Scripture reference: Galatians 3:7-14 (NKJV), Philippians 3:10-14 (NKJV), Philippians 3:12-13 (TPT), Philippians 3:13-14 (MSG)
Hallelujah. Thank you. Praise the Lord. Well, it’s a good day to be in church. Every Sunday is a good day to be in church. Every other day is a good day to be in church. That means every day is a good day to be in church. Before you sit down, just tell somebody that you are glad you are here and that you are glad they are here and then you may be seated.
Praise the Lord. It seems that the Scripture, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more,” is really relevant to us. It seems to me that when December comes around, everybody kind of begins to take a reasonably allocated amount of time to do whatever you want to do because the system allocates that time. Over the years, I’ve also recognised that actually, God seems to not really care about the timetable of men or the agenda of men, but He’s more interested in doing what’s on His timetable. Amen.
So, I have to confirm what Pastor Sharon did this morning for Simon and for Brynn, that the shout of God is the place of victory. Brother Jerry has said it like this many times, “The level of your shout or the level of your praise will determine the level of your breakthrough.” Those are not just preaching words. That’s not just something that rhymes. That’s something that causes breakthroughs. And certainly, for me, in my life, I’ve experienced, and Pastor Sharon, we’ve experienced many of our significant breakthroughs have happened because we did exactly what was done this morning. And so, what you do in a situation like this is that you have to step out in faith. You don’t feel like it. You don’t feel like it. You have to step out in faith. When you step out in faith, then God takes your faith step and then makes it more real to you as you step out in faith. Praise the Lord for that.
While I’m about it, given the nature of what I’m going to teach and preach this morning, I’m going to ask all of you to allow me to go to the back of the auditorium without asking, and I’m asking you to let me go, to not try and connect with me and the rest of the service will tell you why. Amen.
Jerry Savelle is going to be here from the 19th to the 23rd of May. So please put it in your diaries that the 19th is a Sunday; anything is possible for that weekend of the 18th and the 19th of May. So I wouldn’t make any arrangements from the Friday, which is the 17th, all the way to the 23rd or 24th of May. Please put it in your diaries and make sure you’ve got that down. Praise the Lord.
Next weekend, I’m going to be sharing something with you on Saturday morning that I’m going to ask you to celebrate with me, but I’m also going to be sharing something very significant with you on Saturday morning. It’s going to be quite a day for me and I know it’s going to be a rather big and grand day for all of us because God’s taking me to a higher level, and so, by default, He’s taking you to a higher level. Amen.
Next Saturday, we will just be flowing with God in the morning. Then we’re going to take some time out from around 12 o’clock to 3:30pm. We will reconvene here at the church at 3:30pm and have another teaching service, and then after that, we will have a celebration of music and sound here in the auditorium next Saturday night. Amen.
Sunday morning will be a continuation of what happens on Saturday, and what happens next weekend is going to be a continuation of what I’m ministering today. Amen.
Also, there’s going to be a special service today at 12:15. It’s Crossover Moments, and God has got something specific He’s going to do today at 12:15. So, we’ve made it close to the close of this service, so there’s time for you to take a break, but it also gives you the opportunity to be here for an hour instead of message moments tonight at 5 o’clock. We’re going to do it straight after the service, but it’s not message moments as usual. It’s something else that God’s going to do. If I had to… Well, no, I’m not going to say it. I’m just going to let God do it. Amen. All Right.
To show you where God is going with us right now… Oh, there is one more thing I have to say. We are going to the farm next week, not next week, the week after. We are going to the farm, and we are going to inhabit the farm. We are going to inhabit the land. Amen. We are doing both a spiritual inhabitation and a physical habitation. And when we come back, we mostly will come back from the farm on Wednesday, that will be Wednesday the 20th. On Thursday the 21st, and Friday the 23nd, we will open the church here from 5 o’clock to 6 o’clock, because we are going… Pastor Sharon and I are making ourselves available for that one hour because God has got something special He is doing at this time of the year right now.
We are not waiting until January. We have to obey God right now. This that I’m telling you was in my heart this morning. I didn’t have it in my heart before this morning. When I was praying this morning… It surprised Pastor Sharon because I was in my prayer chair and she came into the room and I said, “Sharon, this is what I feel. Do you witness with it?” And obviously, she did in the moment.
We are going to open the church for an hour on the Thursday afternoon, and the Friday afternoon and anybody who is in town can come and join us. We are going to make ourselves available to teach, to share the bread of life, to do whatever God tells us to do for that hour. And then Tuesday the 26th is a holiday, Tuesday the 26th of December. The 27th, 28th, and 29th we are going to open the church for another hour each of those days to do the same thing that we did those other days. God is making us do a crossover, and we are crossing over right now.
