Joseph Prince - You Have A Destiny
Yes, Lord, thank you. The Lord has been good to us. Amen? Amen, what a year. What a year, the year of the latter rain. Praise God. And it's still raining. Amen? Like, we always say that just because the year comes to an end does not mean that the year of the latter rain is over. Remember what we said? Even from the time of the year of restful increase, we continue in what the Lord has deposited in us. Amen? So every year as you go on the year of jubilee, we live in the spirit of jubilee in the following year. It's an add on. It's not a taking away and does not mean the latter rain harvest won't be here. Amen?
What the Lord said to us, he will continue. The Lord is always adding to us, not subtracting from us. Amen? He's not a taker. He's a giver. And that's what the Bible in a new covenant is always endeavoring to tell us that, you know, based on human nature, even traditional, if we turn the Christian religion, make it into a religion, our idea of God is that he's a taker. He wants my life. He wants me to give my life up for him. Amen? Nothing could be further from the truth. Your life and my life is not much to give to anybody, let alone God. It's not us giving our life, it is him giving his life for us. Amen. And then the Bible says in Hebrews 7 that the less is blessed. When someone blesses you, usually it is the superior that blesses someone who is in a position that is inferior. Amen. Like God and man, man is definitely in an inferior position.
So the Bible says God blesses us, not we bless God. Amen. The less is blessed by the better, Hebrews 7 tells us. Amen. That's why when Melchizedek blessed Abraham, that tells us that the priesthood of Melchizedek was greater than the priesthood of Levi based on the law. Do good, God will bless you. Do bad, God's curse will come on you, right? That's the Levitical priesthood. Which Abraham, from his loins will come the priesthood of Levi. So when Melchizedek blessed Abraham, it shows Jesus's priesthood is higher and greater and superior to the priesthood of the law. Are you listening, people?
Because the less is blessed by the better. That was Paul's argument by the spirit in the book of Hebrews chapter 7. So here we go. Amen. Remember this, that God is not a taker, God is a giver. So even the means by which you worship him. You want to worship him, you say, "Lord, I don't have the words," he supply you the words, even words of the spirit, many a times, amen, to worship him with so we can worship him in spirit and in truth. So remember this, people. God is a giver, all right? He's not a taker. He wants us to be in the position of taking from him. Taking from him. And Jesus's, you know, frequent indictment, I've said this time and time again, is that he never rebukes his disciples when he corrects them.
You know, love corrects. Remember this. Love corrects, all right? We have to correct our children when they are going astray and they are doing something willfully or rebelliously or bad characteristic is being cultivated. We have to correct them. Amen. Love corrects. I tell my son sometimes, "You see," and he's crying or whatever, I say, "I don't correct the child in the street. You know, I don't correct the child in the street. Why? And nobody cares for the child or parents might not even care. But if I care for you, I correct you". I can just see his mind going like, "Can you, like, treat me like someone in the street"? He's almost like, "Love me less". 'Cause if I love you, I'll correct you. Then he almost like, "Love me less". You know? But love will correct.
And one day they'll look back and say, "Thank you for correcting me". Just like many of us, we look to our, you know, our physical instructors during national service after we come back and our girlfriends tell us and our parents tell us that we look good. Our friends tell us, wow, we look solid, we look tanned, muscular, and all that. Those are the times you thank God for all those people that really pushed you, okay? Amen? They might not do it out of love, but God wants us to do it in love. Love corrects. So when the Lord corrects his disciples, his favorite phrase is always, "O you of little faith". And faith takes. What does faith? Takes. Love gives. Faith takes.
So when he tell his disciples again, "Why, O you of little faith? Why did you doubt, O you of little faith? How much more will God clothe you? If God clothes the lilies of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, if God clothe them, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith," he says. O you of little faith means what? "Why do you take so little from me? I'm so full. Why do you take so little? I'm always giving. Are you receiving"? Your taking is so little. The Lord wants to pour out, but our capacity to receive all too soon, you know, all too often is so limited. Amen.
You know, faith doesn't make God give. Faith is just the window to allow the light to come in. Let's say the light is from God, the blessings of God. Amen? The window, it all depends on how big the window is. Amen. Small window, small light. Big window, big light. Amen. It is not that the window produces the light. So faith is like that window. Faith is the hand that takes. Amen. He never says, "O you of little", He never say, "O you of little fasting. Peter, you're always eating. O you of little fasting. O you of little praying".
In fact, the argument can be made that Jesus never rebuked short prayers, but he rebuked, he did rebuke pretentious long prayers. "Be not like the heathen, for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking". Poloslogos. The word there means much speaking, speaking a lot. That means the more I talk, the more God will hear. No, no, no. Simple prayers. All the prayers in the Bible are simple. I did a experiment yesterday. I switched on my stopwatch and I prayed the prayer of Elijah calling down fire, amen, to consume the sacrifice. There was a challenge between the prophets of Baal that Israel was following after at that time and then the remnant and Elijah that served the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he challenged them to a duel, the god who answers by fire. They went through theirs and all that, crying out for hours. Their god didn't respond. Amen?
But he cried out to God, and God sent fire. And I timed his prayer. It was about 28 seconds. And I prayed like this, "Oh, Lord God of Abraham," I time. "Oh, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob". I went a bit slow like he would do it on a mountainside. Amen. The prayer of Jabez. "Oh, God, bless me indeed, and that you enlarge my coast and keep me from evil that it might not grieve me". I calculated. Fifteen seconds. Jesus's prayer at the tomb of Lazarus, Lazarus who has been dead for 4 days. His sister says, "By this time, he stinks". Jesus stood down there and he prayed this prayer. Time. Ready? "Lazarus, come forth". How long is that? Okay, that was in English.
Now, try this in Hebrew or Aramaic. One second? One second. You timed me, huh? You see that in the Bible, powerful prayers are short prayers. So Jesus never condemned short prayers. He condemned long prayers. Maybe our impression of prayer has been like we don't pray because we are discouraged. We hear testimonies of people who pray for hours and they pray until the sun was rising and they hear the rooster crowing, and then the breakthrough came. Amen? Maybe they didn't believe for 5 hours. The 6th hour they believed, then it came. You could have believed from the start. Amen? So I'm not against long prayers. There are times of warfare. Amen. And most of the time, the Bible says that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer. I believe he's spending time with the Father. Amen? Are you listening, people? Are you listening?
The Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And I'm not teaching on prayer today, but pray simply, pray powerfully. Amen. God answers prayer. The best thing, the simplest yet most powerful thing I can tell you is this. God answers prayer. Our God is a prayer-answering God. Amen? So if you see God as a giver, you'll always want to pray. Another thing that we need to understand is that you have not because you ask not. This is from the Bible. The book of James tells us you have not because you ask not. And, of course, this goes back to the reason why that we need to ask, because we are God's covenant people on earth. You see, God gave this earth to man. Man sinned against God and in essence obeyed Satan instead of obeying God. And the one you obey is the one you are servant to.
