14 November 2021 Power of Resurrection Part 3 Pastor John Bendixen (JHB)
Scripture reference: John 6:63 (AMPC); John 5:26 (AMPC); John 5:27-30 (AMPC); John 11:21-44 (AMPC)
Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Lord. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Lord. Praise You, Father. Glory to Your name, Lord. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise the name of Jesus. Glory to Your name, Lord. Praise You, Father. Praise You, Father.
It is my prayer Father, that as I minister the Word as Your messenger today, that I will be faithful to the words that You put in my heart and in my mouth. And I pray that the words that come out and the things that are said, will be received – will be received with joy, with gladness that it will be received for the life and the truth that Your words are to us, Lord. And I pray, Lord, that it will not only just be received today, but it will have the deepest impact in the hearts of Your people. Hallelujah. That it will never leave us, but it will produce great fruit in our lives. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Do you agree with that prayer? You can say “Amen”. Amen. You may be seated. Praise the Lord. Praise Jesus.
John chapter 6, verse 63, says in The Amplified Bible, 63It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. There is no profit, there is no value. There is nothing in the flesh. 63…The words… that I have been speaking to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63 AMPC) Hallelujah. Spirit is what you are. Words of life and words of truth is what changes you. That’s it. That’s it. It’s not human words. It’s God’s words that change you. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
You know, the other day, I was ministering in leadership development. Maybe two weeks ago now, time goes by, and I was talking on values. And I said it’s very, it’s very easy thing to actually find out what your value system is. Because you’ve got to find out what’s most valuable to you. What is most valuable to you, and whatever you find out is most valuable to you is what you will actually end up doing with your time, doing with your energy, doing with your thought process, the things that you do in your life. So, you know, people have values that they talk about, and they say, “Well, one of my values is I’m a man that deals honestly.” Well, if you’re a person, that’s an honest, honest, businessman, honesty is a value system, then it must be reflected in dealings that you have. And obviously, it means you are someone who speaks. You don’t speak with rounded words, you speak with straight words. And you don’t deal with people in such a way that you leave impressions with them that are different to what you actually are wanting to get out of it. Right? Actually, what you say that honesty, or a person of integrity is what you are, then you deal straight? Yes? So, whatever is most valuable to you, that’s what your value system is. It can change in your life, quite a lot.
But when we talk about values, we’re not talking about what God said. Because God said, 63…The words… that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life, they are truth. (John 6:63, AMPC) They are, whatever happens in the flesh is of no value and no profit. So, if you have a value system, if you have a value system that is based on God’s Word, then you’ve got a value system that can last forever. Because they’re based on spirit and life. If you’ve got a value system that is based on culture, or it’s based on something else, that someone else taught you, it can change, it can be variable. Praise the Lord.
I thank God that we have a spirit, and we have spirit words and spirit life. I thank God, that actually we as Christians have something that is of extremely value – of the highest value to us. That is words of truth, words of truth that come from God. So, if you consider the words of God as valuable to you, then you put them first. That’s the highest value to you. Come on now.
If you say you have a value system, and we all have a value system. You want to know what your value system is? You must see what is considered to be the highest value in your life and if the Word of God, the Word of God, is the highest value in your life and it should be as a Christian. Then it means whatever the words are that God speaks are words that you want to do. Because they are the things that give life, and they give purpose, and they give assignments. They give you things that no other words can give you. They are the words of eternal life. They are words of eternal life. Praise the Lord.
Are you cold? Are you guys all okay? Okay, just checking. Praise the Lord. So, I’m ministering to the Johannesburg congregation this afternoon. This morning I was ministering to the Witbank congregation and now it’s become my understanding that most of the Joburg people watch the Witbank service in the mornings anyway. So, so you get a lot of what’s said in the mornings anyway. It doesn’t change the fact that when I come here, I speak to the people that are here. And you come here to be part of the assembly here and you come here for the words of life that God speaks to the assembly that is here. Hallelujah.
So, it’s in my heart to tell you of something that happened to me about a week or more ago. I just had it in my heart to have my son Brynn come with me to the Menlyn shopping center. I mean, I’m not someone that goes anymore in South Africa – I don’t really go to shopping centers – if I go to a shopping center it’s because I’m doing it for a very specific purpose. And, for the most part, I’m mostly about the stuff of the Lord. And since COVID I very seldom go shopping. Some very, very, very occasionally, I will go with Sharon, but for the most time, I don’t go to by myself to the shops to go and do something. But I needed to go and do something and also go and do a task for Sharon, as it turns out, it was convenient for that.
