Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (NKJV); Joshua 3:1-5 (AMPC); Joshua 5:2-8, 11-15 (AMPC); Hebrews 11:8 (AMPC)
Hallelujah. Just lift your hands in acknowledgement, that this is the time of God, let’s just acknowledge that. It’s Your time God. You have orchestrated it for Yourself for Your power and Your glory to come and to be seen in the earth, Father. You’re expecting us to arise, Lord because we’re part of Your Church, Lord. Expecting us to arise and occupy, Lord and to be awake and alert and to be watching, praying continually, Lord. Oh Father, we hear Your call, we’re coming, Lord. We hear Your call, Lord. We’re coming, we’re coming, Lord. You’re calling us in our hearts, Lord. You’re calling all of us, as a people. People, You’re calling Your people, You’re calling parents. You’re calling children, Lord. You’re calling us, Lord, to Yourself, Father. We thank You for that, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we worship You. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
You can bring my stuff. Thank you. Okay, excuse me, having to get all this paraphernalia off. I don’t like to have my music paraphernalia on while I’m ministering the Word. Thank you, Empie. Glory to You, Lord, I need my little table please, and I need my books that are at the back, on the chair there. Thank you so much. Hallelujah.
Father, we come to receive Your Word today. Thank you, I’m going to do this, thank you. We come to receive Your Word today. You are our God, and we love You. We fear You, Lord. We are learning to fear You, to revere You, to honour You, more and more Lord. This morning, Your Words that You’re bringing us. We are a people, Lord who do what the scripture says in Thessalonians said, “We receive Your Words, not as the Words of mere man, but as the Words of God.” As we receive them in that way, they will exercise their superhuman power within us, Lord, and cause us to become as a people, everything. Because we understand that with every message comes our every change, with every message comes our every transformation. We recognize that and we thank You. We are in anticipation of what You will say to us this morning, in Jesus name, and we all say, amen.
Well, Pastor John, of course, when he’s not here, then he’s ministering at our Church in Johannesburg, Heritage of Faith Church in Johannesburg. And of course, when Pastor Christi is not here, and Pastor John and I are here like we were last weekend and Pastor Christi is ministering in our Johannesburg Church. This morning, Pastor John just wanted Pastor Christi and Grobbies with him, and so they are with him today. That’s how he flows, that’s how he rolls with God. Hallelujah.
We are busy, in Johannesburg, and in the Church, Heritage of Faith in Witbank, with I Will Take The Children. This morning, I’m wanting a scripture up one Corinthians 2 from the New King James. One Corinthians chapter 2 from verse 9 to verse 12. I want us to have a look at this scripture. 9But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Your Spirit in you knows everything about you. Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
That is a very powerful chapter of scripture for you to go and meditate on. It’s one of my chapters of meditation, that I’ve had in my life for many, many years, I dare say decades because it goes on to say that the Holy Spirit will reveal these truths to us in Words which He teaches, which Words we then we speak. Glory to God. What the Lord wanted me to know this week, is that there are things that have not yet entered your heart. Your eyes have not yet seen, He wants you to know, your eyes, your spiritual eyes have not yet seen, and your ears have not yet heard. There are things that have not yet entered into your heart, what God has prepared for you, who loves Him.
God will reveal them to us by His Spirit. Part of the way in which He speaks, comes from the Book of Ephesians, where He says that He brings apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers and evangelists into your life, to bring you to maturity. So, when the messages come, these are the deep things of God that God reveals. The deep things of God, so that it can enter your heart, your eyes can see, in some of these messages, they were things you never saw before. Your eyes never saw, your ears never heard it, and it never even entered into your heart, but that’s God’s plan for you, with every message. I want to encourage you, saints of God, that if this is the place that God is planting you, many of you already know it, but there are those of you that are newer and you know God has planted you here. There are two messages, that it doesn’t matter what you need to do to get them, you have to get them. It’s called, Put Your Foot In The Message and Put Your Foot In The Sound of this house, Put Your Foot In The Message of this house and Put Your Foot In The Sound of this house and both of them were brought by Pastor Christi. It shifted things in the church.
