Joseph Prince - Draw The Blood Line Of Protection
This generation, this young generation are exposed to things that we were not exposed, our fathers were not exposed to, our grandparents were not exposed to, but it's almost like at the touch of a fingertip. They're growing up fast. They're not growing according to the season. And young ones are being exposed to things that the devil does not think they are too young to even watch pornography or to see violence at a young age. If the devil doesn't think that they are not too young to see all that, what makes you think that they are too young to receive the Holy Spirit, to receive the power of God, to learn the things of God, amen?
So, God is putting an arrest warrant out there on all that the devil is doing, amen? And he's gonna put a full stop by raising this generation, a generation, we call it the Benjamin generation, the end time generation, a generation that will share the same mother as our heavenly Joseph, our Lord Jesus. For those who understand, say amen. A generation like the Joshua generation, the generation that came out of Egypt with Moses were an unbelieving generation. They came out, but they never got in. But there's a generation that was born in the atmosphere of miracles. They saw the daily pillar of cloud accompanying their journeys in the wilderness. They saw the pillar of fire by night. They saw the presence of God in their midst. They saw God providing manna, bread from heaven, angel's food, the Bible says. The saw how God wrought great miracles, even giving them victory over all their enemies. God brought water out of the flinty rock.
This was the generation that was born not in Egypt. They did not grow in an atmosphere of slavery, and bondage, and servitude. They were born in an atmosphere of miracles, and you are that generation, amen. A lot of things that, you know, I feel like when I look back at my generation for example, we thought that we were the new generation, but I realize that a lot of baggage from the past is being carried over. You know, this new generation, they do not know the word "impossible". They only know the word "Him-possible," amen. It's a generation that says, "Let's go for it, amen. Let's believe God for it".
So, the devil is afraid. Like I always say, you do not know what God is doing in these days, just look at what the devil is doing and reverse it, amen? If there's a new Ebola virus, which is happening right now, being released, another strain kind of thing, you know there's a new wave of healing that God is releasing. And the devil is always playing catchup, but the things the devil does is more visible and people tend to put attention on what is visible. But the people know that the invisible is greater because the invisible is eternal. Whatever is visible is only temporal, amen?
So, obviously God has done something in the spirit world. God has released a healing, anointing, a new strain, if you would, of healing, that will perform such feats that we have never seen before. The devil is afraid and he's playing catchup. He's trying to create a new strain of virus, like Ebola and other kinds of strains of flu that is virulent against medical treatment and all that. But just let you know that we are in the best of generations. The rapture can happen any time. We're in a generation that believes that we don't have to depend on the ways of the world. We are that generation that delights in God's Word. That's why you are here. You are here because you delight in God's Word. You know that God has left us his handbook for life. It is the manufacturer's handbook. We go back to it for instruction. We are not left in this world without instruction, amen.
This generation is growing up, and I look at them and I feel for them because they are growing in an atmosphere of moral degradation, such darkness that Isaiah talks about, "Gross darkness upon the people". But in the midst of this, God says, "The Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you". You know, literally you can see believers nowadays, before you even know they are believers, you can see them in a crowd, their face shines with the glory of God. There is a glory that can be seen upon you. Can I have a good amen? Because they are the ones that the Bible describes in Psalms 1. They are like the tree planted by the rivers of water.
This describes all of you because you delight in the Word of God. You meditate on his Word day and night. You are like a tree planted. Now, a tree planted and a tree growing are too different things. Planted means someone cares over this tree. Someone is watching over this tree. Someone is tending to this tree. You are like a tree planted by the rivers of water. By the rivers of water. I said by the rivers, amen, of water. And doesn't really matter if there's a heat wave in the land. Doesn't really matter that, you know, global warming and the fears of the people of the world, you know? But we know that we are planted by the rivers of water and there is a subterranean root system that draws water from the Word of God, and look at the result.
The Bible says, "He shall bring forth his fruit in his season," amen. And watch this, "His leaf also shall not wither". And Bible interpret Bible, another place where it says, "Leaf of the tree" is in Revelation. It says, "The leaves are for medicine," amen? So your leaf will not wither means your health will not wither. Just like in the natural, they have derived a lot of medicine from leaves, so likewise God says, "Your leaf will not wither". "Will not wither" means you won't be a prune juice, dried up prune, amen? Your leaf will not wither. And I love the last one. The last one covers everything. "Whatever you do prospers". Psalms 1, read it. It's all ours. God doesn't exaggerate.
Always remember, God never exaggerates. Man does, God doesn't. God says, "Whatever he does prospers, even his mistakes prospers". You see, there's a new generation, my son for example, he just loves this verse. And you ask him something, he'll just say, "Whatever I do prospers". I ask him sometimes, "How do you do that, Justin"? "Whatever I do prospers". I have no heart to tell him sometimes it doesn't work, you know? You know, but I guess he will probably say, "Even my mistake prospers". Not too long ago, when Jessica and Wendy were away together, mother daughter time somewhere, and I played Mr. Mom, I brought him out to do some fishing, prawning, you know? We fished for some prawns. And he was with me and he was doing something else, and I was busy trying to impress him with the first catch, right?
It took about 15-20 minutes, no catch. I could feel the nibbling, and then you know, the old gentleman down there was looking at me and he was, like, probably laughing in his heart, you know? Probably another city boy trying to, and I did my best. And he was playing on his own. Then finally he came, "Abba, anything"? I said, "Nothing". "Wow, so long" he said. Then I was trying to impress him, you know? I thought it was so easy. And it's a silly ol' simple crab... not a crab, I mean shrimp, you know, and nothing. Nothing was biting. And then finally he touch it, you know? "Let me help you," he says. I said, "No, it's okay. I can do it. I can do it. It's okay".
Nearly 20 minutes, the moment he touched it, it wasn't long after that, I felt a bite, right? And then I pulled up and there was a big, fat, old prawn right at the end of that, you know? Now, I looked at him, "Okay, maybe by chance, by chance, okay"? The next one, we put a bait, put it out there again. Then he was playing on his own, nothing was biting. This time about ten minutes, probably around five to ten minutes and he came over, "Anything"? I said, "Nothing". "Okay, let me touch it," he says. I said, "Why you gonna touch it"? "Whatever I do prospers". And then, like that, for awhile, there's a one. I got the whole thing on video, which I won't be showing you. But I got the whole thing on video. I was videoing when the catch happened. I said, "This time I must catch it". I pulled it out, there was that prawn again. I said, "Justin, how do you do it"? You ask him today, "How do you do it"? he will tell you, "Whatever I do prospers". And he's not saying in a boastful way, he really believes that, amen?
So, that is a generation that whatever you do prospers, amen. Even you mistakes prospers, and we are all, you know, you should be salivating. You should be coveting. You should be greedy. You should be... and God loves this kind of greed, for the things of God. Like you see in Psalms 1, you will want this in your life, amen? Not trying to prosper in one area, being a public success, for example, but a private, personal failure. That's not success. But whatever you do prospers. God's way is always to prosper you in every area of your life. Can I have a good amen? I really believe that the Lord is coming back soon. All the signs of the times are pointing to it.
It wasn't too long ago I was in Turkey, and Turkey back then was so open, so, you know, free, and the atmosphere is wonderful. Their food is superb, man. I love Turkish food and I love the places. All the seven churches of the Book of Revelation is all in Turkey, so I was going with Pastor Mark and our families, going around the seven churches and all that. And I asked the guide that was there at that time, I told him, "Will Turkey ever be found together in cahoots with Russia, you know, allied with Russia and coming against Israel"? You know, he says, "That will never happen". "Never happen," he says. Well, if you look at Ezekiel 38, it will happen. There is a war that's coming that's not yet fulfilled.
