19 November 2023 Crossover Part 10: Thorns
Pastor Sharon Bendixen (WTB)
Scripture Reference: James 1:2-3 (AMPC); James 1:12-15 (AMPC); Luke 8:11-14 (KJV); Jeremiah 4:3 (KJV); Hebrew 6:1-8, (KJV); Hebrews 6:1-2 (KJ21); Hebrews 6:3-8 (NKJV); Joel 2:23-25 (KJV); Joel 2:23-24 (MSG); Deuteronomy 32:1-2 (MSG); Job 29:21-23 (AMPC); Mark 4:18-19 (TLB); Isaiah 55:1; Lamentations 4:1-2 (AMPC); 2 Timothy 2:20-22 (AMPC); Colossians 2:9-11 (CJB); Colossians 3:1-5 (CJB); Deuteronomy 30:6 (KJV); Joshua 5:2-8 (NLT); James 4:4 (AMPC); James 4:8-10 (AMPC)
Glory to God Well I certainly am, I always am on assignment, but I certainly am on assignment today. And it’s in my heart, it’s in the heart of Pastor John, he sends his love to everybody by the way, and please will you all be here on Saturday for Pastor John’s very special friend that he’s invited to come and speak to us, about our good health and good eating, Dr. Gerrie. please be here on Saturday to hear what the Lord would say to us because He cares for us, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We’ve only got one body for all of our life to take care of God wants us taking good care of His temple that He has given us, that He lives in for the rest of our lives.
I’m so grateful this morning as I stand here that Pastor John, as I was up very early this morning, and I spoke to him, and he spoke words over me for this day today. For the things that God wants to say today are very deep in the heart of God. And I know it is the desire of the Father that you open your hearts this morning. that you don’t come with your soul, but you come with your heart. Thank you, Pastor Christi.
The way the Lord brought these things to my heart with such love and such tenderness, but with all gravity and seriousness I pray that you will pick up the heart of the Father this morning. That you will receive correction and you will receive His discipline, but you will not receive condemnation. God is looking for a people that will completely give themselves to Him and love Him and love Him and love Him completely with their whole heart, not just some of their heart.
And so again this morning I say that I speak to Heritage of Faith people. If you’re visiting here, you are welcome, but this is house business this morning. It’s God speaking to Heritage of Faith people, this church that He is building in the hearts of these people. I come with the full backing of my Father, and my Jesus, and my Holy Spirit, and my precious spiritual leader. I come with their full backing and that’s enough for me, it’s more than enough for me.
I encountered a great privilege to speak for God. It’s a wonderment to me every time I hear His voice, every time He speaks to me after all these decades of hearing His voice when He speaks. It’s like He’s speaking for the first time. His voice is wonderful, full of power, full of majesty, full of glory, full of love.
So I come… You might ask, why have you switched things around this morning, Pastor Sharon? Well, when I was preparing, I saw this in my spirit. I don’t have to ask God, “Why?” I saw that the A-team and the MiXchangers would be here, on my right, and the rest of the congregation here. It’s just one of those things, I saw it in my spirit, and it’s that thing that God said to me, “No explanation you need, just My Spirit you heed, that’s it.” But I come with a mantle today. I’m coming with the mantle that the Lord placed on me on the 23rd of June, Tuesday 2020, He spoke to me and told me, “Go now to the children of My people.” I come with that mantle today. “Go now to the children of My people. Go now, let the children come unto Me.”
Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, My Words that I shall speak to you, receive in your heart and hear with your ears and go.” Says the Lord, “The things you are to do, the words you are to speak, they are not your choice, they are not of your choosing. Not what you would like to say, they are Mine, and Mine alone, they are assignment specific.” So, with that mantle that came on me on the 23rd of June, I thought, as you know my story, that I was going to start Children’s Church. Because the mantle of God came on me in my own prayer room, my private prayer room, where I have my times with Him, so strong and so powerful, that I thought, ‘I’m going to do Children’s Church now.’ I said, “Lord, You have to show Pastor John, You have to tell him, You have to show him.” And when I went upstairs, he said, “You’ve been with the Lord, Sharon.” I said, “Yes. Yes, I’ve been with the Lord, my darling,” And he said… this is what He said to me, I read him everything, and he said, “No, no, this is for the church. This is for the church, and you will start in Johannesburg.”
Well, that was 2020, and God started to draw your hearts. There was a first fruit group that came, and God is speaking to you today with this mantle that I have on me. And then in the second year some more came, God was drawing you and then this year God drew some more. And then when the messages of ‘I Will Take the Children’ came there were some of you that became little children. Because God had me bring Matthew 18 verse 1 and 2 and 3, “Unless you become, unless you repent and become like a little child you will not even be able to see the kingdom of heaven, unless you become like a little child.” And Jesus was talking to adults. And so then with the ‘I Will Take the Children’, all the little children, all the little children, He took some big children. He took some people that repented of the ways that they were seeing things and doing things. And we’ve been in a process of repentance ever since 2020 because a new era began. God said, “It’s a new open door.” God said that 20 years is a completed cycle, a perfect period of waiting, of God waiting to do what He wanted to do, is over. And He started it off with ‘I Will Take the Children’. Speaking out of the book of Numbers, where parents in the wilderness would not go in with God. They said, “No, we want to go back to Egypt because our children will be preyed upon.” P-R-E-Y. “Our children will be prey.” And God said, God had had enough, and He said, “Oh really? Oh really? After all the promises I’ve made you to take you out of Egypt and into a promised land. You come now to Me and say after all the miracles you’ve seen Me do, after all the promises I’ve made you, now you tell Me you want to go back.” They said, “Let us choose new leaders for ourselves that will take us back to Egypt.” “And you telling Me your children are going to be prey here with Me. I’m preying on your children?”
He said, “Let Me tell you something, you’re not going in. You’re not going in. I’ll take care of you in this wilderness. You’ll have the manna, you’ll have the water out the rock, but you’re not going to experience the fulfilment of what I had in My heart for you. Your carcasses will fall, and you will die, but everybody 20 years and under I’m going to take. When you’re dead and your carcasses have fallen, and you’ve finished eating your last bit of manna and you’ve had your last bit of… I’ll give you heat at night, I’ll give you air conditioning during the day. Your carcasses will fall, and I will take your children that you said I’m going to prey on. I’m going to take them; I’m going to take them.” And God said, “I will take the children.” And God is still saying today, “I will take the children.” Because Satan has set up in his system to take the children, to teach the children. From his system, “No” God says, “I will take the children. I will take the children”, says the Lord. And that’s it.
So, I come with that mantle. He said this to me, “Your part in this is key. Get to the captives in Babylon. Go to the children of My people that are in Babylon. Go to the children of My people that are in Babylon and speak to them. There are those that will hear My voice. Speak to them and tell them and they will listen, this is My call I had this in store for you, for the new open door I opened for Myself, My new era. I have everything ready, I’ve been preparing this all along. It is a legacy transfer from Me to you, this mantle from Me comes to you now, it comes upon you.” This is the Lord speaking to me on that morning, He said, “This mantle is beautiful. It’s exquisite.”
Jesus telling me, “I’m giving you a mantle, and this mantle I’m giving you, it’s beautiful.” He loves this mantle that’s on me, He gave it to me. He said, “It’s beautiful, it’s exquisite. It has a particular fragrance, it has a particular anointing.” What a shift Lord, what a great change in me, I didn’t see this coming. I see myself in the church of children. A church of children, a church of little children. Matthew 18, little children that Jesus said, “Unless you become like a little child.” “How can this be?” I said to Him. “The spirit of holiness will fall upon you.” And that spirit of holiness is upon me today, it’s the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit upon me. His Spirit is upon me to set the captive free, to deliver the captive. He’s here this morning to deliver everyone that is captive to anything. “And that’s why the children born to Me will be holy, they will be called sons of God.”
This is amazing, I said, “As Your servant, I accept this mantle, I receive this anointing. May everything You’ve told me,” Oh yes here; “The Spirit of holiness will fall upon you and almighty God will spread His shadow of power over you in a cloud of glory.” He said this to me. Wow Lord, very personal, very public this morning, “With long life will I satisfy you, Sharon. You are anointed, with long life will I satisfy you in this, in this mantle that’s upon me. You are anointed and I am with you.” I said to Him, “I am a woman given the highest favour and a privilege to do this with You.” This work is destined to bring God great delight. “Lord, I believe every word spoken to me by You, I sing this song to seal this today;” it was just a simple song that came out of my heart to Him. I think it was very off-key, but He doesn’t care. I just said to Him, “You’re my Father, I’m Your son. I’m walking with You, I’m working with You, in Your time how You go, when to go, what to say. I’ll wait on You now, You will show, I’ll watch and pray. I speak forth, to come forth, to go forth.” This is the mantle that I come with today. This is what Jesus put on me. I never thought, I never asked – 2020 with “A New Open Door.”
So, thank you. Then He gave me this, His grand design. His particular plan for me, His direction I seek, His voice must speak. His voice will speak today. My own desires I forsake, I give Him my life to take. To the cross I come, let the past be done. I dedicate, I consecrate today. Then I finished with this, out of my spirit, “Parents, enquire of the Lord and seek Him for your children. Amen. Amen.
May the great God, Jehovah, be merciful to us today. May He pour out His mercy upon us and His great grace. May He change us today. May today mark us. May today mark us as a people. Amen. And Holy Spirit, I’ve said this already, “Thank You, Father, thank You, Jesus, that Your Holy Spirit will have His say today, He will have his way today, and He’ll have full sway in Jesus’ name. And we all say, Amen. You might be seated, you can be seated.
Thank you, Denholm, thank you Riaan, thank you Nicholas, Melissa, Sunel. Thank you very much. Garth, when you’re done there, you can come and sit here, I want you sitting here, by Pastor Christi, and that, when you finish, thanks, my son. I know he has got to run off to the loo. [Pastor Sharon laughs]
Alright, so I have been ministering to you. As I said to you if I’m going to keep you a little bit longer than usual, I know that you will be glad. I know you’ll be grateful. I know you’ll be very grateful to be receiving everything that needs to come from me today. And I probably will take some of this afternoon, this afternoon too to get everything out that God wants to say. Last Sunday we had a wonderful time of refreshing, and this week it’s like this.
The temptation, I’ve been ministering to you on temptation; To be asleep, to not take hold to see, to not pray for this time, your part, to continue to play. To be spiritually dull, giving so much of your time to the natural realm. To not be spiritual, speaking natural words, thinking natural thoughts, busy with natural activities, and giving so much attention to yourself, what you want to do, where you want to go, what you want to say, just not changing. Still, the same you when there’s all this new. When He is here to take us in, to cross over, to transform us for this, His time in history.
Jesus our Saviour, our Liberator, is building this Church. He is constantly watching over us. He loves us. He purchased this Church with His own blood. He builds a people according to His plan. He’s building us according to His purpose, He is our Master Builder, Heritage of faith people, here. He’s a master builder, He builds in our hearts. It’s always for victory, it’s always for triumph, it’s always for us, it’s always for His kingdom. He walks among the churches. He knows them all, He knows their condition, He knows what He wants to say to them, when He wants to say it to them; by His Spirit through His messengers, He knows. He knew it through Moses, He knew it through Joshua, He knew it through his prophets, He knew it through Apostle Paul. He knows it through Pastor John and He knows it through me this morning.
