Joseph Prince - The Lord Of Time And Space

Praise the Lord, welcome. And welcome to the year 2020, amen. It's gonna be the year of 2020. Praise God. The year of building God's house, it would always involve building God's house, amen? Amen, we all make God's house and definitely involves God's house. But just to let you know that until this week, nobody knew about the theme of the year that God has, but this time the Lord spoke to me something that I was studying on, and he says this is gonna be the theme for this coming year. And this is one of the first times that it happened early, earlier than usual, which is a few months ago, which is last year.

So, when I received that teaching, I didn't yet have the theme of the year. In other words, the year of, you know, I don't have that but what I have is the teaching, and I began to study that more and more, and it was amazing how all this paralleled with everything that I was studying. It's like, it's confirmation of the confirmation. So, I know that it's gonna be an amazing year for God's people. But first, I just want to share about the theme of the year. There's always a theme, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, all right, there's a theme even for the world.

You know, the world will have a year of breakthrough, or technological breakthroughs. It's a year where there's amazing inventions that we are still using, a year of this, a year of that. Even for the Christian circle, like they call this year the year the Bible, and it will involve the Word of God definitely, amen? So, many, many Christian leaders all over the world, they are calling this year the year of the Bible, and I thank God for the emphasis once again on the Word of God.

Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away". We've tried everything, you know, we have all the resources and the helps of modern science and medicine than any other generation ever, and yet many people are suffering more this time around than ever. Their diet is supposed to improve. Mental health is at all-time low. In fact, it's on the increase even here in Singapore. People are suffering from depression, the number of young people despairing of life and cutting themselves and things like that. I'll be touching on this, but I just want you to know that the theme of the year for God's people is amazing because God knows what is the emphasis for that year.

So, some people say, "Well, you know what, Pastor? I believe that every year is the year of the latter rain". Yes, it's true, amen. God does not take away, God adds, amen? So, we are still in the year of restful increase. We are still in the year of crowned goodness. We are still in the year of unceasing fruitfulness. We are still in the year of possessing our possessions. We are still in the year of jubilee. We are still in the year of hesed wisdom. We are still in the year of the latter rain. It's still raining blessings, amen. And it's for God's people.

Don't try to make this something applicable for the world, amen. It's not for the world. In fact, for as far as the world is concerned, it's gonna get darker and darker. The Bible tells us that, the Word of God tells us that. Before Jesus makes his appearance, the world will get darker and darker, but the glory of the Lord will rise upon you, and it will be seen on you. His glory will be seen on you and darkness actually allows the light to be seen in all its glory like never before, amen. I've said time again that if you switch off all the lights in this auditorium, and there's one flicker of light somewhere, everybody will see it, right? But the darker it is, pitch darkness, a little light even will be seen in all its glory, amen?

So, when the whole world is like people painting peace. You know, there was a competition one time of who can portray peace on the canvas. It was a real competition, and at the end they sort of like selected the last three. One was very peaceful scenery of, you know, a sun rising the horizon. Another one was, you know, beautiful scenery of pasture and all that, but the one that won amazed everybody. It was stormy. There's a storm over the sea. The sea was raging with these waves, foaming out these waves, but you look at first glance, even come nearer, you can't see why it's portraying peace, but near the craggy rock facing the sea, the cliffs, there is a bird, a mother bird, and she has her wings over her young ones, and the young ones are in absolute peace.

The Bible says he will cover you with his feathers throughout this year and under his wings you shall trust, amen. Peace is not the absence of adverse circumstances. It's not the absence of challenges and battles. We'll go through this this year, but we're not going through this alone. The Lord will be with us. Even though you walk through, and thank God you're not gonna walk and dwell, you're gonna walk through the shadow, the valley of the shadow. Remember, it's the shadow, amen, a shadow of a tiger does not kill anybody, amen. You're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil. For he is with you, amen, and his rod and his stuff.

That's the nature of the shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd. It's so good to know that we are facing this year with our shepherd. We do not know everything that's gonna happen. And I'm always excited because it's not just this Sunday, but the following Sunday. The first few Sundays especially, I find myself saying things that I don't plan to say and that in the Bible is called the gift of prophecy. It's words of wisdom coming out. A word of wisdom is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and it talks about the future, amen. I find this coming out, not necessary the first service. The first is you are doing more teaching on the theme, but many a times it can happen, amen. I'm open to it, amen.

I've talked to the Lord about it, and I've asked the Lord to show you, but whatever it's gonna show is always nothing to do with any other person's business, amen. It is something that will benefit you like the Word of God says like Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah, "I am the Lord thy God who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go", amen? He teaches you to profit, and he leads you by the way you should go. God never teach you to lose. "I'm the Lord thy God who teaches you to profit", amen. And all the people said?

So, we are not here to learn to lose. I'm not saying there is no battle. Sometimes people say, "Well, you know, you're just saying that life will be a bed of roses in 2020", or, you know, they might be saying that about this sermon today. But let me tell you this, what I'm talking about is for God's people. It's for God's house. There was gold in the temple within the house, but outside you see just stones, amen? Remember we talked about the Temple of Solomon. We want to go right into it right now, praise God.

And we see the Temple of Solomon. This is a picture of the Temple of Solomon from afar. You see the gold trimmings and all that and but if you look at this, by the way, this is the glorious temple. It's the most glorious temple. We know that God dwells with people in the tabernacle. God is holy and sinful men cannot come into God's presence without consequences any more than the mud remains mud when the sun comes out. No, it becomes clay, it's hardened. Nothing wrong with the sun. The nature of the sun is to shine, is to generate heat. Nothing wrong with the sun, it's the nature of the sun but the mud cannot remain the same. It will become hardened.

So, likewise sinful men will perish in the presence of the holy God, but God loves man, amen, but now you know that this is not God's plan. God never meant for man to die in the beginning, never meant for man to even have sickness or even to grow old. It's never God's plan. The Bible calls death an enemy, and the context there is physical death, amen, not just spiritual death, physical death. And the Bible says the last enemy that will be put under Jesus's feet will be physical death, amen. We're waiting for that to happen.

When Jesus comes for us, no more death. Our bodies will be transformed like his body and we are waiting for that to happen, amen. Jesus's body was not a body of just spirit, you know, it's not like a ghost. His body was a real body, but it's a body that transcends this time and space. It's a body that is incorruptible. He could transcend matter, amen. He could appear and disappear, not go through the door, appear and disappear. And yet he says, "Handle me", he told his disciples after he rose from the dead. A body, a ghost does not have flesh and bones.

A spirit, he says, does not have flesh and bones as you see me have. They touch him, they handle him. John says we touch him, we handle him, we handle the Word of life. The Word became flesh and now his flesh is incorruptible. And when it comes again, the Bible says he will change our vile bodies like unto his body. No more sickness, no more disease, no more falling asleep when the pastor is preaching, no more such things, amen. Amen, you won't feel bored. You won't feel tired. You won't be looking for excitement to stir yourself physically. You will be strong, you'll be vibrant, you'll be excited. You'll be living in a great sense of well-being. It's called shalom forever, and forever is a long time.

Make sure, amen, make sure. This life on earth is part of God's plan for us, but it is not the life, amen. The life that he has for us is the whole universe is our playground, amen. He has galaxies upon galaxies beyond this galaxy, amen. Look at the world today, any just not talking about hundreds of miles, even a few miles nearer to the sun and the earth will burn, amen. A few miles away from the sun, the whole earth will freeze. The earth is exactly where it's supposed to be and it's not because of some chaotic bang in the universe and everything. From the bang came out the orderly cosmos of the universe. Come on, people, amen.

I'm sure when God's speaks, "light be", there was a bang, I'm sure, but don't come and tell me that when I bust my car, it's gonna become a Rolls-Royce, amen. No order comes out of chaos. No beauty comes out of destruction, amen. So, the whole universe, let's acknowledge God. Man refusing to acknowledge God became fools, man professing themselves. The Bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no God, amen. That's what the Word of God tells us, and man refusing to acknowledge him as God starts to worship something and usually they worship themselves. Amen, it's all about me and life about yourself is very painful. Life about yourself, just for itself, is very painful. In any relationship you go in, if it's all about self, it's very painful, amen.

Pastor, what has this gotta do with theme of the year? No, I just say that for fun, just for fun, for my pleasure, amen, just to get it off my chest, amen. Praise the Lord. Okay, hallelujah. Now, last year, actually I gave you an illusion. I prepared you all with something that I usually teach a lot on the tabernacle, but very seldom, I have taught on aspects of it, but very seldom on the Temple of Solomon. Okay, so the theme of the year has got to do with the Temple of Solomon. We're stepping from the tabernacle, which is a picture of grace, amen, to the temple, which is a picture of glory.

Everything the temple, if you do a cross section of the temple that you saw just now, show the temple again, if you do a cross section of the temple, we see the holy place is larger than the tabernacle of Moses in the desert, all right, in the wilderness. And if you go closer, you'll find that even the stones, remember the stones we talked about last week, that the Bible says the stones that make up the temple, they were brought here, but now you can't see the stones.

