Joseph Prince - Believe Right And See Your Youth Renewed
Praise the Lord. Y'all ready for God's Word? Okay, if you missed Encounter night, you missed a powerful night where, you know, God would have imparted a fresh grace, fresh anointing to your marriage, amen, we touched on marriage. You see, the thing is that, "Pastor Prince, why don't you announce it before, at least make an extra effort"?
That's the thing about marriage seminar, or whatever you want to call it. Most people will announce a marriage seminar without even thinking about the ramifications. For me, marriage seminar, yep, it's to build good marriages and make it even better, but it's also for troubled marriages, right, amen? Those who are struggling, those who are trying to find their place, and we know that only Christ can be the third party in any marriage, and he can bring the marriage together. But many a times, a spouse, whether it's the husband or the wife, who is the really the one that refuse to do anything about the marriage, they are the ones that need to hear the Word from God that can change their lives, amen?
So, if you announce something like this, they are the ones that wouldn't want to turn up because they feel like their spouse might use that as an ammunition against them, so they might give an excuse not turning up. So, what I do is that I hijack, I hijack a service. I never announce about my marriage, you know, teachings or whatever God has given me for marriage. I will just take a service and I'll preach it and that way they're there. To me, it's the wisdom of God. All right, so if you wonder why we don't do marriage seminars and all that, it's for this reason. I find it's okay for, you know, places, other places do marriage seminars and all that. I just feel it's better to hijack a meeting.
So, last Encounter night on Wednesday, I hijacked the entire meeting. Even for singles, were the singles blessed? Amen, all right, praise God already. At the end, the ladies, the single ladies were saying "a-man". Praise the Lord. And we taught things like, you know, is there such a thing as God's perfect choice? We showed you from the Scriptures God's answer, amen, to that question. So, if you want to know more, get that message, praise the Lord. Every time we come to God's house, we're getting stronger and healthier, amen? We are more restful.
I just want to say a Word to some of you here. You better slow down before it's too late. There are people who are, the Lord is just speaking to me, and I think it's the Word for not just for this service, but also for the all the four services today. And there are people coming today that you have heart palpitations, and it's not because you have a problem with your heart. You need to slow down. You know, everything about you is moving at fast gear, at leopard speed, you know, when God made you to move in life at camel speed, amen? Everything has gone so fast and now they even teach you how to read a book without reading a book, huh? You know, they will summarize the book for you, amen?
To me, all these things is just robbing us of that chance to sit down and contemplate, meditate, amen, enjoy a good book. Have you ever enjoyed a good book? It helps your mind to slow down. Because you can go to bed, you know, and your body is winding down, but your mind is still moving at a fast gear. Your mind is not switched off. You know what happens to a car if you don't switch it off for weeks, you leave the engine running? You think you are resting like the car is stationary, but the engine is running, you'll break down. A lot of people, all of a sudden in their 40s, in their 50s, they drop down dead. And apparently sometimes doctor says there's no really known reason. It's not a major disease. They just drop dead. You know what is it? Stress, stress. Are you listening, people?
I was reading, not a Christian website, but I was reading about this guy who took care of parrots and birds. He's an expert on birds. And I studied about molting, how birds, when they come to a certain age, you know, they will molt which means they will let go of the old feathers to get new feathers. Isn't this renewal of youth, amen? And one of the interesting things that this guy said, this expert, okay, he's not a believer, okay, just an expert on birds. He says that during that season, they need extra moisture, they need extra water, all right, on their feathers and all that. And if you're taking care of a parrot or a bird that is molting and they look ugly and all that, all right, help them with warm water, just stroke their feathers with warm water.
So, when I saw that, straightaway it tells me when God promises to renew your youth like the eagles, but during that time of renewal, God wants you to have extra moisture. All right, if you think you're getting God's Word, get more. Amen, you're going through a season where you are being challenged physically and all that, okay, get more of the Word, amen, extra moisture. So, I wrote down these notes and all that. I was very intrigued by the fact that and there were other things that I learned, there were other things that I learned as well about molting. But anyway, back to this again, slow down, slow down before it's too late.
There are people dropping down dead, there are, even in Singapore. In fact, if the statistics are gathered, you'll be surprised to see and it's not always because they have a major disease or something there, but I think sometimes there are a disease, of course, but it is precipitated by the fact that they are stressed out. They are like a high tension, you know? If I pull an elastic band for a long time, guess what's gonna happen, huh? It will not be the same kind of tension anymore already. When you release it, slowly it loses its tension.
So, why do you think God give us nights? To sleep, not to play games, not to watch Korean dramas, whether it is white palace, black palace, Yang's palace, okay? You want to watch, you can watch at other times, but God gave us nights to sleep. Why do you think God gave us Sundays? To rest. God made your bodies. All right, the Bible says even God rested, amen? Now, God didn't rest because he was tired, he rested because his work was finished. It's a day of celebration, amen, but we need that day. Even in between do you know that doctors tell us that you think your heart beats regularly all the time, actually, there is, even your heart learns to rest in between, amen? And they find that one day out of seven, your heart rests one day out of seven.
Isn't that interesting? Praise the name of Jesus. So, it's all designed in such a way that God wants us to move steady in the rhythm of grace, amen? So, everyone take a deep breath and breathe out. Smile at your neighbor and say, "Don't stress", all right? Look at somebody else and do a Singaporean one, all right, that means don't be tense. All right, all right? Look at the guy in front and say, "Relack", okay, it's all relax.
Okay, do you know the Hebrew word for heal? Once you relax, you can heal. If you're believing God for healing and you find it's like not manifesting and all that will, most likely because you are wind up, you are stressed, you are anxious. The Hebrew word for heal, rapha, all right, is the word resh, pei, aleph. Now, the root, the etymology of that word is resh pei hei. Hei becomes rapha and rapha with aleph is heal, the etymology is rapha, which is actually relax.
So, relax is the root of the word "heal" in the Hebrew, amen. The word "meditate" is where you get the word "medicine", the root word, amen? There is healing in meditation. Now, not emptying your mind with nothing, amen, won't be hard for some of us, but filling your mind with the Word of God and focusing on the Word of God, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Meditate on God's Word, his leaf also shall not wither. Amen, can I have a good amen?
All right, I'm gonna share with you just a simple thing that you can take home with you because this is something that my wife and I had a talk and all that and for the past few weeks I've been emphasizing on it. And it seems like there's a whole new generation that is not exposed to understanding how this part, this essential currency of heaven works. They do not understand and many a times, they are still trying to look for results. They are trying to look for things. They don't know how to operate in faith. And it's a whole new generation. We don't care about what we say anymore.
