Scripture reference: 2 Timothy 3:12-17 (NKJV); 2 Timothy 4:2-4 (NKJV); Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV); Proverbs 2: 1-15 (NKJV); Matthew 13:1-2, 10-17 (NKJV); Matthew 6:33 (KJV); John 16:12-14 (NKJV) 

Pastor Sharon Bendixen:

And now, Father, comes Your Word and Your message to us, Father, at a very strategic time that You have chosen to have a crossover with us. This is Your crossover that You’ve initiated for us, Father, and this is Your Church, and we are Your people. This is Your Church, us all together here this morning, it’s Your House, Lord, and You are the Lord. You are the Head of this Church, Lord Jesus, and You will speak now through Pastor John to us. In Jesus’ name and we all say, Amen.

Pastor John Bendixen:

Praise the Lord. Thank you. Mr Kambathika, it’s good to see you. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Well, don’t you all look good today? [Congregation responds; you too, Pastor John]. Well, thank you, well, thank you, oh, thank you. Praise the Lord. Just greet someone; say hello, glad you’re here, good to see your face and then please be seated. Thank you. 

Just not so long ago, this last week or so, we were just talking about when Dennis Peacocke actually came to visit us the first time. And we’ve just counted the years out and it’s been 18 years. 18 years. And then I started to think, well, how old was I 18 years ago? I was but a whippersnapper, you know, and 18 years makes a big difference because Dennis Peacocke himself was 18 years younger and it’s just wonderful to recognise and realise that actually he was pretty much my age when he first came to us. So, it kind of puts a bit of a perspective on things. When he first came, he was my age. So now he’s 81 and he’s had to deal with some health issues in his life. He’s had throat cancer and various different things, and God healed him, and medical science helped him. So, praise the Lord, he’s coming to minister to us in March. Don’t forget, hey, 12th to 13th March. 

There’s no Message Moments today. Right at the end of the service we’re going to ask all of this year’s intake of Exchangers and we’re going to pray for them. Then at 12:30 this afternoon, we’re taking them away for this week and we’re going to minister the Word to them and we’re going to have a good time of integration into what God has for them for the rest of this year. The Lord has been good to us that we’ve been able to do this every year so far and long may it continue. Amen. Amen. 

I also need to just make an announcement that I’ve been a little; I’ve just waited, if you like, to make an announcement because Brother Jerry had announced that he was first coming in September. Then he changed his mind. Then he was coming in May, then I got word that he isn’t coming, but that Joe and Eric would be coming, and then that changed, and none of them are coming. But I was just waiting because I made an announcement and then things changed after I made an announcement. So, it’s been a little while since we’ve had our final conversations about their trip to South Africa. Brother Copeland has changed his ministry schedule for the year. Brother Jerry has completely changed his ministry schedule for the year and many things that were on the cards and were on record for them to do, most of them they are not doing. For whatever reason they’ve made different arrangements. So, I’m just delighted that we have had him and will continue to have him whenever the Lord has made it so for us to have him. Amen. Hallelujah. But, I mean, I knew that before Dennis Peacocke was actually on the cards to come. So, I’m just glad that Dennis is coming. You know, it’s wonderful. God is just good to us all the time. Yes, Amen. 

We will yet make an announcement about holidays, to see what we are going to do with holidays. I haven’t heard any responses from anybody, to make any suggestions. That means you are leaving that up to me. So, between me and the Lord we‘ll see what we’re going to put together for the Church and then you can decide whether you want to do it or not. Amen. Praise the Lord. 

Alright. I know that today you are going to be extremely blessed by the Word of God. What do you say? Amen. Are you ready to receive the Word of God and hear the Word of God? Yes? Hallelujah. I believe the Word is going to be powerful in your hearts and in your life today. Today will be a change of it; today will be a significant moment. Amen. 

In weeks that have gone by I’ve read this scripture to you and it’s from Second Timothy chapter three, verse twelve, 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. This is not maybe. If you are going to live a godly life, you will suffer persecution. That means whatever your choices are, people will disagree with them, and then they will do whatever they can to challenge what you think, what your choices are and not only will they challenge it but they will try and get you to change your mind through pressure. And that will happen through people and it will happen through circumstances. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. I mean, this is an important thing. Who you learn things from, is important, isn’t it? Ja. 15 And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The Holy Scriptures will make you wise. Right? The Holy Scriptures will make you wise. I ministered on this, 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV).

Remember what I said, correction, that word correction, really what it means is if you’re lying down and you’re on your back, you can’t move, you can’t go anywhere, your world view is very limited, very narrow. What correction does is it brings you from a very static, very immobile, very ‘low on strength’ and authority, it raises you up so that you can stand upright; your whole world view changes. Your whole position of being able to act and respond to things in life changes. That’s what if you put all the Greek words together, that’s what the interpretation is; correction. In a sense it means posture correction. But it really means from a lying down position to a standing position. You know that if you’re in a standing position you can move. You can immediately move into action and you can see things completely differently. When we receive the Scripture like this we are equipped for every good work. I’ve spoken about that, I’m not going to go through that again this morning. 

2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2, is an instruction to me but it is also an instruction to you. 2 Preach the word of God. Be ready in season and out of season. Well, who determines the season of readiness for the Word to be preached? The circumstances and the people, not you. In other words, be ready to preach whether people are ready for it or not. Whether people, the circumstances that are around you are ready for it or not. You be ready. Right? You must be ready to preach it. You’ve got to be ready to declare it. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables (2 Timothy 4:2-4 NKJV).

