Joseph Prince - Perceive God's Wisdom In Your Heart
Whoa, thank you, thank you. Hey, I like the boy. Thank you very much. I receive your love, people. You may be seated. How often does it happen, right, exactly on the birthday is a Sunday? It comes like, what? Every seven years? So I felt that I need to preach, amen, on a Sunday. Amen. Also, you know, I was born on this day, which is an eventful one because Israel came back as a nation, amen? In 15 May, they became a nation again, and this is after 2,000 years of what Jesus prophesied, that Jerusalem will be under the hands of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. So they came back in 1948. On the 15th of May was the official day, right, which we celebrate. And 15 years after that, now you all know my age already. Fifteen years after that. And it's all 15, because 15 in the Bible is the number of rest, all right? It's a multiple of five times three.
So in the Bible, Scripture numerics carry meanings, amen? So 15 is a number of rest, which is grace, grace, grace, amen? I believe that. And May is which month? So don't wonder why Pastor Prince preach so much on rest. I was born to preach rest, amen? Praise God. And you know, I was just reading in the Word of God that every time God talks about the seven feasts of Israel, right, like the first time God introduced that in the book of Leviticus, which many of us, the pages are still stuck together after a few years, right, of purchasing the Bible, it's still stuck. In Leviticus 23, it talks about the seven feasts of Israel, but it starts off with the first one. When many people teach on the seven feasts, they don't teach on the very first part before the seven feasts, which is the Sabbath. The Sabbath rest must come first before you can celebrate anything, amen?
And then in Exodus 35, we have a list of all the people that work in the Tabernacle. We have one man called Bezalel, and God says He anointed him. And the very first thing in Exodus 35, before God talks about all the workers and all those who are willing-hearted, God talks about the Sabbath rest. Why? Because you cannot work unless you know how to rest, at least not effectively for the Lord, all right? And again, you cannot celebrate without knowing how to rest, because some people, they celebrate so that they can rest. You know, it's like it's a key. If you learn to praise God, right, if you learn to praise God, then this thing will happen, that thing...no, no, no. We see what God has done and then we praise Him, amen? We don't turn like, you know, I'm twisting God so that I praise You long enough, then You give it to me.
All right, for too long, you know, that has been taught, but let me tell you this. Even after you praise Him for what He has done, He still blesses you again, amen, because you can never out-give God. And again, the other day I was just reading about David and how David and Jonathan, they are best friends, covenant brothers. You know, when Jonathan met David in the woods, the Bible says they cut a covenant again, and they both cried because David knew that he and Jonathan would be separated because the father is on the hunt, all right, to kill David. And Jonathan, by the way, is the son of the king at that time, which means Jonathan is slated to be the next king. But Jonathan said to David, "You will be the next king".
So look at the friendship they had. No wonder when Jonathan died, David wept and wrote a song out of his time of mourning called the Song of the Bow. It's very interesting. "How are the mighty fallen". And he talk about Jonathan as well. And over there when they met, the Bible says they wept, and I love this part where it says that, "And David wept more". All right, there's one version that says, "Overwept". He cried more than Jonathan. So you think about David, right? David is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about, we know that Jesus also came from the lineage of David, but everything in the story of David is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen, in different parts of his life. You know, when he was wandering in the wilderness, that speaks of Jesus right now. He's rejected. Predominantly, the whole world has rejected Jesus Christ, both the Jewish world and the Gentile world, the non-Jews.
When Jesus was here, it was, we know that at the end, it's our sins that He bore at the cross, but it was the Roman Gentile that passed the sentence. It was the Jewish leaders that delivered Him up, amen, through Judas. And there He was on that cross, rejected by man. Generally speaking, the whole world today still rejects Jesus Christ. So you and I are like the mighty men that followed David, amen? So when you study all the mighty men that came to David during that time, everyone was in debt, distress, discontented. The three-D army, remember? And they all became mighty men because they came to him in his rejection. They didn't come to him after he became king. One day he will be king, amen? The greater Son of David is coming back.
Have you noticed how many people came to him that were Gentiles? So it speaks of the time that we are in right now. So many that have come to David at that time were Gentiles. One of them he made commander-in-chief over a third of his army. He divided his army into three sections and one of them was run by a man called Itai. You know who is Itai? Itai is a Philistine, same tribe as Goliath. But Itai, at the time when David ran away from Saul, he spent some time with the Philistines. Can you believe it? And he had so much favor with the king of the Philistines that somewhere along that way, Itai, just like Jonathan, wanted to cut a covenant with David. And when the time came that David was rejected, even by his own, his son, Absalom rejected the father, usurped the throne, and David was wandering, David told Itai, "Go back. Go back to your family. Go back to your friends. Go back to your tribe," which is the Philistines.
You know what Itai says? "My children and I, we have left everything to follow you". And when that, you know, can you imagine the kids asking, "Daddy, why are we moving again? Jerusalem is a nice place for us to live. Why are we moving"? He says, "We don't know where we are going, but our eyes are on the king. We are following the king, all right"? When David came back after Absalom died, David made Itai commander-in-chief over one-third of his army. All this speaks of you and I during this time when our Commander-in-Chief, our Lord Jesus Christ, amen, is in rejection. One day He will come and He will rule on earth. The Bible talks about the kingdom of God on earth. And when that happens, the wolf and the lamb will lie down together. Even children will wanna play, children will play at the adder, you know, the snake, the poisonous snake, and the hole of the snake.
"There'll be nothing that will hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain". No more disease, no more sickness, amen. And Jesus will rule on earth, and we'll be there ruling with Him because He said that if you... Jesus one time told his disciples, "You are they which continued in My trials". It means, "During My time of rejection, you continued with Me". Then He said this, "And you will sit on thrones, ruling". So David, the same, all right? He gave positions of authority, amen. He rewarded all those that were faithful to him. The time is soon coming Jesus is coming back, hallelujah. You ready to continue where we left off last week?
Okay, let's dive right into the Word. We talk about the heart. We've been talking about the heart for some time now, and the heart is the place, once you locate the heart, you know that you can monitor that area, because that's where the voice of God comes from. That's where God deposits His wisdom for anything in life. It's in the heart. Look at Psalms 51. Look up here, Psalm 51. It says, "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom". "In the hidden part You will make me to know," what? Wisdom. Where in the hidden part? The ESV puts it like this, "And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart". Your heart is the place where God teaches you wisdom, where wisdom is found. Where does God put it? In the heart. In the heart.