Now, go backwards and go back. You see, outside, the people outside, they see the stone. They don't see the glory in sight, amen. When your friends, your colleagues look at you, you know, they see an ordinary person, but within you is Christ, amen. The gold is within, and that's why the way God leads us is from within. God does not lead us from without. And in the Old Testament, God will even give signs like the fleece becomes wet, or the fleece is dry to Gideon, for example, God will give a sign to Elijah, the size of a cloud the size of a man's hand. He will give signs outside because God was outside and man was sinful and there was no perfect sacrifice, amen, to atone for man's sins, so man was unclean within.

The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in man, but today after Jesus died and rose again, hey, hallelujah, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled all the disciples, amen? And since then, he's been filling all of us, hallelujah. Know you not that you are the temple of God? You are a walking, talking, mobile temple of God, amen. And being the temple of God, where does God lead you today? From inside and that's why these promptings from within, these nudges, these prompting, pray for this lady. Amen, but she looks fine. No, pray for her. These are the promptings we need to obey. Can I have a good amen?

And these are the ones that will help you, and it's got a lot to do with the theme of this year, praise God, these promptings from the Spirit. Y'all ready? The Queen of England gave a speech recently, right, Christmas, her usual Christmas speech that she gives every Christmas Eve. I normally don't watch it. Someone asked me to watch it. And when I watched it, and that person doesn't know that about the theme of the year. When I watched it, it's all about the theme of the year.

So, can God use leaders? Yes, yes. Caiaphas was the high priest of the year that he wanted Jesus crucified. Obviously, that's not God's will, right? But because he was a high priest, the Bible says he prophesied. God allowed him to prophesy that one should die for the nation and not the whole nation perish, amen. And the Bible says he prophesied because he was the high priest that year. So, there are a lot of confirmation and signs showing, and I'm so excited and I gotta build it up first, okay? I gotta show you, because it's gotta be a teaching that you understand. And the theme of the year is, I noticed that when the Lord gives us a theme, he wants it to be evangelistic as well.

So, whether you put it on your car, you know, it's a decal form or whether you're wearing on your jersey next time, it cannot be so obvious the year of favor, the year of goodness is good, you know? It's gotta be something like hesed wisdom, and when you wear it, people ask you, "Wisdom I understand, but what is hesed"? You know, it's gotta be like that. Then he opens up the conversation. You get a chance to talk and evangelize, share the good news, amen. Amen, tell them about the goodness of God, about the hesed of God, and how this Word is the most frequently expression for praise in the Old Testament, hallelujah, amen. And opens up, you know, like the latter rain.

People say, "What later rain is this? What later rain? What kind of rain is this"? And it opens up the conversation. So, likewise for this year, its gonna be something really, really deep, amen. Theme-buktu. Okay, no, no, it's not, okay. Anyway, the year, this year we're gonna see the temple of God being built, amen, because the Lord started it last week already, in fact, a lot of things that we are seeing it happen already, not even the the year but the last few months, I'm seeing the fulfillment of this year already, the theme of the year. And it started actually towards the end of last year as the Lord moves in, and I can see that all of us, the Bible says, we are like living stones.

Remember last week we learned that all the temples, if we're brought to the temple, all the stones of the temple, they were brought to the temple. All the stones actually were cut and hewn on location from the quarry. They are brought out of darkness just like you and I. We were all in darkness at one time. We didn't know God, amen, we even blasphemed God. We live life as if there is no God, amen. We live life as if we won't die, as if this life is not temporal. We live life, you know, just fulfilling our own desires. At the end, we are using people for our own gain, amen.

And we love money and use people and instead of loving, you know, people and using money to bless them and to help them. But we live life that has no purpose, we end up with an empty feeling. We end up with this, blah, you know this feeling of frustration all the time, and yet we think we are fulfilling all our desires. But Jesus said, "I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly". For the Lord when, you see, those stones, if no one went in to draw them out, they will always be there.

You can throw a book inside, "How To Redeem Yourself For Dummies". Read the book, you'll be okay. They can't come out. You can take the two stones of the Ten Commandments and tell them, "Do your best to keep it, and you will come out". None will come out, amen? You can throw a ladder inside, none will come out, amen, and I show you the video of my being in that cave, the quarry in Israel, in Jerusalem. And they have found out where Solomon got his stones from, amen, there's a quarry, Zedekiah's cave there, all right, you find the quarries are there and you can see the shape that is formed.

Some of the stones are left behind. For some reason, it was not deemed fit, it was left behind. You can see the stone cut halfway and left there. Remember that last week, amen? It's a picture of all of us. We were cut and brought out of darkness to proclaim his praise. Show them 1 Peter 2, and the Bible says, "And coming to Jesus as to a living stone", Jesus who has been rejected by man. This Jesus is the living stone. Our Lord Jesus is the living stone. But generally when he came to Israel, he was rejected, but as many as received him, to them God gave power to become sons of God, amen.

"And he was rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ". Notice, we are built stone by stone by stone by stone, and there's no sound of work at the temple. It's all hewn at the quarry so that no sound of hammer, or iron work is heard in the temple location. Everything was designed in place.

God has a purpose and a plan for each one of you. You have a destiny in God that no one else can fulfill. You are not an accident, amen, amen. If your parents may have an accident, according to them, or you were conceived out of wedlock, but the fact that you are there, God placed you there, amen. We don't talk about the means. The means can be wrong, but God caused you to be birthed, amen. God has a plan, and you have a purpose in that plan, in that destiny, that no one else can fulfill. No set of fingerprints are the same, amen. God designed it to be so. You are unique. You are precious, amen. And the Bible says that we all living stones. God needs everyone, amen.

"We are being built up a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices". Now, drop down to verse 9. "But you are a chosen race". Say amen. If people ask you what race are you, you say chosen, amen. A royal priesthood, not just a priesthood but a royal priesthood. A king and a priest in the Old Testament is to typify to us how they function. A king's word is power. When a king decrees, it's done. Can have a good amen? A priest, on the other hand, is someone who brings praises to God. He brings glory to God like all of us.

So, we are king priests. We go into God's presence as priests, amen, and then we come out with power from his presence to speak to sickness and sickness leaves, amen. And to proclaim peace where there is disorder and where a storm rages, we can come in and bring the blessing of heaven into the situation. You're all royal priests, amen, all of you are royal priests. That's why if you ask me, what does holiness, true holiness look like? Royalty. It's like you don't have to say that you're royal.

Jesus was dressed like any common person and by the hillside of Galilee, yet people flocked to him. He looked, you know, he doesn't look like the Pharisees, doesn't look like the Sadducees, the religious leaders of the day, yet people flock to him and there's something divine, there's something royal. There's something, you know, they have a mien of royalty. There's a princeliness about Jesus. That's true holiness. You cannot stop, you know, greatness in a man. It just shines out. And there's humility. It's not that, "Don't come near me, I'm holier than you". It's not that kind of a self-righteous, that kind of thing Jesus hates.

That's why the self-righteous Pharisees hated Jesus and cried out for his death. Amen, because Jesus make God so personable. You know, they wanted the people to go through them to God, but Jesus brought God to them. Amen, even to the sinners, through the woman caught in adultery. He did not compromise the law. He says, "He that is without sin, throw the first stone". There's no compromise. Yes, stone her, but only those without sin is qualified to throw the first stone. And the one without sin is him, and yet he did not. He could, but he would not. They would, rather, but they could not. They had sin.

Oh, the beauty of our Lord Jesus. No wonder the Father says, when he came out of the waters of baptism, "You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased". There's no one that brought such joy and delight and pleasure to God's heart as Jesus. The Bible says he's more precious, more beautiful than 10,000. It's an expression of no one compares to him, amen? He's altogether lovely, amen? I mean, the Lord Jesus is your shepherd. He will care for you. When he's kind, it's not softness. Softness and sentimentalism doesn't help people. When you are sentimental, you're not helping people, amen. You get soft.

When sometimes a child needs to be corrected, you are soft, you get sentimental. "Oh, you know, this child is so hard to get this child finally, you know, in my older years, I got this child, so I dare not correct the child". No, no, the child becomes spoiled, amen. So, softness is not good. Sentimentalism is not good. But Jesus, when he's kind, he's truly kind. It's the kindness of God. When we are soft, we sort of hide it, we are just being kind. No, no, you're not being kind, you are afraid. That's different. When Jesus is humble, he washed the disciples' feet. It's like a prince stooped down. There's royalty there. And yet there's glory, but he's humble. But there's beauty there. Can you see it, amen?

When he's humble, he's not servile. You know servile? Servile is like, whoa, he belongs there, he's a servant. No, there's no servility in his humility. When he's firm, amen, it doesn't hurt. He's altogether lovely. May we be like him. No wonder the Bible says God's desire is for all of us to be conformed to his image. That's how true holiness looks like. It's not this idea of how you dress up, you know, or ladies have no makeup on their face and a bun so tight that when you blink, the whole thing shakes, amen?

