Joseph Prince - Much More Restoration Is Coming
Praise God. Hello, church. Greetings with praise and mercy on you. First, I just wanna, on behalf of my family also, to thank all of you for all your precious condolences and especially your prayers for me and my family during this time of my mother's homegoing to be with the Lord. She is in a far better place than any of us, okay? And of course I missed her very much. She was the one that talked to me about Jesus when I was a small boy and not fully understanding everything, but she kept on talking to me about the Lord. So I told her to buy me a cross, but the only thing is that, you know, she also brought me to see vampire movies and all that. And I asked her to buy me a cross because vampires are scared to look at the cross.
Anyway, that started me going on a journey where the cross of Jesus Christ became more and more preeminent in my life, amen. And when she looks down with all the cloud of witnesses, she is among family, amen? My dad is there, and my grandfather is there, grandmother is there. They have all had a good time, good party up there, amen. She's young, younger than me, amen. And forever young, never again to experience pain or anything like that. You know, I got a strong feeling it will just be temporary, very temporary, because the Lord is coming back soon. And the Bible says, amen, give Him praise. Praise the Lord. You know, that's one of the things that's missing in the preaching and teaching around the world today, the emphasis on the coming of the Lord. And the Lord will bless any ministry that talks about the Rapture because they are preparing their people, amen. That is the blessed hope.
And the Bible says when he comes again with the shout of the archangel, the last trump, the dead in Christ will rise first, amen. My mother is gonna have a brand new body before me. And we who are alive, I said we who are alive, again, our Christian position is not to look to the grave. It's to look to the sky, amen? And when He comes, the dead in Christ will rise first. They will get their bodies first, and then we will get our bodies. The Bible says this mortality will put on immortality. Our bodies become instantly, the word there used in the Bible is, "In the twinkling of an eye". Real quick. In the Greek, atomic second. Our bodies are transformed to the point where we are forever young, forever healthy, forever strong to be with the Lord. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
So we are looking, that is the blessed hope. If you tell me the Rapture will happen when Jesus comes back, there's no Rapture when Jesus comes back, it's referring to Jesus at the end of seven years' Tribulation, that's not the blessed hope for the church. How is that the blessed hope when we are going through the worst seven years of Tribulation that the world has ever seen? No, the blessed hope is Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions. I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself so that where I am, there you may be also". You see, there's no Tribulation, no waiting for Tribulation. No, church. There is no mark of the beast around, anyone make you afraid, amen? Jesus Himself said that when you see all these things happening, wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, earthquakes in various places, what did Jesus say? What did Jesus say? "For God so loved the world that He..." No, what did Jesus say?
All right, Estée, give them that verse up there. All right, oh, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars". What is the difference between wars and rumors of wars? Now we have a war, right? Russia, Ukraine. We, us, we are in the midst of it. What are rumors of wars? New Living Translation says, "Threats of wars". We hear about threats of wars, right? But what did Jesus say? "See", let's all read that, "See that you are not troubled". Look at your neighbor and say, "See that you're not troubled". Are you troubled? So if anyone preaches in such a way that tell you that, you know, this is gonna happen, and we are entering a great Tribulation, and this is the mark of the beast, don't take this, don't take that, don't take this, we are not there yet. Let me continue. He says, "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences".
We saw that, right? Pandemics, plagues, "Pestilences, and earthquakes, earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows". The word "sorrows" there is the word "odin," which is used for a woman about to give birth. She has birth pangs, all right? It comes in waves, birth pangs. It's not the birth yet. It's birth pangs. So these are signs that the earth... God does not send these things. When God made the heaven, He made the heaven perfect. These things are happening because of man's sins, all right? The Bible says, "The earth responds to man's sin," all right, in a way that's, you know, like for example, there's a large country, one of the largest countries in the world. For many years, they cannot even have a proper wheat crop. I can tell you nations that have spilled blood, innocent blood, persecuted Christians, they are having problems with poverty, lawlessness, and they can hardly have a good wheat crop. They have to depend on imports, why? The earth is rebelling.
So all these are signs that the earth is rebelling, amen? We call it climate change. The Bible calls it, "All creation is groaning". But when Jesus comes, everything will be set right, amen? And you know what's the best of all? I'm glad I will see my mom. I'm glad I will see my dad. And you will see your loved ones. But we get to see Jesus face-to-face, the altogether lovely One, the Bright and Morning Star, amen, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the One the Bible calls the desire of all nations. He's all lovely, so beautiful. We're gonna see Him face-to-face, amen? Now we can sense His presence with us. Even right now as I speak, you can sense His presence. But His presence is here by the Holy Spirit, but there we'll see Him face-to-face because He did not rise spiritually. He rose bodily, and He went up to heaven bodily, and He will come again bodily. Look to the skies. Your redemption draws near.
He does make everything beautiful in His time, amen. You see, the Lord does everything in the right time, amen. Even our seemingly, you know, bad things, adversities, and all that, God allows it to happen at the certain time that we might not see at that moment that it is actually the right time, because that produces something later on. We don't even realize it is because of this adversity, amen? How many know that God makes all things work together for His child's good, amen? You are sons and daughters of God. Because of that, your inheritance is at everything. Not everything is good, but everything in your life is working for your good, amen? Delays even, traffic lights. For all you know, God knows if you go too fast, you are a person who is very fast, very fast on the road, and there is an impending accident in front, so he allows a lot of red lights.
And here you are, breathing fire and brimstone, all right, because you're not happy about it. Thank the Lord. Even small things like this. I'm using a small illustration because I want you to know that all things means all things. You gotta believe it. "I didn't get the seat I want today, Pastor". All things work together for good. You are meant to be there. You are meant to meet someone maybe. You are meant to be at the right place and always remember God is protecting you. And I know that many of you have testimonies of how, you know, you were restrained from going somewhere and you found out later on that was a problem area, you know? God always, you know, we complain now because we don't see His love for us. He looks far ahead, amen?
