Joseph Prince - Supernatural Supply In Difficult Times
Praise God. Every one of you are in for a blessing, amen. Because the Lord keeps on blessing and blessing. And we are coming back to him, amen, and we learned that he always keeps on giving. He never stops giving. Grace is all about supply, law is all about demand. We are not under law, we are under grace, amen. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, so give God all the praise and all the glory for all the testimonies that we have heard, amen, especially the one on salvation. People are getting saved, how many excited? People are getting saved. And, all over the world God is moving. But if you just, isolate yourself to the media that you receive on your phone, right, however it is, you know, you just receive selected media, you might not know what God is doing.
There is good news behind the bad news. God is moving all over the world, and it's not like the secular media to pick it up and report on what God is doing. But the moment out of ten good things that happen, or the church has done a hundred good things, but there's one thing the church fails in, you can expect the media to pick it up, amen, and to broadcast it from the housetops. So, always go by your spirit, amen. If you read something and you sense, like, mm, it's biased, it is slanted towards a certain, you know, direction, you know, you can tell. Amen, you're the people of God. There's a beautiful verse in the Bible that says in 1 John 2 that "The anointing which you have received of him," the anointing, that's a verbal noun, something called gerund in the English grammar. It is a noun, but it's a moving noun, verbal noun, the anointing. It's always moving. But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you need not any man teach you.
Now, this not referring to the fact that Jesus gave to the church pastors, teachers, it's not talking about that. It's talking about when people try to deceive you, the whole context, "Let no one deceive you," 1 John, amen. How can you tell a good doctrine, a wrong doctrine, something from God? You listen to your spirit. The anointing which you received from him abides in you. It doesn't come and go. It doesn't come when you behave right, it goes when you don't behave, no, it abides in you. If you're a believer, it abides in you. And it teaches you of how many things? All things. And it's truth, and it's no lie. And even as it is taught you, abide in him. When you abide in him, you bring forth fruit, more fruit, and much fruit, amen, church?
So, I remember when I was a teenager, and I was involved in the occult, and in the New Age stuff and all that, not knowing that, many of them, they use Bible verses, you know? And that's how they get you. So, I thought that, you know, these things are okay, you know, I've always based on the Bible and all that, and I got sucked in. I remember attending a Bible study in a church, and I remember that, the minister was actually sharing from, "Remember your first love, how you fell, remember from where you fell, your first love". And all of a sudden, the Lord spoke to me. I felt like on the inside that what I had been reading and all that isn't right. Now, how many know that your head wants to dominate you. That's why the head will never be at a place of rest. The head will always say, "How do you know? How do you know? How can you prove? Prove to me".
Your head is always analyzing, your head is always wanting to bully you, amen. It wants to dominate you, but when God made men, God meant for your spirit... folks, you are a spirit, amen. You have a soul, the soul is the mind, the will, and the emotions, right? And you live in a body. In a sense you are not your body. You live in a body, this body. So, take good care of this body. You got only one, you know, this house that you live in. If you abuse it, if you misuse it, there's no other, you know? You cannot check out and go to another body. If only you can, right? You cannot. Once you check out, you've checked out. Okay, there's no return clause. Take care of this body. Maintain it, amen, but don't be engrossed in taking care of your body, amen. One of the best ways to forget your, to take care of your body, like I said, is to forget your body, amen. Exercise, eat well, praise the Lord, most of all trust the Lord, and don't be so body conscious, amen. Everybody agree? Amen.
All right, but we identify each other by our bodies, right? We look at each other, we see the house, I see the house you all live in, amen? I love it. Different varieties, amen. Isn't it boring if all of us look the same, amen? I look around and I see this is the body of Christ, but we are still in the physical body. But the real you is the spirit. So, God wants the spirit, right, the spirit that contacts him, the part of you that contacts him, the part of you that is eternal, because God made you in his image, you are a spirit. That's why there's a knowing of things sometimes, right, before it happens, and sometimes you call it déjà vu. Hey, II've been here before. Hey, I...no, actually your spirit saw it long before you were there. But you gotta be careful that, you don't go in the New Age teaching of psychic and all that kind of thing, all right, that is dangerous, because then there are evil spirits behind this, amen.
Just like the Holy Spirit teaches you, and he tells you about the future as well. He will show you things to come, but he's not gonna just satisfy your curiosity, whereas the devil will try to satisfy your curiosity, amen. He will tell you to contact the dead, necromancy, and, play with ouija board, things like that, but what appears is not the person who died. He cannot come back. Okay, what appears is an evil spirit. It's called familiar spirit impersonating the dead person. Don't mess around with ouija board. That's one of the things I was involved in, and when you try to get out, it's like gangsters, you know. Easy to go in, but once you get out, they will fight you. And those powers of darkness would fight me day and night, and I had all kinds of terrible, nightmares and all that, because I was a man given to my head and not to my spirit.
So, be careful there. Don't let your head control you, amen. Amen? If somebody tells you why the Bible is not... what makes you think the Bible is true, all right, the onus is not on you, it's on him to prove the Bible is true. Tell him, "Why do you think it's not true? I'd like to hear it," amen, praise the Lord. At the end of days, how do you know Jesus is real and, you know, one thing that I, you know, you can always say this, if Jesus is not real, I have lived a good life. Believing on him has given me such joy, peace, courage to face the future. All my bondages, for some reason believing in a figment has caused all these bondages to melt away. I'm free. Whoever this fictitious person is, amen, truly has set me free and given me a life full of purpose and meaning, the abundant life, amen. But if he's real and you don't believe in him, you have lost everything. Amen. Amen?
So, don't get into the mind games. Now, I'm just giving an example of how people can come and attack you and use your mind and all that, and also your children, if they are asking questions, teenagers, certain age and all that, they will ask, amen. I know because I was one of them. I was a pain to my youth leaders, 'cause every time I come for youth meeting, I remember asking all these questions. "How do you know? Why? How come? Noah's ark, this, that," you know? And poor thing, he tried his best to answer as much as he could, but he could not answer, and I was so happy when he could not answer. And then one day the Lord dealt with me, all right. The Lord said this to me. And it was after I was a believer. I was a believer, but I had all these questions in my mind, and one day the Lord said to me, "You know, son, you will never be able to satisfy your head".
Your head wants to dominate you. Reason wants to be king on the throne of your instead of the spirit, because the spirit is where God's Spirit dwells and leads you. So, the spirit leads and the head follows, and the head doesn't want to follow. See, it wants to reason everything, amen? It's not reasonable also, you know? They say, "Until I see God, I will never worship him, I will never be, you know, I'll say it's not real". Well, have you seen the air? Don't breathe. You know what I'm saying? You know, "Unless I understand how he works", no, do you know how air conditioning works? Do you know? Some of you know, I know, but most of you don't know. Switch it off. You will save money, especially during this time.
