Joseph Prince - Practical Benefits Of Seeing Jesus In The Word

Give yourselves a good hand, people. You all braved the rain. Well done. Any of you got wet? Put up your hand. Okay, some, it's a brother and a brother, or sister and a sister, give hug, amen? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. But praise God, you made it through the rain. This is what assembling ourselves is all together, amen? Times like this it's demonstrated. And just off the back, I just wanna share with you something, this is not my message today, but just to let you know something that God spoke to me a few weeks ago. And I only shared it in the third service, yeah, I do preach sometimes in the third service. But I shared this, something that God laid on my heart throughout the entire week. I keep on hearing one phrase. I hear one phrase, and the one phrase is, "One place". One place. And it kept on ringing in my spirit.

At first I didn't know, you know, many times that God speaks to me, it is just, it's not in, you know, long paragraphs, a long piece of narration, but it's just one word, two words, and then within it are volumes, amen? So I began to search that word, "One place," in the Bible, and when I look it up, you know, it appears where when they gathered together in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost. The Bible says, "They were all together in one accord in one place". One place. And then another place in 1 Corinthians, talking about the Lord's Supper, the Apostle Paul was correcting them about the disorderly way that they were doing the Lord's Supper, right? And he says this, "guys, what is happening"? All right, it's like this. He says, "When you come together in one place, this is not to take the Lord's Supper. You are supposed to take the Lord's Supper, but you come together in one place".

So again, I look up the word "One place" and it seems like God is saying something. So I realized it is the word in season for all of us, amen? After being released from Babylon after two years. You think about it, the mercy, you better believe we are under the new covenant because when they were in Babylon, they were there for 70 years, so you better believe we're under the new covenant. The whole world was like, especially the church of Jesus Christ. It's like the Lord is allowing us to go through a time where we are restricted in our movements, we are confined to a spot, and we are in captivity, so to speak. How many felt like you were in captivity for two years at least, coming to three years now, right?

So now we are seeing the release, and that's why the Bible is amazing. "That which has been is that which shall be," the book of Ecclesiastes says. And we can see the patterns there in how you live in Babylon. Right now we are living in the sense in the world order, throughout the whole world, there is an order. They do things in a worldly way. We gotta make sure we raise our children God's way, amen? So can you raise children in Babylon? Yes. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel, they were all raised wonderfully, amen, and they lived for God. They walked with God, amen. They were a force, a testimony for God right in Babylon itself. So maybe I'll have a sermon one day about how to raise children in Babylon.

So regardless of their values, we can learn from the book of Daniel how we can raise children in times of Babylon. God said that during this time of the captivity, all right, don't you despair or be depressed. Build houses, plant gardens, get married to one another, okay? Live life as normal, amen? Be a testimony in Babylon, right? So I felt like this nearly three years we have been in Babylon, right, remember this, you know, we're in the world but not of the world. God wants His people not to be isolated from the world, okay? God doesn't want us to be in the world, okay, but insulate, protected from the world while we are in the world. So we see what happened during that time, and God brought them out after 70 years. God prophesied through the Prophet Jeremiah before they went into captivity that they'll only be there for 70 years.

Then the story of Ezra, Nehemiah. After the 70 years, you know, they came back. They came back a remnant. Many of the people of Israel never came back. They stayed in Babylon. They felt comfortable, okay? But those who came back, these are the ones that God dealt with. The stories of those who were in Babylon, with the exception of Esther, all right, Mordecai, the rest all we don't hear about anymore. And do you know that there are still Jewish people in modern times in Babylon, in Iraq? The present-day Iraq, because Babylon is where the present-day Iraq is. Exactly where Babylon is, there is a River Euphrates that goes by it. If you look at the Ancient Babylon, it is now the place of jackals. It's a place of the wild. And you have mounds where the palace used to be and all that, but no one lives there. God said that it will be a wilderness, and God said in His Word, "It will be a place of jackals".

And today, jackals roam it. Think about it. Iraq, by the way, is not Babylon. Iraq is a bigger land, but where Babylon was is now a wilderness. So God kept true to His Word. Once upon a time, there was a place called Tyre and Sidon, very famous, just north side of Israel towards the sea, the Mediterranean Sea. There was sort of like a man-made city just outside the coastal area, all right, Tyre and Sidon. Very famous, and they boasted that no one can take them, okay? Until Alexander the Great came, and they taunted Alexander and his Greek army that they cannot possess Tyre and Sidon. Of course, they conquered Sidon and the Tyre island was taken. You know what they did? Alexander the Great, they built a bridge all the way, all the way to the island, and conquered it. And now, the place of Sidon, God says will become a place for fishermen.

Once upon a time, it was like the London, Paris, New York of the world. Now it's in obscurity. And when you go there, guess what? Fishermen are fishing. It's a fishing harbor. So God's Word is true. Why study the Word of God? It is more advanced than you know. It tells us the future. It tells us the present. It tells us what to do in these times. So I wanna continue my series on studying the Word of God, but I just wanna speak a word to those of you who are watching online. If there's a reason why you can't come, the reason should be because you are physically unable to. Perhaps distance, or perhaps physical infirmity or conditions like that. But if you can, come together, amen, through fire and rain. The Bible says, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, so much the more as you see the day approaching". And the day is approaching so much the more, right? So much the more what? Gather ourselves together.

There's power in gathering. Something happened when God's people gathered together. The gifts of the Holy Spirit operate in a corporate setting. Yeah, it can operate on an individual basis, yes, but you look carefully, it's like, "Minister to one another the word of wisdom. Minister to one another. To one is given this. To one is given this". It speaks of a corporate gathering, amen. There God commands his life, amen, his zoe life, and there the dew of heaven is. Praise the Lord. There the anointing is, like on Aaron's beard. It comes down, we all enjoy it. Back in Bible times, all right, this is taught and it's still true today that if you wanna excommunicate someone, "excommunicate" means the person is living in sin, refuse to repent time and time again. You bring someone to talk to him, they refuse to repent. God says excommunicate him. That means when you excommunicate him, he's out of the church, all right?

We don't practice this. We don't, rather, see this much today because people are ready to repent, and most people when they are not willing to repent, they leave church. If you look at this church, there are people who have left, all right, because they don't want to be corrected, amen? So you see, grace convicts also. Who says that, you see, if this church says, like, "Anything goes. Grace teaches, like, anything goes. Anything goes," they will feel comfortable staying here. The fact they don't feel comfortable, you know, it's easier to preach the law, all right, and have people sinning staying there. Because, you see, it's harder to hear about a loving Savior, a Father who loves you and looking for you. It's harder, people, it's harder to sin against love than to sin against two impersonal stones. It's easier to rebel in a legalistic environment, but it's hard to rebel under grace.

So you don't wanna hear anymore the love of God, you step away. It's very convicting. The goodness of God leads you to repentance, amen? So but in those days, if someone leaves the church, it's as good as being delivered to Satan's hands. Remember the Gadarene demoniac? The Bible says that he was in the place of Gadara, the tombs, where he was cutting himself. This is happening again today. People think it's like, you know, it's a psychological problem. Friends, it's the work of the enemy, the powers of darkness if you feel like mutilating yourself, hurting yourself. Some people find pleasure, all right, in doing that to themself. It's like, it's a sadistic kind of thing, but it's the powers of darkness behind it. When you hurt yourself, you're so precious to God. You are precious to God. He'll leave the 99. The Good Shepherd will leave the 99 and look for you. But as far as the devil is concerned, he hates you. He hates you because you are made in the image of God.