Now I just want to lay a foundation for where we’re going to go today. If I had to ask you the question of what is the thing that you would most value in your life? What is the thing that you want that is most valuable, to you, in your life? What would your answer be? If you had a piece of paper and I asked you this question; what is the most valuable thing that you could want in your life? You might write a few things down. You might write any number of things down. I’m not going to suggest to you what that might be that you would write down on a piece of paper. But I’d like to make a suggestion to you that probably the most valuable thing that you could want, whether you would put that down as your most valuable thing, would be Truth. No? Yes, Truth. Truth. Right? Certainly, I’m sure you wouldn’t say money. I’m sure you wouldn’t say a healthy relationship. I’m sure you wouldn’t say even health. Even though, if you’d say, “What’s the most valuable thing I can have?” They might be on the list, but if your answer is not Truth, then that in itself indicates that you would need Truth because you’ve immediately responded by putting things on the piece of paper that come from Truth. So therefore Truth must be the most valuable thing that you could want to have. Truth. You look at me like I’m smoking my socks or something. You know, you’re just blinking your eyelids at me this morning. Truth. 

Don’t you think that Truth is the most important thing? Because if you said Truth to me, then I would say you are scripturally correct because Jesus Himself said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” So Way and Life come with the Truth. So if you want the Truth, then you want Jesus. If you want Jesus, then you want the Truth. When you get the Truth that is Jesus, then you get the Way and the Life. I mean, this is not just a philosophical question or a generic question. This is a real foundational question because this touches everything that you are going to measure your whole life by, is truth. Everything in your life is going to be measured by truth, whether you think it is or not. Everything on this planet, everything in the universe is measured by Jesus because He is the Truth. So everything is measured by Jesus, by the Word of God. Everything is measured by that. It’s not measured by what men think Jesus is. It’s not measured by what even I preach to what Jesus is. Everything on the earth and in the universe is measured by who Jesus is, because He is the Truth. 

This is good news because in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11, the Word says, 11 for I know the thoughts that I have towards you, says the Lord. Can I put it this way? I know the thoughts that I think towards you says, the Truth, thoughts of peace, says the Truth, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope, says the Truth. 12Then you will call upon Me, says the Truth, and go and pray to Me, says the Truth, and I will listen to you, says the Truth. 13 And you will seek Me, the Truth, and you will find Me, the Truth, and you will search for Me, the Truth, with all your heart, for Truth (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV). Come on. If I read that scripture like this, doesn’t this give you a sense of, yes, that’s really what I’m all about. I’m very glad that He’s got thoughts towards us, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give us a future and a hope. Then I will call upon Truth and I will go and pray to the Truth and I know the Truth will listen to me, and my heart will seek the Truth. Is that not what your heart seeks? The Truth? And then if you seek for the Truth, will you not find the Truth? And when you seek for the Truth and search for the Truth with all your heart, then you will find Him. Amen.

So we, all of us, were created to seek. In each one of us, we are seeking. We are searching. We are searching for the Truth. God has put it in each one of us, and when I did Message Moments last week, I was talking about how people in the world have, they know that God exists and they have chosen to reject God for their worship of themselves. Their own bodies. So, God has put it in each one of us to know God. To search for Him. To seek Him. So they are, instead of seeking the Truth, they are seeking something to worship. But they don’t want to seek for the Truth because the Truth will cause them to have to live with some greater purpose than themselves and their choice is to live for themselves, not for Truth. I’m going somewhere this morning. 

Proverbs chapter 2 verse 1 says, 1 My son, if you receive my words, if you receive My truth, And treasure my commands within you, 2 so that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her … I could put all these words, I could change them for truth. 4 And search for her as for hidden treasure, 5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2: 1-5 NKJV).

Here we are; wisdom, knowledge, understanding are connected to truth. Wisdom, knowledge and understanding are connected to God. And if you fear God, then you know you are beginning to understand and know wisdom, knowledge and understanding. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding; 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright (Proverbs 2: 6-7 NKJV). Who is He storing up sound wisdom for? The upright. So sound wisdom is not stored up for the unrighteous, the wicked, the unholy. That wisdom is not stored up for them. Come on now. If something’s in storage, then it’s contained, it’s protected. You can have access to it if it’s in storage. Yes? But by the nature of storage, it means it’s contained and it’s protected. So this wisdom is contained and it’s protected, not for everybody. It’s contained and protected for those that are upright because the condition of your heart will determine whether you have access to the storage. Who determines what’s happening into your heart? Truth. Jesus, the Word, is the one Who determines what’s happening in your heart, not by what you say, not by things that other people will determine, but Truth Himself, Wisdom Himself, Understanding Himself, God Himself will determine what’s in your heart, and the storage that will get unlocked to you, that stuff that is in store, will be determined by Him. Hallelujah.

So, 8 He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path (Proverbs 2:8-9 NKJV) Oh, today everything’s about equity and inclusion. This truth says it’s not for everybody. This is not an inclusive truth. This is a very exclusive truth for the upright. ¹0

¹²

So, in this passage of Scripture, there are three things; knowledge, understanding and wisdom. You got it? Are you with me? I haven’t moved away from Crossover and I’ve not yet moved away from Kingdom economics or Ecclesia economics. All of this is connected. 

Knowledge. What is knowledge? Knowledge is information. So, if I’m going to buy a piece of property and I need to count the cost of what it is to own the property, then I must receive knowledge of all the costs that are there. That’s information. Yes? Once I’ve got all the information, then I would have some understanding. I’d have a comprehension of what the cost would be. So, I might just say, I might look at a house on a website or speak to an agent and the agent will say to me, “This house is being sold for R100 000.” But then you find out that after you’ve paid that, you’ve got to have lights and water put on and you’ve got to have yourself registered with the municipality for rates and taxes. You’ve got to have transfer costs. You’ve got to have legal costs. You’ve got to have all kinds of things. The minute you get the knowledge, now you will have a comprehension of what this is going to cost. It’s not just about the price on the website. It’s not about just your desire to own a house. It’s about getting the full information so that you have comprehension. Right? So wisdom is then whether I can afford it or not. 

So if I talk about knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, perhaps the best way that I could describe it, is to say, you have a power source that comes into your house – electricity. I was going to say Eskom but it doesn’t have to be. It can be solar but you have a source of power coming into your house. You have a kettle or an appliance that you want to use. The appliance on its own can’t do a thing. Having electricity on its own is just giving you some possible capability but it doesn’t have any real value to you until you have an appliance that you can connect. Right? So electricity is like knowledge. It’s there. You can have access to it – information. Wisdom is the appliance. It’s how you channel the electricity. Understanding is connecting the appliance to the electricity. It’s the connection. 

