Joseph Prince - How To See Many Beautiful Days

Welcome back, church. The year of time and space, wow. How the year has just flown by just like that. Do you feel the same way? The people of God has been preserved, and God has kept his people during this time. He has protected many of you even from the unseen arrows that flies by day and the perilous pestilence, amen. He has protected you from all of that. And here you are, praise the name of Jesus, you are healthy and strong, blessed and ready to take on another year, amen. And what the Lord has for us this coming year is very exciting, amen. When the Lord gave this to me for this coming year, the year of, amen, hallelujah, yes, the year of amen. And I just felt like, you know, it's about time, amen, that something like this happens to the year.

Now, when I talk about the coming year, I'm talking about in terms of what God is doing for his people, for his church, amen. You know, the world will get darker and darker, we know that. And there'll be more and more earthquakes and famines. And there'll be even financial famines. And there'll be a lot of, you know, strife and turmoil in the world. But for God's people, he's gonna keep them in his pavilion, amen, in a special place of protection. The Bible says the sun shall not smite you by day nor the moon by night. Even all the, all the things that he has created will start working for God's people, amen. As creation is groaning and travailing for the manifestation of the sons of God, we are indeed in the last days, the days that the Bible prophesies before Jesus soon return, amen. He's gonna come back for us.

And the Bible says, "Lift up your heads". When all the signs are coming, amen, and we are seeing them happen, full and fast, amen. And we are seeing them culminate in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for the church, amen, for his people, and that day is soon, amen. The King is coming for us. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, amen. He has redeemed us by his blood from the curse of the law. He has redeemed us out of every tongue, every nation of the world. And here we are as a church of Jesus Christ, we are standing tall in the last days. And it can only get better for the church. The Bible says the path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter, while the world gets darker and darker, amen.

Now, the Word that I have today actually goes together with the theme of this coming year. When the Lord gave me this message, he gave it to me together with a theme of the year. And he said to me about this message that how many, the truths that God has hidden in this story, and how this entire story has got to do also with the coming year. The whole event there has meaning in it hidden for a time such as this that we are in. Praise the Lord. Are you ready for the Word of God, amen?

Let's look at the theme of the past year first before we look at what God has for us. And look at this picture of the Temple of Solomon. You know, we started the year with the theme for the year. I believe that every year God has a special emphasis on what he is doing, and how the year will be, will be ruled by in terms of what he wants done and accomplished. And this past year, 2020, is the year of time and space, amen. And who would have thought that we are living in that place where everything, you know, is not normal bound by time, amen. It's no more confined by space, especially when we are on Zoom, online, and even as I'm preaching right now, I'm online. But we are transcending space. We see how the Lord has taken advantage of this faceless reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have more and more people tuning in.

So really, we are reaching more people than we can if we are meeting physically, and that's not to say that meeting physically is not something that God would never bring us back to. But it is something that we need to understand what God is doing for the Church of Jesus Christ, amen, in sending for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the year of time and space illustrates that. Praise God. And look at the Temple of Solomon. At the side, you can see this protruding building, which is the three levels, the three chambers. As you go in the first one, we saw that when I preached this early in the year, I never thought that we're going to go through it sequentially. But the Lord started telling me that, and I shared that in the next sermon, that we're gonna cover this whole year per chamber in three parts of this coming year of, when I said that, for this past year.

And we look back now. And let's take a look at the first part of the year where the grain and the wine and the oil is stored in this first chamber. And the year before that, 2019. has been an emphasis on the grain, the wine, and the oil that the year the latter rain has brought forth. Because latter rain is actually for the harvest of the grain, the wine, and the oil. And we know this is illustrative of the Lord's Supper, the Holy Communion, where regardless of the diseases that are impossible for man to cure, the things that are impossible with man, through God, nothing is impossible, amen. And he has given us this means, the bread and the wine, that these are weapons against every disease, every sickness, every plague, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And he brought us into this. He prepared us with the grain, the wine, and the oil, the anointing oil.

And then the next part of the year, we were actually in a lockdown, or we are in a circuit breaker here in Singapore. And all over the world, it seems like everyone is going into a lockdown. But specifically, this is in reference, not to the world, I don't want you to see these three chambers as for the world. Again I emphasize, when God says something or God gives us a theme for the year, it is what he's gonna do for his church, for his people in that year. So, keep that in mind. Now, it may have a reflection of the times that we are in and the world around us, but it's primarily for his church, praise God. So, the next part about, we were all resting at home with our families. Remember that? And the next chamber is the place where the priests would rest.

And when I first preached this, who would have thought that the next part of the year would be a time of lockdown, a time where we are hunkered down with our loved ones. And these are some of the most beautiful days for me, amen. And the last part of the year that we have stepped into is the third chamber, and they will go up higher and higher through the winding stairs. And the truth of the winding stairs is maximum height in a small amount of space. And then we come to the third chamber, the upper room. The Bible calls it the upper room. It is used as the upper room. That word "upper room" for the three-floor house, as well as the temple here.

And right in the upper room is where the gold is kept. And the Bible says it's even paved with gold, the upper chamber, and it gets wider and wider as you go upwards. And we are now in that place, spiritually speaking, amen. This is also reflective of the heavenly places in Christ. Remember when Paul was caught up to heaven? The Bible says he was caught up to the third heaven. So, the first heaven is the atmospheric heaven that you see around you, all right, where you are, you know, you can experience the heat and the cold, and the four seasons. This is actually the realm of the first heaven. Then we come to the universe. The universe is the realm of the second heaven. And the third heaven, we cannot see it, right? It is beyond the the galaxies, amen, beyond this universe. It is the place where God dwells, amen.

