Scripture Reference: Hebrews 12:22-24 (NKJ); Luke 6:46 (NKJV); Matthew 16:18 (NKJV); Hebrews 9:14 (NKJV); Col 3:1-2 (NKJV); Col 1:19-20 (NKJV); John 14:30 (NKJV); Rev 3:14, 2:8, 2:1, 3:7, 5:1-5, 5:8-10, 11:3-6 (NKJV); 1 John 1:7 (NKJV)
You are so wonderful, Lord. We praise You, we praise You. Father this afternoon, we come to worship You and we sang just right now, we give You all the Glory and all praise belongs to You, Father. Because it is the time of God and it’s Your time, Lord. We worship You, we worship You and we come with faith. Lord, You have orchestrated for Yourself, this power Lord, right now for You to come into our lives and to be seen on the earth. Father, You expecting us to arise. Lord, because we are part of Your Church, the Ecclesia. You are expecting us to arise and to occupy like never before and we praise You Lord. So we are lifting up holy hands and we just praise You. Let’s just praise the Lord. Lord, we praise You. We give You all the glory.
We come to You this afternoon with great faith, Lord. To You belongs all the glory, Lord. To You belongs all the glory and You are expecting us to arise as the Church. Father we want to say to You as we praise You, we hear Your call. You are calling us in our hearts Lord and we respond with a big ‘Yes’. We respond with a big ‘Yes’, Lord. You are calling us as a people to Yourself, Father. So for this afternoon Lord and for Your message today, Father I ask You, just the same way that I have asked you this morning in Witbank, that I can preach and teach about You, but the message that You gave me Lord, that You will really speak through me this afternoon. Let Your anointing rest on every word so that Lord, our ears can hear, our eyes can see and that we can know what You are saying to us as a Church today. Thank You Lord Jesus for Your exceedingly great grace and we all say, “Amen.”
Praise You Lord. You may be seated. Father, thank You for Your anointing that is resting on us today. Praise the Lord.
Well, Pastor John and Sharon and the interns are having a wonderful time and just once again, like last week, if you will just stretch out a hand because there is a wonderful week ahead. We just say, “Pastor John and Sharon and the interns and the whole team, “We bless You, we bless You for this week in the name of Jesus.” Amen.
Well Pastor Lynn and Pastor Melusi, it is wonderful to be with you and everyone here in the Jo’burg congregation this afternoon. I’m going to jump in straight away because of the important word that God gave me this week and I’m going to share everything about that with you this afternoon but if you will please open your bibles in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12 this afternoon, we are going to start there.
The title of my message this afternoon and you will remember, I think some of you do, I did not give you a title last week. I had no title and I was really praying and as this week was unfolding, the Holy Spirit spoke to me very seriously and He said to me, “Christi, the title for these two messages so far will be, ‘In the Light of the Ecclesia’– so this afternoon, Part 2.
‘In the Light of the Ecclesia’ last week, we spoke about the principle that recognition is the foundation of revelation. And so that means, and I just have to stick, you know I thought about it now, you know, ministering in the morning and in the afternoon. You know when you minister in Witbank in the morning, you are so focused with the Lord and then it really feels you have said what you had to say and then I have to come to Jo’burg and I think, “Well, I cannot leave anything out,” so that is a knowing with the Lord to flow and stick to my notes. So recognition is the foundation of revelation and we spoke about this last week, that you and me, we’ve got the responsibility, to position ourselves to see and to hear, very importantly.
Well, what do we have to see and to hear? Is what Jesus is saying to this church, this Ecclesia. So, we also talked about being busy with the things of God, what Jesus is presiding over and not the way we want to run church or our own lives in the name of Jesus. So, let’s look at Hebrews chapter 12, from verse 22. Thank you so much Daniel. In the Witbank church I gave them this scripture and it’s better here than in Witbank this morning. You are going to see that I have highlighted words, from verse 22 until verse 24.
That’s very important for what we have to focus on today. You can mark that in your bible but even if you have your Ipad, I have said it in Witbank this morning. “I hope you have your paper bible here today. Ipad is good but you are going to see why I am going to show you a few things in the paper bible today.” Of course, wonderful to follow on Ipad but you will see.
First of all, in the light of the Ecclesia. After 20 years, I’ve shared with you, crucial obediences were given especially by Pastor John and by Pastor Sharon and us as a people but I am focusing on Pastor John as the messenger of this church. So we are going to read Hebrews 12 and I want you to see where we find ourselves. What is the place that we find ourselves in right now. Look where Jesus says we have come to. I want our ears to keep hearing those words this afternoon. Verse 22, 22 but you have come to Mount Zion, you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. I hope it’s still highlighted on the board here behind me, to the innumerable company of angels, verse 23 says 23 to the general assembly, the first of the first born, of course that is Jesus the head of the Church that is presiding over what He wants to happen and what must happen in the Church. Very important words, who are registered in heaven, we are going to touch on that this afternoon, to God the judge of the whole earth and to the spirit of just men made perfect. Very, very important, I’m going to show you more about that. Look at verse 24, 24 and to Jesus the Mediator, once again if you use that word ‘mediator’ – it is judicial, to arbitrate. Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and also, very important, to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks. (Hebrews 12:22-24 NKJ)
I have said to you and the Holy Spirit took me there. I am going to run and I have to go into and show you two legs this afternoon. But look what verse 24 says, 24 the Blood of sprinkling that speaks. Not only of total forgiveness but what God has for us and the prophetic words and the plan, especially written as we know Psalm 139, all the days of our lives are written in His book, the Blood of Jesus speaks for us, of total forgiveness but also what is to come. So I am going to show you a few things and later come back to Hebrews 12 again.
