I believe God wants a culture in every church in the world to reflect the culture of the kingdom inand the culture of the word of God and the word of God is against lukewarmness, it's against passivity and half heartedness, there is nothing in the word of God that is half hearted
"God is passionate. Sending His Son to this earth was not something He did kind of halfheartedly. It was something He did with everything that was in His being. The Bible says shout unto God with a voice of triumph. Everything in the Bible speaks of an undivided heart of devotion to God. God is searching to and fro, seeking for those whose hearts are completely devoted to Him.
So in every church I've started, and it takes me years to do it, I've built a culture of the passion of the Kingdom of Heaven. It's just being watchful and guarding all the time. When we clap, we clap loudly, when we praise or preach we do it with all of our heart.
Some of you, this is your day. You've been listening to this message of grace and yet you've still got patterns of negativity, lack of confidence before God, you fell fear and uncertainty and insecurities, and a bad self-image, when you are a princess or a prince, by the revelation of grace. This is your day to say, no longer will the enemy hold me back, I'm walking free today!
Isaiah 55:12- you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
You see the trees of the field are part of the creation that are groaning waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God.
When we get the message of grace, because Isaiah 55 is about the message of grace, when we go out of this building with joy and led forth with peace, the trees of the field start clapping with relief saying, they got it, Jesus is coming back soon!!
Peace, peace be still, peace makes you quiet, it's tranquil, beautiful, serene. But joy, joy is noisy. So we need peace and joy. Peace for quiet still reflection. Joy is like a volcano in a tea cup. Don't tell me the joy of the Lord is in your life and you're just sitting there like a bump on a log. Come on now, when joy comes explosions come, statements come - You release it!
How do you release faith? In the New Testament, how did Jesus release faith, with His words. He said, if you believe in your heart and profess with your mouth, this mountain be removed and cast into the sea, it's not a little mountain, it's a mountain of problems, you believe in your heart and say with your mouth, be cast into the sea - you release faith with words. Your faith doesn't sit stagnant, static in your spirit. There's a doctrine of faith, that's fine, it analyzes what faith is, but there's a spirit of faith that is not interested in intellectually analyzing what faith is, it doesn't bother about defining faith, it leaps into action, it does action things. Stretch out your hand - you do it!!
Best message you have ever heard, because it means you can go free! And I've been free and I've been bound - free is better!! I know what bondage is, I know what it is to be a man pleaser and frightened of people and you can't hear the voice of God, you can't be led by the Spirit because you're bound by fear of man and you're controlled by people's opinions of you. That is called slavery. The fear of man is a snare, the Bible says. And I know what it is like to be bound, and I've found out I can get free, I found out I can stand anywhere now, something broke off me a few years ago and I can't tell you how wonderful it is.
How many of you think Jesus worried about what people thought of Him? They didn't crucify Him because He fit in.
Come on now, this message means you can go free, because in this message God has decided to see you, PERFECT FOREVER!! God has decided that He is going to be 100% on your side, He's gonna be for you, He will never accuse you, He will always defend you against your accusers!!
Romans 8:1 - "Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
It's not for people outside of Christ, there's lots of condemnation if you're not in Christ. But for those who are in Christ, there is No condemnation. NONE!
Everyone in this room has felt condemnation even this week. Now friends, if the Bible says, there is now NO condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and you and I feel condemnation, then what is true? The feeling of condemnation or the eternal word of God.
So therefore condemnation is illegitimate!! It's unrighteous, it's not from God.
"Well Rob, that true there's no condemnation if you don't sin"
Folks that would be stupid to put that in, if everyone in the world and every Christian never sinned there would not be a need to write, "There is now no condemnation...." It is saying that because condemnation comes to the people of God, because God is not religious, He is real and He knows every Christian messes up, fails and makes a mistake sometimes. It has no little small print in there that says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, that don't sin." It's just an unconditional declaration that God is for you, God is on your side and God has taken your position to defend you!
Romans 8: 31-34, 37-39 - What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I am preaching this message today, because I know there are people here who suffer condemnation in the church and you think that is okay. I am going to show you that condemnation is a dark ugly evil force. Those dark forces that you feel of negativity and condemnation, they are evil forces, they are NOT the Holy Spirit. It is my conviction that the vast majority of the church in the world today does not live in freedom. Your self image, your sense of self value comes from knowing your God, comes from knowing the Gospel, and knowing what God is like, that's where you get your self image from. And I am convinced that the majority of Christians live in bondage, they live in a place where they struggle to have a big vision for their life, they struggle to have confidence before God and people. Many Christians don't want to look stupid or foolish, they don't want to make a mistake.