All right, one reasoning you allow, right, in the life that's... but when it comes to the things of God, wow, you know. It's like, it's hard to believe, right? I mean, you trust the pilot when the pilot takes off and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now 10,000 feet above the air. I'm Captain Lim Sui Cide. Relax, sit back, and have a most pleasant flight". And his voice himself, I mean, it's most pleasant, right? Right, you know what you do? You sunk in, oh, relax, take off your shoes. You're not ready to run anywhere. Where to run? Right, you trust someone whom you have never seen. Hmm? His wife left him, his children left him, he's steep in debt, all right, he was drunk last night, let's say. Illustration, okay, I didn't mention any airline. But having not seen, you never see him before, you trust his word.
When it comes to God, "God, show me. Send a bird to my door. The bird must sing". In the words of a broken-hearted, just emotion, or something like that. I don't know why that song came to me. And they want signs, they want wonders before they can believe, but the words of a mere man, no problem. Man fails. Man can fail. Even good ones, even talented ones. Your trust must be in God. Even you go for an operation, right, pray, ask God to guide that man, amen, to make him see things that otherwise he would not see in all his years of experience, amen. You know, you want God to impart to him wisdom. Yes, there is a wisdom that God gives to people who are not born again, yes. Every good, that's a good gift. Every good and perfect gift, perfect gift is for his children, but good gifts is for everyone. It makes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust, amen? And all the people said amen.
So, be led by your spirit. Why are you here in this church? Because when you first heard the word, something inside you is saying, "Home". And many a times, I'll tell you why, you know, you continue to listen to the sermons and all that, because you know that sermons confirm what you already know in your heart. It's that when you hear it, hear the gospel for the first time, you say that "He's been teaching me that," you know. "I'm not able to put it in the words the way, Pastor Prince, you put it in those words," because I am called for this, just like you are called for something in God's kingdom. But the same, "I know this is true. I've always believed this is true, but my head has been playing with me," you know. "But this time round I've got scripture for it, this time round I've got a solid foundation".
And that's why Peter wrote, it was Apostle Peter that said, "I write not because you know not the truth, but because you know it". What a strange thing. "I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it". So, he's writing to confirm, amen, what you have on the inside. And all the people said amen. Hey, that is good. If you just received that, you can go home already, praise God. Wah, serious, lah. Auntie, sit down first. I'm in the beginning part. All right, you ready for the Word? We finished off last week looking at the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Jesus asked, "What do you have"? He's always asking what do you have. In the days that we live in today, especially now where we are at, we are entering into a time, II was telling someone, I wonder whether the seven years of plenty has come to an end and the seven years of famine is before us.
Okay, and the story of Joseph, for those who are wondering. And because there is always, a parallel. The beginning is what will happen in the end, amen. The beginning of the Bible, I mean, is what you see in the end. We have that principle we showed you last week in the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon in his wisdom and by the power of the Holy Spirit said this, "That which was, that which has happened is what is happening now. And that which has happened will happen in the future". It will be in the future. So, you can study the Bible, and don't think of it as something historical, it happened. No, the reason God put them there, like the Bible says, they are tupos, types in the Greek, tupos, types, they are types, pattern that you can see and apply the same principles and get all those results that those patriarchs, the men of God, the kings, and, David, Elijah, all received from the Lord, amen? Praise God, hallelujah.
You ready for the Word? So, Jesus said, we'll finish with this on this part here. "Therefore," therefore, he starts with therefore, "Do not be anxious about what you eat, about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink". Don't be anxious, okay Singaporeans? Don't be anxious about what you will eat, what you will drink, amen. What you will eat, what you will drink, "Nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing"? Now, the last part means life, we agree, life is more important than food. Even if you don't eat every day, all right, just drink water, but don't eat, you still can survive for a long time. Life is more important than food, amen. And what follows is the body, the body is more important than clothing. And yet our focus is not on life, but on food, on the material things and the material pursuits of life. This food is representative of all the material things of life.
So, Jesus saying, "Focus on what is really important, life". Your life is more important than your possessions, and your body, here it refers to health, obviously it's health, body, more important than your clothing. He's not saying have a bad body, have a sick body, no, no. He's saying your body, right, like what'd I say just now? Your body is more important than what you put on. So, do I have to put on. Of course, amen. But your body is more important than what you put on. And all the people said amen. So, notice Jesus, he wants us to live carefree, like the birds of the air, amen. They don't worry about where's their next, food coming from, amen. They don't, call up the restaurant, the bird restaurant, and say to Mr. Owl, all right, "I'll be there in two hours time". No, no, no booking, nothing, they know the food is always supplied. They did not know, so, one thing about them, poor small brains, these birds and all that, they do not know there's a recession, they just keep on eating, amen.
And, so one day one bird said to another bird as they were perched on a branch looking at all the people frazzled and harried, and, stressed out, you know, moving around maybe somewhere in Shenton Way. And one bird said to another bird, "Why are these people so frazzled and, you know, so stressed out"? And the other bird says, "Maybe because they don't have a heavenly Father like you and I". So, Jesus says, "Look at the birds of the air. They sow not, neither do they reap, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than the birds"? All right, turn to your neighbor now and say you are much better than the birds. Yeah, amen. Yeah, those at home, yeah, say to yourself, I'm better than a bird. You are better than a bird, amen, and God takes care of the bird, do you know that? Do you know that? God takes care of the bird. Birds are not as important as human life, amen. And yet God cares for the birds. How much better are you than the birds?
God will care for you, God will watch over you, and one thing, though, birds like to do is that, something I recommend to you, is to sing. Sing. Yesterday I was walking with my son, Justin, and, I kid you not, the birds were singing, right, and then he says that he can talk to them. I say, "Oh, go ahead". I was joking. Then when when he start, you know, he was using some language, I don't know what he said, all right, the birds respond louder. I say, "What are you, Mr. Doolittle"? And then the whole walk was just him talking and, he, you know, is having fun, and singing with the birds, you know, that kind of thing. But, you see, children pick it up, maybe instinctively, right, that the birds have a language, but if you understand the language, it's a language of praise to God.
Everything that have breath praise the Lord. God made everything to praise the Lord, amen. Everything, so when we find back our original call and destiny, we know that we are called to worship God. That's why you never feel so fulfilled and so integrated as when you are lifting your hands and worshipping the Lord, because you are created for worship, amen? You are created to look up. Even the word Anthropos is made up of a word facing up, a man facing up. Animals face down, amen. God made you to worship, amen. Don't be flesh conscious, don't be flesh conscious, okay? Praise the Lord. So, Jesus says, "Don't be anxious for your life".
Notice it starts with therefore, and we showed you last week that, you need to see why therefore is there for. The verse before that says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon". Mammon is a transliteration of the Aramaic language that Jesus and all the people during that day in Israel would speak, amen. It's a form of Hebrew, but it's Aramaic. And Jesus said, "You cannot," not that he's telling you do not, he's telling you, you cannot. You cannot serve God and mammon at the same time. Mammon is a picture of, it's a personification of money, material wealth. And we shared last week that God is not against you having possessions, God is against possessions having you. There is a difference, amen.
