Joseph Prince - Hope For The Third-Day Generation
Praise God, praise God. Good to be back with all of you. I missed you all. Okay, I'll take the clap. I'll try again, I miss you all. Ha-ha. All I know is the response is my name is "ooh," and then there's a clap. We you all blessed by Pastor Lian and Pastor Lawrence these past weeks? You know, let me just tell you this, we are so proud to have someone who can fill in, all right, for the rhema word of that week. And the word is definitely in season. I watched it even when I was on my holidays, I watched it, I watch it not to find fault. I watch to be blessed. I watch to be edified. I watch to receive. And I was blessed by both their sharing, praise God.
You know, it is very exciting, because, even as a pastor, you don't switch off your calling or the, you know, the things that God has deposited in you down through the years. When I look at people during my holidays, I still see them as people that are lost, that are seeking, seeking for the Lord. And but they are seeking for his love in all the wrong places. I see today the world glorying in their shame, I see the world today, wanting to have their own way, and they think they are being progressive, they think that they are being modern, no one has passed by this way before. Actually, they are regressive, they are going back to the times of the Bible. During the times of Abraham, during the times of, David, you know, the Old Testament, even the times of Judges where the Bible says, "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes".
Do you think that's happening today? It's not a matter of, like, what you say, or what the government says, or what, my local pastor says. You know, it's a matter of what I say, how I feel. I come to church when I want to come to church. If I don't wanna come, I don't have to come. You know, this idea in the Bible, in New Testament teachings about, submission and loving one another and coming in to contribute our gifts together, it's almost like it's all independent now. No one is thinking about why was I born? What was the purpose for which God gave me birth? When I was placed in my mother's womb, there's a purpose and a call, and each one of you have that. And if you wanna live just for yourself, you'll find that you will lose your life.
In fact, the funny thing is that to live the best life, to live life that is fulfilling and full of love, joy, and peace, don't envy people that are famous, because you don't know what restricted lives they have. "Pastor, they fly first class, they live in the best hotels and all that". They can't go out to the food court like you all can. Even in spite, there's not much chicken rice now, but you can go to the food court. You can walk down the street, right, and you won't be mobbed. And you say, "Pastor, I would love to be mobbed". Yes, at first. Second time, third time, fourth time, and after for a while you get frustrated. I've seen it. I've been in the presence of a celebrity that is world famous, a few of my pastors were there also, right, and I've seen how frightened they are to take a photo in public.
Because of all that they've gone through, all the legal things they have gone through, all the lies, and, you see, you were born with a purpose. But if you want to be great, you want your life to, like, "I wanna be famous so that everyone on social media knows me," know, I can say this because you are saying that, "Pastor Prince, you know, you are not recognized, you know, your social media is nothing," all right, but actually maybe there's something that, you know, I can have a moral authority to say, all right. It's empty. Being known by a lot of people is not what gives you purpose in life. Your life don't have to be great to be beautiful. In fact, there is much beauty in small things. If you have people admire the majestic mountain, but they don't see this, there's a lot of beauty in the little flower on that mountain.
They don't see the beautiful flower in all its intricate beauties in a tree, but they see the majestic tree. They don't see the gem, the beautiful gem that is lodged between the rocks and the crevasses of the mountain, but everyone wanna be the mountain. There's a lot of beauty in small things. If you think that your life is insignificant, let me just tell you this, it can be beautiful, purposeful. You can wake up with a sense of fulfillment, amen. Running for fame and fortune doesn't satisfy, I'll tell you that, amen. Being recognized, if you are recognized and you are using it to serve and to bless, that's fulfilling. But to be recognized and then, have a bunch of, you know, people running after you because you are famous and all that, that's not...
Let me tell you an incident that happened when I was on holiday. There was one evening that, that, I told my family that I just wanna go walk in the park, just be by myself, you know. I was with them all the while, and, I felt like, you know, it was very cold also, so I didn't want them out at that time. I said, "I'll just take a walk in the park," you know, just, I don't know why, I just felt the urge to go walk in the park. And, of course, I put on my mask. Some places, you know, because we are Singaporeans, all right, we are people of habit, amen, and we are law abiding, you know, even when we are overseas, we are still law abiding, right?
So, I put on my mask, and it's a park, but I put on my mask. In fact, we don't have to wear our mask, right, in the park, but I just put on my mask, I felt like it keeps me warm also in cold weather, all right. So, I put on my mask, and even then, when I'm alone in the park, I just take, you know, deep breaths of the fresh air that's there. And then I decided that, ah, I think I'll just sit down for a while. I've been walking around in the park and, doing my, like, exercise, walking around, so I said, I'll just sit down on this bench. You know that kind of bench, like, where Forrest Gump was on. And it was very quiet in the evening because not many people go out at that time. they go out earlier in the evening, but this is, like, late in the evening. So, I sat down in the park, and, there were a few people passing by, you know, jogging, things like that, then one lady passed by. Then she backtracked.
Now, remember, my mask is on. I'm not talking, you cannot recognize me by my voice. Most people recognize me by my voice in a public place. So, she said, "Are you Joseph Prince"? All right, so I said, "Yes," all right, and, later when I ask her how she know, she said that, "I passed by you, and I recognized you". But what happened is this, okay. So, I'm being recognized, and I was recognized, in many places, actually, during this holiday, even with people's, um, you know, who were servers, in a restaurant and things like that, but you always turn it to ministry for them. You see? Now this is what I'm coming to. So, she talked to me, and she said, "I was just talking to my sister that I think I passed by Joseph Prince". And they've been watching me, right.
Now this is in Europe, right. They've been watching me for some time, and, she said that, "Say hi to my sister". And the sister is on. So I say, "Hello sister," all right. And, she says, "Oh," she was very excited over the phone, and so we talk for a while, but in talking I realize that the sister is saved, but she, the lady there, is not saved. And she's an attractive looking lady, and, apparently in our conversation I found out that she works in a place where she's singing, all right, she's singing a lot, using that talent. And later on she asked me whether Jesus can bless that talent. Then I realized that as we were talking, "Oh, I believe in Jesus, and I believe in," you know, she believed a lot of things, you know.