So, if I have information, I have knowledge, then I need something to connect the knowledge of electricity to the appliance that becomes useful to my life. It’s the connection point, is understanding. Now, you know, I don’t know about electricity, so I do know that in this auditorium we need lights, we need electricity to make all this stuff work. If I came into this exercise with the auditorium, and I said, “You know what? How hard can it be to have electricity in this auditorium? I have a house. I want a kettle. Put the kettle in the plug. It works. So, all I’ve got to do is have the same electricity issue here in the auditorium.” And then I have André and Kobus and various other people come to me and say, “No, no, Pastor John, it doesn’t work that way.” “Why not?” “Well, certain appliances draw different amperages or watts. So, if you’re going to need to have a thing that’s requiring more power, you need more circuit breakers, bigger breakers that will allow the power to transfer.” What are they talking about? They’re talking about information, but they’re also talking about understanding. But the understanding only works when I put the big screen on that says, I’m going to draw 20 watts of power or 50 watts of power, whatever that is. I’m going to draw it now, so they can only make the whole thing work when they get everything together. I don’t know what that needs. I don’t know what those circuit breakers are. I don’t know how much power is needed. I don’t know what we need from the board. I’ve got to go to someone who has the knowledge, they have the understanding, and they won’t know what those two things can really do for me until I say, “I want a big digital board”. Then they say, “Pastor John, now you’re talking about a different level of thing.” So the application will determine the knowledge and the understanding. Amen.

So, “Pastor John, why are you talking about this right now?” Well, God’s talking to us about crossover. Yes? And He’s also been talking to us about Kingdom economics and Ecclesia economics. He’s also been talking to us about holidays. Ja? And it’s been a challenge. And the fire has burned in all of us. All of us have had confrontations. So here’s what God’s doing. God’s saying, “I’m sharing My knowledge with you. I’m sharing information with you. Now I’m beginning to give you some understanding of why I’m sharing the knowledge with you.” What is the understanding? Well, the understanding is that the Church is not supposed to be weak and following what the world is doing. The Church is supposed to be leading what the world is doing. If we’re always following the world, what the world is doing, then we might as well just give up and do whatever the world says is the next thing for us to do. And everything the world tells us to do, let’s just do what they say. 

I mean, I wonder if there’s no Church on the earth, and I mean this, if there’s no Church on the earth – I’m not talking about fathers and mothers and children. I’m talking about the Church. If there’s no Church on the earth, I wonder if there will be this value. I’m going to talk about just a single value system that we entertain and we consider to be important. Right? If I come up to Grobbies here and I shake his hand, it’s considered to be good for me if I shake his hand that I look him in the eye. And I say, “Hello, Grobbies.” I’m giving him the respect of looking him in the eye. He’s respecting me by looking me in the eye. Right? There’s a human transaction of value and honour and respect that is happening here. And so it determines the level of our relationship. 

I wonder if there’s no Church on the earth, whether in 20 years time, there will even be this level of relationship on the earth? Whether the millennials will know what that means or the post-millennials? Because their relationship is, “You want to talk to me? Talk to my avatar on the screen. You want to talk to me? Talk to me on the Internet and I’ve got a whole world that is representing me somewhere else. And so why even talk to me? Why do you want him to act with me? Talk to this virtual world that I live in?” I want to tell you, most of the transactions that are happening in a young generation are happening in that world already. They’re not happening between real people. So what are you saying? “Well, Pastor John, what’s the Church got to do with it?” The values in the Church are determined by the Bible and the Truth, not by what humans say the value should be. 

Sorry, Grobbies, I’m using you again this morning. But this value system of looking someone in the eye and shaking hands, do you think that’s a human value? It’s a human value that came from God because God says, “If you want to have a relationship with Me, I’m going to be in your face and I want you to be face to face with Me. And I want you to look Me in the eye and I want to look you in the eye.” That’s a God-given relationship and men understood the value of that. So now men do it. Take God out of this equation, why would men want to have a face-to-face, honourable, respectful relationship? Why? I can get anything I want from some world out there. The Church is what brought humans their values. It’s not human values that distinction different humans from different humans. It’s God who brought people into the earth. It’s God who came to Adam and breathed His life into Adam and said, “Adam, this is the nature of our relationship, right here, Adam.” And when He came to instruct Adam about his future, He said, “I’m standing in front of you and I’m telling you.” Then He said, “It’s not good for you to be alone, so Adam, I’m going to cause you to go to sleep. And what’s in you, I’m going to take out and make another person that you can stand face to face, look at each other and talk.” It’s the reason why the devil came to Eve and talked to her face to face because that value system is in God. It’s not in men.

We want to take credit for a whole lot of value systems that we as men pass on to the next generation of our children and give God no credit for it because it’s just the way we choose to live our lives. Then somehow we want to take value and advantage over that teaching without giving God the value and the credit for it. So when God comes to us and He says, “I want you to cross over, I want you to start searching out your life and I’m going to put my finger on things that are important to your life, like holidays. What are you doing with your money? What are you doing with your time? What’s happening in your relationships? What are you thinking about your education going forward? Hasn’t God been doing that for us with us now for some years? Why do you think He’s doing that? He’s doing that because He wants a church that He can say, “If you seek Me and you search for Me, you will find Me. My wisdom, My understanding, My knowledge will be imparted to you and then you will know how to apply it when the world goes crazy, you will still be connected to Me. Then you will get your future from Me, not from what others say.”

