Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 17:23-26 (AMPC); Mark 4:14-15 (AMPC); Exodus 13:17-18 (AMPC); Exodus 13:17 (TLB); Exodus 15:1-3 (AMPC); 1 Samuel 17:31-33 (AMPC); 1 Timothy 6:12 (AMPC), 1 Timothy 1:18-19 (AMPC); Nehemiah 4:3-5,9,11,13-15 (AMPC); Hebrews 11:32-33 (AMPC); Job 19-25 (AMPC)
Pastor John: Well, good morning, everybody.
Pastor Sharon: Good morning.
Pastor John: It’s good to have you with us this morning. Wherever you may be, if you’re in your lounge or somewhere else in your home, wherever you might be watching from wherever you might be watching, it’s great to communicate with you this way. Thank God that we have this.
Pastor Sharon: That we have this platform, to be able to communicate with you from. Thank God.
Pastor John: Hallelujah. Thank God. Well, Pastor Sharon and I are going to get into the Word; we’re going to share some things with you that will encourage your faith, keep you focused on what God is doing.
Pastor Sharon: And saying to us as a church right now.
Pastor John: Yeah. We trust that this ministry will bring life to you, it will bring strength to you, it will bring joy to your heart, and you will be flooded with the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. So we are grateful that we can still be communicating with you. We thank God for all of His goodness. We thank God for all of who He is to us, Sharon.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, Pastor John! Hallelujah.
Pastor John: Hallelujah. In our meditation and thoughts that we had about ministering to you today, Pastor Sharon and I, independently from each other; we just had some things on our hearts to share with you. Initially, I was going to do the ministry, but when Pastor Sharon started to share with me some of the things the Lord had been speaking to her about, I said, “Well, I think we should do this together.” Because it was the same thing that the Lord had put on our hearts, we just had different ways of saying it.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right. That’s right, Pastor John.
Pastor John: I’m going to kick off, and then Pastor Sharon’s got some things to share. We’ll kind of jump between the two of us, as you by now are used to, the two of us ministering together.
Pastor Sharon, I’m going to read the first portion of Scripture, which is in 1 Samuel, and I’m reading from 1 Samuel 17 and from verse 23. This is David now talking to his brothers and the different people in the army of Israel. Goliath has been coming out every day, challenging Israel based on his physical strength to send out their champion because he’s the champion of the Philistines. He was saying, “Let us two champions battle it out, and whoever wins will become the servant of the other.”
23 As they talked verse 23, As they talked, behold, Goliath, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, came forth from the Philistine ranks and spoke the same words as before, and David heard him. If we were sitting together, I would say, say these words to me; he spoke the same words. Spoke the same words. Then I would say to you, and David heard him. He spoke the same words, and David heard him. He spoke the same words. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, terrified. 25 And the Israelites said, Have you seen this man who has come out? Surely he has come out to defy Israel… This is amazing because David understands; you’ll hear, later on, David understands that he’s not just defying Israel. 25 …and the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free [from taxes and service] in Israel. 26 And David said to the men, Goliath said the same words, David heard them, and now he says, to the men standing by him, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? (1 Samuel 17:23-26 AMPC)
This is an important thing that’s happening here, Pastor Sharon, because you’ve got Goliath who’s relying on his own strength, his own power, his own ability to dominate through his strength, and it’s displayed through words. When David heard them, what his response was; who dares to defy, who dares to defy the armies of the living God?
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: Whenever there’s a huge obstacle or a huge force that’s at any given time, wants to overwhelm the covenant people of God.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: It’s very seldom that that voice will seem insignificant. Either it will be an extremely deceptive thing—it’s a temptation, a deceptive thing that the devil does, or the devil will come with overwhelming force, like a roaring lion. He will come with an overwhelming force to try and say, “I will dominate you. I can dominate you. I can wipe you out anytime I want to.”
