Joseph Prince - The Powerful Benefits Of God's Word
In 2 Timothy 3 it says, "But know this, that in the last days..." Are we in the last days, people? Yes, we are in the last days. We are in the last days. It's like the book opens up with the best of times and the worst of times, all right? It's the best of times for us, but we are living in the worst of times in the world. And the Holy Spirit told us beforehand already that in the last days perilous times or difficult times, dangerous times will come. "For men will be lovers of themselves," stop. Stop here and ask yourself what has difficult times? How many agree that we are living in difficult times, perilous times, even more this season of time? That we are seeing an unprecedented weather going awry, going berserk like never before?
Some countries, they might experience this for 100 years, and now during our day and age they are experiencing it. Perilous times, wars, right, like, countries going to war and all that, what is causing all these things? The Bible says there's one reason. The reason I have you stop is this. Perilous times, difficult times, dangerous times will come, for men shall be lovers of themself. What is that? What connection is there? How can men who are lovers of themself... it's a moral thing, right? How is that connected with difficult times? This is the thing. As morality drops, okay, as people become loose in their morals, as they go in more into situational ethics and is only moral as and when, certain situations you find that you do what you think is right is nothing modern.
The Bible talks about it in the book of Judges. Everyone did that which was right in their own sight, all right? So what happens when morality is no longer there, all right? The Bible says perilous times will come. But you say, "What the connection of godly character or moral excellence got to do with difficult times or dangerous times"? You see, talk about wars, for example. Why does one nation want this nation, all right? It could be because of pride. Amen. They feel insulted or they are selfish. "I want more. I want to dominate more of the world". And it is selfish, it is lovers of themselves, amen, the selfishness going on. There's pride.
"I want this country back because it used to belong to me". Amen. And morality is behind every issue. Why is it that people are not willing to come clean about drugs and things like that, right, people getting a drug addiction and all that? Because they want to make money, right? So they don't mind you get addicted as long as they have the money. Men, lovers of themself. In fact, often, opens up with lovers of themselves, lovers of money in the next line, right? Lovers of money. All this got to do, all this contribute to perilous times, difficult times. "Boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy".
I was just sharing with my wife the other day about a man that I just read about, a true story, a man who shared with a Christian pastor that he's in the... a professor of medicine, something like that, but he lived into his 90s. It was in his 90s that he shared with this pastor his secret of long life. He believed this is his secret. Ever since he was young, he says, he thanks God, or he said, "I always thank God. I thank God for every organ of my body. I thank God for my heart. My heart is functioning well. I thank God for my kidneys. I thank God". He thanked God for all the organs of his body. And being that he's from medical background, he knows all the terms and, you know, and he thanked God every day for them, one by one. He says that he believed gratefulness is the reason why he's healthy and he lived so long. Amen.
But the Bible says in the last days people will be unthankful, unholy. You know, right now we are more conscious of a pain in our body in certain location than we are to thank God for all the health in the other parts of our body. We got more health than sickness. We should start thanking God for the little. What happens when you thank God for the little? Jesus took the little, five loaves and two small fish. By the way in the Greek it says two small fish like sardines, all right? He thanked God for the little, and much flowed out, amen? So the same thing also, whatever we thank God for will multiply, even our health. Amen. So men will be unthankful in the last days. They don't thank you anymore. They have a sense of entitlement. They believe that you help them. They don't say thank you anymore.
You say, "What is it got to do with, Pastor Prince, all these common courtesies"? It's got to do with everything, with being unthankful. Common courtesies must not be lost in any society, and especially in the home. We must learn to say thank you, please, amen. Don't take for granted the people around you. "Well, they are paid to work, in the restaurant. I pay them, you know, plus GST". All right? Don't forget to say thank you. The lady that serves, you know, and she clears your dishes and all that, all right, you know, now we get to clear our own dish, right? Uh-huh? We still thank the person who is doing the work down there, all right? We thank God for all the builders, the foreign builders that are brought into Singapore. Amen. Unthankful, unholy in the last days.
People have a sense of entitlement. You can see that in their driving behavior sometimes, a sense of entitlement, you know. Let's not be like that. "Preach it, Pastor Prince". Amen. So, "They'll be unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, proud, lovers of pleasure". So it starts with lovers of themselves, then lovers of money, right? Everything to do with the bottom line is money. It's not so much of loving you, amen, it is loving money. You are just a means to that money, okay? That is all going to happen in the last days. And the last one, "Lovers of themself, lovers of money, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. From such people turn away".
So we are in these times. But the Bible gives us a strong close to this chapter. It closes like this. Look at this. And it says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution". What a way to open the sermon, isn't it? Y'all will suffer persecution. Say, "Amen". Hey, listen. If you live as a Christian, you will suffer persecution. I didn't say suffer sickness, disease, or car wrecks, things like that. I am saying persecution. People will say things about you. They'll say all kinds of nasty things about you. Can you take it? Sure. Amen? They said that about my Lord as well. Amen. They called him a glutton, a gluttonous man, a winebibber. Amen. They said he is a devil. So it just says if they say those things about me, the servant is not above his Lord.
So listen, that's the only suffering the Bible tells us that I see that we need to allow because the Lord allows it. It's a privilege to suffer shame for his name, or to suffer persecution. Not shame, but persecution. Amen? So there is a promise that believers will suffer persecution, right, but stand tall. The Lord is with you. Amen. And then he goes on to say, "Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them". Now, watch this. "That from a childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures".
From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures. And this word childhood is actually the word baby. From a baby. That means what? The mother will speak to the child, speak to the child. Even the child doesn't understand. But speak what? From the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. I want to share with you about this wonderful book, the Holy Scriptures. Amen? "Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus". The Holy Scriptures, holy because it's uncommon. Always remember the word holy has got to do with separation. It doesn't mean evil and holy. The opposite of holy is not evil, the opposite of holy is commonness, being common. Like, diamonds were considered by the Greek people holy, set apart, right? Gold is set apart, holy. Stones are common.
So the opposite of holy is actually common. To be holy is to be uncommon. God wants you uncommon in a world. Where the world is depressed, you have the peace of God garrisoning your hearts and minds. Praise the Lord. Amen. Our marriage is a testimony, whereas the world is just marrying and marrying and marrying, you know, divorcing and divorcing. And things like this happening in the world and more and more in the last days, but the Bible says we'll be uncommon. Can I have a good amen, all right? And it comes from the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God can separate you from that which is unholy. Jesus said it like this in the Upper Room. "Sanctify them through, like..." Let's look at Jesus.
Now, we are eavesdropping to what Jesus is praying to his Father. This is the night in the Upper Room before he was betrayed. In fact, he was being betrayed even as he prayed this by Judas, right? And he was praying this prayer. And we got a chance to eavesdrop. Let's see what he says. "Sanctify them, separate them from what is defiling. Separate them from what will hurt them. Separate them". I will include even sickness and disease because they come only from the world, all right? "Separate them from what is common. Separate them by your truth. Your Word is truth". Amen. In a world where there are so much lies, you know, and even, like, those who advocate that they are telling you the truth on social media and all that, you never know.
