Scripture references: John 17:15-17 (NKJV); Ephesians 3:8-9 (NLT); Ephesians 3:11-12 (NLT); Ephesians 3:1-13 (NLT); Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV; Matthew 17:1-3 (NLT); Matthew 17:4 (NLT); Matthew 17:5-9 (NLT).
Pastor Sharon:
Father, we thank You for Your word that comes to us now. Your words, Lord, your words come to us now. Your words come to our hearts now, Lord, and our hearts receive. Our hearts believe. Our hearts conceive. Our hearts grow this word that comes to us today, Father. Hallelujah. We thank you for inspired utterance for Pastor John and a hearing ear for every listener, in Jesus’ name. We all say, Amen.
Pastor John Bendixen:
Praise Jesus. I want you just to raise your hands, and just to give God thanks, and just to praise Him and honor Him for all the good things that He has done for us and continues to do for us. Hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You. Praise You, Jesus. Praise Your mighty name. Lord. We glorify Your Holy Name, Your Great Name, Your Marvelous Name, the wonderful working God. Hallelujah. That is both personal and very public and very powerful. Hallelujah. Praise You Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Just lift up your voices just a little bit. Praise You Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise Your name Jesus.
You’re wonderful, Lord. You’re worthy, Lord. You’re worthy of praise, and honor, and glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to the Lamb of God. Glory to the Lamb of God. Glory to His Name. Praise His Holy Name. Praise His Mighty Name. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise His Name. Hallelujah, Lord. Glory to the Most High God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Hallelujah. What you’ve just done right now is the way that you will bring everything from Heaven to Earth. You know, there are times when God wants to display Himself very publicly, like He did last Sunday; and like He did with Brother Jerry. And then, there’s times when He wants to do what He does publicly, privately.
And that’s what you can do every day. What you’ve just done now, you do it every day. You just praise Him, and you praise Him, and you praise Him until it’s uncomfortable; and you just keep praising Him, and you keep praising Him, and it’s more uncomfortable, because you’re not used to it yet; but you will get used to it. And then you will break through that level of comfort, comfort, discomfort, comfort, discomfort, discomfort, comfort, until you can do more of it and your capacity increases. Hallelujah. Then the public and the private begin to flow together into a very powerful force. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Lord. Praise You, Lord. Praise You, Lord. Praise You, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah. You may be seated. Thank you. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus.
It’s quite something to be part of a ministry and someone’s life like Brother Jerry. Because you get to access from time to time, as I do, you get to access the gift and the calling that he needs to flow in. Because that’s God’s requirement for his life. And so, you understand that he comes to us, and he definitely has a very deep and very significant calling to us, because we are called to him. So, he has something deeper and greater with us than he has with many, many, I would say, most other ministries, because of our walk with him.
But at the same time, I had the privilege to go with him to Ethiopia. And, you know, he transitions from being the messenger to us, to the messenger, to the Ethiopians. And he can no longer be living in the space that we are. He’s got to transition to be the messenger to them. Amen. And so, it becomes more and more real to me, that whatever he deposits with us, it’s up to us to take it and run with it. Because he’s going to other people. And he’s going to be the messenger to other people. And that’s his job. That’s his calling. That is his requirement. That’s his assignment. But our assignment is to have what’s deposited to us and to flow with it. Amen.
So, I want you to know, that even though I allowed myself to transition with him into the space that he needs to be in, because there’s a component of my gifting and my ministry that also has that. So, I need to have him show me a way, and show me the way that I need to go, because there’s a part of my walk that I’ve got to flow in that capacity too. Amen. But that requires that we are at a time where if we, “God has moved amongst us” and we do nothing different, then we’re fooling ourselves and then we’ll just go back to being the same old.
And I have participated in last Sunday’s service and the previous services with Brother Jerry. As I’ve been traveling, I’ve participated many times via video. And I want you to know that I believe God has got a plan for us. That is going to require adjustments with us as a ministry. That we have to cooperate more fully with Him to get the maximum of what He is wanting us to get. So that we can continue to go to the highest level. So, we got to step up and step into the things that God has for us as a ministry. It’s going to require some adjustments, and we have to flow with that. So, I ask you to continue to pray with me and let us flow with the Holy Spirit and see what kind of adjustments we must make. Amen.
So, this afternoon, you’re going to have a message moment and you’re invited. If you can’t be here at five o’clock, then you can tune in via livestream. That’s one of the adjustments we must make, that we have to have these message moments on live stream, so that everybody that can’t be here can participate anyway. Yah. Amen. And who knows what the Holy Spirit will do in message moments that is different to the way we had message moments before. In fact, I want to tell you, and I declare it, that it won’t be the same. It’s going to be different. There’s going to be things that God will do in message moments that He hasn’t been able to do before. That’s the higher, that’s the stepping up and stepping into. Amen.
And so just by way of making sure that we’re all on the same page, we are scheduled in Johannesburg to have a picnic next week. A picnic is not just merely a picnic. It wasn’t, it’s not my design to just have coffee and hot cross buns with you. It’s my desire that we will tap into what God’s got for all of our community, that is the Joburg people, that have been coming through to Witbank. But because of what’s in my heart to share with you and some of the adjustments that we had to make with Brother Jerry’s plane getting held up in Kenya, and some of my staff members that had to participate quite strongly in making adjustments to plans and scheduling and flights and many other things. We are not ready to do the picnic in Johannesburg on Saturday.
