Scripture reference: Numbers 14:1-4 AMPC; Numbers 14:27-30 KJV; Matthew 18:1-4 AMPC; Jeremiah 29:11-14 AMPC; Romans 8:14 NKJV; 1 Samuel 1:11 MSG; Judges 13:9-12 AMPC; Genesis 22:11-12 KJV; Revelation 18:1-3 TPT; 1 John 2:15-17 TPT; Galatians 1:4 NLT; Revelation 18:4 TPT; 2 Corinthians 4:4 AMPC; Genesis 11:3-4 NKJV; Zechariah 4:6 NKJV; Genesis 12:1-2 NKJV; Proverbs 10:22 NKJV; Hebrews 13:7 AMPC; Daniel 1:1-5 NKJV; 2 Kings 24:13-16 NKJV; Proverbs 22:7 NKJV
Praise the Lord. Yes, Lord to You belong the glory forever and ever and all the glory, all the glory. We love You, Father and we come and give You praise in the mighty name of Jesus. Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, thank You for Your anointing here this morning, Your burden-moving, yoke-destroying power to set us free, completely. Father, we receive Your messages that You are bringing to us right now, we receive all Your plans, all Your purposes for our lives and for our children. Jesus, you are the Head of the Church. Thank You, Lord, that You are always talking to us straight and in Your great love. We praise You for all these messages, glory to You, Lord. Lord, this is Your Supernatural Increase that is coming to each and every one of us, through the New Door. These messages, Lord Jesus, are Defining Moments, in the moment messages, messages of light directing our lives.
We ask You Father, touch our hearts today because Your Words, the entrance of Your Words, in all these scriptures that we will listen today and see and look at them. They bring great light and understanding to our lives.
Father, I ask You that I will speak with great clarity, great purpose and with Your great anointing on me, inspired by the Holy Spirit. May Your anointing rest on us as a people today and in agreement we all say, amen. You may be seated.
Aww, thank you worship team. Like the Lord showed Pastor Sharon, we are blessed, we are not impressed, so that we will keep on passing the test and God can keep on blessing us. Praise the Lord.
Well, a big, big welcome to each and everyone of you here today. You know just like I do, what a privilege to come to Church, to the House of the Lord. Well, Pastor John and Sharon, they are sending you all their love. When they are not here with us in person, they’re always with us in spirit. So, praise the Lord.
Well, time for timesake, I’m going to jump right into the message this morning. Will you please open your Bibles at Numbers 14 verse 1 and I am going to read from The Amplified Bible. What is very important for all of us here today, is that Pastor Sharon started in Johannesburg to minister about, God said, I Will Take The Children and then Pastor John asked Pastor Sharon to start to bring those messages here in Witbank, too. We are grateful to the Lord.
So, I’m going to do a little bit of a recap. Some of you were away on holiday and long weekends and that is always a wonderful thing, when God has those plans for us. It will be good for you to catch up. Remember how the Lord said to us, He wants to Rub this message in. He wants us to get it and most of all, one of the most important principles, always in our lives, faith comes by hearing and hearing again and hearing the message, again. My faith is coming today, I know your faith will be rising up today as you are hearing the message of God, again.
Numbers 14 verse 1, 1And all the congregation cried out with a loud voice, and [they] wept that night. 2All the Israelites grumbled and complained, Verse 2; 2All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, listen to what they said; Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! What a thing to say? Look at verse 3, 3Why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be a prey. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt? Verse 4 says, 4And they said one to another, Let us choose a captain and return to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-4 AMP).
I want to share with you today, God led the Israelites out of Egypt, out of bondage, and you know this, with miracles, after miracles, but yet their hearts were hardened. Can you imagine how hard, your heart must be, to say words like this. What they said against the Most High God? That our little ones will be prey because of You, that God does not know what He is doing, sho. What an accusation against God.
There is one thing that we all must understand and that is very, very important that we are careful, God is God, He knows how to lead us. We must be very careful, not to be arrogant, as to think we don’t like the way God is leading us, in the messages, personally, corporately. Because you imagined God to lead you some other way, according to what you think in your head. Oh no.
These Israelites said, “God is preying on our little ones. We will take them back to Egypt, we will take them back to the world system. We will rather trust what we know in the world system, rather than trusting God.” Sho.
You are in Numbers 14, but please go to verse 27. Here I’m going to jump to the old King James. Now, God was very, very grieved by this response and let’s see and let’s listen to the response of God, verse 27, 27How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against Me. Says God. 28Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in Mine ears, so will I do to you. Look at verse 39, 39Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, listen to this, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against Me, verse 30, 30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land… (Numbers 14:27-30 KJV) You will not come into the things I’ve got for you.
I just want to put the emphasis on verse 28 again, look what God is saying. 28As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in Mine ears. God always hears what we speak in our hearts, what you say to your husband, what you say to your wife, what you say out loud. What was God really saying to the Israelites in this example to us? He said to the Israelites, “Parents, adults your carcasses will fall into the wilderness, you are not going into the Promised Land.” God said, “My great love reached out to you for years.” For years people God is reaching out to people. God said, “You saw what I did for you, but you did not want to believe.” Joh, this is very powerful.