I just asked my son Brynn, I said, “If you had time, would you please come with me, I just felt like I needed to be able to spend some time with him.” We decided very quickly on the run kind of have a very quick bite to eat at Woolworths. I mean, really, we didn’t go there to eat, but we were both hungry and it was lunchtime. And so we decided we’re going to have a quick bite to eat. And so we’re sitting, I’m sitting, and we pretty much finished the meal and we were just getting ready to leave. I mean, we weren’t there for more than 20 minutes or a half an hour Brynn, was it? It was quick. I mean, we ordered quickly, we ate quickly, we’re on the move. And as we’re kind of conversing and we’re about to, we’re about to get ourselves moving, I see this man is walking across the shopping center, the restaurant.
So, the Woolworths shops were in there, the mall entrance or the mall was that side and you had to walk through the restaurant if you like to get there. And I saw this man come walking through the restaurant. And I just noticed out of the corner of my eye that he kept looking at me like this, you know, he kept looking at me and he actually walked past our table at some distance, you know, probably from me to where Paul is, you know, at some distance he walked past our table. But as he was walking, you know, and he walked right past and he kept looking back at me like this. And then he kept looking, he had his mask on. And eventually he stopped, and he turned around and he came back, and he walked up to, up to my table. He said, “Pastor John?” So, I said “Yes”. He said, “I just had to come back and just say thank you to you”. Black gentleman. I mean; he had a mask on. I don’t recognize him. I don’t know him. You know, “I just came to say thank you”.
I was caught by surprise. He said, “I want to thank you for Bible school”. He said, “I did”. What did he say? Five years of Bible School Brynn? In Witbank. I said, “When did you finish?” He said, “five years ago” and I said, “And what are you doing now?” And so, he introduced himself. I forget his name. But he introduced himself. And so, I said, well, “What are you doing now?” He said, “I’m pastoring a church here in the Centurion area”. And, you know, he says, “But I didn’t come to tell you that and I don’t want to keep you. I came to say, Thank you. Thank you for starting a Bible school. Thank you for what you taught us at the Bible School. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I just wanted to, I saw you and I just wanted to come and say thank you.”
You know, I mean, Brynn was there. I mean, when the guy walked away, I mean, tears started running out of my, out of my face. You know? Me and Brynn sat down for a moment having a cry because really what happened to me was, you know, if I hadn’t been there, in those few minutes, that mall, he wouldn’t have been able to come and say thank you to me. I had no idea that he had been at Bible school. I had no idea that the Bible school had changed his life. I mean, there’s hundreds of people that come through the Bible school all the time, over all of these 18 years, 19 years. And I said, you know, Brynn, part of the reason I know why you have to be with me today is that you could be a witness. You could be a witness about how the Word of God changes people, and how what God has told us to do in the ministry, whether we can see the development and the outcome or not. Here is a man who came to Bible school. He did Bible School in Witbank, then moved to Pretoria and started a church he’s ministering to. I mean, I’m not asking how many people he’s ministering to. I’m not asking him the size of his church, what he’s doing, but he’s doing a work of God. But it’s based on the quality of the words that he received that was very valuable to him.
He came to express to me how valuable those words were to him. Those years that he could get words, words. You know, I’ll tell you, what it should do for you? What it did for me, is that you all, being in the Heritage of Faith Ministries, community, you are partners, in every person that comes into the Bible school, you are partners in every year that we minister the Word of God in Bible school, you are partners in all the changes that have happened in all the peoples that we don’t even know about where their lives have gone. You are partners and when we get to heaven, one day, the Lord will show us how our assembly released hundreds and thousands of people, hundreds, and thousands, literally thousands of people into spaces and places where the Word of God that’s valuable to them is making an impact in their world. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
It is my desire that this message that I’m preaching to you today and the message from last week and what God has told me to talk about on the power of resurrection, that it will change you and it will transform you and it will make the Word of God more valuable to you than it’s ever been. So, let me tell you, that when you receive words of life, when you receive words of truth, if you have asked Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of your life. If you have asked Him to live there and He becomes your Lord, and the words that He speaks are in your heart, you will suffer persecution. This is not a maybe, this is a definite because Jesus said, “If I suffered persecution, so will you.” This is a, this is a guarantee. You will suffer persecution. There are other things that will happen. You will have, you will contend with thoughts, you will contend with ideas, you will contend with the system of the world that you walk in and you flow around and the light and the words in truth that is in you will contend with it. Because the system is designed that if it can’t, if the system can’t stop you from being a born-again Christian, it will try to stop you from being truth wherever you go. Amen.
