Scripture references: Ephesians 6:10-13 (NKJV); James 3:16; 2 Timothy 4:7 (NKJV); Isaiah 59:19 (KJV); Isaiah 59:19-20 (MSG); Isaiah 58:13 (MSG)
Hey, look at all of you. Hello everybody. How you’re all doing? It’s good to see all of you. I think in the future we must cancel children’s church and just have all the children in church. Because they look so beautiful from where I’m standing. All the kids sitting there, listening to me, look so beautiful. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
I have a very important telephone call tomorrow afternoon which requires some preparation from me. I had an important telephone call actually at the end of this last week with Brother Joe McCroskey and it related to Brother Jerry’s trip to South Africa and Bible School and many other things. So I’ve got a bit of an echo here if you can try and resolve that. So I’ve got to do some preparation work for my telephone meeting with him tomorrow afternoon. Amen. So you will probably get the dates for Brother Jerry’s visit, you will probably get those on the website before the announcement next week. We are busy finalizing and it’s part of the phone call tomorrow; finalising his approval of our schedule that we have arranged and agreed with him. Amen. Amen.
I know it’s very unusual for us to be in this particular juncture and not yet have had finalised an agenda but it has a lot to do with Brother Jerry’s own agenda and his own schedule and his schedule with Brother Copeland and various other things that go along with it. Amen. (Thank you, otherwise, you’re going to hear wind blowing in my microphone all service long). Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
Have you all had a good holiday? Really? What did you do? Eat? Eat. More eating. You didn’t? Your hair is still green though? YouTube. Pray. Eat. Swim. Run. Sleep. A lot of sleeping. What did you do, Hein? Cycling? Is it? Mountain biking? I didn’t hear about it hey. Quiet hey? In Joburg? Okay. Shopping. A lot of shopping for Christmas. Did you do a lot of shopping? Everybody does shopping for Christmas. You go buy soaps and shampoos and socks and little things for everybody and then after about three days everybody forgot they got shampoo. But it’s very important to wrap the shampoo and give it for a Christmas present. It’s the thought that counts, right? Ja… Praise the Lord.
Did I tell you, at the end of December, did I tell you that I’m in celebration mode. I’ve got happy feet. I’ve still got happy feet. I played some tennis over December and I nearly lost one of my happy feet. Because my body and my brain from all the years ago that I used to play tennis, my brain thought I could play certain shots that my body said, nah nah. I’m not that young anymore. I can’t do that anymore. And so, you know, your body wants to do it, your brain’s telling you to do it – but it’s just not there! It’s just not there. So then you have to kind of say, “Okay, slow down. Slow down.” But you don’t want to slow down. Your brain’s still working like when you were 25, you know. It’s still like, it’s the way it thinks, it doesn’t remember that you’ve got older.
Do you remember that men’s camp that we were on, Gideon? We played touch rugby. Jis, I tell you what. I got that ball and my brain said there’s a gap, take the gap, you can get through the gap. As my legs were moving my legs said you can’t go faster than this. Because your body just can’t and the next minute I hit the dirt. I ploughed the dirt with my face, face plant you know, because I’m just not that young anymore. So your brain says you can go, you can go, you can go! And your body says you can’t go, you can’t go, you can’t go. And only when you find out that your body says you can’t go do you find out you can’t go. And then it’s too late. And then you end up doing other things, you know. I wish I could have been like a James Bond on that rugby thing you know, like a James Bond, you take the gap and you do a body roll and you jump up and say, “ahhh!” But my brain wasn’t working that fast either; it was just trying to keep my face out of the dirt. [Laughter] Yeah, praise the Lord.
Anyway, the Lord is my strength and He renews my youth as eagles. And even though I might not be able to take gaps in rugby and, you know, run around the court like a spring chicken, I’m still healthy and strong and blessed. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory to God.
So, how much must God be part of your natural life – this is a rhetorical question. How much must God be part of your natural life to prove to you that He is God? How much? So, you know, if you are living in your natural world, you are expecting God to be part of your natural world. But we have this relationship with God, you know, that we want God to be part of things that are happening in our natural world, but at the same time, we want to be able to know that He’s God. So it’s like; I want to experience God in my natural world but I also want to know that You are God. So, but if He is God, then God is Spirit and Truth and He’s going to touch your life first in spirit and truth before He touches your world in the natural. Right? So how much must God be part of your natural world in order for you to really believe that He’s God?