So we see the Gadarene demoniac cutting himself. Another thing, he was undressed. He was naked. Any tendency, ladies and gentlemen, to shed clothes is the work of the enemy, amen? Why? Because you are beautifully and wonderfully created, and there's a dignity and beauty about your body, amen. The Bible doesn't say your spirit is the temple of God. It says your body is the temple of God, amen. So the temple of God is holy. Holy means beautiful, set apart, glorious, amen. No blemish, no, so if you honor God's body, the Bible says, "Glorify God in your spirit and in your body," which are God's, amen, that means you will be healthy. Not just peaceful inside, amen, at rest, but you will be healthy, amen. God will take care of His temple. I said God will take care of His temple, amen? But the Gadarene demoniac was cutting himself, he was naked, and he was crying, crying all the time, morose, sad, depressed. That's the work of the enemy in that person's life, huh? And the Bible says this word, "He was alone". He was alone.

So effectively when you put yourself out of the assembly of God, you are alone. You're in the hand of the enemy. We are not meant to function alone, all right? We are part of a flock, amen. Even I myself...see, you hear the amen? And there's a verse in the New Testament, when Jesus spoke, someone said it thundered. Yeah, I'm serious, that's in the Bible. If you google right now and see if some said it thundered, you will find it there, amen? Amen? One place, one place. I believe the Lord is pleased when you come one place. Amen, church? Say, "One place". Amen, don't let anything stop you. Don't let husband and wife quarrel on the way stop you. Just say it's normal, amen. Baby, it's not you. Baby, it's not me. Hey, it's the enemy. Blame it on him. Amen, praise the Lord, right?

It happens. People do quarrel on the way, all right? "We're always late. Now you see what happened, you know? That seat is gone". Okay, that kind of thing, all right? It's very normal. It's very normal, amen. There are a few of them looking down. I don't know why. My leaders. Okay, praise God. Are you ready for God's Word? All right, so, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, so much the more as you see the day approaching". I wanna tell you something about reading God's Word, and from Romans 15, verse 4. It's something that I see that the world needs so much of today, okay? Romans 15, verse 4, "Whatever things were written before were written for our learning".

So basically it's referring to the Old Testament here, but the entire Bible of course is written for our learning. But specifically here, Paul is saying to the people in Rome, the Christians, the believers in Rome, whatever things were written beforehand were written for our learning, all right? "That we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have," what? "Hope". Now, why have hope, Pastor? Let me show you what hope, Bible hope, is like. Bible hope it's not like, "I hope so, lah. I hope it will happen. I really, really hope it will happen". No, when you have Bible hope, it will happen. And God wants you to raise your hopes, Bible hope. The word "elpis," Greek for "hope".

Just remember Elvis, remove the V to P, you get elpis, all right? Amen, and it rocks. And I tell you this, you will never roll, amen? Your burdens will roll, but you will never roll, amen? Sometimes you shake. Shake, rattle, and roll, but you can shake, but the rock you are on never shakes. Make sure you are planted on Christ, the solid rock, amen? So it says, the definition of "elpis," it is the positive, confident, joyful expectation of good in your future. That's how we are to live. We are to live life with a joyful, confident expectation of good.

Now, right now I wonder what's your disposition, your mental disposition. Are you having thoughts like, "It's gonna be a good future. I see good in my future," or are you filled with what the media is saying and what the world, and some of it is based on what is happening that's negative around the world, like right now the war in Russian and Ukraine, and the situation between China and America, and then the financial situation, we are going into a recession most likely next year, all that. So, are those thoughts dominating your mind? Because this is what it looks like with the absence of hope. If there is no elpis, amen, you wake up every day depressed, all right? You feel morose. You don't look forward to your work. You feel more tired than usual, amen.

You look at your marriage, you look at your family, and you feel tired. You feel a sense of despondency. In other words, depressed. You are depressed. Depression has different forms, but it is the lack of hope. Maybe you still have a bit of hope, you have a bit of depression. No hope, complete depression. At night, you can't sleep. You wake up in between your sleep and then you start thinking all kinds of thoughts. What's gonna happen tomorrow? What's gonna happen to this and that, my children, and this and that? Oh, I'm now at this age, you know? What's gonna happen now, you know? And what's gonna happen if something happens to me. Why do I have this pain? Why is this pain continuing? That kind of thing, so it's that you see bleakness in your future. You see all kinds of darkness in your future. That's not good. That's an absence of hope.

Where do I find hope, Pastor Prince? Here. It says, "Through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures you might have hope". Every time I read the Bible, people, I always leave the Bible feeling like, "Ahh, life is good," amen. Even, like for example, let's talk about the recession. Whether you know it or not, the world is going into a recession, okay? And there are food shortages gonna happen because of all the weather going, that kind of thing. And folks, the Bible says already when man keep on sinning, earth will rebel. That's why in countries they don't believe in God, amen, and there's a lot of blood being shed, they have acres and acres of land, that country can be very big, but the crop, it hardly grows in that country. They have to import food into that country. Why? The ground is cursed. The ground is rebelling.

The whole creation is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God. They are waiting for you to come into your own because creation fell when Adam fell. When the head of the creation fell, all creation fell. That's why the cows moo, and the cats meow, and the monkeys swing, amen? All this is because man fell, 'cause once upon a time, animals talked. Imagine your cat in the morning, "Yo, good morning," all right? Imagine how you would feel, amen? Wow, and that's normal. All creation fell. We have a glimpse of this when Balaam's donkey, his donkey spoke to him. Remember that? And someone says that God can use a donkey to speak. The donkey didn't speak on behalf of God. God doesn't use donkeys to speak. He uses prophets. The donkey say, "Why are you hitting me"? That's not God talking. That's the donkey talking for himself. God opened the mouth of the donkey.

So in other words, in the beginning, all animals can talk. "Why are you beating me like this? How come the food is the same every day"? Imagine your dog telling you that, huh? Amen? All creation fell. So when you study, for example, recession, and then you look at the Bible, how do you find hope? You find hope in wherever you find that the Bible says there's famine. The Bible talks a lot about famine. Even we are blessed with the blessing with Abraham. Just because you are blessed with the blessing of Abraham, you see Abraham, definitely the person, the original person we get the blessing of Abraham from is the story of Abraham. If you are Abraham's seed, then are you blessed. You are blessed with the blessing of Abraham because you are Abraham's seed. You are Abraham's seed in the sense that Christ came from the lineage of Abraham, and God says, "In Christ shall all the nations be blessed". And if you are in Christ, you are Abraham's seed.

So you look at Abraham. Did he go through famine? Yes. Just because he is blessed does not mean he will be exempted from famine. No, he went through. In fact, God wants us to go through to show the world what He's like. The world can see that we are not exempted, but we thrive, we flourish. So every time you read about Abraham and his son Isaac, Isaac is even amazing. The Bible says in the year of famine, he sowed and he reaped a hundredfold, so much so that the Philistines around him, the unbelievers, envied him. They were jealous of him. He had a very healthy marriage. He was in love with his wife, amen. And all their wives, Abraham's wife, Sarah, Isaac's wife, Rebecca, they were all beautiful, amen? If we say, "Oh, that doesn't really matter," then why does the Bible tell us that? Amen. In other words, we are to see our wives as beautiful. It's part of the blessing of Abraham, amen, enjoying ourselves in Christ, praise the Lord. God has given us richly all things to enjoy. Praise God, amen?

