Big and Bold Part 6: Kingdom Finances Part 1 – Ps John & Sharon Bendixen (WTB)

Scripture Reference: Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-13 (TPT); Matthew 6:33 9KJV); Isaiah 2:2-3 (NLT); Luke 12:15-23 (AMPC)

Pastor John:
Morning. It is wonderful to have this time with you and as Pastor Sharon said when she was doing the praise and worship, or sound and song, that – I got to get my words right, baby.

Pastor Sharon:
It has been a habit of many years.

Pastor John:
Many years. As she introduced the service and sound and song, it’s really a joy and a privilege for us to be able to meet in this way. Thank God that He has made this available to us.

Pastor Sharon:
Yes, thank God.

Pastor John:
I know you have already prayed for the service but I just want to agree with you right now – whatever we have to say according to the Word of God, this word that God has given us that it will flow through those cameras, it will flow to everybody’s home, it will flow to everybody through whatever device they’re watching and they’re listening; that the Word of God will change them and they will receive everything that God wants them to receive at this time, in this strategic moment of our lives and our ministry. Amen.

Well, we’ve been sharing with you from Matthew chapter 6 as one of our lead scriptures that God doesn’t want us to be chasers of finances and wealth in the world system and what we want to eat; what we want to drink; what we wear; where we must live. He wants us to be God-seekers, not possession chasers. As we’ve been sharing with you, we’ve tried to and I believe we have created a context for you because there is a prophetic word that God has been declaring through many of His servants into the body of Christ for this season that we’re in. While the world is in chaos, I believe the church is thriving. Hey, Pastor Sharon? I really do. I mean we’ve been experiencing it personally; we’ve been experiencing it in the ministry that while the world is in chaos and while things are really not flowing very nicely for a lot of people, the church is thriving. I know we’re not assembling together in a church building like the Lord wants us to do, where that anointing can flow between us, but the church is thriving. That is my confession, that is my declaration, that is our prayer that our people thrive, my darling, that they are in a place of strength, not a place of weakness. Hallelujah.

But we have arrived at this point in the ongoing message where we’re going to give you a framework of words that need to be spoken in the weeks and perhaps even months to come. I’m going to just read to start with the word that the Lord gave me for 2021. It’s just Go big and go bold. This is what I said; as a church, we are going big and bold together. We are going big in prayer; we are going big in sound and song; we’re going big in the Word and messages that God is giving us. As we are going big our faith is going to rise. This is an important thing that you must have in your heart and receive in your spirit that this is what God is doing now. Even though we may not be able to pray together as much as we want to do – we are going big in prayer. We’re increasing in prayer. We’re increasing in our sound and song and the things that God wants us to do this year.

The Word and the message, this particular message is just what God wants us to declare for freedom and for progress to be made And for wholeness, even though this is a time when the world is in chaos. I ministered along these lines. We must be bold in defence. We must be bold in offence. This is not a time to step back but to step forward. We must be bold in our new directions that God gives us. And we must be bold in our established faith. Trust God, believe in Him. We must be bold in our sowing. We must be bold in going after the great harvest that comes as a result of sowing. Even in these times. Even in these times and just now Brother Jerry had some words to say and you’ll read that, Pastor Sharon.

And we must be bold in sowing our God-given giftings in the church. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. This is a strategic time. And I said this on the 3rd of January and I’m just making the framework. I said; do you see in the Spirit this a strategic time? This is a time for you and me, for us together – collective greatness. This is a time for us to begin to hold, to join hands, to join and strengthen our combined resources, combine our faith, combine our prayers, get united in our prayers, begin to press in spirit for the big things that God has got for us. As we press, as we come together collectively, great together in our faith, great together in our agreement, great together in our prayer life, great together in sound and song and the way that we worship, greatness in the things, the boldness and the strength will grow. And the big things that God has planned for us will begin to come into the material world as we bring them out of the spirit realm. They are already there in the spirit realm and we just need to bring them out and have them manifest.

So, Pastor Sharon, you have the key scripture there that you’ve put here from The Passage Translation. If you want to read that.

Pastor Sharon:
You know, the thing that really stands out to me as you’re reading, here again, is that in this portion that you spoke on the 3rd of January that you’ve just read now; it’s collective greatness for us, join hands, our, our faith, our prayers, united in our prayers, for us, what God’s got for us together, collectively, and our faith, great together, great together, great together.

So, it’s really the collective greatness and that is what God is after. He is after a people that will walk by faith and believe Him and follow Him to experience all of His goodness. And so, the together is very important and that is no coincidence that the big prophetic word that came out loud and clear from Brother Copeland is that 2021 is the year of the local church – which is us together. It’s us together.