You know, we just write things, we blog things, we say things without realizing the power of words, the way God ordained you, the way God made you. But today, all that is gonna change. I said last week, or recently, that under the new covenant, really even though you are devoted, even though you're as obedient as you can, doesn't mean you are blessed in the New Covenant, all right? 'Cause in New Covenant, it's all about believing, amen. Therefore the lack of blessing in a believer's life is a symptom of what? Not a lack of devotion, but a lack of faith, unbelief. Somewhere in some area of our life, we don't believe. We're operating by sight. We're operating by our senses. Are y'all listening?
2 Corinthians 4, verse 13 we've been using this and the Holy Spirit doesn't seem to let me go from this, and I think that your life is gonna be transformed, amen? 2 Corinthians 4, "And since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore have I spoken'", amen? We also believe and therefore speak. Now, it's a very simple thing. Faith is a very simple thing. You believe in your heart and you speak it out of your mouth. Say it again, "I believe, I speak". Say, "I believe, I speak".
Now, some believers, they believe. They believe good things about what God says about them. They believe that with long life, God satisfies me. They believe that by the stripes of Jesus, they are healed. They believe that God has promised them a wonderful family, amen? The Bible says your wife shall be as a fruitful vine, your children like olive plants around the table. They believe that, but they don't say it. They don't say it. What they say sometimes is complaining or they murmur, but they say they believe that and I agree there's a mental assent to it, but faith is not released in their life. They think they have faith because they believe in their heart, but the Bible doesn't say the spirit of faith is I believe and I believe, therefore we also believe and believe.
No, I believe, and therefore I speak. Jesus says out of the abundance, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth, manifests, good things in their life. Long before you see good things in your life, it is in your heart. If it's not in your heart, you will never see it outside, amen. Whether you are sick, the doctors give you a bad report, amen, and that vision of your x-ray, or your MRI scan, or whatever it is is still before you and all that, instead of God's Word that by the stripe of Jesus you are healed, you don't see yourself healed. When you read Psalms 91, you don't let it be a vision inside you. You must believe that God's Word transcends every other word, amen?
God cannot lie, not that God will not, God cannot. So, there are a few things God cannot do. God cannot lie. That's in the New Testament. God cannot lie. He's unable to lie. So, you can trust his Word. So, it's one thing to believe. It's another thing to speak. And then we have believers who speak all the time. They say that, you know, they are blessed, that kind of thing, but they don't believe it in their hearts, amen? So, if you're believing is a problem, you know what you do?
Let me just share with you a secret. For many years, God promised Abraham already and for many years, Abraham was without a child with his proper wife, Sarah, okay? So, about 25 years before, God promised him he will have a child, right? Think about it, more than 20 years pass, they don't see the child but God promised, "In your seed all the nations will be blessed". So, obviously, we will have a seed, okay? But nothing happened, nothing happened. So, one night God brought Abram out of the tent and God told Abram, "Look at the stars, see if you're able to number them", in your English Bible. In the Hebrew, "See if you're able to caphar them".
Caphar is also not just to count where your English says see if you're able to number them, but caphar is also recount. Recount means to tell the story, narrate the story. So, long, long ago, the fathers, the ancient fathers from Adam is handed down by mouth. They tell their sons and daughters the reason for the stars. Now listen, this is not astrology. "The fault, dear Brutus, lie not in the stars". But there are 12 constellations corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel. God works in 12, 12 months, amen? God works in 12. Twelve is number of government. Twelve disciples of Jesus, 12 tribes of Israel, so 12 constellations and the constellation begins with Virgo, the virgin with a baby.
Now, it's all corrupted now down through the year, but originally it was to declare the gospel. It's to recount the story of the gospel, and it starts all the way down all the way down and it ends, if it start with Virgo, you know what it end up with? Leo, Leo is the, who? The lion of the tribe of Judah. Your New Testament opens with the child and the mother, right? Jesus was born of a virgin, that's how your New Testament opens. How does your New Testament ends? Jesus is no longer that child, he is now the lion of the tribe of Judah. Can you see it?
So, the gospel story is there. Every one of them, including Pisces, Taurus, it's all a reflection of Jesus, including the warrior. You can see the warrior, the stars and all that stepping on a snake. And what is the first promise, the first prophecy and the first promise that God made in the garden was that the woman's seed will crush the serpent's head, singular seed. That's our Lord Jesus Christ, the dragon slayer, hallelujah, he has come, amen? And the terror, the king of terror has been conquered, amen? He has been disarmed by our Lord Jesus Christ. His only power right now is to go around deceiving and his method is to put you in the realm of senses, in the realm of sensations, in the realm of experience, instead of faith because he knows as long he keeps you in the realm of sensations, appearances, and feelings, he knows he got you.
So, stop being a believer that's led by your senses, for we walk by faith and not by sight. And watch this, one night Abraham was asked by God to come out number the stars, which is tell the story of the stars again. And then this is now very logical when God says at the end, he was tearing. God said to him, the story, he read the same gospel story, and one of the constellations shows him on the cross, and that's why we have southern cross up in the sky.
Do you know there's a cross in the sky? When marinas were lost at sea many years ago, they don't have the instruments that we have, the modern equipments, they look up to the night's sky and the southern cross will lead them home. When you know where is south, you know where is north. You know where's the direction of your location already. Even though the vast ocean, you can't tell whether it's front, back, north, south, east, west, but the southern cross will lead you home. The cross will lead you home. Can I have a good amen? So, God designed it and he saw it and he cried.
And you know what God told Abraham. "Abraham, this is how your seed, the one I promised, is gonna be. Jesus Christ, it will come through Abraham's seed, all right, thus your seed will be". And the Bible says Abraham believed God, and God imputes it to him for righteousness. So, Abraham believed the same gospel you and I believed, not a different gospel. Are you with me so far? Now, watch this. Still no baby, right? Then Abraham told God, you know, "Look, you gave me no heir and the one that's born in my house is my heir". Then God told him, no, right? That's when God told him the stories, but there was still no manifestation.
Now, watch this, something happened when God told him to look at the stars. At the same time God promised him, "Your descendants will be like the stars". Now, the first part was quality, the story is a... I mean quality seed, our Lord Jesus, now it's quantity, that's how many children you will have. All of a sudden, the stars changed faces and they were screaming, "Father Abraham, Abba, Abba, so many stars", right?