In Matthew 25, Jesus gave a parable of a man who took his talents, and because he thought God was a harsh taskmaster, a mean God, he took his talent and he buried it because he was too afraid to take risks, saying I won't lose anything, I will just give back what the master gave me - the master was not happy with that because the man was essentially accusing Him of being a hard taskmaster. What Jesus was saying was, if you see God is a great and awesome God who loves you, and is for you then what you will do with your talents and your life and your gift is take risks. You will make mistakes, but God will say "Oh you lost that talent, oh well at least you are trying, here's 2 more, here's 10 more, here's 20 more, at least you're trying. You tried to prophecy, you tried to pray, you tried to witness, you tried to get a miracle, it didn't work, but you tried! Amen!
Every day I sense the glory. Every day I sense God's tangible presence. You are meant to have this every day! Nothing is supposed to seperate you from the love of God. But many of you feel cut off. And millions out there and listening on the website feel seperated from the love of God. Now why should that be? Why? This has gotta stop, God's people must go free. Come on now!!
I didn't say it won't be without a fight, you need to fight it, I've gotta fight it every day. But, it's easy once you know the Scriptures, Amen!!!
Go to Isaiah 53. When do these things get in, when does it start? Well, I think for a lot of people, not everyone, but for a lot of people it starts when they are children. I think a lot of children have parents that have emotional locks, and the parents themselves are disfunctional, and the parents are being crippled by the way they were brought up, that's not an accusation on our parents, it's not a judgement, it's just an accurate observation.
What culture has done to people both in the west and in the east - I think if when we're children and we're growing up and our parents demand high performance of us, without giving us affirmation, loving us, hugging us, kissing us and showing fondness to us and blessing us, even if we do nothing well, but just because we are their children. So, when we are motivated by disapproval and pressure to perform well - into a little child's mind comes a demonic lie, that inserts itself there and says to that little child, "you have no significance, you are not precious, you are not important, you have very little value, and you better perform better, and you better do more to become more important, but until then you are not important."
That child will grow up with a pauper mindset, a poverty mindset, "I'm not precious, I'm not significant, I'm not valuable." They receive very little love or approval or compliments or hugs. That child with a poverty mentality thinks, "I'm not significant unless I perform better." That child grows up driven, then that child gets saved as an adult, he comes into the kingdom of Heaven, Romans 8:16, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
In other words - princes and princesses in the palace of the King of Kings. Their Father owns the palace, everything in the palace is theirs, yet they live in the palace like paupers. They live afraid of men, and afraid of making mistakes. They live afraid to expect miracles and to hear God's voice, and experience His presence. And you know what, for years I looked at that with perplexity and thought how can this be? How can there be so many insecure Christians? How come it's not spoken about?
Why don't we just pull the lid off and say much of the church is really in bondage, insecurity, control, manipulation, guilt. So many Christians are just so happy to have a small little group and just be sentimental and nice. Rather than be radical and robust and bold, and step out of the boat, take a risk, fall in front of people, fall under the power, who cares, it's all in the Bible, all of that's in the Bible. Why is there so much fear? Why do so many people think it must be the devil - when the Bible shows a might God and a little devil- why such chains of demonic slavery? Friends it's not innocent, it's darkness, it's tolerated darkness, it's wicked, it's evil! NOTHING SEPERATES US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!
And yet why so many? For years I was perplexed, I didn't know how to get Christians out of bondage, and condemnation. I do now. Then I realized as a pastor of 29 years that a lot of Christians are afraid of changing, because they are comfortable with the familiar. They've been conditioned, brainwashed and told that this is normal that you're meant to feel bad - they say your fear, your bondage, fear and slavery - they say that's humility. That's not humility! But unless they GET this message, they are going to die in their misery, in their half-heartedness. They know they're not really happy the way they are, but they are too afraid to make the change, they are comfortable with the familiar, they know the routine.
John Maxwell says there are 3 reasons why people change. 1- They change because they hurt so much that they have to change. (Don't wait until you get to this stage.) 2- They change because they get enough knowledge to know that they can change. 3- They change ecause they are enabled to change by what they receive.
