Joseph Prince - Align Yourself With His Purpose and Prosper

The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1: "For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth". Say "The present truth". The present truth. The present truth means the truth that is now for us. If there's a present truth, there was a former truth. There was an old truth, if you would, amen. Now, we are to be established where? In the present truth, what God is doing now. There was a time God said you do this, now God says you do that.

Now let me explain, okay? There are eight covenants in the Bible, all right? Some say seven, some people say six, but majority agree that there are eight covenants in the Bible, okay? But the one that we are focused on and most of the time we spend most of our time teaching this is where it really concerns us, because there's also a Palestinian covenant which is the land of Israel. There's a Davidic covenant and there are other covenants, Noahic covenant. But the one that really we are concerned about is law and grace, the covenant of Sinaitic covenant, law, and the new covenant of grace, amen. So this is where the Bible, in fact, divides into Old Testament or old covenant, and New Testament, new covenant. But there are actually eight covenants. So we come to this: the present truth is the new covenant that we are in now, the covenant of grace. Can I have a good amen?

And this is the new covenant, okay? "Behold, the days are coming," this is from Jeremiah 31 and also you can see the exposition of it in Hebrews 8. "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt," all right? God says, "Because they did not continue my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord". So God says this new covenant is not like the covenant of law. Very clear, right?

So a new covenant must not be the same as the law. "Where they did not continue in it, and I disregarded them. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, the house of... in those days, says the Lord: I'll put My laws in their mind, and write them on their hearts; I'll be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them will teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them". Now, watch this. There are three things that God says will happen. Three effects, I call it. Because God will do it. God says, "I will make, I will put, I will be their God," all right? "They will all know me".

God himself will do it and God says three things will happen: "I will put in their hearts the motivations". It is God who works in you, both to will, giving you the willingness, and to do his good pleasure. Number two, God says, "I'll be their God, and they shall be my people". Now this is a powerful statement. It means this. In those days when God says, "You are my people, and I'll be your God," that means you'll be different from the people of the world. For example, if you are sick, and I'm your God, God is saying, "You'll be a well people, healthy people". Then he says, "None will teach his neighbor, 'Know the Lord, know the Lord, know the Lord.'" You don't have to teach that, "For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest". Wow, but the part that makes it happen is you've gotta believe that God is merciful to your unrighteousnesses and your sins and lawless deeds God remembers no more. Or God is mindful of no more.

Now, people are scared. "You preach like this, that people's sins are forgiven, all right, because of what Christ has done, then they'll go out and sin like crazy". That's where you are now crossway to the Bible. You are, in fact, contradicting what God says. God says, "Because I am merciful to your unrighteousness, because your sins I will remember no more, therefore you will know me. I'll be your God, and I'll put my laws in your heart". In other words, you'll be so... in fact, when you know your sins are forgiven, amen, you just love. You love God, and you love people, amen? And love is a fulfillment of the law. So people who say that if you teach people forgiveness of sins, all right, you're actually sanctioning or advocating a sinful lifestyle, do not understand the new covenant.

The three effects take place because of the last clause. So Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, all right, he took the Lord's Supper, we call it the Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, took the cup and the bread, and what did he say about the cup? "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for the forgiveness of sins". In other words, today we have no more sin consciousness because our sins have been forgiven. We don't live Christian life sin conscious, and God promised that if you practice that, you learn to be no longer sin conscious because the one sacrifice, all right, that Jesus offered has removed sins, amen, and you are forgiven forever. Praise God. If you believe that, the more you believe that, the more God can write on your heart. The more you believe that, the more you'll see the miraculous. God will be a God in your life.

"Well, Pastor Prince, does that mean that I don't have to read the Old Testament because everything's now in the new covenant". No, if you know, you know me, my preaching is a lot from the old covenant, Old Testament I mean, okay? We call it Testament. Right, old covenant, right? So I preach a lot from the old covenant, but I bring grace out of it. I bring Jesus out of it. When Jesus rose from the dead, the very same morning that he rose from the dead, that very evening, he was walking with one couple, probably husband and wife, Cleopas and his wife, is her name, probably his wife. And Jesus came to them.

Why would Jesus take time on his resurrection day, the most momentous event in the Lord's life, why would he take time to join this couple on their way home, 7 miles' journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus? Because there's something very important for us to learn. They were sad, they were dejected, they were talking to each other and dismayed and all that, and the Lord came, and they didn't recognize the Lord. The Lord kept their eyes from knowing him in the flesh. And the Lord asked them, "Why are you talking in a sad way". They said, "Are you a stranger? You've not heard what happened these past few days? How Jesus of Nazareth, we thought he was the Messiah, we thought he will redeem Israel, we thought, we thought, we thought, we thought", they are not thinking scripturally. That's why they were sad.

