Joseph Prince - Come As You Are and Receive Your Miracle

TOPICS: Miracle

Hey, New Creation Church. One of the things that I believe that the gospel of grace does to you is that it makes you generous. It opens up your heart. And that's what I see in all of you people. And for that, I thank you, I salute you, especially for making the gospel preaching so much easier by your testimony. Amen? We're not perfect people. We're the first to tell you. If you're a guest here, you say, you know, the church is full of hypocrites. All right, let me just tell you this. One more won't make a difference. Come, come, come, come praise God, okay? Actually, the whole world is full of hypocrites, okay?

And I want to touch on that as well today because I think that there's something about this hypocrisy that evokes the greatest response from Jesus. Of all the sins that Jesus publicly rebukes and exposes in the gospels, it is not, you know, he never, and you can never find, you can never read anywhere he rebuked the tax collectors, the social outcasts, the prostitutes of his day. You cannot find anywhere in the gospels that he rebuked them, but he rebuked the Pharisees, the self-righteous ones because hypocrisy, all right, brings out that anger in him. And we are about to see why that does so in our Lord. And when you find it, you will see how lovely he is. It's because he loved them, okay?

And before that, I just want to share that during this trip I had the privilege of showing for the very first time a video that I've been preparing for the longest time to show all of you because it's based on a revelation that God gave me many years ago in Israel, and it's about Jesus at the Mount of Beatitudes. And right after the Mount of Beatitudes, he's preaching at the Sermon on the Mount, he cleansed the leper. And for the first time we showed it there because it was only ready when I was there in Israel. That's how close it was. And I received it, like, two days before we screen it. So for the first time I'm going to show it to you, but before that I just want to share the background of this video. I feel like this video portrays to a certain extent the loveliness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, everywhere we go in Israel, I always encourage people look for Jesus. The guides can tell you the facts and the details of that place and give you the historical background, he can even be very knowledgeable about the historical Jesus, right, but many of them are not saved. But it's your part to look at all those places and see Jesus, amen, see his beauty, his glories, his excellencies. Amen. So one of my favorite places is especially the Mount of Beatitudes. You can see a picture of the Mount of Beatitudes here. And this is the place where... this is confirmed, the exact location, okay? And there are studies along these lines and all that. And not only that, it is almost acoustically perfect. In other words, we have done it before, our pastors when we were there and all that, you see where the banana plantation is, the banana plantation down there? That is where the people would have been, the multitudes. And you see where these rocks are? That's where Jesus would have seated.

Now, he might have sat on one of these rocks. There are not too many rocks there in this location, but he might have sat on one of... the Bible says he went up a mountain, and he sat down, and then he preached to the people, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the peacemakers". Right? Up there on that mount. This is the place. And it's acoustically almost perfect because there was a study done by a university in America. They studied this whole topography in this place and they found that it's acoustically almost perfect. And we tried it out. We had pastors go down beyond the banana plantation, way back there, all right? There's a path there.

So we stood down there. In fact, I stood down there once or twice. And one pastor will run up here, sit on one of these rocks, and would cry out just in a raised voice, not yelling, just saying, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," and his voice be carried across the valley. You can hear his voice. So Jesus did not need to have a microphone. His Father has prepared the place for him. Isn't it amazing? Amen? So this is the location of the Mount of Beatitudes. I know many of you have been there. But so what happened was that a number of years ago I was up there with the pastors in one of our many visits there, and I took some time to go this way.

So let's say I'm facing the banana plantation where the people would have been when Jesus preached. So I left the pastors talking down here, and I went this way. And it's very interesting that when Jesus cleansed the leper, the Bible tells us that... we all know that leprosy, a type of sin, right? Leprosy is something that when you contract it, you are supposed to be out of the camp, you are to live in a place far away. Those of you who watched the movie "Ben-Hur," you saw that, you know, they are by themselves and they cannot mix with the multitudes. So the Bible says that after Jesus preached, he cleansed the leper. Obviously, the leper is not among the multitude, right? He cannot be among the multitude. He'll be stoned to death. Because under the law you touch a leper, the leper is considered unclean, a type of sin, and when you touch the leper, you become unclean.

So right after Jesus preached to the people, like, let's say I'm facing the Mount of Beatitudes, right? I'm facing the people on the Mount of Beatitudes. I move this way. And that's what I did for the first time, not thinking of anything, all right, just going this way, and I realized that this path goes all the way to Capernaum. Now, the next miracle after he cleansed the leper, the Bible says Jesus entered Capernaum. So it's exactly this way. Facing the people, he would have gone this way. He didn't go down to the people. For the longest time I thought he went down to the multitude. And yet the chapter 8, after he finishes the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 8 opens by saying when Jesus finished the sermon, when Jesus came down the mountain, the multitudes followed him.

I always thought he came down this way where the people were. But if he came down that way, then that phrase the multitudes followed him doesn't make sense, because he's going towards them, right? If I go towards you, you cannot follow me, right? But if I go another way, that's when you follow me. So he must have gone on this way. So he went on this way. And I was walking this way, and all of a sudden the Lord arrested me. I saw a huge rock on the side or a pile of rocks on the side, and there was other slabs of stone all across the area, strewn across the area. And the Lord began to give me an inner vision and a beautiful story of the leper. And I began to see the leper could have hidden under one of these rocks.

So I look at the rock here, and I look at where Jesus would have stood up here, and I began to realize that he would have seen Jesus without the multitudes seeing him. He could have heard Jesus without the multitudes, you know, detecting him. So I wondered what did he hear during that time? Which part of the Sermon on the Mount do you reckon he heard? Maybe he heard Jesus say, "Look at the birds of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, yet your heavenly Father takes care of them. Are you not of more value than the birds"? And I could see a bird come right to where his rock was, where he was hiding, and chirping, almost, like, telling him, "Why are you so worried? You are of more value than I am, and yet God feeds me. He'll take care of you". Right?

So just imagine a leper not being touched for the longest time. We do not know how long. He probably has loved ones, a baby that has grown a few years or whatever, but, you know, he has never touched them, and he has never been touched. I think I'll leave the story to the video. And also when we did this video, I was wanting it to really present the beauty of my Lord, the way I saw him, the way he revealed it to me. The Holy Spirit showed me about Jesus in that story, and he confirmed everything. Topography must be accurate. In other words, Jesus facing the people and going this way, the multitudes will follow him. He healed the leper before the multitudes came. In other words, the multitudes did not see a leper, they saw cleansed man. There's no need to stone him, right? And not only that, this location goes straight to Capernaum.

And the next miracle was a centurion servant being healed in Capernaum. So everything is in line, okay? And then two Encounter Nights services ago, y'all remember I sang a spontaneous song in the Spirit. And that music came from heaven, came from God, all right? It's not something that, you know, we have written a song about or whatever, but it came spontaneously to me for the Encounter Night, and I sang it out on the Encounter Night in the Spirit. And we used that music for this video, right? So sit back, dim the lights, enjoy.

Jesus Christ: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Child: Abba. Abba. Abba.