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: If you go strength to strength with that kind of threat and challenge, you can’t defeat that. That’s why Israel was running afraid because there was no one strong enough to defeat Goliath.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: But David understood that his strength was not in his own physical ability. It was in the covenant of the Lord Jesus, the covenant of God.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Words were actually the thing that was the battle at first. It was first words, and then it went into the natural realm of David defeating Goliath.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, it was a very real threat.
Pastor John: Very real threat.
Pastor Sharon: Because Goliath came with words.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: … to intimidate, the people of God and to threaten.
Pastor John: Exactly. You have some things that you want to share here about words?
Pastor Sharon: Yes, Pastor John, because this week I was just meditating for myself. The Lord was speaking to me about the war that we were in, that we are in. He said it to me like this, “The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is in a time of war.”
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: We are in a time of war; make no mistake about it. In our boldness, to come out of Egypt and to come out of Babylon, it’s not going to be uncontested by the enemy.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: Not at all. It was your message from last week, Pastor John, that I’ve been in it this whole week. These were some of the words that you said in last week’s message, everything that’s going on here, now, in the earth is about a war. Everything that’s going on here is about a war that happens in the spirit realm.
Now that is very important. The Lord was emphasising that to me, saying, “The church, My church is in a real spiritual war with a real, unseen enemy.” It’s the war for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s to try and make the church of the Lord Jesus Christ fearful, and timid, and cowardly, and drawback and just preach a self-promoting feel-good message. Jesus needs a powerful people that will stand in the midst of a storm after virus wave, after virus wave, and say, “It shall not come near us.”
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: He was saying, “There’s some things that have come near you. It’s come near some of the people in Heritage of Faith. What do you think this is? It’s a war that you are in. It’s a spiritual war, and I need a powerful people that will stand and say, it will not come near us.”
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: That’s what we’ve been standing and doing now; since we discovered that it is threatening to come near us. We are declaring, “It shall not come near us.” That’s why we’ve sent you the messages we’ve sent you.
We live in the land of Goshen, and where there is darkness in that world, the light of His presence will shine amongst us. Where there is famine and poverty in that land, the power of God is going to cause us to be fruitful. Where there is sickness and disease and plague in the world, it’s not going to come upon us.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: No weapon formed against our physical bodies will prosper. It may be formed, but it won’t prosper. But He’s not going to do it for those who are willing to stay in the wilderness because they’re afraid. They’re afraid of the future. What the Lord was saying to me…..
Pastor John: Can I jump in here for a second, Pastor Sharon?
Pastor Sharon: Sure.
Pastor John: I just want to remind the people of, of just how faith works here and I’m going to use my bicycle. My declaration that I don’t get flat tires when I ride bicycles, and I would declare that I don’t get flat tires when I ride bicycles. Then I still used to occasionally get a flat tire. That didn’t change my confession, did not change my declaration, didn’t change what I believe that I can speak this out and that can happen for me.
Pastor Sharon: Exactly.
Pastor John: It can be that way that I don’t have to always struggle with flat tires. People would say, “Oh, but if you have that declaration and you still get it, and you still got a flat, then your faith is not working.” No, my faith is working. It’s just waiting for the full harvest of my faith to come, and then I must keep my faith working all the time so that this becomes an ongoing pattern in my life.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: We’d make a declaration that this thing will not come near us. It might be formed against us; it won’t prosper; it will be delivered from the sickness and diseases, this virus. Our confession and our declaration before God stays the same. It doesn’t undermine our faith.
Pastor Sharon: No.
Pastor John: It doesn’t undermine what we are as a Church. Listen, if Peter could walk on water, that is amazing. I don’t know anybody else in history that has walked on water because of faith, and then his faith didn’t endure long enough, but hey, the guy got out and walked on water.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, he did.
Pastor John: We mustn’t lose sight of that, and so we walk on water.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: We are walking on water when it comes to this, this event that has happened to some of the people in the ministry in the Church and that doesn’t change what we declare.
Pastor Sharon: No, what we believe, no.
Pastor John: Doesn’t change what we believe. No.
Pastor Sharon: No, in fact, it makes us more aggressive. It makes us stronger.
