastor Christi, thank you. Great teaching. Hallelujah. Aren’t we blessed to have Pastor Christi as a shepherd in the church? Hallelujah. Yeah. We are blessed. You know, I mean, this happened to us at that time, you know, Christi and Grobbies were doing business together and between the two of them, they created a good business and they were making good money. And the time came when I had it in my heart, Pastor Christi, you’ve been faithful in serving the Lord here in this way and still working, and it’s time for you to come into the full-time ministry and come and do this full-time. And you know, there was a conversation we had to have because of an income level change that would have happened in their business. And at that time, you know, I said, “I can’t give you, I can’t make up the money that you guys are earning. I can’t do that. But it’s time for you to come.”
Aren’t you glad she came? Aren’t you glad she made the transition and said, “Okay, Lord, we’ll do, so that we can be obedient.” Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So, let’s take, what’s it – twenty past now? Let’s come back at twenty-five to eleven. Let’s twenty to eleven. Let’s make it fifteen minutes or so, and you can have a cup of tea outside, and then we’ll do the next session. Amen. Everybody says, “Amen.” Let’s do it again, “Amen.”
30 March 2024 Crossover First Fruits Part 7
Pastor John Bendixen (WTB)
Pastor John: Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Continuous Perfect State of Being. Continuous Perfect State of Being. You know, this is a perfectly correct statement to make. You can wake up in the morning and say, “I’m perfect, and I am determined to be perfect continuously today as I live in a state of being with my Heavenly Father.” You can declare that about yourself because your spirit man is perfect. Amen. It’s your mind and your body that’s got to get adjusted. Hallelujah.
So, we’re going to continue with the theme, Continuous Perfect State of Being. You know, I’m so glad Pastor Christi touched on all of the things of first fruits because Jesus was the First Fruit. And because Jesus was the First Fruit, we are all of the rest are blessed. And if we are serious about doing what we are doing this weekend for God, and we are. Then everything that we do in the future is blessed, because this is our first fruit. Amen.
Matthew chapter 5 verse 17 says, the New King James Version, Matthew 5, 17. 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. In other words, there is nothing about the law that won’t be fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20 NKJV).
So, let’s go to continuous perfect state of being. Remember what we were talking about yesterday that, Jesus came from the place where the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have eternally occupied. So, where They occupy, the place that They live in, we call it Heaven. The Bible calls it Heaven. He came from there to a place on the earth, and He came as a Continuous Perfect State of Being. And He came and He said, “If you want to know how to pray, pray that whatever’s in heaven will come to earth.” Yes? So, when Jesus is talking about Himself, He says, “I never came to destroy the law and or do away with anything the prophets spoke about, I came to fulfil them. So, these things what the law and the prophets stand for, will stand forever until heaven and earth pass away. So, anybody that’s trying to put a different emphasis on the importance of the law and the prophets, they can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now this is quite important because, what was happening is that there was a whole movement within the covenant people of God. The Jewish people, the Israelites, there was a movement where there were so many added laws that people had to keep that they interpreted the laws because life was changing around them. So, now they had been occupied by the Babylonians. They had been occupied by all different kinds of people centuries ago, and then now they were occupied by the Romans, and different behaviour patterns emerged, and different things were happening. So, what would happen is that all the lawyers, the people that were leaders of the law in the community, the Rabbis and all of the people, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they would all come together and bring their interpretation of how to live the law. So, you had the Ten Commandments of Moses, and then you had the law that God gave people to live in society together with understanding.
If you read, sometimes it’s difficult reading, but if you take the time and you read through books like Leviticus and Numbers, it’s challenging reading, but if you take the time and you read it, you will find out that God’s got lots of information there that He’s, line upon line about how to live together. And He goes into details, well, of things like, if you find someone has stolen something from a brother, then this is the way that you must behave. He must repay it, and he must repay it like this, and he must do it like that. And if he doesn’t repay it, then you must do this. And then God also talks about things like, you know, interest rates and many things are all in the Bible. And so, that’s what’s called the Levitical law.
So, you had the law of Moses, and then you had the Levitical law, and then you had the law that was the law established by the leaders of the Jewish people that was the interpretation of the Levitical law and Moses’ law. But what was happening is that as circumstances were changing, the children of Israel were put under this pressure of so much behavioural law. And so, they always had to be doing something, doing something, paying something and it was creating a whole lot of societal issues.
Well, I reckon the same thing has been happening in the church for quite some time already. And this scripture says 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19-20 NKJV) So, He was saying, all these guys that are interpreting the law for you, unless your righteousness exceeds theirs, you won’t enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. So, they’re looking and saying, “But these are the guys that are supposed to be the righteous guys. What about us?” He was already telling them that your righteousness is not going to come from how well you do and don’t. Your righteousness is going to come from seeking the Kingdom. Right?
So, this passage of scripture is right before you get into Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus begins to talk about the Kingdom. Right? So, when Jesus is talking about it, I’ve said to you before, law is the order of God. And how many of you think that any of the laws that God gave Moses are irrelevant today? Let’s go through it. What about murder? I think it’s pretty relevant. What about stealing? What about, envy and greed and lying? What about those things? Right? I mean, on the contrary, I think society is built on those Ten Commandments. So, for us to say that we live in a whole world where the law is no longer relevant, it’s impossible for us to say that because all of what we have in Christianity is based on the law.