So, the key scripture here that you brought, Pastor John, that Ephesians 4, 7 and 8 and then 11 to 13 from The Passion Translation says, 7And he has generously, this is Jesus, God, he has generously given each one of us supernatural grace, according to the size of the gift of Christ – which is nothing small about that. 8This is why he says: “He, Jesus, ascends into the heavenly heights taking his many captured ones with him and gifts were given to men. 11And he has appointed some with grace to be apostles – this is in the local church – some with grace to be apostles, some with grace to be prophets, some with grace to be evangelists, and some with grace to be pastors, and some to be teachers. 12And their calling – this is very important – is to nurture and prepare all the holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ. There’s nothing else in the universe that our Father God, our Jesus and our Holy Spirit are busy with other than with His church and His body. Build up the body of Jesus.. 13These grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness in the faith, until we all experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God. So we can’t know the fullness of the Son of God without each other. And finally we become one perfect man with the full dimensions of spiritual maturity and fully developed in the abundance of Christ (Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-13 TPT). So this abundant overflow that we’re going to be experiencing is also in our maturity as the body of Christ, as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ together.

Pastor John:
You know, Sharon, as you’re reading that I’m just reminded to say to the people, you know, when God created man He had already created an environment for men to live in. When He put man in the environment, man lacked for nothing. There was nothing that He didn’t have that automatically was there for him to live by. So, when Jesus came back and He says in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33, 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33 KJV), it’s because He’s recreated. He’s reestablished the order that if you are in Him, and we are in Him, and we walk with Him, and He walks with us, then all these things are provided. What we are saying in that scripture, when you said God is busy with nothing greater than with His church, it’s because through the church, actually, the world needs to be provided for. The world is supplied with light. The world is supplied with purpose. The world is supplied with provision that should be coming through the local church. The church should have the answers to these things, not the world system.

Pastor Sharon:
You know, Pastor John, I once heard a powerful man of God say this, that if the church was not in the earth it wouldn’t take long for it to be absolute, absolute darkness again.

Pastor John:
It’s because the presence of the Holy Spirit is here because the church is here. And the Holy Spirit is working with the church so that the church can have all of these things collectively working – where you’ve got the gifts that are functioning, then the believers that are becoming disciples and becoming stronger collectively united as a body, then we bring solutions to the earth, not the earth bringing solutions to us. And that’s the way God ordained it. That’s the way God wanted it.

Pastor Sharon:
That’s right we are the light, the church is the light of the world.

Pastor John:
We’re going to get to this in a minute, Sharon, but as long as we keep chasing after possessions, and chasing after meeting our own needs, then we put seeking God secondary. Whereas if we put seeking God as the primary thing that we do then all these other things happen around us. And so you want to go to the word by Brother Jerry that you’ve got there.

Pastor Sharon:
A new era has begun. And more and more signs and wonders will be seen in 2021. That’s in our personal lives and of course, for us together. They’ll experience My goodness, and my power as never seen or heard. They’ll see the fruit of their faithfulness come bursting forth and they’ll prosper and flourish like never before. Abundance and overflow that’s what they’ll see. I’ll bring it to pass because of their love, and obedience to Me. No longer will the enemy have the upper hand, for My spirit is moving and an outpouring of My power is coming upon the land.

I have to just pause and say that the Spirit is moving. He’s not moving somewhere we don’t know He’s moving and He’s moving in our hearts. The outpouring of the power is not somewhere where we have to look to see. It’s in us, the power that’s working in us. Many triumphant victories will mark this new era. It’s what I’ve planned so rest in Me. Miracle after miracle that’s what I’ll do. Decree it, receive it, know that it’s true. Refuse to be swayed by what’s said in the news. With Me on your side, how can you lose? So stay with My Word, it’s faithful and true. I’ll bring it to pass, and great things I will do.

Pastor John:
I mean, that was just a powerful word that God brought. And as ever, as we do, when we receive prophetic words, we begin to declare it, we begin to pray into it, we begin to receive it into our lives. It’s part of the way that we see God’s kingdom. It’s the way that we see our personal relationship with God – is that we take the Word of God and we take the prophetic word of God and we speak it and we live it.

He went on to say as a further part of that word on just a few days later on the seventh of October; yes, a new era is here. It’s already begun and I’ve planned marvellous things for you in 2021. Abundant overflow is the order of the day. So rest assured, it’s on its way. Your adversary can’t stop what I’ve already decreed, so stay in faith and get ready to receive. Allow no one to discourage you by what they say. Keep looking to Me, and I’ll have My way.