And the third heaven is where we're gonna be forever with the Lord, amen? But it does not mean that we have to wait. The traditional idea that you have to wait and then you pass it on and then you'll be in the third heaven, that's not true for the believer. The moment you are born again, you are in the heavenly places, why? Because you are in Christ, and God wants us to live there. This is the place where miracles happen. This is the place where you are being led by the Spirit. It's a spirit realm, and it is the third heaven. Paul was caught up to the third heaven where he received revelations. He received revelations. He says that he's not allowed to utter all the revelations, amen, that was revealed to him. So, it's the third heaven where God's presence is and where we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We have to learn to posture ourself, amen, where we really are in God's eyes, amen.

Spiritually, we are in Christ seated at the Father's right hand, amen. And far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, COVID-19 is a name. And we are far above COVID-19, above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. So, it is the place of the highest place that we have. Remember in the Old Testament, God says that before the blessings come on you in Deuteronomy 28, the very first thing, the very first verse, God says this is gonna happen first, he told the nation of Israel. Back then it's through the nation of Israel, and this is what he says. "The Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth". High above all nations of the earth.

So, notice that God sets the nation of Israel high above all nations of the earth. It is a picture of where we are right now, spiritually speaking, amen. We are all in the third heaven. We are all in Christ, amen, where God sets us high above all, amen. And position before blessings, position before blessings. Here it says God will set you high above all nations, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you. So, we want the blessings to come on us, but are you in that place? Are you in that place where God says you are set high above? So, God sets the nation of Israel high above, and then all these blessings will come on you.

So, this is a picture of Ephesians 1 where it says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ". Here you have it, the heavenly places, that's the third heaven, in heavenly places in Christ. We are blessed. There is the place of blessing. So, stop living earthbound. Stop living as if you are limited to the scarce resources of this earth, amen. You are not, you are not being supplied based on what you have in the bank, amen. You are not supplied based on what your boss will decide to give you, amen, for this coming year. You're not limited by that, amen. God promised he'll supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus, according to his riches, not even out of.

According means all the riches he has is yours according to his riches in glory like what the Father said to the other son in Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son, he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours". So, live in that realm where you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The word "every" there in the Greek is pas, which means all types. It's not just every of the same type, but every variety, amen, of spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. It goes on to tell us in verse 6 that we are, we are highly favored in the Beloved. It goes on to say in verse 7 that all our sins are forgiven, again, according, not out of, according to the riches of his grace, amen. It tells about how God predestined us, amen, to be holy and without blame before him, amen. All these blessings and even blessings that manifest outside because of the inward blessings, amen, will all come on us when we are in that place. Remember what the Word says? When you positioned before all the blessings come and overtake you. We want them to overtake us this coming year in 2021, amen. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I think I just preached myself happy. Hallelujah.

So if you go to God's Word in Acts chapter 9, the passage that God gave it to me, and God said to me, "You know, I want you to study this passage because there are nuggets of gold I'm gonna give you in this upper chamber". I later realized that there is that word "chamber". I was studying from my King James Bible, and the King James Bible that I was studying actually unveiled the word "chamber" in this story. And God is saying, "That's where you are, and that's where you're gonna stay. Tell the people, stay in that place of the upper chamber, the third floor. Stay there where all the blessings are, where miracles happen, where the Spirit of God can lead you, amen, where the angels of God, an innumerable company of angels. You will need this, amen, in these last day".

And the Lord says that stay in that realm, stay in the Spirit. That's the spirit realm, the heavenly places in Christ, amen. Position-wise, we are in Christ. Experiential-wise, we are in the Spirit on earth here. And every time you are in the Spirit, every time you touch the Spirit, every time you allow yourself be led by the Spirit, you're actually effectively and practically living in the third heaven in the heavenly places in that upper chamber, amen? So, let's look at the story here. "At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas". Whenever the Bible emphasize things like her name is Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas, Tabitha is Aramaic, Dorcas is Greek, same name. God wants us to pay attention to names in this story, okay?

So, this lady is called Tabitha, which is the name means gazelle in Aramaic, in Hebrew as well. It is sabia, which is actually the word used in Song of Songs more than one time, and Dorcas in the Greek. "This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room". This word "upper room," when God first gave me this story, I know about the story. I've read it before, but it didn't register with me that there was an upper room. In fact, in all my sharing about the upper room this year, I never even mentioned this story, but she was laid in an upper room. And according to Strong's Concordance, right, the Greek word here, huperoon, which is for the upper room, actually refers to an apartment in the third story. That's what Strong says, amen. Strong is a Greek scholar. So, this is on the third floor.

Now, that that's not usually normal because usually, they will not bring the body to the third floor, and there's a reason for this. And so, by the way, in verse 36 at Joppa, Joppa there was a certain disciple. Notice Joppa which is present-day Jaffa, near Tel-Aviv. Jaffa or Joppa, where Jonah took the boat, amen, to go away from what God was directing him to do. And at Joppa, Joppa or Yafa, Yafo, all right, in Hebrew is the word "beautiful". Today when they talk about someone who is beautiful, they will say, yafo or yafa, all depends on whether it's handsome or beautiful, but it's the word "beautiful," amen. Yafo, yafo is beautiful.

