Ruth Heflin Prophesying about the Glory Realm!!

In one of the final sessions of the "Glory and Grace" Conference, Rob Rufus played us an audio track of a song and a prophecy by a woman I haven't heard of before. Her name was Ruth Heflin. I am thrilled therefore in listening to the conference CD's to find that it has been included. I have tried to make a video clip so that you can hear the essence of the prophecy. It isn't very good quality so I have put the transcript of what is said as well.

I am not exaggerating in saying that I have never heard such a prophetic statement of what I believe God is doing in these days. The prophecy is absolutely faith-building! I remember sitting in the conference with my head bowed and knowing that I could get up, walk out and see the sick healed for such is the desire of God! Here it is;

Rob: “I want to play a song here that was written by Ruth Heflin. She was a lady that lived here in Hong Kong in the fifties and sixties. And she wrote this song; “The Glory Realm” and Josh Mills is singing it here. Half way through she comes - and this is one of the last prophetic words she brings before she goes to be with the Lord – and she comes and she prophesies about the glory. And she says some of you have never seen the manifestation of the glory of God but you will become manifestors of the glory. And I want you to position yourself to receive this prophetic word. She was a pioneer and was seeing the gold dust in the fifties and sixties and seventies. She was seeing things that are becoming more revealed in the earth but she was a pioneer. I love pioneers and I want to honour them. Close your eyes and let the word of the Lord come to you through this song she wrote.

Song:

“The glory realm – the realm of eternity – the realm of the heavenly King – it’s the glory realm! The glory realm – the realm where the angels sing – the realm of our heavenly King. It’s the realm of God. The glory realm – the realm of eternity – the realm of the heavenly King – it’s the glory realm! The glory realm – the realm where the angels sing – the realm of our heavenly King. It’s the realm of God. The glory realm! The realm of God!

Ruth Heflin:

“For even in these days you shall see wonders sayeth the Lord. Oh I shall cause you to see and to perceive the new realms. Yay for the limitations that the earth has put on thee shall fall away and you will move in realms of the Spirit and of my glory with ease. For that which I desire to do in these last days – I MUST have a people who can move in My glory and I shall teach thee how – I shall cause thee to rise up in my glory in greater and greater ways than ever before. You shall be amazed at what I shall do in and through the heathen in these days.

And yay the Lord says I shall cause thee to move closer and closer in to My heart sayeth the Lord for there are many secret things that I desire to reveal unto you – oh I desire to show unto you – those things I am going to do. The miracles I shall bring forth – I shall reveal them to you before they even happen sayeth the Lord. And I shall give thee an expectation in thine heart and thy spirit for miracles! Oh whereas you have been unbelieving – you shall believe – where you have not seen, you shall see sayeth the Lord.

Where you have seen no manifestation – you shall manifest My giftings, My anointing, My signs and My wonders through your own hand. For I shall reveal My power through you in these last days sayeth the Lord”.

Rob Rufus Dealing with the Spirit of Conservatism

I listened to Fini de Gersigny's awesome message "The Father's Love" recently - which he preached just before the "Grace and Glory Conference 2007" in Hong Kong at City Church. The message itself was very powerful and visited by the Spirit of God. Isi de Gersigny brought a number of very heavy prophetic words prior to Fini speaking and I may publish the notes soon. But what grabbed my attention particularly was Rob Rufus. Once again he demonstrated his apostolic, fathering heart by being brave enough to contront an issue that had to be dealt with. He also demonstrated his prophetic gifting in being able to discern a spiritual issue in the meeting that many others wouldn't recognise.

Here's the transcript of what he said;

"In all honesty as you observe people in the world today - who cries the most and who laughs the most? Who has the most fun and who is most honest with their emotions? Apart from Jesus who was very honest with His emotions. He leapt with joy and He was also able to weep publicly. Apart from Jesus who had absolutely freedom of His emotions and was not locked into into an Eastern or Western spirit of control and conditioning of His emotions. He was the perfection of humanity as the last Adam and the perfection of manhood and womanhood actually because He didn't have a lock on His emotions. So apart from Him ... who?

Children.

Why did Jesus then say several times in the Gospels that if you want to experience the Kingdom which is the miracles and the blessings and the sense of preciousness and well-being and freedom, then why did He say we must become like little children to experience that? Why did He say we must become? Why? Did He say being grown up and being 30 or 40 years of age is wrong? No He didn't say chronological development of age is wrong.

What He was saying was the more you become like an adult, the less you become like a child - the less of a whole complete adult you are.

I want to ask some of you with emotional locks - and I love the Chinese people and my heart breaks when I see them walking out the room because this is now no more relevant to them because there are people laughing and crying and this has no relevance to them because of the emotional locks that their culture has imposed on them. And even while Fini de Gersigny was preaching there was one man in this room grieving the Holy Spirit and you weren't helping the rest of us because you were grieving the One I love the most on the planet. You were watching as an observer and you were grieving the One I love the most all the time while Fini was preaching. I don't know if there is any hope for that person unless they repent but the rest of you (and many were very open to what Fini was saying) -

Some of you were observing from a position of artificial or dysfunctional adulthood and I want to lovingly say to you in your distant aloofness that unless you become like a little child you will not see the Kingdom of heaven.

Maybe you are not even born again because born again people have a circumcised heart. Unless you become like a little child you will not see the Kingdom of heaven and -

You may hinder other people coming into the Kingdom by you putting on the breaks and by your passivity and by grieving the power of the Kingdom - the Person of the Kingdom - the Holy Spirit. We cannot afford to have that in this conference.

Look around Hong Kong when there are little puddles on the pathway. The adults walk around the puddles but children run at the puddles and stamp their feet. When did you stop running at puddles and splashing?

What has the Church done to your head? What has religion done to you?

I hate being in meetings with so many boring, critical, analytical people who don't know that they have become Pharisees and I want to say this to you; Behind passivity and behind aloof watching with disinterest and a critical heart is not just normal behaviour - but I want to promise you by the Spirit of God that there is religious demonic power. You are entertaining religious, demonic power when you entertain dysfunctional adult observation of childlike Kingdom behaviour. You have fallen into the influence of something not innocent but extremely dangerous.

I go out of my mind with grief when I see after 2, 000 years that the Church has not gone further.

The Church was birthed in drunkenness as Isi de Gersigny said - and they came out from the Upper Room and the world around them thought that they were drunk. That is the authentic orgins of the Church that Jesus desired to be birthed when they were staggering in drunkenness and when they were drunk - 3, 000 got saved.

The Church was never more in the will of God when they were no longer concious of themselves and were absolutely lost in the wonder of the knowledge and glory and bigness of God and the more sober the Church has got, the more out of the will of God they get and the less people get saved.

I want you to lift your hands in this place everyone. I am so sorry for the Chinese people who have left because they did not think this was relevant because the culture in Hong Kong has crushed them into dysfunctional adulthood where they have forgotten how to be children. And I say to you - unless you become like a little child (in the words of Jesus), you have wasted your whole time being here this week. Unless you become like a little child and get free from cynicism and skepticism and suspiciousness and yes - you may have been hurt by someone in the past but you cannot hold the Kingdom of God to ransom because of your past hurt. You have to say unless I become like a little child. Father I ask right now that person who grieved the Spirit will repent before they left this place in the authority of the wonderful Name of Jesus.

I pray that the rest of us that watched with observance with dynsfuntional adulthood - thinking we are aloof and wise in our own eyes, that with freedom and joy and liberty out of your goodness we will repent of dynsfunctional adulthood and become like little children and we will find every puddle of glory and every river of glory in our lives - we will not go around it but we will splash in it, and go into it. We will take off our gum boots and we will jump in Lord God - we will dance like David and we will take off our outer garments of false dignity and religious bondage and slavery to devils and demons. We will take that off. Right now let the outer garment of false dignity be BROKEN in the Name of Jesus! Let freedom and the anointing arise! Let childlikeness arise in this place!

Fini referred to You being like a Dove - a white pure Dove. Doves are shy and fly off at the first sign of noise and disregard. We understand that Jesus (who can be called a Lion) is mainly referred to as a Lamb and we understand that You are like a mighty rushing wind and You bring forth creation by the command of the Father. You are an awesome living authority and power but you are not characterised as a hawk or an eagle but a gentle Dove that is shy and You will fly off when You are grieved.

We ask You Holy Spirit - please forgive those who insulted You and grieved You today with their conservatism. Please don't make us pay the price this week Holy Spirit for one or two people's stupidity. We need You Holy Spirit.

