Message 08 | Press | Dr Jerry Savelle

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Brother Jerry:
Amen. What a glorious time I have had with all of you. Thank you so very much for being here and being so receptive and excited about the things of God. You have really blessed me this week and honoured me and I just ca not express to you in English how grateful I am, so perhaps I will try to do it in tongues. Hallelujah. Amen.

This morning after the service, when they took me back to where I am staying, where I have been staying this week, I spent a few moments with the Lord about tonight’s service. Then after I had received my instructions, then I decided to take a little rest. So I laid down and slept for about an hour or so and the moment I opened my eyes the Lord said, “you have fulfilled your assignment and now I release you to go home and be with your family.” So, I felt that it was important that I share that with Pastor John before sharing it with you. So we asked him to come to the residence where we were staying. I said to him that last year when I was here, if you remember, the last night we had going back to the speaker’s room and you guys were carrying on in here for a while and the moment I started back to that room, the Lord said “tell somebody to go tell Pastor John that I will be back next year and I will stay as long as Lord tells me to stay.” He announced it and I heard great praise happening. Praise God. So, I agreed to come back and to stay as long as the Lord told me to stay. That is a little difficult in booking reservations when you do not know how long you are going to be here. But we had to book some reservations and so as it turned out we were planning on leaving Wednesday, go back to Johannesburg and then fly out the next day and have a stop in London. Then by the time we finished everything I would have got home by Saturday. Then I would have preached in our church Sunday.

So when I shared it with John, I said “I feel an obligation to share it with you first before I share with the congregation.” Kenneth Hagin said to me years ago, he said, “I know when to preach and I know when not to.” That made a big impression on me, and I said, “Lord make me that sensitive, I want to be that sensitive.” Because if I just continued just for the sake of continuing, I do not think we would have God’s best. We would have a good time, and I have not run out of sermons, but at the same time I want God’s best. I do not want to just do something just because; you know we just do something. I want God’s best and I have learned a long time ago to get God’s best, you make sure you are led by the Spirit of God. So I wanted to announce to you that tonight will be the last service that I will be here this time and that we are going to fly back to London tomorrow night and then on to Fort Worth.

I sensed in my spirit that there was more to it than just ending this meeting. My oldest grandson has joined the military, and he was inducted into the military last month. But they have not sent him to basic training yet, and it was supposed to be while I was here, and so it was very important to me that I would be there when my grandson leaves. I want to lay hands on him. I want to pray over him, pray for protection. Pray that that he would fulfil what he feels God wants him to do. He said to me Pap, he calls me Pap, he said, “Pap if you are not here, I understand.” He said, “but of course I would rather you be here when I leave,” because it is possible that I would not see him for 16 weeks, and that just did not really set well with me. But he understood and then he told me just before I left to come here, he said, “Pap, I do not think they are going to send me to basic until you get back, but I do not know.” So I was hoping that that would be the case. But I sense in my spirit that another reason why God has released me here is as a possibility he would leave before I got home next Saturday. And it is important to me to lay my hands on my

grandson for his protection and for his following the leadership of the Holy Spirit, because with the way things are going he could wind up in a combat zone just as soon as he got out of AIT. So I know what that is like, I have been in the military, and so that may be possibly part of the reason that the Lord is releasing me.

But the main reason is, He said “you fulfilled your assignment.” That is the best part, praise God. I can go home knowing that, “well done thou good and faithful servant.” Praise God. Amen. Then one of the things that I had forgotten about, just temporarily, my oldest granddaughter is going to turn 21 years old the day I get home. Now I would have missed her birthday if I had got home Saturday, but that is a special event, 21 you know, and Papa needs to be there for her 21st birthday. So there are two major events taking place in my life as soon as I get home. So I finished my assignment and He said, “I release you to go back to your family,” so I just wanted you to know that there’s two great events taking place as soon as I get off the airplane. Praise God. Amen.

So thank you for being such a gracious people, and thank all of you that have sowed into my life. Many of you have sown as I have walked out the door you know, of the auditorium, people have given gifts to me and I appreciate that very much. I just want you to know that you are in my heart, that you are in my prayers, and I am very much a part of you and you are very much a part of me. Praise God. So thank you in advance. Now let us get in the Word. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise God. All right, somebody say, “Show me Your glory Lord.”

Now Garth, when I get back home, that song will be introduced to our congregation. Then since that is my theme, when I preach at Brother Copeland’s Believers Convention in August, I will have my team be there with me and it is going to be introduced to thousands and thousands of people all over the world. Praise God. Amen. So thank you for listening to the Holy Spirit in writing that song. Amen. Get ready for much more to come. You can write songs of every sermon I preach if you would like – just remember me when you come into your glory. Amen. Hallelujah.

Let us open our Bibles this evening to Galatians 3, and I want to by the instruction of the Lord just take up where I left off this morning. Do not ever accuse me of getting through. I just have to stop sometimes, but I do not ever get through. Galatians 3, now I want you to say this with me after you locate chapter 3 of Galatians, say this with me: “God wants me to live a blessed life.” Look at somebody and tell them: “God wants you to live a blessed life.” Now say this: “the blessing of the Lord is on His people. I am one of His people. His blessing is on me.” Amen. What other reason would God put His blessing on us if He did not intend for us to enjoy the benefits of it? Can you say Amen? So God wants us to live a blessed life. Let us look at verse 7, 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” Look at verse 9, 9 So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Then verse 13, “13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written (“Cursed is everyone who hangeth on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” And verse 29. 29 And if you be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:7, 9, 13, 14, 29).

There should be no doubt whatsoever after reading those verses that God wants you blessed. He wants you to enjoy the same blessing that He pronounced on Abraham. Praise God. You need to become familiar with it. I remember about the second time I heard Kenneth Copeland preach,1969. He came the first time, and was there a whole week, but I only went to the last service and that was the service my life was changed. Then he came back a few months later and of course, I did not miss a meeting. He did three services a day for about a week, I did not miss a service. I was so hungry for God and I would never forget him saying this statement – he read to us out of Deuteronomy 28, the first 13-14 verses about the blessing of Abraham. Then he read to us Galatians 3 verses 13 and 29. Then he made this statement, he said: “your Bible are to automatically fall open, every

time you pick it up, to Deuteronomy 28 and Galatians 3.” And he said: “get to the place where you have those verses in your heart and every time your Bible opens it just falls open to those chapters.” Become aware of the fact that Jesus Christ through His substitutionary sacrifice has caused you to live a blessed life. Amen. The more aware of that you are, then the more you expect the benefits of the blessing on your life. Amen. I get up every morning expecting that blessing to work in some way in my life.