And many a times it's like presenting a slant that's not completely a lie, but what is worse than even a complete lie sometimes can be a half lie because it gets people without people knowing it. A full lie is so blatant. It's so obvious, like the nose on your face. Amen? But a half life, the devil specializes in half lies. The way he comes to Jesus and tempts Jesus, the way he comes to Adam and Eve, right, to Eve and tempts her, you can see a half lie. He comes, he adds some truth. And that's the thing. You have the cheese in the mousetrap. It's not just mousetrap alone. It will never get the mouse. It's the cheese in the mousetrap, half lies.
So where do you find the truth? Jesus says, "Your Word is truth". Amen. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Amen. Jesus says, "If you continue in my Word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". I want to share with you about the parallels of the land of Israel, the land of God, and the book of God, the Bible. The land and the book. Are you ready? The land of Israel and the book of God. And you'll see the parallels. Let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 8 right now. It says, "For the Lord thy God brings you into a good land". Say, "A good land". By the way, this is the good book. You know, there's a phrase in the Bible from Hebrews 6 that says, "And tasted the good Word of God".
This book has inherent goodness. It will do you good. And when you feed on it, it's nothing but good. Sometimes you eat some food, right, and then in between you eat cholesterol this amount, sugar this amount, those are bad, trans fat this amount, those things are not good, right? Or y'all don't care. "Pastor Prince, you know, I give thanks and I just eat it, all right"? Yeah, but I'm just saying that it's hard to find in the world something that is so pure, but here you find it, amen? The good Word of God. In fact, when Joshua and Caleb came out from spying the land of Israel which God gave to them, like I said, the land parallels with the Bible, back then it was a physical inheritance for them. Today for us, this book is our inheritance. Amen.
So we're going to see what they did with the land, amen, the features of the land and how it corresponds with the Word of God. I pray it will excite you and open up your spirit to enter into the Word of God in a fresh, new way, amen. Praise the Lord. So it's a good land. And when Joshua and Caleb came back, they said of the land that, "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land". Not just good land, exceedingly good land. Let me give you the Hebrew, all right? Tova means good. Haaretz means land. Tova haaretz, me'od, me'od. The word exceeding is repeated twice. Good land, very, very. And the only one that did this is Darby's translation and Young's Literal Translation, brings that out. "The land through which we have passed over to spy, it is a very, very good land".
This Bible, this volume, this entire volume here is very, very good. It's very, and it will do you good, amen. And God says of the land of Israel, God used this word, that of all the lands in the world, the land of Israel is the glory of all lands. Now, there are many lands. There are larger lands. Amen? There are larger lands. There are more frequented lands. There are lands that are well-known lands compared to Israel, but of all the lands in the world... I believe when God made the earth, God made everything, God positioned Israel for his people Israel. Amen? The people of Israel, he positioned them. He crafted this land with special features, all right, with special geography, of which some of which we'll look at, and it corresponds with the Bible.
We, his people, today we spend time in our inheritance. And how much you get out of your inheritance is how much time you spend in the Word of God, how much you see that this is your inheritance. Amen? It's a very, very good book. So if Israel is the glory of all lands, this is the glory of all books, because there are millions of books in the world. There are millions and millions. Down through the years if you put all the libraries and all the books in the world together, there'll be millions, but of all the books, God says this book is the glory of all books. This book has a feature that other books do not have.
There is something about a book. When you read a novel, for example, when you finish the novel, that's it, it's done. You can put it one side or you sell it off to a second-hand bookstore, you know? It's over and done with. Seldom do you read it twice or three times. I know people do that, but after that, twice is the most, that's it. Amen. You know the story. But this book keeps on speaking and speaking and speaking. Amen. The deeper you go, the more treasures you know. It has vistas. It has vein underneath.
Let me just tell you what God says about the land. "The land that God bringeth thee into, a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills". That means these depths here, these are undercurrent, subterranean water, they are found in the valleys and in the hills. Whenever you're going through a valley season, a valley season is a season whereby you're going through a tough time. Maybe you have received a bad prognosis from the doctor. Maybe you just received some bad news of the foreclosure from the bank. You receive bad news about the deadline you're not able to meet. And there are things happening around your world right now, you feel like you're in a valley.
Well, the Bible says look out for the subterranean underneath your feet, all right? There'll be waters gushing out. And the word here spring out is the word gush out, it's inside, but it requires for us to read it, tap into it until it gushes out, amen? When you think about the Word of God, you think about Jesus when he rose from the dead, the first day of resurrection, what do you think Jesus would do on the first day of resurrection? I know what I'll do if I'm resurrected.
On the first day, I'll appear before Pontius Pilate. "Yo, look at these, the nail prints on my hands. Yo, what you going to say now? Huh"? Right? Then I'll appear on the high priest, all right? The high priest and all the chief priests that delivered me to Pontius Pilate to be crucified, right, I'll appear before them and say, "Yo, I'm alive. Amen? What you going to do about it? What you going to do about it"? Right? But the Lord is not like me. Thank God. You know what the Lord did? The Lord appeared on the same day to two persons, two of his disciples who were discouraged, despondent on their way back to their village of Emmaus.
And the Bible says as they were talking, sad, talking about what, the past day events, Christ was crucified and all that, Jesus came to them. But there's something Jesus did that for years I've been asking the Lord, you know, and the Lord answered me some time back, and I've been sharing that. Some of you know what I'm talking about. The Lord actually held back their eyes from seeing who he really was, all right? He's now there in his resurrected form. Death is behind him. He cannot die again, amen. He's beyond death, the first resurrected man. There were other mens who were raised from the dead. They just raised from the dead to go back to die again, all right, those in the Old Testament like the widow of Nain's son and all that. But Jesus rose with a resurrection life that all of us will rise also in.
When Jesus comes again, we all rise up in the resurrected body, amen? That's why we're waiting for the rapture. Amen, church. Amen. That's our future. That's your future. That's your inheritance. Hallelujah. So he appeared before the two, and he held back their eyes from seeing who he was until he expounded to them things in all the scriptures concerning himself, you know? He expounded to them in all the scriptures things concerning himself. Now, why not just tell them, "Hey, guys, it's me. See the holes in my hand? I'm Jesus," right? But so I asked the Lord, "Why didn't you just do that, Lord? Just why you held back their eyes for them to see you in the scriptures"?
And this is what the Lord said to me. "If they saw me physically in my resurrected form, today you in this generation that came after the disciples saw Jesus physically," but we, we don't see him physically, right, amen? We'll be discouraged. We'll say, "Of course, they were brought out of their depression and discouragement because they saw you, Lord, but for us, we don't see you physically. We know you are at the Father's right hand right now". But the Lord says, "I'm giving you a chance to see me also," where? "In my Word".