“Holidays, Pastor John, that’s really not material.” It’s been so interesting how many of us have been squirming at the fact that maybe we have to give up a holiday or two. That will just show you how important your holiday or two is. Touch anything in my life but not my holiday. Or touch anything in my life but not my security of my money. Touch anything in my life but don’t touch my relationships. Whatever it is that God’s talking to us about, why on earth would He be doing that? Well, it’s because He’s saying, “Do you seek Me? Do you seek Me? Are you searching for Me?” I would go so far as to say that we as a people have been seeking for God. We have been searching out His wisdom, His understanding, and His knowledge. And because we seek Him, He must be found. So when we find Him, He’s not going to give us information that is what you think it is. You’re going to go into, He says, “Let Me open the storage capacity. Let Me open the storeroom for you and show you what Truth looks like. Because you’re seeking Me. You are ready to pay the price for Me, I’ll show you what’s in the storeroom. It’s Me. It’s Me.” “Ah, but I didn’t want that storeroom to reveal all of this.” When you open the storeroom, you’re going to go into the storeroom. Then what’s stored there for the upright, that’s what’s going to come to you. You can’t now choose, “I’ll take this and I’ll take that.” No, no, if you’re the upright, then that’s what’s in store for you. To be more upright. Because what will happen? It will save you. It will deliver you from the wicked one. It will deliver you from perverse men. Knowledge will give you understanding. And now, we need the connection. What’s the application of this? How’s this going to work? What kettles can we boil? What do we want to use it for? 

Well, I know that over the years, God has spoken to us about many things. Do you remember when the Lord, again, Brother Jerry was going to come here and he couldn’t make it? He didn’t come and then the Lord said, “The offering that you took for him, take it to him and give it like he came.” Remember? And then the Lord began to give us a revelation of irrational honour. What do you think broke out in our church? What is a big, big value system in our church now? Honour. Honour for our leaders, honour for each other, honour for God. He used the moment to open the storehouse for the upright because the upright was searching for the ways of God and God said, “John, you’ve got a moment here. You’ve got an opportunity here to take money and show your honour regardless of whether the person came or not.” And He gave me the word irrational honour because it’s not rational. It’s actually in some people’s minds, it’s mental to go and give somebody a gift the size that we gave him when they’ve done nothing for it. Irrational honour. So what happened in our church and our ministry? God has established honour as one of our foundational core spiritual values in our whole ministry is honour. What we have in our church, people in the world will pay huge sums of money if they could have this in their corporations. If they could get honourable people who would honour leadership and honourable leadership who would honour the people that they employ. If they could have honour in their businesses, they would pay huge money for this. But this is something you can’t buy. It’s in the storage room. And it’s the upright of heart that is searching for wisdom and understanding that will know how to go and get it and only then God will reveal it. 

Do you remember when the Lord said I Will Take the Children? What was He giving us when He said I Will Take the Children? I Will Take the Children didn’t start in 2019. I Will Take the Children started in our hearts when we saw what devastation the world brought on our kids. I want to say this, that when I was in the world, I served God regardless of what the world did to me. God was my everything. So when I was in the world and people were doing all kinds of things to me at school and all kinds of stuff, I really didn’t care. As long as I could play my sport and go to church, I was happy. Really, that’s how I lived my life. Whether people liked me or not, I didn’t really care. I didn’t have, my identity wasn’t in whether they liked me or not. It really wasn’t. Really, really, I can tell you now, I really didn’t care if people didn’t like me. And when they persecuted me for my Christianity and how strong my belief was at school, I really didn’t care. I knew who I was in Christ. I raised my two sons with that same passion. And so my whole thinking was, if I can do this, then so can they. So they need to go to the best education institutions available so that they can get the best education possible. And as long as they’re in my house, they will serve the Lord. Because, hey, I did it, so they can do it. I made a big assumption. Here’s the assumption. I made the assumption that they are me. They are not me. I can tell you about circumstances, I can tell you about the times that changed. I can tell you about all of the pressures that the enemy brought that were new into the system. The fundamental fact is they were not me. So, I could not expect them to behave like me, but I did.

So, the result is the fact that they were not me, the devil could get to them in ways that were not me. I was never ever able to dream of this thing that Brynn was so sold out to God up to the age of 12 or 13 and he had so much persecution in school. It was an all boys private school, best education you can get in the country. He was so sold out to God. And they used to persecute him and sometimes it would come in the form of bullying. Well, there came a time in Brynn’s life when he just said one day, “I’m not going to be bullied anymore.” Bigger guys, stronger guys than him. He wasn’t always the hulk of the guy that he is now. He’s worked on getting this big. When he was at school, he was skinnier than me, when he was at school. So, there were bigger guys that grew faster than him, taller, guys that persecuted him. He had enough of it one day and he just decided, “I’m going to just take this guy out.” And he did. The biggest, baddest bully in the school, he just took him out.

I don’t want to glorify what he did, I’m just saying he took him out. And suddenly everybody respected Brynn. And when people didn’t want to be Brynn’s friend, now they all wanted to be Brynn’s friend. I was never ever to think that that would be a master strategy of the enemy to come and undermine Brynn’s life. Because he went from being isolated to being completely included. And the intoxication of that got him. How would I ever, being who I was, ever think that that would be a problem? So, I assumed that he could do what I could do. Wrong. Amen.

So, I Will Take the Children didn’t start in 2019. I Will Take the Children started when we understood, actually, God wants His children and the system is not geared to protect His children. We started speaking into the Church, “The best thing you can do for your kids is homeschool them. If we had it over again, that’s what we would do.” Because, and we didn’t hide it, we didn’t hide our mistakes, we didn’t hide anything, we were public about it. I’m just using Brynn today, Garth had his own issues. The system came after Garth in a different way. And so, you might say, well my kids got through it okay, everything’s okay. If God didn’t intervene, I wonder if your kids would be okay. Huh? So, God was working on Sharon and I and we had to give God our obedience and we had to go to that storage place because we’re upright in our hearts. God opened that storage place and He said, “I want to show you that I want to take the children and the future of what I need for your ministry is I Will Take the Children.” So we started to bring the message, I Will Take the Children. Can you remember how the fire burned? All the questions we had, all the issues that were talked about. “How is this going to happen?” Then suddenly all of these young people that had been absolute, the best of the best at school from sport to academics that were in our ministry, the best of the best that had the brightest of the futures that had the best potential, that could do anything and anything they wanted to because they were performing at the best in the system. God said, “I want the children, I want the children.” 