I know Brother Jerry said this, you know, in different services in his local church in Fort Worth, Sharon, but this message is not subject to whether Coronavirus is still around or not, whether it’s disappeared, or whether governments make decisions that would affect this or not affected this. This is God’s power.

Pastor Sharon:
This word didn’t come because of Coronavirus.

Pastor John:
No. It’s what God wanted to speak into the earth, into His body, so that we, His body, can believe to receive this. Yes, oo if you want to read the last portion of that.

Pastor Sharon:
Tell My people, they’ll need to remain strong and close to Me. Tell My people, they’ll need to remain strong, and stay close to Me. So they’ll not be deceived by the enemy. His attacks will intensify – the enemy. So we’ve been forewarned. And he’ll try to prevail, but My power which is in you is greater and it shall not fail. Fear not. You see, fear is Satan’s arena. So if you fear, he’ll deceive you. Fear not. Fear not. Nor be fretful over whatever shall come. The battle is mine and I’ve already won. Contrary to what you’ll see in what you show shall hear; 2021 will be an abundant year. A great year, a year of abundance and overflow. That’s My plan and it shall be so.

Pastor John:
So keep going, Pastor Sharon, because I think, you know, it’s important for you to read the next part of what happened.

Pastor Sharon:
So, Brother Jerry then said this; I was impressed by the Holy Spirit to write the following words; a great shaking, a great shifting, a great displacing will take place in your nation. Well, it’s through our prayers, right? And then immediately following this, there will come a great awakening and a great outpouring. An awakening is the act of becoming more attentive to the will, the plans and the purposes of God. An outpouring is a sudden, rapid flow and barrage of God’s Spirit, God’s power, God’s anointing, God’s love and God’s blessings. This is what you should be watching for. And what you to be expecting, as you enter into 2021. You’ll see it, says the Lord, and remember when it happens that I told you beforehand. I’m in charge of the seasons and the times, this is the time of God. My purposes shall be fulfilled. I have the power to raise up and to bring down and no man, no government, and certainly, no adversary will stop what I have planned. So lift up your hands, and praise Me and know that I have everything under control.

Pastor John:
Well, once again, the control that He exercises on the earth is through the church. It’s through the words that He speaks through His prophets, His apostles, His gifts that He places on the earth. It’s in the church that receives it, and begins to live it, and begins to apply these things and go after these things in the spirit. If God speaks these things in the spirit and we do nothing about it, then God can’t override the church. He has placed Christ in the church, and the church is what must go after this, Sharon. I believe that part of the reason why the Lord has spoken to Brother Copeland and said that 2021 will be the year of the local church because it’s got to be where we can touch people locally, where things can happen in a localised manner, where God can actually begin to work and begin to move. Praise God that we are in the right place.

He went on to say in November; don’t fear the future because it’s still bright and I’ll see you through each and every fight. So stay in faith and watch what you say, speak only My Word and I’ll have my way. It’s never My will for you to fall or to fail. It’s always My will for you to prevail. So don’t be moved by what you hear and see. This is how you enter into greater victories. Be bold and courageous and stay free from all fear, for 2021 is going to turn out to be a great year. I’ll take you higher than you’ve ever been before, this is My promise and My promises are sure. So stay in my Word and rest in Me for this is your year to be totally free.

This is completely different to what’s happening in the world. Right now what’s happening in the system of Babylon and I’m calling that on purpose, Pastor Sharon because that was a word that the Lord has given us that the system of Babylon has no answers. It’s crumbling, it’s shaking, there’s a big displacing, there’s a lot of stuff going on. As we as a ministry and as a church and a body of Christ are awakening, God will cause these things to come to pass.

Then in January the first; the things I have planned will bring you great joy and blessing after blessing. That’s what I’ll deploy. Never have you witnessed such goodness that you will soon see. I’m pouring out in abundance so that you will have greater victories. These greater victories are designed for us in the local church. This is what the Lord has really begun to put together for us in the local church, is that we can be strong, victorious, and we can be a light in this city, in this geographic location, in this place that God has for us, that we can be a light. You want to go ahead and talk about the local church, Pastor Sharon?

Pastor Sharon:
Well, you know, when I heard that, and it’s like I’ve said many times before, we are divinely connected to a very particular part of the body of Christ. We started to learn about divine connections from Brother Jerry when we were in our 20s, even, you know, because we were planted. God set us into a very specific geographical local church because He wanted us to… He had things there for us that He wanted us to grow and develop in. We do not surf the website for prophecies to see whatever prophecies are all over the world and which prophet here, prophet there, prophet there is saying this and saying that. We remain connected to the part of the body of Christ that God has divinely connected us to. So when we speak about these prophecies, we are not listening to other people. God does not require this of us. Where people are divinely connected to them that is their responsibility to do that. And so when we bring this Word from Brother Copeland, from Brother Jerry, and from Pastor John, these are divine connections.