Let me give you an example – a very powerful example from the Bible is Thomas. Yes, disciple Apostle Thomas. Disciple Apostle Thomas – he lived with Jesus for three-and-a-bit years in his natural earthly ministry. Right? Three-and-a-bit years. So, I mean here’s the Apostle, disciple, Apostle Thomas and Jesus is dead. Jesus is dead and He’s standing in a room with all of the other disciples and these disciples arrived from Emmaus and they said, “We’ve seen Jesus. We’ve seen the Lord.” And Peter is there and the other disciples are there and they’re all saying, “We’ve seen Jesus. We’ve seen Jesus.” And Thomas says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” What? I mean surely Thomas – three and a half years Thomas. You know, you could say, “Thomas, really Thomas? You still don’t believe Him?” “Well, listen, you know, the only person I ever saw raise anybody from the dead was Jesus. Before Jesus, I didn’t see anybody raise anybody else from the dead. And before Jesus, I didn’t see pretty much any healings going on in Israel. And before Jesus, I didn’t see people multiply bread and fish. And before Jesus, I didn’t see healing miracles – blind eyes opened or anything like that. And then, you know, I mean pretty much it was all Jesus. There was no one else but Jesus. Right? And it’s only when Jesus gave us authority to do the stuff that we did that we could do what we did because it was in His Name. So, but Jesus is dead. Who’s going to raise Him from the dead? So, you know, I hear you guys what you’re saying, but I think you guys think that you know, you want to see Jesus so bad that you’ve all gone a bit mental. You know, you’ve got an illusion thing going here – you’ve all persuaded each other that He’s alive. But actually, I’m mentally strong enough to know that logically, no one comes back from the dead unless Jesus was around and He’s no longer around. So no one comes back from the dead. So who’s going to raise Jesus from the dead? And so listen – I’ve got enough savvy here to not get into your delusional state – all of you disciples that you say you saw Jesus. But you can’t prove that to me. So the only way I’ll believe it is if I can see Him…”
Well, that’s no faith at all. Right? That’s no faith at all. “…So if I can, you know, put my finger in the piercing in His hand and I can touch the side of the wound in His side, I think I’ll believe that it’s Him, but otherwise, you guys are smoking something.” And then, of course, Jesus – what does He do? He walks through a closed door. I’m just using that for this year. He walks through a closed door, He just entered the room the Bible says. There was no opening or closing of doors, He just appeared and He goes to Thomas and He says, “Thomas, I believe you have some doubts about Me. You want to touch Me? It’s Me. Here’s the marks, here’s the wound in My side. Here I am Thomas.” “Sorry, Lord. Sorry, Lord.” Too late, Thomas. Where’s your faith, hey?
You understand that Thomas was the one who watched Jesus walk on water? Yes? I mean, he saw Peter get out the boat and walk on water. He saw Jesus calm the storm. He watched Him. He watched Him. “Hey, you… Sssh” and then all the wind went away and all the waves went away and this man, he watched Him. He watched Him heal people. He watched Him raise people from the dead. He watched him. Right? “Thomas, how much must you have Jesus live with you before you understand actually that He’s man and God? Thomas, why are you still so doubtful, Thomas? After everything you’ve seen – why, Thomas?”
Ephesians 6:10 says, 10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Ephesians 6:10-13, NKJV). So this passage of Scripture, without me getting very, you know, ‘teaching’ about it, and I’m not going to be teaching in detail about all of these different things that happen. I’m merely using this Scripture to say that our fight is not against flesh and blood, our fight is against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual forces. Right?