So you see, you find hope in looking at all these patriarchs and how they lived during famine, what they did during famine. Seeing that the Lord blessed them and you are the seed of Abraham, you have hope. I don't care how bad it gets, God will take care of you just because you are His own. Can I have a good amen? And talking about God blessing us, all right, all the things pertaining to life and godliness, another reason we study the Word of God is because of this. 2 Peter chapter 1 tells us very clearly, and I've shared this with you, that the very first way of studying the Bible is to see Jesus, right? See who? Jesus. Many times we look into the Bible, and I did that, you know, in my early years, to find myself, but you can't find yourself. Yeah, you can find yourself in a sense, you know, in a corporate way, but when you find Jesus, you find yourself. Why? Today, you are in Him.

Once you are born again, you are in Him. In all that He is righteous, you are righteous. That's why it says Christ is made unto us. It's in our benefit to know who Christ is, what He has, what He possesses. Praise the Lord, amen? We are joint heirs with Christ. He is made unto us for our profit. You can say it that way. He is made unto us right wisdom, righteousness, holiness. Even holiness. Christ is our holiness. Joseph Prince is not his own holiness. Christ is my holiness. And when I believe that, it manifests in my actions, in my life without me being aware of it. All right, the worst kind of holiness are people who are trying holiness. You know, they are work's holiness. Yeah, I'm trying to be humble.

Can you see how hunched I am, amen? I speak softly, amen. No, no, don't laugh. Amen? No, it stinks. It's fake. It's pseudo. It's not real. No, true holiness...would you say that David was holy, David was humble? When David saw the Philistine who was defying the God of Israel, amen, putting fear among the ranks of Israel, and he looks at the Philistine and says, "This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand. I'll cut off your head and give your carcass to the birds of the air". Sounds proud for a 17-year-old. Sounds like it, but God calls it humility. God calls it boldness. So our ideas of humility and boldness, humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's not thinking of yourself at all. And all of Christ, all my hope is there. So where do you find this? Not in the books of the world, but in the Bible. Can I have a good amen?

So the more you see Jesus, this is gonna happen. In 2 Peter chapter 1, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord". Now, the Greek structure is such that it's actually Jesus that's being referred to, the knowledge of Jesus as Lord and God. "The knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord" is one, all right? The knowledge there is singular. It's a knowledge of the same person. He's God and our Lord. Are you listening? And that's how Kenneth Wuest, the Greek scholar, puts it that way also. One person, Jesus, our God and our Lord. So notice what happens when you read the Bible and you see Jesus. Grace, mm-hmm. What is grace? Unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor becomes yours. It becomes yours, amen. And it becomes yours like how? In what measure? Read up, what's it say? Grace, what? Undeserved, unmerited favor, what? Multiplied. How many want more grace? Yeah, grace can be multiplied. There are increases in grace.

You know, you can grow incrementally in grace. For example, it says about Mary, "Hail, you are highly favored," amen? It talks about manifold grace. There are different kind of grace, amen. It talks about Jesus increased in grace when He grew up. So there's an increase. But how many like a multiplication of grace in your life? You can do with multiplication. I mean, when favor comes on you, you do not know why good things happen to you. It's just that you are favored. It's not because you are smart, you are that smart, you have the know-it-alls, the wherewithals to function in that project successfully. It's just that things happen. What you need to know, you get to know, amen. And sometimes it comes by studying and sometimes it comes by intuition.

I was studying about Adam recently and I think to myself, "How come Adam knows the names of all the animals and he could tell the nature and predict correctly"? And the Bible says, imagine all the species that he had to name, one by one. But the mind of Adam before it fell was just simply amazing. Even science today tell us that we only use one-tenth of our brains, amen, but Adam's mind was brilliant. He could name things exactly. But how does he know? And even the plants. He has to take care of all the different gardening that he had to do and all that. God gave him an assignment. It's not just sitting on a hammock the whole day, all right? It was paradise, but God says what? "Be fruitful and take care of the land," God said, right? Remember that?

So from wherewithal did he get the know-how? Because he has no farmer to learn from, you understand? There is no school he went to. He had no parents. His immediate Father is God. See, for us, we learn as we grow up from our parents. We grow in school, right? We grow in knowledge. So some things were dropped into him. We find an example of this in Bezalel who was commissioned to build the tabernacle furnitures, the Tabernacle of Moses. Remember that? God says, "I filled him," Bezalel, "with the Spirit of God and wisdom, understanding, knowledge, to work in all manner of workmanship". So God can drop something in you that you never had before.

Like for me, when I was in secondary school and not in primary school, not in kindergarten but in secondary school, I was a stutterer, okay? I cannot speak well. And when the teacher would ask me to stand up and read, I would stutter and all the class would laugh. But one day, God dropped. I still distinctly know the difference when God dropped a gift. When God drops a gift, the gift sort of like carry you. You know, it's like a buoy in the water, you know? You feel borne up without trying to tread water. When you rest on the buoy, you are resting, but the buoy is holding you up. The lifesaver, right, is holding you up. You are resting, but it's holding you up. You will not drown. The gift is like that. It bears you, amen. I know it's a gift, people, all right? All this 15th anniversary and all that, all the success, or the blessings, and all that you see is because of God's grace gift, all right? It's not Joseph Prince effort or smartness, ah. Thank you for not shouting "amen" so loud for the smartness part, but it's definitely not my smartness, amen?

Now, Pastor Mark is smart, but for me, amen, I gotta, thank God Christ is made unto me wisdom, amen? Christ is made unto me wisdom. Those who find that Christ, they don't need Christ as their wisdom, they function in their own wisdom, they might take Christ for other things like my righteousness, but not wisdom. But for me, I need everything that Christ is. Christ is made unto me wisdom. Before I counsel someone, usually under my breath I just say, "Lord, I thank You You are my wisdom," amen? Just a quick prayer, 'cause I know that I cannot with all my experience and my knowledge, counsel the person successfully, amen? Are you all with me so far? The Bible you have is exciting. Do you bring your physical Bible? Let me see your Bible. Wave, wave. All right, don't knock the person beside you. Wave, but look around you. Look at all these Bibles. Praise God. Still the minority, all right? The rest have all gone digital. All right, therefore your blessings shall be digital.

Okay, so one huge benefit is that grace, favor is multiplied. Not just increased, multiplied. Number two, another thing is multiplied. What is it? In Greek, "eirene," peace. Peace is multiplied. Eirene, charis and eirene is multiplied. Now, if you look at the Old Testament, of course the Old Testament is in Hebrew. Say, "Hebrew". Your New Testament is in Greek. So the Old Testament, it is shalom. Say, "Shalom". But if you look at "shalom," you find that it's not just peace of mind, right? No depression, not just that.

Aggressive peace, guarding your heart and mind from worries, fears, cares, anxieties, apprehensions. Praise God, we all need that, amen? It's aggressive peace, guarding your heart and mind. You can't help but be peaceful, all right? That's the shalom peace. Not only that, shalom is also wholeness. Read it up. Shalom means you are healthy, well-adjusted. That's why disease is dis-ease. There is no shalom. There's no ease. And usually when you are dis-eased a long time, there is a disease. Doctors call this stress. When you are stressed, you are pulled. You are not at rest. It's dis-ease, right? Shalom takes care of that and it takes care of your body. Can I have a good amen?