God is saying, "Don't live for money, don't live for the extra". I'm living my life, and then you give up your, the quality of your life, even give up time for your family and all that, not that you have to have that. If something is part of your job, once a while, you know, you do overtime, and you do extra things and all that, but it's just that for the extra $10,000, for that extra, I'm gonna, you know, your life is wasting away. Look it, how old are you now? You cannot just serve money and run to the communion. You cannot just, you cannot. And the fact that therefore is there in the context here, "Therefore," that means the reason why people are full of worry and care is because in their heart, they may not realize it, they are pursuing after material wealth. "Preach it, Pastor Prince". Amen, bro, amen.
That means the whole context there is in the context, it's not a different subject. Therefore means, after he said that you cannot serve God and mammon, "Therefore do not worry". He's saying why people have material wealth in front of them is because they are, you know, the bottom line is unbelief. They don't believe God can supply. God can provide. As they focus on the Lord, God supplies. Now, when God supplies, that means what? Your needs are met. And I believe with many left, plenty left over to be a blessing to others. "How do you know, Pastor Prince"? Because Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever, and we've seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes. After he fed them, and in the Gospel of John's account of this miracle it says that "He gave them as much as they wanted". He did not give according to as much as he think they need. He gave them as much as they wanted.
Underline that word, that phrase, as much as they wanted from the Gospel of John, John's account of the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Jesus kept on giving and giving as much as they wanted, and all the accounts in the Bible, and this miracle is found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you will find that, at the end of it there's 12 baskets full. Not just, uh, half, you know, a quarter filled, 12 basketful left over after they had what they wanted. And the phrase says, "And they were all filled". They were all filled. So, this idea of, "So, Pastor Prince, are you preaching the prosperity message"?
You know, when people say that kind of thing, they are trying to intimidate you to stop preaching about God's supply, amen. So, you have to go by the spirit, and you have to go by the Word of God to see whether the Bible teaches that, all right. Not the prosperity where, you know, oh, you give this amount, that means God will give you this, and try to manipulate people, and, you know, like, I don't give examples here because, I might hit someone, you know, that is in the ministry and all that. But, really, we have to be good examples, amen. We cannot grab everything that, every privilege that comes. We gotta trust God to supply. When you trust God, God will supply. Can I have a good amen, people?
What I see happening during the pandemic is that, I believe the devil is behind the pandemic. It is vicious, it has taken lives, and not just a few. You know, all over the world, so it's vicious, it's evil. Though Jesus prophesied, Jesus says before he comes again these are the signs, doesn't mean that it's his will. Are you listening? Amen. If I tell you, okay, now, don't go down that dark alley. All right, you will find there's a lot of, you know, people down there that you don't want to meet, okay. Then you get robbed. Something bad happens, you get beaten up. And you say that "You sent those people there because you knew about it". No, that's two different things. However I know about it, I'm warning you. I'm just telling you, these are the signs. Dark, lonely street, people hanging around, don't go, right? But Jesus said, when you see all these signs, and one of the signs is the pandemic, right, the plague, and there's never been a generation like ours.
You know, the SARS, the mercy of God, God can stop it. Right, yes, God can stop it, but there's a reason why, and it's because the signs of the time are all coming. You see a woman when she's about to give birth, her contractions, I'm gonna speak real fast, okay, so that I'm not gonna explain to the guys much. All right, the contractions get, shorter and shorter, the period between, right, they get shorter and shorter and shorter, right? Amen? Have you seen that the plague is coming, bang, bang, bang, one after another. But it's not just the plague, it is other diseases as well. And other conditions as well. As, you know, and Jesus talked about wars and rumors of wars. When you look into the future, you realize there are certain countries getting ready, it seems, to dominate, which calls for a response, which means rumors of war and war. It's in the forefront.
History repeats itself. People don't learn. You know why? It's a heart issue. It's a heart issue. It's not a issue of territory or whatever it is, it's a heart issue. All right, the heart is wrong, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Are you listening, people? Okay, so we see that, I'm gonna let you see something, an insight into something. I was saying that the pandemic happened. Um, in America alone there are so many churches that have shut down. I don't even say the right term, you cannot shut down a church. You can shut down a building. I guess the people go elsewhere, or they never go back to a church anymore. So, there are many churches that that has happened. Some ministries have thrived. Some ministries, it seems like God is causing them to explode, even during this time. We thank God for that, amen.
My heart goes out, I was telling the other pastors, my heart goes out to those ministries that are shutting down or whatever. There are in history, of course, I'm not speaking specifically now to any particular church, but there are people who start churches, and God never call them to start church, okay? So, shutdown is actually a loving thing for them to focus on their true calling, amen. You don't go to church to make money, all right? In fact, you go to church, if you wanna be a full time worker, you're entering the full time ministry, we're not knowing what's gonna happen, the future, but trusting the Lord. Amen, but other people can look at you and see your blessings, but do they see what is happening behind the scene? Do they see what you do? Do they see the seeds you sow?
When you are sowing seed, seed-time, right, no one sees. You can be a mile away in a flat field and you see someone, you know, in the middle of the field, and he's flicking seeds and all that, you can't see it. Come back in a few months, the harvest is there, everybody sees it, but no one sees the seed. So, before you judge anybody else, always ask what, "I wonder what he has sown". What have you sown? Amen, some of us are living in our past habits. We have not been sowing, we are living in our past habits on the override. So, I see that some people, they get so comfortable now that they are looking for themself, for their own interest, for their own career, right, material wealth, and, not that their heart is bad, but they're believers, they still trust God, they tune in, they watch, but they have no more heart for the house of God.
So, you see that our priorities, don't forget, it's always Jesus first. The three legs of the stool, Jesus first, and then the church, amen, the house of God. Not even evangelism, evangelism must be done in and through the house of God. The house of God is very close to his heart. Jesus first, close to the Father, closest to the Father's heart, amen. When you are dealing with the Lord Jesus, you are dealing with something that is very precious to the Father, right? I've said before, you never know how much God loves you until you know how much God loves his Son, because God gave up his Son for you. Who are you that God would give up his Son for? Let you die and go to hell. Let me die and go to hell. Why would God send the Son that he love? And the way the Bible says it, "Take now your Son, your only Son, the Son that you love". Amen, the way it's described is amazing.
So, if God spared not the Son that he loved, how much more will he with him freely give us all things? Amen. So, it's only in church you will hear this, but out there in the world, the world will talk about scarcity, lack, the law of economics, amen. I learned about the law of economics, amen. Scarce resources allocated, amen, the study of scarcity, amen, allocation of resources, am I right? Right, but in heaven's, kingdom is this. The world says you give, you got nothing left. God's economy is that you give, there's so much more left, or God will 'cause more to come. The little boy gave Jesus five loaves and two fish. You read carefully in the Greek it says small fish, like a sardine, small fish, two small fish. One gospel says it like this, "Two small fish". It's in the diminutive term in the Greek. Two small fish, it's a boy's lunch, but the boy sees they are looking for food.