Pastor John: Bolder.
Pastor Sharon: It makes us bolder. That’s what the Lord was saying to me, “I want you battle fit. I want you fit for this war that you are in.”
Pastor John: That’s right.
Pastor Sharon: I want your faith to be strong. I want you to have fighting talk, fighting talk. One of the things that you said in last week’s message was, I want to encourage you today that globally, we have had a major event happen, a pandemic virus that has hit the world. Here’s what really; you may have many, you can have many things to say about it, but here’s what really happened. The world has come to a standstill. If you think God’s in that He’s not. God has always got a way out for you and me. Now we can have one of two things that can happen right now. We can allow ourselves to be caught up in all the words, to be caught up in all the words of the world about the pandemic. We can allow ourselves to get caught up in those words. David could have allowed himself to get caught up in all of Goliath’s words.
Pastor John: Because everybody.
Pastor Sharon: Because everybody else was allowing themselves to get caught up in Goliath’s words.
Pastor John: Exactly.
Pastor Sharon: But David did not allow himself to get caught up in the worlds of the then—You can call it intimidation and a threat against their very lives.
Or we can be caught up in the Words of God. If you get caught up in the Words of God, the pandemic will not touch you; you will grow right through it.
Now, there’s something here, Pastor John, that the Lord really wants us to see. Especially in the light of last week’s message of At Once. God gives us His Word, and He gives us His promises of protection, from healing and health, and provision. He gives us His promises, but this is very interesting when you take the Words of God. When you take the Words of God, and you’re not going to take the words of the world. Look what happens here when Jesus says here in Mark 4:14. 14 The sower sows the Word. 15 The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown [in their hearts], but when they hear, Satan comes at once… Satan comes at once. He is also an at once being. Satan comes at once and [by force] takes away the message which is sown in them. (Mark 4:14-15 AMPC).
The Lord said to me, “Okay, now there’s some symptoms around, Sharon. What’s happening to your fighting talk? What’s happening to your fight of faith? Where are you at here? Are you battle fit here? Do you actually recognise that Satan comes at once to steal the Words of God that you are saying of healing, of provision, in a time of pandemic? Are you allowing him to come at once to steal it out of your heart, or are you rising up in fighting talk, Sharon? Fighting talk.”
Pastor John: That is so good, Sharon. That’s the reason we have to be at once people. Because if we don’t act on the Word at once, then the devil will come at once. The way to establish the Word of God in your heart and in your life is at once, to obey. At once, to speak the first words of the Word of God out of your mouth. At once. At once is every moment. When the moment of symptoms comes, you’ve got to declare at once.
It doesn’t matter what’s happening here; I overcome, I’m victorious. I don’t accept sickness and disease. It doesn’t create a negative faith for you to have full-blown symptoms of whatever you might have, but keep on declaring and saying, “I am healed and whole. The blood of Jesus has made me whole. The broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ has paid for all my sickness and disease. He has taken it all upon Him. I do not accept it. I do not receive it. I reject it.” It doesn’t matter if you have a clinically diagnosed result. It doesn’t matter that you have those things. You must still stay strong in the Word.
Pastor Sharon: Exactly, because it’s all subject to change, like Brother Jerry ministered to us. Everything is subject to change. All of our situations are subject to change by the Word of God if we do not allow the enemy who comes at once; he comes at once with words to see if he can get you to speak words.
Pastor John: I’m reminded at this moment of Brother Jerry, who was in a meeting with Brother Copeland, and his two girls were in the nursery, people looking after them. Terry had—someone used a rocking thing and took off the edge of her fingers. Some people might say, you know, if you’re in a faith environment like you were in, listening to the Word, and you’ve been declaring the protection of God over your family, how can that happen? How can that happen? But that’s not the answer.
Pastor Sharon: No, that’s not the question to ask.