And, I realized she wasn't born again, but she was watching with her sister here and there. And, because of that she recognized me, and as we went on talking, I steered the conversation to the gospel. I said that, and she was telling me that, "You know, can you pray for me, because sometimes I feel like, you know, there's a darkness. You know, I feel like, you know, like there's a darkness in my mind, you know, that sort of hold me back, and, you know, I can almost feel it. But I think that I must learn to meditate these things away from me". I said, "No, your only deliverance is in the name of Jesus". I said, "Jesus is the only way". And she came, like, "Oh, but I do believe in Jesus," "But, you see, you believe in Jesus in a way that is mental. Do you still have peace in your heart? I mean, after all the things you claim that you have professed faith in Christ". "No, I also believe," you know, and she mentioned many other things that she believed in.
And it's obvious that Jesus is not the Son of God to her, Jesus is not the way, the truth, and the life, and I preached the gospel to her. And you know what happened? You can see the transformation. All right, like I said, she's quite a attractive lady who sings and all that, and, an entertainer, and her face, you can see the darkness lift, and her face became glorious. You know, and, and I said to her, "From now on, it's Jesus only. No other. There is no other salvation. Salvation is not found in any other name. The Bible says, 'Neither is there salvation in any other name,' the book of Acts, 'but the name of Jesus.'" And the moment she put her faith there, I said, "Jesus only," she said, "Yes," you know, when I closed the deal, amen, and brought her to Christ, you can see the difference. And then she asked me another prayer request, "Do you think Jesus can bless my voice"?
I've seen how the Lord blessed the voices of the people here, amen. I have heard for myself Pastor Mark singing, ten years ago, and now, you know, it is still a 34, but it is definitely an... so, I said, "For sure the Lord can bless your voice". Then we prayed a prayer over her that she would succeed in the industry and all that, but I said to her, "Remember, give Jesus all the praise and the glory," and all the while the sister was listening, and the sister was so happy, you can see her excited and all that, and we said our goodbyes, and she walk away, and I walk away, because it's quite dark already in the park by then. Then I told myself this, you know. Who gave me that prompting to be there? Because that's the only evening I went out on my own while my family was with me, 'cause most of the time I'm there to serve them, I'm there to serve them.
Okay, on holiday, guys, you know what I'm talking about, amen. Guys who are born again, Spirit-filled, amen, guys who would sacrifice for their family, amen. You would sacrifice your joy, right guys? You would sacrifice the kind of food you want, amen guys, for the food that they want, amen, amen? Yeah, not much response, leh. Or is it the wife sacrifice for the husband? It's gotta be both ways, I know, but, as the head of the family, this is the Christian father, this is the Christian husband, amen. So, yeah, but I'm so glad. Who put that in my heart? The Lord. So, each of you, you have a calling from God, and it's a high calling. If God calls you and you fulfill that call, let me tell you this, you are more fulfilled, all right, than the guy who claims to have, you know, all the women that he wants, all the money that he has, okay, you are more fulfilled and truly fulfilled than him. Because I will tell you this, he's not satisfied. There's an empty void. He wakes up in the morning, and he forgets who is the one that he slept with.
So, all the things that you can dream of, Solomon dreamt of it, but Solomon didn't just dream about it, he did it. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes that "Whatever my eyes saw, I took it. Whatever music I wanted to hear, I assembled the singers". He didn't hear on record, you know, he assembled them, you know. All the singers were in his living room to sing for him. Whatever he wanted, he tried horticulture, he tried agriculture, he tried metallurgy, he tried everything, you know, and he has the gift of wisdom to be able to employ all these things. And he says that "Whatever my eye wanted, I did not restrain myself". At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes as well as the beginning it starts like this, "Emptiness of emptiness, vanity of vanities". Think about it, at the end he end up empty.
So, here God is saying, "You don't have to pursue that life. I'll give you fulfillment". Jesus says, "I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly". If God gives you some notoriety, people recognize you and all that, it's to serve a purpose, all right. It is not to serve you. And Jesus said, "If you lose your life for his sake, you will find it". It is when you are trying to save your life, you don't want to sacrifice, all right, you hear a call to serve, maybe, last week or a few weeks ago, you hear a call to serve the children, for example, it will take sacrifice. You will sacrifice your time, on Sunday especially. I know because I did that when I was, a teenager, I served in Sunday school. It takes sacrifice, right, but if you lose that time, you think you are losing it. Jesus says, if you're doing it for his sacrifice, you'll find it. And when you find it, it's like, "Whoa, what a life". It's such a fulfillment.
You know, people go back to sleep at night, especially on Sunday, sweet. And I can't begin to tell, and some of the people sitting in front here, they know, they go a long way back with me, they know when we were The Rock and all that, and before that, prior to that I was working full time, out there, secular, and still preaching, all right, before I went full time. And you know something? I had the biggest deals after I preached on Sunday. How many still remember that? And some of them experienced that, some of our leaders experienced that the biggest deals come when we are serving the purposes of the Lord, amen. The pastors here will testify, every time we go to Israel, and I'm pouring in, pouring into them, and I'm preaching and sharing the Word, blessing our guides, blessing our drivers, preaching the gospel to them, got many of the people that follow us, the Jewish people saved, we are believing God for the star to be approved, we come back, the star was approved. No, sorry, it was approved while we were there.
Many-a-times things happen while we were there. Things happen. We come back to a fulfillment. It's like, the more you strive for something, you try to save yourself in this, you try to conserve yourself in this, you lose it. But it's like you don't worry about that, you do it for the Lord, it's like Jesus says, "You lose your life," it's like you losing your life, but it's not losing your life, "You lose your life, you find it". Amen, excuse me for a while. "Preach it Pastor Prince, that's good preaching, hallelujah". Thank you, bro, thank you, amen. Jesus says, "He that seeks to save his life shall lose it. He that loses his life for my sake and the gospel's shall find it".
Think about that. The more you try, the more depressed you are. The more things you consume, the more depressed you are. The more you have, the more depressed you are. The more you are recognized and you get all the likes and all that, the more depressed you are. And now there's no more likes, but, you know? It's like, you thought these things will fulfill you. Don't waste your time, don't wait until the end of your life, only to look back and realize that you missed the call for which you were birthed, amen. And turn to your neighbor, smile, and say, "You got a high calling in Christ," amen. Every calling, you know, if a bird is made to fly, a bird should not try to swim, amen. Success is doing what you were born to do, what God has called you to do. Don't try to be somebody else. You are a copy. You're not the real thing when you try to be somebody else. Don't try to be like anyone else, your calling is unique, amen, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus.
