Joseph Prince - Find Answers In Your Darkest Times
I just wanna say that we are in for an exciting year, okay? I really believe it. The attacks that happened just these past few weeks on me and on my family has just been crazy, and that's why... by the way, you still see me here, right? So, we are still in one piece. We thank God for that, but you know that when the enemy levels an attack, all right, against someone, or some church, or some organization, it's probably the devil is afraid of what is coming out of that ministry and that church, amen?
So, I always covet prayer, all right, from all of you, because we are in a warfare. The world can never understand that, all right? The world will say, "Well, it's bad luck," you know? "It's unfortunate". They'll use words like that, but we know we are in a warfare, amen? And neither do we use the word "Good luck". We use the word "Favor of God," "Blessing of God," amen? It's the goodness of God. So, for the good things to happen in our lives, we know that God is the one that is blessing us, making the crooked places straight, opening doors for us, and giving us favor in the situations, or favor with people, and favor in the most tight places and the most difficult places of our lives, amen? Don't use words like "lucky," amen? "I was lucky". "Oh, bad luck".
You know, the world uses that. So, I wanna challenge you also that as the world gets more and more PC, and politically correct, don't allow it to come in into the church, into your life as a Christian, as a believer, because there are some things that's not right, amen? Don't sign off to, you know, or express yourself in "OMG", amen? If you wanna talk about God, let's talk about God, amen? And don't follow the trend of the world and don't use God's name in vain, amen? Don't allow the world to conform you. Why must you jump when they say jump? Why must they dictate to you, all right, "This is our values. This is our standard now, okay? Like it or not, okay, you gotta come up to our standard"? Who says so? God is the one who will far outlast them.
Long after social media is over, God is still standing, amen? I mean, people don't believe God's Word. They cannot believe that God who gave us his Word can also interpret it for us, but they say that no, you know? You can read my book, 'kay? My book is very easy to understand. So, they believe that they are erroneous books because every man has error, amen. It's better than God's Word? And they sit in judgment of the Bible. Wrong, wrong, wrong, totally wrong. The Bible sits in judgment of you. Your thoughts and your hearts are exposed by the Word of God. The Word of God is living and powerful. And Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Words will never pass away".
That famous writer, philosopher, Voltaire, French writer called Voltaire, he said this. He said that, "Long after I'm dead, the Bible will be no more". Long after his dead, his house was used as a Bible manufacturing press, amen, Bible printing press, amen. His very house. That's why Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Words will never pass away," amen? Many, many have come and gone who have come against the Bible. They're gone, amen. They're either bones, or ashes, or dust, amen. What God says is still true. God says the soul that sins shall die. Look around you, people die, amen? No one can escape death. With all our intellect, with all our brilliance, with all our advancement, we cannot stop death, why? Because that sentence came in when Adam sinned, amen?
God never meant for man to sin. God never wanted man to sin, because God knew you cannot have it both ways. With sin comes death on its heels. So God says, "Don't sin, because sin brings forth death," amen. As a result of Adam's sin. But praise be to God, the good news is the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, life, life, life, eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal life is not just when you die, you go to heaven. No, no, no, eternal life starts now. The moment you receive, you put your trust in Jesus Christ, you are born again, that life that is in you now is eternal life. It's a quality of life. It's not just live long, or else those who are in Hades, those who are in hell, are also living long, all right, if that's the definition. No, it's the quality of life. It is the life by which God lives by.
In Greek it's called "aionios zoe," all right? Zoe, like the name Zoe, all right? It comes from life. "Aionios" means eternal, zoe life. And all of you who are born again, and I have everyone in the house that has aionios zoe, shout, "Hallelujah". Shout, "Praise God". Amen, amen, give Jesus the praise, amen? Aren't you glad you are born again? Aren't you glad you are saved? So, while people are trying to change the definitions, for everything they are changing the definition. Everything is being redefined, all right? Stay true to the Word of God. What God's Word says is is, amen. It has outlast all those whose bodies are now dust in the grave. It has outlast all its critics. It is still the number one best-selling book in the world. And God has seen to it that it's preserved, amen. There are those who say, "Well, how do you know that the Bible was written so many thousand years ago, it is still the same, and man has not..."
Well, interesting you mention that. At the turn of around 1940s, a young Bedouin boy was looking for his lost sheep over in the Dead Sea area, and then he thought he heard his sheep got lost in some caves. There are many caves. Many of you have been to Israel. In the Dead Sea area, there are a lot of caves. So, he saw a cave and then he start throwing stones into it, and then he thought he heard, "Clank"! Now, that's not a sound of a goat or a sheep being hit by a stone. So, he thought he found treasure, all right, as any young shepherd boy would think, and he started climbing. And many of you have seen that particular area in the Qumran area, and he would climb into that cave only to find, all right, the earthen vessels filled with scrolls and scrolls.
And cut a long story short, you all know it as the Dead Sea Scrolls today. It's been proven. It is carbon dated and all that right to the time of 2,000 years ago when the Essenes who lived in the Qumran caves area, they're a religious people, they copied the book of Isaiah. And guess what? The Isaiah you have in your hand is exactly word for word with this 2,000-year-old copy. Word for word. That's how accurate it is. God has kept his Word. You know, for them, if one letter is in error for the copier, the rabbinical tradition is that you gotta wash your hands, okay, before you write the name of the Lord, Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei, Jehovah, Yahweh. And then if there's an error, the entire script, it doesn't matter how much they have done, the entire script is considered null and void. And they cannot just burn it or get rid of it. They have to roll it like a human being and put it in the ground, bury it. Are you listening?
Okay, just one error. Just one error. So, every letter is in place. Every word is in place. And Isaiah 53 says, "Surely," the same scroll of Isaiah says, "Surely Jesus has borne our diseases and carried our pains. We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement, the punishment with a view to our well-being fell upon him, and with his stripes we are healed". All that is from Isaiah. Isaiah talks about the day when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, amen. Isaiah is a beautiful book. It's a very beautiful book. There are 66 chapters in Isaiah. How many books of the Bible do we have? Sixty-six, amen. How many Old Testament books do you have? Thirty-nine, very good. And how many New Testament books you have? Minus 66. You have 27, very good.
Do you know that if you read Isaiah, because of this they say that there are two authors. If you read Isaiah chapter 1 all the way to chapter 39, each chapter represent a book from the Old Testament because there are 39 books, right? Sixty-six chapters of Isaiah. Thirty-nine chapters represent the 39 books of the Old Testament. When you come to 39, it's like judgment, judgment, a lot of judgment, right? When you come to Isaiah 40, it's like the book of Matthew in the New Testament. You know what's the first word of Isaiah 40? "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people". The tone changes, amen? And for 27 chapters... by the way, Isaiah 53 is after Isaiah 40. It talks about Jesus's sufferings. So, it's like a mini Bible. It's a mini Bible. And because of this, people say there are two authors. There are no two authors. There's only one author. Jesus himself said, when he quotes Isaiah from this portion or this portion, it's always, "Isaiah says," amen? Praise the Lord.