Now, perhaps some of you sitting down here think, "Pastor Prince, you know, I got some financial problem and looks like the world is now going into a crisis, and you know, the price of everything is going up". I just heard in the news yesterday that India has stopped exporting wheat. Now, that's dangerous. Where will my chapati come from? You know, I mean, I love chapati. How many of you love chapati, amen? Someone should stand up right now and shout, "Pastor, man shall not live by chapati bread alone". You all know what chapati or not? Chapati is a round piece of bread. You pluck a piece of it, you scoop it, and it you take that dal, bro, all right? And once you eat that dal in that chapati, never a dull moment anymore in your life, amen? Dal. Lentil is Bible food, man.
I know a guy, a brother who gave up his birthright just for that lentil dal, I'm telling you. Are you all hungry, amen? So the importance of having wisdom is so vital. Before we talk about, you know, the needs that, right now, currently that we are faced with, we ask ourself, "How does wisdom play a part"? Well, wisdom plays a part in a lot of things. You will know the timing. You will know what to spend, what not to spend. And you will know how to pray in a way that supply will be forthcoming. You will know what God is doing and flow with Him. And when you flow with God... How many of you know when you flow with God, it is always supply? It is always paths of abundance.
You see, it doesn't say, "The Lord is my Savior, I shall not lack. I shall not want, be in want". It says, "The Lord is my Sh..." What is that? What is shepherd? What do sheep do with the shepherd? They follow him. What he feeds, they eat. Where he leads, they follow. Just do that and you don't have to worry about India not exporting wheat anymore, all right? Praise God. All right, whatever it is, the Bible tells us during times of famine, God's people are supplied, okay? So wisdom gives you five things. Length of days, which is health, amen, length of days, and as well as longevity. Riches, that's in the Bible, people. Not Pastor Prince. Okay, you all look at me like, "Are you sure or not"? Yes, don't listen to people who tell you that something is not in the Bible when it's in the Bible, amen. Look up here. It says here, "Happy is the man who finds wisdom".
So you can change your name to Happy Chong, Happy Lim. Then you can say, "Happy is the man who finds wisdom". Every time you see, "Happy is the man," you say, "I am the one". "Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She's more precious that rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her". Now, here it comes, the first blessing. "Length of days is in her right hand," number one. Right hand is always the hand of priority. Benjamin, yamin, hand. "Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor". So God puts health before riches and honor. So wisdom has two hands. In her right hand is length of days, which is health, longevity. You cannot have length of days without health. It's obvious, all right?
So health is there, length of days. In her left hand, what? Riches and honor. Would you say, even these three, the world is pursuing this? Where is it found? With wisdom. What wisdom: worldly wisdom, man's wisdom, man's ideas, man's innovation? No, God's wisdom. Very clear. And then, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness". Her ways, the ways of wisdom, are ways of pleasure. Literally in the Hebrew, it's pleasure, pleasantness. "And all her paths are shalom peace," amen. So it gives you what? Length of days, riches, honor, pleasure, peace. Say it, "Length of days, riches, honor, pleasure, peace". Always remember these five that wisdom gives you.
If anyone tells you that, well, you know, you cannot believe God for health or you cannot believe God for... when I say "riches," you all know that I don't mean, right, everyone become a multi-multi-millionaire, all right? You can be a multi-millionaire and not be happy or not have honor. We're talking about riches, supply, amen, to the point that you have more than enough to be a blessing to others. See, people who are just satisfied with enough, they are selfish. They have no vision of blessing multitudes, helping the work of God to go forward. Okay, so we need that. Riches, honor. Honor is what everyone is looking for, amen. Some people are looking for fame and all that, but what they are looking for actually is honor, and that comes from God.
Pleasure, "Your paths are paths of pleasure," doesn't mean there's no trials. In fact, the Christian life, there's a lot of trials. And if you are a Christian you will suffer persecution because you are a Christian, because you bear the name of Jesus, but your paths are pleasant. Your yoke is easy. Your burden is light, amen? When He leads you, like just like, as long as, like Itai told his children, "As long as we follow the king, amen, he will take care of us. There'll be more than enough. We do not know where we are going, but we are following the king," amen? And the children saw their father promoted. The children saw the father wasn't shortchanged. They saw their father blessed, amen. Amazing, a Philistine. Anyway, wisdom, that's, but where is wisdom found when you ask God for wisdom?
So we learn that Solomon, and I've shared this in my series on wisdom, but I'm gonna share something even further today because I felt that the Lord wants to tie it with the heart. So when wisdom was given to Solomon, how was it given? He just ascended the throne. David had died. He was a very young man. Scholars differ on exactly how old he is, maybe 17 to 22, around there somewhere, okay? So at night, God appeared to him in a dream and God says, "Ask what I shall give you". And Solomon says what? "Just give me five digits". Or is it four digits nowadays, four numbers? "Give me just four numbers, Lord. I'll ask no more," amen? And I've said before, a lot of people want the phone numbers not because of the phone number. Is it still four? Never mind, all right? I don't play it, so I do not know. So whatever numbers you want, or you play Toto, you pray to God in Jesus' name, "Let the Toto come in," wow, you know?
And that's using the Lord's name in vain, because nowhere does it promise, you know, you gamble and then you win. Listen, what are you after when you go for that? Why you want your number to come in? It's not exactly the numbers you want. You want what the numbers can bring, right? Your first prize, right? Your lottery ticket comes in, what does it give you? The money. But is it exactly the money you want? "Yes, Pastor Prince". No, you are blinded to think it's the money you want. Money cannot satisfy you. It doesn't. You're after what you think the money will give you. The money will give you security, you feel. Not necessarily so. The money will give you happiness in your marriage, in your family life. Not necessarily so.
We all know a lot of marriages break up because of money, and lots of money, amen. Even siblings don't talk to each other, you know? Things are just broken, so there's no guarantee, all right? So what are you after? The money will bring me, you know, I can go for vacations and all that. Well, God can still supply that for you. All right, what else? Money can give me health. People fly in from all over the world to Singapore because we got one of the best medical, you know? Why? Because they think that money can give them the very best health, but health doesn't come from medication. Medicine can treat the problem, can remove the tumor. Doesn't guarantee health. It doesn't guarantee it won't come back. Doesn't guarantee that this thing is permanent. Doesn't guarantee there are no effects.
You know, health comes from the Lord. You can run every day, you can be fit, but fitness is not health. Health comes from the Lord, amen? So you're after what you think that thing can get you, but at the end of the day you're actually after those things: security, riches, honor, a life of pleasantness, pleasure, peace. That's what you are after, amen? Peace in your family relationships, well-being for your children. Isn't it so? Isn't that what you want? Huh? How 'bout you bypass go. Don't collect $200. Just God bring you straight away to the blessings of length of days, riches, honor, pleasure, peace, without having to buy Toto or lottery. For those overseas and all that, Toto is a local lottery thing. Is it still Toto? Okay, whatever, Toto, or Titu, or Tito, or whatever, okay? I don't know.
