Joseph Prince - God's Way Of Acceleration
I believe this is gonna be a very special year for you. The things that you have asked God for that is scriptural, that is grace-based, that you have not seen the manifestation thereof or the harvest thereto will manifest and manifest fast. Manifest in an accelerated way this year. I'm excited about that. And best of all, the Lord is also telling us we got to do more or labor more, but rest in him. In fact, we saw how labor, man's flesh coming in, can bring death. So, we rest in the Lord. And yet, the Lord, you know, there's no one more active than our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you look at all the gospels, if you read with an open heart, you read Jesus in all the gospels, you don't find a man more restful. And yet, he accomplished everything in three and a half years. And on that cross, when he cried, "It is finished," it is finished. All sins forgiven, the law magnified, the devil vanquished, Jesus victorious, amen? And in that victory, we, you and I, we share that same victory. We are joined as with Christ. And what he did on that cross is not for himself, he did it for you and I. So, we rest in what he has done. And while we are resting, it doesn't mean that, you know, the mentality of the world. And this is what the Bible says, "Do not conform to the world". In other words, don't think like the world, the system of the world.
The world thinks like if you don't look out for number one, you don't rush, you don't get to the first place, others will get there. You know, you got to do it fast. You make money fast or the opportunity will pass by you. You got to do it fast. And things like this, this is the philosophy and the principle of the world. It's the spirit of the world. But the Bible says we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. What the people are pursuing with all their labor, with all their stress, you know, anxiousness, and laborious toil, we get freely given to us of God, hallelujah. You know, the Lord will never shortchange you. The Bible says, he says, "I am the Lord thy God, who teacheth you to profit, and leads you in the way you should go". Amen? "And you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk you in it.' And all the paths of the Lord are paths of peace, paths of pleasantness". Praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen, amen.
And I believe that this year, as you rest more and more in him and in his finished work, you will see the accomplishment, the harvest of that finished work in your life manifesting in an accelerated way this year. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. And this theme of the year, when the Lord gave it to me for this year, it's got to do with Amos chapter 9, the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David. And I find it interesting that there's a little, you know, I know that people say that the chapters are not inspired, you know, but God is sovereign. He can just put chapters in the way he wants to.
You know, there are 22 chapters of chapter 22 in the Bible. When you look at the 22 chapters, it's all got to do with Jesus. For example, Genesis 22, Abraham brought his son to Mount Moriah. And there, God says in that mountain of the Lord, God calls himself Jehovah-jireh. And Abraham said, "In the mountain of the Lord, he shall be seen". And Jesus says, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day". So, the entire thing about God telling Abraham to offer his son, all right, on Mount Moriah, in Genesis 22, this is the year 2022, right? But even you look at that chapter 22, it's all about Jesus. God was pointing to the greatest Son, his own Son, his only begotten Son, the Son that he loved, that he will give. On that same mountain, amen, on the same Mount Moriah, just the highest range of Mount Moriah is Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, so, praise the Lord.
If you look at Psalms 22, Psalms 22 is just before Psalms 23, the famous shepherd psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". But what commences Psalms 22? It begins like this: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me"? And Jesus cried those words at the cross, amen? It was a declaration that he was forsaken because then, there he became our sin bearer. He became our sin offering, and he bore all our sins and your sins and my sins. In and of himself, he knew no sin, he did no sin, and in him is no sin, but he received our sin and became our sin offering on the cross. And the reason that God forsook him, it's found in the next verse, after it says, "My God, why have you forsaken me," he justifies God. He vindicates God. Oh, you know, I love Jesus's spirit. He's always looking to glorify the Father. He says, "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel".
So, God cannot look upon sin and God turned his back. As God, he turned his back. As Father, he was never more pleased than he was with Jesus at that moment. Because the Bible says, "Therefore," Jesus said, "Therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life". So, Jesus was never more pleasing. If you look at all the offerings in the book of Leviticus, and there are five offerings there depicting the person and the work of Jesus Christ on that cross, you'll find that many of the offerings that goes up after it's burned goes up as a sweet-smelling fragrance. It's called a savor of rest in the Hebrew. Nichoach, a savor of rest. Rest to who? To God. God has divine complacency and pleasure in the work of Jesus Christ. He's never more delighted than when Jesus glorifies all his attributes.
The blood that Jesus shed at the cross has fully met all of God's holy claims on your life and my life. All his claims of holiness and righteous are fully met on our behalf by the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why Jesus on that cross, he's never more pleasing to the Father than when he was on that cross. So, as the Father, I believe the Father wept. But as God, he turned his back. So, that's in Psalms 22, all right? And it's the year 2022. And the number 22 in the Bible is the number of light.
You know, there are meanings to numbers in the Bible, like number one is unity and number two is agreement. Number three can be resurrection or completeness. Number four is the number of the earth, four corners of the earth, four winds of the earth. And number five is a number of grace, the number of grace. Number six, number of man. Number seven, perfection. Number eight, new beginning. Number nine can mean the number of the Holy Spirit or it can mean the number of judgement, depending on the context. And we can go on and on. And ten is the ordinal perfection, completeness of an ordinance or a law. And we can go on and on, but the number 22 is the number of light, light.
If you look at the menorah, there are 22 components to what brings forth the light. And I'll share that probably in another message, but back to Amos 9, it says Amos 9, verse 11, 9-1-1. It is addressing, I believe, this generation, I believe, the generation that went through 9/11 and the generation that came after 9/11. Amos 9:11 tells us this. And also during this time, God has brought to our attention Psalms 9:11, which is, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty". And the call number in America is 911, amen? It's the number for rescue and deliverance, amen? 911. God is telling us abide there, abide in the secret place of the Most High. But during this time also, 911, Amos 9:11, it says, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old".
So, God is saying that he's going to rebuild the tabernacle of David. You need to understand that there are other tabernacles. Prior to the tabernacle of David, there is a tabernacle of Moses. And God gave that tabernacle, even the plans for it, and they built it where? At Mount Sinai, amen. They built it at the foot of Mount Sinai. And that's the tabernacle of Moses, it's just as important, amen? In fact, when you study every part of the tabernacle, its various furnitures, its offerings and all that, it all depicts our Lord Jesus Christ. So, actually during the 40 days and 40 nights up there on the mountain, God wasn't talking to Moses about the law or laws and more laws. God was talking about his Son, amen? God was delighting in his Son. His heart was full of his Son.