So, we want to move it to the 11th of March. And I invite the Joburg people, that if there’s anything that you have, that is a school holiday, that is some kind of a break, some kind of thing that will prevent you from coming to this. I asked you to communicate that with me so that we can change the date to suit everybody. Because I want everybody to participate. It’s important, this is an important gathering. It’s not just for us to have coffee and hot cross buns together. I want that. I want us to have the fellowship around the Word, but this is a significant time. And I committed to the Joburg people last year, that come the beginning of this year, we would get together and we would assess our way forward. And that’s what this is all about.
This is not just a matter of having coffee together. This is assessing the way forward for the Johannesburg people. And it’s going to include what we do in Witbank and MiXchange and everything else that God is doing in the ministry. It’s an appropriate time now for us to do this. So, we’re going to move it to the 11th of March. So, we have, I have more time to prepare, and have my staff ready to prepare. Because there’s things that we want to present to you and talk to you about. And so that we can all hear what God has to say to all of us. Amen. Hallelujah.
I want to remind you of the message that Brother Jerry brought. You should have received this in some form or another but I’m going to read it to you publicly, that he got this message from God for us, just for us as a church. This is a new season that you’ve entered into. A season of greater blessings that I’ve arranged for you. Blessings that you’ve never experienced before. So, get ready to receive them. They’re yours for sure. I’m taking you higher. Yes, that’s my plan. So, stay in faith and take your stand. Refuse to be moved by what others say. I’m in charge and I’ll have My way. Yes, this is a new season, which many thought would never come. But I’ve made it happen. Yes, it’s what I’ve done. I’m still the God who makes the impossible possible. It’s what I do. It’s all because of my love for you. So, rejoice and be glad with outbursts of joy and laughter too. You’re entering into the realm of maximum, just like I said, you would do.
Amen. Hallelujah. Well, we become practiced as a ministry, we have become practiced at receiving the Word of God, through the prophet of God, and we’ve become practiced at exercising these words. And so, we will continue to do this no matter what. Amen. We will press into this; we will press into this. Glory to God. John, chapter 17, verse 15, says, 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth (John 17:15-17 NKJV). It’s for sure we cannot be removed out of the world. Because to remove us out of the world, we would have to die. Jesus is not praying that we should be removed out of the world, but that we should be protected from the evil one that’s in the world. Amen.
And so, do you think that Jesus’ prayers are being answered? Definitely. There is a level of Jesus’ prayer, that is our responsibility to choose. If we continue to function in the world system, the way the world continues to want to draw us into its system, then we are going to participate in the ways of evil. And one of the ways that God is going to remove us out of this is the way He’s going to remove us out of that, He’s going to show us the way to go. He’s going to show us the way to go. He’s not just going to leave us not knowing what to do. If these prayers are being answered, He’s going to show us the way to go.
And so that means the way that we are living is going to be different to the way that the world lives. By default, it must be so. If Jesus’ prayer is being answered, by default, it must be so. We got to be living differently to the way the world lives. We have to be, we have to do it differently. I mean, if we live the same as the world lives all the time, then how do we differentiate what is the evil ways of the world that we are living in? Then we just live in the same way that the evil ways of the world dictate that we must live. Being born again is not the differentiator. That is just the starting point. Being born again is what makes you a spirit being that is alive to God so that you can hear His ways. So that’s just the starting point.
In Ephesians, chapter three verse eight. Jesus says, 1 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. (Ephesians 3:8 NLT). Here’s Paul, the apostle’s call to tell all people about the treasure that is available to them in Christ. What is this treasure? That we can live in the world but not be part of the world. That we can access the ways of God whereas they can’t. That’s a big difference. So, when you stand here on a Sunday morning, and you lift your hands and praise God, that’s a sign – of your difference. Because it doesn’t make sense to praise the Lord like that. Does it? Doesn’t make sense. When you praise Him and you praise Him and you praise him, it doesn’t make sense. It’s not logical. If it was logical, the world would do it. It’s not reasonable, which is why Romans chapter 12, verses one and two says, Give your bodies as a reasonable worship. Because that’s what the spirit man wants you to do. It’s not what your reason tells you to do.
9 I was chosen to explain to everyone[c] this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. 10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 3:9 NLT). Do you know how powerful your praise is? When you give thanks to God, you are making a statement to all the unseen rulers, all the unseen powers that you cannot see with your eyes. But your praise makes a statement to all of the heavens, both the angelic beings with God and the demonic forces. Your praise makes a statement of the living Christ that’s in you, that treasure that’s in you. That is the purpose. That is the mystery that God wants us all to live in.
So, what if you are a Christian that goes around just behaving like every other person? Well, then you are hiding the light that God has given you. You’re putting it under a covering. What’s the covering? Your logic. What’s the covering? It’s your flesh. What’s the covering? It’s your ways. Come on. So, when God brings us a message and He says it’s a year of maximum and it’s a year to step up and step into and to go to the highest level available or attainable, then there is no way you’re going to get that with logic. No, no. There’s no way you’re going to get there with logic or with being the same person that you were. You have to get there through spirit life. ‘Ja, ja.’
