Joseph Prince - Own Your New Creation Identity

Praise God. Want to say amen to all the prayers prayed over all the mothers, amen. And how many are planning, just by a show of hands, I just feel like asking this – how many, you are married of course, you’re planning to be a mother any time soon. You have not conceived yet but you’re planning to be a mother. Let me see your hands. Just wave. Praise the Lord. Ok. Yup Alright, how many of you, don’t have to raise your hands for this one, but you are, you’ve been wanting to be a mother for now more than two years to three years and you’ve not had any manifestation yet but you’re believing God for it. Amen. I want to tell you this – God specifically spoke to me in my time, in preparation and said that it’s going to be your year of miracle. Just like the year of Rest and Acceleration, this is going to happen.

Now I don’t always give this kind of words as you know. I don’t say this in every other service and all that and it’s been some time since I said that. But every time I said it, it’s like that particular year is going to be like a baby boom. Amen. I don’t mean it’s going to be like coming out poop. I'm going to say that you are in for a beautiful bouncy baby. Amen. A booming bouncy baby. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen God is good. God is good and the heart of the Father is when God speaks to Abraham, God speaks generationally. Always have you noticed that, when God makes promises, He makes promises generationally. He always said that, "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And I shall bless your seed and your seed’s seed". And the Lord always says in every blessing, even in the psalms it says may you live to see your children’s children. Amen. It’s not just long life for the sake of long life like in Psalms 91. It says, "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation".

The first reason for long life is to see Jesus. Just like Simeon the prophet, the Lord said to him that he will not die until he sees Jesus. That’s why when Joseph and Mary dedicated Jesus to the temple, old Simeon came and then he held the Baby in his arms. And what did he tell the Lord? Lord let now your servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen Your Salvation. In Hebrew, he would have said, my eyes have seen your Yeshua. Your Jesus. Amen. So I believe just like Simeon, in the first coming of Jesus, in the second coming of Jesus, there’ll be a generation of Simeons. Amen. They are advance in years and yet they are not dead yet. Why? Because they are, they take into heart that promise in Thessalonians, amen, "You will not see death until you see Jesus". And that seeing Jesus there is physical. To see Jesus face to face.

You see, as believers we are not looking for the grave. We’re looking to the sky for the Lord to appear. And then our bodies will be transformed like His glorious body. Amen. We’re not looking for the undertaker. We’re looking for the upper taker. Amen. So, it’s not scriptural to be looking towards death. The Bible says you are to look to the sky, to look to Jesus. Your redemption and that redemption there is bodily redemption. Your redemption draws near. And all the people said, amen. Praise God. Smile to your neighbour and say, "You are in for an exciting time, especially you". And look at another person and say that, "I don’t know what’s your trouble, but your troubles will melt like wax in the presence of the Lord". Amen. Praise the name of Jesus.

We are continuing our teaching on the heart. How many are blessed last week by the word of the heart. And we were trying to locate the heart because everyone is after your heart. Everyone. The world out there, the social media, they are bombarding you every day. The advertisers, marketing – they are all appealing where? To your heart. And many a times even when they are promoting things like medicine or certain kind of products. You don’t find them talking so much about the specifics or the detailed explanation of what this product or the ingredients of the product. What they do is that they give you a story, a short story and then they tell you how this person; they show you the guy holding the pain at first. Argh his hand, it’s very painful. Then later on he take this product, he’s smiling. Amen. But the before picture is always very grumpy one. Alright, the after picture is always smiling. Amen. This lady before she use this shampoo, look at the hair. Argh that kind of thing. Now, she’s smiling. Amen. It’s always like that.

So no mention of the ingredients of the shampoo. What are they doing? They are after your heart. They are after your heart. They know that your head is not interested in the facts so much as your heart. It appeals to your heart. At the end, many of us, we still look at the facts because we are mature and advance enough in our life; older ones especially; to want to look at the facts. But now in the world that we live in, sometimes facts are confounded. We do not know what is really facts. That’s why the term "fake news" has been very current, recently. Right? Especially these last, only happen like this last decade, it came to prominence. Why? Because you have to decipher through the facts. But there’s one thing, my friend that you can be sure of – the Word of God. This book here, this book here, listen carefully, outlast….Truth, it has truth. It outlasts facts. So when the doctor says that, yes the x-ray, the MRI and all that shows that you have this condition. We’re not saying that’s not a fact. It is a fact. But the fact, listen, may not be permanent. Most of the time, they’re not. But God’s truth outlast the fact. God’s truth is forever. Can I have a good amen?

And once Jesus died on that cross for all your sins, everything that’s between you and God and especially the barrier of sin. Because sin is what separates man from God has been removed. That is a truth. Amen. So therefore, the facts in your body. The facts that say that hey, you still have sin. You still have sin in your mind, in your body, predominantly that’s where it manifests. You still have that anger, you still have that bitterness. But here is where a lot of scholars may differ from what I believe is the Word of God’s teaching – because they will teach like, you are a…you still have your sinful nature. NIV especially talks about the flesh. Where it says the "flesh", it says sinful nature. Amen.

Now how many of you know that a lot of your problems today, even when you sit down there is because of your flesh. Now, is the flesh the sinful nature? No. Once upon a time, you had the sinful nature. But once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you believe Christ died on that cross for your sins, amen. And the divine exchange took place. God made Jesus who knew no sin, He did no sin, in Him is no sin. At the cross, God made Jesus to be sin with your sins. He bore your sins so that you can become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus did not commit sin to become sin at the cross. He carried your sins. You don’t commit righteousness to become righteous. Amen. We’re not saved by our works. Amen. We receive His righteousness. And therefore we are now the righteousness of God in Christ. Can I have a good amen? Are we or are we not? So here, here’s where the battle takes place. There’s a branch of Christianity that teaches we still have the sinful nature.

Now I teach that we still have the flesh. What is the flesh? The flesh is the carry over and the residue of the sinful nature. But they’re not the same. That’s why I don’t agree with the NIV, which is a great translation by the way. The Bible, the original word. Listen there are many translations, right, depending on what Bible you want to use. I suggest you use a few when you study the Word. But original is inspired. Translators may differ in the way they translate one verse, but listen carefully, the original, and I’ll endeavour to always show you the original, ok. The original says sarx which is flesh. The word ‘flesh’ there, the NIV put ‘sinful nature’. So today, it tells you, "Put to death your sinful nature". The idea is that you still have your sinful nature. But the Bible says that if anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creature. I say you are a new creature.

Turn to your neighbour and say, "What a creature!". You are a new creature. That’s the Old King James and the New King James for creation. New creation. That’s a nice name for a church. New creation. If anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation. I'm so glad we chose that name – New Creation Church. Amen. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. All things have become new". So the Bible says that, "All things have become new". Where has it become new? In your spirit man. Amen. One day when we see Jesus face to face, we’ll have a new body. A body that will never grow old, never die. Forever young, forever healthy, forever strong. Forever is a very long time, my friend. Make sure you are saved. Amen. Don’t leave this to chance. Hallelujah. And it’s not hard to be saved. Jesus did all the tough part. He suffered for us at the cross. Our part is to believe. Amen.