So today we all have equal opportunity, all of us. We have equal opportunity to see the Lord in his Word. And the Bible says he began to expound to them in all the scriptures concerning himself. I tell you when we go to heaven, one of the first things I want to ask for is that videotape or that CD or whatever heaven has, amen, of the Emmaus road. In a way, our Grace Academy is going to be like that. It's all about Jesus, amen? And we're going to go into the valleys and the hills. We're going to look at all the fountains and the depths of subterranean water, amen? We're going to look at all the brooks of water and drink deeply from them. Like, the Song of Song says the bridegroom says to the bride, "Drink deeply, O my beloved, and eat abundantly". Praise the Lord. Okay?
So in Deuteronomy it says God brings you to a good land, a land of brooks of water, fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat, and barley, and vines. Wait. Do we believe what Jesus says? Today we are people that are hungering for a lot of things, but we do not know what we are hungry for. We are thirsting for objects, with things that we believe can satisfy us, but we don't really know what we are hungry for. Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God. Remember that? Do we really believe what he said? Man does not live, you cannot live, in other words you cannot be healthy, you cannot have life without the Word of God.
Man does not, can't, does not live by bread. That's your staple diet. You can put bread there. You can put rice there. Man does not live by rice or bread alone, but by every Word of God. Do we believe that? This book will do you good in your mind. This book will do you good in your soul. This book will do you good physically as well. And one of the things that's neglected, you know, I feel that more people should share, is the benefits that you get from reading, just reading the Bible, the physical recuperation on your body.
I remember George Müller, one of my heroes of faith, all right? He's no longer alive, but in his lifetime, literally he prayed in millions of dollars to take care of orphans and build orphanages, and he lived to a ripe, good old age of 90 plus. And when asked for his secret also, he said this. "The recuperative power of God's Word on my physical being". Are you listening, people? Amen? Just reading the Bible gives you that life. Man does not live by bread only, but by every Word of God. Amen. Look at Psalms... not Psalms, Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 10, "Hear, my son". God is talking to you. Your Father is talking to you. "Hear, my son, receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many".
Now, it's one thing for you to read Charles Dickens or Jane Austen, that kind of thing, all right, but receiving those words will not give you a long life. But God is saying, literally, the Father who cannot lie says, "When you receive my sayings, you receive my Word". As you're reading even his Word, you're receiving life, and the years of your life will be many. And there are people who don't believe that God wants us to have long life. But, you see, which is more beneficial even for the kingdom of heaven, for you to live a short life here and then go back to be with him in heaven? God, in a sense, why does God need you there? You are more needed here. Amen. Are you listening?
And people, when you grow older, the wealth of experience, the amount of wisdom you have accumulated down through the years is needed by the next generation. We need you around, amen? Yes, unless you're called to be a martyr, and some people lay down their lives for the Lord, there are people like this, but this is not the norm. We thank God for all these precious martyrs, they are great heroes of faith, but it's not the norm. The norm is not laying down your life, the norm is to live long. In fact, it's covered at the cross. Jesus died at the age of 33, young man at the cross, that you might live long. Have you received your inheritance, amen?
So, there's something there. "Receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many". If God is religious, like some religious people will teach us, right, it will say the years of your life will be short, and you will join me in heaven. No, no, no, God wants you here, amen? Have you heard the saying you are so heavenly-minded you're no earthly good? I don't know who started this saying, but let me tell you this, okay, you are of amazing and tremendous good if you are heavenly-minded. If you are heavenly-minded, you are of tremendous good on earth, amen.
Jesus spent time with his Father, that's being heavenly-minded, amen, and then he went out, cleansed the lepers, cast out demons, unstopped deaf ears, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised the dead, hallelujah, how about that? Was he of any earthly good? Yes, amen, then what they mean is that if you are legalistic-minded, you are no earthly good, I agree. But heavenly-minded, that's where you live, man, amen? We live in the heavenlies, praise the Lord. We are seated with Christ at the Father's right hand. Now church, look at this, when you drop down here, it says here, drop down to Proverbs 4, drop down from verse 10 just now, "The years of your life will be many," here it says, "My son, give attention to my words".
Again, he's talking to you like a son. My son, my daughter, "Give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are," what? They are what? They are what? Shout it out, don't say life in a dead way, yo, come on. They are what, for everyone? Uh-uh, you missed it. They are life for everyone? All your colleagues, your relatives, for whom? Those that find them. Those that open up their inheritance, amen. God's words are life to you, amen. It's not just that, it goes on to say, "And health to all their flesh," amen. Health to all their flesh.
This is an amazing benefit that I see in reading the Bible. I know times when I'm not feeling well and all that, and I'll just read, and read. I like to read the gospels when I'm not feeling well. Just read the miracles of Jesus. Just by reading, sometimes I didn't even find time to pray, rather, I was lost in it. I got healed, I got well, I got better, amen. There's something about God's Word. The word "health" here is the Hebrew word "marpe," which is from the word "rapha," alright? Marpe is used today even in Israel as medicine. Marpe to all your flesh. The only difference between this marpe and the world's marpe, the worlds medicine, and we thank God for doctors, like Pastor Mark and me have been sharing. They are all on the same side with us against sickness, against disease, am I right, amen?
But the medicine of the world still cannot excel this medicine, because the medicine of the world will tell you this will heal your stomach, your gastritis and all that, but it will cost, you know, in America they will sell this kind of medicine, and then you'll hear the advertisement on the radio. They'll say, "And this will cure you of this, and the side effects will be..." that's it, the side effects will be like speaking in tongues, you know, real fast. So, technically they have said it. You heard it or not, it's your problem. So, legally they have put it out there, you know what I'm saying? And many times they'll say, like, this thing will help clear your eyes, okay, but it will give you diarrhea, so it all depends, are you going out or not?
You know, it's like there always side effects, but there's one medicine that has no side effects. Have you noticed that word "all," health to all their flesh. God's Word is health to all your flesh. In other words, you may have a problem in your body you don't even know of. Health to all your flesh covers it, man. There's no side effects, amen? It's all good. The good Word of God is a very, very good book, amen. And when you read it, the health-giving power of God's Word is amazing. It's health to your kidneys. It's health to your heart. It is healing to your lungs. It's healing to your scalp, your hair, your eyes, your teeth, your gums, all your flesh, all your flesh, all your flesh, amen.
I know a story of a man who, he's actually a well-known businessperson, and high up there somewhere, alright, hating over some group businesspeople and all that, and at a point this thing happened to him, when this thing happened to him I'm about to share with you, he wasn't a Christian. He met Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who is the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the author of the book, "The Power of Positive Thinking," he's the pastor of Marble College Church in New York, and Dr. Peale shared that he was sitting not in a church conference, it wasn't a Christian conference, it was a business conference he was invited to attend.
And it was all businesspeople, and the head of the business associations, this guy who was a high flier, alright, he came over and sat in front of him, and he says, "Dr. Peale, I've been wanting to meet up with you, and there's been something I wanted to share with you and ask your opinion on it". He said, "Sure". You know, he said that, do you believe in divine healing? So, Dr. Peale says, "Yes, of course, I have seen God heal people". "You know, there's something that happened to me kind of strange many years ago," he said.