So, all these, all those twenty years old and up will die in the wilderness, but God said, “You’re little ones which you have said will be prey and you wanted to take them back to Egypt, to Babylon, to the world system, I will take the children.” It is very serious. Joh, this response from the Lord.
All of us sitting here today, listening to these powerful messages, where does it leave every single one of you and me? Please go to Matthew 18 verse 1, Amplified. Remember how Pastor Sharon shared with us, get to know the key scriptures. Not because you’re trying to study them, it is because faith comes by hearing and hearing. This is one of the key scriptures, but God wants to rub all of them into our hearts, into our understanding. Praise the Lord.
Matthew 18 verse 1, 1At that time the disciples came up and asked Jesus, Who then is [really] the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? It is actually a little bit of a shock, disciples ask this. What an arrogant, carnal question? Whose child is doing better? Who has more money? Like Pastor Sharon said, “Who has the biggest Church?” Joh, what a question to ask the Lord, Jesus?
But verse 2 said, 2And He called a little child to Himself and put him in the midst of them, 3And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become, there is a becoming, like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. There is an entering that must take place for you and me in the plans of God.
Look at verse 4, 4Whoever will humble himself therefore says God, and become like this little child… I want to say to you today, if you are sitting here and you are not like that little child, you’ve got a choice to become. You can absolutely turn around what you believe in your heart. Look and hear what Jesus is saying to you, there is a becoming and let me tell you, more and more we have to choose to become like little children.
Verse 4 again, 4Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:1-4 AMP). God is saying to all of us; “I will take the little children.”
Now this is important, the big, little children. We are many here today, we are the big, little children. Parents and adults, twenty years up and older, but if we will repent and humble ourselves and then off cause God is going to take the little, little children. Here is the qualifier: those who have ears to hear, what Jesus is saying to His Church, those who have ears to hear, what Jesus through these messengers are saying to His Church.
Pastor Sharon, Pastor John, has ministered powerfully about Revelations 3, Jesus talking to the seven Churches, how Jesus will come to every Church, He does that. He comes to every church to speak to a congregation like us, to say, “This, you are doing very well, well done. But I must bring correction, this I have against you. You must fix this. You must understand this in the Word of God.” He is doing that with all of us here today.
There are big decisions to make for big, little children. Parents, from now on will you trust God with your children? Will you dedicate your children like Pastor Sharon ministered last week? Or will you determine the way in which your child must go? Will you decide what your child must become one day? Big question mark.
Please go to Jeremiah 29 verse 11. I am going to minister here from the Amplified Bible. Now parents, adults and children this is for us. There is not one that is excluded here. Jeremiah 29 verse 11, this is God speaking, 11For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you … You know I always hear Pastor Sharon’s voice here in my ears, God says, “I know the plan, I know the plan, I know the plan for your life, I have the thoughts, I’ve got the plan, it’s done, I got the plan.” What? 11…. to give you peace and hope in your final outcome. Don’t you want your life’s final outcome to be the plan of God? Now I know you do, me too. God says, “I’ve got the plan.”
Then verse 12, very, very important. 12Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and the Lord said to me this morning, this is very serious. You cannot know the plan, if you do not talk to God. If you do not know how to talk to God or how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, I will say it again, and again, and again; it’s time to come to Bible School. It’s time to come to Bible School to learn how to walk by faith. Learn how to pray because you know Matthew 29 is also Jesus at work? Jesus says, “Come and learn from me.” These things will not automatically fall on you. When you are a spiritual baby, you’ve got to grow up. Feed on the Word of God. Come and learn from Jesus.
I really want to say to you, what are you going to say when you stand before Jesus? “Oh well, Lord, there was a Bible School right under my nose, but I chose not to come to learn from You.” People come to Prayer Connect, even when you watch Pastor John and Pastor Sharon praying; that is where you are going to learn to pray, learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Back to our scripture in Jeremiah 29, let’s look at verse 12 again, 12Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray… God says you must come and pray. People we don’t have to pray, we get to pray. I hope you know what privilege this is that prayer is designed to be answered. We don’t have to pray. Well, God wants to, it’s in His perfect will, but we get to pray. God says …and I will hear and heed you. Verse 13 says, 13Then you will seek Me, people this is an important thing to seek Him, about the plan, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find… out this plan that I’ve got for you and for your children. Praise the Lord. Verse 14 is powerful, 14I will be found by you, parents, children, I need to share with you it’s in my own life, you come and pray, you come and seek the Lord. He says… I will be found by you… (Jeramiah 29:11-14 AMPC). Hallelujah.
You have to ask and to enquire for God’s plan for your life and for your children’s life. You can no longer sit here and say, “I did not know that God had a very tailor-made specific plan for my life.” You cannot say that. You can no longer ask your child, remember how powerful this was last Sunday, you can no longer ask your child what he or she wants to become. No, it’s not up to them. God says in Jeramiah 29, “I’ve got a plan.” Then I just want to share this with you; you don’t have to go and make that plan with the career counsellor. No, you come and seek God. He’s got the perfect plan and in that plan is all the provision, all the protection, all the elements, all the parts, all the divine alignments; everything that God has for you and for me.