So Martha and Mary may weep, and Jesus wept, all right, together with them, but Jesus knew He was gonna raise Lazarus from the dead. And Lazarus's name will always be there, amen, and He knew the outcome, but they didn't because they live in the moment. Actually, Martha lived in the past and in the future. Mary lived in the moment. And there's a Bible verse, very beautiful verse, that says, "Now is the accepted time. Now is the Day of Salvation". The first part there, the accepted time, "Now is the accepted time," is the word "kairos dektos". Kairos dektos. It's a quotation from Isaiah that shows "eth," time, and "ratzon". Remember the year of ratzon? So "ratzon" and "dektos" in the Greek is the same word, the time when God's grace profusely abound, amen. So when is the kairos dektos, accepted time?
Now, now, now. With all that is happening that is dark in the world, God is doing great things. Revivals are breaking out everywhere, amen? New covenant revival. Praise the Lord, amen. Ministry of righteousness revival. And remember, when you listen to end times, you listen to or you watch this kind of thing, do not let your heart be troubled. If the person is saying that, "Oh, the bowls are being poured in the book of Revelation. We are now in the beginning part of the Tribulation, Great Tribulation," that person doesn't know what he's talking, okay? Because the child of God will not go through that. The Bible says very clearly in Romans 5, it tells us this. It says, "But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us".
Isn't it amazing that, think about how much God loves you now, even, that you are His child. While you were still a sinner, God loved you. God sent His Son while we were all sinners, amen. We don't care about Him. We have no heart for Him, amen. We were sinning our way. All we like sheep have gone astray, yet God sent His Son to become the payment, the ransom for our sins, amen. God demonstrates His love for us. Can I have a good amen? All right, in all the evil that has happened, remember evil is not from God. Why did God make Adam and Eve, Pastor Prince, if God knew that they're gonna sin? Well, would you still make someone and give them a free choice, knowing that free choice must be free choice? And if free choice is exercise, there might be a possibility they might choose the wrong choice? And because of that, you refuse to make someone with free choice?
Then the best thing for you is AI. But sometimes AIs will misbehave, right? So God doesn't want an AI, you know, anything with artificial intelligence. He gave us free choice. He made us in His image. But behind everything, God knew man would fall. But even behind that, God in His full knowledge saw that this evil, this fall of man would bring forth the greatest redemption, amen. You see, if man continued unfallen, if man continued sinless, right, not sinless, but not sinning, innocent, all right, there's no guarantee that Adam and Eve, if they succeeded, that their descendants won't. 'Cause by then there'll be hundreds times hundreds, there'll be thousands times ten thousands, and as time goes on, the earth will be populated. There's no guarantee that someone would not sin, so it's always a state of insecurity. But with the redemption of Christ, God sent His Son who is the Last Adam.
Now in Christ there is a guarantee and eternal security for all of us, amen. Our redemption is forever. You are saved eternally, amen. There's no worry and think about that. Adam and Eve, when they were in the garden, they were in charge of the earth. The Bible says, for you and I, through Christ's redemptive work, we are now joint heirs with Jesus Christ in the center of the universe. And where is it? Beyond the Milky Way, beyond what even the greatest telescope that man can build can reach, amen. That's where my mom went through. The angels brought her right there, right through it, to God's presence, amen? One day, the Bible says, heaven will come down. Literally a whole city will come down on earth, all right? That's another message altogether. But how many know that God gets glory, God turns even the wrath of man to praise Him. Not that God initiates evil. God cannot. God is perfect goodness. God is love. But God gets glory, think about it.
How is truth glorified? How is truth magnified? In the midst of what? Dishonesty. In the midst of cheating. In the midst of all this sin, when there's truth, truth is seen clearly. You see, the part of God, mercy, compassion, grace, love, cannot be exercised, even though it is inherent in the Godhead. Even before man fell it is there, but it cannot be demonstrated unless there's sin because grace is for people who have sinned. Mercy is for those who have failed. So that part of God cannot be seen until there's a fall. So I'm not saying, listen, that we fall so that God's grace can be seen. No, that's how people try to pervert this, but the truth is that's the truth.
Just like truth cannot be seen unless it's among dishonesty, falsehood; love cannot be seen in its beauty until it is among bitterness, vengefulness, vindictiveness, bitterness, unforgiveness. Then that someone with love comes out, like Jesus in the midst of Galilee. When He walked around, there was hatred around Him, amen, and yet He healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed the leper. Beautiful, grace in the midst of ugliness that our sins have brought into this world. So the problem with the world today, all right, people say, "Save the world, save the world," and that's good, but save the people. The people are causing the problems. If the people are saved, your world gets right.
There was a pastor one time, he was preparing his message and he could not get his message, and it was Saturday night and he was like, "Oh God, please speak to me. Give me a message, Lord," all right? Have you been there before, pastors? Right? And his little boy came in and asked him, "Dad, can you please put this together"? And he said, "Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm busy now". No, not put together, "Can you help me, read to me this story"? Then he realized, you know, that behind the story there was a story about earth, the globe, and behind, you know, it was a man. So he said, "I think I'll make this whole thing to a jigsaw piece so that my son will be occupied and don't disturb me. I need the Word from the Lord". So the son, he cut into a jigsaw, like a jigsaw puzzle, and very quickly the boy came back. He says, "There's no way he knows how the earth is like".
And finally, the boy came back. He's pasted everything together and it's perfect, just like how, you know, the earth is supposed to be. Then he said, "How did you manage that"? Then, "Behind there's a picture of a man. When I put the man right, the earth becomes right". Got the message? So the pastor got the message. When the man is right, his world gets right, amen? It starts with us. You see, we are so proud that we refuse to admit that we have weakness even. And yet, we saw the last time I preached, we talked about how God uses the weak things. You know, it's not that after my weakness, then am I strong. I grow out of my weakness. There is a truth there out of that, but that's not what Paul was saying when Paul says, "When I am weak, then I am strong". But we don't like that, you see?
