Scripture Reference: Revelation 4:1- 8 (NKJV), Isaiah 6:1- 8 (NKJV)
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Well, it’s marvelous to celebrate because it means you have something to celebrate. So, praise the Lord. We celebrate His goodness. We celebrate the life that He has given us, His glory and we celebrate each other. Because, actually, the Church is not about the building. It’s about us. And we celebrate each other. This is a most marvelous and most wonderful thing. So, before you sit down, just tell somebody; I’m celebrating you, today. And then you may be seated.
Well, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Today is a multi-celebration day. We are certainly going to celebrate 24 years of ministry. It might seem like an odd number to most people because you’d celebrate 20 years and then you celebrate 25 years and then, you know, 30, 35, 45. In fact, Pastor Sharon and I are well underway with Project45 – celebrating our 45 years of marriage. So, we’re going to celebrate all of next year. So, I’ll have to restrain myself, babes, like you had to restrain yourself. I have to restrain myself. [Pastor John laughs] It’s a good thing to celebrate. But, 24 years is very significant and when I get to the ministry part of our service, I’m going to share with you some more details about why 24 is so important.
But, today, the first part of our service, we’re going to celebrate Pastor Lynn. And it’s such an amazing blessing for us to have Elsabe with us, today, his wife. We all know that she’s standing in faith for the healing power of God to be complete in her body. But we live with them with understanding and love and honour. Amen. And it’s good to have his daughter, Lee, with us, today. Yes. Welcome, Lee. Hallelujah.
We are celebrating Pastor Lynn today. I’m going to do the video presentation and then we’re going to listen to a song that Lee wanted us to play for her dad today. I guess that’s her way of speaking a message out without having to come stand up here. Let’s start with our video presentation that we made for Pastor Lynn, please.
[Pastor Lynn celebration video plays]
Praise the Lord. How wonderful is that? We are privileged to know you all these years, Pastor Lynn. In a short while, I’ll have some personal things that I can say about you. I mean, we did marriage things together. So, we’ll talk about some of that in a minute, but it was Lee’s request that we listen to this song. This has very special meaning to her and to her dad. All of you might get a tear or two, you might get quite emotional about this – I’m warning you up front. So, let’s play the song, please.
[Song Butterfly Kisses plays]
Well, what is a life if you don’t have moments that you can share and moments that are special, right? Yes. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Well, time for me to say a few things, Pastor Lynn, you know, there are people that come across your path and when they come across your path you’re never quite sure in the moment how your touching point with them is going to turn out. I mean sometimes people come into your life, they touch you for a moment and for that fleeting moment there is something that happens, God in eternity will be able to tell us and show us how these moments impact or had an impact on our lives. But then there are some people that as you journey through life together the bond gets stronger and stronger.
You know, I’ve mentioned our story for Pastor Sharon and I, I’ve spoken of our story many times how God brought us to Rhema and I will always be grateful for Pastor Ray for him preaching the word of faith and bringing relationships into our life like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savell, all these wonderful people. Certainly, when I went to Rhema I had no idea at that time what the impact of that choice would be to go to church there, to stay connected to the church there and allow my spirit man and my life and all of who we became to grow there. I thank God even though I didn’t know all the knowledge I have now about being planted. I can’t imagine what my life would have turned out to be if I’d just been a church hopper. Because one of the things that happened was that Pastor Lynn, his profile was already in the church as a pastor and as my profile grew our paths got closer and closer. And we got to know each other and find out more about each other and it’s an amazing thing that sometimes you can share the same message but can have completely different values in life because the way that you absorb the message and the way that you live the message can be very different.
So, you can then sit in the same church, you can hear the same message with ears that can hear the same sounds but the way that you interpret it and the way you live it can be extremely different, right? They can be worlds apart the way that you hear it and live it. And as Pastor Lynn and I got to know each other over the years, it became evident to us that we share the same values. We share the same way of living life. We have the same foundations and same principles of the way that we receive the Word of God, live the Word of God and apply it in our lives. And so, one of the greatest joys of our life was, we went on a retreat with Lynn and Elsabe because even though we had a good marriage we were striving for a better marriage. And they were doing, what was that course called? [Pastor Lynn answers] Marriage encounter, they were doing marriage encounter courses, Lynn and Elsabe, and Sharon I decided that we would go along to one of those courses and go and sit under their tutorship and their leadership for the duration of the course.
