Joseph Prince - Hear Your Way Out Of Every Weakness
Praise the Lord. The Word of God, how precious it is, amen. And how many of you have experienced kairos moments in your life? I'm surprised that my son is picking up. Every little good thing that happened, "It was a kairos moment. I had a kairos moment in school," he says. "I had a kairos moment here, kairos moment there". And I'm talking about him a bit more because it is his birthday today, ah ha ha. He slept last night ten years old. He woke up 11. How time flies, huh? Praise the Lord. Romans 6:14 tells us, "For sin shall not have dominion over you". The word "dominion" is the word "kurio," which is where you get the word "kurios" for lord, the word "lord".
Sin will not lord it over you. Why? "Because you are not under law but under grace," amen. And time and time again, though this is the commission that is strong in my heart, I believe that ministries and different ministers in the offices that Christ has given to the church, every one of them has a certain assignment given by the Lord to bring forth certain truths that has been lost. Now, in my case, all right, it is to bring back Jesus to the centrality of the church, amen, to the centrality of your lives, and to preach the gospel of grace, to restore that gospel the way Paul preached it in the very beginning. For the lack of it, we are seeing infirmities. We are seeing moral weakness and failure in the body of Christ.
Let me tell you this. Even people ending up in adultery, whatever the condition it is, all right, it is because of a wrong believing. We focus so much on wrong behavior that we miss the deeper root, wrong believing, amen. Not believing that your old man has been crucified, that we are not dealing with the old man anymore. But instead of that, we are dealing with the old man. We talk about him all the time. We make him like... now, by the way, I'm not referring to your father, young people. I'm referring to your flesh, that part of you that wants to sin, that old you which is gone, amen? But his lifestyle, his principles, his thinking, his emotions are still there because you have lived in it for a long time, amen? So sin in the flesh is still there. We call it the flesh, amen. It is a mistaken identity.
So the devil wants you to identify yourself with that identity, and that is a case of mistaken identity. That's not who you are. That's a false identity. You are not sinful. You were a sinner. You got born again, and when you are born again you are created in righteousness and true holiness. And all the people said, "Amen". So because you... or for lack of revelation, because of a lack of preaching, we cannot blame the people. Pastors and leaders that are watching, we cannot blame the people. The people believe what is being taught, amen. For the lack of preaching the word of Christ, not just the Word of God. The Word of God can be any part of the Bible. You say it's the Word of God, right? Yes, but every Word of God is inspired, but it must be translated, especially the Old Testament, into the Word of Christ. You understand? The way Jesus did it on the Emmaus Road.
When Jesus taught in the Emmaus Road from the Old Testament, because that's the only Scriptures they had back then, what did Jesus do to the two? He expounded in them the Torah, the Prophets. He expounded in them those Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, things concerning Himself. And it did something to them. It warmed their hearts. It revived them spiritually. It also did something to them physically. It reinvigorated them after having traveled from Jerusalem 7 miles to Emmaus. After receiving that washing of the Word by Jesus during that journey, they went back another 7 miles. Something happened to them physically as well. And that happened on a Sunday because the Lord was demonstrating.
Why would the Resurrected Christ, with so many important things to do after You are risen from the dead, I'm sure Your priority number one on the first day, have so many things that's very important to do instead of just spending time with the two walking back. And they are discouraged, they are dejected. Why would Jesus spend time with them? I believe to show all of us what we need to do on a Sunday, because He rose from the dead on a Sunday. He's showing us, and have you noticed that in the Bible, He appeared to the disciples Sunday to Sunday? Even after He rose from the dead, there is no record exactly that He spent time with them. It does say that He spent time with them those 40 days, right? But what was shown us in the Gospels is that the appearance of Jesus to the disciples is from a Sunday, to another Sunday, to another Sunday.
So people say, "Well, those are Sunday Christians". We better be a Sunday Christian. That's why we worship on a Sunday. The Jews, they work and then they rest. That's the Old Testament style, amen. But the New Testament has come. A new covenant has come. Now we enter into rest. The first day of Jesus'... the Day of Jesus' Resurrection is our first day. We enter into rest, then we can work, amen. That's true also of our spiritual life. Only when we enter into rest, we can work. Are you with me so far? This is gonna set you free from stress, fears, worries, apprehensions, amen, doubts, as well as also any depression that you may suffer from, knowing this truth from the Word of Christ. Are you ready? Are you ready to receive more?
So it says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you". I'm sure you've heard people saying, "Be careful of grace," all right? "Be careful of the teaching of grace". Now, who do you think is behind this casting of aspersions on the teaching of grace? Who do you think is behind it? It must be the enemy. Why? Because he knows this. "For sin shall not have dominion over you," when? "When you are not under the law but when you are under grace". So he will do his very best and he will sound so spiritual that you feel guilty for not being under the law. He will do his very best to attack grace and the reputations of those who preach grace that you have no choice but to feel safe with what is old and familiar, the law.