Jesus Christ: Oh, you of little faith. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

Leper: Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

Jesus Christ: I am willing. Be cleansed.

Do you like the last part, the heart shape? I thought of putting that down because it's like a heavenly wink, amen, from God. You know, the Bible says in Psalms 147, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by name". Kepler the astronomer many years ago mentioned that there are this number of stars. I forgot what is the number. This number of stars, which was not many at the time. He thought he knew all the stars there was, but today science will tell you that there are millions and millions of stars yet not discovered, but there are millions of them out there. No one can count the number of the stars and none can fathom the depth of human sorrow in a human heart, but God not only can count the number of the stars, he can call them all by names.

Again, science only call a certain number of stars by names. They can't tell the rest. They're not yet discovered, but they know they're out there. God can call them all by names, and yet this same God heals the brokenhearted. One of the things he says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," Jesus said. It's to preach the gospel to the poor and to heal the broken heart. And the world is full of broken hearts. That even when you see them laughing, you know, and they have their game shows and their talk shows and all that, it's a lot of laughter going on, but it's like what Solomon in his wisdom said in the book of Proverbs, even in laughter, the heart is heavy. The world is full of broken hearts. And Jesus has come anointed to heal the broken heart. Amen? Do you love him? Do you enjoy the video? Praise God.

I just want to tell you that when Jesus cleansed the leper, there is something that happened here we need to understand. And that's my message here today, that the church is in a divine enigma, a divine paradox on top of this paradox today. And I think this is what is causing some confusion in the body of Christ. When Jesus touched the leper... under the Old Testament, a person touching a leper would contract defilement, but Jesus did not contract defilement. He banished it. Under the law, the unclean touching the clean will make the clean unclean, but under grace, Jesus the clean touched the unclean and the unclean became clean. So that's grace. Law is different, completely different from grace. Law demands. Grace supplies. The law says, "Take off your shoes, the place you're standing is holy ground, lest you die". Under grace, the prodigal's father says, "Put shoes on my son's feet. He has a right to stand in my presence". Amen.

Under law... God gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. On the first feast of Pentecost Israel ever celebrated, 3,000 people died. Under grace, God gave the Spirit, and 3,000 people were saved at Mount Zion. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion. The challenge we have today, like what I said earlier, is that we don't understand why hypocrisy is such a sin that Jesus is angry with. I asked the Lord one time. I said, "Lord, why do you hate hypocrisy so much"? Of all the sins, like I just said now, he didn't even rebuke or condemn the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the social outcasts, but he was very strong against hypocrisy. The religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees had this self-righteous attitude, and Jesus was angry with that. So he's the same yesterday, today, and forever, right?

So I asked the Lord one time. I said, "Why are you so strong against hypocrisy," a number of years ago. And you know what he said to me? "Because I love them. I love the people". Because he loved the Pharisees. And yet I couldn't fully understand. He says that, "You will never know that you are loved until you know that I know all about you and I still love you". Because when you are playing the part of a hypocrite, all right... now, I looked up the dictionary definition of hypocrisy. I know what it means, but just to see what the dictionary says, it says play acting. Pretending to be what you are not, okay? Play acting. You are not that character, but you are play acting that character. You are pret... in other words, you're pretending to be what you are not. Are you listening?

Do you remember the story of the woman at the well? Jesus gently exposed her in her sins. Why? Well, because he wanted her to feel loved. Every time you pretend to be something you are not, you cannot feel loved. So, like, for example, when you are dating, you put your best foot forward. You always try to leave a good impression, right? Amen? Amen. You keep all your bodily functions in check. You behave. You have your, you know, you don't burp. Amen? You put your best foot forward. Now, it's okay for the first date and the second and maybe the third, but after you get to know each other and you are contemplating on a serious relationship, even leading to marriage, you got to be yourself. Amen? You got to let the person know what you like, what you don't like. You got to know that the person is falling in love.

Let's say both of you are falling in love with each other. You got to know that you're falling in love with a real person, or else you'll never feel loved. For example, let's say you're dating, and then you don't like broccoli. I use broccoli as an example, okay? But because your girlfriend loves broccoli, so when she gives you broccoli or you go, you know, to a restaurant, you're eating broccoli, you say, "Aw," she say, "I love broccoli," "Me too". Everything is me too, me too, you know? That stage is a stage where, you know, before marriage a guy can spend the whole night staying awake thinking about what she said, what she means by that. After marriage, he falls asleep while she's still talking, you know? Okay, that's the difference. But anyway, so while you're dating, you say, "I love broccoli".

Now, after you get married, maybe a few months into the marriage, all right, you are eating out or you are somewhere and she serves you raw broccoli. You say, "Well, every day broccoli. Yeah". Then you says, "Yeah, we love broccoli, don't we? Right? Your favorite food". "No. I hate broccoli". Say, "You what"? "I hate broccoli". "That's not what you said". "Oh, well, I always hate broccoli since I was young". "No, that's not what you said". Okay, guys, always remember, never argue with a woman when she's tired and when she's rested. So a problem ensues. Now, the problem with something is not this, is that even going to a fundamental fact is that you cannot feel loved if you think the person is falling in love with an image, an image you project, all right? It's not the real you. I'm not saying that, you know, before you go on a date, you know, you put on your wig, and then put your eyeball in, put your false teeth. Amen?

Now, on the wedding night, you know? I'm not referring to that extreme, okay? By the way, all these things are real, okay, except for this one here. Hang on. Put it back. Okay? It is the fact that you will never feel loved if you think the person is falling in love with an image. So what Jesus did at the well was this. He told the woman, "Go call your husband here". Then she said, "I have no husband". Now, he's coming to her sin, right? But this is how beautifully he did it, how courteously, how excellent in the way he did it, how loving and kind. He praised her first. He did a divine sandwich. He praised her first. He says, "You have said it beautifully". In the Greek, kallos, beautiful. "You have said it beautifully. You have no husband. You have had five husbands, and the one that you're living with now is not your husband". Then he put the other divine sandwich. "In that, you have spoken truthfully".

Now, who talks like that? We'll say, "You got five husbands, man. Don't lie". You know? Right? He praised her. He says, "You have spoken beautifully. You have spoken", literally, kallos, beautifully, "You have had no husband. You had five husbands, and the one you're living with is not your husband". He found a way to praise her, and he was courteous to her. Now she knows that he knows about her and still loved her. The Bible says Jesus went through Samaria. He must needs go through Samaria. She was a Samaritan woman. Most Jews will not travel the same way Jesus traveled. They'll bypass Samaria. But the Bible says it very beautifully. He needed to go through Samaria. It was not a topographical need. It was a grace need, amen? He had an appointment with that woman. He wanted to love her, to save her. And Jesus, sitting at the well, and now the woman knew that of all the women in Samaria, Jesus knew all about her, and he's still talking to her, revealing himself as the Messiah, and talking to her.

