Joseph Prince - Run Toward Your Giants Without Fear
Last week, we anointed the oils that y'all brought. And you know, the oil is just the oil, but it is what it symbolizes. The oil represents... you know, you don't get an olive bottle from the olive tree, right? You get olive seed. You crush it like the word Gethsemane, where Jesus was crushed, and he sweat blood. And the olive seed is crushed until the oil flows out, and that's how you get the olive oil. So, Jesus had to be crushed. The Bible says literally where you find the word bruise, bruise is not actually a very good word.
All right, bruise, you can have a real black bruise, you know? But the word bruise actually in the Hebrew is the word crush. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed, amen? Just like the grapes in those days, you don't get a wine bottle from the vineyard. You have to take the grapes, and they step on it. that's what happened to the Lord Jesus. He was trodden down because he was carrying our sins, amen. And also for the wheat, the wheat has to be pounded, the wheat has to be kneaded, the wheat have to be punched and then, you know, split apart, and then again pounded, punched, you know?
That's what happened to Jesus, all right? Prior to the cross, he was even beaten and punched, and all because he was carrying our sins, amen. We deserve all that, but he took our place, amen. Don't you love him? And on that cross, he became sin with our sin, that we might become righteous with his righteousness. What a wonderful divine exchange. How we love him. He's our Savior. And all the people said amen. And this year in the year of time and space, you know, we thank God that the Lord Jesus in his first two miracles of turning water into wine, he demonstrated he's the Lord of time, amen. You know how many years it takes to get good wine? Even waiting for the vine to produce grapes, many years.
That's my first message of the year, this year. And the first three weeks of January, when I started preaching on the Lord of time and space, the second miracle was also a miracle of space, where he spoke the Word and all the way down, many miles away, someone's son got healed, amen? And demonstrating he's the Lord of time and space. And what the devil is doing right now, even for us here in Singapore as well as around the world, is that he wants to constrict space. He want to restrict time. Have you noticed that?
And the Bible, we talk about the chambers that we saw early this year, the temple of Solomon has three chambers on the side. And the chambers, the first floor talks about the place where they store the grain, the wine, and the oil. We have a picture of that, the grain, the wine, and the oil. That's the first floor. And little did I, you know, imagine at that time that we'll probably be using this storeroom pretty fast, okay, in the first part of the year, because the grain and the wine was used last year. I'm talking about God's movement in our church in this ministry. Remember last year? My book was "Eat Your Way To Life and Health" on the grain and the wine, the bread and the wine, right? And man cannot plan this. Only the Lord knows, amen. And what an emphasis we had last year on the holy communion. And what wonderful testimonies have come out of it.
Then this year we have the grain, the wine, and now we have the oil. And it's like it's on the first floor, and it's like the provisions of the first floor is for the first part of the year. Only the Lord would know what kind of challenges that we'll be faced with early this year. And this virus thing, the answer is the grain, the wine, and the oil. Can I have a good amen? Praise God, and now we come to the oil, and it's like the Lord says to me, "Son, I've provided for you long before the problem is there". Long before there's a problem, the provisions are all there in the chamber number one, the ground floor. The grain, the wine, and the oil, and that's where they bring in the tithes.
All right, the grain, the wine, and the oil. And the second floor is the place of rest for the priest. Probably this might happen in the latter part of the year, we'll have access to this chamber. I'm speaking spiritually in terms of as far as this ministry is concerned, what the Lord has for us. And then end of the year, we'll go up to the uppermost chamber, the widest chamber. The ground floor is five cubits, middle floor is six cubits, and the uppermost is the perfect number, seven cubits wide. Space increases for us. But he's the Lord of time and space. Just like in Egypt, the word Egypt, Mizraim in Hebrew, means double crampedness or straightness. It's a place of crampedness, all right? A narrowness of space, tightness, stressed, amen. But God wants to bring us out of Egypt, amen.
So, the uppermost floor is this floor, which is all gold, treasures. And I think probably end of the year, the world will see a financial downturn. And in fact, it's happening already, right? But there'll be provision in this house. There'll be provision in the chamber. And we'll have access to it. Who would've thought that these three chambers would speak of this entire year? And also in the first three messages I preached in January last month, the first three messages, I talk about Joel 2. Let's go to Joel 2, 'cause it's, "Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the former rain". Look at this, "He will cause the rain to come down for you, the former and the latter rain".
Do you know in Israel right now, they have a record number of rain? It's the highest ever. So, first natural Israel, then spiritual Israel. It's always like that, first natural Israel, then spiritual Israel, amen? We're going to be not just a reservoir, but a channel, rivers of blessing will flow out of you all. Praise God, amen, amen? And the former rain. So, let's look at Joel 2 says what happens after rain comes? Next verse says, "The threshing floor shall be full of wheat or grain, the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil".
So, you have wheat, new wine, and oil, okay? Wheat, new wine, and oil. Again, that all the grain and new wine is the communion, and oil is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And what happens when this happens? I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts has eaten. Show them the locusts, the crawling locusts, the consuming locusts, the chewing locusts. And I'm here to tell you that long before the devil did all these things, God has the answer. And he told us, and I've been preaching this the first three weeks about the locusts and that God will restore to you the years the locusts has eaten. He's not just going to restore to you, all right, something that you have lost, but the years.
Imagine the years, plural, the years that the locusts has eaten, God will restore to you. You'll be strong again, you'll be young again, amen? You have vigor and energy again. Praise God, hallelujah. I'll restore to you the years the locust has eaten. And we know, and I've shared this time and again, that before the devil does something, and the world is so conscious. And believers as well, they are conscious of what the devil is doing because the devil does things in the five senses, by sight, your hearing, your feeling. That's where the devil lives, okay? That's why the devil, his modus operandi is always in the sense realm. And the Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. Our walk with God is in faith.