So, 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence (Ephesians 3:11-12 NLT). Please say this; I am bold and confident to come into God’s presence. [Congregation repeats after Pastor John] No, wait a minute, only if you feel like it? “I’ve got to get myself into the right mood. Got to get myself into the right mood. If I’m not in the right mood, I can’t do this.” Shut up. The right mood, ‘ja nê’. Like your body and your flesh and your mind is always going to ever, always, anytime be in the right mood. Exactly. No, know your body and your flesh wants to live in the realm that it’s most comfortable in, that’s the natural realm. Your spirit man wants to live in the realm that it’s most comfortable in, that’s the spirit realm. So, you’ve got to decide whether you want to live in the realm where your body is comfortable or where your spirit man is comfortable.
And so when your spirit man says, “Praise God, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him,” your body says, “No, that’s enough already. Don’t feel so uncomfortable. You’re looking stupid now. Don’t you feel stupid? Don’t you feel ridiculous?” Come on, your natural man is talking to you the whole time. “You’re making a fool of yourself. You’re being stupid, you’re being silly.” And then afterwards you think back about what you did, and you think you’re even more stupid because the natural man cannot receive the things of God. How be it in the spirit we speak mysteries. In the spirit we understand these things. ‘Ja’. Glory. Glory to God. And so, then if you practice – that’s what Brother Jerry was getting us to do – give God praise in advance.
Yes, that’s what he was getting us to do to give praise in advance. That means you respond to your spirit man, not to your natural man. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Come on, I don’t care if you are in the mood or not [Congregation starts praising Jesus]. Praise You, Jesus. Praise You, Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Praise the mighty name of Jesus. Hallelujah, hallelujah. This is how you practice to be free. This is how you practice to be free. This is how you practice to get out of your natural man and get into the spirit man. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Hey, come on church, we haven’t been doing this for just five minutes. As a church, we’ve been doing this for 20 years. This shouldn’t be a surprise to you. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I’m suffering for you, so you should feel honoured. (Ephesians 3:13, NLT). So, we don’t actually let little things bother us. We just keep flowing with God. Hallelujah. Amen.
God doesn’t want us to be dependent on what our mood wants us to do. God doesn’t want us to be dependent on what our natural man feels comfortable with. God wants us to be dependent on the spirit life that is in us. Because if we are dependent on the spirit life that is in us, then we can live at the maximum. You can live on the highest level attainable only through your spirit man, not through your natural men. Okay, just bear with me for a minute. I know that we are the hands of Jesus on the earth. Right? We are. So, recognizing that I understand this truth. Just work with me for a minute. Jesus is sitting where? He is in the right hand of the Father. Yes. So, can you recognize that I’m taking the body of Christ out of this now? Can you feel Jesus’ hands on your body? No, you can’t? Because He’s not here. Right? He’s not here. He’s at the right hand of the Father.
So how are you going to know that Jesus is real? If you can’t feel His hands on your body? How are you going to know that He’s real? Well, Jesus gave us the answer. He said, I’ve got to get away from you so that I can send you someone that will take My place. And this someone can be with every one of you always. It’s the Holy Spirit. He gave us something else too. He said, “I’m giving you, My words.” So, if you can’t have His words, if you can’t have His hands, He’s given you something else that’s much more powerful. It’s His? It’s His words. So, if you are in any given situation, and you say, “I wish I had Jesus’s hands here, because if He could touch this, He could multiply it. If He could touch this, He could increase it. If He could touch this, He could heal it. If He could touch this, then everything would be different.”
Yes? So, He’s not here. So how is He going to touch something to multiply it? How’s He going to touch something to increase it? How’s He going to touch something to heal it? He sent us words. “Yeah, but, you know, they’re words that are in my mouth. They’re not words that are in Jesus’ mouth.” No, if you take His words in His word, and speak them out of your mouth, then they have the same power out of your mouth as they do in Jesus’ mouth. That’s why He became the Word that became flesh and dwelt amongst us. So that He could show us that when He’s gone His word still dwells amongst us. Amen.
How do you go to the maximum? How do you go to the highest level attainable? How do you step up and step into it? With words. With praise words. With glory words. With Holy Spirit words. Sometimes you will be led to speak words that come out of your spirit, man, if you practice it. Come on. So, when I, when Brother Jerry says, “So give praise to God in advance,” what’s he getting you to do? He’s getting you to practice. He’s getting you to practice to speak words over something that hasn’t happened yet. But you got to act like it’s already happened, otherwise, you’re not going to get to the happening. He’s not just trying to get a response from us that says, I want to feel good about everybody that you with me. I mean, it does, it does make it easier for a preacher to preach when people are responsive [Congregation responding].
But he’s not doing it for that reason he’s doing it because he understands how to live in the realm of the supernatural, and how to get the maximum and live in the highest level attainable, and he wants us all to get there. Both publicly, personally, and powerfully. That’s how he wants us to live. Glory to God. So, it’s a time that God has prepared us as a body. He’s prepared us for us this time. He has prepared for us; He has prepared us as a people, and He has prepared us with His words. He has prepared us so that we can be a demonstration of His Church, to all of the Spirit realm. This is the glorious purpose for which we were born. I don’t intend my statement to be controversial, I mean to just make my statement insightful; to give you an alternative way of thinking about it.
