Scripture reference: Haggai 2:7-9 (AMPC); Psalms 27:4 (NKJV); Acts 5:15 NKJV); Acts 2:17 (AMPC); Luke 5:1-10 (AMPC); Luke 5:5 (NKJV)
Pastor Sharon:
Father, as Pastor John comes to bring another message, Lord, we already receive, we already believe, we do not receive it as the word of mere man, as it says in the book of Thessalonians, but we receive it as from God what it truly is. Father, this word that comes to us this morning, that we receive and we welcome, will exercise its superhuman power in us. This message this morning takes us to a maximum, takes us to a higher level in You. Father, our spirit eyes see, our spirit ears hear the things that You bring through Pastor John this morning enter into our hearts, Lord, they enter into our heart, Lord, that it become a part of our lives because it’s who we’re becoming as your Ecclesia. We thank You Your Spirit is upon him to bring the word. Thank You in Jesus’ name. Be glorified, Father. Be glorified, Jesus, today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Pastor John:
Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Glory to God. Praise the Lord. Thank You, thank You, thank You. Hallelujah. Well, look at all of you. I’m looking at the family of God. Hallelujah. It’s wonderful to see the family of God this morning in a family gathering. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Before you sit down, just say, I’m glad that you’re my family and I’m glad that you’re in Church as a family this morning. Turn to a couple of people. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
So, you all know, if you don’t, you need to get online on video and watch the Prayer Meeting from Tuesday night because if you don’t know this, then it means you weren’t online and you weren’t here. Shame on you, family. In which case you’ve got make-up time, catch-up time and you will recall that Tuesday night, we didn’t have much of a prayer, we prayed a little bit in the Spirit but on Tuesday night, the Lord really wanted me to bring the Word of God to you. There’s a few things that I said on Tuesday night. I used the Scripture from Joshua chapter 1 by the leading and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Joshua chapter 1, that talked about that Moses the servant of the Lord. Moses was the servant of the Lord so that he could serve the people on behalf of God. If God didn’t need a man as a servant, then He would not have made Moses a servant. That means He needed a man to represent Him. Fact. That’s not just fact, it’s also truth.
The other thing is that he had an assistant servant, his name was Joshua. So, I said, on Tuesday night, that I deputise you as assistant servants to the chief servant. If we feel like we are in any way have privileged position, then it should be based on the fact that we are privileged to serve. I am privileged to serve you. I am privileged to be used by God. You should be privileged to serve each other. That’s what body ministry is all about. It’s a privilege. It’s not just something that is required, it’s something that is honorable. I spoke about honour on Tuesday night. I also spoke about this Bible. You’ll see where the Lord has led me, I’m about to speak to you about some things that Brother Jerry said, when he was here in 2018. So, I need to reinforce what I’m saying, I said Tuesday night, I need to reinforce it again this morning.
If you remember, I asked you, what is this? [Pastor John holding the Bible] Some of you gave me some answers and ultimately we all agreed that this is God’s love story to us. Right? It’s God’s love story. Even when He gave us commandments, He was not telling us what transgressions would do. He was setting a standard of life that was His life. It was His love story to us to say, “This is how high you can live if you live in Me.” It’s still like that. It was never intended to be a set of do’s or don’ts. It was merely a message of love to say, “This is My life, if you live loving Me with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, you will love your neighbour in the same way and if you do that, all the other commandments will be good.” It was never intended to say, “But if you don’t.” But he had to say that to the people because they needed to know the consequences of if they don’t.
But it was not His intention to ever have a relationship with His people based on consequence. When He made Adam and Eve, He didn’t intend them to sin. I’m not going to teach on predestination this morning. So, He never intended them to sin. He intended them to live like Him. He intended them to be Him on the earth and have a relationship with Him on the earth as He had with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the three of Them had in Heaven. He intended them to have the same relationship with each other and with Him and all the creatures in the same way that He had relationships. That was His intention.
Okay, I asked you another question. I said, and I’m going to just ask it a little differently this morning, just so that it brings clarity. So, when the Book of John was written, and I ask you, if you don’t mind turning to John chapter 1, don’t do that, I’m just making a point. If I ask you to turn to John chapter 1, would you say that’s the Bible? It is, right? Who wrote John chapter 1? John. If I ask you to turn to first Peter chapter 1. Who wrote first Peter chapter 1? Peter. But I thought this is the Bible. But these are letters from men. Which is it? Is it letters from men or is it letters from God? It’s letters from God through men.
So, if I look at the letters that are written in here and say these are just letters from men, then all I’m doing is behaving like the world behaves. Because the world says, “The Bible is just human writings, it’s not the Word of God.” That’s why they don’t believe in Jesus Christ because they don’t believe that this [Pastor John is pointing to the Bible in his hand] is the Word of God. They believe that this is just the writings of men.
So, if I go to the New Testament, and I’m only going to go to the New Testament for a moment, I say who wrote Matthew? Matthew. Who wrote Mark? Mark. Who wrote Luke? [Congregation answers, Luke] Who wrote John? [Congregation answers, John] Who wrote the book of Acts? Luke. Who wrote Romans? Paul. Who wrote Galatians? [Congregation answers, Paul] Who wrote Ephesians? [Congregation answers, Paul] Who wrote Thessalonians? [Congregation answers, Paul] One and two. Who wrote Timothy? One and two.[Congregation answers, Paul] Who wrote Philippians? [Congregation answers, Paul] One man wrote all those books.
Okay, here’s a trick question for you. Who wrote Hebrews? [Congregation answers, Paul and Ps. John smiles] That’s what Pastor Sharon says. Some say it was Paul’s words that Luke wrote. Some say it was Luke that Paul influenced. They have no direct way of knowing exactly who wrote Hebrews, but it was most commonly recognized to be Paul and Luke, or one or the other. Okay. Still man. Still one of the men that wrote some other books in the Bible. Now if I look at them as just letters of men, then I have no belief. Right? Because then I don’t have a relationship with God. But these are men.