You see, Pastor John stands in an apostolic office, with shepherd, strong shepherd too. I stand shoulder to shoulder with Pastor John. Pastor John is first, I stand next to him, as a teacher with a strong prophetic flow and Pastor Christi is the shepherd, the undershepherd, delegated authority by Pastor John, by God, you must understand that people. We carry different mantles and anointings and callings on us, and you need them all, for you to come to maturity. Paul had to write to the people at Corinthians, a Corinthian Church and say, “Why are you still such babies? Why are you saying I prefer Apollos, I prefer Paul, I prefer this one? Why do I have to still speak to you as babies? Don’t you know that they are all yours?” You are not to say among yourselves or even in your heart. “I prefer Pastor John, I prefer Pastor Sharon, I prefer Pastor Christi.” No, all are yours.
Now, you know, and you have heard me say this for years people, that Pastor John is first. When we came out of the business world into the full-time ministry, twenty years ago, well it was 22. Twenty years in this Church now, but we were with Brother Jerry in his office ministry, his administrative ministry for two years. The Lord, and we came from the business world into our full time calling. I said to the Lord, “What do I do, Lord?” He said, “You do everything that Pastor John tells you to do, and then if Pastor John asks you to minister, you listen to everything that I’m saying to him. Because his is the first mouth, that the revelations from Me will first come out and then you listen.”
I have been transcribing Pastor John’s messages for twenty years. I listen to them. Some of you were even here, the one morning, a couple of years ago, when I walked around with my file of all Pastor John’s messages in the file, showing you, showing you this is what I do. This is what I do. I was beseeching you, “Won’t you do this? Won’t you do this?”
Some of you were so far removed from it, I remember the faces in this church looking at me as if I crawled out a piece of cheese. What are you doing with this file? You want to show us all these pages of all the messages, all the words that Pastor John speaks? I’m not so into it, or is there something wrong with you? Are you a bit extreme? But God was appealing to us and beseeching us to take each message that comes from Pastor John, as a letter from Apostle Paul. God is the same God, giving revelations now to his Apostles as He was then, in the time of Apostle Paul.
You’ve heard me say, “If you can’t get to my messages, because you’re so busy in Pastor John’s messages, your foot is there. That’s okay, but please get to his messages first.” How many of you have heard me say that for years now? Can I see your hands? Huh? Yes, yes, you should do everything during the week to get to both of them. We have got scribes in this church, in Johannesburg and in Witbank, they transcribe now. I started off being a scribe, transcribing, being the only one transcribing all of Pastor John’s messages for myself, because I had to have them. Because of the fear of God in my heart. I’m not going to get some other message here, because I’m in the pulpit and I’ve got something to say. God told me quite clearly, “You listen to what he says and then on the back of that, I will speak to you to tell you what to say to the people.”
That’s God’s order, that’s God’s beauty of His order. It’s God’s pattern. Hallelujah. The Bible says that He builds the foundations of the church, on the Apostles and the Prophets, and then when Pastor Christi, as a Teacher, Shepherd comes into the equation, she can take what we’ve been building, Pastor John and I, foundationally and she can bring a message like, Put Your Foot In The Message, Put Your Foot In The Sound, and it can just shift you completely. Glory to God.
God wants us to know at this time, in these Defining Moments, we have not been this way before. We haven’t had things that our eyes, there are things that our eyes have not yet seen, that God’s going to still show us. That our ears have not yet heard that we are going to hear, we hear you’re hearing it even now, and it hasn’t entered into your heart. So, if your heart is like a little child, you’re going to let these words enter you today.
The Lord said, we have not been this way before. He’s preparing us, just like Joshua, and the people of God, entering into the fullness of all that God had promised them forty years previously. Joshua from the Amplified Bible, Joshua, chapter 3 from verse 1, please. I want you to see, I explained to you, that the twenty years cycle, we’ve been taught the number twenty means the perfect, complete, perfect period of waiting over, a completed cycle. It’s no coincidence that 2020 was Pastor John’s, our 20th year. 2020 Brother Jerry’s been teaching on the number twenty, perfect period of waiting is over.
You’ve been hearing Pastor John say for a long time, he’s been waiting, he’s been waiting, he’s been waiting. No, the waiting is over. That period is over. We’re transitioning right now, right now into the next perfect period, that God has got for us as a people, and we’re transitioning in it, and the messages that are coming are helping us to transition properly into it, just like … See 2020, they wandered in the wilderness for twenty years, twenty, forty years, and now they’re going.
It is so interesting to me, that Pastor John and I’ve been married for forty years. So interesting to me that Jeduthun was born in the 20th month on the 5th of the 10th 2020. Our grandson, it’s all signs to us people. To me, it is a sign. Why? Are you looking for signs? No, no, but when the Holy Spirit pops my eyes open and goes, “Look at that, look at that.” I go, “Wow, shew, Lord.” And so, here’s Joshua, about to go. Joshua and the people are about to go into the fullness now of everything.