Now she knows that he knows about her and he loves her. Does she feel loved? Now she knows that he knows that she knows he knows, do you think she feel loved? Of course. When you know everything about... you know, we tell couples all the time when they come and they're in the honeymoon stage, "Oh, Pastor Prince, he's such a lovey-dovey, oh". How "he's such a sweetie-pie". Go fight, go quarrel, argue as much as you want first. Then come back and see us, right? "No, we wanna get married". No, fight first. No, we don't say that but, of course, we know that they are in that stage that's not ready for marriage yet, amen? Now, after a few months or whatever, they come back and they say that "No, man, I can't stand him, man," you know? "But I still love him".

Now, let's analyze that "can't stand" part, okay? And you find out you still love each other after you see the bad in each other, then you know that this is a good criteria for marriage. The reason why Jesus was strong against hypocrisy is that the Pharisees, as long they put up that façade, that veneer, they cannot feel love, they cannot feel the love of God. It's like, you know, you're hiding away from the... you wanna get a suntan but you are hiding away from the sun. No, you've got to remove every veil, every hindrance, every blockage to the sun. So Jesus, in his rebuke, will remove all that so that they will know that he knows them as they are, and still loves them. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, found that out, that Jesus knows all about him and loved him. And he allowed the love of God to penetrate his heart, while the others didn't. Are you all with me so far?

As long as you pretend to be what you are not, you cannot feel the love of God, and the love of God is the only thing that will cast out your fear and transform you, amen. So, when it comes to understanding law and grace, wisdom in Proverbs 9, verse 1, says: "Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars". The seven pillars are actually the seven things you need to know to understand the entire Bible, to understand God's plan and purposes for the earth, and to understand where you fit in, okay? Seven pillars are the seven dispensations of the Bible. There are seven dispensations. I've taught on that. You can get my message on that. And then the seven feasts of Israel. Jesus died on a feast day. He rose again on a feast day.

So there are feasts in Israel that hides truths, seven feasts of Israel. Then we have the seven mysteries of the kingdom of heaven that we need to understand in Matthew 13. Then we have the seven churches of the book of Revelation. You understand all this, and it's got to do with the church, whereas seven feasts have got to do with Israel. When you understand all this, you understand God's plan and purposes for the Jew, for the Gentile, and for the earth. By the way, when God looks on the earth, God sees only three groups of people: Jew, Gentile, or the church, made up of Jew or Gentile. Only three groups of people when God looks down. And the whole Bible is dealing with either the Jew on the most part, or the Gentile, and also the church in the New Testament. Are you with me so far?

And the confusion comes when we put ourself in the wrong dispensation, but the problem is this: when you look at your Old Testament and your New Testament, your Bible is divided into two, right? Old Testament and New Testament. Old Testament predominantly is instead of seven dispensations, we just can summarize to dispensation of the law which lasted for 1500 years and the dispensation of grace which lasted for 2000 years. So what is the dispensation of the law? When God gave to Israel the Ten Commandments, Mount Sinai, that was the starting of the dispensation of the law. It lasted for 1500 years until Jesus came. And then now, but it didn't start the year when Jesus was born and when he walked on the earth. It started on the Day of Pentecost, okay? And on the Day of Pentecost until now is 2000 years.

Grace is longer than law, praise God. And what is grace defined as? Today there are people who try to redefine grace. But let me tell you, the Bible says in Romans 11: "And if it's by grace, it's no more of the law of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. If it's of works, it's no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work". Very simple. In other words, undeserved, unmerited favor. You cannot work for it, it's by grace. So the opposite of grace is works. And yet, grace produces the best kind of works, not dead works but living works, live works, hallelujah. Now I wanna show you something that is causing confusion in the church. And because of that, people start writing against extreme grace, you know, "Pastor Prince is preaching extreme grace," and things like, because they don't understand this divine paradox.

Let me explain. In Proverbs 17, verse 15, it says this: "He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord". You know what's an abomination? There is sin. We're all born in sin. Even before we do anything, we are born in sin because of Adam's sin. It's in the blood, okay? Then there's also transgression. When you break a known law, that's transgression or trespass. Then there's iniquity that's passed down from father to child, iniquity, a perversion in the nature. There's abomination. Abomination is the worst kind. Abomination is like it's abominable, it's not snowman, okay? It's abomination, it's terrible. The worst kind, okay?

Now what, according to this verse, what is the worst kind that's an abomination to the Lord? Both this: "If you justify the wicked". Let's say a person is a wicked person, a sinner, but you justify him, you talk about him as if he's a justified man, a righteous man, that's an abomination. On the other hand, "he who condemns the just". Let's say a just person, a righteous person, you condemn him, that's an abomination to the Lord. Are you listening, people? Now, we always think in terms of other people, right? But what about yourself? If you are a sinner and you justify yourself like the Pharisees, "I don't need any saving, you know? I'm pretty okay. I'm moral. I keep the law, I don't do bad things and all that," you are justifying the wicked. You are justifying the sinner.

God says you're a sinner. And no problem if you're a sinner, guess what? Jesus says, "I'm a Savior". "But, Lord, you don't understand. I'm a bad sinner". He say, "I'm a great Savior". "But I have a... my sin goes deep". And he says, "My love goes deeper still". "You don't understand, my sin is great". He says, "My grace is greater". So only when you acknowledge you're a sinner, Jesus says, "I'm a friend of sinners. I'm the Savior of sinners". But you say, "I'm okay, I'm okay". "I didn't come for the okay people. I came for those who say they are sinners. I didn't", he said, "Those who are well don't need a doctor. It's for those who are sick," Jesus said. So when you take this position, you are justifying the sinner, even as yourself, it's an abomination when you're not yet saved.

On the other hand, now that you are saved, the blood of Jesus has cleansed you, amen, and the Bible says, what are you now? 2 Corinthians 5:21, real quick. You all know this verse by now: "God made Jesus at the cross who knew no sin to become our sin," right? "That we might be made, that we might become", that we might become what? "The righteousness of God in Him". So what are we now? The righteousness of God in him. But if you condemn the righteous, even in self-condemnation, you condemn yourself, when God has made you righteous, you condemn yourself, you say, "I'm a lousy sinner. I'm this, I'm that". You condemn yourself, it's also an abomination to the Lord.

Have you ever considered that? What God has cleansed, don't you dare call unclean, including yourself. The problem is that this is hypocrisy, pretending to be what you are not. He's a sinner but he refused to admit he's a sinner. So he puts layers of morality and good works and good standing, family standing, try to be somewhat in society or whatever, just to cover up the fact he's a sinner, but God says, "You're a sinner, but no problem, I sent Jesus to be your Savior". Jesus is a Savior of sinners. If you're not a sinner, you don't qualify, amen. You don't qualify for his saving power. The leper has all title to him, to his grace, because the leper is a leper. Huh?

