Joseph Prince - Say Amen To God's Promises

Let's start off with a Word of God from Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed", everyone stay, "blessed". I feel like saying blessed, but because, you know, the way you say it is blessed, but the word "blessed" means past tense. It does not mean that God is going to bless you, it's actually saying God has blessed you with, how many blessings? Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

So, notice the location, in the heavenly places in Christ. In other words, right now positionally, we are seated already in the heavenly places, or in the Greek, the upper heavenlies. Once you are born again, you are seated with Christ. Can have a good amen? All right, so I have illustrated before. If I take a pen, and I put into my Bible, all right, you can't see the pen no more, right? If the Bible drops into the water, the pen drops with the Bible. If I lift up the Bible with the pen inside and I take, let's say, a helicopter somewhere to a high mountain, where is the pen now? It follows up to the mountain, but the dealing is not with the pen, the dealing is with the Bible. But whatever happens to the Bible happens to the pen because it's stuck in between the pages, amen?

And yet, that's not a very good illustration because pen can drop out, but we cannot. God has put us in such a manner, all right, that we are the body of Christ, and Christ cannot be severed from his body, amen? So, whatever has happened to Christ has happened to us. We have been crucified. We have been dealt with at the cross, amen? The old man, the part of you that always depressed, always gets angry, you know, quickly, bad tempered, the part of you that lusts, that part of you that is given to greed, avarice, that part of you has been crucified. And then in place of that, there is a new man, a new creation in Christ.

Now, you still have the flesh, which still have all those old symptoms, but your flesh is not you. Are you listening? If you have a splinter, a piece of wood stuck in your finger, it does not make you a wood. Even if people say that you are wooden, all right, don't believe it. That splinter does not give you your identity, amen, but it is in your flesh. It irritates you, right? So, likewise, the flesh, which is not the body, actually. The flesh is the sin principle in our, you know, in our because we have been in that in that old man for so long, the sinful lifestyle is still there, our mentality need to change. And that's why we come and hear the Word of God. And we study the Word of God so that our minds can be renewed. Can I have a good amen? But your real identity is you are now in Christ.

So, when God raised Christ from the dead, what happened to you? You were raised from the dead. When God set Christ down, rather, at his right hand, who sat down? You sat down. And incidentally, the Bible says in Hebrews was chapter 1 that God, the Bible says God, who in times past spoke to us through the prophets, has in these last day spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things. Today, we live in a time of the rejected Christ. The world did not want him to be King, the King of love, the King of peace, the King of health, the King of Shalom. That word "shalom" includes all that I just said, amen?

The world rejected him. Primarily, all right, he came to the nation of Israel, we saw that last week, and they rejected him. The nation could have been the most prosperous, the most blessed, the most, the most healthy of all the nations on planet Earth, and then it will spread from there to the entire earth, but he was rejected and what the earth does not want, God the Father receives, amen? But for those who are called, those who have eyes to see, he's now our King. And the kingdom of God, in a way, is now in our lives. But still, the real kingdom of God will be manifested for all to see when the king comes back again. And one day, the whole earth, regardless of who the person is, whether he is king or he's a pauper in the street, they will all have to bow their knee to the King of that kingdom, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords, and His name is Jesus, amen.

We are dealing with a God who loved his Son so much, yet though he loved his Son, he gave his Son up. He did not spare his Son for you, that you might be saved. So, everything that was due to you righteously, the Father laid it on his Son. His Son became you at the cross so that you can become the Son in the Father's eyes. So, that's called the divine exchange. So, God did not accept sinful men unjustly. God received sinful men righteously. How did God do it? God did it by sending Jesus Christ, the one he loved, the one he loved, the one he delighted in, to die on the cross for you and I. And now that he's on the cross, all right, he knew no sin, he did no sin, in him is no sin, but he became sin, with who's sin? Your sins and mine.

If you believe that, then what he did is for you. But you don't believe that even though he carried your sins, it will not be efficacious for you. So, when he carried our sins on the cross, God laid on him stripe upon stripe, stroke upon stroke of his judgment, his lawful judgment, his righteous wrath, his divine retribution against all sins and lawlessness fell on Jesus Christ, until Jesus cried, "It is finished". That means that all our sins, our sins have all been dealt with and all that our sins deserve have all been finished. That's what, "it is finished," means. Can have a good amen?

So today, God is righteous. God is just in receiving sinful men because of what Christ has done. That means all my sins of my entire life. God didn't say from the day you were born until the day you accept Jesus, those are the things that Jesus carried. No, no, no, God's all is not our all. God's all is the helicopter all. You know helicopter all? Helicopter all, when you go in the helicopter, you can see the parade from the beginning to the end, or I should say it this way, beginning to the end. You can see the entire parade. But if you are down there, you see the parade and the floats that go by one by one.

So, God does not see the way man sees. Man see sin as day by day. God took your entire life. God who knows the future, all right, saw all the sins that you would ever commit, and God took all the sins that you would ever commit based on his knowledge, his perfect knowledge, and God laid it on Jesus Christ. And God punished and brought all his divine retribution against all sin because God is just and because he's just, he must punish sin. But because God is love, God does not want to punish you. God loves you. So, his Son became the substitute, and his Son exhausted all of his divine anger righteously, for this is part of God's plan.

