Scripture References: Psalm 129; Psalm 129:1-4; Isaiah 11:16; Isaiah 12:1; Isaiah 12:2-3 (KJV); Exodus 15; Psalm 149:1-4 KJV; Psalm 71:4-6 AMPC; Psalm 129:1
Pastor John: What a glorious day, praise Jesus, hallelujah. Well, you know when you experience praise and worship like that, you want to just do it all day long, hallelujah. And it is such a wonderful thing to have praise and worship like that. Praise the Lord. Like Pastor Christi said, you know, we are enjoying marvellous things with the Chariots of Light and so having been part of the 20th celebration of the church in Groblersdal yesterday, it was really wonderful to be part of it with all the motorbikes, and like I said before, you know, you don’t have to have a motorbike to be a Chariots Of Light member. You can be a Chariots of Light member just because you want to go on outreaches, and you want to have fellowship, and you want to be used by God to get out there and preach the gospel. We have found that wherever we go with motorbikes – the noise, just so many bikes, so many lights, so many leathers, you know – the whole thing just creates an atmosphere where it draws people and it is a powerful thing. It’s a powerful l thing. Not to mention that you get to have breakfast with all your Christian buddies, you know – or lunch, or supper, and or/ all of them if it goes long enough, you know. Praise the Lord.
Well today’s a wonderful day for us because we have family. Yes – we have family from Fort Worth, Crowley. We’ve all had Brother Jerry and Brother Joe and others that have been with him over the years, and, but we’ve all known and we’ve all heard about and seen Brother Justin and Annette on YouTube or when he’s introducing or helping Brother Jerry in one of his Chariot’s Services, or something like that, we’ve seen him but now Heritage of Faith, Crowley has come to South Africa. Hallelujah. And I know that you’re going to be blessed by the Word of God today because truly Pastor Justin and Annette are spiritual people; they’re wonderful people; they serve Brother Jerry – they honour him, respect him, as we do, and we are all under his leadership and covering so I’d like them both to come to the pulpit and won’t you give them a warm round of applause and just welcome them to the pulpit.
Pastor John: “Pastor Justin, you see there’s a clock at the back there?”
Pastor Justin: “Okay?”
Pastor John: “Ignore it! Pastor Justin: Okay, thank you, I will do.”
Pastor Annette: What an honour and a privilege to be here with you all. We’ve had such a wonderful time. As I was sitting there, it’s clear that the Lord is mighty in this place. He is mighty in you. There is such honour in this house. I went to bed last night just thanking God for the wonderful people here in South Africa. This is amazing. This is family, this is family. There’s such a warm hospitality and we look forward to our South African family coming to Crowley Texas so that we can be hospitable to you as you have been to us. But it’s such an honour to be here. Thank you for having us.
Pastor Justin: Like she said, it is such a joy – this is home away from home and we’re a part of the same DNA, you know. I’m so grateful for the things that Dr Savelle has sown into my life – both of us. The Lord told me to move to Texas in 1999 and so now going on 20 years being in Texas, been working full-time in the ministry there, for 19 years, but the best is yet to come, and so grateful that no matter; whether how far away we are we’re part of the same DNA: Word of Faith, Prosperity believing – Amen. Make no apologies about it because it’s God’s will for each one of us amen. Amen. We live by faith and faith is our victory that overcomes the world – right? Amen, that’s what we’re about amen. Thank you ‘hun’ (towards his wife Anette) appreciate that. Oh thank you, Pastor John and Sharon, you are truly family to us.
And years we’ve been talking about, you’re like, “When you’re coming to South Africa?” And I’m like, “It’s going to happen, it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen – and finally it’s here and so, it’s so good to be a part of this great day, this great service, and this great Church.
And so I have a word in my heart for you today. The moment we got here and started attending the prayer meetings, I kept hearing the word and it was said by Pastor Sharon, ‘High Praise’. And every time she said that word ‘High Praise’ something just kept bubbling up in my heart and I just want to convey some things to you that I believe that are going to add to; where God’s taking; not just this church, but where He’s taking Heritage of Faith, Crowley as well, amen. Amen.
You know our founding pastor, Dr Savelle – now for the camera people I move around some so I’ll try to keep it tame (Laughing). But he had a word around this time last year that said this year was a year of marvels, wonders, and extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of our God. Can we say that together: 2019 is a year of marvels, wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of our God?
Now when I hear a word like that from my founding Pastor and him being the Apostle of our church – he’s like the Apostle Paul and I’m like the Timothy -and so I take that and say, “Lord what’s my part, as a pastor, what’s my part?” And He spoke this word to me and He said that 2019 will be a year marked by great victories. You see if you had a marvel and you had a wonder and you had extraordinary manifestation of the greatness of our God, then you know what, you were just marked by a great victory. You see, as believers, our lives are marked by great victories. We go from glory to glory and faith to faith. Our life is all about victory. Our life is all about victory. That is why God sent Jesus – is so that we could be victorious spirit, soul, and body, amen. Amen. So I believe that we are going to talk about and step into greater victories, because that’s God’s desire. His desire for you is to never live in a place of defeat. Never live in a place of lack. Never live in your past mistakes, your past failures. How the current economic status of a certain situation is, His desire is for you to live, victorious.