What we wanna show in the front and exhibit to all the world is strength, you know? We wanna show ourselves as being capable to do it all. I'm invincible, you know? You know, that's how we sing and that's how we believe. And then all of a sudden, bang, something happens to us and, you know, we are no longer as invincible as we thought. We forget. Our hope is actually in our weakness. Our weakness entitles us. It's our title to God's strength, God's power. "My grace," God told Paul, "My grace is made complete in your weakness". But you say, "I got no weakness," right? Then you are left to yourself. So God uses the jawbone of a donkey in the hands of Samson to kill 1,000 men, amen? God used the ox goad, where you prod the goat to move, it's a long piece, but it's meant not for war. It's meant to prod the buffalo on, right? And He used that in the hands of Shamgar to destroy 600 Philistines, amen.
An earthen vessel in the hands of 300 men, 301 plus Gideon, all right? When Gideon shouts, "The trumpet of the Lord, the sword of the Lord," and Gideon and they all shouted the same, and they smashed the earthen vessel, all the enemies fled. Earthen vessel and just a trumpet, and the enemies fled? Amen, a piece of bread and juice partaken, amen, and the tumor disappears. It's because we despise weak things, small things. We forget the Bible says that God uses weak, foolish things, ignoble things to confound the mighty and the wise, amen. So the lesson of Job is very simple. Even though he was a righteous man in God's eyes, upright in God's eyes, there was self-righteousness in him, which at the end of his dealings, God allowed him to be tested. He says, "I used to hear about You, Lord, but now I see You with my eyes and I abhor myself," amen?
Straight away, God restored everything he lost. Everything he lost, amen. Amen? Everything exactly. You count the number that he lost, the number is given, it's exactly double. The Bible says the Lord restored double. And that's the thing that James tells us to consider the end of the Lord in the case of Job. The end...what did the Lord do for him? He restored everything. But you say that, "But the children that he lost, they're the same number". All right, no, because you know why? It's double. Now he has all these children, and exactly the same number are in heaven. So in other words, God is showing, you see, if God doubled the children, that means they are lost, the previous ones were lost. When he goes to heaven, they are there. Everything was doubled. Can I have a good amen, people?
So he had to go through a lot. God had to challenge him about his self-righteousness, just like all of us. You know, we point fingers at others. You know, every time I think about criticizing someone, I have to stop and judge myself. Joseph Prince, are you guilty of the same thing? Maybe not to the extent, but the potential is there, or I've done it to a certain extent. It's good to be like that. You know why? Because it keeps you humble, all right? It keeps you humble. So the lesson that God is teaching us is always, right, to be conscious of weakness, but not to stay there, and be conscious of Christ and His power, amen, in our life, amen? All the sins that you all, you know, find that makes you fall on your face all the time, and you don't wanna do it, but when the temptation comes, you find it so strong. Do you know why? Because you are still somehow trusting in yourself. You need to come to a place where you tell the Lord, "I have this weakness. This is my problem".
You know, people who smoke and all that, they tell you, right, "I can stop anytime I want". Have you heard that? Come on, have you heard that? All right, people who drink can say, "I can stop anytime I want". Am I right? Am I right or not? Okay, and you all know the truth. You must come to a place you say, "I cannot. I need help," amen? To the Lord especially. To the Lord. When you say, "I can't," He can. Amen? So God uses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. A little boy, not with a sword in his hand but a slingstone, to knock down the champion, the best solider there is in the army of the Philistines, amen. So God's ways are humility, even though He is the awesome God, amen. His ways are all lowly. Stay low and the dew will fall on you. Stay low and grace will come on you. Can I have a good amen, church? Praise the Lord.
All right, hallelujah. You can go home now, all right? So what's your weakness? What's my weakness, amen? Maybe your weakness is that you say, "Oh Pastor Prince, you talk about on the road and all that, you and Pastor Mark always the same". Actually, Pastor Mark always get the same weakness I get. I don't know why because he preach after me, so maybe it's the same illustration, I don't know. But maybe you ask, "Pastor Prince, I'm really cool on the road, you know? I'm very courteous on the road". That can be true, but you have a weakness in other areas. So it's not confined within the illustrations I use, okay? Are you with me so far? All right, so during this time of kairos moment, this is gonna be kairos year for all of us, amen? What's "kairos" again? In Hebrew, Old Testament, it is the word "eth," "eth". In Greek, it is "kairos," all right?
So now is the kairos moment. So God is saying to us today, this year especially, He's gonna do great things for us. Yes, the world will get darker and darker. I always have to remind people Pastor Prince is not talking about the world. The world will get darker and darker. The church will get more and more glorious, amen? Brighter and brighter. Praise the Lord. Thank You, Jesus, amen? Are you part of the church? And all the more we get together, church, during this time, and you find that we have... do you know when you come together and you worship the Lord, that's a snapshot of what will happen throughout eternity? You're actually tasting heaven. You're tasting eternity already, amen? And the presence of the Lord will be so much more than what you experience here, okay? Praise the Lord.
So during this kairos moment, another thing that God wants to do for us, and this He impressed on me for a few weeks now. I've been wanting to share this but never got a chance to because I believe God, whatever I release in a particular service, all right, is actually what God wants for that service. Even though I've prepared way ahead, can be a few years even, right, but I only get to release that word if He allows me, I have the release, okay? And I have the release to share this with you, that it is also a time of restoration; that whatever you have lost, whatever you feel like you have been robbed of, someone cheated you, you've been scammed, that's a big word nowadays, especially in Singapore. You've been scammed, right? You say that, "It's my stupidity. It's my foolishness".