He wasn't a Christian then, and he was, like, driving, you know, just going up the ladder of success, getting as much as he can, right? And just not thinking about his health, then one day he came down with a condition the doctor says is tumor of the jaw. And the doctor has only bleak prognostication for that condition, it will get worse and worse. And he was so sad, felt depressed, and went home, and he said, "I had a very funny feeling, Dr. Peale," he says that, "all of a sudden, I had a feeling to read the Bible. I knew my wife had a Bible somewhere in the house, so I asked her for a Bible, and she brought me a Bible, and I began reading the Bible. I didn't know where to start".
Remember, he's not a believer, he didn't know where to start, so he just opened up the Bible and started reading. He read and read. He said, "First of all, I didn't know much about what I was reading, but I just felt like reading, so I read. But the more I read, the more peace I felt, so I kept on reading. And I kept on reading until what I read gave me joy. I got more joyful inside. And in the days that followed, my little reading became protracted reading, and I read more and more, and the more I read, the more joyful I became on the inside, so much so I didn't care about my physical condition anymore, I just kept on reading. Until one day I felt inside me, there's something, like, telling me, 'You are healed.' So, I went back to the doctor, and the doctor examined me, and the doctor says the condition is no more, you are free from it. But I don't know when it happened, all I knew is that I kept on reading and reading the Bible. So, Dr. Peale, I just wanna ask you, by the way, the doctor said this to me, the doctor said to me that, oh, this kind of thing, it might come back".
And Dr. Peale asked him, "How long ago was that"? He said more than 20 years, and I'm still well. A non-Christian can read the Bible and get this benefit, and you're a Christian, a child of God, my son, my son, my son, you don't receive, man? Can I say something to you, alright, about this land. This land has a land of wheat, barley, vines, alright, vine is, you know, to intoxicate you, amen. I'm talking about spiritually speaking, okay, don't get ideas now. Back then it was physical, but for today, it is spiritual. Joy, vine always speaks of joy in the spirit. Fig tree speaks of sweetness, amen, the sweetness of God, so it's all in God's Word. And then pomegranate speaks of fruitfulness.
You know, pomegranate fruit, right? Like, for example, the Song of Songs I've talked to you about, like this book, right in the middle of the heart of the book is the Book of Psalms, and a poetry book, Song of Song is there. Why is it called Song of Songs? Because of all the songs in the world, God thinks of this as the song of all songs. Many of the songs in the world are songs of love for parents, parents for children, but I think there's no songs like songs between a man and a woman. It's all romantic. Most of the songs in the world are romantic songs, and all the men and women said? You must have been listening to the end of the world song.
Why does the sun go shining, you know? Don't they know it's the end of the world? So, we should agree most of the songs are romantic songs, whether it is Indian songs, whether it is Chinese songs, whether it's Korean songs, whether it is English songs, it's all got to do with boy and a girl, right? But God looks at all that love and God says this love is nothing compared to the love of Christ for you. Why is it called the Song of Songs? Because it's the song of the bridegroom for his bride, our Lord Jesus for us, amen? So in the Song of Songs, it says this, "Drink deeply, O my beloved". The Lord is telling us, "Drink deeply, O my beloved. Eat abundantly," amen? It's all found here. Praise the Lord, amen.
You talk about God's Word, God's Word is so full of different features. Like Israel, there are mountains, there are valleys, there's the deepest place on planet earth is in Israel, the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea. Some of you have floated in the Dead Sea. How many of you have been to the Dead Sea? Alright, okay, you have floated in the Dead Sea, right? It is so dense, and you know, the chemicals and all that, you cannot actually sink. But nothing is alive in the Dead Sea, so even the land, now you see, I'm drawing a parallel between the land and the Word. You look at the land of Israel, there are lessons there for us to learn, right? Even lessons to teach kids, to teach children.
For example, the Dead Sea, why is it called the Dead Sea, and why is there no fish in the Dead Sea, why? Because it has inlet, it has no outlet, so if you always receive and receive and never give, you're never generous, you're dead, amen. But going northward in Israel, facing you the map of Israel, going northward, you go to Galilee, there's a lake called Lake of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee, and it is thriving with fish. That's where Jesus did the miracle of the net breaking, boat sinking, load of fishes for the disciples, you remember that? And some of you have tasted the descendants of the fish when you were there, amen? We love it with head and the tail, right? Not the fillet type, hey, come on, come on, amen? Why is the Dead Sea dead? No fish, not a single fish can survive there, nothing living survives in the Dead Sea, but in the Sea of Galilee just north, it's life, teeming with fishes, why? Because it has inlet and it has outlet.
You see, it's fresh, fresh water, why? Because it's always flowing. You're not just receiving, and receiving, and receiving, amen. You see, friend, God knows if he can get things through you, he will definitely get things to you. He can trust you. He can trust you. Be flowing, be a channel. Don't love money, use it for God's glory, amen, amen. The more you drink, Jesus says, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink". Many times I'll pray when I open the Bible, I say, "Lord Jesus, I come to you in your Word. I come to you in your Word". When I come to him, what do I do? It's for my own drinking. Drinking is personal consumption. You just drink for yourself, for your own pleasure. Drink, drink, drink, drink, and Jesus says out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Now, those rivers are for others. It blesses others, but drinking is for yourself. But when you keep on drinking, keep on drinking, you'll have rivers flowing out of you. You are refreshing everywhere you go. People love to be around you because you refresh them. It's like when they leave you, they feel like they had a bath. They feel refreshed, they feel clean, they feel good, amen. I pray that is true every time you leave the church service as well. Like Jesus told his disciples, now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. You know, and I can tell when people are in the Word of God. You can tell by their faces. I know it's half, I can tell halfway now, alright. Usually I can tell halfway now, but you can tell by the eyes, the sparkle, the face. You can tell by someone's face.
I learned this many, many years ago. You can tell by people's face whether they are in the Word of God. There's a shine, and this shine is talked about, there's a radiance, it's talked about in the Word of God in Ecclesiastes. Wow, these few weeks, Pastor Mark's gonna talk about Ecclesiastes, right? Okay, Ecclesiastes, "Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine". "A man's wisdom makes his face shine". I think Abraham Lincoln was right when he said that every person is responsible for their face above the age of 40. If you got a grumpy face, it's because you're a grumpy person, amen? So, the Bible says that a man's wisdom makes his face to shine, "And the hardness of his face is changed".
So, you don't like your face, spend time in the Word of God, amen? I'll tell you this, when I look at people that spend time in the Word of God, and what they were, like, 20 years ago and all that, they look different. Pastor Prince, what happened to you then? No, if you think I look bad now, you should see how I look 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Pastor Mark and I, I need to show you some photos, right? The plane cannot take off. How come the plane cannot take off? Okay, those of you who do not know what's happening, you must get Pastor Mark's message, the visual one.
