Scripture reference: Matthew 19:22-30 (NKJV), Luke 5:4-11 (TPT), Acts 6:1 (NKJV), Acts 4:32-35 (NKJV)
Pastor Sharon:
Father, we all pray for Pastor John this morning. Yoh Lord, we know because we make such a pull on You that he will say only what he hears You say. He will do what he sees You do, Lord, and the words that he will speak of spirit and life to us, Lord. And we’re caught up in the vortex of Your Words today again, again and again, You come and speak to us. And we are those who listen. Our ears are open. Our spirit ears and our hearts are open to all of Your words. The words, all the words that You say – that song we’ve just sung, all the words that You say, all the words that You will say again today. We bless Pastor John, Your anointing is within him and rests upon him to minister to us truth. Truth, truth, truth. And we all say, Amen. Thank you, Music Ministry.
I’m just going to do something now, that’s been on my heart and Pastor John’s heart ever since he made the announcement of his ‘epic’ that he’s going to be doing. Can I have my glasses please in my gold bag there, it’s in a green case please Brynn, my reading glasses. It’s very important that we… Thank you very much, Empie. You can sit, you can be seated, you can be seated.
On Friday the 6th of March, actually I think it began on the 1st of March, when Pastor John did the Tour de Boland. The Lord put it in his heart in 2015 to do the Tour de Boland It was a very different approach that the Lord had with Pastor John with the Tour de Boland to how the Lord approached Pastor John with this ‘epic’ tour, it was a very different approach. And the reason God wants you to hear this is so that you don’t have a light, a light loose thing in your heart about ‘Pastor John’s doing the epic’. God wants you to understand that there’s quite a God-thing happening here. It was very unexpected for me when Pastor John did the Tour de Boland, which was five days, right, Pastor John? It was five days. I was sitting at my desk writing in my journal and the Lord started to speak to me about what is happening.
I started to hear a boom, a boom in the spirit, a couple of weeks before Pastor John even did the Tour de Boland. But this is what the Lord said to me on Friday the 6th of March when he finished the race. The Lord says, “I am making an announcement today, this is My State of the Nation’s address” says the Lord. He gives this to me, Sharon, to announce because this man never has and never will announce himself. John, God’s servant, has broken through. He gave his extreme for Him, five days of Tour de Boland, the decision, the giving of his natural, his ‘little’ by comparison to the professional, but God will now put His super on it, and it will impact all of us.
When I went to the things that transpired after this Tour De Boland that happened in our Ministry, I was amazed. From 2016, 2017, just the things that broke loose. I heard a great boom today. He has made a decision for God, he gave God – not man, not for himself – his natural. He broke through a natural this week. The Lord is now breaking through with His supernatural. He is reciprocating with His supernatural and great will be the impact. So, God wants us to know this so that we can have an expectation of the unexpected that will come when Pastor John has done with his EPIC, right?
Something, he gave God a first, a first for Him, and now in the wake of this, we, as we too give the Lord our natural, will break through. Something great is about to happen. Heaven is watching, Heaven has cheered him on, and Heaven celebrates the son of God today. How do I know? My experience every day this entire week, God has put Heaven in my heart. Every day that he was cycling and I was with the Lord I had this surprising unexpected personal experience with the Holy Spirit in my heart, and the Father God and Jesus, right?
I have never experienced this; I have been having heavy, heavenly, holy celebrations, happening in my heart, almost 24/7. It has been extreme, to say the least. Overwhelming at times. Oh, I know, oh I see, oh I hear. Heaven’s accolades being given to this son of God this day. Great reward, great awards coming this way because it was as unto the Lord. Something very great, something wonderful has happened today. We will see. Okay. So, the Lord says… Oh, I see, I know, God will show, glory to His holy name forever. The Lord says. “Here it is.”
Here it is. This is the scriptural pattern and principle. What was given and sown natural will be raised supernatural. That’s in Corinthians, it’s a principle in God’s Word. What was given natural, God will raise the supernatural. Guaranteed. It’s a seasonal thing. We’re in another season. This is a seasonal thing. Haha.
1 Corinthians 15, 44, it is sown a natural and raised a spiritual. Monday 9th of March, first day of 4x4x40 x2. I begin my journal time and I hear boom. Boom is to make a resonant sound and go and sound to blast, to smash, to nail, to hit. Be the case that thunder is being heard. Grow vigorously, expand, thrive, flourish, luxuriate, revive.
This is for progress. This is for advance. This is for promotion. This is for this season, right? So, boom. So that was the verb. The noun boom is a deep, prolonged, loud noise, a roar of thunder. It’s a state of economic prosperity. A sudden happening that brings good fortune as a sudden opportunity to make money. That’s a boom. It’s a godsend. It’s from heaven. It’s an occurrence.
The Lord shows me further about this radical, extreme decision and giving of the natural that the first has given Him. And it has enabled God, and what it has enabled God to do in the spirit. The Lord says a record has been broken. This has been record-breaking for God out of His enlarged, great, big heart. He rode his heart out until it nearly burst, just like Secretariat. He has been last, he has come from behind, but now he will surge forward length by length by length and it will be as you have seen; the look on people’s faces stunned, unbelievable, it’s not possible.
I built this engine in his chest. He will take it all. The winner takes it all. He has won. As he has turned the corner and came running down the last quarter, he has taken us all with him. Hallelujah!