Now, back to verse 22, 22 you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Pastor Sharon ministered very powerful on this subject and I know now, in time to come, she will still minister a lot about this. These are notes coming from the messages from Pastor Sharon. Zion is the Church; it’s the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church, the city of the living God, the Ecclesia, it comes from heaven to earth. We see it clearly in the book of Revelation and we are going to go there today, it’s coming from heaven to the earth, it comes from heaven to our hearts. How? Through heavenly messages, heavenly words. God is breathing out His words, out of Pastor John and Pastor Sharon, like spores. Our hearts just receive. Our eyes can just look – we spoke about that last week. We have ears to hear and then we become. We have come to Mount Zion. Very important for us today.
Then it says, verse 23, 23 to the general assembly; the church of the firstborn. Now, God is speaking and that’s why He gave the title to me, and I will share more. On the 2 September, Thursday this week, God started to give me the download and in the past God has looked at words with me, words like, ‘I want you to look’ but He used it in a way different direction with me this week and He said to me, “Christi, I want you to look.” In the light of the Ecclesia, the assembly, the church of the firstborn – that is the Greek word, Ecclesia that God is using here, who are registered in heaven. I am going to get into that but this is very big. I have shared in Witbank this morning, not all gatherings where people call themselves ‘church’ – not all gatherings are, or is, an Ecclesia. Because we are going to see, I’ve touched on it last week, the Ecclesia registered in heaven.
To God the judge, you will now know through the messages that is coming – Abram. Abram was talking to God in Genesis 18. Will the judge of all the earth do right by saving the city? If God can find ten righteous in the Ecclesia. Look where we have come to, to God the judge of all. I want you to see these things that I am highlighting for you here this afternoon. And then, very important, to the spirits of just men made perfect. Now that is talking about the witnesses, the cloud of witnesses around us. If you have an understanding about that Greek word, it is actually very vast but the Bible says in Hebrews 11:14, these cloud of witnesses that is surrounding us and around us, seeing that we run our race, they cannot come to perfection apart from us.
So it would be wonderful for me to talk to you about that today but we can’t go that deep just into that one section today. Verse 24 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks of better things. Hebrews 12:22-24 NKJV) Still much to say about this but I wanted to lay this foundation so that your ears can hear.
So, we have come to Mount Zion. We are positioned right here in the New Testament. Here’s the big question: Do all Christians take their place and do all believers qualify to operate from here? Big question mark. Well, it is God’s will but this is a very important thing. We have come to learn more about this as we had to make choices to be planted in the House of the Lord, where most believers that we actually know of, just live for themselves. All born again Christians are children of God but not all believers live for our Lord Jesus in the same manner. Not all believers make the same choices to come and obey God. I am going to repeat that. All born again Christians are God’s children but we do not all live for our Lord Jesus in the same manner.
Luke chapter six verse 46, New King James, 46 But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and we are talking about Jesus, the head of the church, here. 46 Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things that I say? (Luke 6:46 NKJV). A big choice for all believers. That’s very important and of course many of us, I would say most of us sitting here today – God has dealt with us on that matter. I remember I had a conversation with Pastor Sharon very quickly after the message started to come out, God says I will take the children. I said to Pastor Sharon, “Many people have said to me, ‘this is a massive message’” I thought to myself, “Well, it was a massive message to me 20 years’ ago – that I’ve got to be planted.” It was a massive message when I had to learn what irrational honour is and to walk in unity. So, all the messages are just huge at the time and most glorious when God brings that into our lives.
All believers do not obey and follow Jesus the same way. So, I’ve got quite a few inserts today that I’m going to just share with you – not only recently this year, but definitely most of them this year that Pastor John and Sharon by the Holy Spirit shared with us. So, I just want your ears to hear. Listen to this. Pastor Sharon said: the Lord is imploring you, Heritage of Faith people, to understand what the local church is all about and what it is for.
Allow the Holy Spirit to help you let old filters of local church life disintegrate. This is very important as we come out of Babylon. Pastor Sharon said, come, Heritage of Faith people, come into a new era, with a new way of listening and a new way of understanding. God is building the local church for all His sons to come to maturity because the whole of creation is groaning for the manifestation of the mature sons of God. Allow yourself to be planted and let your roots go deep into the Word of God. Listen to the messages and receive instruction from the Holy Spirit for you personally and yield to the Word, very big, change, repent – I’m going to share this quite a bit with you. As the messages are coming, we have to self correct. We have to look and listen to those messages. Change and come into maturity. In this house, the rich revelation and messages are more than enough for you to come into spiritual maturity. That is the truth, praise the Lord.