So, in a place of beauty, there came death. Something bad happened, something that is not meant to be. Just like what God has ordained for all of us when he made man, God put man in a beautiful place, amen, Eden, delight, paradise, amen. God wanted man to enjoy all the good things he has, and that's God's dream for man. God never wanted man to suffer any pain, any sickness, or even die. In fact, God calls death an enemy in the Scriptures, amen? So God's dream for us is to live in this place of beauty. But what happened was that man sinned against God, and death came in. The wages of sin is death. So, in the place of beauty, there came death in the story, and death with someone that we esteem not deserving of death.

Yet, we know even today ever since Adam sinned, death has spread down. All men, the Bible says, die, amen. All men die except for the generation that will see Jesus come for them. But the Christian posture, the Bible tells us, that we don't look to the grave. We look to the heavens. We look for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, looking for the return of his Son. And the Bible says that in more than one place in the New Testament, to look for Jesus's return for us. We don't look to the grave. We don't keep on saying things like, you know, stop saying things like one day we're all gonna die. We're all... no, no, we, in fact, that that's not a Christian posture. The Christian, Christian posture is that we are looking for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. Keep on looking up, not looking down, okay?

So, but in the place of beauty, there came death. And when God gave me this passage, this is what I heard him say how to have beautiful days in this coming year, okay? He's gonna show us how to have beautiful days. Now, I don't like to give titles to my sermons, you know? I'm not one of those that give titles to the sermons, but this is what I heard, How To Have Beautiful Days This Coming Year, amen. Is it the year of beautiful days? No. But God, you must say everyday is gonna be beautiful days or good days. He says that many good days. You know how he gave that to me?

As I read this passage, right at the last part of the passage, in fact, this verse here finishes the entire chapter 9. And it ends with this verse. It says, "So it was that he, Simon Peter, stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner". It was that he stayed many days in Joppa, so many beautiful days God said. Don't forget, this whole passage here, God gave us an inkling to study the names, right? Tabitha, who is also named Dorcas, God wants us to study this because there are also types in the New Testament.

For example, in the Book of Acts, another place Paul was sailing, and there was a storm. And then finally they refused to listen to Paul, and there was a shipwreck. And where did they ended up in? What island, what's the name of the island? Malta, Malta means honey, so the land of milk and honey. How to reach there? So, Christendom, the ship is the ship of Christendom. Doesn't mean Christendom, doesn't mean that everyone is true born-again believer. It means that once you call yourself a Christian, you are part of Christendom, okay? That ship did not listen to Paul, Paul's preaching. As a result, they were shipwrecked.

They should have listened to Paul and Paul finally stood up and says, "Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me, okay, and not suffered this loss". But nonetheless, they will all saved. Those that listen to Paul, they were all saved. And they ended up in an island called Malta, the land of milk and honey, amen. And praise the Lord. So, that's a picture of the church. So, even stories in the Book of Acts can be types. You know, Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 17 that you have us as a pattern. He says that, "As you have us for a pattern". The word "pattern" there is tupos or types, amen. In other words, Paul and Simon Peter and the disciples and all that, and their life, actually are also types. We think of types as only from the Old Testament.

We think of the story of Joseph as a type of our Lord Jesus, and rightly so. We think of Ruth as the church, a Gentile church, right, made out of Jews and Gentiles. But actually, she's more representative of the Gentile because she was a Gentile. And then Boaz, in him is strength, his name means in him is strength, and he is the redeemer, our Lord Jesus. And Naomi, who is Naomi? And she's older. Israel. And it was because of Ruth that she was able to redeem the land, amen. Not her, but her marriage to Boaz and Boaz is the great redeemer. But Ruth learned a lot of the ways of God from Naomi, just like the church is learning from Israel, amen. Even in all the the Bible, customs and teachings and all that, that is predominantly Israelite, amen, Israeli in nature, and we learn from our Naomi.

So, these are types, but are there types in the New Testament? Yes, there is. And it talks about how one time in Acts 20, they will all gathered in the upper room. Look at this, Acts 20 on the first day of the week. And this is Acts 20. When the disciples came together to break bread. Notice, they came together on the first day of the week, which is a Sunday. They came together to break bread. You know, they come to church for the sole motive, their primary reason is to break bread, amen. And Paul, you would agreed that Paul, at that time, was the greatest preacher, yet they did not come together on Sunday to hear Paul. Even Paul was there. They came together to break bread, and the church has forgotten this.

Okay, let's go on. "And Paul was ready to depart the next day and Paul spoke to them and continued his message until midnight". So, they were listening to Paul. There were many lamps in the upper room. This word "upper room" again is the same word huperoon, which is in reference to the upper room where they laid Tabitha after she died. They laid her, same, same Greek word, right, the upper room. And it is on the third floor because later on we find out that Eutychus fell off from the third loft, from the third story. And they were all in this upper room on the third floor, and the Bible says there were many lamps. This word "many lamps" means there were many luminaries. There were many men of God, men of God that God has anointed. It's a great place to be in.

You know, when they're all gathered together, amen, was like there was such a light in that place, many lamps in the upper room. "And in the window sat a certain man named Eutychus," his name means good fortune. And I shared this message before, how the church has lost her good fortune because she is no longer listening. She's falling asleep at Paul's teaching, Paul's preaching. And church, the entire Bible is profitable, amen, for correction, for instruction, righteousness, for doctrine, for reproof, it's all there. It's God breathed. Every part of the Bible, every word is God breathed. It's important, amen. But some parts are written for us, for our benefit, but some are written to us.