I used the example this morning, I used the example of my marriage to Pastor Sharon and in the early years of our marriage, as you well know, she had an anger problem and a temper problem and I had a stubbornness problem. And the Bible does say 16Where there is strife, all manner of evil abounds (James 3:16). So, I made a decision, because I knew the Word of God that I did not want evil in my marriage. And so I decided that I was not going to get into strife with Pastor Sharon. I just was not going to get into strife with her. So we would have a difference of agreement, a difference of opinion, we’d have a difference and we’d start to fight. So, what must I do? If I’m not going to get into strife, what must I do? Keep quiet. Because otherwise, if I stand there in front of her and I just begin to say, “No Sharon… the Bible says… the Bible says… and the Bible says.” Just now she’s going to take a fork and pin my tongue to the kitchen counter. You understand what I’m saying? Because it’s like, “Don’t quote the Bible to me now.” Yes? Rather graphic image, right? Mmmm, sorry about that, but it’s the way I felt sometimes, you know, it’s like… Anyway. So I just would keep quiet. “Sharon, I’m not going to say anything.” And then she would get mad because I was keeping quiet. So then she wanted to fight with me because I was keeping quiet. But eventually, we got to a point where we came to an understanding that I’m keeping quiet to preserve our marriage because I don’t want to be in strife with you. So, I just want to break it down for a minute. Who is the person that I was confronting? I was confronting her, it was me and her.
So, you might turn in and say this about marriage; this is not about principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness and wickedness in high places, this is not about that, this is about marriage, mmm really? Well, why do you think we are arguing about stuff in our marriage – where does the argument come from? So it might come from finances, it might come from unfulfilled desires, it might come from questions about intimacy, it might come from the kids. Any which way, there is some kind of pressure point of something that’s got to either happen or not to happen and we did disagree, so where does that pressure point come from? Well, it comes from; when you come into the marriage, you bring things with you and she brings with her and at this point in time we disagree. So what influenced our thinking to this point? What influenced our thinking to this point was things that we learned years ago that we learned through the world system that we learned through religious behaviour patterns that we need to be like this. So I might be thinking it needs to be like this and someone else – and she might be thinking, no it needs to be like that, and so boom you have a conflict. So, where does the conflict come from? Through thought patterns that’s in the world system, right? Who’s the ruler of the world? Satan. So, for you to say; I’m having a difference with my partner and there is no devil influence here at all this is just human to human, you’re wrong. It might be reflected in a natural argument and I’m not suggesting that there is a demon immediately there present, stoking the argument but certainly the influence to have this conflict is not the angels and Jesus, right? It’s the carnal man that’s been influenced by thoughts and desires and things like that. And so who’s talking to your carnal man? It’s influences of wickedness, spiritual forces that have happened a long time ago that now are coming out to influence you. Amen.
And so that happens at just about every level of life where you’re actually thinking, oh this is just the human natural thing, this is just a human natural thing. It might be revealed in just a human natural thing but actually, somewhere along the line, there’s a demonic dark force that’s causing you to be disobedient to the Word. So, the minute there’s a question on the table to not obey the truth then it got to be an influence of darkness that is causing you not to obey the truth. You guys, I mean, I know it’s early in the year you shouldn’t be tired yet. No, not yet, I mean, it’s the first Sunday of the year. Come on. I know it’s hot and all that but you shouldn’t be tired yet or are you still waking up from your slumber of the holiday? You are allowed to say, “Amen, Ps John.” Just so that I know you are awake. Ernest, what do you say? There you go, Ernest. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
So, in this relationship thing, I’m wanting God, we want God to show Himself in our relationship. So what must God do to prove Himself to say that I’m God in your relationship? So there’s a part of you that’s like Thomas that says, “I won’t believe it until He intervenes.” At the same time you’ve got to say, but if He doesn’t intervene what is it about this that’s God? You know, there’s this natural process that you say; if He doesn’t sort out my natural process then I’m not sure if I can trust Him, but I don’t want to trust Him completely because I want to sort out the natural process because I’m not sure if I can trust Him because in my logic pattern who’s going to raise this matter from the dead. Come on now. Hallelujah.
So we got to take up the whole armour of God that we will be able to stand in the evil day and having done all you must stand, you must continue to believe the truth, you must continue to be in a place where you say, “In 2020 I’m going to believe the truth of God, I’m gonna believe His Word, I’m going to believe what God says. I’m not going to believe what my natural man is telling me or what the system of the world is telling me.” Right! Okay.