I just want you to know that the Bible that you have in your hands is precious. There was a man who was diagnosed with some sort of malignant growth tumor on his jaw, jaw bone. So, what happened was that he was very discouraged. He was a nominal Christian. I don't even think that whether he's really born again. I'm not too sure. It sounds like he has some background, but not saved. You all understand that term? And then he went... no, what happened after the diagnosis was that he went back home very discouraged and depressed, and he asked his wife for the Bible. He never asked for the Bible, so the wife found the Bible somewhere, dusted it off, and passed it to him. He started reading the Bible and he said this. Later on, he went to a conference and he shared with a prominent man there, all right, what happened to him. He shared that as he was reading, something happened to him. He felt a joy, not immediately. He just read the stories.
Now, I probably think that he doesn't even know where to start. Maybe he's reading Samson and Delilah. Maybe he's reading Ruth. Maybe he's reading David and Goliath. But as he was reading, the whole story itself, amen, and it's politically correct, you know, the Bible. It tells you as it is. It is such a wonderful thing to meet Jesus and he's real. Let's get real, people, amen? Amen. God's perspective is always reality, true reality. And as he read it, he felt a warmth in his heart. He felt joy coming forth. And he said that the more he felt that, the more he read. And every day, he'll keep on reading, reading, reading, reading. He doesn't know how, he was not exposed to healing and all that, the teachings on healing and all that, but he shared with this prominent pastor, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who was in a conference, he shared with him he didn't understand what happened to him. Maybe he can explain to him.
He said that, "This is what happened to me. I'm a very scientific person. I'm a...", you know, he's well-known in his business, in the industry. He says that, "How do you explain this? I just kept on reading my Bible. One day, I felt such joy and all that. Went back to the doctor and the doctor cannot find the malignant tumor". The tumor is gone, amen, just by reading the Bible. Well, my Bible says in Proverbs 4, verse 22, "Attend to my words," for why? "They are life to those that find them, and health," in the Hebrew is marpe, health is medicine, "health, medicine to all their flesh".
God's Word is medicine to all your flesh. So, even the daily devo, just a little bite-size even you read get exposed to God's Word. You know, many of you, you wake up, one of the first things you do, you go to your Facebook. You just look at all the news and you wonder why in the day, during the day, you've got this symptom, that symptom. It might be related to stress, all right, psychosoma. The doctors called it psychosomatic illness. Your mind affects your body, where you're exposed to all this stressful news, and you know, this person says this, you know? Let me tell you this, okay. News is like that. For every good thing someone says, there's some bad thing someone will say. You understand or not?
Let me save you. You watch a documentary, they'll tell you, "Yes, this is this, but yes, that's that". You know, I was so fed up when I watched one documentary explaining the miracles of Exodus, saying that why there was a gas exposed, and the firstborn always sleep on top, so the firstborn didn't get the gas. Sorry, the firstborn sleeps below, so the second-born doesn't get the gas, 'cause the rest all got the gas. Many of you sleep with gas every day, I know, and you still survive. Can you imagine, the gas killed all the firstborn. All right, the interesting thing is that in the house of the Jewish people, the Hebrews, none of the firstborn died.
And then they say that, "Oh, we know that the place where they crossed the Red Sea, the place where they crossed the Red Sea is only a few feet only. You know, you can just wade through, all right. I mean, we understand the poetic language, God opened the sea, they went through it, and all that, and they just wade through". By the way, this was shared in a university by people professing themselves to be wise become fools. There a lot of educated idiots, you know? And I'm not referring to all professors. I'm not referring to all, so don't get personal. There are many great ones, and you are one of them, right? Amen, so I'm referring to one of those who come against the Word of God, you know?
And they say that, "Oh, where they went through, it's just a few feet". Then one student put up his hand, "Can I say something"? They said, "Yes, you may". That's more amazing, because the Bible says that God drowned the entire army of Pharaoh in that sea in a few feet of water. Out of the mouth of babes. Don't be intimidated by people just because, you know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, I'm telling you, you've got the wisdom of God. You've got the favor of God. The Bible says, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, God has ordained strength," amen?
Okay, I'm ready for the Word. All right, Acts 20, come on, let's go for it. "But we sailed," Paul and Luke, in the book of Acts, "We sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days". Troas is ancient Greek, the city of Troy. You know Helen of Troy? All right, this is Troas of ancient Greek. "Now on the first day of the week," that is a Sunday. First day of the week is a Sunday, or else in the book of Acts, they would write "Sabbath," amen? They are well aware. They write "Sabbath", in fact, you can find "Sabbath" as well in the book of Acts. But when it says first day of the week, that's a Sunday. Jesus rose on a Sunday.
All right, in the old economy of things, in the Old Testament, in creation, God worked and then he rested, amen? He didn't rest because he was tired. The God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. He does not get tired, all right? But he rests to demonstrate to all of us that rest is something holy. In fact, the very first thing that God says is holy, he sanctified, he made holy the Sabbath, it's rest. In fact, never despise rest. Today when you rest, when Moses rested, God says to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. God opened up the Red Sea for them. When you rest, God works, amen?
So, I'm not just referring to physical rest that you need. I believe you need physical rest at least once out of seven, amen, God's wisdom. But the old economy of things, you work and then you rest. But in God's economy, Jesus rose after Sabbath. For the Jewish people, Sabbath is actually Saturday, but on the next day Jesus rose from the dead, amen. So, there is a new rest where you enter into rest, then you can work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You start with rest. Whereas in the old creation, you work, then you rest, but God's way is you enter into rest and then you work. And that's why the Bible starts by saying, "We are complete in Christ. Now walk you in him".
Our walk, like the princely walk, the heavenly walk, the walk that tells you, "I feel heaven about that woman," you know, when she walks into a room. That lady just brings the mean of heaven, the mean of royalty, something about her, all right? That walk is because of who she is. What you are precedes what you do, but religion is trying to say you do, you do and then you will be, amen. Well, that Christian religion that try to say, "You do", Christendom is saying, "You do, then you be," but I'm here to tell you that anyone teaches that is not Christianity. Christianity starts with it's all done. I said it's all done, amen. It is all done.
Now you walk out of that completeness. You walk out that completeness. You walk out the fact that you are the righteousness of God in Christ already. Can I have a good amen? You must have this assurance, amen? It's finished. IT's done, hallelujah. And the Bible says that on the first day of the week, because Jesus rose from... on the Sunday, from then on they celebrated Sunday. Of course they are being persecuted because Shabbat is their custom. They grew up in their family Shabbat on Saturday is a rest day. In fact, for a time they still observe both, but actually Sabbath is a picture of the rest of the old creation, if you are taking down notes, all right?
