Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 (NKJV); Ephesians 2:1-9 (NKJV); 1 John 2:12-14 (NKJV); 1 John 3:1-2, 7-16 (NKJV)
Well, praise the Lord. That was unexpected but very much accepted. Hallelujah. Now I just need a minute to get myself ready. Normally when I get up here I am already ready. Praise the Lord. I need to do this for my lips here [Pastor John applying LipIce]. Hallelujah. Well, I say thank you to the Lord, for doing what He did, saying what He said. And I receive everything that has been said and done by the Spirit of God. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
It just so happens that I felt led by the Lord today to talk a little bit about being a father. The actual title of my message today is Intentional Relationships: The way of life. So the way of life is not what Jesus said, “I am the way,” although it includes the way. The way of life is the order of life, the way of life. So, it is not just the way, it is the way life is; the order of life. I have been using this scripture over the last couple of weeks, from First Corinthians chapter two, 6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of this age. So we cannot, you and I as Christians cannot afford to get into the debates of the wisdom of this age or agree to flow with or receive to ourselves, those things that are from the rulers of this age. If you almost get nothing else from anything that I preach, over this time, this scripture will say it all. We, spiritually mature people, are not about the wisdom of this age, nor do we follow the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing (1 Corinthians 2:6 NKJV).
Well, I will tell you what, if you speak to the Chinese government, if you speak to the Russian government, if you speak to the US government or the British government, whoever the big power players, European Union, they will tell you that their way of governing and their wisdom and their rulership of this age, they are looking to entrench it, they are looking to get stronger at it, they are looking to enforce it. They are looking to become a more power base. But this scripture says that they are coming to nothing. Nothing. That means if we think that we can get the wisdom of this age, and we can live by what the rulers of this age say, this is the way to live, we are giving ourselves to nothingness.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Why is it a mystery? It is a mystery to those who can’t understand it from this age. 7 … the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the ages for our glory, because as we walk in the wisdom of God, we receive the glory of God. 8 … which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:7-8 NKJV).That is how dumb they are. You know, dumb, dumb, idiotic, stupid, totally ignorant. Dof. Dom. Sleg dom. How much more emphasis can I put; how stupid, stupid, stupid can you get? That’s not aimed at any person, that’s aimed at the devil. Those dudes are stupid. Well, how do you say they’re so stupid? Because anybody who thinks that they are equal to God is stupid. If you’ve lived in the presence of God, and then you think you’re equal to God, and you still think you’re equal to God, after you’ve lived in the presence of God, as the creator of God, all of those years, and you’re stupid enough to still want to place your will above the will of God, or equal to the will of God, it’s stupid.
The only other person that’s just as stupid was Adam. And I won’t say any more than that. Anyway, what wisdom this world has got for us to live in, is really, there is no future life in it, there is only survival, and there is only an existence that is dependent on what they say is acceptable. And it will change from generation to generation and from age to age because different governments will try and do different things, and different power players will try and do different things – whether it’s economic power, government power, or military power, or some other kind of power, it will change from generation to generation, but the foundation of it is the same. It’s the rulers of this age, wanting to control men, wanting to control humanity. Because they, the rulers of this age, are trying to prove that they are equal to God from then till now. And men, people are the battleground. If I can get your worship, then I can prove that I’m equal to God. How do I get your worship? I get you to do whatever I tell you my wisdom is. And whatever you do, according to my wisdom, I got you. I got you suckered forever.
So if you look at the dictionary definition of being a father, it’s to be the originator, the source or the originator of – this is from the Oxford Dictionary. Be the source or originator of – that’s the most basic definition of what a father is – to be the source and originator of. But you can’t just take that one statement and say that’s what a father is because it’s bigger than that. Because you can be the source and the originator but if you don’t have any relationship with what you originate, then you can’t call yourself a father, either, you can just call yourself an originator. An important male figure in the origin of something. So you have to recognise that if you are the origin of something, you have to take responsibility for it. Another dictionary version of it is, a man who provides care and protection. So now you’re talking about someone who’s taking responsibility to be a father. Not just a man, not just an originator. And the Oxford Dictionary also says, the first person of the trinity of God, the Father, the originator, the source of all things, who takes responsibility for all the things that He originates and He provides care and protection for everything that He sources.