If you go to the Middle East, especially in the Dead Sea area where Abraham was near that area, if you look up, all right, the stars are amazing. When there's no light anywhere, the stars are so numerous, you can't even count them. Even today with our telescope and all that, with all your modern technology, we still can't outnumber the stars. And the Bible says in the same phrase where it says God heals the broken in heart in Psalms, he counts the number of stars. God counts the number of stars, he knows the number of hair on your head, and he heals the broken in heart. Imagine God putting these verses together. The one who counts the stars heals your heart. He's not so high and mighty that he cannot come down to your level. He loves you more than anyone can ever love you.
Friend, you think that you do not know, no one else knows the struggle you go through. It is too shameful for you to share, it is too private, whatever, but he knows but best of all, he knows the way out. He knows how to bring you to that place of deliverance. He knows how to bring you to the place of abundance. He's the good shepherd. When he's your good shepherd, he will always 'cause you never to be in want. He will make your lie down in green pastures, amen, abundance all around. Thank you Jesus, amen. Come on. Come on, church.
So, now watch this, God changed what? When he saw the children screaming out, "Father Abraham, Father Abraham", what happened to his heart? His heart began to be filled with children. Doesn't even have one child, doesn't even have one kid and but his heart began to be filled. He looked around, "Oh, Father Abraham, Father Abraham". "Sarah, Sarah, we're gonna be parents of multitudes, multitudes". And he looked around and his heart was being changed.
Let me tell you something, God never changed his name until God changed his heart because you gotta believe before you speak. So, God filled his heart first with children. Now, whatever you are believing God for, you're believing God for a breakthrough in your business, you're believing God for a family that is more harmonious, more blessed than it is right now, you don't like to come home because you find there's a lot of strife at home, well, you know what? Faith can change that if you go by God's way.
So, God changed his heart, before God changed his speech because in Genesis 17, after the stars, his heart was meditating on the stars much earlier. For 20 years, he started meditating on the fact his heart was filled with belief that he's gonna be a father, then God changed his mouth. "Now call yourself differently". You know when God did that? Genesis 17, which is much, many years after God showed him the stars, which mean God changed his heart and he had to meditate on it. He had to meditate on it, meditate on God's promises.
What are you meditating on, the report of the doctor? What are you meditating on, amen, all the things that your boss said to you, all the things that your so-called opponents are saying to you, amen, or your critics are saying to you? Are you listening to those things? Are you listening to the report of the world? Who's report will you believe? Who has believed our report? We will believe the report of the Lord. Can I have a good "Amen"? So God changed his heart and then, Genesis 17, one year before Isaac came.
Think about it. One year before Isaac came, God changed his mouth and God said, "From now on, your heart is full of belief. Now, change what you're saying about yourself. Don't call yourself Abram, call yourself Abraham which means father of many. And Sarai will be changed to Sarah which means a queen, a princess, a mother of multitude". So, by the way, Abraham was 99 years old when God told him that and Sarah was 89. And when it changed their speech, they start calling one another "Father of many", you know, you can imagine, even right now if I tell you all, you know, one another, right, to say something about each other than you don't see by sight, you can't see the appearance of it.
You can't see anything outwardly. You still see the lump, you see the tumor, you see the report and all that. And you will start laughing and say, "Hah, you know, this just a fiction. This just". Actually, the other way is true. God's ways are eternal. Whatever you can see is temporal. You can see it, it won't last. But for you, if I can see it, it is real, it will last forever. No, my friend, even your dollars that you hold in your hand, it is temporal. Even they change the pictures also as time goes by, you know? You can see it? It will change.
"But Pastor Prince, I can see your body. Is our body forever? Aren't we saved... eternal life"? No, our flesh, this flesh, won't be going up in heaven. So praise God I can celebrate birthdays, I don't care, amen. Because when Jesus comes again, all of us, whether those in the grave or those of us who are alive, all our bodies will change. That's why I'm saying, whatever you can see is temporal. 2 Corinthians tell us that. You can see it, it's temporal. You can't see it, it's eternal. "Pastor Prince, I don't have a life partner yet". Can you see it? No life partner? Temporal problem, amen. I look at my available balance. Every time I withdraw my money from the ATM, I look at the available balance and I get very discouraged. You can see it, temporal.
So the spirit of faith, 2 Corinthians 4, it's all from 2 Corinthians, by the way, it tells us we release faith by speaking but watch this. Abraham for years had his heart full of the stars and what are stars? His seed. And because that's what he's believing God for, amen. Are you listening, people? And does he have attacks? Yes, even God promised Abraham, the manifestation didn't come immediately. But we gotta walk in Abrahamic faith. Abraham considered not his own body. He didn't consider sensations. He did not consider the natural facts which is a man of 100 years old cannot produce. A woman of 89 cannot produce, amen? Both have gone through men-o and women-o-pause, okay?
So we see them as this age, not considering the natural facts, considering God's Word. And God changed their speech. Within one year of their speech being changed, they are now walking in the spirit of faith. I believe, therefore I speak. I believe. Father of many, I'm a father of many. Sarah, you are a mother of many, amen? You are a princess. Keep on calling her princess. You know what happened to her? The Bible says God changed her youthfulness because God had to physically. She was already past menopause and, not only that, when she was younger, she was one of the women that was barren. She cannot bear. And God changed her, the Bible says through faith, listen, Hebrews 11. Through faith, Sarah received strength to conceive seed.
Did you hear that? That strength is called dunamis. Where you get the word "dynamite" in the Greek. Through faith she received strength, amen? Are you listening? Not through botox. Her youth wasn't renewed. Nothing wrong with botox, okay? You half tox or you botox, doesn't matter, amen? Just trust God. Through faith she received strength. She received strength to conceive seed. Did you hear that? Through what? Because she judged him faithful, that promise. Ooh, ooh, hallelujah. She judged him faithful. But she did laugh.
When she first heard that she gonna have a baby, she laughed. And Abraham also laughed. Both of them laughed so they called the boy "Laughter". Isaac means laughter, Yitschaq. It means laughter. Because both of them were Yitschaqing. They both laughed when God said. So faith doesn't mean you have to be, you know, you're so stoic that you never even waver and all that. You can laugh about it but, after that, walk from then on with faith. Encourage each other in faith. And how is the spirit of faith manifested? I believe, first, and I speak. Can I have a good "Amen"?
Believe and speak. You know how we speak to one another? Encounter night, I shared about how the fact that in the English Bible when the English people translated the New Testament and the Hebrew, they changed the Hebrew, where it says "husband and wife", all right? "Man and woman", they changed to husband and wife. God says even after they are married, right, the man calls his wife "woman". There's no word for husband or wife in the Hebrew. Even though it is your wife, you still call her "woman". Why? God knows the psychological makeup of men. God knows that for a man, the word "wife" or "husband" can be very dutiful, right? Right? Yeah, "woman".