The Bible says, I am to be blessed coming in, I am to be blessed going out (Deuteronomy 28:6). Our ministry, a number of years ago, had some doormats made. You have those? People would hear me preaching about this and they would say: “give us a vision Brother Jerry, help us.” You know your ministry produces things from time to time to help people get a vision of what you are preaching. So our publication department came up with a doormat, that you put at the door. When you walk into your house on this side of it, it says: I am blessed coming in. But then when you get in the house and you turn around and go out you see: I am blessed going out. So they are upside down with one another, but every time you walk in the house you are aware that I am blessed coming in, and every time you leave the house, I am blessed going out. Now we have those in our homes at every door – going out coming in. I have them in my motorcycle shop. I have them in my classic car garage. I am so aware that the blessing of God is on me and I expect it to manifest every day of my life in some way. Amen. I am the head and not the tail I am above and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13). Hallelujah! Everything I set these little hands to do is blessed of God (Deuteronomy 28:8). Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That is the reason I lay hands on you, whoweee, something comes on you. Praise God. Amen.

So become aware. I realise that this is elementary and most of you know it, but sometimes you need to be stirred up. The Apostle Peter said, “as long as I am in this earthly tabernacle I will not be negligent to remind you of these things.” (2 Peter 1:13). So it is important that we remind ourselves. So say it again with me: “God wants me blessed” “I am to live a blessed life.” That is a little week. “I am to live a blessed life.” Turn to your neighbour and say: “you are to live a blessed life,” and then challenge them in your own way: “become familiar with the blessing.” Amen. Know what it will do. Know what it is capable of producing in your life. Amen. So, that is one of the ways that God is showing us His Goodness – by pronouncing His blessing on our lives. Amen. Why? Because He is good and everything He does is good. He is the source of good. Hallelujah.

Now as I said this morning you need to develop a vision for the good life that God has already prearranged for you. Proverbs 29:18, 18 Where there is no vision the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) I said this morning that I like to say it this way; where there is no vision, the people fail to enjoy God’s best, they fail to enjoy God’s best. One translation says they just wander aimlessly. Now I do not want to spend the rest of my life wandering aimlessly. I spend the first 22 or 23 years of my life wandering aimlessly, but I have not been doing so for the last 49. Praise God. Amen. That means 49 years ago, when I surrendered my life to the Lord, I have now been smart for 49 years. I was only dumb 23 before Christ came into my life. Amen. So once again, get a vision of the blessed life that God wants you to live. Can you say Amen once again?

Now, the children of Israel, as you well know, God instructed them to set their eyes on the land of Canaan. He said in Genesis 17:8, 8 and I will give unto thee, and to thy seed, the land, all the land of Canaan. (Genesis 17:8) So that was what they were to set their eyes on. Amen. They could not see it – the land – from where they were at the present time. So they had to see it through the eye of faith. Amen. John Copeland, when he was just a little boy, he heard his daddy preach about the eye of faith. Brother Copeland tells a story that on their way home (this was before the law was to wear seat belts) John was standing up at the front seat with his daddy, put his arm around him and said: “daddy, aren’t you glad we have three eyes.” Brother Copeland said: “what do you mean John, three eyes?” He said: “we got these two and we have got the eye of faith.” He said: “when I am going to

preach boy, I am going to borrow that.” Hallelujah. Amen. We have the eye of faith and what God was saying to the children of Israel, He said: “I have given you the land of Canaan, now see it through the eye of faith,” because that is the only way you will ever acquire anything that God says His planned for you. You have got to see it first through the eye of faith. Can you say Amen? So that was His instruction to them, so that meant that they had to develop a vision for it.

Now you know as well as I do there are many distractions. Amen. When God gives you a vision the devil and his crowd does not take off and go to some other Nation and leave you alone. Amen. In fact, you become more dangerous to him when you are seeing what God is seeing. He is going to do everything in his power to keep it from coming to pass. That is the reason why you have to keep your eyes on Him, stay in the Word of God, determine that wavering and giving up is not an option and if you do so, then it will come to pass – that you will possess the land, or whatever else it is that God has told you that He wanted you to have. Can you say Amen? He has never let me down. Not one thing He has ever told me that He wanted to do for me, that He wanted me to have, He wanted me to do… He never let me down. He is a faithful God. I had my part to play – it did not just come automatically, just because God said it. My part was stay in faith, develop a vision for it and do not waver. Can you say Amen?

So just like the children of Israel, you and I have distractions. Let us go to Joshua 6 for a moment. One of their distractions was a place called Jericho. It was the most fortified city of its day. In the natural, there was no penetrating Jericho, but they had to go through Jericho to get to the Canaan land, the Promised Land. Amen. Sometimes it is the same way with you and I. We have to go through obstacles, adversity on our way to Canaan, on our way to the Promised Land, on the way to the fulfilment of what God has promised us. So he says in Joshua 6, 1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out and none came in. 2 And the Lord said unto Joshua, “See I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof and the mighty men of valour.” (Joshua 6:1-2) Now God is talking past tense. He is acting as though it has already happened, because God call things that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17). And the God kind of faith, which Jesus told us to have, it too cause things that are not as though they were. So notice God said 2 See I have given you Jericho. The walls had not fallen yet. But in God’s mind they already possess what He promised them. Now it is just a matter of continuing to go forward and do not allow the distractions to prevent you from laying hold upon what God has promised. Amen.