The church in Hong Kong has you at 2 or 3% of Your power. We can't raise the dead or open blind eyes at 4%. We are so tired of seeing 7 million Chinese people ignore You.

Forgive us Holy Spirit - please, please, please, PLEASE Holy Spirit - don't punish us for the ignorance of some! Don't lift off these meetings! You didn't lift off this meeting today but I know that you wanted to come in fulness. We must have the greater glory come. Take us out of earthly conciousness and take us into heavenly conciousness. If we come from churches that despise or control Your moving Spirit of God then shape in our heart and conciousness the right and sacred decisions to make about these things.

Please Holy Spirit teach us childlikeness. Teach us how to become like children. Teach the Caucasians and the ex-pats and the Chinese to STOP being suspicious of Your glory Holy Spirit.

Here's the weight of His glory coming right now. I believe there has been

repentance in this place.

Let me just say one more thing and then I am finished (sorry Isi). Every eye closed and no one looking around. If you were not able to smile once while Fini was speaking and I mean not even once - a smile didn't break your lips even once the whole hour. A smile didn't appear on your face even once then you have to come to terms with something. There is not something hardly wrong - there is something seriously wrong. You have set yourself in a position of unsanctified stubbornness which is serious. You have positioned yourself to oppose grace, mercy, favour and love. Maybe you didn't understand some of the things that Fini said but you cannot misunderstand the fact that God sits on His throne and laughs. The Kingdom of heaven is not a matter of what you eat and drink but a matter of righteousness, peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit.

If you could not respond with one smile then you need deliverance from a demon. You need deliverance from a demonic power and while every eye is closed and no eye looking around - I am going to ask you to raise your hand. Don't come to me afterwards - the anointing is NOW - don't come and ask me to pray for you afterwards. If you didn't smile once then raise your hand. Okay I see your hand - God bless you.

I honour you and bless you for surrendering that stubbornness and bless you. You are free! FREE! And I am not trying to be funny but I saw the smiles appear on the faces of those people. The Spirit of God has broken in and brought deliverance to people. Raise your hands one more time and take a big drink! Do something childlike today!".

I love hearing Rob speak so fatherly and so lovingly. Many of us have been able to recognise and testify to ungodly and authoritarian abuse - but I rejoice in the fact that while Rob Rufus would never pretend to be perfect, he has exhibited the example of fatherly and loving correction which brings results! And those results are repentance which leads to an awesome deposit of the Spirit of God returning to the place - ungrieved and unhindered.

Conference CD's Have ARRIVED!!

I got a thrilling .... anointed .... power-packed package in the post yesterday just in time for Christmas! Yes the Conference messages have arrived so that I can re-bask again in the glory of that awesome time. There are CD's of all the session and City Church have also sent a CD compilation of their own of the worship and an extra CD with MP3 sessions!

So Julie and Aaron ... your copy will be in the post as soon as Christmas is over!!

Rob Rufus Prophecies!!

I mentioned in a recent post that I am trying to listen to a mixture of "fresh bread" and foundational teaching that Rob gave while he has been in Hong Kong. It is really exciting to be able to track such an awesome local church plant and see the priorities of teaching that he felt should be imparted then - and what needs to be taught now. It is also so exciting to see how City Church International have grown. Glenda Rufus mentioned recently how astounded they are that City Church is so dear to so many people across the world and it's definately true. What a people! What an expression of changing the face of Christianity across the world!

So just after the "Grace and Glory" Conference ended, the church met for a prayer meeting and for a "conference debrief" and ended up once more (from the sounds of it) in the glory cloud. During that time of awesome worship that made my hair stand on end - Rob Rufus brought this prophecy. It's electric and I urge you to make the time to listen to the audio message.

“Your praises and your prayers and your intercessions are like lightening rods to Me, says God. They are conductors of My glory into the earth realm and I am opening the gates of heaven, I am opening My portals over this city, over this nation, over this administration. I am opening the glory portals – I am opening them from the centre out and from the outer into the centre. I am opening on every front across this centre. I am attracted by your love, I am attracted by your praise, I am attracted by your worship.

You are winsome to Me, you are winsome to Me, you are winsome to Me! For the sake of 50 righteous I will redeem this city – for the sake of 40, for the sake of 30 I will redeem, for the sake of 20 I will redeem this city, for the sake of 10, for the sake of 1 – I will redeem this city! His Name is Jesus – for His sake I will redeem this city. The Spirit of the Lord is coming upon us as the Spirit of glory now to anoint us and empower us and declare and decree that the gates of heaven are opening wide over this city. The Spirit will use us like lightening rods to conduct heaven to the earth realm”.

I must confess when I first heard this prophecy, my inbred legalism kicked in and I found unbelief rising like bile within me. We were always taught in my home church that "the prayers of the righteous man are powerful" and that if we didn't live a holy life of little sin then our prayers would be ineffective. Yet now I am seeing how wrong and full of error that teaching was!

With the foundational teaching of grace that Rob has been so faithfully bringing over the years I see that the acceptance of our prayers have NOTHING to do with what we do or do not do for "there is none righteous - no not one!" .... except the One! And our righteousness is within Him and when God looks at us He sees the blood of the Lamb - the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb who was slain and ROSE again and our prayers are as acceptable as the Son of God!

How do we react to such awesome, liberating grace teaching? We do not get into the debtors ethic and feel like we must do "something" to repay God. We CANNOT repay God! We respond to such awesome teaching by hearing that prophecy of Rob Rufus's and START PRAYING!! If our prayers are truly like lightening rods then let us start praying and see the storm begin to gather! Let's begin to call on God for the glory cloud - His manifest Presence to descend on our nations, our cities, our churches!

I am not content to simply observe and watch as the gates of heaven open over Hong Kong and over City Church! I rejoice at it, but I want to see the gates of heaven open over Birmingham for I hear the word thunder forth from heaven; "Birmingham is Mine declares the Lord", "London is Mine declares the Lord", "Florida is Mine declares the Lord!", "Canada is Mine declares the Lord!". I want to see glory portals descending so that the word of Scripture is fulfilled;

"ALL the earth WILL be filled with the GLORY of the Lord as the waters cover the SEA!!".

The Prophetic Worship CD from Grace and Glory is HERE!!

I'm hugely, mega excited!! I got a package in the post today from Australia where Fini and Isi de Gersigny are based. They have produced a beautiful CD from the "Grace and Glory Conference" of aspects of the worship - but mainly of the powerful prophetic songs that were brought during the week. I can't express what a powerful reminder of the time in Hong Kong it was listening to the CD again. Even Scott was powerfully affected by what he heard and he wasn't able to be at the conference!

Here's the tracks:

1. Squadrons of Heaven.

2. Glory in the highest.

3. I Love Your Face.

4. The wings of our God.

5. I'll Give You Everything.

6. Come higher still.

7. Open Heaven.

8. If God Be For Us.

If you would be interested in a copy of the CD, Fini and Isi de Gersigny have said that copies can be made of the CD so I would be glad to make copies for anyone interested. Either that or you can contact Fini directly at: fini@jubilee.org.au

The two prophetic songs that moved me most were tracks 1 and 8. I remember distinctly when Isi de Gersigny came up to sing "Squadrons of Heaven" during the worship. I was astounded by the authority in her step - she almost ran! For the first time I saw a prophet of God who had received a revelation from her Beloved that she knew without doubt she had to deliver to the assembled worshippers. Here is the transcript of what she sang;

"Squadrons of Heaven".

(*tongues*). The most powerful weapon is released in the earth ... the most powerful weapon is released in the earth. The love of the Father and the love of the Son and the love of the Spirit for His people, making them one. One body, one mind, one Spirit, one faith, one hope, one call, one God - this love is leaking all around the world! It's wrapping it's arms all around the world. Driving - driving - driving - driving out fear. It will drive out fear of death! It will drive out fear of "not enough". It will drive out fear of being left out in the cold.

Arms are linking up and the gates are linking up. Walls are linking up and there is TERROR in the enemy's camp! I see terror! I see the terror! And the prayers of the saints go up ... and the prayers of the saints go up. It's like steam from the surface of the earth - it's like steam rising up. The incense of our God! And the census bowl ... and the census bowl and the census bowl - angels are looking down on the census bowl as it's filling up hour after hour after hour after hour. It's filling up! Prayers are filling it up! Sacrifice! The love of God is filling up and it's spilling over!!