Maybe you subscribe to a teaching that says if it's because of your stupidity, God is not obliged to help you. Church, the very fact that Christ died for sinners means he dies for our stupidity, amen. He didn't wait for us to become smart and then He died for us. He didn't wait for us, so I have a message I preached years ago, very long message. The title is, "How God Helps Us Even in the Mistakes of Our Own Making," something like that. Very long, right? So God helps us even with the mistakes of our own making. God helped Adam and Eve redeem them, putting on coats of skin, that means blood sacrifice, amen, to cover them, their sins, while they were still in the their sins. They were hiding from God. God provided for them, amen? Are you listening to what I'm saying?
So all our mistakes don't... You see, that's self-righteousness coming in again, by saying that, "Oh, you know, God only help people who help themselves". That's not from the Bible. "Oh, yes it is". It's not. Okay, it's from Benjamin Franklin, lah. Okay? And the truth be known, God helps those who are helpless. We come to a place, in that area you think you can help yourself, there's no grace there. There's no power of God released there. It's all you. It's all your own charisma, your own skill, your own talent, which is actually based on man has expiry date. Won't go so far. With God's grace, it goes on, and on, and on. And that's why the Bible says, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles," even though they are old, because wings as eagles in Psalms 103, verse 5 says what? God renews your youth like the eagles.
So, "Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength," amen? "They shall mount up with wings as eagles". Now, listen to this. "They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint". Then in case you are wondering, "Oh yeah, of course this is true, lah, for the young people". No, he's not talking about young people. Especially he's talking about elderly people. You know why? The next verse says, "Even the youths shall faint and the young man shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord". Oh, the verse that precedes this actually. It's the verse before this. It says, "Even the youths shall faint and the young man shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength". You see?
So the contrast with young people. It's not young people running and not be weary, walking and not fainting. It's referring to people that wait upon the Lord, amen. Praise the Lord. So the word there, "Shall renew their strength," in the Hebrew, is, "Exchange their strength". Literally, exchange their strength, strength for strength. What does that mean? If you have strength, that's good, isn't it? But no, your strength has an expiry date. Why? Because it's human, amen. It won't last the race. So when you're before the Lord like you are right now, waiting upon the Lord, amen, every time you spend time with God, there's an exchange of strength, natural strength for His omnipotent strength. No wonder you stay young and strong. You will run and not be weary, amen? You'll walk and not faint. Praise the Lord. So that's restoration in this "eth," Hebrew, "kairos" moment, okay?
All right, where do you find that, Pastor? I wanna share with you a beautiful story that happened in the Old Testament, and this is a story, the time of Elisha. Elisha is a picture of grace. It's a picture of Jesus Christ. Elijah is a picture of the Old Testament, amen. That's why the vast majority of his miracles are actually judgment, all right? Judgment, with a few miracles of grace, but basically judgment. And the foremost, of course, to call the famine upon Israel because of their idolatry, okay? But his successor, Elisha, has a double portion. He did double the miracles of Elijah. And his name, Elisha, has Jesus' name at the end, "Sha," Yeshua, which means, "My God saves," all right? Jesus is Yeshua, Yahweh saves, all right, the covenant name of God, but Elisha is from Elohim, God the Creator saves. Elijah is, "My God is Yahweh," amen, but here, God gets personal and He comes to save. And that's why all the miracles except for one, the miracles of Elisha are all miracles of grace.
So we follow this story now, 2 Kings chapter 8. "Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, 'Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine.'" Just like right now, we are in the midst of a famine, okay? There's a lot of financial upheavals happening all over the world, a lot of financial instability. One time I was driving, I told you all before, I was driving in my car. I heard the news and it says, "We're gonna share with you crisis in the market," you know, in the financial market. I heard, "Christ is". Yes! We don't have to worry, amen? In everything, He has the preeminence. Yeah, for those who don't know, it's "crisis" actually what was said, but for the anointed ear, all right, it is "Christ is". So when you hear "crisis," don't worry. He is, amen? The Great I Am is with you, praise God.
Then Elisha says, right, "Stay wherever you can". He told the woman, all right, the woman whose son he had restored to life. Remember that woman? She actually built a little place. She told her husband, "This man that passes by every time, he's a man of God". Wanted to make a little room for him, so they did so, all right, and a little room for him. And they have uncovered Elisha's bedroom, by the way, all right, in Israel, and I have taken pictures lying on his bed. Okay, not his bed, lah, the soil where his bed was. It's like a bedform. Am I right, Lawrence? We were there. You can see Lawrence nodding his head, okay? And we were there. The pastors were there, all right? Just uncovered. Just uncovered.
So the last time we were there, they just uncovered it. They have to cover it because of the pollution and all the birds might just make holes in it and all that, so they have to cover it. But they opened up and they invited me to have a chance to go into his room, praise God. I felt the anointing, hallelujah. If Elisha asked Elijah for double portion, there and there I prayed, "God give me a double portion," amen? Hallelujah. So the woman had no son and her husband was quite old at that time, so Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, said, you know, Elisha was saying, "This woman takes care of us, given us a place to stay and all that, provide for us. What shall be done for her"? Gehazi the servant says, "Oh, they have no son". And Elisha called her, and she's standing at the doorway. "This time next year, you will embrace a son," amen.
Recently, a lady brought a baby and the testimony was, she was telling me, that, "This is the baby that you said, 'This time next year, you will have a baby,'" when they couldn't have a baby, all right? And I was speaking the word, almost the same word as Elisha did to the woman. "This time next year, you'll be holding a baby". And she was holding it, and next year she was holding the baby. The child grew up, and went to the field with the mother and the father, and has sunstroke. I believe it's sunstroke. The Bible doesn't say it. All of a sudden, he held his head and he fell, and the mother rocked him in her arms, and he died. And you know the story, God used Elisha to raise the boy. This is the story, okay? Let's follow on.