Like a father, you know, glad that you are excited about his son, and then he brings up the album about his son. His son might be overseas at that time, and he will show all the pictures of his son through the years and all that. And what happens if you're not interested, you look far away, you look at your phone, you look outside the window? You know what the man will do? He will shut his album, amen? So, the Bible is all about his son, amen. And that's how Jesus expounded the Scriptures. When he rose again from the dead, on the same day he rose from the dead, he rose from the dead in the morning; on the same day, he walked with two of his disciples. It seems so ordinary, it seems so mundane, amen, walking with two disciples.
Isn't there more important things that you would think that the Lord might want to do on the day he rose from the dead? But he was demonstrating something. You see, they were cast down and they were in despondency, and he drew near to them because they were talking about him. You see, when you talk about Jesus, he draws near, amen. But nonetheless, they were looking at the dark side of it, "Oh, he was crucified. We thought it was he who should redeem Israel". Notice, they are using Jesus as a means to an end. The centrality of their heart is not Jesus. The centrality of their heart is actually Israel. "We thought," they both said to Jesus when he came, and by the way, Jesus restrained their eyes from seeing him in person. Okay, so they talk to him like a stranger. And he drew near, and this is what they said, "We thought it was he that should redeem Israel," referring to Jesus.
So, Israel was center in their hearts, not Jesus. Jesus is just a means to an end. Perhaps for you, you know, you might be embarking on a career and you're trying to focus on your career and things like that, but that's fine. That's part of the divine responsibilities that God has given us, you know, this side of heaven, amen. God says, "Work as unto the Lord". Even serve, serve your boss and your employer as unto the Lord, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Not with eye service, as man pleasers, but as unto the Lord. So, your eye is on the Lord. And if boss is not treating you right, God is able to change his heart, or else God can change bosses, or God can change places for you, amen. But if you're doing to the Lord, from the Lord, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance.
And then there's another thing, of course: you know, you gotta trust the Lord for every area of your life, provision, supply, healing, amen. And family wellbeing, family relationships, and good relationships to people. "As much as possible," the Bible says, "live peaceably with all men". And all these are areas that God wants to bless you with, but the greatest area is wisdom to know Jesus, to see Jesus. So, during this, the road of Emmaus, and they were focused on Israel and Jesus as a means to an end, "We thought he might redeem Israel". Jesus began to expound in the Scriptures things concerning himself. And later on, they confessed that their hearts were strangely warmed when Jesus opened up the Scriptures, and he opened up the Scriptures things concerning himself.
It's all about him from, you know, one of the things that will happen in the Rapture, one of the first things I want to do in heaven is that I want to see the video of that, amen? Of that walk, that seven-mile walk of Emmaus, where Jesus expounded, I believe, from Genesis all the way, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges, Ruth, on and on all the way. You know, the Bible says he expounded in that seven-mile journey and he went on, and they reached their village and their home, and they invited Jesus to come in. And then Jesus broke bread, that's communion. And then, when he broke bread, they realized who he was, and then he vanished.
Now, all that happened on the day he rose from the dead, which is a Sunday. So, I believe the Lord is showing us what to do on a Sunday, amen? Some people say, "Well, God works every day and all that". No, but there is a sanctification. The Lord himself set apart Sunday. And in the Bible, it's called the Lord's Day. Amen, there's something special about Sunday. For the Jewish people, they work and then they rest on Shabbat, all right? That is Saturday. For us, we start on Sunday. We enter into rest first, the first day of the week. We enter into rest, and then we are able to work. You rest well, you'll work well, amen? And this year, you will accelerate well as well. And the Bible also shows us that every Sunday, the Lord is showing us that we need to expound things concerning Jesus, and then also have communion. Praise the lord.
And that's what I endeavor to do here in New Creation Church in this ministry every Sunday, to expound on the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve communion. Because communion, listen, my friend, is not something you do to the Lord, it's something you receive from the Lord. And he loves for you to receive because grace is all about supply, amen? Praise the Lord, thank you, Jesus. So, Amos 9:11, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof". So, the breaches, there are breaks. So, of all the tabernacles, we are talking about tabernacle of Moses. God did not promise to raise the tabernacle of Moses, or to repair it, or to rebuild it.
God did not promise to rebuild, you know, the temples that followed after, the temple of Solomon, the temple of Herod. God only promised that in the last days, he's gonna restore the tabernacle of David, which actually was a temporal tabernacle. Because later on, when Solomon came along, David's son, he would bring the ark, rightly so, to Mount Moriah, which is just higher up from the city of David. City of David is on the south side of Jerusalem. And he'll bring up to Mount Moriah, where the temple of Solomon will be built. And it's supposed to be a permanent fixture, and that brought forth the golden era of prosperity and peace for Israel, right? So, we are not there yet. God is saying that while we're on earth, what is God doing? He's rebuilding the tabernacle of David. And it's all about the church of Jesus Christ. And its main characteristic is praise and worship, amen? Before an unveiled ark, hallelujah, amen.
The tabernacle of Moses, you got to go through the outer gate, you got to come in, and there's a altar, a burnt offering. Make sure that when you have sinned, you bring along your burnt offering or your sin offering. And then, after that, you got to wash, if you're only, if you're a priest, you wash your hands before you go in. Even for the priest, they must wash their hands before they go in. And when they go in, there's still the holy place. It's not before the ark just yet. The ark then was in the Holy of Holies, Qodesh Ha-qadashim. Holy of Holies, just think of it. David's tabernacle, all the people can come right before the ark. It's the picture of the church of Jesus Christ, where all of us can come to God, amen, boldly. Praise the Lord.
The word "bold," having therefore boldness, is made up of two Greek words which means to say freely. That's a freedom. There's a freedom. There's no more that fear. Even we call God "Father," we are no more under the spirit of slavery, where, you know, there are people can say God in a way that implies distance and fear. That's not the fear of the Lord. The true fear of the Lord is worship. Jesus translated that verse in Deuteronomy in the wilderness temptation to the devil by saying, "It is written, 'You shall fear the Lord your God.'" But actually, if you see what that verse was saying, in the Old Testament, it says, "You shall fear the Lord your God". So, Jesus translated the fear of God as worship of God. It is not this fear of God where you stay away from him, you don't want to be near him. Okay, that's not the fear of the Lord, amen? And that's the fear that Bible says you have not received again.