So this shalom, this peace, in Greek, it's eirene. If your name is Irene, it means peace, amen, be multiplied in your life. How? All this comes, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord". It's knowing Jesus or seeing Jesus, because this knowledge here is a revelation knowledge. It's the word "epignosis". "Epi" means, "gnosis" is just natural knowledge or any knowledge, but "epi" put to "gnosis," "epignosis" means revelation knowledge, exact knowledge, full knowledge. It can only come from God. When you read the Bible, something happens to you. It happened to Peter, not because he was very smart, as Jesus corrected him later on. He thought it was him. When Jesus asked, "Who do men say that I am"? and they said, "Some say that You are Jeremiah". Another disciple says, "Some say You are John the Baptist raised from the dead," and all that.

But Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter spoke up and says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God". And Jesus was so impressed, right? Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you". Paraphrase, "Ain't no way you got this from yourself". Who do you think is the flesh and blood? It's him. "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you". You are blessed. "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven". I wanna tell you, I want you all to become like revelation addicts in the Bible. I want you all to look for revelation all the time. Revelation, God gave me revelation, not just knowledge. Knowledge can be just, you know, knowledge can puff up, the Bible says, but revelation humbles you. Revelation makes you see Jesus. It's a revelation.

I love it when I see revelation. I like to hear preachers that give me revelation. It's fresh. Usually revelation is fresh. Now, revelation is not new doctrine, but light on what is already there. It comes from the Holy Spirit. So obviously Peter had a revelation. Look at Jesus. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God". Jesus says, "Upon this rock". Now, He did not say, "Upon you, the rock," okay? There's one aspect of the church that says Peter was named as the rock. No, Jesus is saying, "Upon this rock, I will build My church". What rock? The revelation rock. The revelation that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Every time you...but that doesn't mean that Peter did not become solid after that, because when you have a revelation, you become like that revelation. You become solid. "Upon this rock, I say unto you, you are Peter," all right, a play on words. "You are the rock," right, and, "Upon this rock". So there is two words down there, "You are Petros," and He says, "Upon this petra, I'll build My church," amen. Not the rock, because different terms are used for the same rock, diminutive as well as the big rock, the big rock of revelation. "I'll build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it". And all the people said amen, praise God. So we all want that. We all want revelation. Can I have a good amen?

The revelation of Jesus gives you what? Grace multiplied, amen. Peace imparted, multiplied in your life. And what happens when you neglect the Bible? See, either sin will keep you from God's Word or God's Word will keep you from sin. The same thing, amen. You find that you are more depressed. You are very morose when you think about the future. You are dejected, you know? It's only darkness you see. Most likely, you're not spending time in the Word. Sunday sermon is good, but it alone is not enough. "Man does not live by bread". How often do you eat bread, or rice, or ramen, all right, or chapati? Every day. You don't just come once a week, right, and eat your bread. So Jesus Himself says, "Man, there's no way you can live just by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God". And all the people said?

Okay, so once you see this, you want to see Jesus more and more. You want to see Jesus more and more, right? And He's all throughout the Bible. Like when God told Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, your son Isaac, and put him on the altar," God didn't mention Isaac. God said, "Take your son, your only son, the son that you love". But wait a minute, Abraham has two sons at that time by then. The older one was Ishmael through a slave girl, right? And the other one is his true wife, Sarah, Isaac. Now God is saying, "Take your son, your only son. Your only son".

So one thing, God's eyes does not recognize what is born of the flesh, only what is born of the spirit. Number two, God was referring to another Son. "Only Son" sounds like "Only begotten Son". "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," amen? So when you read that, ahh, and you see Jesus, right? Or you can read that and say, "Wow, God wants me to give up my Isaac. What's my Isaac"? Your Isaac is that you spend too much time watching Netflix. That's it. Lay your Netflix on the altar, amen? Your Isaac is golf. You are fixated with golf. You watch everything there is and you try your best to play all the time, amen. You neglect your family. Put it on the altar.

Now, all these are things that I'm not saying it's not things we can learn from, but they are not the primary purpose of that Scripture. It's to unveil Christ. So God said to Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, the son that you love, and offer him on one of the mountains I will show you of". And it so happens that mountain is where Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, Mount Moriah. You know what's the highest peak of Mount Moriah? Calvary. And that's why just before Abraham plunged the knife, God stopped him. God didn't want a human sacrifice. Anyway, Isaac's blood is tainted with sin, as every man is. God wanted to see whether he was obedient, so God stopped him. God says, "Now I know that you fear Me, or love Me. Now I know that you worship Me. How? Because you have not withheld your son, your only son". Then God showed him a ram behind. I believe Abraham had a vision.

How do I know? Because Jesus later on says to the Pharisees, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day". When was that? Then the Pharisees said, "You are not yet 50 years old and you saw Abraham"? They missed the point. They say, "You saw Abraham"? The lesser always see the greater. No, He says, "Abraham saw Me. Abraham rejoiced to see My day". Then He said this, "Before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham was, I am," amen? So I believe Abraham turned and he saw Jesus on the cross.

Now, I'm gonna tell you something about the ram caught in the thicket. Why must the ram be caught by their horns in the thicket? Number one, it's a mature ram. It's not a lamb. It's a mature ram, male lamb. Was caught by its horns in the thicket, why? Why is that important? Because to offer God a sacrificial lamb, the lamb must be without blemish. Are you listening? If the ram is caught by its fur, it will be lacerated. It will be blemished. But that lamb was caught by his horns. No ram gets caught by his horns. They are mature. Just like lizards, Matthew, all right? Have you seen small lizards? Small lizards are stupid, all right? They come near you, you know, to be killed, all right? One day, I killed one lizard in my house, a small lizard, and for a few days after that I told my daughter I felt such regret 'cause the poor guy is stupid, all right? He has no experience. He came to me and I killed him. I don't know why I felt so guilty about that, all right?

From then on, I don't kill lizards anymore, Matthew, all right? The big ones, they are more mature, okay, right? But really, they help get rid, eradicate all the insects in your house, people, amen? No amen. Anyway, all right, but have you noticed the small lizards are the stupid ones? They will come near you, right? Well, a ram with horns is mature. It doesn't just plunge into the thicket. He did it on purpose. He wants to be caught. Jesus laid down His life voluntarily, without blemish. The offering was without blemish, amen? So when you read the whole story, I remember years ago when Jessica was about nearly two years old, she had a viral infection many years ago. And when I went back and I cried because the doctors gave her injection, you know, in the children's hospital and all that.

And we brought her back and the doctors say, "You must bring back for another test," and I say, "I don't know what's the problem". And I prayed, and I did everything I know how, then God brought me, then I went to my room. I needed hope. And I just opened the Bible at random. It's okay to open your Bible at random at certain times. Just know that, you know, you keep on opening and it says, you know, "Judas hung himself," and then you open another one and it says, "Go and do thou likewise," all right, don't do it, okay? But it's desperate time. Desperate time call for desperate measures. God talked to me, and I opened up, and it fell on Genesis 22, the offering of Abraham, and I read that. All of a sudden, I saw how much God loved His Son. God was saying, "I'm gonna give up My Son, My only Son, the Son that I love, for you," amen?

And that's why we can say to God today, because while there was a hand that stayed Abraham from killing his son, there was no hand that stopped God that day, all right? God gave up His Son for you, right? You will never know how much God loves you until you know how much God loves His Son, because He gave up His Son for you. So I read that and I saw how much God loved His Son, and then all of a sudden I was lost in that love story, amen, in that whole passage. I forgot, Jessica was still crying next door and I forgot about Jessica's affliction. I went there to pray and to search for an answer, but I got lost in the story of the Bible.