The last time I saw Pastor Mark lining up, I didn't ask him anymore, "What's the name of it"? God can just bypass all that and give you all that you want. Know exactly what you want. Don't be deceived to think this thing will bring this and this and this, okay? So where does God put wisdom? God put it in the heart. So this young man, in his sleep, he asked God for wis... God asked him first, "What shall I give you"? amen? What can a man have unless God first gives it to him? I think it takes more grace to receive than to give. But Pastor, Jesus says it's more blessed to give than to receive. That is horizontally with people. With people, it's more blessed to give than to receive from people. But with God, it's more blessed to receive than to give. Even the greatest gift, salvation, is received by... Sometimes I look at people, and it looks like we need more grace to receive.
We love to give, but you can also give out of pride. It takes more grace to learn to receive, to say thank you to God for a finished work. It takes humility. It takes more grace to receive, amen? Smile at your neighbor and say, "I love you," amen. If it's someone you don't know, opposite sex and all that, and you are both single, it's okay, all right? Maybe this is the moment. If it's somebody else, just say, "I love you with the love of the Lord," so the person knows, amen? And say something good to the person next to you, okay? Say something good right now, amen. Say something good. Okay, okay. Did you say thank you? Did anyone say thank you? Did anyone say thank you, or you return the, you know, you feel uncomfortable. Someone says nice, okay, enough already. Say one sentence, not a paragraph or chapters. Okay, when you say that, how do you feel? You feel, "I must say something back. I must say something good," right?
Okay, just small, this is nothing actually, but it's a small example of showing that, you know, sometimes we need to stop and say thank you first. Learn to receive. Learn to receive, especially from the Lord. Can I have a good amen? So ask, "What shall I give you"? He asked God for, listen carefully, he asked God. In your Bible, it says, "Therefore give to Your servant". Solomon is praying, an understanding what? Heart. It's in the heart. It's in the heart. He knew something. His father David in Psalm 51 said what? "You have put wisdom in the heart," in that hidden part, in the inward part, in the heart. ESV says, "In the secret heart". He knew that, so he asked God for an understanding heart. In the Hebrew, a hearing heart. Leb shama, heart hearing, exactly in that way. He asked God, "Give me a leb shama," a hearing heart, or heart hearing, amen?
A heart that hears, a hearing heart. "'That I may judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?' The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing". And go to chapter 10. "So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth". Surpassed all the kings of the earth. You can read all about the kings of the earth during that time, even in all the Chinese dynasties and all the dynasties all over the world. "King Solomon surpassed all of them in riches and wisdom. Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom," which God had put where? Watch that. Where did God put it? So if we can isolate it, we can locate it, we can focus on it, perhaps we can draw from it.
So today, there's always someone who will say, "But Pastor Prince, the heart is desperately wicked. Don't you know the heart is desperately wicked"? How many have heard that? Wave. I don't know, since I was attending church, after I was born again, I attended church in my teenage years, I've been hearing this verse more about the heart than any other verse, "The heart is desperately wicked," so I dare not trust my heart. And there's another verse that says in Proverbs, "He that trusts his own heart is a fool," all right? How do you explain all this? "The heart of man is desperately wicked". So how can I trust my heart when my heart is desperately wicked. It is true if you're not a believer. It's true if you're not born again, but it's not true for the child of God.
In fact, David's prayer is that, you know, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit". What did he pray? "Create in me a clean heart". Now, this was said in Psalms 51. He prayed this prayer after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and also murdered her husband, amen. What a terrible time for David, amen. And he knew that the problem lies where? In his heart. The problem is that it's my heart. It's not so much you can tell me that because I lack discipline, I this and that, but the bottom point, the bottom line is that it is in my heart. I need a new heart. So David prayed, "Create in me," what? "A clean heart," and renew what? "A right spirit within me". Do you know that God answered that prayer? And God brought a new covenant where? When we are born again, we have a new heart and a new spirit. In fact, God prophesied this after David through the Prophet Ezekiel.
Many years after David died, all right, has gone on to be with the Lord, God raised Prophet Ezekiel to prophesy about our generation, and this is what God said, all right, in Ezekiel. "I will give you a new heart". Say, "A new heart". "And a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh". See, I'll take the heart of stone. That's your desperately wicked heart. Am I all right to say that? And give you what? A heart of flesh. So God has given you a new heart and has given you a new spirit. He has taken your heart of stone out, so even your wife says, "You got a stony heart," never mind, she's just angry, amen? You are born again. You have a heart of flesh. But sometimes you don't act according to the heart of flesh. You act according to your old nature, amen, which don't exist in your anymore. But the life, the lifestyle of it, the habits that you have acquired down through the years is still there, but it doesn't mean the nature is there. The old nature has gone.
"Therefore if anyone be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away". What is left is called the flesh, which is the sin principle, bad habits and all that, that you acquired from the old man, which is gone. Like you hear a bell, you know, a monastery bell keep on ringing all the time, "Bang, bong, bong, bong". After one hour of that, even the bell has stopped ringing, wherever you go, you hear, "Dong, dong, dong, dong," in your mind. Am I right? But it's no more in existence. It's no more a reality, but your flesh has acquired that. Are you listening, people? So sin is in the flesh, but your heart is now a new heart, and God has put wisdom in the heart. Can I have a good amen?
I'm gonna share with you something real quick about the Greek words for the two parts of your brain. Now, I don't like to talk about the two parts of your brain, because it seems like there's only two parts. Pastor, I think I only have one-quarter, okay? So maybe one day they'll discover there's another submerged part, there's another part. You know, the right brain is supposed to be more creative. Those who design things and they imagine things, so that's your right brain. They say you're more right-brained. Some people left brain, amen? Some people no brain. No, all right, left brain. Left brain is more logical. They are more reasoning things and all that. And you'll see how this applies to wisdom, okay, because God made us.
So you have a right brain, you have a left brain. Hopefully you have both, all right? So left brain is what? More analytical. That's where you do your mathematics and all that, right? It's more reasonable, more logical. And the right brain is more imaginative, more creative, okay? You need both. But I tell you something, all right? So as we are monitoring how God's wisdom comes, you can talk about hearing God's voice in this. But actually, when you talk about God's voice, people always think of voice outside, right? So I'd rather talk about wisdom inside, but that's actually God's voice. But God doesn't speak thunderously. A lot of people expect God to speak, you know, knock you on the head and say, "This is God," you know? But God speaks in the gentle stillness. Elijah found that God spoke in the still small voice, amen? Where's that? Deep down. You just know. And all of you know that. All of you know that, okay? He speaks to you like that. And that's why we must not neglect times of solitude, quietness, and meditation.