The Lord says he has made waves with this extreme, radical giving of his natural. I, the Lord says, have used it for that. Waves and waves of glory, and in the wake of that wheat too. A very ordinary grain of wheat fell, Sharon, fell into the ground and died. So, this very ordinary, natural, regular cake of barley now falls into the enemy’s camp and this boom resounds at this very moment. He will run his race now. I let him. I release him. I’m his jockey. It’s him and I. This is his time, him and I. Oh, watch this race, watch it with holy awe. He is a first. There will never be another like him. He will break records. He will surpass. Only I was there when he gave me his heart. Only I was there when he gave me his all. Only I was there when he died the death of all death. Only I saw. Only I know. I, and I alone, now raise up this ordinary grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died. It died alone. I alone will raise it from the dead. No one, I say no one, had or has anything to do with it this day. Only I.
I remember at that time other people said, “We will also, we are coming with you,” and the fire of God burnt so hot. Well, it burnt them. They’re not even around anymore. So, only I. Anyone who ever had anything to do with helping him and encouraging him along the way was only My instrument anyway. It was your privilege. It’s our privilege. Every time we encourage him and say, “Go Pastor John, go.” Right. It’s not a thing for you to pick up in your heart and say, “Oh, I’m also going to do that. I’m also, you’ll see I’ll do that next year.” Can you see how wrong that is in the light of what God is giving us now? That doesn’t mean to say that God won’t afford that to you but with a heart. Right? With a heart that’s right about it. Good. So, My instrument. I say today, no one may say, “I knew it. I had something to do with it.” It simply is not true. At this time, all of My extremities are in full working around him. My extreme fire especially, My extreme inspection of everyone around him, My extreme protection. I hide him now in the secret of My presence from the pride of man. I keep him secretly in My pavilion from the strife of tongues. To understand that up until that time, there had been much of this. Much of the strife of tongues was directed against Pastor John. Much of the beasts that we had to fight. Right? I am jealous of this race that I have longed for. I will burn quickly now. I am raging around him. I rage for him. I roar. I thunder. This is my boom, says the Lord. Glory to God. That’s it, Pastor John. It’s good for us to have a spiritual perspective on something very ordinary.
Pastor John:
Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Do you think you need fitness to do that? Not really. If you’re going to come down that hill, what do you need more than fitness? Brakes? You need skill. You need skill and you need courage. Yes? I mean, look, it goes even past the top of that thing. That is stage four. It’s called the Queen stage. That’s what we will be doing in March. Praise the Lord.
Pastor Sharon has had a Word from the Lord at that time. If you have been with us for a long time, you will know that that was the second, that’s why she got two there. It was the second cycle of 4x4x40. God had done a very significant thing in our ministry then, and He used 4x4x40 as a major significant thing. And still today, people changed then, because of going through 4x4x40. And they still live in the change now. Amen. Praise the Lord.
I was unaware at the time when I was training for that, that – one of the most difficult days that I would have on that road race was a ride from Ceres to Prince Albert. And I think it was 120 kilometers with quite a big, big pass that we had to cross over. But the big thing about it was that driving in the car, the car’s temperature gauge reached 53 degrees. It was then the hottest day that that part of the Cape had experienced in 50 years. What do you think I needed on that day? I needed Angelic health. I still need Angelic health. Amen.
What is going to happen to me, this is a very, very deeply spiritual thing. And in my view, I’ve already won, because when the Lord came into my room and said, “I want to do you a favor”, I had this in my heart to do this. I, you know, when the Lord started making it happen, it was with disbelief.
That sounds crazy because He said, “I want to do you a favor.” When I started making an application and they just received my application and then everything happened. It’s like no one stood in my way. There was no process. There was nothing. Everything God has done till this point has been, His order has been on it, His blessing has been on it, His favor has been on it and everything has happened.
Sharon and I were talking about it and part of what I wanted to share with you today after she was finished is that there will be a few Sundays that I’ll be missing because there’s a few things that I’ve got to do to prepare and races that I’ve got to ride to get there so that we are best prepared to do that. I know this now more than ever, and I am putting everything that I can into it and still keeping everything else in order in my life so that I can be best prepared for that. My partner Kit is doing the same thing. We are doing everything we can to be best prepared for it and God is giving us the best preparation and the best help to do it.
I believe that God is glorified in this whole process because I wouldn’t be doing this if He didn’t want to do me a favor. So, if you don’t see me in church a few Sundays between now and March, and that is a two Sundays event anyway, I’m not skiving off. It’s because I’m on assignment.
And I thank you for your prayers and I thank you for your love and your commitment and all the things that go with it and all the people that ride with me and do five-hour rides with me on a Saturday, I thank you. Thank you for working with me and enjoying this process with me.
I do believe that every time God breaks a barrier, it’s for all of us to step into and the time will come that there are barriers that all of you will break for yourselves because God has opened this up to us. Don’t you agree? Amen. Praise the Lord.
So, I’ve got quite a lot to say this morning but I’m going to be as quick as possible. I’m confident in my heart that God is releasing me to minister this for as long as I need to and so we’re not going to rush it. We’re just going to dissect it and open it up and make sure that we get the message that God wants us to get when it comes to Kingdom Economics and Ecclesia Economics.
I told you last week that we’re going to start taking offerings because I want to pray over you. Every week I want you to be remembering and I want you to have a reminder that God is working on your finances. He is working on your economy. Amen. He is bringing His economy to work on your economy. Are our ushers ready to take up an offering? So, I want you to know that Pastor Sharon and I, over the course of this week, we have prayed, and we have prepared our own offering, and we will continue to do so week after week, whether it is R10, or R100. I told you last week, that I know most of you do EFT transfers but just come with just something that you can put in so that we can have a point of contact. Can you take up the offering, please? Thank you.
Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. This morning when I was preparing spiritually to deliver that which the Lord has given me, such a great peace came upon me, such a great joy welled up inside of me, such an amazing presence of God filled my room and I have a great expectation for restoration, for increase.
When you’re done, a few of you can bring it up, I need to just pray over that, guys. So, if one or two of you can bring it up and come and stand in the front here, I want to just pray over it, please. I have a great expectation that you are going to see spiritual results, you are going to see natural results and again I’m taking this offering before I preach because I don’t want to be accused and I don’t like the idea that people think that we preach money so that we can take money. Amen. I know you all don’t think that but you’re not the only ones who watches these services. There are a lot of people on the internet who watch these services too. Amen.
Why don’t you just stretch out your hands to this and say, “Father this is our seed, this is our bread that we bring, our loaves and fishes that we bring and now we present it to you Father and we say Lord multiply it, increase it, cause it to become everything that it would feed multitudes and there will be so much in our lives that there will be left over and more leftover and baskets and baskets will be left over in our lives, Father. And as we continue every week to thank You for what You do in our economic circumstances. We thank You that You multiply opportunities, You multiply our energy, You multiply our skills and all of our giftings and it will become a glory to You because people will participate in the multiplication. We thank You for it Lord, in Jesus’ name.” Everybody said, Amen. Amen. Thank you. Hallelujah.
I’d like you to imagine this with me for a minute. I’d like you to imagine you’re in an underground prison system. So, you’re underground and you’re born underground, you live underground. And underground there’s a library, underground there’s a hospital, underground there’s a soccer field, underground there’s tennis courts. There’s a swimming pool. You’re underground and you’re born underground. Your parents live with you underground and you live in this life underground.
So, when you’re busy growing up, you can play tennis, you can swim, you can play soccer, you name it, it’s all there, it’s underground. So, you see all these other people who are living underground with you, and this is the world you’re born to. This is the system that you know. So, in one of the classes that you go to, and you’re busy being taught many things, you’re being taught mathematics, you’re being taught biology, you’re being taught sciences, you’re being taught a whole lot of things. And in one of the classes that you’re taught, you’re also taught about your own human personal development.
One of the teachers that is teaching you something, asks you a question and asks the question to all the other teenagers and people in the class. Let’s say they’re 14, 15 years old, 13, 14, 15. You ask the question, and the question is, “What would you like to become? What is it that you want to do with your life? What do you want to become?” So, then someone will ask them the question and say, “Well, you mean we can become anything we want to become?” And so, the person who’s teaching them will say, “Anything you want to become, you can become anything you want to become.”
So, now they start to think, well if I want to become anything I want to become, what do I want to become? I can be one that goes and spends time in the library. I can go and be one of those who works in the engineering shop down the road. I can be one that works on expanding the tunnel system. I can be one that works on all the electricity, I can be one that maybe, you know, every weekend there’s sporting games that go on and the best soccer players get to play while everybody watches.
So, you can become a sportsman, you can become whatever you want to become. So, “Wow, I can become whatever I want to, fancy that, hey?” Sjoe. So now they might talk to their friends and say, “What do you want to become?” Well, you know, I’m always interested in all things that are electronic and I’m interested in computer systems and how these two things merge and how they work together. So, I think I’m going to explore computer design and computer engineering and how that works with the whole grid of electricity that we use.” And so then… “Well, what are you going to become?” “Well, you see, I’m always in the A-team playing soccer and there’s quite a good support base of soccer and you get paid, and you can make a life of playing soccer and everybody comes and watches you.” “Oh, okay.” So now you’re going to class, and you begin to tell the person, the people what it is you think you want to become.
Tell me what the problem is with this whole equation. It’s underground. You’re in prison. You live underground. You don’t know that there are lions outside, and a sky and stars, and there are oceans. You don’t know these things exist because you are born underground. You’ve lived underground. So, all you know is to choose what’s in front of you. But you’re effectively in prison because you can’t get out. No one is actually holding you down. No one is actually closing a cell door every night. But you can’t get out because you don’t even know there’s getting out because you’ve lived in this prison so long underground that you don’t even know there’s a getting out. Right? So, you can only make the choices that are available for you to make because there’s a whole new level of thinking. There’s a whole new way of life. There’s a whole new world out there you don’t even know about.
Now what happens if you got to know what was in that world and now someone asked you, “What decision do you want, what do you want to become in your life?” What’s the next thing that you would ask them? If you now become aware there’s a world out there but you’re kept in this hole. The first thing you want to say is, “What’s out there? What does that world look like? Can somebody tell me what that world looks like?” Because it might be a nuclear wasteland. Then your choice is, “Mmm… I don’t want to go there, I’ll stay here.” But it could be paradise. So now you want to know what’s out there. Right? Once you know what’s out there, what’s the next question you’re going to ask? “How can I get out of here to get there?” And so, some people might turn around and say, “Don’t even ask that question, no one’s even tried it, or some people tried it, but they couldn’t get it right because it proved to be too difficult.” There wasn’t anything. So, then you say, “Well why not? What happened?” “Well, when they started trying to make a tunnel go up, the tunnel fell in and every time somebody tries to make it go up, it falls in. No one could actually get out and we don’t know how far we have to go up or whether we should go down or which way should we go to get out of this.” “Oh, so you mean it’s been tried, and people have failed?” “Yes.” Well obviously, there can’t be a way. Huh? No. There must be a way. Just someone hasn’t figured it out yet. Is that a choice you want? It’s not a choice I want. I’m going to read this to you here and then I’ll come back.