It certainly is a very challenging course. I remember they interviewed us before we actually entered the whole process and they said, “Now we just want to make sure that you know you guys know what you’re getting into because we’ve experienced that the opposite effect can happen in this whole encounter. People get divorced after they leave here because they actually find out that they can’t live with each other because they can’t overcome the challenges.” It didn’t happen very often but there were those people that did that. [Pastor Lynn agrees] Yes, it also saved many people too, many, many, many. But of course, they had a, you know they came and chatted to us and we said no we think we’ll be alright and so I’m glad we were okay. But over the years our lives were together, we served Pastor Ray together. His journey with Pastor Ray as a full-time minister continued longer than I was with Pastor Ray at the church. But the time came when God had a different season of life for Pastor Lynn. I’ll never forget the day he showed up in our church and it was such a wonderful, wonderful occasion for us to have Lynn and Elsabe show up at our church, knowing the quality of man that he is, and knowing how he loved God and all of the things you wonderful young people said about him, that’s all true. It’s all true, yeah. And so it’s been my joy, it’s been our joy, it’s been our joy, hasn’t it been? To walk with Pastor Lynn all of these 20 plus years. So, it’s been amazing. Thank you, Pastor Lynn, for just being you and we celebrate your life. We celebrate 80 years of living on this earth.
I’m beginning to get a little understanding you know of the older you get it’s like you certainly realise you know, that life is just mortal. It just is, you know, but I will in a moment when I share my message, I will talk a little bit about – in just meditating on what I was going to say today, I started to do some reading and some studies about the role that elders have played in the mind of God, in the heart of God, in the nation of Israel. It’s an amazing thing that when God sent Moses to deliver Israel, the first thing He told Moses was to go and talk to the elders, the elders of Israel. Those were not men that had mature status, they were really the elders. They were older elders. They were the older men of Israel that were given the authority to make decisions on behalf of the community because of their status of wisdom and age and maturity that came with that.
So, when God said to Moses go and deliver my people, He sent him to go and talk to the elders of Israel. I will tell you this, Pastor Lynn, that this week I was having a conversation with somebody and in my one-on-one conversation, you know, the word came out that the church is in danger of being a commodity. How does the church become a commodity? Well, it’s traded. You know, it’s traded for I’ve got something I can give my tithe, I can give my time, I can just show up at church and that’s enough. So, I trade my energy and my time to show up at church and in return you trade with me, and you give me some feel good spirituality and some good, good message. So, church is in danger of becoming a commodity, something that’s just traded. But God never intended it to be a commodity, He always intended it to be a covenant, right? And so, He always wants us to live in covenant. In covenant with Him and in covenant with each other. Praise the Lord.
So, I thank God that we have been able to journey with Pastor Lynn. And so Pastor Lynn, we want to just give you a basket publicly and you’ll get it later, it’s just something that we just want to show you that we recognise your birthday. Come, Empie, so, you can just hug Empie and thank him for the gift. [Empie brings a gift to Pastor Lynn] That’s a lot to eat, Pastor Lynn. I know you’ve got a good appetite, that’s why we thought you don’t want flowers; I am sure you didn’t want flowers. We got the flowers for Elsabe, we knew you would give the flowers to Elsabe, so we got her flowers and you something to eat. Praise the Lord.
So, I know we have some visitors here, that are here specifically to celebrate Pastor Lynn with us, and we welcome you here today and we thank you for making a journey. We are all going to have some food to eat afterwards and celebrate together. We are going to call you up now. I need a microphone, somewhere, it’s right next to your handbag there, Sharon. So, Pastor Lynn, I have got more to say about you, you know. So, you must come now, otherwise, I’ll talk a lot about you.
Pastor Lynn Fulford:
You can sit.
Pastor John Bendixen:
Okay; the elder spoke.
Pastor Lynn Fulford:
The Bible says, no the Bible doesn’t say this; Blessed are the short-winded, for they’ll be invited back. But the opposite is also applicable. I prepared a little statement here, but I want to do it. First of all, to say thank you, we came yesterday, and slowly this thing has been building up. Is Denholm around? I want to send a personal hello from my son, Bruce ,from Colombia going to El Salvador, where he is going to live. They were in a band together, so Denholm, if you are listening, Bruce sends his love. The other one is in England, so I only have my daughter here. I have kids that are all in their 50s. In fact, my daughter is going to be 60 in a couple of shots, in three years’ time. She looks like a teenager still sometimes. But I am not going to use my notes. I’m going to tell you a little story from the Bible and I have entitled it; We conquers, and You divides. It doesn’t sound like good English but I promise you, it’s very good.
We conquers. So, there are two men by the name of Peter and John walking down to the temple at the hour of prayer. And as they got to the temple there was a man there that was begging for alms. Mind you, he got legs afterwards but he was begging alms. [Congregation laughs] So, Pastor John and my sense of humour, we always get a little entangled but that’s who I am, you know. So, as they approached this man, the man looked a little deplorable, struggling with his self because he’d been there for so long and he’d experienced so many disappointments and this story is very deep in that sense that you as a believer can also experience great disappointment in your life. We have been fighting in our faith for Elsabe’s health for a long time, but I cannot persuade her that God doesn’t heal. I can’t, you know. She’s standing but she’s struggling. That’s why she’s had to leave the service – she came here by faith, but thank you for making it possible.