The disciples were going around, right? Jesus was testing them. See, "Give them to eat," and then they go around looking for food, amen? There were few Singaporeans among his disciples for sure, right? Looking, and then the boy came. "Sir, would you have this? Will this help"? He has simple faith, he's not going by his head, all right? And, Philip says, "What is this among so many? That each one take a little". That's the mentality of the world. Even if you share it, everyone take a little, then he never thinks of, he put God out of the picture. That's what the world does. The world always put God out of the picture. You and I, we have God in our lives, amen. Even you receive bad news from the doctor, you have God in your life.
All right, you have bad news about what happened to your teenager, or, you know, you're shocked to see what your teenager has done, amen, you have God on your side, and God is able to deal with the boy. And sometimes, you know, some troublesome kids like myself, teenagers who are troublesome, they may have a call. And the devil is working active on them because they have a call from God, and all the people said amen. And from then on, I got stuck, you know, in the teenage years, and I never grew up. Hey, that was an attempt at a joke, all right, and you all didn't respond. At least I thought so, lah? But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I had thought had been the thought I had thought, I wouldn't have thought so much, okay?
So, anyway. We look at, what is happening right now, and we see that, there's an answer in the Bible. It happened during the time when God's people came out of a pandemic. Actually, it's not, it's bondage in Babylon, present day Iraq. They were there for 70 years. Because of their sin, especially the sin of idolatry, God says, "Enough is enough". Time and time again God sent prophets to cause them to turn around, to repent and all that, but they kept on worshipping idols and all that. Finally, God said, "Enough is enough". God gave victory, actually, the Bible says, to, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, whom we know in history. He brought all the people of Israel in bondage to Iraq. Seventy years in Iraq, in Babylon. Seventy years, and, Daniel was a very young man, probably a young teenager when he was captured, and he served three kings. And he says that, he searched the Bible, and he found out that Jeremiah, before the bondage Jeremiah already said that Israel will be in bondage only for 70 years.
You see, even back then the benefit is there in reading the Bible, amen. Even prophets have to depend on the Bible. By the way, you cannot depend on this, first you gotta depend on the Word of God and then this. Both confirm. One is like the caboose of the train, amen, the power is there, but the other one, the Word of God, is like the rail. You have just the power, you can go anywhere, amen. Just have the track with no power, no use as well, nothing is going on it. You gotta have both. Can I have a good amen? So, as this, resonates in your spirit, and you find that something I share, or when you're reading the Bible, you find that something jumps out at you, write it down, make a note of it. Amen, don't lose the art of writing it down. It's as ancient as the Bible. Even the last book of the Bible God tells John, "Write it down". Write it down, write it down, amen.
"Now, Pastor, I type it down". Okay, type it down, type it down, okay? Amen. "I use my tablet". Yeah, it's as old as Moses. It's as old as Moses. Moses had two tablets with things written on it, okay? So, you think you are modern, come on. Okay, so, what happened to them is that after 70 years God raised a king that Isaiah prophesied. Before he was born, this king is called Cyrus. He, it was prophesied that uh, a man, a king called Cyrus would send the people of God back. He's God's servant, all right? So, King Cyrus came to the power, and by then, of course, Babylon, the Medo-Persia, Babylon is conquered, all right, by the Mede and the Persians, and then it, transferred power, and then the Bible tells us that King Cyrus sent them back with all the, furnitures of the Temple. He was a good king. History talks about him, amen, King Cyrus.
In fact, they already discovered his tomb. You can Google it, but not now. And they were coming back. But you know how many came back? Many of them felt comfortable after the pandemic, I mean, after the bondage. They stayed in Babylon, many of them stayed in Babylon, okay? Now, I'm not referring to people watching online, so don't feel bad. At least they are attending church, you know what I'm saying? I'm talking about people who have no heart for church anymore. They just, they find their life comfortable. So, only 42,000 came back with a governor called Zorobbabel. All right, that's the original Zorro in the Bible. His first four letters to his name is Zoro, check your Bible, Zorobbabel, amen. And if you look carefully in the ancestry, in the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will find Zorro there. He's actually royal, he's a royal blood.
All right, but remember what the Bible says. There's a prophecy that says before the captivity, right, the kingship will end until Shiloh, a title of the Messiah, until Jesus comes. What a prophecy, amen. No more kings until Jesus comes. So, King Herod is a usurper. He's not ordained by God. He has no royal blood. He was placed there by the Romans in the time, you know, Jesus was born. Okay, Jesus was the true King. And you find that Zorobbabel came from the, house of David. He has royal blood, right, he belonged to, but when he came back, he came back not as a king, but as a governor, like a mayor, amen. And on his right hand is the high priest called Joshua. So, together king and priest is a royal priesthood, it's a picture of God's people as they come back. It's a picture of Jesus first, and then God's people, because Jesus is King Priest, and we are all royal priesthood.
What does that mean, royal priesthood? Okay, first of all, what does it mean to be a king? Royal in God's eyes. To be royal, to be a king, there's a verse that says, "Where the word of a king is, there is power". And so, we pray for the sick. We say, "In the name of Jesus, you foul tumor," amen. "We curse you to your roots in the name of the Lord Jesus," and the same way Jesus cursed the fig tree. It wasn't instantaneously, but it did die. And for a root, for a tree to die, the root has to die first. Outside looks green, don't worry, keep on cursing that tumor. Start with pimples, okay? Amen, start somewhere. You are a king, be careful what you say. Don't use your words against yourself. You do not know you are a king, you say, "I'm dying for that cake". Don't use those words. Why use those words? Why use the death words?
"Ah, it's just an expression". Yeah, I'll tell you where the expression came from, from the realm of darkness. Someone is trying to kill you, 'cause Solomon in his wisdom wrote, "The power of life and death is in the tongue". Come on, come on, church. All right, you know, don't stop me, you all, I must go on. Time is of the essence. Okay, so they came back, they came back, right? And they are only 42,000 people came back, 42,000. So, when they came back, the first thing they restored, everything was in ruins. They came back to a ruinous heap, the stones everywhere, because it was burned down. Don't forget, the Temple of Solomon was burned down, right? What once was glorious, and the Bible says that, you know, when they rebuilt what they can, okay, finally when they rebuilt the Temple of Nehemiah, some people call it that way, it was just like a temporary temple. And the old men who still remembered more than 70 years before, right, they remembered the glories of the Temple of Solomon, they wept. The young people rejoiced because they never saw what it was like, amen.
So, there come a time of revival where some people say, "Wah, this is the revival". In fact, we are right now experiencing that. The young people are all excited, but the older one says that "No, I still remember a greater revival". So, the greater revival is coming, amen, to the church. It has to, it has to wake people up, all right? But sad, only 42,000 out of the many. You know why? Because they got complacent. The King Cyrus now is very friendly to the Jewish people. They are no more slaves there. They have houses, they have gardens, right? Just like, you know, they had, you hear about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, right?
Now it's under the hands of the Medo-Persian, and, you know, they are comfortable, they have money, they are secure, why go back to Jerusalem? The vision, what God gave them to be a center in their life was Jerusalem, Zion must be the center, but they forgot. Complacent. And then God sent a man, by the way, they came back, the first thing they rebuilt was what? The altar of burnt offering. That is the cross of Jesus Christ where the sacrifice is placed. It's a picture of our Lord Jesus on the cross. So, they restored the truth about the cross, amen. In every revival you must come back to the cross. We preach Jesus Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God, amen, praise the Lord.