Be very careful. Have you fallen from grace? And the Word doesn't say, "Have you switched from grace"? It says, "Have you fallen from grace"? because grace is always the higher ground, amen? When God gave the law on Mount Sinai, we know that 3,000 people died, okay? Some time after that, 3,000 people died. And the Jewish people will tell you that was given on the very first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus literally died on the Feast of Passover, the Jewish Feast of Passover. So all the feasts, the seven feasts of Israel in Leviticus 23 that many Jews still celebrate today, all those seven feasts point to Jesus Christ, to His finished work, to His perfect, human life. In the flour offering, that points to His perfect, human life.
And then the olah, which is the burnt offering. And then we have sin offering, we have the trespass offering, we have the peace offering. The peace offering has your health and healing in it because the word "shalim," "shalom". Shalim, "shelamim" is the Hebrew word for "peace offering" has "shalom" in every part of your spirit, soul, and body. The secrets are there in the peace offering. So seven feasts of Israel to demonstrate what Jesus did. Jesus died literally. He was born, I believe, on the Feast of Tabernacles. And that's why the Bible says the word, "Tabernacle among us". Literally in the Greek it says, "Tabernacle among us," using the feast day, amen? He was crucified on the Feast of Passover. He rose from the dead on the Feast of First Fruits, because he is the First Fruit, amen.
Fifty days after Passover, they were at the foot of Mount Sinai and what happened? The law was given, 3,000 people died. The Bible says the letter kills, the law kills, but the Spirit gives life. And then we have, on the Day of Pentecost again, the feast of the giving of the law. Today, you speak to an average Jew who knows his Bible, he will tell you that the law was given on which feast. You ask him, he will say not Tabernacles, but Pentecost, all right? They call it Shavuot, amen. They celebrate the giving of the law. We celebrate Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost. "When the Day of Pentecost was fully come, God gave," what? The Spirit. He came like a rushing, mighty wind, like He can't wait to fill the believers, amen? And He filled them all up.
So we celebrate Pentecost as the day of the giving of the Holy Spirit. The promise of Abraham was fulfilled, amen. And what happened? Three thousand people were saved at the preaching of Peter on the Day of Pentecost. That demonstrates the under the law, there's death, amen. Under grace, you live, amen. Now, nothing wrong with the law. The morality of the law is something that we still have to keep, right? Now, let me say it like this. Not that we have to keep, it is kept in us as we know how to flow with it. The thing is the devil wants you to be law-conscious and try to keep the law. That is the very thing that a lot of people are trying to do. And by trying to do that, you fall under Romans 7. The more you try to, Paul said, "The more I try to keep the tenth one", "Thou shall not desire or covet," all right, "what belongs to others". "The more I try to do that, I find in me all manner of desires".
It stirs up. Or you can say, "Thou shall not lust," all right? The more I try not to lust, the more I lust. So the devil wants to bring the law to your consciousness so that the more you try to keep it, you activate your human strength, you fall, right? And you don't even know how you fall. You fall right away and you don't even know how you fell. It all starts with you trying to be good, trying to do what's good. Are you listening? A group of boys passed by, all right? They passed by a greenhouse. You know what's a greenhouse? A lot of glass, right? And there's nothing. They don't feel anything. Right at the end of the street, there's another greenhouse and this one, "Don't throw rocks. Fragile". No one is around.
One boy looks at another boy. Another boy looks at another. What do you think they are feeling? They don't feel anything with the first greenhouse. The greenhouse is not the problem, nor are the signs in the next one the problem. Nothing wrong with the signs. But something wrong with the flesh. The flesh needs a law to activate it. That's why the Bible says, "The strength of sin is the law". So, nothing wrong with the law. The law is holy, righteous, and blameless, amen, but it cannot make you righteous. It cannot make you holy. So, how do you become holy then? Not by being conscious of the law, by being conscious of Jesus. We are to walk in him, amen, and you don't have to worry about the law. In fact, the law is limited.
The law says, "Thou shall not commit adultery". There are people who don't commit adultery, listen, because they don't have the money, okay, for example, okay? They can do it in their mind but they cannot do it physically because, okay. In some cases, not all. Some don't commit adultery against their wife, but they don't love their wife. Is that what God wants? No, but when you're occupied with Christ, he gives you that love for your spouse, amen. Walking in grace makes you in love with everyone, even those who speak against you, those who write against you, whatever. You know, I tell you, it fills your heart with love for them. You feel compassion for them. It's hard to carry bitterness for a long time. You feel for them.
People ask me, "Pastor Prince", you know, people write things about me, say things about, "Pastor, I hope you're okay". Don't worry about me. Like Jesus told the people who were saying to the Lord, right? He was carrying the cross. What did He say? "Don't cry for Me, Argentina". No, He didn't say that. He said, "Don't weep for Me, daughters of Jerusalem, but weep for yourselves and your children," amen. Even, you know, none of us if we are suffering can think of others. We think about ourselves. But He has the time to think about others. How unselfish, how beautiful His moral. His moral beauty and excellence comes out when He's suffering, amen. Even at the cross, He gave comfort to the thief who said, "Lord, remember me". "Today, you shall be with Me in paradise".
