Joseph Prince - Release His Glory In Your Life

God's favor, mercy, and shalom wholeness to every one of you. Church, every single week, I look forward to share God's Word with you because I myself am blessed to see how much God loves you. You know, every time I prepare God's Word for you, I can see how the Lord loves you so much that he would tell me things like, "Okay, when you share this, share my love for them. Okay, unveil this to them and make sure they understand how much I feel for them, how I want them to be healed, how I want them to be well". Or he will reveal things to me, "No, son, that's not the time for them just yet. I want to just make sure that you do not share some truth before it's time. This is for you to consume". And then, you know, in my time of study, I could see how much he cares for the flock. And it's like he has food for the lambs, as well as the older sheep.

And I can differentiate how the Lord leads me in my time of preparation, and hence I see God's love for you. And as a shepherd, I'm so privileged because the way we shepherds show, we pastors show love to our Lord Jesus according to Jesus is, "Feed my lamb, feed my sheep". In John 21, in his resurrected form, he saw them, you know, fishing all night and not catching anything. And then he gave the word, and they caught so much fish. And then they dined together, and everyone is quiet. Then Jesus asked Peter the question, "Do you love me, Peter, more than all this"? And Peter says, "Yes". And the Lord says, "Feed my lamb". See, the way the Lord interprets love for him is for us to feed his flock, feed his sheep. And I intend to do that, hallelujah.

So, every week, I get this privilege of feeding his flock as a pastor, and I want to feed you with good food. We are in the midst of a series right now on life versus death. And we see that God's heart is for his people, amen, to possess that life. We call it eternal life, but eternal life is not just, you know, eternally, life that goes on eternally, but the quality of life, the life that God himself possessed. And we see that we already have that life. We don't have to wait for our new body when we will inherit that body in the Rapture. But we already have that life. The moment we receive Jesus Christ, we have that life, hallelujah. That's what it means to be born again. Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. Jesus came to make dead people live, and the morality will take care of itself because when you allow the life of Jesus to flow abundantly in you, the morality, the moral excellence will just flow out of you. Praise God. We call that fruit of the Spirit. Hallelujah.

So, Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly". Not only, you know, just being born again, we have that measure of life. We are already resurrected from being a state of being dead towards God, our spirit man literally comes alive. We have been resurrected, so we are all resurrected beings in an unresurrected body. But God wants us to have more of that life, and we can pray for that life. For example, the Bible says that for a certain kind of sin, that is not a sin unto death. In 1 John it says you can pray for that brother because he has sin. And there's a certain kind of sin that will cause you to lose life. It's almost like, you know, the sin caused a certain number of years to be chopped off your lifespan. And then the Bible says, "Pray for him, that God will give him life, life". In other words, death has come in, but you can pray for him that God will restore that life.

So friend, these things, we are still learning from the Lord. But the Bible says that when Jesus comes again, there'll be a generation that will be alive and remain. We know that alive can be the sheer fact that they are young physically, but remain, remaining alive denotes power. These are people who have learned from the Lord how to remain alive. In other words, they know how to keep even sickness and disease at bay, as well as death itself, physical death. And I'm not saying, I'm not saying that if Jesus tarries, we'll not die. We're all gonna die if Jesus tarries, amen, but we can live long. And most likely than not, we are this generation that is talked about in all the prophecy scriptures in the Old Testament. There are more prophecies about the times that we are in right now than there are in the First Coming of Jesus. Think about that, more prophecies in the Old Testament about the times that we are living in all the way to the millennium than they are on the First Coming of Jesus.

So, we are privileged to be this generation, and I believe that we are a generation that will see Jesus comes very soon. But God wants us to be alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord, amen. And the Christians' position, like I always say, is not looking forward to the grave, but looking up to the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our bodies, our lowly bodies, like his glorified body. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Imagine being in a body that will never decay, never grow old, never lose its strength, never be sick again, amen, never have this tiredness or even this feeling of boredom, ever again. Praise the Lord. Forever. How long? Forever. And you'll be in a body. You won't be floating around in heaven. You will be living in a body.

So, we're looking forward to that. That's gonna happen soon. Jesus says when all these signs happen and we are seeing this pandemic, this plague that's upon the whole earth right now, the COVID-19 virus that is attacking. You know, something so small, you know, it goes to show that all the wisdom of man comes to an end, amen, by something so puny. God doesn't send it. God has no virus to send. But God can just lift one finger, if man don't acknowledge him, God can just lift one finger to see what life is like without him, amen. Even the breath that we take every day is from him. You know, Daniel looked at King Nebuchadnezzar and says, "Your breath, God holds your breath in his hands".

Wow, what a thing to say to the king, the most powerful king on earth at that time. God holds your breath in his hands. And you know what? God can just remove that breath if he wants, any time. Likewise, God can give you more life and life more abundantly. Praise the Lord. So, we are studying on that, and as we study that, God is beginning to show us so many things that we are now learning afresh, for some of us, as well as learning anew for many of us. And today when I look at some things prophetically and what is happening around the world today, and I know that for the past weeks, we've been teaching on overcoming death and remaining alive. That is not to say that any of us have arrived fully to that place. But you know what, church? We gotta get started, amen? Whatever God wants to teach us, you know, people say that you only preach what you've experienced.

Then the Apostle Paul, unfortunately, amen, he never saw the Rapture for his generation. But he preached on the Rapture. Right, he preached on the Rapture, yet he did not experience it. So, there goes the theory that you can only preach what you experienced. No. Are pastors preaching on heaven? Do they talk about heaven? Well, they're not supposed to if they've never experienced heaven. No, of course not. We preach by revelation, not by experience. And sometimes we experience wrong things, woebegone. I mean, for the person that preaches on their experience and not based on the Word of God. So, we preach based on revelation. Praise the Lord. What we want from our Bible teachers and pastors and preachers today is an open heaven over their heads where God is revealing to them, by the Holy Spirit, the scriptures written for our benefit. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.