Okay, that's what must be central in the church, the preaching of the cross, hallelujah. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but God made him on that cross to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, amen. And through him I preach to you the forgiveness of sins, hallelujah, praise the Lord. So, they came back. First thing they rebuilt was what? The altar of burnt offering. Then they laid the foundation of the house. Their supposed to build the Temple, right? They laid the foundation of the house. That's the time the enemies who were in the land already came over, and they saw what the Jews were doing, and they started, harassing them. They started threatening them. Finally, they sent a letter to the... by the way, it was the letter part of Cyrus, and then another king, took over.
By the time they sent the letters and all that to complain some years have passed, and, you know, you know, you know what happened? The building stopped. They laid the foundation, and the building of God's house stopped, because the king says, the king heard all kinds of bad things about the Jewish people from these, inhabitants that were there. They were jealous of God's people, so they start sending letters. I find it interesting that today we have the social media, and people are using letters again in the form, writing against each other whatever they want. Everyone is their own commentator. Everyone is their own storyteller. A lot of fake news going on, you know? You gotta discern what is truth and what is not. Amen, people? Amen. Take God's Word, God's Word is the truth. Amen.
Long before... long after, I should say, after you are gone, the Word of God remains, amen. So, they start persecuting them, start harassing them, lying about them, and then, the letter came from the king, because the king heard about all the evil that the Jewish people are doing, right? Or these people, they have their own laws, and they will teach the people not to pay taxes. That's the last thing that the Jewish people taught. In fact, even today, under grace the Bible says, "Render to Caesar", Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, unto God the things that are God's," amen. Amen? A true Christian, without any threat, will even pay taxes on the very last dollar. It's a conscience thing before God, because knowing that God supplies. No one can take more, you know, come on, church, I know you all don't like taxes, but God supplies.
"But you don't understand, that context is only..." No, when Paul wrote about also, "Owe no men anything but to love one another, render to, you know, obedience to the powers that be and all that," it was the Roman rule at that time. Think about it, okay? Anyway, I said that last week, so I feel that the Spirit of God wants us to learn this, amen, as God's people. Are you all with me so far? All right, so they stopped the work. They stopped the work because of the threat from the king. So, you might think that no choice, the king said stop. It's not Cyrus, it's no more Cyrus, really, it's another king, Darius. All right, he said, "Stop," and they stopped because of the evil that he has been receiving, the news that he's been receiving. So, they stop. You know how long they stop? Twelve years. It's like, more than 12 years.
Now, what happened is that the house of God was neglected for 12 years after the pandemic, after the bondage. And they didn't, no more people, no more came back from Babylon, and the people that were there lost their motivation. But something happened, it was no more the threat. God raised a young, God raised a prophet by the name of Haggai, all right. Haggai means, God is saying my feast, my celebration, my festivals. You know, the seven feasts of Israel, Haggai's name is my feast. Haggai was raised by God and sent to the people of God in Jerusalem, and this is what he said. "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: 'This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built".'"
So, all of a sudden, by the way, you will find that Haggai never talk about the king's decree, never. Now they are using the king's decree as an excuse not to build the house of God, why? Because they are too busy building their own house. They are too busy building their own careers. They forgot the priority that's in God's heart, and that God wants us to have also. The Bible says in Timothy that you might know how to conduct yourself in the house of God, comma, the church of the living God. Where is the house of God today? The church of the living God. So, Christ first in your life, number two, you need to prioritize the church. Anyone who prioritize the church, God prioritizes, amen. If your aim, all right, is to be profitable, and to have results, to profit the church, to profit evangelism, to profit sending missionaries, to profit people who are elsewhere who need our help, praise God, God will back you up. All the forces of God will back you up, even heavenly angels, and they move faster than the speed of light.
I'm telling you, they will keep you, and they will watch over you to make sure that you carry out the plan, because you are in alignment. Just like, you know, in, in secondary school we do an experiment, science experiment, and, the little bulb would, if everything is right, the bulb would shine, right? But just one thing out of connection, it won't shine. God is putting us all back in connection with one another, and the light will be glorious, amen? Praise the Lord. So, they got into this, thing, and they say it's not time, it's not time for the Lord's house to be built. Then the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, "Then is it time for you yourself to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple lie in ruins"?
The Temple back then was the house of God. So, you say it's not time, but then it's time for you to, build your own houses. You have time for that. Then he says this, look at the result, "Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but you don't have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourself, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, earns wages to put it into a bag with holes.'" I cannot explain to you, and you yourself know it, listen to your spirit, amen. There are times in our life, maybe some time back we have experienced it, no matter how much I earn, it goes away. Don't put up your hands, I'm just telling you. We've all experienced that, amen. Or we eat, and yet we find that we're not satisfied. Something inside us, eating is supposed to satisfy you.
Actually, eating moderately, you are supposed to be satisfied. I eat very little nowadays, all right, and I'm satisfied. You can tell. "Pastor Prince, you lost a lot of weight". I know, I'm trying my best to look good and still lose weight. Don't know how to do the both. Eat little, you know, but, no, look, don't let me stop you. You wanna eat, eat. I'm just saying, the curse is not in the eating little or eating much, but not satisfy. It's like, they drink, but their thirst is not quenched. It's something else. Whatever they earn, their wages is like putting into a bag with holes. It all goes out, doesn't matter. "It's my boss fault, it's the government's fault, it is the good and services tax, it's all the..." No, friend, if there's a bag with holes, no matter how much you earn, it's going. Amen.
And then God said this. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Consider your ways!'" The Lord just reminded me, "Remember my name". I just heard that. The Lord of hosts is talking. All throughout, I just realized now, during my study I didn't see this. Most high comes with the Lord of hosts, together. The first time the Lord of hosts is mentioned, it's Hannah mentioning for the first time in the Bible the word Messiah, Messiah. So, the priority is Jesus. Okay, and Hannah means? Wah, some of you know Hebrew. Hannah means grace. So, when you combine the two, the Most High God who moves circumstances, and the Lord of hosts who moves his host of angels, how can you lack? Trust God. Come up higher. Come up higher. Live in the heavenly realm. Stick to those things that are above, amen. So, what do I do, then, on earth? If I don't serve mammon, what do I do?
All right, by the way, I didn't tell you the same portion where he says don't worry about your food drink, it ends by saying this in, Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you". I hear again the phrase, "The Lord of hosts will take care of you". The Lord of hosts, he's also the Most High God. And Most High means of all the nations of the earth, all right, he's the Most High God, okay? Remember that. And then he's the Lord of hosts. So, it is both vertical, Most High, and what do you call that? Width, wides, the reach, the depth. Your God, who is your Father, is on your side. He is for you. The Lord of hosts, amen. Jehovah Sabaoth. Amen.