Now, when it comes to Paul's... it's not Paul's gospel, actually, but Paul calls it "my gospel". But we all know that his gospel came from the ascended Christ, amen. Some people say, "I just read the Jesus words in red". You know, number one, originally it was not in red, okay? And Jesus words go beyond Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is the words, Paul's words that Paul writes, even in Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, right, these are not words of Paul. These are the words of the ascended Christ, amen. So, they should all be in red actually, right? But we need to be listening to Paul's doctrine because Paul, Paul's doctrine, and that's not to say that we don't listen to John or Peter or the rest and all that. But Paul's doctrine will give you the foundation and the key to interpret the rest of the Scriptures, amen, but be they in the Old Testament or in the New Testament.

So what happened is that the church lost her good fortune because she stopped listening to Paul's preaching, and then she fell off. She fell asleep, all right, that's how she stopped listening. She fell asleep and she fell off her high position from the third floor. The Bible says he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. And Paul says, "Don't trouble yourself, his life is in him". Paul went down, embraced him. When he had come out, he had broken bread and eaten. You see, after raised the boy from the dead, Paul still went up to the third floor and broke bread. We would have said like wow, what a great thing to happened, the raising of the dead. And then we'd all, you know, probably sing a song or whatever and go home, right?

Paul still went up there and broke bread, amen. The priority is still there. And talked again a long while even till daybreak. We gotta preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen, the way Paul preached it, "until daybreak" amen, church? "And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted". So I preached on this before and I broke down a lot more stuff than what I'm sharing here, but it's a message on how the church has lost her good fortune and how good fortune can be resurrected, amen? So back to this story again in Dorcas's story in Joppa, a place called Beautiful.

So we have established that there are types, even in New Testament, and what is a type here? "This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did". You know, the church of Jesus Christ, she's a picture of the church. The church is usually typified by the woman, amen? And the church is known or should be known for her alms giving, her good deeds, her charitable deeds, and also, the Bible says she was a woman that a lot of people loved, as you will see later on. Many people love her, she had favor, amen. That's the church of Jesus Christ, the church of Jesus Christ that God is raising even in these last days, amen. But in the place of beauty, death came in.

It's so like our situation right now in the year 2020, you know, in a place of beauty, death has come in, and death has come in to a place, the place of beauty is the church of Jesus Christ, the place of, you know, where we are gathering together and right now, it's almost like that part has died, amen. We are no more gathering together but God would never, never, you know, allow the devil to have the upper hand, amen. Nothing catches our God by surprise. We need to know what God is doing at this time and flow with him. God is accomplishing something. It's beyond our human understanding, amen, our comprehension, but God is doing something good for his people.

We don't wanna be like Jacob. Remember what Jacob says? "All these things are against me". No, when they were actually all these things was working for Jacob's good because it was his son, Joseph, that was orchestrating all the plans to bring his father into a place of abundance, to take care of his father, to protect him and keep him, oh, for the rest of his life. But he didn't realize that. So all the things are working for our good. And we need to see what God is doing, amen. So here, we have Dorcas who died and they laid her in an upper room. An upper room. Now there are people who dispute, "Well, you know, Christians on this side of heaven should not have dreams about good days. You know, we are called to suffer for Jesus". And that's so. The Bible says: "It is given unto you on behalf of Christ to suffer for his name's sake". When we suffer for his name's sake, the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

The only suffering I see in the Bible, in the New Testament, that a believer, you know, I mean, you don't have to believe for it, it's gonna happen. You will suffer for the name of Jesus. You will suffer as a believer. But I don't see anywhere else that we suffer the things that Jesus carried at the cross. And the Bible says in Isaiah 52 very clearly and in Matthew chapter 8 and all that, that not only he carried our sins, he carried our diseases, he carried our pains, himself took our infirmities in Matthew 8:17, and with his stripes we are healed. Not only that, the Scriptures tell us: "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor".

When did Jesus become poor? Not before the cross, right? Every time there was a need, he could have supplied that need with 12 basketful left over. But he became poor at the cross. Why did he become poor? The last thing he saw, one of the last things he saw, were the soldiers gambling for his clothes. "And he became poor that you and I," the Bible says, "that you, through his poverty, might become rich". Now, rich doesn't mean become, you know, greedy and just have avarice in your heart. No, no, I'm talking about being blessed to be a blessing. So part of it, and we cannot deny the Bible says that he became poor.

Now, Jesus didn't become poor spiritually, right, so that we can become rich spiritually. The context there is not referring to that at all. Read the context. He's talking about giving finances and the whole, where you find "God loves a cheerful giver," the churches of Macedonia giving to the poor saints in Jerusalem, that whole context is there, when this verse appears that through his poverty, you might become rich, is talking to the church about you can afford to be generous because you have become rich, lavishly supplied, amen, because of what Christ did at the cross, hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus.

So this is what is happening and we see the church right now, full of good works and charitable deeds, but something happened even before the church died. In a way, not gathering is a form of death, right? It is life when we are gathered together. Zoom and online and all that doesn't really cut it. We all know that. So in other ways, some of you are experiencing, like, financial death because you've just been retrenched, and you feel like, you know, a form of death. That's a form of death. Or breakdown of marriage or relationships, it's a form of death. Can God resurrect it? Can God turn your days of death and darkness into beautiful days? Oh, that's like a song, into beautiful days. Someone write a song: "Beautiful days in Christ," amen?