This should be, this should be a very great joy to you and a very great blessing for you because if you know that God does that, that’s why He can say, “If you as human people know how to do good things for your children, how much more the Heavenly Father?” If your child asked you for a piece of bread, are you going to give him a snake? No. If your child asks you for something, you’re going to give him what he asked for, if it’s something he needs and something that is important for his life. Are you not, good fathers? Earthly good fathers. Yeah, you’re a good earthly father. That’s what you do. How much more the Heavenly Father. Say if you ever, ever have any questions, any doubt about whether God is on your side or not, just call Him Father. Just call Him Father. Because then you’ll know He’s going to take care of you. You may not have a good image of a father, and men and or fathers might have let you down. And there is no perfect human on the earth that ever lived except Jesus and so in our humanity, none of us are perfect but in our spirit life in Christ, we are. But if you look at my humanity, I will also let you down, as will any other man, and if you look close enough, you will find in any man some imperfection. And if you want to, you can find it, you can pick on it, and you can use it to justify anything you want. I suggest to you that the problem is not with the man or the person that you’re looking at but rather with you. In general, there are some men that just behave badly and then should be thrown in prison. “You’ve got some strong things to say today, Pastor John.” Ja, nee, maar dit is maar so.
Ephesians, chapter two, verse one, I’m going to read some of this because I can’t say it better than the Bible. 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin. Come on, let us work together this morning. Just point to yourself like this, just point to yourself and just recognise that you were dead in trespasses and sin. You were dead, dead dead. Means separated from life. You were dead in trespasses and sin. You were, but you He made alive. He made you alive, who were dead. You had no future. Oh no, but there’s a lot of people that have got a future, they go to varsity, they do this, they got money. They got no future. Nothing. When they die, they’re separated from life. It doesn’t matter what they say. 2… in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. So there is a legitimate prince of the power of this air who works in people. … the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-2 NKJV).
So there are a whole bunch of people out there that want the wisdom of this world. They want to live according to the rulers of this age. They are called the sons of disobedience. Why? Because they want that wisdom. They want to walk in that rulership power and they’ve, on purpose, turned their backs on God because that’s what they want. How do I know? Because God says in each person He has put a conscience to lead them to God. So even if they never hear about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, they still know that God exists because God put in each human understanding to know the Father. The Originator, the Source of life. So what does the prince of the power of this air do? He creates a whole theology and a whole philosophy that actually there is no source that the source just happened somehow; called evolution. And now, you can’t actually, if you wanted to run a school, according to government curriculum, and have government sanctioned to run a primary school and a high school, you have to teach evolution. They will force you to teach evolution to get their accreditation. How about that? I wonder if there is an attack on the Origin, the Source of all things?
So, …sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:3 NKJV). This is the conflict that you and I have, that when you get born again, and you have Jesus living in your heart, the Originator, the Source of life, who provides and cares for you, who takes responsibility for you lives in your spirit. Your spirit man now wants to become like the Originator. Your spirit man wants to become like the Source of all things because now you look like Him and He is in you. So, but you have been trained as a person of disobedience. From young, we have been taught to follow the system, follow the rules. Of who? The prince of the power of the air, the wisdom of this age, the rulers of this age who all in all, they run the governing orders of this world. Economics, politics, governments. The prince of the power of this air has a legitimate right to those things. So we have been trained from young to live according to those sets of rules. So those rules are taught, those rules motivate you, they trigger you to do what? They trigger you to follow the lusts of your flesh, the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and by nature to go against God or rebel against the things of God. Which is why children need to be disciplined to show them that they can’t just follow their desire, they have got to put their desire under and follow obedience. That’s what Christian children if they are taught that, they learn that there is a God, if they’re taught in Christ. Amen.
So, because we are taught that from young when we actually begin to recognise that there is a greater One in us, we now start the process of renewing our mind, so that by the renewing of our mind, we can be transformed, and that we are no longer conformed to the lust of our flesh, to the lust of our desires, and all of the things that we’ve been taught to pursue from young. We have to be renewed from those things because otherwise, we conform once again. And so, for the most part, one of the things that – in a multitude of counsel there is much wisdom – is because the enemy will often trigger things in you and me, that want us to follow the lust of our flesh. They want us to follow the wisdom of this world and this age because it has promise of potential. Come on, I’m preaching real good. And so, because we are still yet learning, it’s better to seek the counsel of wisdom in the Spirit of God so that we can be sure that we are not always triggered in one direction. The more you learn to say no to the triggers, the more you learn spiritual behaviour.
Remember what I said? The Lord put a mantle on me from years ago to ask the question; what’s the point of being a Christian? The point of being a Christian is yes, it’s a good thing to go to heaven, not to go to hell, for sure. But the point of being a Christian is to become spiritual. So what’s the point of being spiritual? Because only spiritual people can think like heaven and can bring heaven to earth. It’s not every Christian that can do that. It’s only spiritual people that can do that.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is the place that we ought to always take our place in, sitting together in high places with Christ Jesus. When you see life from that perspective, you are now no longer under the dominion of the prince of the power of the air, of the wisdom of this age, of the knowledge of this age; you sit above it. When you’re a Christian that sits above it, you can see the strategies and the tactics of the enemy, and now you can act and behave and respond according to the way God wants you to. Amen.
