Scripture reference: Luke 4:18 (NKJV), Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV), Galatians 3:11 (NKJV), Romans 1:17 (NKJV), Hebrews 10:38 (NKJV), Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
Pastor Sharon Bendixen: Father, this is just who we are. You know us. You know us. You know this is what we do. Today, when we hear Your voice, we will not harden our hearts like they did in the wilderness. Our hearts are open and ready to receive, Lord. We have listening ears. Our spirit ears are listening this morning. And we thank You that You will speak the words that You desire to speak to us this morning. We receive them all in Jesus’ name, and we all say, amen.
Pastor John Bendixen: Hallelujah. Aren’t you a rowdy bunch? Full of energy, and joy, and noise, and all kinds of wonderful things. Hey. Hey. Hey, you all. Yay. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. I think you should turn to somebody and say, “I’m glad you’re in church.” And then you may be seated. Thank you. I’m glad you all are in church today.
Well, praise the Lord. Being in church is like, you know, if you’re having a very busy day and you’re on the go right from the beginning of the day, and you hardly have time to have breakfast and hardly anything to eat. And then you arrive home, and there’s this fragrance of food in the house, and you can sit down, and just take a load off, and enjoy food for an hour or whatever, and just chill. Just enjoy. Coming to church is like that, you know. It’s the culmination of a lot of good things you’ve done all through the week. It’s not something to replace and get your life on track. It’s just enjoy. Amen. Come on. You guys sound very quiet here today. I mean, you were rowdy in the worship. You can’t go quiet on in the message now. I mean, Pastor Josh is going to preach in a minute and you can’t be quiet. Say, “Amen” somebody. [Congregations says, “Amen.”] There you go. Praise the Lord.
So, you know, Pastor Josh, he ministered here yesterday evening. And so, it’s Sunday morning, Pastor Joshua. So, you have an hour this morning. [Pastor Joshua replies, “Thank You.”] Of course, if the Holy Spirit goes somewhere, we go with him. But that’s just the structure of our Sunday morning service. And, well, praise the Lord. Pastor Joshua is from from California, Visalia, California, and, he’s been with Brother Jerry for as long as I can remember, when I met him. And we come from having the same father, same apostolic leader, and having coming from the same word of faith. And so, you know, we’ve been talking about it for years, and, finally, he’s here. And, we are having a marvelous time, And, the best is yet to come. This is just the beginning of stuff that’s about to happen.
So, Pastor Joshua, we love you, we appreciate you. Thank you for coming to us here in South Africa, and take your privilege. Come and do what the Lord tells you to do. Amen. Won’t you welcome Pastor Joshua to the pulpit, please? [Congregation claps hands]
Pastor Joshua:
Thank you so much. Thank you, Pastor John. Give your pastor a hand clap. [Congregation claps hands] I’m honoured to stand behind this pulpit and, you know, I always create a little nest when I minister. But what a blessing and an honour to be here with you. I was expecting the trumpet to sound and for us just to fly away this morning. The worship here has been so good. You know, the Lord, as we were worshipping, you know, there was a thing that He spoke to my heart. I’m getting my time set because I want to make sure I honour, amen, the House. Praise God. And, you know, the Lord told me, you know, this place, you’re a voice and not an echo. Amen. I think I should have got a better, “Amen” than that. I didn’t bring my pompoms today. So, you are going to have to – I need to make sure your, “Amen” is not broken. Somebody say, “Amen.” [Congregations says, “Amen.”] One more time. [Congregations says, “Amen.”] Test your neighbour’s amen. Say, “Amen.”[Congregations says, “Amen.”] Okay. Okay. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t broken for the service.
But, in all seriousness, you’re a voice and not an echo. And not just you, you have an apostle as a pastor. I know that’s not a revelation to anybody here. I believe that. Amen. You know that you have an apostle, amen. A modern-day apostle, an apostle of the hour, not just a common man, amen, but a great man and a great woman of God. And what an honour to have that and you might say, “Well, everybody is great.” No, not everybody is great in the kingdom. And I will give you the Word for that here in a little bit. But this House is called to greatness. And not only are you a voice, this House is a voice. This is what the Lord spoke to me right now while we were worshipping. He said, “This House is a voice.” Amen. [Congregation says, “Amen.”]
It’s okay to sing what other people sing sometimes, but it’s a beautiful thing when you have a psalmist, amen, that God has placed within the House. And you have worship that is birthed for this House, but I’m telling you, it’s getting ready to spread out of this House. I’m telling you, God is not only sending the voice of this House to the nations, God is getting ready to send the sound of this House to the nations. Can I hear an amen? [Congregation says, “Amen.”] I’m telling you, this is your finest hour, and it’s not that you’re coming into greatness. This is the word of the Lord, God said, “They will minister out of greatness.”
I wish I lived here in South Africa. I know where I would be going to church. Amen. And when I’m here, this will be my church. Amen. But you are called, amen, to minister out of a place of greatness. And today, there’s some things that the Lord had put in my spirit, and before I begin, I also want to just say thank you to everyone. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your welcome. Thank you for your expectation. I can feel that.
You know, it’s easy. If you cannot preach good here, something’s wrong with the preacher. You know that. Something’s wrong with the preacher, because it’s easy to minister in an environment where there’s a high expectation, because where there’s expectation that cannot be killed, there’s expectation that cannot be denied. And I know that the enemy would do so many things to try to get us to come here and, like pastor had said, you know, “Living from a Sunday to a Sunday,” but that’s not how we’re called to live. We are called to live victorious every day of our lives.
And when we gather together on this holy day, in this holy place, among God’s children, amen, and in the presence of a holy God, we come to celebrate, amen, what God has done throughout the week, and we come to receive what we need to face the week that’s ahead of us. Can I get an amen from somebody? [Congregation says, “Amen.”] We are here to fill ourselves up. Amen. You are God’s, weapon of choice against the enemy, and you’ve been called and commissioned of the Lord to live a victorious life. Yes, there is an adversary that is opposed to us, but let me tell you something. You’ve been authorized by God to live like you have no enemy. No enemy. Amen. And we have to make sure that we put ourselves in a place to where the enemy has nothing to work with.
You remember in Luke chapter four when Jesus had come, you know, here He is beginning his ministry. He’s getting ready to launch, and the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord drove Him into the wilderness, led Him into the wilderness. Is this the truth? Amen. The Bible says for 40 days, He was tempted of the devil in every way that you can think of. And, you know, sometimes people can misunderstand what really took place. Some people I’ve heard even minister that, you know, the Lord brought Him there so that the devil can test Him in all these ways to prove, amen, you know, something to the world and to test things that were inside of Jesus. But let me tell you something, God did not lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tested of the devil to learn something. God led Jesus into the wilderness to teach the devil something. To teach the devil a lesson. You cannot curse whom God has blessed. Amen. And there is no victory, amen, for the enemy when there is nothing for him to work within a believer’s life.