It’s the law of God to His people. It’s the law of the Continuous State of Being says, “This is what I Am. I don’t kill. I don’t steal. I don’t lie. I don’t do these things. This is not part of Me. This has become part of humans. If you want to know Me, as the Continuous Perfect State of Being, you can’t live these things and be connected to Me. If you do these things, then you have to shed blood to get a repentance or to have a forgiveness of your sins because any of these things that you do is not Me. If you miss the mark, you got to pay the price. Every time you miss the mark, you got to pay the price. Here’s a set of Ten Commandments that reflect Me. If you do any of these things, you’re not living like Me.”
So, then what happened over all of the years is God sent people, messengers, into the earth. He sent people into the earth, and the prophets, and I’m setting us up, okay, for some prophetic things that we’re going talk about that is going to help us get a better understanding of the difference between the church and the way the world thinks. So, God had messengers come into the world called prophets. They were not rabbis. They were not the priests. They were not kings. They didn’t fulfill any governing function on the earth. Their sole reason for coming to the earth and being on the earth was to be a mouthpiece for God. So, they would come and they would declare on behalf of God to the people what God wanted them to know.
So, the Bible is full of things where prophets spoke. So, the way that the Bible has been structured according to the way theologians wanted to study the Bible is they called them the major prophets and the minor prophets. If you go to Bible school, you’ll learn some of these things. Major prophets and the minor prophets. So, you have a major prophet like, a major prophet would be Isaiah, for example, and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. These are major prophets. They are so-called ones that had a major message to preach or messages for the children of Israel. And then you would have minor prophets and minor prophets would be people like Habakkuk and Joel and different minor prophets, so-called minor prophets because they didn’t have long prophetic words and they didn’t often speak about long-term things that were going to happen. But they had a message for the here and now, for the people of Israel. Major prophets, broadly speaking. Okay?
But God had these messengers come into the earth, and for the most part, these messengers would address a situation that was happening in Israel at that moment, sometimes, they would say, “You must repent because your behaviour is abhorrent unto God and this judgment is happening because of your behaviour. You’re supposed to be like God. You’re supposed to behave like God. You’re supposed to be His people, and now you don’t have blessings. You are under a curse because you’ve gone away from the laws of God.”
Why is God sending people to talk to His people like that? Because He wants them back, right? He wants them back. He wants them to be His people. Most of the time, most of the time, the prophets would say, “This is why I have come to speak to you. This is your current behaviour pattern. This is what I have to address about you. This is what you have done wrong. This is what I don’t like about your behaviour now. But if you will repent from your ways and you will do this, and you will do this and you will that, then I will bless you and I will return you to and I will restore this in you and then you will have all of these things.” Most of the time, that is what would happen.
Some of the other bigger prophets, people like Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, they often had a prophetic word that not only addressed the current affairs of the current generation, but they addressed the affairs of things that would happen until the time of Christ and sometimes beyond. So, Daniel for example, when he had his vision, that he had, he had the seven-week vision which not only addressed the time until Jesus was going to come, but also his vision included the time after Jesus was going to come. So, his vision that God gave him addressed a whole period of time.
Isaiah for example, most of what he talked about was about the current condition of Israel, but the condition of Israel that would prevail at a time when Jesus would come and then when Jesus would come, this is what would happen. And so, you have the prophetic word that the government will be upon His shoulders. And it will be a government of peace and so he prophesies Jesus’ coming and what was going to happen to Jesus and who Jesus will represent and what will come after Jesus. Amen.
So, what I am describing to you now, is a Continuous Perfect State of Being that has a continuous perfect relationship in His Being with His people and as His people come close, He blesses them, they’re on track, they move forward. As they go away, He brings judgement to them, because you’ve got to come back. I can’t let you die in your self-sin. I can’t let you die in your idolatry. I can’t let you die in your choices because I have a covenant with Abraham and my covenant with Abraham says, “I must bring you back.”
So, the covenant in Abraham was not only a covenant established with Abraham himself, but as Pastor Christi said this morning, it was a covenant that was established because he was ready to sacrifice Isaac so because he said this – I will bless you and now I can bring Jesus and sacrifice Jesus. So, when Abraham did that, all the children of Israel and their disobedience coming and going – He had to judge them, bring them back, bless them – peace, they go away, they serve idols, they follow after other gods, they forget about God, they forget about His ways – judgement. Come back – pattern – pattern – it’s a pattern, it’s a pattern.
When Jesus came to the earth, He said, “I come – I’ve come to bring the Continuous Perfect State of Being and I Myself is going to represent the Continuous Perfect State of Being and if you believe in me, then the Continuous Perfect State of Being will live in you. When that Life Force comes to live in you, you now have the power to no longer follow the pattern.” So, that’s why, when Jesus went away, He dies, He comes back onto the earth and the apostles and there are many people that are a witness to Jesus. As He is walking on the earth, there’s a witness. If I get a chance we will talk about His journey from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus and He is walking with two disciples. The Bible says, He hides Himself from them, so they don’t recognise Him because He wants them to talk to Him about what is going on in them. You think Jesus is about to do anything on His own now that the Father didn’t want Him to do? If He hid Himself from them so they could talk to Him, it’s because He wanted to be able to say things to them.