Even though the children of Israel walked around the desert for 40 years, when He said, “It is time to crossover,” then there wasn’t any more time to walk around in the desert; it was a time to crossover. If you had asked me logically, and if you had asked me reasonably, “Is this a good time of the year to do it?” what do you think my answer would be? No chance. No chance because everybody is on leave, everybody has made plans, everybody has arrangements, everything, everything. This is not a good time of the year to do it. And everybody, by the way, doesn’t want to come to church on their holidays. Certainly not in the middle of the week. And so why do this?
Well, I can’t be subjected to God’s calendar because you have a calendar. I have to be subject to God’s calendar because it is His calendar, not mine. So, I just want you to understand that I know what’s going on here. I’m not blind to this. Amen. Okay. I’m ready. Are you ready? Okay.
Rhetorical question. Why are we here? Why are we here? We are here at this moment in time because we have Bible truth that is guiding us. There are many ministers out there who have been used by God to bring Bible truth to the church. And I’m happy to say that I would like to refer to Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and many other people like that, that have brought Bible truth to the church. When you’re bringing, and God uses you to bring Bible truth to the church, then it means the truth that you have is for everyone in the church. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you get the teaching, then you’ll get the revelation. Or, it’s your choice at least whether you step into the revelation or not.
And then you have prophetic truth. Prophetic truth is a word that God wants to speak into the earth at any given time. And when He speaks that prophetic truth, the real significance of the prophetic truth is that you must receive from God the execution or the knowing or the know-how of how you apply the prophetic truth. It is possible, that one person’s application of the prophetic truth is different from someone else’s application to the prophetic truth. Again, I’m going to use Kenneth Hagin as an example.
In the mid-90’s, Kenneth Hagin prophesied. And he prophesied five years at a time. Pastor Sharon and I were in the church at the time that didn’t publicly reveal the prophetic truth of Kenneth Hagin. We had to go and find it.
Well, let me put it this way. God brought it to us. God brought it to us. And to our knowledge, there was no one else in our whole church of 25,000 people that were living according to; I mean, we didn’t always obviously connect with 25,000 people all the time. But, you know, we had a lot of people that we knew. And there were very few people that we knew that actually received the prophetic word from Kenneth Hagin.
Our application was focused and determined; we walked by it. Everybody else didn’t even know the word, so there was no application. So, therefore, they can’t receive what the prophetic truth is. Now, remember, I got to speak about Bible truth first. Because in Bible truth, God is in charge of the entire human timetable but your choices are in charge of your particular timetable.
Again, I’m speaking about a prophetic truth that’s available to the whole body of Christ. And then there’s a truth that is for a group of people. For example, God has spoken prophetic truths about the nation of Israel that is not about any other nation on the earth. His prophetic truth is only for that group of people, and they are the people by which He measures all of other human calendars by. All of other human life patterns He measured by the group of people that He’s prophesied over, that is His people. The Jewish people.
You and I, Heritage of Faith, we fit into that category that God will bring a prophetic truth sometimes that’s just for a group of people. It’s not for everybody. Let me take you to an example. This became very real to me because I’ve had to press into the Lord about this. Because God has done an amazing thing when He’s prophesied, I will take the children. He prophesied it to our church, to our people. Right? If someone else from somewhere else in the world listens to the word that God brought to us, I will take the children, they could look at that word and measure it by Bible truth. If they measure it by Bible truth, they will see that it fits in Bible truth. Any prophetic word has to fit into Bible truth. If it doesn’t fit into Bible truth, then it’s not prophetic from God. It’s someone else that’s had too much pizza the night before, or the day before.
If prophetic truth at any level doesn’t fit into Bible truth, scrap it. Having said that, if you are not the people that the word has come for, then if you evaluate it because you understand prophecy, you might not receive the anointing that comes with it that is for the group of people. If you don’t receive the anointing that comes with the revelation of teaching, then you can evaluate it and say, “I don’t really believe that, or that’s not really pertinent to me. It’s not relevant.” Either, which way, if you hear it, but you don’t have the anointing to hear it, then you can reject it quite easily because there’s no anointing to hear it. Amen.
Just a couple of months earlier, God began to speak to us as a church, a group of people, and He said, “It’s crossover time. It’s crossover time.”
Then, on the 1st of October, I had a couple of parts of the message and Pastor Sharon did a great job of bringing part three of the crossover messages to you. God gave her insight into what I ministered and she gave five points. The five points were: The old has to die; then you crossover; and number three, remember your miracle. In other words, take stones with you as a memorial. Number four, build a memorial for generations to come so they can see by which way you came; and then number five, circumcision taking place in your hearts. If any of you get the transcriptions, it’s towards the end of the service of that particular transcribed message. Amen.