Now I’m going to be a bit heretic this morning, for some. We know what that means, I’m going to speak heresy now, for some. If John Bendixen writes a letter to you under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who’s writing it? Huh? It’s both, it’s the same as the Word of God. But it’s not the Word of God because God didn’t orchestrate this to be the Word of God. But I’m the same man as Peter was, as Paul was, flesh, same man, yes? When Brother Jerry comes up here and he comes and he speaks a word to us, who’s speaking, is it God or Brother Jerry? It’s both. So, if I start to sit and listen to Brother Jerry and I say, “Now I’m going to be the one who decides what Brother Jerry is saying is truth and what Brother Jerry is saying is not truth, and I’m the decider of what is saying this is the message of God and this is not the message of God.” Then what I’m doing is I’m saying, “I see a servant of God that God sent and I’m going to receive what I think is valid to receive from him, because my opinion is greater than what he’s coming to deliver.”
Then I have to ask, “Well on what basis is your opinion founded?” You need to ask that question and answer it properly on what basis are your questions founded. Is it your own view of yourself? Is it some doctrine that was taught to you long time ago that you just received as truth now you’re hanging onto it, and you haven’t really ever questioned that doctrine and so now that becomes the truth to you because you never questioned really because you just received it as doctrine. Where does this truth come from, that you are holding onto?
But, if I say according to the Word of God, according to the Apostle Paul, who we receive quite readily that this is the Bible, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit he wrote words. If I receive what the Apostle Paul says, he writes in the Book of Romans how are people going to know the message of the Good News of the Gospel is if people are not sent to them. Who’s going to send, who’s going to send the people? Well, first it’s got to be God and then it’s got to be the people, right?
So, if I go to Ethiopia as I am this week, I leave tomorrow. I’m not going there just by myself, I’m going there because you sent me. Amen. When I go speak to them I’m speaking to them as what? A servant of the Lord. My business is not to go and demonstrate how much I know and how little they know. My business is to demonstrate to them that God has sent someone to bring them liberty and life. Yes? Amen. To the measure that I measure up men’s words will be the measure that I can actually live free in my life.
So, this is an important thing for me because if Brother Jerry says something, I receive it like it’s from God. Why should I not? I spent enough time with Brother Jerry to see his humanity. He spent enough time with Brother Copeland to see his humanity and it was in one of those humanity moments that God spoke to Jerry Savelle because he was ready to leave Kenneth Copeland because of the demonstration of his humanity. The Lord spoke to Jerry Savelle and he says, ”The level of your future life is dependent on how you deal with his humanity, not with his anointing.” Because it’s easy to deal with people’s anointing. But when you see a human vessel that God is still using for His purpose, it’s a lot more difficult.
Can I remind you that we are free today to receive the Word of the Lord because there are men that came before us. There are men that came before us that brought the Gospel of Jesus to us by which we have been saved. So, who did you receive the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to get saved? Did you not receive it from men? So, is that message any less relevant to the message that I bring to you today? Hey?
You know what Jesus said about His disciples? They hardly even knew what Jesus was yet. He sent them out two by two and He said, “Go into the world and go and preach the Gospel. Go tell them about Me. Go heal the sick. Go and do things. Take this message that I give you. Go take it to the world.” So, they go out and He says, “By the way, you have so much authority because I send you. You have so much authority that if people in a town don’t receive you, take your peace with you because it’s better for them in the day of judgment and it’s not gonna end well for them.” To paraphrase it. “It’s not gonna end well for them if they don’t receive you because they don’t receive Me. But if they receive you and look after you, leave your blessing and leave your peace with that city, with that town.”
You mean those disciples that hardly knew anything? Bear in mind, they’d not been to Bible School. They hardly even knew what to do with Jesus. Jesus had not yet even asked them, “Who am I,” yet. There was no revelation that He was yet the Christ. They were operating like He was a prophet or a teacher. They didn’t know who He was, but they walked in the authority that He delegated to them. So, it is, that if God delegates authority to a man and He delegates authority to someone else, then it is the same authority. If you reject one, you reject all. That is what Jesus said, “They reject you, how little they know of Me. If they reject you, they reject Me, to the point where that city, it will not go well with them even though they don’t know Me yet. I send you like Me.” Ja nè, hallelujah.
I’m gonna do a quick review for you. What a shame I didn’t press start on my clock. I’m going to be ministering over the next couple of weeks, God willing, on a revelation the Lord has been dealing with me over the last couple of weeks, three weeks to be exact, that faith and favour that God brings into your life, can do more for you than you are prepared to receive. Your preparation does not equal what faith and favour can bring to you. Hold on, I’m gonna get there. I have to do some work.
In 2018, you remember 2017 Brother Jerry came here for three services and on the third-time service he was here, he walked out the back and sat in the room and the Lord spoke to him and He said, “You’ve got to come back next year and you’ve got to come as long as I send you, and stay till I release you.”
Why did Brother Jerry have a Word from God to say, “Stay as long as you have to stay in South Africa?” Because we received him with honour. We received the messages that he was bringing. You remember, we prepared ourselves for six months to receive the prophet and our spiritual father. Every time he comes we prepare ourselves to receive the messenger of God, because we don’t receive just the man that comes, we receive the man that comes with a message.
Moses didn’t stand with the children of Israel by himself and say, “Listen to me, I am Moses.” He came as a servant of the Lord. He came, in fact, he was so concerned that the people would see him just as Moses, he spoke to God directly and said, “I’m not worthy. How are these people gonna know that You sent me?” Then God said to him, “You tell them I AM sent you.” Because he realised that people will choose to make a decision as to whether anybody is a servant of the Lord or not. It goes way back. This is not a modern-day phenomenon. This is from the devil. Did God say? Did God say to Adam and Eve? Did God say? Did He say? Is He Who He said He is? Have you received everything from Him that you could receive from Him? Just that seed of deceit is enough to drag your whole life off its course.