Pastor John: Because the devil will come, and he will try and bring destruction wherever he can. Brother Jerry and Brother Copeland’s response was at once. At once, they spoke the Word only about her fingers. At once. Even though they got a medical opinion that she will never have normal fingers again.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Even though the doctor said, “This cannot happen.” Brother Jerry and Caroline said, “At once”, when he said, “We thank you for your medical professional opinion, but please put the fingers back, and we believe that it will be different.”
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: So, in that case, I mean it was, it was a major, it was a major physical, actual thing. It wasn’t like an unseen disease.
Pastor Sharon: Ja.
Pastor John: I mean, there was blood and bone and everything that had been cut off. You know. We must have that same spirit of at once when it comes towards us, we must speak the Word.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right, Pastor John. He was speaking to me about being battle fit.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: And being ready, ready for war. One of the scriptures that the Lord gave me was Exodus 13, verses 17 and 18 in the Amplified Bible. God was encouraging me that the church is in a time of war. Right? And He said here,¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt. 18 But God led the people around by way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. (Exodus 13:17-18 AMPC)
The Living Bible says this, 17 God felt the people might become discouraged by having to fight their way through, … (Exodus 13:17 TLB) He said to me, “Sharon, when you’re in war, are you going to become discouraged?”
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: “When you see war, what are you going to do? Are you going to capitulate and go back to Egypt?”
Pastor John: Right.
Pastor Sharon: Then He gave me this scripture in Exodus 15, one to six. After they had won an amazing victory, that God had made a way for them to go through on dry land, walls of the water stood up beside them. They went through on dry land; even though the enemy was pursuing them, and God just told Moses, stretch forth your hand and just let the waters close over the Egyptians, and they’re just going to all drown. Look at what it says here in Exodus 15 from verse 1 in the Amplified, ¹ Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider or its chariot has He thrown into the sea. ² The Lord is my Strength and my Song, and He has become my Salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. And then verse 3, ³ The Lord is a Man of War;
Pastor John: Hallelujah.
Pastor Sharon: ³The Lord is a Man of War; the Lord is His name. (Exodus 15:1-3 AMPC)
Pastor John: Hallelujah, Praise God.
Pastor Sharon: And so the Lord was saying, “I am a man of war.”
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: “I am the one that leads My people into battle, to fight the good fight of faith. I am the one that strengthens you for battle. What are you going to do when you see war?
Are you just going to go back? Are you going to go back, or are you going to go forward and win this war?” I assured the Lord that I was, I was going to get involved only in the words of God. I would say; only what I hear Him say and not what I hear other people say or the world’s words around me.
Pastor John: Amen, Sharon. I mean this is, this is a really powerful thing that we are actually, it would seem though as people want to do war in the natural.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: But you have to establish war with words first.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: You know, whatever happens in the natural, you must, you must speak the Words first.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: As happened with David. David had to make his stand with words in the presence of his own covenant people and then later in the presence of Goliath.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Maybe I can just read this passage of Scripture from 1 Samuel 17 verse 31, 31 When David’s words were heard, they were repeated to Saul, and he sent for him. (1 Samuel 17:31 AMPC)
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: So, when David’s words were heard.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Because he had to speak and establish words first.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right, Pastor John
Pastor John: And then 32 David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of this Philistine; your servant will go out and fight with him. 33 And Saul said to David; You are not able to go to fight against this Philistine. You are only an adolescent or a youth, and he has been a warrior from his youth. (1 Samuel 17:32-33 AMPC)
Pastor Sharon: Yes
Pastor John: And so those words were the king’s words, the highest authority in the land at that time.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: And those words came to David and said, “David, I don’t care what you’re saying; you can’t do this.”
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Because you’re not, you’re not skilled in war, and we need a warrior to fight against this, but David’s words were already the foundation of his victory.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, his covenant words.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: He’d spoken it out and established it really in the realm of the Spirit, and it was standing.
Pastor John: Goliath was still there.