Did Jesus get you born-again for the sole purp
ose of telling other people to get born-again? No. That’s one of the reasons you’re born-again, that’s not the reason you got born-again. He got you born-again because He loved you. Full stop. He loves you. If you do nothing else with it, He loves you, that’s why you’re born-again. He loves you. Full stop. Exclamation point! Underscore. Bold. Yellow highlight colour. He loves you, be born again. If I tell nobody else to get born-again ever in my life, He still loves me the same way. He’s happy I’m born-again. He’s happy I’m not going to hell, He’s happy I’m going to heaven. That’s why He died; for you. End of story.
Okay. Did He, does He want you to tell other people about how good He is? Definitely. Is that the sole other purpose why you’re on the earth? No. The other purpose we’re on the earth is so that we can be the Christ on the earth, so as I read in Ephesians, we can be the plan, the mystery of the whole plan of God revealed to all spirit beings. (Ephesians 3:1-13). So, God has prepared us as a body for that. It’s a fairly obvious thing that when you are living in a praise-realm with God, that other people are going to notice your change, they’re going to notice your lifestyle, they’re going to notice you got something different. I remember when I was in the army, and I was, I had to go to a unit, a head-office unit, and I was walking down the pathway into the brigade headquarters and I was seconded there for a period of time, and when I walked in there, I didn’t know this until much later, but there was a very violent guy, a very aggressive man. He had, he literally ran, ran the headquarters-show there because of his aggression and his violence and the charismatic person that he was, even though he had no rank, he was highly influential. Let’s just put it that way.
And he was standing by one of the non-commissioned officers, he was standing there. And he saw me come walking down the pathway. And he told the non-commissioned officer that he was standing by he said, “That man coming down that pathway is a born-again Christian.” And he said, “I’m going to kill him.” He didn’t even know me from a bar of soap. He didn’t even know me. Bear in mind, I came walking down that down that pathway with wings with a maroon beret, wings on my chest, and a whole lot of other things that came with me. He had no idea what my capabilities were. It was just about; he was under the influence and the control of the enemy. I didn’t have to say a word out of my mouth. He could see the light and the glory that was on me.
So, one day, he was standing beat, and I was walking around checking on the guards. And I walked up to him. And I stood by him, and his name was Wayne, is Wayne. And I said to him, “Wayne,” I said, “You want to make Jesus the Lord and Saviour of your life, don’t you?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Let’s pray together.” I’m cutting a very long story very short. I said, “Let’s pray together.” We prayed together; he gave his life to Jesus. He got instantly born again. Just like that he got born again. The next morning, I was holding a prayer meeting for people who wanted to attend in the brigade headquarters. And I had maybe two or three people that would show up to prayer meeting, I had a tiny little room that was allocated so that I could do this. I walked in the next morning and the room was packed. People were, you know, all over the show standing out of the door packed into each other. And I walked in there and I said, “So what are y’all doing here? They said, “Wayne said if we don’t come, he’s going to beat us up. So, we’re here.” [Congregation laughing]. So, then I, then I spoke to him a little bit more, but they said, “It’s obvious something’s happened to Wayne and he’s changed.”
How many of you know we had a revival service? Our prayer meetings were never the same. Because when the glory of God changes you, other people can see it. It’s irrefutable, it’s indisputable, it’s the glory of God, it’s the life of God, it’s the power of God, it’s witnessing to all of the supernatural realm about who you are, and what God is inside of you. Hallelujah. “So, who is this man? Who is this God, this Jesus? Who is he? This Jesus that is so powerful and personal in our lives?” For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. This is not open for debate. This is God’s declaration about His son. And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end. (Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV). This is the message which we carry to the spirit realm.
This message the end of his government, and his peace shall not end it is not ending in us either. 7 Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7, NKJV). If you want to know what’s going on in this church, its zeal of the LORD of hosts, that’s performing something in you and me, that is much greater than just our little agenda. So, when you praise Him, it’s not just your agenda that is on the line here. It’s the government of God, it’s the peace of God, it’s the counsel of God. It’s the wisdom of God, it’s the glory of God that is revealed through your praises, through your words that declare His end of your faith, not yours. And so, you think that you’re the prosperity that God has for us is just so that you can drive a better car?
It is that, but the glory is not in the car. The glory is in how God gets the car to you. The glory is not in how much money you have every month, the glory is in how God is making it happen to get to you every month. The glory is not just in your healing, it’s the fact that He’s the healer. Praise Jesus. And so, if you want to say,” Well, I’m not comfortable with prosperity and wealth.” Well, then you don’t understand His government. Like God is in heaven, begging for some kind of prosperity thing to come onto Him. Do you know why we have to change our mind about prosperity? Because in God, there is no scarcity. Scarcity only exists on the earth, and it exists in your mind. So, if you don’t have scarcity in your mind, the only place that it’s going to get from is where it is in the earth into your hands.