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, but the Bible says, “He returned in the power.” And I know this, amen, around the world, this last season has been challenging. For many people that I’ve ministered to and including myself, I’m telling you, there was nothing off limits, Pastor John. Satan has been attacking so many people. And not just attacking you, I think we can handle attacks when you know what you’re made of, hey? When you know what you’re made of, but you know what Satan attacks when you’re a strong believer? He’ll attack who you love. Parents, he’ll come for your children, he’ll come for your spouse. He’ll do anything to try to get our focus off of the objective that has been laid before us.
The attack is to distract. The attack is to get us off of course, to get us away from that thing that is calling us forward, the thing that God is calling us to. And this House, God is calling you to the nations. God is calling you into a place of great purpose, to where the world has been praying for what this ministry has. It’s been crying out for the Lord to send someone and Pastor John, you are the one, amen, they’ve been crying out for.
But there has been adversity. The enemy knows that his time is short. I pray that it is the Body of Christ that will understand the time that we are in. We are living in the final moments, amen. History in time is being swallowed up by eternity, amen. Heaven is pressing against the earth like never before, in my opinion. And I believe, amen, that we will see days of heaven on earth. I almost feel odd at times because I’m so excited about the day that we are living in. I thank God that I was reserved for this day. Amen. How many of you agree with me? Oh! Yes, the days may be dark. Yes, the enemy may be upset, but hallelujah, I have the victory. Amen. I am a part of the family of God, and I am a part of your lives. I’m a part of what God is doing with you, and through you, and for you. I thank God that together, amen, we are the largest family on this planet. And we’ve been called, amen, to prepare the way of the Lord. We are called to plunder hell and populate heaven. Amen.
And the Bible says people of old prophets caught glimpses of where you and I are standing, and oh, they desired to be right here. I know some Christians that are just wanting the clock to run out. “Lord, just blow that trumpet. Get me out of here.” No. I’m saying, “Lord, give me more time. Lord, I want to bring You tremendous glory and I want to give the devil tremendous fits.” And the way that we do that, amen, is we live a disciplined life, a life that is void and extinct of the things of the enemy, a life where there is nothing for Satan to work with.
The problem I see so often, pastor, is you have people living a double life. You have the life you live in front of men, and then you have the life that you live, amen, without them. And one of the things that caught my attention when I became a Christian, was watching how Jesus, when He came out full of the power, the Bible says, the first thing He did was He went to the House of the Lord. And we read in Luke chapter 4, verse 18 and 19, He said, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me. (Luke 4:18 NKJV) Amen. He has anointed us. Amen. He didn’t give you a different anointing. And let me say this, He gave us His Holy Spirit.
Even our children, they do not have a junior Holy Spirit. There’s not junior-level devils that they deal with. They deal with the same thing as we. And we have to train them, amen, to be victorious. We have to raise them up, amen, regardless of how young you are in the Lord. Let me say this, we’re to train you, amen, to be sheep among wolves. Amen. I taught my children. I’m not trying to keep you out of the world. I’m training you to go into the world. I’m raising you up to go into hostile environments where there is a very real devil. There is an adversary that hates you. He’s a destroyer. He’s an assassin. He’s a murderer. But greater is He that’s in you. The Greater One lives inside of you. Amen.
And I’m going to raise you up, amen, to go into these hostile environments. You will be like sheep among wolves, but you will be as wise as a serpent, but as innocent as a dove. You will operate out of a position of power. You will be the influencer. You will be the world changer. And when you come face to face with the enemy, you’re going to let them know, Matthew 11:12, the kingdom of heaven may suffer violence, but the violent will take it by force. We’ve come to let the devil know today, we are not here to take sides. We are here to take over for the glory of Almighty God. Somebody tell your neighbour, amen.
We are called to make a mark on this earth, a mark that cannot be erased. Amen. And the way that we are going to accomplish that is by denying the enemy any access to what God is doing in our lives. The Bible says that when Jesus came into contact with the demon-possessed person, the devil said this, he said, “What are You doing here?” I’m just going to paraphrase. But these were the words that snatched my heart as a young believer. He said, “What do we have in common?”
Let me tell you something, if your testimony is, ‘the devil is always attacking you’, I want to ask you, why does he feel so comfortable being in your house? Let me go over here, it got a little quiet. Why would he feel so comfortable in my life? But yet, this is the testimony of so many people to where it’s, “Oh my gosh, pastor, all week long the devil’s just been attacking this, attacking that.” I’m like, “You have to rise up.” There comes a time when you have to become, this isn’t a Biblical word, this is probably an American word, you become fed up, to where you are done with tolerating someone that does not belong in your life. But you have to rise to a place where Satan has no common ground.
See, when you have common ground with someone, you can connect with that person. You can share something with them. As we were out yesterday ministering, who was the team that I was on? Would you raise your hand if you were that team that I was with yesterday? Praise God. Amen. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, was it not? Amen. Just seeing the Lord move in a mighty way. I know the devil was crying many tears last night after seeing what this ministry did over there. Amen. That place will never be the same because of you. Glory be to God.
But, you know, the Lord led us, amen, and it was the Lord, to a tavern. And there were people there. They had been at that tavern, since that morning, you could tell. They were in a different state of mind. And when the team had told us there’s a tavern right around the corner, I said, “Oh, let’s go to the tavern.” I said, “I’m a buzz killer.” I said, “They’re going to lose their drunkenness as we come.” And I sat down at the table in the midst of them. Now, I’m sharing something. This is why, because I used to be the man at the table. I understood why they were drinking. I understood it wasn’t just because they like the effect of it, they like the escape. Because when you suffered things, you try to drown your pain, but when you wake up, your problems are still there, they’re just bigger. And I began to share with them the things, amen, that I had endured. I said, “I know why you’re holding this bottle.” I said, “Because of pain.”
And I began to minister out of a place that God was leading me. I said, “I grew up with a father that left when I was five.” I said, “I know what it feels like to be an orphan.” This man said, “My father left us as well.” And we begin to share. Amen. And because there was common ground. Now, I’m no longer that man, but God used what was common, something they understood. “This man is not just saying things, this man understands things.” Even when one of them begin to show me all of the scars on his body, was I not telling him this is what this scar is, you were stabbed here, you were shot there. This man, he looked like somebody used him for target practice, pastor.I said, “You better know God saved you.”
But this is – the thing is, it opened up an opportunity to be able to have an entrance into their heart. By the time we left, I asked them, “Could I please have a picture with you,” because I want to pray for them. Oh, I will not back off. Their life is going to become very uncomfortable until they give it all to Jesus. Oh, I have a way with the Lord, amen. We talk every day. They first removed every bottle off the table. I told them, I said, “I’m not concerned about these bottles.” They said, “No.” They said, “We are.” A drunkard that cared nothing about us as believers, all of a sudden, what was on us began to convict them. They said, “No, the bottles need to be gone for our sake.” And then they held up Bibles to take a picture with me.
You are the influencer. And you need to understand, if you can use your old life for a common ground to be able to connect with somebody, to bring them to God, that’s a good thing. You don’t want to be connecting like going down memory lane, then all of a sudden you know, you find yourself back where you began. There is a balance in this. But if we can understand that God can use me for good, He can take what would destroy me and use it to help somebody avoid that destruction. Praise the Lord.