Pastor John over me said, “She will be flowing in an anointing that will be new, it will be sure, it will be strong. It will reinforce and bring insight and revelation to what God has given us as a momentum. She will have the mind of Christ, she will follow all the ways of God, everything that needs to be done.”
So, he asked me to speak to you, particularly about temptation, temptation and the tempter and temptation. It comes as a warning to us, right? And I read, I gave you many scriptures, I gave you, you don’t have to put these scriptures up. I’m just going to remind you that James 1 says, 2 Consider it joyful when you are enveloped in or fall into various temptations. 3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith (James 1:2-3 AMPC).
Every temptation brought to you in your life is to absolutely squash and kill the Word in you, because that’s where your faith comes from. It’s to kill the Word in you. Take it out of your heart, every temptation. And God is going to have me minister to you this morning, particularly about demonic distractions. Distractions. Distractions. God wants you to know that every day you will be confronted to be distracted. Every day you will be confronted by this world system, you will be confronted by your self-life of you wanting to do what you want to do, to be distracted off God and off His Word, so that nothing of His Word comes to fruition and comes to life in you.
So that everything that is of the natural life will be alive in you. Even to the point where you will be content with that because you’ve developed that and you like that. You like your natural life. You like to have your things so, to do what you want to do, to go where you want to go, to eat what you want to eat, to say what you want to say, so have men developed and they like it. Not even giving any mind to the spirit realm and spirit life that God has designed for mankind.
12 Blessed is the man or the woman or the boy or the girl who is patient … and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, very, very big deal, James 1. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted I am tempted of God. Let no one say that I am tempted of God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one. 14 But every person is tempted, listen carefully. If you’ve yielded to temptations of your flesh this is what you did. This is what I did. 14 But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, and distracted and enticed and baited by his own … desire (his own lust, his own passions). 15 Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death (James 1:12-15 AMPC).
It brings forth death. But I’ve been sinning and I’m not dead.” You are stone cold dead. That does not mean physical death, it means spiritual death. It means you have no spirit life with God. You’re not alive in Him. You’re not living and moving and having your being in Him. You’re having it in yourself and in the world system. Sin fully matured brings forth death. It means the opposite of what life God has got for you. The God kind of life. The zoe life. The life that is God – pulsating, vibrating through your very being, through your very heart – pumping. The very life of God pumping through your very thoughts, your very thoughts are His thoughts and your ways and your very walk. You walk like Him. You look like Him. You feel like Him. You taste like Him. You’re totally absorbed and caught up, caught up, all caught up and intertwined with Him. Your whole being, every day of your life, for the rest of your life is what He has for you and me.
Yes, I think I must go here now. Let me go here now. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord. I’ll share that with them this afternoon. Alright, let me just go here now. Right. I’m going to go here now, thank You, Lord. I’m going to go here now. Thank You, Lord.
The title of my message today is; The Crossover part, whatever it is, Demonic Distractions, Temptations and Seductions of this Age, Thorns and Briars. Actually, I was just going to call my message; Thorns and you will see now why. We’re going to go to Luke 8 in the King James Version. We’re going to go to verse 11, please. This is Jesus’ speaking. We have spoken in times of temptation, I spoke to you about the rocky soil where you just have no root and you endure for a little while and then when temptation and trouble comes you just give up and fall away. You just walk away from God’s Word. Right? But now this is the thorns. Here are the thorns and God wants to speak to us today about the thorns. He is going to answer some questions for you today. Some of you are asking the question, “But I’m putting the Word in, Lord, but I don’t seem to be getting much result out.” You’re going to see why. You’re going to see why you are counterproductive in your walk with God.
Now the parable is this, this is from Luke. Right? It’s not Mark 4. It’s Luke. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God. So, these are the messages we get here. This is the precious Holy written Word of God that you’re in. It’s the prophetic word. Right? The seed is the Word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are they that hear; then comes the devil, and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. So then 13 on the rock they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while they believe, and in time of temptation they fall away. Right. They fall away from the Word. The Word comes right out, nothing, no more word in them. Which means no faith in anything that God says. And then 14 they that which fell among thorns are they, which when they’ve heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection (Luke 8:12-14 KJV). They bring no fruit to perfection.
Jeremiah 4:3, in the King James, 3 Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah in Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Sow not among thorns. Break up, break up your fallow ground sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of your heart (Jeremiah 4:3 KJV). This is something you do, this is something you and I do. This is not something the Lord does for you, He does it with you, if you want Him to. He comes and He helps you with His Holy Spirit He comes to help you, to heal you, right.
So, God says, 3 Thus says the Lord to the men and the women, the boys and the girls, break up the fallow ground hard heart, hard ground, hard, hard ground. It’s got rocks in it. It’s wayside soil, it’s got thorns in it, it’s got clods in it, its hard ground, because you got it hard, and you made it hard all by yourself. Today you’re going to see how you did it. It’s in the Scripture. You got cares of the world, you worry all the time about things. You got pleasures of this world and the desire for other things, desire for other things. The Lord says desire for other things chokes the Word of God in you.
He wants you to see this scripture, He tied this scripture up, the thorns… If we look again, I’ll read to you again the scripture in Luke 8:14, that word which fell among thorns, the thorns are in the heart. 14 They which when they heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life (Luke 8:14 KJV). I’m going to read you out of Amplify just now. So, here’s, so thorns fell among thorns because of cares, riches or wanting riches, wanting stuff. The Message Bible says, so busy with what they want to do and where they want to go. So busy with themselves.
Here it is New King James Version Hebrew 6:1-8, listen to this. This is a scripture that you should already be familiar with. Why do you think God has brought Message Moments into our congregation? Why do you think He’s done that? Why do you think He’s put such emphasis on listening to what He’s saying to the churches? He wants those messages growing in your hearts, so that you can become what He has created you to become. And so that you can do what He’s purposed that you should do in the earth. Right. In His time. Right. So, 1 therefore Leaving the discussion of elementary principles of Christ Let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works (Hebrews 6:1 KJ21) – not having to say to you over and over and over it is not about performance, it is about intentional relationship with God. It’s about not doing your own thing, not doing what you want to do, going where you want to go, but it is living your life for God. Repentance from dead works. Your dead works are dead. They’re dead. They’re works that you want to do, they’re things you want to do, they’re places you want to go, they’re your plans you want to make. Those are dead works. Why should we have to lay again, Pastor John and I this foundation, when this is all we have been speaking about for 23 years? Let’s not again have to lay this foundation. Let God not have to keep us in elementary school and kindergarten for the rest of our lives.
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to maturity – that word means maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance form dead works and faith toward God. (Hebrews 6:1 KJ21) You repent from your ways. of doing things and you go towards the Word of Faith and living your faith by faith like Abraham. Right?
… of faith towards God of the 2 doctrine of baptisms. (Hebrews 6:2 KJ21) Well, we do need to remind you time and time again you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have been baptized into the body of Christ, and those are the two most important doctrine of baptisms that you can have. You have been baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. You’ve been taught the power of praying in your heavenly language. Shall we again lay the foundation of this elementary principle? Shall we again? How long is it going to take for Pastor John and I to tell you about the power of praying in the Holy Ghost – praying out things, how long must we again lay the foundation? And teach you over and over again what 1 Corinthians fourteen says, what the book of Acts says? Appropriate words, what Romans 8:26 says? Do we again have to teach you over and over and over again? Until you make it part of your life – part of your life, but then the pleasures of this world and the distractions of this age, they are more exciting. I am quite bored with this message of spirituality. I am quite bored, because I find the pleasures and the distractions of this age far more exciting than God. Far more exciting than spirit life and God. I find it that way.
So, right, I am really before God with this, I am not wanting to bring my personality here today. But there is a fire in my belly from God and I thank You Father, that You just help me here.
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go onto perfection (maturity) not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God (Hebrews 6:1-2 KJ21) and the fact that we are babtised into the body of Christ. To isolate is to violate. And 2 the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead (Hebrews 6:2) KJ21… Did Pastor – how many times must Pastor John teach us about the resurrection of the dead when he spent almost a whole year on baptism – baptism and resurrection life and resurrection from the dead? Well, we will constantly remind you. But you need to have those messages already bringing you to maturity. Right? Resurrection life, all those scriptures in Romans that he brought us for months.
Ok, we will keep reminding you. And we’ve got Discipleship 101 that will be starting up next year, fresh and new, that you are invited to go to, to learn all these things from scratch so that you can have the foundation laid in your life of Hebrews 6. Because when you’re living in the resurrection life of Christ you don’t even have to worry about eternal judgment. It’s taken care of. It’s taken care of. So now, verse 4, okay verse 3. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, if you’ve been once enlightened about anything. …those who’ve been once enlightened, 5 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:3-5 NKJV). If you read about the powers of the age to come, it’s already with us, the powers of spirit world already is. The Passion Translation says, it’s already crashing in on us. The powers of the age to come, it’s already crashing in on us. I’ve been enlightened. I’ve been a partaker of the Holy Spirit. I’m tasting the good Word of God and the powers of the spirit realm, the powers of the spirit realm of the heavenly realm that I’ll be living in permanently one day. But God wants me living in it now.
Right? It’s impossible 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, Since they crucify again for themselves the son of God, and and put him to open shame. 7 For the earth. This is a very big deal. I’ve got it in big bold from the Lord. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it. The earth. Just say this with me: My heart is God’s earth. I am an earthen vessel. So, your earth is where your seed of God’s word goes into.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it. How often? We’re going to see just now what the rain is. But I’m telling you, it’s not just raining in this place, it’s flooding with rain. There’s a deluge in this place. And yet you are living, some of you, like there’s a desert. That this is a desert place. 7 … the earth which drinks in the rain where that often comes upon it and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated receives blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns, if it bears thorns, it is rejected and near to being cursed whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:6-8 NKJV)
Joel 2:23 and 25. We’re talking about the earth that drinks the rain and thorns. 23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, that’s the church, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten. (Joel 2:23-25 KJV) So, we hear. Especially those of us that have been Christians for a long time.
Oh, the former and the latter rain. The former and the latter rain. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And our hearts jump, and our hearts jump about. But I want to show you something. I want to show you something from Joel 2 verse 21 to 25 from the Message Bible.
Actually, I want from verse 23. Verse 23. Thank you, Leanne. Joel 2:23 from the Message Bible: 23 Church, celebrate! Be glad in your God. He’s giving you a teacher to train you how to live right – Teaching, I give to you teaching. I present to you the rain. I present to you the rain.
23 Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words… How often is the rain falling on our hearts? Very often. How often does the rain of God come to us? All the time. All the time. 23 Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do. 24 And plenty of food for your body – (Joel 2:23-24 MSG). All right. Showers, that’s it.
Deuteronomy 32 The Message Bible, 1 Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you. This is God speaking. 1 …Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words. 2 My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain, my words arrive like morning dew, Like a sprinkling rain… What does the former and the latter rain? They are the teachings in the time of God. They are the timely teachings from God. That is all the rain you and I need. It’s a flood right now. God is flooding His… it’s not just rain like it used to be, it’s a flood. 2 My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain… Let’s just have a look at that again, 2… my words arrive like morning dew, Like a sprinkling rain on new grass… (Deuteronomy 32:1-2 MSG). Will you ever be confused again when you hear, and the former and the latter rain? Will you always forever now know what it is? It’s the timely messages from the Spirit of God to the ecclesia’s that He is building. That’s what the rain is.