So, we’re going to get down to a few brass tax right now. Do you know that right now China is in recession? Do you know that? Do you know that a few years ago when we in South Africa experienced an abundance of money – that was about that time when President Zuma, ex-president Zuma was spending money like it was going out of fashion on Nkandla, Khaya Nhlanhla whatever you wanna call it, Kandla. How would you say it Melusi? Nkandla. Khaya. It’s just a little khaya he built for himself. But I don’t know if you remember, it was about 2012 there about 2013 there was like money washing through South Africa, cause China was experiencing an 8% economic growth and as long as China was experiencing growth America was happy the rest of the world was happy because China was hungry for cement, China was hungry for iron, China was hungry for all our natural resources and we just couldn’t deliver enough, and we were just making money. Remember that? If you don’t remember that maybe you were a bit young. Maybe Mia doesn’t remember that. You don’t remember that, do you, Mia? Okay well I’m telling you now. But you know, I mean the fact of the matter is that, that was what it was, China was like the global hotspot of the world and everybody was saying, “We’ve got to be connected to China.”
Do you know that 8% growth rate – if you’re in recession it means you have no positive growth rate. That means that at the very best you have a flat economy but more than likely you have an economy that’s a negative growth rate. That’s what it means to have recession; means your economy is receding, it’s going backwards. You know when the tide comes in then it recedes, when it recedes it means it’s going out, it’s going back, right?
So, that means they went from 6 years ago, more or less six or seven years ago, they went from 8% growth to no percent growth rate, more likely a negative percent growth rate. So you’ve got this massive, massive economy in the world that was buying from everybody as much as they could and now they just can’t, they can’t stimulate their economy. They even tried reevaluating their currency to try and combat America’s influence. Do you know Europe is in a recession? Did you know that? At the very best, once again Europe is at a flat line economy. These are facts, this is not something that I’m just sucking out of my thumb, this is a fact. I’ve been watching, I’ve been listening. So you’ve got Africa, who doesn’t know what to do with the growth rate even if they, even if you said boo and baa to them. Really Africa doesn’t know what to do with the growth rate. They just, I’m talking about the whole of Africa, they just respond to what everything else is going on in the world, right? Africa, but South Africa is either at a very stagnant growth rate or a recession. Most of Africa. You’ve got the east that’s pretty much in a recession, you’ve got Europe that’s pretty much in a recession, Asia’s sort of flatlined somewhere roundabout there. The only place that’s got any kind of thing going for it is America. That’s experiencing boom economy.
Just by the way, it doesn’t matter whether you like Donald Trump, whether you like his words, whether you like his attitude, whether you like anything, or you don’t like him. You don’t have to like anything about somebody God sends to your life, as long as he is doing what God wants him to do. You don’t even have to like all his policies, but nobody can deny that what he’s done is turned America around and they are doing spectacular. I wonder if it’s got anything to do with he moved the embassy to Jerusalem. I wonder, I wonder if it’s got anything to do with the nation of Israel, I wonder. I wonder if it’s got anything to do with, “I’m going to take on Israel’s biggest enemy; Iran.” I wonder. Maybe, right? I wonder if it’s got to do with some praying churches in America. Maybe.
Okay, change gears with me for a minute. It was some years ago I said, specifically about Witbank, but I even said it in Johannesburg, I said that there’s some things happening with the economy and you’ve got to make sure that you’re not in debt, you got to save some money, you make sure you get rid of some of those things and get strong because things are not looking good. It was a prophetic word that came out of my spirit, remember? Praise the Lord. I got news for you, I got news for you. 2019 was a year of marvels and wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of God. I got through telling you at the end of last year that what could have and should have taken our ministry ten years, God has done in one year. Right? So another ten years, one more year and that’s extraordinary, so wow. Why am I telling you about Timothy and why am I telling you about the principalities and powers and all of this kind of stuff? Well, I’m telling you that because if you are one of those that obeys the written Word of God then you have every right to take the prophetic Word of God and claim it for your life. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
So you know first Timothy 1:18 says, 18This charge I commit to you Timothy, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck. (1 Timothy 1:18-19 NKJV). I’m going to read that same scripture to you in the New Living Translation. It says, 18Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. Hey? May they help you fight well in the Lord’s battles. 19Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been made shipwrecked. (1 Timothy 1:18-19 NLT).