As He is walking with them and He starts to open the Word of God to them and share the Word of God with them, they get to a point where they get to town, invite Him in, they break bread together and then He is gone, and then they realized it was Jesus. And they said, “Didn’t out hearts burn within us as He shared the Word with us.” What was happening? What was happening is that they were experiencing a born-again experience because the Word of God impacted them. The Word burned in them and they were following the Messiah. Hallelujah.
So, they immediately, immediately, they get up and they walk back about twenty miles, the Bible says about twenty miles. They just walked twenty miles, they had a meal together, it’s nighttime, they don’t worry about robbers and thieves and all that kind of stuff. It was a big problem on the roads in those times – caravans and people would be constantly robbed and walking just two guys just alone was just a no-no because it was very dangerous. But they get up straight away and they walk twenty miles at night back to Jerusalem to go and tell the disciples that they met Jesus.
What happened to them was the Word of God was burning in them. You know what happens when the Word of God comes to us as it has been coming to us in December, January, February and March is that the Word of God has been burning in us. And our hearts have responded with burning. Our hearts have responded with the desire to obey God and follow Him and to pursue Him and to do what He is requiring of us today.
For us, it’s not ever about, “Well, the Ten Commandments and those things that the prophets brought in the Old Testament, they’re not relevant to us.” That’s why the New Testament says that all scripture is given to us for our edification, for our correction, for reproof, and to uplift us and exhort us. Yes. All scripture. So, there’s things that happen there that we can learn from. There are commandments there that we can learn from. Amen. Praise the Lord.
Second Corinthians chapter 10, this is a scripture that we often refer to. I’m going to read it in the New King James Version, Second Corinthians 10 verse 3. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV).
So, what is our major challenge that we have? Our major challenge is not with the Continuous Perfect State of Being that’s inside of us. Our major challenge is what’s happening inside of here, inside of your mind, in your head. So, I want to just remind you, one of the greatest revelations, you know, it’s amazing to me that the way that God works is supernaturally lightning fast. Spiritual. You know the revelation that God gave me? Reason, reality, and relevance or you can live in redemption, revelation for a revolution. You remember that? God gave me that in about ten seconds. “Have some of this, John.” I just wrote it down. “Got it, Lord.”
Now I’ve got to go study it and bring scripture to it and have God actually confirm it and see it in scripture. Many things, just the way God deals with me. He’ll drop a concept. He’ll drop an idea. He’ll drop something into my heart, and I’ll get it, in like, seconds, and then it’s up to me to go and get it all in study. Amen. That’s the wonder of God. That’s the wonder of God. See, that’s what God’s called me to do. That’s what God’s called me to do.
Our challenge is with reality, reason, and relevance. That’s our challenge; reality, reason, and relevance. The Bible says, 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments. (2 Corinthians 10:4 NKJV) If you have an argument against what God’s doing in this ministry, you can do one of two things. You can take that argument and germinate it, fertilize it, grow it, mature it, verbalize it, and then make a stand on it. Then it becomes your argument that you own against what’s happening in the church. Or you can say, “Hey. I choose to accept what God’s doing in this ministry, so I’m not going to argue against it. I may not understand it completely, but I’m not going to argue against it. I’m going to ask God to give me further revelation so that my life can be further redeemed so that I can create a revolution in my own life.”
That’s what that scripture says. 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. (2 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV) So, what are the high things that are going to exalt themselves against the knowledge of God? What is a high thing? Well, I’ll tell you one of the high things is that you think that you’re in charge of your financial future. It’s a high thing.
So, bear with me for a minute. If God made Adam and Eve, did He make them in a desert without water, without anything, and then say, “Adam and Eve, I’ve made you now in My image. Go and take care of the stuff that you have to take care of to live with.” Did He do that? So, what did God do? First, He made the whole environment, and He made the whole environment provide for whoever, whatever He was going to put in there; every living creature. Then at the end, He made Adam and Eve, and He put them in the environment and He said, “I’ve provided for you. All you have to do is now have the dominion. Control it.” They didn’t have to work. They just needed to have dominion. They just needed to have dominion. They had to dominate anything that would come in that would bring an argument against the knowledge of God.
Isn’t that the first thing that happened to Eve? An argument came against the knowledge of God. She entertained the argument. She allowed the argument to take a position in her. So, then she acted on the argument because now it’s become part of her, and she ate fruit that she shouldn’t have eaten because she had an argument that came against the knowledge of God. What were they living on until the argument came? Everything that God provided. They didn’t have to plant a seed. God said, “Every seed-bearing herb is here for you to eat.” All they had to do was pick it and eat it. Everything was provided for them. All they had to do was have dominion.
Until an argument came; an argument that came against them. So, an argument that raises itself and is a high thing against the knowledge of God, what are we supposed to do with that? We’re supposed to bring it into captivity. Take control of it, have dominion over that thought. Say, “No thought, I’m not going to let you continue in my head.” Praise the Lord.
In your spirit now, you have a Continuous Perfect State of Being. It’s in your spirit. The devil can’t do anything about what’s in your spirit now. You are a recreated being in the image of God. So, the Continuous Perfect State of Being is living in you, and so that’s in you. That can never change. I know some people say that, but it can never change. That Continuous Perfect State of Being, by the very definition of God Himself that is continuously perfect in you, He can’t let that happen. He does write, in the book of Hebrews, there is one thing that you can do that people can do to undo that salvation, but, you know, it’s almost impossible to do that. It’s almost impossible to do that.