Pastor Sharon said such a powerful thing, and we are becoming and Pastor Sharon said: that through these messages we are going to become a seeking, enquiring people. Not just following our own plans anymore. Praise the Lord. God wants to say to this congregation, “Come on, seek Me, don’t just do your own thing anymore.” Plan B, there’s no plan B. God has the perfect plan with everything included in that plan for us.
Now I need to add this, I already shared some of this with the Johannesburg Church, but not all of this. This is very important for you and for me to understand today. Many Christians apply Bible principles in their lives, and you must understand, that is very good. As a baby Christian, it’s good to start there, to start to apply Bible principles in your life, but it does not mean that you are following God and that you are being led by the Holy Spirit; it is not the same thing.
What do I mean by Bible principles? Well, I remember when my life started, and I was like that. I at one stage only applied Bible principles, but I was not led by the Holy Spirit. I have learned that life and death is in the power of the tongue, and your words matters. I have learned that I must come to Church. Do not neglect the assembly of the saints because then my supply of the Spirit, on a Sunday or in a prayer meeting, is not here. I’m harming the Church, when I keep the supply of my spirit away. I have learned these things.
I have learned to tithe. I have learned to sow, and what it means that what I sow, I will reap, but it does not mean when you apply Bible principles that you abide in the presence of the Lord, talking to Him. God says, “Come on.” Jesus says in the Book of John, “Without Me you can do nothing.” The most important thing is to come to talk to Him every morning. Come and talk to Him every morning. Pastor John is powerful in helping us. Waking up in the morning, “I’m a son of God, I’m son of God.” Because of what I’m sharing here with you, Pastor John ministered according to the Book of John 20 verse 23. I always say in the morning; I’m a son of God and I am being led and directed by the Holy Spirit.
Because if you do not talk to God, do you know what is really happening in your life? You still go where you want to go, and you still do what you want to do. That’s how it is. That’s how it is when you don’t talk to God. I must say today, even when you apply the Word of God in some areas of your life, there may be some things in your heart, that you do not want God to touch. “God don’t talk to me about those things. You know I’m willing to speak better, I’m doing this, I’m doing that.” But there’s things in your heart, and that’s true for some people here today that you just don’t want God to touch that area in your heart.
Why? God says, “Turn, repent”, because actually in your own walk with God, you want to continue the way you continued and God says, “No, no, no, turn around, repent, humble yourself, become like a little one.” God is speaking to all of us. You know what, these messages, that’s all the messages of God and that is why we put our foot in the message. He’s shining His light into all the corners of our hearts; we can’t get away. Now this is important; we have a choice. I especially want to speak to the big, little children today. We can repent, we can turn around. You know why? Just like the children, there’s an entering into.
What entering into is there for you and me? Into this plan, into this plan that God has for us. It is so wonderful; it is God’s plan. If you do not receive the Word of God, you do not want to turn, you do not want the light to shine in all the areas of your heart. You must understand, Jesus said, “You cannot enter.” The Lord is, I remember when Pastor Sharon ministered this, how my spiritual ear, I said, “Yes Holy Spirit, I hear you.” He said, “Christi, there’s an entering into, there’s an entering into the promises I have got for you.” I said, “Yes Lord.”
You know, again we are going to stand before Jesus and Jesus with great love is going to say to you, “Yah, you did enter, but into your own plans. You did not enter into My plans.” We don’t want to be like those. We want to enter into the plans of God.
Please go to 1 Samuel 1 verse 11, I just want to say and add this, thank You, Holy Spirit. If God did not allow the grown-ups and the parents of the Israelites of that day to enter in. Do you think you can keep your heart the same and enter in today? Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. If we do not turn and change, we cannot be part of that entering.
Pastor Sharon shared many examples last week with us about parents, who in an awesome way, dedicated their children to the Lord. These are examples in the Bible for us to see how we can bring our children and entrust them to God.
The first example is Hannah, in the Message Bible, you can go and read it in all the translations, but I like the Message translation which Pastor Sharon used. 1 Samuel 1 verse 11, she said, 9-11…By giving me a son, I’ll give him completely, unreservedly to you. I’ll set him apart for a life of holy discipline. (1 Samuel 1:11 MSG). I will set him apart, Lord. What a way to bring your child to the Lord.
Another example, Yoh, powerful. The parents of Samson, what happened there? Judges 13 verse 9, also the Amplified Bible, Oh Father, the entrance of Your Word brings great light and understanding here in our hearts today. We love You Lord Jesus, and we love Your Word; we love Your Word.
Let’s look at Judges 13 verse 9, 9And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; now this is his wife, but Monoah her husband was not with her. 10And the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him, Behold, the Man who came to me the other day has appeared to me. 11And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the Man and said to him, Are you the Man who spoke to this woman, my wife? And he said, I am.
I want you to look at verse 12, and Manoah, this father, this father asked this question; 12And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, so when this manifestation is going to happen of having this baby, how shall we manage this child, and what is he to do? (Judges 13:9-12 AMPC). Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. What a question for a father and a mother to ask God? How shall we manage this child, and what is he to do? Another powerful example, Abraham not withholding. People if we are not entrusting our children to the Lord, it does mean you hold and you are taking your child for yourself, for your plans and purposes, the way you see things.