"Wow, Pastor Prince, you come back, and you blast us with all these things". No, no, I didn't blast you, I blessed you, okay, there's a difference, okay, blast and blessed, praise God. All right, right to the Word of God, let's look at Hosea 6 once again. I know the Holy Spirit's been repeating this, even in Pastor Lawrence's sermon, amen. I know it's not monkey all the time, I'm just kidding. All right, it was a great sermon, and he touch on this as well. And early in the year the Lord had me touch on this because, it is, in Joel's prophecy that is the theme of our year this year, right, and how Joel and Amos, rather, together is the prophecy, and, the year of rest and acceleration, and I'm seeing it happen. We are resting, and there's acceleration. Things happening really fast, even in our church, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus, amen. You don't have to worry about making it fast. You rest, he makes it fast, amen. You don't ask, when will it happen. Your part is to rest, right, you rest, he accelerates, praise God, thank you Jesus.
All right, if you look at, Hosea 6, you'll find that God says, "After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning," that means he's established already. "He will come to us like the rain," geshem in Hebrew, "Like the latter," malqosh, "and former rain," moreh, "to the earth". Okay, so here we have God saying something about the coming of our Lord Jesus, and he gives us, the divine hints in this, two verses alone. He says, "After two days He will revive us". Now, in 2 Peter, Peter says about the principle of Bible interpretation when you come to days, right? Peter says by the Holy Spirit, "Beloved, do not forget this one thing". When he tells you not to forget, don't forget. The things that God tells us to don't remember or to forget, we remember.
God says, "Remember," we forget. Yeah, read the Bible, those things the Bible says forget, those things that are before, we remember those things that are before, the past. But you're not living before, you're living now. It's gone, amen. Or some of us are living in the future, all right. You know how you live in the future? By worrying about the future, all right. More of that. Okay, let's come to this. "Beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years with the Lord like one day". So, if you pray for something, God says, "Wait a minute," okay, "You all work out the math". No, I'm just kidding, okay.
All right, so, a thousand years with the Lord is like just one day, because there's no time, you understand? But the principle is still the thousand years is mentioned there, and the days are mentioned there. So, let's look at the Bible, because the Bible says, "After two days, He will revive us," right? "On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight". Now, the word revive is a very interesting word in the Bible, all right. It is the word that means to restore to life, to restore to life. After two days, when? After two days. Then it's after 2,000 years. Now, is there a generation that is alive today that has lived after 2,000 years since Jesus came? Come on, can I hear them? Is this generation alive? Yeah, I thought so. I can tell by your faces, you know, because only a quarter of your face can be seen, so you must bat your eyelids real hard, amen, you must shout amen extra loud for me to know that you are, getting it, praise God.
So, after two days, we are not within two days, we are not before two days, we are after two days, after 2,000 years after Jesus, amen. Give and take, our Gregorian calendar says it's 2022, all right, give and take, because, it's not exactly the year that Jesus was born or died, the year 2,000 wasn't exactly. Give and take a few years before, a few years after, because, scholars are not, fully established as to when, but it's around there, all right, some years are mentioned already. So, which means we are in the early morning, because Jesus rose on the third day. Jesus rose from the dead, that's a pattern for us, after two days. And he rose, see this hint here, divine hint, he rose early in the morning, which means we're not gonna see another end of, "But Pastor, after two days can also be the end of the third day, which is the, you know, the 3,000 year". No, no, no, he rose again from the dead early in the morning.
2022 is very early in the morning. It's not even 50 years yet, so it's still very early in the morning. We are that generation. What's gonna happen? First of all, not rapture straight away, right, but although rapture can happen any time, he'll revive us. And the word means, what? He'll give life. You're gonna see a lot of restoration of life and health, all right, and that's the thing that I see that the gospel will feature in strongly because the world will have no answers for all the plagues that's gonna happen. There are all kinds of plagues right now happening, all right, around the world, that is building. You know, when I left, Europe for example, I saw in the news, actually, that in London they found a polio virus in the sewage. They declared an emergency over the sewage, situation, because they found polio virus.
Now, I thought polio was dead and gone, right? It's back. TB, tuberculosis, it's supposed to be dead and gone, right? It's back. All right, and there are not only old disease coming back, but there are new diseases popping up, things we have never heard before. Some children has never seen people's faces for a long time. They know school life as a masked school, amen. It's sad but wake up and realize that the world is different. The world is different now compared to even five years ago. Realize something is happening, and no expert can change it. It's time for us to realize what is the Bible saying to us. Yes, Jesus says, "When these things happen, don't be troubled". Just know that the end is near. Lift up your head because your bodily redemption draws near. You're gonna have a body. When he comes again, you're gonna have a body that will never grow old, never become sick again forever, my friend, forever. You're gonna float around like a ghost, amen. You'll have a body, the same body that Jesus had when he rose from the dead, a body that can eat, amen, and all of you said, amen, praise God. No shortage of chicken rice, amen.
I don't know why I think chicken rice, but, you know what, whatever is in heaven, whatever the new body, don't forget who gave you all these taste buds. God, plus the extra one, Umami, God. So, if God give you all these extra buds, you know, when God made you, you don't even know, if God gave one taste only, bitter all the time, you wouldn't know what's the difference. You wouldn't know from the beginning. But God is so gracious, he gives you different variety of taste. Even your bodily senses, God gave you this. Your sense of whatever, excitement, pleasure, all God gave it to you for his glory and because he love you, amen. So, just know that your new body is much greater. If you enjoy the pleasures of this life, think about what's gonna happen in your new body. We are adjusting to the fall, actually. We are adjusting to abnormalcy, if I can use that word. We are adjusting to what is bland. But heaven, oh my goodness, don't go there yet, all right, don't have a personal rapture. Amen, are you excited?
So, the Bible says that "After two days He will revive us; On the third day," now we are the people on the third day, am I right? "He will raise us up," that probably has a hint of the rapture, amen. "He will raise us up," because next one says, "We will live in His sight," literally eyeball to eyeball relationship, amen, we are gonna see him face to face, amen. Are you all with me so far? All right, then it says, "Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain," in Hebrew it's geshem, "Like the latter and former rain to the earth". So, in Israel there are two annual rainfall that is vital for their livelihood, okay. This means, when it comes at the right time, it means God is blessing the nation. See, no one can control the rain, the rain is a Godsend. You can sow the seed, but you're fully dependent on God for the rain. Amen, I'm not just talking about sowing financial seed, but any seed that you sow, we depend on God for the harvest. It's God that gives the harvest, amen.