"And then some women came this morning and told us that he rose from the dead". And they didn't believe. And how did Jesus bring them gently out of their unbelief? Jesus, "beginning at Moses," Jesus did this. "Beginning at Moses," which is the first five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The first five books of Moses. And God wrote it. Moses is the secretary, just like all the other books of the Bible, okay? But they call it the books of Moses. "And all the Prophets," 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Chronicles, and all that, all right, are the books of the Prophets. Kings, 1 Kings. And look at this. "Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself".

In other words, why do we teach the Old Testament? We teach the Old Testament to show people Jesus. So they can see Jesus, amen? I am sure that when he came to the Prophets, Jesus talked about David and how David, he's the greater Son of David in the natural, all right? You know, we know that he was born from the lineage of David, David's house. Mary came from the son of David which is Nathan. Mary came from there. So that's royal blood. Joseph, of course, we know he didn't supply the blood. He was born of a virgin, but Joseph was the natural father, and he came from the line of Solomon. So, both lines converge in Joseph and Mary.

So Jesus, our Lord Jesus, when he came to David, he talked about David as a type of him. First time we see David... or not the first time. First time was the anointing, but one of the first times, a story that all of us are familiar with, even children are familiar with, is David and Goliath. David killed Goliath in the Valley of Elah, which is where? A number of miles away from Jerusalem, but David took the decapitated head of Goliath all the way to Jerusalem. And that's where the narration ends, the story ends in the Bible. It stops there. So I used to wonder, "Why, why, why in the world would he want to take the head of Goliath all the way to Jerusalem? Bury the rascal there," all right? And then I found out that there's a old Jewish tradition, a rabbinical tradition, that said that David took the head of Goliath and buried it in Jerusalem in a mound called "Goliath".

Very interesting, the mound became a hill, all right? And the skull of Goliath was buried there. And you can see the perversion of the words, you know, as time goes on. Golgotha, Gol-lia-tha. Can you see it? The place of the skull. Whose skull? Yeah, the numbskull, Goliath himself, okay? The place of skull. Where a greater Son of David would hang, literally, at the place, amen? And when he was crucified, he destroyed a greater Goliath, the enemy of our souls, amen. C'mon, church, hallelujah. Amen, so that we learned the story of David, and we see Christ, the greater Son of David, he was the Lord's anointed.

And let me tell you this, you can learn lessons, like for example, David was anointed king, but he didn't take the position of king immediately. There was another king at the time, but that king, God has departed from him. He was a backslidden king, he actually brought Israel into a place of defeat, into a place of oblivion, almost like, you know, like that his spirit just spread around, and he was legalistic, he was angry all the time. And he disobeyed God. And the Spirit of God left him to come on David and yet, that system persecuted David. And David was hunted down and live in dens and caves and in the wilderness.

So let me just tell you this. Where is our present truth in all this story right now? We have the greater Son of David at the Father's right hand. And do you know something, all right? We love him, but the world does not know him. Another thing, his own people, Israel, has rejected him. So during this time of rejection, where he is at the Father's right hand, when David was rejected by his family, by his, not his family, but his nation, all right, his Jewish brothers and all that, when they rejected him, David had men come to him, all right? And these men that came to him, the cave of Adullam, all right? I've been to the cave with my pastors. We also have fond memories.

If you watch my live in Israel, I talk about the cave. I'm preaching in the cave of Adullam. And when he was there, "Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt," brother, listen, ah? "And everyone who was discontented," right, 3-D army: distress, debt, discontented, they all came to David, and they all became giant killers. They all became mighty men. Then Jesus, the greater Son of David actually say, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," amen? And we all came. We all came. Our reason for coming to Jesus is all selfish: fire insurance, to escape the lake of fire, all right? We came to him because we are broke. We want God to bless us financially. We come to him because we are sick. We come to him because our children... or this and that. We all come to... it doesn't matter as long as you come. He said, "Come unto me, and I'll give you rest". And then 2 Samuel 3: "There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David".

Now, even though it says there was a long war, David never fought with Saul. It means there was a conflict, but Saul always chased David down, but David never fought with Saul. But look at this. "David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker". Now, Saul was once upon a time anointed. David is now the anointed. We gotta learn to know what's the present truth and flow with what the Lord is doing now. Who is the Lord's anointed today? Our Lord Jesus, amen?

So those of us who throw in our, you know, we invest in him, we come to him, we are actually following the present alignment of what God is doing, and God will supply you with the strength and all that. Even though you're made fun of, you're persecuted like he's persecuted. His name is blasphemed even today and because you are Christian, people make fun of you. But if you're not ashamed, because there are people who are ashamed of David. They stayed with Saul. But you know something? When the time came for the blessing of David, they were not there, okay?

Now, I'll close by showing you the mighty men of David. Look up here. "These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time". And you thought your Chinese dramas and your Chinese movies were the flying swordsmen and all that. This man, all right, he's one of the mighty men, by the way, he's one of those other 3-D army, either in debt, distress, or whatever. Look at him now. The spirit of David came on him. When you follow the Lord, the same spirit comes on you. David was a giant-killer, they became giant-killers. Anointing rubs off.