Pastor Sharon: Yes
Pastor John: Goliath was still shouting.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Goliath was still a threat, but he had established the Words of God.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: If you can imagine this young man, a teenager, you know, actually going before the king and saying, him speaking to the king, 32 David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of this Philistine; your servant will go out and fight with him. (1 Samuel 17:32 AMPC) Here you’ve got this young man; he’s talking to the king.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: He’s talking to all of the generals in the army.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: All of the captains, everything, and he’s saying, “I’ll go fight, don’t let your hearts be troubled. I’ll go fight.”
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: Then they want to know, tell us why you should. Then he said, “Well, when I looked after my father’s sheep, I killed a lion, and I killed a bear.”
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: This Philistine, he can’t stand against me.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: It’s like brother Joe said when he was ministering to us the other night. He said, “I’ve never had my own big medical testimony like Brother Jerry had a medical testimony. You know, he said, I do now.”
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: That was the basis of his ministry to us.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: I do now.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: This is something that you and I both feel strong about, just because the enemy’s forms a weapon against you, don’t receive it.
Pastor Sharon: Exactly.
Pastor John: Don’t take it.
Pastor Sharon: Exactly.
Pastor John: It doesn’t matter if your symptoms are perhaps real.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: And they make you feel bad.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: You got to stay with the words that you establish as the course of your future life.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right, Pastor John.
Pastor John: Amen.
Pastor Sharon: I was speaking to somebody, just this week, who was saying that some of the interns are really talking fighting talk.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: When you were speaking about David being a teenager, and he’s fighting talk.
Pastor John: Right.
Pastor Sharon: Somebody told me about the interns saying, “Oh, we’re going to come against this. We come against this.” And they’ve got fighting talk.
Pastor John: Fighting talk.
Pastor Sharon: They don’t even want the church to close down. They want things just to carry on as usual, and so it’s just blessed me.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: To hear that the younger generation of people rising up in faith.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: Rising up in faith. Pastor John, let me just see here. This is fighting talk. This is what He was saying to me about the prophecy. Prophecy is fighting talk. We’re going big in prayer. We’re going big in sound and song. We’re going big in the word and the messages that God is giving us. As we are going big, our faith is going to rise, and the Lord said to me, “Can you see that’s fighting talk, Sharon.” We’re going big. We’re going big. We’re going big. These are our missiles and our weapons of war, is the Word of God, the messages of God. Our missiles and our weapons of war is prayer. We’re going big in prayer, and it’s sound and song, sound and song. It’s not for us to just come on a Sunday morning and feel good when we hear lovely songs. It’s a missile.
Pastor John: Yes
Pastor Sharon: Every word that we sing, every sound that is sounded, is piercing and penetrating and going out into the spirit realm. It’s our missile that we sending out every time we sing a song. We are sending out missiles into the realm of the Spirit, and so we must be bold in defence. That’s fighting talk, Pastor John.
Pastor John: Yes
Pastor Sharon: We must be bold in offence. It’s time to attack; that’s fighting talk. We must be bold in our new directions, in our established faith, in our sowing, in our going after great harvest, bold in sowing, our God-given gifting in the church. This is fighting talk; praise the Lord. This is the scripture that He wanted me to read as well.
Pastor John: Yes
Pastor Sharon: 1 Timothy 6:12. Fighting talk. You take the prophecies that God has brought to us about abundant overflow, about big and bold, about recovery of health and healing recovering, recovery of provision, prosperity and abundance, supply. Recover. We shout with Jesus, that’s fighting talk, Jesus is shouting. It is a fighting shout.
Pastor John: Yes, it is.
Pastor Sharon: We shout recovery to everybody in Heritage of Faith. We shout recovery of health and recovery of healing. We are talking fighting talk, Pastor John.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: Because 1Timothy 6:12, in the Amplified says 12 Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses. And then 1 Timothy 1 verses eight and nine.
Pastor John: Eighteen and nineteen.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, 1 Timothy chapter one verses 18 and 19 in the Amplified says 18 This charge and admonition I commit in trust to you, Timothy, I entrust to you, Pastor John and Sharon. I entrust to you Heritage of Faith people, in accordance with prophetic intimations which I formerly received concerning you, so that inspired and aided by them you may wage the good warfare.