He thought of His mother and the grief of a mother's heart. He says to John, "Behold your mother. Take care of My mother". All the while, He's thinking of us. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". Ah, to be like Jesus. I look at myself, okay, you look at yourself hopefully, and you compare yourself with our Lord Jesus, and you see how far short we fall, amen? We are irritable every day. We don't know why we are irritable. We are just irritable, amen? So the devil wants you to try your best to not be irritable. Try to suppress it. Oh, that is a surefire way of becoming more irritable, amen? So how do you get out of it? By being focused on Jesus, not the law, okay?
So here again, we are for the law for the reason God gave the law, and God never gave the law to justify man by. So are you clear on this? Let's move on, okay? When God gave the law, remember when God brought them out of Egypt, all right, listen, there was no Ten Commandments. It was not yet given. Say, "Amen". Oh, for a moment, I thought I'm preaching in another church. Okay, all right, let's try this again, okay? Let's try this again. New Creation Church, am I right? Am I in the right church? Okay, when God brought them out of Egypt, are they cognizant of the Ten Commandments? No, it was not yet given. Mount Sinai is in front. Okay, in case you don't know your chronological order, deliverance from Egypt happened first. They came out by what? The blood of the lamb, amen? Were they good people? They got out because they were good? No, because he is good, amen. It is his goodness. Then he brought them through the Red Sea, right?
I mean, behind are the marauding forces of the Egyptian army. In front is the deep, deep, deep, deep Red Sea. And they complained. Complaining is sin. But God didn't seem to respond to their sin. God was responding under the covenant, Abrahamic covenant of grace that they were under then, and God opened up the sea. Hmm, what a covenant. It's as if God is not even regarding their complaining. God brought them through the Red Sea because of His faithfulness, not because of theirs. Then on the other side, they complained again because after three days there was no water, and they complained at the bitter waters of Marah. God healed the waters in spite of their complaining, and God says, "I am the Lord who heals you," amen? And God gave them what?
They complained there was no food. God gave them manna from heaven. Every day, champions' food. Don't have to worry. It's organic, no artificial flavorings or colors. It's pure from heaven. In fact, the Bible says, "Man did eat angels' food," in the Psalms. Open your mouth every morning. So it seems like no one died all the way from Egypt at the foot of Mount Sinai, through all the Red Sea and all the vicissitudes that they went through. They reached Mount Sinai. Though they complained, they sinned, they sinned every step of the way, no one died. That's something the Lord showed me many years ago that triggered off this ministry, my ministry. I checked, and many people have checked all over the world ever since I said that.
People that follow my ministry and those who are criticizing me also, they've checked. No one can come and say a person died. No one died, even though they sinned. Did they sin? Yes. No one died. But something happened after Sinai, Mount Sinai, when the law was given. This time, when they complained, poom, martir, all right? That means what? Die. See, die, all right? When they complain, they die. When they complain, they die. Wait a minute? Same God, different administration. The other day in one of the hotels I stayed in Israel, let's not be specific so that we don't blame... you all don't go, "Oh, be careful of that hotel". No, no, no. We both were, a pastor and I were, one of the pastors were talking to me.
Looks like the system have changed, you know? The security features are not as good. Like anyone can just press the button and go up, and all that. You know, it's like we are thinking, "Yeah, how come"? Then I saw another sign later on, "Under new management". Another hotel group took over this hotel, I don't know when, last year or what, so it's under new management and they have their own style of administrating. And to me, it wasn't as good as the old. I kinda wish that the old remained. Same building, same hotel. But listen, the law is an administration. Grace is also an administration. The law demands, "You shall not, you shall not". Grace says, God says, "I will be this to you. I will give you this. I will do that for you". The focus on God's, "I will".
That means what? Focus on God. Here, the focus is on you. The law is focused on you, your strength. "You shall not". But the problem is that man don't have that strength. That's the problem. Man is bankrupt. So the law was given to bankrupt man. Why was it given then? Because man is so proud. So at the foot of Mount Sinai, I'm gonna say it in Hebrew again. At the foot of Mount Sinai, they said, "Kol asher". "Kol" means everything that God says. "Kol asher diber," God's Word, "na'aseh". "Kol asher diber Adonai," God's name, "na'aseh". "Na'aseh" means, "We can keep it. We can do it". It's a very affirmative word. Later on, they added the word "v'nishmah," which is even stronger, "And we will observe it," all right? "We will keep it and observe it".
So if you think about it, they have not heard the Ten Commandments. You know, anyone pass you a piece of paper, a contract, you never sign until you have read the conditions. You will not sign something just because someone promise you and say, "You know what? Trust me. Sign it," right? I mean, God has not given the Ten yet, right? The moment they said, "All that God says, we can do it," read Exodus 19. Exodus 20 was when God gave the Ten Commandments. Exodus 19, the moment they say, "Kol asher diber," that's found in Exodus 19, "We will keep everything God says," God told Moses, "Tell them don't come near". In other words, God never had that tone with them. The tone changed.