I have a question for the Joburg church and I’m trusting that those people that are not in attendance here today – in the Joburg church, those that are from Witbank that also often listen to the message, they will get this, but this is for you today that I asked this question. How much change are you ready, how much change are you ready to embrace? How uncomfortable are you ready to get? Because God is doing things in our ministry and I’m telling you that there is a momentum and there is a fire and there is a work of God that is happening and if you are not going to go with it, you are going to trundle around in your comfort zone. And the messages that God is having me preach right now are designed to help you change where you are. Where you are right now. This is the moment that God has chosen to preach a message through this messenger that will give you the power for change.
And so, you know, Jesus is on the earth and He’s in a human body and all the religious leaders and all the Jews of the day and all the people, they don’t know what to do with this man because obviously, He’s a rabbi. I mean, He’s obviously a teacher, He’s obviously a prophet, He’s obviously got the power of God on Him because He heals people, He casts out demons. You know, there’s a lot of deliverance that is happening, wherever He goes, people want to hear what Jesus has to say. But they don’t want to, they don’t know what to do with this because the people love Him and the people follow Him and they always want to hear what He has to say. But He doesn’t teach the same stuff that they teach. He doesn’t abide by the rules of the synagogues and He doesn’t abide by all the rules of what they think is the life message. Theirs are all about rules, His is all about relationships. So, although He kept all the rules, His message was about relationships. So, they don’t know what to do.
In this message of, in John chapter 5 verse 26, Jesus makes an extraordinary statement and He’s making it to all the people that are listening. The Amplified Bible says, 26For even as the Father has life in Himself and is self-existent, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself and be self-existent. (John 5:26 AMPC) See, if you want to know and there are many, many people with high IQs and lots of views and philosophies and things about life and they, the question they can’t answer, that they desperately want answered – or in some cases, they actually use this as an excuse to justify their choice, but it is, “Where is the beginning of God?” Because surely God must have a beginning because everything has a beginning. Right?
In the natural world everything has a beginning but Jesus is making an extraordinary statement in front of all of these rulers and He says, “Even as the Father has life in Himself and is self-existent”, this is the Amplified Version, but it doesn’t matter how you read it, in any version, it says the same thing: self-existent. In other words, He exists by Himself for Himself with Himself and there is no other start or beginning or end to the self-existence. So, He says, even as the Father is self-existent, He says, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself and be self-existent. Why? Because Him and the Father were one. So, He’s standing in front of the people and He’s saying, “God is the self-existent one, the beginning and the end of all things.” He is in Himself the existence of everything, you cannot explain or even talk about it. And so if you were, if you were a student of the, of the Jewish or the Torah or the law of Moses, there was an understanding that they had of who Yahweh is – the God of Abraham. Who Yahweh is, is that He was the God of Moses that said, “Who shall I say sent me? I am.” Which is, who is I am? The self-existent one. The One that doesn’t have to answer to anyone, the One that is self-existent. This is an extraordinary statement that Jesus is making.
And verse 27, 27And He has given Him authority and granted Him power to execute or practice judgment because He is a Son of man. 28Do not be surprised and wonder at this, for the time is coming when all those who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, 29And they shall come out of the tombs—those who have practiced doing good will come out to the resurrection of new life, and those who have done evil will be raised for judgment, raised to meet their sentence of judgement. 30I am able to do nothing independently, of My own accord—but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders. Even as I hear, I judge I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision, and My judgment is right, because I do not seek or consult My own will, I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me. (John 5:27-30 AMPC)
I’m not going to teach on this today but you can, you can read it later in the book of, book of John. I’ve been reading a lot of the Scripture now so I’m a bit fuzzy about where it is actually. But the Bible talks about that when Jesus, when Jesus died, the dead were raised out of the tombs and walked amongst men. This that Jesus was prophesying was going to happen very, very soon. Wow. But this is an extraordinary thing that’s happening here.
Jesus is saying, “I have been given the right to be self-existent because my Father is self-existent but there is nothing in my self-existence that I choose to do for Myself. I do everything that My Father tells me to do. And every decision I do, I do, My decision is based on what He tells me to decide. Whatever My judgment is, whatever I do is because He tells me to do it. Wherever I do, whatever I practice, whatever I say, whatever I’m doing, I’m doing it because I see the Father doing it. So, I do nothing of Myself. Everything that I do, I do because I see Him do it.” Wow.