Look out! Look out! Look out! The love of God is spilling out! The most powerful weapon! The most powerful weapon! The testimony of the saints not loving their lives even unto death for they love Him more than they love themselves. They have loved each other more than they love themselves. And as they stand, seeds falling down into the ground, and graves shall be opened! Graves shall be opened and the dead will rise! Give up ... give up ... give up .... give up the dead - GIVE UP!!

And I see an end-time army being released ... a squadron of heaven released from the glory - portioned from the glory - guarding the glory, guarding the seals, guarding the mantles.

Father release at this time the squadrons from heaven bringing protection, driving out fear, driving out fear, driving out fear".

The second prophetic song was sung during track 8 -

"If God be for us"

"We prophesy to the bones of the dry church - prophesy to the bones lying dead - come together ... come together ... come together! Let sinew and ligament join ... come together! We prophesy - we prophesy - we prophesy - we prophesy all around the world, oh God - we prophesy! Come breath, Breath of God - come breathe! Breathe Your fire Lord! Come breathe - Breath of God come breathe! The slain in their religion, slain in their confusion, slain in their discouragement and pain, slain in disease, slain in disorder! We prophesy Breath of God - come breathe on these ones!

Fini: "Rend the heavens and come down, rend the heavens and come down! Rend the heavens and come down - rend the heavens and come down!".

Foundational Teaching in Hong Kong

While I am always eager to hear the "fresh bread" that Rob is teaching at City Church, it's very interesting and stirring to add the more foundational material he preached in 2004 when the church first got set up. This sermon was quite short by Rob Rufus's standards (only 40 minutes!) but it incredibly underlined once again the similarities I see between Ern Baxter and Rob in their kingdom vision and dynamic they both taught so powerfully. The subject of this messages is "Restoring the Glory" - a vital topic!

"One of the recurring themes that has occurred from the thousands of people across the world who have been praying for this church plant and have prophesied – USA and Singapore LTT and the UK – is that God will raise up highways and level mountains and fill valleys and will gather people from north, east, west and south. One of the things we will do on Wednesday nights is share prophetic words that God is saying about this church to encourage us so that as the Bible says we can fight the good fight by the prophetic words. It won’t be our might, our power but the power of the Spirit of God. We don’t work for God – we work with God. There is such rest in God but the accuser of the brethren comes and tries to drive us.

Want to talk about God restoring His glory and the role each of us play in seeing the glory of God restored. The theme I have carried with me since leaving Australia is heavenly churches/earthly churches. There are just a few things I want to share with you to help as this church. 1. We really want to help people to feel welcome.

The anointing is the most important thing to have in a meeting but the second most important thing is that people feel welcome. It is hard to believe but the anointing will stop flowing if people feel uncomfortable in meetings.

2. Be sensitive but be yourselves. Don’t copy other people. I love your enthusiasm but be yourselves! “I worship God according to my culture and my temperament” – that is almost blasphemous! 3. We worship according to the culture of the Kingdom.

Demons manifest in the religious when one years wages of worship is poured out. We are not here to make the church user-friendly to man but one where God is so welcome.

We are to model a culture of the Kingdom. We must embrace every culture but connect with Kingdom culture and when culture contradicts Kingdom culture we are to break it!

There are people that say “Well I am conservative in my religion”. I want to take those people outside to my car and put their hand in and slam it and see how conservative they are then! They will get expression very extrovertly! Because the degree of stimulation will determine the degree of expression! People say they are conservative – all they mean is that they have had a low degree encounter with God. When God touches your life you will not be conservative. When He touched a cripple, the cripple went walking and leaping and praising God!

Let’s talk about the lost glory – it is God’s will for the fullness of His glory to be seen in the church. Haggai chapter 2:6+ and remember that this is a prophecy with a New Testament fulfilment in Hebrews chapter 12. “This is what the Lord Almighty says, ‘In a little while once more I will shake the heavens and the earth. The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this latter house will be greater than the former house’ declares the Lord Almighty and in this place I will declare peace”. So there is the shalom of God which means there is nothing missing and nothing broken – there is the completeness people are looking for. There is supply in the glory (Phil 3:4). (2 Corinthians 2) “For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life … will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? … the surpassing glory … how much greater is the glory of that which lasts? … Even to this day when Moses is read a veil covers their hearts … with ever increasing glory”.

Now Rick Warren in his book “The Purpose-Driven Life” (which is a great book to read if you ever get the chance) says something like this; “The glory of God is the very nature of God – it is the weight of God’s importance, the radiance of His splendour, it is the demonstration of His power, the atmosphere of His Presence and the expression of all His attributes of goodness”. Think about that! “The WEIGHT of His importance”. That for me is one of the most important things about the glory – the glory brings the weight of His importance.

We have all been in a time when God is fitted into our schedules where anything else is more important than God. The Bible speaks about the end times when there will be a “form of godliness which denies the power” – the Bible says have nothing to do with it! It is a fraudulent religion which doesn’t put God first. But you watch when the glory comes into a meeting and most Christians have never experienced the Presence of God and they suddenly realise that they have never truly loved God. It is the glory cloud! Without the glory cloud you will have no revival. The glory must come back to the church. The church has lost the glory – it has got “Ichabod” written all over it stooped in rituals and programmes. The lack of the glory of God is evident by the immorality in the church, by the adultery in the church, by the marriage break ups in the church. In the glory realm that would not happen – there would be a wonder, a love and fear of God – the kingdom would be put first. But the lack of the glory means there has been much backsliding in the church. This is the good news – that repentance that comes not of morbid condemnation but rather a sense of wonder and of “nice terror” and “lovely fear” that is the beginning of wisdom comes because God turns up not because a pastor preached condemnation or someone manipulated it!

The atmosphere of His Presence and the demonstration of His power means that His eternal qualities break into the time/space world – the powers of the age to come break into this time/space world and we are delivered from earthly thinking and elevated to heavenly thinking.

Where did we lose the glory? Romans 3:3 – ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory. Earth was not created the way it is today. God did not create cancer or chromosome deficiencies. God created a world flooded with His glory. The prophetic world is that there will be a restoration of the glory realm. God said He created it and it was “good”. In Exodus 33 Moses said “Show me Your glory” and God said “I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you”. His goodness is His glory. All of creation worshipped God and there is a frustration in the earth because sin has come in and cursed sin. Cancer, sickness, disease, wars and famine have come in. The Hebrew says that God formed man out of “glory particles” and He squeezed man together and breathed into him.

Where did the glory come back? (1 Corinthians 2:6) – I want to lay this foundation and show you how we can bring the glory in. “The wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began … none of the rulers understood it for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”. At the Cross where we were justified, the glory came back and covered us again. (Romans 4-5:1) says Jesus was raised from the dead for our justification therefore we have peace with God. I just want to say this;

Justification happened outside of ourselves and had nothing to do with us. It took place by God’s own initiative and planning at the Cross. So even the means to be justified which is faith is not the grounds of justification because then we could say at least we added something.

To be justified means simply this – not only all my sins blotted out past, present and future and God looks at us as if we had never sinned but much more than that – ALL the righteous obedience of Jesus is transferred into our credit account. The wealth of Jesus perfect obedience and holy living is transferred to your account.

Now every Christian needs revelation of that – that is the key to the glory coming into your life. If you don’t understand justification then the enemy will keep condemning you and reminding you of your sins and short-comings but you and I stand justified by a holy God so that heaven’s justice is 100% satisfied and the integrity of God’s holiness is satisfied and He will answer your prayers as if you are Jesus Himself.

(2 Chronicles chapter 5:11) God’s will was to have a nation of priests and God’s will today is that every Christian is a priest. If you study the priests under the Old Covenant then you will know that they had to consecrate themselves by the blood of sacrifice and anointing oil. That is a type and shadow – we apply the blood of the Lamb and the supernatural heavenly anointing oil. We need lubrication, we need divine enablement and the anointing always follows the Blood! Flesh that consecrates flesh will not go into the glory. (v13) – “The trumpeters and the singers joined in unison … The priests could not continue ministering for the glory of the Lord filled the temple”.

Now can you see the difference between the anointing and the glory? The anointing consecrates us to go into the glory. The anointing is wonderful! But sadly the flesh can still exult itself under the anointing. When the power of the anointing is on you, you can self-promote yourself. But when you go into the glory no flesh will exalt itself. In the glory realm we don’t need anointed priests and ministers for they cannot minister in the glory. God wants to take the church into the cloud of the glory where God’s weight of His importance is there.

People are not saying “By faith God is here” but they are on their faces because God IS there in manifestation!