God says, "If you want me to treat you based on your goodness, on your faithfulness, on your, you know, law-keeping," which they have promised just now that they will keep, God says, "Then this is the deal. I am holy". Just like sun and the mud cannot come together, all right? Mud ceases to be mud. It becomes clay when the sun comes into connection with the mud. Am I right? God is holy. Man is sinful. Who will be destroyed when the two encounter each other? You understand? Now, God didn't make man sinful. Man made himself sinful. That goes back to the Garden, all right? So God says, "Don't come near, for your own good. Don't come near. Tell them, Moses, don't come near".
God never had that tone when God brought them out of Egypt. God led them in a pillar of cloud, in a pillar of fire, like a shepherd with the flock following behind. He was so close to them. He was so near to them. He never had that tone with them. But the moment man presumed on his self-righteousness, on his strength, I'll tell you this, this is the worst kind of sin. The Pharisees, they know their Bible through and through. You can't tell, you can't say for sure that the Pharisees are guilty of adultery, all right? Outwardly, we can't tell, right? Outwardly, they look moral. They look clean and all that compared to the people that Jesus spent time with, tax-collectors, prostitutes, and all that, and He forgave them, healed them, and all that.
In fact, there's no healing account of Jesus healing the Pharisee, but we have many of Jesus healing the so-called social outcasts. Why? Because they know they are sinners. But the Pharisees cannot receive. They are self-righteous, and that's the worst kind of sin. In fact, when you're self-righteous, it produces all kinds of sin. See what happened when they said, "All that God says, we can do"? What do you see next? What do you see next? No, you see the Ten Commandments being given first, right? And then what's the first commandment? "You shall have no other gods before Me". So the moment they say, "All that God says, we can keep," did they keep it? The moment you come under the law, what happened? The very first commandment, they broke. They built the golden calf, okay? Do you see that?
So those who advocate, "Yes, we must try our best to keep the law," it's actually bringing people right into sin. Let that sink in for awhile. Those who advocate for people to be conscious of the law, to memorize the law, the commandments and all that. You know, it's amazing that children can't even, like, memorize the Ten Commandments easily. But you tell them, "John 3:16," "For God so loved the world that He gave", The Holy Spirit never help you to memorize the law. What is the third commandment? Even those who fight for the law, you ask them, "What's the third commandment"? They look at you, they look here, look there, look here. So much for fighting for the law. What's the sixth commandment? They'll try their best. "Thou shall not steal? No, thou shall not lie".
I don't know also, but don't lie, okay? But right now, by the grace of God, is my life a sinful life? Now, I'll tell you right now, okay, God sees like no man sees of course, but I tell you right now, I love falling in love with Jesus. I love the idea of seeing him more and more every day. There is no woman that is behind me other than my wife. Okay, like, another lady, lah, I'm in love with her is my daughter, amen? Yeah, she's the only one I say, "I love you," she says she loves me back, that kind of thing, you know? So I'm gonna enjoy these few years before she gets stolen. And whoever steals, okay, all right, just remember, can you imagine me for the rest of your life as father-in-law? Okay, amen?
Yeah, so I can tell you right now, and okay, this is not to throw a stone against anyone, you know, who has been divorced or remarried and all that. Okay, listen, we all know that grace is there, praise the Lord, but some people think I preach grace because there's some, you know, maybe Wendy is not his first wife. No, she is my first love, wife, okay? The first love, that's my wife. My first love right now and the only last love is my wife, Wendy, okay? Okay? Morality, don't just look at people and say, "Oh, you know, this church tells people about grace. All kind of sinful things going on". Hey, you look close enough, you will find people living in sin. They come. They come to every church. Your church also have, all right?
So, but the thing is that I have people come to our church and they find our people are amazing. You know, they say that, "Even your ushers, the light, the glow". You know, one of the hotels that we stayed also, and we have these testimonies many times, like Lawrence. We always have people saying, "What are you all"? You know, sometimes they say celebrities because Lawrence is there. "Are you all celebrities? What are you all"? Because they... and this is what he said, "You all seem to shine. You're always so happy. There's a joy," you know, compared to other people. Even we're not conscious. We're just laughing at Pastor Mark's jokes and all that, right, and we are just having time, but the light is shining. Your light is shining without you realizing, and there are people observing.
So true holiness is unconscious. As you are occupied with Christ and not with the law, you become holy. True kind of holiness, amen. So having said that, let me just ask you, how did the golden calf come about? That's the thing that I wanna bring across very strongly, okay? How did the golden calf come about? You all know what happened, right? Let's read Exodus 32. "When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain", what was he up the mountain for? To bring down the Ten Commandments. Am I right? Right? On the two tablets of stone, right? Moses went up and said, "God, the people are sick". God says, "Take these two tablets," okay? So, "The people gathered together to Aaron, and said to Aaron, 'Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'"
Another thing is that I see a prophetic truth because every time you study the Old Testament, always remember Old Testament are written as "tupos" in the Greek, which means types. You can learn a lot from the details. The doctrine is very straightforward in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament the details are hidden. It's hidden there for us to study, to bring out. So it's not literal. Many of it is shadows, types. The anti-type or the substance is in the New Testament, okay? Are you all with me so far? All right, so another thing is this. "When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down".