7 … that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:4-9 NKJV). Living Christianity is not a competition. Living Christianity is not a completion. It’s not a competition to say how spiritual I am, how many gifts of the Spirit I can operate in, my gift to God, my serving gift or my gift of ministry is greater than someone else’s gift. It’s not a competition. Which is why it’s required by God of me, the pastor of this church, spiritual leader of this Ecclesia, it is a requirement of God on me that I not think of myself more highly than I ought. It’s a requirement of me that I be sober-minded. It is a requirement of me to see that God holds me doubly responsible than anybody else because He has placed me in leadership. It’s a requirement of me that I need to be in such a place, that I hold myself to a standard according to God’s Word, that I don’t bring shame on the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.
I know, based on all of those things, that I can’t do that on my own strength. So even though I am called, I still say my greatest calling is not to my gift of ministry; my greatest calling is to be a disciple. Because when I’m a disciple, I can fulfil my calling. But if I place my calling, my gifting, all of those things above my discipleship, now I become out of balance in my life, and my calling becomes greater than my discipleship and then I’m likely at some point to bring shame on the Gospel.
It refers back to personal leadership, before you get into public leadership, before you can focus on purpose leadership. Most people want to say, “If I get my purpose, then my public gift will demonstrate itself.” Yes, that will happen, but your personal leadership is likely to be the place where you stumble and fall. So you never quit personal leadership. And when you’re in public, you never quit personal leadership in public. And when you’re into your purpose, and you’re completely following your purpose, you still have to give attention to personal leadership. It’s a requirement of God. It’s a requirement of God.
And so, I have no trouble that if there are gifts in the body of Christ and those gifts are in order and they’re active, and they’re in Ecclesia and they’re working, I have no problem that in the right moment this gift is submitted to that gift. Why? Because in that moment, that gift becomes the strongest gift that God can use. If I’m spiritual, I can recognise this gift is working, I must let it work. Because while it’s working, it’s doing its job. That’s how the body flows. If the eye sees something that’s happening, and it says, “I see everything that’s happening,” it requires the hand to get it done. The eye can’t say to the hand, “No, no, I don’t want you to take any credit or work at all. I can see, I’ll take charge.” You just shot yourself because the eye is designed to make the hand work. And when the eye sees something, it’s not for the hand to say, “I didn’t see it. I’m not going to do what you tell me to do.”
I mean, this is why Jesus calls the body, the body of Christ. So even though God might use me as the originator of something, it requires others to make it work. Hallelujah. That will happen more and more. That should happen more and more, as we are all elevated into what God has required. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God has prepared for us good works beforehand that we should walk in it. And so I got to walk in my good works. You got to walk in your good works and together, we look like the Father. Together. Amen. Hallelujah.
One John, chapter two, verse 12, 12 I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. 13 I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:12-13 NKJV). There are three categories of people that the Apostle John who is probably known, and everyone recognise as called the apostle of love. So he’s writing to little children, to fathers, to young men. I write to you little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you fathers, because you’ve known Him who is from the beginning. I’ve written to you young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. So I’m just going to paraphrase this to you for a second. And I just want you to see that God is talking to the different categories of people. Children, number one, you are children because your sins are forgiven for His namesake. I write to you children. Number two, because you have known the Father. So number one, you’re only a child if you know your sins are forgiven and because you know your sins are forgiven, you know that the Father is the One who did it. The Originator of mercy. Yes. Okay. To the fathers, he says the same thing twice; you are a father, because you have known Him from the beginning. In other words, you who are a father, an originator, knows who the Originator is from the beginning. If you’re a father, that’s all you need to know. That’s what you need to flow in. Young men, you’ve known the Father, 13 … I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. So you overcome the wicked one and 14 … I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:13-14 NKJV). How do you overcome the wicked one? Because the Word of the Father is in you and you are strong in the Word.
So first of all, as a child, you got to know that your sins are forgiven and you know it’s the Father who forgave you. Then because you know those things you can become a young man who can defeat the enemy because the Word of God stays strong in you because you know who you are in the Father because your sins are forgiven you. And then you can become a father because you’ve known Him from the beginning. Hallelujah. So there are many that the Bible says, there are many teachers among you, there are many teachers but there are not many fathers. Because a father is someone who understands who the original Father is, and knows how to live with the Originator, and recognises his own life, that he is an originator. Because he only knows he’s an originator, because he got it from the Originator, the Source of all things – takes responsibility to protect and provide. So when you take responsibility as an originator to protect and provide, it gives space for children to know who the Father is, and that their sins are forgiven them. And then when those children know who the Father is, and their sins are forgiven them, they have space to overcome the wicked one, because they abide in the Originator. And so fathers come back to tell people what the beginning is. Hallelujah.