So, Jesus Christ on the cross was not in the sense, listen carefully, he was not standing there on his own. He was standing there as you. Can you understand that? Because he took your place, amen? That's what it means when we have soccer game, we say, "Okay, bring in the substitute". That's what it means, but even then, it's not very accurate. You know, God's substitute means literally, he becomes you at the cross, that you might become him before the Father. All your sins deserved, Jesus got at the cross. All that Jesus's righteousness deserved, you get, the divine exchange.

And you say, "I understand it, Pastor Prince, how can sinful men become righteous"? Well, answer me this question, how can a perfectly righteous and holy Savior, our Lord Jesus, become sin at the cross apart from his works? You can answer that, I will answer you how we can be righteous apart from our works. It's on the same principle. Can I have a good amen? But righteous in God's eyes, you are righteous by faith. And all the people said? So, when God raised Jesus, where were you? You were in Christ. And in Hebrews, it says that Jesus sat down having purged our sins. I love that, he did not sit down as the Son of God, that he always is. Before he was born, incarnate in human flesh, he was always God. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, the Word became flesh, but he did not sit down.

Hebrews chapter 1, he did not sit down as the Son of God. He sat down having purged our sins, having finished with our sins. In other words, only when his job is finished in dealing with your sins, putting them aside, did he have the right to sit down. In other words, the right to sit down at the Father's right hand is because Jesus Christ has efficaciously put your sins away. I'm telling you, you know, it's not always you get to hear a full gospel like this. This is the full gospel. So, in today, God treats you, God treats me, as if we are Jesus, exactly in the same way God treated Jesus at the cross as if he's us.

So, don't be confused when you have done something wrong, all right, and you expect the worst, but still, you get the favor and the blessing, not to continue in the wrong, but so that the favor and the goodness of God will lead you to repentance. All right, so in other words, Jesus sat down having purged our sins. So, we are seated with Christ in the center of the universe, the right hand of power, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, above every name that is named. That's where you and I are seated today.

"Pastor Prince, I still can't understand that". Can you understand if Queen Elizabeth, someone I respect dearly, if she comes to Singapore, all right, and you see her at Queen Elizabeth Park, all right, or you see her in a shopping mall, in Jem or whatever, visiting, right? Now, she's here in Singapore walking around, but it is described as like this. She is now sitting on the throne of England, right? So, she's seated on the throne, but her life still goes on. I mean, you don't sit on the throne all the time. You know, I really, I really, really need to, you know, go somewhere, you know? What it means is that your position is that of the throne. You live the throne life. There is the royal, about you.

When people are with you, they don't understand why there's something heavenly about you. They don't like to curse or swear in your presence. Of course, if you're like them, that makes no difference. But sometimes, all right, there are people who don't want to say things because you are around. Be that kind of Christian, be that kind of believer. And other people said amen. So, our position is what? In heavenly places in Christ. Now, I'm gonna come to every spiritual blessing. Now, this location, heavenly places in Christ, is the dream of Israel to be at because when you are in this place, set high, all the blessings come on you.

Look at Deuteronomy 28, all right? I'm gonna read to you the blessings first so we'll skip verse 1, we'll read the blessings in verse 2. "And all these blessings," say, "all these blessings". Everyone say, "all these blessings". "All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you". None of you, I don't care if you're an athlete, you are the fastest runner in Singapore, all right, no blessing that comes on you and overtakes you, you are fast enough to escape it. It will overtake you. It's coming your way. Watch it, is gonna overtake you, amen? And because you obey the voice of the Lord your God and now starts the blessing.

Verse 3, "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body," that's your children, "the produce of your ground," all right, and on and on. Verse 6, "Blessed shall you be when you come in, blessed shall you be when you go out". That's your daily life. "The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they come out against you one way, flee before you seven ways". Verse 8, "The law will command the blessing to you in your store houses," that's your banks, whatever it is, "in all to which you set your hand and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you," right?

Now, this is not all, okay? The Lord will make you the head. Drop down, all right, "Plenty of goods in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock". I don't believe in the prosperity gospel. The gospel is not prosperity, but I believe that wherever the gospel has gone, as history has shown, it brought, the effect is prosperity for that country. Wherever the gospel has gone, men become dignified. Not necessarily the entire nation is saved, but the influence of the gospel is there, brings prosperity, okay? Are there dangers to prosperity? Yes, prosperity is with a purpose. It's the servant, not a master. All right, make sure you don't love money, you love God. But don't be stupid either and believe that you are to be poor, all right? And just because we say that God doesn't want us to be poor doesn't mean we are believing, you know, that God wants you to be materialistic. "Amen, Pastor Prince, preach it," amen?

So, the Lord will grant you plenty of goods in the fruit of your body. Verse 12, "The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens". Verse 13, "The Lord will make you the head and not the tail". It means God make you the leader, all right, the head in everything. You will pave the way and not the tail. "You shall be above only," I like the only, "and not beneath". And all these blessings, go back to verse 1. "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you".