Now, whether it's after rapture, before rapture, rapture is imminent, which means rapture can happen any time, no one can tell you when this will happen. But it seems like all the forces, the Bible says Russia will come down to attack Israel, and together Russia is a House of Torgarma, in Ezekiel 38. "House of Torgarma" is the ancient word for Turkey, and that's the reason why I asked him that. And it seems like Turkey is turning a direction, and there are things around the world that is now all the players are in place. And Russia is flexing its military muscles in the north of Israel already, okay? So we know the time is the end times. Even Israel coming back as a nation in 1948, it's our generation. That generation is still alive.
Now, I wasn't born yet, but it's that generation, amen. It's still alive today. "And this generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled," Jesus said, when you see the fig tree blossom, when you see Israel becoming a nation again. So, I believe that it's the terminal generation. It's the final generation. And I'll talk about this and about the blessing that God has for you and your family during a time such as this. If you look at the stories of the Bible, look at the stories when there was such a terrible moral darkness that has fallen upon the earth. Like Isaiah says, "Darkness will cover the earth". I quoted it just now, "Gross darkness the peoples, but the glory of the Lord will arise upon you". The light of God, okay? The glory of the Lord. "And his glory will be seen upon you".
Light is never so bright as when it is shining in the darkness. The contrast makes it even brighter. So, because of the moral morass, the moral darkness that we see all over all around us, it's like children are born into this world not knowing what is right, you know? What is white becomes black, what is black becomes white. What is evil becomes good, what is good becomes evil. People have no more moral compass. Just do what you think is right, you know, as long as you think it's right.
But there's always the problem of the Bible says, "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes," and yet they ended up killing each other. With all the moral, shall I say, you know, improvement that we think that we have in these last days, we're actually getting more and more into bondage because we have forgotten how God created us. The truly free ones are the ones that Jesus said, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed," amen? Those who are free thinkers are not even free to think what they want to think. They are bound by negativism, depression, cynicism. They are bound by lust, by all kinds of imaginations that they have no control over. When Jesus sets you free, you are truly free.
Now, in the story we have before us, we have the city of Jericho. Joshua is now the leader. He has just crossed the River Jordan and he's in front of Jericho. Now, when he crossed the River Jordan, this was a dream, the longing of the people of Israel. For 40 years they wanted to enter the land and they could not because fast-forward 38 years before that, they were at Kadesh Barnea. They sent 12 spies into the Promised Land to spy out the land and God didn't want them to spy out the land, but because they wanted to, God let them go. But they came back with negative report. Ten of them came back saying, "The walls are so great. The people are too strong, too tall, and we are like grasshoppers in their sight".
Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, came back and said, "No problem, their defense is departed from them". Not a word about the big walls. Not a word about how big they are, the enemies. Just saying their defense is departed from them and the Lord, among the ten spies, only two of them, among the twelve, two of them said, "The Lord is with us". And I love this part and I believe this is the secret of their great faith, Joshua and Caleb. They say that, "Their defense is departed from them and they are bread for us". The first ten says, "We'll be eaten by them". The other two says, "No, we'll eat them up".
How do you see your problems? Do you see your problems as something that stress you out, that depletes you, that makes you, "Oh no, another responsibility. Oh no, another counseling session"? How do you see you problems? Amen, do you see them as something to make you stronger, something that God brings along your way for you to feed on? They are food of the champions, our problems, amen? That's how Caleb and Joshua saw problems. They saw their giants as food. And I love this part, "If the Lord". They told all the people of Israel, "If the Lord delights in us". Actually, the word there "if" is not conditional. It's more like an established condition already. "Since the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into the land". And the people talk about stoning them. People don't like people to be positive, amen.
So anyway, the story happened. Because of that, they wandered in the wilderness and God says, "All those who said they cannot enter the land and they say they will die in the wilderness, they will die in the wilderness". Except for Joshua and Caleb, God says they have a different spirit. God loved it. God loved their spirit. Many years after that, Joshua and Caleb would have a conversation, and good ol' Caleb said, "I am now 85 years old. Forty years ago, Moses sent you and me into the promised land, and here we are". He's 85, and you know what he told Joshua, his old friend? He says, "Joshua, give me this mountain," and that mountain was full of the giants.
There's a part in the Promised Land not yet conquered in Hebron. He says, "Give me this mountain". And the Bible says this 85-year-old man went in with his army and conquered the enemies. He never grew old. He says, "I'm as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me," when he was only 40 years old. He stopped growing old because he started believing God and continued believing God, and faith never grows old, amen? So here Joshua was before the city of Jericho, and this time he learned the lesson of the 12 spies and he decided not to send 12 now, even though 12 represented each of the leaders of the tribes of Israel. He decided to send two because there were two that came back with a good report, right? Like another Joshua and Caleb, he sent two spies. And the two spies went in at night and the Bible tells us that they came and their entry was actually discovered by somebody.
So the soldiers started looking for these two spies and they found refuge in a prostitute's house. The Bible says her house was on the wall, the wall of Jericho. And it is very interesting that they hid themselves in that house, and when the soldiers came to, her name was Rahab, the prostitute. Many times when the Bible describes her, it says, "Rahab the Harlot". Rahab the Harlot. And the Bible tells us she told the soldiers, "Yeah, they came and then they have left somewhere and all that," but they were upstairs. She was hiding them. And she went upstairs, she wasn't a Jew. She was a Gentile, so it's a picture of all of us. During a time of darkness, in the midst of a world like Jericho, amen, with the values of Jericho, what do we do? How do we live our life?
So Rahab, a Gentile, points to us the way. And the Bible tells us she spoke to the men, and this is what she told the men, the two spies. She says, she said to the men, "I know that the Lord, Yahweh, has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of land are faint-hearted because of you". Think about it. Thirty-eight years ago when they sent the 12 spies in, the 12 spies were afraid of the people that were afraid of them. 'Cause by then they had crossed the Red Sea already and the people of Jericho heard about how God dried up the Red Sea for the children of Israel. They were trembling in their boots and they were all the time wondering, "When will Israel come and conquer us"? Amen, yet they never came. Forty years, they never came.
And all the while, now we hear the news that Rahab, a citizen of that city, actually said all the people, all of them, not just a few, all inhabitants, plus the soldiers, from the palace, to the priests, to the pauper inside the city, they were all afraid, all faint-hearted. What if I tell you right now the enemies that you are afraid of is afraid of you? Before you pray for the sick, you are afraid to pray for the sick because you tend to, like, feel like unheard voice in the spirit realm telling you, "If you pray for the sick, I'll put the disease on you".
Hey listen, what if I tell you that disease is trembling because you are coming? It's afraid of you long before you lay hands, amen, not because of who you are, but because of the name that you bear in your lips. You have the power of attorney with you, amen. It's not who you are, it's whose you are. You are bright light shining. You are the light of the world. Jesus says a city on a hill cannot be hidden. And of all things, evil spirits can see that more than anything else. So, evil spirits are afraid of you long before you even come near. We're afraid of those that are afraid of us. And she said this, "For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea," now, this was before Kadesh Barnea, this was when God brought them out, "when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed".