Jesus said in Mark 4 that, 14 the sower soweth the Word. (Mark 4:14) So, I am sowing the word, I have been sowing the Word all week. Amen. Jesus said 15 and once the Word is sown Satan cometh immediately. I would like to say, if not sooner, Satan cometh immediately to do what? Steal the Word that was sown. Now you and I have an advantage because we now know in advance what Satan’s plan is. He is going to attempt to steal the Word, what Word? The Word you have been hearing all week, the Word that has been sown into your life this week. He comes immediately to steal it. The Bible says he will do it through affliction, persecution, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches or the lust of other things (Mark 4:15, 19). He will use all those tactics to try to get you to let go of the Word. But since you have already been told by Jesus Himself that that is Satan’s plan, you have an advantage now. It will not catch you off-guard when it happens. Can you say Amen? I mean you know if you, over the period of the next couple of days, something happens, and it looks as though, “well dear God, Brother Jerry said God is going to show us His glory and part of the glory is the goodness of God, good things were going to come to pass in my life. And over the last few days nothing but bad has happened.” See that is the devil trying to get you to let go of the Word, but if you already know that in advance. If we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Corinthians 2:11) the Apostle Paul said. Amen. You know if a thief announced to you in advance – “I am coming to your house tomorrow and I am stealing everything in your house.” Would it surprise you if he came tomorrow? Would it surprise you if he tried to steal everything in your house? Well it

is since you know in advance you can be prepared for him. Amen. You can be prepared for it. Now how do you fight the devil trying to steal the Word? With a Word. Amen. With the Word. That is your Sword of the Spirit. Praise God.

Remember he came to steal the Word which was sown. So, you take the very Word that was sown into your heart and you resist him with it. You slap him with that sword a few times and he will go away. Hallelujah. Amen. But if you just sit there and say, “why is this always happening to me? This is not what Brother Jerry said.” “Hush, you big old baby! Get your Sword out and put it on him.” Praise God. Amen. You know I am from Texas and we have a history of our gun fighters and so forth. The best gun fighters, back in the day, when they had a kill, they put a notch on their pistol grip. A gunfighter with 21 notches – he mad – leave him alone, do not mess with him. My Sword has got 21 notches. Hallelujah. Sometimes I do not even have to say a Word. I just rattle it, “You want some of this devil?” Come on! Hallelujah. Let him know you are not a pushover. Let him know if it is a fight he wants, a fight he is going to get, but when the dust settles, you and God will still be standing. Hallelujah. Come on give the Lord a shout! Praise God.

So notice, one of the major distractions of them reaching Canaan, was Jericho. In the natural it was an impossible barrier, but with God on your side, nothing is impossible. Can you say Amen again? So you and I have our Jericho’s. Your Jericho may be a little different than my Jericho, you know. But all of us have our Jericho’s. Satan is trying to keep us from reaching Canaan land, the Promised Land. The promise, the fulfilment rather, of what God has promised us and what his God promised us – showing us His glory. Hallelujah. Amen. So, the devil is not going to lay down, roll over and play dead, without a fight, but it is a fight he can not win if you stay on the Word of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I am preaching better than you are responding, come on! If you keep your eyes on God’s promise of the good life, then Satan will not be able to keep you from possessing it.

Now go with me to Psalm 84 and look at verse 5, 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart are the ways of them. 6 Who passing through the Valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God (Psalm 84:5-7 KJV). Notice that phrase “who passing through the Valley of Baca.” In the literal Hebrew the word “Baca” means – the valley of tears, the valley of sorrow. Notice he makes it very clear – it is not a place that you should set up residence in, you only pass through. Amen. Now a lot of God’s people, when they are going through the Valley of Baca, they just camp out there. They just wind up living there for the rest of their lives: the valley of tears, the valley of sorrow, the valley where nothing works for you and they just camp out there. But the Bible made it very clear you do not camp out in Baca, you pass through. Amen. Look at your neighbour and say “right now, I am presently passing through the Valley of Baca,” Amen. That is the valley of tears, that is the valley of sorrows and what causes those tears and sorrows? Adversity, challenges, Satan trying to keep you from getting to the other side.

I like to say that at home and Carolyn is so used to me saying that, she expects it. Every time we enter into a new faith endeavour, and we pray and we set our faith to accomplish what God has told us to do, the next thing she will hear out of me is “let us go to the other side.” Hallelujah. “Let us go to the other side! I do not intend to camp out in Baca, only pass through.” Amen. Then it says they if they know how to pass through the valley of Baca they go from strength to strength. Hallelujah. In other words, the test, contrary to religious tradition, the test does not make them weaker because they pass through the Valley of Baca and while they are going through the test, they get stronger and stronger. Hallelujah. And they come out on the other side victorious each and every time. Can you say Amen? Say “Baca”, or say it this way: “the Valley of Baca is not going to stop me from getting to Canaan land. I am on my way.” Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Give the Lord another shout of praise. Hallelujah. Amen.

You know, when Carolyn and I first began to learn the Word, the second time Brother Copeland came back and some of you probably heard this story, but it is my sermon I can tell it again if I want to. The second time Brother Copeland came back – now I am not missing a service. I dedicated my life to the Lord, I centred my life to preach and now I could hardly wait for this Kenneth Copeland to get back because; I had been listening those reel-to-reel tapes every day, studying the Word. So I was probably the most eager person in the entire church for his return. And man – I am a front row Christian now. First time I heard him, I was on the back row as close to the doors I could get and any time I did not like what he said I could leave. I told Carolyn, “I am only going tonight because you begged me to and you promised me if I did not like him, I would never have to go again.” I thought at some point I am not going to like him and then I told her I said, “And if I get up and leave, you can get home the best way you can.” She said if that is what it takes to get you to go hear him, so be it.” But it changed my life. Hallelujah. Amen. Changed my life. Amen. Brother Copeland came back the second time and he was going to be there for a week – three services a day. Man, I was so hungry, I am just soaking it up. I am like a sponge and the only part I did not like about his sermon was, “let us pray and dismiss.” I did not want him to quit, I just, I was so hungry for the Word of God.