Now, I'm gonna show you how practically seeing Jesus can bring you practical results in your life, even healing that I'd been wanting for my daughter. So when I saw how much God loves me and how much God loves His Son, He gave up His Son, now we can say to God, "Now I know that You love me because You have not withheld Your Son, Your only Son, from me," amen? Just like God said to Abraham, "Now I know that you love Me, you worship Me, because you have not withheld your son, your only son". As far as God is concerned, it was done, amen? So when I saw that, I started crying. The love is so beautiful. No love drama you watch can come close, amen. See, the reason you are married is to demonstrate Jesus loving His church. "I speak a mystery". It's about Christ and the church. That's why God gave you marriage. Oh, Jesus and the church is like our marriage. No, your marriage is like that. You came after.

So Abraham's story is about father/son, the first love. And the word "love" was first mentioned in the Bible there in Genesis 22. It's the father's love for the son. Second is two chapters after chapter 22 is chapter 24. It's the story of the bride and the husband, right, and the word "love" is used. That's Jesus and his bride, romance. That's man and woman love, amen? So chapter 24 is about the Holy Spirit, the Unnamed Servant, looking a bride for the Master's Son. And this has happened for 2,000 years already. The Holy Spirit is still forming a bride for the Son who is soon gonna come and take His bride home, amen? It's like the Jewish custom. Jewish custom didn't come after God. God instituted Jewish custom to demonstrate His style of doing things.

In those days, once you are betrothed, you are engaged, you go build your house while waiting for the time. The father will decide when you get married. That means you're about to get married but you don't know when. If the father says, "Today is the day. Go, get your bride," the guy will go and get his bride. The bride might not be ready, but the bride might roughly know around this time, but she's not ready, but she's ready every night, amen. And that's what we are doing right now. We are waiting for that to happen, very much like the Jewish wedding. Any time, He will call for us, amen? Whoa! And it's just the introduction.

So as I wept, Jessica stopped crying next door, and she was completely healed. She fell asleep, the next day she was completely well. Just seeing Jesus, instead of being engrossed with my daughter, I was very concerned for her, I was now pleasantly distracted by the Lord to be Christ-occupied, focused on Christ, and all of a sudden she got healed. The very thing I'm focused on her, praying, demanding, commanding healing and all that came supernaturally natural when I focus on Jesus. And that's why the next verse says, right, this is a comma. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you, knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord," comma, "as His divine power has given to us all things". Say, "All things". "That pertain to," what? "Life and godliness".

A lot of people, they know about godliness. A lot of preaching going on all over the world today talking about godliness, godliness, all right, that always has been the emphasis in the body of Christ, and wonderfully so, but the part that's not emphasized is also to life. They think that God is only good for afterlife, amen? I'll talk to God when I'm about to die. You don't know when you're about to die if you are without God, all right, number one. But the promise is not just, "His power has given unto us," how many things? "All things that pertain," not just to godliness, but to life. Let me ask you a question. Do provisions, supply matter to life? Yes.

Now, godliness, we all understand that. There's an overabundance of preaching on that already. But life is underpreached. Healing is underpreached. Now, you get a lot in this church, praise God, and one reason I emphasize it is because I want the world to know, amen? God gives us richly all things to enjoy, amen. God gives us all things that pertain to life and godliness. In fact, He puts "life" here first. And that's why Jesus says, "Don't worry about what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna wear. Your Heavenly Father knows you need all these things," amen? Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will never come to you. And all the people said... no, He didn't say that. He says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be," what? "Added". Sounds like multiplication as well.

So, God knows mathematics, amen? Added means not subtracted. When you put God's kingdom first, all these things will be added to you, amen. And what things? He just got through telling you, "Don't worry about what you eat, what you wear". Material things. Are you with me so far? All right, so you see, it pertains to life and godliness. Again, He emphasizes it. It's like a divine sandwich. It closes with, how do all these things happen? "Through the knowledge of Him," again, epignosis, revelation knowledge, "who called us to glory and virtue". Whoo! And all the people said, "Amen". That's why when I listen to a sermon or I go to a service, I look forward for fresh revelations of Jesus. I don't want that person to just play around with me and just give me a little dab of knowledge of the Bible here and there. I want to see Jesus. And that's why I can teach it the Bible way.

You know, I can teach it, "First law of Bible interpretation, okay, hermeneutics, is this. This law, number two, next law, number three, this law". No, I like to share with you what God taught me and I like to make it practical as well, things that will help you. The very first thing, I know I emphasized this the last time about seeing Jesus, but I just want to remind you again, amen, number one is to see Jesus. Yeah, you see Jesus everywhere. You see Him in the...so what it's trying to say is that, in these two verses, is that when you see Jesus by revelation, guess what? You have multiplied favor and shalom peace, well-being, wholeness in your life. Shalom is also prosperity in the Hebrew, by the way, all right?

Don't just take my word for it, look it up. You'll have all this multiplied in your life, and then it says, "As His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the revelation knowledge of Jesus who called us to glory and virtue," amen. It's a glorious life, amen. It's a life full of virtue because that's what He is. Are you with me so far? All right, so when we see this, we ask ourself, "Where do we see Jesus in the Bible"? He's all there throughout, all throughout. Even in the very first verse, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," amen. And I didn't prepare this for you up there, so I just wanna see what the Lord puts on my heart to tell you, okay? So some things we put up there, but don't be so spoiled everything must put up for you, all right? At home, don't read your Bible, come here and want to read everything, huh?

So it says here, in the Hebrew there are exactly seven words, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". Bereshit bara Elohim et hashshamayim ve'et ha'aretz. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the middle word, there's three here, three here, the middle word makes like a lampstand, like a menorah, all right, the Hebrew menorah. The center one is exactly untranslated. It says aleph-tav. Aleph-tav. Aleph is the very first, the A of the Hebrew alphabet. Tav is the Z or the Zed of the Hebrew alphabet, 22 letters. Exactly first letter, last letter put together. It's Jesus' signature. When Jesus told John in the book of Revelation, "I am Alpha and Omega," that is Greek. Jesus wouldn't have spoken Greek to His fellow Jew. He would have spoken, "I am Aleph-Tav".

In other words, the signature is there. "In the beginning God, aleph-tav, created the heavens and the earth". "All things were made by Jesus, and without Him nothing was made that was made". "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". "And we saw His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth". Amen, church? But Pastor Prince, I don't know Hebrew. Never mind, then don't go to the Hebrew. Hebrew will come later, all right? Just keep on brewing tea. One day it'll come, all right, as he brew and she brew. Oh Pastor, this is bad, Pastor. This is corny gone to seed.

Okay, all right, so, yeah, I wanna say this. Serious, when you read the Bible and you don't know what the Hebrew says, you know, don't worry about it, okay? All that come later. I'm just, like, encouraging you that even the very first word. And by the way, the very first word, "bereshit," all right, the very first two letters, "bereshit," the beginning, right, "ber," B-R. B-R, all right, is the word "son" in Aramaic. "Son" can be "ben" or "bar". Remember what I just said just now? When Peter surprised Jesus with the revelation, Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah," Simon, son of Jonah. "Bar" is "son". So the first two letters, the very first two letters of the entire Bible, "bar," the Son. And what you have left: In the beginning, "Bereshit," "reshit" is the beginning, right? But once you put "bar", you take the "bar" out, "reshit" means "brought forth".