There is a special crossover anointing. That crossover anointing is right now. It’s right now. It wasn’t there a year ago. Whatever we do now is going to increase our ability to crossover because we are being obedient right now. If you’ve been around me long enough and you’ve been in this church and this ministry long enough, you will know that I’m very much a practical person. I’m very much a person that says, “If we’ve got truth to live, then it should be able to be lived.” I’m quite practical in the way that I deliver any message from relationship to faith to anything. Got to be practical in living it, because I don’t want just general truth to be general truth. I want general truth to apply it so I can live it, because if I don’t live it, then it doesn’t become anything to me. Then I don’t get close to God. I don’t have what God has for me, and then what’s the point?
So, if I address a subject like I’m going to address today and next weekend, then you must understand that God’s got something going on inside of me because generally, this is a subject I just don’t want to talk about. Since I’ve been preaching in this pulpit over the last 23 years or so, I’ve only addressed it in one context, and that is; “Everything is taken care of by the blood of Jesus.” When I’ve dealt with the subject, I’ve dealt with it on that basis. Everything is dealt with through the blood of Jesus. When you pass through the veil of the blood, there is nothing else that needs to be talked about. So, if I’m talking about this subject, it means God wants me to talk about it. Amen. And now you’re intrigued. Good.
Galatians chapter 3 verse 7 reads like this; 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. (Galatians 3:7-9 NKJV)
So, quickly, I want to just ask you the question, “Was Abraham subject to the law?” No, he was not, because the law wasn’t there when Abraham was there. So, whatever walk Abraham walked, he wasn’t walking according to the law. He was walking according to faith. God imputed to him righteousness because of his faith, not because of his adherence to the law. Verse 10, 10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. So, anybody that’s under the works of the law is under the curse. …For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Galatians 3:10 NKJV)
Come on, does this scripture reveal that there is a curse? There is a curse. And the curse, the curse is everyone, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So, when the law came in, the curse came with the law. So, if you’re living by the law, then you are blessed. If you’re not living by the law, then you are cursed. Wow, that’s a big word, cursed. Cursed. This scripture says cursed is everyone. Cursed is everyone.
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. So, there was no one who could do this. So, everyone was under the curse. 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” In other words, if you choose to live by the law, then you must live by everything that is under the law. 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:7-14 NKJV)
Now remember what I started off by saying; “I’ve always addressed this matter through the blood of Jesus.” When Jesus hung on the cross and He shed His blood for us, anybody who believes in Jesus no longer has to live by the law. They now can live in their faith and believe in Jesus. If you live in faith and believe in Jesus, then the blood takes you away from the curse. If you choose to live by a set of rules, then the rules will dominate your outcome. Amen.
In the Bible, the word bless is used about 600 times, and the word curse is used about 300 times. This is a very big subject in the Bible. Here’s what blessing and cursing is. Blessing and cursing, they are both vehicles of supernatural power. If God the Father said, “Cursed are the people who don’t live by the law.”
What gives the curse its power? It’s not the devil that gave the curse that power. It’s God who said, “Here’s my standard of life. It’s all through a set of performance criteria. If you don’t live by the performance criteria, you have none of my blessings.” If you’re not in light, then you’re in darkness. There’s no middle ground with God. I’m not walking in all the lights, so I’ll walk in a marginal component of light. God is Light. You’re either walking in light or you’re walking in darkness. It doesn’t matter how strong the light is coming into my face from these TV lights here. If I turn my face from the light, then this part of my face is now in the darkness, relatively speaking, from the light. Right? So, either you’re facing the light or you’re facing away from the light. There’s no…
The Bible says about God the Father, there’s no shadow of turning in Him. There’s no variableness because you can’t have shadows in perfect light. If we look at blessing as being light and cursing as being dark, it’s you can’t be in God if you’re not 100% living by the law. So, God said, “I understand, this is a problem. I can’t give you grace, but I can give you mercy.” Grace is the power to live in the blessing. Right? Under the law, I can’t give you the power to live in the blessing because the power is in the law of do’s and don’ts. So, the power to do or don’t is already in the law so I can’t give you grace to do the law. It’s a choice.
But I can give you mercy. So, mercy is just a judgment delayed. So, here’s what we do; instead of you paying for the price of your inability to live by the law and living under curses, I give you the right to come and take another life, an animal’s life, shed blood from an animal and that is the mercy that your judgment is delayed. I don’t want to get technical about this, now, but just let’s leave it at that.
All blessings and cursing are transmitted by the power of words. The law is words spoken by God written down. Come on. Spoken by God written down. This is important for what we’re going to say today. Spoken by God written down. Words are what transmit both blessing and cursing. It’s words.
Blessing is the result and or consequence of obedience to God. That’s the law and that’s us now. Curses is the result and or consequence of disobedience to God. Curses is not the power of a witch doctor, it’s not the power of witchcraft, it’s not the power of something else. It’s the power of disobedience to God.
Why would anyone be disobedient to God? Just bear with me now. I’m building a case for where we’re going today and next weekend. Why would anyone be disobedient to God? Well, I mean, the big overall simple way of looking at it is; your will is more important than God’s will. But if you choose your will more than God’s will, that means there’s something else that’s triggering your desire to serve you.