So, when I heard Brother Copeland say that this is the time of the local church, I said, “Lord,” I said, “Now I know the church, the word church because I’ve done many studies on it and You’ve given me much revelation of it. Probably over the last 15 years, I’ve received light from You about the church.” The Greek word Ecclesia is very powerful. It means those that are called out and separated for God to legislate on His behalf, to rule and reign with Him so that His Kingdom can come on earth as it is in heaven. But when I heard the word local, I found that I said to the Lord, “I need this to be weighty too, to go with church. Local, called out one’s, local. Lord, You need to help me with this word local because it can be a very light, loose word.” You know, people can say, well, local is lekker, or you know. We can have all kinds of things going on in our head, about local, you know. Also local, to most of the body of Christ means it’s the church down the road where it is the most comfortable for me to go to, it’s the most convenient for me. It’s my preference, you know, and besides my children like it, and we like this, and we like that there.

Pastor John:
Comfortable, convenient.

Pastor Sharon:
Local church can be many things to many people. When I looked up the word local, the etymology of the word, which means the actual word where it originates from, it’s a 14th-century word, which means this; pertaining to position. It’s where you are positioned. The word means limited to a particular place, confined to a particular part of the body. This is out of the etymology. It’s not a Christian dictionary, it’s what it means confined to a particular part of the body, directly from Latin Localis, which means an appointed place. So, then I said, “Thank You, Lord. I see the weightiness of this word. So, church is ecclesia, those called out to rule and reign – very briefly – to legislate with God on earth, for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, to be triumphant, to overcome and to be victorious. This is how the Lord, the Holy Spirit helped me put the local church together for me, and I’m sure it’s going to help you.

So the year of the people appointed and confined to their particular place in the body. The called-out ones to collectively have power and authority. To those; go big, and go bold. To those experience abundant overflow. These ones that have allowed themselves to be appointed and confined to their particular place in the body, the called-out ones, these will experience a powerful move of God within them. Upon the hearts of these, that are appointed and placed in a particular part of the body, upon the hearts of these the glory of God will fall. His manifest presence will fall to their hearts, His manifest power and His manifest goodness. Hallelujah. Because Jesus is the One that said I will build My church, My Ecclesia, I will build it. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it – which means it’s a triumphant, victorious place. It’s the most powerful place on the earth.

In Isaiah 2 verse 2 and 3, I am going to read from the New Living Translation. 2In the last days, the mountain of house of the Lord’s house – the House of the Lord is just another word for the church, the local church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all — the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. 3People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” (Isaiah 2:2-3 NLT). Actually, the King James Version says that this will come to pass in the last days. I believe with all my heart that this is coming to pass now in a way unprecedented. Because God has declared that this is the year for those that will be appointed and confined to a particular part of the body and be placed and set in there, those called out together to rule and reign with God – His legislative assembly with increased authority – hallelujah – for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven. Glory.

Pastor John:
So, where this is taking us, Pastor Sharon, is if you want to have the abundant overflow – and I ask you the question; do you want the abundant overflow? Do you want the blessing of God on your life? Do you want to be filled with purpose? Do you want to be sure of your assignment? Do you want to be walking in peace? Do you want to have all of these good things that God has for you? It must be because you carry the heart of God for the local church inside of you. The only way you can do that is by seeking Him and putting Him first place. And so, if we just begin to flow with the pattern, we will recognise that what God said is, go big and go bold, abundant overflow, it is the year of the local church. If we want great victories and we want great prosperity, divine health, divine blessings that Brother Copeland has spoken of, it’s going to happen because you’re engaged with the local church. It’s going to happen because you are part of doing your part in the local church. Perhaps I might say it like this way, Sharon, you and I are doing our job. Right? I mean, you have a prophetic mantle on you, I have the pastoral and apostolic mantle on me – broadly speaking. Just broadly speaking. Our gifting is doing the job that we need to do. We are applying, we are seeking God, we are bringing God’s Word, and we are feeding God’s people, and we are giving direction for God’s people. We are doing our job.

So, God has raised up people in the church, in the local church to do the job with us. If you say I just want to receive the Word of God so that my life can be better so that my life can have increase so that I can stop worrying about where my next paycheque is coming from then I want to say to you; your walk with God should place you in a place where you don’t worry about your next paycheque. Your application of your life energy should flow into the local church, then you will begin to experience the abundance that God has for you.