In fact, he knew the Lord was able. He just wasn't sure the Lord is willing to use his power on his behalf. That's why he says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean". He didn't doubt his ability, he doubt his willingness. And the Lord confirmed that once and for all: "I am willing". By the way, Jesus touched him, right? Jesus didn't have to touch him. He didn't ask, "Lord, if you are willing, touch me". But Jesus always exceeds our expectations. He always over-answers our requests, amen. I asked God for a wife, he gave me Wendy. Where are you, baby, amen? Amen? I asked God for a ministry and God gave me a super-church. Always remember that the Lord always exceeds your... he answers exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

So think big and he must exceed it. Think even bigger and he must exceed it. Don't ask God for small things. Don't ask God for a job, ask God for a position. Ask God for big things and you compliment him. You compliment him. You speak great things and you're praising him when you ask God for big things, amen? Are you listening, people? So, hypocrisy is pretending to be what you are not. There's a woman of Canaan, say "Canaan". Jesus went up to the north, near the sea coast, near the Lebanon area, where Tyre and Sidon was. The Bible says Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon are two very famous cities.

During the time of Alexander the Great they were known, very famous, and one of them is an island. And how Alexander conquer the island, he actually built a rampart all the way, made with real stones. You can still see the stones today in that place, under the sea. Still see the stones. But that place was demolished by Alexander the Great by the time Jesus was there, up in the north, and he was in this region of Tyre and Sidon, now just a small city, and a woman from that area, she was a Canaanite, a non-Jew. Not just a non-Jew, a Canaanite is under the ban of a curse. Noah cursed Canaan specifically. Noah, when realizing that Canaan uncovered his nakedness, he cursed Canaan and said, "Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be".

And Israel was called to execute judgment on the Canaanites. The Canaanites will introduce them to all kinds of idolatries and all kinds of perversions and abominations, and God commanded the Israelites in the Old Testament to judge the Canaanites. Now, the thing is this. This in a Canaanite woman, and she came to Jesus, and the Bible says this: that she said, "Lord, son of David, have mercy on me for my daughter is severely demonized". The word "severely" is there. She's greatly, in the King James. Your New King James is "severely tormented by a demon". So she has a daughter that's demon-possessed, and she came to Jesus, says, "Son of David, Lord, son of David".

Now, she's coming on pretense that she is a Jew. She's not a Jew; she's a Canaanite. But she knew that the phrase, "Son of David," can only be used by the Jews. Now, understand this. God's salvation plan is for the whole world, "For God so loved the world," not just the nation of Israel, "that God gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life". But God must first keep his promises to all the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to all the promises he made to the nation of Israel. So he sent Jesus Christ. He sent Jesus to Israel to fulfill the promises made to the fathers, amen.

So when Jesus came, before he died on the cross, his salvation was only for the nation of Israel. And all the miracles he did was specifically, mainly for Israel but there were Gentiles who got healed and received. And we'll show you why. It was not their time. This Canaanite woman came to Jesus, pretending to be a Jew, and she said, "Lord, son of David". Son of David is a phrase used by the Jew on their Messiah. Now, for us, we got saved receiving Jesus, believing in him as Savior, but the Jew gets saved in believing him as the Messiah, the son of David. Are you with me so far?

And by the way, that's why we only have, out of four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we only have two Gospels that talk about his genealogy, all right? Matthew and Luke. Matthew emphasizes Jesus's kingship as a Jew, the King of the Jews, amen? Whereas Luke's Gospel proclaims Jesus as the perfect man, the Son of Man. His manhood is called upon. And that's why in Luke his genealogy is traced all the way to Adam, the first man. Whereas, in Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus in chapter 1 is traced all the way to chapter 1 of Matthew, verse 1, the son of Jesus Christ, the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. But again, the chronology is not right, right?

David came after Abraham, not Abraham after David. And yet it says the son of David, the son of Abraham. Why David came first? Because David was God's appointed king, and from David's line will come Jesus Christ. And the Gospel of Matthew is about Jesus as King of the Jews. So, we talk about son of David, son of Abraham. He's a king and he's a Jew from the line of Abraham. Ooh, okay, never mind. Let's go on, all right? So here we have a situation. The woman came, pretending that she's a Jew, calling him by the Jewish title, "Son of David, have mercy on me". God cannot bless you on a pretense. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of truth. He bears witness with the truth.

So the Bible says: "The Lord answered her not a word. Not a word". And she came after the Lord, and his disciples says, "Lord, please send her away. She's troubling us". And she kept on telling the Lord, "Son of David, son of David," and then the Lord said this: "I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". You heard that? "I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," because at that point in time in his earthly walk, he came for Israel. If only Israel believed, all Israel would be saved and Jesus would be ruling in Jerusalem today, mmm? And Jerusalem is becoming a hot topic again because that's when Jesus comes back, his Millennium rule after the Rapture, there'll be 7 years of Tribulation on earth and then he'll come back to rule, and where he's gonna rule from? Jerusalem.

So the woman is pretending and she came after and, you know, keep on, you know, pursuing Jesus and disciples, "Send her away". And the Lord says, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". The Lord showed me this. If he answered a word to her, you know what it'll be? A rebuke. Because a Canaanite based on her own title, she has no title to the Lord. So, the only thing the Lord can say to her is what? Condemnation and rebuke. It was the mercy of the Lord he didn't say a word. Love the Lord. Then he says, "I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". Now she's changed, she dropped the "son of David". She's desperate. She dropped the "son of David," she stopped pretending and says, "Lord"!

Now, everyone can claim him as Lord. She dropped the "son of David". "Lord, please help me". And the Lord turned to her. It wasn't time to help the Gentiles. It wasn't the Gentiles' time, but the Lord gave her a loophole. The Lord says, "It's not right to take the children's bread". Now, I wanna tell you something, okay? If you lived during the time of Jesus in the Old Testament, you know what the Jews call us? Dogs. What a compliment. We all, jews call us dogs, okay? Gentiles are known as dogs. But here's what Jesus said to her. Now, Jesus turned to her and said, "It's not right to take the children's bread, Israel's bread, and to give it to the puppies".

Literally, it's not dogs in your Bible. King James says "dogs". New King James says "little dogs". It's the diminutive term of the word "dog" which is a puppy. "It's not right". Jesus gave a picture, a domestic picture, to help her. It's not right to take Israel's bread, the children's bread, and to give it to puppies. You see how low, how humble does she wanna get? Because right now she has no title to him. So she dropped her position, her pretend position as a Jew and then she went low and says, "Lord, help me". Then she went low and says, "Yes, I agree. I'll take my place as a puppy, but even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from the Master's table".

And then Jesus turned round to her: "Woman, great is your faith. For this saying, go your way. The devil is gone out of your daughter," amen. She went back, found her daughter lying, completely well, peaceful. The demon is out. So what happened here? Jesus gave her a loophole, even though it wasn't time for the Jews, all right, but she says, "Yes, I'm willing to take my place. I'm willing to be real. I'm willing to take my place". And the Lord says, "That's it, you got it". You see, in essence, he's telling his disciples, "Look, I cannot bless her," when he didn't say a word and they said, "Send her away, send her away". The Lord is saying, this is what the Lord showed me. He's in essence, telling her, telling the, the disciples, "I cannot bless her on a pretense. But neither can I send her away without a blessing".