So, Brother Jerry came and we received him, and I want to remind you what we received. We received message number 1, he basically said a couple of points, number 1 was, Hunger. You know, I went through it this week and actually, I have to tell you, that I was sharing some things with Pastor Sharon that even though I had received the revelation of faith and favour and preparedness, preparation, there were some things in my heart that I was conflicted about. I was sharing it with her. She said, “John, give me some examples of this one point that I was wrestling with.” She said, “Give me some examples of it.” So, I was telling her about these examples. She said, “You know, I think that Brother Jerry talked about that when he was here and left a bag of seeds with us.” I said, “You know, I think you’re right.” Based on our conversation, I went back to Brother Jerry’s message and went to go and see what he said about it. Amen.
So, he said, I went back to his message to find one thing and I found many things. Number 1 was, Hunger, we must have a hunger for God. And he said this, Have a strong desire or craving for, a craving or urgent need for, which means you want it very much. Have a strong desire. What have I been talking about for weeks and weeks and weeks? Desire. I promise you, hand on my heart, I was not led by the Holy Spirit to talk on desire because I was listening to anybody else’s messages, particularly not Brother Jerry’s messages from 2018. When I went back and looked at 2018 and saw that he was talking about desire, and here the Holy Spirit was saying, “John, I want you to talk about desire.” That means, there is something going on here. His bag of seeds that he left with us is working, its harvest is coming. It is still growing up amongst us because we are still living in the words that came from the servant of the Lord. Hallelujah.
Number 2, Prayer is vital. He said this, we have not because we ask not. Number 3, he said, Believe that God will honour your hunger and your prayer. If you believe, you will see. And he used the Book of John, chapter 11 verse 25 as his reference Scripture. He said a few other things and I am going to get through it as quickly as I can. He said, The inversion has begun. He used Haggai chapter 2 verse 7, 7 I will shake all the nations and they will come with the desirable and precious things of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory and splendour, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former glory, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place, I shall give the ultimate peace and prosperity, declares the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:7-9 AMPC). Hallelujah.
Then he said this, I’m hearing in my spirit supernatural debt reduction and debt cancellation. 2018. Grobbies Grobler, have you experienced supernatural debt cancellation in the last two years? [Grobbies agrees] At extreme measures, which was impossible, things that previously could have held you accountable, God released you. I just know of them. Pastor Christi and Grobbies, because they had a word, they held onto that word and they saw the manifestation of it. Now, there are others that may or may not, hey, you don’t have to ask questions about what I’m talking about, this is a personal matter, but they received supernatural intervention from God on a matter that is of huge financial substance. Supernatural. I don’t want you all trying to find out what it is. That’s not your business. The testimony of their deliverance is your business. Hallelujah.
When he preached this message, he preached it to the whole Church. That means every single one of you can still stand on this word. He brought a bag of seeds. He said this, I am believing God for the hundredfold harvest. He said, The harvest is coming, I just heard that. After he said debt reduction is coming, he said, The harvest is coming, I just heard that. I’m going to go back. Was that God talking or was that Jerry Savelle talking? Both. Come on now.
I can’t just say it’s Jerry Savelle talking because if it’s just Jerry Savelle talking, it’s just another man standing there that I’m coming to enjoy the message and he’s a good storyteller and we honour him by coming to hear the message, but what he says is not relevant to me because it’s just a man. But if I recognise that this is God speaking through the man, then hey, I’ve got to pay attention to this message. I’ve got to hear what God is saying. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
Message number 2, he talked about one thing. He used Psalm 27 verse 4. 4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His holy temple (Psalms 27:4 NKJV). He used that Scripture. He’s talking about both Hunger and desire and expectation in the house of the Lord in his holy temple. The holy temple is no longer just a building, although it includes a building. The holy temple is, I desire the Lord in the people to commune with God’s people, to be part of the holy temple of God.
He said this, Whatever you truly desire you will pursue and what you truly pursue you will obtain. Now, I’m going to just make a statement, in the month of November, I’m going to go to America because God has, He’s been working in me, He’s got me on a journey and He’s been working on me on something that He wants me to get clarity on and you will see that favour and faith and preparation how God is using that revelation to help me with what’s coming in November.
But again, I’m going to go and spend time with Brother Jerry traveling with him to different places. I’m not going to do a whole lot of preaching. I’m just going to go and hang out with him. Why? Can I tell you it’s because I love him? Can I tell you it’s because I honour him? Can I tell you that I recognise that there is a blessing in association? I recognise that the association of our relationship is vital to the health of this body as I go and be with him. I’m going for other reasons too, which they all know about. I’m going to other churches, other places because God is leading all of us into Project Multitude. Project Multiplication and Project Multitude.
I’m going to use that to lead into the next thing I have to say, which is message 3. His main heading, Multitudes. 15 Both men and woman and children in so much that they brought forth the sick into the streets and lay them on the beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing might overshadow some of them (Acts 5:15 NKJV). There came also a multitude. He did us, He made us do this. Everybody say, “Multitude.” So, he went on to talk about, looking at us in a Church. He said, I don’t call this a multitude but it’s certainly capable of becoming a multitude. Amen. 2018, that’s what he said.
In July, I took the Mixchangers away to the farm and everything that was pouring out of my spirit was multiplication and multitudes. Multiplication and multitudes. It’s been some years since I have gone directly and looked at this message from Brother Jerry. But we received it as a bag of seeds from a servant of God and because it’s been continuously at work at us, the seed has grown up. It’s now here. Hallelujah. I believe, and he was talking directly to our Church, I believe that we are going to see manifestations and demonstrations that are going to be wonderful. He also talked about that it will come because we have a holy dissatisfaction of what currently is.