Then you can go to Matthew 16 this afternoon, verse 18. Very important, when Pastor John and Sharon started to bring the messages about the Ecclesia to us, of course this is actually our foundation Scripture when we talk about the Ecclesia and specially here today, in the light of the Ecclesia. Jesus says, 18And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18 NKJV) So, the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Ecclesia and we are not talking about like I have said to you, where people are gathering and calling themselves a church. Very, very big difference. Hallelujah.
Again, not all believers live the same way for Jesus and make the choices – and I want your ears to hear this: we are going to talk about the blood of Jesus, the power of the cross; and laying down the self-will that we all have to confront.
Listen to what Pastor Sharon shared with us in insert number three: Narrow is the road that leads to life. Few find it, few want it. Because the way to life…true life is death…and people do not want to die to themselves. So, that’s why a few find it because only a few want it. And therefore, only a few will find it.
Jesus is talking to our Ecclesia like He says in the book of Revelation chapter two and three, those who have ears, let us hear in the Name of Jesus. Now when Pastor John started to minister this very powerful series so far of Blowing your Mind, in part three Pastor John in a few places spoke about “It’s time for us to choose to pick up our cross.” And I’ve said to you last week, what does that really mean? So, Pastor John shared this with us and then we are going to see what it means to pick up your cross. Pastor John shared this with us, insert four: …that the Church has become very entitled:
· We think that we can do it all for ourselves and,
· We think it all belongs to ourselves.
· We think we can create our own future and our empires for ourselves
Pastor John said, “When you are the center of your own existence you never say no to yourself. You will love money because it allows you to indulge yourself. But, only when you live for Jesus then you have the grace to say no to yourself.” I mean, Pastor John is ministering this for years – not only this year – for years, in the name of Jesus.
So, what does it mean to pick up your cross? Well, Jesus is our example. And we are going to have a look at the example of Jesus today. First of all, we are going to take a closer look at the blood of Jesus and also the power of the cross itself this afternoon. Just in short, Pastor Sharon ministered and, like I said to you, I had some of those messages here last week. Pastor Sharon started to minister about the Cleansing flood of the blood. Please go back and meditate on that. Please listen to that message again. Pastor Sharon started to minister about The time of authority and the blood – powerful. Life-changing – you’ve got to go back. And Awake to authority.
Pastor Sharon shared, we are invested with heavy authority. The weightiness of our authority is because of the weightiness of the blood. So, let’s take a look. Pastor John recently said, “Every single morning we’ve got to wake up to rule and to reign.” And that’s why I’m going to talk about the blood today. Before we can rule and reign with Jesus, we have to come through repentance. Come out of Babylon. And we have to understand that we have come to Mount Zion. What does that mean? So that we can truly rule and reign with Jesus.
So, let’s look at the Spirit and the blood. I know most of you sitting here today are going to Bible School. So, this is a very short summary about the blood, very, very powerful. But you have to come to Bible School to get all the revelation, all the teachings and the understanding. But I know, it’s the same for us, all of us in Heritage of Faith, I know we come to Bible School online this week. God just has this wonderful opportunity for us that we are using. Please go to Hebrews chapter nine, verse 40. I’m still reading from the New King James. The Word of God says, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14 NKJV)
Now the first thing that we need to understand, I showed you in Hebrews 12:24, the blood of sprinkling that speaks. The blood is not something ineffective in a corner in heaven somewhere. The blood of Jesus is powerful to speak on our behalf of forgiveness. Everything that we have in the covenant, of course. Just like the Word says, of the better things to come for us. So, the first thing we need to know, we just read about the blood of Jesus, is that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit and the blood work very closely together. That’s the first thing that you have to see for yourself this afternoon. The Spirit and the blood work closely together. Pastor Sharon shared this with us, and I want to say this to you – many, many years ago when God started to teach me, teach me about the blood of Jesus, it’s still one of the most powerful things working in my life. I think it’s something that people and believers do not meditate and number one, study really.
So, it is through the Spirit alone that the blood has power. When the blood of Jesus was shed, it could not decay because the Spirit lives and works in the blood, very important. So, the blood of Jesus itself has Spirit and life in it. The blood is being made effective by the eternal Spirit. Very, very powerful.
Look again at Hebrews 9:14, and thank you Daniel. Now I want you to look at that Scripture a bit differently this morning because this is what we just said, 14how much more, and I’ve said in Witbank, this ‘how much more’ – there is so much to preach about those three words. But I’m not going to go there in the light of what it says in the book of Romans about “We are the righteous ones in Christ Jesus.” But look at this Scripture, shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14 NKJV)
So, it’s the blood and the eternal Spirit. But here’s a big word this afternoon. What does the word eternal mean? People think they really know and this revelation changed my life many years ago. Only a few believers realise the deep and glorious meaning of the word eternal. Many people think eternal simply means something that will always continue. Something that has no end. And this actually tells us what eternal is not because it says nothing about its nature or the very being. Now, we all have quite a firm grip on this – everything in time has a beginning and is subject to the law of increase and decrease. Becoming or decaying. But what is eternal? Has no beginning and knows no change or weakening. This is very, very huge. Why? It has in itself a life that is independent of time. Glory to God. Glory to God.