So Satan took the power and the authority over this earth from man. So God sent another man, the last Adam, the Bible says, our Lord Jesus Christ, who took back righteously, amen, that key over this earth from Satan. Are you listening? And before he ascended, he said this: "All authority", literally the Greek word is exousia. Authority is different from power. Authority, it can be have a skinny policeman, amen, a traffic policeman and he lifts up his hand and the entire street turn. You know, a truck or a huge truck can just stop because his hand is lifted. Now, he doesn't have the power to stop the truck. That is power if he stop the truck, but he has the authority. Authority is more powerful than power. Are you listening?
So Jesus says, "All authority is given unto me". When he ascended at the place of ascension, remember what he said? "All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth". The one who conquered death, amen, who defeated Satan, the one who rose from the dead with the keys of hell and death. Amen? That's what Jesus says. "I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I'm alive forevermore, and I have the keys of hell and of death". Listen to what he says. "All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore". Why is therefore there? Why is therefore there? "All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore". That means what? "I authorize you". Amen?
With that authority, you can pray for the sick. You can come against everything that is of the devil and spoil it, destroy the bondages in people's lives. So when we pray, God answers, amen, because we are God's covenant people. Amen? People with no covenant, when they pray, nothing happens, amen, because God is in a relationship, even a covenant relationship with his people through Christ. Amen. So through Christ, through his people, God is getting back the earth, amen, and the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. Amen? Quoting from Revelations. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Are you all ready to receive God's Word today?
Okay, we're gonna look at something, every time the Bible says grace, almost every time it tells about grace, somewhere along the way you will find that glory follows. Glory follows. What is grace? Unearned, undeserved favor from God. God loved us. The father of the prodigal son is a big, beautiful picture of grace. The son squandered all his inheritance that the father gave him on sinful living and he spent his money and when his money ran out, his friends ran out, and he was at the pit. Amen. For a Jewish person to be feeding the pigs, that's in the pits, you know. And he thought of his father's house.
"In my father's house there is more than enough bread, amen, and all the servants are very happy. The servants are well taken care of. And in my father's house is more than enough. I'll arise and go to my father," because he's hungry. Even his motivation for coming home wasn't because he loved the father, he missed the father. It's because he was really hungry. Even the pig's food looked good. That's how hungry he was. And, you know, as long you take your step back to God, doesn't really matter. Amen?
We come back to the Lord regardless of our intent, as long you come back to him. Let him love you. Amen. And that is grace. The father saw him from afar, which means he must have been scanning the horizon for a long, long time for him to see him from afar, and the father ran to him, the father kissed him, the father embraced him. He had a rehearsed speech that he planned to tell the father. Something that goes like this: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and earth. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son". The father ignored all that and the father says, "Bring forth the best robe. Put it on him. Put ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. My son was lost, but now he is found". Huh? What is that called? Grace. And after grace is always glory. Those he justified, that's grace. Them he also glorified. You follow that? Justified. After that, glorified.
Now, one day we have a glorified body, a body like Jesus's body when he rose from the dead. Jesus's body was matter, a physical body, and yet it is immortal body. Amen. No more subject to decay, disease, death. He has risen from the dead in this body. It is not like a ghost. A ghost does not have, in fact, one time Jesus told his disciples, "Touch me. A ghost, a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have". And yet it was eternal. At the same time, it's not subject to the matter of this earth. He could transcend a closed door. He appeared and disappeared. He's no more subject to time as in like you travel, you walk to reach another destination. He could appear here and appear there faster than the speed of light. What's that, 186,000 miles per second, 185,000 miles per second? Around there? He's faster than the speed of light. Amen.
So our bodies will be like that. The whole universe is for us to play. That's your destiny, you know. Are you aware that the whole universe is your playground? I say playground, but actually there are assignments for us. There are things for us to do. We think that this life is all there is, but actually the life to come, the life to come, there is something that will go on for eternity because beyond these galaxies are galaxies upon galaxies. We think we are so smart. We talk about God's creation, you know, and we talk about 65 million years ago. Are you sure it's not 66? I see all these, you know, people that don't believe in creation and they say 65 million years. I feel like saying, "Are you sure it's not 66? You sure it's not 64"? We speak with such authority as if we know, you know, and we can't even handle the simple flu.
You know, let me just tell you this. God created everything. "Uh, no, Pastor Prince, everything created was created with a big bang". I'm sure when God speaks, it might sound a bit like a big bang. Amen? But don't come and tell me that everything came out of this order, there was an explosion and at this order brought forth order, cosmos. Don't come and tell me that. Amen? Blow up my car and give me a Rolls Royce. Amen? Everything points that when you blow up something, it becomes chaotic. Amen? Even given millions of years, there must be a cost that causes them to come in order. There must be a intelligence, a superior, infinite intelligence that brings it in order. Are you listening, people? Why not just believe God?
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And let's not use our peanut brain to come against him. Amen? He knows what's in front of us. He knows what are the danger areas. He knows how to negotiate the way. All he wants is that you put your hand in his hand, and he'll bring you through. Surely goodness and mercy will hunt you down. Amen? Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.
Now, our assignment is the whole universe. We're talking about glory. So there's a tabernacle that God created for man to learn like a visual aid, that every part of it...there's a verse in the book of Psalms that says every part of the temple utters glory. Every whit of the temple, King James, utters glory. Another translation, every part of the temple utters his glory. So every part of the tabernacle...actually the word there is not referring to tabernacle, it is referring to temple. But the tabernacle of Moses in the Old Testament is a picture of what is to come. It's actually, tabernacle represents grace. Every part of it teaches you grace. Amen. The bronze altar, the sacrifice, the picture of the cross, blood must be shed. If not, there is no forgiveness of sins. Amen.
As you go through the veil, the Bible says how the veil was torn. Tabernacle speaks of grace. But the temple, the first temple that was built by Solomon, prepared by David, God say, you know, when David sinned against God, before I come to that, let me tell you this. Tabernacle represents grace. The temple of Solomon in the Bible represents glory. Every part of it. And that's when the Psalm says every part of it utters his glory. And the amount of gold. You know he overlaid everything in the temple with gold? Do you know that? Every part that you see, we have a picture of the temple of Solomon. And if you look at it, you're looking at the outside. It's not the temple of Herod, by the way. It's taller in front.
And this is just an idea that people have of the tabernacle, temple of Solomon. Is the richest man that ever lived and still is the richest man. If you factor in inflation and all that, he is a trillionaire, okay? His wealth is given in the Bible, how much of wealth and all that. And he built this temple, and he says the temple of God must be magnificent. And if you look inside, the amount of gold, the gold that we see is the menorah. And the golden in the tabernacle of Moses was the menorah. And we see the golden altar of incense, the table of shewbread. But they were still walking on sand because it was a mobile tabernacle. It followed them in the wilderness. But you know something?