In Psalms 90, the Bible tells us something that people have used time and time again to measure their lifespan on earth. They say that, "You know what"? The Bible promises 70 years, at the most 80 years, and this is where they got it from. "The days of our lives are seventy years", notice, it's Psalms 90, "The days of our lives are seventy years. And it is by reason of strength they are eighty years". So, they say that at the most, God promises us 70 to 80 years. Now, someone who has hit their 60s are now concerned because 70 years, and only by reason of strength, they are 80 years. "Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away". So, they say, there you go. God only promises, but yet, they don't see the context. And, friend, context is very important in the scripture. This is Psalms 90. It's the psalm of Moses, and it's talking about the children of Israel that he led in the wilderness.

Look at the verse before this for the context. "For all our days have passed away in Your wrath". Notice, "Your wrath". We finish our years like a sigh. So, the context is very clear that they were living under God's wrath. Remember, they wandered in the wilderness under God's wrath. God swore, "They will not enter my rest" because they didn't believe what God said, amen. They blasphemed the Lord. They believed the lie of the enemy more than the truth of God. And as a result, they wandered in the wilderness under God's wrath. They were people, at that time, under the law, and the law worketh wrath, the Bible says. Already in the wilderness, they were people under the law.

Now, church, isn't it interesting that if they were people before God gave the law, notice that they were not perfect. They murmured every step of the way all the way to Mount Sinai, and yet not a single one of them died. Yet at Mount Sinai, after they agreed to accept, you know, the commandments. In other words, "From now on, God, don't bless us because you are good. Bless us because we are good. Bless us based on our obedience". And then God gave the Ten Commandments and from then on, you see, when they murmured, the same sin that they did pre-Sinai, but they were never judged for that. They were never condemned for that. They never suffered death for that. The same sin after Sinai, post-Sinai, when they murmured and complained, they died. When they murmured and complained, they died. That goes to show the ministry of death written and engraved on stones, the Apostle Paul says. And once again, let's look at that verse in 2 Corinthians 3. It says, "God has made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant. I pray that I be a faithful minister of the New Covenant".

Church, there is an Old Covenant and there's a New Covenant. And yet today, we don't hear too much of this preaching and differentiation of distinguishing of the Old and the New Covenant. Okay, there are, these two covenants. And it's important that we are people that are preaching from the New Covenant. And I hope that I'm one of them, by the grace of God. I endeavor to be one of them. Praise God. "God has made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life". Like I've said before, when God gave the Ten Commandments at the foot of Mount Sinai, 3,000 people died, and that was the first Feast of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost was fully come in Acts chapter 2 in the New Covenant, not on Mount Sinai, but in Mount Zion, amen, the mountain of grace, 3,000 people was saved. And that's very clear. It tells us clearly that the law kills, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Hallelujah. And over here, God was proclaiming to man that man has to do this, has to do that.

So, it's proclaiming man's works. But on Mount Zion when they received the Holy Spirit, they went around praying in the Spirit, proclaiming the wonderful works of God. The translation was that they were proclaiming the wonderful works of God. So, the emphasis here of the law is man-focused, but the emphasis of grace is God-focused. Hallelujah. When you pray in tongues, you are magnifying God. The Bible says, "For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God". You are proclaiming the wonderful works of God that go beyond your human grammar, beyond your human vocabulary, that it needs the supernatural language of the Holy Spirit to express yourself. And the more you speak in the Holy Spirit, the more you build your spirit man. Hallelujah. You're building it block by block. And not only that, you're actually sending shalom peace into your soulish realm, and then you are building up your body as well.

Don't forget, whoever speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, in other words, build himself, not just build his spirit. Doesn't say whoever speaks in an unknown tongue edifies his spirit. We have taught that, but it's not accurate. It's not just the spirit man that that benefits. It says whoever speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, his entire being, himself, amen, spirit, soul, and body. Hallelujah. So, we see here the contrast, Old Covenant, New Covenant. And notice the next verse says, "If the ministry of death written and engraved on stones". You know, church, I really believe that one of the reasons why we see many believers dying before their time or not filling out the full length of time that God has for them on earth, you see, there are people saying, "You know, I don't mind going back, you know, to heaven. I don't mind, you know, going back to see the Lord and all that".

But friend, that can actually be a copout because where the work needs to be done is over here. Here is where the lost souls are. Here is where we need to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is where we need to unveil to the people how much the Lord loves them. Unveiling Jesus to them, that is the goal of long life. "With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation," amen? So, it's very clear that the Bible says the ministry of death, what produces death? Just like after Sinai when they murmured, all right, the same sin they did before Sinai but they didn't die for it, but here they died under the law. Same thing, it's the ministry of death. Okay, the law was designed to shorten the life of evildoers so that they will not continue to do more evil and to bring more destruction to the lives of people. What has happened is that what God has designed to cut the life of evildoers, to cut their life short, we have adopted and we are trying our best to live according to it when the Bible says there is a curse that comes if you do not obey all the commandments.

Thanks be to God we are no more under the law. Jesus came and fulfilled the law and the way he did it is by his death at the cross. The Bible says he magnified the law, hallelujah. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And he goes on to say, "The ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, written and engraved on stones". You cannot say that the ministry of death are the ceremonial, a part of the law, the killing of animals, or the ritualistic of the festivals, observation of the festivals and the sabbaths and all that because the only part of the law that is written and engraved on stones was the Ten Commandments.

So, it's very clear it's referring to the Ten Commandments. It was glorious then, but then there's something greater coming, Paul is saying by the spirit here. "So that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit, New Covenant, not be more glorious"? Now he calls the ministry of death, ministry of condemnation. "If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness, New Covenant righteousness, exceeds much more in glory". So, we have to choose what kind of ministers do we want to become? And I'm speaking to every believer. Every believer is a minister. Do you want to become ministers of condemnation, which produces death in the lives of people, or do you want to become ministers of righteousness, telling them that God has made them righteous in Christ? Only in Christ and through Christ is it possible, but it is made available through Christ alone. Praise the Lord. And if we proclaim that, we bring life. The Spirit gives life, Hallelujah.