Now I want to suggest the last one primarily is the New Covenant way. That you get such an empowering of the grace of God, that you are enabled to change. That when you are a shy person, and you're afraid and have no confidence, and you are always going around and around in the same old cycles of condemning yourself, accusing yourself, never feeling good about yourself - always feeling people's disapproval.
You can change because of a mighty empowering of New Testament grace! Okay - Amen! When that happens to you, no one can manipulate you again! I can't allow one single human being to manipulate me - because manipulation has demonic power behind it. Someone who tries to get you to do something by making you feel guilty if you don't, that is demonic power.
Jesus mother Mary, on several occasions tried to manipulate Jesus to do things, and he said, NO. He refused to do it. One time he said, "who is my mother?", when she tried to manipulate him out of the room.
Once you get free, your husband can't manipulate you, your wife can't manipulate you, your children can't put the guilt on you. When people get free and they live in the grace of God, and they will not be manipulated by guilt from people anymore, than grace communities are created. Whole grace churches. And when people say, "will you help me in this?".....there's a grace empowering and they stand together and there's freedom.
If I had surrendered to my mother's manipulation, my mother wouldn't have gotten saved. But she saw that I am going to walk with Jesus and obey him no matter how much guilt she put on me.......she became a christian and she's in love with Jesus today! She was scheduled for major surgery a few weeks ago, I prayed for her - the surgery has been cancelled, she has been healed, it's a huge MIRACLE! Because my mother believes I walk on water, my mother has such faith that my prayers work. She's had miracle after miracle through me. But if I had let her manipulate me, - if Jesus had let Mary manipulate him - he could not have gone to the cross for us!
Come on now! There are people sitting here in this room who are being manipulated right now by people - and it makes you miserable and you don't like it and you wonder why you feel so agitated and frustrated and unhappy. Because it's a demonic power coming behind that guilt manipulation.
"It's Mother's Day, you should come and see me on Mother's Day."
"Mother's Day is just a date on the calendar. I came to you 6 days earlier, and gave
you flowers and loved you!"
"Yeah but it's Mother's Day!"
What is that?!?! It's a religious calendar that says on this day if you don't come
you are insulting your mother. Now friends I want to tell you that's in Western
Culture, so I'm not just having a go at eastern culture, it's in both cultures. If
you wanna let people manipulate you, if you ever let me manipulate you - You're crazy! Now I will try my best not to do that, but you're crazy to let any human being manipulate you. I've watched men that were once mighty in faith and power, who have become tamed little boys in the system now. Because they come under control. Amen!
You know what I believe and diagnose the problem is - I believe it's this, it's taken me 29 years to work this out. I have been through Hare Krishna, Hinduism, religion - then I got saved, I went into the church and within a short while the church was getting me as bound up as the Hindus and Hare Krishnas were. Some of the rules in the church were as bad if not worse than the Hindus were. Then I got free out of grace, and then the system would suck me back in again, because I was so desperate to be loyal and please everyone. But when you get grace in your heart and you get free, then you can sniff and smell and discern manipulation and legalism just like that - and the moment you do, you gotta make a decision - If I resist this, all hell is gonna break loose and their gonna put their guilt on me bigger now - their leverage is gonna get bigger now and I'm gonna stand there and not look at that witchcraft Jezebel spirit in the face and not submit to it. And the storm can rage and it will for awhile, but when it stops you walk out a free man or woman.
The 300 Spartans, "we stand here against you Xerxes, and we fight you as free men!" I'm a free man, I am not going back to slavery! Come on now, just lift to the Lord a shout and a clap in this place!
I wonder why we get thousands of people downloading off our website, our grace messages, and they write us saying, I was about to backslide, but my life came awake - What is going on? This is what I diagnose, for the last several hundred years, very little of what we call the gospel has really been the gospel. What has been emphasized or preached for hundreds of years is right living. What has been preached in the church, evangelical, charismatic, pentacostal churches, is the messages of RIGHT LIVING! THAT'S NOT THE GOSPEL!! I'm not against right living- that's fine, that's good. But, the message of the Gospel is not right living. And because that's been preached, so many Christians are trying to live right, but in their living "right", they're still depressed, have phobias, fears, fear of preaching, fear of prophesying, fear of falling, fear of looking stupid in front of people - fear, fear, fear, fear, fear!!