God’s taking the little children in, remember? Because the people in the wilderness didn’t want to go in. They didn’t want to believe God. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They tried to go back to Egypt. They wished they could go back, but there was no going back for them. So, they just wandered in the wilderness until the carcasses fell, and then it was time to go into fullness.
1Joshua rose early in the morning, here they are, they’re all at this place. When I read it I know where they were. I relate to them in my heart, because I’m like that in my heart. I relate to them. I know what was happening to them, in their soul, in their emotions, “Sjoh we’re going in. I wonder what it’s going to look like? It’s that period, is over. We’re not waiting anymore. Oh, my word, that, that God prophesied all those years ago, it’s actually going to happen now. Okay, we have to stay close to Joshua, we have to listen to what …” Because they all said that they say, “Joshua, just make sure you are hearing from God, we’re going to follow you. We don’t want to wander around in this wilderness anymore, with manna, you know. Though we appreciated God’s manna, and we appreciated His cloud by day and His pillar of fire by night. Appreciate, but we want that which He promised, we want the fullness, we’re ready to go.”
1Joshua rose early in the morning and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the Israelites, and lodged there before passing over. 2After three days the officers or the leaders went through the camp, 3Commanding the people: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being borne by the Levitical priests, or the Fivefold Ministry, set out from where you are and follow it. 4Yet a space must be kept between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure; come not near it, that you may [be able to see the ark and] know the way you must go, for you have not passed this way before. You have not, I have not. God’s going to speak to Pastor John, just like at that time because we are about to experience a new covenant exodus, based on the blood of Jesus. We’re about to come into the fullness of our salvation, like never before.
This was a Defining Moment in time for all of them. Circumcision, preparation, separation. 5And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves [that is, separate yourselves for a special holy purpose], verse five, Joshua said to the people, I want you to see it. That’s what God is saying to us now. Sanctify yourselves, sanctify yourself, separate yourself unto God, for a special holy purpose for tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day and after that, God is going to do wonders among you (Joshua 3:1-5 AMPC).
There was preparation, separation, consecration, dedication, just before entering in, circumcision needed to take place and I spoke to you about the circumcision of the heart, where you need to allow God’s messages to cut your heart. That’s a good thing. The Word of God is called a two edged sword. When Pastor John and I and Pastor Christi bring these messages, you’ve got to open your heart and say, “Cut Lord, cut, cut Lord, cut, ow, ow, cut, cut Lord, cut, oh, oh, that’s a flesh. That’s a hard thing. Cut Lord, cut.” You’re not supposed to draw back and go, “That doesn’t apply to me.”
In the New Testament there is an account of where, I think it was Apostle Peter that stood up to teach and preach, it says and the men that were listening to him were pricked, the Amplified says, “Stung in their hearts.” And they said, “What shall we do? What shall we do? We are stung in our hearts.” Peter said to them, “Repent, turn around, change, change your inner man, to meet the will of God, change into this message, become this message I’m bringing you.”
So, circumcision of all hearts needed to take place. I’m showing you, giving you recognition of the time that God has given me, people. For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders. It’s a defining moment, okay. All this preparation, separation, consecration, dedication, circumcision had to take place in all the hearts before Joshua knew for sure, and God actually knew for sure that He was going to come and help them. He was watching that transition period. Look at this now. Look at this now.
Verse 2, Joshua 5, Amplified Bible, verse 2, 2At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make knives of flint and circumcise the [new generation of] Israelites as before. 3So Joshua made knives of flint and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4And this is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they came out of Egypt. 5Though all the people who came out were circumcised, yet all the people who were born in the wilderness on the way after Israel came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. Right?
Verse 7, 7So it was their circum… No, let’s read verse 6, 6For the Israelites walked forty years in the wilderness till all who were men of war who came out of Egypt perished, because they did not hearken to the voice of the Lord; to them the Lord swore that He would not let them see the land which the Lord swore to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey (Joshua 5:2-7 AMP). People, there’s such abundance. There’s such overflow. There’s such a flood of blessing that God has got for us, in store for us, but He’s got to have this happen. He’s got to be allowed and permitted. Well, who will permit Him anyway? He is bringing these messages to see whose hearts will be circumcised, whose hearts will be cut with flint before they go in. Before they can go in.
