31 December 2021 New Year’s Eve Message Ps John & Sharon Bendixen
Scripture Reference: Ephesians 3:19-20 (NLT); Ephesians 3:20 (TPT); Psalm 145:16 (AMPC)
Pastor John:
Well, we are just a few moments away from the year 2022. Wow. I mean it just seems like the other day, Pastor Sharon, it was 2020, 2021 and it has been such a tumultuous time over the last couple of years. But what blessings God has shown us, how great He has been to us, how He has shown us His favour. He has blessed us over the same time where the world has been in chaos, God has shown us His love and His blessing.
Pastor Sharon, I want to just read these scriptures from – it’s Paul’s prayer – from Ephesians chapter 3. I am reading from verse 19 out of the New Living Translation first and it says, 19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life. Well, I am certainly in for that. I want all the fullness of life, right? And power that comes from God (Ephesians 3:19 NLT). The fullness of life and the fullness of power that comes from God. And then verse 20 says, 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think (Ephesians 3:20 NLT). I am wanting us to be in a position, Pastor Sharon and I have been talking about it a lot in our personal time together, and I am wanting to encourage you, Pastor Sharon is going to encourage you, that 2022 we are going to be big and bold, and we are going to experience the very best that God has for us.
Brother Jerry has spoken about the hand of God that is extended toward us. The hand of God that is going to be blessing us, and every good thing that God has for us is coming our way in 2022. I am fully expecting, Pastor Sharon, I am expecting that as our faith rises because of His mighty power in us, as His faith rises, more and more fullness of life is going to be our portion.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, that’s right, Pastor John. I mean, the just shall live by faith and we live by faith, and we do not live by bread alone but we live by every proceeding word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He is always speaking to us out of His Word and out of the messages that He brings to us who are planted. So we do not live by bread alone just for our bodies but we live by every proceeding word of God. As we eat those words, they become part of us and faith comes by hearing those words. Faith rises and faith rises and faith becomes more as we hear those words and we keep hearing them and we keep hearing them. Faith comes, faith comes and then faith comes and it comes and it comes, Pastor John. I praise God for that, that my faith can be very active. It has been very active because I have been hearing His words and it can continue to rise and become more and more active.
Pastor John:
The world is actually in more and more fear, more and more chaos, while we are more and more in faith and more of the foundation of the love of God as the book of Ephesians in Paul’s prayer talks about. The great love of God, that we’ll understand how great it is for us. That we can have this faith, that we can trust in Him and live for Him and live in Him.
Pastor Sharon:
The conditions in the world actually don’t impact, don’t change the Word of God, you know. In fact we are now even more having the Word of God as our point of faith because of conditions. It’s proven itself, God’s Word has proven itself to be actually more true to us than it has ever been before because circumstances change. That’s how you change your circumstances before the circumstances of the world hit us. That’s how we use to change our circumstances. Things are subject to change. Our circumstances are subject to change by the power of God’s Word and His promises in His Word. That didn’t change. His promises don’t become null and void because circumstances in the world have gone more pear-shaped than ever before.
Pastor John:
God is still God.
Pastor Sharon:
There have always been pear-shaped circumstances that we’ve used the Word of God to change the circumstances in our world. Now more than ever, now more than ever.
Pastor John:
So that’s such a good point you’ve made. As the world descends into more chaos, as the world descends into more disorder, God shows Himself greater.
Pastor Sharon:
Exactly, it’s God’s opportunity and it is the church’s opportunity. Sons of God’s opportunity to lay hold of the goodness of God more than ever.
Pastor John:
It’s not time for us to just receive all the news and all the stuff the world wants us to believe or to receive. It is our time to actually go and press more into the good things that God has for us.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes, and to lay hold of God’s promises that are always, the Bible says, His exceeding great and precious promises. We escape the corruption that’s in the world through God’s exceeding great and precious promises. So, His promises we lay hold of His promises like we always have and now more than ever before, even. It’s powerful.
Pastor John:
You know, Pastor Sharon, I’m wanting to read this scripture in The Passion Translation, and TPassion Translation says, 20Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you (Ephesians 3:20 TPT).
So, it doesn’t matter what’s happening out in the world, His power is energising us. And as His power energises us, we are able to imagine, through His power, we are able to think, we’re able to dream, we’re able to imagine what He’s got for us. And then the Bible says, and He’ll outdo that, even what you can imagine or think through that power that energises you. He’ll outdo it, He will not do less than that, He’ll outdo it. And so, I mean, that’s based on His great love for us in a time when the world doesn’t have a good news message. God has a Good News message.
Pastor Sharon:
His Gospel and His Good News continues. Has been continuing since Jesus. A death, burial and resurrection. The Gospel is still coming to us, it’s still the power of God that saves me in whatever I need salvation in. It’s still the power of God.
Pastor John:
Absolutely. You know, Pastor Sharon, I would just like us for a moment to reflect and anything that you reflect on, please add it here. But I reflect on 2021, when actually everybody in the world was worried about economic conditions and all kinds of things. God did such amazing miracles in our ministry, that we did auditorium upgrades, we had amazing gifts from God for travel with our new interns. We had a new intern program, and then we went on a trip of destiny, Footsteps to Destiny, that God paid for, provided for. We did a building upgrade, that is amazing. I mean, all along the way, and we released an album.
Pastor Sharon:
We released Sound and Song of Psalms, that’s right. And then our personal lives as well. I mean, wow, just one thing after the other after the other. We have truly, in 2021 experienced abundant overflow, spiritually, financially, relationally, ministry. We truly have experienced abundant overflow, supernatural increase. And as we’ve gone Big and Bold with His Word and His promises. Big and Bold in prayer. Big and Bold. We’ve gone Big and Bold. God has emboldened us in His Word. He’s emboldened us in faith. His spirit has been amazing in us, encouraging us to rise up in His goodness and His promises.