The glory comes in and look at chapter 7.

Solomon’s temple was twice the size of Moses temple. They took rough stones and fit them together but because the stones were so imperfect they would take cedar wood to smooth the edges off and cedar wood throughout the Old Testament is a type or shadow of the Cross. And over the wood they would pour gold and gold is ALWAYS symbolic of the glory.

So here we are – City Church International with all of our flaws and imperfections and we will have conflict but the anointing will lubricate us and reduce the friction. But the Cross is over our relationships so that the gold can be smeared on. (2 Chronicles 7:1) – when Solomon finished praying the fire came down. Heavenly churches or earthly churches! I’ve been to far too many earthly churches. “The glory of the Lord filled the temple”. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and knelt and worshipped and gave thanks to God. Can you imagine half way through a message, the glory falls and the whole congregation shutting up because Theology Himself will speak to our hearts – divine encounters?!

“You know the George Barnea Research went to thousands of non-Christians in America and said, “What would make you go to church?”. They said, “If we could experience God!”. Then they said to pastors that this is the number one thing people are asking for. The pastors got all indignant and said, “We talk about God every Sunday!”. But we are not talking about academic information about God but God Himself coming!

Applying the blood is not a ritual – it must be done with faith! “Lord I just apply the freshness of Your blood, cleanse my conscious from dead works that I may serve the living God” according to Hebrews 10 and many other passages. “Thank You for the blood that doesn’t speak judgement – it speaks forgiveness, it speaks pardon, promotion, prosperity, power, the blood!”.

Fresh anointing oil – we need fresh anointing oil to come upon me! I can’t use yesterdays anointing oil – it is already stale!

When Israel lost the glory that they had and the Ark of the Covenant was under a corrupt priesthood so the Philistines were allowed to steal the ark. David wanted the ark back because he didn’t care about rituals – he loved God. So many pastors are frightened of the bucket-mouth members and the guy that gives the biggest tithes who if they speak truth will leave. Here the glory is lost and Israel is losing their battles. David comes to the throne and wants the glory back – gets a Philistine cart and puts the Ark on it and off they go. Churches want the glory back and oxen pull it – and Uzzah means “man of influence”. He is walking next to the cart, the oxen stumble and Uzzah reaches out to steady the glory and he drops dead. David enquires of the Lord and the Ark stayed at the house of Obed-Edom and his house prospered.

Where the glory is – the house will prosper.

David reads the Scripture and finds that there is a prescribed pattern of bringing the glory back. The glory can’t be brought back on that which is pragmatic with big shots handling the glory. It must be brought back on the shoulders (which speaks of government) of the priests.

It is not biblical to say “I am going to come into church on Sunday and Uzzah will be there with the glory for me”. That is not biblical!

God will kill! And He is! Men are falling in immorality or burning out because they are trying to steady the glory as an individual personality rather than all the entire believers carrying the glory on their shoulders. A lazy majority is looking to minority to carry the glory. The Old Testament says after they walked six steps (the number of man) they worshipped. Man was made on the sixth day – the crowning climax of God’s creativity.

Without connection to the glory of God, man is nothing.

We are never meant to live in self-sufficiency, we are meant to live in the Presence of God 24 hours a day every single day. That’s why the Cross split the veil split from top to bottom so that the Presence of God could come out and be on us 24 hours a day – 7 days a week.

The number 666 is the mark of the beast and it means the number of completeness. It means that religion will exalt man in his completeness and the beast or the Anti-Christ will form a belief of self-completeness.

For us to bring the glory back every believer must have a life of worship. It is justification – that’s how you stand in the glory. Step in through the blood and the anointing.

(John 17:20) – “My prayer is not for them alone … I pray for those who believe through their message … just as You are in Me and I am in You may they also be in us, may City Church International be within the Trinity … I HAVE GIVEN THEM THE GLORY THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME THAT THEY MAY BE ONE AS YOU AND I ARE ONE … may they be brought to complete unity”. When I read that my brain just exploded! City Church International enter into the secrecy of Trinitarian fellowship that comes alone from heaven. Unbelievers visit us and know that something sacred and very special that it is clear proof that the Father sent the Son to this earth. That we are ushered into the very celestial, eternal oneness of Trinitarian life. We are privileged to enjoy the same level of closeness as Jesus the Son does. The outflow of that is life that is outstanding – He gives us the glory.

Most Christians have never been in a service where the cloud of the glory comes on a meeting. I have been in a few where there has been sustained glory.

Without His glory we are earthly, fleshly carnal religious people – but in His glory miracles, healing, provision and joy is easy. In His glory His burden is light and His yoke easy."

THE Rob Rufus Sermon Marrying Grace and Glory!!

I have been browsing through my archives of Rob Rufus sermons trying to work out for me when I fell head over heels in love with the vision that he was preaching. Obviously I first heard Rob speak at "Together on a Mission 2006" and he spoke at three seminars and one main session. But much of his teaching ministry was focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and I don't recall his kingdom vision being so clearly emphasised. So where did that glorious combination of the grace of God and the glory of God come together for me? Finally I remembered!

On July 8th 2007, Rob Rufus preached at the Church of Christ the King in Brighton and I sat completely riveted and undone. I hope you will see from the entire transcript I have written below as to why "Grace and Glory" came together so clearly! (I did already type up my brief notes I took while I was at CCK with Scott here).

"Thanks Joel it’s so wonderful to be with you and so quickly feel the generous-hearted, big-hearted spirit of this church. I admire what I call Antioch churches or base churches or Ephesus style churches. They are not like the Corinthians. The Corinthians were a people of power and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact you are a people of power and the gifts but the Corinthians lived with a self-indulgent mentality – for them the boundaries of the kingdom of heaven ended with their congregations.

But in Antioch the boundaries of the kingdom of heaven ended no-where! It was global in their vision.

They lived with open-handedness and big hearts. You talk about these kinds of financial figures coming in and it speaks of a people living in grace.

Only grace-motivated people can live with such generosity. I believe that people who live as Antioch churches and live for the nations ultimately will have far more powerful anointings in signs and wonders than the Corinthian churches will ever have.

Corinth churches will implode by their own selfish indulgence whereas Antioch churches give away their best and pay a high price and live open-handedly and give their best ministries away. They live to give – they live for the nations because they are caught up with the global vision.

The Bible says in Romans 4 that the children of Abraham – which we are – are heirs of the world! We are the heirs of the world! Brighton is too small a place for this church! The UK is too small a place – the nations are your inheritance!

You have made them your inheritance and have got behind a global vision more than most churches I know in the world. I know some others like you but they are not many with this sort of heart. You have given away some of your best and some of your best is often travelling a lot. It takes a particular kind of people to understand what that is all about. Many Christians come to church for “what’s in it for me”. I don’t want the service to be too long or too short. Personal preferences are a very ungodly and selfish and non-kingdom way of thinking.

The kingdom of heaven is given to those who think and know that the kingdom is not given to me and worship doesn’t cater to my temperament or my culture or my personality. Worship is not for me but for God and worship must cater to His temperament and His personality and the culture of the Kingdom. We are on a journey of being changed. We are transitioning from UK and South African culture into the culture of the kingdom. In the culture of the kingdom joy comes joy comes on our homes, marriages, health and finances. We must learn to live in another realm.

This church – you have learned to sow. My wife has a prophetic word which she will share in a moment. You have sewed and sewed and I want to tell you – that your time to reap is coming in an unprecedented way. I look in this building and I can see thousands and thousands and thousands. Glenda why don’t you come?

*Glenda Rufus brings her prophetic word*.

Wonderful. Please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10. For me it is a staggering privilege to be here today. Some of you know that I grew up in a family where there was no Christianity at all. My dad was a complete atheist – my mum an agnostic. Christianity was ridiculed as a silly superstition in the face of so called advancing science and at the age of 22 at university I become an atheist as well and started to live with the bizarre conclusion of atheism that there is no beauty and that this universe is the result of impersonal time and impersonal chance and impersonal matter organising itself in an impersonal way into personal complexities that thus contradict the 2nd law of thermodynamics – which is irrational by the way.

That in the chromosomes there is a language that is almost infinite that appeared fully formed in the beginning of time. When you live with the idea of atheism you understand that there is no free will and human beings are chemically determined machines and therefore there is no love, no beauty, there’s no art – there is just an existential leap to pretend there’s meaning in life. In that state I began to cry out for the reality of the living God.