"So Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life. He says, 'Arise, go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the Lord has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years.'" How long will it be? Yes. Have you noticed seven cycles of famine, seven cycles of plenty? What are you saying, Pastor Prince? Moving right along. "So the woman arose and did according to the saying of the man of God, and she went with her household and dwelt in the land of the Philistines seven years". Then, go on. "It came to pass, at the end of seven years, that the woman returned," now, at the end of seven years now, "that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines; and she went to make an appeal to the king for her house and for her land". Why? Because squatters came into the land. She left the house, right? Left the house vacant and all that, the land. Other people came in and took her house, her lands.
"A woman returned from the land of the Philistines; she went to make an appeal to the king," right? At that time, the king, "for her house and her land. Then the king talked with Gehazi". At the same time, the king was talking with Elisha's servant, and the king was saying to the servant of Elisha, Gehazi, "Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done". So of course there are a lot of things Elisha did, right? As he came to the part where Elisha raised that woman's son from the dead, guess what happened? Next verse, "Now it happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life," how Elisha had restored the dead to life, "that there was the woman whose son he had restored to life".
There was the woman. This reminds me of a church I know whose theme this year is... no, not kairos. You must say the whole thing. Kairos year of the right time, right place. So, let's see from the Word of God, which God actually gave it to me to tell you all there's restoration coming. Because with right time, right place, see what happened? "As he was telling the king how Elisha restored the dead to life, then there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, 'My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.'" It happened. Now was the accepted time, the kairos dektos moment for that woman, okay? "And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed a certain officer for her, saying, 'Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now.'"
No, you didn't get it. Before you shout, listen. What did he give her? Not just restoration of the what she lost, much more. "Restore all that was hers, and all the proceeds of the field from the day that she left the land until now". Every profit that happened because of the land, make sure she gets it. So restore the house, restore the land is one thing. It's good restoration already, but all the proceeds from the day she left. Seven years, yo. Seven years of profits back paid. So God is saying when He restores... and we've been teaching this, right? If you are listening, you will hear that God always restores much more. You lost a loved one, you lost an item, you lost money, you lost that relationship, you lost whatever it is, and you lost that sense of being close to God especially, you know, that you've been longing for all this time.
I remember when I was younger, I would worship the Lord and I'd feel God's closeness, and nowadays I don't know why I don't feel, you know, if that's all that, listen. Especially that part of your life, God's gonna restore with much more. So you won't have to look back to your younger years, you know? And there's a verse in the Bible that says, in Ecclesiastes, those who say that the best days are in the past are not wise. That's the verse in Ecclesiastes. Those that say that the good years are in the past are not wise. Yet I myself am guilty of this many times. I think back about the past. I think about those good days, those good years, and all that, and I think about a lot of things about the past. I think about the revivals of the past. I think about the man of God that was there in the past. And God will tell me, God gave me this verse actually for me, not for you all, lah. You're all very present and forward-looking, you know, but for me, for me, okay?
So it came as a rebuke. God says to say the days that have passed are better is not wise, amen? Open your eyes to what God is doing today, all right? He has not lost the formula to make manna. He still can provide for you every day. He has not forgotten how to open a way where there is no way, and three million people crossed as on dry land. He has not forgotten how to bring meat for you all to eat every single evening. He has not forgotten to be compassionate. In fact, David one time says, "Has the Lord forgotten to be compassionate"? Amen? It happens to man, human nature. No, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So in the midst of famine, He wants you to know one thing. Not only will He provide for you, God supplies with much more. Much more left over. That woman got restored, but with 120%.
Now, the reason we say 120% is because of the teaching there is five offerings in the book of Leviticus, all right? The first one is burnt offering; then we have the mill offering, grain offering; then we have the peace offering; then we have the sin offering; then we have something called trespass offering in the King James, or guilt offering, okay? Now, in the guilt offering, let's say you stole from someone. For example, your sin was that you stole from someone, and then later on you realize that you have sin and all that and you wanna be right with God. Back in the Old Testament, they will bring a ram. They will bring a ram. The ram is a picture of Jesus, amen. A male lamb is a ram. It's a picture of Jesus without blemish.
So you bring it to the priest, all right, but if he has stolen from someone, all right, it's not just the lamb has to pay for his sin, all right? He has to make recompense. He has to make restoration, reparation. That's how your lawsuits all happened in the Judeo-Christian values and principles that make up the bedrock of legality, all right, taught in all civilized countries in the world. It's based on principle of Leviticus. Morality is based on the Ten Commandments, right, amen? Of course, true morality comes from the heart, and that's based on grace, amen. But it governs the world outwardly. It governs the world. And if the world would abide by this, outwardly even, right, it will prosper, amen. So here we go, the principles of that.
Now, I'm gonna show you an example. Show them Leviticus 6. "If he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that was found..." Now, I want you to stop and ask yourself why did God write all these things down for you? To fill up space with it so that it make His Bible thicker. No, every Scripture is God-breathed. Does it speak to us now? Yes, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. So definitely it's referring to all of us who have sinned, am I right? Amen, we've all sinned, okay? And, "Or anything about which he has sworn falsely..." So he covers every sin in this category here. "He shall restore it in," what? "In full and shall add a fifth to it".
So in full, a fifth to it is what? A fifth is what? Twenty percent. So in full is 100%. You must restore it 100%, and then add 20% for reparation. And that's based on the legality out there. That's why when someone does wrong and they are compensated, they are not compensated just with the amount they lost. The person would have to pay what? The damage, the damages. Am I right, amen? Now, don't be sue-crazy, okay? But my wife is Sue, Pas... "Oh, there you go again, Pastor Prince. You are so corny". Okay, "He shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to whoever it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt". Next verse, "He will bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish". This refers to Jesus.
So of course, all sins are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Does it mean that today you make reparation? It's kind of hard. Sometimes the person that you wanna make reparations to is dead. Sometimes the place doesn't exist anymore, okay? And so the thing is this. Like the thief on the cross, he's a thief. He tells Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom," right? Remember that? Was he saved? What did Jesus tell him? "Today, you shall be with Me in paradise". Now, Jesus didn't say, "You know what the Bible says, right? Go down and make reparations," right? He didn't tell him, "Go down, make reparations 120%". And the thief would say, "I want to, but I'm kind of stuck".