We have alluded to, in our past sermons, on the fact that when the people were not under the law, remember from time of Adam until Moses, Romans chapter 5 tells us. The Bible says from Adam till Moses, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed where there was no law. So, look at this period of time, you find that people live hundreds of years. Even from Adam's time, you find that the longest living man, of course, it was Methuselah because his name Methuselah means, methu actually means death. Selah is like the root word of Shiloah, the pool of Shiloah, the pool of Siloam, all right. When he dies, this will be sent, death will be sent. Methu is death will be sent when he dies.

So imagine, all right, all the people look at this boy who was growing up, and the message is when he dies, the judgment will come. So, every time he sneeze, every time he, you know, he had fever, the whole village will be concerned about this boy. But God made him the longest-living man on earth. Hallelujah. He lived longer than Adam, 969 years. Hallelujah. Adam lived 930 years. So, back then, they lived long lives. And yet, there's something that we observe. Sin was there, sin was there, but sin was not imputed where there was no law. Only through Moses, the law came. So, from Adam to Moses, there was no law. There were sin, and yet man live hundreds of years. Why? Because there's no sense of condemnation. Condemnation kills, condemnation cuts short your life. But then you see that from the time of Moses, in which we are right now in Psalms 90, all right, it says that their lives became 70 to 80, by reason of strength, 80 years old.

So, back to Psalms 90 again. Look at the context, very clear this is not referring to people under God's grace. These are people under God's wrath. Look at the other side of the context in verse 11. "Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath". Very clear, these are people under the law under God's wrath, for the law worketh wrath. Okay, so if you look at the context before verse 9, it says, "We have been consumed by your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance". The reason why God was angry with them was they were under the law, the agreement by which God will judge them based on their behavior, on their obedience, on their doings, not based on his goodness. And they asked for it. Even before God gave the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, in Exodus 19, at the foot of the mountain they already said, "All that God commands us, we can do it".

In essence, it was pride speaking. Man has presumed on his own righteousness, which he had none. So, it's a form of self-righteousness, amen. In fact, it is self-righteousness and it's the greatest form of sin. I call it the mother of all sin. When there's self-righteousness, guess what. The next thing you see, so much for saying that they will keep all of God's laws, all of God's commandments. The very next thing you see is the golden calf, and they worshiped the golden calf, which is a violation of the very first commandment of the ten, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me". And what produced the golden calf? Because they had an intent to do evil? No, they had an intent to do good, but man, they do not know themselves. See, God's law is perfect, but God's law, by its very perfection, brings out your imperfection, brings out your sin. But today Christ has come, Christ has fulfilled the law, magnified the law by his death at the cross. And Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Now sin has no dominion over us because we are not under law, but we are under grace. Hallelujah, amen. And you'll see this. It says very clearly it's because God set their iniquities before him. That's why he was angry. Even their secret sins didn't miss the light of his countenance, he saw them in their sins. Today, God sees us in Jesus's righteousness. Hallelujah. Today, let me describe the righteousness without works. Romans chapter 4, it says, "Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven," amen, "and blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin". Very clear. He's not gonna put your sins in front of him. He will not impute sin to you, why? I mean, has God gone soft on sin? No, God is still the Holy God, the thrice Holy God, hallelujah. But why? Because 2,000 years ago, God put your sins and my sins on the body of Jesus Christ, and God punished him and condemned him for all our sins. God designed the whole thing to be so. Jesus came to be a sacrifice for that purpose. And now God's holiness cannot punish you for those same sins that he punished his Son for at the cross.

If God would punish the same sin twice, it'll be a miscarriage of justice, the law of double jeopardy, lawyers understand that, will apply. God cannot punish the same sin twice. Once in his Son's body, and then now in your body. God cannot do that. So, God's holiness is now on your side, amen, demanding your acquittal, demanding your righteousness. Praise be to God. Hallelujah. Are you under grace, or are you under the law? Amen. Now, it's possible to be born again, to have the life of God, and yet experimentally, we have a mindset of the Old Covenant. You know, if you look at the Old Covenant people, there are some of them, you will find that they are under the Old Covenant, like David, but they have a New Covenant mentality. David knew that he has two sins that's actually a death penalty, according to the law of God, but he pleaded with God. He went to God personally, not through a high priest, which he's supposed to do, according to the law. But he went to God directly and pleaded for God's grace and mercy. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your compassions, according to your hesed". Hallelujah. And God heard him and spared his life.

So, I would like to say that David is a Old Covenant man because he was under the Old Covenant, but with a New Covenant mentality. However, today, there are believers, there are Christians who are New Covenant people, but they have an Old Covenant mentality. You know, some people point to David and say, "Look, David has sinned, and as a result, his son died". And they use that to put fear in people. Friend, you must understand, David was under the Old Covenant. We are not under the Old Covenant, we are under the new, amen. It is God's goodness that leads people to repentance today. We need to unveil more and more of God's goodness because his goodness leads us to repentance. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

And this Psalms 90, it's very clear that these are people under the law in the wilderness. So, it's the psalm of Moses. But look at the very next psalm, Psalms 91. The very last verse says here, "With long life I will satisfy him," not at 70. It is not satisfied at 70. Go on, God is saying. The criteria is no longer a set time, whether it's 70, or by reason of strength, 80. Now, it is your satisfaction. "With long life I will satisfy him". So, your satisfaction is the criteria of long life under the New Covenant. Why I say Psalms 91? God put them side by side, Psalms 90 and Psalms 91, God put them side by side is because God wants us to see the contrast. Psalms 91 begins with, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty". What do you reckon is the secret place of the Most High? You know, there are people who say that, "it's for people who are especially close to God". And when you ask them, "Are you especially close"? They say, "Yes, but not the rest".

You know, no, no friend, it is not something ambiguous. It is something very clear. The secret place of the Most High is the secret place of the Messiah, Christ himself, amen. We are all in Christ Jesus. Every time you see the New Covenant, amen, you read in the New Testament, "In Christ, in Christ, if anyone be in Christ," amen, "In Christ," that phrase, "In Christ," that is the fulfillment of Psalms 91, verse 1. We are now in the secret place of the Most High seated with Christ. And, you know, all the promises, especially of protection in Psalms 91, they are ours to confess, like what we taught you last week, amen, to declare it. Amen. Faith is released when you declare it, not just in your heart, keep it in your heart, you have to say it like a bell is not a bell until you ring it, amen. A song is not a song until you sing it, amen. Faith is not faith until you speak it, amen. God spoke and then he saw. Praise the Lord.