And the Bible says that God gave victory to Israel and she heard about it. And finally Israel has come into their territory because they stood against the way of the Promised Land. The Promised Land is promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and actually the Jerichoites are actually squatters in the land. They have made their city great, strong. Isn't it amazing that in the midst of this darkness, just like we have darkness in the world, God is working on someone, the work of grace. I think more than all the accomplishments of the warriors, and the greatness and the feats of Joshua, and all the conquests, more than any other conquest, I think the fact that grace conquered a prostitute's heart is amazing.
And you know something? That the two spies, after those days of spending time in that city and in the mountain where they hid, finally, when they came back to Joshua, what do spies do? Spies tell you how big are the might of the army, you know, how many weapons they have, how many chariots and all that. But instead of talking about all that, the spies actually told Joshua the work of grace in one person's heart, the prostitute. Didn't mention about where the king of Jericho lived. Did not tell him how big his chariot is, you know, brigade was. Didn't talk about all those things a spy would. They talk about God's grace. They even quoted the words that Rahab quoted, "And all the land is afraid of us". They believed the testimony of Rahab. They saw the work of grace in her heart.
And you know something else? The fact that she lived on a wall. The Bible says her house was on the wall. I've seen an old picture, sepia photograph probably take in the late 1800s and all that, of the wall of Jericho, because the wall of Jericho collapsed, by the way. When Joshua shouted with his men, it collapsed. But there's one part that's standing and there's a window there, which is believed to be the house of Rahab. I've seen a photo of that in Jericho. And when Joshua finally decided to go in, this is what happened. You need to understand that there is something powerful called covenant.
Now, God made a covenant with all of us through his Son. If God made a covenant with you directly, then you are liable. If you ever break it, all right, you ever break the covenant in any shape, form, or fashion, and we are most prone to breaking it before the day is over, right, because we are the weak link in this agreement, in this covenant. No, God did not cut a covenant with us. God cut a covenant with another man, the perfect man, the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, his Son. Although divine, he lived as a man anointed by the Holy Spirit. And he cut a covenant with this man and you and I are the beneficiaries.
So, the covenant today, the New Covenant, is cut between two immutable force, unchangeable, God and Jesus. God as divine, Jesus as man, and we are all beneficiaries of what Jesus did in cutting the covenant. That's why Jesus had to die on the cross because for all our sins, he became liable. He became responsible. So, he died on the cross for our sins, so that the blessings of the covenant will keep on keeping on in your life, in the lives of your families, amen. We have a foolproof, fail-proof covenant, eternal covenant that's founded upon the blood of Jesus Christ.
And look at the heart of this woman, Rahab. She says this, drop down, "And as soon as we heard this things, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath". You can tell that she became a convert. She became a believer. She says that, "Your God, he's the true God of heaven above and earth beneath. She put her trust in God, amen? All right, now verse 12. "Now then, please swear to me by the Lord," now she's asking them, "since I have shown you kindness". The word "kindness" here is hesed, which is grace in Hebrew, "that you also will show kindness, hesed, to my father's house. I've shown you grace, she said, now show me grace".
Think about it. Jericho represents the most wicked city at that time. Even in antiquity, it's known as a very wicked city. It's a terrible city, a stronghold, walls as thick. You know, during those times and all that, they have walls so think they have chariot races on it. You watch that animated movie "Prince of Egypt," you see the races on the walls, the chariot races on the wall, remember that? That's how their walls were built huge thick, very thick, from one end of this room to the other. And that's the most wicked city at that time. And in the most wicked city, the strongest part of the city is what? Always a wall, the wall of the city. If the wall stands, the city stands. If the wall breaks, the city breaks, breaks down.
So, the wall is known as what? And the wall, her house was built on the strongest part of the most wicked city. Think about it, where sin is at its worse and its strongest, grace triumph, that's why we have hope. We look at our, this young generation. "I don't lose, I know that, you know, I see all the darkness, and the degradation and all that, and I see the corruption, the moral corruption, and I just tell myself God has provided him a king. God will always provide, amen". We don't see it, amen, but it's there, it's there. And we don't see what's happening, but now we're about to see it. God is in the very place where sin seems to reign, grace superabounds and reigns. And then she said this, "spare".
By the way, she says, "Give me a true token". I'm gonna say this real quick. If you get it you get it, if you don't get it, nevermind, all right, because it's based on a previous teaching of how Jesus is aleph tav, Jesus introduced himself, "I am the Alpha and Omega," Greek for a and z, zed. All right, I'm A and zed. I'm the first and the last. In the Hebrew, "I'm aleph and tav. Do you know the word "give me a true token" is actually the word "ought," which is based on aleph tav with a vav in the center. Let me show you a picture of it. It's aleph tav with a vav. Reading from right to left, every letter of the Hebrew alphabet is also a picture. Aleph is a picture of the sacrificial ox, picture of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice. Vav is a nail. Kaf is the cross. The sacrifice is nailed to the cross.
She's actually telling them, "Give me a true sign," and the sign is the cross. You know how I know your family will be blessed? Because of the cross. The cross is, is an established fact in divine history, amen? As far as God is concerned because the cross, you'll be blessed. "But I'm not perfect". You'll be blessed because of the cross. "But pastor, I'm still not there altogether". You'll be free. You'll be, you'll see the goodness of God in the land of the living because of the cross. Your whole family will be saved because of the cross. God told Noah, "Noah," God's heart is always for the entire family to be saved. God told Noah, "Noah, come into the ark, you and your house. It's not just you, you and your house. I love it.
You know, when he talk about coming to the ark, God doesn't use the word "go," the word "come," come into the ark. That means God is the, listen, sorry. God says go, when God says go, it's always he's behind. When he says, come, he's always in front. Okay, got it? God says come into the ark, which means what? "The ark is safe, I've been in it. So come". That's what a leader does, he takes a step ahead. He turn around and says, "Guys, follow me, this is a better path to take". So, they come in. After the flood's all receded and all that when they rested at Mount Ararat, God actually said to them, "Go out of the ark". He's the last one out, amen? Come means to invite you to himself.
Now, if you look at the cross of Jesus Christ, it talks about the entire family being saved. God's heart is not just for you to be saved. Probably, you have a husband that's going, that's astray right now, wayward, you know, thinking, "Well, pastor, he received Christ but now he's just going crazy". Because of the cross, God will turn things around. If you don't give up, if don't give up. "I have a son, a teenager, he used to love Jesus. You know, he would sing me Christmas, Christmas songs, and he would just love, you know, he loved going to church, loving going to, we call it Rock Kids, Sunday school and all that but now his heart has changed. He's gone on with bad friends and all that, bad company. Pastor, what should I do"?
I got a message for you, God's message, you and your house. Are you listening? And I love the way in the Book of Exodus when God first introduced the Passover, God says, at midnight, midnight is the darkest time, one of the darkest time is midnight. God said at midnight, the destroyer, I'll go through the land, the destroyer. And God says, "When I see the blood on your door, I'll pass over you". Show them that verse. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you". Say, "pass over". See, God doesn't see your good works and then pass over you. "When I see the blood". Blood always represents the life of the Leviticus 17 says, "The life of the flesh is in the blood".
The doctors to examine what kind of condition you are suffering from or whatever disease you have, you go for a blood test. The blood work will tell the doctor what disease you're suffering from. Your blood will speak about your life. So, God, long time ago, God said the life of the flesh is in the blood, Leviticus 17. And here God says, "When I see the blood, I'll pass over you". Not only that God says, "And the plague, the disease, shall not be on you to destroy you". The plague will not be on you to destroy you. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
Why is the cross such a powerful thing? Because at the cross, Jesus shed his blood. God says, "When I see the blood," even though there's an innocent lamb, the guilty parties, there are people guilty of death, judgment of death in the house. But God says, "When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I won't even allow the disease to come in to destroy you". Because of what? The blood. Who sees the blood? Is it for the world to see the blood? No. Is it for us to see the blood? Is the blood put inside the house? No. Is it for me to estimate the blood? No. It's for God to see the blood. When I see the blood, I just need to put faith that God sees the blood. And what blood, what better blood than the blood of Jesus.