When you believe because why? Why believe is important? Because the mother of all sin, the root of all sin and it all happened back in the garden is man’s heart of unbelief. That’s the root of every sin. It is not pornography, it’s not lying, it’s not murder. Long before all these manifest and these are sins, these are the works of the flesh. Long before all these manifest, it is a heart of unbelief. When a person’s heart is not believing God, that’s when it gives rise to all these manifestations of the flesh. These are just manifestations. Are you listening people? But once you are a believer, you are no more the old creation. You are a brand new creation but you have the flesh. The flesh is like the lifestyle that you still have the bad habits and the proclivities and the sensations even of the old sinful nature that does not exist anymore. But it feels so real. Amen. And your failures tell you, "look, you still, you are still the old sinful nature, nothing has changed".

Nothing could be further from the truth. God’s truth tells you. These are just facts. Right? And those facts is that you sin. When you sin, we’re not saying you didn’t sin. You lost your temper, you’re angry with someone on the road, amen. That’s sin. Amen. And none of us commit it, I can see you all look so sanctimonious. You all sit down there, you all look so holy. Especially Pastor Mark down here, you look so holy. But all of us, every day, we are true to ourselves, amen, if we are honest, we will just say that we all have this propensity, we still have this proclivity towards sin. This side of heaven until we receive our new body. And what does that tell us? In heaven, once we see Jesus in the rapture, our bodies are transformed like His body. Forever strong, forever healthy. Forever. It’s a forever body. And it’s still a body of flesh and matter. Amen. Flesh and bones. Just that it’s forever flesh and forever bones. It’s called glorified body. And all of a sudden when you receive the body, you don’t have any more sinful tendencies.

So what does that tell you? That tells you the sin is in the sarx, in the flesh; not in your…. Let me say, your body is not dirty. God says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If I want to go one step further, the Greek there actually refers to the - which part of the temple? There is three parts of the temple. There’s the outer court, there’s a holy place and there’s a holy of holies. Do you know that when the Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it actually refers to your holy of holies, the holy of holies of the temple. The place where God dwells. Now it did not say your spirit man is the holy of holies. It says your body is the holy of holies. Don’t you know your body has been bought by Jesus’ blood? Amen. You see the value of the thing is how much you’re willing to give up for that thing.

If you buy a house for example, you bought it for, let’s just give a ballpark figure, let’s see you bought it for $100,000. Amen. Previously you bought it for $100,000. Now you want to sell it. It all depends on what people are willing to pay out there. Nowadays you hear stories of people looking at houses that cost $100,000, for example and they are willing to pay $200,000. What does it tell you? The value of the thing is how much a person is willing to pay for it. It’s not even what is the value in the market. Actually the real value is the person willing to pay for it. If the person is willing to pay for it, that’s how he values that property. Are you listening? You, when you were lost, hopeless, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, dead in your sins, God paid with the blood of His Son to redeem you. Your value is shown there.

Never feel that you are just a face in the crowd, just because your circumstances has failed, just because you experienced a setback in some area, it’s no reason to take your life. It’s no reason to go down the doldrums of depression and say that I’m useless, I’m worth nothing. Your worth is not cut, it’s not tied, listen my friend, it’s not tied to your occupation or to what you do. Your worth must be set on something unmovable. Jobs are movable. Amen. Qualifications are movable. Amen. You cannot base on things that are movable. But unshakeable, eternal and that’s what God says about you. And no one sees reality like God. So are you listening, people? So we have this problem right? They say that you are a new creation but you are not a new creation. Are you righteous, am I righteous or not? Yes the Bible says you are righteous in Christ, but, amen, it is a position.

Ok what talk you now? It is a position. Ok what you are is that you are still sinning but your position before God is that you are righteous. But you know something that is just a position. What you need to do, what you ought to do, what you must do – you must give, you must obey, you must forgive, you must, you must. And all these things are good, don’t misunderstand. But what is evil and what is subtle in this teaching that has produced instead of the true holiness and a victorious lifestyle that we believers are believing for. As a result, we see failure after failure after failure. Why? It’s based on a false premise. Listen, you don’t do to become. You already have become so that you can do. It’s something called, which one comes first? The command or the become? What, who you are. What you do and what you is. You don’t do to become. You are. Now you do what you are. Amen. Are you listening?

When Queen Elizabeth was growing up, she used to be very playful. Amen. Now she’s facing what ah silver jubilee? I know it’s some sort of jubilee, ok. And amazing lady. Thank God for her. We pray for her to live longer. Amen. And when she was younger, she used to be very playful until someone sat her down. Look at her in the eye and said, respectfully, princess at that time, you are to be the queen, you are the princess of the royal family of Britain. That the time has, they boast that the sun never sets on the empire. And you will rule Britannica. Amen. You are a princess and you are a queen. Amen. All of a sudden, she changed her mentality.

Alright. Now when she changed, did she become a princess? Or she’s already a princess? The mind change is just to realise who you already are but the bombarding of the teaching is always try harder to b… the idea of the ‘try harder’ mentality or the ‘try harder’ Christianity is not based on the New Testament teaching. ‘Try harder’ is to imply you’re not there. So every temptation that comes, is the devil giving you a lie. You see, you see, you have bitterness in the heart. You can feel it. It’s a fact. You can feel it. I’m not saying that you don’t feel it, ok. You can feel it. But you see, because you feel it, you’re the same old person and you get depressed. Or whatever you do to get back in fellowship with God. Instead of realising then and there based on the Word of God, you already are holy, you are created in righteousness and true holiness. Are you listening, my friend?

There is something, a term used in Bible theology, which is like the… even the writings of the New Testament, where Paul’s letters for example. He uses the indicative many a times before he uses the imperative. What is indicative? Indicative is who you already are. Alright, what is imperative? Command. So Paul will say things like, "Since you are risen with Christ, imagine that, you are on the other side of the grave". Church, you are on the other side of the grave. Alright, death and judgement are behind you. Say, "Death and judgement are behind me". Now see it. See it. We learn about the imagination of the heart, Amen? Imagination with God is real. Now see it because you are not trying to see to become, to make it real. You are seeing something that is real. Where is death and judgement? But many of us, where do we see death and judgement in our imagination, in our heart, in front of us? Where is death and judgement? Behind us. Are you listening, people? And what is in front of you? Grace and glory. Glory! Hallelujah! Amen.

You are now on the other side of the grave. You are on the other side of the grave. You are not, you know, looking at death in front of you, you know? I got nowhere to go, you know, my life is now at this juncture. I think the only way to look at, you know, it’s just the grave. No, no, no, the grave is behind you. Death is behind you. So are you saying Pastor Prince that people who believe that won’t die? No, for us, listen carefully, even the Christian term "die", the Bible says, "The believer falls asleep in Jesus". If the Lord should tarry… You know, when I take Communion, I always say, "Lord if You should tarry, alright, if You should tarry… By Your stripe, I will live to…" There’s a certain age that I live, which is very personal between me and the Lord. It’s not for you to know.