So we had to say, “Well, what does this mean, Lord?” Now, remember ten, thirteen years before that, the Lord said, “John, I want you to start MiXchange because I need to have a place where there’s a generation of children that will come and exchange.” That happened thirteen years ago now, fourteen years ago almost, I started first MiXchange. I already saw something in my spirit, I was already getting ready, but the timing of God had to, the appliance had to connect to the power. Right? 

So now we find ourselves, iXchange, people are coming in, the kids are giving their lives, the kids are giving their lives and boy, we’ve had a whole lot of shoving and talking and a whole lot of, “What are they going to do next? How long are they going to keep doing this? What’s their next step? What’s it?” Because everybody in the world system says, “We’ve got to push them through. You can’t keep doing this forever.” Because the system says, “You’ve got to have the next thing.” The system says, the system says, everybody says. But what does God say? What does the Truth say? What does the Truth say? 

So we said, “All right, Lord, here, here’s the truth. We’re going to do whatever You tell us to do.” So we did it. Hey, all of these young people that have given their lives to God now some years already they will tell you, they can’t imagine what would have become of them had they stayed in that system because the very thing that caused them to perform in that system, be accepted in the system would be the same thing that would kill them. “No, Pastor John, it’s just because you’ve given them an outlet because if they had someone strong enough to mentor them, if they had someone that had a strong enough mental capacity to kind of mentor them, to school them, tutor them, everything, for them to get through, they would have got through. They would have had that right balance between serving God and doing what the system says.” You say what? That right balance? The right balance? Who determines what that balance is? You or God? “Well, no, not God, because after all, I’m the father or I’m the mother, we’re the parents. So no, no, no, we can’t leave it up to God. We have to take control.” Say again, what’s that word? Control. I wonder if that’s the word God uses with you. You think God controls you? Or does He give you choice? Does He say, “I’m going to give you the best version of Myself? Pursue Me, seek Me, come and chase Me. Let Me see what’s in your heart. And when you do that, I will open My storage facility of all this wisdom and knowledge and understanding, and you will find Me in a way that no one else can find Me, not the system out there, not those people who say they want balance.” I’m teaching really good today. Hallelujah.

“Oh, Pastor John, and by the way, that refers to my money too.” Oh really, so who’s going to dictate to you what is the best for your money? Your needs? The system or God? “Yeah, but Pastor John, you’re the pastor now. You know, you’re the pastor now, so you have a hidden agenda here to talk like that.” If I had a hidden agenda, I wouldn’t have gone into the ministry because I was making lots of money out there in the world. Lots. And I said, “That’s not what I’m called to do. I got to go follow God.” If I had a hidden agenda, I would have kept doing what I was doing.

I’ll tell you, after I left the corporate world, you know when you get to a senior level, an executive level in your life, you don’t have to move from one job to another. It’s like expected that when you move from an executive position, you kind of take a sabbatical, you kind of look out for where’s the best next move you’re going to make, and you kind of touch all of your contacts in the industry, and you sort of put your name out there, and you work the network. And so, when I’d been out of the corporate world for six months or so, people started seeking me out because they understood the process. So they started calling me, “Please come and see us, please come and talk to us. We kind of recognise that you’ve left that, and you’ve had your time out, and we wanted to make you an offer.” One company that was a listed company that was one of the biggest companies in South Africa, IT companies in South Africa, offered me a director’s position with big, big millions of benefits, and monies, and all kinds of things. I said, “Guys, you don’t understand. I didn’t leave so that I could be made an offer a year later. I left because I’m into the way of life with God. He’s become my truth in this next phase of my life.” Well, they couldn’t understand that I would spend, I would have this potential, this huge opportunity.

I mean, I did a calculation that if I had, because I watched the stock exchange and I watched the share price and I watched all of the companies that if I had gone to that company, what my wealth would have been. And in about five years after I’d said no, my wealth would have been around about 30 million rand. If I’d gone into that business then. “You did what, Pastor John? You turned all of that down?” I mean, listen, I was working on what happened in the past and one could argue to say if I was part of it, it wouldn’t have got there or I might not have stayed there. There’s many variables. I’m just talking about the facts that existed at that time.

Hey, it’s not a cost to me. It was a joy to me. I did it because God called me. I did it because from the beginning, before I was born, He had a plan for my life. I don’t have a hidden agenda here to talk to you about money. Are you all still with me? I want to see how much time I’ve got left here. I’ve just got 10 minutes left, but you’re okay with 10 minutes. You’re having a good time here this morning, right? 

So, this parable, I mean, this is amazing, this parable. We know it all. I’m just going to read it to you just to give me a contact point for what I’m going to say next. And the next time we come together, I’m going to teach on this some more. Matthew 13, verse one,1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea   2 and great multitudes were gathered to Him. Would you please say this word; great multitudes. [Congregation says replies; great multitudes]. They were gathered together to Him so that He got into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Multitude, multitude, hey? So, verse 10, 10 And the disciples came to and said to Him, Why do you speak to them, the multitude, in parables? 11 And He answered, verse 11, and said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given (Matthew 13:1-2, 10-11 NKJV).

What? He’s busy preaching to the multitudes. By anybody’s account in the modern-day church, the more multitudes you have, the more successful you are. Right? So Jesus is talking to the multitude in parables. And then afterwards the disciples say to Him, “Why are you talking to them in parables?” And Jesus answered them, “Because you, to you, is given the mystery,” some versions say, the secrets, “Of the Kingdom, but to them it has not been given.” Why not? Because they’re not upright. So, why does Jesus talk in parables? 

Well, parables are used, and it’s normally a story to establish a level of truth, but the fact that it’s a parable is that you can get the information, but you can’t get the understanding because the understanding is determined by what’s in your heart. So, the knowledge is available to everybody but the understanding is not. Certainly, the wisdom of how to use what you know, is only for a very few. Bear with me now. So, if I use this word, and the disciples, can I put it this way, and the student, and the learner, or I could say the upright in heart. This is not upright according to human version of uprightness, this is the upright in heart as we read in Proverbs. Have I lost you? Are you all still with me? Okay. So, the parable is being taught to everybody who can hear. The church has got millions of people in it that want information. They want knowledge. But understanding is not to the people who go to church. Understanding is for those who have a heart to seek Him. They have a heart to seek Him. Because learners pay a price to discover the Truth. What’s the price? The price is, I’m not going to go the way everybody else says I must go, I’m going to follow after the way God says I must go. 