So, if healing is not an issue of God wanting to heal you, then it’s not about whether you can be healed, it’s about getting the healing that is in God, to you. It’s not about whether relationships that are supposed to be in God’s order can be in order, it’s a matter of how you get it into the order of your life. How did I get it into my life, through His words, and the leading of His Spirit. Words, and His Spirit. I abide in His words. And because I abide in His words and His words abide in me, whatever He’s got in the heavens, in Him, comes to me. I’m teaching very well this morning. Hallelujah. I’m giving you every reason why you should wake up and praise Him. I’m giving you every reason why you should wake up in the morning and say thank you, Lord, thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. And you wake up in your in your kind of, you know, natural man comfort zone. And you say, “Ah, well, well, you know, I’m not sure that I feel in the mood today, you say, “Shut up you.” [Pastor John lightly slapping his hand across his face]. I’ll get you into the mood, very quickly [Pastor John continues slapping his face as an illustration]. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
I want to finish our session this morning with this message to you. God prepared us as a people for this moment, because He told us to burn our idols. If you don’t burn your idols, then your idols will be the alternative worship in your life. And if you have got something else that you are worshiping in your life, then you’re not giving all of your worship to God. And so, God doesn’t want half of your heart. He wants all of your heart. Amen. God has prepared us as a people because He’s been telling us for a long time that this walk with God is not about performance. It’s about His power. It’s not about our personality, is it? It’s not about the popular culture. This is about Him. It’s about His power.
It’s about the purpose that we all reveal to the heavenly realms. He’s been preparing us that for us to go to the maximum, we’ve had to come to this to say, “Lord, we’re going to burn our idols because there is a victory that You want to take us to.” That is not about how strong we are. But it’s about how You lead us. And we talked about Gideon’ 300. Yes? It wasn’t because the children of Israel could match the power of the Midianites and the Syrians. It was about His power that will get the job done. Because He wanted the glory, not the glory in the hands in the might of the people. He wanted to demonstrate beyond any logic, any natural reason that it’s His power that gets the job done.
So, Brother Jerry has ministered to us that if you’re going to go to the maximum, then you got to go to the highest mountain. And he used, ‘you got to go to the peak, you got to go to the highest level attainable, like to like a mountain peak.’ And he showed you his little vision card that had mountains on it, 2023, The Year of The Maximum, A Highest Level Attainable. Remember that? I have the privilege, just the way God orchestrated that. I had the privilege of ministering before Brother Jerry in Ethiopia, on one of the morning services. And I had a message prepared that I was going to preach, and I woke up that morning. And the Holy Spirit said to me, “I don’t want you to preach the message that you’ve prepared. I want to show you in the Word what I want you to preach.”
So I said to the Lord, I said, “Lord, I want to be ready. You know, I’m preaching before brother Jerry, he is going to be sitting on the front row. And I want to be sharp, I want to be ready for it, You know?” And so I’m all ready, I’ve got my whole plan. He said, “That’s the problem, John. It’s your plan. I want you to deliver My plan.” I said, “But I’m not going to be so ready.” He said, “That’s the whole point, John. You got to trust Me.” I said, “Well, okay, Lord.” This is the scripture that He took me to – Matthew chapter 17, verse one, 1 Six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, so there’s three people, Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone. High mountain – to be alone, high mountain – to be alone.
Well, being alone was not something unusual to Jesus, and neither was it unusual for Him to tell the disciples that He was going to be alone. What was unusual in this instance, was that He only took three with Him. Specifically, three, 2 As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. 3 Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. (Matthew 17:1-3 NLT). I just want you to see this for a moment. Jesus comes and calls Peter, James and John and He says, “Peter, James, John,” you know, in military style it’s like “Come to Me. Let’s go.” Right? We’re going somewhere. So, I just like you to picture there is nine other disciples, at least; at least. They’re all hanging out in the shade or in a room somewhere, drinking water, eating dates. Breaking bread, maybe? I don’t know. You know, they’re hanging out. Jesus takes three guys and says, “Come, let’s go.” And He starts walking up the mountain.
So, Peter, James and John, they are following Jesus and I just want you to picture the reality of this for a minute. Jesus is not saying anything to them. He’s not explaining anything to them. He’s not giving them a reason. All He said was, “Come with Me.” I can imagine, you know, John, maybe Peter, Peter was always the spoken one, the outspoken one, probably Peter. I can imagine Peter speaking to James and John and saying, “You know, Jesus, He’s called us here for what? Check those other disciples, they’re having a party down there. They’re just under the trees, they’re in the shade, they’re drinking water and eating dates. And here we are in the white-hot sun, climbing a mountain, sweating.” Forced conditioning. Forced conditioning in the sun. You know.
“Why is Jesus got us walking with him, we could be down there relaxing with those ou’s? I mean, Jesus, you know, has to be with the Father and be there by Himself, so, He should just go and do that. I mean, He is used to doing that, so why is He calling us this time?” And I can imagine James and John saying, “Ja, Peter you know – listen, you are always outspoken about this, we are not going to say anything, but we feel your pain.” You feel the rocks underneath your feet, slipping and sliding, the sandals you know, up the mountain in the heat. Yoh, no – understood. Baking hot sun. You see if they are caught up in the natural – just like this [Ps John flicking his fingers] they saw something that no one else ever got to see. And the only place they could see it was the top of the mountain. The only place they could see it was when they went to the highest level attainable. The only place they could get it was when they went there all in with Jesus. So, who is this man Jesus? He is the one that was spoken of.