Alright, because if I reach that age right, you will say, "Aye you are of this age…you know, some secrets…" And I wish that Samson learnt this, some secrets are not meant to be shared publicly. I don’t know why some of you love to share everything on Twitter, on Instagram, you know and everything about your life. Help yourself. Alright but don’t cry when people criticise. Amen. Don’t expose your life for the enemy to hit you. Learn to have some root life. Don’t just have the branches and the flowers and the fruits for display. In fact, how good those things are, is how great your root is and root life is hidden life. You find yourself feeling empty is because you might not have a root life. And that root life is life with Jesus behind closed doors. Spending time with the Word just enjoying the Lord, seeing what He wants you to see.

Okay, back to this again. It’s something called indicative which is who you are. Since you are this, now do this. Since you are risen with Christ, Amen, put to death the manifestation the deeds of the body, which is fornication, blasphemy, lying, bitterness. Notice that? We say that, "Do this first"! "No," God says, "Realise who you are, since you are risen with Christ, you can put to death all these things. Don’t let these things bully you. Just because the bitterness button is being pushed, alright, you got to be bitter. No, you are risen. Amen they are under your feet". Praise the Lord. Are you listening? For example, we look at a verse like this, right, in Romans chapter six. Look up here in Romans chapter six. It says, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts".

Now we hear this teaching very often right in the Christian life? And we hear it preached but it’s a verse taken out of context. You cannot just say, "Stop sinning, don’t let sin reign". It is out of context. Why? Because, notice the word "therefore"? Can you see the word, "Therefore do not let…" Therefore do not let… That means there’s a previous verse telling you something. Therefore do not let… Alright, if you got a problem watching pornography or you got problem with forgiving people or you’re always bad-tempered or even depressed. Or even you know, you’re always in a state of unbelief or you’re very very, you know, what you call… always doubting, reasoning, second guessing. Your life is miserable. Sin will make you miserable. But how do you overcome sin? "Just don’t do it lor"! That’s the try harder mentality. The Bible doesn’t teach that way.

Alright, so I’m gonna ask you again. Class, why is the "therefore" there for? Why? Okay one more time. Why is the "therefore" there for? Kenapa? Why is it there? So you see, you cannot take a verse out of its context. But people understand this verse. Therefore people usually don’t see what God wants them to see the reality the way God sees it. Therefore, "Ergh! Just give me the practical"! They love the book of James. They say that, "James is practical". Means Paul is not. What do you mean? Paul’s letters are not? "Ergh! I don’t understand this 'seated with Christ in heavenly places' right now. Right now I’m in Ang Mo Kio! You understand or not"? What is this "seated with Christ in heavenly places"? See, they don’t see. Their imagination don’t see so they say that James is practical. James talks about what to do. "Give me something to do, give me something to do".

And that’s why there are people who loves sermons that tell you what to do. Right? Now are there things to tell you what to do? Yes! The Bible is chock-full of it. Amen! But when the Bible teaches you something, it’ll always tells you because you have received now. Got it? Sometimes it puts the cause in front. Sometimes it puts the cause behind. For example, behind is like this. We love. We all want to love. We want to be loving people. Amen? Love our families. Love people around us. As believers we are called to love Amen? Love God most of all but why do we love? We love because… Now the cause is put at the end. Because He first loved us. So which one happened first?

You’ve got to experience God’s love. You got to know how much God loves you and then you can love. Your life of loving is an outcome, is an outflow of your life of being loved. When you live loved, Amen always live life, when you wake up in the morning, know that you are someone loved, dearly loved. And you know how God has made you. God has made you holy, blameless, Amen and in other words, He has made you lovable in His sight. You are lovable in His sight. Amen. Not based on your actions. This is something very hard for us to do but back to this before we go on. Are you all learning so far? Mothers, are you all learning?

More than anything else, the devil loves to attack women for some reason. Notice his first attack was towards Eve? Alright he knows that if he can get the woman… Women have, you know, a greater tendency to want to take things in their own hands to help the family, especially when the man is not being the head, they take over. You can’t blame them. It’s in their nature. They want to help the family. Amen but then that opens them up to what? More failures. The devil will say, "All these years, you see, all that you put in, your kids don’t even care about you. Amen, look at that. Your husband takes you for granted. Look at that, they didn’t even say ‘Thank you’". Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Imagination. Look at that. See in your mind. "You are not appreciated. You are this. You are that".

So the devil attacks, especially women. Amen. Are you listening? That’s why the disciples were shocked when Jesus looked at the woman at the well and talked to her. Even she herself was shocked, "Why is it that You being, you know, a Jew (She made it into a racial thing), You speak to me, whom I’m a Samaritan". But also the fact that she is a woman. The disciples were surprised. They themselves, they are Jewish and they are surprised that Jesus is talking to the woman and this woman had five husbands. 一，二，三，四，五. 五. 五. Five husbands. Satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima. Lima laki laki tahi? Terok man. One laki2 already wo! Amen? Imagine five Mark Ng Tian Xius to take care of. One is enough man. It takes a whole lifetime for a woman. You ask Carol. Amen? Five! That poor woman is suffering but for the religious mind mentality, "Ah! She’s terrible. How can she?"? She’s looking for love in all the wrong places.

So she had five husbands and then Jesus told her, "The one that you are living with…" So he’s the sixth man. So she had five husbands. That means what? All divorced, right? "So the one that you are living with now, that you are not married to, the one that you are living with now, is not your husband". That means she’s living now with the sixth man in adultery. So Jesus did not say, "Ergh, this woman is terrible, I won’t talk to her. I’ll bypass her, like the Pharisees, like the Sadducees". No, He took time to talk to her. "Mmmm so the one that you are living with, the sixth one, is not your husband". Then He says… She asked, "Who is the one"? Later on, He says, "But the Messiah will come". Right, she said, "And will teach me all things". Jesus says, "I who speak unto you. I am He".

The seventh Man and her rest is found in that seventh Man. She’s finally fulfilled. That is the living water. That seventh Man gives you water that will quench you. No one else can give you that kind of water and her journey came to an end all these years. Amen. She met the seventh Man. By the way if you count that portion of Scripture. Amen the Holy Spirit records exactly seven words of Jesus to her. In the entire episode at the well, you count the number of times Jesus spoke to her or answered her question. It’s exactly seven. He’s the perfect man. Have you met the seventh Man? "Now Pastor, nowadays you know, no more seven exist..." 70th man already, Jesus. Finally Jesus came along was 70 years man. No, you know Pastor it’s Like, you know, but as long you meet the Man and seven in the Bible is the number of perfection. Number of perfection. Can I have a good Amen?