Job 29, 21 to 23. Let it be confirmed out of the mouth of three witnesses here. 21 Men listened to me, from The Amplified Bible. 21 Men listened to me when I spoke and waited and kept silence for my counsel. 22 After I spoke, they did not speak again, and my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower]. 23 And they waited for me as for the rain… Right? So, we come here every time God has got something to say, in this ecclesia, we come waiting for the rain. But if the rain is falling on thorns. God wants to help us today. God’s really wanting to help you if you’re wanting a rich full yield of the messages that are coming. There’s going to have to be some big change and God is going to help us. 23…they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths wide as for the spring rain (Job 29:21-23 AMPC)
So we’re going to go now and look at thorns again. Mark 4, 18 to 19 The Living Bible. Mark 4:18 and 19, The Living Bible. 18 “The thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen… These are the Scriptures as He told me to bring them to you. 18 “The thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen to the Good News and receive it, 19 but all too quickly… (Mark 4:18-19 TLB). Can you see what happens? The attractions of this world and the delights of wealth. I got some money, I can do something with it. Money, money, money, money, money. When’s the next money coming, that I can do something with the money? Money, money, money. I just recently found a Scripture in Isaiah that says to you that have no money, come buy, come buy gold… to you who have no money come drink (Isaiah 55:1). To you who have no money… God couldn’t care less. Of course, of course He cares. He’s made full provision for us, but that comes because the rain is falling on our hearts we’re not trying to accumulate for ourselves. Right; you understand the balance of this?
So, the thorny ground represents the hearts of people who listen to the listen to the messages, yes oh; the 300, yes glory to God, I exchange.
19 but all too quickly the attractions of this world and the delights of wealth, and the search for success and lure of nice things come in and crowd out God’s message from their hearts, so that no crop is produced. (Mark 4:19 TLB)
Mark 4, so now I’m coming into what I’ve titled here the distractions of this age. Mark 4:18, Amplified Bible 18 the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the word. 19then the cares the cares and anxieties (Mark 4:18-19 AMPC) Should we lay again the foundation of fear not? How many years of your life and my life do we want to have again laid the foundations of don’t fear, do not be anxious for anything. Don’t worry be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving continue to make your request known to God and His peace the peace which passes all understanding will garrison in God your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) Be anxious for nothing, be anxious for no thing. But I am anxious, and I’ve been born again for a long time and I’m still anxious.
Let’s lay again the foundation, because you’re not coming to maturity with those thorns in your heart, it’s counterproductive to the kind of fruit that can come off the Word of God. The glory of the fruit that can just be. The one translation says, it’s just what? Is it fruitfulness is just flowing? Fruitfulness is what flowing out of my life. It’s like just so fruitful the Word the Word, glory to God. And so it says here, the cares and anxieties of the world I’m worried again, choke, choke, choke suffocate, suffocate, suffocate the Word of God in your heart. Choke, choke, choke because you’re not casting your cares, you’re not casting your cares. You’re controlling your cares and you’re so afraid and you’re so anxious and you make your own plans.
You’re anxious see here, thorns. The cares and anxieties of the world what’s going to happen to us what’s going to happen to me and 19the distractions of the age and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the word and it becomes fruitless. (Mark 4:19 AMPC)
So, giving yourself… listen to this. Well there will be hearts that will hear. Giving yourself to the distractions of this age is counterproductive to your Word harvest. The distractions of this age go directly against the Word. Thorns grow up beside the Word and choke it and suffocate the Word. thorns kill our harvest. We find ourselves, I’ve got some Word in me, but I’ve got distractions of the age and I’m also worrying and I also got desire for other things. I’ve got desire for other things, right.
This is to receive correction not to receive condemnation. This is to hear what the Spirit of God is saying. So, thorns grow up beside the Word and choke it and suffocate it. Can you see our thorns are harmful to our harvest? Can you see that it’s not the Word? Because we choose the desire for other things and the distractions of this age to enter in, it’s not the Word that chokes it. It’s your choices to be entertained. There we go, that came out of my spirit. It’s your choices to be entertained by the world. So, you contain it within yourself and it chokes the Word. Right, so here we go. We find ourselves spinning our wheels, spiritually speaking. Why am I not making the progress I’m supposed to make? We’re making no real progress. What happens with the distractions of this age and all your worries is you become dull, spiritually dull. Just dull, it makes you dull. Dim, spiritually you just, you dull, you dim.
Lamentations 4, 1 and 2 Amplified Bible. 1 How the gold has become dim! Because God has created you and I for gold. I’m bringing forth the gold, He says He’s created us for the gold. 1How the gold has become dim! How the most pure gold has changed! The hallowed stones [of the temple] are poured out at the head of every street. 2The noble and precious sons of Zion, [once] worth their weight in fine gold—how they are esteemed [merely] as earthen pots or pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! (Lamentations 4:1-2 AMPC)
2 Timothy 2:20. So you see there, we’re supposed to be our worth, our weight in fine gold. But gold is purified in fire, it’s purified in the fire of I’m not going to do what I want to do. I’m not living my life for myself. I’m not going where I want to go. I’m living my life for God. Everything I do is because I’m living my life for God.
20 But in a great house, this is a great house this, this is a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, you see didn’t we read that earthen pots and pitches in Lamentations. There’s gold and then there’s earthen pots and pitches. 20 In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble [use] and some for menial, menial and ignoble [use]. Menial, menial. 21 So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.
22Shun youthful lusts. This is not just for young people, there are some older people that developed youthful lusts in their youth and they’re still in it. They’re still in it. 22Shun youthful lusts. Shun. Shun that’s not something God does for you, that’s something you do, you shun, you shun, you shun, you shun, you shun. God says you can shun any of your lusts, any of what you want to do so much. Right? Shun 22Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, (2 Timothy 2:20-22 AMPC) flee from them. Flee from them!
Now I’m going to speak to you a little bit about circumcision. So, there’s no great mystery. Pastor John knows I’m ministering on circumcision this morning, so don’t, you know. There is no great mystery about circumcision. There is no great mystery to the circumcision aspect of our cross over. There is no mystery to the circumcision aspect of our cross over. Are we crossing over? Have we had a mandate, and have we had command from the Lord? Do we have opportunity from God to be crossing over from old to new? From natural to spirit? Right now, us, that’s why I’m speaking to Heritage of Faith people. Do we have opportunity now? Has God invited us to cross over now? Are we crossing over on our own? No. Are we crossing over with the Holy Spirit very present in us? Yes. Shun youthful lusts.
There is no great mystery to the circumcision aspect of our cross over. The choice is mine. It’s your choice. It’s your decision to undergo God’s circumcision. It’s your decision and my decision to undergo God’s circumcision. And it is the circumcision of the heart that we permit God to do in us with every message that comes. We say yes Lord. Today, today your yes is, “I shun. I shun youthful lusts. I shun.” Right? I flee from them.
So, it’s my choice and your choice. It’s your decision to undergo God’s circumcision. The cut, the cut. How deep, how thorough and how complete, is our personal choice. The cut, the cut into our lives, our self-life. I want to do what I want to do. I want to go where I want to go. I want to have what I want to have. I want to say what I want to say. I’m not coming under the Word of God. I want to be worried when I want to worry. I want to be anxious when I want to be anxious. I will be anxious when I want to be anxious. Right? How deep, how far, how complete, Pastor John said. How far are you going over this bridge. How much are you going over this bridge, is your choice.
Here is what we do now. We come to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time. Our time of crossing over. Our time of circumcision and temptation, to find help. Right? Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. Say this. Say this. Say this if you want to. Say this if you want to. Say, “Come Holy Spirit.” (congregation repeats after Ps Sharon) Come Holy Spirit. “Work in my heart.” Work in my heart. “To convict me.” To convict me. “To pierce me.” To pierce me. “I’m not able to cross over without your help.” I’m not able to cross over without your help.
Right. The choice is ours. So, I’m here to tell you today that everything with us in Heritage of Faith is overlapping now. Everything. His love is coming rushing towards us. I’m giving you sequence to Pastor John’s 1st of October message. I’m giving you sequence. There was sequence in it. There was a progression in the message from beginning to end. His love is coming rushing towards us. He’s pouring it out to us. He’s working everything out for us. A great flow of money is coming. What do we need to be worried about? What do we need to be anxious about? Why do we need to be anxious? Why? Why?
Okay. I’m going to go from the top again. I’m going to go to the top because God told us be in the 1st of October’s message. It’s got a sequence and an order to it. His love is coming rushing towards us. He’s pouring it out to us. He’s working everything out for us. A great flow of money is coming. It’s going to blow. We’re crossing over. God’s chosen to do some things with us.
We are being formed into something new. We are ready to hear what He’s saying and not what we think He ought to be saying to us. New things are flowing. We will have messy, but He’ll move us to marvellous. We’re growing up. His touch is upon us. We’ve got to be ready. The way we’re moving on the earth is not quick enough. He said that to me this week. “The way you all here in this Church are moving on the earth is not quick enough. So, My overtaking anointing is available to you with your own faith.” Wow, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, you see? You see? You see? Overtaking anointing? Overtaking time? Right? Some of you don’t even know what I’m talking about. But came by the Holy Spirit through Pastor John. It was part of the rain, falling often on our hearts. But if there are thorns in your heart, it’s not going to be able to grow up because I’m worrying about everything, I’m anxious about everything. There’re other things that I want to do. The pleasures of this world are attractive to me, still, still. I’m doing both. I’m living in between. God’s helping us to cross over.
The blessings of God, the glory of God, the power of God, the wonder of God, the goodness of God is overtaking you. It’s overtaking us. If you’ll trust Him and you’ll keep your faith exercised and active, the blessing of God is going to overtake you and the things that are happening in normal time in your life, that includes our spiritual maturity. It includes our spiritual maturity. It will be said of them, Kenneth Hagin prophesied, that some of them, it will be as if some of them virtually matured overnight. But that’s because they’re drinking in and they’re drinking in the rain. They’re drinking it in. They’re giving themselves to it, right? All things happening. God’s going to speed it up. It’s going to overtake you and have them done in supernatural quick time. The blessing of God will literally overtake you. It will bypass the natural time. Why? Because we’re moving too slowly on the earth for His timeline.
We have to live in the faith of these promises. To be experiencing this. You want to experience the overtaking anointing, you have to have faith that it’s happening to you. Which means that the other things that you’re interested in doing, that are taking up your time, that are just little plants, then the other things that are taking up your time, choke, choke, suffocate. Right? Because you read it once. You said it once. You said it once. You read it once. Right?
The blessing of God. It’s not that you have to go faster. Here’s what came out of Pastor John by the Spirit of God. It’s that God’s power, His glory, His anointing, His wonder, His goodness is just going to go faster than you can. So that’s what I say. “Lord, Your goodness, Your power, Your glory, Your anointing is just going faster than I can, Lord. It’s more than I can even think, Lord. It’s better than I can imagine. It’s just here. It’s just here.” I’m not even putting it into the future tense of it’s just going to be there, one day. No, it’s just here right now for me. It’s overtaking me. That’s why all of these things are happening already to so many of us, overlapping because the Word. Right?