Be careful of who you spend time with. Look at the next guy. "After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo". So you can be the son of Dodo, there's still hope for you, all right? "When they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, the men of Israel had retreated. He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword". Today when you read all this, all right, listen carefully, they are just shadows. We have the substance. They are types. Ours is the antitype. So you read all this, doesn't mean that God is saying, "Go out and kill people who don't believe". No, we... and back then they really, if you lived then you... and I'll be a warrior in David's army, I believe. But today, all the truth is that you go out there until 800 men killed, you preach and 800 men are healed. Eight hundred men are filled with the Spirit. You got it?

And what is the sword? C'mon, you all know this. What is the sword that they are holding? "Until his hand stuck to the sword". What is the sword today? The Word of God, the Word of God. C'mon, the Word of God. You must handle the Word of God to the point that the Word and you become one. It means you love the Word of God, you love the Bible. There are people like this, you know, you see them stuck to their ear phone listening to messages or their smartphone, and they are listening to the Word, they are stuck to the sword. And this guy, "his hand was stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the people returned only to plunder". People like that, huh? After you win, they say, "Ah, we're always for you". They come back to enjoy the plunder, they enjoy the fruits. The next guy. "After him was Shammah. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils".

Now, what does that mean, a ground full of lentils? Food, food, food. Are you willing to let the enemy, the Philistines, take the food? The moment someone compromises and tell you that the Bible is not true and all that, don't just stand down there and do nothing, amen? Take up the Word of God, speak the sword of the Spirit out of your mouth, say, "It is written, 'Every Scripture is God-breathed,'" amen. Stand your ground. God's people's food is at stake. So he stood the ground. All the people ran off, but he stood his ground, and he fought the Philistines and "defended the ground, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory". And yet, when you stand your ground, it is not you that brought yourself the great victory. It is the Lord.

So all these people, when they followed David, see what happened to them? Today when we follow the Lord, it's the same spirit. He heals the sick, it comes on you, amen? He can cast out demons, it comes on you. No, the power comes on you, not the demons, all right? And he's altogether lovely. It comes on you. He's radiant. When you let Jesus, right, there's a light in his eyes, amen, so it comes on you. Next, let's drop down. All right, "Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, who had done many deeds. He killed two lion-like heroes of Moab". There is not just one hero of Moab. Two heroes of Moab: lion-like, they were strong men. And he killed both of them. "He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, so he went down to him with a staff, wrestled the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and killed him with his own spear".

So, today when you follow the Lord's anointed, the greater Son of David, our Lord Jesus, his anointing comes on you, and you're getting 300 saved, you're getting 1,000 saved, in your entire life of ministry. It comes on you. I want to tell you something. In this list, there's one name glaringly missing in the list of David's mighty men. You know whose name? Joab. Joab's name is missing. Now, why? Joab also killed many enemies. In fact, Joab killed a lot of them. Joab was the one that led all these men. They followed Joab. Joab was a general. Joab was a guy that he's the first guy to say, "Let's go here, let's go there". He's the guy that takes territories for David, but why is his name not here? Because the Holy Spirit does not estimate the way people do, okay? God looks at people whose heart is for David.

It's possible to be in the kingdom, your heart is for the kingdom. Your heart is not for the king. It's possible to take territories and all that in the name of Jesus and still don't have a heart for Jesus. You are doing it because there are people who serve the Lord for their own name. There are people who serve the Lord because they're trying to profit out of it, amen. There are people who serve the Lord because David's famous at that time, getting more and more famous, getting stronger and stronger, and it's good for you to be known there. And those who come to church, you know, a church like ours, it's very easy to pass out name cards and just to get connections and all that, but your heart is never for the Lord.

"Pastor, don't point here, leh. Point other place," okay. But I tell you, majority were not like that. Joab is one name. Majority, so I believe that the same for the church. So let me show you another verse, and we'll close with that. Look at Romans 16: "Greet". Now this is another portion where I believe we are looking at God's book of remembrance. "Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, who have labored in the Lord. Greet", Paul is saying, "Greet the beloved Persis". Interesting, beloved here, but Tryphena and Tryphosa, there's no beloved. And here it says, "Who labored much in the Lord". So, the first two labored and Paul noticed it, by the Holy Spirit. But he calls Persis beloved. "Persis labored much in the Lord".

So God is very discriminating, very discerning, when it comes to us. He knows why you are doing it. You know something? Even a cup of cold water given in Jesus's name will have its reward. So those of you, listen, I do not say thank you very much for being part of the Grace Revolution in the last days, prophesied by Jeremiah. Jeremiah said in the last days God will bring Israel from all the nations of the world. And this is the message that will be preached in the last days when God brings the nations, the Jewish people out of the nations of the world, is the day we are living in. God says, "This is the message, the Lord, our righteousness. And the people will fear no more, nor be discouraged, nor be lacking". To God be all the glory, and the praise, amen? Amen, praise God, hallelujah.