Sunday, the Lord's day, the first day of the week, is the rest of redemption. And that's why creation has fallen. When man sinned, man disrupted God's rest. God started working again for man's redemption. And the only rest that God has right now is the rest in his Son and what his Son has accomplished at the cross, amen. All of God's claims have been fully met. All his holiness, all his requirements from all of us, his righteous, divine claims on all of us, even the claims of the law, have all been fully met by the blood of Jesus. And God is not just satisfied, God is infinitely pleased with what Jesus has done, amen. Praise the Lord.
You gotta know who is the one that did the work. The quality of the work is always who is the one doing it, amen? Even the quality of things that they possess. You know, celebrities, for example, some people, they like BTS, you know? Some girls like BTS, right? No, this first service, right, all the mature and the golden generation, the Merdeka Generation, so if I try this in the third service and fourth service, it'll be different, okay? So let's say BTS, and Jungkook sip a straw and he left the straw in the restaurant. See how many go for the straw. They will keep it, amen? In their BTS special book. They'll keep it, the straw that Jungkook, you know or not? He might even kiss the straw.
Now, honestly, the straws are dime a dozen. You go to a hawker center you'll find straws. Nobody cares, amen? Nobody even picks extra straw from the supply at a stall. But why? Who took it? Who did it, amen? Jesus did it. And if Jesus did it, it is perfect. Jesus bore your diseases and that's what the tone is there: "Himself took. Surely, he bore". The emphasis is on him, the one bearing it. Can I have a good "amen"? "So upon the first day of the week," on a Sunday, "when the disciples came together to break bread".
Stop. In the early church they came together to break bread. Now, who was there? Paul. The very next word: "Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight". Shall we fulfill this today? Shall we? I'm in good company. I'm with Paul, amen? You can blame Paul for this. Now, so on Sunday, Paul states, verse 6 again. The reason I showed you verse 6 is because they came to Troy. This whole thing happened at Troy, "where we stayed seven days".
I'm sure Paul had Communion here and there from house to house. But Paul waited for a Sunday where all the believers from nearby places, even from outreaching, outlying cities would come to this particular place. It's a church. Can you see it? And Paul waited another seven days. Paul was actually in a hurry. In fact, he bypassed Ephesians, the city... sorry, Ephesians. Ephesus, the city of Ephesus. He bypassed it. He was in a hurry to go to Jerusalem but he stopped here and waited seven days to meet the believers to break bread.
So think about the early church. They saw the importance of Communion. They saw the importance of taking it together. Yes, we can take it at home as well. They broke bread from house to house but there's something about taking it together. The church has forgotten this. When the church gets together, it is to hear preaching. When the church gets together, it is to worship, they'll say. When the church together, they say it's for every believer to exercise their gifts. All this is fine and good and should be part of the church, but the number one reason that the early church met is not even to hear the preaching because they had the best: Paul. They had the best preacher in town. But they didn't say they came together to hear Paul. They came together to break bread. Even though Paul was there for a while. Paul was passing by.
You thought that, "Let's get together to hear Paul," but no, they came together to break bread. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11 where he talks about the Communion, it says here, Paul was rebuking them here. Paul says, "When you come together, guys, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk". So they have forgotten the purpose of the Lord's Supper. They have turned it into a drinking session. So he's rebuking them. He says, "Guys, when you come together, it is not to eat. When you come together, what? In one place, that's a church. It is not to eat the Lord's Supper. You're not coming together to eat the Lord's Supper". But that's exactly what many people are doing.
So do you understand why we take the Lord's Supper? Now, I am not saying that in every way we are like the New Testament church but I'm just saying that that's what they did. In fact, he was appalled when they didn't do it. "You guys, you're not coming together to partake of the Lord's Supper". Okay, go back to Acts 20. So here we see, the first day of the week they came together to break bread. Don't forget the purpose: to break bread. "Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight".
Now, obviously, if you have Paul there you wanna hear every mystery that has been unveiled, amen? When God took Paul to the third heaven, Paul says he heard things that he cannot express. And Paul was the one that God gave three-fourths of the revelation, amen, of the church, of our place in Christ. The phrase, "In Christ, in him, through him," what we have, all the blessings that we have right now, Paul has a revelation of it like none other. Can I have a good "amen"?
And today, people are saying, "Well, Pastor Prince is saying we just follow Paul's letters". I did not say that. Don't put words in my mouth. You cannot because you don't have enough words to put in my mouth. You see how big this mouth is? So what I said is this. All the Bible is inspired, okay? All the Bible is breathed by God. But a statement from the snake to Adam and Eve: "You will not die," is truly written but it is not the truth. It's not like, "The whole Bible, A to Z, is the truth that we all need".
C'mon, the truth that sets us free, where is it found? Okay, but every word is inspired, God-breathed. It is God-breathed. It's a very big word in the Greek: God-breathed every word but even the words of the devil is recorded accurately. But is not the truth, okay? So we have dispensations. God dealing with people based on their dispensation. We have the dispensation of the law that lasted for 1500 years. And then we came to Jesus. When Jesus was here, he was preaching the kingdom of God. Wasn't the church. The church was still a mystery. Jesus never mentioned the church because it was still a mystery, not ready to be revealed until Jesus died and is risen and is glorified at the Father's right hand, then the revelation comes.
And who is the one that God used? Paul. You know, think about it, 3 and a half years. At the end of 3 and a half years, Jesus says, "I have many things to say to you, but you're not yet able". Wow, that means with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you don't go to them, all right, to get church truths, these are kingdom truths. Are many of them applicable for us today? Yes! "Love your enemies" is applicable. "Take no thought for your life" is applicable, amen. Of course, the principal kingdom continues with all of us but there are a lot of things that Jesus said that is not applicable anymore. For example, he says, "Don't go to the way of Gentiles. Only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel". That has changed. Now he says, "Go into all the world". Can I have a good "amen"?
So here we are, church. What I'm gonna share with you is gonna change your life, change your perspective, because what is lacking in you? You heard about Communion. You have been hearing about Communion, you have been hearing about the importance of praying in the Spirit. You have heard about the wonderful gift that we have in the Bible, the Word of God, spending time in the Word of God. Many of you heard this. But, you know, God is emphasizing the church as the place where all these things happen. Paul waited for seven days so that the church can come together in one place.
There's something there, an anointing there, that you cannot find back home. There is a corporate anointing that cannot be replaced anywhere else. It cannot be exchanged for anything else. You gotta come to the house of God. The Bible says: "So much the more," that you see that Jesus coming back, he's coming back soon, amen? You can see the signs. "So much the more you must assemble yourself together".