So, when we talk about eternal, listen to this, there is no past that has already disappeared or is lost and there is no future not yet possessed. This is powerful. You know, in all these messages that Pastor John is bringing to us about laying down your life and choosing the life of Christ, choose to abide in Him: I also shared in Witbank this morning. I think it was about two, maybe three weeks ago when Pastor John ministered at one stage in Witbank. I’m not sure if it was during the online Bible School or one of the Sunday messages, but for a moment he just stood and he said, “The Word says abide in Me, says the Lord.” And Pastor John really, really in that moment was communicating all these messages that he’s bringing and he said, “Just abide in Him. Just abide in Him. That you can know what it is to be in His presence, to be with Him. Not to do something apart from Him but to do it with Him. Christ is in us and us in Christ”. This is what we are talking about. This is so powerful – the power of an endless life at work in all of us. Praise the Lord. This is so big.
That is why I want to take you to Colossians three verse 1-2. Why? This again I want to say is what Pastor John has been ministering about. 1 Then if you have been raised and I am reading from the Amplified, one of the scriptures that Pastor John shared with us in the Amplified if you then have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], (Colosians 3:1-2 – NKJV) that is why we have to, we have to come through the blood to rule and reign in all the covenant rights that we have in Christ Jesus. He says, aim and seek the rich eternal treasures. (Colosians 3:1-2 – NKJV) It’s the eternal joy, it is the eternal treasures that Pastor John is speaking about that God has for us, and this is so, so powerful.
Thank you for Insert No 5. Listen to what Pastor John shared with us in the light of our life union with Christ. There is nothing more important than this. Pastor John said: “God is saying that we have to stay in life union with Him. Jesus sees your life not as fruitless, unless you live your life intimately joined with Him. God wants us to live life with a thought process that is – let us be connected to Jesus day in and day out. Then we will be fruitful. We will have abundance and we will have all the good things. The minute we are disconnected and are no longer living in union with Him, we become powerless. That is a very traumatic place to be, Pastor John said “to be powerless – a very uncomfortable place to be to have no power. But this is what it is – to live without the power of an endless life within you and me”. Hallelujah.
You know, when I started to walk by faith, and actually for the first time really seeing what the Word of God says about faith I knew every scripture that I am putting in my heart – everything that is eternally God, I knew and I am just going to read it to you again. I knew that when I not only confess a scripture, but put it in my heart and believe what I am saying, I knew that there is no past that has already disappeared or lost because of redemption. I knew in my heart, there is not yet a future, meaning a future not yet possessed. I knew that, because God showed me what this word eternal means and it changed my life. I always knew we are ongoing becoming as we go from glory to glory in the Name of Jesus. Joh, what great power! What great power.
So the blood of Jesus and the Spirit – you cannot separate the two for only through the blood can the Spirit dwell in us. That is why after the blood was shed on the cross, Pastor Sharon ministered on this. Go back to this. Only – think about this. Only after the blood was shed on the cross, the outpour of the Holy Spirit could come on the day of Pentecost. I know that there are many of you here today that already has a clear understanding about that. Pastor Sharon shared with us, the Spirit goes where the blood has cleansed. The Spirit answers to the blood. So as the blood is working in my and your heart, and we honour the blood in our hearts, then the Holy Spirit is free to carry on His Word. The Lord was so on me to talk and to minister about the blood and the power of the cross – why? We are all praying even at prayer connects now, Father, we believe for the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. That can come when we come by the blood, when we come out of Babylon and through every message that comes from the Lord when we self-correct, when we repent coming out of Babylon – then the Holy Spirit will be able to do the work in our hearts, the way He should be doing. Praise the Lord.
Please go to Colosians chapter 1 verse 19. Now, we spoke a little bit about the blood and the cross. Now we are going to take a look at the blood and the spirit. And now I just want to show you a little bit, about the blood – the power of the blood and the cross because like I said, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us “lay down your self-will”, do not live, do not come with your own plans. And what does that mean? Colossians 1:19 to 20 NKJV 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and verse 20 says: 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on the earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross. (Colossians 1:19-20 NKJV)
Through the blood of the cross. So, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the nature of the cross, let’s talk about the power of the cross, and let’s talk about love of the cross. Now when we watch movies about Jesus’s crucifixion, people make a lot about the physical sufferings that Jesus had to experience and rightfully so – rightfully so. But scripture itself does not place that on the foreground. The Word of God shows us everything about the inner nature of our Lord Jesus – the inner nature which was only the outer expression of the cross. I am going to say this again. The inner nature of Jesus Christ is the actual source from which the cross was the outward expression. Let me explain it to you.
What does that mean? Jesus said to his own disciples, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” The very thing that Jesus said to His disciples in connection to the cross was, “Become like Me.” Become like Me, did not mean suffer like Me. Many people think that when they suffer in this life, then they can at least use the words – “Well, I’m picking up my cross everyday.” Because they suffer because of whatever attack of the enemy of circumstances. That’s not what it means to pick up your cross. Why? Because Jesus paid the full price on the cross so that we can be in everything triumphant and overcome. So that’s a very wrong picture that people sometimes can have in their hearts. No. What it meant was; choose to deny yourself and develop an inward quality of character. That is what it means when Jesus is telling you and me today – to pick up our cross. Now this is the thing that Jesus desires – He did desire it for His disciples then and for us today. And that in our lives does not start to pick up in our lives today something heavy and think we are carrying that for Jesus. No.