So, there are many teachers, but not many fathers. Well, you know, for many years, anybody who’s been with me around me long enough would know that I went through a phase in my ministry, and in my life in my own walk with God when people wanted to call me their spiritual father. And I resisted it because it was like this thing that was going on around in the church. It was like this new buzzword, spiritual fathers, spiritual fathers. And it was like this status symbol that everybody wanted to have a spiritual father. But I recognised from way back then as a natural father, that you need to have a relationship with people that call you spiritual father. You can’t just say because you were the originator of my life in God, that you are my spiritual father. That’s the difference between a man and a father. A man can originate life, but a father takes the responsibility of protection and providing for life.
So when everybody started to talk about this buzzword of fathers, I said, “Don’t call me spiritual father unless God places it in your heart that I am spiritual father.” Which means that there is a relationship where you have a recognition of the origin of my gifting and my calling, you have a recognition of the father spirit that is in me that I’m called to protect and provide the Spirit of Christ that is in you. Then we’re in a position where you may receive me as spiritual father. But it’s a cooperation, it’s something that God does in your heart, it’s not something that’s just a label. Amen.
It’s another reason why this label still exists very strongly out there in the world, in the church. Everybody wants to call a pastor, an apostle, shepherd, whatever, and wants to call them man of God, because it’s like the biggest honour-status-symbol that you can get; man of God. It’s like an awesome holy thing you know. Man of God, man of God, man of God, man of God.
I don’t want to have that symbolic status of man of God. Unless God has placed it upon my life that I have recognised as a spiritual father that I’m operating and walking and functioning as a man dedicated to God. That is more a title of discipleship than it is of leadership. Then I can turn around and say to you, man of God, women of God. Why? Because you are a disciple. You walk with God, you abide with God, He is your God, you live for Him, you serve Him, you put Him first place – man of God, woman of God. Then we are equal. Do you see how the world has tried to use the philosophy of men and bring it into the church to elevate gifts and callings beyond what they should be elevated to? There are not too many preachers that you’ll hear talk like this from the pulpit. Because, “Call me man of God, raise my status, elevate me, let me walk proud among you. I’m it.” I just shot some holy cows. I just shot some holy cows. Now, I want to just make a distinction that when my son, Ernest, was praying for me, he used the word man of God this morning, that was in his heart. He has seen me for many years living in my house, living around me, walking with me, he knows me. He can call me that, and he did it out of honour and recognition and respect by the Spirit of God because he is my son. But even my sons know, don’t go walk around calling me man of God because we have a relationship to walk. And then there are times when I’m going to call you; child of God, son of God, man of God, woman of God because you know who you are in the Father, from the beginning. You have overcome the devil. You know that He forgave your sins, you know who He is, and you know how to have victories. Now you are operating at that level. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Are you getting something out of this this morning? If you’re not, then there’s not much hope for you. Then maybe I need to be man of God to you.
One John, chapter 3, it is in the same book just a little bit further on, 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him (1 John 3:1 NKJV) Those people out there, there is one category of people that they have a big problem with, it’s called the Christian. Because there’s one thing that you cannot argue with a Christian; they will tell you that Jesus is alive. The world has tried for generations to disprove that Jesus is alive because He is the only God that died for the human race, and then got raised from the dead, so that we might live. There is no other God that has such a proposition. Furthermore, the greatest book that has ever been sold, that is still the best selling book every year, you want to guess what it is? The Bible. It’s not the Koran. And it’s not some other philosophy of Buddha, or Mao Tse Tung, the art of war. It’s not some kind of, you know, philosopher of many days, Solzhenitsyn or some philosopher that people can say that’s the greatest book of all time. Not even Karl Marx can pretend that he has a book that sold like the Bible.
Although I will tell you that in our modern day world, Marxism – otherwise known as socialism and communism – Marxism is the biggest threat to our children’s future. Did you know that President Biden, in the last couple of months has said on a number of platforms, “Your children are not just your children, your children are everybody’s children. Your children belong to everybody.” Meaning it belongs to the government and to the whole community. Where did that philosophy originate from? Can anybody tell me? Karl Marx. Leninism originated the ideology of, give me your children. Hitler took it to a new level, he took the children, indoctrinated children and then made them soldiers. You want to know what is our greatest threat to our future right now? It’s socialism and communism because they want everybody to walk equally.
So, if you want to know more of what the Bible says about the economic future, it’s not capitalism. Neither is it socialism, or communism, or any of those -isms. And so people are going to say, “Oh, this pastor doesn’t believe in capitalism.” I do not. I do not. Those who have been around me long enough know it’s not the first time I’ve said this. So you want to know more? You must come to Money with a mission weekend. Do you think God said, “I’m a capitalist.” [Congregation answers; No.] Who came up with the word capitalism? Men, the wisdom of men. So, if God didn’t say, “I’m a capitalistic God,” then what kind of economic system does God follow? That’s the one we should follow. Praise Jesus.