So again, it's a picture of the end times. The church becomes immoral, go into sin, because they say the Lord delays His coming. But for those who are always ready for the Lord's coming, the opposite happens, okay? So what happened? Next verse, "And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.' So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron".
Now, in those days they wear golden earrings, okay? Remember Rebecca, the story of Rebecca I shared? All right, the moment after she watered all the camels of Abraham's servant, Abraham's servant brought out a golden earring. Now, your Bible in the New King James, we all use the New King James here in our church, and it says golden nose ring. So it can either be a nose ring or it can be an earring, all right? It can be both, all right? So, but I tend to incline more towards earring. And for sure, this one is earring in the ear, why? Because it says, "Break off the golden earring which are in the ears," all right? So it cannot be a nose ring. So, and anyway, in Genesis, and the next one, it says, "So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears," emphasis, right?
Okay, now look in Genesis account of Rebecca's story. "It came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that a man took a golden earring". This is the King James version. Just remember, you read your New King James, you are wondering why it says nose ring. Okay, it's an opinion, all right? I tend to believe, because the same word is used, "nezem," earring, gold, "zahav". Nezem zahav, earring gold. In Hebrew, that's how it is. So it's the same word as the one we saw just now, but notice this. "Of half a shekel weight". Half a shekel weight. Keep that in your mind, okay? Half a shekel weight. Got it? Okay, let's go back to the story. We are asking the mysteries of how the golden calf came about, because if you know this, listen, if you know this, you will find the answer to your health, to your healing, to whatever you want to receive from God. I'm serious. "Break off the golden earring".
So the next verse says, verse 4, drop down, "And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. They said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!'" So the golden calf, we think about, oh, it's an idol. It's an idol, okay? It's a golden idol. It's more than that. What does it mean today? What is a golden calf today? What is a golden calf? Does that mean you cannot be creative with art and all that? No, now observe, they made a golden, "He received from their hand". In Stephen, the martyr's accounts, Stephen the martyr, when he preached his famous sermon, look at it, he says this, "Saying to Aaron, 'Make us god...'"
Okay, referring to the same incident, "And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in," what? "In the works of their own hands". They rejoiced in the works of their own hands. That is the problem. Today, that's the same problem. Men rejoice in their effort, their strength, their smarts, their qualification. I'm a self-made millionaire, all right? Instead of trusting God, giving God the glory, looking at God as the strength, you know, of their life, they're looking at their own self as the strength. If it's your strength, it has an expiry date. You will fall flat on your face. Even a young man, that's why they compare, "The young man shall fall. Young men shall run and they will fall. Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall run and not be weary".
So God is saying don't trust your own strength. So the law is all about what is natural and what is naturally strong for man. You shall not, you shall not. Use your own strength. And the very strength leads you to sin. Nothing wrong with the law, but combined with your flesh, it brings you to sin. Read all about it in Romans 7, all right? Paul had this experience. So let's go back to it again. So if that is so, if that is so, we're talking about the key to receiving even healing and health. If that is so, what is this golden earring the devil wants them to be free from? Take away the golden earring. Remove the golden earring. "Earring" sounds like what? Very good.
This church is so smart, amen? "Earring" sounds like, children, "hearing". Golden star. Golden earring. The word "gold" is divine, so something divine there. Are you listening, people? So they sacrificed their golden earring for the works of their hands. Let's go in Galatians right now, and that's a problem that every church will have to battle with, have to experience. If they're asking, "Why is there no revival? Why is there no healing? Why is there no miracles happening in my ministry, in this church, or in my life"? look at Galatians 3. "This only I want to learn from you". And the very thing that Paul says, "This only," the church is not focused on this only. They are focused on a lot of things except for only this that Paul says, "This only". "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law," the works of your hands, in other words, your effort, "or by the hearing of faith"? Golden earring.
Remember I told you just now to remember that the servant gave Rebecca a golden earring. How much was the weight? Half a shekel, very good. That's the first time half a shekel appears. Why is this important, Pastor Prince? How many like to go deep a bit? Okay, half a shekel is used for atonement money. Every time Israel is counted, how many there are in Judah, how many there are in Simeon, how many there are in this tribe of Asher, they must, each one must give a half a shekel. Everyone must give a half a shekel. Young or old must give half a shekel. Rich or poor must give half a shekel, all right? That is to say we count things that we own. We don't count things that belong to other people. We count things that belong to us. Think about all your possessions, your money or whatever. You count things that belong to us.