So he gave her a loophole. What I'm saying, church, is this. We cannot pretend to be what we are not. That's hypocrisy. Can you understand that? Look up here. When you're a sinner, don't pretend to be righteous. We tell you, "Jesus died for sinners". "Oh, that's not me". Hey, bro, the Lord loves you, amen? He died for your sins. "Well, I didn't sin much, lah". Well, you broke all the Ten Commandments. "No, I didn't". Well, you have committed adultery. "No, I've never slept with any woman except my wife". Well, have you ever lusted for a woman? "Don't talk about that". Well, according to Jesus, that's adultery, amen. "I've never committed murder".

Well, have you ever hated someone in your heart? Or you wish the guy who cut in front of you will perish some way, hit a tree or something like that? Well, according to Jesus, that's murder. "Well, I don't talk about that, Pastor". No, actually, all of us are great sinners. We all broke the Ten. I said, we all broke the Ten. God never gave the law to justify men by. God gave the law by the law is the knowledge of sin, not holiness. Are you listening, people? By the law is the knowledge of sin. It's sad when you see people taking, you know, verses out of its context and saying that, you know, Jesus taught us that you must love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.

Actually, Jesus did not teach that. Jesus answered with that. A question was asked Jesus by one of the lawyer or the Pharisees, asking Jesus, "Which is the greatest of all the commandments"? Then Jesus says, "Hear, O Israel". That's how he starts the greatest commandment, "The Lord your God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. And the second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. These are the greatest commandment. Upon this, hang all the law and the prophets". And the lawyer says, "Well, you've answered, Lord, correctly. It's the greatest commandments".

And then Jesus starts sharing about the good Samaritan. The guy can hardly love his neighbor. Watch this now. Watch this. Jesus is not telling us, try to keep this. He knows man cannot. These the greatest of all the law. These the greatest of all the commandment. And the law is given to show men up, to show men's sin. So for 1500 years under the law, can anyone love God with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, all his strength? Even the man after God's own heart, David, failed. So after 1500 years, God says, "Enough". Now, God sent his Son and his Son loved us with all his heart, all his soul, all his mind, all his strength, and gave his life for us. And now we love because he first loved us.

So God gave us preachers and teachers, ministers in the pulpit that will open up the love of God to the people, not preaching the law, saying, "You've got to love God. You've got to love God". But declaring the love of God, unveiling the love of God, and proclaiming the beauties and the glories and the excellencies of our Lord Jesus Christ. That takes the Holy Spirit. To teach "Do good, get good; do bad, get bad," doesn't take the Holy Spirit. It's easy to preach that. Takes the Holy Spirit, takes the anointing of God, to proclaim the loveliness of Jesus, to elucidate on the grace of God and the love of God, hmm, amen? So when you condemn yourself... now, this was before you were saved, right? If you're a sinner, come clean. Say, "I'm a sinner". It's no problem for Jesus. In fact, you qualify for the Savior, right?

Now you are saved, now watch this. This is not a time to look at your phone. You must see, I've moved. Now we are saved. Okay, one time, okay? Okay, this is not move. These people think on the same location. Okay, move, move, okay? So now you are saved by the blood of Jesus. Are you saved? Everyone who's saved, shout, "Hallelujah"! Say, "Glory to God". Now that you are saved, what are you? You are now the righteousness of God in Christ, all right? Now what's an abomination now? For you to condemn the righteous, even as self-condemnation. Are you listening? To come to God and say, "God, I don't ask much, but I have this pain, Lord, that's been bothering me, Lord. But Lord, if it would just please you, Lord, to let a little crumb fall from your table, I'll take the place of a puppy. No, worse than that, Lord, I'll take the place of a centipede". You think you're being humble. That's an abomination to the Lord. Are you listening?

You see, today, the way we pray is different from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, they prayed to God like the guy who came to God and said, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner". Jesus talked about two persons, one was a Pharisee and one was a tax collector. They both came to God, all right, and they came to the temple and the tax collector even refused to look up. He says, "Oh God," notice, "God"? He called God, "God". "God, be merciful to me, the sinner". And then these guys, the Bible says, I like it. He prayed within himself, by praying to himself. "God, I thank you I'm not like this sinner. I fast twice a week, you know, I do this, I do that". And the Bible says that this man, the first man, went down to his house, justified. But yet, it's an Old Testament prayer.

Today, we don't say, "Oh God". Today we say, "Father". Today we have a spirit of sonship. Under the Old Testament, they have a spirit of bondage. We have a different spirit, amen. We say, "Father". You know what it means to pray in Jesus's name? Jesus says, "Up 'til now you have asked nothing in my name". Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. What does Jesus mean, in the Upper Room, when Jesus says, "Up 'til now you have asked nothing in my name"? Maybe the disciples were praying the Lord's Prayer every day since then, but yet, the Lord's Prayer, wonderful as it is in its setting, in its time, Jesus himself said, at the Upper Room, "Up 'til now you have asked nothing in my name".

So, obviously, the Lord's Prayer is not asking in his name. "Up 'til now you have asked nothing in my name". So all the prayers of the Old Testament is not praying in Jesus's name. There's a new kind of prayer that's coming but he says, "Up 'til now you have asked nothing in my name". What is asking in someone's name? What is doing business in someone's name? That means you are his representative, right? In other words, when you pray, you must know that you have the same standing as Jesus before the Father. Not only that, you are loved the same as Jesus is loved. The Bible doesn't say any lesser. You are loved the same way Jesus is loved.

John 17: "That thou has loved them even as thou has loved me," Jesus said. Not only that, you must know you're accepted before the Father with the same acceptance Jesus is accepted. Now you are in his name. That's how you pray. Praying in Jesus's name is not just punctuating your prayer with "In Jesus's name". It is knowing that you are in this place today, knowing God is your Father, it's a family place. Now the children's bread, you are entitled to it. You can eat the children's bread.

So the challenge we have, when people start, you know, not understanding this, they are saying, "Pastor Prince, you're saying that people have no more sin". No, I didn't say that. We are not perfect. We're not perfect. There is still a stage of growth, we need to grow, yeah, we need to grow. We need to learn the things of God. We need to know how to conduct our marriages, you know, we need to conduct, we need to know how to, you know, walk the way God wants us to walk, yes. That's a growth, but the moment you are saved, you are the righteousness of God in Christ. That is a given; it's never taken away. And for you to speak disparagingly of yourself, even to saying, "I'm a sinner. I'm just a sinner," it's wrong. It's an abomination. Any more than when you were a sinner, you says, "I'm okay, I'm all right". It's an abomination. It's not. You need the Lord. Are you with me so far?

So, hypocrisy is pretending to be what you are not. And the devil... you know what, the devil does? He doesn't attack here. He doesn't tell sinners, "You're a hypocrite". Doesn't tell sinners, "You're a hypocrite". No, he encourages them: "You're okay. You don't need salvation. You're not as bad as those terrorists and all that. You're not as bad as those people, you're not as bad as this person on TV. You're not as bad, you're not as bad". The devil will encourage that. He will encourage that hypocrisy. You know who he attacks? This side here. Look up here. Don't look at your phone. Your phone is one of the... it's like a girlfriend, you know? It's very hard to break up. It's the first thing you see in the morning, true? It's the last thing you look at, at night. It takes more priority than your loved ones.