Trying to live right does not produce freedom, because that's not the Gospel, that's not the New Testament, that is not Christianity, that's not the Kingdom!! The message of the New Testament, the New Covenant, is preaching RIGHT BELIEVING!! If you believe what is right, it will have the right results. You see the power of God is not in right living, it's in right believing.
Romans 1: 16-17 ~ " I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a rigteousness FROM GOD is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Not a righteousness from man, not a righteousness from keeping laws, not a righteousness from you human effort, not a righteousness from right living. In the gospel a righteousness FROM GOD is revealed, that is by faith, from first to last.
The living we do is not right living, it's faith living and right believing produces right results. Right believing in the gospel produces the power of God unto salvation, so demons leave Christians. I don't believe Christians are demon possessed, but I know lots of Christians who've got demons that need to be broken off them.
Demons of fear, demons of inferiority complex, demons of depressions, demons of negativity, demons of "I'm a nobody, who am I, I can't do anything." Bondage, Bondage, Bondage! Amen! If you believe a lie, it doesn't matter that it's not the truth, it will still have a devastating effect on you.
Now, if I look in the backrow and I see the guys there, I see Fred and Kiki looking at me, and they look up at me, and they laugh, and they are whispering in each others ear and giggling and then they look up at me and they point to me - and they are planning to bless me, they are planning to give me a huge gift - Thanks guys! But, I believe by looking at them and they are laughing, and whispering and looking at me, that they are mocking me and gossiping about me. Then I feel rejection and depression even though that's not the truth. I believed a lie.
You see right believing is the Gospel. If you don't believe what the Gospel is properly, if you've got a mixture of the old covenant and the new, which I believe most of the church worldwide preaches a mixture of grace and of law. When you believe God's love for you is partly due to grace and partly based on your behaviour, and right living and your performance - you've bought into a lie, you're believing a lie! So when you behave well you'll feel God loves you, when you fail and sin, you will feel God disapproves of you. That creates insecurity and deception. Are you still with me? You have to believe the right thing about the character of God.
Now go to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 is the foundation for what he's gonna say in Isaiah 54. Please stick with me, this is very important. We looked at this 6 months ago, we're going in deeper now. If your free, you're gonna get more free - this is for freedom! I'm looking for a church that's so free, in fact God's looking for a church that's so free that people are not self-conscious anymore, they're just God conscious.
So, let's read this here. Isaiah 54:4 - "Surely, surely....(I like the word surely, I like certainty, I like when the Bible says this is certain, this is clear.) surely he took up our infirmities (that's the Hebrew word, c o l ee which means sickness) he carried our sorrows (sorrows in the Hebrew means pain) yet we considered him stricken by God, (because he was) smitten by Him and afflicted, but He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities - the punishment that brought us peace - the punishment that brought us peace - was upon him - was upon him - the punishment that brought us peace, was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed, we all like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Now hundreds of years before Jesus went to the cross, God gave to Isaiah the prophet a revelation of what would happen to Christ on the cross. The substitutionary death, Jesus being punished in our place, so we have no more fear of punishment because peace now is ours - He saw that. Now, if you read the book of Isaiah, most of the first half of Isaiah is terrible to read. It just talks about God's anger - and do you know why, because this was during the old covenant, they were under the law.
And God actually talks about such scary types of wrath and how he's gonna destroy the planet, not just Israel, He's gonna kill and destroy and His wrath is gonna break out on the planet. And you see this, and you think 'dear Lord, this is frightening stuff.' - and He says He looked for an intercessor to stand in the gap, but there was none, and it just looks so gloomy - God in His holiness is just gonna wipe out the planet.
And then finally you get to Isaiah 53, and then it declares God has got an intercessor, God has got someone who is able to take the wrath and finish the wrath so that there is no more wrath. Because God's wrath is Holy - it's not like you and me, when we get angry, most times it's a childish tantrum, it's a selfish thing - God's wrath is holy, appropriate, righteous and pure. It's controlled anger. It's not just that He lost His temper, it's the indignation of Holy God who created the universe, who is the King of Kings, He created the planet and human beings rebelled against Him and said, 'you're not King, we're King.'
Because His law was there, remember the law says 'do, do, do or else' - but grace says 'it's done, it's done, now you're blessed!' It's finished - at the cross - it's finished!! Remember this, under the law, God demands a perfect righteousness of you. And on that day of judgement, if you face God without grace, He will judge you by the law and the law demands 100% perfect righteousness every split second of every day. Under grace God provides the gift of His perfect righteousness for you as a permanent gift for you to live with.