I think Sunday alone is not enough. In the early church, when they excommunicate someone... by the way, I just wanna say this about excommunication. There's a practice called excommunication, all right? It's in the early church day. They talk about it a lot, and the thing is this. Paul was present when there was a man living with his stepmother and Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, Paul said to them, "Hey, guys, this is not even heard among the Gentiles. Even the Gentiles don't do this". The Gentiles. It's like, even he embarrasses the Gentiles. Even the Gentiles who don't have God, who are immoral, they don't do this kind of thing, they take their father's wife, obviously, a stepmother. And they are living together. And they are in the church.
So Paul says, "You know what? You guys, with my power", now today, that's not present because Paul is not here anymore. It's a special apostolic power. When you come together, all right, take this one, deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You say, "Wow, Pastor, have you done this before"? You want me to? If he wants to live for the devil, give him completely to the devil and see what the devil does with him. For the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved.
"How do you explain that, Pastor Prince"? Let me just tell you this. You must keep on reading. Paul says: "I wrote to you, not to accompany with fornicators, extortionists, railers, drunkards. Now, I'm not writing about people of the world," Paul says, "or else you must go out of the world". Paul says, "I'm not referring to the fornicators of the world, the people of the world, and all that, because you can't do business. You can't be, it'll go out the Word because they're all like that, many of them. One of these things, right"? And Paul says, "But I wrote to you if there is a so-called," say, "so-called," "a so-called brother".
Now, Paul is not even sure, not even willing to say the guy is a brother. The one who's living with his stepmother. He's not even willing to say, he is a Christian. But Paul takes him as a professing Christian. I tell you some of the things you read in New Testament that is heart, disciplined as heart, is actually for people that are not believers but they park themself in the church and act like believers. And then they con the believers, like Ananias and Sapphira. They are not believers. I have proven that, amen. When it talks about believers in the book of Acts it's always "a certain believer called Rhoda," "a certain believer called Timothy," "a certain believer called Ananias", who prayed for Paul. But then a certain man called Ananias is the one that dropped dead. Same name but he was a certain man. He's not a believer. So people use that.
Now, if you come to church and purposely park down here to deceive God's people, the judgment is great. Whoa, I say it's great. Even the people outside, you know, God is not dealing with them in judgment. But in the church, if someone comes in they are not saved and they blaspheme the name of God by their life and people say, "That's how a Christian is like". But they're not saved in the first place. So Paul said you gotta deal with them. Don't let 'em have the safety of the church and the corporate anointing and still enjoy the favor and all that, and still bring sin into the church.
Now, he's not referring to people who fall into sin. Once a while, you know, you get angry, you lose your temper here and there, you watch pornography here and there, but you don't want to but you still do and you are struggling, and you want some help. Brother, I understand, okay? You are struggling. I'm not gonna deliver you to Satan, okay? Anyway, I don't think I have the authority. Whoa, very relieved, aren't you? The apostle Paul is not here so anyway there are those who teach this and kind of thing but let me just tell you this. This is actually referring to someone who is not even saved. Maybe not even saved.
Or else, why say, "For the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved"? Notice that? Unless you have the conclusion that this person was saved, lost his salvation, and now he needs to be saved again, which I don't believe. So Paul is saying, "He might not be saved in the first place". That's why he's looking like the devil. Christians sin, but they don't live in sin. I'm not a zookeeper, all right? But I visit a zoo. Doesn't make me a zoolander, right, amen? Doesn't make me a zookeeper, doesn't make me a giraffe, right? Justin tells me that there is a giraffe and a zebra together called G-bra. Have you heard it before? Anyway, back to this again.
So we are just saying that when you find judgment in the Bible, very strong judgment in the church, like Ananias and Sapphira, usually dealing with people who are con artists, all right? They don't show themself like they're the world. Even the world has mercy. God is not dealing with them based on sin. God is not imputing their trespasses to them. God is waiting for them to come home to him, right? But if they are in the church, you can tell, but they're living like, they'll give such a bad testimony and all that. Paul says, "Excommunicate, which means withdraw your fellowship".
Now, withdraw means don't eat with them, such a one. Don't even eat, amen? When you do that, when you withdraw, it's in essence, leaving him out of the church, which means the place of danger, the place where Satan is. What does that tell you? That in the church, there's protection. There is covering. Do you understand? The most demonized man in the Gospels is the Gadarene demoniac and we find that he's always alone, antisocial, cutting himself, naked, crying, and these are the characteristics we see in the world today. People are cutting themself. People are crying, suicidal, grieving, depressed, antisocial, cutting themself off from people. These are demonic activities.
And Jesus sailed across the sea, the lake, just to find that one man. He can hear his cry. Jesus went all the way, just for him. He was the lost sheep and when Jesus spoke one word, "Go," all the demons left. By the way, have you noticed? Jesus was in the ship, and the ship halfway, the devil brought a storm. Tried to stop Jesus from going to that man and in one word or so, there was no more storm. Perfect calm. Just one word. And on the other side, the demoniac experienced the same perfect calm when Jesus spoke. No wonder he says, and the Bible says, when they saw him, the disciples were with him in the boat, but later on when he was dealing with the demoniac, he was alone. How come? Because they all stayed in the boat.
The Bible said this guy can break chains, you know, and Jesus was alone. And all of a sudden, you find that he was clothed. They saw him clothed, in his right mind, seated. This is always the sign of someone being set free, all right? They're in their right mind. Look at your neighbor, smile, and say, "Uh-huh". Number two, they are clothed, clothed, clothed, clothed, clothed. Number three, they're seated, a place of rest, a posture of rest, at the feet of Jesus. Who gave him clothes? Jesus gave him the clothes. Is the same clothes that he slept on, on the way. When the storm came, he was sleeping in the boat, right? Those were the clothes that he prepared. He was protecting those clothes from getting wet. He slept on it. He knew he was gonna clothe him, gonna take care of him. That's our Savior, our Lord.
"So he continued his message until midnight". Verse 8, this is all parabolic, okay? There's a beautiful meaning to all these stories, like the Bible. Bible narratives are full of meaning. Here it says: "There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together". Many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together. We found out later on it's on third floor. It's the third floor. Verse 9: "third story". Do you see that? "Third story". The third story, the last line there, the third story.
So the Bible says there are three heavens. There is the atmospheric heavens. You look up, you see the blue sky. There's the atmospheric heaven. Beyond that, there's another heavens, amen? And then the universe and then beyond that is the third heaven where God dwells. That's where all the departed spirits that are saved would go to. It's a very beautiful place. NASA, not too long ago, saw that on the north side, I don't know how they say it's the north side. North side of the universe there's a very beautiful entrance. They cannot explain it. There is a black hole and there's a entrance to another portal, they say, whatever. But the entrance is so beautiful as if they are spewed all over with gems and diamonds. And the Bible says: "Great is the Lord and great is the city of God on the north side".