That they stand on gold in the temple of Solomon. Everywhere they see is gold. We have a cross section of the...okay, let's zoom in. You see gold with carved ornaments on the wall, okay? Everything is gold. Even the priest is standing on gold. So look up here. Everything is greater. In fact, the measurements is double that of the tabernacle. Amen. For example, you have one laver, the place of washing with the water. In the temple of Solomon, you have 11. One original laver, which is the molten seat, and then you have 11...sorry, 10 more. Ten. Think about it. There are lampstands the same. Ten lampstands added to the temple of Solomon. Everything is greater.
"Why are you saying this, Pastor Prince"? Because I want you to know you are part of that temple. You think God built this temple so that we can say, "Oh, you know, the temple has been burned down and all that many years ago"? No, no. It's a visual aid for us to know the golden era of Israel happened during this time. And you are the living stones of the temple. Many a times when the Bible talk about you as the living stones. Let me show you the living stones verse so you understand what's happening, your destiny. You need to know where you fit in because honestly, your career, what you pursue in life, your marriage, your children are all part of a greater picture. Amen.
You cannot just wake up, just go to work just to get your salary, you know, and then try to find time for holiday with the family once or twice a year, that kind of thing, and that's life. No. There's more to life than that. You are called with a divine destiny. There is a calling, there's a purpose that only you can fulfill. You have a set of fingerprints that God designed that no one else have. Amen. Without you, God will not. Without God, we cannot, but without you, he will not. He does things through you and for you. Amen. When Bible says...again, the power of prayer, a simple prayer. God remembered the children of Israel when they groaned.
"I have heard their groaning, and I have sent you, Moses. I have heard their groaning". Just a groan will reach the throne. As long they are not groaning, not even a word of escape from their mouth. They are God's covenant people, yet they are so strong in themself, they never groaned until it became too hard, but the moment they groaned, that's a prayer. God says, "I'm here. You prayed". They said, "We didn't pray". "You groaned. That's a prayer". God was just waiting for you to say something. You have not because you ask not. Amen? And God did not just say, "I'll send help from heaven". God sent Moses. When God wants to bless someone, he sends a person. The devil, when he want to mess you up, he wants to curse you, he sends a person also. Amen. He's a imitator of God, you know.
So let me just tell you this. Amen. Without you...you are unique. You are precious. Without you, God will not. God will not do anything. Amen? A sick person remains sick if no one goes to pray for the person. It's not that sovereignly, you know, one day the wind blows correctly, the guy get healed. Doesn't happen that way. Someone need to go and pray and someone needs to know how to pray, someone who knows that God is a giver and not a taker so that your perspective, another thing is that, have you noticed that? That God, no matter how much he wants you to have the abundant life, no matter how much he wants you to prosper, let's not be afraid of that word, okay? Prosperity is something, like, I don't want care to repeat for this sermon because I've said it many times in the past Sunday and the past few Sundays and all that. Just ask what you want for your children. Amen?
You don't want them to be selfish, you don't want them to be materialistic, yes. Neither does God. But you want them to have more than enough. You want them to be unselfish and use their wealth to bless people. Amen? So you can trumpet from the rooftop, "Oh, it's a health and wealth gospel and all that". And I'll just say you are, honestly, you are a hypocrite because you want that for your children, you want that for yourself secretly. Amen? Some people will trumpet that a lot. Even some Christians who trumpet that a lot, they have two cars, three cars, more than, you know, you do not know what's your bank account and all that. If you really, really believe the things you believe, you are half what you have. Let's prosper for his glory. Amen?
Now, remember this. The greatest prosperity is to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The greatest riches are actually spiritual. Amen. The greatest wisdom is spiritual. Amen. To have God's wisdom is greater than to have a million dollars. Now, some people don't agree with that, but let me tell you this. You lose the million dollars, that's it. Might not get it back, but with wisdom, you can get everything back. Wisdom brings in the blessing as well as maintains the blessing, increases the blessing. Many are time people are not willing to say that, "I made a mistake". Amen? Before you can...the wisdom from God is first pure. It's humble wisdom. Amen. You need to say like Solomon, "I do not know how to go out, how to come in. Please, Lord, give me a wise, hearing heart". But you need to say the front part, you know. "I do not know, Lord. I need your wisdom".
Too many people are not willing to say that. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. "But, pastor, I don't lack what". I understand why you don't ask, okay? It's only for those who lack, if any of you lack wisdom. So you'll find that you'll make a mistake. Don't blame anybody else. Don't blame your wife. "The woman that you gave me. The woman that you gave me". That's what Adam said when God questioned Adam. Okay, never mind. Praise God. That's our tendency. Stop blaming your wife when you gave her the authority. Passive allowance is still authorizing. Then don't, you know, when she makes a mistake and all that, don't go around and, "How can you do that? How can you do that"? You allowed it.
Man, you are the priest and the head of the home. Own that responsibility. Your wife needs a strong man, not someone who blames her. So be the strong man. Amen? Have the courage to stick to your convictions. Know what is good for your family. Even your son doesn't agree. He's a teenager. Stick to your guns, father. Stick to your conviction, amen, as long he's under your roof. "But I don't want to force him to come to church". You don't have to force him. Stick to your convictions. Amen. He should not be living off you, doesn't believe in what you believe. In fact, he rebels against that. Amen. Tell him, amen, "Your allowance is cut short". Amen.
People are so afraid. They are making their children god, you know. Sometimes you wonder who is God in their life. The Lord tells them something, their kids tell them something, they obey their kids. And some men obey their wives. No, your wife doesn't want you to obey her all the time. Every woman wants a strong man. "Preach it, Pastor Prince". I don't know why I'm preaching on all this, but I'm telling you this, okay? Every woman wants a strong man, even a man that find, you know, you don't have to disagree with her all the time and have your way all the time. I'm talking about the kind of, you know, like, false machismo guys that are just insecure. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking of, you know, you can flow with your wife, but there are times conviction is there. Your wife doesn't want you to go to church. The wife doesn't want to you to spend time with God, whatever.
Stick to your convictions. Says, "I'm sorry. He is the reason why we have what we have today. He is the reason why I am what I am today. You have to accept it". Even she threatens you with divorce or whatever, the Lord comes first. Not because you have another woman...amen, but because of your convictions. And you know what? Deep down, your wife will always respect you because every woman wants a strong man. Hey, y'all learn very fast. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Not arrogant, okay? Not aggressive, okay? But having said that, flow with each other, with each other's strength and all that, but many are times I find men surrendering a lot. You know, you tell him to do something, he say, "Let me ask my wife". Okay? Instead of saying, "Well, the way I see it, I think you can", unless your wife is in charge of that area. I understand. Amen?