Now, you might think that, "Well, sense looks more real, Pastor Prince". No, no, no, everything you see, everything you see, this platform, everything you can see it, it's temporal, it's growing old. Stop and think for a while. Those things you can't see are eternal, amen? Those things you can't see are eternal. God is eternal. And God is realer than the sense realm. Amen, angels are eternal. Your spirit man is eternal. Now, your body is not, that's why when Jesus comes again for us, we'll have a brand-new body. Can I have a good amen?
So, the Lord wants us to be more conscious of the eternal realm than the physical realm, because physical realm can discourage you. But you know, the devil does things in the physical realm, so people are more conscious of it. But actually, the devil plays catch-up, God never plays catch-up. God initiates, the devil reacts. God initiates, the devil reacts. God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel out of Mizraim, out of the place of double straightness, the place of oppression, the place of torment, the place of bondage. God want to bring them out. God sent the deliverer, and it was quiet.
The things that God does is quiet, but quiet doesn't mean weak. Quiet many times is powerful. Quiet many times is healthy. Your heart beats all the time, you don't hear it. If you hear your heartbeat in your head, you got a pounding headache. You're not supposed to hear your intestines working. You're not supposed to hear your juices flowing. You're not supposed to hear your liver working. If you hear it, something is wrong. The most powerful things of God work quietly, yet powerfully. The sun is so powerful, it sets quietly. When we say nightfall, it doesn't mean boom, night has fallen. It doesn't mean that, thank God. But the things of God is quiet but powerful, amen. Silent but it's awesome, amen?
But the things of the devil is loud and conspicuous. And one of the problems we have with the fear, the fear that's been caused, is because the media in the world keeps on using the word deadly virus, killer virus. Do you find that? But that doesn't mean that we are no longer in the end times, amen. Because after this thing, there'll be other things. The Bible used the word, plural word pestilences. Amen, great earthquakes, plural. So, we know all these signs will increase in the end times.
Now, God doesn't send them, he's just telling you what will happen. The devil is playing catch-up, the devil is so afraid. When God sent Jesus, it was silent night, it was holy night. No one knew that the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God has come. The dragon slayer, the crusher of the serpent's seed has come, amen. The promised one, the very first prophecy that God spoke in the garden of Eden after Adam fell was, "He will crush Satan's head". God said to Satan, "He will crush your head. You will crush his heel, but he will crush your head". Amen, and that baby was born, it was so quiet, just like the dew that falls early in the morning while we are sleeping. No one is aware of it, there's no sound, but the dew falls.
And the Bible says the manna fell on the dew. That's the way Jesus came, quiet, amen? But the devil knew about it. The world didn't know about it. Bethlehem didn't know about it. But when the devil reacted, the devil reacted with what? Death of all the babies in Bethlehem under the age of two. Now, that is visible, that is loud. You can hear the cries of the mothers and all that, and that was the reaction of the devil. Devil always plays catch-up. You look at this virus, you can tell that there's an evil intelligence behind this virus. And it has a propensity to want to attack Christians.
Now, don't be afraid, amen? But it tells you something about what God has done to believers this year. God must have released something powerful into the church, a new strain of new anointing, amen? To heal, amen, to produce miracles, amen. Breakthrough, signs, and wonders that point to the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. That he is coming back, amen. And our signs, our virus, amen, is healing. And we can be very infectious. Like our Lord Jesus.
You know, this COVID-19 reminds me a lot of what it was in Jesus's day for those who are lepers. If somebody is diagnosed with leprosy, you cannot come near - whoever's around the person must be quarantined for a while to see whether they catch the leprosy. And then not only that, the lepers themself are kept aside in a lepers colony, right? No one can touch them. And that's why when Jesus came to the leper, and the leper says, "Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean", the very first thing, this is our Lord Jesus, he's so beautiful. The leper just say, "You can speak the word, you can make me clean". Didn't say, "Touch me", but Jesus touched him. I said Jesus touched him.
We do not know how long he has been without human touch. He longed for his children, that's why I did the video. He probably longed for his family, but not only family, no one has touched him, no one dare to touch him. Jesus touched him, amen? Now, watch this, Jesus didn't catch what the leper had, the leper caught what Jesus had. Jesus must've released a great anointing of healing and health into the church, amen? You do not know what God is doing in your life, look at what the devil is attacking you with. If he's attacking your body, probably God has released a fresh infusion of healing and health and renewal of youth and strength into your body. Praise God, isn't God good?
Okay, let's go to the topic today, praise God. We are going back to Solomon because there's something there very powerful. We've been teaching on the story of the temple of Solomon and the building, what we can learn from it. That's God's Word for us during this time, amen? Aren't you glad that we have a now word from God? The stories that happened even in the Old Testament, you know, God didn't just put the stories in the Old Testament to fill up space. They are there for the now word. When the Holy Spirit anoints, the Holy Spirit symbolized by the oil, when he anoints it, it's a now word. It's as if God is saying, "This is my word to you now". There are a lot of voices of experts all over the world. What we need to hear is the voice of God. Can I have a good amen?
You know, last week, you all came with the anointing oil, right? I mean, you came with the oil, and it was prayed for. Now, it's the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit, amen. So, I was praying for the different bottles that you brought, for the oil to become the anointing oil. Just remember when you apply it, don't look to the oil, look to the Lord Jesus, amen. The oil is just a symbol, praise God. But there's something that happens to the oil, though, when we pray for it. It becomes the yoke destroying, amen, disease removing, protection giving anointing of the Holy Spirit.
And that's not enough, the fourth service I was out here with my pastors, Pastor Mark was with me also in the fourth service. And I did the same thing, you know, as in all the other services, we prayed for God to anoint your anointing oil. And there was a lady in front here who was holding an oil, a bottle as well. I think she was holding an oil bottle, and I said, "Now, after I pray in Jesus's name, amen, it's now the anointing oil, amen? And you can apply it. Start applying it right now". Every service I say, "Start applying immediately. I mean, you can apply it on your earlobe here. Ladies, if you have done your face, if it's special makeup, you don't want to ruin your makeup on your forehead, you can put it on your earlobe".