Now, in ancient Israel, even today also in Israel, the rains that come early, their New Year is actually, in September, even today, Rosh Hashanah is somewhere in September, and the first rain that come will be in early November. Late October, early November. That's the early rain, the former rain, and that rain prepares the seed after it is newly sown. In other words, the farmer has just sown the seed, but he depends on the early rain to cause that seed to at least sprout. The moment he sees a green sprout, he knows all is well, all is well. And then the latter rain comes next year in the month of March. It comes during the season of, rainfall in the month of March. That is to plump up the grain for harvest. Now it's ready for harvest. So, these two rains in the Bible is so important. One is for the sowing time and the other is for the reaping the harvest.
And you know what? The Bible says in the book of James that right now the husbandmen waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and that God sends the early and the latter rain. Amen, we are definitely living in the season of the latter rain. We are seeing harvest coming forth, but all the rain comes from God, the power of the Spirit that rain represents. And that's why, the early rain, when you put the word yoreh, early rain, you put a noun to it, you put a mem to it, it becomes, when it's a noun, it becomes moreh, and moreh means a teacher, a teacher. Because when a teacher speaks, he's giving refreshing words of life, words of wisdom on his students, amen. Words of, life and power and beauty, amen.
Now, for the latter rain, the rain that seeds the harvest, okay, that's the time, by the way, the Hebrew word there is malqosh for the latter rain, that's when you see the harvest come forth. But you don't see the harvest during the time of sowing. So, be patient. The seed is there, the rains have fallen, you feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit and all that, and there are times, this is also seasonal in our own life. Perhaps we are in the early rain season, and we are feeling the power of God in a meeting or when we are spending time with God, and yet we don't see the results. It's only, that means you are in the season of sowing the seed. The seed is germinating, the seed is sprouting, amen. God will make everything beautiful in its time, amen. In the latter rain, which I believe, generally speaking, we are now in the season of the latter rain, we're gonna see a great harvest come forth from the earth, amen, before Jesus comes again.
You know, the Lord spoke to me, one time, and said that my two children are like signs and wonders of the early and latter rain. You know, this is not, foreign to the Bible, because Isaiah says of his two sons, Shear-jashub and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, that both of them are for signs and wonders. And this is what the Lord showed me, that Jessica was born in early November. That is the early rain, the time of the early rain. And my son was born in the month of March, which is the latter rain, the time of the latter rain. So, both these are signs to me that I'm gonna see both the fulfillment of the early and the latter rain, amen. And what is true for me as the pastor of this church is true for all of you as well, amen, praise the Lord, amen. You need to realize this. We are people in the second day already. What's gonna happen? God promised that, in fact, God's promise was with Abraham. He would deal with his descendants, all right, in the seat of Abraham, which is Christ, the whole will be blessed, am I right? It's ordered already. It's going forth as ordered.
So, the nation of Israel might be the first one to hear the gospel. So, God sent his Son as a Jew, born in the nation of Israel, in Bethlehem, Judah. All right, but when Jesus was rejected by Israel, he became the bread of life to the Gentile world. The story of Joseph, rejected by his own brothers, loved by his father, oh, he was so loved by his father. But rejected by his own flesh brothers, amen, right? So was Jesus, loved by his Father, rejected by his brothers, and became the bread of life. Joseph became the bread of life to the world. Think about it. Isn't this the story of the Bible? The Gentiles, non-Jews, receive Jesus, and they are blessed for 2,000 years. Every breakthrough in civilization, art, masterpiece and medicine and all that has been because Jesus has been received.
And now today's generation is enjoying the result of that. But God has not forgotten Israel. Just like Joseph, even though he ministered bread to the Gentile, he still remembers his brothers. And later on his brothers realize, he revealed himself to his brothers, am I right? So, watch this now, what's gonna happen after Jesus rapture us? What feast are we gonna have up there? A wedding feast, amen. We're gonna have a wedding feast up there, and look at this in John 2. "On the third day there was a wedding feast in Cana". Third day, on the third day, say third day. Say third day. All right, when? "On the third day". There's nothing without significance in the Bible. Everything has a divine significance. When the Bible says third day, there's a reason for it. "On the third day there was a wedding". And, "Both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding". "Both Jesus and his disciples are invited to the wedding".
The Father is throwing a wedding for his Son and the bride. When will it happen? On the third day. We are the only ones who can say we are Christians, we are believers of the third day. There are many who live, before 2,000, right, like Martin Luther and all that, they cannot say that "We are the third day Christians," but we can. You listening? We are the third day Christians. What is gonna happen? There's gonna be a wedding. We're gonna go back, and there'll be a wedding. After the rapture the first thing happens is the wedding. Amen. There is a handing of rewards as well, right, and then a wedding. Okay, we call it the Bema Seat of Christ.
Now, we go to the next, portion of scripture, chapter 4. Do you remember the story of Jesus and the woman at the well? I know you all remember, a pastor and a woman in the park. Right, remember Jesus and the woman at the well? Amen, it's still Jesus doing it, people. So, he talked to her, right, and if you count the words that Jesus spoke to her, exactly seven words in his words, in his reply, exactly seven. Do you know a thing, Jesus told her she had five men in her life. "You have had five husbands," and she's still not satisfied. Deep down she's longing for someone. She's looking for love in all the wrong places. Not only that, Jesus says, "The one that you're living with now is not your husband". So, five husbands, all divorced, right, and now she's living in adultery. So, the one that's now, that she's living with, there's six men, right? But she met the seventh man.
Come on, she met the seven men. Seven in the Bible is the number of perfection, come on, hallelujah, she met the seventh man, and she tested no more, hallelujah. In seven statements, in seven statements Jesus declared who he was, and to her he revealed, "I am the Messiah". When the Messiah comes, Jesus says, "I who speak unto you, I am he". And she was so excited, she became an instant evangelist. She went to the town of Samaria, which is non-Jews, Gentiles, by the way, and she told them about Jesus. But watch this, see what happened. The people came to Jesus and invited him to stay with them. How long did he stay with them? "When the Samaritans had come to Jesus, they urged Him to stay with them; He stayed there two days".
Again, two days of dealing with the Gentiles, 2,000 years of dealing with the Gentiles, that's what happened in history. Folks, I'm showing you what's happening now and where you are at prophetically speaking. And later on we'll get a bit more practical talking about your present needs and all that and what is God's, invited and commanded posture for us to take. I know the cost of living has gone up just in these few weeks, all right, I know, and the Lord knows. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Your Father knows. Look, I don't have to quote the entire verse, only three, "Your Father knows". Then to add to it, "that you," very personal, "have need". Even before, "But I haven't prayed yet, Pastor".