Watch something on TV or a movie or in a magazine, "woman", "wife". And she watch Korean show, "man, that's a real man". "Husband", on the sofa, you know? "Husband", "man". Y'all don't say it but God knows that. No, he's a man and given the right opportunity, all right, he's a potential candidate for adultery. And adultery is bad, it is hurtful, it will cost you a lot. And many a times, even the children keep paying in the future, amen? So don't do it. But look at your wife as a candidate.
You say, "Pastor Prince, my wife never". Every wife is a candidate, every husband is a candidate. Once you realize that, you see them as a man, as a woman. I'm not gonna preach that sermon again. You can get that series, okay? But you know what we say to one another? The Chinese are the worst. We'll say, in English it means "old husband", all right? And how does in Chinese you call your wife, all right? Old wife. The "old" gotta be there. So the devil has programmed the language. Not only that, every expression that we have for intensity, all right, when the time you really intensely express yourself, you express yourself with death: "I'm dying to see that show, you know? 'The Avengers End Time' is here". "The End Time"! "End Games". I'm thinking of the... see? Bible mentality, okay.
Anyway, we got a superhero that is real. A superhero that died on the cross for everyone, amen. A superhero that other stories that is fairytale have got to copy. And the world is crying for a superhero. That's why they're running for all these shows. A superhero that the Father sent a Son, amen, like, he looks like us. I mean, lives amongst us as a carpenter. That's the story of Superman. The Father sent his Son with special powers, right? But he looks ordinary, amen. Remember the time when Peter Parker stopped the runaway train? Remember that? He stopped the train. He went right to the front and he was putting out his web, all the way out, and finally he stopped the train and saved everybody like this.
I don't know how many times this has been seen in "Matrix", in some of the shows and all that. It is all about a hero who's sacrificial, who gives his life. But no one has ever given their life the way Jesus did. And he's a real superhero. He can live with you. There's no end games with him. It's eternal life, hallelujah, amen. That's what we call our spouse. I don't ever do that again, amen? Let me just tell you something. "Oh, Pastor Prince, you know, when you're old, you're old. It's just a number". I'm younger than many of you who are 20 years younger. I'm gonna tell you this. I feel stronger, I can do more than when I was, amen. Praise the Lord. You know why? I watch what I say. I don't say I'm old already.
"Oh, I'm dying to see that show. I'm dying to". Why don't you say, "I'm living" because logically when you live you can watch. If you are dying, you cannot watch. But we don't realize that Proverbs tells us death and life are in the power of the tongue. Do we have that up here? "Death and life are in the power of the tongue". And you love it. Whatever you love, you love talk about death, you will eat the fruit of it. You love to talk about life, you will eat the fruit of it.
Every show, almost every show that comes out, movie and all that, the values of the world, is about death. The more violent, the more, you know, terrible, the serial murderer is, he attracts the flesh in men. Men is for, they love it, watch it. If you love it, you will eat the fruit of it. You'll start talking death. Who programmed this into the language? Who programmed oldness into the language? the Bible says: "God satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's", amen? Psalms 103 "Who satisfies your mouth with good things". Watch it, your mouth, what you say. What you say. "So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's".
By the way, in the Hebrew, the word "youth" there is from young boy to adolescence. It's not young men. Your adolescent age, amen? Watch it. If you are young again, you'll start having pimples, right? But that's the time when you're strongest, you feel. And there's a promise that God gave to... I wanna use your faith here in one area. Last few weeks we have been showing you faith. The number one area is for righteousness. You gotta believe in the midst of symptoms of sin in your body, in your mind, in the midst of it, you've gotta say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ".
Don't give into it, amen? In fact, you feel the temptation come? Confess it. "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". You don't have to say it out loud, but you can say it in your heart, in your mind. Say it. Some of you are in an environment where you can't say it out loud so just say it in your heart and mind: "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". And don't hang around there. Walk away, amen? Praise God, amen. "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". Confess it, confess before the temptation, during the temptation, even after you fall into it, confess it. But because you confess it, many a times you find you don't even have to fall into it. There's a power that comes in when you realize your true identity.
So in Job 33, Job says this. The man is dying, all right? A man is dying of a disease. "His flesh is wasting away from sight. His bones are now sticking out which once were not seen. His soul draws near the Pit, and his life to the executioners. If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man God's uprightness", God is saying, "If only there is someone who would tell men that man who is dying, that man whose life is wasting away, if only someone can tell him there is, if only a mediator can tell him, 'God is a good God. God is an upright God'", are you listening? One translation (NASB) says: "To show man what is right, the right way to go, right, what is right about God", right?
And what is right about God is that God loves you, number one, and God today is a justifier, not a judge. Because of what Jesus has done at the cross. So if you tell men the truth, what is gonna happen? The Bible says: "Then God will be gracious to the dying one and says: 'Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom'". Now, by the way, the mediator there is Jesus Christ. We also know it's only Jesus, one among a thousand, amen, who can do that. And "His flesh", look at this man who is dying. His bones are sticking out. Earlier verses says he abhors eating food and all that. Now, "His flesh shall be young like a child's, he shall return to the days of his youth".
By the way, this is New King James. It's not even as strong as the Hebrew puts it. The Hebrew and many other translations put down: "His flesh shall be fresher than a child's, younger than a child's". Let me show you the King James. The King James is accurate here. "His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth". He shall return to the days of his youth. Hey, did you hear that? The one who is dying, his flesh is wasting away. He hates eating. Food is no more a delicacy to him. He is at the brink of death. If he will hear about God's righteousness, God will say, "Deliver him from going down the Pit". Not only that, God will restore his flesh, and God will bring back youthfulness in his life. He will feel as if he's living days young again. Go on: "He shall pray to God, and God will delight in him, he shall see his face with joy".
Look at this. The last line tells us there's a new covenant verse: "For he restores to man his righteousness". So this messenger, thank God for anyone that came in your life and said, "You know what? There is good news. There is good news. God says not only will he save the person from the brink of death and the pit of destruction, God will renew his youth, even his flesh will change", amen. And God will give him his righteousness, God's own righteousness. Isn't this our life? Can I have a good "Amen"? So we must confess, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ".
"I believe, Pastor Prince, I believe that". But do you confess it? Do you say it: "I am the righteousness of God in Christ"? Especially when you are tempted. Or when you are feeling the condemnation come on you, all right? You're not condemned but you feel the guilt and the shame. What do you do? Confess, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". When you are angry and you had a quarrel with your spouse, confess, all right? "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". All of a sudden, you find you'll be able to treat your wife right, your husband right, amen.