Matthew chapter 19, verse 16, the New King James Version. 16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” Can I tell you what he knows? He knows there’s a paradise out there, but he’s stuck in a system. So, he’s coming to someone who has demonstrated that he can live free of the system. Come on, are you all with me? (Congregation answers: Yes!) He comes to someone who has demonstrated that he can live free of the system and he says, Teacher, Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. In other words, he’s saying you’ve recognized that I’m free from the system because you’re talking to God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” In other words, I’ve lived in this system, I’ve kept the rules, this system has been good to me. 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:16-21, NKJV)
What’s Jesus giving him an answer to? I understand you’re captured by a system, young man. I understand your desire to be free from this underground prison, young man. Now, in order to get free, I’ve got an answer for you. Let go of everything you’ve had in the past, sell it, take your money, give it to the poor, come follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:22, NKJV)
Wow, he was sorrowful because he had great possessions. He had great possessions. It’s like saying, you know, my life is so good in this underground prison, whatever, how good it is outside there, that’s not for me. Because I have to give up all of the stuff I’ve accumulated down here, my knowledge of this underground system, my knowledge, my position, my power, my status, my security. It’s all down here. Why would I give up this good life to go and live outside? Because who knows what I’m going to face there? I know, but you can’t go there until you get rid of this. You can’t experience that paradise until you let go of this one. Oh, no way, no way, no way, no way. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. It’s too hard for me. It’s too hard for me. And so, he walked away sorrowful.
23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:22-24, NKJV)
Watch what happens to what his disciples have to say to Him next. 25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore, what shall we have?” In other words, Peter’s saying; You’ve just told him the solution. We’ve already done it. So what have we got? We’re hanging out with You. Is that it? Is that it? 28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:25-30, NKJV)
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:30 NKJV) What have I just described to you by reading this scripture? I’ve just described to you a young man that came to Jesus, and he said, “I’m living in a system and I’m captured by this system. And I know there’s more to this system and I want the more because I’ve observed Your life. I’ve seen what You’re about and Your life and the way You go about things is attractive to me. It’s calling me. It’s pulling me.” Why would it be doing that? Because he’d already given himself to living the commandments because he saw the covenant power of being a command-living person.
Jesus says, “You’ve done well. Really, you have done well.” Other scriptures say, “Jesus loved him.” Other translations say, “Jesus had affection for him.” Because of why? Because he had taken the commands of God and lived them. Because he believed in God. Now, because he’s lived this life, he’s saying, “I recognize You have a different system You live by. You’re not just living by the same rules that I live by. You’ve got something else going on here. What must I do to get what You’ve got?” To use my analogy, “I’ve got a way for you to get to the paradise. But you have to leave everything behind because once you get to the top, you can’t come back.” Well, why can’t I come back? Because I know when you get to the top, you will never want to come back. Because you’ll feel the sun shining on your skin and you’ll feel the wind blowing through your hair and you’ll see that you can build 10,000 soccer fields and never run out of space. You can go swim in the ocean and you’ll never, ever have a problem. I know when you get to the top, you’ll never come back. The problem is that when you get to the top, you’re going to want to come and tell everybody else what the top looks like and they won’t believe you. “No. But I’ll tell them.” No, you be the first believer and then see how difficult it is. So you think they’ll believe you because you say you saw it? They’ll say, “No, no, you had a dream. Or you’re not telling us the truth. Or you’re exaggerating because look how good our life is.”
Isn’t that what Jesus said about Himself? Didn’t He say, “Why would they believe you if they don’t believe Me? Because I’ve come from the Father to come and tell you and you don’t believe Me, so why?” Huh? I mean, in one of the stories, the guy that died, he said, “Please send someone to go and tell my family what’s really after-life.” And so in the story, it was said that they’ve had Elijah, they’ve had Moses, they’ve had the prophets and they didn’t believe them. Why would they believe someone else? So, you’ve got to leave it all behind before you can go and receive the new.
So, Pastor John, what are you telling me about how do we leave the system behind? Well, I’ve got another story to read you. It’s in the book of Acts. I want to show you what happens when the system begins to work. Jesus gave the first example. I’m going to read Luke and then I’m going to Acts. Luke 5 verse 4 in The Passion Translation. Luke 5 verse 4.
4 Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat. When He had finished, He said to Peter, Now row out to deep water to cast your nets and you will have a great catch. 5 Master, Peter replied. (Luke 5:4-5 TPT) This is the same Peter that says we left all. Huh? Come on, work with me now. I read the scriptures in this order because I needed you to see this. 4 Now row out to deep water, cast your nets and you will have a great catch. 5 Master, Peter replied. We’ve just come back from fishing all night and didn’t catch a thing. What is he telling Jesus? I know how to work the system. You’re telling me something completely different to what the system says. Nevertheless, he says, 5 “but if you insist, we’ll go out again and let down our nets because of your word”. (Luke 5:5 TPT)
Now Peter’s already beginning to touch on the system because he’s understanding this is a system of word authority, not a living system of rules. 6 When they pulled up their nets, they were shocked to see a huge catch of fish, so much that their nets were ready to burst. 7 They waved to their business partners in the other boat for help. They ended up completely filling both boats with fish until their boats began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this astonishing miracle, he knelt at Jesus’ feet and begged Him, “Go away from me, Master, for I am a sinful man”. (Luke 5:6-8 TPT)
I mean always, you can take this to the bank, always when money’s involved, a heart condition is exposed – always. When money is involved, a heart condition is exposed. What you do with your heart when money’s involved is going to depend on what you do, what happens in your future. The rich young ruler, when money was involved, he went away. With Peter, when money was involved and he saw the blessing of God, his immediate thing was, I repent from trusting an old system.