I believe we'll be raptured right into that. Heaven is a real place. Heaven is not a mystical place. You know, you don't float-float, playing the harp, float here, float there, you float into my house, "Get out"! You know? Then you float outside, you know? Then you see Pastor Mark floating, smiling, smiling, smiling, you know? No, it's not heaven, it's real. I mean, we are learning things, we are enjoy, except that there's no more death, there's no more disease, there's no more pain. Tears, sorrow is no more, amen? In fact, only the initial part where God wipes it away and then no more sorrow, no more crying, not even sighing. Your wife won't look at you and say, "Ugh". No more, no more. Guys, no more. But don't go to heaven yet.
So third heaven. Paul was caught up to the third heaven. Remember that? Paul says, "I was caught up to the third heaven". He saw things that it's not lawful for him to share, he said, right? That's the third heaven when God dwells. Anyway, "There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together". Lamps, many lamps. The meanings here are so precious. I love God's Word. It's not for nothing the Holy Spirit mentioned these things. Many lamps. You know there's one big lamp right here now? The Word of God. I'm preaching the Word of God.
The entrance of God's words give light and probably you find that you're confused, depressed, how many days has it been that you've not cracked open the Word of God? But if the depression is strong, spend more time in the Word. You'll be surprised just reading the stories yourself, may not be relevant to your case but reading the story of Ruth, for example, and you come to the story of Ruth and see how that Boaz is a kinsman redeemer and all of a sudden you get lost in the story and there's a cleansing effect and there's a enlightening effect. In his light you see light. If I lose my key in a dark room, the thing is not to look for that key. Switch on the light. When I switch on the light, I see the key. And sometimes I see other items that are lost, because in the light, I see light. In your light, we see light. We don't see because we are not exposed to the light.
"The entrance of thy Words giveth light," David said in the Psalms. "The entrance of your Words gives light". So, the more time you spend here, all right, this is a wonderful light. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path". Praise God. So, we have one light from God's Word. Another light is from the Holy Spirit, right? Another light is all of you. Jesus said of you, you know, "You are the light of the world". Imagine if we come together, how much light is there? Light everywhere. No wonder we can see lost items, things that the devil tried to hide from us. We can see it and we understand things.
When reading, I'm looking for direction in my work for some area, but I'm reading the book of Ruth, for example, or the book of Genesis. And then all of a sudden, I'm reading Romans, for example, and in that light, I know what to do. In his light, we see light, amen? And then, you know, all of you are lights. The analogy is beautiful when you look at the Old Testament "mishkan", the tabernacle or the temple. You find that outside is sunlight. Sunlight is natural. All the world, all they have is sunlight. Sunlight tells you, "Okay, dig, dig. Oh yeah, this civilization stayed down here before. Dig, dig, dig, no civilization". They can only go by what is natural. But what is natural can be wrong. Dig deeper, there could be a civilization. Man has been proven to be wrong, amen. I said amen.
Sunlight, natural light, light of creation, all right? Can go very far with natural education, but then when you step into the mishkan, the tabernacle or the temple, when you step, you have the seven-branched candelabra, right, that represents the church. And the only light in that holy place is the light of the church. Now you have wisdom to see the significance of the bread, which the people outside cannot understand, nor partake. You see the significance of worship and prayer, the incense that goes up there, amen, the light of it.
This is where we are now. Prophetically speaking, this is where we are now. But you step into the Holy of Holies, you come to the Ark of the Covenant. There's no candelabra there, but it's brilliant light. It is brighter that the light outside sunlight. It's brighter than the candelabra, the holy place light. It's the most brilliant light, Shekinah glory. You know whose light? God's own light. When we're in heaven, the Bible says the light will be light greater than the sun's light. There's no more need for the sun because the Lamb will be the light and the glory of heaven. Hallelujah. Everything was created to illustrate, and demonstrate, and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything, the eagle, the cedar tree, the leaves, the winds, everything, amen. God loved his Son. God made everything for his Son, amen.
Back to the story again. So, many lights. Don't forget that in ancient Egypt, the story of the Passover, right, and before that, you don't see this in the movie, "The Ten Commandments," Charlton Heston, you don't see that, but actually there were some other plagues that was not shown in the movie. There's one complete darkness. They just mutter it. They just say it. But what they fail to show you is that in the dwellings of the Israeli families, there are lights. Let's read it. Here it says, "Moses stretched out his hand, there was thick darkness". Say, "Thick darkness". "And they did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings".
Now, you say, "What's so supernatural about that, Pastor Prince"? It's supernatural because if this light was caused by lighting a lamp, any Egyptian can do that during this time. Obviously it was supernatural light. It wasn't a light that the Egyptians can produce, or else, if they just, you know, sort of... they don't have matches in those days, but they can light with what instruments they have, flint stone and all that, okay? But if that's the case, then the Egyptians can do that. But no, they can't.
So, it was supernatural light. God wants your families, and your family life, your married life to have a special light on it. It doesn't mean there's no quarrel, amen? Doesn't mean there's no disagreement, but there's light. When people look at you, they see the light. Those people in the houses, they were not perfect, you know? We know they are not perfect for sure, amen? They are not perfect. Those who had light in their dwellings, they're not perfect. Later on, in fact, you'll see how imperfect they are. Come out only murmuring.
So, imagine in the houses, husband and wife, murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur. It's your murmur. No, it's my murmur. It's your murmur. No, it's not my mama, it's your mama, okay? Your mama, your murmur, okay? You know? Right? That's how fights start. But then outside, there's light. You know, all the people of the world, Egyptians look at them and say, "Wow, I envy them. They have light," amen, while they are still working out their problems. Beautiful, light in the upper room. Boy, I got stuck down here. How to finish? Go back. All right, go back.
"And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus". Whenever the Holy Spirit mentions a name, it is not for no reason because there are times that he doesn't even mention names, right? He just says a young man, a young lady, a young woman, or whatever. Here he mentioned a name, Eutychus. Therefore, there are meanings to names. Especially when the Holy Spirit single out the name, you must look at it. "There was a young man called Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead".
I don't know why, but somehow I feel very encouraged when I read this verse, that even the apostle Paul, the great Apostle Paul, the best preacher there is in the world and ever in history, has someone falling asleep on him, and it was a deadly sleep. You know, I'm so encouraged. I'm so encouraged, praise the Lord. Hey, all of you, no one is sleeping here, so praise God. But if you are a sleeping quietly with your eyes open, you know, I'm still encouraged by this passage. So, when you read the Bible, it encourages you, you know? It speaks to you. Even if you're a minister, you're a preacher, all of a sudden, you read this, it encourages you.
