Scripture reference: Mark 11:20-24 (NKJV); Isaiah 55:8-11 (AMP); Psalm 92:12-15 (NKJV); Psalm 1:1-3 (AMPC)
Pastor John: Hallelujah, glory to Jesus. Praise the Lord. God is good. Amen. Well, you know, today is a special day because we have family visiting us from Fort Worth Texas. And so, you have heard a lot about them. You might have even seen them from time to time on TV, you know, live streaming with Brother Jerry. Now they are visiting with us this morning and next week you are going to have the wonderful privilege of listening to Pastor Justin minister to you, and to us, but come up Pastor Justin and Annette, come up and just greet the people.
Pastor Justin: Such an honour to be in South Africa, and you know it’s, you are family. We are a Heritage of Faith, you know and it is so good to be in a house of faith, where a spirit of faith is. You know, the Word says, whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God and whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes or even our faith.
So, I am so grateful for the Bendixens, you know, inviting us to come. We have wanted to come for a long time. We are excited about what God is going to do in our time here, but what God has not just started, but what He is going to finish here in South Africa and Heritage of Faith, in all the different churches and so it is such an honour to be with you. We are excited, just to have this opportunity. Did you want to say anything?
Pastor Annette: Amen.Oh, just what an honour to be here. Our backyard seems to get bigger and bigger. We have family. O, what an honour, we love you guys so much.
Pastor John: Thanks for coming, Annette. Thank you, Justin. Hallelujah, thank you, thank you. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
Well, what can I say, when you are in the presence of God, there is nothing else like it. There is just nothing else anywhere, any place, any time, but to be in the presence of God. So, my declaration is that as I minister the Word this morning, that your ears are ready to hear, your mind is ready and open to receive. You heart is prepared for the Word of God. There will be no interference. There will be no barriers that prevent you from having everything that the Word of God needs to do inside of you, and create for you, in Jesus Name. You agree with that prayer? Amen, amen.
If you recall, the last time I was ministering, I spoke to you on, God revealed, and I said that if I didn’t, think the title was to controversial, I would say, “If I were God”, you know, so I have decided to call it, God revealed, but if I were God, there would be certain things, that if I were God, I’m not, but if I were God, that I would want to have happen and there were certain things that would be my will. So, from the beginning it was God’s will to have a family, and so, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit decided to make man in His image, and I’m not going to repeat the whole message, I’m just reminding you that, when He said let’s make man in our image, He said let’s make man in our image, and that meant everything that God is, we are supposed to be. Everything that God is, we are supposed to be. Of course, we could not become, what we are supposed to be, unless Jesus, came and represented everything that the Father is. Then willingly gave His life and died for us, then we can receive Jesus, in our hearts and become everything, that we are meant to be, that He is on the earth.
So collectively, as a church of the Lord Jesus, we are destined, and designed to be everything that God is, on the earth. So, you remember that this message, one of the key verses that I used, is a famous verse in Mark 11, verse 20 and I read from the New King James Version. 20Now in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up by the roots. 21And Peter remembering said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.” 22So, Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.” Everything that we are going to do in life, is going to be, have faith in God. “23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24Therefore, I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you have received them and you will have them.”(Mark 11:20-24 NKJV)
This is a real statement of authority and a real statement of power, that Jesus is declaring to the disciples. He is basically saying, “If you have faith in God and you have a divine communication with God continuously, then you will believe in your heart. What you believe in your heart, you will speak with your mouth, and whatever is happening around you, you can speak to it, and it will change.” So, there is nothing that currently exists in your life or my life that can’t change. Everything in your life can change, everything. Hallelujah.
There is a scripture in the book of Proverbs, that talks about, even a man’s heart that is against God, can change, because the Word says that the heart of a king is in His hands and He will turn it, in the way He wants. Not even a king on the earth, who stands against God, can stand against God. Doesn’t matter how much power he has, if God wants something done on the earth, that king’s heart will change.
There is a story in the Old Testament of a very powerful king, called Nebuchadnezzar, who had no recognition, no honour, no respect, no honour of God at all. In fact, he thought because of his great wealth, and his great power and who he was, that he could basically do anything on the earth. In fact, the Jewish people were his servants and his slaves. So, God sends a prophet to him, and speaks to him by writing on the wall and then eventually he says; “You stand against God, you are going to go mad and you are going to stand and you are going to walk around on your hands and knees, and you will eat grass.” And so, the man went mad.
The king, didn’t matter how many robes he had, how much power he has. If you stand against God, and God wants to change something and you are standing against the will of God, it doesn’t matter. What will happen? Your heart can change and your circumstances will change, because every knee will bow to the will of God. There is only one will in the universe that matters, it’s the will of God. Hallelujah. God wants to reveal, that will, that is in Him. God wants to reveal that will to us. Hallelujah. He wants to reveal it to us and He wants to reveal Himself through us.
I had the privilege of… and this is the second year that we’ve gone to Ethiopia and we did a Bible school graduation. Joe McCroskey, who came from Fort Worth Texas and met us there, and I met him there and we did the Bible school graduation with Brother Jerry’s tablets, that we do the Bible School on.