The Son brought forth the heavens and the earth, amen? Then you look at the book of Genesis, you can find that Isaac's story I just told you just now, then you go to... sorry, Abraham's story of Isaac. Then you go to Isaac's story, you find that Isaac is the type of Christ, amen? You look at Jacob, the same story. You can find it all there. Then you come to Joseph, Joseph is probably, to me, the most minute type of Christ, you know? He was loved by the father, rejected by his brothers. All his brothers were jealous of him. The father gave him a coat of many colors. The Bible says they gambled for Jesus' clothes because probably His mother made it for Him. In the Gospels, His robe was a very beautiful robe, amen. Or else they would not have gambled for it. The Romans gambled for it at the foot of the cross, okay?

So he had a coat of many colors. He was loved by the father, rejected by his brothers. He tended to the sheep. Jesus is a Shepherd, he's a shepherd, amen. And then he went to the world, cut a long story short, the rejection of his brothers caused him to go to the world, right, as a slave. Am I right? But then because of his wisdom, the favor, and all that, just one hour with Pharaoh with the favor of God on him, from a slave he became number two man in the entire Egypt. He made Pharaoh rich. If you are working for a boss who's not a Christian, don't have this attitude that, you know, "Oh, because he's a non-Christian I can just, you know, I'm not working for a Christian. Why benefit him anyway? You know, I just do what I need to do to get my salary". No, no, your responsibility is to make your company profitable. That's God's assignment for you.

Be a good testimony there. Make your boss rich. Enrich your company because you are there, amen? The Joseph attitude was to enrich his boss. And you know who is his boss? Not a God believer, amen. He was a non-believer, but he saw the Lord was with him, right? Now, the first boss of course was Pharaoh, then later on it was... sorry, the first boss was not Pharaoh, Potiphar, and the next one was Pharaoh. Am I right? But with every one of them, he was faithful to them, he was honest with them, he gave them a good day's work and probably the extra mile, and the boss would see Jesus with him. The Lord is with him, amen. So in his first, and then like I said just now, just a short time with Pharaoh, he was promoted, just like Jesus. And they all said, "Bow the knee before him," just as one day at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.

Of things in heaven, everyone whose breath, they use their breath to blaspheme Him, all those who make fun of Him, those who make a mockery of Him, all of them will bow, amen. The Bible says every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord. Things in heaven, things on earth, things under the earth, even hell, even Satan will have to bow and confess Jesus Christ is Lord. The only difference is that you confess Jesus Christ is Lord here, you'll be saved. After that, you'll still confess but you won't be saved. All the three worlds, the netherworld, the upper world, and people on earth will all confess Jesus Christ is Lord, the Bible says.

So Pharaoh says everywhere he goes, bow the knee and confess Joseph is viceroy, amen. And then he saw his brothers. In his first appearance to his brothers, in the first coming of Jesus, Israel was blinded, didn't see Him as the Savior. They rejected Him just like his brothers did. So when the brothers came and saw him, they didn't recognize him. But next time they came back again, in the second appearing, they realized who he was. And he was dispensing bread to the world. Jesus is the bread of life. So the story is all hidden there, amen? And Joseph married a Gentile bride, not a Jewish bride. He married a Gentile bride. For 2,000 years now, Jesus Christ is married to a bride predominantly made of non-Jews, Gentile bride. Look at yourself, smile. We guys are so blessed. We get to be bridegroom and bride, amen?

So predominantly, while Israel is still in darkness, the Bible says, this darkness is temporal. The Bible says that. One day all Israel will be saved. And that happened also in the second coming, in the second appearance of Joseph to his brothers, he revealed himself to them. He says, "I am Joseph". And how did he use his power? To avenge them for throwing him into the pit, for selling him off? They sold him off for 20 pieces of silver. Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver by Judas. The story parallels in amazing way, amen. And then how did he use his power? In a vindictive way? No, he says, "Come near, my brothers. Come near. You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to save many lives alive. Come here". And they all wept, amen? No drama you watch can come close to this, man. I mean, all the romance, all the beauty is there, hallelujah. The more you read it, the more you enjoy it, right? Amen?

And then you talk about the younger brothers. Ah, I got no time to talk about the younger brother. Oh, the youngest brother. What's his name, people? The Benjamin. And I know that there's one person that God spoke about many years ago about the Benjamin generation, amen? Do you know about that? You should get his sermon on Benjamin generation. I know that guy more than 50 years already. More than 40 years already. More than 30 years already. Anyway, okay, I speak plainly. I preached that sermon. That's for the sake of your auntie that came just now. It's me, okay? But get that sermon, amen? It's another story altogether how this Benjamin generation is the end time generation made up of a lot of young people, of people that God will make young again, hallelujah. It's part of the Benjamin generation and then they receive five times more than any other generation, than any other brother.

Even the other brothers are related to Jesus, but he is the only one that was favored with more than them. We are the Benjamin generation, amen. Amen? And then all Israel will be saved. All his brothers will weep, you know, and when Jesus comes again. The first coming, they are blinded. They rejected Him. They were part of the group that says, "Crucify Him," Jew and Gentile, amen? But they will see Him and they will say, "Baruch haba beshem Adonai," "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord". All Israel will be saved. We're waiting for that day. Okay, then it go on. Like, you look at the story of David, David's story, you see Jesus. Goliath is the devil, amen, and he has 666. Throughout the entire chapter, you read carefully, look for the number six, you find it appears three times, 666, the number of antichrist, the number of Satan, right, the number of that man, the beast that will come in the end times.

Three times the word "six" appears. Or rather, no, not six time, the word "six". The word "six" itself appears twice, but there are another six items on Goliath, exactly six, so that makes it 666. Got it? And David came as a shepherd. Jesus died. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep, amen? Amen, people? And then when you read it, you get exciting, all right, when you see Jesus. If you just say, "Oh yeah, all right, man, I like stories of the underdog triumphing," you know, yeah, you can find the story there. You can find the romances or the drama there and all that, and it's a true story. You can read all that, but go deeper and see Jesus because Jesus is called the greater Son of David, right? Then when you see Jesus, oh, hallelujah. The Bible says he knocked down Goliath, cut off his head, amen.

See, that's how you deal with monsters. You don't kiss the girl after the monster supposedly dies. Invariably, he always gets up while you are kissing the girl. You can kiss the bride later. Can kiss the church later, all right? David knew better. He cut off the head. Once you cut off the head, that monster cannot come up already. That zombie is completely cut off, all right? You ever watch those movies, all right, they kiss too fast and then the zombie, "Ahhhh"! right? That kind of thing. Okay, I don't watch zombie shows if I can, all right? I used to, but I cannot sleep at night. I keep on seeing Pastor Mark's face so I really have to repent, you know?

So anyway. So yeah, so you look at the story of Genesis, you find not only Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Even Jacob's prophesies, you see Jesus. And then you see the story of Jesus clearly delineated in Joseph. But you go further to David, you find David, for example, after that you see David's victory over Goliath, but David conquered Goliath and then cut off his head and took his head somewhere very interesting. The Bible says he took his head all the way to Jerusalem. Now, why the battle took place at the Valley of Elah? It's miles away from Jerusalem. Why would David take the head of the enemy to Jerusalem? And back then, Jerusalem was not the capital of Israel, you know? It was under the Jebusites, which David later on conquered the Jebusites. So why did he...obviously he didn't bring it into the city of Jerusalem. The Jebusites was in charge. He must have planted the head somewhere outside.