So whenever you're... God told the king of Israel, and David failed one time, and that's why the plague fell on the people. He counted the people without taking the atonement money. Atonement means, all right, even if you count the people, remember they are bought by the Lord. They are not yours. And we are all bought by the blood of Jesus. We are not our own, people. We are bought with a price, and what a price, the blood of Jesus. Are you listening? So half a shekel weight. And in Israel, they take half a shekel weight of silver. Everyone give half a shekel, a picture of split coin, because Jesus on the cross was split, okay? And it's silver. Silver is always the type of redemption. Very good, you all, I love it. Let's go on. That helps me a lot, praise the Lord, for me not to explain in detail.
But the gold, all the half shekels collected, they melt it and put it as silver sockets to build the Tabernacle, a picture of the church. And this is how they built the Tabernacle, all right? Can you see it's made of wood, but it's overlaid with gold. You and I are like wood, right? Wood is a picture of humanity. But we are overlaid with gold, Jesus Christ. We are all in Christ, amen. Amen. I just happened to teach my son last night as his birthday gift, always remember that you are greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved. Why? Because you are in Christ. And I had a small black book and I had another bigger book, and I take him, this is you, sinful and all that. God put you in Christ. That's why you are greatly blessed. Not because you did this well, you passed your mathematics, all right, you got 100 for this subject or whatever.
Nothing to do with your accomplishment, who you are, but you are in Christ. You are greatly blessed, you are highly favored, deeply loved. Regardless of whoever says things about you, bad things in the future, even your friends or your enemies, what are they? They are just people with weaknesses. God is perfect and God says, "You are highly favored in My eyes". God says, "You are deeply loved," amen. Praise God. So we are all in Christ. But notice our foundation. "We stand not on shifting sand, blown here, blown there by the winds in the desert. No, no, even though we are in the world, we are not of the world. We are standing on solid silver. We are standing on solid silver. We stand on redemption ground. We have by faith access into this grace wherein we stand, this favor wherein we stand," hallelujah.
We are not subject to the forces. That's how stable the Tabernacle is because it's on solid silver, and that silver comes from the half-shekel of the people. They melt it and make it silver sockets. Do you see it so far? Okay, all that to tell you golden earring. Now, watch this. Go back to the story. I'm gonna show you the interlinear now, okay? Look at the golden earring one more time. "They brake off all the people". Now, this is the reading from right to left, Hebrew. "They broke off all the people the earrings of gold which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron". Okay, that's how it reads. Notice that before the earrings is the word "Aleph-Tav". For those who know, it's referring to Jesus Christ. That's why the devil doesn't want them to have the golden earring. It's the hearing of the Word of Christ. It's not just hearing any word, it's hearing the Word of Christ.
So back to Galatians 3. How many want the Holy Spirit? And here it says, "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith"? Is it by your effort, by doing this religious work, or by doing that work, or even good work? No, you don't receive the Holy Spirit like that. You receive the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith, and the hearing of faith is hearing about Jesus Christ, okay? Hello? Romans 10:17, real quick. Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ". Now, some people say the Word of Christ means when Christ speaks to you. Yeah, of course faith will come when Christ speaks to you, and Christ still speaks to us today, amen, but this is not what it's referring to. The context there refers to a preacher, preaching about Christ. NIV brings it out.
"So the message that is heard, and the message is heard through the word about Christ". That's how faith comes. You make sure that whoever you're listening to, whatever message you are listening to, the social media today is full of sermons as well, make sure it's about Christ, the centrality of Christ. That's how you have the hearing of faith operating in your life. And when the hearing of faith is there, what's gonna happen? You will receive the Holy Spirit. Not only that, back to Galatians 3, "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh"?
Why is he scolding them? Because you know, they began under grace. Now all of a sudden, some teachers came from Jerusalem, teaching them they need to be under the law. They came under the law. They mixed both law and grace. They didn't give up grace, but they also embraced the law. Now they have a mixture, and Paul is saying that is being so foolish. You began in the Spirit and now you are being made perfect by your effort? Then he asks this question, "Have you suffered so many things if indeed it was in vain"? Next verse, "Therefore He," God, "who supplies the Spirit". And the word there is constant supplying, from the word "chorego," which is choreograph, the one who's in charge of a choir or whatever. He supplies, in those days, he supplies all their food, their uniform, everything, all right? God who supplies.
The Greek there is beautiful. "God who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles". And the word "works" is also constant, constantly working miracles. You want God to constantly work miracles in your family, in your life, in your workplace, in your church? Okay, that's what it's all about. Why are we missing this? Because it tells you, "Does God do it by the works of the law," by the work of our labor, our effort at law-keeping? Even though it appears so nice to people outside, all right, but it's all a mirage because you know it's gonna lead you into sin. "Or by the hearing of faith"? Which one?