9-10 Simon Peter and the other fishermen—including his fishing partners, Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee—were awestruck over the miracle catch of fish. Jesus answered, “Do not yield to your fear, Simon Peter. What? What? I mean, I’ve just seen things at work and Jesus is talking to Peter. Do not yield to your fear. Don’t yield to what your sinful nature is telling you. From now on, you will catch men for salvation!” 11 After pulling their boats to the shore, they left everything behind and followed Jesus. (Luke 5:9-11 TPT)
What’s Jesus just done? Jesus has demonstrated his dominance over everything that’s on the earth and called them from a provision-based system to a disciple-based system. Isn’t a follower a disciple? Right? In the Jewish times, if you were a disciple of a great teacher, the teacher would have a rope around his waist and if you walked through the town, all of his disciples would walk with the same rope tied around them. And they would walk behind the teacher, and they would walk in his footsteps and everybody would see that these are the disciples of the teacher. They would literally demonstrate their following by walking in his literal footsteps. Huh?
What has Jesus just done? He spoke words, then He used those same words to tell Peter and his business partners, “Go fishing.” They say, “We know the system. You’re telling us something that we already know so much about and You know nothing and why should we listen to You? Okay, but we understand you’ve got good, strong, powerful words. We’ll do what your Word says”. So, they do what the Word says. They have this massive, massive influx of cash, because what are they going to do with all those fish? They can’t eat them. They’re going to sell them. They’re going to leave it to their business partners to sell them. And they’re going to have money for their families to be taken care of.
So, Jesus says, “Have you seen my system at work? Leave your old system and come and follow Me.” Huh? “So, Pastor John, are you telling us we all got to leave our jobs and come and follow Jesus by coming to church every single day?” No, I’m not telling you that.
But how does this system work then? What is it that’s going to happen and how are we going to go from one system to the next system? Well, it’s going to take faith. It’s also going to take words. It’s also going to take courage. Amen. Hallelujah. I read this in Message Moments last Sunday. Acts chapter 6 verse 1. 1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution (Acts 6:1 NKJV). So this is a management system that the church is inputting in response to something that else was happening.
Acts chapter 4 verse 32. 32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need (Acts 4:32-35, NKJV). “Okay, so Pastor John, we understand that all of these people that came into the church, they had houses, they had lands, they had lots of possessions. They sold everything that they owned, they took their money, and they brought it and they laid it at the apostles’ feet.” Okay, so who told them to do that? Who told them to do that? It wasn’t the apostles who told them to do that. It was the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was so powerful among them that when they went back into their house, they realized this house is not mine. When they went and walked on their land, they realized this land didn’t belong to me. All these extra possessions I have, it’s not mine. What kind of thing would happen to that? How would that happen in a person’s heart? It wasn’t because there was a preacher standing in a church telling them to do these things. Right? No, because there was such a move of the Holy Spirit that was amongst them that they were persuaded by the Holy Spirit to do that. What were they making a decision for? They were making a decision to say, “We are not going to count our possessions as our value. We are going to count our new body that we belong to, the body of Jesus, as our most valuable connection.” Wow!
So why is that not happening in the modern-day church? Well, there’s a couple of reasons. If you will hear them, you can meditate on them. This is certainly a teaching that I’m going to pursue. We’re going to go there. But first of all, I’d say if any pastor or preacher asked you to do that, how many of you would stay in the church? He’s asking, what? All those years I’ve worked on this, and now I’ve got to give up that. For who? For why? You want to take my stuff to give it to someone else who didn’t do anything to earn it? When I earned it, I gave my whole life earning it. It’s my security. So, you think any pastor around the world would know that? If they didn’t know that, then I’m sure they’re not living in reality.
There’s a component of it where pastors just won’t ever do that. I certainly won’t. I’m not brave enough. Unless the Holy Spirit really came upon me, and it was such a big thing that I had to proclaim it, and if I ever did that, then you would know. I would have fear and trembling to do that. I would never say no to the Holy Spirit for anything He asked me to do. But at this point in my life, He has never asked me to do that. Yes? Okay. The second thing is, we are living underground. We don’t even know what it looks like to be outside of the underground bunker and swim in the ocean and feel the sea and feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair. We are living in a system that we just keep living with the same system. The third problem is because we’ve all lived in the same system and come from the same system, brought up in the same system, when anybody starts to get a revelation from the Holy Spirit about what another system can look like, we don’t have all the answers yet. All we know is that there’s a different place. Yeah?
Okay, so I’m going to be a little practical today, but I don’t have all the answers yet. But if I don’t go down this journey with you, then none of us can get these answers. Just watch this. 32 Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. How many of you want great grace to be upon you? You need a special grace to live like this. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them. (Acts 4:32-34 NKJV) They were sold. Huh? Possessors of lands or houses sold them. Who did they sell them to? Anybody who would want to buy them? The marketplace. Can I say the system?
So, the system wanted to buy them. Now you’re going to say, “Well, Pastor John, if the system is the one that we have to buy and sell from, isn’t that being part of the system?” Were they part of the system? They were living in a completely different system. Even though they lived with the system, they were not controlled by the system. The issue here is not whether we should live in houses. We should. Neither is the issue whether we should have cars. We should. But when that system controls us and tells us how we do it and what we must do it with and how long it must take for us to do that, then we are living underground. We’re living with a system that we don’t yet see. So, what did Jesus demonstrate to His disciples right in the beginning of His ministry? He says, “You’re going to hear Me preach, but then I’m going to demonstrate My system to you.”