So, I don’t even want to talk about it because almost impossible to do that. Ultimately, it does reveal a choice, but you have to get so far away from God, having tasted all of the goodness of God, that you then not just are tempted, but you then knowingly choose to say, “I’m not going to believe God anymore,” which is almost impossible to do because God is living in you. So, then the choice that you make is a combination of a choice, together with a demonic influence, that helps you make the choice. Okay?
So, the devil can’t do anything about the Continuous Perfect State of Being that’s in your spirit, but he can do a lot about what’s going on in your mind. So, he can bring lots of arguments to you that raise themselves up against the knowledge of God. So, arguments that he would raise up is that you are in charge of your financial future and the more money you can make and the quicker you can make it, the more independent you will be financially. And the quicker you are independent financially, the quicker you don’t have to be managed by or controlled by any other system and the more options you will have in life. And so, all the time, what you’re doing is you’re following an agenda that wants to control, control, to protect, to guard, to put boundaries, and do all of that stuff.
Now I ask you a question, do you think God wants to preserve your future? He wants to preserve your future. Do you think God wants you to have an abundant future? He said Himself, “I came to give you life and to give it, more life, more abundantly.” If you look at everything that He wanted to do for the children of Israel, every time they turned their hearts towards God and they gave and they did everything God wanted, just blessing upon blessing upon blessing and just abundance upon abundance followed them; overtook them. So, does God want you to have more than enough? Does He want you to be the same as the children of Israel, the covenant children, where He said you’ll be the head and not the tail? Don’t you think He said, “You will lend to many nations and you will not borrow?” Yes. Isn’t that what God wants for us? Of course, He wants that for us.
The difference is He wants us to do it His way, not our way, because if you’re doing it your way, you’re always tempted to think it’s your money. Is it your money? Even if you’ve done it your way, is it your money now? Now I’m really touching on a sore point. Is it your money now? So, if you don’t have any money, it’s easy for you to say, “No, it’s not,” but if you’ve got some money and you got some assets, then you’re going say, “Uh, I’m not so sure. Does it belong to God or does it belong to me?” Come on. Don’t… It’s an argument that’s going to be in your mind. It is an argument that’s going to be in your mind. It is. “It’s my money. It’s not God’s money. It’s mine. I control it.”
Pastor Sharon shared with you a revelation that a man came from America many, many years ago, and he came and he preached it in the church that we were at, at that time, this message on tithing an offerings. Yes. That message – and that not enough. We heard it 35, 40 years ago for the first time. Long time ago. That same man was the man that helped me get out of debt because he wrote a book called War on Debt. And that same man said, “I’ll show you how to get out of debt.” because God prospered me so much that I became foolish. I spent, and I spent, and I spent because money was flowing so big, and then favour of God promoted me, and suddenly, my income potential became greater, but my short-term cash flow was diminished and it’s not something that I expected. And so, trouble.
So, that man wrote a book called War on Debt and it was one of the biggest moments of my life that changed everything because I was reading that book. My 2 little boys, we went down to Cape Town. We did a house swap kind of a deal. It wasn’t exactly, but a guy made a house available to us and just said, “Look after the house in Cape Town.” We went down to Cape Town, and we went to the Newland swimming pool, it’s a public swimming pool, beautiful oak trees. And there I was sitting under the oak trees reading this book, War on Debt. And I’ve told you the story many times. I didn’t have anything that the bank didn’t own. The car was owned by the bank, the house was owned by the bank, everything was owned by the bank. I had overdrafts. I had credit cards. I had everything like that.
So, then I discovered that I had a computer and a camera. Sold the camera, took the money, gave it to the church, put it in the offering, and I had a computer, which I gave to the Bible School. Those were the only two things that I owned that I could legitimately say, “It was my money, our money, that we could sow as a seed.” And then I started walking around saying, “I’m debt-free through the miracle power of Jesus. I’m debt-free through the miracle power of Jesus. I’m debt-free through the miracle power of Jesus.” And lo and behold, three and a half years later, I was debt-free through the miracle power of Jesus. And my life hasn’t changed since then. God has always supernaturally provided.
What I had to learn as a lesson at that time was either I was taking credit for what God was doing in my life, or I was going to let God take the credit for it. So, from that time to this, I don’t own my money. God owns my money. Hallelujah. You know what happens if you are in a place where you can say, “My commitment is being tested.” I just want you to know one thing. The reason I shared JD’s testimony with you is because Joe McCloskey told me specifically, “Go and share this with the people.” If he shared it with me privately, I wouldn’t have shared it with you yesterday, but he wanted you to know it. He told me to share it with you.
You know, hey, listen. If God gives Sharon and I an instruction and says, “I want you to sow seed into Joe and Joyce’s 2 sons, and don’t stop until I tell you, every year in dollars.” “Well, Pastor John, how much money is that going to be? How much money are you going to give away? Because, you know, the rand dollar exchange rate’s changing. And, are you going to be able to afford it? Can you make such a commitment?” Well, if God said, yes then, of course, I can. So then, what are you going to get for it? Nothing. There’s no transaction here. This is a seed. This is a God-given opportunity to sow seed. And so, many years later, how many thousands of dollars do you think we’ve sown seed? Plenty of thousands.