Let’s have a look at Genesis 22 verse 11, the old King James, 22And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. Verse 12, 12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know… God wants to know this about you, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me, says God. (Genesis 22:11 KJV). This is true for all of us here today.
I want to encourage you, please go back to the previous messages. Go and listen to those messages. There’s many things, especially the way Pastor Sharon ministered on why did God, choose Abraham? Because Abraham would direct his children according to the ways of God, and not according to his own ways.
Please let’s go to Revelation 18 verse 1. So, before we read this wonderful and powerful passage of scripture, parents, if you never dedicated your child to God, this is now an opportunity that God is bringing to all us. Mothers and fathers, repent, make a decision to say like Hannah, “I will dedicate, unreservedly, I will not keep something back for me in this plan, my child to the Lord, without fear. How will I survive in Babylon? Coming out of Babylon? How will I survive if I entrust God with my child and I don’t want to go back to Egypt?”
Parents, if you have missed it, even if your children, like Pastor Sharon said, are thirty or forty years old, you can repent. Why is that so important? So that God can get hold of them. It is not too late; He will take them. This is one of the most exciting things for me currently, when parents, there are many of you here today and you know your child is not where they are supposed to be. There are many parents here today, your child is not where they are supposed to be. When you repent and say, “Lord, I know now what I know. I repent and I say to you…” Nothing is too late. Your redemption, Your restoration. God will get that child. God can begin to take that child. We praise God for this opportunity here today.
Pastor Sharon went on to share with us that God said we must come out of Babylon. This is part of this powerful message, Come out of Babylon. Now to come out of Babylon is the same as to say come out of Egypt, come out of Sodom and Gomorrah, come out of the world system.
Revelation chapter 18 verse 1, we’re reading from The Passion Translation, ¹After these things, I saw another angel coming from the heavenly realm with great authority, and the earth was flooded with the brilliance of his splendor.²He shouted out with a thunderous voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a demonic dwelling place, a prison for every unclean spirit, unclean bird, and every unclean, detestable beast. Verse 3, ³All the nations have drunk of the wine of her immoral passion, and listen to this, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and merchants, business men, business women, what did they do? Of the earth have grown wealthy because of her power and luxury.” (Revelation 18:1-3 TPT) The love for money is driving the world system.
Please go to 1 John chapter 2 verse 15 also The Passion Translation. All these wonderful, powerful key scriptures that God is bringing us. The merchants of the earth have grown wealthy because of your power and luxury Babylon. The kings of the earth have committed fornication. So people Pastor Sharon shared with us, look at verse 15. 1 John 2 verse 15, 15Don’t set the affections of your heart on this world or in loving the things of the world. The love of the Father and the love of the world are incompatible (1 John 2:15 TPT).
God talks about, there’s an absolute love that you can have for what’s in the world and the way the world is doing things. Now when Pastor Sharon brought this message, we know what incompatible means, but I just went by the leading of the Holy Spirit and to take a closer look at the word. Now incompatible means to clash, it means something is not in harmony, but listen to this definition, not both are true. How is that for incompatible? Both of them are not true. So if one is true, one is false and one is twisted.
Joh, so I just want to remind you of Galatians 1 verse 4 in The New Living Translation. But before we go there I apologize I’m going to go back to one John 2 verse 15. I wanna read verse 16 as well. 16For all that the world can offer us—the gratification of our flesh, the allurement of the things of the world, and the obsession with status and importance – none of these things come from the Father but from the world (1 John 2:16 TPT). It comes from the world. People when the disciples said, “Jesus who is the greatest?” Joh, the world impacted and influenced those twelve disciples because they said, “Who are the greatest?” Status and importance, these are the twelve disciples asking Jesus this question. So, please do not think as I’m standing here and you are sitting there, that we have not greatly been impacted and influenced by living in the world system.
Let’s look at Galatians 1 verse 4, ⁴Jesus gave His life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live (Galatians 1:4 NLT). To rescue us from Babylon. Praise God! My response and I know it is yours, I’m really saying this to the Lord during the week, “I love You rescuing me out of Babylon and out of this world system. Praise the Lord! I love You rescuing me, Lord.”
Now I am going to go back to Revelations 18 verse 1 to 4. I am going to read verse 4 to you. ⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying: “My people, come out from her so that you don’t participate in her sins and have no share with her in her plagues (Revelation 18:4 TPT). Some of you, Pastor Sharon mentioned this, some of you may really be hearing this for the first time, but God wants all of our hearts to hear this message because He is calling us. Not just one individual there, one individual there, He is calling us as a people.
Pastor Sharon already shared with us and I want your ear to listen to this. The word Babylon comes from the word babilum and that means the gate of gods. The gate of gods. Now, for some of you, this is new information so I wanna take you to second Corinthians 4, because people it’s wonderful to learn and to see what the Word of God says. Babylon means gate of gods and like Pastor Sharon said, we know who is the god of this world, but let’s see the Word of God in front of our eyes. Look at second Corinthians 4 verse 4, the Amplified, ⁴For the god of this world, that’s satan, has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], the gate of gods are at work, they are actively at work to blind the minds of unbelievers not to discern the truth, preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel, (2 Corinthians 4:4 AMPC). This is happening around you and me every single day. There’s a gate of gods in this world, in this word system, they are at work and God says, “Get out of her.”