What's the point of having a bun so tight, no makeup on your face, but your tongue is so long that you can sit in the kitchen and lick a spoon in the living room? You know what I'm saying or not? That means you talk bad about people all the time. What's the point of having no makeup? God is more concerned about what is in your heart than the outside. But on the other hand, don't dress like you don't have enough clothes. You know what I'm saying or not? Amen? There's more to you, there's more to you, listen, there's more to you than your clothes, amen? By all means, you come to God's house, you know, I mean, God's house actually not the building, but the gathering of God's people. We honor the occasion. It's a time of worship, amen?

So, we dress up, amen. We can dress a singlet, God will still accept you. Man might not. They will treat you based on your outside, right? The Bible says, "Men looks on the outward appearance, God looketh on the heart". So, with God, you have nothing to worry about, it's man you got to worry about, amen? But on the other hand, be wise. The Lord just said men looks on the outward appearance. When you go for an interview, men looks on the outward appearance. Use that for your wisdom, amen.

"Pastor, what's the point"? It's coming. It's coming, all the point, amen? I told you when I preach, I just want to follow the Spirit to say what he wants said, amen? That speaking is the oracles of God and not just chapter and verse. Okay, praise God. So, the purpose for calling you, we got stuck at the royal priesthood. "A holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies". And the word "excellencies" here is moral excellencies. That's why this is how true holiness looks like.

People look at you and they see the moral excellencies of who? Not yours, but of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. They look at your life and they want to be like you, amen. They want to live that kind of life you have. Even rich people, remember this, being rich is not a matter of possessing lots of money, amen. There are poor people having lots of money, but they are still poor, amen. Poor inside because the riches of God's wisdom and the moral excellency is not there. So, they are always striving to prove themselves, always striving to make another million, always striving to have to show themselves that they can do it all, or things like that. That's insecurity, and that's not true wealth.

And today I'm telling you, God's going to bring you to a greater place of prosperity, but prosperity by the Bible's definition. This year, amen? And the greatest prosperity is to know him, and to know him more and more. So, the gold that you see, show them the gold again, the gold that you see inside there is a picture of all of us, the stones. Actually, it's the stone is overlaid, we see the wood, the humanity of Jesus. Wood speaks of humanity. And see the wood is incorruptible wood, amen? Not subject to decay.

That's why you can find a cedar wood, cedar tree even for 1,000 years, amen. It's like the California redwood, amen. And you find that after you are overlaid, you're overlaid with gold, and that's divine righteousness. God looks at you and God puts his righteousness on you. The moment you believe on Jesus, God treats you like Jesus. Your actions are not yet perfect, your thoughts are not perfect, amen? Your words, it's very obvious many a times it's not perfect.

But like for me, you know, the other day, I knew umbilical cord gives that thing to the baby, but I keep on saying fallopian tube, fallopian tube. After that, I realize what I said, it's too late, amen? Ladies, I know what your fallopian tube is for and what is the umbilical cord. Just didn't cross, so my mind can crosswire. Jesus never make mistakes, your pastor can. Even my word sometimes get jammed, amen? Don't laugh like that, you also get jammed sometimes, right, amen? You say the wrong thing instead of the right thing, but you understand.

So, we are not perfect, we are still not perfect. And one day when Jesus comes again, yes, we'll have a new body that is not subject even to error, amen. But until then, God does not look at you in your error. God does not see you in your sin. God does not see you in your shortcomings, amen. God sees you overlaid with the humanity of the Lord Jesus and overlaid with his righteousness. God sees you, in other words, God sees you in Christ. God sees you in the gold. But it's something for the church to see one another also because we are inside. The world outside only see the stone, amen? "Like my husband, Pastor Prince, I touch him, very cold. And he's like stone and all". Okay, never mind, see the gold. God sees the gold, why don't you? Amen? Okay, never mind. "Amen, Pastor Prince". Okay, praise God, hallelujah.

Now, all this design, God made David know. David the father of Solomon, David, the one who killed Goliath, David had God's hand on him when he received all the design and the layout, the blueprint of the temple, amen. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 28, "David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers". Say chambers. "The place of the mercy seat", say mercy seat. "And the plans for all that he had by the Spirit". It's not just a figment of his imagination, "I think I'll just, I feel like designing a temple". No, no, it is not something out of his own heart. It is something that God gave him by the Spirit, even the blueprint for the house. Can I have a good amen?

And "Of the courts of the house, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things". God told me that, "I want my people to step into my treasuries and possess them this year". Amen, for so long, you're not possessing your possessions. There's still a lot to be possessed, and God want to bring you to a bigger place. Amen, so it says, notice these are all from God to David through his son. So, it's not Solomon coming up with this idea, "I'm going to build". No, Solomon built according to the plan that God gave his father, David. Even the little parts and all that, I can go on reading actually, even the service of the Levites and all that, all given by God to David, amen? And then Solomon just adopted it.

Okay, here is a good lesson for many of you who like, if you are, you know, you have this deadline to meet. You feel like there's something, I want to talk about this a lot today actually because I feel that the people are getting more and more stressed, I don't know why. You know, I preached some time ago, probably the year of restful increase, a lot on the rest. But God wants to bring his people into a deeper rest. Many of us, we are resting, but we are not resting the way God wants us to rest. And it's like, you know, if you're afraid of the future, try to write down what God is telling you first, amen?

All this David received, drop down. "'All this,' said David, 'the Lord made me understand in writing, by his hand upon me, all the works of these plans'". Now, I want to say this, this is not like what we call automatic writing, which are you just still your mind, still your hand and all that, and an evil spirit, like Ouija board, start moving the coin or start moving your finger. Don't deal with that, that's dangerous. When you deal with the evil spirit, he will always take from you. God doesn't, God gives. Don't mess around with an evil spirit, amen, okay? With God, God uses your brain, God uses your mind, God uses your agreement, your cooperation. David is writing, David is designing, but God is speaking. It's God's hand on him.

So, he's cooperating with God. The Bible says we are co-laborers. God does not preach to you all, then I don't have to come. God uses people to preach, to proclaim his voice. He will not bypass personality. Without the Lord, I cannot. Without me, he will not. Not that he cannot, he will not. He has designed it in such a way that even the Bible is written by John, by Paul and all that, they are the secretaries, but the words are from God. God uses people. You cannot just say, "O God, pray for this person and over here, that you will heal everybody in the hospital, you'll heal everybody over here". No, God says, "Go there, lay hands on them. I will use you". Amen, amen? Are you listening, people?

You know, we can pray for people, of course, and there's no time nor space, but you know what? God wants to do it as co-laborers with you. You know what's a co-laborer, amen? You work, God gives the power. It's like power steering, amen? It's not like manual last time. You know, you still got to put a lot of effort. But there's some effort, but you are initiated into moving this way and the power takes over. Oh, praise God. Even as I'm preaching, I'm believing that the Lord is anointing me and the Lord is putting his words in my mouth so that I speak as the oracles of God. Are you listening, people?

But on the other hand, if you just say, "Without man, let God speak. Let's all gather in a room and wait for a while". You know? And many a times, you'll wait forever. Or you'll wait a long time, it feels like forever 'cause God doesn't do that. God speaks through people. Open up your Bible, start reading, amen. Start hearing sermons. God speaks through his people. And even if you have a prompting, it'll be confirmed by his people. Amen, praise God. So, one of the best ways to get stress off your mind, worry off your mind in your job or in the future for 2020, is to sit down before the Lord, say, "Lord, give me your wisdom and your direction. I need your help, Lord". And start planning for your family or start planning for this year, not resolutions.

I don't believe in resolutions because resolutions says, "I resolve". It's looking to man. No, no, I'm talking about God's vision for you for this year. I find that if I worry about a sermon the coming week, and God has given me ideas here and there, what I do is that I have a book, amen? And this is my book that I'm using now. I have many, many, many books already at home like this, amen. And what I do is that I write it down. Whether you are typing it or whatever in your laptop, your mobile devices and all that, I'm speaking generally when I say writing, like David, amen?

However you want to put it down. But once I put the sermon down, I put a verse down, it triggers off other things that God wants me to tell you all. I'm showing you how I apply it. So, I will write down. If I get the first verse, only the first verse, I write down the first verse, amen, for the coming week. Or if I get a first illustration, the first thought, I put it down. Once it's there, I don't worry about the coming week 'cause I'm getting more and more and more and more. Or else can you imagine, all of you have vociferous appetite, and every Sunday I got to deliver quality sermons to all of you? You know, you come, "Come on, pastor", amen? And I've seen the way you all treat sometimes speakers.