If you have your Bibles, turn to, … and you should – if not they…; or your phone, your iPad, or the big Bible in the air here. If you have your Bibles turn to Psalm 129. And that song they just sang, you know, The Greatest Story. You know, we all like a good story, right? You know and we like stories that end well. I’m sure that like in America, just like South Africa, you may have had the greatest sports teams that you watch, you know, we don’t have cricket, I am not sure about all the cricket rules or what happens but you may have your favourite cricket team that you watch or your favourite rugby team and you love it when your team, that was behind, all of a sudden, comes back and gets the victory, Right? We like those stories. We like the underdog stories, we love a good story. Why? Because we love a good outcome. There are all these different movies that may mark us and we all are like, at the end of the movie, you just feel so good. Because why? It ended well and the underdog became the champion. The person that was defeated became the victor, right? And we love those stories, right? We love a good story.
And so today, I want to talk about not just the story, but I want to convey some of my story. And let’s look at this in Psalm 129. I believe through the story of the Word, amen, because that is where faith is produced, right? The story of my life which has changed because of the Word. I believe you will be able to relate your story and also the rest of your story. In Psalm 129, it says, Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth—may Israel now say— 2many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, Let me read verse 1 again. Many a time or you can say, much a time have they afflicted me from my youth—may Israel now say. (Psalm 129)
Israel can say something. If we look at all the challenges that Israel, which we recognise as God’s people, throughout their time, they experienced great defeats, great setbacks. Some from enemies, some from putting themselves in the wrong positions, some from worshipping the wrong things, but whatever came into their lives or came into their story, they were afflicted and the word ‘afflicted’ there means ‘to be discouraged’. It means ‘to be distressed’, it means ‘to be overwhelmed’, it means ‘to be overrun’.
So here it says, ‘many times’. We can see it in the Word, many times throughout the life of Israel. We can even look at, Who was Israel before Israel was Israel? It was Jacob. We see even some of the challenges that Jacob experienced. God had to change his name and change his name to Israel. And so we can even see how Israel came about, how Jacob came about and the things that Jacob walked through, the things that God’s people walked through. They were afflicted throughout their time. They were afflicted throughout their lives and it said they could say this, “May Israel now say.” I think with all of us, if I could say, if you have ever been attacked in your life in any way, the enemy has tried to defeat you in any way, just lift your hands, hands, feet, legs, we’ve all experienced attacks, you could say that. We all have a story about how we’ve experienced defeat but yet God brought us through. You may be here this morning and you may say, “Well, Pastor, I’m in that place, and I’m in that space of challenge right now. I’m in that space of attack right now.” My community, my country, my nation is in this place of attack right now. And so no matter where you might find yourself, you have to understand that the story is not over, the story is not over. He says, “Many a time have they afflicted me.” They’ve pressured me, they discouraged me, from my youth.
You know, I look at my own life and as early childhood when I was born, I was only supposed to live 16 months. The doc, …actually 30 minutes. I am sorry, the doctor said, “He will only live 30 minutes.” They rushed me to John Hopkins Hospital, I spent 16 months of my life at John Hopkins Hospital, the first 16 months, to where the doctor said I will not live, to all of a sudden, now here I am, tomorrow I turn 46, so it’s been a long 30 minutes. (Pastor Justin laughs). It’s been a long 30 minutes, right? (Congregation laughs).
And so 16 months being in John Hopkins, so 45 years ago, 44 years ago, I came out of the hospital. Why? Because God had a plan for my life. My mum said, “Hey, if he comes through this, and when he comes through this, I’m going to dedicate him and he is going to serve You all the days of his life.” But I can say, throughout my first 18, 19, 20 years of my life, I experienced attacks: I was addicted to alcohol, I was addicted to pornography, I smoked two packets of cigarettes a day, I sold drugs, I did all sorts of those things.
You know, I, …my church laughs at me, you know, there was a time, I was sitting with all my friends, when I was 18 years of age, and I just got out of high school, I was sitting on my back porch and we were smoking weed, and we were all passing, what we called a ‘blunt’, around, which is bigger than a joint, sorry, but so I take a hit of the joint and I say, (He demonstrates taking a puff of a joint and passing it on) “I’m going to be a preacher.” (Congregation laughs). You know, but the thing is, the thing is, many a time throughout my life, where I was afflicted, that Justin could say. There were attacks on my life, attacks to destroy my life, to do what? To keep me from my purpose, to keep me from my destiny, to keep me from what God had planned and purposed me from the very beginning, from the foundation of the earth and you are no different. There is a plan and a purpose for your life, there is a call upon your life, there’s a story.
The next verse says this, he says it again, 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. He repeats it again, many a time have they afflicted me. You see, and you all can relate to things you have experienced? Attacks you have experienced, maybe how you were raised, maybe the things you were exposed to that no child should have been exposed to – abuse – whatever the case might be, many things have tried to come into your life but here is where faith comes in, because this is about: ‘What song are we singing?’ because this is a song, this is a song.
Pastor Sharon said it in one of the prayer meetings this week, that this is one of the songs of the ascents, these are some of the songs with degrees, and here, David is right in the middle of a song and you have to understand, David’s song is David’s story. And he is telling us a story here. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth—may Israel now say. Many a time have they afflicted me, but then he says this, Yet. You see, wherever you are in your life, I want you to know, your story is not over. David is singing the song of his people. He’s singing the song of Israel and he’s saying, “Many times have I been afflicted, yet they’ve not prevailed against me.”