You have to wage the good warfare with this prophetic word. That’s what the Bible tells us. Continue in your fighting talk, Heritage of Faith people. Glory to God. A new era is here; abundant overflow is the order of the day. That’s my fighting talk.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: “Tell My people they’ll need to remain strong and stay close to Me, so they will not be deceived by the enemy. His attacks will intensify, and he’ll try to prevail, but My power is greater, and it shall not fail. Fear not, nor be fretful.” This is fighting talk. This is the talk that I will talk.
Pastor John: Exactly, Sharon.
Pastor Sharon: These are the words that I say.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: Because it’s established by my covenant. It all comes from the word of God, and I’m speaking these words like David spoke words in his day.
Pastor John: Yes, and I don’t think we can underestimate the huge circumstantial, and emotional, and physical, threat that Goliath posed to Israel.
Pastor Sharon: Sjoe, Pastor John.
Pastor John: You know, I mean.
Pastor Sharon: It was life-threatening.
Pastor John: It was actually on the point of subjugating all of Israel to the Philistines, through a war between one man and one man, you know, but God had a man who understood covenant, not a man who understood physical strength.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: He understood covenant strength. He knew that it wasn’t about how big this man was or how well he could fight. David knew that this was about, if I stand on the covenant that that I have, then He will work through my physical body to overcome.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: That whole pressure of words against him, degrading him, telling him he is not strong enough, he’s not fit enough, he’s not trained enough. There’s all of those words, that might come at you, through your mind, that might come at you through other people. You might be hearing all the talk in the words of people about the pandemic; you have to guard your heart.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: You have to guard your heart, and you got to keep speaking the words of God, no matter what happens. Again, Sharon, I’m reminded of Brother Copeland, who is many, many years ago now; I would say it was 15 to 20 years ago. He had that problem in his back.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Something happened in his back, and he was in extreme pain, excruciating pain. In those moments, he didn’t have the physical strength because of the pain that was completely dominating his body. He didn’t have the physical strength to speak faith because the pain was so overwhelming to him. What he did was, he called on his brothers that were around him, he called on Brother Jerry, called on Brother Keith Moore, he called on a couple of people, obviously Gloria. He started to listen to Kenneth Hagin’s messages on faith and healing which is all he could do at that time.
If you find yourself in that situation where things are happening to you and you don’t feel ‘up to it’, make sure you are listening to the Word. Don’t listen to the news, don’t listen to the stuff about pandemics. Make sure you are listening to faith, you’re listening to praise and worship, begin to thank God as much as you can, you know?
Pastor Sharon: Sound and song. Yes.
Pastor John, there is something here in connection with what you have just said now, that the Lord also reminded me about this morning…
Pastor John: Oh, and by the way, the end result of the thing with Kenneth Copeland is that God gave him wisdom, sending a medical professional. He told him to lose weight, showed him how to strengthen his body and do all the things that he needs to do. He lives now in his eighties and he doesn’t have any of those troubles anymore, but if he had quit on his faith at that time… He never quit on his faith, he just didn’t have the strength to carry himself through that moment.
Pastor Sharon: He called on brothers and sisters…
Pastor John: Who had the strength, who would speak faith…
Pastor Sharon: Who would speak faith, and who would stand with him in this battle.
This is one of the things that the Lord showed me about war in the time of Nehemiah, and there was also a threat here. Here are also words. Here are words now. Okay, let’s go to Nehemiah chapter four from verse three. Here is the enemy 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him, and he said, What if they build— Here were a people, you could say in a local church, that were building and making progress in their building walls of salvation What they build—if a fox climbs upon it, he will break down their stone wall. 4 [And Nehemiah prayed] Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their taunts upon their own heads, and give them for a prey in a land of their captivity. 5 Cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed [with alarm] the builders and provoked You. They were instilling fear.
Pastor John: That is how the devil comes against every work of God. He wants to come against it to try and cause fear and cause intimidation and confusion into people’s lives.