So, I’m trying to describe this man and so as he, as they’re getting towards him, it’s almost as if I’m walking towards – oops excuse me, I’ve got a little bit of a gammy leg. I’m walking towards this man that is struggling with his own emotional life and as he gets to him, I’m just using you as an example, they connect. There is eye connection but Peter and John are very interesting in this because you all know the sanguine by the name of Peter. You know he got into trouble with his mouth. So, I’m not picking on the sanguines, I’m just using you as an example. And Peter took the dialogue and John was with him and you all know the value of the Apostle John. So, he says to the man, “Look at us,” and the man caught their attention and he said this, “Silver and gold have I none.” So, I’m not poverty stricken because that would contradict what we believe. “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, I give to you.”
So, where was he? He was outside the temple. What is inside the temple? Silver and gold, but he is saying that temple is no longer. Look at me, the new creation temple, what I have got for you. The interesting thing about We Conquers and You Divides – I’m going to use Pastor John and Sharon in this – because it took two people to make this happen. John did not say one word, but he supported Peter. Peter is talkative, but Peter had the anointing on him and he brought this in. And the moral of the story is, that we conquers when we fully accept, give over to God, to our pastoral couple. We are talking about two people in agreement. There is no better example for us than Pastor John and Sharon in terms of their agreement with each other, their togetherness, everything. Thank you for… I say this boldly, thank you for your good example to us. It shows you just how much what you said how important it is that we belong to the body, and we serve the body. And I thank God for my own life being able to serve God because I do not have a Christian legacy at all. I am a first-generation Christian and so I’m really grateful for that. But, when I say we conquers, and you divides; it’s as easy to divide a church and it happens as you… It is easy to take two groups, two or three couples who are anti-the-church or anti-the-pastor and they can split the church, and the power of this, and it’s particularly called the witness. The power of the witness is what we need to understand. I only stand here today because of a witness. You are here today because of a witness. You haven’t seen Jesus, you haven’t seen God, but we believe it. Why? Somebody witnessed. How powerful is that?
So, thank you for having me, thank you for having us as a family and inviting us as a family for this very precious day. I am so grateful, and I want to finish off with this. I have two influencers in my life – and you can watch when Pastor John comes up to minister to you, after you’ve seen me – two influencers, Pastor John and my wife, and that’s why I today have this outfit because all my suits are like bags on me. So, I have followed Pastor John’s example as well which has made me feel very comfortable. Thank you, thank you, thank you that I could come casually.
We look forward to meeting with you and sharing with you later on after the service proper. But we are in the presence of God, thank you. Thank you for making this possible, thank you for being on Marriage Encounter, you were more than qualified. You know, it was to make good marriages even better, you know, it wasn’t the Salvation Army type thing it was really… And no, I’m not belittling the Salvation Army, we need them too. So, thank you, Pastor John, for the moments I could share. Let me just, I want to check myself here, quickly my big note here. You all know the story is from Acts chapter three.
And then I do want to repeat myself from the men’s camp, you have a gift you are a gift, you are a gift you have a gift. Doesn’t matter what it is, make your gift work, allow your gift to work like it is here. MiXchange is the best thing since sliced bread, that’s an understatement but this MiXchange… Are you guys happy about being in MiXchange? If I was 18 I would be here, that’s for sure. Thank you, Pastor John, I’m done. Thank you for those few minutes. [Congregation clapping for Pastor Lynn]
Pastor John Bendixen:
Stand here with me. So, I would like us all just to, maybe you’d like to stand with me and I’d just like you to stretch out your hands and this is our moment where we are just going to bless Pastor Lynn with our prayer our love and in the realm of the spirit we speak a blessing over him. These are your people, Pastor Lynn, these are your family. We all love you, we are so grateful to God that you came into our life and look at them, they all want to bless you. They’re stretching their hands out to you because they bless you. And, we speak the love of God to you, the blessing of God, the strength of God, the wisdom of God, and all the things that you still desire for these years that you’ve got ahead of you, we speak that into your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen. I love you, Pastor Lynn. I Love you
Pastor Lynn Fulford:
Thank you, Leigh, for that song, oh, it is such a whoo, wonderful song. That touched me so much. Thank you, Pastor John, I see that Pastor John is going to minister on Revelation Chapter 4.
Pastor John Bendixen:
You can’t take my notes like that.
Pastor Lynn Fulford:
I wish to tell you this, and using my Doctorate, what I’d like to tell you is, if you read Revelation 4 you are in a worship service.
Pastor John Bendixen:
Yes. Thank you, you may be seated. You would have received a little card when you came in. You need to give this card in before you get food, this will allow you to get the food when you have the card. This is a management issue. If you have a problem with the management and the way we manage it, get over yourself. Praise the Lord.
So, we are going to celebrate 24 years and I’m going to read this, I’m going to read to you in a minute what 24 years signifies, and I might get to Revelations, Pastor Lynn, we’ll see. You’re not supposed to look at my notes when you’re up here! For just a couple of slides, I just want to remind you, just to give some context to our journey. If we can put the slides up, please. I think the first slide will be the Sandton Convention Center. Well okay, we’ll start with this one then.