You see, the Bible says very clearly it shines out of you. There's a light that comes into you, amen. It causes you to live a radiant life. So, that's not just for your body, health, your mind, wisdom, amen, but internally, your soul, you are satisfied. There's a thirst-quenching draft in God's Word, hallelujah. So, drink deeply, beloved, amen? Can I have a good amen? Praise the Lord, hallelujah. And God's Word, the land of Israel has olive oil and honey. By the way, pomegranates in Song of Songs, I talked about Song of Songs today quite a bit. Song of Songs, the Lord, the bridegroom looks at the bride and says, Jesus is saying to the church, you and I, alright, your head, your forehead is like a piece of pomegranate.
Now, if you do not know what it means and you say, well, my head's so big, because you see a pomegranate's very big, right, and very hard, amen? What am I, a big-head person? No, no, if you understand the meaning, it's so beautiful, isn't it? You see, dig deeper and what is the pomegranate all about? You cut half, you find there's a lot of seeds inside, so the seeds are like your thoughts. When the Lord looks at you, the Lord sees your thoughts, and the Lord says your thoughts are so fruitful. Just one of those seeds, not all, just one, you plant it, you have a tree full of pomegranates and just one full of fruits, full of seeds, I mean, amen.
Within the seed, there are a lot of fruits, and he goes on, and the Lord says I look at your thoughts, and your thoughts are fruitful, my love, amen. But then you say, oh, no, Lord, don't look into my thoughts, it's very dirty, it's very unclean, I don't want you to, you know? But the Lord says, no, look closer at the pomegranate fruit. What water washes it? What's the color of the juice? Red, I see your thoughts constantly washed in my blood. It's constantly washed in my blood. I don't see you in yourself, I see you through my blood, and it washes your thoughts, and what is left are all the noble, princely, amen, beautiful, excellent thoughts, hallelujah, amen. Are you listening, people?
So, there's pomegranates. "A land of olive oil and honey". That means what? When you spend time in the Word of God, there's a verse in Job that says when I wash my steps with butter, that means what? Butter comes from what? Coagulated milk, amen? And the milk has become coagulated, and it's actually from milk, so the more you find the richness of God's Word, because the Bible says God brings you to a land following with milk and honey, and here the Bible says as newborn babies desire the sincere milk of the Word, amen? So, we have honey, sweetness, there's sweetness in the Word of God, amen. Do you know the Bible says that God's Word is so sweet, in Psalms 119:103, it says this. "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth," amen.
What is sweeter than honey? Have you tasted honey? God's Word is sweeter than honey. I pray you come to the place where you find God's Word is sweeter than honey to your mouth. But Pastor Prince, I find it very hard to start. I don't know where to start and all that. Start somewhere, you mean I can't just open anyhow? Yes, and just read? Yes, amen, "oh, Pastor Prince, this sounds so..." no, I'm not saying that this is the norm, if you can, alright? How can you build a relationship with someone always on the go? You need to find time to sit down somewhere, relax, and chit chat, am I right, right? You cannot just be on the go and build a relationship. Yes, we're all aware of that, but sometimes this emphasizes so much that people think that I gotta have all the tools of the Bible, I must know what kind of commentaries to help, what kind of study books to have, they don't even get started.
My advice, put a Bible near your toilet bowl, amen? While you sit and release and live the let-go life, put a Bible there. "Oh, how can you say that, Pastor Prince?" If you are religious, okay, let me tell you this, you'll always be in bondage. Now, then you're no earthly good. That's being legalistic. You think God doesn't know what you have? God created your body. God wants to bring life and health to all your flesh. That's why he gave you the ability to purge. Healthy organisms purge, healthy churches also. So, put one near your toilet bowl. Put one in your dining area. Put one when you watch your Netflix. Put one nearby. Put one where you're watching TV. Sometimes they have commercials and all that, some programs you are watching, they have a commercial, pick it up, read it.
"Pastor Prince, you should teach people to be more disciplined". Yeah, I said just now that's the norm. We should have time like that just like we spend time people cannot build relationship without having a sit-down time apart from everyone else, separated, holy, if you would, uncommon time. Amen? That's how you build your relationship. Like, for me, I love to date my wife. Right? We can eat at home, but we choose to go out somewhere, and you should go to a hawker center. We eat together, just being together, us dating. Amen. You can't just build; hi, bye. Hi, bye. Bye, bye, bye, bye, hi. Amen. But is it okay, church, to tell you this? Every morning when I wake up, all right, my first stop is the toilet bowl. I'm a healthy individual. And you know what I have with me always? A New Testament. I have a New Testament.
And I tell you this. Out of ten times (I'm giving you an illustration) out of ten times God speaks, it's not my usual Bible time. All right? That's not my usual Bible time. But out of ten times, I tell you God speaks to me nine times out of moments like that. Amen. God is talking. He wants to talk to you more than you want to receive. Amen. So, just take the chance. Don't run to your text messages. Don't run to your social media and all that. Speak to God, let God speak to you. This book is about God speaking to you. You can talk to God as prayer, as well. You need to talk to God. But, you see, when you talk to God, nothing happens, usually. God hears your prayer.
That happens, of course; but when you talk to God, nothing happens, in a sense. But when God speaks, whenever God speaks, things happen. So, this book is about God speaking to you. Can I have a good amen? Are you all learning? And then it drops down. Not only that, verse 9, "God brings you to a land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness". Oh, in this book you will eat bread without scarcity. God brings them to a land where they'll eat bread without scarceness. And he says, in this land, you shall not lack anything in it. I said you shall not lack anything in it. Amen. In this book, you shall not lack anything in it. "I don't understand, Pastor. Just by spending time in the Word, God supplies me"?
That's what God says. You think you are living just by, you know, he said bread and butter, right? Issues, our daily life, but it's more than that, friend. Listen. We don't live by bread and butter. We live by the Word of God. That means God supplies. Amen. And it says, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose heels you may dig brass, though here brass should be copper. Copper is what they used in those days. Now, iron is the strongest metal during that time. I know today it's not. I think there's tungsten, and there's titanium. But at one time, iron, during the Bible times, was the iron itch, they called it the iron itch, was the strongest metal then. Those who built their weapons out of iron usually wins the war.
So, Israel had no iron implements, no iron weapons. The Philistines had iron weapons; and yet, God gave victory. So, you see, the glory goes to God. God gave victory to Israel. Okay? So, God's saying about this land, "The iron that you want is right there". Friend, you've gotta dig deep. Notice, you've gotta dig. So, some things is... how many of you feel like you want light reading? How many feel that way sometimes? I feel like just light reading. Then you know what? There are historical narratives. There are stories in the Bible. The story of Joseph is exciting. The drama is there. The intrigue is there. Who betrayed who and it's all there, all the things you love in drama.
The story of Ruth and Boaz, a romantic story. I never fail to read it without getting some encouragement. Even though I know the story, the more I read it, the more I find, I see new insights, and it excites me, amen. This small book, Ruth. And then you have the story of David, amen? David as a boy, David as a king. David running around, being hunted down, and David in his older years. And there are so many narratives. There are stories that we are living in, today. So, there are times I just love reading the stories. Will I get help out of it? Yes. Please don't think it doesn't say that, "My son, attend to the healing words," only. It says, "Attend to my words". Just reading any part of the Bible yields all the benefits that God promised. Are you listening, people? Mm. Amen?