I ask you today, a question for you today. How much of the life of God do you want in your world? How much of the life of God do you want in your world? How badly do you want it, Joburg people? How badly do you want it? If God begins to speak to you to do some things differently, will you? Seems to me you’re quite quiet.
I’m going to, I’m going to read to you John chapter 11. So, Jesus gets a message that someone that’s very close to Him is very sick. Very, very sick and He must come quickly because they know that Jesus can heal the sick. And so He takes His time. He doesn’t rush. So, we’re talking about Lazarus. Lazarus is very sick. So He takes His time. He doesn’t go, He gets the message that He must go because Lazarus, Lazarus is sick, but He takes His time. Remember, He’s only doing what the Father tells Him to do.
He’s doing nothing of Himself. So someone in His family sends Him a message, “We are your special connection. We are your special disciples. Jesus, Do You know whenever You’re in Jerusalem, You come and You stay in our house. We are disciples that follow You. We provide for You, We look after You, we care for You and Your friend Lazarus is sick. One whom you love Lazarus, he’s sick. Hurry Jesus, You must come quickly, Jesus”. But He doesn’t actually worry about what they’re asking because He’s not driven by their, by their pressure. He’s only motivated to do the will of the Father.
Do you understand what is happening here is that there’s a people pressure, is a relationship pressure. There’s a whole lifestyle of activity pressure that is trying to come on Jesus. And Jesus says, “Your pressure is not My pressure. My relationship is not based on what you demand from Me. My relationship is based on everything the Father tells Me. So, if you’re putting pressure on My relationship, I’m sorry, I can’t bow to your pressure.” Right? I have to do what the Father tells Me to do and right now, I’ve got to be about His business. And whatever this business, He’s, it’s holding Me here. I’m not rushing to Lazarus. Are you all with the picture here? But eventually He shows up.
Then verse 21. 21Martha then said to Jesus, remember Martha, Mary and Martha. Martha is the one that made all the food, hey. Martha is the one that made sure that all the towels and the bed linen and everything was in proper order for Jesus and those who came with Jesus. She was the one that made sure that Mr. Delivery from Woolworths got the food right. You understand what I’m saying? That Martha, the same Martha that was going to complain to Jesus about, “Tell Mary to come and help me”, you know, “Because I’m busy”. This Martha, same Martha. 21Martha then said to Jesus, “Master, Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22And even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, He will grant it to you.” Martha, this is the one that Jesus said, “You’re troubled with many things, Martha”. This Martha. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, He will grant it to you. 23Jesus said to her, your brother shall rise again. 24Martha replied, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
I just got reading to you. In John chapter five about the resurrection. 29Those who have practiced good will come out to the resurrection of new life. She was there listening to His message.
Your brother shall rise again. Martha replied, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the self-existent one. I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in Me, although he may die, yet he shall live 26and whoever continues to live and believes in, and has faith in and cleaves to me shall never actually die at all. Do you believe this, Martha? Do you believe this, Martha? Do you believe this? Who believes in Me shall not die at all? Actually, those who believe in Me because I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in Me shall not die at all. You know, He’s talking about an event that is yet to take place. But He’s talking, but He’s talking to her. Let me tell you, this is a covenant conversation that they’re having here. This is not just a light conversation.
Do you believe this? She said to Him, 27Yes, Lord, I have believed. I do believe that you are the Christ. Now she’s speaking to Him not as Jesus, the human. She’s speaking to Him as Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. 27It is for your coming, the world has waited. This is a magnificent conversation because Jesus is setting a scene with Martha. 21My brother would not have died if you were here. So hold on, Martha. Martha.” Are you telling me this One? This One that has power over sickness and disease? This One who’s already spoken about the Self-Existent one?”
And you heard the message that, who I am, you’re telling me that I’m too late. You are telling Me I’m too late. I want to say this to you, Joburg people. If you have anything in your life that you can look back on, and you would say, “If I had had that Word of God, or if I had had someone in my life like you or I had this or I had that and that I wouldn’t have had these things happen to me and I would have had a different outcome.” I’m here to tell you today, do you believe? Do you believe in the resurrection power of the Christ, the Anointed One? Do you believe? Do you believe in the Anointed One? Because if you believe in the Anointed One and the pre-Existent One something is about to happen to you. Something is here even today, it has already started happening because the Word of God is here for you. It is here for you. Hallelujah.