You might say, “Well, you know, what could you have done with that money?” Has no value to me whatsoever, nothing, if I’m not obedient to God. The fact that I’ve been obedient to God, me and Sharon, and every time we lay hands on that seed, we pray over it, we put it in their hands. “Lord, do with it what you need to do with it. Make something happen that needs to happen with it.”
Years later, “John, you know what’s happened? Encounter with God.” Thank you, Lord. We had a part to play. And that’s just the beginning because there’s things that God has declared over that young man’s life that now begins to unfold, and the potential of everything that God’s called him to do now begins to unfold because he has gone from being someone walking away from God and the church to walking in God and the church. That’s just the beginning. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah.
So I, you and I, we have to constantly manage the arguments that keep on coming into our minds. Because if you let the arguments grow, you might not think that there’s anything that’s happening to them but they can become strongholds. And if they become strongholds, they become a place where you become defensive and you take a defensive position about anything that anybody says against your stronghold argument.
So, this is part of the challenge in the church. The church at large, you have some people that believe, and I’m just talking about generally now, there’s some people that believe that God wants us to prosper, and then there’s some people that have this belief that God doesn’t want everybody to prosper. So, they have an argument that they have that is a stronghold, and they stand on their argument with all those people that are prospering. They have an argument against them. Hey? And they defend their position strongly. Hallelujah.
Well, that’s why I want my heart to always be teachable. And you will find me sometimes, I might even sound too kind of self-examining all the time. But I’d rather be self-examining and have a teachable spirit than to be taking strong positions on things, and then never let God deal with anything that’s in my life. Hey? Praise the Lord. So, having a teachable spirit doesn’t mean to say you can’t be a strong person. Right? You can be a strong person and be teachable at the same time. But I don’t like the statement of saying, “You’re a strong-willed person.” Because that would be speaking something over someone’s life I don’t want them to know. Because I don’t want you to be strong-willed. You can be strong but not be strong-willed. Yeah.
So, patterns, God’s pattern is always designed for our victory. Now I’ve talked about the law and the prophets. So, success and failure are predictable patterns. They’re predictable patterns. Success and failure is a predictable pattern. Yesterday, I started to address this when I said, “I don’t want you to measure my success because that means that whatever measurement you’ve chosen as to measuring my success, now it becomes something that, someone else is determining whether you’re successful or not.” So, if you just bear with me, if I’ve got ten million dollars cash in the bank and someone, maybe all of you here today, might say, “He’s successful because anybody that’s got ten million dollars cash in the bank is successful.” Why would you say that? You would say, “Because anybody that’s got ten million dollars in cash has got control of their future. They can’t be influenced by anybody. They can do what they want when they want, and so, they must have done some things right to get ten million dollars in their bank account.”
You would assume a lot of things that people would measure my success by. Right? But just because I’ve got ten million dollars cash in the bank doesn’t mean I’m successful to Bill Gates and the other thousand billionaires that are in America. Right? What do you think they think about my ten million dollars? I mean, I’m not saying I’ve got ten million dollars stashed away in a bank. I’m just saying, if that was the case, what do you think they would say about my ten million dollars? “You want to invite John into a business deal?” “Sorry. The guy’s not heavy enough because ten million dollars cash in the bank, that’s not heavy enough. We’re looking for guys that have got hundred, three hundred, five hundred million dollars in the bank.”
I found it quite amusing, it’s quite a sad thing, actually, but it is quite amusing. They take Trump to court for defrauding somebody. Nobody got defrauded, but they put a four hundred million dollar penalty on him. Then the judge reduces it to one hundred and seventy-five million dollars and they say, “How are you going to pay for it?” “I’m going to pay cash for it.” That must drive all of the Democrats crazy. “I’ll write a check.” “Well, why didn’t you want to give the five hundred million dollars?” “Well, I’ve got to pay for my campaign. I want to become president again. So, I need the three hundred million dollas so I can pay for becoming president again.”
So now I’m told he’s got this new, he’s got this venture, ‘True Social’ or whatever. It’s doing some kind of, I don’t know, it’s a new stock exchange thing that’s happening in America. And so, now they’re saying that if this deal happens, he’s going to be worth four billion dollars. Have any of you read it? Gideon, it looks like you’ve read about it. You’ve read it, Simon. I mean, this is real stuff happening. So, you know, here’s what they say about him. They say, “It’s like everything that Donald Trump touches turns to gold.” It drives them crazy. It drives them crazy. I’ll tell you one thing Donald Trump has done is that when he became president, he got all of the Christian pastors into the White House, and he started having prayer meetings with them. I wonder what you think that did to all the evil spirits of power and control that were controlling the White House and the deep state government in America. When Donald Trump walked in there and started having Holy Ghost filled Spirit prayer meetings in the White House.
Nuts is what happened. They went so nuts that they were doing everything they could to keep him from becoming president again. Anyway, I took a sidetrack there. Yes. If Donald Trump comes to me and says, “John, let’s do business together. How much money you got?” And I say, “Ten million dollars.” “Sorry, you’re a bit light because I’m dealing in 100s of millions of dollars.”