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Mighty God, Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And His government there will be no end and His peace. That is the Jesus that they are standing. Why are they standing there with Jesus? Because suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared. What are they witnessing? They are witnessing that this is the One on whose shoulders there will be all the government. This is the Prince of Peace, this is the Counselor, this is the Mighty God, the Everlasting One. He is standing there, and He is displaying Him, presenting His life and His ministry to Moses who represents all of the Law, and Elijah who represents all of the prophets. And He is standing there, and He says, “Witness that the One who is prophesied, the One that the Word was spoken of, He is now before you.”
Pastor John you’re being a little bit dramatic about them walking in the natural, and Peter speaking about his body, where do you get that from? Well, well Peter just was in the natural, because Peter exclaimed “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Matthew 17:4, NLT). Like that is what God is wanting. No, this was an eternal recognition in this moment. This was not about building little buildings. Let me tell you, we can’t camp here, we can’t camp on this word. The maximum. The highest level attainable. Because if we try and build alters to this, then we are already lost. We’ve got to recognize what is in front of us. We got to recognize the power of our moment. We, as a ministry, what God is doing in our moment, right now.
“But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to Him.” Listen to Him, in other words, “Peter, shut up.” 5 But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5 NLT). In other words, Peter shut up, you are speaking from your natural man, from your soul. It has no place here. Even when you get to the maximum and the highest level attainable you will be tempted to take the glory and make a monument out of it. And God the Father says, “There is no monument that is required here, it’s just a witness.” It’s a witness, it’s a witness. We are a witness.
6 The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. 7 Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus. 9 As they went back down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:6-9 NLT). In other words, Peter, James, and John, why are you here? You are here as the Church witness. A witness of the Church that is to come and your time to speak is not yet because the Church is not yet. I have to die and be raised from the dead before the Church can come. Then you can witness what you saw on the mountain, but until the Church has come you cannot witness. Because you were there of the thing that is yet to come. Hallelujah.
I want you to understand something, that you and I are a witness of the things that you will speak with words of maximum, the highest level attainable in every area of your life. You are a witness. There is no reason to build altars here. This is about us recognising that this is our moment. This is the glory of Jesus in us manifest to all of the beings of the spiritual realm. We are that Church. We are the Church. We are the reason why the Word has been given. We are the reason God wants to show himself. We are it. He wants to pour out His goodness on us so that we can be the witness. Ours are just to receive it. Ours are just to receive it.
So, what has Jesus done? He has given us an invitation. He has given us an invitation to come up higher. He has given us an invitation to walk with Him to an unknown destination, to an unknown event, to an unknown outcome. But I can tell you this, it will be glorious. It will be glorious. It will blow your mind. It will be something greater than you can even think or imagine. Is there anything that you could… Do you think Peter, James and John had any idea that when they started walking up that mountain, scuffing their feet, sweating and who knows, you know, smelling each other, body odour? I am trying to be as graphic as I can. You know? These guys as they’re walking up the mountain, maybe mumbling, complaining, groaning a little bit but they’re following Jesus anyway. You know, they didn’t let that little bit of hardship stop them. And so, you have to be focused, and you have to persist, and you’ve got to be committed. You can’t give up just because there’s a bit of sweat. You can’t give up just because there’s a bit of heat. You can’t give up because someone else is not going through what you’re going through.
“Yeah, but those other guys, they’re all hanging out there. They are not…” They are not the witnesses. They didn’t get to see Elijah and Moses. They didn’t have a story to tell when Jesus was risen. Only those that will follow Jesus up the mountain, to the maximum, to the highest level attainable – only those will have a story to tell. Only those will have a story. So, you’ve got to be focused, you’ve got to be persistent. You’ve got to be committed. You’ve got to not quit. You can’t give up. You’ve got to press. You’ve got to give it all – you can’t stop walking. You’ve got to keep going. So, what does that mean to you? You can’t stop praising. Hallo? You can’t stop praising. You can’t stop, stop screaming [Congregation responds with a scream]. “Well Pastor John, why is it that people scream?”
I have a question for you. If you had a piece of paper right now, and you could write down one thing that would be spectacular, that God could answer for you, one thing right now, that is beyond your wildest imagination that God could answer for you, what would it look like? So, I’m going to, just because I know a few things about a few people’s lives, I’m going to be a little personal for a few minutes. Are we okay with that? So, for example, I know Bertus needs to have the full manifestation of His healing for his eyes. I’m not wanting you to act on it right now Bertus. I’m really, I’m not wanting you to act on it and I’m not trying to make a pull on you to act on it. I’m doing this as a matter of you understanding how great this thing is. If he’s sitting on the front row now, and suddenly his eyesight manifests itself, 100% You think I’m going to keep him quiet?