Do you know what happened to Achan, after Jericho? Achan had not allowed his heart to be properly circumcised. He still wanted what he wanted, to do what he wanted to do, and it impacted all the people going in. It impacted everybody. So, that is what God is doing here among us. Because he (Achan) loved the world, he didn’t allow the love of the world to be taken out of him. He didn’t allow the faith in his heart to arise and I don’t need to take this money here. I don’t need to take this “Babylonish” garment here. God’s got milk and honey for me, His way. I don’t need to take for myself. So here we are.
All right, when they. 7So it was their uncircumcised children, verse 7, whom He raised up in their stead whom Joshua circumcised, because the rite had not been performed on the way. When they finished circumcising all the males of the nation, they remained in their places in the camp till they were healed (Joshua 5:7-8 AMP). You see, that circumcision of the heart is a painful process, when you see how much self is in you. How much hardness of heart is in you? I read you that scripture that says, circumcise the foreskin of your hard heart.
Where’s that thing of yours, Zelda? Hey? Come. Take your mask off. People that have been watching me on Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, there are things coming hot off the press.
[Zelda reading]
It’s a time to run.
This is God’s time for me to run,
Defining moments in time has begun.
The shaping of my future and paths to take,
Only God’s plans, purposes and pursuits I now partake.
A gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit now blowing,
I recognize, I see, I discern – I’m flowing.
Words, messages, living examples, not by mere men,
The working of His Word and His Spirit from within.
Encounters with God is what I expect,
Big rock moments are here to direct.
I do not withhold, any person, place or thing.
I’m not going dark in the light God now brings.
Unreservedly I give God now my all,
For all of Babylon in my life to fall.
Circumcision of the foreskin of my heart,
“I choose Jesus” – is my part from the start.
Sacrifice, Dedication, Consecration,
Fully connected to Covenant, Contract then Visitation.
My strong God redeeming my time and my energy,
Purpose, Favour and BLESSING overtaking me.
Thank you, Zelda. Inspired utterance by God given to her because she’s full of the messages. You see, she’s full of the messages and she’s pressing into God for herself.
Now, I was going to give it to you all anonymously, but now you know, it comes by the Holy Spirit, through one of your sisters, sitting right here. Glory to God. So you will all have it. You can either take it and recognize it, as Holy Spirit inspired your brother, your Holy Spirit inspired your sister, with a right here, now word or you can go, “Who’s Zelda?” You see, because if you go, “Well, who’s Pastor John?” Then you will also go, “Who’s Zelda?” But if you go, “Pastor John, is who he is to me, and his people, that’s who they are to me, my blood-bought family. One of my blood bought family, got an inspired utterance from God.” Can I share? Can I share and she said she would share. She said she would share it with you. Hallelujah, because it comes from Him, after all.
So, circumcision. And look at verse 11 here, Joshua 5, 11And on that same day they ate the produce, after the circumcision of the hearts. Look, look at the sequence here. Please, when you go and read Joshua, at the Jordan, and their Messy, Marvellous Moments, please see the sequence, right? So the sequence, they were circumcised, they were separated, they cleansed, they purify themselves. And so here, 11And on that same day they ate the produce of the land. Verse 12, 12And the manna ceased on the day after they ate of the produce of the land. Perfect circle, period of waiting over, there was proof and evidence of it. 12And the Israelites had manna no more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year (Joshua 5:11-12 AMP). You can expect that in your personal life, because you’re following God, because you’re planted here, because you’ve got your foot in the messages, because you’ve got your foot in the sound, because you’re full of the Words of God, here. You’re allowing God to draw you and take you and pull you? Ha, glory to God.
Your eye has not seen, your ear has not heard, it’s not entered into your heart, the things that God has prepared for you personally, for your family, for your children, He’s prepared them. Don’t be so busy, you are preparing them for yourself, and for your children, and for yourself. He’s got things prepared. Let your heart be open, so that He can show you, what He has prepared for you. Glory to God.
Look what happens here; verse 13, is very important. 13When Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and behold a Man, can you see capital M there, a Man stood near him with His drawn sword in His hand, at a strategic time, of a perfect period of waiting over. Cycle completed, carcasses fallen, dedication, consecration, separation, circumcision happening. Jesus manifests Himself immediately with His sword drawn. What is the Sword of Jesus? It’s the sharp, two-edged Sword that is spoken about in Hebrews four, it’s spoken about in Ephesians six, it says, that’s part of our weaponry. Take the Sword which the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God, it’s the Word of God that’s alive in you. You cannot have the Word alive in you if you just listen to it, and it goes in one ear and out the other. You have to have it as seed in you. You have to be taking the message and saying, “Where’s my seed from this message that I must sow into my heart?”