Some two weeks before I went to Ethiopia, the Lord began to speak to me about a message that I must bring to the Nation of Ethiopia. The agenda is not in my hands, the speaking schedule and anything that happens there is not in my hands, it was organised by Brother Joe and the guy who organised for us to go into Ethiopia, none of it was in my hands. So, I just said “Well, Lord, You’ve given me a Word, then You must create the platform, for me to speak.” And so, I delivered a word to the Nation of Ethiopia. One occasion was to a certain group of pastors, and on the second occasion it was to all the senior leaders of the Pentecostal movement or the Faith movement if you like, in Ethiopia.
But something else happened to me, that I share with you, I did not share this with them, but something else happened to me, when I was busy speaking. On both occasions as I was delivering the Word of God, that God had given me, to speak over the Nation of Ethiopia, I found myself in the same vision that God had given me, some months ago, and I’ve shared it with you. Where I saw myself standing, and words coming out of my mouth, and they were words of light. As the words of light came out of my mouth, it was like a stream of light, that came out of my mouth and as it landed, a tree grew, and the tree was full of fruit and lights. As it grew, it began to multiply by itself, and as I spoke, more and more lights came out of my mouth. Streams of light.
If you remember, I kind of said to you how, ah you’ve seen it on television, where you see the whole stream of light or you see somebody hit a golf ball on television and they show you the trajectory of the path where the golf ball lands, and I saw that in the vision, how my words were going out into the realm. The Words of God that were in my mouth, that were going out into the spirit realm, and where the words of light landed, there God began to work and light began to work, and it would continue.
He began to tell me, that over the years and years and years of my speaking, that many trees have been planted, and many trees of light had been growing, and now the multiplication of all of those trees, a forest of the Word and the Spirit was being, was around me, and it had formed a hedge of protection around me and all that we were, and it was a whole, growth and productivity and fruitfulness was happening, as a result of that.
As I was standing, declaring the Word to the Nation of Ethiopia, on both occasions I found myself, simultaneously as I was giving the Word, I was aware and I could see in the spirit, these streams of light coming out of me, into the Nation of Ethiopia, and as they were touching the ground, they were bearing fruit. Hallelujah.
I began to realise, and I spoke to the Lord afterwards and I said “Lord why is it that I saw this, while I was speaking the Word?” He said “I want you to see that, as you, as you go, wherever you go, your footsteps are blessed of Me. You go in the blessing of My Spirit as you go, because I now authorise you to go, and as you go, wherever you go, the same thing is going to continue to happen. Faith is going to start to build, whatever I put in your mouth to speak, is going to bear fruit, is going to change circumstances, going to change the hearts of people, it’s going to begin to change circumstances.” Hallelujah.
And so in Isaiah chapter 55; you know the Scripture well, but verse, verse, I’m going to read from verse eight 8For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. 10For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth: So, shall My Word be that goes out of my mouth. It shall not return to Me void, [without producing any effect, and useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose (Isaiah 55:8-11 AMP).
So you remember I said; “Everything that God does, is because He pleases it, and it is His purpose. So, when you get your will into the alignment of what God pleases, then your whole life takes on purpose. If you don’t do what God pleases, then your life has no purpose, and then your life is the purpose of pleasing yourself. And whatever you do, if your life is in the purpose of pleasing yourself, then all you can reap is what pleases you, that is never enough. It is never satisfying enough. It might give you temporary happiness, it might give you a temporary feeling of achievement, satisfaction and accomplishment. It might give you some kind of momentary, satisfaction, and you think well, I, you know, I feel quite good about doing this or doing that, but it’s, there’s nothing permanent about it. Not too long after that, you are going to begin to feel like my life is what? My life is worth what? My life is, why?
If you are someone who measures your life by how many noughts you have in your bank accounts, you know, then you say, “Is that the sum total of my life?” And so if you say, “Well, you know I’m worth that much.” Then you got to say to yourself, “Well, is when I’m no longer in this body and I go into the next life, does this represent my worth?”
Well, anybody who’s got any sense, who’s just a little bit older than a kid, will know, that when we all, move out of these bodies and our bodies lay down and have no more use, your soul and spirit has an eternal destiny. It doesn’t matter how many noughts you have in your bank account. How many big numbers you have in your bank account, it stays here. It doesn’t go with you. Hallelujah.
So, if you do what pleases Him, then your life becomes full of purpose and as you do that, things begin to change around you, because when you are in His purpose, you become more pleased, because as you please Him, you become more pleased and the more pleased you become, the more you please Him. The more purpose is revealed. 11 … but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11 AMP).
There is no doubt, that when Jesus was talking to His disciples in Mark 11 and He said to them, “When you speak something, when you stand and you believe it and you speak it out of your mouth, you can have so much authority and so much power, you can move mountains.”
Okay, so now, I’m going to just for a moment, address this matter of reality and as I stand here and I’m preaching to you, there are people who would be tempted to have this conversation. Well, internal conversations. Maybe not sitting in this audience today, maybe by way of digital media; you might be thinking well, if Jesus said that in the Bible and Christians are not having any kind of, or too much evidence of that in their lives, then can this Scripture be true? So, the answer is this.