So here we go. "And they laid her in a upper room". There was another body, a corpse, that was laid in an upper room. Does it ring a bell? In 2 Kings chapter 4, there's a story whereby there was a wealthy woman of Shunam, all right, a Shunammite. And she told her husband this, in 2 Kings 4: "She said to her husband, 'Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way.'" And that was Elisha. "'Let us make a small room on the roof.'" Now, traditionally, their house is two floors, but if you make a small room on the roof with walls, what does that make the room? The third chamber, amen? The third floor room. "'And put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.' One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there".

All right, so actually, she provided a place for the man of God, and the man of God was very grateful and the man of God told his servant, Gehazi, "Go, ask her what she wants us to do for her," amen? "For all the good that you've done to us, tell me, tell me what do you need"? And she says, "You know what? I'm just happy to be where I am". Then Gehazi whispered in Elisha's ears and says, "She's without a child and her husband is very old". So Elisha called her and says, "At this time next year you will have a son". And true enough, she had a son, and one day the son was out with the father, out there in the field, and all of a sudden he shouted, "My head, my head". And I think it was heatstroke.

And the Bible says the boy was brought to the mother and this is what happened: "When the father lifted the boy and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap 'til noon, and then he died". Now, the Shunammite woman, the mother "went up and laid the boy on the bed of the man of God". She went up to the third chamber, to the third floor, "and she laid the boy on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out". So she laid him. What a thing for a mother to do when her son has just died. The son that she dearly loved, the son that she's been longing for all the past years, has finally arrived and the boy died, but what does she do? She laid him on, in the upper chamber, just like they laid Tabitha in the upper chamber, and she closed the door behind her. All this has meaning and I just want you to see this first.

"And she shut the door behind the boy and went out". Now, she went to look for Elisha and you all know the story. Elisha was away at the time and she found Elisha, Elisha asked her this question: "Is it shalom with you"? And she said, "Shalom". Now, in our English Bible, it says, "Is it well with you"? She says, "It is well". That's where the wonderful hymn, that beautiful hymn, "It is well with my soul," came from, from this story. Instead of saying, that "no, my son just died". She says, "Shalom". She didn't lie. Shalom means what? "Even though there's death right now, amen, God will turn the whole thing around," hallelujah. Shalom means it shall be well, amen. It shall be, not well now, but it shall be, amen?

I'm gonna say this prophetically to many of you that are watching right now. I know the situation looks bleak and dark; it shall be well for you, amen. This coming year, you will see wellness, you will see wholeness, you will see shalom in every area of your life, if you will just apply what God wants us to learn from this story here. "And shut the door behind him and went out". "When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed". Now, this is the third chamber now. "He went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord". Now, what he did was this: he prayed. He went on the boy and prayed for the boy, and the boy was raised from the dead.

Now, watch this. The very first thing you need to do, amen, when death has come in or something akin to death, forms of death, manifestation of death, depression is a form of death, sickness is death begun, amen, before the physical death. Usually, it's death begun. Many times, God stops it, amen, in his mercy and grace, and you see, God does not want you to suffer sickness and disease, because Jesus bore them at the cross. That tells you God's will, right? But this boy died. And what's the first thing the mother did? Put her on the man of God's bed. Where? In the upper chamber, in the third floor. And God is saying, "When, you know, when things like this happens, that you know is not supposed to happen to a child of God who has the favor of God whom Christ died for, whom Christ has redeemed from the curse of the law, what's the first thing you do"?

Expose yourself to the place of anointing, amen. In your inward man, get back to that posture of I'm in the spirit, I'm in the third heaven, I'm blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Remind yourself of that. Keep on listening to sermons, amen, that are preaching what I'm preaching right now, the word of, by the hearing of faith, amen, faith comes. And then, the Bible even says, "By the hearing of faith," in Galatians 3, "God is able to minister and what miracles among you," amen. That's what he says in Galatians very clear. So what we need is a hearing of faith, and whenever we find that something has happened to our children and all that and we find that they become more rebellious or they're sick or they're under, you know, it's like, symptoms or the curse and all that, what you do is that you expose your child to the anointing of God, amen.

And parent, listen, you have authority at home. Don't allow the child to take over. Don't allow even a teenage boy to take over. Don't allow your son as long as under your roof, you have authority. Too many fathers are just, you know, kowtowing to the wishes of their sons and daughters, afraid that they will leave the Lord or leave the church or, you know, or get bitter and all that. No, no, friend, listen. If you don't do that, if you don't exercise your fatherly authority, amen, in a loving way, of course, amen, they will leave. They will not see, because they find that you are not taking your faith seriously. What kind of faith is that when you yourself are not taking it seriously.

So they need to see a man who is solid, a man who is established in righteousness, a man who will not in a way that embitter them, the Bible said, "Be careful you don't make them bitter, amen," but correct them, amen. You are the man of the house, you are the head of the house, amen. And you can say, "Look, we are all gonna watch this before we go out," amen? As long as that child is still under your roof, you have authority. "Oh, I don't wanna force them. You force them, then they won't wanna go to church anymore or they won't do, you know, the things of God". No, no, friend, not doing that will cost them 'cause whatever they are used to, slowly they will, you know, the devil will just take them away with diversion, you know, his diversion tactics will cause the child to slowly stray away from the things of God.