Notice the word "again"? You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, slavish fear. The fear there is implying the fear of God, the wrong kind of Old Testament fear of God. You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father," amen? So, we come before the tabernacle of David today, the church of Jesus Christ, we all can come freely; and what is the main characteristic of the tabernacle of David? It is praise and worship. There's a singing, there's dancing even because David danced with all his might, hallelujah. And there's a lot of praising, there's a lot of instruments. We don't see this in the tabernacle of Moses. We don't see them dancing, singing, and playing instruments there. We don't see too much of all these things in the tabernacle of Moses. In fact, none of it in the holy place and the Holy of Holies.
I'm sure that there are some Levites that will play some instruments outside, but not inside, you know? But the main characteristic of the tabernacle of David is the praise and worship. And that's what God is restoring all over the world today. You see God restoring the tabernacle of David. You see praise and worship popping up everywhere. And because of this pandemic for these past two years, the devil has given his best shot. And you know what? The church of Jesus Christ is still standing, amen? And God is rebuilding right now, even as I speak, even this year, all the breaks, all the breaches thereof. Everywhere that needs repair, he's repairing it.
And let me tell you this, what God's kind of repairing. When God repairs, when God restores, it's always greater in quality, greater in quantity. When God repairs your marriage, don't expect it to be the same as it was before. It's gonna be better in quality. What it was before is like water; what's gonna happen when he restores it is gonna be intoxicating wine. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. In fact, right now, I'm in another season of falling in love with my wife. I see her and I'm wondering to myself, "How did I get such a wonderful girl, beautiful girl"? Inside out, you know, I'm still discovering, praise the Lord. Okay, hallelujah. Let's move right along, amen. Thank you, Jesus. So, right after he says about repairing the tabernacle of David, the Bible goes on to say, "Behold, the day has come". What days? The days when he is rebuilding the tabernacle of David. "The day has come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed".
And I have shared last week that this means acceleration and also abundance because the harvest is so abundant, and it comes up so fast that both the reaper and the plowman meet. The treader of grapes and he who sows seed meet. Usually, in the normal circumstance, right, in the normal scheme of things in terms of sowing and harvesting, both don't meet. They are at the tail end, amen? But because of this acceleration and this abundance of harvest, they see each other. I wanna read to you from the Message translation of this verse: "'Yes indeed, it won't be long now.' God's decree. 'Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won't be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once, and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills".
Hallelujah, everywhere you look, things are happening so fast. And everywhere you look, blessings, blessings, and more blessings. So, the writer here brings out the spirit in paraphrase of what Amos 9:13 is talking about, the swiftness and the blessings because all that is happening right now is blessings, abundance; even the mountains will drop sweet wine. We saw that also last week. Joel talks about it, it's exactly in the same words. And that means there'll be terraced vineyards on all across the mountains, which is the best way to plant good quality grapes that produce good quality wine, hallelujah. And also, the hills will flow. Here, it says milk, it's from the same word, Hebrew word for "flow with milk" in Joel. It'll flow with milk.
The idea there is that it will provide such plenty of rich feeding that all the cows will give forth abundance of milk. Amen, so all the mountains would drop sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with milk. Abundance, abundance, blessings everywhere. You look up the mountain, blessings, amen? You look at the hills lower, amen, blessings. Everywhere you look, abundance, blessing. This year for you and your family, amen, praise the Lord, things will happen so fast, you will see blessings everywhere. Amen and amen. Praise the Lord, hallelujah.
I want to read to you a testimony that just came in. This came in on the 3rd January this year, only a few days ago. And this brother is from Singapore, and he shares this:
I had been plagued with a nagging stiffness in my right shoulder joint since August, 2021. Initially, I did not give it too much attention, thinking that it would go away soon. However, two months later, it degenerated into a constant excruciating pain not only at the joint area but also around my chest and forearm. At one point, the pain got so bad that I could not even raise my right arm or use my right hand to touch my shoulders. I would apply medicated plasters on my shoulder and even resorted to going for therapies and taking anti-inflammatory supplements. It was a rollercoaster ride. On good days, I would just experience a dull ache. But on bad days, I'd be totally wasted. In the last week of December, my condition worsened due to the cold weather and I could not even sleep properly for many nights.
Then on Vision Sunday, Pastor Prince declared that 2022 is the year of rest and acceleration, and he went on to share that forgiveness and healing were provided for when the blood of Jesus was sprinkled on the mercy seat. Immediately, I could sense the Lord's hand on my shoulder, and I uttered a simple amen to receive his healing touch, and rested in his finished work. That afternoon, I took a nap. And when I woke up, I realized that the pain in my right shoulder was all gone. I received my healing manifestation in my sleep. I was overjoyed when I could reach for my left shoulder using my right hand after such a long time. I was also able to turn my right forearm without experiencing any pain. Praise the Lord for his healing touch, and I believe that this is the first of many accelerations of his grace and blessings to manifest in the year 2022.
Then on Vision Sunday, Pastor Prince declared that 2022 is the year of rest and acceleration, and he went on to share that forgiveness and healing were provided for when the blood of Jesus was sprinkled on the mercy seat. Immediately, I could sense the Lord's hand on my shoulder, and I uttered a simple amen to receive his healing touch, and rested in his finished work. That afternoon, I took a nap. And when I woke up, I realized that the pain in my right shoulder was all gone. I received my healing manifestation in my sleep. I was overjoyed when I could reach for my left shoulder using my right hand after such a long time. I was also able to turn my right forearm without experiencing any pain. Praise the Lord for his healing touch, and I believe that this is the first of many accelerations of his grace and blessings to manifest in the year 2022.
And we all can say amen to that, praise the Lord, hallelujah. So already, people are experiencing this in the year of rest and acceleration. Now sit back. I want you to watch this video.
The year of rest and acceleration, praise the Lord. You know, the reason I wanted you to watch that video is because every part of that video, I believe that the Lord has a reason for leading me to share with my video team on different aspects of the video because what I received from the Lord, the different portions, even before I told them the theme of the year, I received the different parts of it from the Lord and, as I received, I would share with them, and even all the illustrations therein. So I believe that in the weeks to come, in the days to come this year, you will find that each part of that video will make a lot of significance to you. I know because I believe that it is something the Lord led me to do, every part of it. So I believe that it has a message, and you will see the reality of it in your own life.