If you measure the truth of God’s Word by the evidence of Christian’s lives, then you are saying the evidence of God’s Word, is how much Christians choose to live by God’s Word. That is not the evidence of the power of God’s Word. The evidence of the power of God’s Word is evidently in Himself. It’s not in, what we represent, as well as we can represent God and we can represent Him as best we can, you know, it’s not really a true reflection of who He is.
It is part of the reason why I believe God, is in the process of raising a standard in churches, that will worship Him in spirit and in truth, that will be people that will be a praying church. When we be a people like that, we will be a people that He can say, in the unity of prayer, in the unity of faith, in the unity of lives that are committed in agreement to Him, I can begin to reveal what I please and what I purpose. So, even though I can live this way by myself and I can show myself to be a disciple that speaks and things change and I speak, and things change. There is a lot more power at work, when we come and speak together and when we come in agreement, we have the ability to change things. Hallelujah.
It is interesting that when Jesus was talking to His disciples, He didn’t single out one disciple and say, “Now Peter, when you have faith you can stand praying and if you don’t doubt in your heart and you believe with your heart, and you don’t doubt it and you speak it out, you can move mountains. So, have you got that Peter?” He didn’t say that, He was addressing His disciples; it was Peter who said, “Look, Lord that tree has gone dead.” He was making an observation that things can happen so quickly, when you have such authority and power that you can see things happen immediately. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
I began to research and study more carefully, what Bible references there were to trees, and planted trees, and fruitful trees in the Bible, because of the vision that I had, that had happened to me. So, the first thing that I understand is that one of the most powerful revelations that the enemy of God has tried to keep from the church, is that words really matter. Words really matter.
So, if I speak words out of my soul; even last night, when I came home from Ethiopia yesterday, and I was at home and I was having catch-up time with my beautiful wife. We were just sharing some things; there are experiences that I had in Ethiopia, that when I was sharing with her, I said, “I am going to be careful Sharon that what I say to you is based on the Word, I’m not going to speak my experience.” Because my experience, if I speak what my experience was and I speak out of my soul, then my experience becomes the standard of my measurement. I don’t want my experience to be the standard of my measurement, I want the Word of God to be the standard. If I want fruitful trees and I want fruitful life and words of light coming out of my mouth and keep having productivity, then I must speak the Word, not my experience.
So, I had this to say in one session in Ethiopia. I said to the people, if you say, that I am not experiencing what you’re saying, because my environment doesn’t permit it, then what you say will be, because you’re agreeing with your environment. So, if you’re living in poverty, and let me tell you there are hundred and eight million people in Ethiopia and there is poverty there. I would say there are some places where there is extreme poverty, but by in large there is not as much poverty as other African nations have. So, I am declaring the Word of God to them, so if they get into agreement with their environment and I basically had ministered on something that I’ve ministered to you before.
I said, “If you get up every morning and you go do the same work and you are living on the breadline, and you’re going to work and you’re working so that you can survive, so that you can go to work, so that you can survive, to go to work.” Right? If you are a Christian in Ethiopia and that is your life, then you might say, “Well how does this message of speaking the Word out, how does it work for me?”
Well, you have to make a decision that you are going to agree with God’s Word more, than you agree with your environment. Your environment is not what should dictate your future. Your future should be dictated, what’s happening in your heart by the Word of God. If you let the Word of God change your heart and it comes out of your mouth, then inevitably what’s going to happen, that as you allow your heart to change by the Word of God, and it comes out of your mouth, then something is going to happen in your environment, that will cause you to prosper.
So, what does that prosperity look like? Well, maybe instead of walking to work every day, maybe you find out you can obtain a bicycle and you say; “Well that’s not a big change.” It is, if you’re walking, you know seven or ten kilometres to work every day and now you can get a bicycle and ride to work every day. It makes a big change.
So, so what must I do with this extra time? Well, why don’t you actually put more Word in your heart and speak out more, out of your mouth, because now if your change can bring a bicycle, what else can it bring. Okay, but, but just naturally speaking, I need a better job to get more money. Well, can’t you, can’t your speaking produce that?
So, when we talk about moving mountains we want to go and say; “Well, you know, move mountains.” Moving a mountain for someone in Ethiopia, might be getting a bicycle. Moving a mountain might be moving and transitioning from a bicycle to a better job and from a better job, to a better position, to a better promotion and all the while God is beginning to prosper you. Hallelujah.
So, I want to declare something to you today, that as I was being obedient to the Word and I’m not going to talk through some of what we experienced, but it was evident when we arrived in Ethiopia, that there were some tensions that had developed between different groups of Christian leaders. Surprise, surprise.
You know and relating to, all relating to the Bible School, surprise, surprise. So, we became aware of it, but I was aware that God had given me a Word to speak to the Nation of Ethiopia.
So, as I delivered my message, the first time and then a couple of days later the second part to the leaders, the spiritual leaders of the Nation. They, they asked to have a meeting, last day, Friday night, Friday afternoon. I’m there, they asked to have a meeting with all of us.
So, turns out that they wanted to air their points of view. So, we listened, we responded spiritually. So, as we responded spiritually, they began to understand that we are with them in Christ. We are not opposing them or making obstacles, we are with them in Christ. Some practicalities need to be resolved and we know how to do that, but they became aware that we are joined with them in faith and in spirit.