But you better recognize that the same way you can have a Godly influence, if you have areas in your life where the devil is comfortable, then he will come to fellowship with you often in that area or areas. And none of us are exempt, amen, from those attacks if we offer him an opportunity because he’s looking for something.
And, I’m just following the Spirit in this. You know, one of the things that really captured my attention when I first got saved was the Lord opened up the realm of the spirit to me, to where I always believed in God, I never questioned it. I always believed in Jesus. I believed in the power of prayer. I’ve seen God answer prayers even when I was a sinner. I never was challenged with that, but there’s a difference between believing in God and living for God. But when I was saved, it was like the Lord pulled back the veil to the supernatural, to where for 2 years, I seen angels and demons constantly. In the evening, in the daytime, in public, so many times.
But there was one encounter I had that marked me tremendously because I had already received my calling. We both share an apostolic mantle. But one day, it was my birthday, my birthday is New Year’s Day, you know, January 1st. And so, I had some friends that’d come, I’ve been saved for maybe a year, my friend had a big vehicle, and my wife and their wives were in it. There was maybe about 6 of us. And so, we went to the store just to buy some snacks and things so that we can celebrate the new year. And while they were inside the store, we were outside sitting inside of this vehicle. It was a Suburban, a big vehicle. I was sitting in the passenger seat behind the front seat. I had the door open, and this man comes walking across the parking lot, and he comes, and he sits down in the fender well of where I’m at. I’m sitting here and this man just sits down right here and he’s facing this way [Pastor Joshua points forward], so it’s like he doesn’t even see me. The moment the man turned and looked at us, he said, “Oh, no, Christians!” Some of you might have said, “Shut the door, shut the door, shut the door.”
Do you know what I did, Grobbies? I grabbed that man and pulled him into the vehicle. All you seen was hands slapping this man. [Pastor Joshua makes slapping noises and prays in tongues] This man manifested. He’s thrashing around and this demon is having a very bad day. It’s not starting off as a good year for the devil that day. This man is thrashing around. I’m only a year in the Lord, so I’m very young believer, but I am a believer. Our wives come out, we have this man thrashing around, and then I received this brilliant idea. I said, “Let’s take this man to the pastor’s house so he can cast the devil out.” So, we’re driving to the pastor’s house. This man is fully manifested. We arrive at my pastor’s house. I remember it very vividly because it marked me. The pastor’s in the front yard. He’s got his wife, his children. They’re roasting marshmallows and making s’mores, you know, with the chocolate and the graham crackers. They’re out there having such a good time bringing in the new year, and I show up with Beelzebub in the car. I get out, I say, “Pastor, there is a man here that needs your ministry right now. He’s got a demon, and you need to cast the devil out.” The pastor looked at me like, “What are you doing, Josh?” I have learned that wildfire is better than no fire, right, pastor? You can work with that.
So, my pastor proceeds to go cast the devil out of this man, and if you have been around deliverance, you know, they are wiped out. This man was like, he was gone. He was just completely wiped out. Once the devil was gone, this man was, he was like, knocked out. And so, after my pastor cast the devil out of him, he came to cast the devil out of me. He said, “Don’t you ever bring a demon-possessed man to my house. Don’t you ever do that, Josh.” I said, “My God.” I’m a work in progress and I’m here to tell you, I’m still a work in progress, so please give me a little bit of room to make a few mistakes among you. It’s not intentional. You know what I’m saying, Luke? It’s not intentional. But I’m growing just like anybody, amen. Every one of us, we are a WIP. We are a work in progress. Amen.
So, now I have this, unconscious, formerly demon-possessed man in my possession. Now where do I bring him? The pastor doesn’t want him in his house. So, I grabbed his wallet, and I began to look to see if I could find where does this man live. And he lived in a city that was about 30 minutes away from us. While I was going through his wallet, Pastor John, I found his ordination papers. My God. It rang my bell. I said, “Oh my God, this is a man of God.”
We drove to his house. When we pulled up, it was late at night but it was New Year’s so I think that his wife was up, and when we pulled up his wife comes running out and I said, you know what I said, “I have your husband here.” And I explained to her this is what took place. She begins to show me they have a very large ministry, very large, to truckers. They have chapels at truck stops all across the US, and even had a magazine, not 2 pages, 3 pages, a full magazine they put up every month. Large ministry. She said, “My sister was sick. I went to go take care of her, and 2 weeks ago my husband – they said that he was headed towards Laughlin, Nevada and nobody has heard anything from him.” Laughlin is like a small Las Vegas. But I know in 2 weeks, it wasn’t what turned him into demon-possessed, adoor was opened earlier than that.
But what it did for me was it showed me, if a man of God can put himself in a position to where you go from preaching against demons to being full of them, you better watch your walk, Josh. And I realized that the areas of my life, you know when you get saved, the Bible says that you are a new creature in Christ. Old things pass away, everything becomes new. That is a process, but it should not take forever for old things to pass away.
One of the things I love about coming to Africa is when you get saved, everything changes now. You don’t smoke for another year or 2, you quit smoking today. You quit drinking now. You quit moving around, sleeping around now. You quit all those things now. That’s what I love about here. Sometimes people like riding that for a bit, but I’m taking you somewhere with this.
God showed me, you must deny the enemy any place, and the old things need to leave. We’re new creatures, but we have old minds. And that’s why it’s so important that you are in a Word church, a church that teaches the word of faith. Because faith is what pleases God and faith is what you and I are called to live by. Amen!
And for the sake of time, I’m going to just kind of move quick. And is it okay if I give you scriptures to look up later, but you’ll know that I’m giving you the Word? And if I’m not, your pastor will stand up and say, “Hey, let me correct my brother.” But let me give you the Word. Write this down. Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4. Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4, it says this, 4… the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4 NKJV) Amen. Galatians chapter 3 verse 11, 11… “the just shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11 NKJV) Romans chapter 1 verse 17, 17… “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17 NKJV) Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38, 38… the just shall live by faith; (Hebrews 10:38 NKJV) The just shall live by faith.
Who is the just here today? Raise your hand if you are the just. Amen. [Congregation all raises their hand] Wave it good for me. Amen. Look at all of this House of God right here. We are the just. Amen. We are the ones that have been brought out of darkness and into His marvellous light. And He says that we have a way to live, a recommended way of living. He says it in the Old Testament. He says it in the New Testament. And if the Lord says something 4 times, we better pay attention. He says, “The just shall live by faith.” That means this is how I’m supposed to raise my children. This is how I’m supposed to conduct my life, my ministry, my business. This is how I’m supposed to operate if I am the just. I am supposed to operate according to faith. The just shall live by faith. The Bible says, “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God”, because faith is the material that God uses to build your life.
The Bible says that the world was framed by the Word of God. Well, if God used this Word, and we know this, Genesis chapter 1, and God said, “Let there be light,” there was light. God said, “Let there be this”, there was this. God said, God said, God said, and God saw what He said. Amen. He used the Word to frame this world and everything you see in it. Do you we think He’s going to use a different material to build our world? He’s going to use the Word. That’s why you better thank God you are in a Word church because this is a rare commodity nowadays. It is. You have a lot of churches that are preaching, Reader’s Digest stories, inspirational messages, amen, that make you feel good while you’re in the moment. “Yeah. Whoo.” And you go home to the same life, same problems, same circumstances, and you wonder why God is not helping you. The just shall live by faith. God’s going to use words of faith to build you, and it’s so important that we understand that.