So, friend, this child died. The mother put him on the bed where the man of God laid, amen, because of the anointing. Now, I'm not saying, don't get, you know, to the point where you are asking for Pastor Mark's comb or, you know, and you ask for Pastor Joe's hanky or things like that. Now, listen carefully, amen. There is the anointing of God on these servants of God, amen. What he's saying is this. When there's death, expose that situation to the anointing of God. And the way the anointing of God is flowing, right now, at this present moment is via the screen, amen. It's through whatever means you're watching this, it's getting to you. And every time you're listening, you are receiving the anointing that destroys yoke, satanic yokes, bondage, and all kinds of yokes, amen. Praise the Lord, thank you, Jesus, hallelujah.

"And when Elisha came in," you all know the story. Elisha prayed for the boy. He went on top of the boy and prayed for the boy. Now the boy is sandwiched between the anointing upon, anointing below, on the bed, amen. And the boy was raised from the dead. Surround that child, amen, with the anointing of God. Inundate the child with the anointing or play godly music, amen. If they are in your car, don't keep on, you know, allowing them to say, "I want to hear this worldly music. I wanna hear that". You know, listen, let 'em hear what you want to hear, amen. Surround them with the anointing of God and here and there, the Holy Spirit will find a way, a crevice in their hearts here and there, and the light will shine in and will turn them around, amen. Because that's what happened to you and I, amen? God had mercy on us, so why not our children? Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

Okay, let's go back to Tabitha's story. Verse 38: "Since Lydda was near Joppa," very quickly, Lydda means travail or strife. Joppa is beautiful. So whenever, you know, the devil is trying to bring strife near the place of beauty. The place of beauty is your beautiful days, right? I was saying just now that some believers don't believe that Jesus carried also, all right, the evil, you know that the cross for Jesus, amen, in terms of all that's happening, is an evil day. Yet, God turned it into the most beautiful day, amen. Through the cross, we are saved. Through the cross, we are blessed. Through the cross, we are redeemed. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. God wants you to have beautiful days, good days.

Is that scriptural? Is it biblical for a believer to believe God for beautiful days, for good days, in this coming year? Is it? Well, let's look at what the Bible says. Must always go by what the Bible says. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3: "He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil," the very first area, refrain your tongue from evil. Notice, "love life". Is it wrong to love life? Then why is God's Spirit encouraging us through his Word to love life and to see good days? Do you wanna love life and see good days? It's telling you about your future, amen.

Do you want to love life in 2021? You want to see good days in 2021? The first area: watch your tongue. Watch your tongue, amen? Watch your tongue. This year, 2020, has been preceded by a lot of strife of tongues, the past years. I cannot remember ever seeing online the social media with strife of tongues, amen. Maybe that's the reason why this whole thing, COVID-19 and all that, happened, because the word for plague is deber where it says, "Surely He shall deliver you from the perilous pestilence," amen? No pestilence will come near you. The word "pestilence" there is the word "deber". "Perilous pestilence," deber, in Psalms 91. Deber is the word, same letters from the word "davar," for words, amen. Words cause plague, amen. And that's what the Bible says, amen, that's the Word of God. Watch our words. You wanna see good days, beautiful days? Live in Joppa many days, amen, many beautiful days? Watch your tongue. Watch what you say, hallelujah, amen.

Now, "Lydda was near Joppa". So the strife is trying to come in. Strife is trying to come in. "And the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them". Let me tell you this. Please understand where I'm coming from when I say this. These widows meant well. Obviously, they, you know, they loved Tabitha like I was saying just now, Tabitha is a woman of favor, praise God, and she was a woman full of good deeds. And these widows, obviously Tabitha took care of them as well and ministered to them. And they showed Peter all the garments that Tabitha made.

You see: "all the tunics and the garments that Dorcas had made while she was with them". But you see, friend, this is like they're trying to convince Peter that because of all her good deeds, Peter ought to do a miracle in the name of Jesus for Dorcas. How many know that when God blesses us, when God does a miracle for us, it is not because of our good works. God wants the church to be full of good works. Don't misunderstand. But it is not because of our good works that God blesses us. It's because of what Christ has done at the cross, amen. Grace is unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor. Healing is a grace gift, amen. You cannot try to earn healing. That's why in a healing meeting, many times, I've had pastors who tell me this, the most undeserving person gets healed of a condition, the same condition that someone else who is faithful in the church for many years is not healed.

Now, that's not to say that God loves one more than.... No, God doesn't want the person... We do not know the heart of the person. I'm in no place to judge. But if you are looking at your long service, you're looking at your how much you know, you're looking at yourself, any look at self will shut down faith. You must look to Jesus, amen. So, this woman was trying to convince, you know, they showed all the garments and all that. Look at what Peter did. Peter put them all out. "Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, 'Tabitha, arise.' And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up".

Now, he put them all out. He knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body, he said. You know, whenever you hear negative news, you hear people trying to say, you know, this person is deserving of this miracle, you know, in this case, or you hear bad news. You hear bad news. You hear news that stop you from praying for someone. You know, people are trying to discourage you. You must learn to put them all out. You must learn to put all these negative words out. You must learn to shut down your social media and trying to travel from one bad news to another bad news on your Facebook, or, you know, or watching the reruns of the same bad news on TV on the media. No, friend, there comes a place you gotta stop that. Put them all out, all out of your mind, and put them all out of your consciousness. Before the miracle can happen, before God can turn your bad days into beautiful days, you gotta put all this out. Put them all out. Say "Put them all out". Next, kneel down and pray.