And, again, the first time, thank you Lord, the first time that it's mentioned is the word Messiah in the prophecy of Hannah. She mentioned Messiah for the first time, Messiah was never mentioned until Hannah came, together the Lord of hosts. Okay, are you with me so far? Are you blessed? Okay, you like these little tidbits? So, you read the Bible, these are the things that you can note, amen? We are having the Grace Academy on right now, praise God, already, amen. So, Bible says, Jesus says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you". Notice the priority. It's not your body, it's not your soul, it's not your mind, it's your spirit. It's spiritual. Know that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, amen. Put God first, put his kingdom first. Kingdom of God means the principles that govern his kingdom.
Every time Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is likened unto," all right? "The first shall be last and the last shall be first". "He that serves will be greatest of all," these are all the principles of the kingdom. And I tell you, you study it carefully, the principle of God's kingdom, it's the opposite of the world. And yet it gets the results that the world wants to get. "He that humbles himself", did Jesus say in the law of the kingdom, all right, how to operate in this kingdom, did he say, "One day the whole world will operate by this kingdom when Jesus comes again"? All right, the 1,000 year rule of Jesus on earth, the millennial rule will be governed by this kingdom, will be governed by the Sermon on the Mount, amen. But listen, he did not say, "You humble yourself, you remain humbled, you remain humiliated". No, he said, "He that humble himself shall be exalted".
I tell you something, if God's hand, exalts you, no one can press you down. But may never be that God push you down. He that exalts himself shall be humbled. Amen? You know, what is happening around the world is also man's faith in the established institutions and all that, like, for example, try to find a cure for, until now, there's no cure. One stupid virus, you know, that you cannot see, you know. I was talking with my wife the other day, "How can this not be spiritual? How can there not be a demonic, the powers of darkness behind this virus"? There is some evil intelligence going on. Something is governing this virus. It is not a natural, it's trying to find a loophole. Come on, now, come on, admit there is an intelligence. Evil, nonetheless. God's wisdom is higher than this intelligence, amen, amen.
Like the devil, seeking whom he may devour. Whom, thank God he is seeking, keep him seeking in his life. He come to you, he say, "Oh, cannot," right? And it's like this virus, it's trying to find another style, another producer, another variant. Small, I can't even see it. Humbles the whole world. Okay, so, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be", subtracted and taken away from you. So, if I don't preach God supplies, I will have to preach like that. And just now when Haggai says things like, "You eat, but you're not full; you drink, but you're not quenched," all right, "and you earn wages to put into a bag full of holes," the people that believe in, like, God gives poverty will say amen. Haggai will be like, "I wasn't complimenting you, and I wasn't praising your situation. Look, you missed it".
And the fact is that, you know, common sense will tell you when your child is sick, bring him to the doctor. "Oh, you all believe in healing, ah? You are the health-wealth people". Your child is sick, but you try to make it sound so dirty while you yourself is pursuing health and wealth in your life, but God's people cannot. I can't, you cannot. No, I'm against the materialism in the church sometimes, it gives a bad testimony. I'm against people preaching nothing but money all the time. I'm against people talking about giving to them all the time. There is abuse, make no mistake, but you know what, there's abuse, you know why there's fake money, counterfeit money? Because money is valuable. You don't fake something that's not valuable. Don't throw away the valuable, don't throw away the real. 'Cause you, just because you find counterfeit money, don't throw away the real, amen. Of course you'll retain it. You have enough sense to retain it.
Now, some people, there is a false, you know, self-aggrandizement, seeking for yourself to be rich and all that, there are people who twist the Word of God, but they twist everything. If their heart is wrong, everything they touch will be wrong in their interpretation. We're talking about Jesus first, man. It's hard not to prosper the Bible way when you are following Jesus. Even the wise men realized that. Amen? Gold, sliver, frankincense, the most valuable items during that day find its way to Jesus. We don't look for those things, we look to Jesus. But where you find Jesus, you find the gold, frankincense, and the valuable item. But don't put your eyes on them, you put your eyes on Jesus. These things are tools to equip you so your reach is greater, farther, your influence will be there, amen. "Preach it, Pastor Prince," hallelujah, amen.
So, all these things shall be added. Do not let anyone try to make you think otherwise. Added is added and, "But, Pastor Prince, what about spiritual things added"? No, the context is important, context is king. When you interpret the Bible, context there is about physical food and drink and clothing. Amen. Praise the Lord. So, here the Lord says, back to Haggai, this is God's answer, "'Go up to the mountains, bring wood, and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,' says the LORD". "Start building my house, stop, I'm not against you having your own house and all that, but build my house first. Bring wood," that's people. "Build my house," amen. "And I'll take pleasure in it". "Even though your efforts are puny and poor attempts at building the house, as long as your heart is towards the house, I'll take pleasure in it". That's what the Lord is saying. "Build my house," amen.
How do you build God's house? Number one, by supporting it, always being there, knowing that, I'll tell you this, your answers to your life will be in the house of God, amen. Is it important which house you attend and all that? You gotta attend a house where God speaks to you, where you feel an "I'm at home," that's the house, all right. There are many great churches, and they're all the house of God. If it's a church graced by God, it is the house of God. If that speaks to you and you feel at home there, stay there, amen? But I speak to my people here, our people, as your pastor I say that, amen, this is your house. You prioritize this house, amen. Make sure, even support it financially, praise the Lord, support it with your prayers, amen, support it by being here or online, amen. But online please don't be distracted. Stay with us. That you'd only rob yourself of the privilege of that anointing that comes, that heavenly dew and life forevermore where brethren gather together in unity, okay? Amen.
Second question Haggai challenges the people, and I'll close with this. Second question is this, he says this, drop down. Ah, he says, he's not finished telling them this, "'You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?' says the LORD of hosts". Again, it's always the Lord of hosts. I just realized that now. "'Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.'" It's like saying, today we don't have, husbandry kind of, career, right? But it's the same thing. The dew means what? No harvest, all right? Dew in the morning, right? When rain is not there, the dew comes, the moisture, "'And the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains.'"
It'll be a teaching, all right, in this Academy of Grace on Bible numerics. Every Bible number has a meaning. One is unity, two is agreement, three is resurrection, amen, four earth corners, north, south, east, west, the four winds and all that, it is number of earth. Five, grace, six, man, seven, perfection, eight, new beginning, very good. Nine? Nine? Chastisement or judgement, it means discipline. Now, watch this. Count. "'I call for a drought on the land and the mountains," a drought on the land, one; the mountains, two; on the grain, three; and the new wine, four; and the oil, five; on whatever the ground brings forth, six; on men, seven. Drought on men means what? They cannot produce, they are infertile. "On the livestock", now the livestock cannot produce, eight, "and on all the labor of your hands," that's quite comprehensive, nine.
Okay, so there is this pattern in the Bible that's quite consistent, okay? And, folks, just want you to know that we are not under judgement, okay, but we can come under discipline. Notice that we are still alive. I don't believe in the kind of discipline where, you know, people say that God may take your life away, that kind of thing. I think in certain which I can explain, all right, but because there are certain cases, isolated, I don't think I wanna share it at this time, okay, but there is another reason. Always when God is loving, God is loving you, amen. And like a Father who loves his kid, he will definitely discipline his kid. When there's rebellion, talking back, amen, lying, he will have to deal with that, or else it get worse because of sin. And you need to deal with it in the gospel way.