So Jesus would treat men and women even those who are social outcasts with respect. He calls them by name. There’s a guy… You talk about social outcast, it is Zacchaeus because Zacchaeus collects taxes. He’s a tax collector – collects taxes for a country that Israel at that time was under, the Romans. Amen, so he’s the … He lived the high life, Amen and he can collect as much money as he wants, even some extra for himself. So the people of that day hated the tax collectors. When Jesus saw him up on the tree, when Jesus passed by Jericho. What did Jesus say? "Zacchaeus"! Don’t forget a crowd was around Jesus. Many of them would love for Jesus to call their name, wouldn’t you? None of them had the honour, except for a person who is a social outcast. "Zacchaeus! Come down. I must eat at your house". "I must eat at your house".

A necessity, just like the woman at the well. The Bible says there’s another way of going – bypass. Most Jewish people bypass the city of Samaria because they don’t like the Samaritans. Right, so they bypass the city of Samaria. The Bible says Jesus must needs. Must needs go through Samaria. It is not a must of geographical necessity. It is not a must of convenience because they have to eat. Jews don’t want to go through Samaria. Jesus must go through. Why? For one. Just for one. He’ll do the same for you. He doesn’t treat you like a crowd, you know, in a face in a crowd. He treats you. He knows what you are going through and He loves you. "Hey you don’t serve a dead Saviour! He’s risen! He’s alive today! Amen! And He is with you, by His Holy Spirit and one day we’ll see Him face to face". Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Are you with me so far? Are you learning this?

So just to say, "Don’t sin! Don’t sin! Don’t sin"! No that’s not the language of the Bible. The Bible says, "Therefore do not sin". So what is that? Why is the "therefore" there for? Always find out why the "therefore" is there for and you’ll find the secret for the "therefore". "Therefore do not let sin…" Okay, don’t forget. That’s the idea here but look at the context, then we come to verse nine. "Knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more, death no longer has dominion over Him". How many agree that Jesus, once He is risen from the dead, death is behind Him? Death no more has power over Him. It’s a beautiful sound. Death no longer has dominion. What a beautiful sound. One of the things that cause a lot of tears in this world is death. And Jesus, (The shortest verse of the Bible, "Jesus wept".) was at a funeral. Amen.

Now He knew He’s going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Why did He cry? He cried because He knew that when the Father and Him planned for man to live this wonderful life, just enjoying God’s blessings, death was never in the agenda. Death was something like an outside thing that came in because of man’s sin. Man sinned and the wages of sin is death. So remember that death is not part of God’s plan. God hates death. God considers death as an enemy. Okay, don’t forget that. Okay so here it says, "Once Christ is raised from the dead, death no longer has dominion over Him". Now watch this, for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all. Hapax in the Greek, means once and for all. So when the death that He died, He died to sin. How long did He die to sin? Did Jesus die to sin gradually, or once and for all? Once and for all. Is it in the past, folks?

Alright, when you come to church, remember this. Bring along your brain, okay? We want to reason as well. Okay? In fact I want to talk about the two parts of your brain today, if I have time. And it’s very interesting, but bring along your understanding part, Amen the logical part but that’s not how we live life with God. We live… Okay I’m getting ahead of myself. But listen church. Jesus died to sin once and for all. Not gradually. This idea of like we are all dying to sin slowly. Everyday we should be dying more and more to sin. It’s not in the Bible. The Bible says, watch this now. Jesus died to sin, what? Once and for all! There’s not gonna be a future repeat. Okay? Now, it’s talking about Jesus, Pastor. Yea it’s talking about Jesus, I agree. For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all but the life that He lives, He lives to God. So death is behind Him. Now He lives His life to God.

Look at verse 11, "Likewise you also. Reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord". Hallelujah likewise the way Jesus died to sin. How did He die to sin? Gradually? No! Once and for all. Done deal! Amen, likewise you yourself, reckon. The word "reckon" is an accounting term to say as the facts are, alright, esteem it, account it according to the facts. For example, if you have 1,000 dollars in the bank, you must esteem, reckon you have 1,000 dollars in the bank. Now your reckoning that you have 1,000 dollars in the bank don’t put 1,000 dollars in the bank. Let’s say it’s zero. I reckon I have 1,000, then peng! 1,000 happens. A lot of people think faith is like that. No! Faith is not seeing what you have but God says you have it. Amen. Then you agree with God, you reckon that God, whatever God says that you have, you have. That’s reckon. It’s based on facts, spiritual facts. Reality is based on the truth. Amen.

God says, "Likewise reckon yourself", account yourself, esteem yourself like Jesus. "Likewise" means what? In the same manner. Like your gym instructor will say, okay watch this now. Watch this okay? Now when you carry your weight, alright? Notice I used my back muscle, I don’t use my arm muscle. I used my back. Have you noticed? Now, go, look at my muscle at the back. Amen. Alright, now likewise. What’s he telling you likewise? In the same way. In exactly the same way. So what in the same way? In the same way, Jesus died to sin once and for all. The life He lived, He lived to God. He’s not looking to die to sin anymore. "Now Pastor Prince, if that is so that I still feel angry, I still feel frustrated". Well, it’s just feelings. (sings) Nothing more than feelings. I know you’re trying to forget all feelings of anger, rage. Feelings! Oh, oh, oh feelings! Aye can you all sing this song and not get depressed? I rather sing "10,000 reasons to praise the Lord". Amen! Praise God!

No wonder you sing songs like this, "Why does the sun (I know it’s an old song, you know.) go on shining"? Jialat man! As far as the person is concerned, he’s not based on reality. She’s reckoning all wrong. The sun is still shining. Even you don’t see the sun shine outside, it’s a rainy day. The sun is still shining behind the clouds. Amen. So God is saying, "Alright reckon based on spiritual reality". So Christ died to sin, so what happened is that when you feel the temptation, when you feel it, you’re saying, "It’s a lie, this is not real. This is not who I am. I am not defined by this. Amen. I am a new creation. Amen created in righteousness and true holiness". So God says, "Likewise reckon yourself dead indeed to sin, the way Jesus died to sin, once and for all, you should reckon yourself dead to sin, once and for all and the life that you live, you live unto God. Therefore do not let". Therefore do not let. "Likewise reckon yourself dead, once and for all, therefore do not let".

You know what it’s saying? If you really esteem that, you have become, you will not let. You see, when you see I don’t let my dog go too far. Who has the power? The dog or the… Ask Caesar Milan. You must be the alpha male. You must be the one handling the dog. Not let the dog handle you. Are you listening? Many years ago, I was stopped when I just got my car. You know, I was stopped on the highway and the policeman was a very nice man. Even taught me how to drive. He looked at me, looked at my license, you know and all that. And he says, "You know," He said this to me. I’ll never forget, until now. How many years ago was that? "No, Pastor, that was last week". No, it was many years ago. Was many years ago. You know what he said to me? "Don’t let your car control you. Control your car". And he gave it back and he walked away. Gave me a chance.