That's what they did for the anointing of the priests and the leper in the book of Leviticus. You can anoint it on your ear, amen? But the moment I said, "Apply it", and we started applying it, there's a loud bloodcurdling scream that came from somewhere in the front section here. And everyone came to a stop, and I said, "Don't worry, it's very normal".
Notice when the scream came, it wasn't before we prayed, wasn't during we prayed, it's right after I said "Apply it", all right? And then later on, two pastors brought, you know, I just said to the pastors that were in the service to bring her out, all right, to pray for her. And we'll not be showing you the video because I do not believe, for healings we can show, but for demon cases, we don't believe in showing it to respect the person. I don't appreciate those demonized cases on YouTube that's out there, I don't appreciate that. I think we must respect the person. Anyway, they prayed for that lady. And when the demon came out, there was like a terrible stench that filled the room when it came out. She started to gag, and it came out, and the room was, wow, terrible. And we are believing God for a complete restoration for that lady, amen? Praise the name of Jesus.
You see, if you don't believe in the power that there is in the anointing oil, the demons do. If you don't believe, they do. They know the amazing thing. We got a fresh testimony that came in just this past week, and this came on 18th February. This brother says, "I have been staying overseas for two decades. About three years ago, I returned to Singapore, and since then I had difficulty sleeping. I would also experience headaches and dizzy spells that would worsen in the morning".
One of the reasons why I read testimonies and all that is because, you know, when you see what God does for others, you know he can do it for you. God is no respecter of persons. The same God who loved him will love you, amen?
"The symptoms were thought to be a result of my high blood pressure, which the doctor had diagnosed as borderline hypertension. My family has a history of blood pressure, high blood pressure, but my health has always been good as I exercise frequently. I also maintain a healthy diet, I'm mindful to be relaxed, enjoy quiet time with the Lord daily. But for the past three to four years, it had been challenging for me with the increased intensity and the frequency of attacks on my health and career. Following the teachings of Pastor Prince, my wife and I partook of the holy communion daily, declaring that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. However, the symptoms remain, and I got really discouraged. When Pastor Prince preached on the power of the anointing oil and prayed over the oil that the congregation had brought to the service on Sunday I felt faith arising in my heart. That same night, after returning home from church, my wife applied the anointing oil on a hand towel and placed it inside my pillow. I did not think much about it, and I went to bed. The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed and miraculously free of headaches and dizziness. I also experienced better sleep over the next two days. Praise the Lord, the symptoms that had plagued me for the past few years were gone. Now, I would apply the anointing oil on my head every morning before I head to work. I look forward to many days of wholeness and wellness as we continue to rest in Christ and his finished work".
And all the people said? Amen, amen, amen. One more, you ready for one more? The Bible says, "A good report makes the bones fat". Amen, that means your bones becomes strong. You know, when people grow older, I used to wonder sometimes I had a relative, someone that since young, I always thought he was a giant, you know? As I grew older, I found out he shrunk. And of course, there is a thing called osteoporosis and things where your bones do shrink if you don't exercise, you know, don't use it. But let me tell you this, the Bible says, there are many verses in the book of Proverbs especially that when you do this, you do this, it makes your bones fat. And one of the things that a good report makes your bones fat. This also came in 18th February by a doctor.
"I work as a dentist. Two weeks ago I was informed by my staff that water was leaking in our neighboring units. Even though I was very concerned, I decided it was best to complete my patient's dental procedure first". Water can wait, repair this smile first. "Immediately, I was reminded of Pastor Prince's preaching on Psalms 91. Under my breath, I declared verse 7 over my situation that 1,000 may fall at my side and 10,000 at my right hand, it shall not come near me. As soon as the dental procedure was completed, I rushed out to take a look. I was stunned. The place looked as if a storm had gushed through my neighbor's premises. Sections of their ceiling board had caved in, and their cupboards were soaked in water about one to two centimeters high". Not this high.
"Apparently, renovation works were happening in the unit above my clinic, had caused the main water pipe in the building to burst. The building's management team were out in full force. People were in despair, and it seemed like it would take weeks to repair the extensive damage, not to mention the disruption to the businesses. I rushed back to my clinic, grabbed a ladder to climb up and open the ceiling boards to check. To my surprise, the ceiling was bone dry. I lifted our floorboards, where our water pipes and electric wires were laid, and there was not a single drop of water. When the building's management team came and checked our premises, they could not believe that my clinic was not affected at all, as all the units on the same level share the same ceiling and floor plates. I simply told them it was God's grace and gave thanks to the Lord".
Remember he said while he was drilling, 1,000 may fall at my side, 10,000 at my right hand, but it shall not come near you, amen? Praise the Lord, hallelujah. Now, who can tell me... my son knows the answer, so I know he's shouting somewhere if he hears this. Who is the son of Rehob... Ah, there I go. Who is the son of Solomon? Rehoboam. Someone in the first service says David. No, Solomon is David's son, okay? And Rehoboam is the son of Solomon.
Now, he was a good king, he ascended the throne when he was about 16 years old. And he was good at first, amen? But then he began to listen to the advice of the people around, his peers, and he rejected the counsel and the wisdom of the older counselors. In the multitude of counselors there is safety, his father wrote. The same counselors that were around his father, who heard his father's wisdom, he rejected them. As a result, amen, the kingdom was divided into two. And that's why you have the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. From his day, it was split. This is how you cause a church split. But later on, he repented, and he walked with God for a few years.
But later on again, he forsook the Lord, Rehoboam. He forsook the Lord, and God sent a prophet and the prophet said this to Rehoboam, "Because you have forsaken me, I will hand you over to the king of Egypt, Shishak". And the Bible says in the fifth year, it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that should Shishak, king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
Now, this king of Egypt, Mizraim, the place of double straightness, all right, the place that the devil wants to constrict your space, your influence, restrict your influence, restrict your movement, all right? Egypt, that's what Egypt means, amen? Shishak, okay, not the burger. That is Shake Shack. This is Shishak, amen? Shishak, for those of you who are Indonesians, is not Chichac. It is Shishak, king of Egypt. All right, he came against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and in the fifth year, and this is what he did. What he did was terrible, it's very sad, especially for us. We see all the treasures of that we saw, you know, in the Temple of Solomon. We look at all the chambers and all that, but this is what happened.