Why is it, you know, the tabernacle of David there, the blood of Jesus, and then the different illustrations of the different person with oppression? Talking about oppression and obsession. You know, last week, when I was praying the blessing prayer for this year, when I came to the part about depression, you know, I felt the Lord tell me straightaway in my spirit that this year, we'll be ministering to more and more people with depression. And people with depression that, for many years even, they've been suffering depression. Parents who see their loved one, their beloved daughter or son coop up in their room, not going outside, just having, you know, like, living in that dark chamber by herself or by himself, not seeing the sunlight much, and you've been crying out to the Lord. The Lord has heard your cry. And this year, there'll be an acceleration in the relieving and setting free of these people from depression.
I felt like the Lord is telling me that this year there'll be a lot of reasons for people to be depressed. In fact, even suicidal. There'll be a lot of things that you see in the world. Please understand when I say that what The Message Bible talk about, Amos 9:13, it says that everywhere you look: blessings. I'm not talking about the world. And in all our themes of the year, we have to remind people this: I'm not talking about the world. The world will get darker and darker, the Bible tells you that. So, we're not talking about the world. Everywhere you look there's blessings. Everywhere you look there's blessings. I am believing God together with you that this coronavirus pandemic will come to an end this year. That's not a prophecy. That is praying with you that it will happen.
We all want that to happen, but listen. Unless the Lord speaks, unless the Lord says something, I will not say, "This is the Lord". But I'm gonna tell you some things about the world that the Lord has touched on my heart. I have this coming up again and again, and it's from Matthew 24 when Jesus talked about the end times. And this is the phrase I receive: "And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars". "You will hear of wars and rumours of wars". But notice what Jesus said: "See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet". So there'll be a lot of saber rattling, there'll be a lot of commotion, the Bible says in Luke's account. And here it says you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. People getting ready to go to war. And you'll see more and more of that as we enter into this year, but what did Jesus say? "See that you be not troubled," okay? Tuck in that somewhere in your spirit man.
So again, the blessings of God restoring the tabernacle of David is for his people. It's for his many-membered church, amen? It's for the people of God, children of God. I'm not talking about the world, but we need to pray for the world because we have influence with God. We are the only ones who have influence with God. And God says, "When you pray, I will move". Praise the Lord. Remember, I have another message talking about why pray? If God is all-knowing, why pray? And why does God move after we pray? And that has gotta do with the authority God gave to Adam and how Adam committed high treason and, you know, obeyed an outlaw spirit and then the authority fell into the wrong hands and the devil had the authority, and how Jesus came and wrested back that authority, praise the name of Jesus. And Jesus gave the church the authority. And that's why we pray. Unless we pray, nothing will happen, my friend.
Keep on praying. God has given us a special prayer that we can pray, even for our future and for people, even around the world, that transcends time and space, without even us knowing what we are praying and thank God we don't have to know what we are praying. Some of us, we got too stressed and afraid of knowing, right, what we are praying. So it's best we pray not knowing sometimes. And who can tell what the future holds that the Holy Spirit knows. So we can pray in tongues. When you pray in the spirit, something called the gift of tongues that came on the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. God wants us to pray constantly in the spirit. That's the only kind of prayer that you can pray without ceasing. Praise the Lord. "You will hear of war and rumours of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet," okay?
And another thing is that what I see is that, you know, there'll be great earthquakes. The part where Jesus talk about, Jesus says: "And there'll be great earthquakes in various places". Now, great earthquakes is seven or more on the Richter scale, not small earthquakes or average size. "Great earthquakes and famines and pestilences". Now, this is plague. Of course, COVID-19 is here for sure, amen. This COVID-19 is global, so for sure it is here, "and there'll be fearful sights and great signs from heaven". But especially this word, "great earthquake" just jump out at me. So let's pray. Let's pray. You know, I'll tell you this. I'm one of those that I don't want these things to happen, amen? I'm not a prophet that prophesies things and then say that, you know, "It must happen to show that, you know, I'm a true prophet". No, I'm not one of them. I'm just telling you what I feel the Lord is showing me. I could be wrong, okay? I'm not saying this is it, but this is what I received.
These are the words I have received for this year for the world. And we need to pray against that happening. We need to pray against all that from coming to pass and destroying people. You know it's not from God. When Jesus mentioned all those things, you know it's not from God. Jesus himself says in John 10: "The thief," singular. That's the devil. "The thief comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy". Anything that has this nature of stealing from you, stealing your joy, stealing your relationships, stealing your peace of mind, stealing your sleep, even, stealing your health. Whatever it is, it is the devil. It is not God, okay? Then kill. The devil kills. Killing is not from God. Killing is the devil. And then destroy. How is it destroyed? When someone is killed, how did they destroy? You destroy the testimony of that person. You destroy what the person has built up.
So the devil is like, he's full of hate, okay? But God is the opposite. Jesus says, "I am come". Right after he said that, he says, "I am come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly". In other words, if you reverse everything, Jesus is the one that gives and gives and gives. The devil is the one that steals. He's a thief. He steals. Jesus gives and gives and gives. And the devil kills; Jesus heals, hallelujah. The devil destroys; Jesus rebuild, amen. Jesus resurrects, Jesus restores. That's life more abundantly. And let's expect to see more of that this year. Amen, church?
And also, throughout this year, we will see more and more the life of David being unfolded to us because even this tabernacle of David being built, the account of it is found in 2 Samuel as well as 1 Chronicles. 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13 and 1 Chronicles 15. So we find this story of David bringing the ark from a place where it's long neglected and dishonored, into the bosom of Israel, okay? For a long time, the ark was in Kiriath Jearim, and it was there and Saul, the first king, neglected the ark. He had no heart to seek out the ark. But David, as a boy, in Psalms 132, which we shared that last week, Psalms 132 tells us, as a boy, he says, "I'll not give sleep to my eyes nor slumber to my eyelids, Until I find a place," hallelujah, "find a place for the God of Jacob".