So, if I just take what’s happened in our church, if I just take this, we, all of us, have paid a price. We have paid a price to be here because what I’m teaching you, is because God says, “John, Crossover time, and you’re going to teach about money, and you’re going to teach about holidays because these people are seekers. They are not just information or knowledge seekers, these people are searching with their heart for Me, the Truth. So, I need you to be My mouthpiece to speak Truth”, me and Pastor Sharon, “To speak Truth so that their Truth can give them understanding. That they can live their life with wisdom.” 

Learners or disciples will pay a price for truth. Multitude wants things for free because they’re not interested in the truth, they just want the knowledge because knowledge and information will entertain them in conversations with their friends. Knowledge and information will also give them reason to have entertaining conversations with other people that they can demonstrate their level of information and knowledge. So, knowledge becomes the handle of their life, not understanding. Understanding is only for those who want to pay the price for it, it’s not for those who can just hear it. Jesus was talking to the multitude in parables, so they would not understand it, even though they heard it. Just because people come to church and they hear the message, doesn’t make them understand it. 

Verse 11, 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him (Matthew 13:11-12 NKJV).

Now can I read you the John Bendixen version of that scripture? I should call this the JBV, John Bendixen Version. 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, you, disciples, learners, those who will pay the price, but to them who are not going to pay the price, it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, the one who will pay the price, who has commitment, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; because of his price and his commitment, but whoever does not have, goes where the information is, the next big thing’s happening, to be the information flow so that they can be in the know, even what he has will be taken away from him because his head will get filled with knowledge, but he will continue to lack understanding (Matthew 13:11-12 NKJV). And the further he gets with his head knowledge, the further he gets away from understanding because understanding is not the principal thing in his life, it is knowledge. 

So, if you go and you’re an electrician, and I was using electricity earlier on, so I’m going to keep talking that way. If you’re an electrician or you want to learn about electrical stuff, you can go learn, and you can go and find out all of the things about it. But until you go and put the first live wire into that circuit breaker you don’t have understanding. Or maybe you get shocked by something then you get understanding of what you’re connecting to. So what happens from the person who’s sitting at the information table in college and then goes to connecting live wires? Understanding. There’s a big difference between information and knowledge and understanding. And then, when you put your next microwave and the power circuitry is wrong and it blows the microwave, you get wisdom. Right? Because you’re seeking for something. You’re seeking the connection of that worldwide electricity thing, and you want to use it in the proper way so you may gain understanding in between, until you keep getting the same result in the way that you live.

So why is God putting His finger on this stuff? Because you’re touching the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven. And in order for you to have the consistent results in your life, in the ways of God according to truth, you have to get understanding. And the understanding only comes when you receive the message and you say, “I don’t just want to be a knowledge person. I want to be a learner. I want to be a student. I want to be a disciple.” And so if God’s saying, “Give Me your holiday.” I say, “Yes, Sir.” “Oh, but it doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t… it’s not right, it’s not right, it’s not right, it’s not right. You know, what right does God have on my couple of days a year that I get?” So then God can’t give you rest? God can’t make it up to you? He can’t bless you? “Oh, but you don’t know how much I enjoy to just pack my cooler box, and pack my beach chairs, and pack my stuff, and go hit the beach, and go sit there for the whole day, and swim in the sea, read a book and walk on the beach. You have no idea how much that means to my soul.” You think God doesn’t? I mean, like He doesn’t live with you? He doesn’t know you? I will tell you this, that that is definitely a habit that you’ve learned. A habit is not necessarily a blessing from God just because you have the right to continue to fulfil your habit. Well then, what do you know, when, how do you know? When you have a, if you’ve got a searching heart, then you’ll know. I’m nearly done here. 

13 Therefore, verse 13, 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see. Seeing, they do not see. “They are watching the very Truth Himself but they don’t see Me.” And hearing, the very Truth Himself, they do not hear. Nor do they understand. If you have a Bible with red letters in then your Bible will say this is Jesus talking. 14 And in them, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ”Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing. And their eyes have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears. Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.” (Matthew 13:13-15 NKJV). In other words, God is saying, “I’m not going to let My Truth available, I’m not opening My storage and all of My secrets and mystery just because they came to hear. I’m speaking to them in parables so only those who will search will actually hear. Because if they somehow begin to understand how that mystery … I would have to heal them, but their hearts wouldn’t be in it. So they would abuse My healing power because their hearts are not in it.” 

So when God comes to talk to us and He says to us, “I want to take the children, come take the children.” “Yes, Lord,” we have to obey. We just have to obey. All of the children that have decided to make God their number one priority in their life, their actions reveal their heart. Not their words. Their words follow what’s in their heart. You know, Brother Jerry has said this many times, “People come to me and they tell me they love me and when they come and tell me they love me, then it’s almost a sign that they’re going to leave me soon.” Because what they say with their words and what’s in their heart, are two different things. Right? I’m happy to say that I’ve been with Brother Jerry going on twenty eight years now. I’ve told him many times that I love him. Many of you have told me many times that you love me and many of you are going on twenty years being with me. So you can tell me as many times as you want that you love me. It’s all good because you’re searching Truth with your heart. 