I submit to you that's the reason you don't see miracles often in people's lives, in churches, and all that. It's because of this. They are still under the law. But they will say, "We're not purely under the law". I agree. They're under the same Galatianism problem, all right? They embrace grace but they still keep the law. It's worse. You have enough grace to deceive yourself to think that you are under grace, but you put in the law to nullify the effect because now you bring in grace and you put it in the old wineskin. You will lose both Jesus said. Are you with me so far? Are you following so far?
So what do we need to do? Focus on the... and how many of you heard this? "There are people who come to church on Sunday, only on Sunday, and sit down there, and then they hear, and hear, and hear. New Creation Church especially, all you do is hear, hear, hear, hear, hear. They never go out and do". Now, in the first place, do they interview you? They don't know. They judge you based on their own prejudice, let's say, all right? "Who are you speaking of, Pastor Prince"? I don't know. I'm just speaking. I'm just speaking. I'm just speaking. They will say, "They sit down here and," sometimes they will say things like, "they warm the pews, and keep on hearing, and hearing, and hearing, and hearing, and hearing, and they never go out and do anything".
So in other words, deep down, what they believe is this. The works of the law is more important than hearing of faith. I believe if you come and you receive the feeding, even the good shepherd knows, feed the sheep that's weak before you try to say, "Do this"! and the weak, and the poor, you know, the guy is doing... The poor, wobbly lamb. "I'm trying my best". Shake, rattle, and roll. Shake, rattle. Okay, all right. Now you're awake. I got your attention. Okay, good, all right. You feed the sheep. You don't beat the sheep. But the sheep doesn't even walk properly. Bad testimony, whack him. Feed the sheep, for goodness' sake. Feed, feed. But I want the behavior. No, keep on feeding. One day, he'll be strong. One day, he'll be able to walk the way you want him to walk, amen.
So hearing of faith is more important. Keep on hearing. "Now, Pastor, I don't feel I'm doing..." You are doing more than you realize, and the best part of it is it's unconscious. You're shining more than you know, and that cannot come by doing. It comes by hearing. You can tell different people from, you know, New Creation Church people, you can find them anywhere. You find them in the mall or whatever, they always have this... this big, amazing Pastor Lawrence grin, or Pastor Mark. Pastor Mark is more extreme. All right, they always shine, honestly. You know, Wendy and I always remark this, okay? We are prejudice, of course. It's our church, right, and our church people, right, so we are proud of them. But we always say this, and I believe we are objective when we say you can tell our church people. There's a joy. There's a glow, amen. There's a joy. There's a glow.
Remember this. This is a very simple truth here today, but can you see what they gave up? They gave up the golden earring, and the type there we have established with Scripture. Half a shekel weight is the hearing of redemption. It's hearing about Christ. It's not just hearing a part of the Bible, but it's not translated into the Word of Christ, amen. Like remember my last sermon here before I left for Israel was on Leviticus 27. In the natural, you'll be assessed by your natural strength, all right, and the payment is according to. As you grow older, the payment is lesser. That's a fact. It's a fact, right? But we are not under the law. We are not under what's natural. We are under, "They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint". Why? Because we wait upon the Lord, amen?
So we are not under law, we are under grace. We are not under, "You shall not, you shall not, you shall not," demand. The essence of the law is demand. The essence of grace is supply, amen? "I shall do this for you. I will do that for you. I will forgive your sins. I will be your God," amen. It's so wonderful to be under grace, but don't step back so the devil tends always to pull you back, give up the hearing of faith. And I grieve for pastors who made their sermons shorter, and shorter, and shorter, and shorter, thinking that they will please the world today because TikTok is short, right? It's a season of TikTok. Talk about TikTok.
So then we have everything that's short, bite-sized. People can only take bite-sized, because if you train them to take bite-sized, they will always take bite-sized. Put something into a child's mouth early, keep on putting it, I don't care if it's as bland as something else that, you know, a soya bean or whatever, and I tell you this, even if they grow old it will not depart from the taste. He will always wanna go back to that taste. You decide what you put in their mouth. Don't keep on saying, "Don't surrender them to the world". You put it. Once they taste the Word of Christ, ooh, they want more, amen. Am I right, church? And the people that came to Jesus during His time, notice the way it happens. And I'll close with this all right?
Luke chapter 5, "The report went around concerning Jesus all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities". They came what first? And then to be healed. There are people who bring their relative or bring their friend, they come to a pastor, and they say, "Pastor, can you please pray for..." Of course the pastor will pray. Why? He's a pastor and he won't want to disappoint you, all right? And he loves you. So you are his church member, right? You bring someone else who never hear the Word, who not even willing to come to church, or given a chance to even listen to one of Pastor Prince's sermons, let's say, someone from this church, and what happens? They want you to pray for healing. But those people, notice how they receive healing. They came to hear first and then to be healed of their infirmities, all right?
Another verse, next chapter. This is Luke 5. The very next chapter, see the trend. "And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of Jesus' disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases". Again, the same order. They came to hear and to be healed. "As well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude", I love this, "The whole multitude sought to touch Him". Marvel heroes don't hold a candle to Jesus. It's all fake, fake, and more fakes. And the world is running after it because the heart of our young people are all crying out for Jesus.