So the place that David had in mind that God showed him was Zion, and the Bible says Zion is the city of David. And it's not where today, in Israel, you go to Israel, in the Mount Moriah, where the temple of Solomon used to stand, the temple of Herod used to stand. No, the city of David is just south, and that's Zion. The Bible says Zion, which is the city of David, the stronghold of Zion. And that's where he brought the ark. And Zion always speaks of grace. Sinai, when you compare Mount Sinai... these are two mountains. Mount Zion is on a mountain, and Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai speaks of the law. Mount Zion speaks of grace. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 that you, the believer, you are not come, listen, "You are not come to Mount Sinai, the mountain that burned with darkness and tempest".
And the Bible says that you are not come to that mountain that can be shaken and that mountain, there was an earthquake when God gave the law, all right, remember the day that God gave the law, there was an earthquake, thunder, and darkness and dark clouds, even. It's very interesting that when Jesus went up another mountain with his three disciples, all right, Peter, James, and John, and where he was transfigured, the Bible says: "A bright cloud overshadowed him". With grace, it's a bright cloud. But at Mount Sinai, it was a dense cloud, a black cloud, on Mount Sinai. And in Hebrews 12, it says: "You are not come to that mountain that can be shaken, to darkness," amen? That even Moses, the best of them at that time, said, "I exceedingly fear and quake". You are not come to that mountain that even God commanded that, they could not stand the command. And one of the command is even, like, even if an animal touches Mount Sinai, it will die. It'll be thrust through with a dart. It will die. It will die.
So the idea there, when you touch Mount Sinai, there's death. We are not come to that mountain, but it tells us, we are come to "Mount Zion, the city of the living God". Where is the living God? In fact, in Hebrews 12, you can't find the living God anymore in Sinai. Even then, he was hidden in darkness from Moses and from the people of Israel. But here you are come to Mount Zion. That's only brightness, the city of the living God, amen? "You have come to the true Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem," amen? "And an innumerable company of angels," all right? Where have all the angels moved to? To Mount Zion, amen. You are come to that mountain, the mountain of grace. And the Bible said the whole purpose, if you keep on reading, it says that God is doing this because anyone on Mount Sinai still, you'll find that the things that are human made, that are manmade, things that are manmade will be shaken, will be shaken to its foundations.
We are seeing that happen in this past two years, even, all right? Everything that man trusts is being shaken. Everything that man boasts of is being shaken. Everything that man takes pride in is being shaken, so that men will see they are nothing without God. And they need to seek God, hallelujah, and it's God's mercy there. And God is not the one, listen carefully, God is not the one sending this pandemic. But God has been protecting the world all these years, this past year, as the pandemic never hit the way it did right now, amen. I know there's a Spanish flu and all that, but since then until now, it's not hit the way it did. SARS came to an end within a few months, but here, it goes on and on. Why? Because we need to understand, we are too strong in ourselves. We are too proud in ourselves. We act like we don't need God, and now we do. Now we see we do. And God is so merciful. The moment that men will just turn their hearts towards him, amen, restoration, like I said, restoration is always greater in quantity or greater in quality. Praise the name of Jesus.
And the Bible says in Hebrews 12 that a shaking would happen, but a shaking cannot happen in Mount Zion because the Bible says in Psalms, in Mount Zion, "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken forever". If you are on Mount Zion, you will not be shaken. Listen, you might be shaking, you might be trembling, but the mountain that you are on never trembles. You are on solid foundation. But if you are confident, and you are proud, but you are on Mount Sinai, amen, doesn't really matter, amen, that you're not trembling even, because the mountain is trembling. The mountain is shaking. So the Bible says, "In the last days, God is going to shake everything that can be shaken". "I will shake the heavens and the earth. The things that cannot be shaken will remain".
Listen, my friend. The things which cannot be shaken may remain. And immediately after that, the very next verse tells us, right after the shaking, God says it's to produce this. "So, let us have grace". Let us have what? Grace, not the law, grace. "Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear". And in that context, the next verse says, "For our God is a consuming fire," and he will consume the idea that everything that is not grace. Let us have grace. Without grace, you cannot serve God with reverence. You cannot serve God acceptably. He says, "Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear". Mm, hallelujah. Amen, amen. May grace and preachers of grace arise, amen, in this year, amen, preaching the gospel of grace to the four corners of the earth. Praise the Lord.
In fact, the Bible goes on and say, when God repairs the breaches thereof and rebuild the ruins of David's tabernacle, the remnant of the humankind, and this was quoted by James, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. When there was an argument whether the Gentiles should be circumcised and keep the law, they brought this matter to Jerusalem, to James, who was the pastor of Jerusalem with all the rest of the apostles. Paul was there. Barnabas was there. Peter was there. And then Peter rose up and told them, "Hey, guys, remember how God used my mouth to speak to the Gentiles"? There was Cornelius' house. The first person who God used to preach to the Gentiles to be saved was Peter, but Peter wasn't called to preach to the Gentiles. That was Paul's assignment, but Paul would come later. So, God used Peter first, and he says, you know, "And how God purified their hearts by faith".
When you think about it, God purified their hearts by faith. Hearts are purified not by works, not by our labor, not by our good intentions, not by our trying. It's purified by faith. When you hear the Word, you see there are people teaching, for example, how to overcome lust, how to overcome greed, how to overcome, in other words, the fleshly temptations and all that. It is always more disciplined. It is more disciplined. It is more labor. It's more trying. No, my friend, you are going the wrong way because trying implies Jesus has not finished the work. Actually, it's faith. You must realize that this voice telling you to succumb to lust, this voice telling you to be greedy, this voice telling you to look out for number one, amen, to be selfish, this voice is a dead voice. It's a dead man trying to talk to you. The Bible says, "Reckon yourself dead unto sin".
And look, if you reckon that the old man is dead, you will not treat him with respect. You wouldn't acknowledge him. You won't pray against him. You won't be crying unto God about him. Because when you cry to God about him, you are saying he's alive, and that's not faith. So, just ignore him, amen, and focus on Jesus, and that's how you overcome. You know, God will not give us any other way but the way of faith. Anyone telling you any set of disciplines and all that to overcome the flesh. It's giving you more reason to sin. Okay, I'll tell you this. You might know about them for a while. But after for a while, you find that they fall into sin, and sometimes there's an open sin, all right, the people all know about. But all the while, they're preaching discipline, and they're trying their best to overcome some sins in their life, in their private, you know, quarters, where they are handling it themselves. And the more they're trying to handle it, they can't handle it. They shout really loud about holiness and all that.