Pastor Sharon:
Well, the local church is the environment. It’s the perfect environment just as God created the Garden of Eden and He placed man in a perfect environment to have everything that he needs. For the new creature, God has provided the local church to be set into this environment and provided everything that they need – that is their perfect environment, that is their Garden of Eden. Teachings in the future will reveal even more and more of that. Scripture will speak.

Pastor John:
I am so glad you said what you did about the local church, Sharon, that the local church is not your most convenient place, your most comfortable place, just the church down the road that happens to be in your city, and so that is why you go there. I believe, and Pastor Sharon and I both believe, based on what we have come from that the local church is, and should be and have leaders that are placed there, that are sent there, positioned there by God. As they are positioned there by God, they will hear from God and bring God’s Word to the people that God connects with that local church – which is why, Pastor Sharon, God might actually cause people to leave other places, other cities, other towns, other countries to come to a church because He wants them to be part of that move that God is doing in that location, in that local area.

Pastor Sharon:
Well, actually the Lord has got a very specific plan to plant and set into the body each and every one of His children. He’s got the perfect local church, everything that He has put in you, and everything that He has put into the people in the local church and placed in the local church – the perfect environment and it’s just one of the things that Kenneth Copeland brought at Brother Jerry’s 2013 Ministers’ Conference where he said here, he said here; the Holy Spirit will lead and guide you into all truth – of course, this is speaking about the written Word of God, but there is also the truth of the plan that God has for your life and His present plans and what He is doing right now. There are truths about that plan. There is a grace place. It may be right where you are, where you have been set into the local church by God. It may be that you need to inquire of God to get to that place. You have a specific destination. The thing that matters is there is a designed place that was made for you and you were made for it. That place is your laughing place, it’s your wealthy place, it’s your manifestation place. Your healing is over there, your prosperity is over there, in that local church. You’re supposed to be a member of that church over there. I don’t care if it is somewhere away from where you are now. Most Christians are too afraid to pray and inquire; “You’re will be done for me, Lord, to where I must go where my place is,” in case they may actually have to go there and they may actually have to stay there. You can go direct from present position to place and plan. Remember the definition of local – to be positioned and placed. You can go from present position to place, plan and position without wasting time or getting wet. The Lord says, “Do you believe I can take you from where you are right now and into My perfect will and destination? The moment you believe it, then say it, and I go to work in your affairs. Say, “I receive your perfect place and plan and position for me. You will show me.” God says, “My plan is fixed – I have a place, a plan, a position for every one of My children. Not just the five-fold ministry. I have had it from the foundation of the world. My plan for your life is fixed and forever settled in Heaven.” He intends for you to go to the local church that He tells you to go. Then He will release the blessing of Abraham and turn a waste place into a Garden of Eden and you will live in it. It’s part of the Covenant. By faith, Abraham when he was called to go into a place which he should receive for an inheritance. Whatever place you are in, right now, you are going to get attacked in either place. But when you are in your grace place, then you have the grace to overcome every onslaught of the devil. The problem with grace when you’re not in the place, is you are not believing for grace anyway, because you are afraid for Him to tell you where to go and what to do. He is never silent. He is responsible for His plan for your life to succeed, just as He was for Jesus.

So, I am going to stop there. He said a few more things but this is the importance, this is very weighty these words that he said that day, in 2013, at Brother Jerry’s Ministers’ Conference. I received it from the Holy Spirit, John. It’s a grace place. It is not everywhere. You are not called everywhere. You are called to your grace place.

Pastor John:
And as we have said before, Sharon, you are not called to an organisation. You are called to a people. Always God calls you to people, He doesn’t call you to an organisation or to accomplish tasks through an organisation. He calls you to a people that may cause you to do tasks according to your gifting.

You know, I was just chatting to one of the young men in the ministry this last week. He lived for a number of years in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Sharon, here in South Africa. It is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He lived there for four years and he was chasing after things. At that moment in time that was the choices, he was making. He was chasing. He was just saying to me that he found the call of God to move from one of the most beautiful cities in the world to Witbank – the coal city. You know, I mean what is there in Witbank? You know, from one of the most beautiful, most tourist valued destinations in the world and he was called to Witbank. He was just saying to me that what God has done in his life in two years, is greater than what he could ever accomplish in his life in four years even though he was in one of the most beautiful, where lots of opportunities, where lots of things were available. But when you go to your grace place, and then you bring your gift and your calling to your grace place that is where God blesses you.

Pastor Sharon:
Your wealthy place and your laughing place.