¹Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. ²Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:1-2 NKJV). What’s the job of the Holy Spirit? To reveal Jesus to us, to reveal the Father to us. The more we get revealed to us, the more we know how to be like Him. He’s not trying to hide Himself from us till the time comes when we will see Him face to face. He’s trying to reveal all that He is to us so we can live like Him now, face to face. Hallelujah.
Verse seven, “⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practises righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil sinned from the beginning. Can you see how this message today is coming together now? Dom, stupid ou from the beginning, thought he could be equal to God. He sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:7-8 NKJV). What is the first work that he destroyed of the devil? You’re not equal. You’re not equal to God. Come on, this is such grand news. This is such grand news. Let me just show you how great God is. Are you with me for a minute?
The devil comes to Adam and Eve. Makes Eve, “That woman that You gave me, she deceived me.” Woman, woman, those women. The woman, she got deceived with equality. Go read it in Genesis. “You’ll surely become like God and you will know the difference between good and evil and right and wrong. You will know that if you eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So, God doesn’t want you to become like Him, so, that’s why He said don’t eat it.” So, she was deceived by equality.
Hold on a minute, before you get too happy men. Did God make her equal with Adam? Of course He did. He made one difference, Adam had the original knowledge of authority. He didn’t do his job. He allowed that glorious woman to deceive him. I thought you said the devil deceived him? No, the woman deceived him, but the devil deceived the woman first. And so, it goes.
But I just want you to see this. I’m having a little bit of fun here. But I want you to see this. She was deceived in equality with God, he was deceived in not doing what God told him to do. Still today, the whole question of the human race is equality with God, and not doing what God told you to do. Still the biggest questions. So when the enemy deceived Adam, God said, there will come a seed that will bruise your head. Now, he never knew which seed it was going to be. So, all along, with Moses he killed, with many he killed, he tried to destroy all the judges. He never knew when the seed was coming that was going to destroy. What was He going to destroy? He was going to destroy the image of equality. So, when Jesus came on the earth, He did what He always did. If I can kill His body, I can destroy the image of equality that I have. But he was so stupid, that he didn’t know how God worked, that God would give His only Son, to redeem everyone back.
The enemy thought, if I can take His only Son, He won’t have another One that He can go to, I win forever. So, he says, I’ve got Him now. I have riled up all of humanity to come up against Jesus. So, he deceived humans, speaking, all of the humans that were around, he deceived them into saying, “Who is Jesus? He is not God. He calls Himself equal to God.” That is why they labelled Him on his cross; Jesus, King of the Jews. What was the accusation from the one guy next to Him on the cross next to Him? “If you are God, save yourself and save us also.” The devil was taunting Him through the voice of the one on the cross next to Him. Show Yourself equal to God then I will defeat You.
And Jesus says, “Into Your Hands I commit My Spirit. It’s done, it is over.” And so, God says, “Now I can do My work and every human being that is ever going to exist on the planet from this moment onwards, I declare that your only thing that you have to believe now is that you are not equal to your salvation. You have to believe in Jesus for salvation.” In believing in Him, you no longer create yourself equal to your own salvation philosophy. You now say, I submit to the salvation power of Jesus.
So, He defeated the whole substance of the enemy against God. And that’s why the Bible says that Jesus made a show of him openly when He went and He took the keys of death, hell and the grave away from the devil and He said, “You’re no longer even equal in death. All who believe in Me, forever they shall live. I hold all of the power and authority.” And God says, “I will raise Him up and seat Him at My right hand forever to make intercession for all of you.” So, all that believe in Jesus, they never have to taste death again because the Originator recreated the Originator in Jesus. The Source of life recreated the Source of life in Jesus. He took responsibility to protect and provide in Jesus. Our job is not to try and do that for ourselves, but to trust Him. I receive protection and provision because You take responsibility for everything that I am in Jesus. Hallelujah.
So, what have we got to boast about? I’m more saved than you? Lekker nê. 8 … For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him (1 John 3:8-9 NKJV). Hey, whatever sin you’re busy sinning, it’s because you’re tempted to do it. And because you give into the suggestion of it, not because it’s in you to do it. So, the devil has no more authority over your future sin. He only has the power of suggestion for you to sin. And wherever you succumb to the power of that suggestion, that is where you have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind . Because He has been born of God. All right.
Got one more scripture to read. I’m doing good here this morning. Verse 10, 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. Wow. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous (1 John 3:10-12 NKJV). Hmm. His works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. His works were evil and his brother’s righteous. What was the big thing about Cain and Abel that was the differentiator? You know, there’s been a lot of teaching about this, about Cain and Abel and one’s offering wasn’t accepted, and the other one was accepted. And some people will say because one was done because of the labour of his brow, on a cursed soil of the land. And so when he came and offered an offering because it was the labour of his hand, and it didn’t have the blood of an animal, and you know, maybe all of those things are true. You know, the symbolism of that, all of that could be true. I’m not disputing that. But this scripture says the difference between Cain and Abel was that his brother, one of the brother’s works was evil and the other one was righteous.