You know, no wonder people are very concerned about preaching in our church. They tell me that. They tell me that because they sense that about you. It's like your mouth, "Rarrr, I don't want milk. I want flesh, I want meat". The way Lawrence portrays himself, "I want meat", amen? So, once you write it down, try to apply this in your own personal life. Once you write something down, it is off your mind. You don't have to worry about forgetting it and all that, amen? Is this helping? David does this, David write and God was in his writing. Pray to God for wisdom, okay?

Remember, don't put your finger there and say, "God, write". If something moves your hand, it's probably an evil spirit because evil spirit love you to be passive so they can take over. God doesn't do that. God doesn't possess you in that way, amen? You don't move, God will not move. You didn't come here today, God will not push you. He will not levitate you from the bed, amen? And put you in your shoes, amen? He will not do that. You choose. He will always respect your choice. Hallelujah. Are you all with me so far?

Now, let's look at the temple proper. Everything in the temple of Solomon, I've used this verse for tabernacle of Moses when I taught on it, but actually, it applies to the temple specifically. In Psalms 29, it says, "And in his temple, everything says, 'Glory!'" Everything. Every furniture, every article, the wall, the design, everything says what? Glory. And listen, this temple is not a temple, a figurative temple, I'm talking about all of you. Every part of it says glory. That involves every one of you. Are you listening?

Then let's look at this temple. There's an emphasis that's relating to the theme of the year that I want to call your attention to. And it says in 1 Kings 6, actually, I covered this last week. 1 Kings 6, "And for the house he made windows of narrow lights". Now, show them my Bible, the narrow lights. This is the Bible I use, one of the Bibles I use at home, and this is from King James version. It says, "For the house he made windows of narrow lights". And that's why I'm teaching from the Old King James, because that's the Bible I use in my study when God first spoke to me about the theme of the year a few months back or last year.

Notice what is windows of narrow lights. In the Hebrew, it is actually the word "windows broad within and narrow without". Broad within, the window inside the house is broad. Outside is narrow. Now, some of you have been to England or Europe, you've seen some medieval castles. And you know, castles where they shoot arrows from, the tower, it's actually broad within, narrow without. But that is not for the purpose of bringing light, that's for shooting. Narrow outside, it's hard for the enemy to shoot you. But broad within, you can shoot.

I've seen my friend from the UK who are here, pastors, and is it true? Right, they have this broad within, and it's easier for you to shoot arrows without being shot at. Right? Yeah, y'all saw that in "Lord of the Rings" as well anyway, I know you understand. But in the temple, it's not for shooting. The temple, it is to bring light. In other words, inside, broad within means it is cut off here on the right, cut off on the left, cut off in the bottom, cut off in the northward, and so that the light comes this way, the light comes this way, the light comes upwards, it comes downward. It spreads the light in all directions.

So, the very first thing we need to have for this year is that the entrance of his words gives light. Let's not depend on natural light. Don't keep on looking at your Facebook for natural light. I want to learn how to eat better. I want to learn how to exercise better. There must be a latest thing, there must be something. And after for a while, that latest thing is no more the latest thing. It's gluten-free, now you need some wheat. It's fat-free, now you need some fat for your brain or else your brain will go gonkers, you know, and you have problem with dementia and things like that. How much, how much, how? The Lord will lead you.

Chocolate is bad, chocolate is good. Tea is bad, tea is good. Coffee is really bad, coffee is really good. No, in a world, so you be confused eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil every time you sit down there. Instead of opening God's Word, you're opening up to your Facebook to see articles after articles and all that. At the end, the result is what? You can tell it, ask yourself within your spirit, confusion. And many a times, you look at juicy stuff, juicy stuff, evil juicy stuff. Juicy stuff about this person, juicy stuff about that person. And the celebrity lives his life, you know? Enjoying his wealth and all that, and here you are living by proxy.

Live your own life. You're royalty. You are a priest, amen. You are God's people, amen. Jesus came to give you life and life more abundant. It's okay to watch a movie once a while, you know, two-hour, three-hour, whatever just for a while, you know, with your loved ones and all that. But don't live there. This is a real drama in life, okay? No more. "Oh, okay, praise God. Amen, Pastor Prince", amen? I'm not saying you don't, I'm not saying you cannot, I'm just saying make sure you live your own life.

You know, when there's something that happens, don't read people's comments because there's a verse in the Bible that says in Proverbs, and this is the wisdom of God through Solomon, he says, "The words of a talebearer", and you see a lot of comments are talebearers. "The words of a talebearer are like wounds that go down into your innermost belly". And you wonder why you have stomach problems, why you go for colonoscopy often, why your stomach is acting up, why you have problem. Because it's related to listening to bad comments or rumors or people saying things that is, you know, you don't have to know, "Well, pastor, I need to be in touch". No, you need to know the general, that's it. You don't have to worry about what people say. Or else it'll poison you from inside. Are you listening?

Instead of studying the Word of God, you are reading what cynics, people who are cynical are saying. The Bible says, "Blessed is the man or the woman who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the cynic, scornful". They scorn at everything. They scorn at the Bible. They scorn at the church. They scorn at your belief, and all that. Don't give them time that is so precious, even more precious this year, 2020. If you are a cynic, I got no time for you. My life, my peace is too precious for you to take.

Guard your anointing. Guard your peace. Don't let it, you know, hallelujah, amen? Don't just sit down there and feed on these things, this garbage. You're not a garbage dump. Say, "Move on, move on, move on". Tell the garbage truck, "Move on, move on", amen? Don't sit behind that and let people just dump everything on you. Or better still, you dump on yourself by reading that every morning. I know there are interesting things to see. I understand it, amen. If you want to, follow a man of God, amen. Follow the teachings, amen, follow the latest biblical archaeology, or whatever, in Israel. Follow things like that that edify, that strengthen, that builds up, not things that poison you and even have a physical effect on you.

Okay, narrow lights, un-huh, have all those windows and all, "Come on, all these things, Pastor", because we need the Word of God more so this year 2020, and men of God have called this the "Year of the Bible". We need, first and foremost, we need the windows, and it's gonna be broad within. I pray in Jesus's name that for every one of us this year that the windows within our lives will become so broad that light will be dispersed in every part of our being, that you and I will be so radiant, and when people look at you, they cannot explain. It's got nothing to do with physical looks. There's a radiance, amen, that comes from the Lord.

I remember in Russia, many a times, you know, Russia, even today, is still a place where they don't allow you to speak freely or even evangelize freely, and there's a lot of restriction and all that, but back then, in the '70s, it's even worse. But one guy, one Russian guy got into the faith. He believed in the Lord because, when asked why, how come he got saved, he says there's a group of girls from that school that goes around evangelizing. It wasn't what they said. It was the light in their eyes. That's what they are doing. They are "proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light", and that's what God wants from all of us. Jesus says, "I'm the light of the world".

Then he says, "You are the light of the world", amen? So, in 2020, you shine, amen, shine for his glory. Praise the Lord. Let your families have light in all your dwellings when the world has darkness, amen? Let your mind be poised, be peaceful, be a perfect equilibrium, amen? When the world is being challenged in mental health, reach out to them. Love them and bring them into wholeness. All the people say, "Amen". So after the windows, it goes down to say, "Against the wall of the house", notice that, show them the picture of the temple again. "Against the wall of the house he built chambers".

Notice the lower building on the left and right of the temple. These are chambers. They are three-floor chambers, okay? Go back to the verse again. Okay, "Against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle, and the made chambers round about". Drop down. "The nethermost chamber", or the lowest chamber, three floors, right? "The lowest chamber was five cubits broad". Five cubits broad. Say, "five". "The middle was six cubits broad". Getting broader now. "And the third floor, the third was seven cubits broad".

Notice, five, six, seven? As you go up higher, you go to a broader place, a wider place. This is what God has for you, 2020. I talked about this last week a little, okay? And this is what God showed me first, amen? He showed me the truth here about the temple, and he says he wants to bring us to a bigger place, a wider place.

Now, that doesn't give you the year of whatever, right? The theme? That came much later. So I said... what? The "Year of Broader Place". Doesn't sound very nice. Okay, and then he showed me the secret of stepping into this place, and he goes on to say, "And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought there. Neither hammer nor axe nor any tool was heard". We covered that last week. Verse eight, "The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house". Okay, "The door of the middle chamber", look at the picture of the temple again.

Can you see, there's a door on this side. Behind this lever, this bronze lever of water, there is an entrance. The entrance is on the right side, south side. This is the east. The temple always faces the east, so there is south side. So all around south, north, and west, behind the holy of holies, are chambers all around, chambers all around. This is what Jesus refers to when Jesus says, "In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you", okay? Because this is also the chambers where the priests lived. The priests would sleep there. They'd be awake to open up the temple, and they'd be awake to get ready for the people coming, the sacrifices, and all that, and people bring the lamb.