Pastor Sharon: And get us to speak the words of the circumstances which are subject to change. 9 Because of them, verse nine, it says, we made our prayer to our God and set a watch against them day and night. Verse eleven says, 11 And our enemies said, They will not know or see till we come into their midst and kill them and stop the work. 13 So I set [armed men] behind the wall in places where it was least protected; I even thus used the people as families with their swords, spears, and bows. This is the verse here. 14 I looked [them over] and rose up and said to the nobles and officials and the other people, Do not be afraid of the enemy; [earnestly] remember the Lord and imprint Him [on your minds], great and terrible, and [take from Him courage to] fight for your brethren ….
This fight that we are in right now is not a fight just for ourselves and our own health and our own provision. We are fighting; we are taking from our courage to fight for our brethren. John, we are standing strong together with everybody else in Heritage of Faith. We are fighting for our brothers and for our sisters. Fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes. 15 And when our enemies heard that their plot was known to us and that God had frustrated their purpose, we all returned to the wall, everyone to his work (Nehemiah 4:3-5,9,11,13-15 AMPC).
Pastor John: Hallelujah. So, they kept building, and they kept building.
Pastor Sharon: Kept building, kept obeying God, kept following God.
Pastor John: Right in this moment, it’s important for us to stay strong and steady with our assignment. Stay strong and steady in the Word of God and let your words match the Words of God. Let the word of God come out of your mouth. Let those words be Words of Covenant, words of strength, words of power and healing and restoration; let those words be the words that come out of your mouth. Don’t let the words of symptoms or sickness and disease come out of your mouth.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: Otherwise, it just accelerates the things that the enemy wants to do. As opposed to you attack with your words…
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: …and attack the Goliath of anything in your life.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right. Be bold in defence and be bold in attack and keep your fighting talk going.
Pastor John: We’re just about done here, Pastor Sharon.
Pastor Sharon: Okay.
Pastor John: I’m going to read this passage of Scripture in Hebrews chapter 11. I just want to share this with you as we close. Hebrews 11, verse 32, in the Amplified Bible, and it says, 32 And what shall I say further? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, [Judg. 4:1-5; 6:1-8; 35; 11:1-12, 15, 13:1-16; Acts 3:24.] 33 Who by [the help of] faith subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promised blessings, closed the mouths of lions, [Dan. 6.] (Hebrews 11:32-33 AMPC).
It’s interesting to me that the devil goes around; as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And this scripture says they close the mouths of lions. But we know that refers to David and Daniel, 34Extinguished the power of raging fire, escaped the devouring of the sword, out of frailty and weakness won strength and became stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle… [Dan. 3.] (Hebrews 11:32-34 AMPC). So, this scripture says:
Pastor Sharon: There’s the war.
Pastor John: Here’s the war…. out of frailty and weakness won strength and became stalwart; in other words, they understood their weakness and their frailty in themselves, but out of covenant and faith, they won strength.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: They won strength and became immovable. That’s what they’d become.
Pastor Sharon: They became stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle. Hallelujah.
Pastor John: And routing alien hosts [Dan. 6.] In other words, alien hosts. I mean, if that’s not properly describing what a virus does, it goes in, it occupies, it’s an alien, a force that occupies hosts.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, that’s right.
Pastor John: So, these people, by faith, these are our examples. These are the people that we need to be following. Amen.
Pastor Sharon: Pastor John, I just want to read this one more. This last one, just this last one. Let me just see, where are you now?
Pastor John: So, then I must also have a last one? [Pastor John laughs]
Pastor Sharon: You can also have a last one. No, you can also have a last one. But I just remember now, just before the Lord said, just before I left my prayer room this morning, the Lord said: “I want you just to read this description of how I want you to be, at this time; stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle, routing alien hosts, frailty and weakness, Extinguished the power of raging fire, escaped the devouring of the sword. I want you to tell them how I see them, my mighty warriors.”