The Bible tells us, you know, what is faith? I didn’t know what faith was. I was a part of a denomination that understood salvation, but they didn’t understand faith, so we didn’t know how to live. We were just hoping and wishing to get by, and just suffer for Jesus, and hold on to what we have and don’t let it go. Have you ever been there before? But we didn’t know how to live.
What changed my life was when my pastor snuck me into a West Coast Believers’ Convention. This is why my church is West Coast Believers Center. It marked me. I walked into this place, 10,000 plus people there, people of faith. I didn’t know one of them, but I felt at home. I found my tribe, the tribe of faith. Oh, how many of you are in the tribe of faith? Thank You, Lord. I found my tribe, and I was sharing with pastors today that it took me a month to digest that message because it was so rich. I’d never heard anything like it. And I said, “This is how I’m supposed to live, by faith.” Well, what is faith? And I’m going to move quick because I told pastor, “I’m going to put the core out and I’ll let you fill in the other things.” Amen. But I feel like I’m just adding to what you already know, amen, and that’s okay.
So, what does it mean to live by faith? Well, according to Romans 10:17, ¹⁷…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 NKJV) Amen? So, if you have faith, you have the Word. Right? Because if the Word of God is the source of faith, amen, then that’s where you find your faith. It’s from the Word of God. So, if you say you’re living by faith, that means you’re living by the Word of God.
So, we can accurately say, “The just shall live by the Word of God.” Even Jesus Christ, our greatest example, He said this, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every [Congregation says, “Word”] that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Every word. Amen. And you have to love every word.
You know, we can’t treat – do you guys have Costco here? [Pastor John says, “Makro.”] Makro. Okay. Do they give out free samples on the weekends? [Pastor John says, “Sometimes.”] Sometimes. How many of you’ve been to Makro before? How many of you have had the samples before? Come on. You’ll go and you’ll see something, you’re like, “Oh, they have the samples,” you’re like, “I want one of those.” And the men will usually send their wives, “Go. Go get. No, no I don’t want one, but if you’re going to go, give me, give me, give me two.” But you can go through there and see things, you’re like, “I want to taste that, but I don’t want to buy that”, but you’ll take it.
But if there’s something you don’t like, like some new thing like a lima bean shake, “Keep the lima bean shake. I don’t want it.” Sometimes we can treat the Word of God like that. To where we love certain things from the Word, we love that our sins are forgiven, we love that we can go to heaven, we love, amen, that God loves us even when we’re unlovely. We love that. But things like you have to forgive. “Oh, God”, that’s like the lima bean shake. But you have to come to a place where you love and treasure every word. Every word. Amen. To where there’s such a hunger in this House, and, oh, it just feels so good. You probably preach for hours here. I won’t do that to you today. I’m used to coming to Africa and preaching all day, so I have to realize I’m in South Africa right now. Amen.
Listen, what I love about Africa, what I love about your beautiful nation is there’s hunger, hunger for the Word of God, hunger for the things of God. In this church, you have more than double. There’s such a draw. Usually, I’ll preach somewhere, [Pastor Joshua gestures towards Pastor John] and you know this, you’ll preach and you’ll feel somebody’s faith just pulling, and you feel that, and you’re drawn to them. You pay attention to ministers, and you’ll see them just kind of get stuck in a place in the church, because this person is pulling on everything they have. Right now, I feel like this [Pastor Joshua stretches out as if he’s being pulled in every direction], because of the hunger in this House. Oh my gosh. You people have an appetite for the Word. Praise God. Such a strong appetite. I’m going, “My God, even the children are pulling on this, Lord.” You’re to be commended, pastor. Hunger. Hunger for God.
When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, let me tell you something, God will fill you up. This is the beautiful thing about when you have a hunger for the things of the Lord. The Bible says that the fat soul loathes the honeycomb. It’s like when you are so used to – and this is the danger. Listen to me. I’m warning you. The danger when you’re a part of a church like this, especially if you’ve known no other ministry, you would think every place is like this. This is an uncommon church. This is uncommon. Those of you that have been in other places, you know, because if it wasn’t great, you would have stayed where you were.
God spoke this to me, I’ll just add this. Some of you, you’ve been in great places, great churches. Amen? Nothing against those pastors, nothing against those Houses of worship. Great ministries accomplishing great things, beautiful things. Some of you, because of the call and the purpose of your life and because of your spiritual appetite, amen, God had to remove you and place you here. It was the hand of the Lord. It was not a bad thing. You know when it’s not a bad thing because your exit should be as good as your entrance. [Pastor Sharon says, “Yes.”] Shall I say that again, Pastor Sharon? [Pastor Sharon shouts, “Yes!”] Your exit, tell your neighbour, ‘Your exit’ – make sure the person on the other side of you hears this, ‘Your exit needs to be as good as your entrance.’ You should not get upset and just leave. Amen? How you leave says a lot about how you will enter into what is next, because some people, it stunts them. You want me – I’ll just throw this in for free since I’m here. Let me, what did you say the place is called? [Pastor Joshua asks Pastor John] Macros? [Pastor John says, “Makro”] Makro. Makro. Let me just give you a goody bag from Makro today. You know, God will not advance you past your last disobedience. You can try moving forward, but God will place you right back at the place where you started getting off. You can change churches, you can run and hide, but God knows where you are. He’ll find you.
I remember one time I was preaching for a friend in, Yuma, Arizona, big church. It was nice, like this, [Pastor Joshua points at the auditorium], and the Lord had me preaching on tithing and giving. I ministered this word, and, later on, my friend, he told me, he said, “You know, Josh,” he said, “I had a couple that left the church, you know?” I don’t know why he told me this, but he told me. He says, “There’s a couple that left the church.” He said, “They got upset because you said, ‘People that rob God are people that don’t tithe, that they’re God robbers.’” I said, “I didn’t say that. God said that. If they have a problem with that, they’re a God robber and they’re probably a liar on top of it.” Don’t get mad at me. I’m just a messenger. See, I get to go home. Amen. He’s got to clean this up. [Points to Pastor John] [Pastor John and Pastor Sharon says, “We say the same stuff.”] We’re from the same tribe. So, I am at home. Let me just let down what little hair I have left since I’m in my house.
So, I preach this and he said “These people got mad and they left.” It happens because the Word offends people. It’s not easy being a pastor or a minister because if you look at our job description, the Bible tells us that we simply are called to show people in which way their lives are wrong. That doesn’t make you popular. Amen. But the only way you can correct a life is if you have someone that’s willing to love you, amen, enough to be willing to sacrifice the relationship the pastor has with the people. I would rather say, “I love you”, and give you, correction, or instruction, or need be even rebuke. I would rather love you enough to sacrifice this relationship than to say that I love you and I watch you destroy yourself. That’s not love. To have a pastor like that, oh my gosh, you better run. No. We love enough to where the Bible says, ‘faithful are the wounds of a friend.’ [Points to Pastor John] This is my accountability partner. Amen? He knows he can say anything to me and I can say anything to him, even if it wounds me, I would take the wound because I know he has nothing but love for me. He’s thinking for nothing. Your pastors care about loving you. They want to see you succeed. Their success is you succeeding. That is their goal. As your partner, they want to see you succeed more than they want to see themselves. Amen.