You need to tell the child, "See how sin manifest? This is sin. I know you want to do right, but notice that? The answer is Jesus. He loves you, and he is born to sin," so the child can experience forgiveness, amen. And never say you're a liar, never say to a child you're a liar, never, never do that. Say that you're a child of God, a forgiven child of God, amen, who lied, and that's not good, because we are Jesus people, and Jesus people don't lie. Identity. And the child knows that you're not happy with that also, amen? So, children need that, they need the correction. Children who are not corrected end up resenting their parents, do you know that? Studies show time and time again that children who are not corrected later on hate their parents. They want some form of boundaries, they want some form of discipline.
Do you love me enough that when I do wrong, you'll correct me? Or just, like, just indifferent, just don't care? I don't feel loved. Amen. So, God loves us. He wants to prosper your house. Don't misunderstand that. He's saying, "Look, you know, the whole universe is working for me. I'm the Lord of hosts, but when you are not in line, everything's not working for, everything is against you". Even your salary is against you, right? "But when you're with me, the Lord of hosts, everything is working for you". That doesn't mean the Christian life, there's no suffering. Like I said last week, there's persecution and all that. In fact, persecutions galore the more you walk with Jesus, but the thing is this, the Lord will be with you when you are going through, and you are not going to stay there. When you are going through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with you. In the Hebrew, in the Hebrew, Psalms 23, it is the middle verse in the Hebrew. "You are with me". That is the key. As long as he's with us, amen.
Okay, like I said, one more question, and then Haggai will close. The next question is this, he asks, "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Now ask the priests concerning the law.'" Oh, the law. You see, we are studying the law. There are people who think that we are people of grace, we don't study the law. "Joseph Prince teaches a lot from the Old Testament," you all notice that? Amen. I feel like Jeremiah. "Be you clean". Like an old man with a white beard. And people always say, you know, those who teach grace never focus on the Old Testament. Ah, this is one guy who does, amen? I love the Old, I love teaching from the Old Testament, amen, as well as the New. But here's the question concerning the Lord. The Lord of hosts is asking, notice that? "Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, 'If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, does that bread or wine or oil become holy?'" Okay, why carry, they wear robes in those days, okay, and at the thigh the Jewish people, the priests especially, they have this blue tassel. God commands them to have the blue tassel, okay?
So, what the question is. There is a food, burnt offering, they don't take any, it's not, nothing for the offeror, nothing for the priests, it's all to God, burnt offering. Meal offering, there's a portion for the offeror, okay? But meal offering is not meat, it is flour. Jesus is the bread of life. But it comes to peace offering, now, peace offering everyone gets. God gets his portion, amen, when the sacrifice is burned, God gets his portion, but the breast meat belongs to those who offer and their family. Even sons and daughters are mentioned here. They are to enjoy the love of Jesus, the breast meat. Oh, man, I'm telling you, this meat is like no other.
Have you been feeding on the love of Christ for you? Are you conscious that the Lord loves you? Amen, if not, right now feel it, amen. In fact, in this whole time that we are together here, you sense a tangible presence of the Lord, correcting, loving you, readjusting you, amen, amen. Okay, lah, don't say amen, I say amen, "Amen, praise God". Hallelujah. So, the Lord is saying this. You all priest, listen. When you take, breast meat, for example, is it holy now? Yes, it's been offered. Whatever is offered on the altar becomes holy, okay? Even if it's a sin offering, it becomes holy. Once the judgement comes, it's now holy. All right, so you take the holy meat, all right, you put it on your fold, okay. I'm gonna protrude my stomach, not nice. So you carry your robe, and you walk around.
Now, then it says this. "With the edge he touches the bread," with the edge he, if you look at the word edge, it is actually the tassel, kanaph in Hebrew. Kanaph is known as the wing, the tassel is known as the wing, the wings of the person. "Unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings". That's why the woman touched, because she saw him as the Son of righteousness, amen. Now, watch this. If so happens that this holy meat you're carrying comes in contact with a tassel... sorry, when you're carrying the holy meat, not the holy meat, if the tassel gets in touch with a bread or wine or oil, do those items become holy? Answer, no. In other words, holiness, health, cleanness, wholeness is not communicable, it's not transmittable, it's not transferrable.
Okay, the next question, "And Haggai said, 'If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?' The priests answered and said, 'It shall be unclean.'" But is uncleanness, if someone touch a dead body, he's now unclean under the law. Is uncleanness transferrable? Is it communicable? The answer is there, all right? "So the priests answered, 'It shall be unclean.'" So, holiness is not transferrable. Uncleanness and sin and disease, it's all in the same context, leprosy and all that, is transmittable under law. Does these two story questions remind you of a story in the Bible? Yes, in the same chapter, woah.
When I saw this years ago, I was so excited. Never read this in any commentary, nothing. The Lord spoke to me, and I see Jesus. This way, Jesus is there within the covers of the Bible, even the Old Testament, he's there in the shadow. Let's bring him out, amen. How? Okay, remember the woman with the issue of blood? She's unclean. In that day and age under the law she's unclean. All right, she suffered many things of many physicians, and she was no better. When she heard of Jesus, she came in the press behind, saying, "If I touch the hem of his garment, his clothes, the hem of his garment", which is a tassel, "I shall be well". And the Bible says she touched the tassel of Jesus, and Jesus stopped. She got healed completely, Jesus turned around, hallelujah. In the Old Testament God never turned around.
Even Moses said, "Show me your ways," and all that, God showed him his back parts, because the back parts of God is not his face. His face means he welcomes you. It is like, like, a one-on-one relationship, amen. All is well, Father and son. But, when he show his back, that's judgement, amen. Are you listening, people? But Jesus turned his back...turned around, rather, to his back. That's the gospel. Grace to someone who is unclean, right? And Jesus said to her, "Woman, daughter," he called her daughter. Only woman, the first woman Jesus calls daughter. "Be of good comfort. Your faith has made you well". The other one that he calls her daughter is actually the woman who was bowed down with for 18 years, amen. What a endearing word, daughter, amen. "Your faith has made you well". Now, watch this, he's the clean, she's the unclean. He's the healthy, whole, she's the diseased. This time under grace, holiness, his holiness, his health, his healing was transmittable.
What was the next question? The next question is, so back then under law, all right, holiness, health, wholeness is not transferrable, right? But now under grace it is. But the next, the other question Haggai asks is this, right? If someone is defouled, become unclean by a dead body, what was Jesus doing when the woman came behind and touched the hem of his garment, the tassel? He was on his way to raise Jairus's daughter, remember? Twelve years old, both have the number twelve stamped on them. This woman was suffering from the hemorrhage for 12 years, amen. Haggai, the house is not built, the house of God was left, you know, unbuilt just as it is for 12 years. Okay, so you have, Jesus on his way to Jairus's daughter, and she died. There's a delay, she died. But how many know that he might not seem to be on time, all right, he might be late, but he's always on time, that's what I should say. He's always on time, amen. Even the person who's dead, he will raise the dead, and he raised her from the dead.