So just know this, okay? So why was it written? In a way, God hides pictures about His Son. You know who is the one that makes reparation today? Jesus. Jesus. "But Pastor Prince, Jesus never sinned". You are right. He never sinned, but He took the place of the person as if He sinned. That is you and I. On that cross, God made Him who knew no sin. My son's latest memory verse. Get him at night, I say, "2 Corinthians 5:21". He will say, "He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him". I don't care whether he memorize like a parrot or not. One day, that verse will speak to him. Just put it there, just put it there, just put it there, amen? Amen? It's a great memory verse. "God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him".
So He took our place. He took the place as if He's the person who lied, who extorted, who stole, swore falsely, or whatever it is, the part of a sinner, and I take the place as the most, like, perfect man, which is Jesus. Sinless, perfect, right? The divine exchange took place. So who is the one that becomes liable for my sins? Jesus. Therefore, the one liable for all these sins must be the one to make reparations. Am I right? So there's a verse in the Bible that says this in Psalms 69. It says this, "They that hate me without a cause". Now, this is a Messianic verse and I'll show you why. "They that hate me without a cause," all right, but it's a long verse, and it ends with, "then I restored that which I took not away".
Now, why do I say it's a Messianic verse? Pastor Prince, how can you say that? Here it says Jesus said, "I restored that which I took not away". He didn't take it away, but he restored it. Got it? Then the question comes, "Why do you say this is referring to Jesus? Maybe David is talking about himself". Right, good question. That's why I quoted the first part, "They hated me without a cause," this verse. And I told you what? It's a Messianic verse. Why? Because Jesus, listen, Jesus quoted this verse in the upper room, referring to Himself. In the upper room, He says, "They will send some of you. They will kill some of you. They will persecute you, all right, because they hated Me".
This is what He said in the upper room, John 15. But Jesus is talking, "But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'" He's quoting what? Psalms 69. If He went on quoting, He'd also say that, "I restored that which I took not away". Got it? So in other words, Jesus became the one on the cross to give back to you what you have lost. And not just what you have lost. In the mentality of humans, all right, man today, they cannot go beyond, you know, reparation in terms of restoring something back like you would restore a sofa set. You would restore your... no one restores TV nowadays. They just buy a new one, okay? Restore parts of your car. And whatever you restore, you repair, is usually not as good as the original. Am I right?
So it's better to buy an original sometimes. You know what I'm saying? Because you know you will break down again. But when God restores, when God repairs, it's always greater in quality or quantity. David lost a son, all right, and the next son from the same woman, Bathsheba, was seven-fold quality, Solomon, amen. Among the sons, God chose him to succeed his father. If you lost a loved one, all right, you lost your husband, doesn't mean God will give you seven husbands. Let it be, Pastor Prince! No, no, you cannot handle it, all right? But God will give you a seven-fold husband, amen? Yeah, when he plays games, he takes off his shirt, only seven-fold. Okay, okay, seven blocks. Seven blocks, amen? Amen? Like me, when I take off my, you know, t-shirt or whatever, my son has learnt to say, "Washboard"! Keep on confessing, son. Keep on confessing. Praise the Lord.
Any time, any time, all right, Justin and I have this thing going. He will say, "Washboard"! I love to hear it, amen? Pastor, you are teaching him to lie. No, the Bible says, "We call those things that are not as though they are". It's the nature of God. God saw darkness. God didn't say, "Darkness," God said, "Light"! amen? He's calling forth, amen? And I'm seeing it happening, you know? Really, I'm seeing it happen, amen? Now I pour water accidentally, it goes four ways. Jealous, right? Never mind. He's gotta work hard for it. It comes by grace. So this verse is quoted from Psalms 69. So Jesus restored what He did not take away. Are you all with me so far?
Listen, the cross itself gave us back, look at Psalms 5 again. We go on to Romans 5. "God demonstrates", we read that just now. Now, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood". The church has not even touched on the "much more". The church has not even touched on the "much more". You see, that woman did not just get back her house and her land. Maybe you get back your house after seven years someone else stay in it, do you think, what kind of quality is it, you know? But now she has the money from seven years profits to make all the repairs and renovations she needs, with plenty left over, amen? Amen. Don't you just love God? So here, you find five times in one chapter, Romans 5, number of grace. Romans 5, five times it's mentioned, "Much more, much more, much more, much more, much more".
What Jesus did is much more, and the church hardly touches on this. Look at this, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood". Are you all justified by His blood? Shout, "Amen"! Well, if you are, listen. "Much more, we shall be saved from wrath through Him". That tells you straightaway we are not going through the Great Tribulation, because the seven years is known as the day of God's wrath. See? That's why the Rapture must happen before the Tribulation. Hmm, good news? Good news. The Bible calls it a blessed hope. To say that we are going through it, what blessed hope, amen? But to say that we won't be going through it, yes, that's blessed hope, amen? But we will experience the birth pangs, but all these are just the beginning.
Just imagine if the real thing happens on this earth, it's gonna be terrible. And the Bible says the Tribulation is such like the...nothing ever seen since the beginning of the world until now. You don't wanna be around. And that's why the Bible says Jesus, at the end of seven years, He comes back, all right? He comes back with His saints who are already there. Praise the Lord, amen. So here it says we shall be saved much more. "We shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life".
So every day...now, we are already saved, right? This verse means having been reconciled, right? That means what? Having been reconciled means we are already saved, so the next "saved" cannot be referring to the "saved" that we had when we experience being born again, saved from eternal destruction and damnation, amen? We are forever saved, right? Doesn't refer to that. It refers to what? Saved by His life. Much more now that we are saved, much more we shall be saved by His life. We have extra now, which means every day His life is flowing out of us. It's saving you from your unclean habits. It's saving you from your bad responses. It's saving you, listen, even bodily in your mind, saving you from depression, from feelings of isolation, abandonment. It's saving you from all that by introducing His love to you every day.