I want to talk just for a moment about how you violate your conscience. I don’t want to get into too much detail about this today, but you violate your conscience because, the way you violate your conscience is that you address your faith as a performance issue of dos and don’ts and your faith as a formula rather than as a living relationship with Jesus. So when you promise yourself something and you let yourself down and you do a doubting Thomas on your faith, you let yourself down and you make a shipwreck of your faith because you violate your conscience. Thank God, He doesn’t need your boat. He’ll get you to walk on water to get you to another boat. He will. He’ll call you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
So I don’t want to talk too much about how you violate your conscience. But essentially what it is, is you promise yourself and you promise God something that you don’t keep and you let yourself down. And so then your conscience starts to worry you that you don’t have what it takes to actually live by faith.
Pastor Lynn am I preaching good today? I was hoping someone else might join you and say yes. You guys, late afternoon on a Sunday, magtig man. Let me read this in The Message translation, I’m passing this work on to you, my son Timothy. The prophetic word that was directed to you prepared us for this. All those prayers are coming together now so you will do this well, fearless in all your struggle, What struggle is this, this is the struggle of your conscience where you say, “I live by my faith,” and you let yourself down. “I live by faith now,” and then you let yourself down. God says, “Hey, if you could do it by yourself you wouldn’t need Me. So don’t trust in yourself, trust in Me because you let yourself down.” Keeping a firm grip on your faith and on yourself. After all, this is a fight we’re in. (1 Timothy 1:18-19 MSG). Hallelujah. Glory to God.
So you know, Brynn is one of my examples of how you don’t have to violate your conscience in order to live by faith. So with Brynn, you know, he used to be a smoker and Brynn has a good body, he likes to look after himself. You know? Actually, he started going to gym when he was like seventeen or something like that. But he’s a smoker. So, on the outside he’s looking real buff but on the inside he’s looking like an ashtray. Right? So after mom and dad prayed for him for a long time, you know, we spent many hours on our knees for Brynn. Yeah, and he needed all of it believe me. But here he is, praise God, here he is. The devil did not get his life, praise God for that. Hallelujah.
Anyways, so the time came when Brynn decided he wanted to quit smoking. But he was addicted to nicotine. And so, he said, “Mom and dad, I know how to get rid of this bad habit of smoking; I’m going to use the Word.” So, actually, Brynn and I were talking about it in the car coming here, you know, and he was reaffirming some of the details that I knew about, but he was just explaining to me how it worked in his life at that time. And he would literally walk into a garage to go and buy cigarettes and he would smoke at least a pack of twenty a day, at least, you know. But he would go in and buy a pack of cigarettes and as he, when he would walk out with the cigarette in his hand he would say, “Thank You, Lord, that nicotine doesn’t have a hold on me and that I’m free of these cigarettes and I quit smoking in Jesus’ Name.”
Then he would take out a cigarette and light it and smoke it, and you know if you’re a smoker and you like nicotine, it’s like when – I’m told I’ve never done it in my life I can’t tell you – but I’m told it’s like when you do that and that nicotine smoke gets into your lungs it feels good it’s like a rush. I mean, if you’ve been a long-time smoker it’s not the rush so much, it’s like preventing your body from going into detox, right? Like you know, you need the nicotine continuously to keep you at that level, you know (smoking inhaling and exhaling enacting and sounds). It even looks weird on me right? Don’t know how to do that. Never done it in my life you know. But I’ve seen guys do it, you know they hold it like this and they flick the cigarette like this in their hand you know and they flick the ash off like this.
So Brynn, “Thank You, Lord, that I’m free of smoking and I’m free of the habit of nicotine and nicotine does not have a hold of my body in Jesus’ Name.” And he would say it again and again and again. So, you know, day one nothing happened – another pack of cigarettes. Day two nothing happened – another pack of cigarettes. Week one nothing happened.
Now watch this – if you’ve got a performance level of faith then you can violate your conscious because you’re saying you’re quitting smoking but you’re still smoking. So if you violate your conscious because you’ve set yourself a performance standard to quit smoking – you make shipwreck of your faith because your conscious says, “How can you say you’re a person of faith when you are still smoking?”
So but that’s the whole point about the blood of Jesus; it’s not either-or, it’s that you have the opportunity to live in both spaces. Jesus didn’t come for perfect people. He came so that faith can make you perfect. Hello. So, you know, if someone was watching him smoke a cigarette it would be like, “Really, and you call yourself a faith-Christian? And you have been confessing a whole month you’re going to quit smoking and you’re still smoking?” And that’s typically how Christians would view other Christians, you know, “Mmmm, you’re still smoking?” You don’t know what’s going on in a man that, in his heart, he said, “I’m giving this to God and I am serious about quitting and I’m using the Word and let the Word do its job because I can’t. I can’t so God’s gotta.”