About halfway into that meeting, my daughter, Terri, was in the nursery and Brother Copeland was preaching from the fourth chapter of Mark, 14 the sower soweth the Word. He had made mention of the fact that once the Word is sown, Satan cometh immediately to steal the Word (Mark 4:15). No more than he had gotten that out of his mouth, we heard a scream. We heard a baby crying. Well, the thought never occurred to me that it might be my baby. Terri was about 13 months old and she was in the nursery along with Jerriann, her older sister, and I thought they were safe and secure in the nursery. I did hear this baby screaming and it just did not cross my mind that it might be one of my children. The nursery attendant comes running in the auditorium. She was a registered nurse, who was a member of that church, and as soon as she left the service, she was going to the hospital to do her job. So she was in her white nursing uniform. When she came through the door, she began shouting: “Brother Jerry, Brother Jerry” and she had my little baby Terri in her arms and blood was pouring out of the end of her fingers. Blood all over the front of this nurse’s uniform and obviously it interrupted the service. Brother Copeland stopped, and I got up and walked over to the nursery attendant. I had no idea what had happened, but I could obviously tell the baby was in pain. Something extremely hard had happened to her. I took her into my arms, laid her on my shoulders up against my chest and then I turned to see what Brother Copeland was going to do. Because it is one thing to preach faith, it is something else to live it. I turned to see what he was going to do. I had already decided in my mind as I turned, if he does not do what he has been preaching about, I will never listen to him again. It is just talk. Though he had come off that platform and walked up to me, laid his hands on Terri’s fingers and blood was pouring out the end of them. He laid his hands on her fingers and in about this tone of voice said: “in the Name of Jesus, I command the bleeding to stop and the pain to cease.” Terri stopped crying immediately. She laid her head on my shoulders and closed her eyes and then Brother Copeland said: “now look at me, I am not finished preaching, let us take up where we left off.”

I walked out because I had blood all over me. I walked down to one of the toilet areas, to wash the blood off of her and to try to find out what had happened – I still did not know yet. Then the nursery attendant came in, she knocked on the door and she said “Brother Jerry, can I come in?” I said: “sure” and she said, “I went back to the nursery and when I went in there, I found on the floor these two little fingertips.” These two fingers right here at this first joint had been completely cut off. I could see the bone after I removed the blood and everything. I could see the bone, it got all the nail root, I am talking about a 13-month-old baby. She said Brother Jerry, “I did not know what to do with these.” She put them in the palm of my hand. Have you ever held your baby’s fingers in the palm of your hand? Little tiny fingers, little tiny nails and I felt something trying to rise up in me. I am a very young Christian at this time and that something was called fear. I remembered a

verse that I had read just a short time before, 20praying in the Holy Ghost, building up your most holy faith, (Jude 1:20). I began praying in the Holy Ghost and fear subsided and faith came. I laid those little finger tips on the counter as I still held Terri and my arms. I took my Bible and opened it to the front, where there was a blank page, and I wrote in the front of that – God You will restore my baby’s fingers. Mark 11:23 says I can have what I say. Deuteronomy chapter 28 says I’m redeemed from the curse and one of the curses is… I wanted the blessing… I said I am an 29 heir of the promise (Galatians 3:29) according to Galatians 3 and one of the promises is, 4 blessed shall be the fruit of thy body” (Deuteronomy 28:4). I said God, “this little girl is the fruit of my body and she should not live the rest of her life missing two fingers. I am counting on You to restore them.” I signed my name, I put the date in, I still have that Bible to this day in my archives.

Then I walked back into the meeting, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word (Romans 10:17). See, this is a distraction, at the early stages of my walk with God, Amen. Satan was coming immediately to steal the Word; he is trying to keep me from getting to Canaan land, the Promised Land, God’s best for my life. It was a distraction. I went back in there and sat down on the front row and continued to hear Brother Copeland preach and faith came. Man, my faith was getting energised and charged. I knew that I knew that God was going to do a miracle. Amen. At the end of the service, Brother Copeland came over and said, “what happened to Terri?” I said: “the nursery attendant said she crawled under the rocking chair, got her fingers under the rocking chair.” This nursery attendant was a very heavyset woman and she rocked over her nails, fingers and cut them off. He said: “what do you believe?” I said: “God will restore my baby’s fingers,” I did not hesitate. “God will restore my baby’s fingers.” He said: “I am recommending that you take her to the doctor to just get them properly dressed. You can not leave them exposed like that.” He said: “but do not let anything they say change what you believe.”

So we immediately took her to the doctor. They called in one of the top plastic surgeons in the state of Louisiana at that time, his name was Dr Simon Wall. He was an oriental man and he was one of the best plastic surgeons. When he examined her fingers, he said: “do you have the fingertips?” I said: “yes sir” and I gave him the fingertips. He examined them. He said, “the tissues dead, the nerves are dead, there’s nothing I can do with them. I can not reattach them”. I watched that doctor take my baby’s fingertips and throw them in a trash bucket, a trash bin. I wanted to slap him. Then he turned to me and said: “the only thing I can do is do a skin graft. I will take a piece of skin from her hip and then I will cover the fingers with that skin but I want you to know – they will never be normal, they will never grow, they will never have nails on them, that is the way she will be for the rest of her life.” I said, “no sir, I do not accept that.” He said, “you do not understand, this is my specialty, this is my expertise.” I said, “I understand that sir, I appreciate your dedication in the medical field, but my God will restore my baby’s fingers.” He went over to my wife Carolyn and said, “your husband’s in shock that is medically impossible.” She said, “no sir, our God will restore our baby’s fingers.” He walked back over to me and he said, “well, what do you want me to do?” I said, “you do what you can do, take it as far as medical science can take it and God will take it from there.” He said, “I do not want you to get your hopes up.” I said, “doctor, you are too late, my hopes are higher than a Georgia pine tree.” Praise God. “You are too late, you just do what you are capable of doing and God will take it from there.”

He said again, “it is impossible”. I said, “sir, I noticed when I walked in your office you had a Buddha statue.” I said, “it is impossible with your god, but not my God. Buddha can not do things like this, but Jehovah can. El Shaddai can. Nothing is impossible with El Shaddai.” See all this is distraction; it was designed by Satan, to stop me at the early stage of my ministry and never get 49 years down the road. He was hoping that through this attack that is how, that faith stuff does not work, look what happened to us. Look what happened to my baby. But I maintained and stood my ground, because I know, that I know, that nothing is impossible with my God, Hallelujah. I am not letting the devil

interfere or distract me, from getting to where God wants me to go. Hallelujah. I am going to the other side. Hallelujah.