He makes you know that you're loved. You are loved, amen? And also your body, it saves you. You must believe that. His life saves you bodily. You say, "Aye, nowadays, you know, we will say probably to our friend, 'Lau liao,'" you know? Or you forget, "Aye, nowadays I'm getting". Getting, you see? Out of your mouth. So the Bible says God talks like this. God calls those things that are not in existence yet as though they were in existence, and then they become. Have you noticed that Jesus never confessed the present situation? All right, until His disciples are so dense, they don't get it. He says, "Lazarus is sleeping, I go and wake him up". Lazarus died already. Oh, one of them say, "If he's sleeping, let him sleep". Lazy, lah, don't wanna go. Then Jesus says, "Lazarus is dead," right? Jesus tells a man whose hand is withered, he's not been working with that hand.
And right hand, Luke tells us because he's a doctor. Luke says right hand. And Jesus, "Stretch forth your hand". You don't tell people whose hand is withered to stretch forth unless you are calling those things that are not present as though they are, and they will be in the future, amen? Jesus tells a man who has been impotent in his feet for 38 years, "Stand upright on your feet," and the man stood up. You don't say that unless you see the things that they don't see. You see the supply all over him. You see the kingdom of God come. You see all the provisions around him. You see the health and the shalom wholeness abounding on him. Then call it forth, amen. That's why we have the kingdom of God already here. In the Spirit, we have it, and what we are doing when we call forth is not trying to create something that wasn't there before. We are actually bringing things in the spirit realm into the physical, into the material. Are you with me so far?
Once you know this, you cannot be alone anymore because wherever you go, you will see angels around you, all right? Don't talk to them, talk to Jesus, all right? You talk to them, you know, they will move away. You talk to Jesus and you see Jesus best of all, with you all the time. And you see the provisions in the midst of, in the natural, there's lack. So they gave Jesus five loaves and two fish. This is getting good, come on. Gave Jesus five loaves and two fish. Jesus says, "How many loaves do you have"? Only five loaves, two fish. He's talking about feeding 5,000 people, plus women and children, probably 10,000, okay? He asked them, "How many loaves do you have"? Five loaves, two fish. "Aye, only".
Singaporean response, all right? Another response, I don't know which country, lah. "What do you think I am? Someone to fool around with? I'm your boss, you know"? Okay, also Singapore. Yeah, Singaporean response, amen? You know what? He took the five loaves, five loaves, and you read carefully in the Greek, it is two small fish. It is a diminutive term. Two small fish, like sardines maybe, all right? Two small fish. And He lifted up, and what did He do? He thanked God for the little, and little became much. And later on when the Holy Spirit spoke about that narrative about Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes, the Holy Spirit put this word, "After the Lord gave thanks".
Maybe you give thanks. You keep on complaining about that part of pain that you have. Maybe you thank God for all the rest of the health you have, who knows? It will multiply to envelope and to overwhelm that pain. Thank the Lord for what you have and it multiplies. The Lord does not ask you for what you don't have. Said, "What is this amongst so many"? One of them says to Jesus, "What is this five loaves," in another Gospel, "What is this amongst so many"? Their eye is like, "Little is..." You see, I told you God uses the little things, the weak things, the insignificant things. I qualify, amen. Are you with me so far?
Oh man, time is flying and I gotta bring this to a close. Praise God. Okay, bring this to a close. Listen, God never asks for what you don't have. He asks for what you have, all right? To Moses, who was stammering and stuttering, and he was shepherding the flock at the back side of the mountain, Mount Sinai. When God, He saw the burning bush, and God spoke to him for the first time, he fell down and he was trembling. And then he said, "I can't speak. I stammer. I'm not eloquent". Then God says, "What is that in your hand"? God never asks you for what you don't have. To you, you despise little things that you have. My house only have, you know? God says, "What do you have? What is that in your hand"? A rod.
Listen, with that rod, he fed and led three million people for 40 years in the wilderness. Because when God takes what you give Him, even the little things, God puts His Spirit and His power on it. A woman whose husband had passed on, and the husband owed a lot of money and the creditors are coming to claim her sons as slaves because the husband did not pay for it, all right? There are the money lenders, they are coming, okay? And then Elisha came in, another miracle of Elisha, a miracle of grace, and Elisha says to her, what? What did he say? "What do you have in the house"? Isn't it obvious they are now in abject poverty. They have nothing. And we always say, "I have nothing," and yet there's something. I was tempted to go down. I was reminded not to go down.
Pastor, you become shorter. No, they are concerned that I'll fall off, you see? They do not know sometimes, one day it will happen, I just walk there and I walk back again. That may happen. Ha ha ha, all right, because I always have problems walking, right? So that's my weakness. In my weakness, His strength is made perfect, amen? Yeah, it's not because you got something else. Okay, back to this again. Don't distract me. I said last moment, right? It's your fault. Okay, listen. He asked, "What do you have in your house"? and she says, "I only have a small, small flask of oil". "Okay, go borrow empty jars. Go borrow empty vessels". Empty vessels, right? Not hard to find. Okay, never mind. You get the joke, you get the joke.
"Find empty vessels that make a lot of noise. Okay, go find an empty vessel, all right? Bring them into... okay, now start pouring". Now, again, calling those things that are not. You don't pour a little flask, a little, small flask of oil, but when she start pouring, the more she poured, the more she poured, the more she poured, the more she poured, the more she poured, the more she poured. The more Jesus plucked pieces of bread to give to His disciples, the more was given, and He kept on giving until the people says, "Enough"! And after that, 12 basketful left over, amen. And after that, Elisha asked, "Bring me one more jar, one more empty vessel," and the son says, "No more. We collected only these ones," and the oil stopped.