I want to tell you that what’s pulling me forward is not because, hey, listen, our church is a pretty good Church. We have very good relationships. We are a steady Church. We are a strong Church. We’re making an impact in our Nation, in our community, and in other Nations. We are a good Church. If I felt I could, I could just hang around a little bit and just say, “Well, you know, all is well, let’s keep it well.” Holy dissatisfaction is driving me for the things of God that He wants us to pursue. This is as he spoke it and as I talk about these things to you, you recognize that in you. You might not say, “Ah, it’s because I’m dissatisfied.” You might say it like this. “I want more. I’m reaching for more. There’s more hope in me. There’s more expectation in me. I know there’s more to come.” Come on. Don’t you feel that? Don’t you recognize that pull in you for more, more of God, more of fellowship, more of the Ecclesia becoming greater and stronger? Don’t you feel like there’s people in the world we’ve got to touch and we’ve got to reach and they’ve got to get delivered and saved and set free? We carry Light and Life and Truth. We are the people that carry it.
In that same year, in September of 2018, he came here in February. Later year, I got this message sent to me from him preaching in Canada. Now I don’t know if you remember, that he told us that there had been only one other time in his life where God had told him to stay as long as it needs and that was when he was in Toronto Canada, some thirty years previous to that. We were the only next Church that God had told him to do that with. That same year, in September, he finds himself back in Toronto and he begins to prophesy and this is his prophecy, The Lord said He wants to show His power and wants people to believe for signs of His power in a consistent basis in their lives. If you dare to believe, then you will see My power is coming to set you free. Free from all bondage, pain and carefree from all worry and free from fear. It’s time to arise and take your place and experience new dimensions of My grace and favour.
Now come, I want you to say this with me, of My grace and favour. Say this with me, new dimensions of My grace and favour. Please say this with me again, new dimensions of My grace and My favour. Here’s what the Lord showed me. In the last couple of weeks, He said, “John, I’m going to take you into things and you’re going to be as prepared as you can be and it is My faith and My favour that is going to bring you to the point of blessing. But no amount of preparation can get you ready for how much blessing faith and favour can bring you. At which point you can’t rely on preparation, you got to rely on grace. Grace will bring about wisdom and execution for the productivity to manifest itself.”
Hold on a minute, he prophesied September 2018, You will experience new dimensions of My favour and My grace. Now wait, now wait. He didn’t prophesy that in our Church, he prophesied that in Toronto. But there is the servant of the Lord whom I have covenant with, he’s speaking another place in the world, I recognise this as the Word of God. Because I recognise this as the Word of God, all these years later, I find myself in a place, come on MiXchangers, are we busy with preparation? We are busy with preparation and anybody that’s in the ministry, we are busy preparing for multiplication and multitudes. Because I said to them and I taught them on this whole level of teaching, I said to them, “God’s going to bring blessing to our ministry and I don’t want to be in a place where we are not ready.” In other words, we’re not prepared for what’s coming. I’m already walking in favour. I’m already walking in faith. We’re doing preparation. But the Lord said to me, “You can’t even begin to think that you’re gonna be prepared enough. Because when the blessing comes, it’s way more than your favour and your faith. Things you can be ready for.” Isn’t that really what that Scripture means beyond your wildest imaginations, things that you can hope for or dream for? Isn’t it that God will just come and do something supernatural? I’m not finished my message yet. Wait, don’t sit there with your mind and thinking, what’s this mean? How’s this gonna go? Well, wait. Wait. Wag ‘n bietjie. Patience.
Higher and higher is My plan for you and that’s where you’re headed. Just wait and see that it is true. So don’t give in, victory after victory is about to begin. In other words, remember, victory is about to begin. Keep on declaring, Lord, show me Your glory and that’s what I’ll do and it’s all because of My great love for you. What is this Book that I showed you today? It’s a Book of love letters. Did I not say Tuesday night? Only be strong and be very courageous. Wherever you go, I will be with you. There is no one that can stand against you all the days of your life. Hey, come on. If you weren’t here Tuesday night, sorry for you, you got to go back and listen and by the way, you need to be in Message Moments because Message Moments it’s all about body ministry. It’s about believer ministry. I don’t care if the Springboks are playing at three o’clock this afternoon and if there is a tight game or it’s not a tight game, tape it, record it, watch it later. Springboks are not as important as Message Moments. Some might want us to cancel the Crit, but we don’t cancel the messages of God. Aaamen. Come on, all of you. Aaaaamen! We haven’t done that in such a long time. I think we must do it again. Come on, let’s sing it. Aaaaaaamen You’re a pretty good choir. Hallelujah.
He delivered that on September 8th. On September 11th, a continuation of that prophecy came. In the Secret Place of the Most High, there is not only protection, divine intervention, divine insight and revelation, but also supernatural power. So much of it has been really tapped, but nonetheless, it’s still available to those who hunger for it and will pursue it with all their heart and will lay aside all the things that are non-essential and will seek it as a very special treasure. Yes, I will honour their sincerity and their hunger and will see to it that they will receive it and walk in it beyond their highest expectation. That sounds pretty much like what he preached to us in February. Huh? Well, any which way you want to look at it, I receive it as a Word from the Lord. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah.
So, he also said, I’m just making sure I’m in the right track here, in the same message 3, I found message 3 to be very relevant, he said, There is a price to pay for the greater glory. There is a price and not every person in the body of Christ is willing to pay that price and not every minister is willing to pay that price.
I’ll tell you what; there is a price to be ready for what God’s bringing, but it doesn’t matter how ready you are or what price you pay, you can never be ready when the glory comes. You can’t be fully ready. Here’s what I’m trying to tell you; you can’t say the outcome of glory is dependent on how well you prepare. The glory is greater than any preparation you can have because faith and favour will get you what God wants you, not your preparation. Should you be prepared? Hundred percent. But your preparation can never be enough for what God was taking you to. Because if you could be prepared enough, then His power would not be necessary. I’m preaching good today. Don’t you all think? Ja nê. Hallelujah. You can say amen. You can say amen. You can say oh me, oh my. This message is for me. Hallelujah.