Of course I was speeding la and I passed by him. He took over and this is what he said, "Don’t let your car control you". Untill now, I still remember don’t let my car control me. Control your car. Are you listening? You know what is meekness? People think of meekness as, oh people run, walk all over you and they bully you. You say nothing. Meek means like you know, you’re a bit hunched alright, you know, you walk down like that, you’re afraid of people. That’s a person who is meek. M-E-E-K, meek. But the Bible meekness is different. Bible meekness is strength under control. You can hit back but you don’t hit back. You’re the greater one. Amen. People push your buttons, doesn’t work because you are in control. It’s you are meek, strength under control. Amen. We have all kinds of ideas in church you know.

Years ago, when I was in my previous church as a teenager. I remember my friend said, "Wah this… There was a speaker, an elderly man. This speaker is very humble". I said, "Hah"? "Ya you watch. I’ve listened to him preached before. See the way he walks, okay"? And then he went up, he went up the pulpit. Now I’m not saying he’s not humble. Alright I’m just saying about the walk. He came up the pulpit like this. Now what is that about humility? It’s his personality. He wants to bend down. My concern is that you bend down, you don’t maintain a good posture, one day you’ll find it’s hard to be straightening up. Alright, I find Jesus healing people who are bent down. He never said, "Hey Mark, bend down a bit, you are very proud, you know huh"? He never says that. Right Mark? He never says, "Mark, bend down a bit". Right? No. He always raises people up. So I’m just saying, you cannot judge based on looking at someone like that. So I look at… "So that’s humble"? I said to my friend, "That’s being humble"? "Ya lor"!

So in front of him, I never walked straight again. When he talked to me, I say… That’s humble. Okay, watch another scenario. Okay, watch another scenario. David, right and Goliath and Goliath, "WHAHYA"! Very hard for me to impersonate Goliath. Mark come. "WHAHYA"! Right you know. "Today I’ll give your body to the fowls of the air. HAH" And David says, "You come to me with a spear and a sword but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. Today all the earth shall know that there is an Elohim in Israel, a God in Israel". Hallelujah. Now stop the picture and think and look at this guy. This boy is about 17. Goliath, wah, man of you know.

Some of you will go down there, "Uncle ah? 大哥, aye brother"! You will try your best to you know, you use nice terms. David didn’t even use nice terms. He says, "Today God will deliver you into my hand". In fact he says, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine"? That’s language, very intimate language - uncircumcised Philistine. Strong tough talk. Right? But you know something? God was with David. So for us, this is not humility. This is pride. But no. In God’s eyes, it’s boldness and boldness is predicated on faith in God. It’s because you have faith in God, you are bold. Don’t think for one moment that sometimes the appearance and all that, it can be flesh. Like some people, you know. "Pastor Prince, you look at this lady, she’s so holy". Holy is based on what? "Look at her, she has a sungo, she has a bun right, she doesn’t makeup much. You can see that she’s holy". So she’s holier than the lady who has makeup? "Yah". I happen to know the lady. "Huh"? I am the Pastor, I happen to know the lady. She’s got a lot of problems with people.

Alright. She looks like she’s got no makeup, alright that the sungo is very tight right? You know, she blinks, the whole thing shakes, that’s how tight it is. Alright but she can sit in the living room and lick a spoon in the kitchen. That’s how long her tongue is you know? The things that she say about people. "Everybody is … Haiya everyone who goes to church is a hypocrite". You ever hear that? "Everyone who goes to church is a hypocrite". Aiya you come also lah, one more won’t make a difference. So we go by appearance. "Oh he must be proud". Have you ever considered the fact that you dressed up because you are meeting the President? You’re meeting the Queen? You dressed up because you respect her. You respect the occasion. Yah there are people who would go crazy and they dressed up just to flaunt and to show off and all that. I’m talking about honouring the occasion.

I think honestly, I think this is not important, okay but I think it should reflect our Sunday’s best because we are going into the house of the Lord. Amen, I know the house is not building, it’s us coming together. Still it’s the house of the Lord. We are all coming together. Amen. Are you listening people? I don’t know why I’m saying this but it’s important, okay? Alright. Therefore. Notice the indicative comes before the imperative. The "who you are in Christ, dead to sin once and for all, alive to God in the new creation". That is what helps you. The becoming happens before the acting. Are you listening? You know why you try harder? Do you try hard to speak your mother tongue? Okay you all don’t want to talk to me, I won’t talk to you.

Let’s see who wins. "Oh Pastor, that’s your flesh"! Yes! So talk to me. Answer. Mark, answer! Huh? Easy! Mark’s language you know, just fluent. In fact he tells me, "English, he has problem. Amen". Now I have problem speaking Chinese. What he finds so easy is hard. What I find easy, Amen is hard for him. Your mother tongue, you just flow right? Are you listening? So the idea if anyone tells you, "Try harder". They’ll say, "Well Pastor Prince teaches like you know like, people can be passive and God will do everything". You know, if they want to label it like that, you know, they can label anything you want to label. Alright just calling a dog a cat, doesn’t make it a cat. It’s still a dog. "Woof". You know what I’m saying or not? Alright, you can label it what you want, Amen. You hear, "try harder", that means you are not… you are not there, it is not you. You are try… so try harder to become what you are not.

So, actually the problem is that the more we let go, the more we rest and relax, the more who we are in Christ will come forth. Amen? So, the message of rest… Actually, rest because, the devil will say, "You are not… See, you are not holy. See, you are not loving, alright? You have that bitterness, alright? You have that anger just now when that lady spoke and all that you had that bitterness towards her or you have that jealousy in your heart towards her and all that. See, see, see… See, you are still that same person". Amen? What you need to do, instead of "you know, I try to suppress this feeling, I try to avoid this feeling, I’m…" You know, you have lost before you began, because you are acting based on a lie, and the lie came from the enemy. But you feel it, you feel it… you feel it doesn’t mean it’s truth. Most feelings come and go.

Learn to handle your feelings, even bad feelings, depression, you know, negative feelings, anger and all that, like you are on a tour bus. Alright? When you are on the tour bus, you look at all the scenery, some sceneries are beautiful. "Woah, look at that"! Those are like feeling good. Enjoy it, feel good, but you know what? Very soon the "feel good" pass by and you see an area where it looks horrible. People that had abused the plants down there, they have abused the forest there. It’s burned down. You see the abuse and you feel angry. Alright? And then you pass by that scene to another more beautiful scene again. You see, your feelings come and go. See your feelings like fleeting things. You may experience it, but it is not you.

So, right now the devil says, "You feel depressed, therefore you are depressed". Throw it back at him. "I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I am a new creation in Christ". Amen? "I am not depressed. I feel depression at times, but I am not depressed". "You are gonna lose your mind…" "No, I have the mind of Christ". That’s why we need to know the word. We need to study and renew our minds. That’s why the Bible says in Ephesians 4, "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts". Notice, it’s telling you, "put off", and this is past tense, "that you put off," past tense, aorist tense, "concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts".