So, speak it. Hallelujah. Speak that life, amen. Thank you, Jesus. With long life, with long life, I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress," and it ends with, "with long life," God will satisfy me. Confess that, amen? "With long life, I will satisfy him". So, the criteria is now his satisfaction. You're not happy, you're still not satisfied at 80, you want to go on? Tell the Lord, amen, and you can go on. Praise the Lord. In fact, some people believe, you know, and, of course, in our church, you hear expressions like, "May you live to be 120". That's a blessing among the Jewish people. They will confess this over one another. Even today, they confess that, "May you live to be 120". But you know what? Even 120 is actually God speaking that Word in judgment. Look at Genesis chapter 6, verse 3. "The Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for his indeed flesh".

Now, what is happening is that man, at his time, was striving with God. This is before Noah's Flood. And man was striving with God always sinning, sinning and striving with God. God will plead with men to turn around, to repent, and man would not. And God finally says, "My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years". So, when you think about it, 120 years, which many of us are believing God for, is actually a statement from God in judgment. God spoke that in judgment. But hey, friend, even you're believing golf 120, go for it, amen. What I'm saying is that if, if even under judgment and God pronounced their years to be 120 years, to live up to that, amen, and no more because there's a judgment pronounced on man, how come we settle for less? We who are no more under judgment, judgment is passed for the believer, amen. The Bible says, "Those who believe on Christ will not come into judgment". Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ".

Surely we are not under the 120, but you know what? Let's believe God even for the 120. How much more? That's what I'm saying, how much more? And if we hear more and more of this kind of preaching because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, perhaps our faith will be released to receive that boom, that benefit, that blessing that God has for all of his people so that we can be alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. Amen, church? Hallelujah, hallelujah. May the Lord bless you with 120 years, amen, and may you live that long and even more, if you so choose, if Jesus tarries. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. You know, we are living in prophetic times and like I said just now, there are so many prophecies that are being fulfilled, especially in our generation and in the generation to come as we step into the millennium because after the Rapture, seven years is very short. Then it will be the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. There are more prophecies about this time period than all the prophecies of the first coming of Jesus.

Wow, think about that. And the Bible says with God, "There'll be mockers in the last days that will say this". In 2 Peter the Bible says clearly, "Knowing this first; that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation". So, the Bible tells us clearly that it sounds like that there is a delay. It feels like there's a delay. The Lord, the Lord is not coming as soon as they expected, and then there are mockers around the believers, even in that day, saying, "Where is the coming of the Lord? Where is the coming of the Lord? Our fathers fell asleep", which means, "Our fathers are dead and gone, and the Lord has still not come".

So likewise, is a prophecy of our days, our days when there are mockers saying, "The Rapture, the Rapture, where is the Rapture? Where is the coming of the Lord"? They make fun of the coming of the Lord. And there are even believers who don't believe in the Rapture anymore. I know the word "rapture" is not in the Bible, but the word used in the Bible is harpatzo, which is the seizing away. The idea is the same, just like Trinity, the Triune God. That word "trinity" is not in the Bible, but the whole reality is, amen. So, let's not split hairs over terms. Praise God. The harpatzo, the great catching away of the church, if you would, amen. It's a reality. Paul preached on it, and it's anytime it can happen. Praise the Lord. We are looking forward to that. Hallelujah. Praise God. So, the Bible says these people, they are scoffing. But let's drop down and see what the Holy Spirit says to us. "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day". So, God lives outside time and space. Y'all know that.

So, when God look at time, we look at time and say, "God created time". So, how can God be bound within time if God is the creator of time? God is outside time, and that's why Jesus's expressions, especially in the gospel of John, he always says, "I am the resurrection and the life. I am the door. I am the way, the truth, and the life". It's always, "I am. I am the Good Shepherd". It's never, "I was". It is never, "I will be". He lives in the eternal present, amen. At the tomb of Lazarus, Martha, the sister, tried to push Jesus into the future by saying that, "I know my brother will rise again at the last day". Jesus told her, "I am," present tense, "the resurrection and the life," amen. You know, at first she said to Jesus, "If you have had been here, my brother would not have died". So, she's trying to put Jesus to the past. "If you had been here".

There are people who try to relegate God to the past, or they try to look, you know, and they talk about miracles only in the sense of the miracles of the past, but not now. They don't expect anything from God now. All they look to the future, the Rapture, and heaven and millennium rule of Jesus, and not talk about the present. So, either one, Martha talked about the past, and Jesus talked about the present. She talked about the future, and he talked about the present. Hallelujah. "I am the resurrection and the life," mmm. Hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus. So, it's very clear that this is the lost estimation of time. "One day with the Lord is like a thousand years, a thousand years like one day. Now, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise". Why it seems like the Lord is delaying his coming, why? "the Lord has not slack concerning His promise," promise of his coming that is, as some count slackness, "but is longsuffering," he's patient towards us, "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance".

God's heart is that God is not willing that any should perish. And yet we know, reading the Book of Revelation, there are people who perish in the lake of fire. We see that. But God's heart, see God's heart, people. His heart is not willing that any should perish. And perhaps, listen carefully, not perhaps, it is. God is delaying his coming so that more and more people can be saved. So, he's delaying his coming so that more and more people will get to hear the gospel of grace and be saved. Praise the Lord. Glory be to his wonderful name. Oh, his heart, his heart. He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It's one thing for God to have a heart, his will is one thing. It's another thing for man to respond. He gave man a free will as well. And some men have responded to his love and received salvation and became the righteousness of God in Christ, but there are those who refuse to and then for them is perdition, as the Bible tells us clearly. Hallelujah. So, with the Lord a thousand years is like one day and one day like a thousand years.

Now, this is very interesting because in the Gospel of John, Gospel of John is known as the book of signs. Some people say there are seven signs, some say eight signs, okay, but give and take, there are eight signs and unless you consider the resurrected, after Jesus was resurrected the miraculous catch of fish is a sign, which I believe it is, then it's eight signs. But the seventh one is actually the one I want you to look at. But before that, I just want to share with you something very interesting about the thousand years and one day. All Right, if you look carefully at Hosea's prophecy, Hosea, an Old Testament prophet said this about our days. "After two days God will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live in his sight". Is this an allusion to the Rapture? Hallelujah.