So then, remember, the Book of Isaiah, now we’re in the Book of Acts, which is from the Book of… actually it was from another book, but doesn’t matter. Acts chapter 2 verse 17, 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams (Acts 2:17 AMPC). Huh. Have I not been preaching that? Have we not been preaching that? All in the last six to nine months? Have I not been using this same Scripture that we’ll dream dreams and have prophecies? It doesn’t matter whether you’re an old man, don’t try and categorise it, just believe God for dreams and visions and prophecies. Who is going to determine, oh, hmm, fourty is the cutoff time, now you can’t have visions anymore, you’ve got to have dreams? So, let’s just say all of it is for all of us. So, but I know one thing is for sure, that young people can definitely say, “We’re young.” I’m young in my mind, but you might question my body, the age of my body. But listen, young people are young any which way, they are just young. Huh? You should believe for everything, dreams, visions, prophecies. All of it. Believe for all of it. This is him prophesying in message form to us in 2018 and here we sit in 2023 and look where God has brought us. Thank God I didn’t see Brother Jerry just as a man. I see him still as a servant of the Lord to me.
Let me tell you, I’ve said this in recent times as well. I mean to say it to underscore this. I grew up in a home where my parents’ lifestyle, even though they were the pastors of the church, was so far away from what the Word of God said that it was to be, that I lived in a status of firsthand witnessing hypocrisy if you like, deceitfulness. What they live and what they preach, two different things. God has raised the standard. He is now no longer tolerating people to live one way and preach another way. He has raised the standard to say, “If the living truth is in you, then you must live what is in you.” Amen. That doesn’t mean to say everything you’re gonna do is perfect all the time. It just means that you are living according to the conviction of the truth that is inside of you. Yeah?
I did something really stupid the other day. Stupid. Some person came from out of nowhere, out of a side street and nearly crashed into me. It was just the protection of the Lord. Call it naturally quick reflexes. Call it what you want. I believe all of those things were at work. When I kind of five seconds later came to myself, I came to myself. I stuck my hand on that hooter for about five seconds. Now that might not sound like a long time, but you put your hand on a hooter for five seconds, that person knows you’re hooting at them. Call that an imperfection if you want to. Call it a natural moment. That doesn’t change the fact that I live according to the deepest convictions and truths that God has called me to. If you look at that moment of my humanity and judge everything else by that, we’re all lost. I have to trust the call of God on me regardless of my humanity. I have to have the same for everybody that I, Brother Jerry, Brother Copeland, all of them.
Message 5 that he preached was about, Planted. He spoke a lot about, Being planted in the Church. Then he talked about an event which is relevant to us. I’m not gonna tell the whole story because Brother Jerry’s a master storyteller and he tells it better than I could ever tell it. They went to Kenya, Oral Roberts with him, they were sitting with the Government there and they were asking for a piece of land. If you remember, he was talking about Oral Roberts writing on a piece of paper or serviette and throwing it, throwing it and eventually, you know, they got to, what are you trying to say? He says, “You,ve got to ask him for ten times more land than you’re asking him for.” Ten times more land. Brother Oral Roberts says, “You’re boring me because you’re thinking too small.” Do you remember that? “You’re boring me because you’re thinking too small. Don’t ask the government official for this piece of land, ask him for ten times more.” Then he said, No small thinking.
I wanna tell you that we are very close, very, very close to closing on purchasing a farm. We need lots of millions and I wanna tell you what happened because I spoke to the owner one-on-one by the leading of the Holy Spirit on Friday. What came to me when I walked out of that meeting is, and I said to Sharon, when I got in the car and when I got home, I said it to her again and I said it to her yesterday and I’ve been saying it ever since then. I said, “I’m believing God.” Because the way we’ve structured it and the way that we think this might work is that she’s willing to accept staggered payments. I said, “Sharon, God is bigger than staggered payments. God is bigger than staggered payments.” I have it in my heart. We need to believe Him right now for one payment and we need that money right now because right now she’s ready to give that farm up. She’s been struggling to give it up for years and years and years and we are the right people. She knows we’re the right people and we are ready to take that farm. We need millions to go and take that farm.
I’m telling you, it’s just rising big in me since Friday. I don’t want to take time to pay for this farm. I want us to go and buy that farm. “One payment, here it is, goodbye, go.” Let’s pull in there with a big camp meeting. Let’s have a revival. Let’s lay hands on the sick. Let’s see people delivered. Let the Word of God be preached day or night, day or night, day or night until we are so full, until such revival breaks out, that the glory of God comes up there and just turns everything upside down in our lives. Ah! Glory to Jesus! Hallelujah, hallelujah.
He used something completely different in my life to put this message in me. “John, don’t think that your preparation, you’re limited in preparation to what faith and favour brings to you. Whatever you’re prepared for, faith and favour is bigger than that. Sometimes your faith and favour will bring you into a situation where you feel you’re not prepared enough.’’ He says, “Now you’ve got to tap My grace. You’ve got to tap My grace. You’ve got to tap My wisdom and My wisdom will bring about the way of execution so that the full multiplication can happen.” Wow! Yeah, if He gets on me, He gets on you. It’s just the way it works.
He said in message 5, The glory of God is coming with wealth and prosperity. Hallelujah. He said, The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just and it’s not to just be consumed on our lust. It’s not to be consumed or wasted on you, you know. Just the things that we lust after or things that we want. No, God doesn’t mind us having that as well, but God wants us to use it for His glory. I’m trying to paraphrase a lot of what he said in a few sentences. He used this example at that time, Get a vision for what you’re believing for. He said he sowed his last $250,000 that he’d been saving for an airplane. Remember? He took the whole account, $250,000, and gave it to Brother Copeland because he was short $250,000, so that he could buy his new plane. After he did that, God brought him his Falcon 50. Hallelujah.