So, so the one man looks at me and he says; “You may not know this, Pastor John.” He says; “But we have been given a mandate by the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, to go and find amongst the Christian people, wealth to invest in this Nation and the government will make every effort possible to facilitate tax relief, investment with themselves, it can be highly profitable for anybody who wants to invest in Ethiopia, right now.”
So, I said; “So, why are you telling this to me?” He said; “Well, we are in serious danger of the Muslim community, coming in and occupying that space, because they don’t have divisions in their faith. They just see the opportunity to promote the Muslim faith, the Muslim agenda.”
Come on now. I’m sitting there, I’m standing and I’m saying; “Lord, I need a couple of billionaires and a couple of millionaires, I need a couple of people to come with me into Ethiopia.” And I want to go around the world and go and find some Christian businessmen and say; “Come, let’s go and take over the country of Ethiopia with the government. That’s what’s happening in my heart.”
So, so I say to him, I said; “Sir, you know, don’t talk, don’t talk ‘Christianese’ to me now, don’t talk, only faith talk to me, talk practicalities. If I bring a couple of businessmen and I bring them into Ethiopia, and we look at opportunities, that are infrastructure opportunities, that require money and require investment.” I said; “How do, how do we get it done?”
So this man, that’s a man that has the bearing of authority, that’s not one of the spiritual leaders, he said; “That’s why I’m in the meeting today, sir.” He said; “I am here because I speak to the Prime Minister.” He says; “If you bring men, the Prime Minister will see them, he will tell them, what, everything that it will, can get done and it will happen.”
You understand that God, put me in that situation, you understand that God has placed people around me, there are people that have been around me, that should still be around me, that are no longer around me. That actually, God has now opened up opportunities that if I say; “Let’s go there and let’s go see and let’s make a real impact on a Nation and get wealthy at the same time.” Well, how did you get, how did you get there, Pastor John?” Words.
I, thank You, Lord, that You give us the Nations, that You multiply the wealth. Hallelujah.
There is nothing that happens in the life of a believer that is a coincidence. If you are walking with God, then God is making conversations happen, because the conversations are designed to bring about some change. So hear me now, if you, if you control the conversation, you control the culture. He who controls the culture, controls the outcome. If you have a conversation, whatever is forcing you to have conversations, that culture is controlling your conversation.
Which is why I refuse, to say that whatever economic situation is happening in South Africa applies to me. It does not apply to me, neither does it apply to the city, neither does it apply to anybody that is in Heritage of Faith, all that will hear, what we have to say. It does not apply to me, and if anybody else’s conversation says we are doomed as a, as a country. We have all this corruption that we got to get rid of and all there’s no this and there’s all that, that’s because you are allowing the culture to affect your conversation. Then the conversation is agreeing with the culture, then all you can get is what the culture in your conversation, permits you to get. And it can never go beyond that.
So, then you believe your words coming out of your mouth, that are in agreement with your culture and that is the reality that you can only live in. Only that reality. So, you might say, “Well, I, you know, I have enough contacts, I have enough money, I have enough, whatever, to be able to be free of whatever the culture and….” Ask King Nebuchadnezzar, if that’s what he thought. Ask Steve Jobs, if that’s what he thought.
I mean, you know, it was, it’s been horrible, but it just shows humanity. Chester Williams, world cup winning team member, 49 years old, drops dead from a heart attack. Thought he was in control of his life. I’ll live till I’m seventy because I’m healthy, I’m fit and I’m everything.
Let me tell you, there is only one conversation that really matters and it’s the conversation in agreement with His will. It’s His Word, it’s His purpose. Hallelujah. If you kick against it, then you have no way of receiving from it, from Him. Hallelujah.
So, if I were God, I can, and I can speak for Him, if I’m in agreement with Him, because I can speak His Word, and then if I speak His Word, then I’m in agreement with Him, right?
So, if I read to you in Psalm chapter 92 verse 12, this is a Scripture that Brother Jerry used with us, 12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God (Psalm 92:12-13 NKJV). That is something, sounds like what vision God gave me, because I’m planted in the House of the Lord, and so, I’m flourishing in the courts of my God.
So what court is that? That court is the court of His Word. It’s the court of His will. It’s the court of His power. It’s the court of His authority, where He rules and He reigns, there I flourish. There my life prospers and flourishes.
I’ll tell you, people can look at my life and say, “Well you know, he, how did he get that right?” and it would seem like, “Is that possible that people would do that and that things would happen like that for him?” Yes. “Well, it doesn’t seem realistic that it can happen.” “No, it’s not supposed to be realistic. It’s supposed to be in agreement with His Word.”
I know we’re in, always in confrontation with realism versus revelation, and if you always agree with what’s real, rather than what’s revealed, then your realism is what will dominate you and not your revelation. Revelation is designed to make you walk free from realism. I don’t need to be confined by the reality of this world.
14They shall bear fruit in old age… (Psalm 92:14 NKJV). Well, I’m not old yet, but when I do get into old age, I will still be bearing much fruit and I will be very fruitful and I will be full of purpose, and I will be full of the will of God. What pleases God will be pleasing to me and I will be pleased, and He will be pleased. I will be fruitful in my old age, living a pleasant life.