Well, we started with Brother Jerry, 28 years ago, nearly 29 years ago, in fact, it was 29 years ago, we started with him and this was the first office of Jerry Savelle Ministries. We were blessed that after we started these offices we could start a church under his leadership and he blessed us at the Sandton Convention Center. Do we have that picture?
This is him, praying over us, I’m already going a little bit bald there but wasn’t quite. But Brother Joe standing behind me was well on his way. And this man standing over here, some of you have met him, know him, Dr Earl Sherrick, he still continues to be on Brother Jerry’s board even though he cannot move from home at the moment. But that was a big moment for us because Brother Jerry laid hands on us, blessed us into church ministry and blessed us with the same calling that was on his life that we would function in the same manner in our lives. Next, please.
And this is where we were heading, we did not know at that time that we were heading here but God has allowed us to minister to thousands and thousands of people through the Bible School. There’s Pastor Lynn standing next to me and other deans of other campuses which are sitting on the second row here welcome Derek and well, praise the Lord, we’ve come a long way. Yes.
The next slide, you know, this to me is, it’s just a reminder of sometimes we just have church on a Sunday and you forget that actually over the years God has really touched many people’s lives and many people have received the Word of God because of what He’s done for us and so we are celebrating 24 years. 24 years, praise the Lord. And you know when we started this there was, I don’t know even know if there was social media. How old is Facebook? Maybe Facebook just started. I don’t think so actually ,maybe Facebook is 20 years old. But when we started this, there was no Facebook, there was no social media, even in those days if you had an internet connection it was a dial-up modem. Hey? 24 years ago you had to get onto the internet with a dial-up modem and some people had to switch their phone line out with the phone line for the modem so that you could now just connect to the internet for a while, some young people growing up, they don’t even know what that is. It’s like if it’s not high speed and bluetooth and everything else it’s what… So praise the Lord. We’ve been able to move along with God and adapt and be what God is helping us to become all the way through cultural changes, social changes and many other things that have affected us. I think that’s the only one, is there one more to come, one more slide?
Yeah, I wanted to just show this slide because it was a picture that we took in Brother Jerry’s river house and these are all the international directors with him and with Joe and Joyce. And it’s just a reminder for me about our journey with Brother Jerry that started before our church even started. So, it’s just a wonderful picture as a reminder. Amen. Thank you. Praise the Lord.
So, I’m going to just read this all to you. I’m going to read it to you because I don’t recall what source I got it from or where, how it came to me but I was reading it again this week and I thought, wow! I mean it just so well describes everything that we’re at.
Number 24 really means an ever stronger demonstration of God’s strength and so why 24 significance is because it’s the year of 2024. We have been in ministry for 24 years and God said, He said to me and I didn’t put any of this together but the Lord said to me, “You’ve got to have clear focus, clear objectives, state the vision, write it down. Do what you have to do for the next 24 months and then 24 months and then 24 months.” And at the time I didn’t really fully grasp why 24 months was the number but I’m going to read this to you.
Number one: Divine Order and Completeness.
In the Bible, the number 24 often represents God’s divine order and the completeness of His plans. Just as there are 24 hours in a day signifying a complete cycle, the number 24 in Scripture points to the perfection and thoroughness of God’s work. The 24 elders in Revelation and the 24 courses of the priesthood, demonstrate God’s orderly arrangement and the completeness of worship in heaven and earth.
Number two: Worship and Priesthood.
The number 24 is closely linked to worship and the priesthood. The 24 elders in Revelation are seen worshipping God continually and the 24 courses of the priesthood ensured that worship in the temple was ongoing and uninterrupted. This connection highlights our call to be worshipers and priests in God’s Kingdom offering spiritual sacrifices and interceding for others. Are you beginning to get how important 24 is?
Number three: Establishment of God’s Kingdom.
The appearance of the number 24 in the Bible often points to the ultimate establishment of God’s Kingdom. The 24 chapters in the gospel of Matthew which presents Jesus as the Messiah and King may allude to the fullness of God’s reign. The number 24 reminds us that God’s Kingdom will be fully realised in due time and we are called to live as citizens of that eternal Kingdom. You are a citizen, not just of South Africa or some national citizenship, you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Actually, because that citizenship will last forever, this national citizenship is actually way, way inferior compared to the eternal citizenship of the Kingdom.
Number four: Judgement and Consequence of sin.
The number 24 also appears in the context of judgement and the consequences of sin. the 24 thousand Israelites who died in the plague that can be found in Numbers 25 verse 9, serve as a sobering reminder of the severity of God’s judgement against disobedience. This aspect of the number 24 warns us to take sin seriously and to live in reverence and obedience to God.
Number five: Holiness and Consecration.
The 24 spices in the holy anointing oil and the 24 shekels of gold in the priestly ephod underscore the importance of holiness and consecration. These sacred elements were set apart for God’s purposes and used in the context of worship and priestly service. The number 24 reminds us that we too are called to be set apart for God living lives of purity and devotion. Additionally, the number 24 is connected to the natural world with the average length of a solar day being approximately 24 hours. This connection further emphasises the concept of divine order and the cyclical nature of God’s created universe.