There are some people that might be listening on the Internet. They are not part of this church. Maybe they haven’t been part of this church. So, they won’t understand that what I’m preaching here has been a 20-year journey for us to get here. There’s been a lot of things that we’ve had to work through and come through to get to this. So, if people just hear me preach this, they will say, “That pastor’s smoking something, and he needs to go and find out something else.” But they are not part of this church, and I’ve told you the last weekend, I’m grateful that I can preach this to you because you’ve journeyed this journey with us. You know what manner of people we are and so we have to go to the new places and the crossover places with God.
I have a Bible School, a year-long Bible School course there. It’s called, Leadership Academy. Leadership School. Why did I have it in my heart to even start that Leadership School? I had that in my heart because most Christians will hear what the Bible says like you’ve heard me preach. And then when it comes to living life with the same Bible, they don’t know how to apply the doctrine to the lifestyle. Right? So, I said, “I’m going to give practical counsel about how to live it.” On reflection, I realized that there are some things that when I taught that course, I certainly didn’t have all the revelation that I have now. On the other hand, I knew that what was in my heart was already a Kingdom mentality. The Church of the Lord Jesus was already in my heart, and I was already living full-blown in His Church, for His Church, with His Church.
I made decisions when I was in my early twenties, when I was working to feed my family and I got offered an opportunity to take up a management position in Durban and be the branch manager and become a shareholder of a computer company that was exploding. I was a service provider to them as a computer salesperson. We had such a strong connection as of their company and me. We had such a synergy of values and just the way that they went about things that they made me a job offer. And they said, “John, we want to offer you to be a shareholder and a participator in this new startup company.” I mean, it was already becoming quite successful, and they needed branches around the country. “We want to offer you to be branch manager in Durban, and then you’ll become a shareholder in the company and whatever growth the company experiences will be to you. And you’ll have a great opportunity.” It was a great opportunity. I knew it was a great opportunity. And that company went on to become a huge computer company with hundreds of millions of rands. If I had taken that position in the natural, I would have been hundreds of millions richer.
So what would my trust be in? The opportunity. That would be my trust would be in the opportunity. It didn’t take a very but a short time because they would have asked me to leave my church. They would have asked me to quit Bible School. I would have had to take my family, move down to Durban, and then go and do something. Hey, but there was a moment there, Sharon grew up part of her young, as a young girl in Pine Town in Durban, it wouldn’t be foreign for her and for my kids. What a great area to grow up at, go to the beach every weekend. I’m sure we can find a church down there. Come on now. What would I have done? I would have exchanged one place of being in the system to another place in being in the system.
And now you all might say, “But you know Pastor John, to do it for a couple of million, tens of millions, potentially, hundreds of millions…” Come on, that’s not such a bad deal? Oh yeah, it is. Why? Because I’d already been to the top. I’d already swam in the sea, felt the sun on my skin, felt the wind blowing through my hair I knew what paradise was. What was paradise? Being in the will of God. Having His peace in my heart, having His life shine upon me. Come on, just work with me. I made a decision when I was about 24 years old, I made a decision I’m not doing that. It would have still been 12 years, 12 years from that moment when the Lord said to me, “I want you to go and serve Brother Jerry while you’re part of your church.” I made a phone call to my Pastor, “The Lord wants me to serve Brother Jerry.”
I have a relationship with my Pastor that is more than 12 years long. What relationship would I have had with him from Durban? I would have left the church. I would have never, ever, ever been able to say, “I will get to know Brother Jerry.” I would have lived in Durban, probably listened to Jerry’s ministry, probably Kenneth Copeland and all those guys, and I would have always wondered what it would be like to be one of those guys or to be close to one of those guys.
Then I would have heard all kinds of stories and stories and stories, and then there would be a part of me that had to justify that I made a financial decision, an opportunity decision. I would have justified to myself why my choice was a good choice. “Look at what people are saying about them.” “Have you heard the stories about that? Have you seen how these people failed and how that didn’t work?” That’s like the underground system that’s saying, lots of people are trying to get to the top and they could never make it out. I would have justified myself being locked in a prison, and then you would say, “Oh, but you’re not in prison. You’ve got tens of millions of rand and you’ve got a house.”
By the time I was 35, before I met Brother Jerry, by the time I was 35 years old, that company had become such a wealthy and big company that if I had been a shareholder in that company, I would have been financially… Who knows? I would probably have been living a life that I’m not sure I know what to do with my money. Because if you’ve given up your divine alignment and your divine assignment to follow opportunity, then you’re always going to justify your choices. Always. There’s no way that you don’t justify your choices. You will find a way to justify your choices, and it will become the most important argument of your life, to justify your choices.
I’m delighted to say to you that when the opportunity came my way, I said, “I’m following God. I’m following God. I’m following God.” And so, then the Lord said, “Okay, John, you follow Me, watch Me bless you. Not only am I going to connect you with Jerry Savelle and Kenneth Copeland and all of those guys, not only am I going to connect you with them, I’m going to put you with them for the rest of your life and the rest of their life. Not only am I going to do that for you, but you have left houses and homes and all of the opportunities, you left all of that to follow Me. I’m going to now restore it to you a 100-fold return in this lifetime and with the eternal treasure reward.”