Today, modern Christianity, if you tell me what's the biggest problem, the biggest problem is that we have become so busy, all right? Even when we are in our room by ourselves, we wanna be involved, looking at the social media. We are always wanna be busy in our minds but we do not know how to contemplate. We do not know how to meditate. Times of meditation with the Lord, you'll find those are the moments that God speaks here in your heart, in your spirit. And what God speaks is more important than you talking to God. We talk so much sometimes in our prayer, then we say we've done our prayer time. How 'bout a time where you just sit down there and just meditate on His beauty, His loveliness, and just be in tune with what He's saying. Just one word in that moment of meditation, you go out there, you will do exploits for the glory of God. But people don't see that all this gotta do with the root life.
There's a root life. They see the plant flourishing, blossoming, verdant, beautiful. The fruits are juicy and ripe and huge. They don't see the root life. That's your root life, amen? Find time for your root life. Find time where you can contemplate, calm down. Your stress level will calm down also, amen. And you'll find it takes some time. You're not used to it, it takes some time because your mind is terribly busy. How many understand that you can be still in your body and still be busy, right? So take time for contemplation, amen. And sometimes during those moments, you don't have to talk to God all that time. You know, what you say to God, okay, it's important, your needs and all that, but it's more important God talk to you. That's when things happen. When God speaks, things happen. Good things, amen? So Ezekiel prophesied there'll come a time, a generation, they have a new heart, a new spirit. God take out the stony heart, amen. So my ministry is also right, to write.
You see, Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 3. Paul says, "Clearly you are an epistle of Christ". You know what epistle? It's a letter. In those days, they called letters, right, epistles. Epistle of Paul to Colossians, the Epistle of Paul to Ephesians, right? So you are a living letter, all of you. All of you are a living letter. You are living, walking, breathing, moving letters of Christ, amen. New Creation Church! Okay, I speak to New Creation Church and Grace Revolution Church, amen, over in Dallas. I speak to you, all right, as living letters. So every time I'm ministering, like the Apostle Paul, I'm writing on you not by ink, but by the Spirit of the Living God on your tables of flesh, not on tables of stone. Here it says very clearly, "Clearly you are an epistle of Christ," a living letter, a letter of Christ, "ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart".
So when I speak, I'm writing on your heart. As long as my words are anointed by the Spirit, I'm writing on your heart, and then you become a living letter. Then you go out there, and people say that, "Hey, that guy is... why is he so kind to me? That guy, I know him. He's from New Creation Church, amen. That lady did this for me, why? Well, she shared her testimony before. She was on drugs and now the Lord delivered her. That's why she wants you set free as well. She genuinely loves you. They are from New Creation Church. They are from Grace Revolution Church". I cannot say it about every church around the world, okay, so my time is limited on my birthday, all right? So I mention these two, can? There are many other great churches, amen. It's my privilege to talk about these two.
So people look at you and they don't read their Bible. This is the living letters of God. They don't read that. Many people don't read that. Many Christians don't even read that unfortunately. They read you. You read that, the Word of God, and they read you. When they are reading you, your life and all that, they see the peace of God, the joy unspeakable, amen, in your eyes, in your life, your radiant life, your radiant personality, the moral power you have by that resurrection life in you. You know what they'll say? "Wow, I believe in God," or "I want to know this God". Can I have a good amen? It's like God blessed you to the point that the Philistines are envious of Isaac because of the blessings in his life. And those would have to also include physical blessings because Philistines cannot discern spiritual blessings. Ah, okay? But when your friends see you, you know, they see in your eyes the glory of God shining through. They sense genuine love. They can sense it, amen. They are reading the Word of God. Can I have a good amen?
So look at Jesus. I'm gonna teach you something right now, okay, about the right brain, left brain. Hope I have enough time to share that. But how many of you think that you are right-brained? Let me see your hands. Real high. Okay, wave, wave, because such a crowd, you know, you gotta, okay, have some movements so I can see. Very few people right-brained, imaginative. Left-brained, left-brained. Who are more left-brained? Look around. More left-brained. Serious? I think it's about one, two, three, four... one, two, six, eight, twelve, fourteen... one, two, three, seven... one, two, three, four, five, six. Okay, so you are more analytical, right? No wonder you are so good at math, Singaporeans. So very few. One more time, right-brained? A bit more now. One, four, five, six.
Okay, now, if you look at what the Bible says in Ephesians 1, the prayer that I've been encouraging you all to pray since last year, is this prayer that Paul is praying for the Ephesian Christians. And this prayer that's good for them is a spiritual prayer that's also good today, amen? It's ageless. So pray this prayer, "That God give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him". So how does the spirit of wisdom and revelation operate? "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened". "Enlightened" is the word "photizo," from where you get the word "photo". The light comes on your understanding. And notice the phrase, "The eyes of your understanding". So your understanding have eyes. So which part of your brain or your mind have eyes? This is part of your heart, people. The brain is physical, the mind is not. I'm referring to the mind of the heart that God is talking about. Are you with me?
So which part has eyes? You talk about your brain. It is your right brain, right? Right? So this, "Eyes of your understanding," the word "understanding" here is "dianoia," all right? In the Greek, it is "dianoia". Say, "Dianoia". Very good. That's "dianoia," okay, the eyes of your understanding. Why is this important? Because there is another word called "dialogizmos," all right, or in its verb form, "dialogizomai". Let me show you where it happened. After Jesus, they lowered, you know, the invalid, and then Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven you". The Pharisees around them started reasoning among themselves, saying, "How can this man forgive sins"? Exactly. He's no ordinary man, amen. He is the Savior of the world, the Messiah to come. He's here now, praise God, amen?
And this is what the Bible says, "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.' And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts". Reasoning in their hearts. "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone"? Now, reasoning in their where? Reasoning, show them that. "Reasoning in their hearts". So your heart can reason. Now, this is a bad heart. Don't forget, not born again. And how does it function? The word here is "dialogizomai". They are... see, "dialogizomai" is not "dianoia". "Dianoia" is imagination, and God uses that. The prayer for the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of wisdom operates by God flooding your imagination, the eyes of your imagination, "dianoia," with light. I see it! Sometimes when you sit down there and Pastor Prince shares something, you say, "I see it," right? Others may not see it, but you see it.
So your eyes has become flooded with light, "photizo," "photizo," enlightened. Are you with me so far? "I got a situation here in my family, Pastor Prince". Ask God for wisdom. Don't ask what God can give you from within, amen. Man may give good advice. Some may work, some may not work. Anything that's of man may or may not work. From God, it will always work. You need God's wisdom, amen. So here, look at what Jesus, drop down, "But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit," stop. Jesus perceived in His spirit. Where did Jesus perceive? In His spirit. Jesus perceived. The word "perceived" here, "epiginosko," is to see clearly, fully. You say, "I see it, Pastor". Where do you see it? Show it to me. I can't explain it, but I see it. Sometimes the Word, I can't dialogizomai, but I see it in my dianoia.