This is, look at this. "Whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all". Whoa! Walking by the... I was just there a few days ago, the area of Galilee. And power went out of Jesus and healed them all. hallelujah, beautiful. So what did Jesus do? This is Jesus' ministry, and I'll close with this verse. "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching," preaching, say, "Preaching," "the gospel of the kingdom, and healing," say, "Healing," "all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people".
So the people came to hear, so Jesus preached. They came to hear and to be healed. Remember this. Always remember this. Just now, there's a special anointing. Of course God heals, sometimes God heals when there's a special anointing, all right, and I ask you all to pray with me that this happens more and more in a service, and that's more the gifts of the Spirit. It operates as the Spirit wills, but the norm for the believer is to hear first, and then faith comes, and then you receive. If you're not receiving, ask yourself, are you hearing the Word of Christ? Make sure it's the Word about Christ. That woman with the issue of blood, when she heard about Jesus, she came in the press behind, amen? I'm gonna read to you a real quick testimony and then I will dismiss you, okay? All right?
All right, a sister from Singapore. This just came a few days ago. "I was born with a defective left eye, with scars across my retina. Hence for 55 years, I could only rely on my right eye to see. My only good eye, however, is highly myopic and I had also suffered from acute glaucoma in that same eye once". My eye is seeing something else, okay. "Same eye once. My eye doctor fears that over time, due to severe myopia, my retina which has become stretched and thin will develop scars too, turn myopic degeneration, which could lead to blindness. I work in an international construction company and my job requires me to do close-up work on the computer and read construction drawings.
Recently, I suddenly could not see clearly with my right eye. There was a diagonal patch across my visual field and my vision became so bad that I could not read text on my phone and laptop, and I could not walk down the stairs because I could not see well. I had to inform two of my colleagues of my situation so they could help me, as I was seeing very little and my eye was in pain. During this very tough season, I was listening". I was listening. I was listening. Are you listening? "During this very tough season, I was listening to Pastor Prince's various sermons on Gospel Partner. In one of his sermons in 2002, he mentioned the higher way is to believe", the higher way to healing, "is to believe what God said in His Word, just like the centurion who approached Jesus for the healing of his servant. God also led me to meditate on His promises. Faith arose in my heart as I kept hearing and hearing the Word of Christ".
You see, I saw this testimony only last night. I prepared my sermon already, but you see how it comes together? Even the Word of Christ. "Faith arose in my heart as I kept hearing and hearing the Word of Christ. A couple of weeks later during one of the Sunday services, Pastor Prince prayed for people with eye conditions and I received the healing for myself. The next day, I realized the diagonal patch across my visual field was gone. I could", listen, hold your claps, this is the last one already, "I could read the text on my devices and even type out this testimony to testify of the amazing miracle of God in my life. May all praise and glory be to our Heavenly Father". Praise the Lord, amen. Give Jesus the praise, hallelujah. Thank You, Lord.
Whatever troubles you are faced with, I told you just now, it's the key. It's the key to receiving all that God has done, but there are voices telling you hearing alone is not enough. Don't worry about doing, listen. If you hear long enough, if you feed long enough, you will do. It's like you have all this pent-up strength on the inside, you know? You must do something, all right? You understand that in analogy of an athlete. He has all the strength. He keeps running. He has all the strength. He wants to do something. But the strength comes first, amen.
And many of us, we are trying to do things we don't have the strength for. Feed, hear. Hear your way out of sickness. Hear your way out of depression. Hear you way out of that guilt and condemnation. Hear your way out from all that the devil is trying to restrict you and hold you back. Hear your way out. The way out is to hear the Word of Christ. Get hold of teachings that's about Christ, and about Christ that's revealed in the Gospels, and Christ in His finished work, which has brought grace under which we are all under, this wonderful dispensation of grace. If you say, "Pastor Prince, I want to put my faith in Jesus Christ and I want to do it today, right now. I don't want to delay any longer. I see it. I see it," if that is you, pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, You said in Your Word whoever confesses Jesus as Lord, they will be saved. I thank You Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I believe He died on that cross for my sins. He was raised from the dead when I was justified, cleared of all my sin debt. And I believe He is alive today at Your right hand and He's coming again. Jesus Christ is my Lord, my Savior, and my God. I'm saved, gloriously saved, in Jesus' name, amen.
Stand to your feet. Praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place. This coming week... see, I'm not just pronouncing, all right, as a cliche. I believe God releases and God will follow through throughout this week.
This week, the Lord bless you with the blessings of Father Abraham you and your family, blessings of Deuteronomy 28, and the Lord keep you, protect and preserve all of you from every harm, danger, sickness, from all the powers of darkness throughout this week. The Lord make His face to shine upon you, he's always smiling on you, and prosper your way, be gracious to you. May you find favor everywhere you go throughout this week. And the Lord lift up His countenance on you and grant you shalom peace, health, and wholeness. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.