Verse 16, 16 But blessed are your eyes (Matthew 13:16 NKJV), you disciple, you learner, you one who’s searching after God, who have – I can’t get there today. But I’m going to give you a taster for next week. You ready for it? If you understand this, then you see, after the rich young ruler was talking, and then Peter and the disciples say to Jesus, “But we have left everything to follow You. How then are we going to ever enter the Kingdom of Heaven because we’re rich?“ Jesus answers them and says to them, “With man, it’s impossible but with God it’s possible.” Because when you say, “I’m going to give everything for the Kingdom,” He opens His storage of knowledge and understanding to you and then you get to understand and you get to see and then He leads you into the Kingdom. But He says it’s harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go into the eye of a needle because he doesn’t want to hear what you have to say about the Kingdom, because his trust is in what he can control. And his control is through his money. And so, when the Lord confronted the rich young ruler and He said, “I see that you have been seeking Me all your life.” He says, “Yes, yes, yes, give me the answer for the Kingdom.” “Sell the stuff that you’ve been accumulating all your life, take your money and give it to the poor and follow Me.” Invitation. 

What was Jesus saying to him? “You are so close to the Truth itself, but there is one thing that’s standing you, it’s the stuff you have controlled. Stop your control and come and follow Me. Put your trust in Me, not in what you can control.”

 

Do you want to know more about control? You got to go and hear some of my messages that I have been preaching on Crossover Moments because only when you understand the Kingdom, and you understand dominion and authority, and the King who has got a Kingdom, who dominates, controls in His Kingdom, then you understand what God is saying. Because we are… He is the, Jesus is the King of …? [Congregation answers; kings] Who are the kings? We are the kings. Are we not called to be kings and priests to our God? Then if we are kings, then we are supposed to have dominion. What is that? Control. Over what? Over anything that would prevent us from living the life that God wants us to live. Not that we choose for ourselves. Then I go to, 33 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, His right way of doing things, and all these things will be added to you in abundance (Matthew 6:33 KJV). You will never have to worry about it because you now understand the mystery of control. Amen.

Does this sound like a parable to you? Maybe. Because there is yet some of you that have got to come seeking and searching for this truth, and God is not going to let your ears be opened, or your eyes see, until you are ready to make the sacrifice in your heart that whatever He tells you to do, that I will do. Until you do that, there will be some things that I preach that will only be information and knowledge to you, and people will sit here, and have, over many years. They have sat in my messages and they say, “That information doesn’t sound right to me because I measure your information, your knowledge by what I previously heard from other preachers, so it doesn’t sound right, so I judge you.” And they leave. Sometimes they don’t judge me. They sit here and they say, “I hear you, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you, I hear you.” They take a little bit and they leave a little bit and they take a little bit and, “I hear you and I hear you.” And they think they have got everything that we’ve got and they don’t. Because they have only got it here, (Pastor John pointing to his head) because their hearts don’t belong to God. They are not searching His real ways, not their ways, their interpreted ways of what they think He should be doing for them. I’m preaching so good today. Hallelujah. 

16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it (Matthew 13:16-17 NKJV). So the zeal, willingness to receive instruction and application of knowledge will lead you to the level of teaching to enable you, the student, the disciple, to achieve the results of wisdom. Wisdom is not for the multitude. Human life experience wisdom is for the multitude but human life experience wisdom is not what we seek. Because it changes from generation to generation and I promise you as this generation is coming through the wisdom of the aged is no longer accepted as anything of value. And that’s going to get worse. It’s not going to get better. People are going to take their wisdom from TikTok and from Instagram and from YouTube. They are not going to listen to the wisdom that comes through the life experiences of people. Why? Because your life experience is not mine and your past has nothing to do with my new future. So, why should they ever listen to what we have learned in our past? 

I mean, that shouldn’t be that way but it’s becoming like that. So, we don’t seek the wisdom that comes from life experience wisdom. Do it like this, do it like this because I learned, my study, I have knowledge of, I have learned. I see things that you can’t see because I’m older. That’s not the wisdom we seek. Because then just the richest and the oldest and the best dressed amongst us are going to be people that we must go and listen to. That’s not what God says. Wisdom is not for the multitude. It is for the few who will pay the price to go and enter into the Kingdom of God. It’s all about the ways of God. It’s about the Kingdom of righteousness. 

Some years ago, I have to just finish on this one thing and then you’ll see how it’s going to lead us into where God’s taking us next week. We have to learn this now. God has been showing me if we don’t get this now and we don’t cross over now as a church, well, Sharon and I have made a decision we’re crossing over and whoever wants to come with us can come with us. For the rest, I can’t speak for you.

Years ago, someone came and ministered in our church and they used the word, a Jewish word, it was called echad. Anybody can say it better than me? Pastor Christi, do you remember that? Is that the right word, Sharon? Do you remember that? Echad. Echad was the Jewish word and it’s a Hebrew word that means oneness. Oneness. Yes? Why is God on with us about this? Because God is bound by His oneness. He is bound by His integrity. Do you know what integrity means? Integrated. So, what I say and what I think and what I do and what I judge is one. It’s integrated. Oneness, echad. It’s oneness, integrated. 

So, if you talk to someone, if they have integrity, most of the time when we talk about people that have integrity, we say, “What you have said and what you have delivered or done is the same.” If you’ve made a promise and you’ve kept your promise, then we say it’s the same. They are people of integrity, right? But with God, integrity is who He is and always has been and always will be. Everything He’s ever been in Himself, everything He’s ever said about Himself, everything He said He will do, everything that He said we must become through the death and the resurrection of Jesus, all of it is His integrity. He’s at one with everything He is. 

Can I tell you what another word for it is in the Bible? It’s called holiness. So when Jesus says, “Be ye holy, even as I am holy,” then He says, “Be the same one who thinks and speaks and acts and behaves like Me. Be integrated with Me then you will be holy. You are the same as Me when you talk. You are the same as Me when you think. You are the same as Me when you speak. You are the same as Me when you are going about your future in your life. You are the same as Me. Be ye holy, even as I am holy.” “Really, Lord, is this how it is?” “Yes.” Jesus, when He was born, the integrated Father, the Holy One said, “My Son is coming into the earth before He even becomes anything I’m going to take care of His mom and dad. I’m going to take care of His future. I’m going to bring these rich men from a far country and I’m going to cause them to bring all these gifts and all of this money and wealth and put it at the Baby’s feet and say, ‘Be wealthy.’” What have you done for it? “I’ve just been born.” What happened when you got born again? When you got born again into the Kingdom, you became a king of the King of kings. And He says, “When you got born, I took all of heaven’s resources and I said, what do you want? What do you need? It’s all yours.” And you say, “No, I’ve got to go work for it. I’ve got to go study for it. I’ve got to go work for it. I’ve got to manage it. And if I do it all well and I’ll do it better than someone else, then I’ll get more than someone else, because I’m better at it than anybody else.” And Jesus is saying, “That’s all you, son. It’s not Me at all. It’s just you. It’s because you don’t know Me the way you should know Me. You don’t trust Me. You’re not one with Me. You’re not integrated with Me. So you’re thinking like everybody else tells you you must think.”