I don’t care how intense my preaching; he’s going to jump off this chair. And he’s going to say, “I’m healed. I’m healed. I’m healed. I’m healed. I’m healed!” He’ll interrupt the whole service [Bertus: Yes, I will] as conservative as he is, he will. Because you can’t stop that when God touches his eyes like that. You aren’t going to stop his joy from overflowing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. So Bertus, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I’m telling you that from this day onwards, in your privacy, you must give thanks and praise. Don’t ask God for your healing, you have it. Just praise Him for it, and praise Him, and praise Him, and praise Him, and praise Him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus.
What about some of you out there that have got some business deals going on. I got to just switch off my alarm here [Pastor John’s cell phone alarm going off]. Hallelujah. Some of you that have got financial issues and you don’t know; you can’t see a way out. What if God just sent you someone and said? “I’m here to pay your bills. I’m here to give you a business. I’m here to give you this…” And in the next month you’re going to completely be in a different realm. What happens if you’re thirty days from this point now and you already walking in it? I promise you this. I promise you this. You are not going to be quiet about it. You’re going to walk around telling everybody, “Do you know what God’s done for me? Do you know what God’s done for me? He’s been so good to me. I was in debt, and He paid all my debts. I didn’t have a business and He gave me a business. I didn’t have, I didn’t have, and I got, and I got, and I got, and I got and I praise and I praise and I praise and I didn’t deserve it and I don’t know what happened to get it, but He did it all for me.”
You think that I’m going to be able to hold you back? You don’t want me to hold you back? No, you’re going to say, “Pastor John, can I come and see you? I want to tell you about what God’s done for me.” Hallelujah. So, do you know what Brother Jerry says when he says praise before you get it? He’s saying that’s how you got to act in faith because faith is the substance of things you hope for is the evidence you don’t yet see but the hope is so powerful that it’s already substance in your praise. That’s why people scream, because they’re already getting into the scream of the manifestation [Congregation responding in loud praise].
“Well Pastor John, that’s not my personality.” I know, I know. It’s my prayer for you. It’s my prayer for you that you will have an encounter with God that is so uncontrollable that it’s no longer your personality that controls you. Because until you’ve encountered God like that, you have nothing to say about those people that have encountered Him like that. Because you’re talking from a point of view where you haven’t yet encountered Him like that. So, the only way you can view them is like the other nine disciples looking at it. “So, what’s Jesus going to do with those guys up there? Why is He taking them and not us? What’s going on up there?” They didn’t see any of the bright light, they didn’t see the glory, they didn’t see Moses and Elijah, they didn’t see anything. How could they talk about what they didn’t see? How can they talk about what they didn’t see? Come on.
What I’m saying to you, this is not new, what I’m saying to you. I’ve had this approach for many, many years. That’s why I’m giving you my own testimony. Many, many times, of when I was sitting in an auditorium where there were thousands of people, and I saw people get out of the wheelchair, and God… and I said, “I want to do that, but my own nature is stopping me.” And God said, “You just obey Me, and you do it now, John.” And it was like He reached in with His hand and pulled a plug out of my soul. And I began to praise Him with loud with no condition or not without limitation. And from that day to this day, I will never be the same. Because I went there on the mountain. Now I can speak with confidence and with boldness, about what goes on there. Because I’m a witness of what goes on there.
The power of what happened to me in 1989, the power of that event that happened to me is the power of what carried Pastor Sharon and I through many hard times, when we would have difficulties in our own lives. And we would go and stand in our, in our lounge and praise Him and praise Him and praise Him and give Him thanks and give Him honour and give Him glory and praise Him and praise Him and praise Him until we got the victory. Because we tapped into something that was powerful, well I did. Pastor Sharon was already there. That was my, that was my encounter. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. So, Pastor John, what’s to be done about this? Well, I’ll tell you what’s to be done is that we’re going to follow the wisdom of God, and how we can go there publicly. So that what’s happening to you publicly can also happen to you privately. So that you can have a powerful, ongoing power manifest in your life. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.
So, if I was to say to you today, that God is going to come through for you in a way that you can’t imagine. Then I want you to go and begin to write down some of the things that you can imagine. Don’t go wild on this, I mean this. Don’t go wild on this. Just go write down some things you can imagine. What is two or three areas that you could have a breakthrough from God that would significantly change your world? What would it be? What would it be? Something that would significantly change your world. Then when you’ve written that down, you begin to go and praise Him for it. Privately, you go praise Him for it. You go praise Him for it. “But Pastor John, I’m not comfortable doing that. I haven’t trained myself.” That’s why I’m telling you. This is your Pastor speaking. This is the Pastor that lives with you every week. I live amongst you. I smell like you. I do.
I am the Pastor that leads you and guides you. This is what God’s role is for me and Pastor Sharon, this is what we do as the senior Pastors of the church. God has given us other people that He is raising up in this time to walk with us in this whole moment. So, this is how we are going to do it. We are going to trust God to guide us and lead us every week. Every week that we don’t build little temples, but we are a witness – every week, every week, every week, every day, all the time. We are a witness, we are witness, praise Jesus.
Won’t you stand with me, please? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Name of Jesus. Praise the Name of Jesus. Hallelujah. So, I want you from the sincerity of your heart – remember, there is no condition that you have to fulfil, there is no obligation before God that you have to meet. You have a free access before God today. There is no sin you have to repent of. There is no issue that you have before you because Jesus has made a way. Amen.