So how’s he going to, gotta? If Brynn at any given time had treated smoking like doubting Thomas he would have said, “Listen, I’ve been speaking the Word for a whole month and You haven’t showed up for me, Jesus. So if You can’t resurrect me from my smoking, who is? I won’t believe it until I am free. So I’m going to just not confess the Word anymore. I’ll just wait until You come upon me and supernaturally deliver me.” That’s how Thomas, doubting Thomas would attach his faith to stuff.
So but what Brynn did was, “No the Word’s working. Buy the next pack week after week, month after month. Three months later, one day, he’s got a half a pack of cigarettes in his hand and he comes home and he just, “I don’t need this anymore.” And he took that pack of cigarettes threw it in the trash. And I mean, he tells me, he says, for 24 hours it was like there was a bit of a little thing in his body, “You need to smoke, you need to smoke…” but not serious but there was a little bit of a thing there but after 24 hours like it was gone.
And it’s 10 years and he hasn’t touched a cigarette in 10 years. Now hold on a minute, I’m not setting Brynn up to make him the saint of faith. Just because he overcome smoking with the Word of God in one way doesn’t mean to make him pure in every other area of his life. Hello. And for him to think that way would be to set himself up with a performance level of conscious thinking that; “I’m the man who can live by faith, and I can do it all.” Meantime, he’s got his natural man and spiritual warfare that he’s got to keep standing. Got to keep the armour of God and keep standing otherwise he’s going to other things. Ja, neh? Come on tell me I’m preaching good, Pastor John.
And that’s how it happens with money too. You become a tither, you become a seed sower and then you wait for God to show you a miracle and you stop your confession. Because like doubting Thomas you say, “Well, I’ve sown my seed now He’s got to show up.” No no, you got to keep going, you got to keep going, you got to just keep going – because one day God shows up and like Timothy you can wage the good warfare because of the Words that are spoken.
And so that’s what the apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, he said 7I have fought the fight, the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7). Hallelujah.
So 2020, it’s been quite a thing, it’s been quite a thing for me. It’s like when that clock ticked over. I started to count day one. Day one and then I said, “Day two.” I said, “This is day three.” And, you know, it’s like – I have an expectation that everyday something is going to happen. Every day something is going to happen. Really, I do. I have an expectation that something’s happening every day. “But Pastor John, did you see something happen every day?” No, but just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. I have an expectation that it’s happening every day. The outcome of it might happen in one big bang but every day it’s happening. Because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things you can’t yet see. So just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean to say it’s not happening, it is happening.
2020. Well, Brother Jerry said this, “2019” he said this, “I heard Words from the Holy Spirit – 2019 a year of Marvels and Wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of our God such as have never been seen before in the earth. Don’t stop believing this because 2019 comes to an end. The Lord impressed upon me to tell the people add and beyond.“
That means I’m still living in marvels and wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of my God towards me. That’s still happening, every day. At the same time, the Lord said to him that, “In 2020 I will open a new door and My people will experience supernatural increase like never before.” How many of you want supernatural increase? Remember I got telling you, at the end of last year, it’s not just about money. It’s about relationships. It’s about well-being. It’s about physical conditioning. It’s about many things in your life and everything that’s in your life you can have supernatural increase. Supernatural increase. Not just natural increase.
I believe this with all my heart. I believe this, I believe this, I believe this. When all of Israel was in a drought God sent the prophet to a widow woman, and she was about to eat her last meal and die. So if you, I mean, if you’ve seen pictures of people that have been in a drought a long time and they’ve had very little to eat, how skinny they get. Right? So this woman had been rationing, rationing, rationing, rationing until she’d rationed to the point where there’s nothing more to ration, this is the last meal. That means they were skinny and had very little energy. Right? And so, right at the very last moment, the prophet of God shows up and says, “Give me everything you’ve got for me.” Hey, yesterday. There was a natural pastor on the earth – CNN, Eyewitness News. Right? 702, for sure. But in South Africa you know, you name it – they’ll probably send BBC journalists out to come to this pastor that took the last of the widow’s food. But the prophet of God said, “Give me what… give me the last here.” And then what happened? God supernaturally kept them until the drought was over. They never ran out of anything.