I’m going to John chapter 11. It’s not in my notes that you got but I’m going to John chapter 11. Verse 32. 32When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she dropped down at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Same words as Martha, 33When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He was deeply disturbed and troubled. 34And he said, Where have you laid him? Hallelujah. They said to Him, Lord, come and see. 35Jesus wept. 36And the Jews said, See how [tenderly] He loved him! 37But some of them said, Could not He Who opened a blind man’s eyes have prevented this man from dying? (John 11:32-37 AMPC) So, Jesus wept.
I want to just go back to this passage of Scripture where He says, Jesus Who came with her also sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. The Amplified Version says, 33He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed. Some versions say He had many sighings. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute here. Jesus wept. He was troubled, and He was disturbed. Really, the Self-Existent One Who only did what the Father said He should do? Who only spoke what the Father said He should speak. He’s troubled. Trouble, what troubles you? You know, when you’re troubled, it’s you’re troubled because you have a problem that is confronting you, and you don’t yet have the solution to the problem. So, then you’re troubled. You think Jesus was troubled? You think He was disturbed by the grief? Come on now. The Self-Existent One Who only did what the Father saw Him doing, He knew that He came in the time of God, so that God could be glorified and He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Don’t tell me that He was there disturbed and troubled. The way we see trouble – that He doesn’t have an answer to the problem. What was He doing with the trouble? What is it that they are describing here? The sighings and the troubles? He was troubled by perhaps this – the bringing heaven to earth with words and tears, sighs and tears that would be the raising of Lazarus. Perhaps He was connecting to the Father because of their unbelief. Jesus wept. They said, because look how Jesus, 36See how tenderly He loved him. 37But some of them said, Could not He who opened a blind man’s eyes prevented this man from dying? (John 11:36-37 AMPC) In other words, You’re too late, Jesus.
I got news for you today. Whatever trouble you have had; whatever has gone as though God’s Words were too late to your life, and things have died. It’s not too late. The resurrected life of Christ is here. It’s here for you. 38Now Jesus, again sighing repeatedly and deeply disquieted, approached the tomb. Why is He deeply disquieted? Why is He sighing? This is not a disquiet of someone who doesn’t know the answers to what’s happening? This is something that’s happening between Him and God, the Almighty. Every expression that He has, is the God expression because He’s the Self-Existent One. This is not a sigh like, “Wonder, it’s been a heavy day, hey. I’m late, hey.” No, this is – perhaps, I put it to you, perhaps it’s the same breath, the sigh, that in the beginning when God made Adam, He breathed the sigh of breath into him and said, “Live.”
After all Jesus was there in the beginning, the divine person of Jesus was there in the beginning. So, 38 Jesus again sighed repeatedly and deeply disquieted approach the tomb. It was a cave, a hole in the rock and a boulder lay against that entrance to close it. And Jesus said; take away the stone, Martha. 39 Jesus said, take away the stone, Martha the sister of the dead man exclaimed. But Lord by this time he is decaying and throws off an offensive odor, for he has been dead four days. (John 11:38-39 AMPC) But, Lord, but Lord, you’ve given me an instruction to do something, something that is beyond possibility. He’s already stinking. Are you ready to do something? Are you ready to move out of your comfort zone because God might be dealing with something in your life that is so dead and so decaying, that it stinks?
But Lord, if I had just got the Word of God on time, if You had just arrived on time, if this has just happened in the right time, I wouldn’t have made those decisions. I wouldn’t have done this. I wouldn’t have done that I would have done something differently. It’s not, the timing is never too late. The self-existent one lives in who? Come on. If Jesus lives in you, in you, does He live in you? Come talk to me now. Does He live in you? So, then who’s living in you? That same one that walked on the earth, that raised Lazarus from the dead, that same divine being is in you. The human part that became a glorified being that sits at the right hand of the Father ja he’s there, but the Spirit is in you. Let’s have a, let’s have an answer and question session here for a minute. Is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One. They all are one right?
Surely the Father and the Son are seated in the heavenlies on the throne of God, where is the Holy Spirit? On the earth? Yes, and where does He live? In you. So then if, if the Three are One and He’s representing them, just like Jesus represented them, then that same Spirit lives in you. That same spirit of divine life is in you. The Bible says that it is the seed of the Word of God that is incorruptible that lives in you. Whatever decay happens in your natural world, that divine life cannot be corrupted, lives in you.