I want you to just raise your hands and just to praise Him. Just where you are now, you don’t have to shout, you don’t have to make a big noise. I’m just wanting you to praise Him. Just praise Him and say thank You, Lord. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You that you witness Your life to me, You minister Your life to me. Thank You that You have given us this word for 2023. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, thank You, thank You. We praise You for it. We give You honor for it; we give You glory for it. We are a grateful people that You have chosen us, that You have given us this word. You have given us divine connections that we could have ancient paths that we could walk in. Thank You, Lord, that we have the witness of the Spirit in everything that we do. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You, Lord.
I see you, I see you, there is some of you that are properly beginning to thank God now, because this is private, and it is in the public, but it is private, and there is a power that has been released in you right now. I can see you. I see you. Yes. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. See, this is the beginning. This is the beginning. Ha! Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Look at the power that’s being released right here right now in this auditorium. Because all of you are praising God. There is power that is coming out of your mouth. There is a power that is been released out of your spirit man. It’s the power of your future that you are praising God for that you are speaking out.
It’s the power of your future that you’re praising God for, that you’re speaking out. It’s the power of deliverance, it’s the power of restoration, it’s the power of God that is bringing everything to you that you need, right now, because of what you’re doing right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
I believe that what God is doing amongst us – we are never going to go back. How does Peter, James and John go back to the people they were after they witnessed Elijah, Moses and Jesus speaking? They had to carry that in their heart. Can you imagine Peter, James, and John – so I want to just finish my story the way that God spoke to me about it – can you imagine them that night with the other disciples and they’re lying there thinking, “Wow, was it a dream? Did I dream it? Did we all dream it? Was it real what we saw? Living and standing in front of us, Moses, and Elijah?” And they knew who they were. They didn’t have to guess. God gave them an understanding as witnesses of who they were. Wow.
Can you imagine them? Wow. Moses: the one that we’ve always talked about, whose scriptures and all of whose laws we’ve been learning all of these years – he was standing in front of us. And Elijah; when we read all about him killing all of those prophets of Baal and calling the famine – there he was, standing in front of us. Wow.
I can imagine Peter calling James and John the next morning and going into a little huddle and saying, “Guys, did we see this for real? You know, did we really see it? Pinch me. Are you sure we saw it?” ‘Ja.’ Can you just imagine them? And then, from that day onwards, they would recognise; you know, we had a privilege that God gave us and there we are as a witness to the end of the age of something that we couldn’t even imagine, that’s the Church to come.
I want to say to you that we are in that moment right now where we are witnessing something that God has given us. It’s a supernatural energy to overcome and to go to the maximum, to go to the highest level attainable. It’s God inviting us to go with Him and He will lead us all the way to that place and when we get there, we will see things that we couldn’t imagine, and we will experience things that are beyond our… anything that we could ever dream of right now. And such will be the wonderment of God’s presence in our lives that we will say, “Were we even in that place before? How is it possible that this all happened?” Wow.
Will you get into agreement with me? Will you get into agreement? Put your hand on your heart and say this with me; Lord Jesus, where You lead me, I will follow. Holy Spirit, I will follow Your guide, I will follow Your leadership. Wherever You go, I will follow. Up the mountain, to the highest level attainable, I won’t quit. Lead me there and I’ll keep going. I’ll stay focused. I want to be a witness of all the goodness and the greatness that You want for my life, in Jesus’ name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do you feel that anointing right now? Do you feel it? You sense and feel His presence right now? Jesus, His Holy Spirit is right here. Glory to the name of Jesus. Glory to the name of Jesus. You and I will never be the same again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
I pray that His presence will rest upon you. That the government of His shoulders will be upon you, that His peace will have no end in your life. That He will be mighty God, He will be Counselor, He will be Prince of Peace to you. He will be the One who does mighty works in your life. I pray that you are blessed as you go. And wherever you go into, you are blessed going into that. Whatever you put your hands to, will prosper. Where you go with your feet, He will lead you and guide you, and He will call you blessed. Hallelujah. No weapon formed against you will prosper. And that includes the messages that God has brought to your life, that the enemy will not steal the joy of it out of your heart, but that you will go in fullness of peace. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
What do you say Seth? Are you in agreement? Hey Seth? Amen. Say amen [Seth: Amen] Amen. Yes. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. What do you say Cindy? [Cindy: Amen] You say amen. Marnus? [Marnus: Amen] Amen. Yeh, I can hear Cindy is the quiet one. ‘Laat ek jou hoor Cindy.’ [Cindy: Amen!] There you go. There you go. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. ‘Wat sê jy Stefan?’ [Stefan: Amen] Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That Mia over there. What do you say Mia? [Mia: Amen] Amen. Yes. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Thank You Lord. Thank You Lord. Thank You Lord. ‘Hein, wat sê jy?’ Amen [Hein: Amen]. ‘Ek het nie gehoor nie.’ Amen. Praise Jesus. Glory to God. May you be led forth in joy and be led forth in peace. Amen. See you in message moments this afternoon. ‘Baai julle almal.’
© 2023 – Heritage of Faith Ministries International
TOUCH | TEACH | TRAIN | TRANSFER