Friend, look at this, after two days. So, 2,000 years have passed. Would you agree with me, 2,000 years have passed since Jesus walked on earth? Praise the Lord. Since his death on the cross, 2,000 years have passed. We are the generation that crossed the 2,000 mark. All right, give and take a few years, amen, based on the Gregorian calendar, all right, just a few years' difference. And then we have passed the 2,000-year mark. We are in the year 2021, and it's soon it's gonna be 2022. So, it's passed the 2,000 years. For God, two days have passed since his Son died on the cross, only two days because a thousand years with the Lord is like one day. So, after two days, something's gonna happen after two days, which is the third day. After two days means it's the third day. On the third day, he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. Hallelujah. Praise be to God.

Now, the Gospel of John, like I said, is a book of signs. Look at this. The first miracle of Jesus was done in Cana of Galilee. But notice how it's expressed, "On the third day". There's no insignificant details in the Bible. "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there". When? On the third day. Friends, we are now on the third day. We are literally in the third day. We are the third-day generation. We have passed the two days. We are on the third day. Hallelujah. And what's gonna happen? There'll be a marriage feasts. And that's what the Bible says. After the Rapture, what comes after Rapture? We'll be in heaven and there'll be a marriage supper of the Lamb, the Bible tells us, the grandest supper you will ever have in your life, hallelujah, with taste buds that is glorified. Amen, friend. And your glorified Jesus, you will see him face to face. And that's why the Bible says on the third day, there was a marriage, amen. Jesus married to his bride, the many-membered bride of Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Praise be to God.

Now, go further to John chapter 4. In John chapter 4, y'all know the story. Jesus sat at the well of Samaria and the woman of Samaria came to him. Remember, she is not a Jew. She's actually a Gentile, a non-Jew, and Jesus ministered to her. And isn't it amazing that the chapter before this, John 3, where you find John 3:16, Jesus actually said John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" to a Jewish rabbi, a Jewish master, actually, amen, a Jewish leader. But he didn't reveal to him that he is the Messiah, but to the woman, a Gentile who had five husbands and who is currently living in adultery, Jesus unveiled himself to her as the Messiah. He says, "I who speak unto you, I am He". When she says, "When the Messiah has come, He will show us all things". Jesus says, "I am He". Hallelujah. And she rejoiced. She went to a village of Samaria, and she taught all the other people there, "All right, come and see the man who told me everything about myself".

And the Bible says they came. And they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world. Now, after, after two days, he departed from there and went to Galilee". After the two days, he departed from where? There Samaria, the city of the Gentiles, and went to Galilee, the countryside of the Jews. In other words, after two days, all right, during the two days, where was Jesus? He was among Gentiles. What's been happening? Two thousand years ago, Jesus died for the world, amen, not just for Israel, but for the world. But what has happened is that these 2,000 years, the main evangelistic work, the main focus of the Lord is because Israel rejected her Messiah, amen. Israel was scattered to the four corners of the earth. And all that is prophesied, Jesus prophesied that. And during these 2,000 years, the focus of the Lord is on the Gentiles. And we are part of it, all of us. We are part of that outreach of the Holy Spirit, amen, reaching out to us and bringing us in. Every single day, more and more are being brought in until the time God says, "That's it. Jesus, go get your bride". And that is the Rapture. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, praise God.

So, 2000 years. But notice what it says here. Jesus spent time, two days with the Gentiles, not with the Jewish people. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God". Yet, God has not forgotten his covenant with Israel. God loves Israel, and he has not forgotten. In spite of their unbelief, in spite of the rejection of the Messiah, amen, God still loves Israel. And after two days, Jesus will start focusing on Israel again, and we are seeing that happen. We are the generation after 2000 years, especially our day and age in these few years, we are definitely the generation that lived after 2000 years. Amen? And the focus of the Lord is again on Israel, reaching out to the Jewish people. They're back in their land, amen, after 2000 years.

Think about that. All the odds against them, and they're back in the land, and the Lord prophesied they'll be back in the land. You know, in order for the antichrist and all the temple, rebuilding the temple and all that, the antichrist will come to Israel. And that means Israel was scattered where? Just a number of years after Jesus, AD 70, right, from AD 70, after Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus prophesied that would happen, 2000 years they've been scattered, but they came back in 1948 and became a nation again. Wow, we are definitely, after 2000 years, and the Lord is focusing again on Israel, okay? All right, this is so interesting, church. This excites me.

Now look carefully at what Jesus did when Martha and Mary sent messengers to Jesus about their brother Lazarus dying. The Bible says, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister," that's Mary, "and Lazarus". Wow, what an opening, isn't it? "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus". In other words, we know that there's a special love that the Lord has for this family. He loved the brother Lazarus, who was dying at that time, and Martha and Mary. "So, when He heard that he was," Lazarus, "was sick, Jesus stayed two more days," stayed two more days, "in the place where He was". Isn't that interesting? Like, he just heard that Lazarus was dying. Lazarus was sick to the point of dying. And what did Jesus do? First of all, the Holy Spirit tells us Jesus loved Martha and the sister, Mary, and Lazarus. And then he says, "When he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days".

So, friends, there's no insignificant details in the Bible. He didn't stay because he had, you know, something against them, okay? No, on the contrary, it's because he loved them. That's why the Bible purposely, the Holy Spirit made us know that Jesus loved this family in a special way; yet, he stayed two more days. There's something that's beyond the natural that God wants us to see, and this family represents all the church world, okay, all those that he loved in a special way. God so loved the world, listen, God loves the sinner in the street, even the one that's profaning his name, blaspheming his name overtly. He loves him, but it's a different kind of love with the way he loves us. The way Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, that's how Jesus loves us, his church. Believers are loved in a special way, amen, and it's for us to believe in that love.