First thing we need to know about blood is that there's a voice in the blood. Based on the law of first mention of Bible interpretation, the first time blood is mentioned was Cain murdering his brother, killing his brother Abel. When Abel died, God said to Cain, "What is this that you have done? "The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground". So, the first mention of blood in the Bible tells us, blood has a voice. Even today DNA, forensic science tells you, it can actually indict a murderer that's long gone, maybe another country, just by your blood, amen? Blood has a voice.
And then Hebrews 12, verse 24, hallelujah, I love this verse. The blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Abel. Obviously, the blood of Abel cries out from the ground. Even though Abel is dead, his blood is not. The blood cries out, "Vengeance, vengeance on the perpetrator, vengeance, vengeance, the blood of Jesus speaks better things". What does the blood of Jesus speak of? Forgiveness, forgiveness on all the perpetrators, forgiveness on all those who are behind his death. And only that, forgiveness on all who have sinned against my Father. Not just forgiveness, protection, protection, protection, is in the blood of Jesus. Today, it seems like blood is no more mentioned, the blood of Jesus no more emphasized the way it should. I learned this many, many years ago that there's protection. When I see the blood God says, "I will not allow the plague to come in". "I will not allow the destroyer to come in," in another verse. "And I will not allow the plague to destroy you".
I learned this when I was 18 years old. I learned about the blood of Jesus, but I saw firsthand what happened. When I was 18 years old in 1981, now y'all know my age, I was waiting to go to National Service, and I decided to go work, you know? Just finished my A levels, waiting for my results. So, I got a job as a relief teacher near my house in Clementi in a new school, at the time was new. Okay, Pei Tong Primary School. And I was a relief teacher, and I was in charge of this primary four class. So, they were all ten years old, right? And what happened was that I love teaching and I love children, so I fell in love with my kids.
And there was one particular boy, you know, he came from a poor family. I didn't know that because every time recess time, you know, I would be doing my work in the class, and I will see him, he's left in the room. You know, so I said, "Aren't you gonna eat"? "No, no, I'm not hungry". And sometimes he will have a little candy or whatever, he will eat alone. I say, "Are you sure you're not hungry"? "No, no, of course, I suspected something that he's not able to afford or whatever. I gave him some money and from then on, you know, I always gave him money to go eat. He loved me. When the time came for me, you know, my stint was over, the new teacher had come, the more permanent one. And I had to leave.
I remember they bent the door. They held hands like that, and they refused to let me go. And hit right in the center, middle of the one in charge of it was the boy that I gave money to, to help him with daily, you know, I just love him. And they say that, "No, you cannot leave us. You cannot leave us". They didn't understand. End up they fell in love with me, and I love them. But there was this particular boy, I remember him well, but there was another girl, a very cute girl, she has big eyes, you know, those eyes that make your heart melt. She's very, very sweet. And she will sit behind and she's talkative. She talks all the time.
So, and I remember one day she was absent. She was absent. And during my prayer time at that time, now I just got delivered from an oppressed mind. I went through a depression, nearly killed myself and all that kind of thing. Y'all know my testimony's in my book, "Destined To Reign". I believe I committed the unpardonable sin. I just came out. That was like during 14, 15 years old. I was involved in the occult, in New Age and all that, and God delivered me. Praise God. And now I'm 18, but I'm still coming out. I wasn't fully into the gospel of grace, but I was coming out of it, you know? And I was praying every day. In those days I believed in prayer kneeling down. Even though I'm uncomfortable and all that, I will never change my position. I'm kneeling down. That I do every afternoon. My work as a teacher was only in the morning. When I come back after my lunch, I would just spend time praying.
And this time when I prayed, I don't know why, students will always miss their classes, right? I mean, every other day, there's some absent student, right? But this particular girl was absent and all of a sudden, she came up to me while I was praying. Her face kept on coming to me. So, I prayed and this is how I prayed. Time, I still remember until today. I pray for the blood of Jesus to cover her. Every time she came I'd say, "Father, cover her with the blood of Jesus, cover her with the blood of Jesus".
I knew enough about the blood of Jesus that it provides protection. Of course, now I know why it provides protection, amen, because blood means Jesus's blood has remitted all your sins. Therefore, you are now entitled to God's protection, all of God's blessings 'cause the blood of Jesus, the type of the blood, blood-bought inheritance. So, I plead the blood over her, and I plead the blood again and again. In fact, she comes up, I plead the blood of Jesus. That was in the afternoon. Next day, I went back to work and she wasn't they also. She was absent. And then it think it was the day after I saw her back in class and I said, "What happened to you"? She looked at me and this was her English. I'll never forget that, all right? I wasn't long enough to improve their English so, or maybe they weren't long enough to get poorest with my English. But she says, I said, "What happened to you"? "Give people catch". I said, what does that mean? "Give people catch," she said.
So anyway, then I think it was later on in the morning, there was some commotion outside. The police came to my class, you know? And the parents were there, they want to interview her. So, she went out there and realized one of the teachers was telling me, I think Prince was telling me that she was actually involved in the Toa Payoh murders, you know what I'm talking about? Adrian Lim, the ritual killing of two children. In fact, there was one girl who he killed her, he sexually assaulted her. He had a wife with him and his, his, accomplices was a wife, and not another wife, actually a mistress. And they went through all this satanic ritual and doing all kinds of chanting and all kinds of, you know, ritual. Anyway, when I realized that she was caught by Adrian Lim, this very Adrian Lim. It was on the day that she was absent. And in that same afternoon, I prayed for her.
So, I asked her, I say that, "Why did you follow them"? And her house was in Clementi. She was playing the void deck she said. I said, "But why do you follow them"? She said, "This lady came to me and she talked to me, I smell something in her mouth," she said, "and after I smelled, I just followed her". All right, satanic, obviously. So, people are just, you know, he's just a guy who is mentally unstable and in psychiatric problem. But yeah, not every psychiatric problem is demonic, but this one surely is. And she said she followed him, she followed the lady. Adrian Lim wasn't there. She followed the lady, the lady kidnapped her.
And I said, "What happened"? That afternoon, in the afternoon they were doing something, they were praying, they were praying all kinds of smell and, she said all kinds of sound in the, you know, they were praying, she said. "And I was behind, and they put me down there. They said they were praying to their god. Then the man turned around and looked at me, and all of a sudden he looked at me and shouted, 'The gods don't want you! The gods don't want you!' So after that, they released me like that, lor," you know? But she, thank God she was delivered completely free, not injured at all.
If ever you read that story, and you find that that one girl that was released, that was my student from Pei Tong Primary School. She's probably a mother now. I still know her name but I won't be saying it in public, okay? And by the way, someone who knows a leader in our church knows her or know someone who knows who told me about it, that she still remembers the story. Well, anyway, that kind of thing is a milestone in someone's, a child's life. You never forget, right? They were captured, by the way, all right, and they were hanged. They were sent to the gallows. But here I began to encounter, my goodness.
By the way, she told me that afternoon, that afternoon I was praying that the blood of Jesus covers her. So, I'll tell you right now, whether you're praying for someone who is a believer or not a believer, why is it that when you cover someone in the blood of Jesus, even if the person's not a believer or the family is not, why is it such power? Because the blood speaks to the enemy. The plague shall not be on you to destroy you, amen? Can I have a good amen?