Kenneth Copeland said this one day at one of Brother Jerry’s minister’s conferences, he said this, I’ll never forget it. He said, “If you don’t sow to that Word, and that Word that you received that will change your life immediately; it will become feeble and weak in your life and eventually a vague memory, and never produce fruit.” “I don’t have time to do that.” Yes, you do. You make time to be with God and in the messages.
I was busy telling you we have scribes in this church now, that transcribe Pastor John, they start this afternoon already, with this message I’m preaching. They start already this afternoon. It’s already up on the website by Tuesday for everybody to be able to say, “Okay, I didn’t have time to transcribe Pastor John’s message, but all the highlights are there, all the headlines or as much as I want to feed off this message this week, is right there on the website.” It’s not on the website to take up space on our website. It’s there to take up the space in your heart. Right?
So here we go. 13When Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and behold, a Man stood near him with His drawn Sword in His hand and we sing that song. What is that song that we sing, Your song is Sword is drawn and ready, what is that song, Kate? Hail, King Jesus. Glory Glory Glory to God. Captain Your Sword is drawn and we are going forth.
Pastor John spoke to me about my amplitude. The people at the sound desk have a problem with me when I speak because I go loud and soft. I need you to remind me guys, so that I can be monotonous [Pastor Sharon says, ‘monotonously’]. Right. I can still put inflexions in without going loud and soft. I understand that. So. Right?
Joshua went to Him and said to Him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? 14And He said, No, neither. But as Prince. Is he not our Prince of Peace? As Prince of the Lord’s host, have I now come, Joshua fell on his face to the earth in worship and said to Him, “What says My Lord to His servant?” 15And the Prince of the Lord’s hosts said to Joshua, “Loose your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy, and Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13-15 AMPC). That’s Jesus.
He was having the same experience Moses did at the burning bush when God spoke to Moses and said, “Take your shoes off. The place on which you’re standing is holy.” All the other times in the Bible when there was an angel that appeared and people wanted to worship the angel, they would pick the person up and say, “No, no, no, no, no, I’m just the messenger. I’m just an angel.” But not here. This is Jesus.
Well, Pastor John’s story last week, he gave accounts of his life. When he was five, he gave his heart to the Lord, his mother told him. When he was seven, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. When he was almost 15, he had an experience with the Lord, you know, in his room where God called him. Then he’s told you at other times about other moments that he’s had with God. So the question today, is why does Pastor John have to tell us his story? Well, that’s a very good question to ask. I’m going to tell you my story, too now.
I, too, have an account of moments in my life and encounters in my life with God that stabilized me. Remember, Pastor John’s said, he never had an identity crisis because he experienced God, he had an encounter with God. Well, if you’ve never had one, and you’re coming in, and you’re allowing these messages to circumcise your heart, and you saying, “I’m coming in God, I don’t care how. How painful it is that I have to change. You’re going to do it, Holy Spirit’s going to do it, in me”, then I want to tell you, that you are about to encounter God, personally, in ways you never have before.
I have an account of moments in my life that stabilized me and anchored me in my life. Even when I strayed from God I knew, I never forgot those moments with God. When I was five years old, and I do remember, because I had a real experience with the Lord, in my dad’s church, he was an AFM pastor, and that’s John G Lake’s lineage and heritage. I remember this, the child evangelist that came. Her name was Sonny Blundell. She was a Yorkshire lass, who received a call in Yorkshire to become a child evangelist. At that time, she was in South Africa and my dad had invited her to the church. She came, and she did an altar call and called for children that wanted to give their hearts to Jesus and be born again. I was five years old. I remember that having that experience in my heart, and getting up without anybody, anything, going right up to the altar, and weeping and weeping and weeping. 1960, I was five years old. Right?
Then I had another encounter. At 16 years old, I had an encounter with God. Pastor John spoke to you about that, he shared some I think, with the Johannesburg Church. There was great zeal in me. The girls in my school didn’t actually want much to do with me, because I got so on fire for God, that I preached the gospel to them. I had a little room in the back of our yard, where I would invite them to visit me and then I’d bring them into the room, and I’d read to them and to get them born again. I’d bring them to church with me, I was on fire for God. Well, isn’t that a good, on fire to have for God? At that time, my parents had undergone some changes. They were no longer in the ministry and the church that I was in, just did not have the wisdom to handle me. I was wild.