Have you given this, this Job 39:19, 19 Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane? 20 Was it you [Job] who made him to leap like a locust? The majesty of his [snorting] nostrils is terrible. 21 He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men]. 22 He mocks at fear and is not dismayed or terrified; neither does he turn back [in battle] from the sword. 23 The quiver rattles upon him, as do the glittering spear and the lance [of his rider]. 24 [He seems in running to] devour the ground with fierceness and rage; neither can he stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet. That’s who we are because we see war. We see the signs of it; we cannot stand still; 25 As often as the trumpet sounds, he says, Ha, ha! And he smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. (Job 39:19-25 AMPC)
Pastor John: Hallelujah.
Pastor Sharon: He goes towards the war. That’s what a warhorse does. He goes towards the war; he can hardly stand still, his snorting nostrils, he can smell the battle, and he wants to be in the battle, and he does not stand still at the sound of it. He is not afraid. He goes to meet the weapons of armed men; he goes to meet…that’s how God sees us, Pastor John.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: We go out to meet the weapons, meet the war. We are bold in the attack.
Pastor John: Correct.
Pastor Sharon: We are bold in the attack.
Pastor John: Well, God has called us for no small purpose.
Pastor Sharon: Yeah.
Pastor John: God has called us to live in faith so that we can subdue kingdoms. We can administer justice. We can obtain promised blessings. We can close the mouths of lions. Those voices and those things that want to devour us. They make an almighty noise. They seem to be so big and so powerful.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.,
Pastor John: But actually, our faith overcomes the world.
Pastor Sharon: That’s right, Pastor John
Pastor John: Our faith overcomes the world
Pastor Sharon: That’s right.
Pastor John: Whatever is happening to you now, even if you’re healthy, and you’re at home, and we’re unable to meet together for a short time. It’s time for you to keep your faith strong. It’s time for you to be in the Word, speaking what the Word says.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Because God is wanting us to subdue kingdoms. He’s wanting us to administer justice. He wants us to obtain the promised blessing.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Close the mouth of lions. This is what He wants for us to do. We got to press through this and keep our faith strong and not say, “Ah well, no, no.” This is a time to stay strong.
Pastor Sharon: Yes, and those of you that are well are supposed to be fighting for your brethren.
Pastor John: Yes.
Pastor Sharon: Fighting and you are supposed to be doing fighting talk, and shouting “recover” for, on behalf of every single Heritage of Faith person, “recover, recovering of the healing ministry, recover of health, recovery of prosperity” Those of you that are well and that are strong, needs to be fighting on behalf of the brethren, that are also fighting.
Pastor John: Part of what Pastor Sharon and I have been doing over the last while is that we have been praising the Lord and thanking Him.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: For His goodness,
Pastor Sharon: Keeping our joy strong.
Pastor John: Keeping our joy strong, keeping praise coming out of our mouth.
Pastor Sharon: Hallelujah.
Pastor John: Because when you…the joy of the Lord is your strength. Even if you don’t feel like it, open your mouth and praise Him. Because strength comes from praise, strength comes from Thanksgiving.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: We want to encourage you; if you can’t do it, phone someone let them speak to you. Have someone speak to you so that faith can come and rise up in your heart.
Pastor Sharon: Amen
Pastor John: Well, that was wonderful, Pastor Sharon,
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: We both want to say that we love you.
Pastor Sharon: We love you.
Pastor John: We are only speaking the Word of God over you. We are only declaring His blessings and His promises over you. That health and healing and prosperity and favour and peace is your portion. The peace that passes understanding and guards your mind and your heart against all things that come your way. We both say right now, “We, thank You, Father, that restoration, healing, and health is your portion.”
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: We, thank you, that no disease will come against this church and our people. It will not prosper in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. We keep our declarations strong. We are immovable in the way that we pray for you and with you.
Pastor Sharon: We are resistless in battle.
Pastor John: We are resistless in battle.
Pastor Sharon: Yes.
Pastor John: Thank you for joining us in this service this morning.
Pastor Sharon: We will see you soon. We’re going to see you soon.
Pastor John: Amen. In Jesus Jesus name. God Bless You.
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