When Jessica was born, I think she was about four, four or five years old. At that time, we moved somewhat during that time, quite a few times and one of the places we stayed, we rented a place, it was out there near the forest and all that. It was a simple house, but we are grateful to have it. And, you know, we lived down there for a while in between the place that we would be getting. So, Jessica was about four years old at that time, so she has a room to herself. And I remember one day when I went to a room, I heard some buzzing, like flies, you know? So, I thought it just flies outside. Went back in another time, it was buzzing. Then I realized there were flies, not flies, there were bees trying to get into her room.
And another time when the door was slightly ajar, all right, the bees came in. And she was, at that time, in school. And I began to realize she was in kindergarten at that time. And I realized all of a sudden, oh, my goodness, you know, it's an infestation. I don't know how, you know? And we got the people to come to, you know, the pest control and all that, but still the buzzing went on. We do not know where it came from, probably the roof somewhere. But I remember this thing that I did for this girl pleading the blood of Jesus. So, I went to her, her window where most of the sound came from. I literally did this, I took the oil, but I also said this, "I cover this place with the blood of Jesus," and I drew a line. I drew a line said, cover this place with the blood of Jesus.
Now that's like when I see the blood, the blood shall be a sign on the houses, right? "When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I won't allow the destroyer to come in". In another place he says that, okay? So, I plead the blood of Jesus over her room, and I just went on doing my business. The next day I heard her screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Mommy, Mommy," you know? So, we rush up there, see what happened, and she was pointing to us. She didn't know what I did. Even Wendy didn't know what I did. I did it on my own. She pointed to the, to the balcony area where I drew the line and literally, people, God as my witness, one after another were bees, dead bees. It's is almost like a line, they cannot cross the bloodline, literally cannot cross the bloodline. There's something about the blood of Jesus that, number one, we know it remits our sins. But number two, because of the blood, when I see the blood, I will not allow the plague to destroy you.
And there's a plague that's in the world today. There's a plague in the world today. Rahab, in the city of Jericho, would suffer the same fate as Jericho in a matter of days. But because she had faith in God, and not only faith in God, her faith was demonstrated like this. Let's go back to the story again. "And spare my father, my mother". She said to them, "Spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death". "Deliver our lives from death". Not only is she interested in being delivered from death, she want her father, sister, mothers, sisters, brothers, all that she have to be saved. What about you? God's heart is for you and your families to be saved. Are you listening?
And even in the book of Acts 16, Paul jumped up after God sent a earthquake to open up the prison doors, and the keeper of the prison was about to kill himself because if all the prisoners escape, all right, he'll be sentenced to death because of it happened on his watch. He was about to kill himself, and Paul shouted, "Stop, we're all here. Do yourself no harm". And he says, "What must I do to be saved"? Paul says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," watch this, "and you shall be saved, and your house". And God's heart is always for the entire house. God told them on the night of Passover, "Take a lamb for the house". Show them again: "A lamb for a household," verse 3, the last part. He said, "A lamb for a household". I love verse 4. He says: "If the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it".
It's always the house is too small for the Lamb. No matter how big the family is, 50 people, yet the house is, it's never the Lamb is too small for the house. It's always the house is too small for the Lamb. What Lamb do you think God is talking about? That the house is always smaller than the Lamb? It's never the Lamb is smaller. God's provision is always greater than the sin. Grace greater than all our sins, hallelujah. So she said this: "Save my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters," drop down. "So the men answered her, 'Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly,'" hesed, "and truly," emet, "with you". Now, why is this important? Because in the Hebrew, the way it is said is, "Hesed ve emet".
Now, this is very important because if you read the New Testament that the believers, the Jewish believers today in Israel, they read from, in John chapter 1 it says: "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ". In the Hebrew, it reads like this: "The law, the Torah was given by Moses, but hesed," grace, "hesed ve," means "and," "hesed ve emet came by Jesus Christ". So, here, we have hesed ve emet, "We will deal with you in grace and truth". "And so she lowered them down," drop down. "She let them down by a rope through the window".
Now, they came to the door. The door faces the city, but she let them down the window because the window is on the outside. You know, the window is actually facing the wall. I mean, it's on the wall, and it's way, what a drop, you know? It's quite a long drop because it's going out of the city. Now, here is a beautiful lesson for us to learn. The New Testament mentions Rahab three times. One in the ancestry of Jesus Christ, Matthew 1. And then we have Rahab as an example of faith in Hebrews 11. And then a picture of faith and works in James. But in Hebrews, it talks about her receiving the spies, that is, through the door. We're all justified by faith.
There's the door. But then the Bible says in James now, justification by works in front of men. Before God, we are never justified by works. But before men, men only judge you by your works. And her works for sin when she let down the spies through the window, not send them back through the door back into the wicked city of Jericho. She led them through the window. The window always speaks of perspective, outlook. When you look out the window, what do you see? You look away from the city. When you look out the window, you look away from, your back is turned to the city. The city, how to live in the world but not of the world. Heaven, heavenly outlook. When she looked out the window, she saw the ark of the covenant. She saw the 12 tribes camped out there. She saw Joshua and all the prophets, and she saw the priests. She saw the glory cloud, the pillar of cloud. She saw God's presence, Shekinah glory. But down here, moral morass. It's terrible darkness. There, such brightness and glory.
And I'm telling you, church, this speaks of the two comings, two advents of our Lord. Number one, when the Lord first came to earth, he came lowly, sitting on a donkey, meek and lowly. He lived as a carpenter, amen, though he was born into the stock of the royal family. His ancestry go all the way to Solomon and David, yet he came humble. That was the First Coming of our Lord. Maybe his very humility caused them not to see the triumphant King. So Israel rejected him, amen. He died for our sins on the cross. By the foreknowledge of God, it was meant for him to die for our sins. So he died. That's the First Coming of our Lord. That's the door. But remember, she hid the spies in her roof when the soldiers came. So, it seems like, in the First Coming of Jesus, it seems like Jesus didn't conquer the earth. He came first to conquer our hearts, and he conquered it by love. He warned us by love, amen?
So, he didn't come to establish his kingdom straight away. It didn't happen in the First Coming. But in the First Coming, you find that, just like the two spies, they were hiding from the people of the world. And there are countries where Christians meet in secret. They don't tell the location of where they meet. There are people who dare not say they are Christians in some countries in the world. It seems like we are still in the world, where, you know, we don't see Christianity in the mainstream. We don't see Jesus's name being proclaimed except in blasphemy. It seems as if the world is triumphing. But, no, this is only the picture of the two spies hiding, but there's another coming.
The spies will come in again. And this time, when they come in, they come in triumphant. No more hiding. They come in with the ark of the covenant. This is Jesus, his presence. They come in with Joshua, whose name in Hebrew means "Jesus". And then they come with trumpet. The trumpet was sound, amen? And when Jesus comes again, this time, he's not gonna come sitting on a donkey. He comes on a white horse, the Bible tells us. And the same head that wore the crown of thorns for our sins, amen, will be wearing a royal diadem crown with many crowns, gold, hallelujah. And across him is written, "King of kings and Lord of lords," written.