They didn’t, they didn’t have the wisdom to teach me and train me with my zeal. Okay, and so I backslid from 17 years old to 24 years old. In those backslidden years, I would get into states, I would get into places with people, where I would be drinking or taking other stuff. I would begin to cry and cry and cry and preach the gospel to all the people around me. I remember the one night we were on the dance floor, and I was speaking to the people about Jesus, we were all dancing on the dance floor, and tears were just rolling down my cheeks. I said, “Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Christ. Jesus is Lord.” I remember this one young man’s face. He said to me, “You’re mad, get out of here.”
I just, it was just there. It was always in me. Always in me, that incorruptible seed, once you’ve made Jesus Lord of your life, it’s incorruptible. At 24 years of age, He called me back to Him supernaturally. I had an encounter with Him. Pastor John has shared that too, at times, it was a completely unemotional encounter. I was sitting in a church, because it was a Sunday night, and I could have no friends after a whole weekend of clubbing, and there were no friends. There were no guys, there were no girls, but God had set me up.
So, I phoned my sister because they were going to church. I said, “So, what are you doing tonight?” Because I didn’t want to be alone on a Sunday night. You know, manic Monday’s coming, and so they said, “We’re going to church, of course, come with.”
I was like, “Urg alright.” You know, because that was my flesh and my soul that I’d allowed to get so far away from God, but I was so desperate to be with people and not to be alone. I said, “Okay, I’m coming.” I traveled with them and they said, “We’re first going to, we’re going witnessing.” So I said, “I think I’ll stay in the car.” You know, and then we were in the service, sitting there in a theatre in Hillbrow. I mean, that was many years ago. I wasn’t listening to a word he was saying, and I wasn’t listening to any of the songs they were singing, I couldn’t have been further away from God.
In the middle of that all, His voice spoke to me. His voice, that voice that I knew, when I was five, when I was sixteen. That voice said to me, “Stop your nonsense, right now. Pick up your cross and follow me.” It was so powerful inside of me that I thought other people had heard it too. I remember going, yoh, but I knew, I knew. Inside of me, I said one thing to the Lord, I said, “But I want this. This, that’s happening to me now, that You’re talking to me like this, now. This I want.” He said, “Take it as done, Sharon.”
I walked out of that church there, and I said to everybody, there was that zeal going again, I said, “I’m, from this day onwards, I’m serving Jesus Christ, completely with my whole life.” They didn’t believe me because they knew me. As wild as I had been for God, you know, well anyway, I don’t have to go there. That person is gone.
In 1980, He met me in my bedroom and called me. I’ve got it in my 1980 journal, I started to journal in 1980 when I was 24 years old before I met Pastor John, I journaled. I had such a powerful encounter. I recorded it simply, but I profoundly experienced him at 24.
Paul says, I’m just going to read it to you, is this okay? Right. Why are you sharing all these things? Why is Pastor John sharing all of these things, because you’re about to encounter God. He’s about to visit you. In your heart, He is about to make Himself as real to you, as He made himself as real to Pastor John at seven, at fifteen. Me at five, sixteen, at 24. That’s why we’re telling you these stories, because we’re telling you, what’s coming for you. If you have had similar encounters, for you to pull them back up in your life. Pull them back up to the surface of your life and say, “God, God, I’m holding on to those things.”
I said here, I just said here, Philippians 1:6, Paul says that He who began a good work in me will continue until Christ comes back, right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in me. Hallelujah. Then I said here, He’s sovereign, and I don’t belong to myself. This was November 1980. I was 25. He has a right to do in my life as He chooses and pleases. This is the delight of the Lord in me that I may be nothing, but clay for Him to mould and shape, and my joy shall be full, for He will give me joy, more than I can take, my cup will run over and from me shall flow rivers of living water. When I empty myself of myself, then He can fill me up with His Spirit, and use me to glorify His name on earth, as it is in heaven.
I believe that what I’ve written here is prophetic to my life. I believe the Holy Spirit flowed through my pen and wrote these words, because I was having that moment with God. So, I’m not going to read all of it to you, because there are other things I must get too. But that’s when I had an encounter. I recorded it.