Now, for years, I search, and search, and search. I think I found the answer. Why Jesus was crucified at a place called, "The Place of the Skull," amen? It was the place where David buried the head of Goliath. Why? God told him to, or else why bring it all the way there? God must have spoken to him. So he buried the head there, all right, the hill became a mount, and many years after, 1,000 years after, Jesus would come and be crucified in a place called, "The Place of the Skull," Calvary. But David conquered a natural enemy, a natural foe. Jesus conquered for us a greater foe. The very first prophecy of the Bible, when God told Adam and Eve after they sinned, "The woman's seed".

See, the woman don't have seed. It's a virgin birth being prophesied. "The woman's seed will crush the serpent's head," God told Satan, and there at Calvary, Jesus Christ hung there on the cross, bearing our sins, and literally the head of Goliath was underneath. He was crushing a greater Goliath for you and I, Satan's head, the prophecy fulfilled. The dragon slayer has triumphed, hallelujah! Amen? So I go further to the book of Judges, and then I ask myself, "Judges, a famous judge". Name me a famous judge in the Bible. You all know this from young, famous judge. Samson, right? Samson. You can say Shamgar and all that to show off that your Bible knowledge, but most people just know Samson, right? Samson, how do you find the comparison with Jesus? I don't see the comparison.

By the way, David's story, of course, you can go on and see so much more when he was wandering in the wilderness and all those who are in debt, distress, discontented came to him in the wilderness. So in a sense, Jesus Christ today, the greater Son of David, okay, is in the wilderness. He's at the Father's right hand, yes, bodily, right, but in a sense, we are following someone whom the world rejects. And if we are faithful, as the people, the mighty men, who became mighty men, by the way. All I mentioned just now, all those who are in distress, discontented, in debt, all came to David in the wilderness. That's you and I today, amen. Today you are all David's mighty men. Where did the mighty men come from? Those who were in debt, distress, discontented. That's all of us. We all rally around the one who is a giant killer, amen, and like Him, we behold Him, we become like Him. Later on, one of them can kill 200 at one time. Another one can kill 100 at a time. One can fight all the Philistines guarding his lentil field until the sword cleaved to his hand.

These are real stories, people. They became mighty men, unafraid just like their captain. That's you and I. But meanwhile, we are following Jesus who is predominantly rejected by this world. Don't be ashamed of Jesus, people. You know, if you say grace, I see people sometimes say grace like that... Amen. No, stand on the table and say, "Thank you"! No, of course I'm not saying that, amen. Don't do what Pastor Mark did, but don't be ashamed of His name. You know, they use His name in a profane way. They use His name in vain, all right? Amen? So you know, sometimes I hear people using Jesus' name, like in the lift. Some of the pastors here, they know. We have done this before, right? Like, I've done this with your, Pastor Lawrence, you know, Pastor Mark and all that. We are in a lift and then someone start talking and using the name of Jesus in vain.

Now, I'm smart enough not to get in trouble, okay, but also, since you don't care about where you are using Jesus' name like that, I don't care. I'm gonna talk about Jesus. So I start telling Mark, "Mark, you know how one gets saved or not"? And Mark knows me by now, "Oh yeah, how? I wanna know how to get saved". I say, "God so loved the world, He gave His Son, Jesus," right? And all this happens in the lift. Someone there still remember this. We'll say this openly, yeah. If someone is offended, hey, you offend me in the first place also the way you used the Lord's name in vain, amen? Yeah, they say that no one can stop them talking, right? No one can stop me preaching to my friend. I'm talking to my friend. And the end of it, Mark got saved again. Yeah, so now you see him, he's gloriously saved, amen.

By the way, for your auntie's sake that came, I have to tell you this. You're only saved once, okay? You can be backslidden later on or whatever, but you are only saved once, okay? Praise the Lord. I believe once you're saved, you're saved, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. But the story of Samson, how do you see Jesus there? Let me finish with David first. So you find David's rejection. All those who followed him during his rejection, they were all given positions when he reigned, when he came into his throne, right? They were all people around him. So Jesus promises, "You are they which continue with Me in My testings. You shall sit with Me". Remember that? When He comes again, amen? For the 12 apostles, and one was added after Judas fell, they will sit on 12 thrones judging Israel. We will judge the earth, amen, and also fallen angels. That's another subject altogether, okay?

So here we go. David later on became Solomon, his son. So Solomon is a picture of glorious reign. No wandering, no running, no lack, amen. Gold became like the stones in the streets. Their vessels of drinking and all that are all made of gold, silver, precious, the house overlaid with gold, inside is cedar wood. All things of quality and prosperity. What is that a picture of? Now we see a type of Jesus when He comes again and He rules, and we rule with Him, amen. So this temporal sufferings is nothing compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, amen. Hallelujah, whew. So I feel that, see, I prepared a lot to preach to you about how to study the Bible, but I feel like I need to just emphasize this principle of seeing Jesus. So we came to the book of Judges. How do I see Jesus?

You know, I see, like, Solomon, this Samson, Shimshon in Hebrew. Samson is bad example. Yeah, where it's bad, of course Jesus is not compared to the bad. Sometimes you can see the type in the contrast. Like you know, he had this mischievous thing. He tied two foxes together. He was so angry with the Philistines, you know what he did? He did it so childish, he was so piddish. He tied two foxes together, their tails, and he got a number of foxes. He tied their tails and their tails with a brand of fire. He lit up their tail with the fire and loosed them among the Philistines' harvest until the harvest was burnt down. Then the Philistines said, "Who did this"? And they all said it's Samson. You know, he's just finding trouble all the time, right? Instead of attacking them directly, he will do things like this.

So how do you compare that with Jesus? Jesus is not someone like that, right? The principle is that he sent them two by two to evangelize the harvest. Compare, contrast. Where there's destruction, there is life. Just like on the day of first Pentecost, the law was given, 3,000 died. Contrast, the Pentecost of the new covenant in Acts 2, God gave the Spirit and 3,000 people lived. So sometimes you look, you find Jesus in the contrast. Do you see it? I remember reading to my daughter when she was about four years old, right, about four, three years old. I was reading her Bible book and I was reading and talking about Samson, okay? Of course it's very kosher, kind of for kids, right? But I came to the part there's a photo of Samson pushing down the pillar, right?

So I read, and I said, "And Jessica, you know what he did? He put his hands on the pillar and he pushed it down. And the people that he killed, the Bible says, he died also, but the people that he killed in his death were greater than those he killed in his lifetime". Plus all the top who's who in the Philistine zoo, they were all dead. They were all dead. They were all there making fun of him. Then when I did this, I said, "And this is what he did", I said, "Oh my goodness, he did this". In His death, He saved more than He healed and saved when He was alive. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. And He rose from the dead. He's alive today, amen, at the Father's right hand, our great High Priest. Can I have a good amen? Are you all learning, people? Are you getting blessed from this?

All right, so don't forget, the first thing you wanna see is Jesus. And then there are so many things hidden in the Bible, I don't have time to go through all of them. So in some places, it's compare and contrast. Some places it's compare. Even the same character can be compare and contrast, like Moses. He went up the mountain. Just like Jesus, he went up the mountain. God sent Moses to be the redeemer of Israel. They were in slavery, right? You know the first time he appeared, they rejected him, right? So again, the same story. But there's also a contrast. Like you find that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That's why, church, you are not under the law. Under law means God is looking at what you do for Him, what you do for Him, what you do, what you do, what you do. No, we are under grace. God is looking at what Christ has done for you and your response to what Christ has done, all right? The law is right doing, grace is right believing.