Jesus carried the cross all through His life. What became visible on that day, on that hill when He hung on the cross was the manifestation of the inner nature and character that inspired the whole life of Jesus. So then, what does – and what is the meaning of picking up your cross when we look at the life of Jesus to us. Now, we must just go back for just a little bit at the teaching that Pastor John shared with us a little bit a while ago. First we must remember that the evil of sin changed everything in our relationship with our heavenly Father and His relationship with us. The result was that we were separated from our Father. Also, the guilt of sin demanded the judgement of God. So, this is the very first thing that had to happen. Jesus had to bring the power of sin to nothing and the only way He could do this, was to come in the weakness of flesh, and being tempted fully. Why?
Now, all I can say to you because I have been imagining these moments ever since I have been a little girl and I had some understanding about Jesus going to the cross. In those moments for Jesus of absolute body and soul agony, when Satan came to tempt Him, in those very moments of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, what really happened there – Jesus had to ceaselessly fight against His self will and self honour. That is the thing that really happened there. Jesus had to fight against the very great, great temptation of trying to reach His goal all by Himself. Can you imagine why?
Brother Kenneth Copeland, he ministers a lot on this. The world’s way is really the easy way out. That is why Satan still comes to tempt us with Egypt, Babylon – the world system, because it is the easy way out. But, Jesus had to lose His own life, He had to lay it down and Jesus had to do and say nothing, nothing else but what He had seen or heard from His Father. This is very, very important for us to understand. Jesus overcame the temptation to satisfy His self-will. Jesus denied Himself, by taking up His cross daily. He learnt obedience and became perfect to the point where He could say this to His disciples. Look at John 14:30.
Jesus was speaking to His disciples and He says, 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. (John 14:30 NKJV) Why? Because He really chose to lay down His self-life. What He wanted to do, that is the way He picked up His cross. The powerful removal of sin and the curse did not come like most Christians think – only because of the pain and the suffering that we know He experienced. But Jesus was willing to endure total obedience to our heavenly Father. And the development of the inner nature of Jesus not loving His own life till death – laying down His self will – that is what gave the cross it’s power. That is the very thing that gave the cross it’s power. And this is what Pastor John ministered on and I am not putting this on the board, but Pastor John shared with us – all aspects of self-life must be reckoned unto death. When you live for yourself, you won’t live in victory. When you live for yourself it means your days are not ordered by the Lord. It means you do what you want, you go where you want to go, you buy what you want to buy. Self life must be reckoned unto death if the enemy is to be defeated in our lives. This is very important for all of us.
Laying down your life, the power of the cross and I am going to finish with this to go into the next leg where and what God wants us to look at today. The power of the cross is the blotting out of guilt, and the breaking down of the authority of the sin. This is what Jesus accomplished. The cross, so that Jesus did all of that so that the cross could bestow the power for you and me today to do the same thing to choose the same thing. Jesus qualified, Jesus qualified, that’s why He is the Mediator of the New Covenant – we read that. And now in the light of the Ecclesia once again – like we said, there is Jesus, standing, He is in heaven, He is the Mediator, He is witnessing in heaven. Why could He do that? Because and once again, and I am not going there today, that is why God is calling them the cloud of witnesses. Jesus is witnessing for us in heaven today, because while He was on the earth, He witnessed, He spoke only what the heavenly Father gave Him to say. Many of those cloud of witnesses did the same thing and the Lord showed me they have a standing with the Lord, that is why God is calling them the cloud of witnesses. Now there’s much more to say about that, much more to say about, but Jesus paid that price on the cross. The reason why I’ve asked, and like I said, you are it’s wonderful if you have your Bible on the iPad, on your iPad today, but please open your Bibles at Revelation chapter one today. Praise the Lord.
Why the blood first? Because we understand it today, we’ve got to repent. These messages are coming because our Lord Jesus is talking to us last week I’ve shared with you in Revelation chapter two, and we’re going to go back there today – that God is talking. When we see Jesus in Revelations chapter two and three, He’s talking to the seven ecclesias in Asia, to the ecclesias. And, let me go to Revelation very quickly. Just from the New King James. I mean, all the Bible translations are a bit different, one from the other, but in the New King James, in verse one, verse four, my Bible already indicates, Greeting to the Seven Churches. Jesus is speaking to the ecclesia. So that’s why the Lord said to me, “Christi, these messages, everything that I’m now doing, In the Light of the Ecclesia, you have now come to Mount Zion.”
The other thing about Mount Zion, God’s throne is on the mountain. Every time we read about the mountain or mountains in the Word, it has to do with government. Government. It’s judicial, it’s part of the ecclesia. Everything that we see in Hebrews 12, verse 22. But right here in Revelation, chapter one, God is already starting to greet the churches. Then I want to show you from chapter two. That’s why it’s very nice if you can just page from one page to the other in your Bible. Chapter two. Here we see the angel and I said to you Pastor John also ministered on this. The Greek word says Messenger – that means the senior pastor to the church. He’s talking to the first ecclesia here in Asia 1 “To the church of Ephesus… and we’re going to come back (Revelation 2:1 NKJV). Then He’s jumping over 8 “To the church in Smyrna… that’s the second church (Revelation 2:8 NKJV). He goes on 3, 4, 5, 6, the church in Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7 NKJV). And then God gets to The Lukewarm Church (Revelation 3:14 NKJV) in chapter three, verse 14. He’s talking to the lukewarm church.