Pastor John:
It does not make sense, actually, it just does not make sense. It is not logical. But it’s full of faith and it is full of obedience to God. It’s full of what He wants to do. And so if you are called to do something, Sharon, and you are not bringing it to the local church – and so we’re going to go there in times to come. And specifically, the Lord wants you to minister to people about finance and about money and wealth and possessions. God, He wants us to have the overflow. He wants us to be rich. But He wants us to be rich, because we seek Him, not because we chase.

If you are someone who’s earning a lot of money, and you’re receiving a lot of money, you would have a tendency to think this is my money and I can do with it what I want. But actually, God is saying; I have called you to a local church, your money is not your money. Your money belongs to God because your gift to make money belongs to God. The same applies to people with all kinds of other giftings whether it be to be a teacher, whether it be to be someone that has a ministry of compassion and mercy and wants to do things for people. All of those things are designed to actually create more momentum in your life, rather than to decrease what you are doing. I mean, there is no coincidence that the Lord said in that scripture, if you will give to Me, in this lifetime, you will receive a hundredfold return and in the lifetime to come if you will give all of your things, all of your life to Me.

I think, you know, for the moment, the Lord has said what He wants to say today unless you have something that you want to close with now, Pastor Sharon.

Pastor Sharon:
I think I’d like to leave them with a scripture to meditate on from Luke chapter 12 verse 15 to 23 from the Amplified Bible. He spoke to my heart, specifically this portion of Scripture to say; it’s very important for you to bring this scripture to My people. I want you to bring specific scriptures to My people at this time, so that My scriptures may speak to their hearts. Right. Luke 12:15- 23, 15And He said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs. So we are going to be letting Scripture speak in the weeks to come, where God confirms this scripture how we are to be content, learn to be content with having our needs met, and not – I am not going to get ahead of myself. 16Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully. Now I need to say something to all of you that are listening here. This is a word coming from the Lord, where Jesus became poor. In Second Corinthians chapter eight, verse nine – I believe it is – Jesus became poor so that we might all become rich. He told our spiritual father that is at home with the Lord now; I will make all My children rich. That word rich means to have an abundant supply. I will make all my children have an abundant supply. But He wants you to have the righteous attitude in relation towards riches. He wants you to see riches that He is going to give you, abundant supply that He is going to give you in light of Scripture, in light of His Word. He wants you to see it not as the world sees it but as He sees it. And so that is why He says here, land of a rich man. So when I speak to you, you might be poor now, because we were poor and we began to put principles into place, and we are not poor any more. We are rich now. So God will take you, He preaches the Gospel to the poor. The Gospel to the poor is not, shame, you’re just going to have to stay poor. The Gospel to the poor is that you do not have to stay poor. God is a God of abundance. So He says here, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully. 17And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest. See, we are going to go for abundant, big harvests – be bold in our sowing and in our abundant, big harvests, I have no place. 18And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, so what I already have, I am going to just get more, and there I will store all my grain or produce and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up. You see, this is not the will of God for you to have an abundant overflow, possessing overflow abundance and then going bigger for yourself. Can you see here what Jesus is saying? Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily. 20But God said to him, You fool! This very night they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be? 21So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself. So, we have to be meditating on this scripture now. We have to be repenting in this scripture, allowing ourselves to be humble like a little child, receiving it, looking at our lives as saying, “Where am I hoarding? Where do I have a greedy longing to have more?” This is the scripture the Lord said, “Bring it to My people.” 21So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich. This word rich is the exact same word that is used in Corinthians where it says and Jesus became poor so that we might become rich. So, there it is; rich, rich. It’s the same Greek word. And He says here, to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation (relationship)] to God [this is how he fares]. He fares like a fool. 22And [Jesus] said to His disciples, Therefore, in the light of what I’ve just told you now, I tell you, do not be anxious and troubled [with cares] about your life. Rich people get very troubled with cares about their life. As to what you will [have to] eat; or about your body, as to what you will [have to] wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body [more] than clothes (Luke 12:15-23 AMPC).

So, one of the things the Lord says is, “I’ve got such abundant overflow, and such blessing for My people, Sharon, but they have to see riches and abundant overflow in the light of My Word.” And in relationship with Him. Otherwise, they’re going to just have their wealth and get their stuff and do with their stuff what the world does, and then there is no difference. Then God can’t entrust because God did not say, “You can try and see if you can serve Mammon and Me at the same time. Try and see if it works for you.” He said, “You cannot.” It’s impossible.

Pastor John:
Only one of those will have first place.

Pastor Sharon:
It’s impossible for you to have the ways of the world’s thinking in your heart and in your mind about money and wealth and possessions and have the ways of God in you and have them both in your heart – same heart, functioning together. God says, “You cannot.”