So, how you measure success is actually not really valid to anybody else, from anybody else. The only measurement that you might want to use for success is where do I want to be? Where do I want to be? Is that money? Where do I want to be in relationships? Where do I want to be? Where? You can’t just take one thing and measure yourself and say the one thing. So now, if you start measuring yourself, you’re going to get into yourself also a position where, “Hey, I don’t have enough. I want more.” I’ve got news for you. You’re never going to have enough. You’re always going to want more. So, if you’re using a measurement system of success, you’re always going to be dissatisfied. Always.
So, let’s take the thoughts of measuring success captive, and let’s say, “Let’s stop measuring success.” Why don’t we just say, “Let’s stop measuring success?” Why don’t we rather just live in a state where we live in obedience to God? Why don’t we just say we are constantly living in obedience to God? Because if you want to say, “Are you successful?” My answer is, “Are you obeying God?” And then you can talk about any part of your life you want to talk about. Are you obeying God in your marriage? Are you obeying God in tithes and offerings and giving? Are you obeying God in business transactions that He’s bringing your way that you can put your hand to, that He’s put that in your scope so that you can be blessed because He’s blessing you in that business transaction? And are you going to give glory to God while you’re doing that business?
Sometimes, there’s big adjustments and then sometimes there’s smaller adjustments. But being in business, if you’re giving God glory all the time when you’re in business, I promise you, your business is going to be blessed. Don’t hide what you’re doing in business. Don’t hide your Christianity in your business. So, if you’re hiding your Christianity, it means that there’s a level of lack of confidence in your Christianity. Don’t let the devil lie to you. That’s an argument you can’t win. Take that argument captive and say, “My Christianity is not dependent on my perfection. My Christianity is because I have got a Perfect Continuous State of Being living inside of me, and I don’t have to apologise for my imperfection. But I’m happy to be open about my imperfection in case they judge my Maker, my perfectly created One by my imperfection. So, I’d rather talk to you about my imperfections that I take responsibility for than you judging the Continuous Perfect State of Being One based on my imperfection. Rather judge my imperfection than judge my God. And so, if you don’t want to know about my God because of my imperfection, that’s on you.”
Now if we have a whole bunch of Christians going into business, you know, talking about God and saying, “I’m not here to come and preach to you Jesus all day long. I’m here to do business with you, but I want you to know I am a Christian. I am a believer. He is the Lord and Saviour of my life, and I’m going to give Him time.” Noted. You think the Muslims don’t do that. The Muslims do that. They’re going to tell you, “We can’t do business with you on certain days of the week because we’re in prayers.” And they’ll tell you, “Don’t invite me for lunch, business lunch on certain days of the month because we’re doing fasting.”
So, why can’t we do that as Christians? I’ll tell you why. Because Christians have got a bad name, don’t we? We have a bad name. By the end of this weekend, I’m hoping to redeem the name of Christian to you. I’m hoping that you and I will get to an agreement that we don’t have to call ourselves Christians and with a bad name. I’m going to give you a worse name. I’m going to give you a name; terminator, dominator, destroyer, stronghold obliterator. Hallelujah. No, I am, I’m going to give you a name that you can live by, that you can talk by, that will identify you as one that follows Christ. And it could be a place that if people ask you, well, what do you mean by that. that you can give them a proper answer by what you mean by that.
Because I want to tell you, I’m not the same Christian as someone else that goes and confesses to a priest once a month, and he lives his life in whatever order of life he wants to live in. I’m not the same Christian as him. I don’t want to be labelled as the same Christian as him. I don’t want to be labelled the same as a Christian that’s every Friday night found in a pub. Every Saturday, they get up at midday because they’re drunk from the night before. And before the weekend’s over, the amount of weed that they’ve smoked, you know, is enough to put a donkey to sleep. That’s probably not that much because donkeys sleep on their feet. But you get my meaning. Praise the Lord.
No, I mean, there are some things that, you know, we feel like as Christians, the grace life allows us to have a life that we can just live as we want to live. And so, you know, it’s okay, and we can just be whatever. I’m not also suggesting that our moral standard should be the moral standard by which we make a difference in the earth. Because if you begin to stand for a moral standard, you’re going to compromise yourself somewhere along the line, and someone will find the moral standard weakness that you have. It can be anybody, anywhere, anytime that just has a different moral compass to you. So, now your moral standard becomes the thing that they can get you on because your moral standard is different to theirs. Morality is not something that we should even measure our success by either. What we should be living with is the Continuous Perfect State of Being is living inside of me, and now I want that life to be living with me everywhere I live. Everything I say, everything I do, everywhere I go, now I’m being successful because my success is eternal; Continuous, Perfect State of Being flowing through me.
Okay, are you all with me still? Because, as we move through, we’re going to talk about something that’s quite important because we, as a people, have to be success-minded, but not success-measuring. We have to be people that are victorious, not conquered. We must be conquerors, not be defeated. We got to be the people that God says we are above and not beneath. We are blessed going out and blessed coming in. We have to have that in our mindset. Amen.
So, before I get into the next section of what I’m going to minister on, I want to ask you if you think our education system in South Africa is good for our kids? Anybody? No. So, it’s bad, right? I would agree. So, God put it in my heart 20 years ago that our education for our kids is bad. We have to find an alternative. And so, hence, I got up in front of the church and said, if I could give you advice, homeschool your kids. Amen. And so, time has gone by. Many people in the church have homeschooled their kids. Some have done it this way, some have done it another way. All kinds of things have been happening. But over the last, can we say, over the last 5 years, it’s just like it was bad, bad, bad, and now it’s got terrible. Yes? That’s just horrible, terrible, and it’s getting worse. It’s on free fall. There’s nothing catching it to say it’s on a different trajectory now. It’s just getting worse. Right?
