MESSAGE HIGHLIGHT:

Abundant Harvest: Blessing and Faith for Harvest – Ps John Bendixen (JHB)

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV); Matthew 25:1-13 (MSG); Luke 17:5 (NLT); Genesis 1:27-31 NLT; Genesis 3:17-21 NLT; Genesis 4:2-8 NLT; Genesis 4:12 NLT; Genesis 4:8-12 NLT; Genesis 8:20-22 (NLT), Genesis 12:1-4, 11-14 (NTL); Genesis 14:12-16; Genesis 14:17-20,NLT; Genesis 14:21-23 (NLT); Luke 17:5

The message: You fill my heart with the sound of Your love, Your sounds through Pastor John resonate with my heart, I am ready to hear and receive in my heart, the Word and revelation that You have given to Pastor John. I am ready to receive it, walk in it and to subject myself to the responsibility and the authority of Your Word.

Truth: (2 Corinthians 13:8 KJV), I can do nothing in my life that will not support the truth because the truth is not a set of facts; the truth is a person, it’s God, it’s Jesus, it’s the Holy Spirit – that’s the truth. I can do nothing against the truth. I do not live in my perception of truth, I live in the real truth which is the Word of God, it is unshakable, immovable, valid truth. Wherever there is death, destruction and all manner of bad things happening in my life, the antidote to that is truth. It’s not my perception of truth. It’s truth. It’s the way of God, it’s the will of God.

Ten virgins – smart and silly: (Matthew 25:1-13 MSG) I am like the five-smart people, I have extra, I plan, I prepare, I’m ready no matter what the circumstances. I’m not like the five silly people who didn’t anticipate that something might occur that might undermine the “oil” in my lamp.

Deal with the love of money: I don’t know that I love money until I’m confronted with a situation that challenges me with money. In my heart, I have to deal with the root of that money because the love of money is the root of all evils that are happening.

Ready and strong, steady faith: Pastor John is telling me that if I’m alert and aware that the harvest is coming, I must be prepared to stay the distance until the harvest gets to me. If I quit on my faith before the harvest gets to me, the harvest may never get to me. In a delay (like the bridegroom) my responsibility is to wait it out. I have got to have ‘ready faith’, strong, steady faith to wait it out. I don’t let circumstances and mental things come between me and my harvest – which will cause words to come out of my mouth that’ll prevent me from getting my harvest. (Luke 17:5 – 6 NLT) I need to have faith that I activate and keep active until I get my harvest. The question is not ‘how may I increase my faith?’ It is, “Am I using and activating the faith that I have” which comes from speaking words.

The Word is the extra oil: Brother Jerry said, “If you don’t know that you have faith, keep speaking the Word on that matter until you know that you have faith.”  If I don’t believe, I keep speaking the Word until I do believe, that is what is going to come out when the pressure is on, and that’s the thing that is going to get me through. If there is a delay, I’ve got to have the Word in my heart – that is the extra oil. It’s the extra determination to stay connected to my faith that’s going to get me through. When the critical moment comes for the harvest, I’m always sure that I’m smart about the fact that I’ve got sustainable faith, when the pressure comes.

Provision, purpose and power: You created me to worship You in all the process of being alive. God gave man provision without pain. He gave him purpose through protection of His order, and He gave him power to govern without limitation based or determined by his choice

Time for Harvest – Cain and Abel: (Genesis 4:2-7 NLT) I can see that You are even very interested in my moods and You know what’s going on in my emotions. When I feel dejected and angry and You are having conversations with me, speaking words of truth and life to me, intervening in my life to give me the answer for my future – I Do the right thing and I’m accepted. I change my future. I don’t choose for sin to control me. (Genesis 4:8-12 NLT) Like Abel, I recognize I have nothing to do with the fruits of my labour so I bring to You my best, my first, my most valuable, my everything. I don’t think like Cain that my sweat and my toil has everything to do with my harvest yield. I don’t bring You what I think is okay. My “second best” is not good enough for You. It isn’t about the offering, You are addressing my heart. My heart is reflected in my offering. I can’t be giving like Cain and want abundant harvest.

Harvest – faith – prepare: (Genesis 8:22 NLT) “How long is it going to take, Pastor John?” If I’m asking that question then I’m not preparing enough because I’m more worried about whether I’m going to make it or not. And the answer is, I shouldn’t worry about whether I’m going to make it or not, I should be concerned about my faith. Keep my faith active and alert. I don’t worry about the timing of it.

I am accountable: I make myself accountable to my spiritual leaders and covenant friends. I say, talk to me, I’m accountable, my life is open. I make myself known to them. There is great strength in accountability, there is no weakness. Weakness comes when I try and hide things, got secrets, when I’ve got things I’m not making available that nobody knows about. That is where the enemy comes and hurts me, he finds that weakness and comes after that weakness.

Pastor John coming after me: “I’ll tell you, this is the way I feel about it, what I’m about to read to you next”: (Genesis 14:12-16 NLT) “I want to tell you something, you mess with you, you mess with me!” As far as possible and as far as Pastor John can, he will take his faith, his prayer life and he will pursue the enemy of God in my life and bring destruction to him. Pastor John will rebuke him, stand against him and will use all of his faith and all of his spiritual energy to help me get through if I have been captured. It’s a slightly different scenario if I’m in strife and “I go and live there and go and live there”. This is a severe moment of I’ve been captured.

The tenth: (Genesis 14:17-20, NLT), God put it in Abram’s heart to give a tenth. “You don’t have faith to tithe on your full income? Well then don’t tithe on your full income, the consequences are yours, not God’s – He does not need your money. He needs you to give your money”. Tithing is not about my expenses; it’s about my faith. It’s about how much “oil” I have in my lamp. It’s not about, “Increase my faith, Lord.” If I only knew how little faith I need. How God is going to do it, I don’t know, I don’t care, that is not my business. My business is just to have the faith. Like Abram, I trust in God. I give a tenth because I understand that actually everything that’s happening in my life is because of God. Everything. If I don’t have that revelation then I say: “I see, that everything in my life – all the goodness that is happening in my life, is because of God. All of it. All of it. The whole lot. Everything”.

Prayer: This word of God is protected in my heart. God will reveal to me the fullness of it. Holy Spirit hovers upon this word, it performs everything that it was sent out to perform in my life.