Now it is not saying, "you have an old man now, put him off". No, no, read carefully. "You have put off". In Colossians, it says it like this, "Seeing that you have put off the old man". Amen? In Colossians, it says "Seeing that you have put off the old man". So, what you are putting off is your former conduct. So, it’s like this, the former conduct. You know, you go on a… Have you all been on a cruise? On a ship? "Mmm. Two years, Pastor, two years". Alright, imagine, okay? How many of you have experienced this? After some time on the cruise somewhere, okay, you are three hours, even three hours is enough, or two hours on that cruise. You come back on land.

Now it is solid land, am I right? The truth is, it’s solid land. But, your feelings, you still feel the sensation of being on the boat, on that cruise, right? On that cruise ship. You feel like going up and down, you feel like… Even planes sometimes, if it’s bumpy, right? After you step in the airport, alright? You are now on solid ground. Terracotta, solid, firm. Firma.. And terra-firma… You are on solid ground, but you still feel that sensation for how long? Quite some time, right? You don’t want to talk to me? Did I offend you? I talk for so long you all don’t want to talk to me? Vy (Why)? Do you all feel that or not? I’m the only one.. I’m the only one. "Something wrong with you ah, Pastor"! You must reckon you are on solid ground! "Oh no, I feel this way, I’m depressed. Oh no, I feel this way, it could be that… Is there a symptom in my body? Is it a sign of something more sinister happening in my body that I am feeling dizzy, I’m feeling this…"

No, no, no, no. You are just experiencing the former conduct, the former emotions, the former sensations of a past experience. Sometimes, past experiences are so real, that even though it has passed… At that time it was very traumatic for us, even when we were small. Now we are 50, 47, but things happen when you were 5 years old. There are guys who are afraid of bugs, and many of them are afraid of lizards or whatever, and they are macho men, you know? Alright? And… don’t look at me. I’m one of them! If there is a lizard somewhere, alright? I know those guys are friends. Alright? They destroy all the insects that would, you know, mosquitoes and all that. More lizard maybe less dengue, huh? Alright? But for some reason when I see a lizard, right, even small ones, I mean, I’m telling you.

There was one time, I was studying, I was reading, and all of a sudden, I felt a sensation on my leg, so I thought it was just my… I got a hairy leg, you know? So, I thought… I was scratching and all of a sudden there was this small lizard crawling on my leg! Then, I jump, I jump on the sofa, you know, I make the sign of the cross, I did all kinds of things, and I bind it in Jesus’ name… and who do you call? When the lizards come crawling around, who do you call? "Darling"! And the first one that comes running will be Justin. He always know he is in for an action. And does he help? No, he will be in one corner laughing. "Go, call mama, go. Call mama". Then one day I sat down and ask myself, "Why, why am I… I’m bigger than that… that thing is so small"! Because I heard when I was 5 years old, I don’t know how true is it, that when you are sleeping at night…

I think my mother or the cousin, when I was young, told me that these things, right, they will shed their tail and the tail will come finding you, and the tail would go into your ear. The image is so real, the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart. At a young age… Be careful what you program down there. And now, I am 35 years old, and I’m still, I’m still afraid of a stupid lizard! All of a sudden, you forget Jesus… you forget, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of lizards, I will fear no evil, for you are with me". We forget all of that, you know? And what is so true of many years ago is still there. Why? In the imagination, it was put into your heart. Is it based on facts? Is it based on truth? Now, no. But you can just… that’s why, imaginations… Listen. Imaginations replicate reality. That’s what the power of imagination, it replicates reality. Your imagination represent those events to you now. Where do you see them? In your imagination. Right?

Now, think of the word "represent". It represent today. The word "represent" is made of two words. "Re-", r-e-, means repeat, "-present", make it present again. Make it present again. So, the devil wants to activate your imagination. Now, fear of these things and all that, I mean, you know, we all can like laugh about it, but there are even degrees of fear that has crippled people emotionally. Their life… They are not willing to get married because of certain fears, that they had trauma, when they were a child, many years ago. And that’s why, when you change the imagination, you change, you replace it with God’s word, God’s word pictures, you change the heart. Amen?

So, the key is this. How to put off this one? The Bible says, "that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed…" Where? "In the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God…" Now, this new man is created according to God in what? "In true righteousness and holiness". You see, folks… "Put off" is done deal. Finished already. It doesn’t say, "You are to put…" A lot of people will turn it around and say, "You see, you must put off, you must put off, you must put off…" It’s always this word, "you must, you ought, you should…" Watch out for that. That is a try-harder Christianity. No, it’s all by grace, people. We already are what we are by grace. Now, God is saying, "Walk it out, walk out the fact that you are a prince, you are a princess, you are living the high life". Amen? Praise God!

You know, princess and princesses, alright, in the original form, does not look at people that criticise them, you know, and seriously start scolding them and all that because it’s beneath you to do that. You are bigger than that. In fact, when you focus on people who criticise you, you are giving them a leg up. You are giving them a platform. You are giving them attention, and what you give attention to, you give power to. I know it’s hard, especially on the road. People are trying their best. Be it motivated by the devil or not, people are trying their best to change your… trying to control your action. Don’t give them the remote. Don’t allow them to. Say that "I’m in charge". You know, Jesus says… do you know what it means when Jesus says "turn the other cheek"? Have you read before?

Jesus is saying, "be the actor, not the reactor". You read, read carefully. It does not say, "Christianity, I know Christianity, you know it’s so like milk toast. You know, people slap you, you turn the other cheek". Read carefully. It doesn’t say that. It says, "If anyone smite you on the right cheek…" Why the right cheek? Why the right cheek? Mark, come up here. Don’t worry, I won’t slap you. You slap me, not I slap you one. Amen? Okay, come to the stage. Now watch this, okay? Mark is gonna… I’m gonna slap Mark, okay? It is time lapse. Slow-mo. Watch this. Jesus say, "If you slap someone… if anyone slap you on the right cheek..." You look at that in the sermon on the mount. Look carefully. Many people read it, "If someone slap you on the cheek". It doesn’t say that. "Slap you on the right cheek".

Now, most people are right-hander. Most people, normal people. Okay, most people are, lah, it’s a fact, okay? And even in those days. So, watch this. If I slap Mark… Which cheek? Left. So, to slap him on the right cheek, you know? What you do? You use the back of your hand. In those days, this is a challenge. Later on, in Britain, across Britain, you’d take a glove. You don’t use your hand anymore. You’d use your glove and you do this. That is a challenge to a duel – with a pistol. So, when someone does this, it’s a challenge. Someone horn behind you, alright, press the horn for no reason, at least you feel no reason, lah. We always think it’s no reason, lah. And whatever the reason is, right, they are trying to press… they are challenging you. React angry because I am angry with you. And the only way I can control you is this way. Alright? And then when he pass by, you… Amen? Amen? Start acting. Don’t react.