Now I just want to sketch a picture for you here today in the light of the ecclesia. In chapter four, and I’ve said this quite a bit in Witbank today, remember what Pastor John says – this atmosphere in Heritage of Faith, is the perfect atmosphere for spiritual babies to grow up. It’s the perfect atmosphere for spiritual babies to come in and to grow up. So nothing here is difficult to understand, and it all comes by the revelation and the anointing and the showing of the Holy Spirit. Now, when we come to chapter four in Revelation, and if you’ve got the New King James open, mine says to The Throne Room of Heaven. Now I remind you what we’ve read in Hebrews 12. We come to the Judge, we have come to the Judge of the whole earth. Here is the throne room of the Judge in Revelation chapter four.
But now I’m going to read to you what’s happening in chapter five, verse one. So you can follow me in your paper Bible, your iPad. I want to show you a very powerful thing that is happening here. God is speaking to ecclesias and from the beginning in chapter two, there’s many of those ecclesias are doing many things right. God’s very pleased with them. But in then cases, because every ecclesia is very unique. In some cases, He comes to them and He says, “No, this thing is not right.” He’s coming to us to say, “I’m taking the children now”. He’s coming to us now to say, “What is your more for?” So all the messages is always coming to the ecclesias for their own specific redemptive purpose, like Pastor Sharon taught us. But we see something happening here in Revelation five, where God wants the ecclesia to rule and to reign. How do we get there? How do we get there?
Look at verse one, 1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Verse two says, 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it (Revelation 5:1-3 NKJV). Now just, the things that must come now, the blood of sprinkling speaking. Yes, by the blood of Jesus, the cleansing flood of the blood. But we see in the light of the ecclesia, when we see, we have come to Mount Zion, government, the ecclesia, the Judge of all, where Abraham even said, “Oh Judge, oh fair Judge, will you destroy a city?” If You are not righteous in your doing? God says, “No, if I can find at least ten righteous ones.” Then we also see what God is showing us here, that the blood of sprinkling speaks of the things that must still come. Here’s a scroll that must open for what still must come in the plans of the Lord Jesus for the church. Things… and like I reminded you a while ago of Psalm 139, Lord, all the things of my life and your life is written in His Book even before we gave a step. So also about the assignment for Pastor John and us here with him.
So there was no one to open this book. Look at verse four, here is John and 4 I wept and he cried. This was so huge. Now you must understand. Here’s Revelation one, two, three and four. Jesus is speaking to the ecclesias. He’s showing us the Judge on His throne. Now things must come and there’s no one that can open this book. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll… There’s now things that must come to Pastor John and Sharon, and the messages from heaven that must come. 4 …or to look at it. Verse five, 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lamb Lion of the tribe of Judah… So here he’s showing us Jesus, that Lion. The Lion that is, and will rule and reign with a church without blemish. The ecclesia that’s coming the way they should. So here he’s talking and he says this one can. 5 …Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals (Revelation 5:4-5 NKJV).
And now I want to show you what’s happening to us. Look at verse six, 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood the Lamb… You cannot rule and reign if you cannot come by the blood. You want to rule and reign with the Lion of Judah? When he looked, there stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, Jesus on the cross …having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And it says Worthy Is the Lamb (Revelation 5:6-7 NKJV). Now verse, I’m going to read verse eight, but nine and 10 is for us today. 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp… golden bowls full of incense Prayer Connect, which are the prayers of the saints. How powerful the teaching of Pastor Sharon to us about this. 9 And they sang a new song (we’re supposed to sing a new song and that’s why we have the sound and song as God is giving it to this ecclesia, and they say “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; Listen to this: For You were slain, verse 9, you have redeemed us by the blood. So first the blood. We have to come out of Babylon. First the blood, pick up our cross, self-correct through the messages, repent when we have to repent, when the messages are coming. And then he says, you have redeemed us… by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And look at verse 10, 10 And you have made us kings and priests to our God; because then we will rule and we will reign with You (Revelation 5:8-10 NKJV). How powerful, how powerful.
And now I want to close with this this afternoon. Because, I’ve said the same thing in Witbank. I, since specially, the 2nd of September where all my notes, where God is talking to me. It actually happened to me 20 years ago when we were planted in Witbank. I did not know anything about what I’m sharing with you today. I just remember when the Lord said to me that we have to be planted, the Lord said to me, “Christi, I’m going to teach you about the church.” Because He knew how lawless we were. And the Lord this whole week said to me, “I want you to look. I want you to look, see this, see this in the light of the ecclesia, see this, see this.”