Wait, notice, you must obey the commandments, then God will set you high. Now God has set us in the heavenly places already, position before blessing. Position is all important. God, even God promised Israel, "If you obey me, keep all my commandments, I will set you high," position, "above all the nations of the earth. And then in that position, all these blessings will come on you and overtake you". But can Israel keep the commandments? Can the Gentiles? Can you and I keep the commandments? No, we can't. So that's why God calls this old covenant, all right? God found fault with this old covenant. Read about it in Hebrews 9. God found fault with this old covenant so God says, "Behold, I make a new covenant where it's no more dependent on man's obedience, but my goodness. It's no more dependent on man's faithfulness, but my faithfulness, not man's goodness, but my goodness". Cool? You like that or you prefer the old covenant way?

So, God in his wisdom sent Jesus. So Jesus obeyed all the commandments. Jesus fulfilled all the commandments. Jesus deserved the highest position, but then God put you in Christ. So, now you are in that position where all the blessings come on you. Can you understand Ephesians 1 now or not? All these blessings are yours. Go back to Ephesians 1. That's why it says he has blessed us with how many? With every spiritual blessing. Everyone say, "every". One more time. What is every? Every spiritual blessing. Every is the Greek word "pas," P-A-S. Pas is actually not just a generic all. It is actually all in every form, in every type, in every kind of blessing. Wow, isn't that cool? All kinds of blessings, we are blessed with it. We're not going to be blessed, we are blessed, past tense. Where? In Christ in the heavenly places.

Now to answer another question. People ask this, you know, well, and this is very popular. It you do not know this, this is theological side, but it's interesting and you need to understand this, why some people don't believe in this. They said that, "Well, the church is called to spiritual blessing, they're not called to the blessings of Israel," which is natural, earthly blessing they call it. Now, our calling is heavenly. Israel's calling is earthly in the Old Testament. Are you with me so far? All right, now watch this. There are those who teach that because it says every spiritual blessing, that means the earthly blessings of Deuteronomy 28, "Blessed in the city, blessed, blessed shall be produce of your body, blessed shall be your storehouses". That's not for us, that's for Israel. And you ask them why, "Oh, because of the word 'spiritual?'" So, in other words, for them, they don't realize that they are falling into the natural reasonings of people of the world.

People of the world say, "If I can touch and feel, it's real. If I can see it, it's not real. Now, you know that in the wisdom of God, God's wisdom is actually the opposite. Everything you can't see, you know, there are angels here right now? Do you know there are angels here? Can you see them? No, you can't, but they are real. What you see, if you can see it, it's temporal. Follow me now to 2 Corinthians. All right, you need to know this. 2 Corinthians please, chapter 4. I like the King James version. "For our light affliction," for this, "which is but for a moment," our light affliction, which is but for a moment. Thank God our light affliction is only a moment and it's light, all right? "Worketh for us, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory".

So, our affliction is light, but the glory is eternal weight. So, your problems are working for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. "While," it's not finished yet, "while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen". You can see it, five senses, smell it, touch it, taste it, all right? If you can see it, it's temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. The world says if you can see it, it is real, it's real forever. How shallow is that? Because there are many things you cannot see, and yet it's eternal. So, the Bible says, "The things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal".

So, you can't see your spirit, it's eternal. That's why you must house, God has a house of spirit. If a spirit is cut off from God, it's dead spiritually, the place is hell, all right, because the spirit keeps on living. The body dies, but there must be a place to house the spirit because that part of man, blowing God breathed, God breathed his breath, which is spirit. God breathed into man and man became a living soul. So, that a man's body dies and decays and goes back to the dust, he still lives. And those who are born again, they are in heaven forever. Not as an unhoused spirit, with a brand-new body. Are you with me so far?

So, people say, all right, spiritual blessing means, you know, it's like invisible. Invisible doesn't mean not real, okay? If you can see it... in fact, can you see this chair? You're sitting on the chair, you can feel your chair, the chair is temporal. You know it's temporal. It will never last. Whatever you can see cannot last. It's those things that are unseen that are eternal. But we live life believing a lie. We say that you can see it, then it's real. If the money is not there, it's not real. But God says God shall supply all your needs. That's a promise. "But I can't see it. I can't see it, so I cannot believe it". Have you seen your brain? No, I know you have seen pictures of brain, but have you seen your own brain? You sure you got one? Have you seen the radio waves, the TV waves around here? Do you believe? Of course, many of you post-Apple generation, thanks to Steve Jobs, you believe that there are radio waves around even you don't see it. When it comes to God, the rebellious heart refuse to believe. See, when God promises, it's invisible but it's real.

Go back to Ephesians 1. The word spiritual is pneumatikos and pneumatikos means in Greek, this is Thayer's definition, the Greek scholar, "Belonging and emanating from the Divine Spirit, produced by the sole power of God". That means all these blessings we have, why is it spiritual blessings? That means it is produced by the sole power of God himself without natural instrumentality. It is supernatural. Are you listening? That's what it means. That means the source and the power is God Himself. Spiritual doesn't mean invisible and spiritual doesn't mean somewhere out there. No, you will know how real spiritual is, all right, the moment your heart stop beating, you will realize the spiritual world. You will either see demons calling for you, all right, or you will see angels bringing you back to the Father's bosom. Some of them, even before they die, they start seeing things. I mean, these things are real. You can't see it, it's real.