What have these stories of yours got to do with us Pastor Sharon, Pastor John? He is calling all of us now. He is calling you. He’s calling all of us now. All of us, people. He’s calling all the Heritage of Faith, people. He’s calling all the people. He’s calling all the parents. He’s calling all the children to enter in now. To undergo separation, circumcision, consecration, undergo it, fully.
You know, all the parents who enter in, like little children in our hearts, trusting humble, believing how God and Father… believing what? Believing all these messages that are coming to you. Believe them all like a little child. Hebrews.
In the moment of calling. In the moment of calling, you know everything, yet you know nothing. That’s how God gave it to me last week – in the moment of calling, you know everything, yet you know nothing. You know, He’s calling you. In the moment of calling you know everything and yet you know nothing.
Your heart responds with faith like Abraham, because he was also called by God in his own heart, too. Like Pastor John had moments, like I’ve had moments with God encounters with God. So did Moses, right? So did Abraham. God called Abraham, he knew it was God calling him. “Go,” God said, “Go.” He said, “Yes. Yes.” He said, “Where?” “I don’t know. I don’t care, I go like a little child.”
In the moment of calling you know everything yet you know nothing. Your heart wants to respond with faith like Abraham. So, he was called by God in his heart too. You go, because you do know, and you go, and you don’t trouble your mind about anything, because you don’t know.
The Lord has begun in our churches to work deeply in the hearts of people, parents and children. He is continuing this for His while. I ministered that last time. It’s for a while that we’ll have this light for separation, consecration, dedication, circumcision. It’s for a while, don’t go dark in the Light. Please put up, Amplified Bible, Hebrews 11:8. Thank you. We have to move into faith now like Abraham.
8[Urged on] by faith, can you see verse eight, by faith, when he was called God is calling all. When you are called, this is how you’ve got to respond. Your response in this Life Defining Moment, will determine your future. This is how Abraham responded, very different to that rich man, that wouldn’t sell all, he wouldn’t go over the messy. He wouldn’t do the messy. So, he never had the marvellous. He only stayed on the manna.
Okay, so, 8[Urged on] by faith, when he was called, obeyed and went forth to a place which he was destined to receive as an inheritance; and he went, although he did not know. He went although he did not know. Can you see that? When God calls you, you know everything, but you know nothing. 8 …although he did not know or trouble his mind about where he was to go (Hebrews 11:8 AMPC). He didn’t say to God, “I need the full picture. Tell me everything, how it’s going to look like every day, I need to know, I want to be in control, so that I can know what to do.” No. When God calls you, you know everything, but you know nothing.
So, The Message Bible says, 8 …When he left he had no idea where he was going (Hebrews 11:8 MSG). And away he went, 8 …without knowing where he was going. And the New Living Translation says 9 …when he reached there, he lived there by faith too (Hebrews 11: 8-9 NLT). God is bringing all these messages to us all, now, to hear them and obey them like little children. With all these messages that the Lord is bringing now, we can be like Abraham; just must believe them and go with them. Even though we don’t know where we are going with them, then we will get there, and when we get there, we will live by faith there and believe God every step of our way and enter and enter more and more.
You see God’s spiritual process? That’s how faith works. That’s why Abraham was so powerful. That’s why God… sheesh. I want to tell you what’s happening in me. You want to know why I want to tell you? Because I want it to happen in you. Abraham is as real to me as if he was alive on the earth today. The Bible calls Abraham the father of my faith. Now, I know he’s in Heaven with God, but he’s in Heaven with God. He’s a real spirit being in Heaven with God. He has this story on record for us. He’s part of that great cloud of witnesses. You know what I mean? I am understanding why God said, more and more, why He’s called the God of Abraham. The God of Abraham. The God of Abraham. The God of Isaac and Jacob. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not the God of Esau. Esau didn’t want it. No. He wanted to do everything by himself for himself.
Okay. So, we can be like Abraham with all these messages that the Lord is bringing us now. We can be like Abraham; we just believe them, go with them, even though we don’t know where we are going.
I will read what the Lord gave me about Abraham. He wants me to share this with you. He just gave this to me this week. It’s like a saying about Abraham because I’m feeling God’s heartbeat. That’s what’s happening to me; God’s giving me His heart for Abraham. He’s saying, “This is what Abraham did for Me. This is what he did with Me. This is how he believed Me. This is how he believed Me. This is how he went with Me. This is how he rolled with Me. This is what he did, and he’s your father. You, as a new creation, you can roll like that with Me, you can go like that with Me. You can do what he did. He pleased Me so much because he believed what I told him. Didn’t question. He didn’t doubt.”