Now I’m taking you back to Revelation, chapter two. Very, very important. And I’m going to say one or two things perhaps here that I did not say in Witbank this morning. Back to Revelation, chapter two. Now here, He is talking 1To… the church in Ephesus… Very important. And the angel and the messenger actually of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands… That’s what I want to talk to you about. Who and what are these lamp stands? Verse two, 2 “I know your works… He’s talking to this ecclesia, “I know your works, your labour, your patience, and these are all good things and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and they are not, and you have found them to be liars; Verse three, 3 and you have persevered and have patience, that’s very good and you have laboured for My name’s sake and you have not become weary.
Look how beautifully He’s talking to this ecclesia. How many times God does with us, but then God is a straight-talker like Pastor Sharon said. God comes with His messages. Look at verse four, 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. And that is Jesus. Jesus, the Head of the church. Verse five is very important for what I want to share with you today. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; two times in this verse God is saying repent. I have all these things here today, but then the message will be too long, where Pastor John spoke to us what it really means to repent, and in the future we will still talk about that. 5 Remember, therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent. Now, this is, do we think God will say something like this to an ecclesia and not do it if it comes down to this? No. God is very, very serious.
First of all, what are those and who are those lampstands? Listen what Pastor Sharon ministered to us. You can’t be in authority. It’s insert seven. You can’t be in authority to rule and to reign as a king in life, which we are all destined to do as sons of God, if you’re not under God’s legitimate, legislative authority and in the order of God’s governance in the local church. Every legitimate, local assembly is different. In the book of Revelation, Jesus holds the messengers of the churches, the lampstands in His right hand, and He still, through the messages, He writes through the messages to His churches today. He has been writing to this house for 20 years. God wrote, I will take the children and What is your more for? Now in these messages as they come, repent.
So what are these lampstands? Number one, the lampstand in our church, is the Apistolic call that is upon Pastor John. It means actually, if you, if, uh, and this is what the Lord showed me, he showed me many things. And he said to me, Christi, in the light of the ecclesia, if and we have already a very good understanding, but I want to show you this. The lampstand is the Apistolic call that is on Pastor John’s life. It actually means the jurisdiction that God will give to him, and then a people with him. And it will be different from ecclesia to ecclesia because it will touch nations and cities and areas as God wills. That is what God will show. So this is very important for us to see. Now we know in this church Pastor John and Sharon are living all in for God. So God’s not going to remove this lampstand. This is what the Lord showed me with the messages that what we do, our choices and our money is speaking. It’s speaking, rather God will cause Pastor John to shake off the dust from his shoes.
But I just wanted to show you how powerful this is in the light of the ecclesia, where we have come to. If God removes a lampstand and I’m going to give you more info about that then in the eyes of Jesus, what did we read in Hebrews 12 verse 24, the assembly of the church, registered in heaven, the ecclesias with the legitimate lampstands, the candle is another word that he is using. I’m quickly going to take you to Revelation 11 in closing to show you that, uh, the pattern of God’s Word here. This is the way he called. And already we see that word from the Lord about Pastor John and Sharon, the two witnesses, the two sons of oils, the lampstands. This is where the messages are coming from. I want you to see the jurisdiction given to the pattern of God in His Word, Revelations 11 verse three, 3 and I will give power to my two witnesses and they will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth
Remember, we are reading here about a pattern in the word of God, verse four. 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before God of the earth verse five. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire will proceed from their mouth and divide devour their enemies.
Now we looking at the authority, the jurisdiction, God is giving these authorities where He’s placing them, these lampstands in churches, verse six, 6 and these have the power to shut Haven so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy and they have power over waters to turn them to blood and strike the earth with all the plagues, as often as they desire (Rev. 11:3-6 NKJV) Once again, Pastor Sharon ministered on this, Pastor John and Sharon are like this, this pattern that God is showing us here; Pastor Sharon shared with us quite a while ago. And, uh, I do, I believe that we must have now a greater understanding because we have come to Mount Zion. We have come to this place. God’s spoken. He said Pastor John and Sharon, the scope and the scale, the scope and the scale of what you Pastor John and Pastor Sharon will walk in now for Me says, God, it will change My church.
It is your rule and reign for and with me. I’ve put my zeal in you to accomplish this. And then He said this at that time; “It’s not necessarily for all to understand this.” I believe that has come. That it is very important for us to understand, but these things, the Lord wants to go on a record as Pastor Sharon shared that day because, um, Pastor, the Lord said, “Pastor John and Sharon, you are My two sons of oil. You will now know My power on a scale that you have not experienced or walked in before. Side-by-side in sync with Me in sync with each other, both required, both desired, unique, and magnifique.” Is the words that he gave Pastor Sharon. And the Lord said, “That’s all that matters to Me.” It doesn’t matter who we are to the people Pastor Sharon said, but we are listening to what Pastor Garth is ministering.
Yes it does. Yes it does. Who is Pastor John to you and me? Who is Pastor Sharon to you and me? The gifts; gifts given by our Lord Jesus Christ. But God says, “It matters to Me. It matters to Me.” So there’s much more to say about this. I just wanted to give you an indication of what we are talking about here. Then I want to remind you about the prophecy of brother Copeland.
Now, as God since He was teaching us and started to reveal all these wonderful things about the ecclesia. I remember when I heard this prophecy of brother Copeland, I knew the church has come to this place. It has come to this place. So it’s for the church and of course it goes for the legitimate sons in our nation as well, leaders in government.