Last week I shared about casting out demons with Pastor Henry, not out of Pastor Henry, with Pastor Henry. And, you know, we were casting a demon out of a woman. At first we didn't know we need to cast that demon out. We thought she had depression, deep depression, something like that. We laid hands on her in the name of Jesus and out from her throat came a male's voice, a male voice, y'all. "I want her mind". You want her what? "Her mind". So, the devil is after your mind, that's why he puts darkness over your mind so that you won't believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine in. I'm telling you, demons are real but I can't see it, but I heard it. And when she talks normal, she talks normal, it's a lady's voice, but in the name of Jesus bang, it came out.

All right, church, so back to Ephesians 1. In fact, W.E. Vine, another Greek expositor, he says it like this, he says it denotes, it connotes the ideas, it connotes the ideas of invisibility and power. That means because it's invisible, all right, does not mean it's not powerful. In fact, you cannot see it, so powerful. When I say, "In the name of Jesus," words are powerful, but can you see words? No, you can't, but words are powerful. Words are powerful. You know, we have the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words cannot". It's not true. Words can break your spirit. In fact, sticks and stones can break your bone and your bone can heal, but words spoken to a child, "You are so stupid. You're always so careless. I wish I never had you. Why can't you be like your brother"? These words will stay for the next 50 years. A bone can be healed in a short time. Words are powerful. God made everything with words and God made us in his image.

So, when God saw darkness, God didn't say, "Whoa so dark, ah". God didn't say that. God said, "Light be," and light was. Whatever God wanted, God spoke first and then God saw. Man wants to see first and then I'll say. How can I say I'm healed when the symptoms are still there"? God says, "You want to be like me? I speak before I see. You know why I see good? Because I speak good. You know why you see bad? Because you speak bad". "But unless I see good, I'll be lying, what"? No, you're not lying, you are seeing the invisible, all right? Those who accuse you of lying, they live in the natural. They are natural people, and they're subject to natural means, and they decay naturally, all right? They're without help so they are decaying. But God says you live in the supernatural realm, people. Are you with me so far?

All right, so we gotta deal with that because you will hear people from different denominations saying things like the church blessing is spiritual, okay? The next thing you need to know is this, some of them will say, "Well, some of you cannot take the blessings from the Old Testament and make it yours. Now, I have rightly divided the Word for you somewhat last week, telling you the Old Testament, New Testament, the calling of Israel, the calling of the church, right? But it does not mean whatever God promised Israel is only for Israel.

Now, there are quite a number of denominations that teach that. On one hand, there are those who say Israel is no more, replacement theology, which is, to me a terrible error. If you know Romans 9, Romans 11, even the apostle of grace says God still has a place for Israel, and they will feature prominently above all other nations in the end times. So, I'm not for that but on the other hand, there are those who say, "Well, you know, all of all the promises that God made and the Old Testament is only for Israel". I got a problem with that. You can't claim, for example, and in Deuteronomy it says, Deuteronomy 7, "And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt upon you". You can't claim that, that's for Israel. No, no, it's for you. I'm gonna show you beyond a shadow of a doubt, okay?

2 Corinthians chapter 1, "But as God is faithful," Paul is writing by the Spirit of God, "our word to you was not yes and no". So, what they're saying is this, these people, they say that sometimes God says yes to some blessings, sometimes God says no. Yes, no. Have you heard that teached before, taught before? All right, sometimes God says yes, something God says no. So Paul says, "That's not my preaching". You heard that kind of preaching, well, it's not in the same company with Paul. Paul, Paul says, "The Son of God Jesus Christ, who was among you by us, by me, by Silvanus, and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes". So, when I look at the church of Jesus Christ today, I'm very concerned.

You know, we have pastors behind the pulpit saying things like, "We do not know who is saved, you know? Whether you're saved or not, I can't tell. Whether I'm saved, I can't tell. Only when Jesus comes again or we meet the Lord can we tell". Hey, then get out of the pulpit because the Bible says these things are written that you may know you have eternal life. God doesn't deal with uncertainties, the world deals with suppositions, all right, theories and uncertainties. We deal with verities. We deal with certainties. We deal with sureness. We have the Word of the living God. This is not philosophy. Philosophy has theories, different philosophers, different theories, but this is the Word of God, amen. God's Word, when it comes to salvation, it's very clear. We may disagree on some other issues here and there, when it comes to salvation about Jesus Christ dying for our sins, we're are all united.

So, that part God has made sure that no one can dispute that, amen. Even different denominations all believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, his blood cleanses our sins, amen. These things are written that you may, know the Bible says, not that you may wonder. So, he says that here, it's not yes and no but in Christ was yes. Now, look at this, "For all the promises of God in Christ, in him is Christ, are yes and in Christ, amen. Amen means so be it to the glory of God through us".

Now, it might be a bit vague, but all means all from Genesis to maps in your Bible, okay Revelations. If there's a promise there, God says you can claim it. Now, if there's a specific promise for a king or a prophet or whatever, and God calls him by name and God gave me a promise, you won't have to claim that. Like God gave a promise to Hezekiah, "I'll add 15 years to you life," you don't say, "God, I claim that," all right? You can claim more. That's specifically, you know, for Hezekiah, right? But all the promises of God is yes, amen, all. Old Testament, New Testament, it's all there for you. But how do you make it yours? How do you make what God promised yours? If there's a promise, it's regardless of behavior. If a promise is given, the promise reflects not on the recipient, but on the promiser, on the giver. Do you understand, people?