It could be something in the material world that is drawing you. It could be something like power, which is not necessarily in the material world, it’s an intangible thing, but it is no less relevant – power. It could be status. It could be a force inside of yourself like ambition and different things. But whatever it is, it’s something inside of you that says, “I don’t want to obey God.” I didn’t arrive at this message today on its own. There’ve been weeks before I’ve talked about culture. I’ve talked about many different things. And last week I talked about how God sees us through the eyes and the filters of righteousness, the blood of Jesus. So, when you get to this message this morning, it’s in the context of all the messages I’ve been bringing. You can’t just see this as a single standout message. But I can’t go back and preach all those messages for the sake of this morning. So just bear with me.
If we are obedient to God, then what we have said is, your word, your will, your ways are more important to me than my will, my word, my ways. If you say that, then God empowers you to walk in your choice. Then He blesses you through your choice. But He’s empowered you in your choosing. If you disobey God, He has no power to give you. Because what you’ve said is, “I choose my power source.” My power source is not God. My power source is in me. So, the power source that is me, living in this world that God gave me, that’s the whole deal. When you choose your source of power, you leave yourself open, talking about mankind in general, everybody in general, leaves themselves open to whatever influences are out there in the world.
So, does the devil have any power? He has no power. He only has deception, manipulation, and influence, and He has the ability to get you to choose something other than the will of God. If you say that’s power, then then he has power. But it’s not power that he has that He dominates you with, it’s power you give him because the power is in you. Doesn’t the Bible say, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue”? The Lord says, I put before you life and death, choose life. Whose choice is it? Yours and mine. We choose. So if I’m talking about a curse, then I’m not talking about the power that belongs in witchcraft or that belongs in satanic worship, or in some mysterious power that is going to come and get a hold of you. I’m talking about the power of human beings that use their power of choice and allow the influence of the enemy to create a power source amongst men. The power is in men, it is not in the devil. It’s the power of men to exercise influence over men. The devil doesn’t have that power. The power is in you. It’s in your choice and it’s in your words. Hallelujah.
Now bear in mind, where I’m going, the fullness of this message can only be revealed in the weeks ahead. I can’t get to the fullness of this message in one morning. But, if we’re going to cross over, we’ve got to recognise where we’re at and God wants to expose some things so that we are not ignorant.
So why am I bringing this message right now? Because we’re crossing over, and there are some things you have to leave behind. If you’re going to cross over, you can’t take old things with you. Come on. I can’t go to yesterday. Yesterday is unavailable to me. Never again will yesterday be a part of my life. Why? Because yesterday was yesterday. I can remember yesterday. I can speak about yesterday. I might have some emotional effect that is a residual in my heart or in my life from yesterday, but yesterday can never be part of my life again. In fact, even five minutes ago can’t be part of my life again. I can only do what I’m doing right now in this moment and I can see what tomorrow will hold, but actually, my tomorrow is really dependent on what I do right now and as many tomorrows as I have got left is going to be dependent on what I do right now. Not yesterday. And I can’t even live in tomorrow yet. I can plan for things in tomorrow, I can think about things in tomorrow, but many things might change before I get to tomorrow. Then my plans and everything else will have to change.
Philippians chapter three, verse 10. I’m first reading from the New King James Bible and then I’m going to read some more in different translations. So, let me tell you that if I wanted to have a big crowd – if God wanted me to have a big crowd – I could have announced this service a month ago. And if I said, I’m going to be talking about bloodline curses and about generational curses and about all of those kinds of things, we would have a packed church, because everybody wants to know about bloodline- and generational curses.
I want to tell you that between now and next weekend, I’m going to be talking about bloodline curses and generational curses. This is a subject I’ve never ever talked about before, because in my mind, what happens through the veil of the blood is the end of it. “Why now, Pastor John?” Because we’re crossing over.
So, apparently, God wants me… In 23 years, I’ve never talked about the subject. I don’t think I’ve ever even really given this much attention other than there was a real surge in the church about 15 years ago where everybody was breaking curses and going crazy and there was, you know, go to prophetic services so you can have bloodline curses broken and generational curses and there was a big surge in the church.
My way of addressing it was just to simply say, “Hey, don’t receive anything from the past. Walk in the blood of Jesus and be free.” Essentially, I still believe that. That hasn’t changed. I’m not changing now.
But there’s some things God wants to bring to our attention and show us so that we get a clarity of what’s going on, so we can move forward with truth, Bible truth. So that the prophetic truth can be lived out by this group of people. I’m not speaking this truth to the whole of America or the whole of Europe or the whole of Australia. I’m speaking to Heritage of Faith people here.
This is a prayer by the apostle Paul and I’m just reading from verse 10, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. (Philippians 3:10 NKJV)
There is so much in this subject that I may know him and the power of his resurrection because resurrection is passed through the veil of death. So, death can no longer have a hold on you if you’ve been resurrected. Come on.