So you might look at your life and say, “Well, you know to me supernatural increase might be a brand new car.” But maybe while the world is going through a bit of a recession right now. And I’m not saying it’s… and I’m making a saying ‘a bit of a recession’ because it’s not a depression. Because if it was depression, the world would be in a bad way. Right? But it’s certainly not in a great way. Don’t you think it’s great that South African Airways is in financial administration and that actually we’ve given our last two billion Rand to SAA to bail them out? Aren’t you glad? I mean, whether you like, whether he’s your president in terms of your vote or not, Cyril Ramaposa is doing a good job. He’s undoing the effects of corruption over many, many years – he’s busy undoing it. Hello? I believe it’s partly because we pray. But listen, it doesn’t matter whether there’s a lot of money washing through South Africa or not. If you believe God, then your last bit that you’ve got will be multiplied and keep you going. Hallelujah.
And sometimes it’s not about ‘I have to get the new car’ – it’s about “Hey, I’ve just got to keep steady and everything’s got to keep going right in my life until God brings about the reversal of drought.” Sometimes, sometimes just to stay alive is supernatural increase. Sometimes! You’ve got to have a spiritual recognition. “Well, I didn’t go on holiday in December like other people seem to have gone on holiday, because I didn’t have the money to go on holiday in December. So, you know, I can’t be doing so well – maybe my faith is not working.” Well, maybe you just are okay because you have a job and you go to work and things are still okay. If you didn’t go to a holiday that’s nothing to be negative about. It’s rather something to be thankful about – God’s still with me, I’m still blessed, I’m still alive. Hallelujah.
Experiencing supernatural increase is like this: it’s God, it’s beyond anything I can think of, it’s beyond anything I can do, it’s beyond anything I’ve ever experienced before. So, Brother Copeland – he has spoken at the same time and he said, “2020 yields itself to a new vision, 2020 is a time of great increase in dreams and visions.” Hallelujah. He said that 2020 is going to have a year of great change – wonderful and magnificent changes in the Kingdom of God. Hey, he’s talking about the Kingdom of God, he’s not saying that there’s going to be magnificent changes in the world. So you ought to make sure you’re part of the Kingdom of God. Hallelujah. Listen, he said this, “In the Earth changes that will come, will come because of the Church having insights, ideas and concepts directly from Jesus – directly from Jesus to His Church by His mighty Holy Spirit.” So listen now, if you don’t believe in this, then you’re not going to get this. And you might hear about people around you that are having all of these things, and you say, “How come they’re getting it and I’m not?” Maybe it’s because I’m believing it. Hello?
Come on, Church, why don’t you believe it with me? Why don’t you believe it with me? Don’t make shipwreck of your faith. Don’t put yourself in a position where you are in a state of, “Well, I’m not sure if I’m going to… you know, I’ll believe it if I see it.” Don’t let your logic take over. Your logic is probably your greatest barrier against what God wants for your life.
So Isaiah 59:19 says this in the King James Bible, 19So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19, KJV). So how come you read it like that way? I’m glad you asked, I’m going to read it to you from The Message translation, and it reads like this; 19In the west they’ll fear the name of God, in the east they’ll fear the glory of God, for he’ll arrive like a river in flood stage, whipped to a torrent by the wind of God. 20I’ll arrive in Zion as Redeemer, to those in Jacob who leave their sins.” (Isaiah 59:19-20, MSG). How do you leave your sins? You’ve just got to believe in Jesus. You’ve got to believe this Word. Hallelujah.
And then finally I want you to see this passage of Scripture and then I’m done. Isaiah 58:13 in The Message translation. I want you to transpose the word Sabbath to the word “every day is my day”. Every day is my holy day, not holiday, holy day. So can I read it for you, are you with me? I’m nearly done. You should be excited about that. No? Are you enjoying this message? Hallelujah, got an “amen” out of you right at the end. Whoo, glory to Jesus. Check this out, 13If you watch your step on (everyday – that’s your holy day), and don’t use my holy day (your everyday) for personal advantage, If you treat your (everyday – which is your holy day) as a day of joy, (God’s day – your holy day, which is everyday) as a celebration, If you honour it by refusing (everyday is your holy day, so it’s not) ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there – Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so! (Isaiah 58:13-14). Hallelujah.