So, I’m in this church, I preach this, they leave. Okay. Six months later, I was invited to preach at that church again. Guess who decided to come to church for the first time in six months? Do you want to guess what God had me preach in that church that day? No matter where you go, God will find you, it’s just like what your pastor said last night, Elon Musk says, “Hey, you know, we’ve got to go to Mars.” Like your pastor said, “Mars is not the solution because you will take what you have.” This isn’t in the Bible, matter fact, it was Buckaroo Banzai that said this, “No matter where you go, there you are.” [Congregation laughs]
Alright. I’ll say that. Let me help somebody. Let me tell you a story someone shared with me. There was a person, and there were some friends that lived in the same house. You know, brothers will do things to mess with each other, and so they decided to play a trick on one of the men that lived in the home. They bought some Limburger cheese, you know, the cheese that has a very strong smell? Smells like a youth locker room or something, you know, very nasty. Smell like feet, you know, teenager feet. All of the mamas know what I’m talking about. And they put it underneath his nose. And so, when he woke up in the morning, he [Pastor Joshua breathes in through his nose as if he is smelling something], “Because this room stinks.” So, he walked into the living room. He’s like, “Man. [Pastor Joshua breathes in through his nose as if he is smelling something] Oh, man. This stinks.” And he walks into the kitchen. [Pastor Joshua breathes in through his nose as if he is smelling something] “Man, this house stinks.” So, he walks outside onto the porch. [Pastor Joshua breathes deeply in through his nose as if he is smelling something] “The whole world stinks. The whole world stinks.” What is the moral of the story? If everywhere you go stinks, the problem is underneath your nose. [Congregation laughs] There is joy in the house of the Lord today. Amen. The only thing worse than a boring church is a boring preacher. I hope I’m not boring anybody today.
But I share that to say this is that sometimes the problem is us. It’s, we can be in the right location – and this is what I see often, is people can be in the right place with the right people, but, you know, and even in the right calling, but if your heart is not where your heart needs to be, there will still be challenges. And when you’re in an environment like this, let me share this with you, I’m giving you a lot of nuggets today. When you are in the right place, this is the right place. When you’re doing the right things, this ministry is doing, absolutely, the right things. Amen. Right place, right things, right people, amen. Those are all ingredients for success. There’s no limit to what God can do in your life, amen, when you are in a place and in a position for God to give you the Word that is needed for your faith to go to another place. And the thing is that God has called this House to greatness. And I was saying this earlier, some of you, God moved you here because you would not have become great where you were at, even though it was good places. But if you’re taking notes, write this down, good is the enemy of great.
Good is the enemy of great because, see, the moment I accept life is good, you’ll never reach for higher. Now, I don’t know about you, but I know about me. I do not want to be good for God. I want to be great for God. I want to be great for Him, and greatness is something that we need to reach for. And when you’re in a church like this, where there’s such a high level, you know, and if you’ve come in from another place, sometimes you can feel like, “Oh my gosh, pastor, you’re setting the bar too high.” No, he’s not. He’s placing the bar where the bar should have always been in your life, but you don’t always have shepherds, just being honest with you, that are willing to set the bar where the bar needs to be. Amen. And what happens is people are used to jumping over something that’s shallow, so when life happens, their faith fails because their faith hasn’t been brought to the place, amen, where it accomplishes what it’s there to do. God wants you to live by faith. He wants you to live by His Word. This is how we’re called to live. This is the environment. If you’re going to succeed, amen, you have to thrive in a house of faith. You have to be in a place of faith, with the voice of faith. Amen.
It’s no different than a bird. What is the best environment for a bird to be? Where will it thrive? Where will it grow? Where will it excel? In the air. Right? It’s the best environment; it is the recommended way that God has given a bird to thrive, is in the air. How about a fish? What is the best environment for a fish? Where can it grow? Where can it thrive? Where can it multiply and become bigger than any other environment? What is the best place for a fish to be, the environment? The water. Some of you say, “A frying pan. It’s getting late; I need my lunch, so wrap this up, Pastor Josh.” The clock is still my friend.
So, I know I love asking dumb questions because I think, you know, sometimes people make God so complicated. He’s not complicated. Now, I’m not here to use big words to impress you. I’m here to be a simple man with a great word.
So, if I take a bird and I put it in a fish’s environment, what will happen to that bird? It will not thrive. Failure will be in its future. Life is going to be very challenging. Every breath, amen, is going to be so much work. Now, if we understand… what about if I take a fish and I throw it in the the bird’s environment? That fish is not going to do well either. If we can understand simple things like this, being in the right environment, why are we so challenged to live by faith?
This is not a suggestion from the Lord. This is an absolute. If you are going to be great for God, you are going to have to learn to live by His Word, by faith, and you’re going to have to love it all, amen, even the bitter things. The Bible says that the fat soul loathes the honeycomb, as I was saying earlier. It’s like, when you’re so used to a good word, it’s like, you know, you can just tune out things. You won’t go back to read your notes after service. You won’t be meditating upon what the prophet said. You’ll just be living from message to message. You’ll be flipping through the TV, watching every preacher under the sun, and you forget what was taught in your church. When you are asked, “What was taught? What did you… how was church today?” “Oh, it was amazing. It was so beautiful today, Pastor Sharon.” “And what did you learn?” “I don’t know, but it was good.” That will not change your circumstances.
You have to meditate upon the Word, amen, day and night. Don’t allow that Word to slip because it’s not – and I’ll add that to it… And let me say this for those of you that hold on to the Word. It’s not enough to know the Word. It’s not the Word that you know that will change your life, it’s the Word that you live. Because sometimes, I’ve learned this, I don’t know in California this is the case, I don’t know about South Africa, but, you know, sometimes people know more than they obey. Does that happen here? Does that happen in South Africa? Then I think you have family in California. It happens. It does happen, but we have to live by faith. To be in the right environment where God can do great things, great things.
God is bigger than what you’ve been told. God is bigger than what you read. He’s so much more than what we can fathom. He’s so much greater. God, He can never disappoint me because He’s so amazing. He’s so beautiful. He’s so wonderful, and the greatest gift He gave us next to Jesus and the Holy Spirit is His Holy Word. His Word is what has changed my life. His Word is what changed your life. There is no other substitute for that. And there are things, amen, that assist us as believers, like the worship. The worship here is amazing. The worship here is so powerful, but the Bible doesn’t say the just shall live by worship. In worship, “I’m already one foot in, I’m going to put the other foot in.” Worship does not make us spiritual. Only one thing makes you spiritual. It’s not you seeing visions and dreams and, you know, your alphabet soup prophesying to you, it’s the Word of God. The Word of God makes us spiritual. If we don’t have the Word, check this out, if you are not spiritual, you will not be supernatural. God works with His Word. God works with His Word. Tell your neighbour, ‘He works His Word.’ His Word is powerful, His Word is amazing. That is why, listen, that is why Satan comes to steal one thing, the Word. Because when he steals the Word, if you were to live by faith, when he steals the Word, he steals your life. He steals your life.