But she's in charge of a lot of areas it seems. And women are amazing. Amen? If a man gives up, somebody has to help, somebody has to hold it, and they will do it. You know what? Let's forget it. Let's change this sermon to a marriage sermon. Come on, praise the Lord. Come on, get me going. Come on. Okay, praise God. We need to be flowing with God. Amen? You need to know your destiny. So you are living stones. 1 Peter 2, "You also as living stones", you know, there's a group called Rolling Stones. A rolling stone gathers no moss. Amen? We are living stones. Amen? Living stones. And we are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
So what happened is this. Solomon to build his temple, what he does, the temple you saw just now, amen, the temple that he built, he built it out of hewn stones, costly stone. Look at 1 Kings 5 now. "And the king commanded them to quarry large stones..." Say, "Large stones". "Costly stones..." Say, "Costly". "And hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple". So these are large stones. They are costly stones. You know why they are costly stones? Because all these things, there's no insignificant detail in the Bible. You know all these stones represent you and I? People, listen. You are discovering your destiny now from God's wisdom book, amen, from the manufacturer's handbook. We are all being designed, called out.
God is now, "What is God doing in the world, pastor"? He's calling out a people for his name. It's like he is reaching out into the darkness in the quarries of the limestone in Jerusalem, I've been there, and he brought all of us out. He hewn us from that limestone in the place of darkness, pitch darkness, in our pit of sin. We were all dead sinners, and he went in to our darkness and he brought us out to become living stones of his temple. Can I have a good amen? Everything we do, our parenting, our marriage, our career, everything, our ministry and all that is all to build this spiritual house of God. Amen. And it's going to last throughout the universe. And this is the idea of the universe. It's a picture of a temple.
We think of temple religiously. Don't think of it that way. It's got to do with the universe in the life to come, which is eternal. You'll be in your physical body in the life to come, okay? Okay, don't forget that. It's more real-er than this life because this life is temporal. That's how unreal it is. I mean, that's not eternal, amen, but that life to come is eternal and it's got to do with this. "So Solomon's builders, Hiram's builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple".
Now, look at this. Costly stone because it cost God his son to go into the pitch darkness. Let me show you the stones that they use, okay? By the way, I need to show you another verse first. Right after chapter 5 of 1 Kings, the next chapter, it says this in verse 7. Next chapter, verse 7, "And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built". Do you see that? It was prepared at the quarry before it was brought to the location where the temple will be built. So you don't hear the sound of hammer. Bang, bang, bang. You don't hear the chisel being used.
Today you will hear the piling work. It's very noisy, isn't it? If you're near your flat, all right, near your house or wherever you're living, you can hear it. Almost like a mile away, you can hear it, right? So there's no sound of hammer. God builds his temple quietly. God builds his temple in rest. The name of Solomon means from shalom. It means peace. It means rest. Some of the greatest works of God is done in rest. Some of you don't believe in rest, but to God, rest is progress. We got to learn...to eliminate the demon of hurry. There's a hurry sickness in Singapore, in America, in all the modern world especially. And this hurry thing is killing people, is hurting their relationship. Everything is in a hurry. A ping on your phone means immediate attention. Everything is in a hurry. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry. "Hurry up, Pastor Prince". Everything's in a hurry. Amen. A very interesting observation.
Many years ago, when they were discovering truths about heart disease and all that, and one of the specialists, I think it was Hans Selye or another person. Hans Selye actually found out that most of the people that came to his office, this doctor. He's the doctor of stress. He discovered stress. Stress can produce heart arrhythmia, can cause high blood pressure, can cause heart problems and all that. He noticed that most of the people that come, he observed the way they park their cars. You know how they park? They park facing out. Nearly all those who's heart condition face out. Why? Quick getaway. Amen. So that you would say, "No, Pastor Prince, this is matter of taste". Then he found out that, "People who came and sat in front of me", this was discovered when one of his nurses says they must send the patient's chair, where the patient sit opposite him, must send the chair for upholstery.
He keep on saying, "I thought we've just sent in a few months ago, sometime back. And we got to send it again"? She say yes. Because he noticed that the front of the chair where the patients sits down, the front is always worn out. So when they sit, they cannot sit relaxed. They sit like this at the edge. Now, sit back. Sit back for the next 2 hours. Okay, they sit at the edge. They're living on the edge. It's like everything's in hurry, everything got to, you know, and they are very tense even in front of the doctor. So Hans Selye actually experimented with some rats and he found out that the more he make them stressed, actually, he was doing some proper experiment with the rats. He injected them, but they keep on sliding out of his hand. They keep on running around. And he found out later on when he checked their adrenal glands, it was swollen.
So the very act of handling them to inject them caused them stress, and then he realized that stress has an effect even on your organs. So the things of God are done in rest, even some of the biggest things that happen, even your greatest thing in your body, for example, your heartbeat right now. You cannot hear your heartbeat. You cannot make your heartbeat happen. It happens in rest. And do you know your heartbeat rest, you know. In between, it rests. Thank God it rests, or else you'll be resting permanently. You find that if you can hear your heartbeat beating, something is wrong. If you have to make your heart beat, you focus on it, you try to make, you beat your heart, make it go better or whatever, that's when problems happen.
In the things of God, human effort actually hinders everything. A little child looks at the egg and notice that the little chick is trying to come out, amen, a little crack, he helps the chick, he cracks open, the chick dies. It goes on a bit of dance, died. Why? Because God ordained that the chick without human help, amen, will find his way and that part of the strengthening is actually backing his way out of the shell. Doesn't need human help. Human help spoils everything. If you try to improve on Mona Lisa, you'll just destroy the painting. So in salvation, it's a gift. God...so it...okay, let's go back to this. "No hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard..." Everything great that's going to happen will happen in rest. You'll find it happens simply in rest, one step at a time, not rushing for the finishing end, okay?
So right now, rest. If you do miss your lunch, so what? It is just one lunch. And in Singapore, you can always make up with your snack. Snack time, tea time. Amen. Some of us are really hurrying through our food even. You know, longer chewing here, lesser problems here. Amen. I tell my son all the time, "Chew your food. Chew your food. Bite, bite, bite, okay? Don't swallow all the time". Don't just swallow your spaghetti or what, you know, because your stomach will say thank you very much when you chew a lot. It has less work to do. Some of you are just rushing through your food. Next thing I know, you're gone. Your plate is finished, and I'm still talking. "No, pastor. I finish fast so that you talk less".
Oh, okay, okay, got it. What a revelation. Okay, anyway, so they build it out of that. Now, a number of years ago, I went to Israel. And I think Lawrence, you were with me. We went into this quarry, all right, on the north side. We found out that the quarries they built for the temple actually came underground because the temple quarries, you have seen the temple stones, right? By the way, temple stones are amazing. They are huge. Many of them, costly stones, limestone, precious limestone. By the way, marble stone is a type of limestone crystallized, okay? So marble, for example. Do you...a 3-feet marble, if you have it in your house as the foundation of your house and all that, you know how much it costs? I do not know what's the latest. I have no info, but let me tell you this. How about a 12-feet by 15-feet marble, how much do you think it will cost?