And some people who love tattoos and all, they say that "yeah, it was tattooed on his thigh". It doesn't say, "Tattooed on his thigh". It says, "It was written, 'King of kings and Lord of lords.'" That's not a subject I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact he's coming back in glory, in power, and he's coming back in judgment. The First Coming, he came to save. Second Coming, he's coming to establish the rights of God over this whole earth, and God has a right over this whole earth. Number one, he has a right by Creation. Number two, all the lands are his. Number two, he has a right by redemption. Even though man foiled everything that man is supposed to be a steward over, they try to possess what they were supposed to be stewards over, yet God will have his right.
You know, when Jesus came of age, the Bible says, "He went to his synagogue as his custom was in Nazareth," the town that he grew up in, "and he read the Scripture reading of that Shabbat, that Sabbath. He opened up the book, the scroll or the book, and he read in Isaiah 60: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken heart, to proclaim liberty to those who are bound,'" amen. And then he came to the part, "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord". And the Bible says, "Jesus closed the book". "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord," the year of God's free favors.
And then he closed the book. But actually, if you read Isaiah, it's not the end. There is a comma right after, "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord". There is a comma. You know what follows after that? "The day of vengeance of our God". "The preach the acceptable year," by the way, year is longer than day, thank God. "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord," comma, "and the day of vengeance of our God". But when Jesus came, his First Coming is to preach the acceptable year of the Lord". Then he closed the book. Why? Because there is a parentheses of 2,000 years before he returns. And when he returns, it's a day of vengeance.
Where will you and I be? We'll come down with him. By the way, he's not coming down for you, you know? It's not like he comes down halfway, then you go up, you're raptured, then you go down halfway again, you know? What's this yo-yo? Some Christians believe that when Jesus comes, they don't believe in the Rapture. They believe when Jesus comes again, all right, you're going up, your body is transformed, then you go down again. What's this yo-yo? No, the Rapture is not the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many mentions I go and prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again".
The Apostle Paul says, "I say to you by the Word of the Lord, we who are alive and remain shall not proceed those who are asleep, but we'll be transformed in the twinkling of an eye," 1 Corinthians 15. We'll be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. That's the Rapture. The Rapture can happen anytime. It is imminent. Doesn't have to wait for any sing to be fulfilled. It can happen before the day is over, we do not know. We are to live ready. But when it happens, you will never be tired again. You will never look ugly again.
Look at your neighbor and say, "There's hope for you, bro. There's hope for you". Come on, come on, you'll never feel bored again. You'll never feel depressed again. You will never grow old ever, ever, ever. Forever is a long time. You'll never be sick again. You'll be in your new glorified body forever and ever. And then the Bible says seven years of tribulation will happen. That's what the main part of the book of Revelation is all about, and then we'll come back with him in our new bodies. We'll come back. And he'll come back, and his feet will touch down. In the Rapture, his feet doesn't touch down. We are transformed in this sudden disappearance.
And that's why the devil has all these stories out there, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Sudden Disappearance," and all that kinda thing because that was preparing the world when we disappear to say, "Oh, the UFOs got them," you know? When we return, Jesus's feet will touch on the Mount of Olives. It will split, the Bible says. He will come back with a vengeance. See, God is never quick to judge, even though he has to judge because he's the Judge. All good judges, even in Singapore, are judges whose hearts are full of compassion. Only those whose hearts are full of compassion can be a good judge. But sometimes you gotta execute justice, but your heart is not in it. That's God.
If God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, God would bypass Abraham. Why go visit Abraham? God could have just gone to Sodom and destroy it. But God went to visit Abraham to have Abraham intercede. And there is something about this earth, people, that prayer changes things. You have to pray, amen. You know, it's like I have a message where, you know, it's on YouTube, and one of the most watched videos about, why pray? If God is all knowing, why pray? I'm not gonna take time for that, okay? Just know that it's a fallen earth we're living in, amen. So, our connection, the way God influences the earth is to have people who are covenant people praying and God comes in on legal ground, amen.
And now that's what prayer is, actually allowing God because of his covenant with us to come in and that's why I need to pray for that girl. Even though God can rescue the girl directly, all right, it's not God's way. God's way is for me to enforce the covenant, to put the blood of Jesus on her, amen. That speaks protection over her so that the plague will not be there to destroy her. So, we have to pray. Sometimes we get very, you know, what do you call, mundane, and just taking things for granted about our protection.
I remember, every time I bring Justin out, we have one day in the week we bring him out, out, literally out, all day with him, doing what he really loves to do and all that. And he knows the very day. You ask him today, he will tell you the day of the week. So it happened that every time we go out, we'll pray. I'll pray out loud so that he participates. He can say, "Amen," and all that. That particular day, only three weeks ago, I didn't pray. We were all in a hurry. So we arrived at the car park, one of the places that we like to frequent. When I arrived at the car park, I was still in the car park, someone was reversing. There was a lorry reversing, and smashed into my car. Justin was in. My wife was in. Only three of us, and Jessica was in school or somewhere. School, yeah it was in school because school was opening up. She was going back to school, university, and that was three weeks ago, right? Or two weeks ago.
Anyway, I came out. I know I was in the right, but the hassle of having to report that and, you know? It just, and I think to myself, "Wow, I never got into an accident for a long time". Then I Look at Justin, he was like, you know? So I told him, "Hmm, how can I turn this whole thing around"? Then the Lord told me, "You didn't pray. Tell him that". "Justin, did we pray today"? "No, we didn't pray today". By the way, last week we went out again to the same place again so that he would not be traumatized. Before he left, he said, "Abba, abba". "What"? "Pray". And he said, "Pray for protection," all right? So, I began to realize we can't take things for granted.
And let you know, the very next day, my daughter, her first or second day in school, she wanted to make sure that she arrived there on time, so she grabbed a cab. But before she went into the cab, she felt an impression to pray for protection over herself. So she prayed. Just outside the place where we were, you know, there's a junction. And when the cab came to the junction, out came a truck and smashed into the passenger side, right where she was sitting in front in the cab. So the whole thing was smashed in. She came out, nothing wrong. Second day, the day before to us, and then the day after. So I knew something was happening, that it was like a, you know? So, again, now, every day, "The blood of Jesus". And I look at Jessica, I know of incidents where, you know, a car smash on the passenger side, the driver made it, but the passenger don't. She had to leave the cab, and she said that she felt impressed to pray.
There's something about prayer, people, all right? Don't argue, "God wanna do it, God can do it". Yes, and God would love to do it. God wants to do it. He tells us his will in his Word, but get the message, Why Pray? If God is all knowing, why pray? All right, we don't have the leisure to talk about all the different truths that we see in God's Word. That suffice to say, we pray, God will move 'cause he wants to, amen? So, back to this again. "And she let them down because she dwelt on the wall". You see, she lived on the wall. All right, let's skip verse 16 because it's just telling them to stay at the mountain there. "The men said to her, 'We'll be blameless of this oath of yours which you made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home".
In other words, "Bring them into the, when we come in to judge the land, when we come in, all right, make sure your family is all behind the blood. Why? Scarlet rope, scarlet is red. Red rope, hallelujah. And you know what? The word "line," the line of scarlet cord, the word "line" in the Hebrew is the word "tikvah". And the word "tikvah" is not just "rope". It is the word "hope". And that's why Israel's national anthem, ours is Majulah, Theirs is, "Ha tikvah". You can ask any Jewish person. They'll say, "Ha Tikvah". "Ha" is the definite article "the". "Ha tikvah," "the hope". But "tikvah" is also "rope". You can call this, "The rope of hope". And it's red. It is red. Red, the blood of Jesus, hallelujah.