So if I read it to you again – I’m going to read it to you again: If you watch your step on everyday that you wake up that becomes a holy day everyday and don’t use your everyday holy day for personal advantage, and if you don’t treat every day as your holy day as for personal advantage, If you treat everyday as a holy day as a day of joy, then God’s holy day will be as a celebration to you, which is everyday – you will have a day of joy and celebration, and everyday if you honour it by refusing ‘business as usual,‘ making money, running here and there – Then you’ll be free to enjoy God everyday, because everyday is a holy day, and every holy day is a joy day, is a celebration day – EVERY day you’ll enjoy God! And then you’ll be free to enjoy God and oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above all these other things! And I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob! Because God says so! Because God says so! (Isaiah 58:13-14).
Now come on now. Why on earth would you want to live any other way? Why would you not get up in the morning and say happy feet come on. You know, I’ve had to, kind of because I’ve hurt my foot in tennis because I was thinking I was still 25. It took me a few days to stop limping, but I still had happy feet. Because my happy feet came from my inside, it didn’t come from my outside. It doesn’t take my circumstances to give me happy feet, it takes the joy of the Lord as a holy day to give me happy feet! But now I’m back to almost my best in my happy feet. I think next Sunday, I’m going to show you a video on the penguins, and the happy feet penguins. And we’ll get you dancing a little bit because 2020 is a year of new doors; supernatural increase. On top of God’s marvels and wonders and extraordinary manifestations of the greatness of God. Wow.
Let me tell you, you’ll look at her green hair, and you’ll say, ‘Can I also have some please?’ Because, you know, everybody’s going to be so happy, it’s going to be like, “Happy feet. Happy hair. Happy handbag. Happy, happy. Praise the Lord. Happy feet. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”
Stand up with me please, put your hand on our chest like this and say “I’m a son of God. Hallelujah. I’m a son of God, therefore, I am free of everything that holds me back, I am free to enjoy God, every day I’m going to celebrate every day, I’m going to have joy every day because I’m a son of God. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
You know, this morning I spent a bit of time on this, and I didn’t do it today because God had me go in a different, slightly different direction, but, you know, the one thing you have to guard against is waking up in the morning with a lip that’s on your feet; a bottom lip, you know. And so, when your bottom lip is on your feet, you’ve got to tell yourself to pick up your lip because it’s not your lip you want to tread on, it’s your lip that you want to use to praise Him. And so, when you’re walking on your lip, you can’t praise him pretty much. You know, it’s like your lip gets caught under your feet. So, roll it up, stick it back to where it belongs, and say; Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
You know me and Pastor Sharon have lived like this a long time, sometimes we both were tripping over each other’s bottom lip because things didn’t feel so good, and things weren’t doing so good. And then you’ve got to just say ‘happy feet, happy feet, happy feet. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And then you’ve got to get your lip away so you can have happy feet and Praise the Lord, and Praise the Lord, and Praise the Lord, and Praise the Lord, and Praise the Lord, and Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Glory to Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
So, I have a question, a rhetorical question to ask you, and the question is this: Do you think the Lord loves you? So, do you think I love you? Well in case you didn’t know this, I do love you. I love you, and the Lord loves you, and we are heading in the for the greatest year of our lives in 2020. I’m telling you. The greatest year of our lives. The greatest year of our lives.
Can I say goodbye to you now? Praise Jesus. Pastor Melusi, come up here. I did this in the church this morning, and I pretty much did the thing there as I’m doing to you today. I pretty much said goodbye, and I walked out of the church. I pretty much went straight home afterwards, I did just say hello to a few people, but I pretty much went straight home. So, I’m not just doing it to you all because it’s Sunday afternoon. I got a lot of things that are in the month of January I will tell you that there are a lot of things that God wants me to speak into being! Amen. So, what I did do in Witbank this morning is make them do 30 seconds of praise. So, I’m going to ask him to do 30 seconds of praise so I can go. Would that be alright with you all? Hallelujah. Love you.
Be blessed. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. See I don’t want to leave you, because I like you so much. Bye.
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