And there's only one. And the Bible says in 1 Kings 7, show them 1 Kings 7, verse 10, "The foundation was of costly stones, large stones, some ten cubits, some eight cubits". So we have 10 cubits, which is... a cubit is from your elbow to your middle finger here. That's a cubit, Bible cubit. Amen? So you have 10 cubits and some 8 cubits. That's about 15 feet by 12 feet one stone. When I was in Israel... by the way, you can see some stones here that drop, by the way, show them some, these are our people down there. The stones that were thrown down by the Romans, let's zero in. You can see far away their stone. Yeah, can you see the top part? Those are the limestone nicely chiseled. Can you see that?
There's all broken because the Romans, when they came in AD70 and destroyed the temple, by the way, that's the temple of Herod at that time, but the temple of Herod was built on some foundation stones off the temple of Solomon, okay? So it's the same nature, same limestone. Of course, the temple of Solomon is more glorious. So they threw down the rocks, fulfilling the words of Jesus that said, "Not one stone will be left unturned". Jesus said that. On Mount of Olives, a young carpenter told his disciples, "See the temple with all its glory? The days will come that not one stone will be left unturned".
Then yonder in Rome, there was a young man called Titus. He was groomed to be the next emperor, and he became the next emperor. And he came in AD70 and he told his men, "Don't burn down the temple. Burn everything else. Don't burn down the temple. Don't destroy the temple". But when the fire started, the gold started melting and went in between the stones, and the men started overthrowing the stones to get at the gold. So the words of the would-be emperor was disobeyed, we learn this from Josephus the historian, and then the word of the young Carpenter came to pass. Between the two, who would you believe?
So anyway, that's the overturned stones. You see a remnant of it. These are from the precincts of the temple. You still can see it today. All our group go down there. It's near the Southern Steps. Okay, now, if you go down to the temple area... of course, the temple don't exist anymore, amen? You go down, there's a tunnel underneath. You can see the foundation stone. You know how huge the foundation stone? Until now, people are still puzzled as to how they can put the stones together until even a piece of paper cannot go in between. When you see them praying at the wall, they put outside or in between just a bit. They cannot go all the way, because it's hewn in such a way when they place it in place, it's perfect.
Until now, all the stonemasons and people who study architectural engineering and all that, they are puzzled as to how they moved such stones in those days. One of the foundation stone is about 45 feet. One stone about 45 feet. You know how much it weighs? Five hundred and seventy tons, amen, in fact, many of you have seen it. It's right in the tunnel. And in 2008 I went there, and that's my daughter, by the way, Jessica. Can you see this stone all the way down there? It's dragged all the way down there. Five hundred and seventy tons, forty-five feet, and engineers are still marveling at how they moved this.
Anyway, I went to the quarry, and the quarry is not too far away from the temple area where they quarried it. And I went inside there and I preached a sermon that was never released, but we still have the video because the sound wasn't very good inside the quarry. Just imagine we went in, they had lights now in the quarries, but back then it was pitch darkness. They worked with their torches, amen, the lamps they used back then, and they quarried it. Let me show you the quarry. But before I show you the quarry...and by the way, this is taken by us. And when I went there and preached, I saw some stones, you can see the areas where it's cut out, the square shape... all the stones cut out.
And God gave me, of course, the sermon that I preached inside there about how God called all of us out of darkness into his marvelous light, amen? 1 Peter 2. Drop down and show them this. "You are a chosen generation". Say amen. "A royal priesthood". You are not just a priesthood, you are a royal priesthood. Amen, when you are born again, you are born again with royal blood, amen. You are royal. I said royal people don't, they are not fussy. They are not picky, you know. They don't get angry over the smallest things. I mean, they're generous. They're big-hearted. We expect that of royalty. When royalty don't act royal, we lose respect for them.
Well, child of God, if anything, holiness is nothing more than someone walking and people feel that royalty is in their midst, amen. When you forgive, that's royal, amen. All of a sudden, people feel like you are a princess, you are a prince. You know, they feel it. It's not like, "I'm holier than thou". This hypocritical kind of like, you know, "Holier than thou. Don't come near me". No, no, that is religious. There's nothing princely, there's nothing royal about that. You are royalty. And holiness, you want to see how holiness looks like? It looks royal. Of course, the examples nowadays, you know, unfortunately we look around the world, we try to find royalty, but you know what?
Look at Jesus in the Bible. You find even dressed in the simple garb of a carpenter by the lake of Galilee, you know, in the mountainside of...it's like you see a King. And that's why I don't allow his face to be seen any more in the video of the cleansing of the leper, you know, because no one can portray that. It's the majesty, the royalty. The Bible says his appearance is like excellent as Lebanon the cedar. Have you seen the cedar tree? That's how excellent, how royal he is. And yet he used his royalty to say, "Be cleansed. Eyes, be opened," amen. "Dead, be raised," amen? He used his royalty to bless, to set free. And all the people said amen.
So notice we are a royal priesthood, "A holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light," out of darkness into his marvelous light. So we are all called out of that quarry. It's dark. You have to go in with a lamp in those days. Imagine those workers. And they have the quarry inside, you know? You must cut it out, okay? And how they cut it is another feat of engineering, amen? And they cut it in shape, and I saw those shapes left behind. Before I show you, I need to tell you so you know what you are looking at, amen? And I also found some rocks.
Some were quarried halfway, but they were left with a square, like, coming out but they were left there. For some reason, they left that stone there. These are the pictures of people who are professors, not possessors of eternal life, people who say they are Christian but they are never born again, people like Judas who followed the Lord Jesus but was never born again, amen. None of the disciples were saved because Jesus had not yet died and rose again. They were saved on the day Jesus rose and met them and breathed from them. They were saved then, but Judas wasn't there.
So they were disciples, they were followers, but they were not saved. So he was a professor. A professor is someone who profess to be a Christian, profess to have eternal life, but they don't. Don't be a professor, be a possessor. And also God doesn't have grandchildren, only sons, amen, which, of course, daughters as well, amen. So there's no such thing as born in a Christian family. People tell me, "I was born in a Christian family". No, it doesn't happen by osmosis, amen? Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a Big Mac. So he called you out of darkness that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
God wants the world to know how good he is. He wants our marriage, our career, our ministry, everything to proclaim his praises. He who called us out of darkness, pitch darkness, into his marvelous light. We have all been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son, the kingdom of light. We are sons of light. Can I have a good amen, people? So right now sit back. I'm going to show you the video real quick, and this is taken by us. And I was in the... yep, this is where they quarried. Some places you got to bend down all the way. Of course, there are lights down there now, okay? Look at this part here. From the top, they quarried it.
See, can you see the cut stone? This is the quarry where they took the stones from for the temple... There they cut all the stones. These are all limestone. Now, you're about to see one that was left behind there right there, two of them. It was cut in place and it was left. Look up here, people. So out of that darkness God brought us out. Now imagine, can they come out on their own? Not one atom of their work or merit can bring them out. So why are we giving them Ten Commandments? It's almost like giving them a ladder of ten steps. Throw the rope ladder into the pit, into the quarry and say, "Hey, stone, climb your way out. Only ten steps". It's like giving them Ten Commandments. No, they will still, you and I will still be in darkness had somebody not gone into the quarry, into the darkness, hewn us and brought us out to become our destiny, living stone.