So, the next question was about a dead person. If you touch a dead person and you are unclean, all right, does it mean you're unclean? Say yes. So, uncleanness is transmittable, but holiness is not transmittable. But under grace holiness, which is also includes sozo, the wholeness of God, the healing, all right, is communicable, is transmittable. But sin cannot defile you. Now, I do not say you cannot sin. Are you listening, people? Right, there are people who teach that Jesus was defiled, and he must take recourse to the ashes of a red heifer. I don't even want to address that. It's terrible. Jesus swallows up all the law. He is the fulfillment. He didn't come to destroy the law, but came to fulfill it, and that's what he did. He's greater. I love one thing the Bible says, "Where sin increase, grace superabound". Actually, what it should say naturally, ah, human reasoning, "Where sin increase, judgement increases". Judgement is not found there. What is found is that "Grace superabounds". It's not logical, but it's reality under grace. Are you with me so far? Then I found something else recently as I was reading this portion. One last one?
One last question. So, drop down. "From that time when one came to a grain heap," what's a grain heap? From where you make flour for bread, right? "One comes to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten," oh, what a sad thing. He came to draw 20 measures, at the end he see only 10. Supernatural lack. All right, "Or he comes to the wine press, the wine vat, to draw fifty, vessels or measures, there will be only twenty". Supernatural lack. So, all this in the same chapter, you know? All in the same chapter, and it's back to back. Watch this, woman with the issue of blood, Mark 5, show them Mark 5. Mark 5, right? Woman with the issue of blood, right? Mark 5. You go down, it is the dead girl.
The next question is on the dead person, on uncleanness, right? Am I right or not? Right? Can you see it? It's as if Haggai, I do not know if Haggai knew about the stories of Jesus or not even though he lived way beyond, before they happened, but by the spirit, whether he knows, I don't think he knows. I think he's just prophesying by the Spirit, but the Spirit is looking into the future at the events of Jesus' life, hallelujah. I love to see Jesus in the Bible, don't you? But there's one more. The next chapter, chapter 6, this is Mark 5, right? After the five, people, is six. I know it's deep. But what happen in Mark 6 when he had taken the five loaves and two fish?
Ah, you come, the next question, the third question was what? You come to the grain heap, you make bread. Instead of drawing more, all right, you draw less under the law. But under grace the Bible says, "He took the five loaves and two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all". Drop down, "They all ate and were filled". It is one thing to eat, it is another thing to be filled. There was once a question, "You eat, but you are not filled". Now, they ate, and they are filled, "And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men". Hallelujah.
And once again, go back to the verse, Jesus gave to his disciples. I shared last week it's in the imperfect tense, right? Which means what? He kept on giving. NLT says, New Living Translation says, "He kept giving the bread to the disciples". He kept giving the bread. New American Standard says, "He gave them to the disciples again and again". I ask myself, I used to teach that as the disciples took the bread from Jesus, the five loaves and two fish, the pieces, as they gave, it multiplied in their hands, but now I see it multiplied in Jesus' hands. They have to come back to him all the time. That is the wisdom of God. If it multiplied in their hands all the time, they don't have to come back to Jesus. They might even deify themself, glorify themself. Well, I am the one. You all need help, huh? I am the one. See? Miracles in my hands.
We all have this tendency. If God uses us, we have this tendency. We need to humble ourself and realize we are just, amen, implements, vessels in his hands. The wisdom of God. They had to go back every time. They have, you know, a robe full of, in their lap, right, after they finish this, they have to go back, and Jesus keep on multiplying. The answer is Jesus. So, even in these days, I want you to know something. He's gonna provide for you supernaturally. Don't switch on your mind and say, well, how, how... No, switch it off, turn on your heart. When I say switch off, I mean in a subservient role. You still use your mind, God gave you a brain, amen. Like, for example, you smell something, learn to use perfume, that's in the brain. That's not the Holy Spirit leading you, amen. And now the person beside you say amen very loud so you know.
So, let me close by saying this. We are entering into a day and age where the more you look at the circumstances and the news and all that, you get more and more discouraged. There'll be more and more evil. And it's, you know, being obsessed with evil, being preoccupied with evil is not gonna produce holiness, it's not gonna produce a victorious life, it's not gonna produce love, joy, and peace. You cannot be preoccupied with evil. "You're saying that it doesn't exist". I did not say that. It exists. It's your choice where to look at, we look up. We look to the Lord, at his beauty, glories, and excellencies. We spend time with the one that is perfect. We find our joy and fulfillment in the one, every which way you turn him, he's beautiful.
I ought to see more and more of him. And all the people said amen. We are entering the days where we're gonna see supernatural supply, supernatural protection, supernatural angels, amen, going forth. And one day I think I'll preach on angels. It's a neglected subject, you know, and people are neglecting, must, must be aware that angels are around. Many of them here, rejoicing with us, many of them, many of them, many of them. Your children have angels because you're a believer, amen, amen, and they watch over us. Okay, don't let me go into another sermon. Praise God, give him praise, hallelujah, thank you Jesus.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. Wherever you're watching this, praise God. If you are hearing the gospel for the first time or you have heard it before, my friend, the fact that you are here, God is inviting you, amen, to put your trust in his Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says through him you receive the forgiveness of sins. Through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all are justified from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. We saw that just now in the book of Haggai. What we cannot be justified by the law of Moses, through Jesus we are justified. Hallelujah. We are acquitted, we are made righteous by the gift of righteousness. Friend, if you wanna receive this gift, pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I thank you that you love me, and you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for my sins on that cross. And when you justified me, you raised him from the dead. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. Thank you, Father. I am yours forever. In Jesus' name, and all the people said amen.
Stand to your feet. Praise the Lord. Can you say it's good to be in the house of the Lord? Can you say that? Yup. Come on, can you say that? Yeah, praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place. Let's believe God for protection in Jesus' name, amen, praise the Lord. Whatever it is, trust the Lord, amen. Now, angels are involved, ah, praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place. Family of God, you are the house of God. You are in this world, but you're not of the world. Therefore, believe you can receive these promises. You can receive the fulfillment of these promises and these blessings throughout this week.
The Lord bless you. The Lord bless every one of you and every family under the sound of my voice with the blessings of father Abraham, with the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. The enemy come against you one way and flee before you seven ways. All the powers of darkness, when they see you, they flee, not because of you, but because of Jesus in you, amen. Whatever you touch prospers. Your wages will not be put into a bag full of holes. The Lord blesses you and your families. The Lord keep you and your loved ones throughout this week from all the powers of darkness. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord smiles on you, favors you, and grant you supernatural favor in the eyes of everyone that looks on you throughout this week. And the Lord lift up his countenance and grant you his Shalom wellbeing and peace. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. It shall be. Praise the Lord, God bless you all.