God is bringing us these messages, number one, that most of us for the first time can, and that’s where my emphasis is going to be after I did a little bit of recap here today. I’m going to use and show you a few patterns and examples in the Word of God that you can actually begin to recognize Babylon and how you can see how much and how hugely, we have been impacted and imprinted and influenced already by the world system. Also Babylon is an environment. Pastor Sharon shared with us that the actual Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia, we know that in the Bible and Persia’s great king Shirus conquered Babylon in 539. It was a city devoted to materialism and sensual pleasure. I want to do what I want to do. So, it was devoted to money and seeking wealth for yourself. We are going to talk more about that.
Also important to learn as a Christian, because the Holy Spirit is going to speak to you and me. This environment was wicked, wicked. Now wicked means and you must understand what it means, wicked means twisted. That’s why we get the wicker furniture like Pastor Sharon said. Something is twisted, it’s to twist what God originally said. This was big in my life when I started really, to see the Word of God for myself. Even if you twist something just a little bit, it’s still twisted.
Many Christians are offended when God shows them their wicked ways because they twist some of the Word of God, just to justify what they want to do. How do people twist the Word of God when it comes to tithing? Of course that’s an easy one to mention. Being planted, because people justify what they already chose in their hearts, but it is twisted ways and the Holy Spirit will keep on talking to us about our twisted ways. We have to look at our own hearts.
Please go to Genesis 11, the third verse. Wickedness in the world always brings about the oppression of God’s people. We are going to see it, because this world system has no regard for God’s Word. The world system, joh, when Pastor Sharon ministered on this, the world system despises the Church of the Lord, Jesus Christ. This world system despises God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This same world system that hated Jesus in His day, still hates Jesus today. In this world system, you may not, they don’t like it when you say the Name of Jesus, but they use it as a curse word in movies. They hate Jesus, they hate the Church of the Lord, Jesus and God says, “Do not be partakers of her sin and do not share in her plagues.”
Now, I want you and this is really the emphasis of what God showed me in these messages. I am going to show you examples and patterns. That’s what they are, written to us in the Bible for you to see what Babylon is and how Babylon works. So, Genesis 11 verse 3, before I read that, there’s only one thing now, that remains for you and me. I have to look and I am doing it in my own heart and at my own life, how much have I been impacted that I for years did not see? Take a closer look at the examples and the patterns that I am going to show you here today.
Here the people in Genesis are building the tower, they’re in Babylon and verse 3 says Then they said to one another, ³“Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴And they said, “Come, two things that I want you to hear here, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; number two, what did they say to one another, what did they want? 4…let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:3-4 NKJV)
Now, they started out, just not only because they were in Babylon, many people do this today, they started out to build for themselves. They wanted to make a name for themselves, they started to make out for themselves, without seeking God. Let us do what we want to do. But we know what the Word of God says, Zechariah 4 verse 6 ⁶…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, (Zechariah 4:6 NKJV) You know how often I speak to God during the day because the Greater One lives on the inside of us, I’m very aware of this, I always say to the Lord, “Not by might, nor by power, nor by Christi, but by Your Spirit and I am seeking Your plan and I know it is your anointing in me and on me, but for surely not by our own power.” So, God says we have to be very, very careful. That is Zechariah 4 verse 6.
I want you to see these two important things in the scripture. Number one, two things they wanted, I already highlighted those things to you. Number one, they wanted to build for themselves. Number two, they wanted to make a name for themselves. Now we must be very honest here today. Isn’t that secretly what’s going on in our hearts? To make for ourselves, to be the one around. We’ve got to be honest. God’s light is shining here.
So, this is the way God gave this to me. What the men of Babel vainly sought, was the very thing God actually wanted to give them, actually wanted to give them. Can this really be true? Can we come out of Babylon, being led by the Holy Spirit? Walk in this perfect plan and not be fearful because we miss out on the opportunities that the world system is winking at us, calling us to take them? Oh yes! It is so possible.
Let’s look and see what the Bible says that by faith Abram gained by faith, laying down his self will. Abram gained his very two things that the people in Babylon wanted.
Look at Genesis 12 verse 1. Now here’s the difference, those people did for themselves and when God called Abram, you know Pastor Sharon shared Hebrews to us, not knowing where he was going, giving up a great life there where his father lived. He did not trouble his mind, to follow God and look what God gave Abraham. Genesis 12 verse 1, New King James, 1Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family and from your father’s house, people do you think for one second that was easy? No, but it takes faith. So, he obeyed. 1…. go to a land that I will show you. And look here come the two things 2I will make you a great nation; Number one, I will bless, there came the riches. I am going to show it to you, and look And make your name great; I will make your name great. (Genesis 12:2 NKJV)
Who is Abram? The father of faith. God wants to do this with you and me. So the two things with Abram happened which did not happen with the people in Babylon because they wanted to grab for themselves and wanted to live for themselves. This is very, very important. Please go to Proverbs 10 verse 22, because this thing is now very important you see. I shared with you where God says in the Book of Revelations that the merchants and people, the businessmen and businesswomen became wealthy because they traded in the world system.