So, it's greater than the love that he has for the world, amen. And yet, we have to learn why he's delaying his coming for two days, just like they had to learn. Why did he delay? If he loves us so much, why did he delay his coming? Because he's going to show us a greater glory, the glory of God. He wants us to see the glory of God. Praise God, hallelujah. You go on, you find that by the time Jesus says, "Let us go to Judea," Lazarus had died. And then Jesus made his way, and let's follow him now to the scene where the sisters met him. First of all, Martha met him. "Jesus said to her," to Martha, "'your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'" Now, the first part, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live," this refers to people who have died. He says, "though he may die".

Notice, he says, "though he may die," because not all will die. The rapture generation will not die. So, those who have died, "though he may die, yet he shall live". Why? "Because I am the resurrection and the life". The next category are those who we talk about the rapture generation. They will not die. These are the ones he says, "Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this"? And that's the generation that we are, amen, the second part of what he said, and he asked Martha, "Do you believe this"? And, of course, Martha says, "Yes, I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God that should come into the world". Now, if you drop down to Jesus before the tomb, "Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it".

Now, let's go back to 2 Corinthians 3 and look carefully at this word, "ministry of death, written and engraved on stones". This word "stones" is the Greek word "lithos," lithos. Now, it is not every word for stone is lithos, friend. In fact, the Greek is a very expressive language, and it has more, like the word "love," it has many words for love, different kinds of love, specific about different kinds of love. But even the word "stone," it is very specific. There is lithos, there is kefas, where they took the word from the Aramaic, which means rock, and then there's petra, which is a huge boulder, a massive rock, okay, and then there's petros, which is the name of Peter. Petros is a chip off the block, amen, a smaller rock from the boulder. So, all these different words for stone. But guess what? This word written, "ministry of death," the law, "written and engraved on stones" is lithos. You know where else you find lithos? And the Holy Spirit is very careful about using lithos, amen, the stones. It is actually this one is in the story of Lazarus. Because don't forget, the gospel of John is all about signs, and God wants us to see more than the event itself, what it is pointing to. It was a cave, and a stone, lithos, lay against it.

So, here you have a stone, which is the Holy Spirit chose the word "lithos" to associate us with this. What is blocking Jesus' miracle, in a sense, in these last days? After two days, he has come. After two days, he has come on the scene of death, okay, and there's something separating all those who are mourning with the one who has died, the loved one who has died. Death has set in. Now even four days has passed, as the sister Martha said. In a while, she's gonna say that in a while. "By this time," she says, "he stinketh because he's been dead four days already". Okay? But there was a huge stone, a lithos standing in the way. In these last days, I believe that God wants that stone rolled away. This is exactly what Jesus said. "Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, 'Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.' Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?'" Hallelujah.

Friend, as long as the stone is in front of you, as long as the stone is not rolled away from the church, the church cannot see the glory of God. Mm. In fact, we read just now in 2 Corinthians 3, "If the ministry of condemnation had some glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory". Think about it. It's all about a glory that is fading away of the law, and a glory of the new covenant righteousness, which ever increaseth from glory to glory. And that's how that chapter ends. We are transformed into his image from glory to glory, but you cannot see the glory of God until the law has been rolled away from your life. As long as you are living conscious of the law, as long as you are living condemned by the law, as long as you are living, amen, preaching and sharing with people about the law, as long as you are putting the stone with grace, friend, a mixture, putting new wine, grace, into the old wineskin, the law, all right, you will lose both.

The first thing Jesus says, before you see the miracle and before you see the glory of God in your life, in your family, in your children's lives, amen, in all your relationships, before you see the glory of God in your life, you've gotta roll away the stone. Notice here he did not roll away the stone himself. He tells them. The ministry is given to us. Roll away the stone, amen. Now, the stone was necessary in its time. When the dead was put inside the place of death, the tomb, you have to roll the stone there to keep corruption inside. But it gives a false image, you know, outside, because outside you don't see the death. So, you know what? The law is given to men who are dying. They're dead, and they're dying. Every day they're dying, and they have no strength to keep the law, because they are dying, amen. Ever since the first Adam sinned, death came in. But praise be to God, "If by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life by Jesus Christ". Hallelujah, amen.

The first thing he says, before we see the glory of God, before we see the resurrection, before we see the dead come to life, before we see our loved ones again, no more in corruption, no more in decay, no more having that stench, we see them glorious, beautiful, alive, radiant, healthy again, before we see all that, we've gotta roll away the stone. You see, a lot of people, they're afraid. They say that if you remove the Ten Commandments, if you remove the law from the lives of believers, sin will come forth. No, friend, listen carefully. If you roll away the stone from the world, yes. Because you know why? The world is dead spiritually. You cannot remove the Ten Commandments from the world. In fact, it is the building blocks of every civilized society. We've got to have the Ten Commandments. And even though it controls people, all right, in a moral way, all right, and most Judeo-Christian judicial laws and all that is based on the Ten Commandments, okay. Most civilized nations abide by the Ten Commandments, at least outwardly.

You see, the law cannot change you inwardly, amen. When the law is removed, anarchy rules in the streets, you see. But where there's enforcement of the law, you find that men can keep, you know, by behavior modification, not actually a heart transformation. Only grace can give you heart transformation. So, if you are removing the law from the world, that's wrong. You're not supposed to do that, amen. The law is still needed. The law is made for unrighteous men. But if you remove the law from people who are born again, people who have experienced life out of death, as Lazarus did, amen, the law is only hindering that life. Are you listening to what I'm saying, my friend? It all depends. Are you rolling away the stone from people who are stinking in their flesh, having stench in their flesh like, you know, a picture of all the sins in our lives coming from the flesh? Are you rolling away a stone from people who are not born again?

People are still dead spiritually. Then there'll be a stench, yeah, when you remove the Ten Commandments from their lives. Yeah, they will go crazy. They will rebel, and they will do all kinds of crazy things. But if you remove the law from people who are born again, from people who are resurrected, they come alive. They come forth, hallelujah. In fact, the stone hinders the revelation of that glory, amen, for all men to see. So he says, "Roll away the stone". And what else did Jesus do? He prays, "Dear Father, I thank you that you hear me always and for the sake of those around me I say it that they may know that you have sent me". And then he look into the tomb, the Bible tells us, and he cried with a loud voice. He says, "Lazarus, come forth". And the Bible says: "He that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot". He still has his graveclothes around him, and he came forth. He came forth alive.