Message 7, he preached on, The goodness of God. Message 8, he talked about Prayer and special favour and the hundredfold supernatural increase. He said this, Do not settle for anything less than God’s best. No comfort zone thinking and living. Don’t allow your faith to be dormant. He used Philippians 3 verse 15, and he said, You must press in the same way that Paul said, “I press for the calling.” He said, “We must press, we must press with our faith.” Amen.
Now, the Lord began to deal with me and so I asked Him a question, I said, “Well, Lord, how…” So I’m finished with a recap. That was pretty good. I did eight days of messages in recapping in half an hour. That’s all right, hey? Well, I believe the Holy Spirit led me to just bring out the important points. There’s more, I didn’t even talk about message 4, which is about, Joy. The whole message was about joy and we had a joy service here. There were times when he called up all the young people before a service, and he said, The Lord has impressed upon me to pray for all the young people in the Church. Do you remember that? That was 2018. That was before MiXchange took off. I wonder if there’s a correlation here. I wonder if there wasn’t an irrational honour seed that we had to take him and that he came in 2017, then God says, “Come for a whole week.” Then he calls all the young people, lays hands on them, and then in 2019, 2020 my MiXchange takes off. I wonder. I wonder. You think? Sorry, it’s just a man. He’s a messenger of God. He was sent to us. We heard what he said. We made a bag of seeds. We took.
Thank you, Pastor Sharon. She is one of the most remarkable scribes I will ever, because it doesn’t matter how you transcribe. A scribe is different to a transcribe. A scribe is someone who knows how to listen and then take the points out and bring messages based on what you listen to. Pastor Christi is pretty good at that too, but I’ve lived with Pastor Sharon my whole life, and she’s been doing this just about our whole married life. She knows how to take things out of messages and then bring them into things that God uses for teaching. I wonder if there’s any correlation to the fact that God has raised up a prophet in our Church who prophesied about, I Will Take The Children and now look what’s happened to our Church. I wonder if there’s anything to the messenger and the message. For sure. It’s a real thing, this, people. It’s a real thing. Hallelujah.
That’s why when I go to Ethiopia now, I know I can’t just go there and say, you know. I mean, I’ve had conversations this week in preparation for my trip to Ethiopia and say, “Well, if we have an apostolic call of God on our life, what is our responsibility as an apostolic ministry to the Ethiopian people?” We cannot afford to let the Ethiopian people be in a place where they can’t have messengers from God or have infrastructure or organisational stuff, preparedness stuff from us, because of money. We’ve got to find a solution. Amen. Hallelujah.
You know, when I came here on Tuesday night to preach what I preached on Tuesday night. You know, it was like God had burst a bubble in me. Didn’t you all experience that? It was like God just said, “Come, John, open your mouth and I’m just gonna put a gusher there and I’m going to pour out the Word.” It just flowed out of me. Well, He was preparing you all and me for today, from Tuesday because it’s very, very, very, very seldom that we won’t have a Prayer Meeting and that we will turn a Prayer Meeting into a teaching meeting. It almost never, never, never happens. We might have a bit of teaching and a bit of praying, but Tuesday night was just about almost all teaching. Hallelujah. Yes. Okay. Are you with me? It’s still only five to eleven. I mean, lunch is still an hour away at least. Isn’t it? I mean, don’t tell me you’re already hungry for lunch. Ag sies man. Work with me.
I had to actually, God has given me, has revealed so much of this to me from the Word in such breadth and depth that there’s no way I can bring it all to you today. So, I’m starting with one example today but I had to give you the foundation of what Brother Jerry brought because I wanted you to see that when he brought a bag of seeds, we recognized that. Pastor Sharon, as a scribe, she took those messages, she condensed it, we made books and then we did it a second time when people came into the Church, they wanted to know what this bag of seeds was that we were talking about and we condensed eight messages into declarations based on the general truth of what Brother Jerry was saying in each message. Do you all remember that? Yeah.
Because we take what he said seriously. We received him as a messenger from God, sent from God, a servant of the Most High God to us. The sin of Israel was that they didn’t recognize Moses as a servant of the Lord. They complained to him. They just thought he was a mouthpiece and so, in the end, they said, “You go and hear God and you come talk to us. We don’t want to hear God.”
Listen to Luke chapter 5. I’m going to just read this and I’ll try if I can get through these points. 1 NOW IT occurred, I’m reading from the Amplified Bible, 1 NOW IT occurred that while the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the message of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee). 2 And He saw two boats drawn up by the lake, but the fishermen had gone down from them (the boats) and were washing their nets. 3 And getting into one of the boats, [the one] that belonged to Simon (Peter), He requested him to draw away a little from the shore. Then He sat down and continued to teach the crowd [of people] from the boat. 4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon (Peter), Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul. 5 And Simon (Peter) answered, Master, we toiled all night [exhaustingly] and caught nothing [in our nets]. But on the ground of Your word, I will lower the nets [again]. 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish; and as their nets were [at the point of] breaking, 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and take hold with them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they both boats began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was gripped with bewildering amazement [allied to terror], and all who were with him, at the haul of fish which they had made; 10 And so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon (Peter). And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from now on you will be catching men! (Luke 5:9 – 10 AMPC)
So finally, I wanna say this to you. Are these men Peter, James, John, sons of Zebedee, are they partners in business? We see from the Bible, they are. Yes? Are these men children or sons of Abraham? So, they have the knowledge of the covenant of Abraham. I talked about this on Tuesday night, right? So, they understood that the blessing that was on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the same blessing that was on them. Blessing. They understood that blessing and favour. In our modern day world, Brother Jerry has been known as the favour preacher. But let me tell you something, the children of Israel have been walking in the knowledge of favour because favour is a part of what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob experienced in their lives. It’s inherent in the blessing. We preach it as something different, but it’s inherent in the blessing. If you have the blessing, you have the favour because favour is one of those things that makes blessing work, right?