Pastor John:
We’ve increased our giving to the poor. We increased our contributions to a rehabilitation centre that has actually been able to survive because of our constant financial giving, and the foster care home that we have taken over the full financial support of that home. So, in every area, Pastor Sharon, we’ve just seen God’s increase.
Pastor Sharon:
Increase in our giving to people that have needed help during these times and our personal sowing and our personal giving of finances, nothing has diminished. It’s increased. And that is just the promises in God’s Word, you know, Pastor John. As you continue to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, His ways of doing things, He adds. He adds. And He doesn’t say, “Now I can’t add to you any more, what you need to eat, what you need to wear, where you to need to live and what you need to drive. I can’t add to you now because of conditions in the world”. No. His Word supersedes all of it, Pastor John. I give Him praise and glory. I give Him praise and glory. And now, going into 2022…
Pastor John:
I want to say also that so many other peoples’ personal testimonies, personal testimonies that have come to us.
Pastor Sharon:
Other peoples’ personal testimonies that have come to us.
Pastor John:
Other peoples’ personal testimonies. God’s miraculous intervention in their lives and blessings.
Pastor Sharon:
And supernatural increase.
Pastor John:
And increase and favour.
Pastor Sharon:
And the way He’s taken care of them and favour and kept them steady and stable.
Pastor John:
It’s been a marvellous thing. It’s been a marvellous thing. And so, Pastor Sharon, you know, the Lord has said to us that going forward into 2022, we’re going Big and Bold, Version 2 for 22. And so we expect even more because God is, this scripture, 20He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energises you (Ephesians 3:20 TPT). And His Word has energised us and continues to energise us to continue to be even bigger and bolder than we were in 2021, when the rest of the world is not thinking like that.
Pastor Sharon:
No, they’re not thinking like that. They’re not actually experiencing the love of God, Pastor John. They don’t know it. People without the Lord don’t know the love of God. And so, they become fearful and afraid and hold onto everything and they scurry. They scurry around, wondering what to do, you know. Actually, what we desire is for the people that don’t know Jesus to see how safe we are in the Kingdom of God, that we live by the Kingdom. Kingdom economics, we don’t live by the economics of the world. We live by Kingdom relationships, Kingdom health, Kingdom health. The health that we have enjoyed as a people has been…
Pastor John:
…has been amazing. Free from sickness and disease. We’ve been protected by the Lord, it has not overcome us. It has not done anything to harm us.
Pastor Sharon:
Yeah, we have not lost one person. Not one person in this time.
Pastor John:
And so, 2022 is going to be a greater year. It’s going to be more than we can imagine, more than our wildest dreams. He’s going to outdo what He did in 2021, He’s going to outdo it in 2022. And even what we can dream about doing in 2022, He’s going to outdo what we can dream about in 2022. I think one of the key things for us, Pastor Sharon, is that we’ve stayed focused on our assignment. We’ve stayed focused on obeying the Word of God, and listening to the Word of God. And step by step doing what He tells us to do. Stay on assignment, step by step being obedient to His Word.
Pastor Sharon:
Planted in His church, Pastor John, which is God’s way. We’ve stayed in, walking in the ways of God. You know, listening to what the Spirit of God is saying to our churches, you know and walking in obedience to the Lord. Staying in those things.
Pastor John: i
If we have to leave people with a message for 2022, we would say; the hand of God is outstretched out towards us.
Pastor Sharon:
Yes that’s what the Lord spoke to Brother Jerry about. He said that God in this 2022, we will experience the open hand of God. We already have. God’s hand is always open towards His people but that’s a wonderful concept to have in your imagination and in your heart and actually, it comes from this Psalm, 145 verse 16. 16You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with favour (Psalm 145:16 AMPC). We are going to experience the open hand of God.
Pastor John:
We’re going to and we have been experiencing and we are going to experience it in a supernatural way for 2022. We are going to be Big and Bold in 2022. We are just focused more on assignment, more on obeying God, more on the wisdom of God, the execution of when He tells us how to go about doing something and we obey Him in that execution. We have just discovered, Pastor Sharon, that in this time God is truly magnifying Himself and glorifying Himself in His church.
Pastor Sharon:
A big thing for me, Pastor John, going into 2022 which has been big for me for a while now, but it is even bigger in me, is the recognition of the time of God. Big and Bold in the recognition of the time of God and receiving instruction and continuing to receive instruction from Him and then activating my obedience with boldness in the knowledge that I am obeying Him and then that attracts everything to me that God has promised – it is a big thing for me.
Pastor John:
We are moments away from what men have said in calendar time, is 2022. And so, Pastor Sharon and I just want to say bless you. We bless you with all the goodness of God. Stand with us in believing that all of these good things that God has for us, all of these marvellous, and blessed, spiritual, physical, relational, good things that He has for us, that His open hand is extended towards you. Receive it in the Name of Jesus and let’s be Big and Bold together and let’s go and experience the wonders of His person in 2022. Just enjoy Him and all that He is, all of His goodness that is always abounding towards us. There is no reason for us to fear, there is no reason for us to be timid or feel cowardly in any way. Let’s be bold and let’s go and do some wonderful things for God in 2022.
Pastor Sharon:
And believe, believe the great love that He has for you. Believe the great love that He has for you. Receive the expressions of His great love that He has for you in 2022.
Pastor John:
Bless you, have a wonderful evening, have a wonderful day of rest tomorrow and we’ll see you soon in church again.
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