When I stand here talking to you and say; what does this new system look like? How do we go about living in Ecclesia economics and Kingdom economics rather than just following the natural way? I think we can only get to be talking about this now because we’ve already made so much progress. And yet I recognise that those decisions that I made there pale into insignificance compared to what God still has for us going forward. “Well, Pastor John, how is blessing going to happen?” You know what? I’m going to give myself to the Word. I’m going to give myself to the Word. I’m going to give myself to the Word. I am going to give myself to the Word. I’m going to praise Him. I’m going to thank Him. I’m going to glorify Him. “Well, what else are you doing?” Well, I am working but that’s not my life. Work is not my life. My life is my worship. Work is just something I have to do right now. My life is my worship. I’m worshiping. I’m in the Word. I’m praising. I’m giving my life to God. “Well, okay, okay, so we keep praising and worshiping. What’s next?” Well, what’s next? I have to trust God what’s next. If I have to make my whole life’s decisions based on what I know is next, then I’m taking control of my life to make sure I know what’s next. And if you’re always making the decisions to say, “I’m in control of what I know is next.” There’s no space for God to interfere with that. Because everything you know is next for you. Hallelujah.
Let me see how much time I’ve got left here. How are you all doing? Are you enjoying this today? I’m going to wrap it up right now. But we had someone get born again this morning. I’m just going to use her example of what has happened to many of us. Will you work with me for a few minutes more? People get saved, and what happens is, they get delivered out of darkness into life, light and life. So they say, “Where do I go to find out more about this life? Where do I go?” “Oh, I need more life.” That’s why Pastor Sharon said to you earlier on, if you want a family, here’s a family. You can find out about life here.
What happens when people get saved? They get, “I must go to find out how I can live this life because I need to know more about this Jesus that saved me, this God that is now my Lord. I need to find out. I need to know.” So where do they go to know? To the church. When they come into the church, they say, “Oh, you are all the people that know. You’ve been knowing all this stuff for such a long time. How wonderful is this? Wow. So, tell me what you know.” Well, you’ve got to still go to work. Don’t think that you’re going to be free of anything immediately. Just hang around church long enough, and you’ll find out that it’s not all hunky-dory. It’s not all great. There’s a lot of stuff in church that’s going on. “Yeah, but surely there’s life. This is life. I’ve got life.” Yeh I know, but understand this. You’ve got to get used to this system.
“So but what is our system? What is our church system based on?” Well, we got saved. We wanted a new system, and we were in the world system, and we had this struggle where we would go to church, and then we’d go tell everybody at work, “We got saved!” And they would all say, “You’re just stupid, man.” And then when you go back to church, and they say, everybody’s telling me stupid, don’t worry, everything will be okay. Don’t worry, don’t worry, don’t worry.
So then they begin to realize culturally, I have to manage the way I operate out there and out here because obviously, out there is still so important to the people that are in the church that you can’t offend the people out there. Because out there has got so much influence on what’s in here that we can’t afford to damage what’s out there because we still all got to live out there. So, then the person that gets saved, but you guys have got life. You got power. I know it because I just received Him into my heart. I know what He did in my life. I know what happened to me. I can hardly stand it because I know I’m saved. Calm down. Calm down. Relax. When you worry and you watch that, you’ll get caught up in the system too.
When these people started selling their land and selling their houses and they brought everything to the feet of the apostle, what was happening to them? The power of transformation of the Holy Spirit and the salvation resurrection power of Jesus Christ was so big in their hearts that they realized we got to break free of the system. We got to break free of human empires. We got to break free of all of the hold that the religious systems have on us. We got to break it out. We got to break free. We got to get out of this underground city we’re living in. We got to go to paradise.
I’ll tell you, this morning when I was preparing for this, the power of God was so strong on me. His anointing was so strong on me. I said to the Lord, I said, Lord, “I don’t know that I can actually preach this. I don’t know that I can preach this.” He said, “John, My presence is on you because you are willing to preach it.” He was saying to me, “Because I don’t have many preachers that will preach this. I don’t have anybody that’s willing to go there with Me and pray this thing out and get this thing from My heart and come and preach it. I need you to do this, John.” At that moment, His presence just got so strong in my room. I mean, wow.
I mean, I’m not even walking with a limp, but yesterday I fell off my bicycle in the middle of an interchange. I was stopping the traffic for 30 plus riders or whatever was riding with us. As I was getting back on my bike, this lady came through. There was a taxi between us. She came through. She didn’t see me until the last minute. She hit the brakes because I was on my bike, now the last one to go through. I saw her and I braked. Then my cleat got stuck in my shoe. I got to loosen my cleat. I do. It was too tight. I fell off my bike. I saw myself falling as it happened. I just gently rolled over onto my back and I hit my bum and my back hit the tar and I got up and I was a little embarrassed. I shook myself off. Look, I reacted to a situation that was happening. I’d rather fall on the tar than have a car hit me. Right? But when I woke up this morning, because when I tried to rip my foot out of the cleat, I didn’t realize it, but I strained my muscle because when you’re cycling, cycling, and adrenaline’s flowing, you don’t feel that you’ve injured yourself. Right? It’s only when the muscle gets cold and you wake up the next morning, uh-oh, uh-oh.