You know, I have been to that place, Lazarus's tomb in Israel, and I'm telling you, when you go into the tomb, actually where Lazarus laid, it was a flat place, it was an area whereby if Jesus called him forth, and he's bound with all the graveclothes, the only way to bring him forth is to levitate him out, amen, literally. Like the Rapture, we'll all be levitated up, upwards, amen. Jesus literally by saying, "Lazarus, come forth," the power of the Lord Jesus Christ brought forth Lazarus, levitated him, you know, because there's no way he can walk, bound with all the graveclothes. The Bible says: "And he who had died came out bound hand and foot," there's no way he can walk, "with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Loose him, and let him go.'"

Again, that's our responsibility, even for the brothers who are born again. Sometimes they still have graveclothes around them. They still have some bad habits, c'mon. There are people with some graveclothes around their face, their language seems the same like before they were saved, but they are resurrected already. They are born again, amen? We have to help them. There's a ministry that we have through the body of Christ to help them through the preaching of the Word, sharing of God's Word, praying for them. We are removing the graveclothes. All the signs of death, we're removing from them. All the stinking sin, hallelujah, we're removing from them. In fact, the only thing that's hindering the life are the graveclothes, so Jesus says... and again, he puts the responsibility on them. First of all, he says to them, "Take away the stone". Now he says, "Loose him and let him go". Ha, ha, ha. "Loose him and let him go".

That's a message for believers. After you are saved, some of you are still bound, amen? You are bound with some unclean habit. Don't you wanna be free? People say, you know, "I'm a free man. I'm a free-minded man. I'm a free-thinker". No, you're not free. You're not free to think what you wanna think because you're thinking about certain kind of imaginations all the time and certain kind of sins all the time. The sin has you in bondage. Your mind cannot get out of the negativism and the depression. Friend, you need to be set free to be a true free-thinker. "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed," hallelujah. Praise the Lord, amen. Jesus says, "Loose him and let him go". That's a message for believers who are bound with graveclothes. Whew, hallelujah. And that's what's happening to you right now, friend. You know, it's very interesting, like I said, the book of John is a book of signs. And the signs is pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ as well as also to show us an insight to God's plans and purposes, even for the future, which we are living in right now, hallelujah.

Notice the name "Lazarus". And there's, again, no insignificant details to names in the Bible, all right? It would do us good to study names because many a times, names bring up the treasures that is in the context of that story. Now Lazarus, in Hebrew, Lazarus, which Jesus would have speak Aramaic and Hebrew, it would be Eleazar. Lazarus means helper; Eleazar, of course, means helper in Hebrew. And that's how they say it: Eleazar. So Jesus wouldn't be saying "Lazarus" like the Greek would say "Lazarus". He would say, "Eleazar, come forth," all right? Now, what's interesting is that Jesus in the Upper Room promised his disciples, "I'm gonna send you an Eleazar," hallelujah. Did you hear me? "A helper. I will send you a helper". Literally, he would have said, "I will send you an Eleazar, a helper". Don't forget, he speaks Hebrew, not English or Greek. He would tell his disciples who are fellow Jews, he will speak in Aramaic or Hebrew, he will say, "I'll send you Eleazar, the Holy Spirit".

The Holy Spirit is the helper, the one called alongside us to help us. He's called the helper in the Upper Room. Jesus promised that he would send us an Eleazar. But notice what is hindering Lazarus, even after he was resurrected, right? And his name means Eleazar, so now let's look at the Holy Spirit. What hinders the work of the Holy Spirit? The stone. The stone was there. So Jesus says, "Take away the stone, and then Eleazar will come forth," hallelujah. When the stone is removed from your life, friend, you won't have sin coming forth. Don't forget, sin will come forth from people who are not born again, yes. But when you remove the stone from believers, glory of God will come forth. You will see the Holy Spirit manifesting, amen. It's as if the stone has been hindering life within the tomb.

Life cannot come forth where there's a stone, but when the stone is rolled away, and that's why many years ago, I shared this: that I heard one of the calling that God had gave me was this: "Roll away the stone from my people's lives". Roll away the stone. And I've been endeavoring to do that. Why? I'm not rolling away the stone before stinking flesh. I'm not rolling away the stone before people who are not born again, amen? No, I'm rolling away the stone from believers so that the glory of God can be seen, so that the Holy Spirit, the Eleazar, will come forth in their lives. And we'd be transformed from glory to glory into the same image, even by the Spirit of the Lord, amen? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. It's like the tomb of Jesus. You know, the word down there is also lithos. There was a great stone.

In Mark 16 it says this: "Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themself, 'Who will roll away the stone,'" "lithos", literally, not "petra," lithos, "'from the door of the tomb for us?' But when they looked up, they saw that a stone had been rolled away, for it was very large". It's like the church had been saying, "Who will roll away the law, because we cannot keep the law". There's a generation that would realize because of sin in the flesh we cannot keep the law. And they will say, "But who can roll away the stone, righteously? Who can roll away the stone from our life because it is very large". The answer is Jesus Christ: through Jesus Christ, hallelujah. Friend, another place where lithos is used, the stone, is literally in the temptation of Jesus when the devil came to Jesus and said, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread".

I really believe this. I believe that the devil somehow either brought a vision, okay, or the stones literally were there. No one knows where the Ten Commandments literal stones are. But I believe, being the Son of God, amen, the devil being the devil himself, not one of his minions, he himself came to Jesus, probably the stones, and he said this: "Command that these stones become bread". In other words, "If you are the Son of God," he's telling Jesus, "then find your fulfillment, find your nourishment, find your satisfaction in the law". You know what Jesus said? "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, buy by every word that is now proceeding,'" literally in the Greek, "'now proceeding from the mouth of God.'" And what is the word that just proceeded from the mouth of God? The proceeding word of God before Jesus was in the temptation in the wilderness, you know what happened? The Bible says he was baptized in the River Jordan, the Bible says the Father opened the heavens to him. I love it. He opened the heavens to Jesus. All heaven opened to Jesus.