But I feel in my heart for not only today, okay? For some time, I've been wanting to tell you, "Release your faith". For many of you, you are advancing in years, all right? And I'm concerned because you're giving yourself excuses. Every time you get tired, you will say, "Ah, never mind, I'm tired already", you know? Instead of going for your walk, you say, "Ah, not today, lah, I'm tired". And excuses get easier and easier and easier, amen? Start saying, "I'm young again". "Pastor Prince, it's obvious, you know, we are not young. You know, we pass by the Lao liao, you know"? And another language that has been programmed by the devil is what? "Old already".
Every time there's a weakness, "old already". You forget something, "old already". You start saying it. You believe it, you start saying it. You believe it, you start saying it. You must remember that there's one thing about this principle that we find in Numbers 13, Numbers 13 tells us God sent the children of Israel out of Egypt, then they're supposed to enter the Promised Land. They sent 12 spies. It was the idea actually. "Then they told him, and said: 'We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there'".
So, nevertheless it's a problem. Some people say, "Pastor Prince, I believe all that is in God's Word. I believe that. But you must be real. But pastor, you must be... see, where the heart is, nevertheless". Sometimes I talk to people and I find that I don't know why when I walk away, I feel like my heart is more anxious. I feel my heart is like troubled, you know? And then I realize it's what this person said. Now, I don't blame the person. I should have guard my heart, but there are people when they speak, you are peaceful, right, after you spend time with them, you walk away troubled. They might talk about the world events, they might talk about something else.
You gotta mark that kind of thing, you know? Don't just sit down. You've been attacked. The devil has put his words in that person's mouth and that's spiritual warfare, my friend. You don't know why all of a sudden, "Oh, I feel like down. I feel like I need to do something about that. I need to". You felt the strife and it was sown by somebody. Many a times it's fake news. We'll leave that down there. All right, so nevertheless is a problem. "Yeah, yeah, God promised us it's a land flowing with milk and honey. In fact, that brought back a cluster of grapes, you know? And look at the fruit, this is the fruit of it. It's a land flowing with milk and honey, but, but, but, nevertheless".
The nevertheless killed them. Not only that, look at drop down to what Caleb said. "Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it', the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able'". So there is a spirit that says "'We are well able'". What God said, God said, "Go in and take the land" because God said it, we are well able. He's releasing faith before it happens. The other one released faith in the other... how many understand, fear, the spirit of fear works the same way? You believe, and then you speak.
"I do not know, leh, I'm feeling this pain and all that. You know my grandfather died of this, my father died of this, and I fear". Stop it. Why don't you say, start meditating on God's words on the Scriptures, "With long life will I satisfy him", all the Scriptures that we have given you and then start saying, "I see myself well. I see myself, you know, I don't know what happened to my grandfather, all right, I can't go back there and resurrect him now. But you know something? Thank God that I can do something in my own life".
Do you know something? The Bible says if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things, old things from their father even, are passed away. All things, all things are become new. New Creation Church, you better listen. This is your verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17. So, they declared, they released, spirit of faith is also released by believing fear and then speaking. Why does it say without faith it's impossible to please God? God loved the spirit of faith, why? Because fear is believing the words of the devil. Faith comes by hearing God's Word, fear comes by believing. So, you must know one thing. Whenever you are in fear, whatever it is, you are actually submitting and believing another than God.
You cannot just say, "My problem is that I'm a very fearful person". No, somewhere along the way that fear came in. You better know there is a devil and fear is always the modus operandi of the devil. So, they said, "We are not able to take the land". Okay, drop down. "And they gave the children of Israel a bad report saying, 'The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature'". Look at what's in their heart, all right? Only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, says, "We are well able". And the rest said, "We saw the giants (the descendants of the Anakim); and we were like grasshoppers. We see ourself like grasshoppers. We look at them, they're like giants. We're like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight".
Remember this, how you see yourself will be how the enemy sees you. Next chapter, "The people cried and all that and all the children of Israel complained against Moses and the whole, 'If only we had died.'" Now, I want you to mark there words, okay, mark their words. Those of you who like to talk about death, mark their words. They said, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt. If only we had died in this wilderness. Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword that our wives and children shall become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt"?
God hates complaining. Singaporeans, God hates complaining, I'll tell you that, yeah. I mean, it's such a spirit that spreads, you know what I'm saying? One person starts something, another person something, and even there's good, you don't see it anymore already. And we like to see the dirty linen of other people, we like to see because it makes us feel better. We are finding our identity in all the wrong places. You know, it's not because you are weak. "I feel better". What kind of absurdity and perversion is that? You need that to make yourself feel better? No, my identity's in Christ.
What you say about me cannot put me down, amen, because I'm up. I'm in Christ risen. That's how God sees me. If God sees me like that, who cares how people with faulty eyes see me, people who are fallible see me? So, they complained. Don't forget their words. Don't forget their words, they died. They said, "If only we had died", they said, "in the wilderness and also in Egypt". And then drop down to what Joshua and Caleb says. "Joshua and Caleb, who are among those who had spied out tore their clothes and they spoke to all the congregation saying, 'The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land'".
You know in the Hebrew it's so beautiful. The word is actually, Young's brings it out, Young's translation. You see what the Hebrew is? This is what they said, means land. That means listen, meod, meod, itself means very much, exceeding much. But meod meod means very, very. So, Young's translation puts it, "The land we went through is a very, very good land". That's how they saw God's promises. You know, the devil will say Christian life is boring. No, it's the very, very good life, amen. You enjoy life so much more.
Let me tell you this, when people take sex, for example, that God created for enjoyment as well, all right, and they're not satisfied with that, they pervert it. Not only that, when they pervert it all the way to even animals, something is wrong. That is not a sign of people who are satisfied. That means they're not getting it, they're not satisfied... "Preach it, Pastor Prince, praise God, hallelujah. Amen, amen".
So, here we go, all right? They tore their clothes. They realized it's unbelief talking. They said, "It's a very, very good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us to this land, all right, a land flowing with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. They are bread, they are our bread". Remember what the unbelieving spies said? "We are their bread. They will devour us". But Joshua and Caleb says, "All your problems are bread", amen. That problem that you have right now is your bread. You will eat it, you will go through it and become stronger, amen? I don't care what is it, that bread is your mother-in-law, father-in-law, whatever, all right? You eat it, amen, you become stronger.