But this morning, I was in His presence and when His presence came upon me, I just felt this power of His life flood into my body. And I said, Lord, I’m giving myself to a new system. It’s a system of restoration. It’s a system of healing. It’s a system of divine life. It’s the system of economic freedom that we are not captured by this world system. We are moving from an underground process to an above-ground process. We’re going to let the Holy Ghost wind blow on our faces. We’re going to let His sun, shine in our eyes. We’re going to swim in oceans of His blessing and His favour. We’re going to climb mountains and conquer things that God has given us to conquer that we couldn’t even dream of. And His word began to round and round in my heart. He’s going to give you things beyond your wildest dreams, beyond your wildest imaginations, beyond your wildest… And I said, Lord, what about that?
He said, “When you’re caught in a bunker underground, you can’t even dream outside of the box, because it’s only what’s in the box that’s available to you.” He said, “Come with Me, John. I’ll show you how to dream. I’ll show you how to vision. I’ll show you how to go one step at a time and get out of this prison.” Hallelujah. I want to tell you; the whole world is waiting for the Church to get out of prison. The world doesn’t want a Church that’s imprisoned by the prison that they all live in. We’ve got to get free. We’ve got to get free. We’ve got to get… It’s only going to be people with courage.
When I knew Pastor Sharon was going to do this, this morning and I put that picture of the Absa thing up, I want to tell you, the thing that’s going to be the most, biggest challenge to come down that hill, is courage; besides that, you’ve got to ride for hours to get to the top so you can just come down in a few minutes but it’s going to take courage. It’s going to take courage. If there’s one thing I’m learning about this whole Epic thing, it takes courage. And I’m talking to myself every day that He’s got a cloud over my head by day and a pillar of fire by night, and it doesn’t matter what the conditions are; He’s with me, He’s with me. I’m breaking the mold. He’s with me. Hallelujah. He’s with me. He’s with you. Hallelujah. He’s with you and me, He’s with you and me. He’s the One we’ve got to trust.
“Pastor John, does that mean you’ll take any kind of medical help,” – I didn’t say chemical help, I said medical help – “to get through the epic.” Yes, I will. I will. I will take medical help. I’ll have them massage my legs if they have to. “You need a drip to help rehydrate you?” I’ll take it. I’m not going to say no to what’s out there, but at the same time I’m pressing for a whole different system of Elijah legs. I’m pressing for a whole new world that’s waiting for me out there, and my words are going to help me get there. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. He died so we could have life more abundantly. He didn’t die so we could stay in prison. He died so we can be free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And if you’re willing to come with me, we’ll all get free together, and we’ll just see where God leads us. Hallelujah.
Please stand. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. I’ll tell you what; God’s going to take, those people that are willing to go, He’s going to put them in a level of paradise. They’re going to say, “Well, what happened to you? What happened to you? What happened to you?” “Jesus. Obedience. I left that behind and I went there, and I didn’t know what it would mean, but there I am. Look at it. Look at it. Look at it.” Hallelujah. Don’t feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for you. “Well, Pastor John, look what you gave up.” I didn’t give up anything. I gave up being lost to being free. I gave up being dependent on myself and being dependent on Him. I don’t have to be in control of anything in my life. Show me which way to go, Lord. What must I say next? Where do I go next? What do I do next? Show me, Lord. Show me. Who’s the next person I’ve got to talk to? Hallelujah.
Put your hand on your heart, here. Say; Lord, help me. I’m asking You for courage so that I can be obedient to You and I can follow You and show me the way to go so that we can be free of this system and the control it has on our lives and we can be true sons of the living God, in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You guys are true sons of the living God! This is an amazing thing. We are true sons of the living God. We are prepared to go there. We are! We are prepared to go there. Glory to Jesus. Hallelujah.
I pray that the peace of God will rest upon you. No weapon formed against you will prosper. You are protected and surrounded by His Word and the blood of Jesus. He gives His angels charge over you. And above all, I pray that His great peace rests upon you. And I cry; restore, restore. Restore health, restore wellbeing, restore finances, restore things that the locusts has eaten. Restore! I cry, restore, in Jesus’ name! Restore, in Jesus’ name! Restore, in Jesus’ name! Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
There is an awesome message moment this afternoon at 5 o’clock. You don’t want to miss anything that God is doing in this season. Hallelujah. If you’re going to be in Joburg or Lenasia or Diepsloot or Morgenzon, even… Half of Morgenzon lives here now, but okay, Morgenzon. On the live internet, I pray that there will be a transfer of the anointing and the flow of the Spirit that will be your portion, in Jesus’ name. Thank you for coming to church today. Don’t you wish we could have church like this all day every day, just on and on and on? Ja.
Hey, hey, men, I just want to tell you – thank you, Holy Spirit – I said to Sharon yesterday afternoon, uh, sorry, Friday afternoon and yesterday, the Lord came upon me. That’s all I can say, the Holy Spirit came upon me. He said, “John, I want you to meet with men.” And I’m going to send you via WhatsApp… if you’re not on the WhatsApp group, please be on WhatsApp. Send it in so we can put you on WhatsApp. I’m going to send you a couple of dates of things. It’s just going to be like an afternoon – we’ll have a braaivleis, we’ll do a few things, and we’ll see from there what God has to do. But in the short term, it’s just going to be a meeting, some fellowship, and I’ll share the Word with you. It’s just going to be a couple of hours, whatever. It’s so strong, this is so brand new, it’s so strong on my heart that I just said I know I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to do something. And so, here’s me doing something.
I’m crossing over. I’m not going to wait for the right time, the right this, I’m just going to go all in. So, watch your WhatsApp. We’ll give you a few dates… we’ll decide from there. Okay, guys? It’s not to say you women aren’t great. You’re so awesome you don’t have to have special meetings. The men do. [Congregation laughs] [Pastor John waves bye].
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