In the next verse, it says, "He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything". He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made. Now, this gold shield of Solomon, there are 300 of them, 300 is the number of victory in the Bible. And each one of them three to four pounds, listen, pounds of gold will go into one shield. That's pretty heavy. And there are 300 of them, and they are gold shields. So, this King Shishak took away all the gold shields, which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place. Why bronze shields? Because bronze and gold, at first appearance when you look at a gold shield and a bronze shield, it looks the same, you know. The shine is about the same, the kind of shiny, you know, hue.
In fact, we have a picture of a the shields. The one on the left is a golden shield. The one on the right is the bronze shield. But to the untrained eye, if you ask, you start by the other way, you say that the one on the right is the golden shield. They also say yes if there's nothing to contrast it with. So, what happened was that the enemy took away the golden shield and Rehoboam replaced it with a bronze shield.
Okay, go back to the verse. Now, then King Rehoboam, to put up appearances, this is what we do sometimes, you know, we put up appearances. We don't care what we are, it's more important what we appear to be. And it's not important that there is something that's happening we don't deal with, it's more important than the impression that we give. So King Rehoboam you know what he did? Every time he came to the temple, this is what happened. It says, "Whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards carried them", the bronze shield. So, when he come to the house and there's a drum rolling and all that, doom, doom, doom, and all the 300 guards will carry the, what, bronze or gold shield? Bronze. But the appearance is what? Is shiny and all the people think that it is a golden shield.
Now, I'm coming to the meaning afterwards, how it applies to us today. And after that, they brought them back to the guardroom, amen? So, he had to keep appearances. Are you with me so far? So, the enemy came and took away the golden shield. Now, shield is a symbol of what? Protection, very good. One more time, shield is a protection of? It's a protection of God's people from all the attacks of the enemy. Now, there is a anti type in the New Testament of the shield that we're talking about and it's found in the armor of God in Ephesians 6. Here it says of the shield, "Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench", how much? "All the fiery darts of the wicked one". Amen.
The Bible says with a shield of faith, you will quench not 80%, not even 90%, all the fiery darts are the wicked one, amen. It behooves us to find out what is this shield. By the way, in the Greek, the word "faith" there is preceded by the definite article. It is above all taking the shield of the faith, and this is shown in the Young's translation. Taking up the shield of the faith. Whenever the Bible use the definite article for faith, it is no longer just faith for healing, or faith for miracle, or faith for God to do this, or faith, you know, or trusting God can have faith, but it's the faith that, the faith means the righteousness by faith. It is the righteousness by faith.
One more time, when you hear the definite article before faith, "the faith", it's always what? The righteousness of faith. Like Jude says, "believers, come on, beloved, fight, contend for the faith once delivered to the saints", amen? Somehow, by time Jude was writing the epistle, a lot of people forgot about righteousness by faith already. They are going back to righteousness by works, coming under the law, amen, self-righteousness, hankering after self, amen. Trusting themself, looking to themself, and that's why there's no power, that's why there's no protection.
So, I want to say something to you right now. Gold, listen carefully, gold in the Bible always symbolizes divine righteousness, divine righteousness. Silver, come on New Creation Church, silver? Redemption. Hey, I'm so proud of this church, hallelujah. Amen, who's your pastor? I love this church. Can I take his place or not? Can he resign and I take his place, amen? One more time, silver is a symbol of redemption, amen. And the children of Israel, they'll pay half a shekel of silver as a sign of atonement, amen? And silver is redemption.
In fact, the word for money in the Old Testament is keceph, which is silver, amen. Brass, bronze, that's why there's a bronze altar where the animals are placed and the judgments fall on it. It's called the bronze altar. Bronze is a symbol of judgment. The cross, like the bronze altar has four corners, the cross also has four corners, amen. So, it is a symbol. Bronze is a symbol of judgment. The church has given up divine righteousness, therefore, there's no more protection, and they have substituted righteousness that has judgment in it. That means their own righteousness, their own righteousness. Are you listening, people?
Now, I want to tell you something about the gospel. The essence of the gospel is the gift of righteousness from God. The law is all about God demanding righteousness. Clearly God said, "Do your best to be righteous", but God knew men cannot, but man is so proud. We proud beings, we do not know we cannot, we do not know. So, God has to give us the law first because if God gave grace first, we will not understand grace. We want to be able to appreciate grace and give God all the glory, we'll give glory to ourself because we don't know how bad we are we say, "Thou shall not steal", what is steal, amen? God has to give the commandments first, amen. Are you listening, people?
So, God gave the law. So, the law is about demand from a holy God, amen. So, God says, "Thou shall not, thou shall not, man could not". On Mount Zion, God gave the Spirit and grace is not about God demanding anymore, it's God supplying, God supplying. So, even now in our life, we don't live our life with a sense of demand. We live our lives a sense of supply, and blessed be the ministry, blessed be the church, blessed be the teacher, blessed be the crowd, blessed be the group, blessed be the care group, blessed be the church that has this constantly told them of what God has supplied them with.
To stand in the pulpit and to open your mouth and demand and demand and tell people what they must do, what they should do, give them rules, give them regulations, it's not hard. You don't need the Holy Spirit to do that. But to stand in the pulpit, and talk about the beauties of our Lord Jesus Christ, to glorify him and to talk about what he has done, what he has supplied us with, you must have an understanding of what he has supplied us with. You must know who he is. You must know how he's beautiful, how he's so wonderful. You must know what you have already in the invisible world that is eternal, hallelujah, amen. And be able to elucidate that to people when actually all these blessings he has overwhelmed us with, I mean it's beyond our words. It takes the Holy Spirit to even declare it, to pronounce it, to proclaim it, to preach it.