So wait a minute, God spoke in person to both Cain and Abel. In fact, God came to Cain and said, “Cain, your offering is not accepted. Sin is crouching at the door of your heart, you must master it.” This is not something that was said by his brother to him. This was said by the Source of life to Cain, “Sin is crouching at the door of your heart, you must master it.” God can’t master something for you that He’s given you the authority to master. So Cain heard what God said, didn’t like what God said, and killed his brother. So here’s the thing, the killing of his brother didn’t start with what God said. The killing of his brother started because sin was already at his heart before he even gave the offering. Before he gave the offering, sin was already in his heart. Which is why God said, “I can’t accept your offering, cause sin’s already at your heart.” And God said, “But your brother’s sacrifice I accept because he’s righteous from the heart.” Wow. There are a lot of people that have a profession of Christianity but in their heart they love themselves and they love what they do more than they love what God wants them to do. And that’s the difference between someone who lives righteously, and someone who’s just born again righteously. It’s a big difference.
13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Yo, this is such a big subject. One day if the Lord permits, I’ll have time to talk about it. He who does not love his brother abides in death. I’ll tell you. I have a very, very wonderful understanding. Firstly, because Brother Kenneth Hagen had a recognition by God of the power of love that is, beyond what most Christians are prepared to live. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:13-16 NKJV).
I want to just conclude with this, Brother Hagin was invited to go and preach at a church. And he arrived to come and preach at the church on behalf of this pastor who decided to take that same time to go on leave. So, he gave Brother Hagin and Oretha the keys to the house and left to go on holiday. And when they came into the house, they found that there was nothing in the fridge, nothing in the freezer, no food in the pantry, nothing to eat. So, this man that invited him to preach in his church was from a denomination and well, Brother Hagin didn’t have money. Those days were fairly early years in his ministry, and in those days, you know oftentimes they were living from people who gave them offerings from the church. And when they went to go and preach at the church the people would feed them. And so, he was there for three weeks. Now, the pastor has gone and left no food, left no money, he’s got nothing. So, he just started to use his faith. And so, God provided. People started showing up at his house, knocking on the door, bringing them food, bringing them groceries. And so, then it started to come out over the weeks that he was in the church that this was not the first time that this pastor did this, that this pastor behaved very badly like this. He had a poverty mindset and he certainly had no honour for travelling people that would come and minister in his church, even though he went on holiday. So, people around him wanted him to tell the denomination about it because even in a denomination if the regional leaders found out how badly this pastor behaved, they would probably pull his credentials – because that’s just very poor behaviour.
So, Kenneth Hagin had a choice and he said, “No, I’m not going to say anything. I’m not going to tell any leader anything.” And so, people wanted to know why. And so, he said, “Well, I’d rather have God deal with him than me. I’d rather have God deal with him than men because God is a merciful God and God will judge fairly but men don’t.” That was the love of God. You see, most people will say that’s soft, that’s not confrontational, that’s not addressing the problem. No, what that is, is that knowing the power of the love of God, that He’s a just God, and that it’s better to put yourself in the hands of God than in the hands of men. The love of God is a very, very powerful thing. It’s the greatest force in the universe; the love of God. It is the greatest power in the universe, the love of God. There is no greater than the love of God.
I think I’m not going to read this other scripture, I’m done now. The way of life. I will say that we as a people, we are facing uncertain times. The governments of the world are beginning to align. If you don’t know your current situation, there was a South African delegation, which included President Cyril Ramaphosa that went to go and visit Ukraine and or Russia, to go and see if they could bring a peace delegation. And so, they landed in Warsaw in Poland, and the government in Poland decided to keep them on the airport tarmac for nine hours because they supposedly had weapons on board to protect the president and said, “We have to confiscate your weapons before you can fly anywhere else.” So, it ended sort of after a period of time.
President Ramaphosa is now in Russia. Do you know that South Africa has signed to be part of the BRICS nations? Can you tell me what is the foundational currency of the BRICS nations? What currency are they putting as the trading currency of the BRICS nations? It’s the Chinese Yuan. It’s not the US dollar. Do you know who else has signed to be part of, who is currently part of the BRICS nations? Countries like Brazil, there are other South American countries, but there are other African, quite a lot of African countries. Countries like Iran, Saudi-Arabia, I think, certainly Russia and China. There are a whole list of nations that are becoming what they call BRICS nations. And China is busy making a big play to become the alternative currency or the replacement currency for the US Dollar as the reserve currency for the world. Did you all know that? Well, if you didn’t, today you found out from the pastor.