Pastor John:
So, I’m going to just put a bow on this, Pastor Sharon. It’s going to be a rather serious thing that I have to say right now. But in the middle of last year, the Lord began to speak to you as He does with a prophetic voice. He said, “I’m coming to take the children and I’m going to free the children from the Babylonian system that wants to offer up children to Molech. “ The God of Molech – and wants to take our children, all of the children of the earth actually, but our children, the Christians, the children, and he wants them to be completely sucked into the world system so that their energy, their giftings, their talents, everything can be taken up by the world system – the Babylonian system – and utilised for that benefit through the enemy of God, the darkness of the world. He just wants to suck the life out of them, use it to further its agenda against God.

God spoke and we as parents had to go and repent. And as children, we had to have an awakening before God that allowed us to say we are going to pursue God before we pursue what the world says is the best kind of decision for our careers, for our lives. And I thank God, Sharon, that actually God spoke so strongly.

You and I were talking about this yesterday that what’s happening now is that another Word is coming from God. We know that this Word is going after the spirit of Mammon that wants to control what you think about money and whether you are poor or rich, it wants to control the way you think about money. Because when you’re poor it says you don’t have money to sow, so you’ve got to hoard money and keep it for your own needs because you can’t sow money. Well, that just says that your money is the most dominant force in your life and the spirit of Mammon, you are already serving it whether you have money or you don’t have money. You’re already serving it.

If you have money and you want to keep it for yourself and keep it so that you control it, so that you’ve always got a buffer, that you’ve always got enough for other stuff that you can do that you, you know, and your trust is not in God, then Mammon’s got you.

And so, when the Lord began to speak prophetically and He said, “This is the year of abundant overflow. This is the year of the local church. This is the year to go big and bold,” He’s actually speaking and saying, “I want you free from the gods of this world system. I want you free from the gods of this system, so that your freedom can actually cause God to pour His abundance, pour it in overflow, pour it into your life but if you’re not seeking Him, Sharon, then you’re allowing that spirit to continuously affect your decision making.

Pastor Sharon:
And have dominion over you, so that you can’t be in dominion even because it has dominion over you.

Pastor John:
So, God is wanting us to be free and so part of the reason why we’re doing this together, Sharon, is that we know this is a challenging word. We have been creating a context for you over the last number of weeks and so if you are only watching this message today, you need to go watch the previous Sundays that we have been ministering and see it as a consecutive teaching that we have been preparing for you. Why do you want to say what am I going to eat? What am I going to drink? What am I going to wear? Where am I going to live? What cars am I going to drive? Seek God first, seek His righteousness, seek His Kingdom, seek His way of doing things and God is going to give all these things to you in abundance. That’s what happened to this man – this man had abundance but he said, “I’m using it for myself, and I don’t want to seek God with it. I’m going to treat myself with it.” As he said, “Well, I’ll treat myself with it,” God said, “And what good is your money when you die? But if you seek God with it then it has purpose, it has assignment, it has meaning. So whether you earn very little money, whether you earn a lot of money, the attitude is the same. Your attitude must be; I’m seeking God and I am called on assignment to a people so my gifting must be in the local people that I’m called to. Right, Pastor Sharon?

So we know that this is a serious word and we know what’s happening. We know what God has placed in us to be able to speak this.

Pastor Sharon:
The overriding factor that the Lord said to me was, “Sharon, I’m giving My people, My sons an opportunity through the ministry of these messages that I have told you to bring, to invest in their eternity with Me.” That’s what He said. “This is My great love, bringing these messages and these scriptures to give every single one of My sons opportunity to invest into their eternity with Me.” Because we live with what we do on earth, with our children, with our finances, with our lives for eternity. He said, “Many of My people are waiting for these messages to come from Me and they will change and they will become like little children.” They will humble themselves and they will repent, they will have a mind-change, a heart-change, and a complete lifestyle change. Just as many of them have had a lifestyle change when it comes to the attitude towards their children, and what God might want for their children or not. And this is what’s happening here now.

Pastor John:
And the attitude that families will have as they live together and as they grow together that they’re not focused on what Mammon says your future should be but what God says your future should be. So, Pastor Sharon, I just want to make this clear as we close here. I’ve been trying to close for a while.

I just want to make this clear that we had a revelation of components of this in the very early years of our lives when we were not in the ministry. I was working in a corporate job.

Pastor Sharon:
And I was a mom at home, children, homework, lifting them everywhere.

Pastor John:
I was working on commission only. And so there were times – we were poor, we were poor. We had nothing. I mean, we were so poor, you know that saying goes, we couldn’t even pay attention. I mean, really, we were poor. But we were rich in the Word of God.