I said, “you do, what you know to do.” So he took her into surgery, did a skin graft, bandaged her hands and said, “we will keep her overnight.” I told Carolyn, I said, “this is the last service that Brother Copeland will preach, I am going to go hear what he has to say. As soon as he gets through, I will come back to this hospital and I will preach to you, word for word, what he said, because I want our faith to be on the same level.” Hallelujah. So I came back to the hospital that night, preached to Carolyn, what Brother Copeland preached, used all the verses. Praise God. Then the next morning the doctor said, “you can take her home, bring her back in six weeks.” Then the last thing he said, “but please do not get your hopes up.” I just ignored him.

We went home and for the next six weeks, a day shy of six weeks, we did nothing but stay in the Word of God. We did not turn on a television set, we did not get around unbelieving believers. We did not allow anybody in our house to talk negative. Christians came to visit and many of them said, “we do not know why God…” I said, “There is the door – get out. God did not do this. Get out of my house, if you can not talk faith, do not come back.” Oh, I made them mad, I do not care. This is my miracle, this is my baby. I am protecting my faith. I do not need this. It is bad enough fighting the devil, without a bunch of Christians taking sides with him. Amen.

The day before we were to take her back, we got a little card in the mail from Kenneth Hagin Evangelistic association. I had never seen Kenneth Hagin, at that time; if he walked up to me on the street, I would not have known who he was, but I had heard Brother Copeland talk about him, so many times and the things he had learned from him. We were not on Kenneth Hagin’s mailing list, I do not know how in the world, other than God, that we got that card in the mail. It said, “Kenneth Hagin, tonight in Tyler Texas for one service.” I told Carolyn and I said, “if Brother Copeland listens to this man, then we need to listen to him.” I said, “we are going to Tyler tonight.” It is about a hundred miles from our home, we got over to Tyler Texas and Brother Hagin, it was just a crowd of about maybe 75 people. Brother Hagin went to preach in Mark 11:23 and 24. Man, I am telling you, my faith, it went to another level. I did not even need an automobile, to get back home, I was floating in the Spirit. Hallelujah.

The next morning, we were to take her to the doctor. When we went into that doctor’s office and he cut off those bandages, he lifted both hands and screamed, “my god!” I said, “what is it doc?” He said, “look”. The fingers were back, they were normal, nails were on them. You could not even tell, they had ever been cut off. I looked at him and I said, “no sir, not your god, my God.” Hallelujah. My God. Hallelujah, Amen. The only way that you could tell this ever happened, to Terri: now you know she is a grown woman now and dear Lord, she is close to fifty years old. I am not getting older, but my kids are – and if you were to look at her fingers and she shows them and testifies to it quite often, you would only be able to notice little scars under her nails, but the fingers are normal, the nails are normal. She has beautiful nails.

When I saw those little scars, I told Carolyn, I said, “that is the token of my covenant.” Those little scars – and everyone smile when she was growing up and the devil is trying to tell me, “this is not going to happen and that is not going to work and you are never going to have this and that will never come to pass.” I would go in her room and I would say, “Terri, could I borrow your fingers?” She finally got to the place where she said, “daddy is the devil talking to you?” I said, “yeah, but let me borrow your fingers, that will run him off.” “Look at this devil, you said this was impossible, look. Don’t you run away yet, I am not done. Look, I do not care.” I tell you how many victories, I have won, over that one testimony. Hallelujah. Amen. That began a life of faith. Hallelujah. God had proven to me in the very beginning, that nothing was impossible unto Him and He has been doing so ever since. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

He could not stop me at Jericho and he could not stop me from getting to Canaan land. Hallelujah. Look at your neighbour say; “he will not stop me at Jericho and he can not stop me to get to Canaan land.” Give Him a shout, if you believe it. Praise God. Amen. Praise God. You have heard that story, fine, but I love telling it and giving my God glory. Hallelujah. So you could say that was my Valley of Baca, but I passed through. I came out on the other side, stronger than ever. Do not settle for anything less than God’s best.

Go with me to Numbers 32, Do not settle for anything less than God’s best, verse 1, 1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for cattle, You are seeing that? 2 the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke unto Moses and to Eleazar the priest and said; under the princes of the congregation saying and look at verse 5 5 Therefore, said they, “If we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto us, thy servants for a possession, and bring us not into the Jordan.” (Numbers 32:1,2,5) Now what are they saying? Everything is okay right, here. We are in a comfort zone. Do not take us any further. See that is the way a lot of people get. A lot of God’s people get. They reach a place in their life, where they are somewhat in a comfort zone and they do not want to have to use their faith anymore. Just let us camp out, right here. There is fields here for the cattle, there is water here for the cattle. Do not make us go on any further. So I have never in all these years, God has never allowed me to get in a comfort zone. It is always from faith to faith and from glory to glory. Amen.

I mean, you know, I have been at this a long time now. I could just sit back and enjoy the fruit of my labour. I do not have to go anywhere to preach for money. My partner base is strong. Hallelujah. I could go less. I could just go one weekend a month if I wanted to and everything would be fine at the ministry. That would mean a whole lot more time with my family, a whole lot more time enjoying the fruit of my labour. In other words, I would be saying to God, “this is a good pasture here, plenty of grass, plenty of water, let us just settle here,” but no. God is always saying, “but you have not reached the other side yet, there is more.” Do not ever allow your faith to lie dormant. Amen. Do not ever allow your faith to lie dormant, because the nature of faith is increase. Amen. So notice here, from time to time God’s people get satisfied with where they are. They just wanted to camp out right here. Amen.