So, every Sunday I feel inadequate. I have to get down on my knees, not only because you people are so, "Ah, come on", y'all revelation junkies, you know what I'm saying? You want the freshest revelation. "What is God saying to me now?" I'm telling you right now, you can claim Psalms 91, you can apply the oil, you can take Communion and all that, but if you do have a sense of, "I'm doing this to be right with God", you have fallen from grace. It's all religious now. What you're doing is just religious, amen. But if you do it, before you pray, before you take Communion and all that, you have a sense, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ", when you do it, there's power.
You know, people come to God like this, they come to God, sometimes they come to God and they are afraid like they have, you know, a sense of God's holiness and rightly so, amen. And God's majestic, you know, awesome, august being that he is, and you come from God, but he's your Father, amen? But nonetheless, he's a holy God. When you come to him and you have this sense that, "I have failed only recently", a sense of like, "You know, I didn't measure up, I didn't do this enough. I didn't do that enough, you know?"
See, you're going backwards already. Notice that? And then, what you do to compensate for this, you try to do something else. You try to like do something good, but the reason you are doing the good thing is not because it is an overflow from your heart. You're usually doing it because you are trying to cover up of the, for the lack that you think you have. So, in people's eyes, it is good work, but in God's eyes, it is dead work. So, even with the advancement of information technology, and now we have AI, artificial intelligence to do things for us and all that, but artificial intelligence can create a machine and work the machine. Even brilliantly even now, as you see, and even drive a car. But with all the advancement in this field of intelligence, they cannot produce life. They cannot even produce a true fruit. They can have a machine fruit, but not a true fruit because fruit comes from God. Fruit is a result of life. Artificial intelligence is no life.
Now, perhaps in the Book of Revelation, the Antichrist has a beast, it's called a beast. We don't know is it AI, but he gives power to it. all right, we don't know. You know, those who study on this, some people claim that it is AI and all that. But all I'm telling you right now for now is this, man with all his intelligence cannot produce life. Can I have a good amen? So, Jesus died on the cross. God so loved the world. No, let me do it again. For God so, who want to part with a little word so? None of us because it speaks of intensity.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". Jesus said these words to a Pharisee that came to him at night because he didn't want to be seen in public in the daytime coming to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, God so loved the world that he gave his Son, and why? So that Jesus on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 takes place, "For God made Jesus who knew no sin". Not only Jesus knew no sin, he did no sin, in him is no sin. God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Now, watch this, church. Jesus, who knew no sin became our sin on the cross, transfer. God transferred our sins to Jesus. We who knew no righteousness became righteous with the righteousness of God in Christ. Am I right? Now this is what the Lord said to me, "Son, if that is so, why are my people still accepting the guilt?" Now, this what happens, if Jesus took your guilt on the cross, you think what? You take his righteousness. If he took your curse, what do you take? His blessing.
Now, if you took your guilt and you feel guilty, in essence, by feeling guilty, and allowing yourself to feel guilty, and to run yourself down, and trying to repress that guilt by doing things that you think is right so that God is pleased, you are actually compounding the problem. You are establishing a lying position. That is not your position, and the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. He cannot bear witness with a lie. So, if you're feeling guilty, you find when you're praying and you are feeling guilty, there's no answer. It seems like heaven is brass. It seems like, you know, you're not getting through. You claim your healing. You even anoint yourself with oil.
You take Communion and all that, but there's no release, why? Because you are on a false premise. If you took the guilt, you take his righteousness and you thank God for it. Because long before there was sickness, long before there was a Corona or a virus, long before there was death, sin came in. So, all this sin is what brings into the world all these things. Now, I'm not saying our sin bring these things. Now, Adam's sin brought everything in, but we're all creatures of sin. And but the moment you, but did God deal with the sin issue? Yes. How did God deal with it?
One of the greatest thinkers, great thinkers of all time is Socrates, not the Brazilian player, all right? And Socrates was talking to Plato one day. This is what he said. This was 500 B. C. when he said this to Plato. Socrates says, "It may be that Deity, God, can forgive sins, but I don't see how".
Now, his problem is this, if God is righteous, he must punish evil. But if he loves men, and men has committed evil, how can he bless man, accept man, and still punish evil? This is the amazing wisdom of our God. The cross. The cross is the answer, and that's why the Bible does not say God is merciful in forgiving us our sin. It says God is righteous in making you righteous, why? Because at the cross, Christ who knew no sin became sin with your sin that you who knew no righteousness might become the righteousness of God in him.
How can you be proud with a gift of righteousness? But when you produce your own righteousness, no wonder you're proud, no wonder you look down on other people. You have a holier than thou attitude and stand by yourself. "Don't come here, I'm holier than you". That's why this attitude comes in because of self-righteousness. There is no sin greater than self-righteousness, I'm telling you. It's the mother of all sins. So, church basically has allowed the enemy to come in and rob them of their golden shield, the shield that protects them, which is the divine righteousness.
By the way, by the way, the name Shishak in Hebrew, you now what it means Shishak? It means, are you writing it down? Write it down. B-U-R-G-E-R, okay, it's not. It's not, okay? "What's that, darling?" Okay, Shishak is the word greedy of fine linen, greedy of fine linen. That's very interesting. All right, if you look up the word, the name Shishak, it means greedy of fine linen. You know what's fine linen a picture of in the Bible? Righteousness. You'll find this in Revelation. Fine linen is the righteousness of the saints, amen?
And really of fine linen, the devil is out to destroy your righteousness consciousness. He cannot destroy your righteousness. Your righteousness is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot make you unrighteous, amen. No sin today can make you unrighteous, amen. No, like Jesus touched like leprosy is a type of sin in the Old Testament. Jesus touched leprosy, leprosy died, Jesus didn't. It shows Jesus is greater than leprosy, amen. Jesus is greater than sin. When you have Jesus in your life, no sin can overpower you. No sin can remove Jesus from the throne of your life, amen.
If the devil can remove your righteousness before God, amen, which is a gift, he has to remove Jesus first from the throne. Because Jesus ascended at the Father's right hand, it's your righteousness today. Your righteousness cannot be assailed. It cannot be removed. It can't be touched because it is the man at the Father's right hand that is your righteousness. Are you listening? But what the devil can do, Shishak means he's greedy of fine linen. He's out. The only thing he's aiming for is that I must remove that sense that he's righteous. He cannot remove your righteousness. He cannot undo the fact you're born again.