Next week, integration. This doesn’t come from yesterday. Remember the Lord gave me a relationship model, which is what? Touch. Integration of ways. Then He reveals His strategic intentions so that He can deliver divine productivity, so that He can establish His? [Congregation answers; covenant]. I rest my case. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. 

You know, when the Lord gives me stuff like this to preach, and then He shows me all the stuff He’s revealed to me over the years that I’ve preached in little bits, little bits. And I said, “Lord, why did You do that?” He says, “Because they weren’t ready.” It’s in my notes here. Can I read it to you just quickly? It’s a scripture, just a scripture. Just, I have to read it to you. It’s just a scripture. I mean, where is it? John chapter 16, verse 12, 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you (John 16:12-14 NKJV).

So, Pastor John, why is He putting the pressure points on us? Because the Holy One, the integrated One, the past, the present, the future One, the One that is all everything, and He’s wanting us to be Him on the earth; to talk like Him, behave like Him, think like Him, get our future lined up with His future that He got for us. He wants it all to be integrated. He’s saying, “I can’t integrate you because your holidays are too important to you. And your education system that’s so important for you that you get all those high marks that you can go to university so you can be educated so that you can have job security.” Job security. 

Report just got released in the last week; tens of thousands of people are being laid off in the computer industry. Google, Apple, Microsoft. How many is it, Empie, do you know? It’s tens of thousands of people. Maybe up to hundreds of thousands of people are getting – all across the planet … Who’s taking their jobs? Artificial intelligence. All of that studying, all of that money they spent on university, on all of their education, now they’re in debt by half a million dollars. They can’t pay it back because artificial intelligence has taken their jobs and you want that system to secure your future?

I’m glad I know Jesus. I’m glad I know Jesus. I’m glad He’s my Lord and my Saviour and He didn’t say, “You know when artificial intelligence comes, sorry, I can’t provide for you. And when all of these things happen and the world system is like shouting and screaming, sorry, that’s when I’m out. I’m out. Me, God, the integrated One, I’m out. Because your needs, sorry. When I was thinking about Moses and Jacob and when he was whittling sticks there by the troughs, I couldn’t see artificial intelligence coming. No, sorry. No, you guys have advanced beyond My power because you’ve got AI now and you’ve got stuff like a neuro link that you put a chip in your brain and now you can have actions from your thoughts.” Ask Elon Musk, he’s busy doing that. 

Thank God, He’s the integrated One. He’s the Holy One. He’s integrated with us and we’re integrating with Him and our future depends on our walk with Him. If we seek Him, we’ll find Him. Don’t you think that’s cool? Come on, that’s cool. It doesn’t matter how much stuff changes there. We’ve got the cool God. We’ve got the living God. You can go to anybody, ask Muhammad or the guys from Muhammad and Confucius and whoever. Say, “Where was your god born?” They can’t tell you. Literally, they can’t tell you. The only God that was born, they can tell you and it’s the source of war. Israel. It’s the source of war because the living God was born there so that He could redeem us to integrate with Him and He can integrate with us. “But don’t touch my holidays. Don’t touch my holidays and my money, don’t touch that. There’s a few other things I want to tell you, Pastor John, don’t even go there because they’re important to me. My status, of course. My prestige. I’m mos the outjie” (I’m the man). 

Stand with me, please. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. You know, I’m so full of this stuff. I literally could preach all day today and I had a big cycle block of training yesterday but I could preach all day today. Under this anointing, I could preach all day today. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

Won’t you put your hand on your heart and say, “Jesus, thank You for redeeming me. I choose You. I choose to be one with You. I will integrate with You. I will be holy, even as You are holy. In Jesus’ name. Thank You for taking care of me, for providing for me, for blessing me, for giving me peace. In Jesus’ name. Hallelujah.”

I mean, we got the best of everything, everything, everything. Hallelujah. Glory to God. While you’re all standing, those young ones that are going with Pastor Sharon and I for a couple of days, come stand here. Please, come stand in the front here. Come Nikao, come Tom. Who’s everybody else? Megan, come Jess. Come stand in the front here. Sommer stands on a step here. One more step up. Nikao, come one more back, one more back because some are shorter than others. Everybody can see you. See, Minè here, she’s worried about this week. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. So we’re taken a couple of team leaders and pastors and we’re all going with them and we are going to share the Word of God with them. And we are going to impart to them and put things into their lives that God wants us to put into their lives. And I’m asking you to stand with us and to bless them. Will you send them with your blessing? Won’t you reach out your hands to them? Just reach out your hands to them and say, [Congregation repeats after Pastor John], “Father, we declare in the name of Jesus, they will receive everything that You have for them. Bless them. Protect them. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Hallelujah.

I mean, look at them. They’re a fine bunch of young people standing here. Amen. Some would say the best of the best. That’s what I would say. [Congregation agrees] 

So we’re going to all be departing at half past 12 from the front here. And I would encourage all of you that if you just want to bless them, if you want to just do something nice for them, give them a word of encouragement or just a kind word, whatever. Do that. And for the rest, those that want to stay behind and see us off, please. This is a big deal for us. This is where they have an opportunity to encounter God without any of the distractions of daily life. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory to God. And encounter God they will. Hallelujah. Just ask those that have already encountered God. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 

Are you all okay? [Young ones in front answers; yes]. Hey? Are you all okay? [Young ones in front answers; Yes]. Yeah? Good. All right. You can go and sit. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. God bless you. Have a wonderful week.