Years ago, back in the middle to late 70’s, I was preaching out in Southern California, and a man came to me after the service, the first service and he said, “Brother Savelle would you and your family consider going to lunch with me and my family?” And we did not have any plans, I said, “yes sir that we would be happy to.” Now I did not know at the time that this man was a multi, multi-millionaire and I had never met him before, did not know him and he said I would like to take you and your family to lunch. So he took us to Newport Beach, one of a famous restaurant there on the water. Man, I looked at the menu and I could not even pronounce half the stuff on that menu. Man I had never heard some of these things and I did not want to appear as country as I was. I wanted to be as dignified as I possibly could and he said, “what could I make a recommendation?” I said, “oh sure please make a recommendation. You know the restaurant.” Praise God. So he ordered stuff for us, oh it was some of the finest food I have ever eaten in my life. Some of which had never even tried before, some of which I did not even know existed, our family never eaten some of this stuff you know when I was growing up. And it was wonderful and then he said, “could I take you to my office I would like for you to see my office.” I said, “sure,” so we got in his Rolls Royce and we drove over to his office. It was a fabulous building. He owned the whole building and when we went into his office everything in there had been imported from Italy. I mean I have never seen anything like this. I have never been in a place like this. And then he said, “I have some associates that I would like to introduce you to.” So he introduced me to them and they were all extremely wealthy men as well. Then he said this, “we would like to make you an offer.” I said , “what offer would you like to

make me?” He said, “if you would consider,” Now you have to realise this is back in the middle to late 70’s and the term Word of Faith Church did not exist back then. He said, “we would like for you to come to Newport Beach. We will buy you a home, we will buy land and build you a church and turn it over to you if you will be our pastor and teach us the Word of Faith.” What an offer, Newport Beach. I mean if I wanted to live in California Newport Beach would be the place I would want to go. They were going to buy the land, build the building, and hand me the keys and the title deed if I would just be their pastor. I said, “well sir, gentleman, that is a very kind offer, but I need to pray.” So I was praying and at the same time I was thinking man how good would this be? Dear Lord, and I would have three extremely wealthy church members and more than likely first thing we will teach them is tithing. I am set for life. Hallelujah. Would you not agree? Happy, set for life? Wouldn’t you call that a comfort zone? See Satan trying to set me up again, a distraction. When I came home to pray, I said, “Lord what about that?” He said, “well that would be fine. If you want to go there and do that that will be fine if it does not matter to you that you will be controlled by three wealthy businessmen for the rest of your ministry?” He said, “son, the first time you would preach something they do not like, do not be surprised if they take the keys back. So go ahead if that is what satisfies you. You can live with that, go ahead.” I said, “well Lord, I am not satisfied with that, apparently it is not pleasing to you, so I am staying where I am.” My oldest daughter, Jerriann, the first time she heard that story, she said, “daddy you mean to tell me that we had a chance to live in Newport Beach?” Because she has always wanted to live in California. “And you chose Fort Worth Texas? There is no beach in Fort Worth daddy.” I said, “well sweetheart, just like I said, God would have allowed me to go there, but I would been controlled for the rest of my ministry by three wealthy business men.” So, I could have entered into a comfort zone, I mean with three extremely wealthy businessmen. What would I need faith for? Just make sure I stayed on their good side. Hallelujah.

That is the way some preachers think. I was in a church one time and the pastor told me then, “Brother Jerry do not preach anything controversial in my church.” Because old, he called him, old moneybags is here and if you preach anything controversial, he might quit and go somewhere else.” I said, “what do you mean by controversial, the word?” I said, “sir, you invited me to come. If you do not want me to preach tonight then just tell me to leave, but do not tell me what to preach.” And apparently I preached something controversial and old moneybags got up and walked out. See, that pastor had gotten into a comfort zone. He did not need to use faith. He had old moneybags in the audience. I am not staying in Gilead when Canaan land is just up the road. Hallelujah. Amen. Your Canaan land is just up the road. Praise God. Are you going to go there or just stay in a comfort zone? Now I do not believe you want to stay in a comfort zone, you are going from faith to faith and glory to glory. Shout it again, “Lord show me Your glory,” and give him another praise. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise God.

So do not be like these people, these stories are in the Bible. For examples unto us Paul said. Amen. God’s people tend to allow themselves to get distracted and sometimes they have to be provoked to get up and continue to go forward. You know the Bible says preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort (2 Timothy 4:2), and two out of three of those are not comfortable. Amen. Exhort. Well this may come across as an exhortation for some of you may come across as a rebuke, but either way we are preaching the Word. Amen. The Bible says, only a fool will reject a rebuke. Listen if I am in error and it is preventing me from reaching Canaan land, then I welcome a rebuke. Amen. And I have been rebuked by some of the best. Hallelujah. So do not reject a rebuke that is attempting to provoke you to get back on the Word. Lay hold upon your vision again. Amen.

I was preaching in Baltimore, a couple of years ago, and the pastor asked me when he picked me up at the airport. He said, “Brother Jerry, I thought you owned your own airplane?” I said, “well I did, but I sowed it into Kenneth Copeland’s ministry for his children and his grandchildren to use – they are all preaching now and I wanted to bless them with

it.” He said, “what are you not believing for another airplane?” I said, “you know pastor, I am not sure that I want another airplane right now.” I said at the time I was seriously thinking about slowing down some and I even announced it to my staff. I think I might slow down some. We were thinking about shutting down all of our international offices and just turn them over to the people that were working with us and so forth.

So I preached that night, had a good service. When I got back to the hotel, and I was taking my suit off to hang it up. I was going to have to fly out early the next morning on commercial airlines. I was hanging my suit up and the Lord said, “at what time did I tell you that you can now fulfil what I have called you to do without airplanes? Did I not tell you when you first accepted the call to preach that you would not be able to fulfil what you are called to do without airplanes?” I said, “yes Sir”. He said, “well, at what time did I tell you, you can now fulfil what you are called to do without airplanes?” I said, “well apparently, You did not.” I have learned not to argue with God. He is always right. He said, “then whose decision was it to not to believe for another one?” I said, “apparently mine.” He said, “Are you through now? Are you finished? Are you done?” I said, “no sir, I am not done. I am not quitting the ministry.” He said, “well how can you do what I have called you to do without airplanes? You would have to quit the ministry. So again I ask you, are you finished? Are you through? Are you done?” I said, “no Sir, I am not.” He said, “then why are you not believing for your next one?” I said, “consider me believing, right now.” Amen.