You know, there’s two things I’ve seen that the devil always wants. I don’t care whether it’s America, Africa, Philippines, Russia, Ireland, UK, been in all those places. He always comes for two things. He always comes for the Word and he always wants your money. He wants to steal the Word, he wants to steal your money, and he wants blood. Why? Because the just shall live by the Word. That’s your life. It takes your life to earn your money, and the life is in the Blood. He wants so bad to steal every ounce of life from you and you have to be that kind of believer to where you need to let the devil know, “If you want to come to steal the Word from me, if you want to fight, it’s a fight you’re going to get. And you better have packed a lunch because we’re going to be here, amen, until I win.” And what I love about being a Christian is it’s a fixed fight. Every battle I go into, I already know the outcome. Amen? We know that we are going to come out victorious. Amen.
We know that the battle belongs to the Lord, but how many know you still have to show up to the battlefield? I remember asking God, “Why do I have to show up? If You’ve already done it, why do I need to go through this?” Because if you do not stand on the battlefield, the Lord will not receive the testimony of what He did for you. So, don’t be surprised when you find yourself in adversity, especially when you’re a part of something good like this. The enemy’s looking to see who’s not being serious here. He’s saying, “Who’s taking this lightly? Who’s not applying this? Who’s not living this?” He’s looking for any entrance so that he can come and devour what’s been sown. The sower sows the Word. Amen. And in this House, you have life.
Now, let me just say a few things here. It is so important that you understand that your pastors and the people that they appoint as leaders, this man and woman are a voice and not an echo. They’re a voice and not an echo. And there’s something to be said about voices. Again, my times, you know, I’ll come back, and we’ll add to this some other trip. The voices in your life affect the choices in your life. Oh, come on. This is why the devil hates you going to this church. He hates you being here because he knows that the voice, amen, in your life is going to help you make the right choices. Voices and choices.
I’m telling you, it’s so important that you have a right man and woman of God in your life. Amen? Because they will put people beside them, that will help them to pastor, and lead you, and help you along. But the voices in your life affect the choices in your life, and this is the other thing you need to hear, is that who you listen to is who you will listen like. This is why we can’t be rubbernecking every person that says I’m a preacher. This is why you shouldn’t be listening to every Tom, Dik, and Stanley that’s on TV. Is this okay, pastor? [Pastor Joshua asks Pastor John] I’m going to be leaving this week, so you’re going to have to mop this up. [Pastor John replies, “No, no, you go!”] Let me come back over. You got a little bit quiet, so I just want to come over here for just a little bit.
Do I still have some friends on this side of the church? Alright. Their amen’s still working over here. I’m going to give you guys a moment to fix your amen. It’s so vital that we understand that who you are with will affect your life as a believer. And the loudest voice in your life, amen, it needs to be the one that God’s anointed. The loudest voice in your life on this earth is the man and woman of God that God has chosen, amen, to speak into your life, and Satan will do everything to try to alter that. But when you’re in the house of faith, this is what, you’re going to hear things through the lens of faith, amen. Through miracles, power, results, excellence, all of those things I see in this place because of the voice.
And because you have the right voice in your life, just you listen like him. So, when things are said that are not of faith, you’re like, you have the same hearing as your pastor and you recognize when something is just religious and when it is of God. People can prophet-lie to you, but you know the truth because you know the voice of truth that you find within this beautiful couple right here. Someone give your pastors an amen. [Congregation says, “Amen!”] Amen. Give them a better amen than that. [Congregation shouts, “Amen!”] You better thank God, thank God for them. Amen. Cherish them, value them, don’t ever allow their value to change in your life.
The challenge with us – I call it ‘rubbernecking’, when you’re going to this meeting, that meeting, and there’s nothing wrong with, you know, certain things, you know, we go to some meetings, but we don’t spend our lives chasing every person. Amen. We remain true to the voices that God has chosen. Your pastor and I are where we stand as sons of Doctor Jerry Savelle because we were faithful to the voices that God had placed in our lives. Hey? We were faithful, but to one we were loyal. This precious couple, this one flesh, this is where your loyalty should be. You can only be in one church on Sunday, it needs to be the House where God has anointed them, amen, anointed for you to come because your prosperity is in the mouths of your prophets. Well, you know this.
You all look so beautiful in here today. Look at your neighbour. I’m telling you, beautiful. Did you have to look good to come to this church? Because you all look so good. I’m not being facetious, I’m being honest. I’m being honest. You all look so beautiful. Amen. It’s because you have beautiful pastors that have poured something good into you, and you did not come here looking as good as you look today. No, no, no, no, no. Tell your neighbour, ‘This is a new version of who I used to be.’ Amen. This is a better version, because you had shepherds, and you have shepherds that are willing to lay it all down. They sacrifice their lives every day for your sake. Never forget that. Never forget that, it’s so important that you have the right people in your life. I do not follow people whose life I do not want, but if you do what they do, you can have what they have, and they want you to have it so bad.
I know there are some people that don’t understand this Pastor John, and they listen to doctrines of devils, and people that have an ear for the enemy and they will say, “Oh, that’s man worship. You’re putting them on a pedestal.” Have you ever heard things like that? [Pastor Sharon replies, “Yes.”] I hear that many times too. I’m like, “No, it’s called honour.” It’s called respect. It’s called treasure. Amen. It’s called understanding, amen, that God has an order, amen, and when God places people in your life that are this precious, if I was the devil, I’d do everything to get you away from them. Get you upset with them, get you offended with them, huh? You need to protect this relationship with everything that you have. You need to protect it. Listen, you need to protect him from himself, that means you help him, and I know he’s got a lot of great help here in this church. Amen. That means you don’t let him do things you can help him do, amen, because he doesn’t need you just to be what he is, he needs you to be what he’s not. Amen? [Pastor Joshua’s alarm sounds] I gave myself… [Pastor John says, “You have closing time.”] Yeah, alright, a first closing, alright? Put that on the clock. Now, I do want to be invited back, so I need to honour this. But let me… [Pastor Joshua and congregation laugh] I want to… Thank You, Lord. I want to pull this together. We have tonight, but this is so important. I need to make sure I leave you with something to meditate upon while you leave the House of the Lord.
When you stand with someone of this calibre, you’re called to carry the load, they cannot do this all themselves. Takes a lot of help, and especially when you’re at this level, because you need people that will come alongside you, not people that are opportunists, but people that are looking for opportunity to be a part of something beautiful, something great. Because an opportunist is looking, “Hey, how can I use this as an angle to help me get my ministry?” Start the churches off fleecing a house and things like that. It’s your home Bible study. Alright. I’m going to move along, I’m now medaling. But we’re called to help them, to lift their arms, because they do not need to micromanage, they need to macro-manage. There’s bigger things. Amen.