If you’ve died and you come back from death, then death cannot hold you anymore because you will know that death has no power. Jesus broke the power of death forever. So, to know Him in resurrection is a great thing, it’s not just a line in the Bible.
11 If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. You know what Paul was saying? He’s not saying I will someday be resurrected. He was saying I have such a revelation of resurrection and the power of His resurrection that I’m pressing towards being resurrected even while I’m in this body. That was the level of his press towards God. That is quite something to have a revelation of the resurrection of Christ to that extent.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; because if you’ve been raised from the dead, you are perfected. But I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, if you cross over, you’ve got to forget those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. 14 I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:11-14 NKJV).
What’s happening to us right now? We’re crossing over and we have to leave the things that are behind, and we’ve got to move forward into the things that are ahead. Amen.
I have to reiterate this, again. If you talk to the practical people-leadership of John Bendixen, then I would say to you, I really wish, I really wish you could have a break this December, take your leave. I don’t ever like anybody going away from the church. I’ve said that for many years. I’ll say it again. I don’t like what happens over December. People leave Church and they go on holiday, and they have a party for three weeks and they live however they want. They eat what they want. They speak what they want because “I’m relaxed. This is my chill time. This is my joy time. This is my, I’ve-worked-all-year-to-have-this time.” And so, they leave God behind and they go and have a party and then when they come back to church in the new year, then it’s like, “Hold on God, I’m back again. I left you behind for three weeks, but I’m back. Can You talk to me again, please?”
Now I know that over the years, a large group of this people has been able to get this understanding and you still live in God while you’re on leave. I trust that is so.
But if you ask the practical leader that is John, and that says, we should have services going into December till the end of December and we should do this kind of thing. There’s a part of me that says, “John, John, John, what are you doing? What are you doing?” So why would I be doing this? Until this morning, I had no intention of doing this. So why am I doing it? Because God is on me to crossover. On me. So, if you say to me, “John, what are you doing in December?” “I’m crossing over.”
Pastor Sharon made a very, very powerful practical image on Tuesday night in prayer. First of all, she stood up here and she took a Bible and a file under one… She said, “You want to know what I’m going to do in December? You want to know what I’m going to do in December?” This is what I’m going to be doing in December. And then she called Quinton up and said, “Quinton, come and stand here.” And she put a Bible and a file under his arms and said, this is what we’re all going to be doing in December.
Well, that’s your choice, what you choose to do. But that graphic image is what I’m sharing with you now. That’s what you’ll find me doing. Every single day, I will have a Bible in my hands and I will have revelations that God has given me in the other hand, and I will be pressing into Him for the crossover.
Next Saturday morning, you will find some things that God has already been using in my life since earlier this year. Saying to me, “John, I want you to crossover.” When He spoke to me earlier this year and said, “I have a favour for you, John, ask Me a favour. I want to give you a favour.” When He gave it to me, I didn’t have half of the understanding of what I now have, what He was actually trying to get to me. Next Saturday morning, you’ll find out. It’s not just in the practical stuff that God’s done for me. It’s in such a big picture of what God is still doing for me. If He’s doing it for me, then He’s doing it for all of us. Hallelujah. So why are you waiting till next Saturday morning? Wait and see. Hallelujah.
So I’m pressing towards the goal. I’m pressing. Here’s what the Passion translation says. 12 I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfil and wants me to discover (Philippians 3:12 TPT). Wow. You know, this word discovery has become either a love or a hate word, depending on the level of your medical aid here in South Africa [Congregation laughs].
But discovery is an amazing thing. God put this word in me some years ago now, Journey to New Discoveries. It is most probably the most exciting things we can have in Jesus, is the journey to new discoveries. We don’t have to get stuck in the past and the old and everything else and say there is no more discovery for us. We are journeying to new discoveries.
What is happening to me right now, is I am journeying on new discoveries. 13 I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however, I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. 14 I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14 TPT) Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I am focused, I am focused – I do have one compelling focus. I have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past – my weaknesses, my mistakes, my inabilities, my questions that led me down rabbit holes, my everything – I forget everything – everything that is in the past. And I am compelled to focus on everything that is in the future that God has for me. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gain the victory prize through Jesus. Hallelujah!
Philippians chapter 3 verse 13 and in this instance, I am reading past verse 14 and I’m going to verses 15 and 16 just because the Message Translation puts it so well. 13 Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. (Philippians 3:13-14 MSG)
How many of you know what happens if you’re running in one direction and you start looking behind you? You’re going to fall on that turned head. You’re going to fall on your head. I mean, one of the greatest spectacular things that you can see as a sportsman do it, and every time I see a really professional sportsman do it, it’s a thrill to me. Because the talent and the ability to do it is just incredible. And that is to run in this direction and have your eye on a ball that’s coming over your shoulder, or coming out of the air this way, whether it be a cricket ball or rugby ball or anything else, a soccer ball, whatever, coming over your head like this and to follow the trajectory while running this way and reach out your hands and catch it. Spectacular. But let me tell you, that happens in very, very rare situations and with extreme talent and a lot of training. It’s not the normal thing that happens in life.