This is what He gave me. I think I’ll finish with this too.
Abraham. Abraham abandoned himself, his life, his family, his wife, his son, his stuff to God. He would only let God make him rich. Covenant established, inheritance gotten. By blessing overtaken. Ah! He believed God. He had great faith. Oh, he pleased God so. He believed. His faith, shown clearly by his works. He’s not withholding anything. He’s giving to God. He’s everything. A righteous man. An uncircumcised Gentile at first. Faith came first, then circumcision. A sign of his faith.
Now we too can enter into his faith, this faith of our father. The scripture says God made him the father of many nations. Abraham is our example and father. In God’s presence, he believed that God can raise the dead and call into being things that don’t even exist yet. Nearly hundred years old, when the promise was made, he and Sarah both incapable, but Abraham, unweakened in faith, convinced God was mighty and able. Never stopped believing the promise, he glorified God. So, promise fulfilled.
Abraham’s faith was declared by God and credited by God, as righteousness to Him. Now also, declared and credited to us who believe and embrace and step out in the same faith. This faith that urged and moved him to obey God’s call. To leave the familiar, give God His all, to discover all he was to inherit from God, leaving all with only a promise, without knowing where he was going, and how it would unfold. He stepped out in faith, his eyes and his heart fixed on the heavenly realm.
Then Abraham’s faith stood the test, the great test of his moment in time. He didn’t even hesitate, he didn’t debate. While his faith was still in process of being tested, he had already brought his son, he’s only one. He was yearning and desiring, the Heavenly One. Abraham’s faith knew God’s power could raise his son from the dead. He willingly, quickly moved, ready to dedicate and sacrifice and give his only one.
Now in this too, at this defining time, we too can enter into the same faith. Our faith can now reach its highest expression. Not just the law of place; which where you know to be planted. Not just all our possessions, our faith can reach… No, let me just go back. …its highest expression. Not just the law of place, where He has planted us. Not just all our possessions, but that which is our most precious. Now with all these messages, all can give all, like our Father God – things most personal and things most precious.
So, faith decided, circumcision accomplished, covenant established, inheritance gotten, promise fulfilled, by blessing overtaken, faith-legacy transferred, the bloodshed satisfied.
The bloodshed satisfied. The blood of Jesus shed, will never be satisfied, while you’re withholding. It will always speak. It will always speak. Glory to God.
This is not a time that you can put off to some other time. It’s not a time that you can put off to some other time. Sometimes you can put things off to another time, when it comes to God, but when God brings a defining moment, you can’t say, “I’ll not have this defining moment now. God loves me and He knows my heart and He’ll give me another one another time.” This is not one of those.
You ask the five foolish virgins, that all belonged to God, and the five wise virgins. It was a defining moment; the time had come for a special holy purpose. Five made it and the others were not that interested at that time. They were waiting for another time.
Oh for rich encounters, I speak this over you now, as I close, marvellous moments. Oh for rich encounters and marvellous moments You are come, You are here. This visitation has begun. Oh, that every heart would be open to receive and to believe, to come to give their all, to hold nothing back, so that no one will lack in anything. You have planned for them, rich encounters, marvellous moments, turning points. You, Lord, are come. You are here. This visitation has begun. Glory to God.
Can I pray for you, please? Father, we thank You for Your Word to us today. Your light that you brought to us. You’ve brought light. We’re not going to go dark in the light, Lord. No, no, no, no. We know now, what it’s like to go dark in the light, we’ve been taught. We are going to say yes to You right now, Lord. Yes, Lord, and all those hard places of my heart, where I’m finding it hard to let go of and give over, I’m saying, “Lord, come work in me, to do that. Take me, take me. I will give You me. I don’t know how to give all of me. Come take me. Come take me. I don’t know how to give all of me, but I want to give all of me, so come take me, Lord. Encounters, moments with You, Lord.”
In Jesus name, I, thank You, that these words will bear fruit in the lives of Your people, Father. Help them to further come out of Babylon. Help them to further come out of the world system. To not love the world, but to love You, with all their heart, with all their heart and all their might and all their strength, in Jesus’ name. And everybody says, amen.
Have a wonderful day everybody. Love you all very much, very much. Glory.
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