Many times they have attacked us, many times they’ve taken things from us, many times they’ve tried to destroy us; yet they have not prevailed against us. You see, that has to, …you have to start singing another song. You have to start singing another song, you can’t sing the song that everyone else is singing. You can’t sing the song of what the rest of South Africa is singing. You can’t sing the rest of the song that the media is singing. You can’t sing the song of what every news you might be following, or any social media person you might listen to. You have to sing the song of the Word. You have to sing the song of the Word because, I’m telling you, the enemy is wanting to keep you from the rest of your story.
He wants South Africa to not rise up to be the Christian nation that God has destined and purposed it to be. So that’s why you as a people, as Heritage of Faith, we have to sing a song faith, because this is a song of faith. (He points to the Bible in his hand.) Yes, that may have happened, yes, this could be happening but hey, they have not prevailed against me, they have not had victory over me, they are not going to win over me, they are not going to be strong over me but I’m going to win. I’m going to be victorious.
And then he says this, he goes, 3The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. (Psalm 129 KJV) What does that mean? Furrows are the lines that they make when they plant things. These long furrows. They ploughed upon my back. You see, that’s what the enemy wants to do. He wants to stump you in the ground. He wants to put you down. He wants to do things in your life to make you feel overwhelmed in life but then he sings this. He says, 4The Lord is righteous: and He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked (Psalm 129:4)
See this is his song saying: This is what the enemy’s plan is but I want you to know that the Lord is righteous, the Lord is righteous, the Lord is righteous. You see the Lord sees your faithfulness, the Lord sees your sowing, the Lord sees your stance, the Lord sees your faith and it says, He cuts asunder the cords of the wicked; meaning the things that try to control you, meaning the enemy (error: Pastor Justin meant to say, God) has cut those things.
Brynn, I want you to come up here for a moment. You see, in Isaiah 10 we know it says that the anointing, the anointing breaks every yoke and removes every burden, right? It removes, it destroys every yoke and every burden and see what the enemy wants to do – he wants to put a yoke on you – these furrows, he wants to run your life, he wants to control you from one direction to another; control you emotionally, control by your past mistakes, control you by your failures. See, this is the yoke of the enemy but I’m telling you Jesus’s yoke, His yoke is easy, His burden is light and I’m telling you, the yoke that cuts asunder, that cuts these things that are holding you in bondage to let you go to where God can control your life, God can control your outcome, God controls the rest of your story, hallelujah. See we have to understand, this is a song of victory that David is singing here: “Yes I’ve been afflicted all my life but I’m telling you, hey he will not prevail against me…right now this is how I may feel but I’m telling you, my story’s not over.” Come on say that with me: “My story’s not over.”
Let’s go to Psalm 40, hallelujah. Let’s talk about songs. For the sake of a title this morning I want to talk about: My Victory and My Song, My Victory and my Song. In Psalm 40, thank You, Father, verse one, I’m just going to read in the King James, it says: 40I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. (Psalm 40:1-3 KJV). Now right at the top of this in my Bible, at the very beginning, it says, “The chief musician; a psalm of David,” a song of David. This is another song and he says, I waited patiently, this is the song he’s singing; I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of a miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. Or you could say, my pathway – the places I should be going. He picked me up out of a horrible pit. Has he picked you up out of a horrible pit? He’s picked me up out of a horrible pit, amen. I can rejoice today because I know where I was when I was twenty years of age in 1993, I remember when he visited my life and changed me, amen, and he has done a great work in my life over the last twenty six years. Wow! He picked me up out of a horrible pit and then he says this: He put a new song in my mouth.
Now as I was reading this; if He put a new song in my mouth, I must have had an old song in my mouth. He put a new song in my mouth, you know, you have to…in order to shift, in order to change directions, …see, I don’t know what put David into this miry clay, I don’t know what put David in this pit – maybe it was the song he was singing before. You see, what is a song? Your song is your faith, your song is what you believe, your song, …see, there are so many songs. You know, just from a worldly, secular perspective. You know, when you were growing up and there would be a song you’d be listening to and if you listened to that song today, it would take you back to that moment. Maybe it’s a love song between you and your wife, I’m not going to start singing honey, please don’t sing, and there’s a song that maybe her and I aren’t together but yet we’ll both hear that song and you know, it will connect me and her together and we could be in different parts of the world but that song will connect us. But yet there could be other songs that maybe evoke wrong emotions in your life and you know there was a song, that when I went through, I started listening to this song and it was a song by U2 and it was a song called Stuck in a Moment and I mean, it’s a brilliant song and from a musical standpoint but what I was going through, I kept singing that for some reason, “I’m stuck in a moment,” and the Lord said: “Do you want to be stuck in this moment, do you want to stay here, the rest of your life, stuck in this moment? No matter how good that moment in the past was or how bad that moment was, but do you want to be stuck in that moment?” See, we have to renew our mind and we have to make sure because what happens is the enemy is always going to try to give you another focus, give you another avenue and plant other songs and other words and other positions of faith into our hearts but here with David he was saying; he goes, he says, “He picked me up and he put a new song in my mouth. He put a new song in my mouth.” And then it tells us what that song was: A song of praise; a song of praise, see, the thing is, we have to stop singing the song of our pit, we have to stop singing the song of the miry clay, we have to stop singing the song of the hurt, we have to stop rehearsing the pain of yesterday, we have to stop rehearsing the financial struggles, what things look like, what things might be like – we have to stop singing that song and we have to start singing the songs of praise unto our God. He put a new song in my mouth and it was a song of praise unto my God, hallelujah, because you see, it’s the praise, it’s the song that’s coming out of your mouth that is not just going to get you out of the pit but release you into your destiny.