I looked at the Church (and I don’t say this critically) but I was very disappointed. I looked at things with no Christian background and what I saw I just didn’t want to be a part of.

I looked at various religions and read the Koran. I studied transcendental meditation and then I became a serious practicing Hare Krishna and strict Hindu living very legalistically. I mean abstinence as a married man!

Getting up at 2am and I found all of those religious practices and lifestyles didn’t bring me closer to God – did not bring me closer to God and did not help me to know God.

In the Hindu temple (this is the truth) Jesus of Nazareth manifestly appeared to me – I nearly fell over in the Presence of God. I hadn’t heard the voice of God before. I didn’t know what was happening but I heard the inward audible voice of God speak to me and say; “Come to Me Rob – all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest for My yoke is easy and My burden is light”. I got born again in a Hindu temple on the spot – Jesus of Nazareth came into a Hindu temple!

I had a living encounter with the resurrected Lord of glory! Budda’s tomb occupied. Mohammed’s tomb – occupied. But there is an empty tomb in Jerusalem – He is alive!

I had an encounter with this living Jesus and I became part of the Church and I loved the Church but very soon I began to realise that the Church was trying to put on me similar rules and regulations that I have had in religious Hinduism. I became confused and found myself getting further and further from God. There were little moments of light when people showed me grace and the understanding of the New Covenant but by and large there was a kind of legalistic drivenness that I was a part of.

In 1984/1985 Terry Virgo came to Durban, South Africa and I was co-ordinating all the pastors of the region at that time and for some reason I was sitting at the back of the school hall which was fortunate because I could cry and weep. Terry Virgo spoke on the grace of God and as he preached and as the Scriptures unfolded he didn’t try and hysterically sweep us off our feet with a lot of emotive language – he simply used the Word of God in context and as he talked the lights came on and I saw grace for the first time like I was born again – again! At the end he prayed that chains would fall off and I want to say this publicly in this context.

I don’t think Terry will ever know and I say this with integrity and it’s most appropriate to say it – the impact that had on shaping and fashioning my life and from then on God gave me an assignment to give birth to grace generation churches and to bring the message of the gospel in the earth.

In one month we say 40, 000 downloads off our website in Hong Kong as we preached the message of grace.

All over the world there’s a cry for freedom and liberty and a restoration of the gospel of grace – that is in the earth today.

I just praise God for what’s come out of Brighton and this church. How many of you know that there are defining moments in your life and from then on you make a departure and you begin to move in a certain way? How many of you can believe in God that today can be a defining moment for everyone and you can make a departure and move in a particular flow that you have never moved in before? There are defining moments of revelation!

In 1999 when we were still living in Australia there were a series of shark attacks on the south coast of Australia where we have many great white sharks. They weigh 2 tons and can swim at 60 km/hr and can swallow you whole. They’re the best sharks to be attacked by because it’s all over very quickly. In that week there were 2 fatal shark attacks on our coast. One was a New Zealander who had just got married and was on his honeymoon. His new wife was watching on the cliff tops and he had finished surfing and was paddling back into the shore when his new wife and a friend saw a great white come up behind him and take him and his surfboard and go down. 100 meters and bits of his surfboard came up and that was the last they saw of him.

Then the next day an Australian surfer was taken. In that week I was surfing with a friend – an elder of the church I was leading. We were out there and it was starting to get dark and he said he was going to paddle in. We had been talking about sharks and shark attacks. He paddled in and I was out there on my own. About 400 meters out in the surf I began to wonder why I was out there and that I should go in myself. There were no sets of waves to catch but then I looked to my right because I could hear a sound coming through the water and there was a shark coming very fast towards me. It wasn’t a porpoise – I know porpoises and dolphins. He was coming very fast and there was no ambiguity. He wasn’t trying to aside whether to attack or not. When it got to a point near me, his fin went under the water and I want to tell you something right there. I had a profound revelation. I realised in profundity and revelation that I am not a brave man.

It was very disillusioning because I thought I was brave but at that profound defining moment I had not used a swear word for 28 years. I was in the military before I got saved and I could swear like a poet! When I got saved that was one of the things that went away instantly. But in that moment when I thought my life was coming to an end, a prayer of praise and thanksgiving or bold faith in the covenant of God’s shield of protection did not come from my mouth but a horrible swear word. Now I was struck with a problem of integrity; “God when I most need to be holy I have now just sworn”. So I am repenting and praying at the same time and I lay on my board and lay there flat and think if I start paddling I will splash the water and pull this thing on me. But then I thought the longer I stay here, the longer my averages of surviving go down anyway so let’s go! It was 400 meters to the beach and I don’t know how long it took me but it must have been a world record because I was still paddling up the sand!

I want to tell you today that you will have a profound revelation not necessarily that already our courage and our boldness comes from God.

When I am under the anointing I am not afraid of anyone – not devils, not demons – under the anointing!

But outside the anointing I am a shy person posing as an extrovert. I believe something is going to happen here in people’s lives that is profound. I’d like to pray;

“Heavenly Father in the Name of Jesus thank You that Your Word declares that Your foolishness is greater than the wisdom of man and that Your weakness is more powerful than the strength of man. Take the foolishness of Rob Rufus and take the weakness of Rob Rufus and manifest Your glory today. Manifest Your wisdom – manifest Your infallible power – let the cloud of Your glory come and fill this place. Let the cherubim come and let the ministering spirits of fire come and activate healings, miracles, signs and wonders. Baptise us in the cloud of the glory Lord in Jesus’ Name – Amen!”.

(1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Here we see that Israel was baptized into Moses when they went through and went into the cloud. I want to talk about what it truly means to be in Christ – and that to be in Christ is to be baptised in the sea which is to be fully immersed in water for those who believe but that it also includes something else – it means to encounter the cloud.

Now they were baptised into Moses but we are baptised into Christ which means water baptism in the sea but also coming into the New Covenant – a New Testament cloud of the glory of God. Five years ago I was on a visit to South Africa and went up into the Drakensburg Mountains. I went up there to pray and wait on God all on my own. I had seen signs and wonders and I had seen miracles for 25 years but I knew that I knew that I knew that there was much much more and I knew for this world to be opened up to the Gospel we are going to have to see things that happened in the book of Acts – we are going to have to have to see our shadows healing the sick as we walk through the streets of Brighton.

I was walking through the streets of Brighton 2 days ago and I saw the Hare Krishna’s and I prayed “Oh Lord I want to speak to one of them and share the Gospel with them”. I was just down in the Lanes and I saw one and felt God say “That’s the one”. There were four of them there and I said “Lord would you bring him to me” and I stood there pretending to look at my watch for 5 minutes. I looked up and there he was. He tried to preach the Hare Krishna doctrine to me and I started sharing with him and I said “30 years ago I was standing where you are standing”. He suddenly knew that I knew the doctrines of the Krishna consciousness. I told him about the uniqueness of Jesus Christ born of a virgin. Buddha and Mohammad weren’t and every guru wasn’t – they were born in sin of fallen parents. Jesus is a towering figure of uniqueness because He was born and conceived of a virgin and therefore didn’t carry the sin heritage of man. So this dear man listened to me for 15 minutes in the streets of Brighton as I told him about the wonderful news of Jesus Christ.

But I tell you this – the race is running too fast. We are not going to be able to win people one by one – important as that is. God wants the cloud of His glory to come and hang over regions and cities like He did in Wales and Azusa Street where hundreds of thousands of people were born again. If the cloud of the glory would come over Hong Kong, millions of Hong Kong people would be saved. We wouldn’t need crusades and outreaches that take 10 months to organise and TV programmes if the glory cloud comes (and it will) over China and over Hong Kong and over Brighton and the cities of Britain – hundreds of thousands of millions of people will be swept into the kingdom of heaven and the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

It says in the last days I will pour out My Spirit on ALL flesh not just church flesh – but I will pour out My Spirit on ALL flesh and that has never been fulfilled yet!

1 billion – 300 million Chinese in China and only 100 million are saved! That’s 1 billion – 200 million are on their way to a Christ-less eternity!

One of these days God will pour out His Spirit on every human being on this planet and the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and there will be more in heaven than there are in hell!

There are more people alive on planet earth now than have ever lived collectively – God has waited for the climax of the consummation of the ages and His glory is about to be released. On the 6th June we crossed a line –

We are not in wilderness wandering. We are not in survival strategy! NOW we are in a strategy of possessing land – we have to think differently! We are targeting – we are going in! We are talking cities – we are changing things now! We are not just surviving!