We were dead stone. You know what's a living stone? A stone on the rock. You ask any Jewish people, it's a Jewish expression. Any stone on the ground is a dead stone, but the moment you build it into a temple, amen, it's a living stone or even a pillar. A memorial before God is a living stone. Maybe that's where the name David Livingstone came from. Amen, so here we go. All right, we are taken out of darkness, amen. Not a merit of our own. We didn't put in any effort. The stones didn't say, "Hey, I got myself out". No, he would still be there had he not been drawn out. We had to be drawn out. That means someone did it for us.
As those stones cannot come out by themselves, someone has to go in and bring them out, so he brought us out. Remember this. At the end of the year, especially at this time, remember what he has done for us. He brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And the hope for Singapore, the hope for America, the hope for the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can I have a good amen? I want to share with you a testimony right here. And there's a sister from our church, she wrote this testimony just this year and she says, "I grew up without my mother, so my grandmother had to fill in the role as my mother".
I want to share this because last week there was, on Christmas Day, I think, this past Christmas. On Christmas Day there was an article in the newspaper about the increase of mental health problems. Okay, and I just talked to my pastors about this, about the increase of mental health problems, not because I saw it in them. I talked to them because to be aware to pray for people with mental health problems, amen? And a few weeks ago, Pastor Lawrence actually prayed and...also mental conditions, amen? And it's on the rise, but this article is about drinking and its relationship with mental health. People are increased, people are drinking more now and I mean drink themselves crazy. You know what I'm saying? Becoming drunk, becoming addicted to alcohol.
So she says, "I grew up without a mother. When she passed away, my life went downhill. My family had little time for me, and I lived a rebellious lifestyle. With little guidance, I got into bad company. At the age of 16, I was drinking almost every day and smoking up to one and a half packets of cigarettes daily". This is very true of many young people out there now, and some of them are even hiding from their parents the fact that they're drinking and they're smoking.
"I even got hooked on drugs for a period of time. At the age of 21, I attempted suicide due to stress from a toxic relationship and many other things. This was the third time I tried to kill myself since I was 16. Needless to say, it was another unsuccessful attempt. I was admitted to the hospital and placed in the Institute of Mental Health for a while. The entire ordeal was a blur to me, but during that dark season I remember crying in my room and one day I heard a voice saying, 'I am.' I did not know what that meant until a few months later after I started attending New Creation Church. Through Pastor Prince's teaching, I realized that God never left me, especially in my time of need. I believe that the voice I heard during my dark season was God telling me, 'I am your provision, I am your salvation, and most importantly I am here.' Today, I'm 23 years old". I left the "I am here," amen?
There was an atheist who had this poster in his house: "God is nowhere". He had it up there for a long, long, long, long time. One day he had a son, amen? His son was growing up and his son learned to read, and the son read real slow. You know, about 3, 4 years old he looked up, he says, "God is no...now, now, here". I love it. And the father got saved as a result of that, praise God. Out of the mouth of babes, amen? You see, nowhere you cut it in half, now here, amen? God is now here. "Today I'm 23 years old and I'm completely set free from the chains that had a hold of me". In fact, isn't it wonderful young people experience this? "It was almost impossible for me to quit smoking, but after I prayed and asked God for deliverance on my birthday, my Abba Father answered my prayer. When God gives, he gives in abundance".
See, she's believing the right things about God. He's not a taker, he's a giver. When he gives, he gives in abundance. "My relationship with my family has been restored, and I'm almost also, I'm also blessed with a boyfriend who loves and cares for me. He even attends church with me and is now saved. Praise the Lord for not giving up on me and turning the darkest spirit of my life into a testimony. I'm so grateful for God's grace, and I look forward to hearing Pastor Prince's sermon every week," praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Give him the praise and the glory. How one person rescued from the pit of darkness, the pit of sin, not because someone just wrote down the Ten Commandments and said, "Climb up by keeping them". Amen, unless they are drawn out, they will still be in darkness.
Our friends, our colleagues, our relatives, our loved ones, many of them are still in darkness and they do not know they are in darkness, because they are in darkness, they manifest, even saying, "I don't believe in", and using strong words, profanities even against, blaspheming God and what you believe and all that. Love them. They are in darkness because there's no light. We see because we see the light. That's why never despise people, you know, like someone gets agitated because a drunkard act like a drunk. Duh, a drunkard will act like a drunk, right, right, amen? Sinners sin, and everybody... Sinners sin, brother. It just goes to confirm the Word is true, amen? It's not a denial of the Bible, it's a proclamation of the authenticity of the inspiration of holy writ, amen. Love them unless they are drawn out.
So God sends his evangelist, his quarry man, amen? Praise God. They did nothing. Hey, listen, listen. They were hewn out. Watch this. You know what happened to them? They are placed in the temple of Solomon, back to the temple of Solomon. The temple of Solomon is amazing. I'm going to show you this real quick, and you are so blessed to learn this because many places don't even teach the temple of Solomon. Hey, let me show you this about the temple of Solomon. Back to that verse just now in 1 Kings 6, right? Here it says, now, if you look at verse 7 just now it says, "The temple, when it was being built..."
We read that just now. The whole context right now. Go back. "He made for the house windows with beveled frames". Whatever this is, in the King James it says windows with narrow lights. In the temple of Solomon at the site, the lights are, the windows are amazing. It is wide outside... sorry: wide inside, narrow outside. Narrow outside so to keep the bad weather out, all right? But it's wide inside. Can you see? It opens up this way. It's narrow outside but opens up this way. So it brings in the light, amen? In my Bible, it brings it out. I have an old Bible that I use. It says, verse 4, "And for the house he made windows of narrow lights".
This is King James Version. Can you see my marginal rendering says, "Windows broad within, narrow without". If you meditate on that, what does that tell you? The bad goes out, all the good comes in. The light, the light. And don't forget, we are all made into the temple of God, amen? I said we are all made into the temple of God. Praise God, hallelujah! Okay, let's go back to the verse, and it says, "Against the wall of the temple he built chambers all around".
Okay, look at the chambers. Back to the first original picture we showed just now of the temple of Solomon. On the site, can you see a chamber protruding the building? That's not the temple. That's the place where the priests live. That's where the tithes are put. That's where the storage place is, where all the treasures of the temple are. And the priest lives there. When David says lift up your hands in the sanctuary, he's referring to all these chambers. The priests were there. They live there. They sleep there... And this speaks of all of us. Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many mansions". He was referring to this. "In my Father's house", because this is patterned after heaven, "In my Father's house are many mansions".
We live there, and it's a place of treasure. Where the priests are living, their quarters, their chambers is just by the temple and it is the place where the treasures are kept. Okay, let's look at the chambers, the levels, the floors. Go back to the passage again. Drop down. Okay, next verse. "The lowest chamber was five cubits wide".