If you're born again, you're born again. You may live like the devil. I believe, truly born-again people don't live like the devil. That's an extreme way of saying something to prove a point, hyperbole if you want to use it. But listen carefully, you're saved, you're saved forever, amen. But you miss out on enjoying all the chambers, all the blessings, all the good life that God has for you. What do you think is a good life? "If I'm famous, Pastor Prince, I'm famous". Interview those who are famous. What do you want, another statue? What do you want? "I want, I want, I want money". Look at those who are, got the most money in the world right now, look at them. They are now telling themself, "Okay, what next? I think I better go into helping global warming, or, you know, go into some cause". They're trying to find purpose in life, amen.
Well, what do you think? Even some very, very rich people will divorce the wife. That very beautiful relationship God gave you, you know, to live together and grow old together, amen, and grow young again after that, you know? Nice idea, right? But it's like they're all alone and they shot the light. They can only sleep in one bed. You can be billionaire, but trust me, can only sleep in one bed. You cannot buy sleep. "Oh, I can. I can buy sleeping pills". You will have problems sleeping. You will sleep for a while, it's not sleeping, it's called knocked out. It's called knocked out. It's not sleeping, and that's why you can still get up and feel very tired. And after that later on when it sets in, gotta find another type because you are now getting used to it. You cannot buy sleep. You can buy a house, big house, cannot buy a family, home, love.
Now, I'm not saying God doesn't want you to prosper. I'm just saying, what is the life? Jesus says, "I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly", amen, more abundantly. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Now, I want to share with you something kind of sad before I go to it because I was reading this just the other day, and I didn't know I'd be preaching on this, you know, but I was talking to my friend in Israel and about poetry that I'm about to share with you from the Bible. And my friend said to me, "You know what?" He's Israeli. He lives in Jerusalem and he says... I was sharing him about how we... He's a pastor himself, a Jewish pastor, and I said to him, "How man greater than us have fallen".
So, we always need to depend on God's grace, stay small in our eyes, stay low, stay low. That's where the dew hits, the dew hits the lowly grass, stay low. You'll get the dew all the time. Stay low, water seeks the lowest. Stay low. God gives grace to the humble, amen. Stay low, and you'll go far and high, amen? So, we were talking about it and I talked about this song that I was reading, I shared with him. Said, "You know something? Every Jewish boy, every Israeli boy must memorize that, I had to memorize that in school last time".
Then he quote, you know, he quote in Hebrew. I want to share with you this beautiful song, a song that David spontaneously released from his spirit but it's a very sad song. It's called The Song of the Bow, and it happened right after his best friend, his covenant friend Jonathan and Jonathan's father King Saul died on Mount Gilboa, slain by the Philistines. And David cried out these words. "David lamented with this lamentation over Saul the king of Israel, and over Jonathan his son (and he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jashar): Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen"!
In the Hebrew mighty is gibborim. How are the heroes fallen? He called even Saul, King Saul who was hunting him, you know, hunting him down to kill him, not giving him a day's rest, chasing him down in the wilderness wanting to kill David. He called him a mighty hero. In fact, this song is about even praising, not just Jonathan, but by King Saul, amen, who made himself David's enemy. And what about us? You know, we have people that come against us, who don't agree with us and all that. Do we forgive them? Do we speak well of them? Amen.
And this phrase, "how are the mighty fallen" in this song is repeated three times, and all Israeli children must memorize this song, but it's something here I want you to see. You drop down, "Tell it not in Gath", the Philistine city, "Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon", another city, "Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa", now, we have been to the mountain of Gilboa. My pastors and I, we've been on top of the mountains of Gilboa, and David said that that's where Saul and Jonathan died, on that mountain.
You see, it's a place of victory. Any army, even Sun Tzu, "Art of War", Sun Tzu, something like..., you know? Never mind. Shishak, Shake Shack, same, you know? He said in the book "Art of War", he said that it's always the priority to take the higher elevation against your enemy. A mountain is a place of advantage. But it was a mountain of advantage that King Saul and Jonathan died. What should have been their advantage turned against them, why? Because King Saul turned against God and hunted down David's anointed, amen? And he died. The way he died was terrible. An arrow hit him, but he wasn't dead. Then he fell upon his own sword, still was not dead, was still alive. Passed by an Amalekite, say "Amalekite".
Now, it is not an Amal with a kite. It is Amal in Hebrew, listen carefully, means labor, working with pain and stress, amal. Amal is not just labor, read carefully. Amal is grievous labor, burdensome labor. Whenever you are working, you can be working and there's life. If you're working at night, you are tired pleasantly and go to sleep, amen? But there's a work that is stressful. There is a work that is burdensome. That's called Amal.
And God said to King Saul, "Destroy the Amalekites". He refused. Guess what. An Amalekite passed by when he was wounded and dying and he told them he said, "What are you? Who are you"? Say that, "I'm an Amalekite". He says that, "I'm still alive, kill me". He spared the Amalekites who killed him. It was an Amalekite that killed him. And this Amalekite took the crown of King Saul and his bracelet, ran all the way to tell David, "David, your enemy is dead, hallelujah. Here is his crown, his bracelet". And David says, "How dare you? How dare you stretch your hand against the Lord's anointed"?
Look at that and look at us, how the contrast. And David has been under the Old Testament, how he forgives, amen? How large is David's heart? Amen. And he told his men, "kill him", and he killed the Amalekite. And it's a picture of this. If you don't stop that burdensome labor, "I'm trying to please God. I'm trying to get in God's good books". No, no, rest. God is pleased with you, amen. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. Unless you're settled with that, you're not interested in knowing more about God. In fact, you will see God as a distant God, an angry God. He's not, he's your Father. Are you listening, people?
And then something else we see here. By the way it says, "You mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew nor rain", David says. He cursed the mountain of Gilboa. "Let there be no dew nor rain neither fields of offerings: For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil".