So, I want to say to you Joburg people that divine God is speaking to you. Just like Jesus spoke to Martha and said, “Move the stone”. “But Lord, he’s dead four days, his body is decaying, if I open this door, it’s going to stink.” And the Lord is saying to you that thing in your life. Open it, “But it stinks Lord”. “Open it”, because you can’t be resurrected if you don’t deal with the thing that died that he is stinking. Come on walk, walk with me now, walk with me the Divine Being is living in… me. So, the Divine Being is good to deal with the natural man. So, the divine man is going to tell the master man, your natural man to move the stone out of the things that are dead in your life.
Jesus said, Take away the stone, Martha. Verse 40, 40 Jesus said, Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on me, you would see the glory of God. I am here to make as a messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ today to tell you, if you will do what the Divine Being there speaking to your spirit to do, if you will obey Him and address the natural things in your life, that seem to be beyond your ability to restore. I promise you; I speak on behalf of Jesus His Word says, “Did I not tell you and promise you that if you will believe this, and you rely on Me for this, you will see the glory of God in your life.”
What was the question He asked Martha? He said “Martha do you believe this? Did I not promise you that if you will believe this, you will see the glory of God?” If you believe this message, that I’m speaking to you, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, if you will believe this, this will change everything for you. It will change everything for you; this is the promise of God. 41 They took away the stone and Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. When was Jesus speaking to the Father, “I thank You that You have heard Me with sighings and cryings.” The Father heard Him. Watch out now… 42 Yes, I know You always hear and listen to Me. But I have said this on account of and for the benefit of the people standing around, so that they may believe that You did send Me. 43 And when He had said this He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 And out walked the man who had been dead, his hands and feet wrapped in burial clothes, linen strips and with a burial napkin around his face, Jesus said to them, free him of the burial wrappings and let him go. (John 11:40-44 AMPC)
“Lazarus come out.” I thank You, Lord, that You hear Me. And actually, I’m only talking to You like this so that those that are around Me, can know that You have sent Me. When did He hear Him, with signs and crying. If you think praying in the spirit and your size of spirit and the tears that you cry, when you pray to God are not speaking to God; they are. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus.
“Lazarus, come out. Lazarus come out.” What is that dead thing in your life? What is that dead thing in your life that has got to move, it has got to shift now? It is beyond past time. It is beyond past restoration. It is beyond past… It is supposed to be dead in the natural, there cannot be any coming back from those things. Those things, those things, those choices, those things, those things. Those bad financial choices, those bad relationship choices, those things. “Lazarus come out.”
Oh, you say, “I don’t have anything that stinks in my life.” You may not think so but if you let the Divine Man speak to you, He will talk to you and He will show you the things that stink in your life. Those things that are beyond, past, long time ago, dead already. Hallelujah. I will tell you this, if you don’t think you have something that’s dead in your life, that stinks, that shows you how much deception has already crept into your life that you think you are okay. Then I have to say to you, the thing that stinks in your life is your deception of how smart you are, how good you are, how well you have done, how great things have turned out for you. That deception is already the thing that has kept you from God. It has kept you from the things of God, the purposes of God, that thing is dead and stinking. I stand before you today to talk to you and tell you that is the stinking thing. That is the dead thing.
Let me tell you, there is a misconception about Lazarus being raised from the dead. I want to just for a moment, because I have to activate the Word of God in us today, I’m going to do that in a minute. I just want you to understand that Lazarus is dead. He has got burial clothes on him and when Jesus speaks into him and He says “Lazarus come out.” You know in your mind’s eye you may try to picture what that looked like. He has got burial clothes around him. Hey? So, how did he walk out of that grave? Because he has got burial clothes on. This is not how he walked out of that grave, if that is what you want to believe go ahead and believe that, it does not change the power of what God did. Because come on now, the body is already decaying. Muscle structure gone, those beautiful abs, lovely pecs, strong lats, core strength; he has been dead for four days. How did he move himself? Okay. You say he walked out, shuffle, shuffle? How did he get to the shuffle? How much core strength does it need, to be lying down and you are completely in a brace and you have got to pick yourself up, out like that and then get yourself so you can shuffle? Don’t tell me, logically, that he shuffled himself out of the grave. Because if that is the case, the resurrection power of God restored him so instantly, that more strength in his core body got him lifted up and shuffling out at the same time. Which means He restored not only the decaying body, but the muscle structure to such an extent that he had enough core strength to walk himself out of the grave.