3And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God and then it says, many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Now this is a side note here because I could go another direction here but what’s coming out of your mouth will affect your environment. See, because this song of praise coming out of my mouth: it says many will shall see it and fear it, many shall see it and fear it, many shall see it and fear it. Hallelujah, and shall trust in the Lord. Meaning, there are some things that will come out of your mouth Brynn that will cause them to trust in the Lord, why? Because of the song you’re singing. The song that’s coming out of this house, is not just for entertainment, the song that is coming out of this house is to get many to trust in Him, amen. Many to trust in Him, Garth, keep prophesying, keep prophesying, keep declaring, keep writing, keep pressing into those things because it’s not just for this house, but this song of praise is to get many to see, many to fear and many to trust in the Lord, amen, amen.
So you need to start changing your song. Maybe you need to start singing a different song so your children live different, your children act different, see you can’t, you can’t be, …you have to be the same all the time. You can’t have a praise in your mouth at church and a praise of defeat at home – that’s not faith. For faith to be real, it needs to be real in your living room, it needs to be real at your dinner table, it needs to be real in your car, it needs to be real in the work place, it’s not just something you give mouth service to, but it’s something that you release out of your life, everywhere you go and I’m telling you it will cause many to trust and fear, trust the Lord, amen. Hallelujah, my victory and my song, hallelujah.
Let’s go to Isaiah 12, and when I kept hearing ‘high praise’ this week, this is the set of Scriptures, the Lord kept saying – every time she would say ‘high praise,’ the Holy Spirit just would jump up on the inside… – Isaiah 12, just Isaiah 12, Isaiah 12. Every time, ‘high praise,’ ‘tehillah praise’ – Isaiah 12. Hallelujah, hallelujah. But before I get to Isaiah 12, I want to look at the very last verse of Isaiah 11. Now without taking a whole lot of time for this, this all starts out with the prophesying of the Messiah coming. He’s going to come out of the root of Jesse. Talks about how the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon Him. How it will be wisdom and understanding, counsel and might. How this Messiah, this Yeshua would be and how He would do great things. And it goes and it starts talking about the children of Israel being in bondage to the Assyrians. And it gets down to this last verse, 16And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which shall be left from Assyria (Isaiah 11:16). Now Assyria represents a place of bondage. It represents a place of godlessness. It represents a place of hopelessness.
So He says there will be a highway for the remnant that are in bondage, hopeless, discouraged that have been taken by the enemy. We love a good story. See, they were in bondage to the Assyrians but says, there’s a highway. See, there’s always a pathway. I love when Doctor Savelle talks about ‘the pathway,’ – going through the Valley Baca – the valley of weeping (Psalm 84:6). Have you ever heard that? Just an amazing message. The valley of tears. And just, there’s a pathway through it, there’s a pathway through it. I don’t know where you are in your life right now, but I want you to know there’s a highway, there’s a pathway out of your struggle; there’s a pathway out of your hurt, there’s a pathway out of your past. And here He says there’s a highway for those that have been in bondage.
And then He tells us this, he says, Like it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt (Isaiah 11:16). So just as I delivered the Israelites, I’m going to deliver you. You see, God’s plan is always, always going forward. His plan is always restoration, His plan is always completing your purpose and your destiny. There’s a highway just as they came out of Egypt, just like as it was to Israel, meaning in the same way as it was Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. So just as they came out of Egypt, that’s how these Assyrians are going to come out of Egypt.
Now, just hold your place there. I just want you to see this. Go to Exodus 15. Hold your place in Isaiah 12, and I want you to see this. So let every word be established by two or three witnesses. So let’s see this and how the Israelites came out because, I just.. – we’re going somewhere alright, we’re going somewhere. Say, “We’re going somewhere.” (Congregation repeats). Hallelujah.
In Exodus 15, now remember that just as the Israelites – in the same way the Israelites came out… Listen to this, verse one, 1Then sang Moses… Moses sang a song. Moses sang a song, hallelujah. 1Then sang Moses and the children of Israel. Not just Moses sang a song but all the children of Israel sang a song. …this song unto the Lord, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. Wow. I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously. A glorious victory. ….the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Verse 2, 2The Lord is my strength and my song, and He hath become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare Him a habitation; And I love this, My father’s God, and I will exalt Him (Exodus 15:1,2 KJV). Wow! I love that it. The Lord is my strength and my song and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and will prepare Him a habitation; a place. And I love how he says, My father’s God and I will exalt Him. Amen.
Well, who was Moses a lineage from? I mean, I can take you back but he was the lineage of Jacob which became Israel, which came from Abraham. So what’s he doing? He’s pressing into, he’s pressing into the song of what his father sang. He’s pressing into the revelation of his covenant. He’s pressing into the revelation of what caused them to be victorious, what caused them to overcome. What caused them to win.
Now let’s go back to Isaiah 12. Like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:16 KJV). Now let’s look at verse one, now this is for the remnant, okay. 1And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me (Isaiah 12:1). We can stop here for a moment. God’s not mad at you. God’s not angry with you. He’s not waiting for you to be good enough to bring you out. He’s not waiting – You know when I got born again, I was working at what we call a liquor store. I wasn’t in a church when I got saved. I was in my sister’s living room. So for some to say, you just have to wait till you’re good enough for God to do something in your life, have come too late for me. Why? Because I have a story. I have a story. And here He says He wasn’t angry with us but He turned and He comforted us. Then verse 2, 2Behold, God is my salvation. See this is faith here, this is faith here. God is my salvation. God is my, …it’s personal. It’s personal, Pastor John, God is my salvation. He’s my salvation. Empie, He’s my salvation, He’s your salvation. Look to your neighbor and say, “God is my salvation.” Hit your chest, “God is my salvation.” Say it with some authority. Hallelujah.