So, first, put all the negatives out, kneel down and pray, amen. You know, Jesus, when he walked into, remember Jairus' daughter was dead, and Jairus has asked Jesus to come to the house. On the way there, a woman came and touched, you know, the hem of his garment. God healed and all that and someone came from the house and said, "Don't bother the master anymore. Your daughter is dead". And Jesus says, "Don't be afraid, believe only and she shall be made whole". And Jesus went to the house. "When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John". That's where Peter learned to raise the dead. That's where Peter learned how to have a miracle come into a situation where death has come. Peter was there, and the father and mother of the girl. "Now all wept and mourned for her; but Jesus said, 'Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.'"

Now this is a statement of faith, amen, the sleep of death. In other words, it's temporal. When you sleep, it's temporal, amen. So, and they ridiculed him. They didn't understand his language, knowing that she was dead. See, Jesus has good days because the only time he has evil days, you know, at the cross, right? But even that, God turned into the most glorious day in history. Jesus, watch what he says. He never really confessed death until the people don't understand. Somebody says, "Lazarus is sleeping, I go and wake him up". Lazarus has been dead more than a day. And the disciples said, "Lord, if he's sleeping, let's leave him alone". And the Lord says, the Bible said he spoke plainly, he's dead. It's only because they don't understand. So, the Lord never confessed death unless to explain finally for people who don't understand his language.

So, the Lord learned, you know, friend, you know, Jesus grew up as a man. Don't forget this doesn't take away his deity. But we need to learn also that as a man, he was anointed of the Holy Spirit, and he is a pattern for us, amen. The things that he says, we need to learn, amen. When Jesus cursed the fig tree, it died, amen. When Jesus spoke the Word for healing, the blind saw, amen. The impotent man was raised, amen, hallelujah. So, he spoke this and they ridiculed him, notice that, knowing that she was dead, knowing that she was dead, they ridiculed Jesus. What did Jesus do? He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called saying, "Little girl, arise". Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.

What did Jesus do with all the naysayers, those who say it can't be done, it can't be done? He put them all outside. That's the first thing you need to do. Stop listening to the social media, stop listening to all these things, stop watching shows that are negative all the time. This person came up with this disease, this guy fell in love with her, now she has the disease and it's gonna be a terrible ending. And you know, watching shows that tell you the symptoms of certain diseases and all that when it comes to a certain age and all that, you will have this and that. Stop all that, amen. Stop, stop viewing things that bombard you. You know, generally, you know the news is important. Do you know the news? Yes, right. But generally, it's enough. Many of it is just reruns. Stop all that, amen. And start listening to the Word of God. Put all this out, kneel down and pray, amen. Kneel down and pray.

So, back to Peter. "And he turned to the body, knelt down, and prayed and turned to the body". So, before you address your negative situation, before you can speak the Word of authority and the Word of faith, what did Peter do? He put them all out, after that, he knelt down and prayed, amen. Jesus spoke to the fig tree, and then he went, cleansed the temple and said, "My house is the house of prayer," amen. Then he came back, and they saw the fig tree withered. It's a principle here. Today the house of God is us, amen, praise the Lord. We need to remove all the thieves from our house, amen, all these trying to rob us of our peace, causing stress, distracting us, trying to pull our attention in all different directions. Get all the thieves out. Jesus drove all the moneychangers and the thieves, they were thieves, out of the temple and said the temple is a house of prayer. So, turn the house into a house of prayer. Start praying in the Spirit. Pray in tongues, amen.

Notice, he didn't immediately pray and spoke the Word over Tabitha's dead body, amen. He put all the negatives out, and then he started praying. And then watch this, "Then turning to the body". Then you can turn and say, put them all out, kneel down, turn, amen. Put them all out, kneel down, which is prayer, and turn. Kneel down is a picture of prayer. You don't have to kneel down, you can be walking around. You can be standing. It's still a prayer, but the principle is pray. Pray before you speak. Then he turned to the situation. Then he turned to the dead situation. Then he turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, arise, just like his master". And the Bible says, "She opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord".

I'm also reminded when David was told by his brother. He brought some cheeses and bread and all that to the battlefield, and where Goliath was challenging the army of Israel. Remember that? And how his brother Eliab saw him and says, "What are you doing here? What are you doing here"? And remember what David says? "Is there not a cost"? His brother was questioning his motives. This is what the brother said actually. I have the passage here. "Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, 'Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.'" Look at what David did. David says, "What have I done now? Is there not a cost? Then he turned from him".

Say "Turned from him". Turned from him. Learn to turn from all your naysayers, from your critics. Turn away from all the negative bombardment of the social media, amen. Yeah, I'm not one of those that is against social media, okay, I'm not. But you know, don't get entangled in the web of negativism and pessimism and fear and unbelief. You don't even know, sometimes some of the dramas you're watching, if it's negative throughout, amen, just move on. Forget it, amen, or else you start thinking like, "This can happen to my family. This can happen to my husband, my wife. This can happen to me". Once that mentality happen, the devil's gotcha. You can't see good days when you are uttering things like this, you are watching things like this, hmm. Okay, "Became known throughout all Joppa and many believed on the Lord". Look at this salvation, many believed on the Lord. Became known throughout all this place of beauty, amen.

Joppa means beautiful and many believed in the Lord. That's what the Lord wants, salvation. The reason he does all these miracles for us, the reason he blesses us, so that others can be provoked, amen. To jealousy, the Bible says God wants to bless you in such a way, in the Book of Romans, that others will be provoked to jealousy. In that case, Israel will be provoked to jealousy. God wants you so blessed that people want to know your God, amen, and be drawn to your God, amen. The purpose is that many will believe in the Lord. And the last verse of the passage, "So it was that Simon Peter stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner". This is the very last verse of the entire chapter.