And Eutychus, his name means... whenever you find a "Eu," E-U, like Eugene, Eunice, it means "good," like eulogy. "Eu" is good in Greek, always good. "Eu" is for good, "logy" is "logos," give a eulogy, good speech. Give a good speech about the dead person, right, about the person who's passed on. Give good speech, eulogy, all right, from the "eu" and "logos". So, you have Eutychus. Eutychus, to corner. And "Eu," E-U, good, to corner. The word "to corner" is actually "hit the mark". To use an arrow or a javelin to hit the mark.
Now, isn't that interesting? What is the definition of sin? To miss the mark. You know the definition of sin, you look it up, "hamartia", you look it up, it says to miss the mark. As an archer or someone throwing javelin would miss the mark, the definition of sin is that you miss the mark. All of us miss the mark, right? And Jesus cause us to hit the mark. So, Eutychus simply means someone who has good fortune. In fact, some places I read, it says good luck, but we don't use luck, all right? Good fortune. So, I'm sharing how the church lost good fortune, how good fortune fell off from hearing Paul's preaching. Don't laugh, there are people who have fallen off. They are not in church today, you know? The devil has succeeded in taking them away from the light into the darkness, amen, and they have fallen off. They have fallen asleep.
Notice the Bible says, "Fall asleep", and the Bible is quite ambiguous about whether this guy died or not. We're not told. They took him up as dead, but as dead can be as if he is dead or he died. So, it's still ambiguous. Whenever the Holy Spirit uses ambiguity, it is because he wants you to know that in our case, we see people falling away, we do not know whether they are still dead spiritually or they were never saved in the first place. Are you with me so far?
Now, let's move on. Here it says, "He was sinking into a deep sleep, overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead". Eutychus, he fell down. So, the good fortune fell down. Now, when you fall down from third floor, all right, you are falling from a higher place to a lower place. Always remember, when you disobey God or you don't want the ways of God, you're not going up, you're going down. You read the number of times the Bible says when Jonah tried to go away from God's command, God's instruction to him to preach, the Bible says he went down to Joppa. Down to Joppa. Then he went down to the port. Then he went down the ship.
After the ship sailed with him inside, still he got down some more or no? They threw him down into the ocean. Still got down some more, all right? Not enough. Then a big fish came. He went down into the stomach. Now, this is the life of someone who departs from the Lord, amen? And that's why the Bible uses the word "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord". The place of God's gathering of his people, like the church, you're always going up. You're always going up. And that's why the story of the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea's the lowest place. You know, God designed the topography and geography of Israel to teach us lessons, like Dead Sea is the lowest place on Planet Earth.
Amen, one day I was reading that, and Jesus was baptized there in the Dead Sea area, the River Jordan, and God spoke to me, "In the lowest places of your son's life, speak affirmatively. Speak encouragingly, 'You are my beloved son.'" Then the highest place in Israel is Mount Hermon. At Mount Hermon, where he was transfigured, the Father says, "This is my beloved Son". And even in their accomplishments, speak well of them. When they fail, speak well. When they are having achievements, and you know, they do some great thing, speak well. Don't miss these chances to speak well, amen? Anyway, you go up from the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Planet Earth. You go up to Jerusalem. It's really a going up to the Temple of the Lord.
So, always remember, like Abraham, God told him to go to the land of Canaan, right? He went down, down to Egypt, and that's when he had problems. There'd be no Ishmael, there'd be no Hagar had he not gone down to Egypt, but he went down to Egypt, right? So, always remember, the devil will make you think you are going up by cheating, by lying. No, you're going down. Remember that, okay? Here is a good place for you to say amen. All right, ha ha. Verse 9, "And as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead". Was taken up dead, okay? So, some say he died, some say he didn't die, okay? We'll leave it in the ambiguity, okay?
Let's go on to verse 10. "But Paul went down". Personally, I believe he died physically. Paul raised him from the dead. "But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, 'Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.'" So some say that, you know, Paul is just saying that his life is there, but I believe something happened when Paul embraced him. The same Paul whose handkerchiefs could drive out evil spirits, all right, and cure the sick, amen. That same Paul, he's so saturated, he embraced.
And there's something God is saying about people who fall. We need to understand that people who fall, they need to be embraced, not shunned. It's one thing to deliberately sin openly and with no compunction, you know, and just have no thought about God. Probably they're not saved. That's another category altogether. But people who are falling, we're not to shun them. You know how Jesus looked at people who were sick? This is how Jesus looked at them, all right?
Go to Matthew 12. "Now when he had departed from there, he went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they," the Pharisees, the leaders of the synagogue, "asked Jesus, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' that they might accuse him". Next verse, "Then he said to them," Jesus's answer, "'What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.'" Verse 13, "Then he said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all".
Regardless of the critics, he healed them all. He believed in healing, he preached healing, amen, healed them all. Now, watch this. Go back to verse 11. Jesus's reasoning about people who are sick is this. "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out"? Someone who is sick, don't ask what is their sin. See them, they fell into a pit. What must you do? Lift them out. Don't point fingers. He sees people who are sick as fallen, amen?
And there are people who are sick spiritually as well. They are fallen. The devil planned to fall. David never planned to fall. He just wanted to take some time not to go and fight. He's tired of fighting, so he woke up late in the evening. That tells you he's been sleeping and sleeping. And he saw Bathsheba bath. Sheba, Sheba, Bathsheba, right? The rest is history. You all know the story. No, it's always like that. You don't mean to sin. You don't plan to, but you fall. It's another thing to deliberately, after you fall, stay in it, be proud of it, come against people who try to advise you and love you, and just come against them and even gloat over your sin. Living with that turkey when your wife is waiting at home. They're going down, bro. They're going down. You're going down, bro, amen? Nah, I can't do what Lawrence did. I mean, the guy has training in modeling, so what can I say? "How much more value is a man to a sheep"? You take care of a sheep. You don't ask, "Stupid sheep, how come you fall"? You don't say that, right?
Now it's very interesting that as I was preparing this, God gave me this passage and he had me share this. He wants me to share this, and I forgot what happened to me a few weeks ago. My son fell in school, during recess. He was sitting on a high railing. It was quite a high place and he fell backwards, Justin, and Justin hurt his skull. He still could get up, but he was crying, and they brought him to the, you know, the general office. They called my wife. My wife was there first before she contacted me. And well, anyway, he was admitted to the hospital. They did two CT scans. They found two fractures on his skull. The thing is this.
One of my first questions when I saw him is that, you know, is that, "How did this happen"? His response was, "Sorry," he said. Then the Lord said to me, "Don't ask anymore". From then until now, I never ask him how he fell, what was he doing, was it someone else push him, 'cause once he's sorry, right, there's no point trying to find something that's passed. Let's get this boy well. And I'm telling you, it's amazing, he stayed for a few days in the hospital and the only thing there was no laceration, outward laceration, only the pain that he felt inside was hard for me to see him going through such severe headaches as a young boy, six-year-old going through such headaches and all that and he was asking, you know? But we start to take Communion with him, sometimes four times, three or four times a day. They will observe him hourly. He did throw up, all right, that was a bit of concern for him so they observed him hourly and then at night four hourly, not easy, right?