Before I look at the last line with you, I'm gonna show you this in closing, the mountains of Gilboa, by the way, when we are up there, there's one part of the mountain of Gilboa, which I believe is the place where Saul and Jonathan died. Even in Israel today until now, nothing grows there. It is completely barren, okay? Guess what, don't do it now. Don't do it now. If you Google ten hottest places on planet earth, one of them is this area, okay, which is in Beit Shean Valley. Beit Shean Valley is just across Mount Gilboa, amen?
All right, and just there is the hottest place in all Israel, why? Because David cursed Mount Gilboa and says, "Because Jonathan and Saul fell on you, let there be no dew nor rain". Until today, that area somehow cannot receive rain or soil into its moisture in the hottest place in all Israel. And look at this. It says, "The shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil". So, we are righteous by faith, amen church?
Something else, the oil comes on our declaration, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ". It's not just a matter applying the oil, folks. You must be established in righteousness. It's when you're established in righteousness, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, Isaiah 54. God did not promise, God did not promise no weapon will be formed. God did not promise no new virus will be mutating, all right? God never said that. But what God said to his people is this, "No weaponed formed", that means they will be formed, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper". That's God's promise.
God never promised that, you know, that you won't have any more symptoms from now on, but if the symptom has been created in your body by the devil, it is not there to stay. It is there to turn into life and health as a testimony to his glory. He will not prosper! No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue that rises against you, spoken or written, shall be shown to be wrong. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, "and their righteousness is of me", says the Lord. Notice, their righteous of me.
So, the more you declare, "I'm the righteousness of God in Christ", you don't have to worry about your critics. God takes care of them. You don't have to worry about new weapons formed, it will not prosper against you. God never promised it won't be formed. God promised it won't prosper against you, no weapon, amen? But notice, it becomes on who? Read the entire verse, "Their righteousness is of me". So, people acknowledge, "Lord, you are my righteousness. I am the righteousness of God in Christ", amen. Then when you do good, it's not to be righteous, it's an outflow. It's something you want to do because you are righteous already. But whenever you try to become righteous, you are saying you are not. When you say you are not, you negate what Jesus did at the cross, and the Holy Spirit has nothing to bear witness because you are now not in truth.
Can you understand what I'm saying or not? That's why people pray, "God, God, please hear me, God. God, you're like so far away. Why don't you answer me, God"? Finds that it seems as if God is further away. "But Pastor Prince, doesn't God just answer their prayer"? Many a time, in his mercy he does, yes he does. But that's not the prayer he's pleased with. What kind of prayer is he pleased with? Family of prayer. A child doesn't come to me and my son don't come and say, "Abba", he calls me Abba, okay? "Abba, can I have one glass of milk"? Doesn't do that, right?
Now, if you are a third party watching this, what do you think is happening? Do you think I'm a good father? You think that this father must be a child abuser or something wrong with this relationship? "Abba, Abba". Then when I brush my hair... what do you think? And yet, people are reflecting on God. Imagine saying before you pray, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ". Take your place. Now, that's truth. You are acknowledging the truth and you're saying, "It's because Jesus became my sin. I'm taking my place. I'm the righteous of God in Christ".
The Holy Spirit can bear witness, and all the blessings of the righteous is yours. For example, you read in the Book of Proverbs, the blessings are on the head of the righteous. You say, "That's me". And you read, "The seed, your children, of the righteous are delivered". You say, "That's me". You know one thing is for Pastor Henry. Yeah, Pastor Henry is righteous in Christ, but you won't think like, it's for him, it's for the elite few, it's for the pastors and those who go to Bible School. No, you know it's for all of us who are righteous in Christ.
When you read things like in James, "Effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much", you say, "Wow, my prayers avail much". But I tell you this, there's a religious Christian world out there that will come against you. They'll come against this message, why? Because they are hankering after self. They'll say, "Yes, but, yes, but, what about the book of... what about works, what about". No, before I talk about works, the Bible says Abraham believed God. It was countered to him for righteousness. It's a gift of righteousness by which we reign in life. That's what the devil is so afraid of.
Show them Romans 4:13 real quick, and look at this. "God promised that Abraham would be the heir of the world". To be the heir of the world, you cannot be always sick, always broke, always mentally depressed, right? Am I right? So, for God to keep this promise in your life to be the heir of the world, he has to prosper you, he has to bless you, he has to keep you in his peace. He has to give you wisdom and a close walk with him, amen? For the promise that Abraham would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the bronze shield, through the law. You do it right, you are blessed. You do it wrong, the bronze falls on you, the judgment falls on you.
It's not through the law, and yet the church has preached it like it's through the law. No, this promise that you'll be the heir of the world is not to Abraham or his seed. You're all Abraham's seed because you are in Christ. The Bible says in Galatians if you are Abraham seed, you are Christ's, amen. You are Abraham's seed, hallelujah. And this promise is ours, but it's not through the law. It's through the golden shield. It's through the righteousness of faith, amen. Are you with me so far?
Okay, let's close. Let's go back to the song, we'll close. "The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil". In those days before they go for a battle, you know what they do? The night before, they will oil with oil their shield. Why did they do that? When they oiled their shield, something happens to the leather and it compresses, it gets tight and glistens. When it glistens, an enemy shoots an arrow. It hits the glistening shield, it just slides off. But when it's old and not anointed with oil, right, what happens is that it gets stuck. It will burn. Are you with me? So, Saul died as though his shield. It says not anointed with oil. Why did he anoint his oil the night before? I'll tell you why, he went to a witch. He was busy consulting a witch.
There's a verse in Isaiah 24, real fast. It says this, "It shall be that he who flees from the noise of fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit is caught in the snare". It all starts with listening to the noise of fear, responding and reacting to fear. Now, if you stay at home for other reasons, okay, but don't respond to fear, child of God. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, and the Bible says the righteous are bold as a lion. That's you. The righteous are bold as a lion, amen. I had a dream once. I saw this huge creature. It was terrible. It must be from my "Ultraman" days I watched, you know? It was huge, and it was towering over me. I remember it's like in my dream, I thought of him as Goliath. It was huge. And then but something came on me, I got angry with that creature. It was like making me fearful, but I got angry with it. I said, "How dare you. I will not respond to you".