So, we are in a momentum in our ministry now of creating an alternative education opportunity that we can collaborate with parents. We can collaborate together as a ministry. We can collaborate together so that we can provide fantastic education from a maths, science, reading, writing point of view, as well as an education system that provides young people, little kids with a purposeful integrated life with God. Don’t you think that’s what God wanted for His covenant kids when He signed up with Abraham? In fact, He said to Abraham, “All the nations of those were … because I know you will teach your children after Me. Not after other gods, after Me.” So, I’m wanting you to understand this, that we are very close to just bringing everything together to make it happen. I’m just saying that the next step, God’s going to pay for, because that has to happen next. Because this thing is in my heart, this thing has got to happen yesterday. Can’t wait any more. It’s got to happen. It’s got to happen quickly.
So, for years, you know, I mean, I just want to show you how God works this thing out. God put this in my heart; don’t build a church that’s based on how many numbers can come and how big you can build an organisation. Build a church that’s built on relationships. Established Biblical order. Yes? You’ve all been a witness to that. You’re all part of that. On that basis, I mean, part of the testimony that Christi and Grobbies has, Pastor Christi and Grobbies has. Part of that testimony is, I went and had coffee with them one day and she has said it many times from the pulpit and I read their mail and they were like, “Yoh,” and Grobbies walked out and said, “Yoh, that Pastor John – he knows us exactly; he knows who we are and like we have freedom to be who we are in this church.” And then the Lord spoke to Pastor Christi and said, “No, that’s not a pat on the back, that’s actually a very poor thing because you are people who just want to do whatever you want to do.” I never told her that; God told her that.
But I just want you to see something. So, God begins to deal with her and thank God Grobbies came to his sane mind, took him a few years but he got there, he got there. But you see, if someone’s got a revelation, you can’t stop the revelation from pulling you into your destiny and God was calling her into destiny. And I’ll tell you what, husbands and wives, if God’s calling you into your destiny, God will call you even if your husband or your wife is not willing to come with you. You obey God, God will deal with your spouse. This is a truth I’m telling you, this is not something to create division. This is a truth that God calls everybody to a destiny; He doesn’t just call you as a couple. If I didn’t recognize Pastor Sharon’s gift of the prophet in her, and her gift of worship that God placed in her, He would have fulfilled that destiny another way even though I didn’t see it. But because He called us together, He’s created an opportunity for her, here, because that was His original intent. Anyway, that’s for free, I didn’t intend to say that, but anyway.
But God spoke to her, God starts to deal with her. She becomes a disciple of what God is doing, just as were disciples of Kenneth Hagin, Jerry Savelle, Kenneth Copeland, she was a disciple of not only them but she became a disciple of this messenger. Right? So, this disciple then begins to touch her family. Am I right family? So, the family starts to get touched by her. So now, this family here, the du Toit family, they get touched by this one. She starts to pray with them on the telephone first, first on the telephone because there wasn’t Zoom and Skype those days as I remember, it was nog vroeër dae ne? (early days). Oh, they drove through every week to go pray with them on the farm, every week or close to it, every now and again, every two weeks. That’s a commitment to go pray with them.
Eventually, they decide, “No, this thing is burning in us, this message is burning us, this thing is, if we believe this stuff, we have got to act on this.” Hey Loutjie and Zelda, that’s what happened to you. God started drawing you and when God started drawing them, I’m getting some place, I’m not just….so when God started drawing them, they started to say, “We got to make some changes, we got to make some changes, we got to make some changes.” Are you getting me? We got to make some changes cause if we think God is drawing us, we have got to make some changes, we got to make some changes, we got to make some changes. So, the change that, I mean he is a fourth-generation farmer, he is not just going to leave his farm behind, there are other things at stake. So, they made the changes that they could make and one of those was, “We going to drive through to Witbank every Sunday and we are going to come to church every Sunday and we are going to have prayer meetings on Tuesday night.” Now there is technology involved and they have prayer meetings in Moregenzon.
Watch this, she was running a school, Zelda was running a school in her house because she can because she’s capable, educationally allowed to, she’s running a school. Before I even met her, I had a vision: I was on a board of someone who tried to change the education system by buying a whole school and by running it in a Christian school way. And I was on that board and it wasn’t working, they were just creating another school but put a Christian name on it and it just became another school. I said, “Sorry I can’t be with you because that’s not the vision I have in my heart,” I’m talking twenty-five years ago, thirty years ago.
But I’m praying into it, I’m speaking into it, I’m not allowing the arguments that, “You can’t make a difference,” to come into my head. Every now and again I fussed with that, I had to fight with that and if you think you are ever going to walk a journey with God where your arguments don’t get loud in your head, you are mistaken. You are going to have to take those arguments and fight those things and take them and wrestle them under control so that they don’t dominate your future. It’s like a wrestling match, that’s what that scripture talks, it’s like a wrestling match, you have got to take hold of it and you have got to wrestle it, control it.