Aren't you glad that we don't have to bring any lamb? All those lambs were pointing to that one Lamb, the final sacrifice at the cross, amen, when he became sin, with our sins, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, amen. Our sacrifice to God is Jesus Christ today. It's like we offer him the Lamb of God. He died in our place. And those days, they'll place their hands on the lamb. All their sins transferred to the lamb, and the lamb's righteousness transformed in to them. The lamb is innocent, but the lamb is killed, amen, because now he has transferred his sins to the lamb, so the lamb takes his place, dies in my place. I go in the lamb's place with all that the lamb deserve.

How much does Jesus deserve? How much good? How much blessings? I'm gonna use the word "much", because it's uncount, you can't count it. How much does Jesus deserve from all that heaven has? That's what you have now because all that you deserve, Jesus took at the cross, the judgment, no, it's a substitute. He took your place. That's love. That's love. When you love someone, you always sacrifice. You take their place, amen? Amen? Sometimes there are two chickens left, two pieces of chicken left. My wife is there. I know she likes this chicken, right? But this chicken a bit more scrawny, amen?

I don't tell her, but I love her. I'll give her that one, that chicken, amen? It gives me joy to see her eat, quietly. I didn't say, "I gave you the best chicken. Now don't forget it now". I don't do that, amen? Sometimes I would tell her when I'm weak, amen? But most of the time, I'll just let my boy have it, or if my daughter says, "Well, do you wanna eat this"? I'll usually say, "No, go ahead, have it, I'm quite full", or whatever, even if I wanna eat it, amen? I'll find a reason, and it's a true reason without having to lie, amen? Why? Love finds its joy in seeing the loved one blessed. It's not gonna be, "My, my, my, my", amen? Amen, fathers? You don't have to be angry just because the food is not served on time, amen? Life is more than food, Jesus said.

Okay, one more time. "Preach it, Pastor Prince, good preaching, hallelujah, hallelujah". Okay, now, how do you go from five cubits broad room, the first floor, to the middle floor, which is what? Six cubit broad. It's getting bigger, right? And then you go higher, seven cubits broad, the highest, the third level. Now, I understand some people say, "Well, Pastor Prince, actually we are there already in the third chamber. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places". I know that. I know that, amen? But experientially, we are all in a place where John writes about, like, the first floor is like babies, and then the second floor is young men, and then the third floor is fathers.

Our understanding grows, would you agree? Yes, we are seated with Christ, but we need to know this position first before we, on earth, we start walking it out. This is talking about experiential. Even our possessing our possessions is that some of us possess more because we have more light. It's not because we are better in our behavior. It's not because we are gooder in other ways. I'm trying to bring home the point. It's because we received more light. We put ourself in a posture where we receive more light, amen. To see more is to ascend, but how do you go up practically? How do you go up?

Here it says, "The door for the middle chamber was in the right side, and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third". So they went up by winding stairs, okay? So you have the picture of the temple, and as you step into the temple, okay, you see this, right? Let's step in the temple. You see the first floor, and the first floor is, I've done all these studies, so we'll cover all this in the weeks to come, but the first floor is all the grain, the wine, and the oil. Does that remind you of something? Come on, the grain, the wine, and the oil. We just finished the... not finish. It goes on, of course, but in a sense, the year, last year was the Year the Latter Rain.

And what does the latter rain bring forth? Grain, wine, and oil. And what an emphasis on grain and wine last year, right? What an emphasis it was last year, wasn't it? And we also saw physical rain in Singapore because the theme for this church, amen, is for the theme for this ministry, hallelujah, and we see grain, wine, and oil, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But after that, what happens? Now it's storage time. It's talking about the riches of the grain, wine, and oil. It's all brought into one place. Where is it? In this place. This is the place where it's kept, and the tithes are also kept there. The "tithe of the tithes", okay?

Second floor, by the way, you go up by the... what it says? "Winding stairs". Okay, look at the winding stairs. Okay, you enter the winding stairs. Okay, you go around winding stairs, all the way to the second floor, and the second floor is a place of rest where the priests and the Levites sleep, amen? You'll find in Nehemiah, tells us that the tithes are to be brought into the chambers where the priests and the porters - the porters are the ushers in those days. And the Levites and the singers are there. They all live around the chambers, and this speaks of a deeper rest for God's people. God wants you to go higher, amen?

Thank God for the bread and wine, but he wants to bring you higher to a place of deeper rest, and bed and all that speaks off our natural body, right, for resting, as well as also for your health, a greater health, deeper health this year. "And how do I get there, Pastor Prince"? First of all, receive the light. Be in a place where you can receive the light at home, amen? Listen to messages because God uses people, don't forget. You can read your Bible as well, amen, but listen also to people that God has raised in your life. If I don't speak into your life, find somebody else that speaks into your life from the Word of God, from the Bible, amen, and God uses people, and you'll hear the rhema word, which is the specific Word because the Bible is like concentrated juice, you know, like concentrated. You gotta put water in it, amen, because it's too powerful.

Many of us, we don't understand without help, and God has put help, pastors, teachers, evangelists, apostles, prophets, in the church. Okay, praise God. So this is the place of rest. You go up to the third floor. Now, third floor is amazing. Before I show you the third floor, we have 2 Chronicles to show them that, "The weight of the nails was 50 shekels of", what? There's a lot of gold. "And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold".

By the way, just to let you know something about the Temple of Solomon, do you know that they have studied this Temple of Solomon, scholars. You can find this on the Internet as well. And they have approximated that the worth today, in today's standards and all that, it's about 200 billion. That's the worth of the temple, and that's not to mention about all the amount of gold and cedarwood and precious stones coming in to build the temple. Amazing, huh? Don't you think so? Okay, so what did he do? He overlaid the upper chambers, only the upper chambers, with gold.

So let's show them the, okay, the picture of the treasury, all right? This is the treasury. And later on, it was plundered, of course, by King Nebuchadnezzar, and all that, but here God wants us to know that all these are visual aids about your life, your life, especially for us, in 2020. He wants you to ascend higher into deeper rest, amen, from the place of the grain and wine and oil, amen, to go to a place of rest, amen, without compromising on the grain, the wine, and the oil, amen, without compromising on the tithing, that the tithes are brought there. Show them Nehemiah, by the way, real quick.

Nehemiah 10, says, "The priest the son of Aaron shall be with Levites, when the Levites take tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes into the house of our God", where? "To the chambers, into the treasure house. For the children of Israel and children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, the new wine, and the oil", where? "Unto the chambers" now, these chambers, look at this, "where are the vessels, and the priests that minister", they are there in the chambers, "and the porters", all these are our ushers, our servers, amen? Our rockets are people that are serving, even right now, as I speak, amen, those who are serving God. The Bible says this is the place for them, "and the porters and the singers, and we will not forsake the house of our God". Let this be our heart's desire, amen? "We will not forsake the house of our God", amen, not forsaking the assembling.

Especially this year, all the more you see the day approaching, all the more we should gather. Some of you just come for Christmas. Some of you just come for the Theme of the Year. It won't sustain you. It won't sustain you because, you know what? It's like an injection. If I gave you a slight, you know, the vaccination is just a slight, you know, amount compared with the disease that's attacking your body, it's not gonna help. In fact, sometimes it can worsen it. A little knowledge is worse, amen. God's ordained way is that we come together, and the Bible talks about Sunday, as well, in the early church. They come together to break bread. I think it's a time of the entrance of his light into your life. I think it's a time where you are feeding on royal treasures, amen, amen?

Now, we all see the gold just now. Some of you think, "Oh, God's bringing me to prosperity", and your idea of prosperity is just gold and dollars and stocks, and all that. Now, I'm not saying that God cannot bless you in all those areas. We know that God can, amen, but when I see all these things, I see glory. I see treasures of knowing him. In him, in Christ, I hit all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, amen. The Bible says, "Get wisdom". Solomon, David's son, who built his temple, he says, "Get wisdom. For wisdom will give you is better than the profit of silver and gold".

You know, wisdom will give you five things: "Length of days is in her right hand". "Length of days", speaks of health and long life. "Length of days is in her right hand. In her left hand is riches and honor". Riches is there. Honor is there. Poverty is not there. Riches and honor is there with wisdom. And it says, "Her ways are ways of pleasure, and her paths are peace", "shalom". So wisdom gives you five things. What is it? Long life, riches, honor, pleasure, peace. Listen, this is all you need. You don't need the phone numbers, "It's these phone numbers" and, anyway, you don't need the phone numbers to win the lucky draw because what do you want from the phone numbers to win?

Why do you want to win? The money. Why you want the money? Because you think it will give you length of days, riches, honor. It won't. It might give you some riches for a while, but you know what? They make a study of people who win lotteries, and all that. They lose their money really fast. Two, three years, they lose it. Why not bypass all that? Don't have to collect 200. Just bypass all that. Go straight to all these benefits by getting the wisdom of God, amen? Get the wisdom of God. Solomon, as a young man, asked God for wisdom. Instead of riches, instead of honor or the like of his enemies, God says, "Because you asked this, I'll give you what you did not ask, even riches and honor".