If we have Jesus in our lives, all heaven is opened to us if we have Jesus in our life, friend. And the Father said this to Jesus: "You are my beloved Son. You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased". "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". Then the Bible says: "Then Jesus went into the wilderness and he was tempted". Notice the sequence? He heard the Father's proceeding words, now words, present tense words. And what were the words of the Father to him? "You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased". And the devil says, "Okay, forget about that word. If you are the Son of God". In fact, the devil took away the word "beloved". The Father said to Jesus, "You are my beloved Son". And in all the temptation of the devil on Jesus, he actually removed the word "beloved". He says, "If you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God".

Notice, he cannot remind Jesus that he is beloved, because it'll be counterproductive to remind the Son of God that he is beloved. You see, that tells us the devil has no defense against people who know they are beloved. Those who practice the love of Jesus for them, those who know that they actively know, thanking the Lord for his love for them, those who know they're loved, those who are loved best, they love best. You must know that you're beloved and you know what's the word that Jesus said when he said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the ever proceeding words of the mouth, from the mouth of God". He's referring to what the Father said to him. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God," is literally what the Father says. And practice this in your life. You live by these words. Imagine God saying to you, and thanking the Father for it: "I am God's beloved son". God saying to you, "You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. In you I am well pleased". Ooh, hallelujah. "You are my beloved son. Live by every word". Beloved son.

And the devil didn't quote accurately. He dropped out the word "beloved," and told Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, find your nourishment, find your bread. Command these stones," and I believe he's referring to the law. "Command these stones to become bread". You cannot find nourishment in the law. You cannot find satisfaction in the law. Friend, it's not meant to feed you. And yet, every day, there are people preaching stones where they're supposed to give fish. They're getting snakes where they're supposed to get fish, stones where they're supposed to give eggs. And you know what the word is here? "Command that these stones become bread"? The devil's referring to the word "lithos". Literally, in reference to the law. So we don't live by the law; we live by, "I am the beloved son of God. In me, God is well pleased". Why? Because you are in Christ, hallelujah.

I hope that this has blessed you, my friend. These are words to live by, amen? These are words to live by. Jesus literally said, "Man cannot just live by bread," or by rice or by pasta, "alone," amen, "but by every word of God". Man does not live by physical food, but by every, in other words, you find life in these words. "You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter". That's how God sees you right now. He sees you loved by him. There's the name of David, David, beloved. It takes a beloved, one who is a beloved, to knock down the giants in your life, hallelujah. Know that you are beloved. Our children need to know that they are beloved. Regardless of their performance, amen, you can discipline them for their action, but you're always seeing them as beloved, amen? Even when you correct them, it's because I love you, amen? You never take away the love, never. They are your beloved, and you affirm them as so.

And sons and daughters that grew up in the environment where the father gives them that affirmation, "You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. I'm so pleased with you," they are the ones that go out there in the fight of life and they win. They overcome, amen, hallelujah. I pray that this has blessed you, my friend, and I want you to every day from now on, be conscious, number one, are you practicing the fact that you are God's beloved, the fact that you are loved by God? Are you practicing that consciousness? Or are you conscious that God demands on you is not being fulfilled, that God is angry with you, that he is not pleased with you? A lot of believers are living in that consciousness. And that will produce sin in your life. That will produce, because "the strength of sin", 1 Corinthians 15:56, "The strength of sin is the law". "The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law".

The more you are conscious of that, the more you're gonna produce sin in your life, and death. But the more you're conscious you're God's beloved, you'll produce life, hallelujah. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. If you have never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, friend, he died for you because he love you. God gave him for you, amen, on that cross. He didn't have to come and die for us. God could have just wiped out all sinful men and start a new creation. After all, before man, he created the angels, amen? But God was not willing, amen, to be without you. He loved you, amen. You are dearly loved, you are more loved than all the angels, amen.

All the angels know it, and Satan knows it, that you are dearly loved of God. And God is not satisfied with just having you fallen in that state and leaving you there. No, he's gonna wash you, clean you, amen, fill you up with his Holy Spirit, and even your body will be changed, hallelujah. That's God's dream for you, which will come to pass. Praise the Lord. So, friend, if you've never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, but you want to do so right now, then confess this with me. Pray this, I'll help you in this prayer. Pray this to the Lord from your heart, and it will be so in your life. Say:

Heavenly Father, I thank you that Jesus Christ died on that cross for my sins and he removed my old status of a sinner forever. I thank you Jesus Christ is my Lord and you raised him from the dead because I was declared righteous in him. Thank you, Father God, all my sins are now forgiven, I'm a brand new creation in Christ, and Jesus Christ is my Lord, hallelujah, in Jesus's name, and all the people said, "Amen, amen, amen".

Friend, if you prayed that prayer, you are now a child of God, a brand new creation. You're like Lazarus, amen? You are risen already. You are resurrected, praise the Lord. But perhaps you're bound with graveclothes and all that, so keep on continuing to tune in and keep on listening to God's Word. The church is here to help you. We are the ones that Jesus says, "Loose him, and let him go". So there are some graveclothes binding you still here and there. As you continue to study God's Word, they will all drop off, hallelujah, and you'll be transformed from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord, amen? But know this, right now, in God's eyes, you are clean, pure, holy, blameless, and righteous in God's eyes because you are now in his beloved Son and this is how: right now. God doesn't say, "Until you attain to a certain state of holiness, then I'll say, 'You are my beloved.'" No, right now, right now, my friend, receive that. God says, "You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter". Receive that, will you? Praise the Lord. Stand to your feet, church, hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus.

This coming week, the Lord bless you with the blessings of Father Abraham and the Lord bless you with the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 and the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. May they manifest even this week in your life, in your family's lives. And the Lord keep you and your loved ones throughout this week, the Lord keep you and preserve you, protect you and your loved ones from the COVID-19 virus, from every infection, from every disease, from every danger and from all the power of the evil one, through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Lord lift up his countenance on you, smile on you, be favorable to you. May God cause his favor to abound in your life throughout this week. May you see the manifestations of that favor like never before this week. The Lord lift up his countenance and grant to you and your families his shalom peace, wellbeing, and wholeness in every part of your body, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said, "Amen".