So, we’re ready to… new things are flowing. We will have messy, but He’ll move us. We’re growing up. His touch is upon us. We’ve got to be ready. The way we’re moving on the earth is not quick enough, so He’s just bypassing it with His goodness and His power in us. He’s changing time for us. This is all about the next generation and the young in the place where God is. It’s about obliterating an entire system. All these things that I’m reading to you now are currently overlapping. The old is dying. Quickly they must die. We’ve started crossing over bridges and a mountain to climb, a veil to pass through, from natural to spiritual, from old to new. We’re carrying the stones of this event in our hearts and in our hands. We have the ark of our covenant in full view. We’re building a memorial to God and for ourselves for generations to come. We will not forget. Circumcised we will be. Circumcised we will be.
Only circumcision will show that we are His. This thing that we have to do, this is in the order of God. It’s all from Pastor John’s October 1st message. The circumcision, a whole lot of pain, a pain to your self-life. A whole lot of pain. It shows I’m committed to the Most High God because it’s vulnerable, it’s private, and every single day I will be reminded that I am God’s. A cut is painful, but it’s a mark on you that you are His.
Deuteronomy 30:5 and 6, King James Version, verse 6. Just put verse 6 on. ⁶ And the LORD thy God… this is in the wilderness still. Here’s Moses talking and saying the Lord your God will circumcise your heart to love Him. Oh Jesus, He will circumcise your heart to love Him. What? What? What? What is the circumcision for? Will you love Me? Will you love Me? Will you believe Me? Will you listen to My promises? Will you believe them? Will you? Will you? Do you love My Word? Do you love Me? Do you love My Word? Do you love Me? Do you believe Me? Do you love Me? Do you love My Word?
He circum our hearts, to be circumcised to love Him. And we’re going to look at Joshua 5, verse 2. I don’t know if…right. This is the Scripture Pastor John brought to us. I’m reading from the New Living. 2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4 Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness. 5 Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born after the Exodus, during the years in the wilderness, had been circumcised. 6 The Israelites had traveled in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the Lord, and the Lord vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us – a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So Joshua circumcised their sons – those who had grown up to take their fathers’ places – for they had not been circumcised on the way to the Promised Land. 8 After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed. 9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” (Joshua 5:2-9 NLT) He wants to roll all of Egypt. He wants to set you free from all of Egypt so that you can love Him and only Him completely. Right?
Are you still with me? Are you still with me? Right? Can I finish here? It will be another maybe, I don’t know. Right? So, He wants to say this to you like this from this Bible. It’s called the complete Jewish Bible. Colossians 2: 9 to 14. He wants to speak this to your heart today. Speaking this to your heart today. 9 For in him, Heritage of Faith people, in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is. 10 And it is in union with him that you have been made full – he is the head of every rule and authority. 11 Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. He wanted me to read it to you out of this translation. I want to read verse 11 again to us. 11 it was in union with Him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah. 12 You were buried along with him by being immersed; See that, you’ve been baptised into Him, and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead. (Colossians 2:9-11 CJB)
He wiped- okay let me just see where we are going to go from here, no now we are going to go to Colossians 3 verse 1 from the same Bible. So, this is how He wanted me to read it to you. 1So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Focus your minds on the things above. He’s talking to us about distractions. Demonic distractions that are going to cause the Word in you to be unfruitful. They’re going to cause you to continue to have thorns in your hearts. 2 Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. Okay? 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. 4 When the Messiah, who is our life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory! Therefore, therefore, therefore, therefore, 5 Therefore, put to death. Is this something that you have to do? 5Therefore, put to death the earthly parts of your nature – sexual immorality, sexual immorality. God is speaking very specifically today about the distractions of this age. About the fact that you want to worry and you want to be anxious about things. About the fact that the distractions of the age are choking the work. But God is saying today to us, 5 put to death the earthly parts of your nature – sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. (Colossians 3:1-5 CJB). There’s the money, the wanting things. Right?
We’re going to do that again. Put to death the earthly parts of your nature. Sexual immorality. Who puts that to death? Who chooses for it to die? Who wants it to die? Who wants to shun? Who wants to flee? Who wants to leave Babylon, completely? Who wants to shun? Who wants to flee? Who wants out of Egypt, totally? Who wants? Who wants? Who wants? Who wants? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Who wants to flee? Who wants to shun? Oh, hallelujah. Yes. God says that today it can be done.
Today, He wants to speak to us all, as a people, about what we’re watching in our homes. What you’ve been watching in your homes for years. The Lord says today He wants to speak to us among other things. What are you watching? What are you watching on television? What are you watching on your tablet? What are you watching on YouTube? What are you watching? What are you watching? What are your eyes gazing on in your home? What are you watching behind closed doors? What are you looking at? Distractions of this age. What are you looking at? What are you watching? What have you been watching with your children in your home for years and years and years? What have you exposed your children’s little eyes to? What have they seen? What are they still looking at? What are you not protecting in your home? What have you not protected?
God says that today there’s freedom. There’s freedom for you to turn around because repentance is not an emotion. Repentance is a decision that you make. It’s a change of mind, it’s a change of heart, and I change my lifestyle right now. And God empowers you to do that when you make the choice.
He wants to speak to us all today as a people about what we watch in our homes. What are we looking at? What have we been watching in our home for years? What are we looking at in our bedrooms? Movies. Worldly things that are choking, choking, and suffocating any kind of Word that might grow. Entering in. Desires for other things come in from what you’re watching. Desires for other things come in from what you’re watching. Chokes the Word. Right? We are movies, worldly things. We watch things with great delight that the Bible is against. Right? We watch all the stuff. God hates violence. He hates violence, but we watch it, and we learn to love it. God hates it because it harms us, because it chokes His plan for our lives, what He wants to have happen in our life. It is counterproductive.
So, then we watch people having physical stuff that God says is going to hurt you. But if you watch a movie, you like it. You’ve learned to like it. You’ve trained yourself to like it. You watch the worldly ways on TV, and you like it. The things that the Bible is against, the things that God says, “it’s hurting you”, you watch that. You watch that.
And you look at it and look at it. Thorns, thorns, thorns. Can you see that? Desire for other things, desire for other things. This is going to depend on you how deep you want this cut to be. Because it’s, Lord, I actually understand here what I’ve been doing, what I’ve exposed my children to for decades, what I’ve let them watch.
Pastor G, I’m going to ask you… It numbs us, we are oblivious to its impact on our lives. So, we don’t actually do those things, but we watch them. And then you think because you’re exposing yourself to it that you don’t want to do them? Because you learn to love it? So, it numbs us and dulls us to spirit life. We become seared in our conscience, because we have reasons, and we justify ourselves.
Justify and reason. What’s the difference between justify and reason? What did Pastor John say? Nothing! We justify ourselves. Everybody else does it. I deserve it. I work hard during the day. I’ll come and watch everything that’s against God’s Word. It’s my right to be entertained. Enter-tain-ment, the meaning of that word means I will let it enter me. I will contain it in me. It’s not harming me. That’s the biggest lie. That’s the big lie. No, it’s choking – suffocating the Word that you’re putting in your heart so that you’ll… Okay. It stimulates our soul and spirit-life is not as exciting. Spirit life is not so exciting because this is exciting. This grabs me. Choke, choke, suffocate. Right?
Pastor G, please come and speak to us. Please come and speak to us about what the Lord has just recently shown you about pornography.
Pastor Garth:
Well, I’m going to just keep it short. In a nutshell, it’s something that we’ve listened to as part of addressing families and helping families, mothers and fathers, and it’s something that was put on the Learning Centre group which I listened to, and Marcelle and I listened to it together. But it’s someone who’s spent a lot of time researching and analyzing data about young people who have smartphones. The statistic is that young people who have smartphones, it doesn’t matter at what age, but if they are allowed to take a smartphone into their room and close the door, the statistics show that 100% of young people have been exposed to pornography. 100%.
So this person who has analyzed the data and done this research goes all over the world, to rural places, to industrial places, to third world countries, first world countries; and one of the things that he does is he gets invited to go into schools and then you’ll talk to the students first and ask them how many of them have smartphones. Between 80% and 100% of them put up their hands that they have smartphones. It’s quite interesting, he says, even in very poor, rural places these children have smartphones with access to internet. So obviously that’s the premise as well, that they have access to internet. Between 80 to 100% of them will put up their hands and then he later has a meeting with the parents, and he’ll ask the parents, “So how many of you have given your children smartphones that have access to the internet, and you allow them to take them into their room behind a closed door?” Only a much smaller percentage of them will put up their hands, and then he will show them the image. So, he or somebody else will take an image of, a picture of the students putting up their hands and he will then show the parents how many of them are allowed to; they have, and they are allowed to take a smartphone into their room.
So, then he asks them the question again, “How many of you know your children have smartphones and they’re allowed to take them into your room?” Then a lot more of them will put up their hand, in honesty, which is an indication to him that the parents know that their children shouldn’t have a smartphone with access to the internet, taking it into their bedrooms because the research shows that if you have access to the internet with a smartphone, 100% chance you have been exposed to pornography.
I don’t know if you want me to talk about the consequences of that. (Pastor Sharon: I want you to talk). So, part of the consequence of that, for a young man, is different to how it affects a young woman. A young woman then believes that this ‘way of sexuality’ is how they love, so that is the case for a woman. “So, I must then behave like this because this is how I love and this is how I receive love.” For a young man, “This is how I lust, this is how I live my life. I don’t need to commit; I don’t need to love a woman in a Biblical way because this is how I express sexuality and this is how I express love to a woman.”
So, for a woman, “This is how I love,” and for a man, “This is how I lust, I don’t need to show any commitment, I don’t need to love in a Godly wholesome way.” Then they live their lives that way and this is then how sin and the tares that are sown into a young person’s life, this is where we find ourselves generations later where young men…
In fact I was just listening to another statistic yesterday which they’ve done in Japan, that men at the age of 30 are still virgins, a massive percentage of them. The statistic is, because they would rather give themselves to what they’re looking at on their smartphone, or whatever the device is, than commit to a woman. So they’re still virgins because they prefer to commit to a smartphone. And I mean that’s just a study that I’ve heard about that was done in Japan but I’m sure that would be a fairly normal thing worldwide. That for all of what Hollywood shows that men, you know, are promiscuous. Actually, in our current culture they prefer to have ‘fast food’ and to not commit to a relationship. Partially because they’re also afraid to do that, they don’t know how.
Pastor Sharon:
I read something very interesting about, well, [speaking to Ps Garth] pardon, no just stand here by me, my son. So, what we are talking about, sexual promiscuity; to be sleeping with someone that you’re not married to is hurting you more than you realise. It’s desensitising you completely. And actually, you know what I read recently about the effects of sexual immorality and then you have a child born, that that child is unsupported, spiritually. That child is defenceless, it has no support because the mother or the father is sleeping around. The child born in a situation of that is unsupported, spiritually. They’re in a spiritual nothingness and they’re fair play to the devil. They’re fair game.
Here, look what it does to us. All sexual promiscuity stains the root of our identity in Christ. It exploits the deepest aspects of our emotions, produces guilt that cripples our confidence and authority in Christ. It compromises the foundations of life’s deepest human relationship, marriage. It gives place to appetites that beget further immoral behaviour. It breaches trust with the whole body of Christ. Your transgression of sexual sins breaches trust with all of us. It impacts the whole body because you’re not able to be who you’re supposed to be. You’re not able because the Word’s continually being choked because you’re not shunning and you’re not fleeing. And so, Pastor G, it assaults the pure Lordship of Jesus Christ. Is there something you want to say, Pastor G?