But there are times you want to dig deep. Oh, yeah, there is something here. I know there's something here. I want to dig deep into this, this portion. I will give you an example real quick. Okay, are you ready? Amen? If you love God's Word, you know there's something more to the surface. Okay, for example, the story of Caleb. You remember the story of Caleb? Joshua and Caleb, the two spies that went into the land, Moses sent them. They are the only two that came back with all the other spies, and the other spies, the other ten said, "We cannot take the land". They are the only two that says, "We can take the land. Let us go up at once and possess it, for God has given us the land". Right?
Now he's 85 years old, all right, and he stands before Joshua. And Joshua remembered 45 years ago. "When I was 40 years old, the Lord promised that he would keep me alive, amen, because of his faith". And you know how old he was then? Eighty-five. And he said this, "I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me". He's as strong at 85 as he was when he was 40. Now, he's not a liar. This is a man of God here. Amen. He's saying, "I'm as strong this day for war, for coming in, for going out". It's an idiom for everyday life and for warfare. And to prove the point, do you know what he said? They'd just entered the land, and there's one land called the...one area of Hebron, there's a mountain there.
In fact, you go to Mount Pilar, where they buried Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. You look opposite, there's the Mount Hebron. And Mount Hebron, at that time, was inhabited by the sons of Anak, which is the giants, the Anakims, of which Goliath is one of them. All right? Anakims, they are like the Philistine giants or the Anakim giants. They're all giants. Okay? And you know what Caleb says at 85 years old? I was about to fall off just for a moment. The pastors' been telling me, "Pastor Prince, please, please watch your step, as you come close, and your feet was like that, and you come back again". Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus, for coming in and for going out. Hallelujah. Amen? I like to be near you all. Even one step will not suffice for me. One step nearer.
Okay, so at the age of 85, do you know what he said about this mountain of Hebron full of giants? He told Joshua, "Give me this mountain". And you know what he did? He went to the mountain. He killed the leaders of the giants, the sons of Anak, and drove them all out, and that became his possession at 85 years old. Let me tell you this. There's something that God's Word did for him. Look at the number of times he told Joshua, "As God said," "as God said," "as God said," "as God said". He depends on God's Word, and this man is alive at 85 years old. Some people are dead, and they're 40 years old, already. You know, I mean, there's life in God's Word, life and health to all their flesh. Praise the Lord. Amen.
So, we are digging. Let me give you an example. So, this man has a daughter called Achsah. Say Achsah. Her name means anklet. All right, anklet for adorning. Anything to do with the foot always has a picture of inheritance. God says, "Every place the sole of your foot shall tread upon shall be yours". God gave them the land. God says, "Every place you step on will be yours". Right? So, anyway, this happened in Joshua 15. "Then he, Caleb, went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir (formerly the name of Debir was Kirjath Sepher.)"
Now, I told you just now the oracle, we always want to speak as the oracles of God. Debir is actually oracle of God, the rhema of God, the spoken Word of God. Amen? I pray that everyone that graces this pulpit here will be speaking to you the oracles of God, the now Word of God. Amen. And so Caleb went up there to this place, and this place, notice where is it? It's at Kirjath Sepher. This place still exists in Israel by the way. It's in a place called Kirjath Sepher. What is Kirjath Sepher? City of the Book, City of the Book. Do you know that you have a city that conquered people? It's a City of the Book.
God tells you this is City of the Book that you have to conquer. And when you conquer it, when you get up to speak, you'll be speaking like the oracles of God. That's when the refreshing happens, the watering happens, the bathing happens, the healing happens. Amen. From the logos to the rhema. Okay? So, here he says, and Caleb says, "He who attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it..." That means you conquer the City of the Book, it's like us that conquer the Bible. Amen? Amen? Learn the Word. He who takes the City of the Book takes it, "to him I'll give Achsah my daughter as wife". His daughter better be beautiful.
All right, obviously, she's a beauty. Amen? Like the father, amen, she grew out of a good stock, amen, and she is a woman of faith, as we are about to see. And he says, "I'll give my daughter to wife". Amen? "And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife". So, Othniel means the lion of God. All right? The lion of God. Now, does that remind you of something? In the book of Revelation, it tells you that Jesus... in fact, the voice is heard. "Behold," the angel says, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals thereof". Amen.
So, here is a small picture of Jesus opening the Book, amen? But it's also a message to all of us. Because whenever you see Jesus in the Word of God, especially in the Old Testament, you'll find Jesus in all the shadows and types. Whenever you find Jesus, you know what? You find yourself. Why? Because as he is, so are you. God sees you where? In Christ today, not outside Christ. Amen. So whenever you see Jesus, it's in your vested interest, because whatever you see him is, you are. And what he has, you have, because the Bible says we are joint heirs with Christ.
So, you see Jesus possessing something, you see yourself possessing it, and the Holy Spirit will make it happen in your life by just by beholding. Amen. So, the Lion of God, the son of Kenaz, he took the City of the Book, and he got Caleb's daughter. Now, you drop down. They got married, and after that, "Now it was so, when she, the wife now came to the husband, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, 'What do you wish?'" To the daughter. "And she said, 'Give me a blessing.'"
Now, this sounds like from the same family the father says, "Give me this mountain". Right? Caleb one time said that. "Give me this mountain". And the daughter says, "Give me a blessing from the father". Who says these "Give me" things doesn't please God? Without faith, it's impossible to please God. There are those who, you know, say things like, "Those Christians are always, 'Give me, give me, give me, give me.' You don't say 'Give me' to God". Say it to who? You don't say, "Give me," you look to someone else to supply you, or you look to yourself. No, my friend. God loves it when you see him as the one who is inexhaustibly full. All right?
You come, and you draw from him; and the more you draw, he doesn't get any less. All right? He gets even more full. The woman at the well took from Jesus. And when he was tired physically as a man, he was tired. See, they're at the well. But the more she took from him, by the time the disciples came back to Jesus, he was reinvigorated as if he ate something, the Bible says. So, the Lord loves it when you say, "Give me, Lord. Give me a blessing". Like Jabez, he was born of a bad name. The mother bore him in pain. The mother called him trouble and pain. His name Yabez means trouble and pain. But he told God, "Give me protection from evil. Enlarge my course".
Sounds very selfish, like selfish-like prayers, but God loves it. The Bible says he was more honorable than his brethren. You've gotta learn to pray boldly, man. So the daughter came to the father and says, "Give me a blessing". Amen? "You have given me the land in the South. Give me also springs of water. So, he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs". I'm gonna teach you something real fast here. Upper springs is the anointing upon or the Spirit of God upon. All right? Lower springs is the anointing within, the spirit within.