In summary, the spiritual meaning of the number 24 in the Bible encompasses Divine order, completeness, worship, priesthood, the establishment of God’s Kingdom, judgement, holiness and consecration. So, as we encounter this significant number in scripture we are reminded of God’s sovereign plan, our call to worship and to serve Him; and the importance of living lives that are set apart for His purposes. Furthermore and finally, when combined, two and four, letters Kaph and Dalet form the number 24 which carries a powerful spiritual message. It suggests that God’s abundant blessing, Kaph, is accessible to us through the door, Dalet, of His presence and purpose. This numeric combination reminds us that God’s power and provision are available to those who seek Him and walk through the doors He opens. Furthermore, the idea of transition and new beginnings associated with Dalet implies that the number 24 may signify a Divine shift or a season of change in one’s life. It encourages us to trust in God’s guiding hand and to embrace the new opportunities He presents.
Wow, what do you think about the number 24? I think it’s quite something that God would have us celebrate 24 years of ministry in the year of 2024 that He would have designed it that way. Isn’t it amazing that in the year of 2023, the Lord began to say, “It’s time for us to crossover,” and then when we hit March of 2024 the Lord began to speak to me and say, “Reset time, it’s a new season, the shift is over, it’s time; it’s time to go into the new phase.” Remember that? And then a month later Brother Jerry passed away and went to heaven. I mean God is not confused about His plan. Come on, people, this is a moment for us to rejoice that we are directly in the middle of everything God is doing saying and talking about right now. This should give us a whole lot of confidence that we can just go with God. Amen.
If we have occasion and the Lord will allow us to elaborate on some of these points as the time goes by then we’ll do so. Isn’t it amazing that Brother Jerry had a word for 2024 and the word for 2024 was; Progress, Advancement, Promotion, your highest expectations being fulfilled. So, this is the year of progress, advancement, promotion, highest expectations being fulfilled. He started preaching that in October last year and this is our year of 2024. Progress, advancement, promotion, highest expectations met. Praise the Lord. I think the Holy Spirit is involved here. Don’t you? Yes, I think so. Well, I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure of it!
So, I want to just remind you that over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about covenant and, just very briefly to just make a point about covenant; covenant is a significant, formal, very purposeful agreement between parties. So, you can’t just have an agreement and I talked about this, that if we come to an agreement that I’ll buy you lunch that’s not a covenant agreement, that’s just an arrangement. But if you have a very purposeful, deliberate, very sincere connection to an agreement you are more than likely entering into a covenant. People won’t say it like this but if you sign a document that says; I’m buying a motor car from a bank, because you’re not buying it from a dealer, you’re actually buying it from a bank if you’re borrowing the money from the bank. So, when you sign the finance from the bank you’re actually entering into a formal agreement. They won’t use this language with you but they’re entering into a covenant with you. They’re making the resources and finances available to you and you covenant to pay it back with interest. That’s why if you don’t pay the money they must come and fetch the car because you’ve broken the agreement. It’s a formal, binding, intentional, significant arrangement. Agreed? It’s covenant. Well, you know, God has made that covenant with us and He’s intentional about it, He’s been very deliberate about it, and it’s His highest form of agreement that He could do was to get into agreement with Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and then use the power of that formal arrangement to fulfil all of His plans on the earth and in our lives. This is a marvellous and an amazing thing. Amen.
And so, I would just want to use this as a springboard, as we celebrate 24 years, that it’s no coincidence that we are here today celebrating 24 years in ministry. This is something God wanted us to do, right? And so we are going to eat afterwards and we are going to share fellowship with each other. Part of the reason I’ve been talking about covenant is because the building doesn’t have my covenant. This is just a place for me to meet with you. You have my covenant, not the building. The reason we are celebrating Pastor Lynn’s birthday with us is because when he joined us, there was a union of spiritual ordered gifts and callings that came together and even though we never made a decision that we would be this long together, my words to Pastor Lynn was, “I don’t accept retirement and…” because when he first came to me he said, “I can give you maybe five years,” because retirement age was 65 at that time. And so I said, “No Pastor Lynn. I don’t accept 65 as the age of retirement,” because it’s a real revelation to me that when you get older, your spirit man’s renewed day by day. It’s a real revelation to me that, actually, wisdom and maturity in God becomes more valuable as you get older, even though physically and mentally you may not be as sharp as someone that’s 25.
Actually, the fact of the matter is that you are spiritually far more valuable to God when you’re that age than when you’re 25. I’m not demeaning 25-year-olds, I’m elevating the elders. Amen. So, even though we never had a conversation about, “I’m going be with you for 20 years,” that wasn’t necessary because there was a spiritual recognition of the spiritual order of God in our lives. So, even though we didn’t necessarily speak about covenant, it’s there. It’s there because in my own heart, it’s intentional. In my own heart, it’s deliberate, it’s strong, it’s powerful, it’s purposeful, it will take a lot. I would say it’s almost impossible to shake me from having a relationship with Pastor Lynn. It’s almost impossible. Like him, I don’t necessarily only have two influencers; I just have one very big influence and that’s my wife. And even she won’t try and separate me from Pastor Lynn.