Okay, so I was running here, running there, back and forth, running errands, making things... and my wife, my wife is such a wonderful lady, she really believes that the Lord's supper is the answer, amen? She was taking Communion with him. Many a times by the time I come, Communion is done already. And he will complain about headache, take Communion, right? At the same time, they gave him painkiller and it's the only thing they gave him, no antibiotics, nothing, just painkillers. And we saw a blow by blow account as he took Communion, he got better and better and better and better. He was in the hospital, they say it's best to observe this kind of thing for 92 hours, I think, but anyway, but four days.
So, just for observation. He never took any antibiotics, nothing, just took Communion and painkillers, Ibuprofen, you know? But he was discharged completely well except for the headaches, so, we went for the headaches with the Communion, all right? Two days of headache and the headache got less severe and then finally, no more headache. He's out, he's happy, he's back to his own self teasing me, making fun of me, amen? But it could have been worse. I don't ask why this happened. I just thank God it could have been worse, but God protected him. In fact, the neurosurgeon said that his fall is very uncanny. Usually, only when you fall twice, you have two fractures. This is very uncanny. I know this is supernatural, but there's also supernatural protection. Because he said that he fell here, it was near the main vein. Had it been the main vein, it'd be terrible. The bleeding would be terrible. He fell just near, the fracture was just near the main vein, and God protected him so I thank God for that.
I mean, in the Bible there are people falling, right? Eli fell, Eli died, you know? Eutychus fell, he was raised from the dead. But I didn't know that when God told me to share this portion, I forgot there's a guy who fell so I thought he may want me to share this with all of you so that y'all can pray. When I say pray, y'all better pray, amen? Pray for my family. You know, I'm not saying that I'm superior. I'm not, I'm just like you but there is a call in my life, you know? And, you know, the wisdom of smite the shepherd, the sheep will scatter, you know what I'm saying? So, the devil is always, you know, attacking the shepherd, amen? So, pray for your shepherd, will you? I appreciate that's the greatest thing you can do for me. And during those days when he was in the hospital, I was running errands, making sure that everything is done and everything was in place and all that.
I actually ministered to more people than I can imagine those few days at the hospital, met someone, ministered to the person. I went someone else, bumped into somebody else, sat down, ministered to the person, then met somebody else on the same day, ministered to the person. Here I am, I feel like crying, you know, inside, then I'm ministering. So, I understand a bit about the treasure in the earthen vessel. The earthen vessel feels like crying, in fact, I did cry, okay. But the treasure is just amazing. You will cry you see your six-year-old, you know, in pain, right? That's not something that no parent wants, you know? So, I thank God for the restoration. His bone will be restored, 120%, not like it was even, amen? And I think this boy has a, you know, the hand of God on him. I do not know whether it's a call of God just yet, but I think there is something about him, you know, in his life, amen? Praise God.
Okay, now what happened after that? Go back to Acts 20. "Now when he had come up," you would thought that Paul raised him up. Now, Paul says, Bible says, Paul went down. I love this, Paul went down, say, "went down". Say, "went down". A lot of people, when someone falls, they want to jump on them, all right? They want to like minister from their level. No, the best way to minister to people is go to their level. Paul went down, you understand? All right, he didn't minister from afar. He went down to be at the level, okay? And then he fell on him which is the word "embrace". You don't fall on someone who has already fallen, it'd be worse, right? The word here is fell on him in a way to embrace him. "Embracing him said, 'Do not trouble yourselves for his life is in him.'"
Embrace is very warm. It's not telling you, "You should have done this, you should have done that. Hey guy, listen to me, you should not have sat in the window". You know, why people sit behind sometimes? No reflection on those sitting behind now, okay? People come to service, right, they sit behind, you know why? Because it's like, "You know, I want to see how it goes. I don't want people to see me and I don't want, you know"? I understand that. All that is perfectly fine, but in the case of this boy, he was sitting at the window. So, window is not exactly in and it's not exactly out. The thing about falling, spiritually speaking, is that either you're out, out in the world or you're in, in for the Lord Jesus, amen. Amen?
Don't sit in the window because at the end, right, you don't get the best of either. You are too saved to enjoy the world completely. I'll say that again. Wow, that came from the Holy Spirit. You are too saved to enjoy the world completely, all right? On the other hand, you have a bit of worldliness in you to enjoy the abundant life completely. So, you know what? Go all out, amen? I said, go all out, all out. But leaders, the way we minister to them, come down to their level, embrace them. Do not critique them, do not criticize them, don't ask, you know, just love on them, amen? And Paul says, "Do not trouble yourself, for his life is in him". This is almost like a testimony to all the Armenian people, you know? Don't worry, he fell but he didn't lose his salvation, his life is still there, amen? Praise the Lord.
Now, when he had come up, you say, "Okay guys, we had something happen quite back just now. Thank God he is safe, okay. You know what? Let's forget about Communion". No, Paul went back up. You think what happened to my son will stop me from preaching on Communion? No way, no way. Today I'm preaching on Communion, right? It's not gonna stop me, man. Praise the Lord. Paul went back up, broke bread, and ate. When he'd come up, he had broken bread, had broken bread and eaten, and what did he do? He talked again. He talked from midnight a long while even till daybreak, he departed. Now, the Bible says, the Bible says, every time you partake the Lord's supper, you do show the Lord's death till he comes. He's gonna come in two ways. The Bible describes him two ways.
In the Old Testament, the last chapter ends with the sun of righteousness arise. The last chapter, the New Testament, ends with the bright and morning star. For Israel, he will come as the sun. They get to know him much later, after we are raptured. We are raptured in the morning, they get to see him only in the afternoon. For the church, he comes as the, New Testament, he comes as the bright and morning star, early in the morning till daybreak. Every time you partake the Lord's supper, you show the Lord's death till he comes. Preach until daybreak. We'll be preaching until Jesus comes again. Now, Israel is now, a large portion of them is blinded, the Bible says that, they don't see their Messiah, but they'll get to see him later and he'll come to them as the sun, the noonday sun, the sun of righteousness and that's why sun of righteousness is in the last chapter of the entire Old Testament and bright and morning star for all of us in the New Testament in the last chapter of Book of Revelation. Praise be to God, hallelujah. He's coming. I said, he's coming.
You know, the bright and morning star, if you want to see it, wait up about four of five, even Singapore, you can see it, the northern star. You look up, it's called the bright and morning star as well. You look up, you'll see the first star bright, the biggest. Just before the sun rises, you'll see the star first. In the midst of darkness, he's gonna return. Do you think the Lord world is very dark now? He's gonna return. So, in the midst of all the morass, the moral morass out there, the darkness, and the uncleanness, and the confusion, and the depression, everything just dark, and smog, and, you know, people do not know their way around, what is right, what is wrong, redefinition. The world is in a chaos. There is light and lamps in the house of God. Come together. You come together you see things you never saw before, amen, and that will bless your life, praise the Lord.