So these blessing covenant people were hardworking men. They have a very good business and they know how to be prepared in their business. How do I know that? Because they took their boats and their nets and they had prepared their business to go out into the opportunity zone and they were expecting blessing and favour to work for them in the opportunity zone and come back from the opportunity zone with productivity. They went into the opportunity zone, worked and worked and worked and worked in the opportunity zone, came back, zero productivity, no result. Jesus comes, so now I ask you a question, are they yet His disciples? He’s coming to preach a new message to them and He’s preaching on their boat.
So when he’s done, he says, “Peter, take your boat, go into the deep there, go fishing.” Peter’s response is, “I understand blessing, but I understand preparation and I understand the opportunity zone and we’ve missed both windows. Because the opportunity zone is closed, daytime fishing is not opportunity zone. Now You’re telling us, as prepared as we are, You are telling us to go out there and look for opportunity again. This time, on Your Word, which You know what about fishing?”
So, however, they just heard the word of God being spoken, and so he latches on to one thing. He says, “5 …nevertheless, at Your word… because I heard what You were saying was amazing (Luke 5:5 NKJV). Now You’re giving me a direct instruction.” This is no longer just something that comes out of the Word. This is a direct instruction: “Take your boat and your fishing and go catch fish.” “At that word, I go.”
Now I want to show you, he didn’t take his partners with him. Tell me why he didn’t take his partners with him? Because he didn’t think that the amount of preparation, that their preparation was adequate for what they thought the opportunity zone could deliver. In fact, if I have to read between the lines with Peter, I would say he was thinking, “One boat out in the middle of the day is already too much.” Can I put it another way? If we go out there and fill this boat with fish, it’s beyond anything we could have achieved all night fishing. “So why must I ask my partners to come with? I’ll just take one boat.” Come on. I mean, this is logical. “Partner, you stay on the shore, keep working on the nets, because tonight we got to go back out. Tonight we got to be ready for the next opportunity zone window that’s going to open.”
But because they got a Word from God, they go with faith and favour, the blessing of God. They go out there, they throw their nets and suddenly all these fish are swimming into their nets. I mean, I think it’s just one net because of one boat. You know, it might have been a chain of nets, I don’t know, but I’m not a fisherman, so I can’t tell you exactly how many, but certainly one boat’s worth of net, right? They haul these fish into the boat, and it’s too much, there’s still more fish swimming into their nets. So they shout to their partners, “Come help, come help, come help!”
I want to just show you the practicality of what’s going on here. They’re still on the shore. They were not even ready for what’s happening. Those fish kept swimming around the net until their partners arrived. When the partners arrived with other fish, they filled that boat and if they had more boats, they would have filled those boats. That means, “Hey, I got a Word from the Lord, I’ve got faith and I’ve got favour and I got ready but I was ready only according to what I could see with my faith and the favour that I’m used to seeing. What God had in mind was a whole level of different favour.”
I want to just encourage you today. Do not think that your readiness is the thing that activates faith and favour. Yes, you need to be ready but you can’t even begin to understand when He says that, “I’ve got plans for you that are bigger than you can even think or imagine or are beyond your wildest dreams, that you can think enough to be ready enough.” So, I tell the people that we are getting ready for multiplication and multitudes. We’re just thinking based on what God has given us as a Word but let me tell you, it’s much bigger than that. It’s much bigger than that. It’s much bigger than that. Hallelujah.
Do you understand what happened to the next night’s opportunity zone? They caught so much fish in an out-of-time period, they caught so much fish that they didn’t need any further opportunity zones because when they brought all the fish in, Peter comes to repent. What’s he repenting of? He didn’t come to Jesus and say, “I’m repenting for all of my life’s sins because I’m a sinner.” He came to repent that he didn’t have enough readiness to believe that what Jesus could bring was so great
that he wasn’t ready for it. “I sinned because I didn’t see the scope of what You actually were trying to bring to me. Thank God, I had partners that could help me get there. Even so, what would have happened if I’d had more boats?” Jesus says, “Peter, don’t worry about that, boy. You don’t need any more opportunity zones. I’m your opportunity zone. Let’s go catch men. I’m changing the focus of your future from an opportunity zone in water to an opportunity zone in the Word. Let’s go get people together.” Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Can I tell you something else? Just quickly, by the way, this is a bonus point for today because I’ve done my … I did all right today because I’m basically finished but I want to tell you, Elijah, you know, he’s on a mission for God. He says, “It’s not going to rain. It’s not going to rain.” Then they have a whole event that happens there and then he sees, he tells his servant, “Go and look for a cloud. Go look for a cloud. Go look for a cloud.” He says, “I see nothing.” He sends him again, “Go look for a cloud.” He sends him again, “Go look for a cloud.” “I see nothing.” Then he says, “Oh, this time I saw a cloud the size of a man’s fist.” He says, “Let’s run.” “What? You only saw a cloud. It hasn’t rained for more than three years. You only saw a cloud the size of a man’s fist.” He said, “That’s the initial sign of God.”
“We better run because He’s pouring His water upon this land. And it’s already started. I just needed to see the beginning of it. Let’s run.” I can imagine everybody’s like, ahhuhu, ahhuhu. I promise you there’s no amount of preparation that could help Elijah with what he needed to do. Because even though he got an early start, he couldn’t have got to where he needed to be. He hooked up his skirts of his dress, you know, kind of cloak that they wear in the Middle East. He hooked that thing up and he starts to run and as he starts to run, the anointing of God comes on him and he has the military commander’s chariots with the best horses running at, I don’t know what, fourty kilometres an hour. “Cheers, boys. See you in town.”
I’m trusting God for whatever I do in my life that I will have Elijah-like anointing. Elijah-legs anointing, it’s not just for, I’ve used it for cycling until now. But I want to tell you that I have Elijah-legs anointing because I’m raising my expectation. I’m raising my expectation that with long life He satisfies me, He shows me salvation and He anoints me with strength. I will have the strength of a young man until I’m my very old age. I will walk in His anointing and His strength beyond what was ever possible that I thought of before.