So watch this now. "Jesus perceived in His spirit that they", the Pharisees, "reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, 'Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?'" The word "reason," "reason," here is all the word "dialogizomai," or "dialogizmos". Now, it's the opposite. It's the other brain. Your word "logic," logic, reason, logic, come from "dialogizomai". See that? Dialogizomai. "Pastor, are you saying that when you come to church or, you know, we live life and all that, we put our brains at home"? Not a bad idea actually, you know? The problem is this. We need to take our brains out of a drawer, wash it with a detergent of Jesus' blood, turn it the other way, and we are all walking in the kingdom of God, the way God, 'cause a lot of things are the opposite. The kingdom of God, it operates on the opposite. The world says, "Look for number one".
We look for the One above the number ones, the very One, our Lord Jesus. And then the things that people are pursuing in the rat race, they call it a rat race. You know, you become number one, you become number one rat. So all the rat race for fortune and fame, they pursue that, and they spend so much of their health to get that, sometimes 30 years and all that, 40 years. Finally, they realize their health is gone. They spend all their riches that they have gotten then to get back all the health they lost. That's a futile life. That's a life of vanity, amen. Make sure you enjoy the journey. Jesus came to give you life and life more abundantly, amen. Now, dialogizomai and dianoia, "dianoia" is to see. Jesus perceived. That is a seeing on the inside. Paul perceived that that man had faith to be healed.
I've asked God to teach me this many years ago, and I can tell when people stand in front of me who is ready to receive healing. It's just inward, it's hard to say seeing. It's a seeing, it's a perceiving, but where? Where do you perceive? Not in your mind, in your spirit. Sometimes people talk, and you know, they talk and talk, and the more they talk, the more I sense something in my spirit. Ladies, be careful. Nowadays, right, there are guys who will try to say everything that they have learned from the dramas that you watch to win your heart, but they are not like the guy, you know? And then they clear your savings account. I just told my daughter the other day, any time, no matter how good the reason is, when you are dating someone, all right, if that person ever asks you or even present a story of, you know, needs money and all that, run. I don't care how pitiful you feel for the person, run.
A good guy who loves you, even though he is in dire straits financially, he will not ask from you, all right? And you know, we are all in countries where there's a job provided if you want to work, and I respect a man like that. It's not a matter of having millions, it's a matter of willing to work, amen? But you can sense it when they talk. You can sense it. People who are out to con you, you can sense it. They can say, "We are doing this for God. We are doing this for the kingdom of God," but you can sense, no, no, it's not. You're not doing it for the kingdom of God. You have believed it so much you even deceive yourself, justifying it. It's not for the kingdom of God. It's for your own pocket. Pocket, pock-eet, pocket. Yeah. Don't put God's name in it. You can sense it.
So when you sense this, listen to this more than your logic. "Aiyah, I logia. No, this guy, everyone knows him, you know? So-and-so knows him. They also invested. That person also invested". But all the while there's a green light. Have you heard of a Ponzi scheme? How famous people, even celebrities are involved in Ponzi schemes and all that, only to find later on it's the crowd and the famous and even the experienced and the experts can fall for that. But one thing they cannot touch is your wisdom in the heart. You can sense it long before you can logic it out. I don't know, I cannot reason. Explain why you don't wanna invest. Because I cannot explain. I cannot dialogizomai. You understand dialogizomai? I see it in the eyes of my dianoia. You "noia" or not? What did you learn in New Creation today? Dianoia, dialogizomai. My oh my. No, we are not sharing this so that, you know, you boast about these things, but you use them. Can I have a good amen?
Jesus perceived, they reasoned. Jesus perceived, they reasoned. Jesus perceived, they reasoned. Jesus perceived, they reasoned. And Jesus says, "Why are you reasoning in your heart"? So don't use your heart for, listen, reasoning is part of God. Dialogizomai is part of God. But just something very interesting, I made a study of this word, "dialogizomai". It's never used of Jesus. Does that mean that Jesus never logicked things out? No. I mean, God gave us both brains, or else He would just give you half a brain, right? I believe the study of brain is not complete yet. We are still discovering things about the brain. Your brain can grow, you know? Now they call it neuroplasticity, right? Your brain still can grow. They just discovered that. Based on the established science years ago, your brain cannot change in terms of neuroplasticity, but now they found out it can. What else will they find out that the Bible already has the answer?
The Bible said, long before science said the earth is round, the Bible says, "He that sits on the circle of the earth". Circle of the earth. In the book of Leviticus, which is the oldest book besides Job. Job is the oldest, but book of Leviticus says that the man's life is in his blood. And until 1800s, they were still blood letting, thinking that when more blood goes out, your disease goes out, only to find many people died. That's how George Washington, the first President of U.S. died, because of blood letting, and all he had was a throat condition. They believed that in those days. You see, the Bible is already there. The Word of God is already there. Are y'all with me so far?
All right, so watch this now, dianoia. So God, see here, "Jesus perceived in His spirit. They reasoned thus". And why do you reason? Again, the word from "dialogizomai," right, "dialog", the word "logic" there, and "noia" is the word "mind" for the imagination. It's more important you see it than you understand it. Many a times our understanding comes later, all right? But you see it long before you can reason it. You see it long before you can logic it out. You see it before you can explain it to other people. Many a times we cannot explain, but we see it. Stop trying to explain to your friends or to your colleagues things of the spirit, because the natural man receive not the things of the Spirit of God. And stop arguing with people, all right, telling them about archeological discoveries or scientific discoveries, and using mind against mind, dialogizmos with dialogizmos. There's no win. Speak to the heart.
The guy knows he's lost and he's trying to throw all this logic in front of you, hoping that you will not answer and that will persuade him. Or they see that, "I don't think there's life after death. He cannot answer me this question". No, no, no, no, don't answer that. Go for the heart. The heart knows it has sinned. The heart knows there is a being out there. Most people do, I'll tell you this, even the atheists. When the atheists come right to the corner where, you know, during the wartime and all that, there's a saying that says there are no atheists in the foxhole. They cry either for God or for their mama and daddy. This is real war, huh? At the end, the reality is there. Many of them on their deathbeds, you read accounts where they are struggling, and they realize that they are not ready for it. 'Cause deep down, the spirit knows there's life beyond the grave. They know it. Are you with me so far?
Okay, watch this. God made a new covenant with us. Am I right? I said God made a new covenant with us, okay? And what did God say? "Behold, I make a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with Israel. Mount Sinai, I gave them the Ten Commandments. Not according to that covenant, but this is a new covenant I'll make with the house of Israel, the house of Judah in those days, amen. I'll put my laws in their hearts and on their minds". Let's read that. Okay, this is your covenant, people. I said this is your covenant, okay? "This is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind".