14…They shall be fresh and flourishing. 15To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, there is no unrighteousness in Him (Psalm 92:14-15 NKJV). I can trust this Word with all my heart. I can trust Him, with all my heart. So if I were God, and you were my children, how would it be and what would it look like, that I want you to live? Well surely, you don’t raise your child, if you were raising your child you don’t raise your child and say, “I think I want to model you after some other man.” No, when you raise a child, you want them to adopt your values and your ways, right? So, what you do is you, you begin to impart and input to them. In little ways, and sometimes you don’t even know, that as your children are growing up, they are learning.
You know, I used my granddaughter as an example the other time, you know, where she came into the house and she had these two little babies in her arms, little dolls, you know. She was talking to me, and she didn’t have anything else to say to me and she says, “They’re crying grandpa, they’re crying” and I said, “Why are they crying?” “Cause they’re hungry”. I said, “Why are they hungry?” She said, “I left their milk bottle at home.” Why is she at three years old, carrying little baby dolls in her hands and saying they’re hungry and I left their milk at home? Well, because Marcelle had Gabriel on the breast and when he’s crying, he’s hungry.
So she’s already learning, and she doesn’t, Marcelle’s not teaching her, “Now listen here; you know, when you grow up one day and you become a mother and you have to breastfeed, this is what it looks like.” She doesn’t have to teach her that, she’s learning that. So the thing about it is, if you’re in the presence of God, what He wants you to do is be like Him.
So, what He’s saying is, all the time is, “Hey, hey, hey, kids listen, you’re My children through receiving through Jesus, you now become My children. Talk like Me. If you want to start anywhere, just start by talking like Me.” “Well, how do I know you, what you?” “It’s all written for you. Go read the Bible. Talk what the Bible says. Don’t talk what those other people say.” “No, but God, I’m in this natural body and You’re in Heaven, and what You see in Heaven is not what I see on the earth. In Heaven you don’t see, you know, plastic bottles on the road. You don’t have to ride through potholes, and you don’t have to deal with electricity power cuts, because the government is not doing its job.”
“No, but I tell you what? If you speak like Me and you keep speaking like Me, you can change the Government.” “No, I am not sure that I am that powerful enough because reality tells me that power is in the Government and that we can’t really affect that.” Let me tell you, even if you are in a communist state where you, or a dictator state, where you don’t have, even a vote, that you can change the system, if you speak what God speaks, God will change it for you.
You can have a confession and you can say this; you can say, “Lord, if this power outage keep continuing, I ask you to supernaturally have angels stand by the electricity box and keep electricity happening in my house.” “Aww, now Pastor John, you now going a bit far.” Ask the children of Israel. Where there was darkness everywhere, they were living in the land of Goshen and the light of God was their light. When there was all kinds of plagues coming into the whole of Egypt, they had none of that happen to them. He had them insulated against all of those things.
So, if I were God, I would say; “First thing you have got to do is speak like me, because when you start speaking like me, and you watch your words, you are going to believe it in your heart. When you keep believing it in your heart, you are going to keep speaking it more, and speaking it more and the more you speak it, the more you will believe it. The more you believe it, the more you are going to speak it, until your believing and your speaking merge into a thing called “Now I have faith in God”.
When I have faith in God, I begin to realise; Hey, this thing that is standing against me, I move it away, in Jesus Name, I move it away. That thing that I need in my life, I call it in, I speak it in. Hallelujah.
The next thing God would say is, “When you are speaking like Me and you are behaving like Me, I am going to begin to commune with you. Our heart to heart talks, are going to direct your paths and you are going to begin to touch circumstances and touch events. You are going to touch people and you are going to find, that as you touch them, I am going to fill your mouth with words and I am going to fill the mouths of other people, with words that they are going to speak to you.
So, when I am sitting in Ethiopia, is it any wonder that that man, brought someone with him, that is very close to the Prime Minister and he is saying, “So, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia is a born again believer”. He says; “I want Christians to be investing in this Nation. We need to build this nation for all people. I want the Church to occupy this space.”
So, the reason those men, brought that man to that meeting is, because God had me speak a word over Ethiopia. When they heard the Word, they asked for a meeting and they brought a man from the Office of the Prime Minister, to come and sit and talk to me and say, “We need Christians like you.”
I don’t have to, you don’t have to believe me, go and research for yourself. The highest return on investment in property in Africa right now, besides the small little area of Cape Town, besides that small area of Cape Town, the highest return on property investment in the whole of African, is in Ethiopia, right now.
Where do I find myself? In Ethiopia. How did you get there? My divine connection with Brother Jerry and the assignment that God gave him in 1973 and my faithful standing by him, working with him, walking with him, serving him and him walking with me and my calling, our partnership, our agreement together, put us in that Nation. So, now all I’ve got to do is say, “What next Lord? What next?” Hallelujah.
So, you know, God says, and I’m about to close now. God says to Moses, “Moses, I want you to take my people out of Egypt.” So, all these things happen and he takes them out of Egypt and as they are walking out of Egypt, he comes to the Red Sea. Question? Did he know what he was going to do, when he got to the Red Sea? Before he got to the Red Sea? He had no clue. His job was to walk to the Red Sea. What are you going to do with the people, when you get through the Red Sea, even if you can get through the Red sea? I don’t know.