So keep this in mind. Lowest chamber, 5 cubits wide. Middle, 6 cubits wide. As you go higher, the third, 7 cubits wide. Okay, what does it mean? Look up, look up here. The first floor, 5 cubits. As you go higher, 6 cubits. You go even higher, 7 cubits. "Come up higher, child of God. There are more treasures for you". Amen, amen? And then it says that, you know how they go up in verse 7, we saw verse 7 already just now. No hammer, no chisel was heard. Okay, verse 8, "The doorway for the middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story".
Now, the stairs there is winding stairs. In the Hebrew, it's winding stairs, in fact, the King James says winding stairs. That's how they go up. Okay, look up here, people. We are made into the temple of God. We are designed by God. Do you know what they do after you are put block by block, okay? You know what Solomon did? And this design, by the way, it's not Solomon's head. It's from God. God gave it to David. David wrote it down by the Spirit upon him. By the way, this is not automatic writing. The devil always tried to imitate God's ways. Automatic writing is just putting your hand down there and waiting for an evil spirit to move your hand and write.
Okay, if you never heard that before, there's something called automatic writing. But I'm talking about God under the inspiration. Sometimes you just sit down, if you're a designer or you are preparing your sermon or whatever, have a piece of, you know, have a book in front of you and ask the Holy Spirit to anoint you and then it's active. Automatic writing is passive. God would not want his people passive, yielding until another power come and take you. No, no, no, no, no. God uses people that are active, okay? You know what I'm saying? That means he cooperates with you. He give you a brain to think. He give you energy and strength to work, amen? So you just think the thoughts after God and start designing things and start...that's how some of my sermons and all that and things that I do come out, okay? Are you listening, people?
David had this whole temple by the Spirit on him. "All this God made me to know by his hand upon me in writing," he said, so the chambers, how it looks like, even the design inside it's not done by human mind, it's done by the Holy Spirit. God gave him the design, but he's not the one to build the temple. You all know the story, right? And he had, his son will be the one to build the temple. God chose his son Solomon. So here we go. Inside, you know what they do? Drop down verse, drop down, okay, the doorway, okay, so he built the temple and he finished it. He paneled the temple, look at this, with beams and boards of cedar.
So, again, the stone are placed first and then he bought them up with cedar wood. You know, cedar wood is what we call incorruptible wood. Do you know that...I once was in Canada, and my wife and I, we passed by a row of cedar trees and I just had to stop. I made a detour. I turned around and I walked into that little forest and I read the signs that were there, you know, the notifications and all that about cedar trees and all that and I learned that a cedar can go up to hundreds and hundreds of years, even nearly a thousand. They are known as the incorruptible tree.
And do you know something? They cannot, parasites cannot operate, cannot work on the cedar tree. The parasites don't kill the cedar tree like other trees. The tree kills the parasite. Just like Jesus, he touched the leper; he didn't get what the leper had, the leper got what he had. It killed the leprosy and saved the leper, healed the leper. Amen, praise God. Are you listening?
That's our Lord Jesus. He is like cedar of Lebanon, but then God brings you out of the pit darkness. By the way, he heal you first and bring you out, put you in his temple, a living stone now, to bring forth his praises, amen? When people look at you, say, "What a glorious church. What a glorious temple," amen? Don't forget church is not a building. It's made of many-membered body of Christ, and not only that, he overlays it with cedar. Okay, drop down. "The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers". If you meditate on this, God will show you the bud is the first form of the flower. Open flower is blossomed already, right? So the bud speaks of the life of Jesus.
Listen, open flower is the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus today, ascended, amen? And all the beauties of our Lord Jesus Christ is placed on you. "All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen". There was no stone to be seen in the temple of Solomon, yet the stone was inside. But in other words, God does not look at you anymore as what you are in the natural. God sees you overlaid with cedar, amen, that's his Son, and then overlaid with gold, hallelujah, the righteousness of God in Christ, amen! Come on, and, you know, that's how...no stone, none of your faults, your sins are seen by the Lord, amen. None of your ugliness is seen by the Lord.
Now, we pray that in Jesus's name that we will also see each other this way. Don't be too quick to find fault, amen. You do not know the story of that person. Don't be too quick. Be someone slow to find fault, amen. Find facts first. I admire my wife. My wife is someone, like, sometimes when I get into a bit of, like, pastoral mode and I need to correct something and all that, but she says, "We don't know the full story". That one statement always help me to do be arrested, not to judge before the time. She always say, "We do not know the full story". Amen, what a wonderful wife to help the husband like that, amen? Yeah, we do not know the full story.
So I just submit to you the way God sees all of us, let us see each other. I see you glorious. I see you in Christ. We are all built together, amen, a holy temple to the Lord. Can I have a good amen, people? Amen, no stone seen. No stone, only cedar. Not only that, overlaid the cedar with...gold, gold. Let's have a cross section again of the temple, okay? Let's see the temple, the cross section of the temple. Now, we cross section to show you the inside. By the way, the world cannot see the beauty, you know. Don't expect your friends, your colleagues, and all that, the people of the world to see your beauty and glory. It's for God to see. It's for each other to see one another because it's all, have you noticed? It's all internal. Outside, they see the stones. The glory is internal, when you go inside.
So let's zero in. You see the cedars' shape and you see the buds and the open flowers' design? By the way, the holy of holies, the cherubim is larger, and that's not a message altogether, okay, so this is the cross section. Everything is gold, gold ceiling, gold floor, gold panels, sites, amen. No humanity in a sense of human flesh, no stone also is seen. God sees us glorious. Oh, hallelujah. This is reality. This is reality. See, many of you, you are trying to reason earth to heaven. God wants you to be in heaven because that's where you are. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. And reason from heaven to earth. Reason everything in life from heavenward, heaven to earthward, not from earth to heavenward.
A lot of people are reasoning this way, amen. You are in a high place, people, okay? Are you with me so far? Okay, what did the stone do? No, the stone did nothing, not one merit. So why are we boasting about? Look, the stone was hewn in darkness. The stone was brought out, the stone was built into the temple, the stone was overlaid with cedar, and then gold was put on the stone. What did the stone do? Nothing. It's like the story of the prodigal son. The son came home. What did he find? Overwhelming love, extravagant love, kisses he didn't deserve, embrace when he still smelled like pigs, embrace by the father. And what about the robe, the ring, the shoes? Did he have to buy the robe? No, "Bring forth the best robe. Put ring on his finger and shoes on his feet".
The robe was ready. The ring was ready. The shoes were ready. Hallelujah. Oh, the grace and the goodness of our God. Hallelujah, let's just stop for a while and just give him praise. Amen, amen, hallelujah. That's what we are, the robe of righteousness. What the gold was covering, the cedar and the stone, the robe was on all of us. Now, right now where you can see through God's eyes, you are robed with righteousness, the righteousness of God, and it's brilliant white, brilliant. No movie, no Marvel movie in the future can ever come close, nothing, nothing like that. And that's why I'm saying the universe is our playground, brilliant. By the way, he didn't even have to put it on. He didn't say, "Okay, put on your own robe". The father says, "Put it on him"! He didn't even have to put it on. It was put on him.