Just the other day it was the 7/7/07 – we have come into a new time and I was up in the mountains saying “God I don’t just want a little bit here and there! We need Your glory! We need Your covering! We need Your Presence to come in full manifestation on the earth as Your prophets promised!”. An open vision came to me- an open vision and I saw the cloud of God’s glory. I said “God it is so beautiful that is Your manifest substance – the tangible goodness of God in self-weighty manifestation. God Himself in manifest glory!”. When you touch that glory it is heaven’s voltage, heaven’s divine energy – the energy of God. God Himself in naked tangible manifestation has come on us! That’s our inheritance as New Testament Christians!

“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory”. God created man by taking glory particles – not the dust of the earth. The Hebrew actually means “glory particles”. Before the earth was cursed man was formed by glory particles and the God of glory breathed into the shape of man made of glory of particles and man became a living soul and stood up in the glory – clothed in the glory – full of the glory and manifested the glory. When Adam fell he was the first man to be born again from spiritual life and glory to spiritual death and spiritually naked of the glory. He was naked of the glory!

They clothed themselves with fig leaves and religions today try to counterfeit or substitute for an absence of the glory through rules and rituals and ceremonies. Jesus restored us to the glory where sin abounded in the first Adam, grace abounded much more in the last Adam.

We are already seated in heavenly places in Jesus Christ. We are in the glory – the glory is our inheritance! To be in Christ is not just to be baptised in water but to come into a cloud of New Covenant glory. I saw that glory in the mountains – I saw it in open vision and said “Lord it’s so far away – it’s so far”. He said,

“Son you like many over the last few centuries have stood and seen the glory from afar. In fact son you have come to the outer edge of the glory – you have pressed against it trying to get in and you have prayed for days without stopping. You have gone night and day praying and fasting without stopping because you want to get into the glory. You have pressed your face against it in desperation because you know there’s more. But there is a peripheral fence that you couldn’t get through and supernatural crumbs have fallen over the fence – here a crumb of a sign or wonder and here a crumb of a miracle.

You have faithfully administered these crumbs around the world – just a little crumb here and a little crumb there. Here someone incurable in a wheelchair and told that they would die. You prayed – a little crumb – and they got out the wheelchair and years and years later of health. Here a blind eye opened – a little crumb – here a deaf ear opened and they got a new eardrum verified by doctors”. But He said, “Son it’s just been a little crumb and a little crumb but you are going to go beyond the peripheral fence and you will stand in the centre of My glory and you will radiate miracles effortlessly”.

I believe that there are cherubim that guard the glory. Cherubim are mighty angels that guard the glory. When Adam fell from life into death, God set up a cherubim with a flaming sword (which is the Word of God) to guard the tree of life. You cannot touch the tree of life when you are under rules, regulations and laws. If you are under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil trying not to do evil but good under the consciousness of that fruit, you can have no access to the tree of life. I believe there is a protection that no-one is going to stand in the glory of New Covenant life – in the glory of that power and presence with the residue of Old Covenant thinking, Old Covenant mentalities, Old Covenant approaches that think it is about how much I pray or how holy I am or how obedient I am or how good or how spiritual I am that will gain me access into that glory.

If we get into that glory through our own works then we will abuse that glory if we don’t understand that the access to that glory is through the finished work of Jesus Christ in the Cross and that is it.

We will always boast in our weakness and always boast in His grace. I believe in obedience and I believe in living holy and I believe in those things but they have to be fruit.

We are called to an obedience of faith (Romans 1:5) not the obedience of the law. It isn’t our good works that produce faith – it is our faith that produces good works. That isn’t just semantics but it is the difference between New Testament glory and Old Testament tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

As soon as we step out from the consciousness of good and evil regulations, human performance and come into a New Covenant revelation and come 100% into the New then the cherubim will lift that fence and we will go in and I believe that is happening in the earth. I believe this without flattery because I believe flattery is a form of manipulation and is one of the most ungodly things that people do to one another. This is not flattery – I say this from my heart;

I believe God has raised up NFI and given you a grace culture and an understanding of the New Covenant for several decades and positioned you to possess the glory that is available in the New Covenant to step into 2007 in the cloud of the glory and stand in the middle of the cloud and radiate miracles effortlessly.

You wonder why it’s hard to get lots of people out of wheelchairs, why we don’t see our shadows heal the sick, why we don’t see many blind eyes and hundreds of deaf ears opened and thousands reaching out to us and power coming out of us – but you see friends, when you are operating just with the crumbs that are falling over the fence we may get mighty miracles here and there but when we are no longer administering crumbs from outside the glory cloud, but when we are standing in the centre of the glory cloud then miracles will be the easiest thing in the world! Amen?

I believe that there are two glories that the Bible teaches. One of the remarkable things about the theology of what you are in is that you believe in reading the Bible in context. And I believe that 2 Corinthians chapter 3 – it is amazing to me that the Corinthians were the most carnal people. They were drunk at communion and were having sex with temple prostitutes and one guy – God alone knows what he was doing with his mother in law because Paul says it was even embarrassing to unsaved Corinthians who were expert sinners. These people were ones who needed to have dos and don’t put on them but Paul writes to them for me the most amazing chapter in the whole New Testament and distinguishes the difference between the Old and New Covenant.

And he never says “Stop the gifts – I’ve had enough”. He gives loving administration to the gifts but says have more gifts – I would that all prophesy I want you all to speak in tongues – I want you to desire the mighty gifts of the Spirit. So Paul didn’t quench the gifts.

But he writes this chapter and distinguishes between Old and New Covenant glory. It is my deep conviction that much of the church lives in a mixture of Old and New Covenant culture and thinking. And because they understand grace to some degree and believe we are in the New Covenant, it kind of camouflages the fact that a whole lot of Old Covenant thinking and mentality is hanging around.

So Paul makes a very clear distinction and there can be no ambiguity after reading 2 Corinthians 3. He says in (v4) that we don’t have any confidence in ourselves but God has made us competent ministers of a New Covenant not of the letter that kills but of the Spirit that gives life! So when he says “not of the letter which kills” people says “I wonder what that letter which kills is” – well he doesn’t leave it for our speculation and goes on in the next verse to say “the ministry that came on tablets of stone” (clearly the 10 Commandments) “is a ministry of death”.
So the preaching of the 10 Commandments to the church is a ministry of death! That is to be preached to the lost so that they know they have fallen short of the glory of God and need a Saviour.

The preaching of the 10 Commandments is a ministry that brings death and the Bible says it also brings condemnation. It brings a fading glory. So the Old Covenant glory brings a ministry of death, condemnation and it fades away. But the New Covenant glory makes us bold and very confident, a spirit of freedom and liberty and there is a glory that shines and will never end or fail and will stay full and awesome and powerful.

I have used this passage wrongly – I spoke about “from glory to glory”. I think if we read it in context it doesn’t mean from glory to glory to glory. There are two glories! I think if we read it in context there are just two glories! Paul means that in the spirit of liberty we are to be changed from Old Covenant glory to New Covenant glory! In the context!

So this is what I believe – that the Old Covenant glory which was fading and brought death and condemnation – that glory revealed God’s opinion of you and me totally and absolutely through the law.

When God looks at you through the law, the law is so perfect that every one of us is breaking the law. Jesus said that one looks at a woman lustfully is to have sex with her and that carries the death sentence. Just to hate someone without cause is to commit murder and that carries a death sentence. The first law is broken if we do not love God with every fibre of our being. Under that law God demands a perfect righteousness of us and any failure is the judgement of infinite justice which is everlasting darkness forever and ever.

Under grace and the New Covenant – the glory revealed God’s opinion of you through Jesus Christ. The law says “Do-do-do”. Grace says “It is DONE – it is DONE – it is DONE!”. “It is FINISHED!”.

If we come into revelation of New Covenant glory then it is revelation that God looks at you every moment of every day as though you are perfect all the time through the eyes of grace. Moses had to hide his eyes with a veil because in the Scripture when Moses came down the mountain people were put to death by God and people ran. In that Old Covenant glory they saw God’s opinion of them through the law and they couldn’t see it.

Under the New Covenant glory through the finished work of the Cross only those who understand their standing in Christ, the cherubim’s are backing off their guard and letting humble people with reality and no delusions about their own goodness but with revelation of their standing in Christ – they are letting them right into the glory and stand there and radiate the power of God in signs and wonders. They will never boast that it is because of their own prayer life or works.

People in the earth will see the glory radiated from the face of Jesus and they will be healed as we walk by. They will cry out as we walk and live in the cloud and they will get saved as we walk by.