"Pastor Prince, there's a serious condition". You will eat it and come out stronger, amen. So, when you have perspective in life that every little thing that seems to be bothering you, even traffic lights and all that, they are bread, they are roti. Oh, that's good prata right there, man. Another prata, hallelujah. Another chapati, amen. Another lechem, another roti, hallelujah, bread, bread. "My, Pastor Prince, my work environment is a lot of chaos. I have to work there, but it's terrible". There's a lot of bread. There's a lot of bread there, feed of it and you will ride the waves. You won't be overcome by it. They are protection. They are our bread. "Their protection has departed from them".
Many times we see our protection departed. "Their protection is departed. The Lord is with us. Don't fear them". Israel. Don't be afraid. And the response is like this, right, "Yay, whoo! Yay. We got leaders of faith, yay". No, look at the response. "And all the congregation said to stone them with stones". Now the glory of the Lord appeared. Now God will have the final say and this is what God said. Drop down. The Lord says, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation? I have heard who complain against me". I told you God hates complain. "And I've heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, 'As I live, just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you'".
You said it you'll die in the wilderness, it will happen. You said you'll die in this wilderness, you said it, it will happen. You know, Jesus says something very, very profound in Matthew 8. We'll come back to this again. Matthew 8 Jesus says this, "Go your way", he said to the centurion, "as you have believed, as you have believed". We'll underline it, okay, for this verse. "As you have believed, so let it be done for you". As you have believed. Now, he didn't say, as you have believed right, so right results will happen to you. He didn't say that. "As you have believed".
"Pastor Prince, you know, all the preaching and all that is a bunch of nonsense". As you have believed, so be it done to you. "I don't believe that what I say". As you have believed, so be it done to you. God didn't say you believe right or believe wrong. So, the problem is that Jesus also said out of the good treasure, you bring forth good things. Out of the evil treasure, you bring forth evil things. What you believe, the quality of your life today is the result of your believing and speaking in the past, amen?
Let's go back to Numbers 14, you find that God says, "How long will they complain? How long as I live what they say I'll do to them"? It will happen to them. Now, look at this, God says, "The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you", From 20 years old and above. Do you know what went in with Joshua and Caleb to the Promised Land? A new generation. You know, if a generation doesn't want to believe God says, "I'll just wait, you'll pass away. A new generation that will believe me, a generation that grew up in the wilderness, a generation that saw the miracles for the water out of the flinty rock, amen, the pillar of cloud every day guiding them, almost like air-conditioning environment, spreading around, not just a pillar in front, it spread like a cloud so they don't feel the sun".
So, you go to Israel and say, "No wonder they complain". No, no, they never felt the sun. The cloud was spread out. The Bible says he spread a cloud as a covering. They never felt the sun, amen. When there's food, there's food every day, amen. There's manna from heaven, champion's food, none of the present-day diet, no matter what breakthroughs they have can compare with God's manna diet, amen? Not only that, they had meat to eat, amen. And God kept their feet, they never swelled. Some of you walk for a while your feet is swollen already. They feet never swelled, the Bible says, and they clothes, okay, grew with them.
So, the Bible says all this I'm sharing from the Word of God. There's no reason to complain, but it's the heart of man, it's the heart of man. Are you listening, people? It's the heart of man. The heart gotta change what you believe inside. Okay, let me bring this to a close. I told you been a number of weeks I've been wanting to share those of you who are coming to a certain age, amen, let me share with you a story that is a powerful story. By the way, before that, God says, "Except for Caleb, you will by no means enter the land. Caleb and Joshua, the rest of you, you'll be no means enter the land".
Now, why? Because Caleb has a different spirit. Look at this, drop down, what did God say about Caleb? "My servant Caleb because he has a different spirit". God loves it. What kind of spirit do you think it is? We having the same spirit of faith. God loved, without faith, it's impossible to please God, and there's something about faith that God will ignore everybody else and if you have faith, he will zero in on you and focus on you. Faith pleases God like none other.
"But Pastor Prince, I give money to the charity". That's good, but you can do it without faith, amen, it profits you nothing. Faith is trusting what God says is true, not what the enemy says, not what your feelings says, not what appearances say. We walk by faith and not by sight. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. God says he has a different spirit. It's almost like God has joy. In midst of all this, there is this person that gave God joy, "Caleb, he has a different spirit. He has followed me fully. I'll bring him to the land and he will inherit and his seed".
I have a friend in Israel, his name is Samuel Smatja, a dear friend of mine. Many of you know him because he, you know, he runs a tour agency, travel agency that we use, and he's a dear friend, loves the Lord, have been revolutionized by the gospel of grace. He preaches in his congregation, and he preaches grace every time. And one of the saddest things when I was in Israel was this, just before that, prior to that, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. It's so much so that when the doctors discovered that, it has spread all the way to his bladder and it's an aggressive form.
And the doctors told him, looks very bad. It's not just a normal kind of cancer, it's an aggressive form. It's a very rare aggressive form and they said, "We have a special treatment but even with this special treatment, it's only 20% to 30%, 20% to 30%". We verified that. He said, "20% to 30%, even after the treatment that you'll recover". When we were in Israel, the pastors and I, we prayed for him. And I, you know, we prayed for him, we had Communion together, and I refused to let him say anything negative. We refused to say anything negative. We just say, "brother, I see you healed", after the prayer, "I see you well, amen".
And just before I left, I looked at him and he was still very sad, he was very downcast and all that. I went back to him with a Word from the Lord and the Word was this, "Now", I said, "when you look to the future, you are looking at yourself in a coffin. You are looking at yourself dark things in the future, you're not planning. No, the verse I have from the Lord for you is Isaiah 54, spare not, lengthen your cords, spread out your curtains, for you will break forth on the right and the left. Start preparing for growth. Start preparing for success. Start preparing for health and wholeness. Start planning for next year's vacation. Start planning, start looking".
Then he looked at me, "How do you know that I was thinking these thoughts"? He said, "I'll do that". I looked at him, "You are well and you will enjoy those things". And that was only two months ago when, March when were in Israel. Last week, right after the Encounter Night, how many are glad for the Encounter Night? You enjoyed yourself? Okay, right after the Encounter Night when I was in my greenroom, I received a call, right? And the call was this, "Pastor Prince", and I spoke to him at 3 a.m. that morning. He says, "Pastor Prince, good news, I went back to the doctor, the doctor says they cannot find any trace of cancer". No trace. He said, "When I heard it, I wept like a baby". He said, "I wept, and I went, and I wept like a baby".