God is my salvation. Now this word ‘salvation’ here is ‘Yeshua.’ This word salvation here is ‘Yeshua,’ which in the Greek revelation of this word, is where we would get Jesus: Yeshua, deliverance, welfare, but also victory. God is my victory, God is my Yeshua. He’s my victory. You see, this is the song they were going to sing. This was left when for the remnant, those that had a highway, this is what will be coming out of them. Now get this, 2God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. I will trust and not be afraid. 2I will trust – I will have faith – and not be afraid. I will not have fear, but I will have faith. Then it says, 2…for the Lord Jehovah now get this – because… thank You Father. 2I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength… Let’s stop there for a moment – 2…for the Lord Jehovah… The Lord Jehovah, you see, the Lord Jehovah – what is that, what does that mean to us? Because the Lord Jehovah is the name that God chose to use to be personal with man. Now Elohim would be the all-powerful Creator – the Creator of the Heaven, the Earth, the One in whom nothing is impossible. But now when he uses…, he said God is my strength, Elohim is my strength. But here, now he says but 2the Lord Jehovah, meaning this is a God that chose to be someone that’s not just all-powerful, that can do anything, but chose to come down and get connected with me and you. It was a God that chose to reveal Himself personally with you and me, Brynn. He is Jehovah Jirah, meaning what does that mean? It means, it can be He is a God that chose to reveal Himself to you as a provider. He is Jehova-Rohi meaning, Christi, that He chose to reveal Himself to you as a Shepherd, meaning He chose to reveal Himself to man.
So now it says 2the Lord Jehovah is my strength, but before that it says 2I will trust, and not be afraid: for… See, so how do I get to this place of faith? Because, it’s 2…for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, meaning I can have trust and not be afraid because of something. There’s something that’s filling my heart. There’s something that’s filling my life. There’s something that’s filling me. I can have trust and not be afraid because of something. Because 2the Lord Jehovah is my strength, because I understand who He is in my life. I can now have trust and not be afraid. The Lord is my strength and he says 2the Lord… is my strength and my song (Isaiah 12:2 KJV).
It’s the same thing that Moses said in Exodus 15. The Lord is my strength and my… The Lord Jehovah is my strength, He’s my ability, He’s the One that sustains me. He is the One that empowers me. He’s the One that equips me. He’s the One that He gives me grace. He’s the One that infuses inner strength into me and He is my song. Now what does this word ‘song’ mean, and when I saw this in the Word it just, man, just leaped on the inside of me, because when we think of song, we think of words played to music. But you have to understand, this word ‘song’, if you look it up in the Hebrew, it means the object of my praise. The object of my praise. Say that with me: “The object… of my praise.” So he said I will trust, and not be afraid. I will have faith and not fear, because the Lord Jehovah is my strength and He’s the object of my praise. He’s the object of my praise. I’m not praising my circumstance that… I’m not praising my struggle. I’m not talking about my difficulties. I’m not talking about what they did to me, but He’s the object of my praise. He’s the object of my praise. He’s the object of my praise. He’s the focus of my praise. He’s the focus of my praise. You see, your song is your position and place of faith. The song you’re singing is letting me know the faith you’re releasing and it’s the object of your praise.
And then it says this, 2the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; and he has also become my salvation (Isaiah 12:2 KJV). Meaning ‘as a result of’, because He’s my strength and because He’s the object of my praise, He has now become my victory. Wow. Wow. Because He’s my strength and because He’s the object of my praise, He is now become my victory, because my affection is on Him, because my eyes are on Him and not my circumstances, in the midst of my praise, He has become my victory. God is my victory. God is my Yeshua. He’s the One that’s going to bring me through this. He’s the One that’s going to heal me in this. He’s the One that’s going to prosper me in my life. He’s the One that’s going to lift me up. Hallelujah.
He’s the object of my praise. 3Therefore… Therefore, so because of all this, 3Therefore with joy… Now this word ‘joy’ here isn’t the feeling of joy or necessarily the spiritual force of joy, but this word ‘joy’ here is ‘rejoicing’. Therefore, because He’s my strength and because He’s the object of my praise, because of that, therefore with rejoicing – 3Therefore with rejoicing you shall draw water out of the springs of victory, the wells of salvation. 3Therefore with joy, because He’s my strength and He’s the object of my praise, therefore with rejoicing, therefore with rejoicing I’m going to draw on the wells. I’m going to dig deep. I’m going to draw on the wells of the victory that’s available to me. I’m going to draw on the wells that are available to me in my life.