So, they have people that know their heart, and this is the beautiful thing that you’re free to be yourselves. They’re not telling you you have to be me, because you make a great you and a lousy them, but you better have their voice. And, again, the voices in your life affect the choices in your life. Who you listen to is who you listen like. And so, the people will have no problem following leaders that sound like them. Amen? So, you help protect them from themselves by helping them. You also help protect them from others because there are some people, amen, that do not wish them well. Let me just say it from a pastor’s heart. There’s some people, amen. I’m like, “Lord, deliver me from the people that have the smiling faces”, sometimes, but they have the same character.
Let me just throw this out there for free, Makro’s that are coming at you again, a little sample. Character is the only thing that can keep you where the anointing takes you. They’re trying to take you to a place you’ve never been. Amen. And things have to happen. Thank You, Lord. Things have to happen for them. It’s not man worship. It’s not lifting up. They would never do what I’m doing right now for them. They would never do that for themselves. Even when you talk about how good this is, they’re going to say, “It was God. It was God.” But I’m here to say, yes, that’s true. But this would not have happened without you obeying God. So, you’re to be honoured. You’re to be respected. You’re to be cherished. I’m here to say, I value you. In the body of Christ, we need more pastors like both of you. You’re an example that we need to follow. So precious, so treasured.
But listen to me, Psalms 133, verses 1 through 3, I think that’s all there is, is 3 verses. It talks about how precious it is when brethren dwell together in unity. There’s so much unity in this House. Oh, you’re an army here. Oh, a love army. Yes. Amen. An army that’s taking the city, taking the country, taking the world. Oh, there’s no limit to what this army can do, and you have generals. Amen. You have generals in the faith, amen, that have refused to bow to Baal. They’ve refused to give in to a Babylonian system. Amen. They’re taking what’s in them and they’re investing it inside of you with the hopes and the prayer that if they do things right, as a pastor, and when I say pastor, I mean both of them. They are 1 flesh. They are equals.
But as a mother and a father in the faith, they know that if they do things right here, as they get older, their sons and daughters. Listen to me, you will become their best feeding grounds as we get older. It’s our sons and our daughters coming with things God showed them that’s always been in the word, but it was revealed to them before us. That’s what I want. I want to rejoice in the success of my sons and my daughters and the people that God has placed within my area of influence. Amen. It’s so important. But the Bible says this, the anointing, amen, when brethren dwell together in unity, it’s like the anointing that ran down the the head of Aaron, down to the beard and down to the garment.
Listen to me. The beautiful things that God has promised to happen in your life in this church, it has to happen for the head before it’ll happen to the body. When they go higher, you go higher. Oh, let me tell you something. Tell your neighbor, ‘When they go higher, we go higher.’ And it’s not easy being that spearhead. It’s not easy being the pioneer because you have to take the brunt. Amen. They’re not waiting for the enemy to come and react. They are taking the battle to the enemy’s camp. They’re possessing the gates of the enemy, and it’s not easy, especially when God has given you a charge, not only to take a city, not only to take a nation but to call you to take the world for Him.
It comes with a very big price. And the only people that will properly understand what I am saying is number 1, the family. Nobody knows the price the family pays when they give their mother and their father to the ministry. You have the biggest bull’s eye on your back. The most criticised woman in any church will be this one. [Pointing to Pastor Sharon] She will receive the blow of things that she tries to shield him from. She’s a shieldmaiden. One thing that we also share is we have Viking blood inside of us. Hoorah. Skål. Skål. You never lose that, but we’re born to fight. We don’t quit, we win. She’s a shield maiden of her husband, so they know the price that’s paid. The leaders around them, you know the price because you pay it with them, because where they go, you go. They say, “We go up”, you say, “We’re going up.” They say, “We go down.” We’re going down, but we’re not going to leave you, pastor. And as they break through, they bring your breakthroughs. Their victories become your victories. Amen. So, be a blessing to them, make what they do a tremendous joy, protect them from themselves by helping share the load, protect them from others.
Can I have just a second closing? [Pastor John replies, “Okay.”] Don’t allow your ears to be trash cans. Don’t listen to people that come to you under the banner of, “I want us to pray about something.” I was removed from the prayer chain the moment I was placed on the prayer chain, Pastor John. People found out really quick when they came to me to talk about people. If they came and say, “Hey, you know, we need to pray about something. I need to tell you about this brother right here…” And it was always something negative. The first time they came to me, they said, “Hey, I want to tell you about this.” I said, “Really? It’s okay. Oh, come here. [Pastor Joshua pulls Pastor Melusi by the arm to illustrate what he did] Come here. Come here. Hey. Hey. You know what this guy just told me about you? You know what he just said? We need to pray about… I think the 2 of you need to talk. God bless you.” Thank you, pastor. Thank you. Immediately, they said, “We do not need his prayers no more.”
And if you come to me about my pastor… I won’t share my story, I’ll share somebody else’s so you’ll still love me. There was a man in our church that was born again. He was from my neighbourhood. He used to work for the union. He was a old cholo, like 6 foot 6. They would send him to businesses that didn’t want the union’s help, and their buildings would sometimes burn to the ground. So, this man, he had a skill set that you don’t need in church.
But one day there was a man that was coming to the church. It’s interesting how the people under the demonic influence always know who the visitors are in a church. And this man, he would come and he said, “Oh, pastor, God bless you. That word you preached this week was so amazing, changed my life. I just wanted to say thank you.” Nick, come over here. [Pastor Joshua leans over someone’s shoulder and whispers] “He’s a liar. He’s just after your money.” This guy was going. This is just one story going around the church. One day, now I’m an associate pastor, one day, and the man’s name was Mondo, big guy. I see him with the little man on his shoulder. The man is kicking and screaming, we’re at church. The man is kicking and screaming. I’m like, “Mondo, what are you doing?” He said, “This man was talking about my pastor.” He said, “This man is trash. He’s talking trash about our pastor.” He said, “So, I’m going to put the trash in the trash.” And he went and threw the man in a dumpster behind the church. I did not stop him too bad. “No, no, Mondo, please, please don’t do that. Please, no, stop, please.” No. He dumped him.
Let me tell you something, who you listen to is who you’ll listen like. Don’t allow anybody to chew on them, and I’ll tell you why, and this is where I’ll close. Because when you entertain people, and let me just throw this in before I hit the close. You also need to protect them from themself, protect them from others, and protect them from yourself. Make sure you never weaponise yourself, especially your mouth against them. Okay? But, when it comes to who you entertain, this is good for everyone. When I heard it, it was a pastor talking to his friend, and I’ll read it so I don’t butcher it, amen, and we will turn the service over to your pastors. Because the Lord’s telling me to share this, and it changed me so much. I’ve kept it in front of me, and so, I want to give it to you today. Is that okay? Just give me one moment.
I heard this pastor say this, and he had a very, very large ministry, very healthy ministry, and he was talking to another pastor in his community, they were friends. He said, “Our time now is going to be limited that I spend with you.” And his friend said, “Why?” The other pastor said, “Why?” This is the thing is that there was a ministry in town that was critical of the pastor. This pastor would be behind his pulpit, talking trash, if I could say it that way, against this pastor and his ministry. Well, he has another friend in that same town and his friend invited this man to come preach at his church. So, this is what he said, he said, “Our time now is going to be limited that I spend with you.” His friend said, “Why?” He said, “You’ve embraced people that wish me harm, and I am no longer safe in your house. I’m not your enemy, I’m just no longer safe in your house. When you embrace people that want to harm me, I now feel vulnerable to you.” These are words of wisdom.