Then I went home and I told Carolyn and then I called my staff and I apologised to them for making statements like that. I said, “we are back on our faith. I am not through in the ministry and we are believing for our next airplane.” I am telling you, it seemed like that one manifested so quickly. Dear Lord. It was the biggest, best, fastest one I have ever owned. Hallelujah. Amen. And then once we started flying it the Lord said, “what about that international jet?” He said, “why aren’t you still believing for it?” Years ago, I had a picture made of the international jet I was believing for that I believed would meet my need. I had it framed and put on an easel. The plane, the inside, the cabin – everything. I put on the bottom, ‘JSMI Aviation. International Aircraft’. Then I put Romans: God calleth things that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17). And I put it right in front of my desk on an easel, big picture. So every time I went to my office, the first thing I saw, was that jet.

But, at this time, I had put that easel in the closet, because I did not think I needed an international jet anymore. But God. See He had to provoke me to get back on my faith. And here is what He said, “get your dream out of the closet.” I am gonna say that to some of you – get your dream out of the closet. If it had not come to pass yet, then God is not done yet. Amen. Get your dream out of your closet. Boy, I went in there, got that easel, put it back in front of my desk. Then I started sowing seed again, and man, I am telling you, I am this close. I am this close. It is strongly possible that the next time I come to South Africa, it will be in my own international jet. Hallelujah. Somebody praise God with me. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise God. Why settle for Gilead when Canaan land is just up the road? Come on. Let us shout unto God once again. Hallelujah. Amen. Go ahead and be seated. Glory to God.

So do not allow yourself to get in a comfort zone. Do not allow your faith to lie dormant. Joshua 1:2 is another example of people allowing their faith to lie dormant and to just get in a comfort zone. Joshua 1:2 says 2 Moses my servant is dead. Now if you read the story – once Moses died, the people just quit. They just wanted to camp out right there and not go any further. But God spoke. He had to provoke them. God spoke and said, 2 Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise and go over this Jordan. (Joshua 1:2) See, they were just going to settle for less than God’s best. It is amazing to me they are mourning Moses’ death, but they hated him when he was alive. I think the happiest day Moses ever lived was the day he died. He no longer had to pastor that church, with all that unbelief, and all that mumbling, and all that grumbling. I think that is the reason God hid his body, so they could not go dig it up somewhere and still complain. Why did you take us out of

Egypt? Why did you take us out of Egypt? Amen. But see they were done. They were done. They just quit. God had to provoke them: “Moses my servant is dead. Get over it. Live with it. And move on. Amen. Go on and go over Jordan, you and all this people unto the land.” See, they had not reached Canaan yet… “unto the land that I do give them.” (Joshua 1:2)

So ask yourself this question tonight. Have I begun to settle for less than God’s best? Have I begun to settle for less than God’s best? Have I allowed myself to get in a comfort zone? Am I unwilling to continue to stretch my faith? Amen. Because it is from faith to faith and from glory to glory. The just shall live by faith (Hebrews 10:38). And I do not find anywhere in the Bible where they get to take a vacation, a holiday from faith. You just live it. Every victory, praise God, and go for the next one. When that one comes to pass, praise God, and go for the next one. Make each and every one more impossible than the previous one. So that you end up knowing and testifying that – Only God! Amen. Only God. Hallelujah. Absolutely no way possible for this to happen, but God! Hallelujah. Are you receiving? Amen.

So God has so much more, so much more, that we have not laid hold upon yet. Leviticus 20:24 says 24 …a land that flows with milk and honey. (Leviticus 20:24) That is talking about abundance. That is talking about overflow. That sounds like what Jesus said in the tenth chapter of John, 10 I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. The Amplified Bible says, have life, enjoy life, in abundance, to the full and till it overflows. (John 10:10) Hallelujah. God want you enjoying overflowing life. Hallelujah. Does that not sound like God has already planned a good life for you? But you are never going to reach it if you keep camping out in Gilead. You have got to keep going to the other side. Pass over Jordan, go through Jericho, go through the valley of Baca, but make sure you only pass through and do not camp out there. Just keep on going until you reach the Promised Land. The fulfilment of what God has promised you. Hallelujah. Amen.

Psalm 31:19, we have read it in some of the previous sessions: 19 Oh how great is Thy goodness which Thou has laid up for them that fear Thee. (Psalm 31:19) That means that God has goodness that we have never experienced yet. So much more goodness. So much more good things that He wants to do in our lives that we have never experienced. One commentary says this: ‘God has a liberal and unrestrained supply that is still to come. Amen. A liberal and unrestrained supply that is still to come. Hallelujah. So that means we have not seen it all yet. We have not experienced it all yet. But praise God it has been laid up for us and those that just stay in faith and keep their eyes on God praise God He just continues to pour it out upon them. Amen, and when they think it can not get any better than this, He will show them it does get better than this Hallelujah, Amen.

We were doing a Chariots of Light tour a few years ago in Colorado. Colorado God made for bikers. It is a beautiful state and I have ridden all over Colorado on motorcycles. I do not know how many times. You get a group of guys and normally we have about 50 or 60 on tour when we go to Colorado. Sometimes more than that. We are going through the mountains and the beautiful rivers are down below and the mountains, Oh! You would think it can not get any better than this, and you go around that curve and it gets better than that. Then you go around this curve and it gets better than that. Bill Horn our international director for Chariots Of Light, he pulled up beside me one day and he said, “Brother Jerry it does not get any better than this.”

I said, “Yeah, that is right Bill.” The Lord got all over me. He said, “don’t you ever say that again. Don’t ever let those words come out of your mouth – it does get better than this.” He said, “if you think that about Colorado you will get to thinking about the life that I have prepared for you, that it could not get any better than this. But it does son. It gets far better than what you are experiencing now.” So I just pulled up beside Bill. I said: “Bill don’t you ever say that again.” Boy he jumped back. You know, and we are riding motorcycles. I am talking to him and I said, “don’t you ever say that again, the Lord just told me it gets far

better than this.” So now Bill will pull up beside me and he would say, “Brother Jerry, isn’t this great” and I would say, “yeah, but it gets better than this.” Hallelujah. Amen. Look at your neighbour, say, “it gets far better than this.” Hallelujah. Because there is so much of God’s goodness that we have never tapped into. But praise God. We are headed there. Amen.