Even before you ask him. In fact, there's gonna come a time in the end times that before they ask me, I will answer. Isaiah prophesied about the end times that there's gonna be a prayer, how many of you, I think many of you are experiencing this already. You think about it, you didn't have time to pray, you planned to pray, but you wanted to pray, but you didn't pray, and then it happened. It's still God answering your prayer. In fact, God supersede, it's the year of acceleration. Before you start, wow, it happens, you know? And you think to yourself, "How did it happen? Is it really God? 'Cause I haven't even asked him". It is. It is this verse in scripture, "Before they call, I will answer. And while they are speaking, I will do it".
All right, it's a prophecy in the Bible. So, folks, it's happening to our generation, the third day generation. Are you listening? So, Jesus spent time with the Gentiles for 2,000, this 2,000 years in history, with them two days, "And many more believed because of His own word". Are we seeing that happen? Yes. More and more, in fact, more Gentiles believe in Jesus than the Jews, but he's not forgotten the Jews. See what happens after that, drop down, "Then they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of what you said, we ourself heard Him, we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.' Now after the two days," say after. "After," what? "The two days". We are the generation after the two days, right? All right? Okay, "He departed from there and went to Galilee".
He left the Gentiles to go back to his people. How do I know that? Galilee is quite big. Where in Galilee did he go specifically? Drop down, "Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He made the water wine". There is an indication here, again, a divine hint if you would, saying that there's gonna be a wedding feast. After 2,000 years of dealing with the Gentiles, he's gonna deal with the Jewish people, the Galileans, right, the Jewish people, and then there'll be a feast. Remember the story of, Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. When the messengers came to Jesus, right, he was in Bethabara beyond Jordan, Bethabara, there's a Bethany beyond Jordan. Bethabara means across, on the other side, the Gentile side, actually, right, he was there. But the news came to him that Lazarus was sick and dying.
So, Lazarus, Martha, the sisters, Martha and Mary, they are all Jews, but notice what the Bible says first in John chapter 11. "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus". Listen, when Israel rejected Jesus, he never stopped loving them. But something about God, if you don't want him to come into your life, you don't want him to bless you, he will not bless you, right? He will bless you in the sense of the general blessings, like the rain comes down on the just and the unjust, and God sends, you know, fruitful harvest and all that in the general blessings, but if you don't want him, all right, for salvation, those blessings that really matter for all eternity, you don't want him to give you the fulfilling and abundant life, you don't want him, he will not force his blessings on you.
Always remember that. God respect your free choice, he gave you the free choice. If there's no free choice, the whole world would not be in the trouble. Everyone obedient. The world is perfect utopia. But is that what God wants? No. But then give free choice, there is a risk. Okay? So that explains it. Don't put the blame on God, put the blame on the fact man chose the wrong thing, okay? So, here you go, and by the way, you can choose the wrong thing, and don't be childish and say that "Oh, I expect a different result". You know what's insanity? Doing the same, same thing, and expecting a different result. I didn't say that, Einstein say that. Insanity is defined as doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result, amen. Don't look at your husband, all right, it's for all of us. Don't look at your wife, all right, it's for all of us.
Okay, so, "Jesus loved Martha and her sister," so Jesus loved Israel, "But when he heard that he was sick," Israel was dying, "He stayed two more days," how many days? "Two more days in the place of the Gentiles," right? And you all notice what happened after two days. "After this," say after this, "After this" means, what? After the two days. On the third day, what did he say? "Let us go into Judea again". He's dealing with the Jews again. 1948 they came back as a nation supernaturally. The Lord brought them back from the fires of the Holocaust. God brought them back. North, south, east, west, all back to their land once again. After 2,000 years of being dispersed, they came back, all right, and, God is now dealing with them again.
So, in a way, where we are right now is that God is still dealing with the Gentiles, and there's gonna be a great revival, amen, coming, praise the Lord, hallelujah. It's already happening, we see it now, church, as well as also the whole world. And then he's gonna deal with Israel fully. But it's like right now he's dealing with both already. We are the only generation that can say that, because, the generation before the two days or during the two days cannot say that because he was dealing with only, with the Gentiles at that time, but, yes, now they are ready. There are more believers in Israel now than ever. Amen, I'll tell you that. Revival is happening in Israel. Why? He's going into Judea again, "Let us go into Judea". Judea is where you get the word Jew. "Let us go into Judea again," all right? Are you seeing this, people?
Remember the story of Joshua. The story of Joshua, and, you know, how he carried, he commanded the priests, God told him to tell the priests to carry the ark into the river Jordan, and the river Jordan at that time was overflowing its banks, it was, roaring, it was torrential, okay. There's no way you can cross. It will sweep you all the way to the Dead Sea, and you'll be dead in the Dead Sea. So, it's like, sweep you all the way there, and then, God told them, "You will cross the Red", you will, not the Red Sea, "The Jordan". But, you see, here is where the thing comes about, the law and the principle of provision or supply. You say, "But Pastor, I don't see the supply, I don't see the rain". It's coming. "But I don't see it yet". There's a timing. The early rain don't come during the time of the latter rain. The latter rain don't come during the time of the early rain. There's a timing for everything, and there's a purpose for it, okay?
Now, listen, learn this law. God does not give you grace in advance of your need. The law is that when you are in front of your need, then the grace comes. Are you listening, people? All right, so, here it was a torrential, running river Jordan. Not like today, okay? The river Jordan has been sourced out into different outlets, you know, to help the nation of Jordan and all that, but now it's narrower. But back then it was wide, and then during the spring, time, it is overflowing. Not a good time to cross. But notice when they were in their camps, nothing happened. It was still flowing, overflowing. When they walked near, it was still overflowing. So, what did God say? God said this, "Joshua rose early around the Acacia Grove," and "So it was, after three days," do you see that, do you see that? "It was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp," and this is what the officers said.
And this is a message for us, our generation, hey, our people now, we are the people of two days, after two days, after two days. We are the people of the third day. Come on, third day Christians, come on. We are the third day Christians. Are you with me? Come on, people. Have a sense of excitement that we are living in prophetic times. Other generations wish, ah, when they study all this, they said, "I wish we are after two days. I see all these things happen after two days. I see Jesus doing all these things after two days," right? And we are that generation, amen. Like, you, you were born in 19... what? Whatever, 1945, 1950s, amen, 1960s, that's a good time, 1970s, 1980s, it's all after. Amen, so, God says this, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God," and they know, we know the ark is Jesus, a picture of Jesus, amen, the mercy seat where his blood was sprinkled is his, death on the cross, amen, who being the brightness of his glory is the gold, and, and the express image of his person is the wood in Hebrews chapter 1.