Jesus says, "Bless them that curse you". So, He is teaching us… this is a challenge to a duel. Do not respond to the challenge. Turn the other cheek. So, I do this, I challenge you, you turn the other cheek. No, I already slapped here already, so I slap here right? You are turning the same cheek. Okay, we’ll try again. Okay? Slap. Turn the other cheek. Yeah. You see? When you turn the other cheek, all of a sudden you turn the other cheek, right? Who is in control now? Alright? You are in control. I want you to feel angry. I want you to be challenged, right? But then you are saying, "No, I decide". Okay? I’m challenging you. Now here is where the power of God is released and most people would not slap you because… there was a guy who just got saved. He was a boxer. Alright?

It was a well known story. He was a boxer. He just got saved. He didn’t learn about the Bible much yet. And what happen is that.. you know, someone came to him, a non-Christian, and said, "I understand it that you are a Christian now…" You know, from his circle and all that, and he said that, "You know, the Bible says if I slap you on the cheek, you have to turn the other cheek…" and PAH, he slapped him. People do slap people, you know? Nowadays. And it goes viral. So, he slapped him you know? I hear a Christian… slap him. And you know what that guy did? He turned the other cheek! He just knew, alright? He doesn’t know about what I am sharing… He turned the other cheek! And you know what that guy did? The guy slapped him again on the other cheek. And then after that, he looked at the guy again, and the guy says, "Aren’t you going to react"? And the guy slapped him again.

Next thing you know, this guy who slapped him was sprawled across the ground with one loose tooth or whatever. Alright. As he looked at the guy on the ground bleeding from his mouth, he said that the Bible doesn’t say what happens after that. Thank you. So, it’s talking about personal reaction. Talking about personal reaction. Are you listening? Are you with me so far? So, what you do doesn’t make you what you are. It is who you are that makes you… and the Bible says, "You are created in the… This new man that you have is created…" In what? "According to God in true righteousness and holiness". Not this fake righteousness… it’s true holiness and righteousness. People, listen! You are truly righteous! And holy!

Now, your actions might not be holy. Depending on when I find you, early in the morning, you just wake up, you might not be very holy. Alright? It all depends. When you catch people sometimes… Their actions can line up, but if you know who you are, you are holy, but sometimes your actions are unholy, you can line it up. Amen? Praise the Lord. You are not unholy. You are a new creation in Christ. Are you listening people? You learn something, I’m bringing this to a close. Is this helping here? Do you understand what I am saying so far? Now, it’s got to be a seeing on the inside – you must see it on the inside. Okay? You got to be seeing on the inside… don’t forget what I said to you, that the heart… The first mention of the heart in the Bible, every time the Bible mentions something for the first time, the law of first mention, and the first time heart is mentioned, imagination goes with the heart.

Alright, we showed you that last week. Look at Genesis 6. Right, it says, "God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually". So, this is the first mention of the word "heart". First mention of the word "heart". Are you with me so far? Alright, and what does it tell you? Imagination. So, what the devil wants to do is to bombard your imagination with unclean pictures, Amen? With fearful pictures, with evil pictures, and you know what you are doing or not, people? Everyday now? Ever since with the advent of smartphones and social media and all that, we are actually being bombarded every day. It says, "evil continually". Most of the images you have, right, is not based on God’s word. It’s not positive. It’s not… the Bible says, "Whatever things are true, pure, holy, if there is any virtue, any praise, think on these things".

But we are thinking of things, you know, that is not holy. Not pure. Doesn’t give you peace. It makes you restless, and then later on you find, "Why do I have problems sleeping? Why do I feel depressed? Why do I feel blah"? You are spending so much time looking at other people’s lives. You are comparing, and comparing, looking at their best pictures that they post. Amen? With makeup and what not, Amen? It’s all been tampered with, and you are looking at other people’s lives, and the more you look at other people’s lives, the more depressed you become. We are one of the most depressed people in the… in this generation than any other generation put together. And yet, we have everything! At our fingertips! Watch what you see. Guard your heart.

You know where God speaks to you? In your heart. Jesus says, "The Son can do nothing except what He sees the Father do". He explained that just after He healed the pool of Bethesda, the impotent man who has been there for 38 years. Jesus healed him, but there were many other sick people. Why didn’t He heal the rest? He gave the reason. "The Son can do nothing of Himself…" That means my own initiative. "I cannot do anything by my own initiative, but by what I see the Father do". He is always the obedient Son. You ask Him why? The reason is not given. If God wants to heal that man, make him an evangelist, whatever, I do not know, right? But Jesus saw the Father healing, and Jesus moved with that. Are you listening, people?

In the ancient time, God speaks to people, alright? We call them prophets. They hear God better, more accurately than any other person in Israel, am I right? Today, we are all, we all have a prophetic ministry. Once upon a time, there was only one king in Jerusalem. And then, there are many priests, but not all are priests. Today, we are all kings and priests. Jesus has made us kings and priests. We should expect that anointing. What is the anointing of the king? Whatever you speak happens. The people of the world, your colleagues, your friends, your classmates and all that, you know, when they speak, nothing happens. But when you… Watch what you say. The devil is after your words. He wants you to use your words against yourself. "Oh, die lah, die lah, die la…" No one says, "Live lah, live lah, live lah". "Die lah, die lah… I’m dying for this, I’m dying for that".

You know, he has programmed death into your language. "Ah, old lah, lao liao, old, I’m getting old, you know". He’s programmed that, because he knows he has no power. The power of life and death is in your tongue. It’s not in his. Listen. It’s not what people say about you. They can say all kinds of things about you, but don’t you ever speak against you. You cannot stop them from speaking. The only one you have control of is your own. Watch what you say. So, in those days, right, they have prophets. Today, we all have prophetic ministry. We are prophets, kings, priests. Having the anointing of all these three office. Back then, you want to go to the king? Certain location. If you want to hear a prophet… By the way, prophet in those days, watch this.

1 Samuel 9:9. "Formerly in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, he spoke like this, ‘Come, let us go to the…’"? Shout. The what? The seer. "For he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer". How does God speak back then? Show the prophet pictures. Do you see that? By the way, this is in reference to prophet Samuel. So, how does God speak to us? Because we are all… Today, we are not all prophets, but we have a prophetic anointing. All of us. We have a kingly anointing. We have a priestly anointing. You see, all of us, there is no such thing as clergy laity. We are all kings and priests when it comes to worshipping God. Can I have a good Amen? Are you with me so far?