We remember another instance. The night of the Passover I just alluded to just now. I alluded to that when God says, "Put the blood on the doorpost," making the cross. In Egypt, it was the door. Here, it's the window, the red rope, picture of the blood of Jesus. And the men said to her, "When we come into the land, you bind this line. You make sure that we can see it, the red rope," amen. The blood is on her house. How do you get your father, mother, brothers, sisters all saved? Amen, pray the blood covers them. Speak the blood over them, amen, and they will be saved. It's not automatic. They need to believe, yes. They need to come behind the blood, but they will be saved.
So the blood wasn't at the door facing the condemned city. The blood was in the window facing the people of God. It's for God's view. And Joshua is ready. Joshua says to the men, "Are you ready"? You know, they conquered Jericho without firing a shot. On the very day itself, seven times they went around the city on the seventh day, and Joshua shouted, "Shout, for the Lord has given us the city". And the Bible says, and not only that, the next line says, "And spare Rahab," Joshua said, "and her household". So they shouted, and the Bible says, "The walls came down". Today, when you visit Jericho, the walls are fallen, and the walls fell towards the people of God, it was a very high elevation, so making a ramp for them to run up. Amazing, isn't it? It fell not inwards, outwards.
Now, you can say that the scarlet rope helped the people to identify her house. But if the walls fell, her house fall away. The amazing thing, God is involved. The walls fell. One part of the wall that I have seen in a sepia photo, all right, a old photo of Jericho, one part of the wall stood firm. Guess whose? Rahab's wall, Rahab's house stood firm. The rest all fell. Hers stood firm. I'm telling you, when everything else is crumbling, and everything that can be shaken will be shaken, if you build your house on the Word of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, you'll remain unshaken. "A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes you will behold and see the reward of the wicked because you have made the Lord, who is the Most High, even my refuge, the Most High, your habitation. There shall no evil befall you, nor any plague come near your dwelling. He shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways," amen?
And this is what Joshua and his men did. Go to chapter 6 after the conquest. "Joshua spared Rahab, the harlot, her father's household and all that she had. So, she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho". I just want you to see something before I come back to Rahab and be close. When Israel was about to be delivered out of Egypt, one of the last plagues, we all know the last one is the death of the first born, before that was darkness that can be felt. God says, "I'm gonna send darkness that can be felt". It's really speaking about our times. And then before that was the locusts, picture of demon, demon army.
But you know what happened? There are actually four compromises when Pharaoh saw that God was sending the plagues, four compromises that Pharaoh did with Moses. He didn't want to let them go completely, so it's a picture of Satan's compromise with the believer, and one of them is this, I only have time to show you this about family. And this is what Moses said. Pharaoh asked them, "All right, if y'all go, who is going? Moses says, 'We'll go with our young, we'll go with our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks, and our herds. We'll go. We must hold a feast to the Lord.' Then Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, 'The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go. Beware, for evil is ahead of you.'" Then he says, "Not so, not so, not so". He changed his mind. "Go now you who are men"! That means what? Leave your children behind. "And serve the Lord, for this what you desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence".
In other words, one of the compromises is this, you can go and serve the Lord, but leave your children in Egypt. What an anomaly. Parents in Canaan, children in Egypt. Let me tell you this, okay parents, which is more important, your child's inner man, his real person? If I tell you your child is not the cute cherubic face you see, amen? Your child is not the boy that looks at you or the girl that smells at you. Your child, the real child is inside. Call it a soul, a spirit, the real person. I know there's a differentiation between soul and spirit, but just for the sake of inner man, we'll say soul. You're in the real person of your child, the real person's inside. Why do we care more for their intellect, all right, for their studies, for their material well-being, for their health? Their body is not them. When Jesus comes again, even our children will have new bodies because heavenly beauty, that atmosphere, this fallen body cannot take it. We'll have the incorruptible body.
So, why do we care so much about their bodies? When the real person, are you caring for the real person? Are you allowing them to watch anything that comes down the on TV, on their own laptop and all that? Do you care for their souls? Have you prayed for their salvation? They might be 32 years old now, but he's still your child. Maybe he's gone his own way and all that, it's not too late. You can plead the blood of Jesus over him. Don't let go, don't give up. You and your house, there's enough power in that for God to fulfill that in your life, amen? Even if they are, they are lawful captives, I want to use this word real quick in Isaiah 49. "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered"?
There are those who teach like open door, open door. You can't do anything, can't even pray for them when there's an open door. If they open the doors of the devil, no, God says, "Even the lawful captive. Can the lawful captive be delivered"? In other words, your son, he made a decision to follow the devil. All right, he made a decision to rebel against God. He made a decision to leave the presence of God and the people of God. He made a decision to get into this lifestyle. He made a decision to make all the wrong things. Even though he made a, decision even though he's a lawful captive now by the devil, devil says, "He obeyed me. He wants my things. He wants my stuff. I've given him some of this stuff. All right, he's now mine, he's my lawful captive. And a devil hates you, my friend, doesn't love you at all. Only God loves you. You know why he hates you? Because you're made in the image of God and only God loves you.
So, the devil says, "He's not my lawful captive". And right now, there's a teaching in America it says, you know, if someone has opened the door, it's very hard for you to... no, no, my friend, let me tell you this, even a lawful captive can be delivered. Let me read to you, "But thus says the Lord". This is what God has to say. "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, released, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children". Did you hear that? I don't care how old they are, they are your kids. Let Jericho have theirs. As for me and my house, they are behind the blood, amen. They are looking out the window. They can make fun of us, but our back is turned, man. We are in the world. We are still in Jericho, but we're not of Jericho. Compromise. "It's so okay, yeah, you can go all you want for Jesus and other stuff, you know? But your kids, they're so young. What do they know about the Bible? You know, leave them, let them, you know, they don't feel like going to church don't have".
Hey, even your son 20 years old, 25 years old, as long they're under your roof, you are in charge. "But pastor, I don't want them to hate God". They already hate God, why? You don't give them the taste of how wonderful God is. One moment in time when they pray with the other young people, when they attend like Legacy Camp, our church camp, when they join the youth fellowship, varsity group or whatever. And there's a moment in time when the presence of God is there, and they realize. It happened to me when I was a young, young teenager. I was in church, and I was praying and all of a sudden, I just realized my goodness, God his hearing my prayer. I just had the consciousness that prayer is not just going through prayers, God was hearing me! I said, God is hearing me. It changed my life forever. I can't tell you when, how. It's just like, give them the taste.
The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it". And the word, "train up a child in the way he should go," train him in the way, the word direct way, he shouldn't go is mouth, pei. Literally I've not seen that translated very well, you know, but it's the way of the mouth. In other words, give him a taste when they're young, when they're old, they'll not depart from it. See, I don't care. I don't care whether you say, "You know, Pastor Prince, you know, I'm an adult now. You know, I can change my life". And no, no, there's some things you like because of taste. Your mother introduces some food when you were five years old, six years, unto today no matter how born again you are, that part is still not born again. You still love that food. You still go back to the food.
"You know, Pastor, there's no male nor female, we're all new creation". Yes, it's true, but we realize whether we're Indians, or Chinese, or Chindians, a beautiful mixture of both. And doesn't really matter who you are, but you still love the food you grew up on, why? The taste touched your lips when you were young. What if we put spiritual taste in their mouth, make them taste the presence of God, make them taste the anointing of God, make them taste the power of the Holy Spirit, make them taste worship, sweet worship, make them taste the good Word of God. What would happen? They might go astray for a while, they'll never go astray for too long. They look at their friends one day and they realize, "This is life? I love all that to join this? I've had better, had memories of the grapes in Canaan. It's juicier. Hasta la vista, I'm leaving," amen?