Here is how you do it. Just like the Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:15, I press, I press. I am not in favour of some of this grace teaching that is going around. “Well we do not have to do anything. God has already done it all for us.” Yeah I believe He has already taken care of redemption and I believe He has already taken care of salvation. But my Bible says be not a hearer of the word only. Be a doer of the word (James 1:22). Amen. The man who gave us the revelation on grace, Paul, says ‘I press’. So apparently he did not know what some preachers know today. ‘I press’. I do not know any other way. Amen. I press. If it was all just going to be handed to us, then every believer would be extremely blessed, prosperous, and healthy, enjoying the good life. But you have to press for that. Amen. God says it is yours. But it is not going to be just handed to you. You have to press for it. Look at your neighbour and say: “I press”. That simply means you do not ever give up. You do not ever turn back. You do not ever quit. You just keep pressing. Amen.

The fact that you have determined to press, once again, does not mean that Satan is going to just lay down and roll over and play dead. The fact that you are pressing, you are just announcing to the devil the fight is on. But you are stronger than him in Christ. You have weapons that are not carnal but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). God is on your side and not his. Amen. So you just make the determination that you are going to press and keep pressing until you reach the Promised Land. Until you reach what God has promised to do in your life. Press on, no matter how impossible it may seem, press on. No matter how long it takes. Press on. No matter what others might think or do. Press on, even if no one else presses on with you. Hallelujah. Those who keep pressing are the ones who experience the greatest breakthroughs. The greatest victories. Can you say Amen?

God wants to show you His glory. God wants to show you His glory, His manifested presence, His manifested power, His manifested goodness until you are totally committed. Then there is always the opportunity to turn back. Committed. Look at your neighbour and say, “Get committed”. Hebrews 10:23 the Message Translation says: Let us keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. Hallelujah. You keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going and then verse 39 says but you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you will be there for the promised completion. (Hebrews 10:23, 39) Hallelujah, I want to be there for the promised completion, glory to God. I do not want to start good but not finish good. Amen. What is the promised completion? He wants to show you His goodness. He wants to show you His glory. Can you say Amen? Hallelujah. I am his representative in this place tonight. The priest and the prophet of this service and I promise you if you keep pressing and refuse to back off, refuse to give up, refuse to quit, He will show you His glory. He will show you His goodness, Hallelujah. Amen. Give the Lord your best shout if you believe it. Hallelujah.

I have got just a couple of more things to say to you and I believe they are important, so I do not want to miss it. Psalm 65:11. I believe this is going to be your testimony this year: 11 Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness. (Psalm 65:11.) The psalmist is saying to God, “You have crowned my year with Your goodness.” The word crown here means to adorn, to honour and to reward. So the psalmist is saying, “God, You have adorned, You have honoured, and You have rewarded my year with Your goodness.” Hallelujah. Say: “that is going to be my testimony.” Hallelujah. Amen.

Then I will close it with this. The great missionary of days past, Hudson Taylor who spent 51 years of his life preaching the gospel in China, made this statement before he died. He said, “I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: First: it is

impossible. Second, it is difficult. Third, it is done.” Amen. It is impossible, then it becomes difficult, but then it is done. He is talking about people who stay in faith. Amen. It looks impossible, and it is, without faith. Then if you stay in faith, it only becomes difficult. If you stay in faith, it is done. Halleluiah. Amen. Praise God.

All right I believe I have said everything the Lord wanted me to say tonight other than this: I had this Word come up in my spirit this afternoon: He said, “Tell the people in this season of showing you My glory, I will not only show you signs and wonders and miracles, but I will also bring supernatural increase into your lives, such as you have never experienced before. In the past it has been here a little and there a little, but now it is time for you to enter into the fullness. I have declared that My faithful ones shall flourish and they shall abound and I will surely bring it to pass. It is a new day, it is a new season and no man will be able to stop what I have planned for you. So believe it, expect it, and refuse to waiver and see if your Father, the Faithful One, shall not bring it to pass in your life. You will surely see that these are indeed days of glory, days of flourishing and days of abounding for the Mouth of The Lord has spoken it. Hallelujah!

Come on lift your hands and get to praise Him. Hallelujah. Come on stand to your feet and give Him praise. Hallelujah. Glory to God. God is going to crown your year with His goodness. He’s going to show you His Glory. Hallelujah. Are you ready for it? Are you ready for it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

And then the Lord told me to tell you this last thing, 2 Chronicles 20:20, 20 Believe in the Lord your God and so shall you be established, believe His prophets and so shall you prosper. Amen. I stand in a prophetic office. I have delivered the Word of the Lord to you all week. The Word of God says believe the prophets and so shall you prosper, so shall you succeed another translation says. I even like what the Message Translation says 20 you’ll end up on top. (2 Chronicles 20:20) Amen. If you want to end up on top. Amen.

In closing tonight the Lord said, “I want you to pronounce a blessing on everyone in the building.” He said, “I want you to use a blessing that is recorded in Numbers.” You are familiar with it, most of you. Chapter 6, if you have your Bible, just pick it up and take a look at it, but you will recognise it when you hear it. And He said, “I want you to pronounce this blessing on everybody in the house tonight: Numbers 6:24 24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

So lift both hands, put your Bible down, lift both hands. Let me pronounce that blessing on you. Hallelujah.
The Lord bless thee, do you receive it?
The Lord keep thee, do you receive it?

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, do you receive it?
and be gracious unto thee, do you receive it?
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace, do you receive it?
If you study the Hebrew, the word peace is translated prosperity. Hallelujah. God give you prosperity in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Receive it. Receive it. Receive it. Hallelujah. Amen and Amen. I have now completed my assignment, until I return. Hallelujah. Amen.