That's why in Christ, all the promises of God in Christ is yes. When God promised, you know, God doesn't have to promise because God's Word alone is enough, but when God promises, there's a double ironclad guarantee. So, all the promises of God in Christ is yes, and what does God require of us? In Him, amen, to the glory of God through us". Now, the way it's done in the King James and New King James, it's not very clear. What is it? "In Him, amen, to the glory of God through us". What does it mean? I'll give you another version which is clearer. The New Living Translation, "For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding yes. And through Christ, our amen," which means yes, "ascends to God for His glory". In other words, when God promise you, don't keep quiet. Say, "Amen".

Say so, amen means what? So be it in my life. Amen is from the Hebrew word, aman, which is the word for faith. When it says, "Abram believed in the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness," in Genesis 15, right, and when it says that, "Abram believed," the word there is aman where you get the word, "amen," and the word is left, the word is literally transliterated later on into Latin, into English. Amen remains. It's the most popular word, amen. Are you with me so far?

So, God wants our response to be, what? So be it in my life. There's nothing for you to do, but believe. Say, "amen". The Jewish sages says this. They say this to their disciples, the Jewish sages of old, they say to the disciples, every morning God is raining blessings on the earth. And the way you catch it is with an amen. And that's why in the Hebrew synagogues, there's a lot of amen going on. They say, amein. Like Abraham believed in the Lord, He believed in the Lord, amein from aman. Are you with me so far?

You know, in the year 2008, I preached a sermon called The Power of the Amen. Do you remember? And in it, I shared a story of a young, actually, when the story started off, it's an old man of hundred years old. And I first shared this with my leaders in Jerusalem. In 2008, I shared this in my sermon, the Power of the Amen, this story of a man called Zveh. He was hundred years old when this, when these people, young students and all that, all flocked around him, and people were asking him for his secret of long life. He was 100 years old at the time, Zveh. And they were they were astounded by the fact that even though he's hundred years old, he had a strong stature and clarity of mind at hundred years old. He was lucid. He was very clear in his expression. He could remember things.

Well, Zveh, this hundred-year-old man shared a story. And by the way, this is a true story, all right? He shared that when he was a boy of, of 15 years old, when he was 15 years old, he fled Poland because of the persecution, the Jewish persecution. That was World War I. It started in 1914, okay? So, he fled Poland to go to Vienna. In Vienna as a boy of 15, he attended a yeshiva, a Jewish Torah school. And he was in a class with boys around his age 15, some of them 14, some older 16, 17, all right, some younger, 12. But he was 15 at that time.

And his elderly and very scholarly teacher in that yeshiva, the Jewish teacher said this, and by the way, he's a mathematician. Many Jewish people are brilliant mathematicians, amen. I'm believing for that blessing to come on me, in the name of Jesus. Yes, it's happening. It's happening. Two times two is eight, yes. So, this elderly guy sat down with all those students and Zveh was sitting in front, and he was sitting with all of them. And he said this about a particular non-biblical Jewish celebration day. It's not a feast. It's not one of the seven feasts, but it's another celebration they have, and they observe it. And he says, "Do you know that tomorrow we'll celebrate this day," he says, at exactly, based on his calculations, "at exactly 1 p.m. the day will happen".

Now, usually a day, a Jewish day begins at 6 p.m. but this one his celebration, based on his mathematical calculations, with 1 p.m, he says. And he says that, isn't it amazing? And the children was wondering, what's so amazing about that? He says that, "This will never have happened again to this particular celebration, all right, until 87 years later. And then he looked at all of them, "Based on my calculations, it can only come back in 87 years". And he looked at all the young people around him he says that, "May y'all live long enough to see it".

And all the kids broke out laughing 87 years so they, you know, they were laughing, snickering at him. They were making fun, all right? He was an elderly man and they thought that maybe, you know, he's already, you know, a bit senile, and they were laughing, they're literally laughing. And he was a kindly old man, but Zveh was listening. He was 15 year old, and you what Zveh said? Amen. And Zveh said the moment he said, amen, he felt a warm, protective feeling around him. And he says that that warm protective feeling carried him all the years of his life, even through World War II when Hitler started persecuting the Jews, and killing them.

It kept him all through those dark days until finally, I think when he shared this story 100 years old, in the year 2004 or 2005, 2005 or before 2005 came which is 87 years from that time, he was alive at hundred years old. He was waiting for a few more years, for 87 years to come. And he says, "You know what? All my friends in the class who are older than me even, they've all gone, every one of them, and I'm still alive because I said amen to what Adonai said through his teacher". You will live, by the grace of God, a long good, healthy life. All of a sudden, the amen is a bit louder now, all right, amen. You are blessed with every, eh, let me finish first. You know it's raining, right? And you are catching it.

So, if somebody doesn't want to say amen, God won't force it. You see, the thing is that God requires man's response. And the thing is this, most people they don't realize... let me read one more, okay? This is New Living Translation. Let's go to a New International Version. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God". When you say amen to God's promises, when you hear it being preached, or being shared, or you ready it in the Word and say, amen, knowing what amen means, amen means yes.

Amen means faith, from the word amen in Hebrew. Amen, when you say amen, you are saying, "Be it unto me according to your Word. There's no effort on my part, it's all in your promise. Be it unto me". In other words, when you say, "Be it unto me," it means what? It's not my efforts, it is your promise. Are you listening, people? And you think it's for fun we are saying amen? I don't understand these church people that like to say, amen, amen. I understand you like to say F, F, F. What's wrong with your mouth?