Pastor Sharon:
And rich in relation towards God.

Pastor John:
And rich in our relationship towards God. And so what we did was as we began to seek Him, we began to experience His blessing. That’s what happened to us, Pastor Sharon, I got, I mean, you were at home with the kids and I was working and I got divinely blessed. Supernaturally, God caused business to come into my hands and finance to come into my hands and blessings to come. But if you remember we made a decision then, Sharon, that we were not going to, we were going to trust God so completely, that we gave 10% of our gross income as a tithe. And then we gave 10% as an offering of our income after tax and everything else. And so when people, you know, they think I’m talking small numbers here. But when God was blessing us, at that stage, the numbers were in the millions. And so when you begin to write out cheques like that, those days, were still cheques, we didn’t have EFTs. You know, you have to know that it’s God that you are working with.

Pastor Sharon:
Absolutely. And so that’s rich in working relationship with God. Yes.

Pastor John:
It was a joy for us to give like that. It was a pleasure for us. It was something we looked forward to. It was our worship and we recognised that as part of our worship, we recognised it as a part of God’s blessing on our lives and we wanted to show Him we’re thankful for. We had this attitude – if He could give us this much increase that we could give 10, what will He do if we give Him more? That was our approach. We just believed God, and from that day to this, we have never lacked in anything, ever, not once have we ever lacked. On the contrary, God has blessed us with things and blessed us with opportunities, and divine connections, people that He has brought us into connection with.
I would say that you know, Pastor Sharon, we would not have had this relationship with Brother Jerry, Brother Copeland, and all those ministers – they’re great generals of faith – we would not have had those relationships, had we not been obedient to God in what He calls the smaller matters of life with your finances so that He can entrust the greater, weightier matters of life, which is a spiritual assignment and spiritual divine connections. He can entrust those things to you because He can trust you with the smaller things.

I want to close with that, that what we are ministering is not so that we can try and get money from you. Neither did any of these prophecies come from these great generals so that we could get money from you. We are bringing this message, and…

Pastor Sharon:
…because God wants you as a son to have every opportunity from this point forward, from these messages forward, to invest into your eternity, and get for yourself treasures in heaven.

Pastor John:
And, again, I want to say, Pastor Sharon, that our ministry is blessed because of our giving personally.

Pastor Sharon:
And our faith

Pastor John:
And our faith, our trust is in God. And so, because our trust has always been in God because of our giving, we are not subject to what the world system says we can or can’t do because God is our Provider and that’s where God wants us to live. He wants us to live in His provision. And when He says, “Go and do this,” then you say, “Okay, Lord, You’re telling me to go and do it, then You pay for it.” And so because we live seeking Him, then He pays for everything. And this is a freedom moment for us. This is a freedom moment for us. This is not something that you should consider to be a condemnation or a judgement, or something that is spoken that is negative for you.

Pastor Sharon:
But it is serious because God does require a heart-shift and a mind-shift and a lifestyle shifting you in order for Him to be able to bring His abundant overflow to you.

Pastor John:
Right. Right. Amen. So let us pray together.

Pastor John:
Pastor Sharon and I are so grateful and thankful that the Lord has brought this Word to us. We are grateful and thankful that He has given our assignment to us the way He has, and we are full of joy doing this. And so we just want to declare together, right now as we close, that you will have the right spirit in which you receive this Word, and that you will not have the darkness of the spirits of this world and the idle worships of this world to cloud what the Word of God is bringing to your heart, but it will find a root in you, and it will grow in you. It will bring much abundance and fruit in your life; in relationships, in finances, in health and healing. Just as you see your whole life’s assignment and purpose, that you will begin to give yourself to it and it will begin to create the order of God and the peace of God and the joy of God and the blessing of God upon everything and everyone that is around you that is connected to you that is with you. Hallelujah.

Now may the peace of God and may His great Holy Spirit be resting upon you and bless you and bring peace to you. May you be blessed going in and coming out and whatever you put your hands to, may it prosper. As your speech is purified by the Holy Spirit, and your words line up with His words that the great Holy Spirit will minister to you and will reveal these things to you so that they will become something that is powerful and wonderful in your life.

We’ve gone a little bit longer on this message today but we did recognise that this would come as a moment when we have to become serious with this. And that has happened now. So thank you for bearing with us today. Thank you for joining with us. I ask you to just watch this again. Listen to this again and again and let the Holy Spirit minister this message to you. Amen.

Pastor Sharon:
Amen.

Pastor John:
Thank you for joining us. May God bless you.

Pastor Sharon:
Love you all.

Pastor John:
Love you. Bye.

Pastor Sharon:
Bye.