It is so important that you protect the voices. I can tell you this, these pastors have nothing but love for you. I love them so much, and if I find out anybody’s talking about them, I will take the trash out for you, pastor. If I need help, I know I got some help here as well. Right? All kidding aside, protect this relationship because this ministry is going to a greater place. Tonight when we come together… [Pastor Josh speaks to the Lord, “Yes, Lord.”] Tonight when we come together, there’s a reason why God had me take this direction in this service because God wants you not only to be great in the earth, God wants you to be great in heaven.
Sometimes we think that we get to heaven and we all have the same rank. We think that we get there, we all get a robe. We all are, you know, riding around on clouds, playing harps. No, there’s work to be done. I think Pastor Sharon was onto something when she was talking about galactic ministry last night, because we’re called to do something after this earth is away. But this is something that needs to be said. We are positionally equal. We’re all Christians. We’re children of God. God doesn’t love you more than me or vice versa. He loves us all the same. We’re positioning equal, but we are functionally different. We all have different capacities. We all have different talents. It’s what we do with what’s been entrusted to us that determines what we accomplish in this life.
You just need to be faithful with what God has entrusted to you. Amen. That’s what matters, because when you stand before Him, you’re going to stand by yourself, not with him, but for what you’ve done. So, we’re positionally equal. This is the thing that Bathsheba could not understand. This is what David’s wife could not understand when they brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city. The Bible says that he took off that robe. Amen. He’s dancing in the street, amen, without his clothes. The clothes was the robe, the kingly robe. And what she did not understand, she said, “You’re dancing around like any common person. You’re looking foolish because you’re acting like anybody that’s common.” But David understood, “I may be the king.” Amen. He understood, “As worshipers, we are all the same. As worshipers, we are all the same. I may be your leader, but I am also your brother.” Amen. He understood. Amen, that we are all the same in the eyes of God. But in heaven, and I’ll just leave you with this, the Bible says, “There are some that are considered least in the Kingdom of Heaven, and those that are great in the Kingdom of Heaven”, there is rank.
I know your pastors want you to be great. Tonight, we’ll talk about that. Amen. Pastor John, I don’t have a third closing. I love you, my brother. Thank you so much for allowing me to share this word with you guys today. I pray that it found its place. Amen. Have you received today? [Congregations replies, “Yes!”] Amen. Pastor, thank you so much.
Pastor John: Thank you. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Well, why don’t you just say, ‘Praise the Lord’, for what Brother Josh brought to us this morning. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. We receive it in Jesus’ name. Amen. You know when Pastor Josh was talking here, the Lord just ministered one more thing to me about what he was saying. He said, “The enemy will also not just come after the voice, but he’ll come after the idea of the voice.” So, if the enemy can plant a seed in your mind that the idea of having a single voice in your life is not good enough. Because, if he can come against the idea that a single voice is only one voice and you need multiple voices, then you’re going to open your mind to multiple reasonings not just one following voice. And so, some people value knowledge much more than they value following God.
So, then they will say you need to be open to multiple reasonings and multiple voices so that you can have a multitude of choices. So, the enemy will not just come after the voice in your life, but he will come after the idea of a voice in your life. He said that to me this – while I was listening to you, it came into my heart, and that’s the truth. You know, that’s the truth. I mean, I had to make decisions it was a real wrestle for me in my life at a particular point where the church was going seeker-friendly in a whole way. The church was going that way and I had some confrontations because churches were growing, and they were becoming very well attended, and they were building new buildings, and they were doing… But the word of faith was like – people were leaving faith to go where it was a nicer place to be. And I had to really face myself and say, “How loyal am I going to be to the message? How loyal am I going to be to the voice that God placed in my life?”
And He put me with Brother Jerry Savelle and that was it. And that was it. And that was always it for me. And it saved my life, it saved my everything. We would not been here if that hadn’t been the case. And he challenged the idea of listening to a single voice, because, “Surely, surely you should have multiple voices so you can have multiple streams of knowledge so you can have different choices that you can make.” [Pastor Josh says, “Schizophrenia.”]. Schizophrenia, thank you. Yes.
That’s what’s actually the idea that Eve succumbed to, the idea was surely, “Did God say this?” The devil opened the idea to her mind that a single voice was not enough. And because he opened her mind to the idea that a single voice was not enough he could deceive her. But God’s voice was always enough. It always is enough. Amen. Hallelujah. While we’re in this wonderful place can we take up an offering? I think this is a good time to take up an offering. Amen.
If you can’t be here this afternoon, I know some of you have come from Diepsloot, some of you from Joburg, if you can’t be here tonight, please watch online. We will make sure the service is online tonight. Please watch it. But don’t think that because it’s online, you can’t come here, now, and you can relax at home, hey. Ek tjek julle uit, nê. You come to hear my voice, not my voice on TV. Well, in this case, tonight, you’re going to hear Pastor Joshua’s voice. Amen. Praise the Lord.
It’s been an absolutely marvellous weekend so far. The Lord has been good to us. The weather has been great. People got saved. People got healed. And it’s been just refreshing and marvellous for me to be able to, after so many years – trusting that we would have this time of connecting in a way that is full of purpose and full of assignment, that it would eventually come to pass. And, you know, there’s a there’s a first phase to everything. Even when a kid learns to walk, he’s got to crawl first. And so, there’s a first event to every relationship, and you just happen to be part of the event taking place that Pastor Joshua has arrived here. His wife, Iliana, was supposed to be here, but there were some legal things that were the natural reason why she didn’t come. But she’ll be back. She’ll be coming another time. So, I know she wants to be here, but there will be another moment when she can come. Amen. Amen.
Do you want to come forward? Won’t you all stand with me, please? Just stretch out your hands here and we say, thank You, Lord, that we can give to You our seed. We can give through the seed, our energy, our skill, our gifts, our talents, and that You receive it in heaven. Even though it’s given into the hands of men, You receive it in heaven. And I thank You, Father, that You bless it in heaven, and You cause abundance and harvest to come into our hands. We thank You that You take care of all that we need and even the desires of our heart, You give it to us because we honour You and we trust You. We thank You for it, Lord, in Jesus’ name. And everybody said, amen.
I just want to I just want to bless you, and I declare that as you leave today, you are blessed in the name of Jesus. The Word of God that is preached this morning will stay with you. It will live in your heart. It will grow in your heart. And that the Word of God will cause productivity and increase to come even today. If it’s rest you need, whatever it is, God will bless you. Peace will be upon you. Health is upon you. Joy is coming and rising up more inside of you, and you’re blessed going out and you’re blessed coming in. If you’re traveling somewhere, you’re protected by the Word and the blood of Jesus and no weapon formed against you will prosper. In Jesus’ name. Amen? Amen. Say, “Amen”, somebody. [Congregation says, “Amen.”] Hallelujah. And we will see you tonight at 5 o’clock. Amen. Thank you for coming. God bless you all.
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