Come on, work with me here. If you want to believe that, then I say to you, then let God do the work; muscle by muscle, ligament by ligament, let Him do the work in you, sit up, walk out. But I want to put an alternative to you; that the very power of God that raised Jesus from the dead went into that grave and the power of God lifted him up out of the grave and pulled him, walking out of that grave in his linen clothes. The power of God’s Words, the self existent One, speaks. What requires more power? Let’s you and I have an Albert Einstein conversation here for a minute.
What requires more power? To shift the water from the mountains and the sands of the sea? Or to tell Lazarus to come from out from the grave? Which requires more power? Hey? You can’t measure it, you can’t measure that power there is no EQ. What is it? E-squared… Whatever, you know that one, that one. I mean, you know, there is no equation you can bring to this that can measure the power that is required or the difference of power… Because listen, the self existent One always does what His will says He gets done. There is no resistance, there is nothing that He cannot do because He is the self existent One. So, whether it says ‘light be’ or ‘move the waters in the seas apart’ or ‘Lazarus come out of the grave’, the power is always equal and enough to whatever the situation requires. Because the self existent One is the One that makes it happen. There is no other power or will that is greater than the power and the will of the self existent One. Who lives where? Who lives where?
I speak to you today. What I want to say to you today; will you move, will you move that covering that covers the grave of this stuff that stinks? Will you go open that grave? Will you open it? Will you let the self existent One, the Divine One that is in you that has resurrection life, will you let Him, will you let Him speak? Will you let the promise of God be yours? I promise you, you will see the glory. I promise you, you will see His glory. I promise you, you will see His glory. I promise you. I’m not speaking as me. I can’t give you anything of myself. I have no power. I’m speaking as a messenger of what God said in His Word to Martha. If you believe, I promise you, you will see the glory of God.
Do you think that the scripture was written in the Bible just so that we can have a nice conversation about how dead men get raised? How much power is it going to take to touch areas of your lives that have been hidden behind gravestones, doors? Things that have been rolled in front because… ‘officially certified dead.’
I am here, Joburg people, today to make a declaration to you; I declare to you today that the healing power of the resurrected Christ rests upon your bodies and the same power that raised Christ from the dead, that same power rests upon your bodies for healing. I’m here to declare today that the same power that raised Christ from the dead, the resurrection power of Christ Jesus, the Anointed One, the Messiah, restores to your life the purpose and the assignment to which God had preordained for you to walk in. It is not beyond time. This is the moment. In heavenly time, do you remember I preached some message some years ago now? Not Five Minutes Late. I mean that might be in human time two years ago, whatever it was, but I’m telling you now it’s the same time of space in the spirit. It’s the same time-space that God is speaking now. And He’s saying, “The time has come.” I didn’t wait so that things can go dead, because I was just too late, busy with other stuff.
It’s time for the Father to be glorified in your life. I’m here to declare to you that those things, finances, business deals, areas of your life, that have long time been put on the shelf, long time been hidden away, put away, stuck away, long time. It’s time to roll the stone away. It’s time to let the Word of God speak to those areas, say “Come out, come out and come to life.” Hallelujah.
This is just the beginning of what God is going to do in us because the Lord said to me, “John, the longer you preach on this, the more faith is going to come, the more the anointing is going to increase, the more this is going to have an impact on people.” So, I’m not quitting with this message today. There’s a lot more of God to preach on the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection power of Christ. But I am already making declarations that the healing power of God is already at work in your bodies. The restoration power of God in relationships is already at work in your lives, the restoration of finances and things that have gone a long time; it’s time for it to wake up and to come to life. For those assignments and those purposes that have been put on the shelf and say, “I don’t want to look at it because it’s been dead and buried a long time. I can’t go back there.” It’s time to open that gravestone and let the Word of God speak. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Do you believe what I’m telling you today? Do you believe this?
I’d like you to stand, please. Do you remember last week, if you were here last week, do you remember how strong the anointing was at the end of the service and telling you, mark this, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and He said to me, “If you’ll keep preaching this message John, the miracle power of God is going to keep doing its business. The Word of God is going to keep changing and it’s going to resurrect and bring to life those things that have needed to be restored.” Do you agree with this?