Oh, my time is flying. I’m not going to bind it anymore already. I’ve learned to accept. Amen? Because the clock is an inanimate object. It cannot, it cannot make me angry. You know? "Oh I tell you, make me angry you know? This person make me angry, you know"? No one can make you angry. If they can make… I’ll close with this, okay? If they can make you angry… By the way I am just starting a new series, have you noticed that? The seer? On how to hear God? I think we’ll continue this because I got a lot of teaching I’ve prepared actually, Amen? And, we’ll continue. But listen. No one can make you angry. Let’s say someone speaks bad about you. Alright? You don’t know about it. All of a sudden you’re walking, you know, you are in a shopping centre, and you are just window shopping, just looking around... "I felt hurt"! And you are walking with Pastor Mark. "Pastor Mark, I felt hurt! My feelings are wounded". Pastor Mark will say, "What’s wrong"? "Somebody, somewhere, spoke bad about me".

Does that happen? No! You must know what they say. In order for you to be hurt, you must know what they say! Either you read their comments or what they write to you or you … You must know what they say, alright, to be hurt. Who is the one actually, making you hurt? If that person can make you hurt, even though you do not know what they’re talking, all of a sudden they say, "You know ah, this person… lalala". "Ugh, I feel it. Someone just made me angry with their words". No, it doesn’t happen like that. They cannot make you. You make yourself. It’s a bitter pill to swallow but, today we are owning up to who we are in Christ. So, you know something? Don’t read negative comments. Don’t fill your heart with negative. We are all negative based on the old nature. Our propensity now is a bit negative. We are learning to renew our minds, to think positive. Amen?

When I say positive, the Bible says, "A helmet of the hope of salvation. A positive expectation of good". "Pastor, you know a recession is coming". Let’s talk about God’s provision. God’s grace always exceeds sin. Therefore, His supply will always exceed the sin. Amen? The shortage. Whether it is a recession is coming or not, my God is El Shaddai. Amen? He’s not "El Cheapo", alright? He’s El Shaddai. Amen? He is more than sufficient. Amen? God didn’t say, "Oh my goodness, my goodness. Gabriel, you saw there’s a recession coming or not? No one told me, you know? Michael! What have you been doing? No one told me that a recession will be coming…" Alright?

So, if it happens, recession is round the corner, let’s say you know, and it’s coming fast and furious, you know something? God will provide for you. Don’t complain. Don’t blame this and blame that and all that. It doesn’t work. You know that it will only make you miserable! Have a greater faith! Rise higher and say, "We are going to see my God do miracles. He always does that in famine. I’m gonna see that happen in Jesus’ name". Hallelujah, praise the Lord! We got so much more to share, Amen? But right now, I want you to say this:

I am a new creation in Christ. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. Regardless of how I feel, who I am is who I am. My feelings, my wrong actions do not define me. God’s word defines me. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. When I feel angry, I am still the righteousness of God in Christ, and that anger comes under my feet. I am a brand new creation. From now on, in Jesus’ name, I’ll think a new way. I’ll be renewed in the spirit of my mind. I will watch my eye gate and I’ll watch my ear gate, and open them up only to things that are wholesome, healthy, of virtue, and of praise. In Jesus’ name, and all of the people said? Amen, Amen.

Guard your heart. Guard your eyes. Amen? I wish I can tell you much more… The world today is full of negativism. You know? You need to know the news, just read the headlines, okay? The rest is all just taking your time. Okay? Amen? And just don’t spend too much time with junk. Everything, who is attacking who, who is this and the death count and all of the pandemic around the world, of this and that… just know the headlines, enough… and then put your mind on things that are wholesome. Where do you find them? Images and all that, this word "pictures"? God’s word.

Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place, friend. Mmm, thank you Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. There is someone, you have just been diagnosed with a… I think it is in your intestines… something has gone wrong and it showed up recently and now you… I see you filled with fear, Amen. But the Lord has singled you out. Do you know what it means? You are up for your healing. Amen? In the name of Jesus, I command that condition to be healed, and I command your body to be restored to health in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, go back to the doctor, alright? And see what the Lord has done in your body. And once you got the good report, confirmed by the medical report, just let us know. Send it to us and let us know. I believe God has done something. In order for Him to single it out, God has done something.

Now, stop, pause, and let me tell you, this is how I saw. I saw a picture. Okay? I was about to close, then I saw a picture. So, that means God is … Now, that’s how I do it. It has been my life for so many years now. The word, the gifts of the spirit also manifest as pictures. Amen? Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. And, when I mentioned about people taking their life, it’s not like someone is about to take his life, but you are contemplating on taking your life and what it’s like. And in the name of Jesus, I bind that darkness over your head, Amen, in the name of Jesus, and I bind all that depression from off you in the name of Jesus Christ, and I command the devil to lose you and let you go in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and let the light of the glorious gospel of hope, the glorious gospel of grace shine into your heart and mind.

The good news – you are loved, you are loved and God is watching over you, and you are not going through the valley, you are not going through the difficulty, you are not going through this lack alone. I know you feel as if you must provide for your entire family, you need to provide for everyone around you and they might not know it, they might not appreciate you, but God sees it, and God is the one you lean on, and God is more than able to provide. In Jesus’ name, never let go of your life. It’s a precious gift, and you are loved. In Jesus’ name, Amen? Praise the Lord. If you have never made Jesus your personal Saviour and Lord, I’d like to pray with you right now. If that is you, wherever you are right now, just say this prayer from your heart. Say:

Heavenly Father, I thank you. Your word says, if I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord, and believe in my heart that you have raised Him from the dead, I’ll be saved. Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord. And I thank you, He is risen. Death no longer has power over Him. And what happened to Him happened to me. Death is now behind me. I am in Christ with a new self, a new identity. I’m a brand new creation. In Christ, old things passed away, all things become new. Jesus Christ is my Lord. Thank you, Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Stand to your feet, church. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Praise the Lord. I’m looking at the time. And, someone with liver trouble, real quick, you’ve been diagnosed with a liver… in fact you went to the doctor a few days ago, alright? I see your liver cleared. It’s like a hand just peel off… I don’t know what it is. There’s a peel, there’s a thing being peeled off your liver. Amen? You are healed, in Jesus’ name. Lift up your hands to the Father. This is what we call the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen? He talks to you. The Holy Spirit talks to you. We will share more in the weeks to come.

Father in heaven, I thank you for your people Lord, your precious people and everyone that’s tuning in online. Father, in the name of Jesus’ I ask, Lord, let your grace, the favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with each and every one of them throughout this week, Lord, experiencing Your favour everywhere they go. Knowing that they are favoured by God Himself – they are God’s favourite, expecting good things to come out from that favour with God. Amen? That You grant them favour with man as well throughout this week. And Father, let the love of God be something they experience, not just something Lord, in printed form, but something they will experience. Give them a special experience of Your love throughout this week, they and their families, and then their friendship, their communion, Lord, that sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, be with every one of them, Lord. In the name of Jesus, be with every one of you. In the name of Jesus, be sensitive to the word pictures that the Holy Spirit gives you. Amen? And act on it, and you’ll see miracles happen. You’ll see miracles happen. Whatever He says to you, do it, and the water will turn into wine. In Jesus’ name and all the people said? Amen. God bless you all!