Okay, what’s happening here? What’s happening here? You know, we think that the United States of America is a very democratic government. But as a voting nation they have a bureaucratic order in their nation that desires to have a military industrial complex, that is actually money making, and they want to raise up and bring down governments that either fit their ideology, or don’t. They’re been doing this for 60 years or more. Right? Before that there were the imperialist nations of the United Kingdom and France, and Italy, and Germany. They were imperialist nations that chose and wanted to dominate different nations, if not the whole world. The Soviet Union was doing it its way, in its space. So I’m just trying to say, dominating mankind is not something new. People who say, “We are a democratic nation and we say the highest standard of living is for people to choose,” well, democracy is only as strong as anti-corrupt bureaucracy. How many governments do you know have no corruption? Not a single one. I’ve got news for you; the United States government is probably more corrupt than the South African government. Can’t be? I mean, African governments are probably the worst. They are bad. But I don’t think they are worse than Mexico, Colombia. Argentina, Brazil. You think? You think? What about the European Union? Let me tell you, when Pfizer can work with elected, bureaucratic officials, to get sign-off on delivering COVID-19 vaccines and bypass the system, it exists in the EU, which is supposed to be the standard of anti-corruption. Do you think China is going to do anything but be a dominating force that says, we will subjugate all citizens, either through economics or physical military might? Why am I telling you this at the end of my message? Because there is an originator of death and destruction and anti-God order that it doesn’t matter what happens, they are going to pursue their agenda. Mankind is the battleground.
So there is us, you and me that think that we by going to having the best education, and we go to university, and we have the best opportunities that we are going to be better than someone else, and we are going to make it and this whole system that is at play in the earth, we’re going to actually defeat that with our stuff. We have to recognise that the Source of our future is the Originator of Life. He recreated the origin of our future in Jesus. So our future is in what Jesus has for us, not what the world system says is our future. That’s the ruler of the age, that’s the prince of the power of the air. That’s the guy who says, “The wisdom belongs to me, so follow my wisdom and I’ll give you the maximum opportunities you can have.” They’re sucking you in little by little, week by week, month by year, year by year, taking your energy, taking your talent, taking your skill, taking your very purpose of God, taking it away from you and saying, “Follow the system, it will serve you.” The system will dominate you. It will rule you, it will control you.
The only freedom is in Jesus. It’s the only freedom and yet everybody wants to say that real freedom is the power of your choice. “I did it my way. [Pastor John sings these lyrics] Ja. You live like that then you will find out there is no, my way. Someone’s been trying to tell you all the way what the way is that you should choose and now your way, I did it my way, so why don’t you just drink whatever you want to drink, smoke what you want to smoke? Use whatever substance you want to use, sleep with who you want to sleep with, run after your career like there’s nothing else but your career. Why don’t you just chase after this, chase after that? And you think you’re doing it your way? Someone is suggesting to you what the way is that you should go and you just choose to say, “Okay, I’ll do it that way.” When Jesus is saying, “Come, I’ve got a way.” It’s the Source of all things, the Heavenly Father. It’s the only real free choice that you have. It’s the Jesus choice, it’s the Heavenly Father choice, it’s the only real life that you have. Otherwise someone else’s controlling your future. You’re just not spiritual enough to see it yet.
Ja, Pastoor. Say, “Ja, Pastoor.” Next Saturday, we got fellowship with the Joburg people. Joburg people, please fill out one of these so we know what catering needed to be done. Message Moments today, five o’clock. First and second of July. What? Not today. It’s Father’s Day, not today. We didn’t do it on Mother’s Day, so we can’t do it on Father’s Day. I’m with you. I’m with you. I’m with you, babe. I’m with you, babe. I’m with you, babe. No Message Moments, today. Zero, nothing. Make your father your message moment. Hallelujah.
Just wanted to say, I don’t see them here in the service today, but I wanted to say thank you to Andre and to Kobus for the hard work that they did this last week in rewiring all of the electricity in the ministry because we had a blowout here and so we didn’t have electricity and they spent a lot of time and effort and made a bad situation very good for us because everything is rewired, everything is up to standard, everything has got the capacity for us. If we put in a big generator here now, we can run clean electricity through the whole building, and what the enemy sought for our harm has been, God has turned it for our certain good. Hallelujah. They redid the DB boards, all the DB boards all around the ministry. They worked really hard for a couple of days and I’m very grateful for it. Amen.
Stand with me, everybody, please. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And for those, who sowed seed into making that happen, I thank you. We all thank you. It’s a miracle, God’s provision. Someone said they wanted to sow seed into, when they heard about the trouble here, they said, “We would like to pay for whatever it costs to repair that one problem in the ministry.” And so whatever the cost was, God covered it financially. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise Jesus. And so God takes care of everything. Praise Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah.