The oil didn't stop because not enough supply from heaven. The oil stopped because they limited Him. They limited the supply. The limitation is always our side. God's side has no limit. Like the Bible says, "They limited the Holy One of Israel". And yet Elisha says, "Sell all these empty vessels now full of oil, pay off your debt," and listen, not just pay off your debt, "live off the rest". Hundred and twenty percent. Can you see that? This woman that we read about, "Restore to her all that's hers and her land, and every proceed, every benefit, every profit from the day she left until now," seven years. Are you with me so far?
He never asks you for what you don't have. It's always, "What do you have"? Ah, this is just, ah, just a small, you know? That shows we despise small, small things. We don't realize how God can use. Like I told God last time, He says, "I'm gonna use you to speak to many," He said. I said to the Lord, "No, I..." I pitied Him, you know? I felt for the Lord. I said, "Lord, I'm a stutterer. I'm a stammerer". And the Lord says, "I'm gonna use that". I said, "Lord, I surrender this to You. If You can use this, I surrender it to You". That's why I always know, I always remember there is a Jacob's tie about me in this area. I know what it was, amen, and it doesn't mean that today I depend upon my ability or whatever. I dare not. Before I come up to preach, I always ask the Lord, all right, "Give me that rhema Word". It's gotta be a rhema Word. I pray for all of you, amen.
Even like praying in the flow of the Spirit and all that, I do not know until the last moment, okay? I do not know. Sometimes He will leave me like that to depend on Him, 'cause sometimes my preparation is my strength and He doesn't want me always to... So sometimes God does things like this. I hope you understand a bit of the ways of God. It's not like the ways of man. And I pray that this will give you the assurance that whatever you have lost, in this kairos year of the right time and the right place, it's all coming back. And not just coming back what you have lost in a repaired way like the way man would do it, but in God's way, worthy of His glory, worthy of His omnipotence, amen. When God does it, it's not like man, amen? It's gonna be great, hallelujah. But don't expect the manner of man, all right? Expect sometimes it may come from places you least expect. You are going for a trip, you are going for a meeting, along the way you bump into someone.
So happens that woman came when... King was saying, "Gehazi, tell me more. Tell me more. Tell me what Elisha did". And this part, he must have told the king a lot of stories about Elisha, but this part is about raising the son. "This is the woman"! And that will happen to you. And that's why when these things happen, the reason we have a theme of the year, God gives a theme of the year in beginning of the year so that when it happens, you know it's God. Without the theme of the year, you might not. Just say, "Oh yeah, I'm lucky, yeah". That's the worst thing you can say, okay? Lucky.
Friend, He's got your back. He will provide for you. I didn't even show you Romans 5, the one that you all know. It says in verse 17, there are five "much more," right? It says what? "For if by one man's sin," offense, Adam's sin, all right, people died, "death reigned," right? It goes on to say, "Much more those," all of you, "who receive," what? "Abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will," what? "Reign in life". That's the "much more". That's not being preached. We are just happy to saved, happy to be reconciled, instead of seeing the "much more we shall be saved from wrath". Future, amen? Having the assurance.
And for the lack of that, people are suffering depression, and fear, and all kinds of, you know, all kinds of crazy doctrines come out of that, amen. Or here, this area, instead of reigning in life, oh, God expects us to just wait for Jesus to come and then just barely get by. No, friend. "Reign in life" means reign in life! Not under, in life. What does a king do? He reigns. That's why when you speak, there's power. And it happens much more those who receive abundance of grace, these twins, all right? Abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. And that's why I preach on these two so much, why? I want you to reign in life, and so you will in the name of the Lord Jesus. But always remember it's because of what Jesus has done. And all the people said, "Amen".
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Praise the name of Jesus. Father, I thank You, Lord, for the precious people, Lord. Perchance, Lord, someone is tuning in right now or someone has come that has never received Jesus, Father, I pray that You will cause that person's heart, Lord, to respond. For we believe, Lord, that it is You who brought them. It is You who have prepared their hearts. So if that is you, my friend, just pray this prayer right now and Jesus Christ will come into your life. Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died on that cross, will come into your life personally, and you will be born again, and all the much more will happen in your life, amen? Jesus says, "I come that you might have life and have life more abundantly". So if that is what you want, friend, pray this prayer with me. Say:
Heavenly Father, I believe Your Son Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins and became liable for all my sins. And I thank You that You raised Him from the dead and He's alive to be my Good Shepherd, so I confess Him now. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. I thank You, Father, all my sins now have been put away. I'm now a child of God, greatly blessed. I'm highly favored by God and deeply loved. In Jesus' name, amen.
Stand to your feet. Praise the Lord. Hey, that's how you get saved. People say, "So easy, man," you know? And there are people like that because of their human mentality, so they try to make it sound like being saved is a process. It's not. In one fell swoop, you are saved and saved forever. Praise the Lord, amen? Praise the Lord. Actually, prayer is an expression of our weakness, all right? That's why the more you know your weakness, the more you'll pray. This coming week, let's not take the week for granted. Let's trust the Lord to put us at the right time at the right place. Let's trust God for dektos and kairos moments.
Father, in Jesus' name, I pray for Your precious people, Father, as they go forth, Lord, this coming week, Lord, into the unknown. Unknown for us, but all known to You. Father, we pray in the name of Jesus that the Lord will go ahead of us and make all the crooked places straight. Protect us from unseen dangers. Protect us, Lord, and our loved ones, Lord, from unseen evil. And Father, let us, Lord, because it is unseen and because You have gone ahead and protected us, we might not even know, Lord, that the enemy has prepared something for us that You have protected us from. So give us, Lord, a thankful heart. Always, Lord, a thankful heart; that this day forth, Lord, we'll give You thanks for all that You are, and especially for the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ. We thank You, Lord. We thank You, Lord. Give us a thankful heart, in Jesus' name. And all the people said? God bless you.