So let me go back to my story, because it ties into this. You heard me tell a little bit. I was 20 years of age. It was January 23rd of 1993. I was working at a liquor store. I had left, but at the same time, I was battling a respiratory disease – couldn’t breathe. The doctor said if things didn’t change, I could be on oxygen for the rest of my life. I was addicted to different things. This particular night, I had a high fever. I don’t know how high it was, I couldn’t see straight. I could barely breathe. Barely get breath. I was all by myself, and as I laid there, out of my heart I said, “Lord, if You’re real, I need You to make Yourself real to me.” It was a cry of my heart. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was tired of how I’d lived my life. I was tired of hopelessness in my life. I was tired of having no direction in my life. And I lay there, because this… because you see, my life had become about me and what I could do from the object of my praise was me. The strength of my life was me, but in this moment, in this time, on this Sunday evening, around 5:30 in the evening, and I cried out, out of my heart, just releasing ‘Justin’ from the equation. I don’t know if it was audible, or if it was a voice inside my heart, or what it was, but I heard this Voice say, “Tell Me you love Me.”
And I’m laying there, and I’m… hard to breathe… “I love You. I love You,” in the way that I could get that out at that time. “I love You.” And then, I just like, “This is crazy.” I’m talking to myself and all this… I can’t see. My head is pounding. I can’t breathe. I have a high fever. I couldn’t see straight and I’m laying there and I let some time go by, and I just stopped doing that. Time went by, and I was like, I was like, I was like, “Lord, if You’re real, make Yourself real, I need You right now. If You’re real and that… like they say You’re real, my parents say that You’re real – I need You in my life right now. I need something more than what I’ve experienced up to this time in my life.” And I heard that same voice say, and the TV was on and I was laying on a sofa. We call them sectionals, they were like an ‘L’ – a long sofa, and I was laying on it, and you know, it was so… it was so specific. I heard, “Turn away from the TV.” So, I’m facing the, … “and tell Me you love Me and don’t stop.” And, I mean I wasn’t churched, I grew up in a church, but I wasn’t ‘churched’. So this was strange to me, this was foreign to me, it was like I’m trying to make up some kind of story that sounds good. I was laying there, and I would say, “I love you; I love you; I love you; I love you.” I don’t know how long I said it, but it went from, “I love you,” to: “I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord, I love You, Lord, I love You, Lord, I love You, Lord.” What was happening? My song was changing. The object of my praise was changing. And at this point, my affection had changed. I went from looking looking at myself to looking at someone greater than me. I went from looking to myself to The Great I Am. And as I was saying, “I love you,” and when I went from “I love you,” to “I love You Lord,” I,… all of a sudden there was this power I didn’t, I can’t explain it and I didn’t know what to call it then. But it was something that hit me from the top of my head and all of a sudden it was almost like something cool and hot at the same time. And it just, it just pushed all this stuff out of me and next thing you know you could wring my clothes out from the sweat from my fever breaking and all of a sudden, I could breathe. I could breathe and the next thing I know, all of a sudden I felt cool, I felt I could breathe like I didn’t happen to breathe in a long time, and I get up from the sofa and I start doing this, I start doing this. (Pastor Justin jumping up and own). And I start going, “I thank You Lord, I thank You Lord, I thank You Lord, I thank You Lord, I thank You Lord.”
What was I doing? I was drawing wells. I therefore, because now He became the object of my praise, therefore with rejoicing was, was I drawing wells out of the wells of salvation. All of a sudden, because I changed the object of my praise. All of a sudden, I stepped into a victory and it’s a victory that has propelled me for the last 26 years. No one told me to do that, I didn’t know what that was that was about, what I was doing. No one was telling me I needed to rejoice like that. You know, it wasn’t like someone was standing saying, “Right now it’s a good time to thank Jesus – no!” It was the outflow of the fact that the object of my praise had changed.
My victory and my song, my victory and my song. But I want you to know, you have a song and you have a victory. Many a times I can go through and tell you many stories, even after starting pastoring and things I’ve been through and things I’ve walked through where I just quit and give up. But I always had the ‘what’s is the object of my praise’ Hallelujah. Thank You, Father.
3Therefore, with rejoicing shall you draw water. See when you rejoice in the Lord you, you’re pulling up on those wells of victory. You’re tapping into something that’s beyond you, you’re tapping into the Spirit of God that will propel you. Then he says this, 4And in that day shall you say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. 5 Sing unto the Lord; for He hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Then verse 6, 6Cry out and shout, thou inhabitants of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee (Isaiah 12:3- 6 KJV).
You see, when you make Him the object of your praise, great is the Holy One in the midst of you. When you make Him the object of your praise in the midst of your storm, in the midst of your struggle, it allows Him to be great in your midst. That day I cried out to Him, He became great in my midst. Praise is beyond just a noise we make, but it is our faith being released in the one who can do impossible things. In Psalm 91 says, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1 KJV). What does that mean? He who dwells, he who sits down and remains in the secret place shall live in a place where nothing is impossible. The Almighty is El-Shaddai, one whom nothing is impossible. So, when you live in that place of praise, hallelujah, …who dwells in the secret place shall live in a place, abide in a place where nothing is impossible. Let your praise go beyond the noise you make, but a faith you release. He’s our song, He’s the object of our praise. And when He becomes the object of our praise, He becomes our victory. Everyone stand to your feet. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father. Thank You. (Praying in Spirit). Thank You, Father.
Psalm 149: 1 says, 1Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Today for some of you, it’s time to start singing a new song. It’s not just a song to music; but it’s a revelation of who God is to you and if all you know Him to be as a provider, man, release that with all your might. If all you …whatever revelation that is, you start releasing Him as the object of your praise because it’s in that, you’ll see great victories. This is a year marked by great victories and it’s going to be a year marked by great victories; then it’s going to be marked by great praise.
1Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of the saints. 2Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.. 4For the Lord takes pleasure in his people: and get this, He will beautify the meek with salvation. He will beautify the meek with salvation (Psalm 149:1-4 KJV). Beautify. Man, look to your neighbour and say, “Victory sure looks good on you.”
You see out of this praise He says, He says, He talks about, He will beautify you with victory, He will beautify you with salvation, victory looks good on you. Amen. See you are, you are a Zion, we are the church, and victory needs to look good on us. Amen. People need to look at our lives and they see victory. People said, “Man – what is different about them, you sure look beautiful?” You say, “Baie lekker,” yeah? You know. Victory sure looks good on you; victory sure looks good on you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Victory sure looks good on you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Victory looks good on you; victory looks good on you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Father. Hallelujah. We sing a new song to You today. Oh, we sing a new song to You today. Oh, Father we thank You for Your goodness, we thank You for Your faithfulness Lord, I thank You that victory looks good on South Africa. Victory looks good on Heritage of Faith, victory looks good on Witbank. Victory looks good. Hallelujah.
Oh Father, we thank You for victory in this place. Hallelujah. Victory. Victory. Victory. Thank You, Father. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Father. Thank You Father. Thank You, Father. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You see, 26 years ago I didn’t know one praise song. But the word He gave me was, “Tell Me you love Me.” That was it. “Tell Me you love Me.” You know, all He wants is your heart. Don’t worry about all your actions and those things. Give Him your heart and your actions will follow. Follow Him with your heart and all your actions will follow. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Be planted in the House. Because when you’re planted in the House, you’ll flourish. As you’re stepping into summer, there’s a lot of distractions; there’s a lot of things that can weigh on your hearts and things that you can do, but I’m telling you – make sure you make Him your number one song. Make Him your number one object of your praise. And I’m telling you, victory looks good on you. That’s it, John. Hallelujah. Thank You Jesus, thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Hallelujah. Thank You, Father. Thank You Jesus.
Pastor John:
Hallelujah. Well, this is a very powerful moment because, certainly for me, what I received out of this, you all know, that the Lord said to me last year, “You got to walk in victory.” You know, and we’ve been walking in victory and we’ve been seeing the victories as a ministry. But there is a powerful thing that I received today, was that I have a new song that I can sing. And it’s a song that I’m going to sing out of my heart. Whatever I am released to sing out of my heart, I’m going to sing that out of my heart. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Pastor Justin, I just have a sense in my heart today that your testimony has marked people’s lives here today and you accurately spoke when you said, “It’s not about a song that you have to sing to a worship. It’s not about words that you have to know about a song. It’s a song that comes from your heart.” And how the Lord said with you, is, “I love You”, and then “I love You, Lord”, you know. And I just want you, so I’m going to ask Pastor Justin to do something in a moment; but I’m going to ask you to just, right where you are, to begin to say – I love You, Lord. Say it again, and again. Hallelujah. I love you, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. Yes, I love You, Lord from my heart – I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. Hallelujah. Today I turn away from myself and I turn away to You. I turn away from everything that is about me, and I turn myself over to You. And the way I do it, is just to say, “I love You, Lord.”
Pastor Justin, I believe that there are people here this morning that there is some emotional entanglement; some kind of habits perhaps; and even physical healings where people are here today. And the way that God healed you instantaneously through saying, “I love You, Lord”, that this morning He wants to use you to touch people here that has some kind of habit. It could be smoking, it could be any kind of thing, you know. And there should be no judgement about anybody that comes here – it can be physical healing; it can be some emotional healing; it can be some whatever. But I want you to come up here (speaking to the congregation) and I’m going to ask Pastor Justin and Pastor Annette – if you want to come up and join him. And I’m going to ask him to just lay hands on you. Hallelujah. Praise you, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. I love You, Lord. Come-on up. Hallelujah. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord. I love You, Lord.
Pastor Justin:
While you’re making your way here, Psalm 71, thank You, Father, verse 4 says, 4Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the unrighteous and ruthless man. 5For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth and the source of my confidence. (Psalm 71:4,5 AMPC). Remember, in Psalm 129 it says, it said that from my youth 1you have afflicted me from my youth (Psalm 129:1). But here He says, for 5You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth and the source of my confidence. 6Upon You have I leaned and relied from birth; You are He Who took me from my mother’s womb (and He says) and You have been my benefactor from that day. My praise is continually of You (Psalm 71:5,6 AMPC) He says, You have been my benefactor from that day. I want you to know that God loves you. Entanglements, emotional hurt, those things are … You see, He is our good Shepherd and He is the healer of the broken hearted. Our heart is where we make all our decisions from; all our choices from. And those things that can cloud our heart – it can be unforgiveness; it can be hurt; it can be pressure; it can be pain. A lot of things we do in the natural are just things that are result of things that are wrong in our soul. You know, for me, alcohol wasn’t a thing necessarily I was just addicted to because of my physical body; it was something I leaned upon to deal with my insecurities. It was to deal with the things that had strongholds in my soul.
But when I read that Scripture, Lord, You have been my benefactor from my mother’s womb – I mean even though I turned my back on You, You were still my benefactor? What does that mean? It means “I have been your support. I’ve been the One that’s lifted you up.” And I want you to know as you made a step of faith to come forward, I want you to know that His hand is on you. And before we lay hands on you, I want to say over you like David said over the men in 1 Chronicles 29, He said, that Your hand would come upon them and strengthen them, and make them great. So as I lay hands on you today; as anyone lay hands on you today – I want you to realise it’s God’s hand coming on you. Justin is not a healer; I’m just a vessel. And you come up here to release something to Him and expose your heart today. And I believe that He is holding you up today, and I believe His hand, His Hand, is going to be upon you to strengthen you and make you great. He is going to do a work in your life today. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Pastor John, do you want to start on that side?