They can be in front of you, your father, mother, your whoever, and you can be looking at your phone. The moment there's a "ding" you have to look. Or else, FOMO sets in, the disease called FOMO, F-O-M-O, Fear Of Missing Out. "I must know, what is it"? It's Gabriel again. Break up with your phone. Okay, don't break up your phone, okay? Put it somewhere, "Oh, Pastor, you didn't know, I was following the verses. I was waiting for..." Okay, sure, sure, okay. But this one you must see. I have moved already, right? God moved on Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, No, I am moving from this place now. I'm moving here, right? The devil will not accuse the sinner who pretends to be righteous that he's a hypocrite. He will never say that. He'll come to the Christian and say, "How can you say you are righteous? Look at your behavior, look at your thoughts just now. How can... you are a hypocrite".

Now, what's a hypocrite? Pretending to be what you are not. When you are acting righteous, you pray for the sick, and when someone comes to you, even a unbeliever says, "You know, I don't know what to do and I..." Can I pray for you? And God will hear my prayer. I mean, you can be confident of that. You don't wanna say, "Maybe God will, maybe God won't". We don't pray like, as if there's distance, like, "Oh, God, be merciful to my friend here, Lord. Be merciful. Let a small crumb, crumb, crumb, fall, fall, fall, fall". You know, that kind of prayer won't, you know that you've all prayed that kind of prayer. Doesn't work. You don't receive from that kind of prayer.

When I pray for the sick, I have sin. When I pray like, "Oh God, maybe, Lord..." No, it must be an assurance right now. You feel that pain. In Jesus's name, I know you'll be healed. Stand up right now, receive that. It's based on definite. It's not based on conjectures and probabilities and maybes. The Bible is not dealing with this kind of things. It deals with certainties. These things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. These things are written that you may know, not probably.

Heard one pastor say one time, "And nobody knows they are saved or not, right or not? Until we meet Jesus. I myself don't even know I'm saved". Then get away from the pulpit. And let the pulpit be filled with people who know they are saved. For goodness sake, there's enough, there's enough probabilities in the world. The world is filled with probabilities and theories and conjectures and all that. God gave us solid ground to stand on and nothing is more certain than the Word of God.

So, the devil will come to you and say, "How can you act like God hears your prayer? How can you... look at what you just did yesterday. Look at what you thought about just now. How can you act like a righteous man? You're a hypocrite". When actually, hypocrites is what? Pretending to be what you are not. You are righteous, right? And when you act righteous and act bold, the Bible says: "The righteous are bold as a lion". When you act righteous and you are bold, the devil calls you a hypocrite. It's the opposite. In fact, this is hypocrisy: "Oh God, you know I'm no good, Lord. I don't deserve any of your goodness and mercy".

Now, all that is true, all right? "So God, in your mercy," you've got to be careful when you pray and ask God for mercy, mercy, mercy all the time, because you do away what Jesus did. if my son sits at my table and he looks at me, "Abba". He calls me "Abba". "Yes"? "Can I touch this bread"? "Eat it". "Can I through your mercy, can I just bite one bite, one bite, one bite"? I will say, "Darling, come here. What have you been teaching him? Something is wrong. My child is warped". In fact, I've got to teach my son, "And remember to say 'Thank you,'" all right? Thank the Lord for your food, thank your daddy for the food, right? We ought to teach them thanksgiving. We ought to teach Christians to say "Thanks" because many of the blessings we get, we don't say "Thanks," all right?

It's okay because we know it is our place. Most of your children, they don't even say anything, right? They come down, they go, "Yeah, food, grrr," right? "Mommy, some more," right? That's the children's place. We don't understand what it means to pray "in my name". "In my name" means my position, my standing. Know that you're loved and you're accepted with the same acceptance as Jesus. That's praying in his name. Up 'til now, no Jew ever prayed that way and Jesus is telling them, "Up 'til now you have asked nothing in my name". There has been a change. You see, people look at my emphasis on grace and the New Testament. They are saying, "Pastor Prince preaches Paul. Paul is greater than Jesus".

You know why they say that? Because they say that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is irrelevant. I never said they are irrelevant. I said they have their place. And I preach a lot from the Old Testament. Those of you who know me, right, you know I preach a lot from the Old Testament. Because of the New, you can bring out the Old, the treasures of the New and Old, amen. The Old is the New hidden. The New is the Old opened. In the Old, the New is concealed. In the New, the Old is revealed. When you know the New, it reveals the Old. So what they are saying is that, "Oh, I believe the words of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John," but you must understand, you must read it in context. When he came here, there were many things he cannot say.

Jesus himself said right at the end of his ministry, a few hours before he was crucified, he said in the Passover night in the Upper Room, after all that has happened in his ministry, so many chapters, right, his life. At the end of his life, he actually said this: "There are many things I want to say to you, but you're not yet able. But when the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide you into all truth". In other words, all the words of Jesus plus the Sermon on the Mount and that, must be translated. It is for us, yes, but it must be translated in the light of the day that Jesus was preaching to Jews. Like, for example, what I said just now, Jesus said to the woman of Canaan, "I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel".

Is that applicable today? No, no more. Now he's sent to the whole world. His salvation is for the whole world. Am I right? So, for example, before the cross, before he died, Jesus says: "You must forgive in order to be forgiven, in order for the Father to forgive you," right? Am I right? Okay, I don't wanna say anything to you, you don't wanna talk, I don't wanna talk. Let's try again, let's try again. What did Jesus say under the law, in the Gospels even, in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, right? What did Jesus say, though it's not in all the Gospels, what did he say? "Forgive in order for God to forgive you". But when Paul wrote in Ephesians and Colossians, Paul says, "Forgive because God has forgiven you".

The motivation is different. And it's not pitting Paul against Jesus, no. This is Jesus before he died and rose again, and Paul's words in Ephesians, Colossians, in Galatians, they are not Paul's words. They're the words of the ascended Christ, seated at the Father's right hand. He gave Paul the words to write. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the words of Jesus on earth, ministering as a Messiah to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, amen, for the most part. Many of it is applicable for us today, even, yes.

Note this, I said many of them are still applicable to us today. But it must be interpreted in the light of the New Testament, and Paul's words is not Paul's words. It's the words of Jesus after he died, after he rose again from the dead. After he ascended, glorified, to the Father's right hand, he raised Paul. And that's why he says, "I have many things to say unto you," in the Upper Room, but when the Holy Spirit comes, and I believe he was alluding also to Paul's ministry. He's gonna unveil to you the truths that you cannot receive now.

So the emphasis is here, without having to say, you know, when I say "emphasis is here," doesn't mean I ignore the Old Testament, I ignore the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. No, I teach a lot from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I teach a lot from the Old Testament. I just gave you the purpose of Luke and Matthew, even. But just saying that when you understand the New Testament, you understand the New Covenant, it brings out the treasures of the Old, okay? So why do you forgive today? Under the law, you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. Now, is it true, under the law? Yes, but that brings everyone to a place of saying, "Whoa, man, if Jesus said that, then you know what? I wanna practice that, but just now I got angry with my mother-in-law".