God will turn their hearts around. Train up a child. It's literally not just talking training, it's the mouth. Give them a taste. Orthodox Jews, when the babies are born, one of the first things they do is that they touch olive oil, and they touch the lips, the tongue of the child. When the child is four, five years old, they start introducing the child to Torah, studies, Bible studies, all right? They put alphabets, letters of the alphabet in Hebrew, and then they paint it with honey. Then they ask the child to lick it. That's how sweet God's Word is, they tell the child, sweeter than honey taken from the passage, "God's Word is sweeter than honey. The law of the Lord is sweeter than honey, then the honeycomb". Give them a taste, you know, all these things that we talk about.
Let me close with this, was it just mere salvation for Rahab and the family, and all finally they joined the family of Israel? They are Gentiles, right? They have to learn how to worship God's way. They have to learn how to live God's lifestyle, amen, among the people, right? Is it just when God saves you, when God manifests grace to you, is it just to merely cause you to be saved? No friend, this prostitute of Jericho, more than one time when the Bible introduces her, it says Rahab the harlot. She became the great, great grandmother of David the king, and the ancestral mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why her name is mentioned in the, in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.
She, you know, who she married? She married the captain of Judah. Judah is always the first tribe to take the lead. Judah is the first one to go into the River Jordan, or the Red Sea even. Judah is always the first one, and Judah's captain is a man called Nahshon. Nahshon has a son, has a fishy name called Salmon. He's is full of the anointing oil of Salmon. The son of the captain of Judah married Rahab, the prostitute and from the union came Boaz. Boaz is a story of Ruth. Boaz met Ruth. Ruth was a Gentile, maybe that's why he has a soft spot for Gentile, his mother was one. He married Ruth, and Ruth, their union brought Obed, Obed brought Jesse, Jesse brought David the king. And that house in Bethlehem became the house of David handed from generation to David. David handed a house to Kimhahn, son, and that house become known as Kimhahn's inn. Many years after that, the greatest Son of David will come for a place to be born, and there was no room for him in the house of the former Boaz and Ruth, his rightful home in Bethlehem.
I don't know about you, but the stories of the Bible really feeds me, you know? How in Jericho every pleasure like whether it's k-pop or, you know, whether it is the pleasures of the world and all that, the stories... it's okay. I'm not saying it's wrong to get involved but you can be engrossed in it and tangled by it. Do you realize that God writes over everything? Everything has a spring from this world. Do you know what God writes? "Every man that eats, that drinks from this well will thirst again. But he that drinks from this well shall never thirst, but there'll be a fountain in him springing up into everlasting life," amen? I don't care how old your children are, I don't care if your husband or your wife has gone astray, God wants your entire family saved, not only for eternity, but for time. I've given you one weapon, the blood of Jesus, amen.
What about you? Your child, it's not just to educate their brains and take care of their health, make sure they have good food to eat. If not, you're getting skinny, get fatter some more. All right, shove it down their throat. Is this what bringing up children is all about? Do you care for their soul? Have you prayed with them? Have you shared the Word with them? Have you talked to them about what they're watching, what they're learning? Do you care for their inner man? Imagine like the child, the Japanese boy that was lost, if your child is lost in the woods somewhere and then finally after a few days someone says, "Hey, we found him! We found him!? And you run to the place where the man is shouting and you say, "Look, look, look, is this your child"? You say, "No, it's not my child". These are his clothes, yeah, his clothes. Yeah, aren't you glad we found his clothes"? Where's the child? "We don't know, but we found his clothes". It's like saying you care for the outward things, but the real person is lost and you don't even care.
Are you tasting the good Word of God and your children don't even know what they're tasting, they have never tasted it? Are you jealous over them to experience the same things that you experience? And that's why we have given you the best pastors, not only in this country, any country can produce to watch over our youth ministries. Because I know that just a moment in time they taste something, there's no turning back. They have tasted it. They might go astray for a while, they always come back. They have tasted it. Amen, friend? And I pray for you that the blood of Jesus that speaks better things will cover your entire family, your wife, your husband, your children, that you and your household will enjoy the free favors of God. And God might just make you a mother in Israel like he did Rahab whose name became famous all because she believed in the Lord. And all the people said? Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place.
Friend, if you are here and you say in your heart, "You know, Pastor Prince, it's too late. I wish I had heard this earlier". No friend listen, in God's vocabulary, his heavenly vocabulary, there's no such thing as too late. Too late for men, never too late for God. God can do the impossible things that he expressed that we cannot even logic out like, "I'll restore to you the years the locust has eaten". How can anyone restore the years that is lost? Once time is lost, it's lost, but not with God. God can restore the years. God says redeeming the time, buy back the time. God can restore to you the years, the years. And friend, God can just drop a thought. God can frustrate that husband of yours with that new relationship that he has, God can bring him right to the place of emptiness that he sees that person as nothing but a shell, and see you favorably. Don't give up. Don't give up because the verdict, the divine verdict, has been meeted.
Everyone that drinks of the well of this world, whether it's illicit pleasure, whether it is social acceptance, whether it's being addicted to social media, whatever it is, will always thirst again, and thirst again, and thirst again. But the moment their heart turn back to God, they feel a refreshing. God can make them see that. And for parents here who have no, seems like all of a sudden, God has opened your eyes to see the importance of your child's soul, and nothing is more important than your child's soul.
I pray in Jesus's name that's you'll make it a point to pray for your children. Pray for them and pray with them. Share with them a portion of the Word. When you see something beautiful outside, the bird singing, tell them, "See the birds, they don't have to stack up their food and have a refrigerator, huh"? You'd be surprised how much they soak in because your children, they are fresh from heaven. Even for those older children, there's a memory somewhere that has been placed that cannot be eradicated.
So friend, if that is you wherever you are right now under the sound of my voice, before I pray for you together with all the rest, I want to say this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved and your house. If that is you, my friend, you have never made the decision to leave your Jericho and be transferred from darkness into his light, his glorious light, into his heavenly kingdom, it comes with being born again into the kingdom. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to help you do that right now. Pray this prayer from your heart.
Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died for my sins on that cross. His blood was shed, cleansing me from every sin, delivering me from all evil. Thank you, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and you raised him from the dead. He's alive today to be my high priest, to be my shepherd, and I will not lack. In Jesus's name.
Stand to your feet. I want to pray for all of you for your families. Is it okay for you? I plead the blood of Jesus over you today, amen? Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. It's done, the blood of sprinkling, the blood of sprinkling. Bloodshed is not sprinkle. Sprinkle means applied, amen? The bloodshed is put into a bowl but only when the priest comes and with his hyssop sprinkles is it applied. I want to sprinkle the blood of Jesus over your life.
Father, in heaven I thank you for everyone under the sound of my voice. I thank you for every family represented here, Lord. Be it the loved one has gone astray, be it the loved one has never heard the name of Jesus being proclaimed in such a way as to be born again. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus because that person is here today, I pray, Father, in the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus be applied, be sprinkled upon every person under the sound of my voice, upon their loved ones, those who are in the house and outside the house. I plead the blood of Jesus over every one of them. In the name of Jesus and throughout this week, I cover you with the precious blood of Jesus and all that you have. In the name of Jesus, no evil will befall you, and God will see to it that no plague comes in to destroy you, you and yours. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. And run to us, Lord, your hesed wisdom to know how to parent our children, Lord, God's way, in the ways of the kingdom and not in the ways of Jericho. In Jesus's name, and all the people said, amen.