Now, these laws obviously is not the Ten Commandments. That's outside, amen? These laws are not man's advice. That's, again, outside. These laws are God's instruction. The will of God will be known from now on on the inside, amen. Are you listening? And it says this, "I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts". Write them where? On their hearts. "Put My laws," where? "In their mind and write them on their hearts". Obviously both of them are about the same location for God to mention this. "And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. So I'll put My laws on their mind and write them on their hearts".
Now, look at this, "I'll put My laws, My instruction". For example, the Ten Commandments don't tell you how to treat your children, how to parent them, how to deal with a crisis situation. It doesn't, amen. But today, because of the Resurrection life of Jesus, you have the moral power to do more than don't steal. You give. You can don't steal and still be a stingy person. The Ten Commandments don't cover that. You can don't commit adultery and not be in love with your wife, your husband.
So we have gone beyond that. The life within will tell you to love. The life within will impel you to give. But again, I use the word "impel". Actually, it's like the love of Christ constrains us. You know what's the word "constrain"? You know, like, you are walking this way, you know, you are going this way, and then the crowd comes up from the stadium. As you walk in, they walk out. So when they walk out, you cannot go in anymore, amen? Amen, you do a moonwalk, amen? This is my best attempt on this special day. Why you laugh so loud, Lawrence? Huh, you can do it? Come. Come, come, come. So you are pushed back. You know what's that called? The crowd constrained you. You are constrained by the crowd, the flow. Or you are swimming upwards, and all of a sudden you turn one corner and there's a strong current. I don't care how good a swimmer you are, you are constrained by that stream.
Now you understand, "For the love of Christ constrains us". And where does it come? From the heart. You feel compassion. That's how I give to people that sometimes I don't even know, you know? If you listen carefully, sometimes even the one that cleans your table and, you know, moves your used cutlery and all that, you know what I'm talking about. And this more for Singapore, all right? We have them, don't we? Cleaning the table and all that. And you're supposed to clear yourself, by the way. Sometimes you look at them and the world ignores them. You know, you got something in your heart, give them something. Give them something. And probably they remember you more than, you know, all the faces they see. But let the love of Christ, you know, teach you when to give, when not to give.
There are people who come to you with a sob story and all the while you don't feel like giving, but you feel like as a Christian, logic, it's a logic, as a Christian, I must give. But what does your heart say? Your heart says no. But very pitiful and all. His story is very pitiful. Look, look, and it's Pastor Mark and all. Okay, I must give a disclaimer. Just for illustration. Pastor Mark never asks from anyone. He just takes it from me. Now, I'm just kidding. No, no, he never... No, I'm just, I like teasing him. You all know that, right, amen? I love this guy, amen. And the guy who just laugh at me just now when I did my moonwalk. Anyway, you know why? You know why it was unsuccessful, I cannot do a good moonwalk? Because as a Christian, I'm not supposed to backslide. There is no flow. There's no flow in backsliding. There's only a flow, all right, in front-sliding, amen? We gotta walk with Jesus. Don't look backwards, amen? Amen, praise the Lord, hallelujah. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
So look at this word. "I will put My laws in their mind". What do you think that word "mind" is? Look and behold, it is the word "dianoia". Dianoia. God is not gonna talk through your logic. God is gonna put His wisdom where? In your dianoia. That's where you say, "I see it". This is the normal Christian life. This is the life of a believer on earth. We are depending so much on people's advice. We are looking so much to the social media for direction. We are looking so much to authorities outside us instead of listening to what God is saying on the inside. We have a condition in our body, we google it. After we google it, we are more fearful than before we googled it, all right? And then this advice comes from this person, but this advice contradict the first advice, but both of them are doctors. Now you are more confused and more confounded. You do not know what to do, why? Because you are not supposed to be looking outside.
Now, I'm not talking about going to doctors and all that, amen. Even then, listen on the inside where to go. God will still lead you. But you start depending outside. And it says here very clearly, "I will put My laws in their", not dialogizomai, but in their dianoia, in the imagination realm, where you see it on the inside, all right? "And I'll write them on their hearts. I write them on their hearts". In one of the... I showed you just now that Paul says, "You are the epistles of Christ, ministered by us". So, many a times God also writes as the preacher, like Paul said, "I'm preaching and God is writing".
Stay under the writing, amen? But also on your own, listen. Guidance comes from within, deep down. Your mind says something, but you can sense the mind is more superficial. You can sense it. The logic part, the reasoning part is more... Your spirit is faster than your mind. You meet someone, you don't feel good about this person, but the person is oozing honey, oozing sweetness, oozing gula melaka, oozing all kinds of diabetes, you know? He's sweet, but something inside you say, "Ugh, ugh". Something is not right. Wives are very good at this. They are more sensitive. That's why the devil went for the wife. The guy is like, "Mmm, mmm. Oh, I see," you know? He knew that she's more perceptive, so he went for the heart, amen. It's like women have a spiritual affinity. And my wife, and I'm sure your wife also, they are the first one that says, "I don't sense this is right".
What do you mean, baby? The guy is a Christian, you know. And these people endorse him, amen? Yeah, what's wrong with this investment? What's wrong with that? "I don't feel good". And every time she says that and I don't listen to her, but she never come back and say, "I told you". She's a lovely woman, amen? So they sense things and we, most men. I know it's the other way as well. Most women perceive, men reason. What is God saying about your situation? Is God telling you to eat lesser? Then stop going to Google. Stop asking for this expert. What is God asking you to eat? God is telling me once in a while eat a bit of sweet. I've cut off all sweetness from my life. If God tells you once a while you can take something sweet, go ahead. Follow when God says, "Go ahead". But as a law, I will not anything sweet. It will make me fat, fat, fat. The Bible says, "Eat honey". Honey is sweet. The land flowing with milk and honey, amen?
Now, if you have a medical thing and all that, listen. Of course, if you listen to your spirit, God will tell you also most likely the same thing the doctor is telling you. But for the ultimate resolution to your problem, it's actually listening to your spirit. Because you can see that you still have this condition after all these years. You need to ask God, "What do I need to do"? It might not be eating. It might not be exercising. It might be something else. Maybe it's a stress and you don't even know you are being stressed. You do not know why that triggers. By the way, you know something? When you follow the spirit, right, every time you follow the spirit, oh man, I'm telling you, it sort of, like, frees you from stress. Like for example, do you know you can be stressed like... I look at all of you, right, and you all are very hungry spiritually. You know, you all, you are hungry for God's Word, right? I'll try again. I'll try again. Okay, I'll try GRC.