Now what happens? You know, you're forgiving all the time, and by the law is the knowledge of sin. But today, when you realize how much God has loved you, how much God has forgiven you, hey, you forgive. Why? Because God has forgiven you. So we need preachers and teachers and ministers that will minister how forgiven you are. When people realize how loved they are and how forgiven they are, they will forgive. The reason there's a lack of unforgiveness in the church is not because there's a lack of holiness preaching. The reason there's a lack of forgiveness in the church, I should say, is because the love of God and the forgiveness of God is not preached in its fullness, in its entirety, in its eternal ramifications. Is this helping you? Hallelujah.

How many of us, we pray, and when we say, "Father," you know, God hears your prayer. You have a conscious "I have to be careful what I pray because God hears my prayer, he will answer it". Do you feel that way? Or do you feel like, "Father! Father! God"! Then we try to impress our friends, "El Shaddai! El Elyon," you know? Now, knowing the names of God is wonderful. I teach on the names of God. And that's why it's the Old Testament names of God that is taught and I believe that it's still applicable today, yes. But the name by which Jesus came to reveal is Father. Like that boy in the video just now crying, "Abba". That's a prayer by itself. You know, it goes right into your heart when he cries, "Abba".

My son calls me "Abba," the reason being because I taught him many years ago when I read in the New Testament, you know, we have "received the spirit of sonship by which we cry 'Abba, Father,'" I thought, okay, my son will call me Abba so that next time when he reads the Bible, the portion that says "Abba," he will identify me and feel the love of the Father, you know? I asked him yesterday, "What message shall I preach tomorrow"? I'd already got my message ready. He look at me. For the first time he says, "Paul. Preach on Paul". Usually, it's Elijah, Jonah, you know? Moses. First time he says "Paul," and I was planning to touch on what Paul received from the Lord. Do you know there was one time Paul.. you know who got saved first, Peter got saved first or Paul got saved first?

Remember you don't talk to me. Peter got saved first or Paul got saved first? Who got saved first? Peter, right? All right, for the British friends, Peter. Peter. Okay, Peter got saved first, Paul got saved later. In fact, after Jesus died and rose again, Paul got saved. he was knocked off his high horse, literally, on his way to Damascus, right, and the Lord appeared to him from heaven. So, Peter was familiar with the earthly Jesus, but Paul, his first encounter with Christ is the glorified, ascendant Christ, okay? So, watch this now. What constitutes not walking according to the Gospel? I wanna show you something that seems so mundane but it's put there in the Gospels for all of us to see, or rather, in the letters of Paul. It's the occasion where Paul who was saved after Peter rebuked Peter. Paul rebuked Peter, wow, on one occasion.

Did Peter commit some major sin? Was he watching porn? Was he slapping someone? What did he do? What did he do? What, did he slap his mother-in-law because she got healed? What was the problem here? It was over food. Let me read to you the story, all right, Galatians, and then we can see the truth here: "But when Peter came to Antioch," now, Paul is writing. "When Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, Peter ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterwards, when some friends of James..."

James is a Jewish leader in Jerusalem, all right? And he's a brother of Jesus, a natural brother, "Peter wouldn't eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter's," what? "Hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, 'Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? You and I are Jews by birth, not "sinners" like the Gentiles. Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.'"

Is it clear? But you know what the occasion over? Food, food. Char siew pau. It must be that Peter was eating with the Gentiles and then he heard someone say, "Hey, James is coming with his group from Jerusalem". "Oh, wait, wait, wait... Put on his...", you know? And he cut away from the Gentiles.

Now, that's hypocrisy. Are you listening, people? But what really touched me was this, this phrase in verse 14: "When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message," even not in your... even your eating, if you are acting like you're still under the law, okay, "Oh, I don't eat pork". You don't eat pork because of hygienic reasons or whatever, is okay. "I don't eat pork because in the law God says, you know, I think..." No, friend, now you eat other things, it has no effect because you put yourself under law.

You see, the thing is this: there's no compromise even over food. And in the King James... I like the King James. Instead of not following the truth of the gospel, he says, "But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel", walk not uprightly. This is more accurate because in the Greek, walk not uprightly is the word "ortopedos," ortopedos. Orthopedic? Where we get our English word, "orthopedic". Your legs, walking. So literally, it's they walk not uprightly. What is walking uprightly according to the gospel? This is important. You know, there's a promise in the Old Testament that says: "No good thing will God withhold from those who walk uprightly". No good thing will God withhold from those that walk uprightly, right?

So what is walking uprightly today? Walking according to the truth of the gospel. Acting like you are righteous when you pray, amen? I'm not talking about self-righteousness. Self-righteousness comes when you don't accept the righteous that God gives, so you have to self-manufacture the righteousness which is what a lot of sinners are trying to do. God hates self-righteousness. This is walking uprightly: believing that you are loved, believing that all your sins are forgiven, believing that when you pray you are so near to God, and that when you pray it's as if Jesus is praying. That's praying in Jesus's name. That's walking uprightly.

Now, today, when you pray a Old Testament prayer, "Oh God, oh Lord, hear my prayer, Lord. Hear my prayer, Lord," it's really abomination. Why? You're acting like you're a sinner, crying to God for mercy. Now, I'm not saying that we don't receive mercy. The Bible says we come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace. There's still mercy and there's still grace for us today to find. In our daily needs, necessities and all that, we still receive that, but I'm saying that what you are before God is that you cannot get any closer to him than you already are in Christ, amen? Isn't that good?

Now, I wanna wrap this up by showing you something. There's this confusion. Today, we are preaching sin to the Christians, to the believer, to the righteous ones. And then, there are messages that's meant for the sinner, we are preaching to the believer. So the believer never gets out of this sin consciousness. We're preaching the law to the believer, from "By the law is the knowledge of sin". And the believer never rise up to their potential.

Now, I wanna close with this. This is very important, that you get this. The Bible says that once Jesus's sacrifice worked at the cross... how many believe his sacrifice worked once and for all? The Bible says it worked. "By one sacrifice", Hebrews 10:11, "Every priest stands ministering daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins". The Old Testament, the priests are standing. Say, "standing". "Stands ministering daily". Say "daily". "And offering repeatedly," say "repeatedly". "The same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man," Jesus Christ, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever," say "One sacrifice for sins forever," three times, c'mon. "One sacrifice".

Even though you say it three times, okay, it's one sacrifice only. Don't forget, it's one sacrifice for sins for how long? Forever. So, compared with "ministering, offering repeatedly," Jesus only had to offer one sacrifice, and the effectiveness is forever. Instead of them standing daily, he sat down. His work is finished. So the result is what? Go back to verse 1. The Bible says, verse 1: "The law, having a shadow of good things, and not the very image of the things, can never with those same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect". Perfect in terms of conscience. "For then would they not have ceased to be offered"? In other words, if those sacrifices in the Old Testament work, if the blood of bulls and goats work, one time, there's no need to offer them repeatedly. But "because the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins," right?