"Pastor Prince, where is the practicality in that"? Friend, in New Testament teaching, to see is to do... And that's why it's always what you see in Ephesians 1 and 2 before you're able to walk in worthy of the Lord. Before you can stand against the powers of darkness in chapter 6, you got to know chapter 1 and 2, how God sees us, what we have become. Ephesians 2. Talk about Ephesians 2. We are once dead in trespasses and sins. God raised us up. That's why I say God didn't, Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live. We're dead in trespasses and sins, and he came and he quickened us from the dead, and we rose together with him, and he made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. Your present position is seated with Christ in heavenly places.
And look at this verse. Look at this verse. Why did he seat us together in heavenly places in Christ, why? "That in the ages to come He might show", coming soon, there's going to be a show in the whole universe that you're watching the trailers now in New Creation Church. You're just watching the trailers. The show is coming. In fact, God is showing, will show, and will be showing in the future to all the...in the ages to come, aións in the Hebrew, ages to come, all right? It will be ages to come, God is going to show. Show what? "The exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus".
Hallelujah, God is going to show the entire universe. Even the devil, Lucifer, who's Satan in hell will see the show. This is why he tried to stop. But God will show the exceeding riches of his grace. It will take ages to come to show, people. We are only skimming the surface, hm? Same chapter, you drop down, it says this: "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation", that large stone that we saw, large rock we saw, all right, that final 70 tons of weight, that 45-feet stone, the foundation stone, you are built. He's a picture of Jesus Christ. That stone is a picture of Jesus Christ.
"And the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit". And God fills his house, people, with shekinah glory. Amen, you think grace is all there is? Ny the way, grace is not just a dispensation. In the ages to come, he might show what? The exceeding riches of his grace. So with all respect to all the dispensationalist teachers and all that, grace doesn't end with the Rapture. Yep, the kingdom, it will be the millennial rule and all that, but that's coming. It will still be grace. Grace will go on.
God will keep on showing in the ages to come. That's why I'm such a grace addict, you know. I'm such a fanatical person about addict because God, it's eternal. We think we know. "Well, we've arrived. I know everything you teach, Pastor Prince". Hey, I also don't know why I teach. I'm teaching you what I learned. You know, Paul says, "I have many things to say you're not yet able". And yet Paul did not share everything, huh? And he says, "I've fed you with milk and not with meat". And yet he himself heard things in heaven that he cannot express. Never be satisfied. You know, people, let me close with this. We need to have light before we can go to another level of life.
It's a true story. Many years ago, I think it was in London, there was a young man who received, I think he was gambling or something in a bar. He won a ticket for a boat ride to America, a large boat, and he took it. And every time he lived in the low quarters, he was waiting, waiting, waiting, all right, and he brought some crackers and some sardines in a can. And that's what he lived on every day. He go up for a while to have some fresh air and then go back below and eat, then go up again until the days pass and they arrived.
And one of the boat stewards, an usher, someone was there, saw him passing by, he said, "Hey, young man, I noticed you have not been seen much except at a certain time in the day. Why is that so"? "Oh, you know, I live downstairs". "Yeah, I know, but you have a ticket"? He says, "Yes"? "But how come you're not in the dining hall"? Said, "What dining hall? If there is, I can't afford the dining hall". "Hey, friend, the dining is in the ticket", and he saw the food, piles of bread, cheese, meat, fish, and all the while he was sparingly eating, and all the while it was in the ticket. The problem is that what you don't know, you cannot walk in, even though it's yours. What you don't know, you cannot walk in, even though it's yours.
For many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many years, many years, the Vikings lived beside the torrential waterfall. Never knew that in the same location will come a hydroelectric power generator from the waterfall. They lived burning torches to light up their night. They rise up with the rising of the sun and go sleep with the dawning of the sun. You know, that's how they lived in those days, right? And all the while, the potential for electricity...was there. Same condition, same location, same waterfall, but no knowledge, no wisdom. Solomon asked God for wisdom. The Bible says, "Be therefore wise, redeeming the time".
You know, if you are 40, hey, how many more years do you have if Jesus tarries? Hey, if you are 50, how many more years do you have if Jesus tarries? Hey, if you are 60, how many more years do you have? Seventy, eighty? You know, redeem the time. The Bible says you can redeem the time. You know what's to redeem the time? "But, Pastor, time is 24 hours for everyone". No, it's not. The Bible says you can buy back time, you can redeem time. Be wise. How you do it? Being wise redeeming the time because the days are evil, amen? Don't pursue things that cannot satisfy, food that is not bread, drink that doesn't quench your real thirst.
Make this year a year that you bring your family to church and be the royal priest of the family, amen. Be the leader God wants you to be and let Jesus be glorified in your life and let people look at your life and say, "Wow, look at that decoration. Look at that beauty. Look at that brilliance". Not in a religious, conceited, holier-than-thou way, but the glory of God being seen the way it was seen in Jesus, that humble carpenter that walked by the hillside, and yet you cannot shake away the feeling that you have that a King is in your midst, amen.
The same glory upon you and your family, in Jesus's name. And all the people said amen. Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. You are like that rock, that stone, great stone, and costly too. Cost God his Son to draw you out of darkness. And you say, "Pastor Prince, I want to be drawn out of darkness. I want to be saved. I don't want to be professing I'm a Christian, professing I have eternal life but never experiencing the reality. I want to be a possessor of salvation, possessor of eternal life, possessor of this beautiful Jesus". If that is you, pray this prayer with me right now wherever you're watching this. In your heart, say this to him:
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me. You loved me even before I knew you and you sent your Son to die on that cross for all my sins. What love. Thank you for loving me and thank you, Father, that you raised Jesus from the dead as a declaration that all my sins are put away. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Make my life a life that will proclaim your praises, show forth your excellencies, that in the ages to come I'll still be learning about the riches of your grace in Jesus's name, amen.
I pronounce you right now you are not just a stone anymore, you are overlaid with incorruptible cedar, you are overlaid with gold. Gold, a picture of divine righteousness. God looks at you as righteous. Lift your hands all across this place. Now, I'm praying for this week.
In the name of Jesus, Father, keep your people in your sozo, strength, and health. Deliver every one of them, Lord, and their families from every harm, danger, terror, sickness, accident, and from the evil day. Lead us, Lord, throughout this week not into testings, but deliver us all from the power of the evil one. Let your people so shine, Lord, with the truth that you have shared with us, Lord, by your Spirit today, Lord, that they will show forth the excellencies of our God to a world that's crying for him. Thank you, Father. Let this be one of the best weeks ever, Lord, for them, whatever remains of it, Lord. In Jesus's name we ask. And all the people said? Amen, it shall be in Jesus's name.