And there's something so good here, when I first read it under the anointing of the Holy Spirit when God was just opening up this passage to me and telling me, "You're gonna preach this as the last Sunday sermon". And when I read this, the Lord says, "Tell the people how to have many beautiful days". But then he says this, "There are two Simons in this verse". There are two Simons in this verse. Simon Peter, that's the first he who stayed many days is Simon Peter, and he stayed with Simon, a tanner. So, there are two Simons here. Simon, a tanner, a tanner is someone who, they treat hides and skins of animals and turn them into leather, okay? That's a tanner. A tanner usually stays by the seaside, in this case, in Jaffa even.

And by the way, I have been to that house, that place. There's a house there, and it's based on the house of Simon the tanner. Okay, it's near the seaside because you need that for water, all right, to treat the skin of animals to turn them into leather. So, he stayed with Simon. Now, what is God saying? If you want to see many beautiful days, in this verse, he stayed many days, or you can say he stayed in many beautiful days with Simon, a tanner. A tanner treats the flesh. Watch it now, Praise God. He deals with the flesh, amen. He turns the flesh into leather. The flesh is no more vital in your life. And how do you do it? Simon and Simon, Simon means what? Hearing, and there's a double hearing here. Simon and Simon, Simon Peter and Simon the tanner. There's double hearing here.

Remember when I taught before in the Book of Deuteronomy 28, as well as many other places. When God says, "You shall diligently hearken, you shall diligently hearken". Our English Bible says diligently hearken. In the Hebrew, it is the word shama repeated twice. Listen, listen, Or in the Hebrew they say like, shama ve-tishma, all right, listen, listen, amen. Shama ve-tishma. Listen, listen. Listen, listen. Listen to the Word of God. Hearing, hearing. It's a double hearing. So, how do you have many beautiful days? Keep on listening and listening and listening to the Word. And this listening is a listening, not of the flesh. Come on, the tanner here is talking about the flesh, the hide. So, it's not listening of the flesh. It is a listening of the Spirit, amen. It is hearing by faith. It's not just physical hearing, and then it goes in, it goes out. Like you're watching this right now, are you hearing with faith? Yes, say amen in your heart. Say this is for me. This is what I believe. This is what I'm gonna do.

The Bible says the word preached did not profit the children of Israel in the wilderness, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. They heard it, but like Joshua and Caleb they say that, "This God's Word, this is God's Word. This Word is for me. I believe it". But the rest says they heard God's Word. They all hear God's Word, but the rest did not mix it with faith, amen. So, mix it with faith. Simon the tanner means what? You deal with your flesh, you deal your flesh. It's not a hearing of the flesh, amen. It is a man who treats the flesh, amen, turning it into leather. Leather means dead, gone. The final produce is a handbag now, is a Lanvin handbag, is a Gucci handbag, Aramis handbag, gone. It's no more the flesh of the animal. Now it's profitable for what? Amen, for beauty. Hallelujah, Praise God.

So, it come by hearing and hearing the Word of God. My friend, may your coming days, amen, the days of 2021, may you have many beautiful days, amen. Through what? Through hearing and hearing the Word of God, amen. Praise the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Now, friend, if that has blessed you today, I just want you to know that this God that is a father to you, what does a father want for his children? The very best, the very best. There's no father, even an evil man, Jesus said it like this, "You being evil know how to give good things to your children. How much more your Father in heaven will give good things to them that ask him," amen, ask him. We need to ask, amen. If you pray, depend on the Lord, amen. It is unlimited.

You know, the Bible says, Jesus himself said in Mark 11:24, "What things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them". Now, it's opposite from the world. The world says, "Unless I have it, unless I feel it, unless I can touch it, I will not believed". No, God's way is that you believe that you receive them first, and you shall have. You shall have them in this coming year 2021, amen. So, while I'm praying, while you're praying, believe. This is the time to believe, amen, and how do we express that belief? By thanking the Lord, amen. If you are watching this right now, you've never made Jesus your personal Savior and Lord, and you'd like to do so, the Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved". If you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is your Lord, believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Pray this prayer with me right now. Say:

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus Christ the Savior. I believed that Christ bore my sins on that cross. He bore all my diseases. He bore all my curse, and bore them all away. Thank you, Father, that you raised him from the dead without them. And when you raised him from the dead, you raised me in him from the dead. And together, Lord, in the Lord, that's where I am forever. In the third heaven, in the heavenly places, in Christ forever. In Jesus's name. Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name, amen, amen, amen.

Now, if you have any affliction right now that you're suffering from, any pain, I want to pray for you. Just lay your hand on that area right now. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, right now I release your healing into that part of the body, Lord, that needs a creative miracle, that needs healing, Lord, that needs adjustment, Lord. In the name of Jesus, be healed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ right now. In Jesus's mighty name, amen, amen, amen. Praise the Lord.

Notice that we've been doing a lot of decreeing, a lot of commanding. That's how God wants us to pray in the New Testament. A lot of commanding with authority in Jesus's name, amen. If you listen carefully, you will know the theme of the year already here and there. Praise God, hallelujah. Stand to your feet, amen. Lift your hands all across wherever you're watching right now.

This coming week, these final few days of the year, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord bless you and your family with the blessings of father Abraham and the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. The Lord make his face shine on you and be favorable to you. Lift up his countenance and grant to you and your families his shalom peace and well-being. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said amen.