Pastor Garth:
Well, one of the major consequences of sexual sin is that it produces shame. And that’s what the Holy Spirit was saying to me when Pastor Sharon was talking now, is that when you are ashamed, you want to hide and inevitably you hide from God because you think, “how can God love me when I’m in this condition?” Which is exactly why Jesus came to die and give us the Holy Spirit so that He can help you out of that condition. It’s not like He doesn’t know. He knows every time and He’s there every time and He want to help you every time and yet the shame that it produces is one of, I want to hide from God and from one another. So, it’s that distrust, distrust of God, which we then bring into our family and we bring into the church where we distrust God and distrust one another, we don’t want to be vulnerable with one another either because how can I be because of the shame that I experience from this sin? And He came to take all of our shame. Praise God.
I think we just need to have a few cords. I think the gentleness of God needs to just come and flow a little bit please my son. Hallelujah. So this is not for condemnation. It’s not for shame and it’s not for guilt. It is for freedom. God wants to set you free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. God just wants us to have a moment of realisation. A moment of realisation so that we can just say, “Help me, Lord and forgive me, Lord. Forgive me as a parent for what I’ve exposed my children to.” It’s a time of forgiveness because if we acknowledge our sin and we confess it. He’s faithful to forgive us and cleanse us. He’s faithful. He’s faithful. He’s faithful. Hallelujah. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us, Lord, for what we’ve exposed our children’s eyes and ears to. Forgive us, Lord, for leaving our children unsupported in the Spirit, Lord, because we’ve transgressed Your beautiful commandments, Lord. Your wonderful ways for our protection, Lord, to protect us. Father, we desire purity. We desire purity, Lord. We desire to be clean. We desire cleansing, Lord. Hallelujah.
This is just a moment for you and the Lord. And if that’s not where you’re at, then in your heart you’re praying for a brother or a sister. You’re praying for a mother or a father. If this is not, you know, if your heart’s been circumcised to that degree, you know, to say, “Lord, as a parent, what have I done to my child?” You know, there is a scripture in the book of James, though, Garth, that says that we can feel heartfelt shame for our sins. You know, it says we can even weep, but weeping is not a sign of change of mind and change of heart. It says here, 4 You are like unfaithful wives, having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God! (James 4:4 AMPC)
He says here, 8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. and [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, distracted. You’ve been distracted by the distractions of this age. Right? And then it says, purify your hearts, divided interests, purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery]. And, 9 [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]. 10 Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant]. (James 4:8-10 AMPC)
Hallelujah. You know, because we’re a house of prayer, people, you are the people running into this house saying to be clean, to be clean. It’s us first to be clean, to be clean. There’s a fountain opened in this house for cleansing. Hallelujah. Glory to God. He’s just a heartbeat away from you acknowledging, acknowledging it to Him. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
Forgive me, Lord. Forgive me, Lord. Forgive Pastor John. Forgive us as parents, Lord. In the past, for things we didn’t, we weren’t as watchful over as we could have been, as we should have been. Little eyes, little boys at school with big brothers bringing things to school, showing our little boys things at their school. Oh, Lord. Lord, forgive us. Jesus, thank You that your mercy is here today. Not realizing the impact that the enemy would have on their lives with images. Lord, our crossover is for generations. It’s for our children and our children’s children, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. You keep us from the evil one. You keep us from the evil one, Lord. You forgive us, Lord. That we sat and watched movies with them, Lord. Forgive us. Forgive us, Lord. Jesus. Cleanse us. Cleanse us, Lord. Cleanse us. Jesus. Jesus. Our children, unsupported and unprotected. Lord. Thank You that You remove from all of us images, Lord. You blot it out with the Blood. The Blood, the Blood, the Blood, the Blood, the Blood. The Blood cleans us, Lord. All those images and those pictures, Lord. Your Blood, Your Blood, Lord. Your Blood. Hallelujah. Jesus. Thank You. We receive the washing of the water of Your Word, Lord. We receive Your grace. We receive Your mercy because we come to Your throne of grace to obtain mercy. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord.
This is not a time for self-righteousness, people. Really, it’s not. It’s a time for righteousness. Righteousness. Hallelujah. Glory. It’s a time for acknowledgement; saying, “Yes, Lord.” Just like David, he didn’t justify himself why he did those things. He just said, “Yes, I’ve sinned. Yes, Lord, I’ve sinned. I’ve sinned.” Can you say that to the Lord today? I’ve sinned. Yes, Lord, I’ve sinned. I’ve sinned. I’ve sinned. Yes, Lord, I’ve sinned. I’m in Your hand and I’m in Your heart. Thank You for Your mercy. You’re merciful, Lord. You’re merciful, Lord. Hallelujah. Thank You. Thank You. We receive Your forgiveness. We receive together. We receive Your forgiveness. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Together we receive Your forgiveness.
The Blood has never lost its power. It washes me clean this very hour. And together we come to You as a people to say, Lord, we have sinned. You know, Daniel said that even though he never sinned. He came to God saying, “We have sinned. We have sinned.” Forgive us, Lord, we have sinned. We have sinned. We have sinned. We have sinned. We have sinned. We have sinned. We have sinned. Hallelujah. We have sinned.
We ask that You purify our homes, that you bring a new fresh wind of Your Spirit into our homes, into our lounges, into our bedrooms, Lord. Just a new fresh wind of Your Spirit, Lord, into our hearts, into our minds, Lord. Clean, clean, Lord. We receive cleanliness today, Lord. Hallelujah. Right? We’re not troubling our minds about how we’re going to get free. Hallelujah. Lord. Glory to God. Thank You that our children are free. Thank You, Lord. We receive cleansing for our children today, all of them, Lord, as grown up as they are. Our grandchildren, our children and our grandchildren, we receive cleansing. We receive cleansing, Lord, today for our children. It’s so good to say, yes, we have sinned. It’s good, it’s good to say, I have sinned like David. God says when there’s repentance in the world, all is well, all is well. All we have to do is say, yes, yes, yes, we have sinned. I have sinned, Lord. That’s all. Thank You. I receive Your forgiveness.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I receive freedom. I receive wholeness. I receive purity. I receive purity. Purity, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We receive deliverance, Lord, from the work of the enemy. We receive deliverance from the work of the enemy, Lord. He’ll do no more work on us. He’ll do no more work in us. Hallelujah. Glory to God. It’s good. It’s good. Just the washing of the water of the Word. It’s good. It’s good. It’s good. We receive Your freedom now. We receive freedom now for ourselves and for our children and for our children’s children. You make a way, Lord, with that. Hallelujah. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.
We call on the power of the Blood this morning. The power of the Blood to wash clean, Lord. Our children’s minds, Lord. Oh, hallelujah, to wash clean and make clean, Lord. Glory, Glory, Glory, Glory, Glory. Oh, Jesus, thank You. We receive no condemnation, no guilt, no shame, no guilt, no shame, just a washing and a cleansing and a renewal and a renewal. We receive no guilt and no shame, no condemnation in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
We are free to praise You. We are free to praise You now, Lord, because we believe Your washing and Your cleansing is so real. It’s Your love for us is so amazing, Lord. Your love for us is so amazing, Lord. Oh, hallelujah. Glory, we can start fresh and new, start fresh and new. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Yes,Lord. Yes, Lord. Oh, with a new song in our hearts and a new spring in our step. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes. Yes, Lord.
Hallelujah. I’m not leaving this place without joy. No, no, no, no. I’m not leaving this place without joy. Hallelujah. Because You love me. You love me, Lord. You love me and You cleanse me, Lord. And Your word is that powerful that it forgives, You forgive immediately,. Lord. Because from our heart, from our heart, we’ve let Your cuts go deep, Lord. We’ve let Your cut go deep, Lord. Hallelujah. And we’re grateful, we’re grateful that we can have our hearts circumcised. We’re so grateful. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And we can be healed from that circumcision. Oh, hallelujah. We can be healed, we can be healed. No guilt, no shame. No, no, no. No, no, no. No blame. No guilt, no shame, no blame. No guilt, no blame, no shame.
Oh, He cleanses us all, together, now. Ah, I’m just taking a bath. Aren’t you taking a bath? It’s just wonderful. In my heart. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh. [Pastor Sharon laughs] I’m free. You’re free, you’re free, you’re free. Go free, be free.
And that’s it. That’s a sample, we had today, of experiencing circumcision. It’s personal, it’s private, it’s painful. It’s personal, it’s private, it’s painful, it’s vulnerable. It’s so vulnerable, Lord, You’re touching these things. Oh, but yes, Lord. I say, “Yes, Lord. I’ve sinned, Lord. I receive washing and forgiveness, Lord.” Oh! I’m lighter. I’m lighter. I’m being refreshed and renewed in Your love. Right? Some lifestyle choices, now, that I’ll make – different lifestyle choices, some loving conversations I’ll probably be having in my home, between husband and wife, some loving, heavenly, holy conversation. Hallelujah. We’re making some changes around here because we love Him. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Hallelujah. I’ll rather watch Escape to the Country, you know, a little bit of MasterChef, a little bit of Love It or List It, a little bit of, you know, some gardening, some house construction, you know. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
Well, I can’t close this. This is a beautiful thing that we’ve been able to… because now, God can work in your children. Now, He can go to work in your children, your big, old children. Right? He can go to work now. So, have a blessed… may the Word and blood of Jesus surround you and protect you and be with you and have a wonderful day until I see you a little later. Have a good lunch, right? Right. Are your spirits lifted up? Good. Good.
Now, when there’s any guilt or shame or condemnation that wants to come on you, or regret, it’s his slime. It’s from the devil. It’s not God. It’s not God. This is done today. This is settled now, right? You go on, now, into the fresh and the new. Don’t let the devil come and slime on you. Right? So, be blessed and have a day filled with joy, in Jesus’ name. Bye-bye, everybody.
Scripture reference: Mark 4:15 (AMPC); Mark 4:10 (WUEST); Psalm 127:1(KJV);
2 Timothy 2:6 (AMPC); James 5:7-8 (AMPC); Psalm 126:5 (KJV)
Pastor Garth Bendixen:
Father, thank You for today. There’s not a day that goes by that we take for granted, the breath that we have in our lungs is a gift from You and we’re here this morning in Heritage of Faith with purpose and with intention to come and worship You and to love You and also to listen to Your Words so that we can be changed. We can live in Your ways. We can live as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ and we come to listen and to see Your ways and to be trained by Your Word as we hear it and for the rest of this week. So, we have hearts to believe this morning and we ask You Holy Spirit to help us to hear what You need us to hear, what You want us to hear and eyes to see what You want us to see and what You need us to see so that we can become individually and as a people what You want us to become in Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Sharon Bendixen:
Thank you. Thank you, Pastor G. Thank you, Music Ministry. Glory. Okay. I’m not going to need the little table. Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ve just got a file and a cell phone. Thank you, Empie. Thank you so much. Good morning again, everybody. Again, I am speaking, primarily. Primarily, I’m speaking to Heritage of Faith people this morning. Those that know that God has called them here to be with the Lord. I’m looking for the string. Those that God has called to be here with Pastor John and I, in this Church to be planted here to be receiving what God is working in us, as a congregation, as a people, here. I need to state that.