You understand, reality and obedience, two different things. If you go by the reality, then you cannot go by obedience. Well, what if God tells you to do something outrageous. So? But my mind is fighting. Yes, your mind, not your spirit. Tell your mind to submit to the Word, Hallelujah, hallelujah.
When Moses gets to the Red Sea, he’s got all this Nation, millions of people standing with him and they’ve got this mighty natural obstacle that is immovable. How can anybody get over the Red Sea? Pharaoh, himself knew they had to go through the Red Sea. So, he gathers his army and he goes after them. Now they are caught between a mighty army, and they are not warriors and an immovable natural obstacle. You talk about reality against them?
But God, but God. But God says to Moses, “Moses, don’t think I have left you. You are in front of this obstacle, so I can show you My greatness. This obstacle is not here to defeat you, your obstacle is to show you how great I am for ever and ever. Every generation, they will know that I am God, that I can even change the natural course of a mighty flowing river, a mighty sea in front of you. I can cause it to stop.”
He says, “Now Moses, here’s your execution of your obedience. Take you staff and stretch it out over the water. As you do that, My power will be released and it will open the waters.” He didn’t have a clue until that point what to do next, but he had to walk there, to be able to get there, to be able to hold out his stick there. I ask you, where does the stick come from? A tree. Glory to Jesus.
The Amplified Bible, and I finish with this scripture in Psalm chapter 1, I know you know this Scripture; 1Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable)…(AMPC). You know, what I know, is the reason Christians are persecuted for this message, is because people envy them, because when you are pleasing to do His purpose and His purpose becomes your pleasing and He is pleased with your purpose, because your purpose is His purpose and your pleasing is His pleasing and He’s pleased, to please you because your purpose is His purpose, then they envy you because you cannot be moved because purpose is your pleasing!
So, you don’t walk around with a face that’s like; uh well, this country, this president, this governing, you know, wah wah wah. What am I going to do? My car went through a pothole again and I had to put another tyre on. Come on, now. I don’t let it move me. I don’t let it move me.
God has placed me here in South Africa. What for? Why am I here? I am here because He needs me here to speak like Him, because if I’m not going to speak like Him, He’s got to to find someone else to speak like Him, because He needs someone here, to speak like Him! He doesn’t need more people that will speak like everybody else speaks. He needs someone here to speak like Him. He needs someone here to believe like Him. He needs someone here to look like Him. He needs someone here to have the authority like Him, to have power to change things. Why? Because the nations belong to God. I know there’s the prince of the power of the air. Yes, he has a right to be here, but we have the right to speak for God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We have the right to speak for God.
So, if I were God and God was to be revealed, I would want my kids to be speaking like me all the time. Speaking. Hey, just go there and drop My Word there. Just go there and drop My presence there. Go there and praise Me there a bit. Just go there and speak prosperity. Go there and speak anti-corruption there. Go there and make a stand. Oh, they want to bribe you? Don’t. Just stand and say, “No bribery for me.” “But then you’re not going to get the business.” “Watch me.” “Well, how are you going to get the business?” “I will speak it, until it becomes mine.” “Well, have you got that much power?” “If I believe in Him and I don’t waiver in my heart I will speak to a mountain and it will be moved. Even if corruption is in my way, I’ll get that business.” “Well, Pastor John, it’s all very well to speak – you’re a pastor.”
I’ve done it. I’ve been in the business world where all politics, it wasn’t corruption, but it was a hidden agenda which is just the same as being corrupt. If you’re making a business decision, because it’s your business decision for what suits you, rather than what’s best for the company, it’s just as corrupt. Even though money might not be changing hands, and there was this personal hidden political agenda and God exposed it to me, supernaturally in the Spirit; “Go and speak to that man, go and tell him what the solution is and tell him that what they’ve proposed will shut his factory down”. No, really. I went to him, I said, “Look, I want to show you.” He said, “Give me some time.” So, they shut the tender down. They reopened the tender with revaluation on the different priorities in the business. They recalculated the tender. Whose business came out on top? [Pastor John slaps chest.]
And all those people that have been manoeuvring politically and going crazy for months, nearly a year, wangling and manoeuvring and taking for lunch and golfing and warra warra… They were mad, spitting, frothing at the mouth because suddenly it disappeared. Glory. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus.
I stand here again and I tell you again, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit this morning; the money is coming back to Witbank. I want to tell you; the money is coming back to Heritage of Faith people, whether it be Jo’burg, whether it be Lenasia, whether it be anywhere, any Heritage of Faith Bible School, any Heritage associated ministry. If you’ll believe it – money’s coming to you. The prosperity is coming to those who will believe it, those who will speak it, those who will stand for God, those who will walk for God.
I’ve got to finish my Scripture. So, envy… Don’t worry about the envy! They may speak against you. They may hate you. Don’t worry about the envy. The prosperity is going to be yours! Then they’ll hate you even more. Don’t worry about them!