The problem is that if you go to a beach... when I was in the Navy, my friends brought me to a beach that was a nudist beach. I was a believer, thank God, and I wore glasses in those days. Thank God. When I realized what was happening, I realized that they were, you know, poking fun at me. They left me on the nudist beach. I felt, I felt ashamed to be among those people. When I walked down trying to find a way out, most of them didn't wear clothes.

Now, the problem is this, actually when I think back, I was younger in those days 17 or what? But actually, I was normal, they were abnormal. So, why should you let the world make you feel abnormal when you are functioning according to your Maker's instruction? Because your Maker, your Creator, made you to function with praises in your mouth, with faith in your mouth, and in your heart. Why should you be like the world and the world says, "Unless I can see it, I don't believe it. A-B normal, nevermind. They are just abnormal, but you are normal in God's mind, in God's sight, okay?

We gotta preach these things to your children. You know, we gotta preach about the blessings of persecution to your children. They need to know the blessings there are in being identified with Christ and especially when someone persecutes you, at that very moment, the Spirit of glory and of God comes on you. And many a times your face will even shine like Stephen where he has been persecuted for the name of Christ. They saw his face shone like an angel. We gotta teach our children this. We gotta teach our children when someone persecute you and say all kinds of things against you, "For my sake," Jesus says, "leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven".

Now, great is your reward in heaven doesn't mean only when you die, you go to heaven then God says, "Here is your reward". It's a big house. "Why do I need a big house in heaven, to hide from thieves"? I mean, the thing is this great is your reward means your source is there, but God may bless you if the manifestation happens down here. Are you with me, people? Every time you get persecuted, one more blessing for you. Amen, we gotta teach our children this or else they will try to fit in and be like that world, like the world. Dare to be different. Dare to be different. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to be an Ester.

The world in their hearts they, you know, you know why diamonds are precious and stones are not? Stones are easy to find. Diamonds are precious. This is what we gotta preach to our children and our young people, amen. Don't worry, the youth ministry is taking care of it. Okay, Praise the Lord. So, "No matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ and through Christ, the amen is spoken by us to the Glory of God," and all the people said?

Do you know that in the Old Testament, they cannot say amen? No, they said amen. Don't misunderstand, they said amen but all their amens for, you know, the law of first reference, first mention in the Bible, the first amen, it's about the curse. The next 12, 13 times, the first 13 references to amen in the Old Testaments is all about the curse, all about the curse. And in Deuteronomy 27, we read the blessings just now in Deuteronomy 28. In Deuteronomy 27, it says, "Cursed is the one who makes a carved molded image and all the people shall answer and say what? Don't go say: You have been redeemed from this.

Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt. And all the people should say amen". Verse 17, cursed, cursed. Cursed, cursed, cursed. Finally it drops down all the way to the last verse 26, "Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law". All, which by the way, Paul quoted this in Galatians. He says, "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse". He was quoting this verse. He says, "You want to keep one, you'll keep all or else you're under the curse".

There are those who teach, all right, you must eat kosher food. You must follow this, wear a prayer shawl when you pray, but then they are not circumcised, why? Come here, boy. You want to keep one, keep all. I will do that for you for free. For you, I do for free. I just hope I don't say oops. Okay, never mind. All right, so notice that these are the curses and this is right the last verse before 28, the blessing chapter Deuteronomy 28, it says blessing, but notice the blessings there's no amen. So, what happened was this, Moses divided the 12 tribes into six, six, and put them the six will pronounce the blessings. The six tribes will pronounce the curses, and he put them on two mountains. The blessing tribes are on Mount Gerizim. The cursed tribes are on Mount Ebal.

The funny thing is this, God never instructed them to say amen. They only said amen to the curses. They never said amen to the blessing. You know why? They cannot say amen to the blessings, because none of them can measure up to the commandments to the laws of God. So, they always stayed in the curse realm. Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law and brought us to the blessing.

Have you noticed that Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessing, and Mount Ebal, a few years ago, my pastors and I... was it last year, last year? Last year, we went to special requests. I asked to go to Mount Ebal, the mountain of the curse because they discovered Joshua's altar, Joshua's altar that Joshua built after they pronounced the curses. And they discovered the altar, so I want to see the altar. But they only have this visit like once a month or you never can tell because it's dangerous area. But I asked for it because I was on TBN's show, and I brought a lot of people to Israel so they gave me a kindness. And they have soldiers following our pastors and me.

Where I am right now, Joshua's altar on Mount Ebal, it's made of huge stones, whole stones, all right? In other words, it's not cut by human hands. They are here from that time.

All right, we saw the altar, and it's amazing. Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is just the other side you can see it, and over here you shout, those in the valley can hear it. But there is not altar on Mount Gerizim, the mount of blessing. The altar is only on mount of the curse, Mount Ebal where we were. Why is there no altar there and there's an altar here? Because only on the mountain of curse you need redemption. God didn't redeem us from the blessings, God redeemed us from the curse of the law. Can I have a good amen? Come on, people, hallelujah! Hallelujah, the blessings keep on keeping on in our lives, but we are redeemed from the curse. Even when you fail, you are redeemed from the curse. There is no curse over your head.