All right, you are all hungry for God's Word, right? You are all hungry for God's Word, amen? So because of that, that puts pressure on me sometimes. If my mind is not right, it puts... am I right, Lawrence? It can put pressure on you, right? Am I right, Mark? It puts pressure. Before you know it, right, you are demand-minded instead of supply-oriented, and you always need to be reminded what grace is all about. But because of that, it's like, you know, "You better give me a good sermon, all right? Forget about all the moonwalk. We're not looking at that. Give me a good sermon. Every week, every week must be good. Every week has gotta be", you know? And I used to have that pressure on me, and I'm telling you, it's not easy. I began to have symptoms like irritable bowel, you know, syndrome, you know, IBS. You need to rush to the toilet all the time. I do not know why, but it happened during a time when I felt stressed about preaching. Then it's not so much, you know, but preaching is part of, it's my ministry. It's the ministry God has given me, right? But you need to prepare, days and days in preparation.
So when I prepare, I found out that the stress happened in my preparation because there are times, I've learned that down through the years. There are times that I'm preparing and I get so intense in my study preparing that I find that the joy is no more there. It's like you are just doing it mechanically. Am I right, Mark? Am I right, Lawrence? All right, these are people who preach the Word of God, so they understand. It become mechanical. And then you hear how I wanna call it, right, God put his laws on your dianoia. You see it. God is saying, "Get up, leave it aside, go outside. Play with Justin. Go outside, look far. Look at the trees," amen. But I cannot be lazy. I must really be, God say, "Look out there," amen? Or He will tell you, "Spend time with your family, just a while," amen? Then you go back, right? It becomes a flow.
So what is God doing? God is trying to relieve me from that stress. Before I realize it, even something good, you can get stressed by it. You ladies, for example, you have ten lists. Okay, maybe 20. More, yeah, 20. Singaporeans, 50 on their grocery list. Fifty items to buy. You go to buy, right? And after that, halfway, you spent three hours, maybe four hours at the mall and then you start feeling a bit tired, but you do not know you are tired, right? But there's a leading within, "Enough already. Enough, time to go back," right? That's a... you know, you know what I'm saying or not? Many of you know what I'm talking about. How many of you, without putting up your hands, when you're talking to your wife or your husband, you're talking, and there's a place where it becomes a bit heated? Just a bit. It's coming to a place where it's a bit heated, right? And then you know you heard it, "Stop here. Stop talking". But the way you interpret God's Word is like this.
When God says, "Stop talking," that means I can put in three more sentence or four more. And that was the killer. That was the killer. How many have been through this before? Don't put up your hands. If your spouse is beside you, just say in your heart, "Amen," because... You hear this all the time, "Stop now". But one more word, Lord. I know it means stop. I'll stop after this. How many of you have been watching TV, all right, and now there's whatever Western shows, Asian shows, whatever it is, they always have a series now and it ends on a cliffhanger, right? And then the next one hangs... I mean, hangs. It ends with another cliffhanger and another cliffhanger. And you keep on watching, and you keep on watching, but there is something inside, your health is more important.
God loves you and God is telling you, "Enough. It's enough. Now, come away with Me. Contemplation, meditation, solitude. Time for you to relax and receive from Me". And now you can't even sleep because of all the screen light and the blue light. And you wonder why I can't sleep well. You know, I go to the doctor, I can't sleep well. He gives you medicine, a sleeping tablet or whatever. That is not gonna help you in the long run. It can make an addict actually out of you. So here you are, you know? All the while, it's because, it can be resolved. God loves you. He gave you, "Stop now". And when you get up, you realize, "Oh my goodness, it was an addiction". Whenever you follow the Lord, He frees you from stress. All His paths are peace. When you follow Him, it means you're following the paths of peace, not stress. Are you with me so far? Are you learning, people?
So God writes His laws on your dianoia. You see on the inside. Expect that. "So Pastor Prince, you've shared on this before. And I've tried to sense, you know, from within, but I sense nothing, leh". You do sense it. If you're a child of God, you do know it. You do know when you say something, there's something restraining you not to say that or gossip about someone. Have you heard, you know, you can't, you just cannot wait to just bring that topic to the gossip thing. And then all of a sudden, "Don't. Don't do that. Don't do that. Stop right now". But then I got nothing interesting to say already. And that's the life we live, you know? Some people's life is like that. When they get together, it's nothing but gossip. That's not good. Don't let God demonstrate that to you by putting you on the receiving end of that gossip. Then you know it's best you don't. Are you all with me so far? Are you all learning, amen?
The Bible tells us that, never verse, this new covenant, "None of them shall teach his neighbor, none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them". So you don't need, listen, you don't need direction from outside. Now, many times even my life today even, we need confirmation from outside. Notice what I said, confirmation, not direction. Sometimes someone says something. Wow, that's what the Lord's been saying to me. How many of you, again, your wife says something, doesn't know that you're meditating along these lines and you are thinking about a change in your life or doing something, and your wife happen to say something or your friend happen to say something that, "Why do you say that," you ask them, "out of the blue? It's exactly what I've been thinking about".
Take that as a confirmation of what you already have inside. So today, don't receive it if a so-called prophet come to you and say, "God told me that you are to do this and do that". It doesn't have any confirmation in your spirit. It doesn't ring a bell. You know what? Say bye-bye. If he tells you to go to Korea, he tells you to go to Japan, he tells you to go to America, go to Africa, wherever, and be a missionary there, but there's no confirmation in your spirit, you don't sense it, you never heard that before from the Lord, and it's a direction but you're afraid because this person is a reputed prophet, so-called prophet and all that, then I suggest you bring him along. Whenever, you know, the supply doesn't come, ask him how. You heard that I should come here. Now hear how to get the supply. And you must hear him when to go back also, because if he tells you when to go, he must tell you when to come back. Better bring him along. He doesn't want to go, okay, then I tell you this, all right? Stone him. He's a false prophet.
Okay, we don't stone people anymore, okay? All right, so be careful. And people come to you, right, they want you to invest. You know what they use on you? Christians, sheep, baa, sheep. All sheep are like my mother, Baba family. Baa, baa, Baba, okay? We look innocent, but we have a good Shepherd who watches us. We look gullible. Christians sometimes look gullible, but we have a good Shepherd who will lay down His life for us. Don't mess with us. We might look like we are defenseless, but I'm telling you, we got the greatest power in the whole universe behind us, amen? But people come to scheme, especially Christians, and you know how they do it? They use God's name. They use God's name on you because they know only God's name will get your heart.