So when you embrace wisdom like a woman, and the Bible typifies wisdom, like a woman, in Proverbs. When you embrace her, you get her hands supporting you. "In her right hand is length of days, in her left hand, riches and honor". She will embrace you. They'll back you up. But your eyes is not on length of days. It's not on riches and honor. Your eye is on Jesus, the wisdom of God.

Okay, the year of the winding stairs. Go back again. Why you all laugh? Okay, the winding stairs. Let me ask you a question. Have you all seen winding stairs before? Spiral staircase. Have you seen it before, right? Okay, even today we still have it. Some homes have it, amen. You can still see it in buildings in Singapore. It's still in use. Why do people use winding staircase or spiral stairs, why? Why? What's the reason? Listen, this is the reason. It's to gain the maximum amount of height in the smallest possible space and in the shortest time. Got it? Want me to say that again? It's to gain the maximum amount of height in the smallest possible space in the shortest time.

When you have a spiral staircase that goes up, the one that go around saves time compared to others who have a straight staircase. Don't talk about running, okay? So it is to gain the maximum height. No, God wants you to gain, spiritually speaking, you have a spiritual ascendancy this year. He doesn't want time to control you. He wants to control time for you. Are you listening? The Lord can accelerate time, the Lord can suspend time, the Lord can reverse time. Are you listening?

The universe is based on Triunity. Time is based on, you know, you talk about the components of the universe, they'll tell you the elements that make up the universe is time, what's the other one? Space. And both are Triunity. They're three elements. Like, the three elements of time is what? Future, present, past, amen? Nothing escapes time but one: God who created time. So God is outside time. God can manipulate time for you this year. He can accelerate in your favor if it so fits, or suspend time or reverse time. I remember telling the Lord some years ago I was in my 40s, passed by mid-40s already, and I said to God, "Actually, I wish I married earlier. I wish I had married earlier".

Any of you had the same regret? Lord, this is a hard crowd. Man, this is a tough bunch of people. How many are glad you married? Okay, a few of you. Okay, let me try again. All right, so I was telling the Lord, I passed by my, you know, mid-40s and all that. I would love to have a child running around again. But you know, I was thinking, most people after mid-40s or coming to 50 and all that, they will not think about this or you know? Anyway, my first child is already, you know, secondary school and about to go university and all that. And I was thinking, you know? But my wife was the one. Her faith was amazing. She says, "God can do it. Let's trust God", amen?

And then the verse that God gave me was, "I will restore to you", because Jessica grew so fast. How many realize your kids grow so fast and you forgot to enjoy them while they're growing. You wish you can go back in time, and of course they won't like it. You say, "I remember when you were four years old. I remember". Actually, they smile, smile, smile, but inside they are saying, "I'm now already this age. Please talk to me, you know what I'm saying"? But we all love, like, "When you were small you did this. Oh, you were so cute when you were small", you know? They don't always enjoy it, but I enjoy those moments, but they fly by so fast, isn't it? Okay, you don't talk to me, I won't talk to you, okay, all right? I'm gonna give you one more chance, all right? Isn't it?

It's like time pass so fast. Sometimes time is slow in some things. Time is so slow for those who wait. Time is so long for those who are suffering. Time is so swift for those who are enjoying but time is eternal for those who love, amen. And that was the poetry that my daughter Jessica wrote on her Christmas card for her parents this past year, amen. So here we go. Time. God can manipulate time, so I asked God and God gave me this verse: "I'll restore to you the years". So God can restore the years and the word years there, shanim, is not just year as in the year; it can refer to a duration of time.

God can restore time. Why? God is the only one outside time. Space is also something that in the universe, scientists will say there's a trinity in space. There are three elements. 'Cause everything that exists reflect the Godhead. Romans chapter 1, you'll find it there. That everything that exists reflect the Godhead, the Trinity. So even in space, listen, space you have the length, the depth, and the height: the triunity. Time: future, present, past. God is never future, never past; he is always present. Present in the sense there's no time. He's outside time. He can touch your past. Whether you're hurt in the past, he can reach out and heal you of that hurt. He can reach out to the future and accelerate the future for you. This year, he'll manipulate time for your favor, amen. Are you listening, people?

So I asked God and Justin is the result. And now, at my age, I won't tell you my exact age, okay, this year I'll be 57, all right? And when I think about it, I'm enjoying my boy in his primary school. I get to do all this again, amen? And I'm still young. God can reverse time. So I asked him to restore the years. Y'all pray for me. Don't look at me like that. Pray for me, amen? So when you think about it, God can restore, God can accelerate, God can suspend, God can reverse time. What about the chambers? Scientifically, it gets wider and wider, amen? It talks about space, so I talk about the depth, the height, the length, the three components that make up space. God's gonna widen your space. Are you listening, people?

In an instant of time. It's amazing. Okay, go back to this. What is the secret? How do we get to do this? What can we do? What can we do to accelerate this, Pastor Prince? One step at a time. The secret of the winding stairs, the stairs, is this: it brings you to a higher place, to a wider place, to a greater place, but listen, it is one step at a time, because a spiral stairs, you cannot see the end. You can only see a few steps. Obey the few steps, the first step. The Holy Spirit will show you step by step. He won't show you the entire journey. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet", doesn't light up all the way to your destiny. He doesn't show your destiny. David took one step. God told him to bring. He obeyed his father.

Imagine if David didn't obey his father at 17 years old. The father says, "Bring this bread and cheese and bring it to your brothers and the captains that is in front", and they were having a showdown in front of the Philistines where Goliath was challenging them, but David did not know, because David was back in Bethlehem taking care of the sheep. But he obeyed his father. First step. One step at a time. He didn't see his destiny to end up by killing Goliath, end up becoming king. He did not see all that. He just obeyed one step, bringing the bread and the cheese. Your miracle is waiting for you but all God wants for you is to take one step.

Maybe some of you are suffering mental health in all issues because you forgot what Jesus says. Jesus said, "Don't worry about tomorrow. Take no thought for tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow", he says. "Sufficient of the day is the evil thereof". In other words, live one day at a time. Even 2020 looms large and long in front of you and all that, but listen: live one day at a time. If you are suffering mental depression, listen to what I'm gonna say, amen? Just live one day at a time. Get up. Just do what you're supposed to do, next thing, and the next thing, and the Holy Spirit will lead you first step, by step, by step. The secret of the winding stairs. Before you know it, you're on another level. Before you know it, you're in a larger place to inherit even more. Are you listening? "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet".

And I read an account of a man who went to Israel in the 1800s, and back then they don't have, you know, the modern convenience of, like, buses, but the guides back then would carry their luggage for them. And they'd be on a camel and the guide, when their hands are full at night, as evening comes and darkness descends, they will tie a lamp around their feet, and then the one who was riding the camel was a minister. He says that reminds him of Psalms 119, verse 105, says: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet". He does not see the end journey. Neither can you when you climb up the stairs.

If you're suffering mental issues, okay, you've been diagnosed with depression or whatever it is, you keep yourself in the room, take one step. Maybe just go out there and sit down and watch TV and take one step. Just one step. Don't worry about tomorrow. "But I'm not working". Don't worry. One step will lead you to your job. "But I'm not married at my age". One step will lead you to the right place. Imagine Rebecca went that morning, not knowing that she's about to meet her very, very anointed and rich fiance or husband-to-be which is Isaac, but she met the servant, right? And she was just obeying the Lord by being generous to feed his camel. End up, she became the wife of Isaac, Abraham's son, who inherited everything from Abraham.

One step at a time. Show them The Message Bible, Matthew 6. It says like this: "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes". This brings out the spirit of what Jesus was saying: don't worry about tomorrow. This is The Message translation. Enough problems today, and the manna comes daily and there's enough manna for one day at a time. Are you listening? Are you listening?

A lady shares about, in my book, page 98, I think it is, in my book, "Eat Your Way to Life and Health". Actually, I thought of sharing it, but because of time I'm just telling you it right now. She was suffering with depression. In an abusive marriage for 12 years. Her kids live with her ex-husband. "I'm only able to see them twice a year, because I live 12 hours away". No wonder she was suffering from depression. "After my last visit to see my kids last year, I fell into a deep depression. I couldn't get out of bed and slept up to 20 hours a day". I'm reading, am I not? "Slept up to 20 hours a day". Slept up to 20 hours a day.

People who are depressed will do things like that. "Medications didn't help me. I lost 58 pounds in five months because I couldn't eat. Pastor Prince, I've been listening to your sermons on the Holy Communion, literally for 24 hours on some days. I let 'em play as I sleep and would listen for the few hours I was awake. The revelation I'd receive on the Communion has helped me step out of such deep darkness and depression. God showed me while I was standing in a line at a department store waiting for my medication that his daily bread was my daily healing". "Give us this day our", yearly bread? No. Our weekly bread, even? No, daily bread. There's enough grace from God only sufficient for today.