Let me tell you, true holiness can only come when you're on the foundation of the work of Jesus Christ, that all our sins are forgiven. You know, it's like it's not a matter of saying that is A-B-C. Our sins are forgiven. It's A-B-C. No, my friend. You've gotta really believe it. You've gotta really believe it because that's where the foundation, that foundation of rest comes in. Amen. When you come before God, you've gotta know that all your sins have been forgiven. You need to be what the Bible calls in Hebrews 10 a purged conscious, amen? Not a conscience of sin, not sin consciousness. A purged conscience, that's why God wants you to come to him and be aware of that. But today is almost like, oh, you need a conscience of sin. If you're not sin conscious, then you are just licentious. You are hardened.
But the Bible says in Hebrews 10, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of those things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect". The previous chapter says perfect in terms of their conscience, not in their behavior. And the next verse says, "For then they will have ceased to be offered". Because the worshipers once purged, once and for all, the word there "hapax", once and for all purged, cleansed by the blood of Jesus, should have had no more conscience of sins, no more conscience of sins. And what that does, it causes you to rest. Doesn't make you licentious. No, doesn't make you go crazy and sin. No, it causes you to rest. And then not only that, it gives you a sense of appreciation to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's how worship comes, amen, when you see what he has done for you, and then you respond to him.
Now you're falling in love with him. You are worshiping him. He becomes central in your life. And you think for one moment when you fall in love with him that you will keep on sinning? No, because when you fall in love with him, you always, always fall out of love with sin, because Jesus gets more and more attractive, my friend. So unless you're on a foundation of rest, it starts with your conscience. You cannot have that confidence and faith to trust God's goodness in your life because there's always second guessing the work of Jesus. All right, maybe he didn't finish everything, you know, but you don't say that kind of thing openly, of course. You are too smart for that. But your actions and your belief system deep down, what you believe is saying what Jesus did is not enough.
And my friend, that's the reason why you're falling into sin again and again and again. True holiness comes from a foundation of rest. Amen. We don't want this pseudo holiness that when someone, you know, is trying to be humble. They are aware they are humble, and now they're trying their best to not show that they are humble. No, that's all of the flesh. We're talking about true holiness comes from a foundation of rest in the finished work of Jesus. And God wants his people, listen carefully, our state, our behavior fluctuates. It changes. Our behavior always change. Anyone tells they don't, they're just lying, amen? There goes a change. Praise the Lord. So, you know, our state can change, but our position never. Our position before God is righteous in Christ, blameless, holy in his eyes. Praise the Lord. But our state, our behavior changes.
Now God wants you, listen carefully, the devil wants you to judge your position by your state, by your behavior. Because your behavior is down, that means you are no more righteous. You are no more worthy to come before God. Okay? And you cannot expect good things to happen. You cannot expect God's blessings. You cannot expect hope in your future, because hope is something good in your future, all right? The expectation, positive expectation of good. You cannot expect all that because, you know what? You have just compromised. You have just sinned or whatever. So this fluctuates. Now listen carefully. It won't lead to licentiousness. Listen carefully. God, what God wants from you is this. Judge, judge your behavior. Judge your action by who you are in Christ. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, and you judge your actions.
Sometimes I do that by if I'm driving down the road, and someone just cuts in front of me, and I get a bit, you know, I feel the rising, the rising, I tell myself that is a lie, amen, because that rising is a lying symptom. Amen. My old man has been crucified with Christ. I'm dead to sin, amen. And not only that. What do I do? I say I'm the righteousness of God. Now all this happens now without me saying it out. It all happens inside me now. I mean sometimes utter it quietly, right, or a whisper, but I'm righteous in Christ. And then I say, "Joseph Prince, that wasn't good". All right? Talking back in front of the person, all horning in such a, you know, you press the horn for too long.
All right, that wasn't good. I can judge my behavior, but I never lose that sense of inward collapse, because, oh, man, I sinned again. Oh, no, how God feels towards me. No, I can judge my sin. In fact, I find that the more I do that, I can even laugh about it, you know, in front of my family, okay. Yeah, I've got this tendency, and I'm going to judge that, in Jesus' name, praise the Lord. Yeah, I have this tendency, or yes I have a propensity for stress. Oh, I have this and all that. I can judge it, but I judge it by my position. I don't judge my position by my behavior. Amen?
Now to return to David. So this coming year, as you look at how David brings back the ark, there's one point here I just want you to always remember is that the ark, always hold this in your heart. The ark is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. The king before David, Saul, he has no heart for the ark. In other words, he typifies the leadership that has no heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is a means to an end, but Jesus is not central in his life or in the church. So, Jesus needs to be the central in our lives, in our marriages. "Husbands, love your wives", doesn't stop there, "as Christ loves the church". Amen. "Wives, submit to your husband as unto Jesus". Amen? You see Jesus behind your husband. So, your husband is not perfect, but you see Jesus. I can submit to Jesus, amen. And husbands, love your wives as Christ loves the church. Wow, that's a tall order. You know how Christ loves the church? With open arms on the cross, and I'm supposed to love my wife like that. But unless I see Jesus, I'll not be able to love my wife like that. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus, amen.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord". Amen. You see the Lord, amen. It is in the Lord that you are able to obey your parents and honor them. So, again, in all our relationships, we bring Jesus into the center. That's Christian relationships. It is not a matter of reading books on how to be more successful in your communication and how to be all that. All that's fine. It has its place. But listen, you can do all those things and be an Uzzah. Stretch forth human effort. It's about looking at Jesus, and resting in him, and seeing his pattern, delighting in the vision that the Holy Spirit is giving you of Jesus in the area of a marriage, in the area of your ministry, in the area of your career, in whatever it is that you want to see Jesus in. He's at the center, where he's center, and you're occupied with him. You are obsessed with him, amen. He captivates your heart and mind and soul.
You don't have to worry about a holy life. You don't have to worry about behavior going wrong. This is where the church is lacking, my friend. They have left their first love. Amen? And how do you restore the first love, by coming back to the first love, to know that he loves me. Amen? Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And I believe that just like David, finally he learned his lesson after Uzzah's death. David says, "This is how you bring the ark". And he's going to bring the ark back to where? Zion. He's going to bring the ark from the place of dishonor and neglect to a place of honor and exaltation, amen, on a mountain, Zion, and he's going to bring the ark back, but he made a mistake. He had a right motive, wrong action, right? Because God wants the ark on the shoulders of the priests. God wants the ark on the shoulders of the priests.