Let me just share this real quick. All those of us who are born again, we have the anointing within. Once you are saved, you have the anointing within. The Spirit of God is in you, and the anointing within teaches you all things, 1 John 2. The anointing within teaches you. Like, for example, you meet someone, and he wants you to invest in your company or whatever, but you feel something strange about this person. You don't feel right inside, but your logic and your understanding, your mental comprehension about all the facts at hand seems to be okay, but there's something deep down inside you can't explain.
Many times, the wife is more sharp on these kind of things. Maybe that's why the devil pushed the woman instead of the husband. Hm, okay. Okay, so anyway, they are more spiritually attuned. They sense things. Right? Like, my wife will say, "No, I don't like that". What do you mean you don't like it? Turns out she's right. I'm going by my head. She's going by intuition. So, you have that, and it teaches you how to live every day. It teaches you, don't say that, don't say, don't say the last word. And you say it. Then you got into trouble, right? But was God trying to rescue you? Yes. You just didn't listen. And then there's a spirit upon, anointing upon.
Now, this happens. For me right now, there's an anointing upon, and I'll say things by the Spirit that sometimes I tell myself, "Wow, this is really good, man". As I'm preaching, "Wow, this is really good". And I feel like taking notes on myself. But I know I'm not smart enough. I'm not giving glory to myself. I know I'm not smart enough to produce those words, and that insight, and that wisdom, and that light. It's just like, as if someone took over. The Teacher in me took over, and I'm stepping aside and hearing someone else. And that's why I need to hear my own sermons. So, outside the anointing upon, I'm like any ordinary Christian. I have to live by the anointing within.
I remember Cho Yonggi's wife, the late David Yonggi Cho, his wife said this in the early years when he was preaching. It was like, "Man, he's preaching under the anointing in the pulpit," then she says to him after he stepped down, said, "You know sometimes I wish I could move my entire house, the dining room, you know, our bedroom... everything to the pulpit". "Cause you're a different man in the pulpit," she says. All right, and that's true because when you are under the anointing, so the Spirit within is for living. The Spirit upon is for power. Amen. You need the anointing upon. It comes on you and it leaves. But the anointing within never leaves. Amen. Amen, it comes on you for a certain task, amen, to pray for the sick, and then to get healed or whatever.
Now, for later on, it leaves. The anointing leaves. And that's when you come to me and say, "Apostle Prince, you pulled that guy out from the wheelchair," which have happened before in the ministry. "I'm also in a wheelchair, pull me out". I'll pull you out, but you went down again. Because why... was the anointing upon at that time that lifted. I'm not a healer. If I'm a healer, will my face look like this? I'll put my hand and change it. Amen. Don't laugh so loud... Have you seen yourself lately? Oh, keep on reading, Pastor. My faith will shine. My hardened face will... okay, anyway, so, can you see this passage, just a few verses. We are digging deep. We're looking at the meaning of names. We are looking at the meaning of the city that has a relevance for us today. That speaks to us today. You can be a lion of God when you conquer this Book. Amen?
And God will give you Achsah the foot to inherit. God says every place, your foot shall tread upon shall be yours. The power to inherit what you see in the Book, and the promises will be given to you when you conquer this Book. And the conquering doesn't have to be entire Bible. Every day at a time, when you conquer that verse, you meditate on that verse, God gives you the Achsah, the possession. The possession of it.
In closing, I just want to tell you, by the way, is this all olive and honey? Honey is there, right? And I show you honey already, right? Sweeter than honey? So remember that the gospel is sweeter than honey. It should be sweet to you. It's not always something that heavy stuff. You know the heavy stuff you read sometimes, it has honey in it. Amen. Out of the ether, out of the dead carcass of a lion came forth sweetness, came forth honey. And God will bring all your rocky places, your hard places, God bring honey out of it.
Now, there are seven portions, seven divisions to the land of Israel. They have seven divisions in the Bible. Would you like to see it? Real quick. Look at the land of Israel here. All right, you have the land of Israel and you have the Mediterranean Sea on the west, okay? Now, this is not a complete, and we're just showing a part of it to let you see the deep seven divisions. The first one, first division, are the coastal plains bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, beautiful coastal plains. Many of you have been there, amen. Caesarea and all that facing the sea, all right? That beautiful coastal plains.
That's number one. Number two is the spine, the backbone of Israel, the central highlands of Israel. All right, that's the part where on the right side is where City of Jerusalem is on the mountain. Okay?
Now, on the right side of that near the Dead Sea is the Jordan Valley. Number three. Number three now Jordan Valley. By the way, Jordan Valley is the lowest place on planet Earth. The Dead Sea. All right? About one thousand, more than one thousand four hundred feet below sea level. And people go there, you know, to put mud on themselves because the mud has supposedly some therapeutic benefits to it and if people have skin problems especially. And a lot of people send some of their treasured employees to a place just like this for about three months sometimes. One go, "Why"? "Because the oxygen level there is so dense, it takes farther, the lowest place on planet Earth. The sun rays don't hit it as much as... when it becomes poison it becomes toxic". Right? So, it's a healing place. Think about it. It's in the land of Israel. And then we have number three, right?
Now we have number four, which is the area of Gilead. The uplands, the forested area of Gilead. When the Bible talks about the forest of Gilead, there used to be a large forest here. That's the fourth division. And the fifth division is the wilderness of Judea where David fled from King Saul, all right, in the wilderness of Judea.
Then we go northwest to the Sea of Galilee area. Many of you love this place when you go to Israel. The green Galilee. Right? You love this area? All right, amen. Would you like to go there? Lemme see your hand. How many like to go to Israel? Israel is open already. Y'all can go. Amen? And I'll be going next year, you know. Okay? See you there. All right, by the grace of God. Green Galilee, very beautiful. Number six, right? That's number six.
Number seven is the Golan Heights where you find Mount Herman. Mount Herman is about more than nine thousand feet above sea level. Like I said, like the land, so the Bible. There are distinctive features in the Bible. There's the mountains, there's a valley, there's the waters, there're these different kind of fruits and different kind of food, and different kind of excitement. You'll never get bored in the Bible. There's all kinds of variety and diversity and different kind of moods, because there are times you feel like light reading, you feel like romantic reading, you feel like narrative stories, you feel like you want some impartation of God's voice in the Book of Psalms. You feel like singing. You feel like poetry.
Whatever it is in the Word of God, you will never be bored in the land of Israel. That's if you would love to go back to the land of Israel, why? Because everything is different. Do you know it's the only land where you can experience a Switzerland in the morning, go the Mount Herman, right? Where you can ski in the snow. On the same day, not another day, the same day, by evening time, you are wading in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. It's the only country you can do that in one day. The variety. God put everything there like telling us, I put everything in this Word. Now, we have seven parts to the Bible. Are you ready?
First one, we have Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Pentateuch, first one. Then we have history: story of David, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, history. Then we have poetry, the central part of the Old Testament. Right? Ecclesiastes is a part of it. A Song of Songs, Psalms, and Proverbs. Then we have prophets, all the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Micah, all of them are prophets. Okay? How many now? Four. Then the fifth one, we come to the New Testament, the gospels, right? After the gospels, the sixth one, Epistles. And the seventh one like the Golan Heights, the seventh one, is the great Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation. There are seven parts as well. You can never feel bored. Each one is exciting.