So, all the while God is doing something behind the scenes, doing something behind the scenes. So now, and I’m just going to say, now we are in a position where somewhere along the line, God brought Martie. Martie started to connect with us, we had to find each other. Martie is part of this Ecclesia now. She wanted me to understand that she was part of this Ecclesia cause she came into my office with a spade, a big spade, and I said, “Martie, what are you doing with this spade?” and she said, “No, this spade is digging a tree, it’s digging a hole for a tree because I’m planted.” To her, she wanted me to see the visualization of the intent of her heart that she’s planted. That’s something that God does in her, that’s not something that I asked her to do, but that is something that God did in her. Now Martie has got…how many years Martie, twenty-five years? Twenty-five years, of dedicating twenty-five years of her life to helping people home-school their kids. She’s sitting next to Zelda who did a school that is a combination of ACE and homeschooling, kind – of, I don’t want to get technical about it – was giving you a highlight.
Now I’ve got people here, I mean, I think if LeRoux could and he wanted to, he would have probably been a teacher by gifting, not an engineer by profession because that’s what he loves to do. And Liesl, she’s an occupational therapist. Her whole life is helping people learn things that can’t learn things. Is that broadly speaking? More or less? Amper (alsost). Oh! Suddenly, and I’m just touching the headlines. Got Tertia there. Tertia has done homeschooling successfully. She’s part of the team here, working in this ministry, coming, helping us. Tertia, thank you. All of these people, thank you, they come together every other week, they come together. Di’s not here. Angie. Where’s Lebo? Lebo is here. Lebo’s not here. When I call out people’s names they seem to be everywhere else. I called Tarryn the other day and she was buying rolls at Checkers for your lunch. [Congregation laughs]
Anyway, God’s put together a team. Garth and Marcelle, they’re all there, in this team together and they’re all working in this team because the vision has come. The vision has come. This Ecclesia has arrived to bring something. It came on the back of iXchangers coming in their numbers to come and exchange their lives for God’s life. I wonder if God’s got a plan happening here. I wonder if He didn’t start this plan so many years ago and we’re just now saying it’s building time. It’s building time.
You know, when you dig the foundations of a house, when you dig the foundations of a house, it doesn’t look like anything. It’s just a hole in the ground. And you look at it, and you look at it, and in your mind, if you don’t have an architect’s plan or an engineer’s plan and you can’t, you look at it… Lettie, she designs houses… if you don’t look at the plan, you’ll say, “This is just a bunch of holes in the ground.” And then they come and put cement in it and you’ll say, “Okay, now there’s cement in the holes, now what?” You know? But it’s only when they start building on top of that and you say, “Oh, this is where the lounge is, here’s the wall and this is where the bathroom is going to be and this is where the kitchen is.” It’s kind of, “Okay! I can see it’s happening now.” The product hasn’t arrived yet, but it’s nearly there. Because the design has happened, the foundation’s been laid, now the building is happening. In God’s time.
I believe that God has built here, a place for Him that is built on the Rock. Because He said to Peter on this revelation, this Rock, I will build My Church. He also said you can build a house on sand or you can build a house on the rock. When the beatings of life come, the house on sand won’t stand, but the house on the rock will weather the storm. I’ll tell you, this ministry has had many storms that’s tried to blow us off course, but we have been founded on the Rock. We have been founded on the Rock. Hallelujah. We are founded on the Rock. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
And so, church, you know, here we are. I don’t want to talk too much about all of the stuff that God is doing in and around us, but we are just at the beginning. We are just at the beginning.
Do we know what the farm’s going to be for? I can tell you, whatever we think the farm’s going to be for, it’s going to be for much more than we think the farm’s going to be for. It’s going to be much more than that. It’s not just a piece of land with a couple of cows on it and a few chickens to show the kids what real life was before the internet arrived. Come play in the mud. No, God’s got a destiny. God’s got a plan. God’s working it. He’s working it! He’s working it. He’s working it.
And this that we’re doing this weekend by giving Him first fruits, you think this is just a little thing and now our holidays are all going to get taken care of. Hayikhona wena. That’s just too small a bar. That’s just too low a bar to think this is what first fruits are. It’s that and much, much, much more. It’s a combination of; hey, you guys are all prepared to come together, flow together, bring all of your energy, all of your time, giving up all of your vacation time, all of the stuff that has brought you to here, all of this, God’s taking all of it as first fruits and He says, “Let Me see what I can bless with this. Let Me see what I can bless with this.” Hallelujah.
So, when we come back, when I come back… someone else is going to preach. Pastor Garth is going to preach after lunch. And so, if you know Pastor Garth, he’s got something groovy to say.
I will come back to this scripture after lunch. 17 “After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple and fell into a trance. 18 I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’ (Acts 22:17-18 NLT) I’m going to talk to you about trances and visions. Ha! Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
So, when you go and have lunch, please don’t get into a trance. [Pastor John pretends to be in a trance] Wake up, wake up, what are you doing? [Pastor John laughs] Don’t come back in a food haze. I bless the food in Jesus’ name. May it do your body good and not any harm. May your body absorb it properly and correctly and may it only do good to your body and I pray that nobody – anybody that’s cooked food, this is not against you, just making sure that everybody’s body receives it properly and that there are no adverse effects to the food that you eat in this lunchtime. You all agree? Say amen. I’ll see you after lunch, 2 o’clock.
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