So, there may be some of you that are visiting here for the first time and I’m sure that the Lord will minister something from this message to your heart. But this message is primarily comes from the Lord to this Church. Is that good with you? That’s very good with me. That’s how I’ve always believed it, it’s how I’ve always received it. Before Pastor John and I ever came into the ministry, that’s how God trained me where we were planted in our church for nineteen years. The Lord said to me, “Every Sunday morning when my pastor gets up or anyone else he puts in the pulpit, these are messages from Me that you are to listen to receive from Me.” Right.
So, there’s a reminder here that I want to make for December, you’ve all received something like this? [Pastor Sharon holding up the announcement card] Right? It says here it’s the 16th Inhabiting the Land Camp Meeting. We start on Saturday in Witbank, Saturday we go from the 16th to the 17th and then we go from Witbank, we depart to the farm. That’s all of us that are going with. All the information that you may need for it is on the website. Inhabiting the Land Camp Meeting continued on the farm on the 18th, 19th and 20th. Glory to God. Then we’ve got a Christmas service. But this has been given to you so that you can put it on your fridge with a magnet. So, that you can just remember.
Then in November, Pastor John wanted Doctor Gerrie to come and speak to us for a long time, Doctor Gerrie. So, finally, the Lord spoke to Doctor Gerrie. The last time Pastor John saw him and he said, “John, I got to come and speak to your people.” Pastor John said, “I know I was just waiting for you to know.” “I want to come and speak to your people about their health, that they only have one temple, one temple, one body that houses your spirit. You are the temple of the Living God, your spirit lives in your body. They only have one temple.” God only gave us one, to serve us for all of our lives. So, he is going to come and speak to us about many wonderful things that we need to … because God is doing something new. You ought to come to those meetings with a heart prepared to hear new things, even though your mind may fight it, your emotions may fight it, even though you may say, “I’ve heard this before,” or “You know what.” Warra warra warra warra… This is Pastor John that asked Doctor Gerrie to come and speak to us, this is God, so there are definitely things that God is going to say through Doctor Gerrie that the Holy Spirit wants us to hear. The Holy Spirit wants us to be cognisant and take note. Glory. So, I just want to – I’m not going to need this anymore [referring to her phone] thank you. Thank you, my son.
So, this morning, this is the Crossover – Part 8. In case you haven’t realised it yet. There are many of us already busy experiencing a crossover, a spiritual crossover with the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We’re already experiencing Him crossing us over from the old into the new and so because there are those of us that are in the fear of the Lord because of our recognition of the time of God, we are already having a Holy Vigil in our heart. So, God put this of the Holy Vigil in my heart when Pastor John started to minister The Crossover. This is an event in the heart of God. It’s an event, a happening that God ordained for this time for this people to crossover. So if you’re not in awe of that yet, then you haven’t got anything yet from those messages of The Crossover. You haven’t been in the messages, you haven’t been listening to the Holy Spirit.
But God is giving us all equal opportunity to come into this holy awe of God of what He’s doing spiritually in us all as a people right now. He’s going to make sure that you all had an opportunity to come with on this crossover. He’s making such a big deal of this crossover – that if you’re not coming, you’re going to wish that these messages would end. But if you are coming, you would wish they would never end so that you can have it all and you can come across completely. Glory to God. It’s a choice. This is the Crossover – Part 8 and this message, last week’s message was called, A Time of Temptation. This week’s message is called, The Temptation of the Time. The temptation of the time.
So, what God is meaning by that is that the temptation you will face right now because of the time that you are in, in this church; do not cross over. Do not come with all of these messages. Just the same as the people in the wilderness that God took out of Egypt. They believed Him for a little while and then they no longer wanted to go in and have anything to do with what God said He wanted to do with them and for them.
Jesus our Saviour, our Liberator, is building this Church. He is constantly watching over us. He’s watching over us as a people. He loves us. He purchased this Church with His own blood. He builds a Church, when He says, “I will build My church,” He means, “I will build a people. I will build inside of My people. I will build My church.” He builds a people according to a plan. He’s building us according to a plan, according to His purpose. He is a master builder. It is always for victory, it is always for triumph for His people, personally and for His Kingdom. He walks among the lamp stands, those are the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. Jesus walks among the lamp stands, He knows them all. He knows all the churches, He knows all their conditions. He knows what He wants to say to them. He knows our condition. He knows what He wants to say to us. He knows when He wants to say it to us by His Spirit through His messengers He will speak. He knew what He wanted to say to His people through Moses, according to a plan. He knew what He wanted to say to Joshua, through Joshua to the people according to a plan. He knew what He wanted to say through His prophets to His people at a specific time with a specific message. There was always the temptation of the time for all of God’s people throughout all the ages. He knew it through Paul, He inspired Paul to say specific things to specific churches at specific times, God building with a plan, with His plan. Specific and tailor made for every local church.
So, He knows it now through Pastor John, He knows what to say to Pastor John to speak to us and when to say and how to say it to us. He is building us, as a people. He knows it now through Pastor John, He knows it through me this morning. He knows exactly what He wants me to say to you, today. I know, I know because I hear His voice and He speaks clearly to me. So, I know He has spoken to me, what to say to you at this time about temptation.
So, Pastor John spoke this over me on the Sunday before he left. Pastor Sharon is going to be the spiritual leader in charge of what is going to be happening while I am gone. She will be flowing in an anointing that will be new. I know I am. I know I am and those that are spiritual in this place will know that too. She will be flowing in an anointing that will be new, it will be sure, it will be strong.
See, I need to say this to you this morning, that Jesus said to the disciples, “If they don’t receive you, they don’t receive Me.” Because Jesus had messages to give through disciples. So, you need to know that if you don’t receive me, you do not receive Pastor John. You don’t. You may say you do, but you don’t. You can’t. Because it is God’s order. If you don’t receive Pastor Christi, you don’t receive Pastor John and you don’t receive Jesus. If you don’t receive Pastor Garth, then you don’t receive Pastor John and you don’t receive Jesus because that is how God delegates in His Ecclesia.
So, when the Church at Corinth was saying, “I want Paul, I want Apollos, I don’t want this one, I don’t want that one.” Apostle Paul had to address them as babies and say, “You are still carnal and you’re babies.” Because you’re saying, “I am of Pastor John, I am not of Pastor Sharon, I’m not of Pastor Christi, I am of Pastor Garth.” So, you just need to understand that there is an order here in this church and this will help you to be able to receive. Receive from me. Receive from the Lord through me as His messenger today.
So, Pastor John said this, She will be flowing in an anointing that will be new, it will be sure, it will be strong. It will reinforce and bring new insights and revelation to what God has given us as a momentum. I see that so clearly. I sense it in myself as I am bringing, even as I am speaking right now, that I am carrying on with the momentum of the crossover that God began in Pastor John. Right? So this is happening. What Pastor John declared is happening. Why am I telling you this? So that there can be a recognition and a receiving from you on your part and understanding. Right? Because there’s nothing wrong with this transmission, it’s on the receiving end where the problem is. “I only receive this one, I only receive that one.” That is time for you to get out of that babyhood, remember I said last week, “Let’s be grown up now. Let’s understand how God works in a church.” Glory to God.
So, I urge you to pray for Pastor Sharon as the delegated spiritual leader while I’m gone, that she will have the mind of Christ. She will follow all the ways of God in everything that needs to be said and done. There is not a vacuum of spiritual authority while I’m gone. Whoever else God chooses to use as a vessel while I’m gone, anything else that might happen under her delegation and authority, there will be a strong anointing.
So, at this time, he asked me to speak to you about temptation, about the tempter. Last Sunday’s message that Jesus brought to this church is just pure power. It’s pure power. So many people have been speaking to me about it because what is happening now, it’s new. What Pastor John has stepped into, stepping into and crossing over into is the new. It’s the new. What I’m stepping into is the new and these messages are coming to us to make us new. You’re going to become new through the things He’s saying to you every Sunday and then He’s saying the same thing to you during the week in the messages.
So, it comes as a warning to us. We’re going to look at Mark 4 verse 15, Jesus warns us that when messages come to a people, to a congregation, in the way that messages and instructions came to the people with Moses, to the people with Joshua, to the people with Paul, that when these messages come, that we not be tempted to disregard them, to dishonour them, to dis, to just dis them – dis them, okay.
So, this is what happens with the Word. Jesus is warning us, when the messages come to us as a people, we’re talking – I’m specifically now talking about the Word that comes to us as a people – the public message that He brings, like He’s bringing it right now. There’s four trusts that we have. We have trust in the precious, Holy, written Word of God, right? That’s the precious, Holy written Word of God. We have trust in the public spoken messages that come to us publicly. We have trust in the prophetic word that comes to us, that God will bring a prophetic word. And then we have trust in His personal words to us. And I would suggest that you take them in that order. Glory to God.
So, 15The ones along the path are those who have the messages from Pastor John and from Pastor Sharon sown in their hearts, but when they hear, Satan comes at once and [by force] takes away the message which is sown in them (Mark 4:15 AMPC).
I want to go to Mark chapter 4 from the WUEST translation. I want you to see the WUEST translation. It’s verse 10, right? 10The sower sows the Word. And these are… alongside the road where the Word is being sown; and whenever they hear, immediately there comes Satan. And immediately there comes Satan. Is this a warning from Jesus about the messages that come to us all the time? Is this a warning? Don’t you want to be warned? I want to be warned. To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. I want to be warned and I want to take the warning seriously, right? He says, “Satan’s coming. You’re listening to this message. Satan’s coming to just take it right out of your heart for you to not even give it a second thought, not even give it – not even mind it again. 10…And those alongside the road where the Word is being sown; and whenever they hear, immediately there comes Satan and snatches away by force the Word which has been sown in them (Mark 4:10 WUEST).
So, what the Lord said to me was, “Sharon, the great temptation that will come to all of us at this time is to not take seriously or believe His messages to us right now as a people. Just like the majority of these people did in the wilderness. That is going to be a huge temptation, right now.” So we must be on our guard, awake and vigilant and sober for this enemy of ours is right now, right now, like He said for me to speak to you last week, many of you are already going through temptations and you don’t even recognize it. The enemy coming against your mind to get you off the straight path that He’s got us on as a people. You just think that you’re thinking is really God. You really think that you’re thinking like God about what you’re thinking about. But you’re only thinking about, you’re only thinking like God about something if you’re listening to these messages. Then you’re thinking like God because that’s the unity of the brethren is we’re from one mouth, one heart, one mind. That’s it. If you think something different, a different message other than the one we’re preaching here, you are deceived. If you belong here, you are deceived. God wants you coming out of your deception. He wants you to be part of what He’s doing here. He doesn’t want anyone, anyone to not participate and partake of the wonderful Heavenly things He’s got for us right now. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
So, that’s why He wants us, vigilant. The Holy Vigil. It’s a Holy Vigil. Holiness is just Who God is. It’s Who God is and what He is saying right now, vigil. We’re coming together to be vigilant together, to be awake together, to be active together, to hear what He’s saying together, to be together in our awakeness. Because we can be much more awake together than when we are on our own. You are isolated, you are not awake. You got to be – we’ve got to be together. We’ve got to be awake together because my awakeness helps you to be awake and your awakeness helps my awakeness and we’re to be having this Holy Vigil together.