The glory of God is going to come and when it covers the church it will start covering the community around us as well.

On the 10th June this year I was preaching the clear distinction between Old and New Covenant in our church in Hong Kong and was speaking through a Cantonese interpreter. 5 minutes getting up to talk I felt an unusual Presence come into the meeting – I felt the glory of God was here in a most amazing way in the room and after the sermon I was speaking to a lady called Mariana who is a top class business lawyer in Hong Kong – a very clever and intelligent lady. She is a prophetess that sees into the spirit realm. She said “Rob after you starting preaching I saw two very large angels come in and position themselves either side of you with large trumpets in their mouths. One was on your left and one was on your right about fifteen feet above you and were overlooking the congregation”. I knew straight away why those angels had come. When the trumpets were heard in the Book of Exodus it was to say that the cloud of glory was ready to move – get ready themselves to move. And those angels were saying to our church, “Move out of all remnants of Old Covenant thinking – all residues of Ishmael fleshly type and human effort”.

I believe in prayer and fasting and I pray and fast every week most weeks. But I know that fasting doesn’t earn the blessing. It simply positions me to be more sensitive to God.

“Move out of all remnants of Old Covenant mentality and thinking and transition wholly to New Covenant thinking and New Covenant mentality”. I believe that I heard God say on the 10th June that the fence is coming down. It is coming down! He said that we as a church were transitioning beyond the peripheral fence and were no longer administering the crumbs. And folks the crumbs give great miracles! The crumbs bring people out of wheelchairs and open blind eyes. I have seen it! But the trumpet has sounded and the cherubim are standing down.

And God said, “Son it is happening all over the earth where churches who believe in grace and the New Covenant and are not under the law any more – all over the earth there is a trumpet sound that churches are moving into the glory”.
Now I want to close in the next two hours (*laughter*).

You can never see the cloud of the glory while you are in the land of slavery. I was in the land of slavery as a Hare Krishna and I was in the land of slavery as a Christian under rules and regulations. God had deep concern for Israel under Egyptian slavery. He heard the people’s cry and brings them out by His mighty hand. God brought us out of the law by His mighty hand and didn’t spare His own Son.

His own Son was cursed with the curse of the law so that we can come out from the land of slavery into the blessing of Abraham into the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey, into signs and wonders and financial miracles and wholeness

But you see while they were in the land of slavery they could not see the glory. In Exodus 13 as they come out from the geography of Egypt, from the geography of slavery they look up and see the cloud of the glory of God. The first time they see the cloud of the glory and experience something of the glory was when they come out of slavery. In slavery – no glory. In Galatians 5:1-4 Paul said don’t be yoked with a yoke of slavery again. Paul said clearly what that slavery was – it is the law! And he says you that try and be justified by the law have made Christ of no value at all. Once we try and live by the law doesn’t mean we are not saved, it just means Christ has become of no value. If Christ was of full value in the church then He would be doing now what He did 2000 years ago. If Christ was operating in full value in the church then the dead would be raised, blind eyes would be opened, bread would be multiplied and people would be walking on the water.

But His value is diminished by the degree to which we are living under Old Covenant law and thinking.

Become alienated from Christ and you become slaves. The champion of grace – Paul – says there will be doctrines of demons taught and many will depart from the faith – that is the Christian faith - and listen to these lying spirits! Now many of us would think these doctrines of demons would be licentiousness, go out and sin and do as much as you want.

These lying spirits, these doctrines of demons that people will abandon the faith for are teachings that forbid you to be married and forbid eating of certain foods. The doctrines of demons are doctrines of legalism that teach people, “Don’t do this – don’t do that”. They keep people eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so the cherubim must keep the way to the tree of life – the glory cloud – barred with the peripheral fence.

When the legalists came down to the church at Antioch and told the believers to go and do the Law of Moses, the apostles came down quickly to intervene. Even in Jerusalem there were legalists who tried to intervene.

This thing of legalism in the church is not just a small thing – the enemy knows that if the church comes into full revelation of what it means to be in Christ (NOT in Moses) baptised as a believer not only in water but also coming into the cloud of the glory. We will never see the cloud of the glory in the land of slavery. As soon as they came out of slavery they saw the cloud of glory but it was still at a distance and it was in front of them. It was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was there but distant and was always moving away as they followed it.

Pharaoh was coming out of the land of slavery to chase them and bring them back into slavery. How many of you know what it is to be to come out of legalism into an understanding of grace and rest in the truth that “It is finished” and enjoy peace and know heavens open to you but suddenly the drivenness that you haven’t prayed enough, or gone to Church and felt guilty comes upon you? So I am not the Christian type. You know a bit of freedom and then the slave masters come and bring you back into the land of slavery. You won’t see the cloud of glory in the land of slavery.

That is a church description like the modern church today! Out of law but not in the cloud. Occasional signs and wonders and they are more conscious of the slave masters coming up behind them than the cloud of glory in front of them. It is a picture of the Church in 2007 prophetically. Now there is the Red Sea – Exodus 14. The slave masters are getting closer. In Exodus 14:20 God moves the cloud of glory that was in front of them all the time and the angel of God (the identity I believe is Jesus not an angel – the Pre-Incarnate Christ) and the cloud of glory goes to the back of Israel and gets between them and their slave masters. That was when they were baptised into the cloud when the cloud moved right through the whole nation and separated them from the slave masters. That cloud of glory so confused the slave masters that when they went into the Red Sea, it totally destroyed them.

That is what we are coming into now. Turn to Matthew 17 and let’s close with this. Prophetically I believe this is where we are located and seem to hear other prophets saying similar things. The church is going into the cloud of the glory and we will radiate miracles effortlessly. It is Bill Johnson who says “Revelation is an invitation to a divine encounter”.

If you don’t have a divine encounter after having a revelation then you will just be puffed up with knowledge. If God reveals the New Covenant it is an invitation to go into the cloud and experience the cloud of the glory of God.

(Matthew 17:1-8) – I believe we are already passing the peripheral fence. “No one except Jesus”. There were six men on the mountain. Jesus represents grace. Moses the Law and Elijah the Old Covenant prophets and judgement. Peter had not yet got his Acts 15 revelation and he wants to make Jesus compatible with Moses and Elijah. He wants to have a synchronistic religion. I have people telling me to preach a balanced message of grace and law. Paul didn’t get put in prison for preaching the law but for preaching grace. The wonder of the gospel is that wicked people are declared righteous by a holy God. In New Covenant grace signs and wonders will cover cities. Balance this message?! That’s what Peter was trying to do. He wanted Old Covenant prophets bringing judgement in the church with some law to sort the problems out.

How do you balance hate with love? They are mutually incompatible! Yet much of the church mixes grace with law and wonders why we only have crumbs of the miracles. On the mount the stone was replaced by grace. Moses came down Mount Sinai and people ran from him. When Jesus came down the Mount people ran to Him and He cast out demons and healed. Elijah represents the Old Covenant judgement. Under the Old Covenant the sacrifices were never enough. Under the law the sacrifice was always far less than the wrath of God. Elijah got 12 big stones, an ox and water and God fell with fire on that sacrifice and everything was consumed. Nothing was left and the wrath that fell exceeded the sacrifice!

On the Cross of Jesus, God the Father took His magnifying glass and gathered the sins from the beginning to the end of time and how we have flaunted our self righteousness in the face of God and focussed it on Jesus of Nazareth. The wrath of God – the full judgement of God fell on Jesus and when it was done, Jesus could say in triumph “It is finished!”. The sacrifice was greater than the wrath! The condemnation was perfectly over! The curse of law is permamently over! How can you be declared perfectly righteous when you don’t always do righteous things? Because Jesus who never knew one little bit of sin in His life was made sin without being sinful or ever doing sinful acts once so that you and I who really have never done any righteous acts – can be made righteous in God’s eyes! God the Father treated Jesus on the Cross as the worst sinner on the planet so that you can be treated as the most righteous son or daughter on the planet. Hebrews 8-10 says that the sacrifices were insufficient. They had to be made over and over again.

In Hebrews 10:14 it says there is one sacrifice and we have been made PERFECT FOREVER! When the Father looks at you, you are PERFECT FOREVER! How long is forever? FOREVER! If I sin now will I be perfect in the Father’s eyes? This verse says yes! If Rob Rufus sins then what do I do? In the righteousness of God I am perfect forever!