Pastor John: No, I’m going to leave to leave you to do the whole work today.
Pastor Justin: Okay, that’s fine. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Oh Father, we just humble ourselves. We humble ourselves. We humble ourselves today in Your presence. We love you, Lord. We love You, Lord. We love You, Lord. We love You, Lord. (Pastor Justin praying in Spirit). Oh, victory, victory, victory. Victory, victory, victory, victory.” (Pastor Justin singing in the Spirit)
(Pastor Justin and Pastor John singing in the spirit together)
Pastor Justin: Victory, victory, victory, victory. Hallelujah. We thank You for victory. (Singing in the Spirit) Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank You Father. You are faithful. We love You Lord, we love You Lord. Oh hallelujah. We draw, we rejoice and we draw on those wells of victory today. We draw on those wells of victory today. I thank you for victories, victory, hallelujah.
(Pastor Justin and Annette speaking over and praying for the congregation members who came up to the front of the auditorium)
Pastor John: Pastor Justin, come stand with me Sir.Hallelujah. I want you all to stand please.
Pastor Justin: Thank You Father, thank You Jesus.
I had this in my spirit when I was standing at the top here and I was… you know, the Lord released me to have Brother Justin and Annette minister to you because I know you all so well. And I believed God and I trusted God that the Holy Spirit would flow through them today and that they would say things to you under the unction of the Holy Spirit, that if I said the same thing you’d think, “Well he just knows me.” But you needed to hear it from the Holy Spirit through him because he doesn’t know you – not yet – like I know you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
I believe the Lord has spoken today. So you know, there’s a contact point that he established here today. And the contact point was: “I love You. I love You. I love You, Lord. I love You Lord. And when you say, “I love You Lord,” you’re saying it from your heart it means He’s beginning to fill your heart with His love for Him. (Pastor Justin: “Thank You Father. Thank You Father.”) He will fill your heart with His love for Him. Hallelujah. And so, I had this as an act today that we would do this, because when the Lord spoke to him and he kept saying, “I love You Lord.” He said, “Turn away from the TV.” And lie on the couch and just turn away from the distraction of the TV and tell Me, “I love You Lord.” And I felt like we all need to turn that direction. Just as an act of, something that you’re doing different that from this day onwards when I say, “I love You Lord,” you’re turning away from all those things that have held you, all those things that have bound you, all those things that have distracted you, all those things that have prevented you from becoming what you need to become. Just as an act of obedience – just turn that way, just turn that way, just turn that way and just say, “I love you Lord. I love You Lord. I love You Lord. I love You Lord. I love You Lord.” (Congregation turned and all saying I love You Lord.)Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
You may turn this way again. This brother, he has a song, but I want to tell you Brother this that song is something that you must sing to the Lord, ok? It’s not for this platform today, but thank you for wanting to come and sing that song to us.
“Pastor Justin I want you to pray a blessing over the congregation please.”
Pastor Justin: Yes. Ah thank You Father. Just lift your hands, and just add to the receiving. Father, as you have directed Anette and I here to South Africa, in this moment, in this time… We speak blessing. Father, I declare that they are blessed beyond measure. I declare that they’re blessed coming in and they’re blessed going out. Father, we speak blessing over South Africa, we speak blessing over this nation, over the economic situation – we speak blessing. We declare that Your blessing is working on this country and it’s making it rich and it’s adding no sorrow to it. Father I speak blessing over them. I thank You that they’re blessed in the city and they’re blessed in the field. I thank You that their store houses are blessed. I thank You that their children are blessed. I thank You Father that as they’ve been faithful, I thank You that they’re walking in and they’re stepping into promotion. I thank You they have wisdom beyond their years. I thank You Father that they have insights into things that the world doesn’t have insights into. I thank You they are pursuing You, they have a heart after You, and I thank You that they hear Your voice and the strangers voice they don’t follow. I thank You that they are willing in every area of their lives. They’re coming up in strategy, they’re coming up in wisdom, they’re coming up in wholeness, they’re coming up in ability, they’re coming up in every area of their life.
I thank you that this church is expanding, this church is increasing. Father, I thank You that the TV voice will continue to expand and grow and empower, not just this community but also the nation of South Africa. We thank You for the things that are taking place in this worship team. The things taking place in the Bible School. The things taking place in the outreaches, in missionary opportunities, Lord. I thank you everything’s coming up – up, up, up onto another level. Up, up, up to another level. Up, up, up to another level. Hallelujah. And we thank You for it in Jesus’ Name. Whoo! Amen.
Pastor John: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise You Jesus. Praise You Jesus. Praise You Lord. Praise You Lord. Praise You Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Yes – there is a shout of victory now! Hallelujah! Whoo! Glory to God.
Just make this decision in your heart, that from today you just going to say every day, “I love You Lord. I love You Lord. I love You Lord.” Let His love fill your heart for Him and you’ll see it will just bring you up to that next level and set you free to the next thing. I don’t have to pray anymore blessings over you, you’ve been blessed enough today. So goodbye, God bless you and we’ll see you next week. Thank you Pastor Justin and Annette for coming. Hallelujah.
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TOUCH | TEACH | TRAIN | TRANSFER