I mean, when I was a track athlete and I was sprinting for my living when I was 12 years old, and I was sprinting for my living. You know, you’re taught at a very early age if you’re going to want to win any races – is that when you see that finish line, if there’s a guy next to you and you can sense that they’re just there, do not turn your head and look to where they are, because the mere act of just turning will slow you down, take your focus off, and it will stop you from actually winning. So even if you know they’re there if you sense they are there, and they are right next to you, that’s the sign, go faster. And if you can’t go faster, try again. And if that doesn’t succeed, stay focused on the tape, because if you’re giving it your all, then that’s all you can do. But if you look to the side, you won’t cross that tape first. If it’s that close, you won’t cross that tape first. That one thing will stop you. Ja, né.
Well, it’s the same with the Word of God. If you are running in life and you are distracted by something that’s next to you, it will stop you. Ask Peter. He was walking on the water. Whoa! This human being is doing something that only ghosts get to do. Unless you’re Jesus. Right? And so, the minute Peter looked at the wind, he wasn’t really looking at the wind. He was looking at what the results of the wind produced. The minute he took his eyes off Jesus, and he looked at the circumstances, Jesus had to save him.
I still say this many times. I’d rather have a Peter that’s sinking than have 11 other disciples that are sitting in the boat. Huh? So I preached this for the first time many, many years ago. Talking probably 18 years ago, I preached this. In search of Peters.
Do you remember that, Pastor Christi? In search of Peters. I really want Peters to be in my life. They are guys, people that really get messy. They fall in the water when they shouldn’t. They cut off ears when they shouldn’t. They want to talk when God’s showing up and they don’t know better. But they’re also the kind of people that God can build the church on. I’d rather deal with messy, so we can be Marvelous.
I’m off and running and I’m not turning back. 15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, (Philippians 3: 14-16 MSG) What’s going to disturb your commitment when you have something else in mind?
I know it’s December, and I know this is right before the holidays, but don’t let the holidays be blurring your vision right now. Keep focused on that goal. If you have anything else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision. (Philippians 3: 15-16 MSG)
Why are we doing this in December? Why am I not putting a label on our services? It’s not a holy vigil, it’s not a prayer meeting, it’s not a teaching meeting. So, what is it? Whatever God’s going to tell us to do.
I did see this vision this morning when I was sitting in my chair, I saw me and Pastor Sharon standing in the front of the church, and I saw us breaking bread. Now those of you who have heard my messages on multiplication, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. I saw Sharon and I breaking bread for one hour in the afternoons and that sustaining power will go into people. It will remove blurred vision. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
God will clear your blurred vision you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. (Philippians 15-16 MSG) So, let me remind you, that blessing and cursing is the vehicle for supernatural power.
Would you all agree with me that the blessing of God is not something that is natural, right? I’m nearly finished here I’ve got 10 more minutes to go. Are you still with me? I know that I’m preaching so good today that you don’t want me to even stop. Ja ne. You can say, amen. I’m changing my declarations. I’m saying this Sunday morning so that you don’t want me to stop, and your expectation increases when I’m preaching every Sunday. Praise the Lord.
So, I’m aware that the blessing of God, this is something that I live in my life, is not something that I can earn because that’s under the law, right? I can’t earn His blessing, but I am empowered through grace to receive His blessing. Here’s what the Lord told me about next weekend. This is what He said to me. He said, “John, when you touch the subject, you need to go to the tree that Jesus hung on, because when you go to the tree, you’re going to talk about God’s healing power that comes from the Old Testament to the New Testament.” And God is going to end up touching us through the power of restoration, for healing, for miracles, for all of the stuff that has been outstanding.
So now you’ll hear my words. I’ve been pressing into this from earlier in the year already. God had to bring some of this revelation to me so that I could get here to preach it. But I’m telling you that the healing power of God, that He has died so that all of our wounds could be restored. He could heal all of our wounds. That’s what Jesus did – He was wounded for our transgressions so that because of His wounding, our wounds could be healed. Emotional wounds, physical wounds, all the kinds of wounds that you may have in your life, God’s going to heal them. Hallelujah. Praise you, Jesus.
Blessing is the supernatural power of God, working in a natural environment. It’s the super, into the natural, right? That’s the blessing. If you and I are going to want to walk in blessing, we must desire the super on the natural. You desire it, you walk in it, He gives it. It’s released how? Through words. Blessing and cursing are words, it’s writing, and it’s actions. It could also be objects and today we are going to have communion. Oh, Lord. Because His body was broken for us so that when we have communion, we are taking objects that symbolize His death and His resurrection. That when we eat those things, the supernatural power through our faith in the objectifying of His body and His death and the blood that was shed, in the objects that we take, it’s our faith that is mingled with objects that cause His power to come.