I'm gonna read to you something that I think is necessary because talking about light in your dwellings. Let me close by sharing this. Oops, I got a few testimonies here. Don't worry, I won't read until daybreak. All right, "Three years ago, my wife and I separated". This is a guy from New York, United States. "Three years ago my wife and I separated, then I went to a church service where my friend was being ordained as a leader. I've never heard the gospel of grace being preached that way before and had been attending church since then. One day I felt led to read Pastor Prince's book, 'Destined To Reign' and it changed my life. I went to my wife's house with the book and she said, 'You are reading Joseph Prince's book?'"
The wife that he already separated from. "She said, 'You are reading Joseph Prince's book?' Little did I know that my wife was reading another of his book, 'Live The Let-Go Life.' She said that reading that book enabled her to forgive. We then went out as a family for the first time in six years. After that night, by God's grace, my wife said she wanted a reconciliation. Thank you, Pastor Prince, for opening my eyes to the gospel of grace and being instrumental in helping to reconcile our marriage".
From New York. And the last one I read before we close is this one because it's amazing how one testimony, one testimony that I read last year. I read this before once last year, has precipitated, has caused an explosion of other testimonies like the lady with the lump in the breast, remember that? She said, "As Jesus is, so am I". And now, people are just like following her and doing that. Same like woman with the issue of blood, she touched the hem of Jesus's garment. After you read that, you find that people are seeking out to touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched were made whole. It seems like people are, in a way, they're influenced by others as well. "When they can do that, I can do that".
So, one thing we believe God for all kinds of healings and miracles, but one area we never touch on much until these few years is Alzheimer. So, I read this last year and it's brought so many testimonies this year already, all right, many testimonies has come in about people being healed from Alzheimer. You know, Alzheimer gets worse and worse in the natural. You go out in the sunlight, you ask the people with the knowledge of the sunlight, all they can say is it gets worse and worse, but go into the Holy of Holies where Jesus's presence is, and this is a testimony from Virginia United States.
"In January 2012, during a routine checkup following a brain bleed, Mark's doctor," this lady is writing, her husband, "Mark's doctor told us Mark had indeed progressed much further than she expected. However, based on his latest brain scan, as well as scans from his hospital stay 14 months earlier, she explained to us that Mark had Alzheimer's disease. She went on to tell us that Mark should get his affairs in order and begin to plan to retire permanently from his job. Needless to say, this was a huge shock to us, one that neither of us was ready or willing to accept, but we truly gave the situation to God and there is much to say about the journey our Lord took us on that included your teaching as confirmation of what we believe we were hearing from him. Our Daddy God gave us faith, hope, and such peace during those dark times as we began to really trust him with every aspect of our lives".
And I'm hearing the Lord telling me there are a number of you being concerned about whether you are losing your mind, because you are losing your memory a little bit here and there and you're concerned whether it's dementia, whether it's Alzheimer. Listen carefully. Listen, let faith arise in your heart. What God did for them, God can do for you. You don't even have to get a doctor's confirmation, amen, you can start a believing God for your healing from this loss of memory. God can restore your memory banks until you remember the guy who owed you when you were six years old, amen?
"Our Daddy God gave us faith, hope, and such peace during those dark times as we began to really trust him with every aspect of our lives. It was through Scripture and your messages about the Holy Communion that prompted us to begin taking the Communion at home on a regular basis. We believe that was when our future began to brighten. Mark didn't return to the doctor for four-and-a-half years. The Lord was preparing us to move during the spring of 2016 and we knew root visit to the doctor was in order before we left town. Mark underwent another magnetic residence imaging, MRI scan, and we met with his neurosurgeon to hear her latest assessment. As she studied the scan, she looked quite perplexed before she said, 'I'm looking at a very healthy brain. There is no Alzheimer's disease here,' she said, 'There's no Alzheimer's disease here. I'm removing that diagnosis completely from your medical records.' Mark is healed, hallelujah. We praise Jesus Christ daily. He is the reason for every good thing in our lives, including you, Pastor Prince. We are so thankful the Lord gave us ears to hear the truth you speak each day. To God be the glory, amen".
Give Jesus the praise. God can restore to you. After he gives the grain, the wine, and the oil, he can restore to you the years the locust has eaten. They're not wasted years. God can restore to you those years, amen? Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Father in heaven, I pray for everyone under the sound of my voice, Father. I pray that whatever needs, Lord, that is now so looming so large in front of them and their mind is obsessed with it even. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus you'll shine your light into their hearts and minds, Lord, the light of the glory of God that uncovers, not just the problem, but the way out, the answers, the solutions, the wisdom for it. Thank you, Father.
And if there's perchance there is anyone here, you have never received Jesus Christ, this is between you and God. You've never put your trust in Christ as your Savior and Lord, friend, Christ died for your sins, was raised again from the dead for your justification, and now he stands ready to come into your light with all his glory, power, and goodness, and favor. Are you willing to receive him? Are you that one, that man, that woman, that boy, that girl that will say, "Yes, today I put my trust in Christ, no turning back"? If that is you, pray this prayer with me right now. Say, "Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying for my sins on that cross. You paid the penalty by shedding your blood completely for the forgiveness of all my sins. You were raised from the dead, and I thank you, Lord Jesus, you are alive today and you're at the Father's right hand, and I am as you are. All that you are, I am in this world. Jesus Christ is my Lord. In Jesus's name," And all the people said?
You are now part of the church, amen? The church is not a building, the church is made up of a many-membered body of Christ. Together, we are strong. Together, we are powerful. Together, the needs of the people are fully met because grace is on us all. A speaker may have a few gifts but together, we have all the gifts that God has put in the church. Stand to your feet. Hey church, let me bless you with Justin.
Justin Prince: Hi.
Joseph Prince: He wants to share with you a memory verse.
Justin Prince: Luke 1, verse 37, "For with God, nothing will be impossible".
Joseph Prince: Amen, praise the Lord, a living testimony, amen. Lift your hands all across this place.
Father, I thank you for your precious people. We thank you for your Word today, Lord. Indeed your Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. We pray for everyone under the sound of my voice, Father. I pray for everyone in different places that's meeting and I pray for the church in Grace Revolution Church in Dallas. I pray, Father, that this coming week will be the best week, I pray, Father, yet, Lord, for them. In favor, in your goodness, in your blessings, Father. I pray, Father, you protect everyone they go, Father. I pray, Father, your abundant grace will be upon everyone. And I pray, Father, that you will prosper them in everything that they do. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name. And all the people said, amen.