Especially at this time of the crossover. This is the time that God is earmarking, it’s a landmark, it’s a milestone, it’s a milepost. We’re picking up stones of what God is doing here right now in this congregation. It’s for us to remember and have a memorial for generation after generation. This will be recorded. It will be recorded in Heaven and what we did with it, we will have to stand before God with it on that great judgment day. Us as a people we will be accountable before God as a people what we did with this, with this time of this crossover. How we were with it. So massive is it in the heart of God.
So He says the great temptation that will come to all of us at this time, is not to believe His messages of what He is speaking to us right now. So, we must be on our guard for this enemy of ours is right now going about seeking where he has access in our minds to devour and steal your part in this end time work of God. Steal, kill, steal, to steal your part, your precious part in this end time work of God. Pastor John helped us with that prayer to pray. He said, “Just say, I’m ready. I’m ready. Lord, in my humanity, in my frailty, in my weakness, I’m just saying, Lord, I’m ready. I’m ready. Take me. Take me. Show me. I’m coming. I’m coming. I’m coming, Lord.” Right?
So, Pastor John and I have been working with Jesus to build this church. Our creed and our anchor and our true north for decades now has been Psalm 127 verse 1 from the King James. This is what we live by. 1 Except the Lord build the house, Pastor John and I are not building this house because this is too real for us and we fear God too greatly. 1 Except the Lord build the house, this Ecclesia they labor in vain (Psalm 127:1 KJV). For me and for Pastor John and I to come to the end of our life and to find our ladders up on the wrong wall and we’ve climbed it and it has been on the wrong wall all the time, to run a race in vain. To have laboured the way that Pastor John has laboured and I have laboured together, I’ve been a co-labourer together with Pastor John. Contending for things, fighting beasts, the bestial natures and carnal natures of Christians that have had things to say and opinions to have. We have fought, we have sowed, we have ploughed, we have sowed, we have worked, we have sowed, we have ploughed, we have laboured in this vineyard and God says now, we don’t say it. God says, it’s our harvest time now and those that are with us, it’s their harvest time too. It is His vineyard and everybody that is labouring in this vineyard is going to get the same pay. No matter which part of this timeline you have come in here, if you have come in here with the heart of, “I’m here, Lord, I’m here.” Same pay and you can go and have a look at that. You can go and have a look at that. Matthew 20 verse 1 to 16. Glory to God.
So, what is happening here now? I am awake. My awakeness is here to awake you today to where we are at, to what is happening right now. Pastor John, it’s the Lord, first of all, it’s His harvest. Because He waits patiently for the precious harvest and the fruit of the earth, that when the early and the latter rain come, there is His harvest. It is His. But the hardworking farmer must, must be first partaker of the harvest. It’s unequivocal for God that Pastor John and I’s labour, we must be first partaker of it. In whatever form it manifests itself, because it will be manifesting. It is already manifesting itself in such great blessing, in such great power, in such great wonder, in such great goodness, in such great, such greatness. [Ps Sharon speaking in tongues]
“These things are only spiritually discerned. They are foolishness to the natural mind,” says the Lord. We have been working hard. We’ve been hardworking farmers in His vineyard and 2 Timothy 2 verse 6, Amplified Bible says, 6 [It is] the hard-working farmer [who labors to produce] who must be the first partaker of the fruits (2 Timothy 2:6 AMPC). It’s the Lord’s harvest time for His work of this ministry, in this ministry. It is, it is. That’s why you saw what you saw this morning. That’s why Pastor John brought messages to the MiXchangers of multiplication and multitudes and the breaking. It’s the time of the breaking of the loaves and the fishes. It’s the time of that. It’s the time when God does miracles. When you cross the Jordan, there was always the time at the crossing of the Jordan where miracles happened with Elijah and Elisha. A miracle happened when the Jordan opened up and the people could walk through. It’s a time for miracles and it’s a time of miracles.
That’s why things are breaking, going to break out for people financially, break out for people in healing. Miracles, financial miracles. We’ve had all these words coming to us. We cannot just ignore them and set them aside. They are what God wants us to take cognisance of now. Now is when I’m doing it. Have an expectation now. He had instructions for people in this congregation. Get your mouth ready. He spoke and He spoke to specific people and then He said, “It is for all of us.” Get your mouth ready to speak, to speak and expect these things to happen. They’re not just a nice little word that Pastor John is bringing to you and speaking to you. It’s what God wants happening right now.
He’s been patient for this harvest. God’s been patient for this harvest. He’s been patient for this harvest. He is the Lord of the harvest and we’re going to look at James 5 verse 7 to 8, 7 So be patient, brethren, [as you wait] till the coming of the Lord. This is not the second coming. If you look up that word coming, you will see it when Jesus manifests Himself. Like He manifested Himself when He was with Joshua, He’s manifesting Himself with us right now, because we are crossing over and we are going in and He is manifesting Himself. Hallelujah. Right now. He’s manifesting Himself in our hearts in the crossover. It’s a happening event right now.
⁷ So be patient, Heritage of Faith people, [as you wait] till the coming of the Lord. The Lord is coming here now. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. [See how] he keeps up his patient [vigil] over it… I am keeping up my steadfast, consistent vigil over this harvest that must come now. I’m vigilant over this harvest that’s coming now, at this time. I’m keeping up my patient vigil. Consistent, insistent, persistent, steadfast. Pastor John and I haven’t come this far just for this harvest to rot in the field. No, no, no. It will manifest. It will manifest. It is manifesting. It will continue to manifest.
But there is a very real devil who will come to try and he is right now busy stealing your part in it from you. You’ve led him. You’re letting him. You want to have feelings of unworthiness. You should by now know how to be dealing with those feelings of unworthiness. You’ve been with us long enough to not be feeling unworthy. You deal with that. You deal with the devil with that and you tell him, “I’m worthy because of the blood of Jesus.”
If you’ve messed up, you get it right. Now. Get it right, now. Make it right with God now. 7 … patient [vigil] over it until it receives the early and late rains (James 5:7 AMPC). It’s receiving the early and the latter rain right now. It’s receiving it right now. Pastor John read the book out of Joel, the former and the latter rain. It’s when all the rains come. All right.
So, for the coming of the Lord is very near. Actually, the Lord said to me this morning, “My coming is here. My coming is here.” So, now I’m going to read to you, I’m going to read to you, how God has been speaking to Pastor John and I for a long time, for many years and you will all know, those that have been with us for a long time, will find these things familiar. So, Timothy, the Scripture says, I’m not going to put the Scripture up. You need to be – Pastor John and Sharon, you need to be all three of these things. You must fight like a soldier, train like an athlete, be committed to the work. Work and work like a farmer. You must view yourself as a soldier, athlete and a farmer.
Then I’ve already put second Timothy 2 verse 6 up, 6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits (2 Timothy 2:6 KJV). Whah, whah. I see, Lord. I see. He is having me speak these words into the very spiritual atmosphere right now, because these things will get done. God will bring them from the north and the south and the east and the west. He will bring in the labourers. He will bring in the people that will be reaping the harvest with us. He will bring them in. He must. We must. He must have this fruit of this labour. He will have it. If you are not going to do it, someone will come in your place. Jah.
Husbandman in the Greek refers to one who tills and works the soil. A soil worker, a soil tiller, Pastor John and Sharon. Husbandman is used. There is no doubt that Paul is referring to the activities of a farmer. He is referring to a hard-working farmer. The husbandman that laboureth, word labour in Greek is the word kópos and kópos doesn’t refer to just regular work. Rather to the hardest type of work. This was a man, this was a man. I’ll tell you, Pastor John and I, working to the point of sweat and tears. Using the word kópos, Paul is painting us a picture of a farmer working in the heat of the afternoon sun, during the hottest period of the year, the ground as hard as clay.There is little moisture and the work is strenuous.
I remember when we first came to Witbank. Haaard ground! I still said to the Lord, “Oh, this can’t be it. This can’t be them. This can’t be the people You have called us to”. Haaard ground! Everyone living for themselves. Everyone having an opinion about everything. Hard ground. I remember, the Lord had to encourage me, He said to me, “The gold is here. You must just dig. Keep on digging, keep on digging, the gold is here.”
The farmer is ploughing and sowing and ploughing and sowing. Physically exhausted, drenched with perspiration, covered with dirt. His done a hard day’s work. By using this illustration Paul is telling us once again to live in the combat zone is hard and difficult and exhausting. However, rather than complain and moan about it, Pastor John and I had faced it. We had to get out there and do the job, because God had called us to do it.
If a farmer wants to reap the benefits of the crop, that means he’s got to plough and plant. The unbearable heat doesn’t change the necessity of the task. Regardless, his job is to plough and plant. If we do our job in the combat zone faithfully, and it has been a combat zone for Pastor John and I. On many levels of many different kinds of people. Many different heart conditions. Many different attitudes. Many different kinds of stubborness, disobedience, disregard, dishonor. It didn’t matter that we were touching Christians like that. God said, “You plough, you plough and you plant. You plough and you plant and you water and you plough and you plant and you water.”
If a farmer wants to reap the benefits of a crop. Okay, no, okay. The unbearable heat doesn’t change the necessity of the task, his job is to plough and plant. And if we do our job in the combat zone faithfully, like a hard working farmer, we will reapt the benefits of our crop and that’s where we’re at, right now! We are busy preparing to bring the harvest that is white, it is ripe in the fields. The labourers are few, but I tell you, God is going to so mightily use those few labourers. Whah, Whah. I tell you now, that the harvest is white, it’s standing white and ripe and ready and that is why Pastor John has got this fever, it’s a harvest in gathering fever.
I’ve got a seed sowing, what did he say? “I’m in a seed-sowing frenzy.” Because on the banks of the river when the Jordan was flooding, they did their last bit, they got on boats, in those days. They got on boats and they threw some seeds into the river Jordan while it was flooding because they knew when the floods subsided there would be something that would come up in that fertile mud and fertile soil.
Your harvest, those of you who have been instinctively listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and saying, “I think I’ll just give this now.” You think you’ve made a casual decision? No. No. You’re listening to the Holy Spirit because this is a time, this is a time to be in a seed-sowing frenzy. Hallelujah. Because the banks of the river are overflowing of the Jordan and God’s about to part the waters, He is parting the waters already, we are overlapping on many things now. We are overlapping on many things now. Sho, sho. The fruits belong to the hard worker first, everyone else eats after him. Right?
The job of sowing seed, the reaping is done by hand. That’s the best way. Concerning teaching, preaching and sowing the Word into the heart, like a farmer would sow into a field, the Lord said, “Behold a sower went forth to sow.” The sower goes into the field to sow. Pastor John has been a sower and me with him, we have gone into the field to sow, we have been sowing the Word. Which Word? The Word that God gives us to give, at that time, and how He wants to give it. That’s why our planting has been so orderly. The sowing has been so orderly because we have been listening to the Builder, the Master Builder Who has been giving us Words; messages in succession for the last 23 years. He has been giving us ordered, planned, detailed messages. Some of them we didn’t understand, “Why God do You want to say this now? You say this now. You speak this now.” Hallelujah. “Because I’ve got to have this planted now.”
He goes into the field. A farmer is personally involved in all the activities of the field. It’s our responsibility. God gave us this field of ministry and it’s Pastor John’s responsibility and mine with him, to take care of this vineyard. It was his job to sow and no one else’s. This farm is so precious to him that it requires his complete total attention. Later, when harvest time came, many workers could come into the field to help reap the harvest. However, the planting of the seed, because it was crucial and vital job, was the responsibility of the farmer himself, personally involved in the work God has called us to do.