Do you believe in this? If you believe it, I need you to raise your hand today. In the Witbank church, I asked people to come to the front but we don’t have that space here. I want you to raise your hand and as an act of faith. I want you to just say this. Lord, I believe in the resurrection power of Jesus. Work in my life. Let it do its complete work in my life, in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Praise Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
I want to tell you what happened to me this morning. This morning, early, I was preparing this message in my spirit. I already had everything prepared in my notes, but I was preparing my spirit and I was sitting in my chair and I was reading; I was reading these notes. As I began to read the Word of God and as I began to prepare my heart, in the spirit, as I was reading it, I began to do what Jesus did. It just began to happen to me, the tears just began to flow down my cheeks and just run down my… and I just cried and cried. I mean, from my belly, I was weeping before God. I said, “Lord, what is happening? What is happening here?” He said, “John, your tears are going to be used.”
I asked Him for me to get through preaching these messages because I knew that actually when I got to this point, I’m not sure that I can contain my tears, because I began to see your lives, the dead things in your lives, and I saw them one by one, get resurrected. I saw the power of God, the power of Jesus coming into your life, and raising them up from a place of death, and coming out and the next instruction was “Take the grave clothes off because the glory of God can be seen.” These tears that you’re seeing now, these are the tears that God cried from my spirit this morning. I’m speaking to you by the Holy Spirit. If there is no message that you’ve ever received from me, if you think any of the messages I’ve preached before… I ask you to believe this one. I ask you to take this one and ask you to believe that Jesus’ resurrection power is for the glory of God is about to raise everything in your life from the dead. Praise Jesus.
Do you believe this Willie? Do you believe this Sue? Yeah. Yeah. Hallelujah. Come stand here in front of me, the two of you. The Lord had me do this in Witbank this morning. He had me call one man out, and you’re going to be the couple I’m calling out. I need Brynn, come and hold the microphone here for me, please, so that people can hear me. I want to take your hands. I declare this, by the Holy Spirit, I declare this. That life will come to the dead things in your lives, all those things that seem to have gone wrong, all those things that seem to have caused trouble in your life, the glory of God comes to resurrection power now. Father, just like this morning, you had me call Renier up, I’m now calling Willie and Sue up to represent all of these people in this meeting today. That everything that has been long gone, long time buried, ‘can’t go there, don’t touch that. It’s impossible for life to come.’ It’s time for the resurrection power of Christ to bring forth life in everything in their lives. For the glory of God, for the glory of God, for the glory of God. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
I have asked the Father this, I’ve had this deep communication with the Father, I’ve said this to Him, I’ve said to Him, “Father, I’m asking You, to do Your resurrection power work in such a way, that it’s not, that anybody can look at any other church service, any other place, any other issue, or church thing that they’ve seen before and say, “Yeah, we’ve seen this before. We’ve seen God work like this before, we’ve seen that happen. It’s worked like this before, or it hasn’t worked like that before.” I’ve asked Him to do a work that is so powerful and personal to you, that no man, not me, not anyone can take glory for what God is doing in you. I am only a messenger, I have no power of myself, I have nothing that can do anything for you; I only can be the messenger.
Do you believe this? I believe, I believe. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus.
Finally, I have to say, if I’m standing here and I’m looking across the Joburg church, you know in Witbank we have a lot of new people coming, a lot of new people coming, week by week and a lot of the reason why those new people are coming, is because all the young people are so on fire for God. They are so absorbed and living in the divine thing of God that people are compelled by the Holy Spirit, they can’t help but witness these young people that are completely different to all the other young people of the world.
They don’t talk about movies and music, they don’t talk about all their achievements and all their stuff. They’re talking about Jesus. The living Christ is in them. As I look out on this Joburg congregation, there’s a lot of stuff I know about your personal lives because we’ve been together a long time, there’s a lot I know; a lot of natural things I know. There’s also things I know in the Spirit. I want to say to you today, please believe this. Please take this, begin to speak life. “I believe Jesus, I believe in the glory of resurrection. That area that’s dead in my life, that area that needs… I ask You Father, now, bring it to life, bring it to life.” Hallelujah.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, He knows you much better than I know you. I’m telling you, all of that stuff, God’s ready to take it. He’s ready to bring life. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, thank You, thank You.
I ask the Father that the peace of God that passes your understanding. It will rain in your heart. It will mount garrison in your head, it will be a guard against thoughts that want to come and disturb your peace and trouble you. I ask God for that peace to come upon you, in Jesus’ name. I ask the Father that you are blessed going out and blessed coming in and that no weapon formed against you will prosper. I ask Him that you will experience and encounter the resurrection life of Jesus this week. That you will already begin to see the life of those words working in your life.
Hallelujah. Be filled with joy and go with peace, in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. My time is done. My job is done. I will see you next week. Amen.
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