Listen to what brother Copeland prophesied last year, 2020, ‘Those politicians who refuse My call to unite and become the United States of America, and not just America, those politicians who refuse to listen and those politicians who continue the pathway of hate, I will remove them from their places. I will remove the influence from the record books.’
Can you see, we’re talking about the books here? ‘I will remove their candle in the family.’ This is what we are talking about here today. It means what is registered in heaven. That is which it that’s where we get the word legitimate, sent from God. I will remove the candle in the families. I will remove them from the office and put someone in there who will. Just to give you an understanding what we are talking about here.
So Pastor John shared this with us, and we understand this when we come to pray in prayer connect. When we pray for our president, the ANC party, the next president, uh, and Pastor John and Pastor Sharon, why? First Timothy chapter two verse one says, pray for those who are in a position of authority and high responsibility. Now, president Nelson Mandela, our existing president, Cyril Rhamaposa, are legitimate sons of this nation. God wants them there. God wants them there. He has many sons and daughters in this nation where He wants them to serve the nation like that in, in, in, in governmental positions. But of course, then we have Pastor John that is a legitimate Apistolic leader to the nation of South Africa. It’s God’s business what that lampstand is pertaining to his authority and jurisdiction when it comes to nations and to cities the same for him and Pastor Sharon.
So I knew I just had to go this way with you in the light of the Ecclesia. We have come to this place. We have come to this place. And of course, this is very powerful when it comes to the things that God gave us, who we are. Uh, um, I just had a quick conversation with Grobbies after Witbank church this morning about the business men and women.
These are powerful things that we will still talk about, but I just wanted to lay that foundation for you today. Why, why before we can rule and reign with Jesus, we have to repent as the messages are coming, we have got to, because we are coming out of Babylon, God is helping us. We’ve got to change. We’ve got to come up. This is all about the becoming of the ecclesia here. That’s why the Lord said to me in the light of the Ecclesia, um, I’m really closing with this. All the messages are coming to us because, and because they are coming, we need to repent. We have talked about it. In the messages about what we do with our money Malachi three seven, and this is, this is the heart of God.
God says, “Return to Me, return to Me and I will return to you.” (Malachi 3:7) By faith we must follow Jesus, obey Him, seek Him. We need to repent where we have to, as the messages are coming to us, one, John one seven says, 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness. (1 John 1 :7 NKJV) Pastor John shared with us, walking in the light does not mean walking perfectly. It’s walking, honestly, being honest with God. God is looking for the ten who choose to walk and live righteously. Righteousness is not the result of keeping rules. It is the result of living under the mandate and government of the Holy Spirit. And He is helping us, teaching us, bringing the messages through Pastor John and Sharon to us. He’s helping us. Pastor John says this, um, he brought the message of repentance the first time when Pastor Sharon started to minister, God will take the children and Pastor John said, the spirit of God is saying, “Will you change? Will you turn around in your heart?” And are we finding ourselves changing and turning because it’s by the help of the Holy Spirit. And I believe in my heart, I say yes to the Lord. And I believe, I believe as you sitting here, we are all we have all ears to hear and our heart, like we prayed when we started Father, we hear You are calling us to yourself as a people.
This is really, this is time for the ecclesia. There’s many things that we’ve got to hear and understand now because in the light of the place that we have come to. In the light of the ecclesia and all of us growing and maturing spiritually. Let’s pray, Father, thank You for today’s message. Thank You, Lord, that it’s sent out to do what you have purposed it to do.
And we say, Lord, we know that it will not return void to You. Father, Father, may You be glorified, may You be glorified, Lord. And as all the messages are coming for this ministry, Lord, to become all that You want us to become. So Father, thank You for that. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You Lord, for this wonderful opportunity, Lord, as we come to keep on abiding in You choosing to lay down our lives, Father. Revelations 12, we overcome by the power of the blood, the word of our testimony and not loving our lives, laying it down. And this is our choice Father.
Father as we go from this place, we say, and we declare the mighty name of Jesus. We are blessed going out and we are blessed coming in and whatever we will put our hands to this week Lord will prosper. It will prosper because we are empowered to prosper because of your blessing.
Lord, I’ve asked this in Witbank as well. Lord Jesus. Thank You. Thank You that You will do that. You will show up in our businesses, in the places where we work, create miracle after miracle, that will change our lives forever Lord, because we do online Bible school. You said Lord that the new things will now come into our lives. Things that we’ve struggled for a long time will just fall off us. We thank You for that Lord. Lord Jesus, the head of the church, the great shepherd Hebrews 13, that God brought back through the blood. Now we ask You that, uh, um, You will strengthen us. Complete us and perfect us, make us what we ought to be, equip us with everything good that we may carry out Your will.
Why? Because You Yourself by the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts. As much as we choose to honor the blood today, the Holy Spirit is free to work to accomplish that, which is pleasing in Your sight. And we all say ‘Amen.’ Hallelujah. It was wonderful to be here with you today. Have a magnificent Sunday evening.
And if it’s God’s will, we will see how next Sunday goes, but blessings and a powerful glorious week to all of you. Bye-bye everyone.
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