1(…enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly those who know not what to speak but their emotions and the realism, [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. Let me tell you, anybody who talks against this message, mocks God. You say, “Well, you know, I’m not sure I agree with everything Pastor John says.” Well, if I’m speaking the Word of God then you’re mocking God. Not me. You’re mocking God. Not you all. 2 But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. (Psalm 1:1-2 AMPC) This is a man that’s thinking about the ways of God and the purposes of God and what pleases Him and it’s pleasing for him to think about God and what God wants and God’s saying, “Hey, John, go here, go there. It’s time for you…” And, you know, “Don’t worry about what Brother Jerry says, you know, you don’t have to go to Ethiopia.” No, no. I do worry. Because he’s the man that God sent to me. So, I’ve got to go where he wants me to go. “Oh, really? Is that the way it works?” Yeah. That’s the way it works; he hears from God. I go. “So, what are you going to do in Ethiopia?” I’m going to go there. I’m going to go there and do what I must do there.
And so, before I go there He puts words in my mouth. He says, “And when you get there, say this.” “Yes, Sir. But I have no platform. I don’t know that I…” “Don’t worry. I’ll fix it.” And He did! He did. He fixed it. We’re sitting there and Brother Joe was supposed to speak and he leans over to me – in the service – he leans over to me and says, “John,” he says, “We’re running out of time here.” He says, “I’m not supposed to speak today. You’re supposed to speak. Take all my time.” I said, “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I’m ready to speak, sir.” There I go on the pulpit, delivering the Word.
I said to the Lord, “There’s one thing I want; the senior apostle of this movement, I want him to be my interpreter.” I said that to Him privately at home in South Africa. So, there he is, doing communion and so after the communion, time’s out. So, that’s when Joe reached over to me and he said, “You must speak, John. Take all the time you need. Don’t worry about me.” So, who’s standing at the microphone? The senior apostle of the whole movement. When I got up there, I had seen this in the Spirit that I would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the apostle of that movement. An apostle with apostle, we will declare. I will speak in English and he will declare in his language. And we will speak the authority of God over Ethiopia. And so it worked out.
And then right at the end, the Lord said to me, “Now it’s time to roar. This nation must roar the purposes of God. It must roar the victories of God. It must roar the power of God. It must roar with the roar of faith. It must roar with a roar of victory and in this way, poverty is going to be overcome. The religious spirit that is in this nation, that has been in domination for many years, is going to be broken when the people stand up and roar under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” (Excuse my spitting. It’s holy anointed spitting). Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus.
3And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity] (Psalm 1:3 AMPC). Everything he does shall prosper and come to maturity. So that means you go to keep walking, until it comes to maturity. Don’t quit walking when it doesn’t, doesn’t look like it’s all happening. You know, it’s like it hasn’t quite happened yet and it’s still, not sure and it’s still… Keep walking, you got to keep walking, it hasn’t got here fully yet, you got to keep walking. God is still working.
Every day they’re walking closer to the Red Sea. Red Sea, they can hear the Red Sea. They know the Red Sea is coming. All the people, the millions of people are building up from the back, and the Red Sea is looking at them. What do you do? You got to keep standing there. You can’t turn around and run now. You got to keep standing there, until the Lord says, “Okay, now it’s time. Plant a tree, raise your stick and speak My Word and watch Me work.”
You know, when God does a miracle and He gets you through a tough situation, not only does He give you the victory, but He swallows up, all of those that were against you. Well that doesn’t sound very much like God, you go and study the Word and you see that God is a God of justice. Hallelujah.
Stand with me, will you please? Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise You, Jesus. Now you know, Pastor Sharon prepared you last week, because she didn’t know. I never told her what God told me to go and speak in Ethiopia. I’ll tell you why, because you missed. It may sound a bit strange to you, but I didn’t want anybody, not Sharon, not Brother Joe, I didnt want anybody to know that God has given me a word. I mean, she knew that I had a word, but I didn’t tell her what the word was. I didn’t want it to get out there, so that the devil could use it to confuse anything. I carried it in my spirit and I said, “Lord, this is between me and You.” Hallelujah.
So, she’s preparing you for when I come back to say what I said this morning, because right now we are going just praise Him. We are just going to praise Him, because I want to tell you, when I woke up and I said God has given us victory, we are walking in victory church. We are walking in victory. We are walking in victory. We have to keep declaring our victory. Jesus has already become our victory. We have to walk in the victory that He has provided for us. Hallelujah. Praise You Jesus. Praise You Lord. Praise You Lord. Praise You Lord. Yes….. Hallelujah.
Some of you have to start doing this, I mean this. Some of you have to start doing this. You have to get up in the morning and you have to begin to speak out of your mouth, “I praise You, I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus.” If you don’t know anything else about the Bible, and your heart is hard and you say, “I don’t want to do this because this is not what I want to do” that’s why you have to do it. You’ve got to get up and say, “I praise You today, Jesus. I praise You today. Jesus. I praise You” and then you say, “Lord, when I’m forgetting and I’m involved in my business and everything, please remind me.” And then watch out you’ll see, you’ll see one day, you’re just walking down the passage and He’ll say, “Praise Him.” Don’t keep your mouth shut then. Open it, even if it’s quiet, because you don’t want anybody else to hear. [Whisper] Praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus.