I mean, I have many other influencers – my biggest influence, Brother Jerry has gone home to be with the Lord. So, we’re in the state of discovering what this new life looks like. So, I’m still alive in his life, so I can’t quite echo what he said. So, for the moment, she’s the most important influencer in my life, I have other influencers. He’s an influencer in my life, people sitting around you, you’re all influencers in my life. Amen. But Pastor Sharon is a big influencer in my life, but even she won’t come to me and say, “Pastor John, husband”, whatever form she tries to say to me, “You know, Pastor Lynn, maybe this, that.” You can’t shake me. Hello. Because what we have is much greater than time. Of course, time will cease, but what we have is going to go beyond time, because our walk together on the earth supersedes time.
Come on, I’m going to read you something now about the Book of Revelations and the 24 elders in a minute because what elders were represented in the children of Israel is also represented in heaven. The Bible says that there are 24 elders that sit on the thrones of 24 elders and they are elders that supersede the time that is on the earth. They reflect eternal leadership, eternal spirituality, eternal authority, eternal strength.
So, is it any wonder that the younger generation have disdain – not in this church, but generally speaking – the younger generation have a disdain for the older generation because they’re not as fast on cell phones, they’re not as good with computers, they don’t run with the technology, they’re not on Instagram, social media, you know, or TikTok, and they’re not taking selfies every second day or every second hour to go and post it so that someone can comment on it and see how many likes you can get. So, because older people are not focused on that, younger people say they’re not with it, but maybe if younger people just woke up for a minute and say, “I wonder what they’ve got that I can get that will help me move past the identity crisis that I’m experiencing in social media. If I can get what they got then maybe it can save me from what the future is that’s dragging me into destruction.” Yeah, and God designed it that way – that the elder people would slow down the younger people. The younger people would use their energy to contribute to greater acceleration of things in the whole community and the two combined are supposed to make it work great.
That’s why I can say always with confidence that the Church is the place that God has got a covenant with us as a people. It’s not about buildings, it’s not about events. It’s not about organisations, it’s not about how many seminars we can have, how many camp meetings we can do, how many meetings you can have, how many days of the year you’re having church. It’s not about that. It’s about how many relationships God can use that are powerful relationships to reflect Christ. This is amazing. Hallelujah.
So, I trust that when we leave here today, if you haven’t been convinced you should be convinced that actually we are firmly in the sweet spot of God, where God wants us to be as a Church, as a people. Amen. Revelations chapter four verse one, 1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1 NKJV). I’ll tell you what, this verse is so encouraging to me because any time God wants us to see something about the future, the revelation and the connection is instant. Right? Hey, if He wants to show you something and your faith is there, your walk with Him is … He wants to show you something about your future, you can be in the spirit realm in an instant and He can show you stuff.
“Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” 2Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper … (Revelation 4:1-3 NKJV). Hey, the Lord reminded me of a story and I was just going to ignore it and as I started reading the Holy Spirit said I must not skip over it, I must tell you the story. There was a man who was a good friend of Brother Hagin, his name was Norvel Hayes. Norvel Hayes got married before he met Jesus and they got married because they both wanted to be powerful socialite, financial, they wanted to be a power couple. Certainly, Norvel Hayes had the gift of making money and he was already wealthy and so they got married before he met Jesus and they were well on their way to being the power couple that would be the standout couple at the country club that would have all the status in life. You understand what I’m saying?
When he met Jesus he got so turned on to Jesus and of course, Jesus was calling him into his ministry, into the ministry. He had to make a decision and the decision was to follow God and his wife said, “I didn’t at the time when I married you I didn’t know Jesus and I don’t want to know Jesus and I don’t want to be in this life with you,” so she divorced him. They had a daughter in the meantime and so his daughter grew up and she… He became one of the most powerful deliverance ministry ministers. I mean it was like wherever he went demons just crawled out of beyond every bush. You know there are ministers that said that demons don’t, are not around every bush. When he was around they were. Literally.
I mean literally, he would walk into places and people would scream out and they would shout out and they would say, “We know you, we know who you are.” Because he cast them out, that was his ministry. Well of course, his daughter was a target and so she got onto the wrong path and she became an addict and different things and circumstances happened where she came to stay in his house for a brief time and while she was in his house he had been praying for her and he said to the Lord, “While she’s in my house, meet with her.”
And so she went out one night and she’d had a lot of substances to use, came home early hours of the morning and went to bed and when she got to bed she woke up because there was a big man standing in her room. A big man with a big shining light that was standing in the room and she immediately was in fear. But to cut a long story short it was an angel God sent into her room to show His presence and His glory and to give her the opportunity to meet Jesus right there and then, rededicate her life to Jesus and to be free. Right at that moment she cried out to Jesus and she gave her life to Jesus and she was delivered, from that day till now she serves Jesus. Hallelujah.