Now, don't misunderstand me. When you have right believing, your doing will fall into place, amen? Are you with me so far? All right, I hope that this will help you get started in the right track. We'll probably continue this series on how to study the Bible. You want that? Okay, let me see by a show of hands. How many of you want it? Okay, you keep on coming back one place? Okay, keep coming back one place, amen, and the Lord continue to bless you more and more. But I just wanna tell you also that throughout the Scriptures, when you find judgment part, I just wanna give you a little principle here to help you get started. Show them real quick because we just have one more minute and then I'm gonna show you real quick about a principle you need to keep, okay? When you study the Old Testament, New Testament, whatever you study, if it's God interpreting it for you, there'll be a sweetness to it.

Look for the sweetness. That sweetness will heal your body. How do I know? Because the first time this word "sweet" appear in the verb form, it is actually the place of Marah, where God turned the bitter waters sweet for the children of Israel, and there God says, "I am the Lord who healeth you". So the first mention of sweetness, all right, is actually about healing, gotta do with healing. Now, when you read the word, this is what God wants. Ezekiel 3 real fast, all right? "Moreover God said to me, 'Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.'" Back in those days, the Word of God was on a scroll. They read it in a scroll, all right? Today in the book. You know what God says about this book? It's not for you to study.

Okay, we talk about how to study the Bible, right? But it's not just for you to study in a scholarly way. Many times you don't find that sweet. It is for you to feed, eat. You must have an eating nature. Even those judgment portion, you can draw sweetness from it, like honey out of the rock. You can see the judgment, but you can see the mercy at the same time. And study until you taste the sweetness, until you see sweetness in it. Because, you see, "Eat this roll," notice not, "Study this roll". "Eat this scroll," this scroll or roll, "'and go, speak to the house of Israel.' So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll". That's the Scripture. "And He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.' So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness".

Every preacher, this is your text passage. Feed on the Word, on the scroll, and then feed His people, all right? But how do you know when you have God's Word? It's like honey. I can't explain to you, it's like honey. How many tasted the honey just now when I shared? There's honey there. The two on Emmaus Road call it warm hearts. Strangely warm when we hear the exposition of God's Word, the way it should be. Look for sweetness. This sweetness is like when you sit under Jesus' feet. Song of Songs chapter 2, "Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons". Who is that? Jesus. All the sons of man cannot compare to Him. He's altogether lovely, right? "I sat down in his shade". This is like Mary and Martha, right? Mary sat under His shade. That speaks about how tall He is. "Under his shade with great delight, and his fruit," the words that He spoke, "was sweet to my taste". Was sweet to my taste.

So I studied this, right, and sometimes I get even more from this. As I meditate on these words, I look, "Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods," wow, "so is my beloved". So Jesus is likened, of all the fruit trees right, the Bible likens Him to an apple tree among the woods. That means apple is likened to Jesus. That means when God made apple, God thought of Jesus. That means apple fruit is good to eat. It does something to you. In Hebrew, it's "tapuach," coming from the word where God breathed into man. It's the word "breath", you know? Your apple fruit in Hebrew come from the word "breath". An apple a day keeps the doctor away. If the doctor is handsome and you are single, keep the apple away. All right, give praise to the Lord, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Every head bowed, every eye closed wherever you are, amen. Friend, the Bible is an exciting book. I just wanna encourage, first of all, all the believers to take time to read the Word, amen? There's sweetness there, and "Pleasant words are as in honeycomb, sweet to the soul and marrow, health to the bones". Health to the bones. Pleasant words. God's Words are pleasant words, amen? They are like honeycomb. Solomon says that in the book of Proverbs. "Sweet to the soul and health to the bones". Sweet to the soul. Feed it until there's sweetness there. There's a lot of bitterness in the world. There's a lot of sadness in the world. There's a lot of depression. There's a lot of lack, recession. There's a lot of broken hearts in the world. Where do you find that which is pure, that which is bread indeed, that which is truly substance that fulfills? Only in one book, the Word of God.

I pray in Jesus' name, Father, that You give to each and every one under the sound of my voice the spirit of wisdom and revelation; that when they open up the Scriptures, Father, they will see Christ and wondrous things out of Your Word. I pray, Father, that they will not get technical and fall under the law in the superficial reading, but they will see the gospel in every word. I pray, Father, in Jesus, You give them the grace, Lord, to know when to compare and when to contrast, and yet still see Jesus. Thank You, Father. May these people, Lord, be the people, Lord, just like the Emmaus Road couple, end up with warm hearts, Lord, all throughout this week. People of warm hearts. Thank You, Father. Grant them, this I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And if you're never saved, you have never made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, like the brothers of Joseph who rejected him, like those people who rejected Moses when God appointed Moses to be their deliverer, I pray that you're not that that will reject Jesus. My friend, not accepting Him, not believing on Him is tantamount to rejecting Him. But you say, "Pastor Prince, I want to accept Jesus as my Savior and Lord". If that is you, pray this prayer with me right now, okay? Say this from your heart. Say:

Heavenly Father, I thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ. He died on that cross for all my sins and He bore not only my sins, but all my diseases and all my pains. And on the third day, You raised Him from the dead and You raised Him from the dead because You have declared me righteous in Your eyes. Thank You, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord now and forever. In Jesus' name, amen.

So once you pray that prayer, you are now a child of God. Old things are passed away, all things in your life have become new, amen? Amen? Go to the Word of God. You do not know how to get started, you can get one of my daily bread, you know, where we have a Scripture a day and a teaching to go. It's the best way to start. It's one of the good ways to start to make sure you interpret correctly. But by all means, get into the Word. Praise the Lord, hallelujah.

Stand to your feet. If you all prayed that prayer for the first time to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, we'd like to get in touch with you, amen? Don't be alone. Don't be alone. We'd like to get in touch with you and invite you to be part of this company of believers, amen, where we're gonna receive more and more, more and more this coming year. We rejoice with you. Praise the Lord. Are you all ready to face this week with hope? Amen, or hopelessness? Hope, amen. Lift your hands all across this place wherever you are watching this.

Heavenly Father, I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, even as they have received, Lord, the Scriptures, Lord, that was shared just now, hope have arisen, Lord, for their future, the long distant future as well as also this immediate future of this week. And I pray in Jesus' name, Lord, the things that they're confident for, Lord, believing You for, whether it's for their children, whether it's for their studies, whether it's for a breakthrough, Lord, in their career or ministry, whether it is overcoming a bad habit, being freed and delivered from it, I pray, Father, that this week You will cause it to happen, Lord, amen.

Expedite, Lord, manifest. Expedite the manifestation of Your miracle in their lives in the name of Jesus. For those, Lord, who are troubled about some symptom in their body, bring them to a place of rest as You remove that symptom with all its root causes, Lord. And Father, I pray in Jesus' name that You'll cause Your people to be in great shalom, first in their spirits and then in their minds, in their thought life, in their soulish realm, in all their emotions, as well as in health, shalom health and wholeness in their bodies throughout this week. And Father, keep them safe, safe in Your love in Your bosom throughout this week. Help them to be conscious when the enemy gives them distractions. Help them especially at that time to be conscious that You love them and Jesus died for them. In Jesus' name, God bless you. You are dismissed.