Who being the brightness of his glory and the expressed image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power is the crown of the mercy seat, upholding all things by the word of his power, kingly power. When he had touched himself, blood on the mercy seat, all that is in Hebrews chapter 1. You see the ark of the covenant. So, the ark, when you see the ark move, all right, get ready, you're gonna go. Jesus was resurrected bodily on the third day. We don't see that happen to people who are dead, even Christians. Only a soul departs, their spirit and soul departs to be with the Lord, all right? We don't see a bodily resurrection. But God is saying, "You know what's gonna happen"?
See Jesus going into the... all right, see Jesus dying and then resurrecting? And mark this, "There shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits". How much? 2,000 cubits, not 1,000, not 3,000, 2,000 cubits. It's gonna happen, you're gonna have a bodily resurrection 2,000 years after Jesus rised from the dead. Watch that, what a future for us believers. People are looking down and feeling depressed, looking around, feeling depressed. We look to Jesus, we are at rest and blessed. Isn't it? Amen? So, watch this. God says, "Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before". Drop down, "You shall command the priests who bear the ark, 'When you come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.'" So, Joshua says, "Come here, hear the words of the LORD your God". He's about to do something else.
Listen carefully, he's about to do something else during this time on the third day. Before the river Jordan splits, he's gonna do something for us, and this takes revelation. Every name, every detail in the Bible is there for a purpose, it's for us to study. And the Bible says in Corinthians that whatever happened to them in the Old Testament are tupos in the Greek, types, they are types, patterned for us to see today. Like, the third day is the third thousand day, I mean the three thousand day, which is three thousand year on, amen. So, we are the people in the third day after 2,000 years, am I right? So, where do we see that? We see that in Old Testament. So, the doctrine is in the New Testament, but many of the details of the doctrine is in the Old. It behooves us to study both Old and New. Because the Old is the New concealed, the New is the Old revealed. Your Bible is exciting stuff, amen.
I invite you to join me for our Grace Academy and study, because all this revelation is built on revelation, can I have a good amen? So, here he says, "Come and hear," he's gonna do something for you and your enemies. I told you just now, right, and it's gonna happen in the third day. Seven enemies, perfect, you know enmity that has come against you. I don't care whether it's depression, whether you feel shame, you feel humiliated, you feel cast down, these are the enemies in the land when Joshua and his men came in, and these enemies typify the enemies that we are faced with today.
Look at this, drop down, Joshua said, "By this you shall know the living God is among you, and that He will without fail," say without fail, "drive out from before you, drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites," amen, and the COVIDites, Omnicronites, amen, monkeypoxites. Whatever -ites you are faced with, all right, your depressites, but the interesting thing in the Hebrew when you study the name, Canaanites mean, listen, it means, it's like business, the idea of trafficker, a trafficker, trafficking, trafficking something or bartering, the idea of bartering. Canaanites means people who barter, all right, traffic.
Now, let me tell you this, why is this bad? Why is this an enemy? In the kingdom of God, listen carefully, the first thing you gotta defeat is your self-righteousness. Stop having this idea, if I do this, God will do this for me. If I do that, God will do this for me. No, it's not true. All right, you gotta stop this. Salvation is not, in fact, that lady also told me, you know, "I do this, I that, I do that". I had to destroy that self-righteousness with tact, with Holy Spirit tact, amen, because I had to bring her toward the end of herself. In fact, I did tell her, "Look at yourself, you are depressed". You know, with all that, whatever you are believing, if you believe it's right, ask yourself why you so depressed. Why do you feel these forces coming onto you at night? You are believing wrong, in other words, right?
So, here you go, the very first thing, don't think you can give God something, then God will give you something. Look, friend, you cannot give God anything, because whatever you have is from him. Even when David gave God, you know, the riches and all that, he says that, then he says, "But then," he says, "Both riches and honor cometh of thee". We pride ourself, you know, "I tithe, you know, 10%". Which senior partner take 10%? You the senior, or he the senior? And 10% or so, you are so, ten percent, wah, so much, wah. Oh, that church, ah, they want your money, ah, you know? That's what the press and the media try to make it, and so, 10%, you ask yourself, where in the world do you find a company or a business where the senior partner takes 10%? Oh, all my money belongs to God. You heard that? And someone says that, ah, all right, you know. Like, if someone says, "I love my wife, I love my wife," the best thing, interview the wife. Women, you'll settle for that?
Someone telling someone, "I love my wife". No, you wanna hear it every day, you wanna see it in practical actions, right? Never mind, I don't need your amen, you know. "Amen, Pastor Prince, amen, amen, praise the Lord". I learned to encourage myself like David did a long time ago. Small church, big church, big audience or not, doesn't really matter, amen. I mean, your good opinion of me is nice, but not necessary. Yeah, I'm serious. If you live like that about your friends or whoever it is and all that, and when you put a post out there on Instagram or whatever it is, not much comments and all that, really, their comments, nice, but not necessary. Have this attitude. What is necessary is what God says about you and what your wife says about you or your family says about you. But God comes first, amen? Amen, praise God.
All right, so, that's the Canaanites, the Hittites comes next, and, you know, Hittites comes from Heth, and Heth means terror, fear. He's gonna deliver you from that self-righteousness, that bartering spirit. He's gonna deliver you into grace, and he's gonna deliver you from fear and terror. What kind of fear do you have? Fear of the night, fear of, falling asleep, fear of losing your children, fear of the future, fear of not having enough, fear of not having enough chickens here. What's the problem? What's your fear? What's your fear, amen? Whatever fear you have, and you don't have to say it out, amen, God promised he's gonna without fail drive out your fear and terror. When? On the third day, amen. And the third enemy he'll drive out is Hivites.
Now, Hivites means people who are squatters, all right? Squatters, you know about squatters. Villagers, they call them villagers back in those days. Villages are not big cities like Bethlehem or Jerusalem, Bethlehem is not very big, but Beth, like, Jerusalem and all that, they are actually places, but squatters are people who come and stay in your house, they come and stay in your property, they come and stay in your... it doesn't belong to them. Are you listening? Squatters, there are areas in your life right now that the enemy is squatting on. Maybe it's your children's, area of influence. They are more influenced by the world now than they are influenced by you, amen. Some squatters squatted on them. Maybe, maybe there's an area whereby you find that, you know, you find them squatted on your belief system, it's the belief system. You believe something, and now you are seeing the result is not fruitful. Why?