You're worried about next year, next month, what's gonna happen, some project that you must accomplish or something you must do for your family or something that you need to do for yourself. But there's no grace today to think about that. You can plan, like I said. Right now it's of your mind, amen? Oh, you don't forget, but there's no grace to handle it now. When tomorrow comes, tomorrow becomes today also. There's enough grace for today. Like the manna principle. The manna stinks if you keep it for another day. There's manna every day, amen? Except the Sabbath but they eat from the two portions of Saturday.

Okay, while she was waiting, the window shone. The light came in. Like, with the manner that fell, the Lord showed her that his daily bread was my daily healing, for today, not yesterday or tomorrow, but today, like with the manna that fell, if the children of Israel tried to keep it for the next day, it would spoil. "Every day, God provided new manna. God told me the same with the Communion, that today he supplies all my healing through the elements of bread and juice, the simple things that represent what his Son did on the cross. And he said to me that when tomorrow comes, he'll provide me with new bread and new healing for that day. So I began to take the Communion every day and especially when I had really dark moments. And here I stand, depression-free. God has restored hope in my life".

All praise to God, hallelujah. This is from, you can go back and read it yourself. You know, I think I scanned through some. Page 97. I like the author. Lived with him for 57 years, okay? Now, so what's the purpose of the spiral staircase? By the way, very interesting. I mentioned about Queen Elizabeth's Christmas address, and this is what she said. Like I said, God can speak through, amen, for the coming year. Her emphasis was this one word: big changes happen with small steps. I don't know how many of you read that, but she says, "And as we all look forward to the start of a new decade, it's worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change".

She talked about Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11. He stepped on the moon for the first time, all right? She said she watch it. She says it is a reminder, and what did Armstrong say? "One small leap for man, a giant leap for mankind". And she said this: "It's a reminder for us that giant leaps often start with small steps. Of course, at the height of the Christmas story lies the birth of a child. A seemingly small and insignificant step overlooked by many in Bethlehem".

I just saw this only last week, this past week, we're already planning for this, I talked to my video people and of course, my video people now know what's the theme of the year but only the few. My wife only knew about it a few days ago, and she sent me this article without knowing. And so I read it for the first time, and it says, "That small step of that birth by his teaching and by his example Christ would show the world how small steps in faith and in hope can overcome long-held differences and deep-seated divisions to bring harmony and understanding. Many of us already try to follow his footsteps. The path, of course, is not always smooth and may at times this year have felt bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference. As we all look forward to the start of a new decade, it's worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change. And so I wish you all a very happy Christmas". And she's a believer.

So for sure, when I read this I said, "My goodness, is she looking at my notes? Did my video people give way", you know? And it's always small steps, small steps, small step that bring the lasting change, the biggest change, amen. Do that first thing God tells you to. God won't show you any more until you do that first thing. He doesn't want you to be worried about tomorrow. Jesus said, "Don't worry about tomorrow, there's enough grace for today".

A lady would say things like, it's a true story, went for a holiday with her friend, and she looked at the beautiful place and many people that do this, they, "Oh, this place is so beautiful, I must come back here one day". Her friend is thinking, "You are here". How many times we have lived in the future? How many times we have lived in the past and regret? We regret, but we are here with our loved one. We are here at this age. We are here while we're still young. We don't worry about old age. We are here, and we regret the past. No, God can accelerate time for you. Jesus, our Lord Jesus, the first beginning of miracles. The Bible says in Cana of Galilee, "On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there".

Now, both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And you know, they ran out of wine. You know that, right, amen. I've shared on this before, if you remember. And they went to Jesus and Mother said, "They have no wine". Now, listen, the mother said this. I want you all to learn this from the lips of Mary. It says, "Whatsoever he says to you, do it". And it is always the first step. If he tells you, "Don't worry, you're depressed. Now just get up, breathe, eat, and just start walking out. Just a walk in the park. Just a walk in the park".

By the way, talking about walking, this is from the Lord. The Lord told me to tell you all, start walking again. Do you know, a neuroscientist just, and my wife gave me this just, again, this past week. She gave me a article from a neuroscientist who said that people who walk often, amen, people who walk, even 30 minutes a day, people who walk, they are more, it helps their brain, not just their physical health. Helps their brain. And he's a neuroscientist, amen? It's something about walking outside especially, gives you a broad, you know, your mind is at ease. And Charles Dickens, for example, his ideas and all that come when he's walking.

A lot of people get ideas when they walk, amen. Mark Zuckerberg loves walking and talking with his employees because their ideas flow. This sermon came to me while I was walking. And the Lord had me tell, you know, wanna tell you all, start walking. If you prefer running, go ahead. No problem. But start walking. Incorporate walking into your life. Find a place to walk, amen. This neuroscientist talks about when you walk and you even avoid people your brain is starting to, you know, produce new, like, you know those tendrils, you know? It's like new veins. You sit at home do nothing, it's confound, TV, you, and the mountain is growing, you know? Blocking your view.

Get up, get up. Jesus says to the man who was impotent in his feet, cannot walk for 38 years, "Get up. Take up your bed and walk". Start walking. Walk your way into wholeness. Walk your way into health, amen. Now, just natural walking. Now God tells us to walk, there's some power in it. He's gonna bless it, amen? Okay, praise God.

Now, the first miracle, whatever he says to you, do it. So Jesus saw there were six water pots of stone for purifying of the Jews containing about 20 gallons or 30 gallons. He told them, "Fill the water pots with water". They filled it. He said, "Show them to the governor of the feast". And the governor of the feast tasted it, and he says, "My goodness". He didn't know where it came from. He called for the bride and groom. He says, "You know, most people, they'll serve good wine first. When people are intoxicated, they can't tell the difference. You give them any drink or so they'll drink, you know? When they're intoxicated, they bring out the inferior wine. But you have kept the good wine, the best wine, for last. It's amazing".

And this miracle, nobody was helped in a sense, except for the bride and groom. It was a miracle of luxury, amen. But something else. The Bible says in the Gospel of John, there are seven miracles, but they're not called miracles, only in John, they are called signs. They are miracles, but in John, he calls it signs. So the first miracle, the Bible, drop down, it says, "Jesus turned the water into wine. This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee". In Cana of Galilee, amen? Are you with me so far? Follow me?

Now, how long does it take to get good wine? To plant a seed in the ground is the first step, right? So, how long before the vine produces grapes? Two to three years. And even then, even three to four years, even then, listen carefully, the three to four years when grapes come, that wine is not good quality. It's what they use for average wine. Good quality wine, five to seven years. Even better quality wine, after the five to seven years, you got the grapes and you make into wine, you keep it. The longer you keep it, 20 years, 30 years, the value goes up. Jesus compressed time. His first miracle is a sign to all of us that he is the Lord of time. He's the Lord of time.

This year, you will see him accelerate time, reverse time if it's in your favor, or even suspend time. And please write in when you see that happening, let us know. God can even reverse the years the locust has eaten. In this case, excellent wine. Now, it's not that man cannot produce excellent wine, it takes time. It takes 7 years, then 20 years to have that kind of wine that Jesus produced in an instant. I'm not saying that man cannot do it, but take a lot of time. So, this year, we're not going to follow man's way, God's way. The second miracle Jesus did, how many of you know what's the second miracle Jesus did? It's also in Cana of Galilee, same Gospel of John.

Okay, let's go to John 4. "Now after two days he departed from there and went to Galilee". Notice he did the miracle on the third day. Show them the third day, the miracle of water to wine was on the third day. Do you know, spiritually speaking, we are living in the days of the third day? The Bible says, "A thousand years with the Lord is like one day". So, Jesus came 2,000 years ago, amen? So, we are living in after two days. We are living in the third day. And here again it says in this next miracle, John 4, "Now after the two days, he appeared from there and went to Galilee". Drop down, "So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Jesus and implored him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death".

So, Cana of Galilee and Capernaum where his son was, he came all the way to Cana where Jesus was to ask Jesus to go down to where his son was in Capernaum. You know how many miles is that? 40.4 kilometers, which is about 25 miles, 40.4 kilometers about, give and take, 25 miles. Okay, that's how far it is. Then Jesus said this, drop down. Jesus says, "Go your way, your son lives". So, Jesus didn't have to come down. He says, "Go your way, your son lives". "So, the man believed the word that Jesus to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him".

By the way, he went down the next day. How do I know? Because the Bible says yesterday the miracle happened. His servants told him. In other words, he trusted the Word of Jesus. He didn't rush down to see whether the son is okay. He spent the night in Cana. The next day, "As he was going down, his servants met him and said, 'Your son lives.' He inquired of them the hour when he got better. They said to him, 'Yesterday at the seventh hour'", one o'clock in the afternoon. Drop down, "The father knew it was the same hour in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives.' And he himself believed and his whole household. This again is the second sign".