When you’re taking communion this morning, it’s not just a little piece of bread. It’s not just a bit of grape juice. It’s your faith connected to the object of remembering what He’s paid for. When you remember what He’s paid for, you say, ‘I receive all that He’s given to me. I receive wholeness. I receive wellness. I receive health. I receive healing. I receive being free from all of my wounds and all of my transgressions and all of my diseases.’ Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Thank you, Lord.
So, next week we’re going to talk about how it is that darkness seems to have so much power, and Christians and the church seem to be so powerless when we are the ones that have blessing. We are the ones that have the power. We are the ones that walk in the light. We are the ones that God has given the authority to. How come it seems like those that have money have seemed to have the world’s agenda?
Those people in township communities or in rural communities that go to a witch doctor, Sangoma, you tell them that those guys don’t have power. They’ll say they do. They’ll say they do. I’m going to tell you about that next week. On the weekend I’m going to tell you about who gives them the power. Why is this important to us? Well, if you don’t understand the source of the dark influence that’s in our life, then you don’t know how to deal with it. Hallelujah.
Let me tell you what God has done with this preacher. He’s put a faith man, a spirit-filled man, a man who’s got a legacy and a heritage of faith, from Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagen, Kenneth Copeland, Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake.
We have a legacy going far back and He said to this man, “John, it’s time for you with the teaching mantle that is on you and the teaching anointing to bring something to the body of Christ. The people that I’ve placed you the shepherd over, it’s time to bring something to them that will change their future, that will help them in their crossover.” So why now? I can’t help, “Why now?” Ask Him, “Why now?” (Pastor John pointing up to the heavens, indicating to God.) I’ve just got to be obedient to, “Why now?” Amen.
So right before we take communion, I want to just read this word that Brother Jerry had when I was traveling with him. This prophetic word was given on the 5th of November. Many of you are here today have been standing for a breakthrough for a long, long time, wondering when it would happen and if I would do it as you’ve seen it in your mind. My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts. So just trust Me. I know what I’m doing and I’ve got it all worked out. I’ve already gone before you and surely made a way. Rest assured, your breakthrough is coming and there will be no more delays. Finances, healings, and miracles too. They already have been arranged for you. So, lift your hands and praise Me for I’m the God of your breakthrough. What your enemy meant for evil, I’ve turned into something good. I’ll always cause you to triumph just like I said I would. So, no more tears of sorrow; only tears of joy and happiness. Yes, the Lord of the Breakthrough has broken through for you. Hallelujah.
So, Brother Jerry had this word and he brought this word and after he brought this word, he came back into another service and he said, “God has elaborated on the word.” And he said this; For those of you who have remained faithful through all the turmoil that has been taking place in our world, you’re on the brink of a major breakthrough. You’re on the brink of a major breakthrough. He repeated it twice. And this is not the time to give up. It’s not the time to back off. Keep trusting God. Keep trusting His Word. God is working behind the scenes on your behalf even as you’re sitting here listening to me right now. “Something good,” and I’ll borrow this phrase from one of my spiritual fathers, Oral Roberts, “Something good is about to happen to you.” You’re entering a new season of blessings. Favour is coming your way in ways you’ve never experienced before. You’re about to experience some very positive changes in your life and you’re going to be so glad that you didn’t give up. Miracle breakthroughs are coming, and your God is not going to allow you to be defeated. Something big is on the horizon. Watch for it. Expect it”.
What are we doing in December? We’re watching. We’re watching. We’re watching. “What seems impossible just yesterday and looked as though it would never happen is about to happen. God hasn’t forgotten you. You are ever before His face and He’s always got you on His mind.”
Brother Jerry went on to specifically say these words in that service and he said these words, and he said, “For those people that are watching on the internet, and those people that are going to ever hear this message, this applies to you as much as it applies to the people that are in the service tonight.” Because he said that, I bring it to you. I bring it to you. We can take this for ourselves. This is breakthrough time. This is breakthrough time. This is breakthrough time. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Can we do the communion right now, please? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Thank you. Praise Jesus. So, God is so good because before I went to America, you know, we had arranged for Dr. Gerrie to come and visit us. And so Dr. Gerrie, when he came here, he brought us practical ways of how to pray for divine life. Divine health. Right? So, God’s not just bringing one solution to us. God is bringing many solutions to us. He’s opening up and giving us the scope of His blessing and His ability to walk. He’s giving to us the ability to walk free. Amen. Hallelujah.