Some squatters remove the Word of God. Satan comes immediately to steal the Word soon. And he has replaced it with something that is squatting there, making you believing wrong, and now you're seeing the wrong result in your life. There are things we advise people sometimes not to do, they still wanna do it, and later on we see them stumble, crash, and you wonder sometimes, you know, are they grateful for that counsel in the first place? Parents know what I'm talking about. We tell our children, sometimes correctly, we tell them things because we don't want them to fall flat on their face, we don't want them to end up like us. Pain that we had in times past. Until they realize for themselves. Well, there are two schools, right, the school of the Holy Spirit, where he teaches you, or the school of hard knocks. I recommend the school of the Holy Spirit.
There are people that get knocked the same way, yeah, year after year, still don't learn. Don't look at your wife, don't look at your husband, just look at Pastor Mark. Amen, so... no, Pastor Mark is amazing. The wisdom that he has sometimes, the things that he say out of his mouth. I'm like, "Whoa, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven". All right, so that's the... number what? Now, five, right? "And the Perizzites," who are the Perizzites? The Perizzites stands for in Hebrew unwalled village, unwalled village. Now, is this, good? No, back in Bible times unwalled village means a village that's not protected. Remember Nehemiah, one of the first priorities they had when they came back to Jerusalem was to build, what? The walls. The walls are for defense, the walls are for protection. That means, what? Are you in a place where the enemy is attacking you with this sense of vulnerability?
You feel vulnerable, you feel like you are unprotected. You know when you go to sleep at night, one of the best things that you can do is to know that you are protected. And give your children, if they are younger, give them that sense. You know, Jesus holding you when you are sleeping, he holds you in his bosom. The Bible says that. "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms". This song is based on the verse in Isaiah, "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, but the young ones, he shall gather," what? "His lambs in his arms," where? Arms, the bosom. "And carry them in his bosom. And shall gently lead those that are with young". The mothers that are pregnant, gently lead them. So, the shepherd...and this verse is from Isaiah. He will feed the flock, he will carry the lambs in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Amen, it speaks of the pastoral, the shepherding ministry, it should have all this indication.
So, tell them that they are embraced, because many-a-times, right, not just children, us, the essence of depression is a sense of helplessness and vulnerability, you know, and it's like, "Oh, I'm not protected. I'm all by myself. I feel so vulnerable," all right? Friend, in his arms you don't have to feel vulnerable. Nonetheless, he's gonna drive out the no-protection in your life. This vulnerability, are you listening, it's an enemy. The enemy comes and bring you the sense of, you know, there's no protection, you are all alone, no one to fend for you, no one cares for you. "All by yourself, don't wanna be". You all know the old hymn. Okay, so the last one is the... no, not the last one, where are we now? Help me, I'm jet-lagged, come on. The fifth one, very good, Girgashites, all right?
The Girgashites, first of all, you must be able to pronounce it. Say Girgashite. Girgashite, the Girgashites literally the name means to stand or to wallow in clay, okay? Literally, dwellers in clay, people who dwell in clay. Now, clay is your body, your body is made from clay. So, you rub it, clay comes out. All right, it's burned, finally, it's dust, amen. Amen. Why do you laugh so loud, Lawrence? All right, well, he rapped, diamond comes on, diamond, diamond dust, amen. It's clear, lah, bro. All right, so, it means, what? People who are in the flesh. He's gonna deliver you from being in the flesh. That's a lot of your problems, you know, people. Actually, listen carefully, when we are born again, we are no more in the flesh, but in the Spirit. "If so, be the Spirit of God dwells in you". But we must learn to walk in the Spirit, amen. And that's why, you know, church sessions and all that, we are teaching people how to walk in the Spirit. A lot of the things that I shared with you just now is also part of walking in the Spirit. Can I have a good amen?
Okay, come, let's go to the last one. Amorites, and the Amorites are from the word Amar. That means Amar. Set motion, Moses. Amar is the word say in the simplicity, but the negative part of Amar is slander. He's gonna deliver you from slander. And the word Amar is not just a individual talking, but it's public talking. He's gonna deliver you from public slander. Let me just tell you this about social media right now. Christians are not being well-represented. Yeah, I know, some of it is faults of their own, yes, I know, but the focus and the slant is very much focused on anti-Christian, let me tell you this, for the most part. So, listen carefully, don't believe everything that you read on social media. You can believe the Word of God, inspired, God breathed, preserved down through the generations, "Heaven and earth will pass away," Jesus says, "But my words will never pass away". But the words of men will pass away.
Don't believe everything you read. Sometimes, I know, there's a trend, they'll see what you like, and then they'll post those kind of, videos and all that for you, right, the kind of, pictures, whatever social media that you're using, right? They see your propensity or what you like to see, but actually I never prescribe to any other thing that, I never click on anything else, but for me sometimes the thing pops up. They want me to see things that I don't wanna see. That's deliberate. Things that I really don't believe, they'll put it right down on my nose. Amen. It's out there. And whatever you read, remember this, there's always another part to the story that they're not showing you. You don't get your facts from there, from mortal flesh, whose breath is in his nostrils, who's fully dependent on God for his sustenance and doesn't even know it. You don't get it from men, you get it from God Almighty who cannot lie, okay?
So, he'll protect you from slander, especially public slander, and the Jebusites, Jebus, the idea of the threshing floor, being downtrodden. He will deliver you from being downtrodden, a place of shame, a place where you feel that people are walking all over you, a place where you feel like you are humiliated always, he's gonna deliver you from all that. In other words, promotion is coming. You can reverse all these things, and you find that instead of being crushed, being depressed, he's gonna promote you, he's gonna raise you up with love, joy, and peace. Don't think of position all the time, think of being elevated with love, joy, peace, and, and, you know, thoughts that are refined and wonderful, amen.
Now, watch this. That's gonna happen, Joshua says, by the Holy Spirit. This is what God says, because the verse before that is, look at the verse before that, verse 9, verse 9. "Come here, and hear the words of God". It's not Joshua's words, it's the words of God. On the third day he will do all this for us, seven enemies wiped out without fail, it's gonna happen. What we are seeing right now, what we are seeing right now is that one by one it's happening, one by one. But notice the slander one is towards the end. It's gonna happen. God's gonna wipe it out, amen. Things gonna happen. You see, one promise, one promise is this in Deuteronomy 28. "The people will see that you're called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you".