Now, by the way, there are seven signs in the Gospel of John. There are many other miracles Jesus did, which if everything is written down, John says the books cannot contain it. But seven signs will teach us something. After this, you don't find this is a third sign, or fourth sign, or fifth sign anymore. Only the first two, the beginning of miracles. There goes the apocryphal story when Jesus was a boy, he saw a bird with a broken wing, he touched it and the bird flew away, you know, healed. No, no such thing. He did miracles only after he was anointed of the Holy Spirit, and the first miracle he did was turn the water into wine to show that he's the Lord of time. And this one is the Lord of space. Scientifically, he's the Lord of time and space. Space exists in all things, and everything finds its existence in space except God, he's outside space. So, this year, he can manipulate space for you. He is the Lord of time and space. Are you with me so far, huh?

Come on, church. He's the Lord of time and space. He can accelerate time, he can expand space. Get ready for promotion, amen. Get ready for a wider place, a larger place. Even naturally as well, you know, this is going to be the year. Amen, you are thinking, "Oh, my condition and all is a chronic condition, and it will take some time. I believe I'll get well and all that". Well, this year, he's going to accelerate time for you. Amen, "Well, Pastor Prince, at this age and all that, I regret. I look back and all that". Don't live in regret, live now, amen. God is able to take your past and multiply it and restore to you the years the locust has eaten.

I meet so many people that I've seen for myself, they look better than they did in their 20s, in their 40s, in their 50s. Some of them are healthier, many of them are healthier today than they were in their 20s or even in their teens. Some of them had chronic problems and all that, and I look at them and they're in our church, and I see so many of them. I'm telling you, I rejoice because God is restoring the years. God can do it just like time sometimes drags for us, sometimes it seems so fast, God can manipulate time in your favor this year. Get ready for that. And there'll be a space thing as well. Space, you cannot eliminate it, you cannot do away with it. You are in it, except for one outside it, just like he's outside time. Amen? He can manipulate space. Five cubits wide, six cubits wide, seven cubits wide. As you go up the staircase, you are just now, "Pastor Prince, God can speak through Queen Elizabeth".

You know, many a times, God doesn't need every leader of the world. But once a while, they'll drop here and there about the coming year, not even knowing God is using them because of who they are. What is the secret of staircase? Saving time. Maximum amount of height in the smallest possible space, in the shortest time. That's going to happen to you and your loved ones this coming year. You'll go higher in the Spirit, you'll go higher. You're not going behind anymore. So, don't think natural. You know, I wish there's so many more things I want to say, but no time, amen? So, we're going to end it here, shall we? Or shall I go... no, no, no, I'm just teasing you, okay?

So, I just want to invite those of you who only come for this Sunday and for Christmas, keep on coming and bring a friend along because there's always space for you. Don't worry about it. Aren't you glad God does it one step at a time? We cannot take it. David, David, you think you're bringing the cheese to the battlefield, amen? And the bread for your brothers. No, no, you're going to end up king. You're going to end up fighting the giant, David. No, the grace will be there only when he's there to serve his purposes and plans for us this year. Going to be a greater blessing. Not just five cubits, six cubits, seven cubits, perfect number. Amen? He is the Lord of time and space. Sit back and watch.

Whoa. We are traveling out now, amen. The year of time and space. You'll see the Lord as the Lord of time and space. You know, when the Lord first showed me the temple of Solomon, I was just studying it for my own, you know, feeding on the temple of Solomon. But when he brought me into the staircase, I said, "There's something here. There's something here". Then I saw the five cubits wide, six cubits, seven cubits. There's something here, there's something here, amen? And how many of you know I've preached on the first two signs of Jesus before? And I've said that he's the Lord of time and space, all right? Confirming even scientifically, it's confirmed that it's based on these two elements, signs, time and space. But listen, I did not know we see time in the staircase.

So, I told the visual arts people to have something like an hourglass. And you look at the hourglass, it's also like a spiral staircase. Amen, to denote time. And where's the space? How about this, five cubits wide, six cubits, seven cubits. I only understood what the year was. I didn't know he was bringing me to the time and space by the teaching of the winding staircase as well as the space that ever increases. But when he showed me the year, I thought, "Winding staircase, the year of the staircase". The year, the secret of the stairs, you know? But I knew that it wasn't that.

I knew that when the Lord gives, it'll be something that will cause people to ask, "What is that? Why is that? You know, what is this"? And you wear a t-shirt that says time, the year of time and space. You can tell people about the two signs. He's the Lord of time and space, amen? And don't think, "Well, I wish Jesus was here to touch me now". He's the Lord of time and space. He don't have to come down to Capernaum, he can speak. What you got to do is to do what the father of the boy did, believe what he said and the miracle will happen. He's the Lord of time and space. Have you been blessed? So have I, praise the Lord. Let me pray for you before you go.

Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name. I thank you, Father. I just want you all to know one thing, that we are not dealing with religion. We are dealing with reality. The universe is created by God. Even the laws that govern science is created by God, but what is a miracle? A miracle is something that when God suspend the natural law, God reverses the natural law, or God accelerates the natural law. It's something out of the ordinary, we call that a miracle. And God does a miracle in favor of his people. It's for your favor. It's for your benefit, he's doing you a favor. And that's what he wants to do this coming year, to do you lots of favors, lots of favors.

By expanding time, by reversing time, by suspending or accelerating time because he loves you. He is the Lord of time and space. For those who can take it, let me tell you this, both miracles were done in Cana of Galilee. You study the word "Cana", it means to acquire, to get. You look at the word "Galilee", from the word "galil", it means in a circle, in a circle, in a circle, a circuit. You acquire things God's way in a circuit, one step at a time, the secret of the winding stairs, one step at a time. Don't worry about what you can't see in front of you, just obey the Lord. He may prompt you to do something, he might prompt you to study something. He might prompt you. Even your relationship with your spouse, you might be in a place where you feel it's breaking down.

How can I get this back? How can I redeem the time? Well, the Bible says you can redeem the time by becoming wise. Ask God for wisdom and he will show you one step at a time. Just do that. Maybe God says, "Talk less, listen. Resist the urge to talk. Just listen. Just listen. Just listen". But how can just that one little thing, just listen. For some of you, you're hearing God right now for your first step, just listen. Resist all the urge inside you to want to say something, to want to resist it, and just listen.

I think there's a word for a number of you having challenges in your relationship with your spouse, or even with your teenager, or with your son or daughter. Perhaps God is saying something else to somebody else. Or just do that one thing, will you? Whatever he says to you, do it. And the Lord of time and space, you don't have to worry whether he accelerates, or he suspend time, or reverses time. You don't have to worry about the wider space and the bigger and a larger possession. You don't have to worry about all that. Like what we did even with this place, one step at a time. When the time is right, you realize you're in a bigger place, a wider place, greater possession of your possessions in Christ.

We need wisdom in the name of Jesus. For those of you who are here, you have never made Jesus Christ your personal Savior and Lord and you know in your heart, I don't have to tell you, you know in your heart that you are more than just a heart that's beating made of flesh and bones. You know you got a soul, you got a spirit inside you, and your spirit's responding. Well, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And because of sin, spiritual death has come in. But God wants to save you, that's why God so loved you, God sent his Son to die on the cross for your sins.

As a holy God, sin cannot just be brought in presumptuously without a foundation to receive man. And the foundation must be a righteous foundation, so the cross settled all that. Jesus, who knew no sin, died for your sins, carrying your sins in his body. He suffered the judgement of God, thereby today God has no judgement towards you. And it's God's plan. This gospel, this good news is all of his plan so that he can bring you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So, the blood of Jesus washes away all your sins. If that is you, wherever you are right now, pray this prayer with me right now from your heart. Say this after me:

Heavenly Father, I thank you Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He died on the cross for my sins. I thank you that all the judgement, all the punishment that I deserved fell upon him, and he finished it all in his own body. I thank you. I receive Jesus's righteousness as my standing before you and all that he deserves. Even for this coming year Lord, all the blessings, all the good things, all the favor comes on me. Thank you, Father, Jesus Christ is my Lord. And thank you that you have raised him from the dead. He is alive in Jesus's name.

All the people said amen. Congratulations, if you prayed that prayer just now, you are born again, you are now a child of God. Stand to your feet. Just remember this, keep on coming and see the miracle of God thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold manifest in your life. And don't think anymore by the confines of time and space. Think in terms of it's going to be a year of the miraculous in my life and the life of my family, amen, amen? I think God is doing something with time, and it's because he know his Son is coming back. Might be this year, amen. Might be this year, amen. So, we look forward to the coming of the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place, amen.

The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you throughout this year. The Lord favors you and your family throughout this year. And the Lord protect and keep you from every harm, you and your loved ones from every harm, danger, accident throughout this week. And the Lord protect you from that pneumonia from China. The Lord protect you from every strain or virus. The Lord protect you from all the powers of darkness. The Lord protect you and your loved ones throughout this week in the name of Jesus. And all the people said amen, amen. Amen? God bless you, we'll see you again. Amen, get ready for more.