Now, did Jesus, one sacrifice for sins forever, purified us once and for all. It worked. How many say it worked? We should have what? No more sin consciousness. Am I reading a different Bible? Are you all seeing what I'm showing? Are we reading the same Bible? Is the Bible right? So, it seems like under the New Testament, God is saying by realizing that, by walking in no more sin consciousness you're actually giving tribute to what Jesus did. Am I right? But under the Old Testament, for a sinner, he start boasting, you know, "I'm okay. I don't need Jesus. I'm pretty okay. I don't think I'm a great sinner or whatever, you know"? Then you'd bring the law. You bring the law in. He says he never commit adultery. You tell him, has he lusted for a woman? He says he's never committed murder. You bring him, has he ever hated? Am I right?

By the law is knowledge of sin. So, under the law is true. You've got to make people sin conscious before they realize their need for the Savior. And there's the purpose for all the prophets in the Old Testament, bringing people to the end of themselves. Jesus's sermon, also some of his sermons here and there, you can see that he's bringing them to the end of themselves under grace. To have sin consciousness is to say the payment has not been made. Do you know, if you know the value of Jesus Christ that one man, even though his worth, the intrinsic value he has before the Father, it's as if God paid, all right, the love of God paid to the justice of God. We owe God because of our sin. We owe God the reverence, the obedience, the holiness, his place as God.

We as the created being, we owe God. We have robbed God of his glory but, instead of that, all right, Jesus came and paid to God because of his worth, it's a payment of, like, 1 million for... actually, it's a bad, he's worth more than that, you understand, okay? For your $100,000 sin debt. It's an over-payment. In a sense, God has become a gainer because of what Jesus did. That's why, in the New Testament, he said, "Much more, much more, much more". What Jesus did is much more than what Adam did. And then, if the truth was preached to us, with no ambiguity, clearly, unconditionally, pure, the pure gospel is preached, you know what? We'll go to God with boldness. We'll come to God and say, "Father, I thank you. Thank you for loving me". And we won't come to God with a servile spirit, a servant's spirit.

You come to God with son. "Abba, I thank you. Thank you, Abba. And Abba, while I'm here, Lord, I thank you for that bread, Lord, of healing," all right? The children's bread is actually healing, right, for that daughter. "I'll just take this, Lord, and I'll just take that, Father". And the more you take from him, the more he's happy. Why? Because faith is a hand that takes, amen? Jesus's one indictment against his disciples, very frequent on his lips, is, "Oh you, of little faith. Oh you, of little faith. Oh you, of little faith". Why? Love is the hand that gives; faith is the hand that takes. Even when you understand this, you'll be so blessed. You'll be encouraged. Even his rebukes are encouraging. What does he mean when he tells you, "Oh you of little faith"? He's saying, "I'm so full. Why do you take so little from me? I'm so capable, I'm so able. Why do you trust me so little"?

Oh, it's such an encouragement that even his rebukes are encouraging, amen? So you go to God and you're not afraid. And say, "God, thank you, Father, for loving me. Father, in Jesus's name this coming week, Lord," you can ask God for anything that you want, amen, and trusting that you are as near to him as Jesus is. The more you take your place like a sinner, pretending to be humble and that kind of thing, it's an abomination, because you're pretending to be what you're not. Don't condemn the righteous. Don't condemn yourself. That's an abomination. Have you learned something today? Give God a praise and the glory, amen, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord.

So right now, I'm gonna pray a prayer over you right now in Jesus's name and I believe that God's gonna do something great for you this coming week because there's a revelation that's breaking forth. I feel it in my spirit, amen? And the reason you pray is not to get close, you pray because you are close. You are taking advantage of your position of influence, even with God, your Father, amen? You're taking your place as sons and daughters when you pray.

When you worship, you are declaring your love and your worth of the one you're worshiping because you are close to him. You are closer than Daniel. You are closer than Elijah. You're closer than David. You're closer than Elisha. You're closer than Moses. You're closer than Jonah. You're closer than anyone in the Old Testament, and that's why Jesus says that the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist who is the greatest of all the prophets. Your position is greater than any prophet in the Old Testament. You're a son; they are servants. Sons of God, use your position right now, amen? When you pray, are you conscious? I want you to practice that right now. Practice a spirit of sonship right now.

I want to speak a word to you who are here today and you say, "Pastor Prince, I'm not sure I'm saved. I'm not sure that I'm a child of God". Friend, you are the very one that Jesus came for. Jesus loved you so much and all you gotta do, just acknowledge, "I'm a sinner". Don't avoid that. Don't go through bad experiences to realize finally that you are a sinner, amen. But once you say, "I'm a sinner," Jesus says, "No problems. I'm your Savior. I came to die for sinners". And that's how you become born again. That's how you become righteous by confessing first, this is confessing your sins: that I am a sinner. So if that is you right now, wherever you are, pray this prayer with me right now. Say, "Heavenly Father". Pray this prayer with me. Say:

Heavenly Father, I'm a sinner but I thank you Christ died for sinners. On that cross, Jesus bore my sins, took my judgment, and died in my place. And you raised him from the dead. Thank you, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and you have raised him for my justification. Thank you, Lord, in Jesus's name, Father, I thank you, amen. I praise you, hallelujah.

Stand to your feet for the blessing. Usually, when I bless you, I don't bless you in a way like, "I hope God soothes, you know, soothes your soul". When your colleague asks you for prayer and say that, you know, or come to you with a problem, you say that "Can I pray for you"? Then he says, "Well, it's very comforting for prayer, to have prayer at this time, but no, I'm not gonna comfort you. I'm gonna pray that God will come in with his miracle. God will give you a miracle. I'm praying for a miracle," all right? That will open many doors, friends. The world is looking for certainties, the world is looking for sureness, amen? And we can be sure. First of all, be sure that God loves you. We know and believe the love that God has for us. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Lift your hands all across this place and everywhere that's watching this right now. Sons and daughters of the Most High God, we are developing, we are growing, yes, we are learning to be practically, holy, victorious, but while we are doing that, don't forget you already are righteous in God's eyes, with the righteousness of God himself in Christ. So when you pray, don't feel that distance. That's hypocritical, that's an abomination. When you pray, you say, "Father". Know that you're so close. Feel his embrace. When you pray, "Father," know that it's a child requesting, not a servant asking God. Not even a prophet in the Old Testament asking God. You don't have the same relationship. And know that you're loved with the same love that the Father loves Jesus with, amen, from this day forth. Will you do that?

The Lord bless you this coming week and your children. The Lord bless you and your loved ones. The Lord make his face shine on you, and the Lord himself keep you, preserve you and your families throughout this week from every danger, harm, and from all evil. The Lord lifts up his countenance, his beautiful, radiant countenance upon you, smile on you throughout this week, and grant to you and your loved ones, his shalom peace, wellness, and health in every area of your life. In Jesus's name, and all the people said, "Amen".