You know what's gonna happen to the future? It's all there. Another thing about the land of Israel, God protects the land on all sides. Back then, okay? Now, we're talking about days where there's no airplane, no internet, nothing, okay? In those days, their enemy in the south was Egypt, right? They were slaves in Egypt. I'm not talkin about present-day Egypt. Today, all this is in types, right? Meanings and types. Now, back then, God wanted them never to go down to Egypt. God said, "Don't go down to Egypt. You are slaves there in Egypt. Don't go down to Egypt". Right? What did God do to protect them? God put a large track of desert between Israel, the south, and Egypt. That's the south.
What about the north? The north is where the Babylonians would invade from there. A lot of their enemies would invade Israel from the north, right? Down the Golan Heights, the Galilee area. And also the cold winds, the bitter cold winds would blow from the north. That's when they killed the harvest, the plants and all that, and they blow in from the north. So, to protect his people, know what God did to the north? He has high mountains to keep them from the chilling winds and make it hot for invaders to invade the land. Wow. So that's protection from the north. And on the east, on the east of this side here, all right, is where Babylon is; Iraq, Iran. That's where it is, and you know, to protect them from all these people, right, back then, know what God did? And also their philosophy? God put something, I'm talking about back then, okay? Not talking about now.
Now there's no more separation, right? Through the internet and all that, and through, you know. We can fly to different countries of the world, but all the meanings here, all the terms here have meaning for us today. God still don't want us to be worldly to go down to Egypt. God still want to protect us from the cold north winds, winds of adversity. Amen. And on the east side, this side here, God put another track of large desert. So the south he put desert, the north he put high mountains, Golan Heights, all right? The highest mountain, Mount Herman is there. On the left side, on the east side here, he put a large track of desert. And how about the Mediterranean Sea on the west side? That's where the Romans would come in. that's where all the Philistines... by the way, they were actually maritime people, the Philistines. They came from the sea.
Now, only when the people of God were disobedient to God, God allowed them to conquer the land like Romans. But God protected Israel from the Romans for example, by a large Mediterranean Sea. So what am I saying? I'm saying that every time you spend time in this Book, you know you are protected all around, 24/7? When you spend time just treading this Book, God puts protection all around. Now, does God want you to just be exclusive like a hermit hiding in a monastery somewhere? No! We Christians are told to go out into the world and preach the gospel. But yet we are protected. We are in the world but not of the world.
And I'll close by showing you this. Look at this land bridge. This is a land, Israel is a land bridge. God created Israel to be a land bridge. You see tiny Israel on there? The Red? It connects three continents at a time. The three known continents in the Old Testament at a time. To the south, we have Africa. To the north we have Europe. To the east we have Asia. And God put Israel smack-dab in the middle. His Son died for the world smack-dab in the middle, land bridge, so that God wants them to be in a place of influence. Amen.
Like right now, by the grace of God, I say this by the grace of God, God has caused this work to go forth to the four corners of the earth. While my feet are planted here at the start, all right, the Word has gone forth to the four corners. God always trying to maximize as much as he can. Amen. And back then, he made Israel a land bridge connecting the three continents: Africa in the south, Europe in the north, Asia in the east.
So that they would come and they would hear about these people and they will say, like the Bible says, oh what a wise nation this is. And they'll want to know your God. But God wants them not to be influenced by the world, not to be influenced by these nations, but to impact them, and still the same today. Amen? I pray in Jesus's name that I hope that I've aroused in you that desire. I know some of you are like, you know, we have people who are taking time to build their muscles.
Now, I sound a bit like sour grapes here, but there are people who take time to build their muscles and all that, but you look through a spiritual x-ray, could be very well be their spiritual enemies lying flat on a stretcher, so skinny. They sound like the angklung. You know the angklung? You move one end, the whole thing rattles. Clung-clung-clung-clung-clung. But outside they look strong. But spiritually, they are emaciated. Why? Because we can't even engage in a conversation sometimes. We don't even know how to switch off. You can be talking to me and looking your text. That's rude. It's not even a bit rude like the fruit; it is very rude.
"Oh, Pastor Prince, you're so corny." Yeah, I hope you understand what I'm trying to say to get the point home. You know, it's like, why has he gotta stop? Learn to switch off. It's okay, these things are all right like I said before, but don't let them dominate you! You dominate them! Amen! Don't let them master you! You master them. The ting... no, you don't tell me when to pick you up. I bind you in Jesus's name. Amen? Control your social media time. Control your text message. Amen. I mean, I feel like, you know, the obligation to have to answer. Do you feel that? Amen.
So you learn to switch off. Amen? And switch on. You have to. You have to in these last days. Amen? And may the blessings, may the Lord bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. And you'll drink from fountains and depths subterranean waters that spring out in the valleys and the hills. And may you learn also to dig for the brass and the iron, and become an Iron Man or an Iron Woman. Amen? And I believe that you dig deep, there's also be veins of gold and silver. There's a lot of treasures waiting for you. Amen. In this Book. Praise the Lord.
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Okay, friend, if you've never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, I wanna pray for you right now. It's very simple. The Bible says Christ died for our sins and rose again when we were justified in him. So all you gotta do, the Bible says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is your Lord and you believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. If that is you, pray this prayer with me right now. He's coming back for us real soon. Amen? If that is you, pray this prayer now. Say, "Heavenly Father". Let's all say it with them:
Heavenly Father, I thank you that Jesus Christ died for my sins on that cross and was raised from the dead when I was justified in him. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior now and forever. Thank you Father. I'm gloriously saved, greatly blessed, and now highly favored. Father, teach me your Word from this day forth. In Jesus's name.
Stand to your feet, praise the Lord. Hallelujah, friend. If you prayed that prayer just now, you are now a child of God. All your sins are forgiven. Amen. You're a brand new creation, the name after our church. You're a brand new creation in Christ. Praise the Lord. Church, lift your hands all over this place and wherever you're watching this online.
Father God, I thank you Lord that your Word has gone forth and you say something about your Word, Lord, that is so previous, it will not return void. No Word of God is void of power. And I pray in Jesus's name that this coming week, Father, you will bless them with the riches of your grace, and the unspeakable gifts, Lord, of the Spirit of God, that I pray, Father, that they will just flow in the Spirit following the cloud, hearing the sound of the trumpet, and being guided by the Spirit. The anointing within and even, Lord, service anointing upon, Lord. I pray that they have a portion of this for that this week. Make them evangelists, Father. In their workplace, in their schools, wherever they go, Lord, a little Word here, a little Word there becomes powerful when anointed by the Spirit. And Father, protect them all from every danger, from infections, from disease, from harm, danger, and from all the power of the evil one. And Father, I commend them to your safe keeping, sanctify them through your truth. Your Word is truth. In Jesus's name. And all the people said amen.