So, while you’re receiving the communion elements, let me just tell you this. This is my practical way of talking to you about December. When I was travelling with Brother Jerry… I have a particular goal that I’m pressing toward, for physical fitness. So, when I was travelling with Brother Jerry, I could have taken this mindset. “I’m really about God’s business, so I don’t have to put that much effort into physical exercise.” If I had done that, I would have gone for a month without training. Whatever I had built up to that point, I would have lost it. I mean, you don’t ever lose it, but you don’t have the same quality when you get back to it. So, I had to find my rhythm when I was travelling with Brother Jerry. I had to find my rhythm. So then, I began to discover that every day, he wants to be up having coffee at seven o’clock in the morning. “I’ll see you down in the lobby, seven o’clock in the morning. Let’s have coffee, John. Let’s have coffee.” So then his day starts and he says, “Let’s have coffee.” So, then his day starts and his rhythm, and he would tell me, “Wheels up at 9.30.”
That means we’ve got to be at the airport by nine o’clock. That means we’ve got to leave the hotel by let’s say eight o’clock. That means and you just start working back and then every time he gives you a time, you make your time 15 minutes earlier. Yes? Amen.
I found morning times, there’s no way that I could exercise. But every time we would go someplace, three o’clock in the afternoon, he was in his hotel room. So, I found a rhythm where I could go to the hotel, the gym in the hotel, and I could go and work out for an hour because it wasn’t just three o’clock. Normally it was like half past three, maybe four o’clock. Then I would have an hour. I could work out and I’ve got to get back in the room. I’ve got to shower. I’ve got to cool down. I’ve got to do all of that kind of stuff. Get myself ready for a night service that might we have to leave by 6.30. Thank you.
I’m just explaining to you the practical things that for me to remain fit, I had to do something while I was travelling.
If you want to know what my practical thing is; just my way of interpreting why God is doing our services in December is because He wants us to be spiritually watching so that we don’t have this gap of weeks where there’s nothing going on, but we remain spiritually fit and spiritually watching.
This morning I spoke to Pastor Sharon about it and I said, “Sharon, do you witness with this in your spirit?” She said, “Absolutely.” And I said, “I think it’s got to be five o’clock in the afternoon,” because I understand the human natural rhythm. In the mornings, families want to have time. Maybe they want to be up having some time out playing in the sun, they need to do, if they’re in town. In the afternoons and the early evenings, maybe they want to have a family braai. Maybe there’s something happening in the early evenings. So, let’s put something in between and whoever comes can come. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Praise Jesus. And some of you are thinking, “Well, there’s no way I can be here. Will you livestream it?” I’m not sure. I don’t have to answer that question today. I will answer that question when I’ve got more clarity from the Lord. Won’t you all stand with me, please? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus.
What you have in your hand is an object. This is not the physical body of Jesus, it’s an object which signifies and symbolizes the body of Jesus. This is His body that was broken for us. This is His body that He paid the price with, and He suffered beyond human imagination so that we can be free from all of our wounds, all of our sicknesses, all of our diseases.
Now listen to me, please, church. I know there is a tendency right now to say, “I’ve done this so many times in my life, Pastor John, and when I’ve done this, it hasn’t really, really made a difference.” Well, that’s the real value of crossover; is when you get to the other side, it makes a difference. It makes a difference.
Will you put your faith together with my prayer and decide right now that you receive healing, you receive restoration, you receive all of your wounds being taken away in Jesus’ name because of what He did for us. Hallelujah. Please take the body of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
This is the blood of the Lord Jesus. It is my prayer for you, and it is my desire that you are washed completely from all the effects of sin, all of the effects of cultural things, family things, and social things; sin that has overcome you and overwhelmed you in times past. It is my desire and my prayer for you, and I trust you will get an agreement with me that you are washed, you are washed in the blood of Jesus. You are clean, cleansed, and made whole because of the blood of Jesus. Do you agree with me now? Hallelujah. Receive the blood of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Just raise your hands, please. Just praise Him for a little while. Just praise Him. Just say thank You, Jesus. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, for redeeming our lives. Thank You for redeeming our souls. Thank You for redeeming us and fixing all of the stuff that we’ve messed up in our lives. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Oh, we praise You. We give You glory. We give You honour and there are no words that we can say that are good enough to say thank You but this bit that we have, we say thank You. Thank You. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Next Sunday morning, we will take communion again. Hallelujah. I pray for those of you who are forced to travel. Someone’s holding your arm, right? For those who are forced to travel, may Jehovah be with you. All that He is and all that He will ever be, may He go with you. May His peace be upon you. May there be no injury, no harm come upon you. May you be blessed in your going out and you’re coming back and come back to us with joy. Come back to us with strength. Come back to us with peace. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
How many of you just appreciate the sweet anointing and the presence of God here this morning? Right now, isn’t it the best? It’s the best. Just to know He’s real like this. I love you. He loves you. We all love each other. May the love of God be present with you wherever you go. May His presence be upon you. In Jesus’ name.
Bye. Quarter past 12.
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