Many of you know him. He said, "I wept, and I wept, and I wept like a baby". And he told me before when he has this condition, many men of God, because he hosts all these tours in Israel for many, many well-known people and all that, many of them are telling him, "Go get this special diet, go on this special diet. Go on this special nutrition, go on this". Now, all these things are fine, no problem with that, but you cannot try to resolve something supernatural with the things that are natural no matter how good those natural things are. It wasn't our faith, it wasn't our works, it is the Lord, but his faith imparted to us is we believe because our hearts believed and we speak. And we taught him how to say it, and he started taking Communion.
After we prayed, you know, he's been taking Communion before that every day, and he continued taking Communion even until the day he received the good news. "I wept like a baby", he told me. And he's one day younger than me. My birthday's on the 15th, he's on the 16th, one day younger than me. He said, "This is the best Christmas". Christmas. "Present I've ever received", he said. "It's the best", he said. I was so happy. Of all the good news I hear this month, this is the greatest because he's a dear friend of mine.
Now, in closing I just want to share with you real quick for those of you who are, you feel your age is advancing, that means you have to grow old, the world is telling you old. Lao kong, lao this, lao, everything is lao, lao, lao, lao, lao. Lao means old. What will you say, amen? Where's the paradigm you draw from, okay, from the Word of God? There was a man who helped David. David was fleeing from Absalom and whenever you see in the Bible David fleeing and his mighty men, or the 3D army, those in debt, distress, came to him and became the mighty men, that's a picture of the church today. Because today, the heavenly Son of David, all right, is rejected.
Generally, he's rejected by the world, amen? But we who accept him, we who know he's the soon and coming King, we who know that the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdom of Christ, we follow him now, amen. We follow him in the wilderness, amen. We take his rejection, amen. So, the story is talking about our times that's why David is a picture of Christ. Solomon is a picture of Christ in the millennial kingdom when he comes again.
So, here we are, David was fleeing from Absalom, his own son who tried to usurp the throne, and David didn't want to fight. David had mighty men with him. He didn't want to fight his own son so he left. And during this time when he left, there was an elderly man by the name of Barzillai who took care of David. He was a rich man. And then after Absalom was killed, David came back to the palace. On his way back, he was about to cross the River Jordan. He looked at Barzillai, this old man. He says, "You know what? You took care of me. I want to take care of you".
Let's follow the story. All right, "Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and went across the Jordan with the king, to escort him across the Jordan. Now Barzillai was a very aged man, eighty years old". Some of you are now in your 20's, 80's is coming and you feel like wow, it's gonna be very old. And the Bible says he's a very aged man, 80 years old. But why he, very aged man? I'll tell you why. "He had provided the king with supplies while he stayed at Mahanaim, for he was a very rich man. And the king said to Barzillai, 'Come across with me, and I will provide for you while you are with me in Jerusalem'".
So, it's like this, Jesus is standing before you. David is a type of Christ, I told you just now, right? And he' saying to you, "Come with me and I'll provide for you. Come with me to my house. Come with me to my provision. See yourself as a risen man in me, amen. Don't look at yourself in the natural. This side of Jordan, that side of Jordan, everything is natural. This side, faith, where the supernatural happens. The miraculous is a daily thing, amen, come over this side". And look at the response of this man. "Barzillai said to the king, 'How long have I to live'"? Only 80 years old, huh?
All right, "That I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am today eighty years old. Can I discern between the good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any longer the voice of singing? Why then should I be a burden"? Drop down. "Your servant will go a little way across the Jordan with the king. And why should the king repay me with such a reward? Please let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own city, near the grave of my father and mother".
So, even though he's a good man, his mouth and his belief, can you see that? Belief said what? Growing old at 80 years old. "I cannot see. I cannot taste anymore, not cannot see, I cannot taste anymore. I cannot hear the singing anymore". This is what he's saying. Then he says, "Here is your servant Chimham". Chimham was the son. Said, "Take my son. You want to bless me? When you look at my son, see me and bless him". By the way, just let you know Chimham later on, David gave him his house in Bethlehem because David was king in Jerusalem. So, the house that he received from his great, great grandparents, Boaz and Ruth, that house in Bethlehem was David's house because he grew up in that house. That house was given to Chimham.
Later on the Bible used the word in Jeremiah, Chimham, the lodging place of Chimham in Bethlehem. It became the inn that Jesus was denied when he was a baby. They went to the inn. Actually, that baby has a right to the inn because he came from the line of David. It is his ancestral home. Anyway, that's just extra. So, here we go. He says, "I'll go back and I'll die. I'm about to die". He keep on saying death, right? So, there are people who are good. There are people who will take care of the king. There are people who are devoted to the Lord like Barzillai, but their mouth is full of death, right, old, am I right, am I right? How old was he? Eighty years old.
Now, look at the same Joshua who has a different spirit, Joshua 14, then I'm gonna close. "Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh", Caleb again. "Caleb said to Joshua, 'You know the word'". The very first thing that came out of mouth was, "You know God's Word, what God said". He's full of God's Word, full of God's Word. "You know what God said. You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart".
By now all those who complained, all those who said they cannot, all died already. He and Joshua are still alive. The two of them says that, "we are well able to take the land", spirit of faith, amen? And he says, "I was 40 years old". Now, "Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses swore on that day, saying". He's always conscious of God's Word, even in the mouth of Moses. "'Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.' And now, behold, the Lord has kept me. Look Joshua, the Lord has kept me alive. As he said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old".
So, he's five years older than Barzillai, right? So, he was 40 when he spied out the land and came back and said, "We can do it. They are roti for us. They are bread for us". What a spirit, what a spirit to take towards your challenges, your obstacles, your whatever it is that's besetting you right now. Life won't be stressful because there'll be things going wrong all the time. When you are in a hurry, the light turn red of all the times someone come in front of you. Always remember, another piece of bread, another piece of bread. I'll eat this up. Then instead of the way Paul says like this, "I will glory in my infirmities. I will glory in necessities. I will glory in all the troubled places, for then the strength of Christ will rest on me".
So, he says, "Now here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me". Hey, what about this? "I can't hear the singing of the women and the men anymore. I can't taste good and bad. I can't taste sour or umami or sweet. I can't taste". None of that, "I'm as long today as 40 years old". The moment he believed, he stopped growing old. You can call this title, The Man Who Refused To Grow Old, amen? "I'm as strong. Just as my strength was then, so now is my strength". Then you say, "Pastor, it's spiritual strength, pastor". Read carefully, "So now is my strength for war". Mixed martial arts, I'll take you on, amen. Eighty-five years old, 85 years old.