So, the first 13 times that amen was mentioned in the Old Testament is all about the curse. They cannot say amen to the blessings until Christ came. And all the promises Christ, it's fulfilled in Christ and we are in him. So, now all that God wants us to do is say amen. There were two individuals in the Bible, one was Zechariah, all right? Zechariah there are meaning in names. Zechariah means God remembers. All right, he married Elizabeth. Eli is God's name, Elohim. Sabeth is oath, promise. Zechariah married Elizabeth. God remembers his promise and brought forth John, Yohannan, isn't that beautiful?

And that's how the New Testament opens up with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were old and an angel appeared when he was doing his time, his turn came to burn incense, which is a very coveted role in the temple during those days. And as he's burning incense, Angel Gabriel appeared and promised him a son. But then his response was this, "How do I know, whereby shall I know this? How do I know what you're saying is true"? Ooh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Angel from heaven say, you better believe. You know what Angel Gabriel says, "I am Gabriel who stand in the presence of God. You shall be dumb for a season. You shall be dumb for a season until the child is born," all right?

And God knows the power of words, so God shut his mouth so that he will not spoil the process, okay? Until John was born, his mouth was released when he wrote "Yohannan," which was God's grace, bang, his mouth was open. God's ways always open mouths, sometimes the mouth cannot stop, but I'll be stopping very soon. So, this same angel went to Mary, Miriam in Hebrew. The angel appeared to Mary and said, "Behold". First of all he says, "Hail, you are highly favored among women". Don't forget, not above women, among women. We honor her, but not above women. "Hail, you are highly favored among women," the angel says. "For the Holy Spirit shall overshadow you".

Now, before he said that, he says that, "you shall be with child," okay? And then she says this, she said, "Be it unto me according to your Word". Now she didn't say ask the question, "How will this happen"? She didn't say, "How do I know what you're saying is true"? She says, "How can this happen if I know not a man"? That is asking for the process. She believed it could be done, but how? "Because I know not a man," she says. And the angel says, "The power of God will overshadow you". She says amen. How do I know she said that? Because in our English, it says, "Be unto me according to your Word". That was the response that God wanted from Zechariah. God wanted Zechariah to say, "Amen, so be it".

When God spoke to Abram under the starry night and God says, "Look at the number of the stars, so shall your seed be," all right? And Abraham says in Hebrew, and Abraham amen in the Lord, amen. He believed. That's what God wants from his people. By his stripes, his Son's stripes, you are healed. That's it. I know amen can become a cliche, I know that. But once we have a revelation of it, let's say it, you know, with purpose in our hearts. You know we say, "God, you promised me that". No, it's not even a promise. It's a fact already. By his stripes, I'm healed, amen. That's all God wants from you. And when you say amen, it is to the (go back to 2 Corinthians) glory of God. When you say amen, God gets the glory. The cycle is complete. Are you with me so far?

Let me close, all right, by sharing this beautiful story. Just these two stories, I just want to tell you that this one really touched my heart. A lady from Romania she says:

As a child, I grew up in a Christian family. My father used to drink a lot and always forced my siblings and me to go to church. By the time I became a teenager, I started to hate going to church and was always against religious rules. When I was

She never got the gospel, she got church, whatever church that was.

When I was 17, I got married to escape my father's constant beatings and unreasonable punishments. My elder sister left home, too, but she gave her heart to Jesus before leaving Romania and settling in London. Last year, I went to visit with my 16-year-old daughter, I was so happy to see her after so many years. I wanted to find out more about God.

She's not a believer. She attended church as a child but not a believer.

I want to know more about God, Jesus, and the Bible. That was when she introduced and translated Pastor Joseph Prince's materials for us, as we do not speak very good English.

She visited her elder sister in London, brought her 16-year-old daughter along.

What I heard seemed very different from what I had heard before. When listening to Pastor Prince's sermons, I started to better understand who God is. My sister also explained the things that were not clear for me. As a result of teachings from Pastor Prince, my heart was filled with peace and love.

And for those who think that gospel of grace produced licentiousness, listen to this. All right she says:

I used to smoke a lot, but one day while I was smoking, I suddenly felt very ill and started to pray.

Not a Christian yet, just hearing my sermons. Not a Christian yet, but feeling ill when she take another puff.

I started to remember the sermons I listened to and realized how much Jesus loves me. I thought if I gave my life to Jesus, I will not feel so empty and sad anymore because God loves his children and wants them happy and healthy. I shared all these things with my daughter and asked if she wanted to give her life of Jesus too. To my delight, she accepted Christ too. I also asked Jesus to help me give up smoking, as I did not have any willpower, and he did. The next day, I did not even feel the desire to smoke anymore. The amazing thing is that everyone thought I was lost and cannot live without smoking.

Now they think she's crazy. When she was really crazy, no one think she was crazy. That's normal, you understand? That's how the world thinks. They don't think that we: This church grew because Jesus is being exalted. They think it's because of the items we have. They think it's because the electric guitar. That's how the world thinks. The world cannot think the way God wants them to think because unless they're born again, hmm? One last testimony, just let you know that my family and I, I was with my wife, just we have one day in the week where we bring Justin out, whether it's a mall or somewhere, you know, where he's happy.