I don't know why they put it on an ox cart. Maybe because the Philistines brought it back on an ox cart, and no Philistine died. Because God knew that for the Philistines, they are ignorant of God's ways. So, God was merciful to them. They brought back the ark the only way they know how, on its ox cart, but David, you know, adopt the ox cart, and the Levites that were with him should have told him, and the Levites just ignored that. And this is what David said after three months. You know, Uzzah died because the ark shook. Of course, the ark shook. Think about it, my friend. For 40 years from Sinai, all the way crossing the River Jordan to the promised land, and then around the walls of Jericho seven days with the ark on their shoulders.
This 40 years, there's not one account that a Levite stumbled carrying the ark, no account of that, no account of death in 40 years. But in this short distance, Kiriath-Jearim to Zion is about nine miles, there is a death. Why? Because they didn't do it God's way. They did not do it God's way. The proper way for the ark to be carried is on the shoulders of the Levites, amen, from the priestly family, the Levites. And you and I, today, we are a kingdom of priests, amen, kings and priests. This is our priestly ministry. Today the priestly ministry is not selected for you who are pastors, leaders, deacons. No, no, all of us who are born again, we are a family of priests unto God, a family of kings unto God. Praise the Lord, amen. So, our role is to exalt Jesus Christ, right? Just like we are so excited about our play and all that. We put him high on our shoulders to lift him up. The idea is what? Right? Lift him up, amen. Lift him high. Exalt him.
And the word that is used there is that the Levites bore the ark on their shoulders. And the word "bore" is very interesting because it is the word "nasa," to lift up. Amen? Nasa, and nasa is used in Isaiah 53, verse 4, talking about the work of Jesus. It says, "However, it was our sicknesses that he himself bore," nasa, "And our pains that he carried". Now it is a different word. It is saval. "Yet we ourselves assumed that he had been afflicted, Struck down by God, and humiliated". So, it's talking about Jesus here at the cross. It was our sicknesses that he himself bore, nasa, and our pains that he carried. Saval actually means a heavy load, a heavy load.
My friend, listen, as I was preparing this for you, the Lord said this to me. "If you will bear my Son, my Son will bear your sicknesses. If you exalt my Son, my Son will carry your sicknesses away, carry your pains away. You bear my Son, and my Son will bear your sicknesses. You carry the load of my Son, and he will carry your pains away". Oh, hallelujah. May this be the theme of your life this year in all that you do, even in your career or your pursuing of any other dream that God is showing you, to walk in. Right? Make sure that Jesus is there in the center of it. Amen, friend? You've gotta make sure that he has the characteristics where you can glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. More than making money, more than fame, more than anything else, you want Jesus Christ exalted, amen.
Make sure you're in the nature of business that can exalt Jesus Christ. Make sure your family, if someone is out of it and all that, keep on praying for that person, amen, because you are sharing the same interest with the Father in heaven to see his Son glorified. Pray, pray that Jesus be glory... don't just say, "I love my son, I want him to prosper in studies and all that, because he'll make me look good". Now, you wouldn't say that to God, but it's inside. No, no, no. You want him to prosper in his studies so that he will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, amen, so that he will glorify the Lord even in his life as he grows. Amen? And, you know, whatever dreams he has, my concern for parents today is that they have forgotten what is a true success in life. A true success is a son or a daughter that truly knows the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes they're more concerned that their children succeed in their exams, than that their children are saved. No, you want them saved, amen. Praise the Lord.
And to return to David. So, David told the Levites, "You guys forgot". Okay, this is what he told them. He said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order". You see, the proper order, which is on the shoulders of the priests. Amen. On your shoulders and my shoulders. God has given us the wonderful holy privilege of exalting his Son in our lives. And the more we focus on his Son and not on our selfish, you know, occupation, but more on his Son, making sure that everything we do is to glorify him and not to exalt ourselves, but to exalt him. Amen.
This is what God says. "You nasa my Son, my Son will nasa your sicknesses, your depression, your infirmities". You carry the load of my Son, in the area of like exalting Jesus and later you see it's not even a load for us. All right? What he did, he carried saval. It's a heavy load of all our pains. He carried our pains. But you know what? Our yoke is easy and our burden is light. Amen. So even this wonderful privilege given to us to exalt Jesus Christ in and through our lives, in and through our person, in and through our families, in and through our ministry, our careers, in our relationships, it's not something hard. And let's see what happened when they did it God's way. "So, David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom with joy. And so it was when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams".
So it was when God helped the Levites who bore the ark. Notice God never helped Uzzah or the cows. God helped the Levites. And based on my studies, I found that the weight of the gold and the wood and also the contents of the ark weigh about 288 pounds. Now that's quite heavy for four men to carry. Each of them would carry about 72 pounds. That is a lot of pounds to carry per person. But here it says God helped them. So, the Jewish writings, some of their writings tell us about how God helped them. They will say things like when they carried the ark, the moment they carried it up, it's as if the tables turned. The ark was now lifting them. That bears with my spirit. Amen.
It says Jesus says, "Take my burden on you. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light". Let's read that. Jesus said, "Come unto me", Remember? "Come unto me," not to a formula, not to any other person. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden". You can put saval there. Amen? Jesus carried the heavy load of our sins and also our diseases and our pains, saval and nasa. He nasa. He saval. But here he says, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden". He's telling you He doesn't want you heavy laden with your sins, heavy laden with your depression, heavy laden with your sickness, heavy laden with what is wrong in your life, amen. He wants you to come to him. What's going to happen when you come to him? He says, "And I will give you rest on My very person. My very person will rest you". Then he says this. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light".
Remember, child of God, whenever you serve the Lord Jesus, his yoke, whatever yoke it is that he has put you on, my yoke is to preach. Every week I need to prepare a message and all that. And sometime the devil wants to give me a saval mentality. It's a heavy load. It's a heavy load. It's a heavy load for preaching. It's a heavy load. I need to learn that if it's truly from Jesus, it's going to be easy yoke, light burden, or else it's not of Jesus. If you're carrying something right now that you think, or it's something religious, something that the church or someone tells you you need to carry, all right, but it's heavy on you, it's heavy laden, it's not easy. It's grating against you. And just like the heavy yoke, it's grating against you.