Satan might come to lie to you and say today, you see Bible prosperity is not what God wants. That is nonsense, that is not true. It’s the way you get it. You see, if you want to grab for yourself, if you want to make for yourself, outside the plan of God, that’s outside the plan of God, but what does Proverbs 10 verse 22 says, 22 The blessing of the Lord makes one rich (Proverbs 10:22 NKJV). Does your Bible say that? Can you see in the plan of God, what did I say to you? The Lord blessed Abram and made his name great. They wanted to build for themselves and we know Abram became very wealthy. Is it your salary that makes you rich? No, it is the blessing of the Lord. The blessing of the Lord.
This week the Lord said to me, “Christi look at that verse, can you see the blessing of the Lord makes?” And He stopped me there. I know the scripture, makes rich. He said, to me, “The blessing of the Lord makes the opportunity, the blessing of the Lord makes you come into divine alignment. The blessing of the Lord brings about the next step.” How great is God?
While I was praying this week with the staff, the Lord said this, it came out of my spirit, “In this taking, you are giving your heart, God is taking the children, in the taking the blessing is making.” I said the Lord. Praise You! Praise You! In this taking, because God’s taking me, just like He is taking you. He is taking me into the things He has for us, the revelation even lies in the title.
The Lord said this to me, He said to me, “Christi, I taught you how to put your foot in the message, but put your foot in the title, I’m taking the children. That means I take you into the next thing, I take you into the opportunity, I take you through the New Door and this time where God, in this taking, the blessing is making, because that’s the story of Abram. Can you see the two things, that the world wanted to grab for themselves and toil? God says, “It was all a while my plan for you.”
Please go to Hebrews 13. This is something that I got to share here with you today, that two things happened with Abram, God made his name great and he became very wealthy.
Before we read Hebrews 13 and that’s the reason why we are going to read it. The contrast between Abraham and those in Babylon was that Abraham did not try to build anything for himself. You see people, Pastor John is ministering to us about laying down self. They really wanted to build an empire, many people, many people want to say, this is what I left, after I lived, to my children, and they want some kind of name and empire to leave.
Abram did not try to build anything for himself and I want to say to you today, in our midst is someone like that and that is Pastor John. That is why, look at Hebrews 13 verse 7 the Amplified. Some of us here in Witbank are with Pastor John, quite a long time, with Pastor John and Sharon, and when you are with someone for a long time, you’ve got the privilege to witness a living example. How they walk with God, how they pray, how they interact with people. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
Hebrews 13 verse 7, 7Remember your leaders and superiors in authority [for it was they] who brought to you the Word of God. People, the things that I know today, that God has planted me here, like He has planted you here. I am so grateful that is why I am still hanging on every word that’s coming from Pastor John and Sharon. This is a big verse in my life. 7Remember your leaders and superiors in authority [for it was they] who are bringing you the messages, brought to you the Word of God. Observe attentively and consider their manner of living (the outcome of their well-spent lives)(Hebrews 13:7 AMPC) Their day by day walking by faith, their walking by love, obeying God and not doing their own thing and that is very important for us, here today.
Many people here today can tell you and I still want to stand there today because this is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. That time after time, now twenty years, it is twenty years in October now that Pastor John and Sharon have started this Church by the leading and the direction of the Holy Spirit. I want to say too many of you, who are here for ten years or you who are new in the Church. Pastor John had many opportunities to build great things for himself. We have witnessed that. Let me tell you today in South Africa and the invitations Pastor John had to go to America, but Pastor John did not do that; we have witnessed that.
Pastor John laid down his own will and his platform, not to build for himself but to be led by the Holy Spirit, so that Jesus could build here. We are all witnessing that today. Abram’s goal in his life was to have a place in which God was building and not men, because his focus was on God, instead of trying to make things happen for himself. Abram became a blessing to every family on the face of the earth. Here we sit, just like Abram. What a blessing? I know you know this. What a blessing is Pastor John to us, the families for twenty years in Witbank in this Church? This is a precious thing. I want to say to you, I’m talking about myself personally. My own natural family, all of them are now coming into God’s spiritual family here. Why is it? Because of Pastor John’s love.
This is real, what happened in Witbank. Many people said to Pastor John twenty years ago, this happened in Witbank. They said this guy, this man coming from Johannesburg, he will not stay and last two years in Witbank. They said it over and over. This month October it is twenty years. You know why? Because he is a true shepherd from God. You see, the Bible says a hireling, in Afrikaans, it talks about a huurling. A hireling, when the tough is getting tough, they pack up and they leave, but a true shepherd, a true pastor, Pastor John and Sharon, after twenty years, they are here, building with God and not their own allowing Jesus to build in this place.
Now in Genesis, I’ve shown you these two stories, Babylon. they wanted to build for themselves and I’ve shown you Abram, that said not my will, I lay self down, I lay self down because God said “I want to bless you and I want to make your name great.” Two stories, the one succeeded and the other one did not.