Aren’t you glad you know the Source of life? Aren’t you glad that Jesus, that the Father restored the original Source, in Jesus He gave you the original Source back and Jesus said, “It’s not by Me. It’s by the Father.” So we give honour to the Father and the Father said, “Ja, but Jesus died for you. So He’s going to sit at My right hand, so we’re all in this together.” And then He said, “Okay, now that Jesus is with you, you’ve got the Holy Spirit, you become the source of life.” That’s why you’ve got to go tell other people about Jesus, so they can hear about the Source of life. Otherwise, they’re not going to know who the Source of life is. If they reject it, so be it. Amen. Hallelujah.
Won’t you put your hand on your heart like this and just say; Thank You, Lord, that I know the Source of life. The Heavenly Father lives in my heart. I thank You, Lord, that I am Your child and that we will live together forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
I just want to make a point. There are doctrines out there. I just want to make a point. This is my son standing in the front here, Brynn. I am the source of his life. I am the originator and the source of his life. Without my seed, he wasn’t here. Right? When he was born out of the womb, he was born, couldn’t go back. This hulk of a man couldn’t go back. After about a couple of hours of being born, he still couldn’t go back. Right? Because once you’re born, you’re born. Jesus said, because He was asked, “How can a man that’s born, go back into his mother’s womb and be born-again?” And Jesus said, “What’s born of the flesh is flesh and what’s born of the Spirit is spirit.” And He was bringing a direct connection, so when you get truly born-again, your spirit man is born-again in the same way that you were first born into life, you are born-again, you can’t reverse that born-again. Even if you get intellectually stupid, you still can’t reverse the born-again thing. Even if you go ‘magula’ and you say, “I don’t love God, I don’t want to know God, I want to do my own thing here. Who is God anyway? And I don’t know who God is.” If you prayed the prayer one day that you believe in Jesus, sorry for you. The enemy had just got your mind twisted but your spirit man is already born again. Hallelujah.
And the devil loves to lie to Christians, get their minds twisted, get their lives twisted, get their whole world twisted and they get all twisted and all freaked out and they want to go with this group and that group and “Did you hear what that group said, it makes more sense to me than that group.” Senses, stupid. Spirit man, alive. Hallelujah. Glory. I could preach all day. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. [Pastor Sharon: We could listen all day]
So, you know, I don’t want to get theological and doctrinal, now, but I’ll just give you a little bit of theological and doctrinal for a very short minute. There is a scripture in the book of Hebrews, you know, that talks about the fact that if you do this and this there is no further salvation for such a person, but that person, he talks about a person that is not only born again, that person is also touched of the heavenly realm, the heavenly gift, has been someone who’s matured in Christ, has got to the place of being born again and flowing in all the gifts and the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. When that person turns around and says, “I reject Christ and I reject the Holy Spirit,” only that person can be unborn-again because now it’s a matter of choice, it’s no longer a matter of deception.
But that is such a rare thing because how many people, who get to taste of all of the goodness of God, actually want to say, “Sorry, I don’t know this God that’s so good?” Then you can say that they are really taken over by spirit of dom-ness. Stupidity. Idiocy. Because then the prince of the power of this air has got them. Amen. I gave you ten years of doctrinal thesis in Bible College in so many schools around the world, in about one minute. You never have to be worried about it again, just accept it. Go read it if you want to, go and study it for yourself, but you’ll come back to the same conclusion. Hallelujah. And if you really want to know, come back and come to Bible School and do a couple of years of Bible School and then when you’ve got all that faith that you need, then we’ll teach you again and you’ll say, “Oh, that was stupid for me to think that.” Hallelujah.
This is an important matter for Africa because in Africa, churches everywhere, people want them to get saved every week. Because the way of them bringing them back to church every week otherwise they don’t come back to church every week if they didn’t know they were saved. Because if they knew they were saved they would know that they don’t have to come and repent from last week’s sins. So, they wouldn’t come back to church. So, now they tell them every week you’ve got to repent from your sins and you’ve got to get back saved again every week so they come back to church every week. I live in Africa, I’ve been there, done that, know that. Hallelujah.
I want to pray for you before I preach all day. May the blessing of God rest upon you. May His favour be upon you. May all of what you do, what you think, what you say be in line with His Word, may it flow from a deep Spirit life and a joy in your heart. May the words that God wants you to speak flow freely out of your mouth, may they flow from a river of life deep inside of you. May the peace of God that passes all understanding, may it garrison and mount guard over your mind and on your heart. May the peace of God be the peace that leads you and guides you into all things. I pray for you that no weapon formed against you will prosper. You are protected by the Word and the blood of Jesus. And I pray that whatever you do going out, you are blessed, whatever you do coming in, you are blessed, whatever you put your hands to is blessed, wherever your feet go, you are blessed, whatever you say, blessings follow you, the favour of God overtakes you and blessings overtake you. Health is your portion, healing is your place in God. The blood of Jesus is taking care of everything in your life. The Originator and the Source is your Protector and your Provision. Hallelujah. Glory to the name of Jesus. Now you can go. Bye, everybody.
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