In the cloud of the glory you will see only Jesus. Elijah and Moses won’t be there. The formula that sums the New Covenant says; “Jesus plus anything equals nothing”. “Jesus plus Moses and Elijah equals curse – equals demons visiting your head – confusion and condemnation and self-righteous that stinks. Jesus plus law equals nothing”. BUT! Jesus plus nothing equals EVERYTHING! Equals the Promised Land – the cloud of the glory! It sees you perfect forever. Jesus plus nothing means the dead can be raised, cancer healed, AIDS healed, the peripheral fence taken away and the church will be baptised into the glory. In the cloud of the glory you will just look at people and they will be healed. The methodology outside the cloud of glory is screaming and shouting but in the cloud, “Stretch out your hand”. As Jesus walks by, they stretched out their hand and they kept jumping up! The Gospels keep saying “He healed them ALL”. Then He says “As the Father sent Me, so I send you”. He breathed into His disciples and so these cowards became conscious of conquest. The consciousness of righteousness and the realms of the glory.

On the 10th June a little Filipino lady had a great growth on her neck and I knew we were penetrated the cloud. I said “Gloria come now – the Lord will heal you”. She came sixteen or seventeen feet towards me and I have never seen anyone fall that fast. She walked into something and the cherubim had lifted the fence. She collapsed before people could catch her and when she went for surgery and they scanned her and the doctors couldn’t find a trace. The whole lump – the whole growth had disappeared. The cloud had done it effortlessly! In that service I would just look at someone and they would fall.

New Testament prophets will focus on redemption and give you hope to get out of sin. They are not scary people!

As a church we are going into the cloud deeper and deeper. This conference we will go into the cloud deeper and deeper. Everyone in this room knows that there is a whole lot more in store. Jesus said the works that He did, everyone who believes will do greater works and the miracles will be done effortlessly".

Interview with Rob Rufus in Brighton!

Just shortly after "Together on a Mission 2007" Adrian Warnkock interviewed Rob Rufus in an outstanding interview which gave us a deep insight into this anointed servant of God who had such a profound impact upon the conference. It was only available in audio format which I persistantly had trouble in sitting down and listening to, so I am thrilled that Adrian can now make it available in transcript format which is far handier for reference and for study. He is doing it in parts and so far here's what's available and here are the most gripping quotes for me;

Interview - Preacher Rob Rufus.

"You have got to have theological references to make sure that the supernatural experiences you are having are authentic because we do have the counterfeit in the world today; we do have deception in the world today. The Bible is the foundation that authenticates that we are having legitimate miraculous encounters with God".

Interview - Rob Rufus on Word and Spirit.

"One of the things that attracted me to Christianity was that when I went to a meeting where the power of God was being manifested—where cripples were walking and deaf ears were opening and the power of God was there—it made me realize that Christianity can never be reduced just to a philosophy, but it has to declare that Jesus is alive; He is a risen living Saviour. So I came into the kingdom of heaven through seeing the supernatural—I was birthed in the miraculous".

Interview - Rob Rufus on How to Explore the Charismatic.

"God bound himself to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham. So if the Church balks on that, or hinders it, or stands against it, then God will precipitate a crisis, like he did with Jonah to get the Gospel to Nineveh. So we realized that God was calling us to go to the nations, and we built—with a national team of friends, we developed a mixture of prophetic, apostolic evangelists, teachers, pastors".

Interview - Rob Rufus on Apostles Today.

"So there are post-ascension apostles as well, and he says they will be in the earth until the Church comes to the full measure of the stature of Christ. We know the Church is not at the full measure of the stature of Christ currently, so we will need apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the believers, the saints, for the work of the ministry until we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and to the full measure of the stature of Christ. So apostles need to be “until.” That word “until” offers the key word".

There is more of this interview to follow - but I say again, it really offers an amazing insight into what makes Rob's heart beat with a passion that we would do well to learn from and grow from.

Hallmarks of the Glory Generation by Glenda Rufus

I wanted to post an incredible series of "hallmarks" that Glenda Rufus preached on what she called the "Glory generation". When I heard her describing it, I could hardly keep my seat because I felt like she was describing my feelings and passions and desires and was saying "It is okay to feel these things". I wonder if I am alone in feeling guilty sometimes for feeling what I do and longing for more of the thing I have heard Rob describe. This section from Glenda's sermon makes it clear - it isn't unusual to feel this and it is perfectly healthy and normal! What an awesome encouragement!

Sunday 31st March - 2007

"What will distinguish between the average person who goes to church and the one who really goes after God? This is what I have written. I believe this generation of people that includes us are people who are not content to worship from afar. You might not be living in this and I am not - but I desire this, I have got a heart after this. God puts these desires into our hearts and they are;

A generation that will not be content to worship God from afar. They want to encounter Him, they want to touch Him, they want to feel Him. They want to be close to Him. They want to be caught up into the glory realm, they want to soar with Him. They don't want to just be down here, they want to soar, climb higher, go further. They don't just want to settle down - these people.

If we can love God like this, then there is nothing God will hold from us. His glory will fall on us. They want the genuine - these people. They want true church, true worship. They want to connect with God. The true purpose of worship is to connect with God, not to connect ourselves with ourselves! It's not about us - it's about Him! It is about meeting God, encountering God.

They don't want to be caged or boxed in. There is so much legalism in the church and the glory generation are breaking out. They are beginning to find each other and say "I am not weird - these are not strange desires! I can know God more intimately!". They want freedom and joy and vastness - they want the unlimitedness of the glory experience. They want liberty! They have a deep hunger for more of God. They don't just want the occasional touch! Wherever they are, they have a deep hunger and nothing else can cover up this hunger. The only thing that will satisfy that hunger is when we connect with God. Only He can satisfy because our hearts are made for Him and Him alone.

We come into Him by the Holy Spirit. It doesn't work like singing 3 fast songs and one slow one and then we are in! The Bible says "Enter His gates" - it isn't just Him coming down but us going up! We can enter in and God can come down! There is no technique - the main thing is a hunger, a heart after God! There is no technique. Sometimes God may say that He wants us to play instruments and dance around the room the whole meeting and He will come. Other times He says come in and be quiet and lie on our faces. There are different ways for God's glory to come.

They are people who make way for God. They have learnt in their private space of intimacy with Him. They have learned the ways of the Spirit - they have learnt to hear God's voice and that only comes through intimacy with Him on a private level. They have been trained by the Holy Spirit and have learned to read what God is doing in these days. I have been in meetings where I know we haven't hit that sweet spot of the Holy Spirit. God is teaching us to read what He is doing.

We need to release control. We have got to be people who are humble. Humility is a very attractive quality. Last year we were in Brighton last year and we were with Terry Virgo and after Bonnie said to me, "Mum that man is so humble and it is such an attractive feature". Humility is such a strong quality of the Holy Spirit and it goes beyond human ability. You can try and claim you are humble but people will very quickly pick up whether it is a performed humility or genuine humility. The Holy Spirit is attracted to genuine humility and it is like a magnet to Him and He says "I want to display My glory to them".

The glory generation want to see and do the acts of God - we don't want to just hear about! I want to see God healing people, I want to heal people. They will be a people who are not afraid of the manifestations of God! God did some strange things in the Bible and He will do strange things in our day. These people will not focus on the strange manifestations but on Him. Gold dust - oil pouring out of people's hands. What's the point? God does it - that is the point! They will be people not afraid of the manifestations!

They are people who want to touch and be intoxicated by the Holy Spirit - they will be addicted to the new wine.

If you read the Song of Solomon and read that - you think that book shouldn't be in the Bible. It is such an intimate book about two lovers and that book is a picture of the kind of relationship that God is wanting to have with His Bride - us the Church! It is not just the Church but with individual people - us - His people. There is such a depth of intimacy that God is wanting to pour out on us.

"I want to know You, I want to experience You, I want to know Your thoughts, I want You to know my thoughts". David had such a wonderful relationship with God and God knew everything about him and David wasn't ashamed!

These people want to be radical - they don't want to be contained. They want to know what God is doing in this hour. They want to be reformers and don't want to be contained by what God did in the past. They aren't status quo - they aren't nice little Christians. They are pioneers! They are area breakers! They are innovators! They are people who will see the prophetic increasing on their lives. It won't just be a nice prophetic word but they will see dates and times and specifics - they are weighty prophecy that will increase over this generation. They will be the modern day Moses, Elijah's, David's, Joshuas! We will be the modern day mighty men and women of God".

So let's get on desiring and longing for the glory to come down upon us! May this become our daily experience - encounters with God!