There'll come a time, slandering a believer can cause trouble. You don't do it, you bless, the believer always blesses, always do good to the one that slanders, but somehow, someway something happens that the people will fear slandering a believer. We'll see that happen. So, drop down all the way, and let me just finish like this. Okay, let's drop down all the way, verse 11, verse 12, let me see the verse. Okay, the ark is traveling, "Take for yourself twelve men". So, Jesus first, "Behold the ark of the covenant goes before you," always put Jesus in front of you, but be careful, understand this, who you follow as a leader in your life, because Jesus is there, yes, but Jesus appoints the fivefold ministry, Jesus appoints pastors and all that. The leaders you follow can either bring you into the land or keep you out of the land.
Remember the spies, the unbelieving spies? They kept the whole generation out of the land. So, "Then take yourself twelve men," these are leaders from every tribe, drop down. "It shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD shall rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap". Next verse, "So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people," the idea of exalting Jesus always, amen. In all that we do, we serve the Lord, we exalt Jesus. People say, "Is it you"? We say, "It's Jesus," amen, amen. Amen, praise the Lord, hallelujah.
And, verse 15, "And as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan," and that's amazing. It's like God opened up the river Jordan all the way back to Adam, a city called Adam. It's still there in Israel along this, river Jordan. Why Adam? It's like saying, all the curse, all the evil consequence that came in, all right, because of Adam's fall, God will sort of, I always like to use the word slap, slap it back all the way to Adam. And then it tells you something very interesting. No insignificant detail, it's beside Zaretan, Adam's city is beside Zaretan. Zaretan means their distress or trouble.
Adam and all our distress and trouble that came because of his fall will all be slapped back, will all be reversed, will all turn around. When? On the third day, on the third day. Gotta pronounce third day, not thirt, okay, third day, there's a difference. Okay, now I'm gonna close with this. "As those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water, that the waters which came down upstream stood still". Go to verse 14, go back to verse 14. "It shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off," when? When will God do the division? When will God open up the river Jordan? As soon as the soles of the priest touch it.
Now, learn this, God does not give grace in advance of your need. In other words, there's a battle or a conflict tomorrow, you got to do a presentation or whatever, and you are very worried right now because you don't feel the courage, you don't feel the inspiration to do it, you don't feel the strength, God does not equip the soldier, listen, this is a principle of God, today with strength in his arms or courage in his heart for the battle tomorrow. Learn this, when does God give the strength and the courage? When he's face to face with the enemy. I'm talking about God's people. So, don't worry today what he will give when the time comes tomorrow. That's why Jesus says, "Don't worry about tomorrow". The grace is for today. The priests, when they saw the river Jordan overflowing its banks, there's no way they can cross, right? And what did God say? "Go towards the river Jordan".
They had to walk, imagine, put yourself in their shoes, in their soles, amen, and imagine walking nearer and nearer to the overflowing river, torrential river. You have seen tsunamis, right? That's, like, how it was running, that rapid, you've seen rapids and all that, that's how it's running, and then you're walking towards it. Know this, God did not open it. In fact, the night before when they were told that, they imagined, for example, "But we feel so worried right now, we don't think we can cross. None of us are good swimmers. Hey, Nathan, can you swim or not? Hey". None of them felt the courage, God does not give you grace today for the need tomorrow. It's when even when they're marching towards it, God did not give them the grace. God does not open the gates nor make a way, when we are not face to face with it yet. Only when you are smack dab in the middle, I think that's what it means when you gotta step into the water before the water parts.
As soon as the soles of their feet touch it. So, God will not supply for you, this is the law of supply. He will not supply for you until you are smack dab in middle of the need. Go in faith. The supply will be there. This takes faith. This takes faith. Are you with me so far? It takes faith. Because you have to depend on, we'd rather, like, "God, give me the courage right now, I'm gonna fight Goliath, I'm gonna fight soldiers tomorrow. Put strength in my hand, like David says, I can bend the iron bow with my hand. Give me that strength now. I don't feel it. Tomorrow is the conflict, Lord, give me the strength now. Put courage in my heart". He doesn't do it until you step out, you trust him, you step out, and you're smack dab, you arrive to the place where the giant is or the need is facing you, or the closed gate is in front of you.
There's no open way. Or the torrential river is in front of you, and you step, bang, supply comes. The woman, the widow woman who had to, you know, like, to give up her sons because the creditor is coming to claim the debt, right? Her son will become slaves. Remember what Elijah told her? Borrow not a few vessels, empty vessels, right? Shouldn't be hard in that neighborhood. There's a lot of noise, right? So, borrow empty vessels. So, she got empty vessel, only a small jar of oil, and she poured the small jar of oil into all the empty vessels. The more she pour, that's when the miracle happen. It did not happen, I mean, the oil did not multiply as they were borrowing. It did not multiply when it was in the house. It did not multiply when the kids looked into it. It did not multiply until pouring.
You serve the Lord. You sacrifice even your time for children's church, amen, because there's a need down there now, amen. You put in, right, as you pour, God pours in, all right. Nothing worse than stale oil. You don't keep that all the time, all right? You don't keep that all the time, amen. Stale oil is no good, and you can tell. How many of you like to eat fish fried in fresh oil?
When you go to Hawker Center, there are hawkers who fries the same thing in the same oil, in the same oil, in the same oil. Everything they fry on the same day is in the same oil. That is actually, toxic. You gotta change the oil. I've got hawkers who tell me, "There are people who do that? No, they even come, buy from me oil that I've used," you know, to sell to other hawkers. "For me, I always give my people fresh oil". You sound like the Bible. "I shall be anointed with fresh oil," amen? But how do you get fresh oil? Pour out the oil, it's always fresh. Water that is running is always fresh. Water that is running is always fresh. Amen. Are you with me so far?
All right, so you will not see the supply until you are face to face, smack dab in the middle of it. So, step out in faith, amen, and see the supply flow. Praise the Lord, amen, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Let's all stand to our feet, thank you Jesus. Amen. Those of you who are not saved, you have never put your trust in Jesus, now is the great opportunity for you to put your trust in Christ. Pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Father in heaven, I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone for my salvation. I believe Christ died for my sins, was raised from the dead for my justification. I'm now justified in Christ. Once I was a sinner, now I'm a new creation. And, Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is my Lord now and forever. In Jesus' name, and all the people said, amen.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. God bless all of you. Know that this coming week the Lord goes ahead of you and make all the crooked places straight, and he blesses you with his favor. But remember this, only when you are up there in front of the situation, in front of the person that favor will flow. Praise the Lord, God bless you, we'll see you again.