Please go to Daniel chapter 1. Now people, here’s the second, I showed you the first pattern. The first pattern was, I will build for myself in Babylon and I want to make my name great. That’s in principle a pattern, what and how the world system works out there and many times I have to be honest, before I was being led by the Holy Spirit I joined them absolutely. I was right there in the world system.
Now, I want to show you a second pattern and an example in the Word of God. I’m just giving you small glimpses of how Babylon works. This great deception which is in the system. Now, before I read to you Daniel chapter 1, in the world it is all about competition, for elite jobs, going to university, to study for something, for most people it is a must. Then you have to keep improving yourself. More and more competition in the workplace is required. It’s a necessity of Babylon. All of us are greatly impacted by this.
Let’s read Daniel one from the third verse, The New Living Translation. 1In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; You see the gate of gods, you see we have the true God, but what Babylon comes to take from us, they take it to the gate of gods. So he took it to the house of his god and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.
Verse 3, 3Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, 4young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace. You see Babylon is seeking among the children of God to come and serve Babylon. 4…and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. 5And the king appointed for them a daily provision. I am going to show you how sneaky the Babylonian system is. 5And the king appointed for them a daily provision, verse 5, of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, the world is going to require extra training, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king of Babylon. (Daniel 1:3-5 NKJV).
Now first you can see how Babylon, the king, ordered his people to bring the children, then the nobles, the fighting man, the woman, the artisans, all those who can contribute to the mighty strong Babylon. The world system wants the best, it wants the best. The children were taken from their parents, you are still going and I’m in agreement with you today Pastor John and Pastor Sharon are bringing the fullness of these messages. The children were taken from their parents to serve in Babylon. The king took them away to train them and employ them under him.
There are those things that the world, what I can show you here from the world, that has so printed and influenced us, because the King did a very clever thing. I want to show you. Let’s look what he did in verse 5 once again 5 And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king (Daniel 1:5 NKJV).
People want their children to go for the elite jobs in the world system. Why? There’s great benefits. The delicacies that’s coming from the King’s table, having jobs like that, the King provided delicacies and his own wine from his table. Not only that, further training because many benefits come with Babylon that wants to take your children, take the gifts of the children of God. The King treated them honorable, making their captivity easy. Giving them his wine. The things that he eats, making their captivity easy because now he owned the work of their hands and not God. They are now working for the world system.
All of us here today, Pastor John used a word that helped me greatly, where you are sitting here today. It’s the same for me, your business-brain, the way you’re thinking, already how you have learned to think, your parent-brain, this is difficult for you maybe, to absorb at once. Why? We’ve been influenced. We’ve been greatly impacted by working and living in the world system this way.
I’ve shared that part of Daniel, living in the Babylonian system, with you because many Christians are looking and planning on having these elite jobs and they walk straight into it. Once Christians have it, they work hard in Babylon because they realize now they have to keep on advancing – the Babylonian king added three more years of training. There’s always more courses to take. People, I’m going to make it very clear here today, not because God doesn’t want you to advance. In what are you advancing? In what? In whose plan are you advancing?
Then, what these Christians do, I was one of them, I was one of them, because after matric I did not ask God what I must go and do. I went and I studied and in the last year of my studies the Lord said to me, “And by the way, I never wanted you to do this.” But you see, in matric, I did not have the knowledge and the understanding of the Word of God, how to pray and how to hear the Word of God. Many of you are in that place and God wants to help you. Praise the Lord.
You must understand, when that happened to me, I repented. I repented, and at that stage of my life, I went to Bible School to learn what the Word of God said, so that I was able to pray and to hear what God was saying to me. Now, people, it is very important here today; that really happened to me in my fourth year. The Lord said to me, “This is not what I wanted you to do.” Does that mean that no child or no person will ever go and study? No. That’s not what it means. The bottom line is, what did God say? What is God’s plan? If God wants you to go and get a certain kind of skill, you will go and study, but if you did not require from the Lord, then of course, what are you doing? You are following your own plan. So, please just understand that today. This is about seeking the face of God. What has God got for you in His wonderful plan?
So, you can understand, and I want to say this to you today, it takes great courage to live by faith. After those four years, I inquired from the Lord and the Lord showed me what He wanted me to do. What did I have to do? Repent. Turn around. Change. Change now, to walk and being led and directed by the Holy Spirit. It takes great courage to live by faith. We are not heirs of faith because we know we must live by faith. We are heirs of faith because we actually live by faith, not knowing where we are going, not troubling our minds.
When He said to me, “This is not what I wanted you to do,” my wheels did not come off. Actually, I was so delighted because now I know His will. So, not knowing where I was going, “Yes, Sir. Yes, Lord.” Step by step He blessed me, He directed me. It’s still going on in my life. He wants it for all of us, all of us, in the name of Jesus.
Now, just for the last part, and I’m closing with this. Please go to 2 Kings chapter 24 and I’m closing with this. This is the third example that I want you to recognize Babylon, in example and in principle. Remember that right in the beginning here, this morning, I shared with you what Pastor Sharon ministered about? Babylon conquers spiritually and literally. Her spiritual warfare with the one true God is expressed in her earthly actions of making war on God, directly against His people and directly against the house of God.