My friend, it's not God. Drop it. Amen? Because his yoke is easy. If he tells you to do something, he'll give you the grace for it, and you will find an ease to it. You will find even the burden he gives you is light. It's not saval. It's light. He took the saval, all right, the heavy burden, so that he gives you the light burden. You lift him up, he carries your heavy burdens. He's the burden bearer. Hallelujah. You exalt him, amen. You lift him up in all that you do, you're going to see more and more of him, amen. This is what I desire most of all. When I hear preaching or teaching, I want to see Jesus. I want to see more of him. I want to see more of him. I want to see more of him. How about you? And having seen him, to know him and to make him known, to exalt him, to glorify him. Praise the name of Jesus.
And my friend, I believe that this whole story of David is a journey for us throughout this year. Here and there you hear different parts of it being shared, as the Spirit of God leads, and you'll find it's pertaining to where we are at, amen. I really believe where we are at this year is the journey of bringing the ark back to Zion. That's where we are, amen, where the tabernacle of David is waiting. And God is rebuilding, amen, the tabernacle of David, and he's repairing the breach, even the first breach. Breach is called perez in Hebrew, and the first place that, you know, David says perez Uzzah, was the place where Uzzah died. This past year there has been a perez. This pandemic is a perez, all right? And God will rebuild the perez areas of your life. He will rebuke the breaches thereof. Amen, praise the Lord. And you'll see the plowman overtaking the reaper. Everywhere you look, blessings, over abundance. Praise the Lord.
Supply, amen, in every area of your life. Praise the name of Jesus. Do not have a sense that you are alone, you are without help. Have a sense, "Jesus loves me, this I know. And he is with me, and I am on Mount Zion". And Mount Zion, God says, "I have chosen Zion. I have desired it," for what? "My resting place". And God will never change his mind to go back to Sinai. No, all right, Sinai is not antiquated. God has moved mountains. Make sure you do. Make sure you do. Praise the name of Jesus. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
I see someone, you wake up nights, and you are holding your chest. You've been having pains, and it's been troubling you, but right now you feel warmth all over that area. It's like you feel like honey being poured, warm honey being poured all over that area. God is healing you, my friend. Receive that healing right now, in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And there's someone, you are feeling like, sometimes you feel like a metal band around your head; and especially when you want to spend time reading the Bible or listen to a sermon, you feel like there's a band on your head like a metal band. Sometimes it becomes like a headache, and it's tightening around your head. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be free. In the name of the Lord Jesus, you are free from that bondage, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And whom the Son sets free, my friend, is free indeed. And from this day forth, you will find that that satanic yoke is broken, and you're free to come to the Word of God and receive God's Word, amen.
A number of people are watching this and when I shared about depression just now you said that, "Lord, please do it for me. I do not know how in and of myself". Receive this right now, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by human might, not by human power, but by your Spirit, Lord, right now, sweep over all this darkness and cobwebs of heathen depression in their hearts and minds out of their lives in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the wind of your Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I pronounce the shalom peace that garrisons, that wonderful aggressive peace that protects your hearts and minds and your emotions from depression, from worries, from panic attacks. May you walk in that peace more and more, more and more. Keep your mind on Jesus. Listen to Christ-centered sermons. And the more you see Jesus, the more you keep your mind on him. He will keep you in perfect peace. Fix your mind on him, and he will fix your mind. Hallelujah, praise the name of Jesus.
Someone with gastritis, in fact, the doctors tell you there's an ulcer, and you're having pain even as you're watching this right now. In the name of Jesus, there it is, right now that healing. You're feeling like a balm, like a warm liquid just in your stomach, and the Lord is healing you. My friend, I heard the Lord says it's gonna be a permanent healing. You've been having this year after year after year. You thought that, you know, it's just something that I have to bear. No, my friend. Right now you receive it once and for all. In Jesus' name, that problem will not come back, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus.
Let me pray for the rest of you, amen, if you're suffering in any way physically or mentally. I want you to place your hand on your head, or on your chest, or on your knees, of whatever it is. I see someone being healed right now of your knee condition. In fact, there's someone, both your knees are injured. In fact, I see you sitting down most of the time. Even when you are outside, you look for a place to sit down, and I see God touching your knee right now, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the name that brings healing. Jesus, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be healed of your affliction. Be healed of your sickness. Be healed of that pain. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pronounce you free. I pronounce you every whit whole, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Praise the Lord, hallelujah, amen.
And Father God, I thank you, Lord, for this year, that you will give us, Lord, Father, you will supply us, Lord, with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. To know him is eternal life. Thank you, Father God, to know that life, that zoe life. Hallelujah, praise the name of Jesus. If you've never made Jesus your Savior and Lord, pray this prayer with me right now. Say, "Heavenly Father..." Say it, say where you are:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Father, I thank you for opening my eyes by your mercy and grace to see Jesus as my Savior. Christ died on the cross for all my sins, and he rose from the dead when I was acquitted in him. Jesus Christ is my Lord. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior now and forever. Thank you, Father. I'm greatly blessed, amen.
From this day forth, friend, everywhere you look, blessings, blessings, blessings. In the midst of your trial, even, blessings, blessings, blessings. He'll pull you through. Praise the Lord Jesus. Life more abundant is coming to your life. Stand to your feet, church. Hallelujah. Get ready for that rest and acceleration coming your way. Amen, expect it not just for the whole year, but this coming week. Amen, praise the Lord. It won't be the same, the same business as usual. Oh, it happened before. It can happen again, as usual. No more. Forget that mentality. God's going to do a new thing. And before it has happened, God has told you about it. Praise the Lord. He's talking to you these past two Sundays, amen, that he's going to do a new thing, a new thing, that there be a rest and yet accelerating. Praise the Lord.
Be expecting. God honors the heart that always expects to see God do what he said he will do. God likes that. God will look out for a Joshua and a Caleb that has that spirit, amen. Our hearts are purified by faith. That's faith, my friend. Praise the Lord. This coming week, lift your hands to the Lord.
I pray for you that may the God of peace keep you holy and also keep your spirits, souls, and bodies healthy, very healthy, and faultless until Jesus, our Lord Jesus returns. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.