Even if you’re feeling even a little more intimidated, look like you’re not, looking on your cellphone, put your cellphone by your ear and say, “I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus.” You go stand in a little corner, you know, with your cellphone to your ear, “I praise You, Jesus. I praise You, Jesus. Praise You.” Everybody thinks, leave him alone. They are having a private conversation. Yes, I’m having a private conversation with heaven. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. [Congregation praise] Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God.
I’m telling you, we are walking in victory, time. We are walking in victory time, we walking in prosperity time, we walking in overcoming-faith time. We are walking in all of the victories that Jesus paid for, now is our time. You may say to me; “But Pastor John, I haven’t really, I haven’t really prepared myself for this moment.” I’ve got good news for you, just hang around us. I mean it, I mean it. Don’t walk, don’t stay away, in your private world. I’m telling you, find people that you know in the church, and make an appointment or phone them every day and say, “Can I; speak some Bible to me. Speak some praise to me or can I have coffee with you? Or can I meet with you every morning and can we have a five minute conversation…” Meet at the Total garage, meet at the Corner Café, somewhere get out of your car say, “Jesus is good Jesus. Jesus is Lord. We praise Jesus” and then go on your way. I’ll show you how quickly you can make up lost time. Hallelujah. Hallelujah praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
I’ll tell you, I have to speak this out. The Lord showed me that there are people in this ministry, that had been exercising their faith, and it looks like, you’re on that precipice. You’ve hit up against the Red Sea, and you don’t know where to go next. I’m telling you, just wait for that execution of the outstretched Hand, and then you won’t have to do anything else. You have just got to stand there and watch God work. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the Name of Jesus, praise the Name of Jesus, praise the Name of Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Whoo! Glory to God.
Sterren, once again the Lord on me about you this morning. I’m glad you’re in church, sir. Please come forward again. Again, hallelujah. Again! I believe God wants to change something in your world, sir, hallelujah. You keep doing what you, just keep praising, just keep praising, just keep praising, just keep praising, you just keep praising. You just keep praising, you just keep praising. Hallelujah. Break through, Father. A change Father, in Jesus Name, in Jesus Name. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to Jesus, glory to Jesus. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord.
Jan-Eben, come stand here. Ha-ha. Put your hands like this. Yes Lord, thank You Lord that these hands are anointed. There is a special anointing by the Holy Spirit that comes upon him, right now, that whatever his hands will touch, they will prosper, in Jesus Name. It will flow from his spirit and come out of his mouth, in the Name of Jesus. In the Name of Jesus. Hallelujah. You know, you are where you are, not by coincidence, hey. You are there because God wanted you there, right now. Hallelujah.
I will pray for you, sir. Hallelujah, yes Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Your anointing is all over him right now, for a change and a breakthrough in his life, right now. With this boldness that he’s come up, I pray that, that boldness comes upon him now, for the rest of his life, in every area of his life, in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of Jesus.
Are you a Christian? You can’t speak? You are here with your mother. Where is his mother? Come here, please Mom? Yes, yes, ah, he’s talking about giving his Mom a car. Hallelujah, hallelujah, glory. I understand what’s happening here. He is experiencing the anointing of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, and I’m agreeing with Mom, right now. Put your hands on him, Mom. In the Name of Jesus, I pray for healing, and restoration in his life, in his mind, and in his soul, in everything that he is. Thank You, thank You, thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord, thank You, Lord, thank You, Jesus, thank You, thank You, Jesus, thank You, Jesus. Yes, yes, yes, yes, amen, yes amen, amen, yes ha-ha, amen, yes Lord, yes Lord. Amen, yes Jesus, amen, ha-ha, amen, amen. Glory to Jesus. Thank You Lord, thank You, Lord, thank You, Lord, thank You, Jesus. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
You speak to, speak to Him like He needs to be. Yes, hallelujah, glory to Jesus, glory to Jesus, glory to Jesus, hallelujah. The Power of God is strong. Hallelujah. If you’re in the service this morning, and you need healing, just reach up your hands like this and say, I receive my healing this morning, Father. I receive my healing this morning, Father. I receive wholeness, wholeness, wellness in my body right now, in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of Jesus. Hallelujah.
Let’s just pray this prayer together. We’re going to pray a prayer of salvation together. Let’s us all pray this prayer together. Say, Jesus I declare, that I need a Saviour and that you died for me, and right now, I believe in my heart, I confess with my mouth, that You are my Lord, You are my Saviour, and that You forgive me and cleanse me from all my sins. From this day forward, I am Your child, in Jesus Name. And now Lord, I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit, and baptize me with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. From this day forward, I have the power to overcome every weakness in my life, in Jesus Name. Hallelujah. Do you agree with that? Say, Amen.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Well, we’re out of time today. I was going to sing a song and do some more praise and worship, but we’re out of time and so I’m going to just bless you. I want to bless you. I want to say in the Name of Jesus, by the authority of the Holy Spirit, and the Name of Jesus, and the Word of God, may your life be filled with joy, may your hands, whatever they touch prosper, wherever your feet go, may He give you that place as your inheritance, in Jesus Name. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, because the Word and the Blood of Jesus surrounds you and protects you, and He gives His Angels charge over you. And no hidden snare will you be caught, your foot will not be caught by hidden snare, in Jesus Name. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
Thank you all for coming to church. God bless you. Ciao.
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