I just want to read something to you. A computerized telephone message doesn’t care if the listener hangs, if the listener listens or hangs up. It has neither feelings nor emotional. As one evangelist said, “It’s great trying to reach people with this new computerized device. You never get rejected, you never get cussed out, and you never have to answer any difficult Bible questions. Really, there’s no personal involvement and doesn’t require any of your personal time. Just let the telephone do all the work.” So, so, so. I’m talking about this in the light of the personal work that has to be done. We thank God that if he uses these other methods to reach, but it’s the personal touch God’s after. It’s the face to face, it’s the heart to heart, it’s the shoulder to shoulder of the army, it’s the showing up of us together. It’s us knowing each other after the Spirit.
So, there is no replacement for the touch of a caring pastor, the powerful personal influence of an apostle. The heart stirring message in presence of a prophet. The personal fine tuned anointing of an excellent teacher and a strong fiery presence of an evangelist and the impact on warm hearted believers. So, Satan wants to keep us out of the field. He wants to keep you and the anointing of God away from the saints. It is true that the anointing can be transmitted through tape cassette or video messages, letters, radio, television programs, even prayer cloths but there is no substitute for the anointing that is passed on through one’s personal presence. God meant for the anointing to be passed on through your life, through your life. Your presence among the saints. Hallelujah.
Sowing the Word inside the church. Inside the church we have the opportunity to work with soil. Prepare the believers’ hearts. What am I sharing with you? I am sharing with you Pastor John and I’s story up until now. To show you how we get and how we got to this time that we find ourselves in. That we have full recognition of. Our eyes are wide open, our spirit eyes are wide open. We are awake to this and so it is not enough for Pastor John and I to be awake to this now because many workers are required to bring in this harvest. You have to see what we see. You have to get what we give, what we get.
So, this is what Pastor John and I have been doing. In the church we have the opportunity to work the soil, prepare the believer’s hearts, get them ready to receive God’s Word. Then after receiving the seed it can be worked further and deeper into their hearts by constant teaching. I mean there’s got to be things in God’s heart. “When are they going to get it? How much more do I have to say this until they can actually get it? They are still afraid. They still don’t trust Me. They are still not doing the Word. They still have opinions. They are still asking questions.” It is like God, it’s like how many times must I say it? How many times? But, that’s not the question that we ask. It must be worked further and deeper into their hearts by constant teaching. The best farmers would actually sit down in the dirt of the field to personally plant the seed into the soil by hand, one by one, one plant at a time. By doing this, not only did they make certain the seed was safely planted, they were also able to keep the rows in an orderly fashion. Planting in an orderly fashion. This helps the reaper when it comes to harvest the fruit of the field. The more orderly the field, the easier the harvest. This is a picture of ministry. Right. Plant by hand to the church and her members to plant the seed by hand in an organized orderly fashion. This is what discipleship is all about. Personally planting the seed, covering it with protection, watering it, pouring fertilizer on it in order to ensure its growth.
Messages from God. Our messages from God have been organised and have continuity. Our messages have flowed with previous messages. Our message links with a series of messages to follow. It helps keep the rows of plants and the people, all of us, in line. On the other hand, disjointed messages. A message here and a message there and boom, another new subject. Boom. Another new subject. Confusing the saints. Their lives not in spiritual order. The more orderly the field, the easier the harvest. Thank God for shepherds who have helped prepare the hearts of their people. A prepared heart or congregation is a joy to teach. They soak up every word they hear.
I had that experience last Sunday, if you remember. I was ministering when I started to minister on temptation. I just sensed there were some, enough people in this place whose hearts were going, reaching out to whatever God was saying through me and going (suction noise). Because they’re following God. They’re not following a man. Yes, they are following a man. But they’re following God in following a man. Because that’s what God, they followed Joshua. They followed Moses. They followed Paul. It’s God’s pattern. But they’re following God because they understand God’s pattern and God’s order.
Preaching to a congregation who has no appreciation for the messages, no desire for more of God is an extremely hard challenge. In such cases, we have to ignore their lack of response and preach regardless of what their reaction may be. Then dig, dig, dig and dig. Plough, plough, plough and plough, until you get that seed down on the inside of them. This type of ministry is not fun. It’s not fun. Fun or not, it must be done. Fun or not, it must be done. That’s why God calls Pastor John and I husbandman or farmer, our function as ministry gifts, which includes Pastor Christi and includes Pastor Garth and others that will have delegated authority by the Spirit of God that will come. A husbandman or a farmer, our function as ministry gifts is to get that seed into the field. A husbandman, that’s why Paul calls us the husbandman, the farmer that laboureth, labourers, labourers, labourers, labourers soaking the seed with protection.
By the time of the New Testament chemicals had already been introduced to protect the seed from insects. Primitive as these chemicals were, they worked. Before the seed was sown, it was first soaked in a powerful liquid solution. The solution didn’t hurt the seed, but it was deadly to the vile insects that would attempt to eat the seed once placed in the soil. Soaking the seed is crucial. We must cover and soak and saturate the seed of God’s Word with prayer. That’s why we’re a house of prayer. The speakings of God, the declarations of God, the professions of God, the things that we speak, to declare is prayer. It’s part of prayer to declare. Speak the Words of God. We are to thoroughly saturate our ministry. Our ministry, our prophetic message, our preaching and in teaching and instruction with prayer. This is a vital task of saturating the word of prayer. Our prayer acts as protection. Harvest time finally arrives. Let me just see. Let me just see. I’m going to go a little longer, is that okay? I’m going to see if I can just get through this part and then I’m done. Are you with me? Are you with me? Right?
Okay, so here we go. Harvest time finally arrives. Psalm 126 verse 5 says that, 5They that sow in tears… God will know the tears that Pastor John and I have cried in the process of dig, dig, dig, plough, plough, plough, sow, sow, sow. God knows those tears. He’s kept them all in a bottle. That’s what the Bible says. He keeps our tears in a bottle. Hallelujah. There is that time, 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126:5 KJV). Ecclesiastes 3 verse 2, there is a time to sow and a time to reap that which has been sown. Now it’s multiplication and multitudes. Glory.
Who does the reaping? Who does the reaping? Who does the reaping? While the farmer was personally responsible to sow the seed into the soil, it was impossible for him to bring in the harvest single handedly. Therefore, many workers were employed to help bring in the harvest. When the harvest was just beginning to come in, the farmer and his immediate family did the reaping and this harvest was small and easy to handle by the farmer and his family. They took great joy in reaping the first fruit and we have had some fruits of our labourers, right?
If it looked like a bumper crop year, a maximum. If it looked like a bumper crop year, the smart farmer had already trained and prepared other workers. When the farmer could no longer handle the massive reaping and harvesting alone, he would send word to these other trained reapers who had come to assist him in the joy of reaping. I’m seeing that happening. You know, your natural eyes may see something so naturally and I feel for you that that’s all you can see. I do. I wish you could see what I see. But when I see that Matthew and Kate have gone down to Durban with their little baby to go to their mom and I see Tishri and I see Michael step into their place of sound and song at the desk and in the back, I see labourers in His vineyard. Oh, glory to God. If you don’t see that, you’re not seeing. You don’t see as God sees. You’re not looking. You’re asleep. You’re asleep. Oh, Jesus.
I’m just using them as an example. My heart… because it’s happened to me this morning. I’m like; Tishri, you’re there at the sound desk? Michael, you’re there. My heart is leaping with joy because I’m recognising the harvest is coming. It’s on its way and the labourers are ready and all I could hear from Tishri was, “We’ve got to be ready, Pastor Sharon. We’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to be ready.” And I was looking at her and I just saw the glory on her. I said, “Yes, Tishri, we’ve got to be ready.” Oh, can we just give God a moment here? Can we just give God a moment of acknowledgment of what He’s doing here. Glory to God. Shh. Glory to God.
This is a picture of the Church. While the pastor can handle a small early harvest and wants to pick the first fruit, it isn’t possible for him to handle a massive harvest by himself. Therefore, like a smart farmer, he must train and prepare the saints, equipping them to do the work of the ministry. If willing believers are trained and prepared before the harvest comes, then reaping and harvesting will be a joy. However, if God sends a large harvest and there are no trained workers, a large harvest can be a curse.
Oh! Spiritually speaking, if we knew that the harvest is here and there is no one helping, we would know it died. It rotted in the field. And then, my Lord, I’m telling you now, take me home. I’ve got nothing more to do on earth. It’s been in vain.
So; Unfortunately, this has happened many times large God-sent harvests have rotted in the fields because of lack of preparation, I’ve heard it over and over again we didn’t realize the people would respond, we weren’t ready for this kind of response. We simply were not prepared. After praying for a large spiritual bumper crop, finally, it arrives and is left in the field to rot because no one trained and prepared in advance to bring the harvest into the Church. What a shame to finally have the blessing of God on your church community or ministry and then miss your opportunity to reap.
So, I want to finish with this and then I’ll pick up from here next week.That at the time of harvest, Satan is at his most deadly because he’s a spirit being and he knows what’s happening in the realm of the spirit and then when there’s a beautiful crop out in the field, he will send a swarm of locusts. A swarm of locusts to come and voraciously see if they can eat up the harvest of God’s Word, God’s plans. But I’ve got good news and I’m going to leave you with this. When I looked it up on the internet, it’s quite amazing you see pictures of swarms of locusts, swarms coming to farmers’ beautiful harvests that are full grown, they’re about to reap.
These swarms come and you know what they do? In parts of the field, they will build fires in ungrown parts of the field, they’ll build fires because locusts hate smoke. They hate Holy Ghost fire and Holy Ghost smoke. The Shekinah Glory of God, they cannot deal with it! Why do you think it is that God is expecting and requiring it of us at this time? “Secure My presence at once on a Sunday.” It’s our Holy Ghost fire and it’s the smoke that keeps the locusts away of our harvest. Holy Ghost smoke and Holy Ghost fire. If you’re not burning with the fire of God, the locusts are going to get your harvest and that’s another teaching.
So, glory to God. All glory to God. All glory to God. That’s what the Lord wanted to say today. He wanted you to know, be in the know of where we are at today. What’s happening now. What’s happening? This is what’s happening. This is where we are. This is what’s happening. Glory to God. Quite clear, I think He was this morning. Quite clear.
Father, I thank You for Your precious people that have been sitting under the sound of my voice as I have been bringing to them the things that You have told me to bring to them, Lord. Father, thank You that the Word and the Blood of Jesus surrounds them and protects them, Lord. Protects the seed that has been sown into their heart, that it will take root, that it won’t be something that Satan will just come immediately this afternoon, already it’s gone. No, Lord, it’ll be something that they will be thinking about. Something that they’ll be speaking about, Lord, in Jesus’ name. They’re protected going out, protected coming in. Blessed going out of this building, blessed coming in, Father. They are Your beloved, Lord. They are Your beloved. They are Your vineyard and You are looking out for them and You are dealing with them, Father. I commend them now to the Word of God, which is able to save them and it’s able to make them to get their full inheritance, among the saints, here in this place, in this Church, in Jesus’ name. And we all say, amen. God bless you all and I will be at Holy Vigil at one o’clock.
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TOUCH | TEACH | TRAIN | TRANSFER