You know, the Heavenly realm is a real thing, it’s a real thing. I don’t know why the Lord wanted me to say that story but I did. He reminded me of it while I was standing preaching to you. 2Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:2-8 NKJV).
Well, you know, when I read the scripture in preparation for this morning I really felt in my heart that the Lord has been speaking to me about our progression, our advancement, our promotion, things that God wants us to do and where we need to go. I believe that there is going to be through our ministry, a two pronged if you like two pillars of strength that are going to grow out of our ministry. One strength, one pillar of strength that’s going to grow out of ministries is a young generation that wants to go across into the Promised Land and they will not take no for an answer. Right alongside of it God is going to increase the strength of the maturing ageing people and along with them He’s going to reveal His wisdom, He’s going to reveal His glory, He’s going to reveal the secrets of His mystery of generations gone by because their renewal of their spirit will cooperate with a younger generation who want to pursue God. Hallelujah.
I believe that there is ….. God is going to elevate our voice as a church, going to elevate us as messengers that we will be able to preach the Gospel to many peoples. I’ll tell you what I saw; I saw that there are going to be older people that are waiting to give up their lives because energy has run out. When the Spirit of God will touch them and they will begin to have dreams and visions and they will begin to prophesy because their spirit man is renewed even though their bodies are weak. They can speak the mysteries of God into the earth. They can be the voice of God even though they may not be the voice of God in public places, they will be the voice of God in rooms, in hospitals, in homes, to children, to families, to communities because God can use them to speak. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
I need to read this to you and then I’ll be done. Isaiah, chapter 6 verse 1, 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim, angels; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away (Isaiah 6:1-7 NKJV).
Just please note for a moment, just note this that when your lips are under the order of God and under His control, your inequities are removed. This directly relates to the book of James about the power of the tongue. 7…… Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:7-8 NKJV). Who do you think God was talking about when He said, “Who will go for us?” It was the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. “Who will go for us?” Then Isaiah’s answer was, “Here am I send me.” You know after this Isaiah’s life was never easy because he prophesied things that the children of Israel didn’t want to hear because there was a repentance required. But what a moment that he could say, “Here am I, send me.” So, after 24 years of celebrating ministry together, I have all of this time, I’ve spoken about this and I’ve said, “I’m here for only one reason because He sent me. I didn’t come and start a church. I didn’t go into the ministry because I had nothing else to do.” You understand what I’m saying? My wife and I were talking about it, Pastor Sharon and I were talking about it recently. You know, in the early days of my life I understood that in order to provide for my family I had to work hard and I worked hard. I worked hard ,I went out there and I did my thing, you know.
But I’m happy to say that it wasn’t work that blessed me, it was God that blessed me. Work was just the evidence of my faith in His principle of work. But all of my life I’ve been in the ministry. I came because He sent me. He sent me, I’m a sent one. I’m not a self-appointed one, I’m a sent one. Hallelujah. I’m glad Pastor Lynn is here today. We are celebrating his 80th birthday but I’m glad that on the day that Pastor …. I mean Pastor Lynn was one of those in the pastoral council that when they needed a new pastor, more pastors in the church, they approached me to be a pastor in the church. It wasn’t a thing of well, I just happened to stumble upon this thing being a pastor. Even the church that I was serving in, they recognised the calling of God on my life that could pastor, that needed to pastor. And so, when they came to me and said, “We need another pastor in the church. Will you accept the call to the ministry?” The Lord had to speak to me and say, “Not now, not here.” And if you had asked me those days I would have said, “I’m never going to leave Pastor Ray.” Literally, God had to intervene, and then He revealed it to Pastor Ray.
And again, Pastor Lynn was present on the very day when Pastor Ray called us up in front of the whole church. In fact, he came and grabbed us, and called us to come and sit on the front row, and said, “This is what’s going to happen. Halfway through the service before this happens, before that happens, Pastor Ray is going to call you.” He was the facilitator that called Pastor Ray and us together to do the prayers. He was the pastor in charge to look after us that day. He was a witness of the way God released us with Pastor Ray’s blessing into our future. Hallelujah. Yes.
So, you know if we talk about, “Here am I, Lord. Send me.” I’m celebrating 24 years of sending me, but I want to tell you my time has just begun, and I’m inviting you to come on another 24 year journey with me. Will you? I’m telling you, I’ve had these moments with the Lord, I will be here on this earth fully active in God for another 24 years at least. I’m not piggybacking off Brother Copeland’s revelation. I’m not saying this because of anybody else. This is between me and God, and I’m telling you, I’ll be here fully in my senses, in my mind, in my body, full of strength for at least 24 more years.