There's a lot of things going on in the name of charity or name of God, and for us, we determine we will not allow that in this church. We'll not allow that. If something is genuine, you wanna give to a missionary, give direct, amen? But our church is here as a safeguard. It's the life of the church. If you do not, not sure about the person, amen, is it valid or not, you can direct it to that place and let it go through us. We will make sure that they receive every dollar. By the same time, if it's something that we know about that side, we'll come back to you and say no.
I remember last time our church got, you know, really caught up about evangelizing Israel, getting them saved and all that, so people start putting money there, and they start even putting money on one ministry in Israel that the person talks the Christian lingo. He speaks the Christian lingo. This is in Israel. And he's getting a lot of a money from America and all over the world, you know, for his work. And now, his work is charitable work, but he use Christian lingo. He knows how to get the Christians. Only when I talk to him face-to-face, he came to Singapore to get support. I talked to him face-to-face and I asked him questions about Jesus and realized that he doesn't see Jesus as the Messiah. He doesn't see Jesus as Son of God. How in the world can this be turned to someone gets help, he will point him to Jesus. No, he will point that person to himself. Are you listening, people?
There's a lot of things going on out there. There's safety in the church. So when you give, you are still giving to them, but you give through the church, we can watch over your giving to make sure it goes on good ground. Now, just a sidetrack here, but back to this. God confirms things where? In your spirit. How many of you...okay, I'm bringing this to a close. How many of you when I'm preaching, all right, it's not the first time you heard it, you know? Maybe it's the first time you heard it, but it's, "I felt this before. I know this. This is right. I can't logic things out. I know grace is real and this is what God's been telling me. I've been looking. I've been looking for a church like this". That's probably what you said when you received the grace message. How many of you are in that category? Now I want a show of hands. You actually knew it long before you heard it outside. You knew it inside. And what you heard outside only confirmed what you have on the inside.
So 1 John 2, we'll bring this to a close. It says, "You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things". Wow, you know all things. You know, not reason all things, logic all things, think all things. You know. "I have not written", now, watch this, "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth". Came again, me preaching to you. I'm not preaching to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. I'm preaching because you know it. My voice is a confirmation to what God has already said in your heart where wisdom dwells. His wisdom, amen? Church, start locating that. Start being more conscious of that in all your dealings. And when, you know, if you find it was a mistake, you thought it was God, it wasn't God, don't be discouraged. Get up and walk again.
When you first learn to walk, all right, you fall down. But then, "I'll never walk again," in your baby mind. "I'll never walk again. I'll never walk again, Mama. I'll never walk again, Dada. That's it! Today I fell five times. Yesterday I fell seven times. Don't you know seven is the number of perfection? I fell perfectly, Mama. And today five times, which means I fell from grace. I'll never walk again. I'll never walk again". Did you do that? "Yes, Pastor". No, you got up. Your mother always encourage you, "Come, come, come," right? "You can do it. It's okay". "Waaah"! You start crying, right? "Get up, walk again". Can you just apply the same wisdom to your walk with the Lord? Don't be discouraged. Just because, "Oh, from now on I'm not gonna listen to the wisdom in my heart. It doesn't work," so you start depending on social media. Ooh, what a place to get stupidity. You start looking for outside, in fact, it tells you no one need to teach you in this new covenant how to know the Lord, all right?
The Lord is like this. You know why? You will know it. Every time I describe Jesus, many of you already see it inside. You say, "Pastor Prince, you're right. That's how I see Him". Or you see somebody else preaching another Jesus, you can say, "This doesn't sound like the Jesus I know". You see it inside. I'm not preaching because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, amen? You drop down, it says, "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you," those who try to scam you, those who try to manipulate you. You see, the anointing is there. "But the anointing which you have received from Him". This word here, "anointing," is a gerund. Gerund, G-E-R-U-N-D, which is actually a verbal noun. A verbal noun, all right? It's a noun, but it's a verbal noun. That means it's a name, it's a noun, but it's a movement noun.
This anointing is always anointing. It's always anointing. Even right now as you sit down there, you know, your heart probably is, you say, "Mmm, yeah, yeah. This is the new covenant. Yes, this is what God wants me to receive. Yes"! And there's many times as you say, "Amen"! right, at the end, amen? So the Bible says, "The anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing". Now, that doesn't mean you don't need teachers, because the Bible says when Jesus went up, he gave apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, right? So pastors, teachers are there, right, but they only confirm many times what you have. They delineate, make it clear what you receive on the inside, amen?
In fact, many a times God also writes, like Paul says, on you letters of Christ through us. "You do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him". The key to Jesus' saying in the upper room, "Abide in Me and you will bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit". It's the same word "abide". How to abide? By the anointing within. Every time you follow the anointing, not your logic. Let your logic serve you, don't let it lead you. After everything is done, you can logic out how to plan for this, how to plan, but that's okay. No problem at all, but let that not be the dominant factor in your decision. Listen within.
Before COVID hit (I'll close with this) we canceled an already-established appointment for groups to go to Israel. At that time, there was nothing. It was the year before, 2019. They keep on asking me, and many of them are witnesses here, the leaders, "Pastor, let's confirm the date for Israel next year". I said, "I don't know why, every time I think about it, there's something telling me no, not to go". Right, Mark? Right, Lawrence? Something telling me not to go, not to go. So we canceled it, only to find later on, thank God we canceled it. Like, more money would be lost, you know, people would be disappointed, but they realized all of a sudden God is in the house. I've lived my life like that. I pray in Jesus' name that you'll be more conscious of that and live your life like that. Will you? Amen, give praise to Jesus. Hallelujah, amen.
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place and everywhere that's watching this, all those in MBS and all those in GRC. Praise the Lord. Now, your heart has been touched by this wonderful Jesus. Deep down, the Holy Spirit's been ministering to you throughout the sermon but you have never made Jesus your Savior, your Lord. You've never made that quality decision to say, "Yes, Jesus is my Lord from now on and I accept all that He did for me on that cross," which is He bore your sins, took your condemnation in your place, and gave you His righteousness, His right-standing with God. So that if that is you and you say, "Pastor, pray for me. I want to be saved. I want Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior," pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I confess Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I believe in my heart You raised Him from the dead. Thank You, Father, You have forgiven me of all my sins. Remove them forevermore. And I thank You. I stand before You as the righteousness of God in Christ. And that's my identity from now on, in Christ. In Jesus' name. And all the people said, Amen.
So if you prayed that prayer, you're now a child of God. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. Stand to your feet, church. Praise the Lord. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Amen, amen, amen. Have you been blessed? All right, praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place and everywhere that's watching this right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I thank You You write Your instructions, Your leading, Your law in my heart, on my mind. And I thank You I can fully expect to walk in it, to abide in Christ throughout this week. In Jesus' name, amen.
Will you start practicing that? Will you start doing that? Amen. All right, God bless you.