So, last week, we decided to bring him to the beach. At the beach, we bumped into a family. The husband is working for the American Embassy here, and they've been attending our church for a while now, just attended not too long ago. And she shared a wonderful testimony, both the husband and the wife, and the mother was there as well. And the beautiful baby, I saw the beautiful baby, all right, Wendy and I, we saw the beautiful baby. And they said this. From John and Calindi Pomolous.

We are from Puerto Rico, but we live in Dallas, Texas. We moved to amazing Singapore in September 2012 due to my husband's job. Before moving to Singapore, had four consecutive miscarriages.

This happened to her four times. Now, y'all might not know because we are saying it real fast, what it means to a woman to have four miscarriages, all right, that's before she came to Singapore.

We went to great doctors who did all kinds of tests but found nothing wrong. We visited New Creation Church for the first time on 23rd December 2012. Despite coming from Christian families, we didn't know grace until we listened to Pastor Prince. In that service, Pastor Prince preach about open wombs. So on the next Sunday, which was also Vision Sunday, my husband and I prayed for a baby without each other's knowledge. When we learned about each other's prayer later that day, we both smiled and trusted Jesus. After that, I joined the church, children's ministry, Rock Kids, as a server. A day after serving for the first time, I learned that I was expecting again. About five weeks into my pregnancy, I started bleeding, and all those unfortunate moments came to my mind, but this time we knew about grace, and we prayed. I was admitted to the hospital for 14 days. During that time we partook of the Holy Communion and a leader from Rock Kids also came to pray for me and our baby.

She said she shared a lot of things, which I will just skip the details. But she says that she was discharged from the hospital, and by the way, she heard "my first sonogram to the beautiful heartbeat of our baby". So, she was discharged from the hospital on 2nd November 2013, 2nd November 2013. "My water bag broke, and we went to the hospital. My doctor remarked, 'Some kids come running, yours is sprinting.' Our champion baby Kiani, which means God is gracious in Hawaiian, was delivered that morning. To Jesus be all the praise, glory and honor," amen? So, we have a picture of her, and they bumped into this punk guy over here by the beach. That happened just last week. Give Jesus the praise and the glory and the honor, amen.

All right, church, look up here. All the promises of God has been fulfilled in Christ, in Christ and Christ alone. We say what? Amen, amen? If you just keep quiet, nothing will happen. In fact, I'll catch your blessings if I say amen. You keep quiet, I catch your blessings. So, I don't let it go to waste. You know what I'm saying or not, amen? So, I'm gonna pronounce the blessings on you towards the end of this service. Are you ready? And this time, I'm gonna to read from Deuteronomy 28. I'm gonna rather pronounce Deuteronomy 28 over you. Is that okay? All right, so, focus on that.

And right now, I just want to say a word to those of you who have never put your trust in Christ. I'm not asking you to embrace a religion. I'm not asking you to join a church. I'm telling you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross for your sins. God manifested, demonstrated his love for you by sending his Son to die on that cross for your sins because he loves you.

Friend, if you are here today, it's not by chance, it's not by coincidence, it's by God incident that you are here. God wants you saved because God loves you. God cannot help being God, and God is love. So, he can't help blessing, he can't help giving, he can't help being good because God must be God. We give God glory because he is God. What does that mean? That means he loves to give, he loves to love. Isn't that beautiful? Must let God be God and let God love you. You cannot perform to be saved. You cannot earn your salvation. You cannot marry it, being born again. It comes as an act of God by you saying, "Yes, I want Jesus, be it unto me". So, if that's you wherever you are watching this right now, pray this prayer with me right now from your heart. In essence, you are saying amen.

Heavenly Father, I say amen to your love for me for sending Jesus Christ as my Savior, who died on the cross to redeem me from all the curses, and the blessings are now on me. Thank you, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord, and I believe you raised him from the dead. In Jesus's name amen, amen, amen.

Friend, if you prayed that prayer, you're born again. Old things in your life are passed away, all things have become new. Welcome to the family of God, amen. To the most powerful, the most prosperous, the most anointed and the eternal organization in the entire universe, the Church of Jesus Christ that will go on forever. Welcome to the family of God. Church, stand to your feet. Praise the name of Jesus. All right, put on the screen Deuteronomy 28 starting from "Blessed shall you be in the city". Drop down. Are y'all ready? I'm gonna bless you based on the words of Scripture, amen, because these are your blessings. Now it's empowered by the Spirit, amen, it's yours. These are also spiritual blessing because it cannot come from men. Men will say luck. Men will say your achievement. Men will say your education. Men will say your willpower. The lady says, "It's not my willpower, the Lord took over even the desire". Lift your hands to the Lord.

Blessed shall you be in the city, every one of you and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, your health and your children. Blessed shall be your children. They shall be far from sickness, far from oppression, far from stress of education. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your career, the increase of your career, the increase of all that God puts into your hands. Blessed shall be everything that you touch. Blessed shall you be when you come in. Blessed shall you be when you go out. Your enemies come against you one way, they flee before you seven ways. Blessed shall be your storehouses. Not one storehouse, storehouses. Blessed shall be all your storehouses. May God increase your storehouses, increase you in goods for prosperity with a purpose, to serve and to bless mankind, amen. Blessed shall you be always when you come in to your house, when you leave your house, blessed coming in, blessed going out. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall lend and you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you above only and not beneath. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said?

God bless you, church. We'll see you again. You are dismissed. Love you all.