Luke, you know what that means, hey? It means that your children could almost be getting married by the time I go home. Hey? [Congregation laughs] No, I mean you don’t have them yet, but 24 years time. I mean you if you have children in four or five years and then they grow up, 20 years later they might be getting married themselves. That would be cool if we’re all still together after all that time. Wow. Praise the Lord. Because you’re the newest married one amongst us, so you know. Praise the Lord. I mean there’s a lot to do unless something happens and Jesus comes and then who cares? Then we’ll all go and do this in heaven together, right?
But that’s always been in my heart that God would call us together and we would all be sent together. So, I’m going to ask you today, do you want to be in agreement with me that we say to the Lord, “Here am I. Send me.” Hey? You people that are with me in the ministry. If you’re visiting here you can say that between you and God, that’s your business. But if you’re with me in the ministry will you agree with me? “Here am I, Lord. Send me.” Hallelujah. We’ve got places to go, we’ve got things to do for God, we’ve got a message to preach, we’ve got God encounters to have everywhere we go. We’ve got God’s order to bring into a world that is desperate. We’ve got people that need to get saved, we’ve got people to touch, we’ve got people to teach, we’ve got people to train and we’ve got people to transfer to. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! Glory to God.
So, I’m done. I’m done. Thank you for listening to me today. I appreciate your focus and your time. Hasn’t it been marvellous to celebrate Pastor Lynn’s 80th? Pastor Lynn, you may not be around in the next 24 years. Maybe, maybe not. You know, but you’re going to do your best. I look forward to us having conversations later on in life. Hallelujah. It’s all a matter of what God shows. And I know that Pastor Sharon has had conversations with the Lord and what He said to her is our business, and if she wants to share it with you, she can. But we both had conversations with the Lord. Her conversations were earlier on than mine. Mine has been more recent but praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! Praise Jesus. Won’t you all stand with me, please? It feels like there’s some arrangement that I’ve left out, something I should be saying that I haven’t said. Money. Money. Yes, money. Well, then you better be seated so we can take up an offering, please.
Miranda, have I got everything? Are you checking? Don’t forget your ticket and there are some nice yummies to have. Please come and take up an offering. There’s nice yummy food to be had and there are guests here that have come and you will know who you are. You’ve been invited to join us with Pastor Lynn and celebrate together with him.
So, our new missionary status is kicking in and I’ve been travelling to America to honour and be part of a relationship with Brother Jerry for many years. But now we are going to America with a different assignment. We are sent as missionaries to do something significant for God there. Amen, and so I will fly Wednesday night. We have a group of pastors that will be leading the charge while I am away. So, that will be Pastor Sharon, Pastor Christi, Pastor Garth and Pastor Melusi. Where’s Pastor Melusi? Haibo! Why are you sitting so far back, pastor? In the dark? No, a pastor should never be in the dark, he should always be in the light. Praise the Lord.
So, I just know you are amazing. You people are amazing at praying for me. This is a very significant time because we’re starting our first MiXchange studio church campus in the USA. God has blessed us with the opportunity to have been able to purchase and we will be installing a duplication of this church in terms of cameras, sound equipment, lighting in the studio and we will be having church in America. Our message will be broadcast from that platform across the world but certainly across America. So, by the time we leave there, there will be many, many messages and opportunities to have been taught. And we will be broadcasting. We will be broadcasting to the United States of America. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
So, thank you for your prayers and thank you for standing with me, thank you for believing with me and I ask you to please as always look after the most prized possession I leave behind this time – your pastor, my gorgeous girl. Please look after her. Will you? Pastor Christi is very affirmative on this, the rest of you don’t seem sure. Amen. Praise the Lord. Well, let’s pray. Stand up with me and let’s pray over the offering and then I’ll sommer pray over the food also.
Bless the food to our bodies may it only do us good and not any harm. Lorraine if it does harm we’ll come hunt you down. She’s out getting the food ready. [Pastor John laughing]. It never has. Praise the Lord. But the food is blessed, and our fellowship is blessed. The Word and the blood of Jesus covers everything we do from this moment to this afternoon service at five o’clock. And if you want more blessing you’ve got to at least come back. If you can’t come back I’ll bless you – okay, bless you bless you bless you.
And we thank You for seed that we sow it’s a representation of our lives, our energy, our skills, our gifts and our callings. We thank You Father for all that You are to us and this is just a reflection of our trust in You. We thank You for blessing us and pouring out Your goodness on our lives in Jesus’ name and we all say, “Amen, amen.”
Pastor Lynn Fulford:
There’s coming a recognition of your apostolic ministry and calling during this time even while you’re away.
Pastor John Bendixen:
Thank you.
Pastor Lynn Fulford:
It’s quickened in my spirit. It is on its way, it’s recognising but it’s going to be a greater coming of greater recognition wherever you travel. God bless you.
Pastor John Bendixen:
Amen, amen. Thank you, thank you. God bless you, thank you. Hallelujah. Tonight at five o’clock we’ll enjoy, Untracked. Power hour, untracked ministry. We’ll see you later thanks for being here. God bless, y’all.
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