Now, this following part I did not share in Joburg, but I felt led by the Holy Spirit to bring the third example here in Witbank. Let’s read 2 Kings chapter 24. I want you to see here, it’s king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, how he went about to plunder the house of the Lord because this is what Babylon does as well. Babylon comes to plunder the very house of the Lord, of course, to take the children, to take the best to go and serve the king.
Let’s read from verse 24; 13And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. 14 Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. You see, all the skilled people. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
Look what Babylon does; None remained except… Babylon is not interested in the poor. Verse 15, 15And he carried them captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong, all who were strong, and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. (2 Kings 24:13-16 NKJV) That’s how the system comes to take the great.
First of all, the above scripture which I just read to you, was a fulfillment of a prophecy that had been given a long time before it happened. Nebuchadnezzar did not know that he was fulfilling the Word of the Lord when he invaded Judah and Jerusalem. Once he invaded Jerusalem, the first thing the king of Babylon did was to invade the house of the Lord, the temple, and to take all the treasures from the temple of the Lord – immediately targeting the wealth and resources of the church. Material wealth and human resources. “I will take the best of the Kingdom of God.”
You know what, sometimes we say this with a smile on our faces, then when men and women out there are living for themselves, when they get to the point that they don’t want to play in the world system anymore, they want to get a good wife and a good husband – you don’t go and find a good wife and a good husband in a bar. They all say; get a church girl. “Come and take from the church.” Now, I’m saying this with a smile to you today, but you know how people think, out there. You are with me.
The devil does not mind the Church to be anointed and powerful, as long as the Church does not have material wealth because with wealth, the Church will save the souls out there. They will have money to go. They can print Bibles. They can build hospitals and they can take the earth for the Kingdom of God.
I want you to look at verse 14 again; 14Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. Nebuchadnezzar made sure only the poorest of the poor people in the land were left behind.
People, look and see what Proverbs 22 verse 7 says; 7The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is a servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7 NKJV) Something that we need to understand.
You see, God wants His people to be blessed, but not the greedy way, how they help themselves in the world. God wants His people to be blessed like Abraham, it’s the blessing of the Lord that makes rich. So, why does God want wealth in our hands? We have to understand this.
Well, in the story, and you all know the story of the good Samaritan, in that story this man would not have been effective in his help, if he was poor. This man had the resources to move the injured to hospital. Not only did he have a car, a donkey, but he also had the resources to pay for this man’s treatment. That’s very important. He could call the shots because he had money, he had a voice.
God wants the Church to arise in every area. To rise up and have dominion. Speak out, the Ecclesia of God, rule and reign with Jesus. Why? So that we can be a voice, that speaks God’s purpose in our generation, in our city and in our nation. To do that it takes skilled manpower, and of course, it takes money to do that, but the system of Babylon, uses the rich and qualified for its own advantage – want to come and plunder the Church. Like we saw; only the poorest of the poor remained in the Church because when the poor speaks, they do not influence anything.
People, these are powerful examples and it’s just a glimpse. It’s just a glimpse of why we must come out, and just to look at it from this angle, is just an angle to see these patterns, how these things have imprinted us and we don’t really know how huge that is in our lives.
Doctor Jerry said this, he said this many, many years ago, a couple of times he said; well, God is a straight talker, like He is with us, all the wonderful messages, He’s a straight talker. He comes to those churches in Revelation and like I shared with you, He speaks directly to each and every one; you did good in that area, but you lack in this one. Where does that leave us today? Brother Jerry said; everything begins with a decision. If it’s to be, then it’s up to me. If it’s to be, then it’s up to me.
What do you choose? What do I choose today? Well, I know what we do; we choose the life of God. We choose the plan of God. We choose to become seekers of God’s plan and not just go ahead with our own plans. Asking God about your little girl and you little boy – what must this one be? How will we manage this one?
And if you’ve got grown up kids, if you have grown up kids, repent. The cleansing flood of the Blood. The moment you repent, God says, “I’m going to take them.” There’s a taking of all the children here, you and me, our children, to go into the blessings and the plan of the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Just where you are, let’s pray. Let’s pray this morning.
Oh, Father, thank you so much for Your great love, that You never ever leave us as we are. Thank you for Your exceedingly great grace, Lord, that enables us, Lord, to choose Your Word, not only to be hearers of Your Word, but to be doers of Your Word, Lord. Thank you for Your great grace.
Father, I pray with everyone here today, thank you for Your blessing. Your blessing is upon us, it empowers us to prosper, Father. The Blood of Jesus surrounds every single one of us, this day and every day in this week. Father, again we say today we are sons of God. We are being led and directed by the Holy Spirit and not by self. Message after message, we want to say thank You. We want to say thank You because we love You, we love Your Word, we love to put our foot in the message and we love to put our foot in the sound. It all comes from You. It’s Your light, it’s Your direction, it’s Your love. We praise You, our heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, all because of Jesus, and by the orchestrating of this divine plan, Holy Spirit, daily, daily with You. And we all say, amen.
Praise the Lord. May you enjoy a wonderful blessed Sunday, entering, entering into this wonderful plan that God has for you. See you soon.
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