Something in my dream, I got filled with boldness and I just went towards him. I went towards him knowing in my heart, he can't touch me. And the more I went towards him, the more fearful he got, the more fearful he got. He was bigger than me, but he got more fearful until I stepped near him, poof, he disappeared. And I have no doubt in the dream if I had run away, he'd become bigger. But the thing is this, it's like God teaching me, Son, you know, even Goliath. Remember David? David ran towards Goliath. Even in the movies about David and Goliath, it's like David's with the sling and he's like this... that's nonsense. Read your Bible. David ran towards Goliath. He ran towards fear. He ran towards his problem. He ran towards the giant, and the giant fell.
Go back to the song, we'll close with this. "How many times you close, Pastor Prince"? Never mind. "The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil". Okay, look at the verse before that. What was he doing the night before? He was consulting a medium. He was consulting a witch. Child of God, don't listen to New Age teachings. Don't listen to people who tell you things and it's always fearful, always fearful. "But Pastor Prince, what they said happened, it's always evil, right"? What they say will happen is always evil, right? Am I right? Unless you throw this down here or you do this and all that, all right, give money to him and all that, then it won't happen. It's always something evil, right? There was a witch who prophesied that JFK, Kennedy would be shot, would be assassinated. Then when he was shot, they made her famous, okay?
"And how do you explain that, Pastor Prince"? Very simple, the devil can prophesy the devil's plans. Believers should have bound that in Jesus's name, amen. Are you listening people? Amen. Our prophecy from God is to edification to exhortation and comfort. It's not to put fear. And the devil comes to you and he can, the devil is familiar with you. It's called a familiar spirit. He can tell you things about, "You got $10 in your pocket", and it's true. A familiar spirit, bind it in Jesus's name, amen. There's no prophecy like God's prophecy. Praise God.
Okay, let me bring this to a close. Hey, y'all getting very good stuff here, you know? Yeah, yeah, getting good stuff here. Expansion of lungs also in the linear of time and space. What was David doing the night before when Saul was pursuing a witch? And the witch told him this, it was good news, the witch says, "Tomorrow you'll die". That's what the witch said, brilliant. What was David doing? The Bible says his men were talking about stoning David to death because the men, all their wives and children were kidnapped, and they blamed David for it. But David didn't blame them. David got on his knees and he sought the Lord, and the Bible said he sang psalms to the Lord.
That's how we know, the psalms talk about it. He strengthened himself in the Lord his God and the Lord says David pursued, and David got back all the children, all the family. That was the night before. You know what Saul was doing? He was a man of pride. The verse before this, "There the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil". And this word "vilely cast away" is the Hebrew word for despises, "Ah, I don't want this. I despise it". He took the shield, which is to us righteousness of faith, and he said, "I don't need. I can become righteous myself". And he exposed himself to the darts, to the arrow, to the Amalekites bow. He vilely, he didn't just throw it away. He threw it away, he threw it away with despite, with spite.
Friend, that phrase, "How are the mighty fallen"? is repeated three times in this song. And David wept over King Saul and Jonathan. These are mighty men, and we've seen mighty men fall through women, through money, through pride. We are no better. We always keep Jesus in the center, and always depend on the fact that he has made us righteous and not we ourselves. That is true humility. And all the people say? Give him praise, hallelujah. Thank you Jesus, amen.
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across this place, everywhere that's watching this right now. Friend, I don't know what you are thinking of right now, but it doesn't matter. Whatever you are feeling, whatever you're thinking of, the most important paramount thought right now is this, "Am I right with God? Am I right with God"?
We are living in the end times, and you can't afford not to know this. We can't afford to run to a witch that has evil counsel. We can't afford to run to man's ideas, or philosophy, or some other manmade methods. Man whose breath is in his nostrils. Today here, gone tomorrow. Cannot trust in man, they can trust in the Lord. And the Lord said it was Jesus who uttered these words, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever", that includes you, my friend, "whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life". If that is your wherever you are right now, my friend, pray this prayer with me from your heart.
Heavenly Father, thank you for opening my eyes, for loving me, even before I knew you. And I know right now the fact I'm praying this prayer is because of your love and your grace that has brought me to this place of my life, Lord. I confess, Jesus Christ is my Lord. I believe he died for my sins. He took my judgment and was raised from the dead as a proclamation that all my sins have been put away right now. I am in Christ risen. You have placed me in the risen Christ, righteous, holy, blameless in your eyes. This is my position. I'm seated with Christ. Jesus Christ is my Lord forevermore. I'm greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved, and completely protected. In Jesus's name, amen and amen.
Praise the Lord, stand for your feet. My friend, if you prayed that prayer, you are now a child of God. Old things have passed away, all things have become new, amen? Praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place. Do not despise this prayer. When I pray this blessing, I don't just say like it's benediction time. It's very soothing to pray. No, I don't pray or bless to soothe. I bless or proclaim to released. And in this coming week, God knows the future. The Lord doesn't live inside time. He created time. He has gone ahead of your week. He knows how to put you at the right place at the right time.
The Lord bless you and your families throughout this week. The Lord grant that you and your families always be in the right place at the right time throughout this week. The Lord grant to you freedom from fear, that you will not be one that flees from the voice of fear, but you'll be one who will move at the voice of the Spirit, move at the voice of faith. The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you, preserve you, protect you and your families from every virus, from every infection, from every disease, from every danger, from all the power of the evil one. The Lord keep you through his blood. The last station his angels around you and your family throughout week, to keep you in all your ways. With long life he satisfies you. The Lord make his face shine on you. May you find the favor of God everywhere you go, God's favor abounding upon you all around you. You are filled with the favor of God, enjoying his favor throughout this week. And the Lord grant to you and your loved ones his shalom peace, health, and well-being. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said, amen.