Hey, if the anointing of God can come on Elijah to outrun a rainstorm, then His anointing can come upon me to lead me in a lifestyle of fitness and strength and conditioning and wellness and health and blessing, that all my systems function normally. Do I need preparation? Yes. Do I need to have the wisdom of God? Yes. Do I need to have execution of that? Yes. But I still trust His grace, for productivity beyond anything that I can see with my natural eye. But I have a man that God spoke to. He’s in my world. I’m going to see him in a couple of weeks when I go to America. That’s Kenneth Copeland. The Lord asked him, He said, “Will you believe me to live to 120?” He said, “Yes.” He said, “All right, then you have got to stop drinking coffee and you’re going to start exercising and so you’re going to eat properly.” Let me tell you, living to 120 years is not a measure of just eating and drinking and doing exercise properly. It doesn’t matter how well he gets prepared, he can’t be ready for what God’s favour and faith and grace brings upon him because that brings productivity beyond what anybody else is been able to do. Because I receive him as a servant of the Lord. I receive what he has received from God for him and say, “Okay, if God’s talking to him, it’s opened a new window for all of us. It’s opened a new door for us.”
Well, what if he dies at 105? Show me a preacher that’s lived to 105. What if he dies at 101? He died living in faith for something that God asked him to live for. Yah, but now? Now nothing. If that added five years or six years or seven years to his life and we all got the benefit of it. Praise God. Doesn’t change what I’m believing, doesn’t change what the new revelation brings to me. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
Look at that, seventeen seconds left. “But you started late, Pastor John.” I did, I admit it. But didn’t we have a good time in the Word this morning? Wasn’t this just amazing? Praise the Lord. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. I want to make a declaration about this, this morning. The favour and the faith of God is upon all of us. If you have not seen the full outcome and manifestation of your faith in whatever you are believing God for, do not quit and don’t let natural circumstances tell you anything different. Because I want to tell you that He can give you one word and say, “Go here and do that.” And it can produce a productivity beyond your wildest imagination. It can produce something beyond your wildest, wildest dreams. Like that, in a flash, in a moment. God can do it for you. If it’s health and healing, physical well-being, hold on to it. Believe that God is giving you wisdom and grace to deal with issues. But He’s got full restoration in mind for you. Full restoration in mind. Hallelujah.
Won’t you all stand with me please? Praise the Lord. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Are you looking forward to more of this message going forward? Ja? Hallelujah. Me too. I am. Because God is about to, and He is, He is busy revealing something to us.
You know, we’re going to have a weekend at the end of the month on the Saturday of the 30th of September. I’ve got some things that I believe the Lord wants me to say, but I said to Sharon yesterday or, yesterday I said to Sharon, I said, “I don’t know if I can even get to that stuff that I know I’m supposed to preach because this stuff that’s in me now, I’m so full of it right now.” You know, it’s like, wow! Wow!
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Yeah. I sense in my spirit there are, there is someone’s faith that is at work here for something from the Lord today. I feel, I feel your faith. I feel your faith reaching for the things of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is not a soul pull. This is a faith pull. I can feel it and I know when people are pulling on my soul or have a soul pull, but this is a faith pull. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Okay. Okay. I know what to do.
I want you to take your right hand and put it on your heart and the first thing that I’m going to make a declaration of is, I want you to agree with me and just say this, Lord, I receive full health, full healing and full restoration in my body, in Jesus’ name. I do not listen to lying symptoms in my body. I repent today for anything that I’ve done in my body that has brought damage to me. I ask You, Lord, to renew, to restore, to revive every one of my systems and my organs in my body, in Jesus’ name. I am healed. I am free. I’m delivered in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Now I want you to take your two hands and put your two hands together like this. [Pastor John demonstrates putting his hands together] And I want you to make this declaration with me and say, Father, these hands represent productivity and as these hands touch each other, I declare that maximum productivity comes into my life, comes into my hands in Jesus’ Name. You create opportunity zones that only Your Word can produce and I receive maximum harvest in Jesus’ Name”. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God.
Now I want you to take your right hand and put it back on your chest and on your heart here and I want you to say this to me, Father, I thank You that You are my Lord. I receive Your strength. I receive Your ability. I receive Your grace to help me move into everything that You have prepared for me. Not what I have prepared for me, but what You have prepared for me in Jesus’ Name”. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
I’ll tell you what, His preparation that He has prepared for you isn’t remotely connected to how well you can prepare for you. God willing, that will be the next thing that I talk on, is the preparedness that God has prepared for you. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
I wanna just pray that as you go from here today, that you are blessed going out and blessed coming in. I pray that no weapon formed against you will prosper. That He gives His angels charge over you, surrounds you, protects you. His Word covers you. The blood of Jesus is always watching over you, protecting you, covering you. No weapon formed against you prospers. He gives His angels charge over you in Jesus’ Name. Hallelujah.
I wanna tell you, I count on this Word every day. I count on this. I count on this. Glory to God. I’ll tell you what, you can be riding on a bicycle and something can happen. You can just hit a rock in the road and you can fall off the bike and hit your head and kill yourself, yourself. You can be walking across the road and someone does something stupid and can – we walk through life as though bad things only happen to other people. I’ll tell you what, bad things don’t happen to me because the angels of God are watching out over me and you all the time because we put them to work every time we pray this, every Sunday. We say, for the next week, you work, work, protect us, go out there. The blood of Jesus surrounds us. His Word is protecting us and you are the watchman of His Word to make sure that we are protected. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
So, have a wonderful afternoon. Rus ‘n bietjie, stap ‘n bietjie, eet ‘n bietjie, and then come back and have a message moment ‘n bietjie.
Thank you for coming to church. Bye y’all.
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