Look at his confession, ever since he was 40 years old, he learned to release his faith, what he believed, he see himself. No, the other ten says, "we see ourself as food for them. They are big". For Joshua and Caleb, "No, we see them as our food. God is with us. Their defense has departed from them". The rest had grasshopper complex. "We see yourself like grasshoppers". You know what happened to grasshoppers? They get pecked off real fast, all right? No such language from the mouth of Caleb and Joshua and here he is 45 years later, 45 years later, 85 years old, "I'm as strong today as I was", and the strength is a strength for war, right? Drop down, "Now therefore", he told Joshua, "Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim".
Same problem, same enemy, right, the Anakim. They are there in the land and he says, "'The cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said,' Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb". By the way, the last two months, my pastors and I, we were there in Hebron and I asked for the mountain, and I looked behind, the mountain of Hebron is now filled with houses and all that, but you can still see the shape of the mountain. That's the mountain that Caleb says, "Give me this mountain". It's directly opposite his father Abraham, you know, all Israel come from Abraham where Abraham and Sarah were buried, right? You'll see the mountain there. It became his inheritance. It became his inheritance, Caleb's inheritance at 85 years old. He went to the mountain, he killed the Anakims who were giants.
You know why? At 85, he was still eating bread. Ha, ha, ha, ha. He was still eating bread, amen. So, right now, I don't know what you are beset with but let me tell you this, you can choose to be like Barzillai and please, I got no stones to throw at Barzillai. There are people who are devoted. Look at Barzillai's devotion to David. He took care of David. He was a very rich man. When David was fleeing then he needed supplies, food, amen? He supplied all this from his store, so he cannot fault his devotion to David. But one thing though, when David says come, "Come cross the line, cross the River Jordan, come on this side", he says, "No, I'll stay on the natural side. I'm gonna die any way". Whereas our friend Caleb, he crossed all the way in. If God said it, it is so. So, he's a man who doesn't know how to grow old. And the people in New Creation Church is the same, amen?
Amen, some of you is thinking, wow, my goodness, you know, next is the milestone is 80 years old, but you know what? Look at 80 and say, "Well, I'll be like Caleb still". Can I have a good amen? Will you release your faith? And stop saying old. Even children forget, all right? If you forget, stop saying you're old because the more you say it, even naturally, your body will respond, you know, to what you say and that's why the first thing the Holy Spirit does on the day of Pentecost, the very first thing is catch hold of all the apostles' tongues and the disciples' tongues, amen, and give us a new language. Are you listening, people?
And so, I bless you with this, watch your spirit of faith. If you're believing is a problem, I think the images you're looking at is really bad. You're looking at a lot of betrayal, you know, people who cannot be trusted, death, a lot of disease, this person you're watching on drama series that somebody's always dying, you know, when things are really good, something someone die, you know? Things are really, really good, someone die. Really, really good, it won't work out. So, you're programming your image. Now, you laugh. So, I'm not saying right or wrong, okay? I do watch some for myself once a while, but I know that how that worldly spirit can come in and put pictures in your heart. Then when your start confessing you find like it's not real.
So, change your heart first. Find your stars. There are many of them in the Bible. Think of yourself, "I'm like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season. My leaf will not wither". Just the other day, I told them Encounter Night that I love to watch autumn trees. Listen, I'll close with this. When I look at autumn trees the different colors, the different hues, orange hues, and yellow, and beautiful brown and all that, I love autumn colors. And the Lord spoke to me and the Lord says, "You know, son, you're looking at death. No matter how beautiful this world, they try to offer you things. It might look beautiful, but those colors is because it's the last dying stages of the leaf. And finally winter will come, it will die", amen?
God says, "You live on resurrection on the other side. You live post winter. Death is behind you. You are in Christ risen". Can I have a good amen? Don't look at the world and... by the way, I will still enjoy autumn. You will still enjoy autumn, okay, if you travel and all that, amen? But just realize everything beautiful in this world that has death on it it will not satisfy. Like what Jesus told the woman at the well, "You drink this water". Whether it is entertainment, whether it's drama series, whether it is a pursuit of finances, you know, more, more money, more money, whatever it is, status, fame, power. "Whoever drinks this water will thirst again but whoever drinks the water I give him, shall never thirst".
All right, every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Thank you, Jesus. Friend, watch your heart for out of it are the issues of life. Guard your heart. It's a treasure. Jesus says a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, brings forth means he brings it out in the open. An evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil things. So, friend, don't try to change your wife, don't try to change your husband. Look to God to change your heart. You already have a new heart, a heart of flesh. God's promptings are in your heart, listen to that. But God is on the wavelength of faith and not fear.
So, one of the best ways to look at your heart to understand, you cannot look at your heart, by the way, without the Holy Spirit. So, ask the Lord to show you the areas that you are fearful. Are you fearful that one day something bad will happen to your children? Because you've been seeing too much on Facebook, images of death happening to people to whom you thought are good people. That's how the fear came in. Ask yourself, "What area of fear or worry is in my heart"? Look at that area and then ask the Lord. You cannot do this by yourself, you must do it with the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord to show you how it came in.
And sometimes he may tell you you're watching too much documentaries or you're watching too much crime series or whatever. You're watching too much of this crime series or whatever that's causing fear, but you might think it's not related. "It's just a movie, I know it", but subconsciously your inner man is imbibing it and you know that you have neglected the Word of God for some time. You have not been spending time and now you wonder why you are dry, why you're fearful, why you're anxious. Tell the Lord give you a fresh desire. His delight is in the Word of God, the law of the Lord and in his Word, his law does he meditate day and night. That man who delights in God's Word, that woman who meditates on God's Word, day and night shall be like a tree planted.
And by the way, it says his leaf will not fail, amen? There's only one place where it says in this world where the leaf will not fail is when God blesses you. You're a meditator of God's Word, your leaf will not fail, and leaf there is a picture of health. Your youthfulness, the green will never fade. With every head bowed all across this place as believers are talking the Lord right now, when you bring something to the light, it's no more dark. There's no more darkness there, light has come in.
But for the rest of you, you say, "Pastor Prince, I've never made Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord, I've never put my trust in what Christ has done", this is your opportunity. The Bible says the Word of God is near you, listen, this is how you get saved, is near you and in your mouth and in your heart. If you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is your Lord, you believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. With the heart man believes unto righteousness. With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. So, right now, pray this prayer with me.
Heavenly Father, I thank you Christ died for my sins and was raised from the dead when I was declared righteous. Jesus Christ is my Lord, my Savior, and I thank you from now on my life is the eternal life, the very life of God, the highest form of life, the abundant life. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name, all my sins are forgiven. I'm greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved in Jesus's name.
And all the people said? God bless you, we'll see you again. Love you all.