This should be the shouting part!!! Now go to the next chapter. This is so important. Isaiah 54:9 . I am preaching for joy, for results, for freedom. Now, how many of you believe that God can do anything? How many of you believe there are some things God cannot do? There's only one thing God can't do. It says it is impossible for God to lie. He's limited in that area. So He has infinite integrity. He is absolute truth. He is total light. Now this God of infinite integrity, who cannot lie, takes an oath - so that we who are so needing of comfort from heaven can know that this oath He makes with us, when He swears that is an absolute guarantee He is going to do it. If God reverses this oath, if God breaks this oath then God's being will be sucked up into a vortex of nothingness and go into oblivion. HE CANNOT LIE!
You can put your hand on a Bible in a court of law and say 'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.' God cannot put His hand on anythings higher than Him. Seeing that there was no one higher than God to swear by, He took an oath by Himself on His behalf for you and me - Alright! Now when God takes an oath He cannot change - now He's about to announce the New Covenant. He said 'in my wrath, I had to rebuke you, in my wrath I had to reject you when you didn't behave properly, (if you sinned, if you made a mistake as an Israelite or as a believer), I had to judge you, I had to pour out wrath. I had to reject you, I had to seperate you from my love because of the law' - but then He says, I took all my wrath, I took all my anger, all my rebukes, and I put all you sin from past, present and future and I focused it on Jesus and the punishment for your peace - the fury was fully poured out on Him. Now because of that I can take an oath. He says, in Isaiah 54 ---------------
Now, I wanted to preach on the cloud of the glory today - the eternal now, the timeless zone, where miracles happen easy, and I felt in my heart I can't do that we're not ready. We still have people that allow condemnation to put the breaks on. When the cloud of the glory comes we all need to just go in. And so, I felt God say, "preach this message today, prepare the way for what I'm gonna bring - the cloud of the glory."
Now folks if ever there is a global flood, I'm throwing my bible away. Because that means God lied on an oath. God made a rainbow and he said I will never judge the world ever again with a global flood. We have local floods, but there is no global flood and there never will be a global flood. We don't listen to Hollywood, we listen to Holy Word. He's saying, that just as I swore to Noah when I made that rainbow that the waters will NEVER again cover the earth - so I have sworn, not to be angry with you. Now God has taken an oath not to be angry with you, so anytime you feel anger coming at you after you have sinned or made a mistake or failed, anytime you feel anger coming at you, IT'S NOT GOD!! "Well, Rob are you sure? How do you know the anger I feel and the condemnation I feel because I sinned is not God? Are you sure you know?"
Rob says - "I know -that I know- that I know- that I know - that I know - that I know - that I know- that I know- that I know- that I know - that the anger you feel coming at you from the spirit world when you've just sinned or failed, I know it's not God. Do you know why I know - it's because God took an oath never to be angry again.
"But Rob, aren't there certain conditions....?" NO, because He said - NEVER, never means there's never a condition that will cause God to be angry with you. Why are some of you struggling with this? C'mon now, tell me...........( people share from the congregation...Rob responds)
Our flesh is so self-righteous, it hates the fact that I have to totally trust grace. My flesh wants to boast in itself. We've had years of indoctrination. The Roman Catholics, and I'm not against any group or denomination - please understand I am not against people, I'm preaching against a spirit, not a group - alright. The Roman Catholics, at least their legalism, and their control and their manipulating is all out in the open - what's called the protestant church or the evangelical, charismatic, pentacostal church, the problem is their legalism is more subtle and so it's a worse controlling thing. It's just like no one tells you that you're not allowed to do something, but if you do it, you get the sense that people are disapproving of you- Amen!
So what we've gotta do, what we've gotta decide, is, is the word of God the truth, or are the religious systems of man the truth? It's a violent thing - we have to just violently say, I will not be brainwashed, I will not be indoctrinated. Please do not think the roman catholics are the main culprits - protestant groups, cutting edge, what they call restoration groups, there is legalism and control there. This thing Paul was on the alert for, and he had to rebuke Peter to his face because Peter was drifting from the gospel and not acting in line with the truth of the gospel. This is the thing that you have to be on your guard for, this is what stops signs and wonders and miracles from happening because condemned, guilty, broken people do not move out in bold faith.
I think in Hong Kong there's been a lot of evangelical Christianity, some of it really good, but a lot of it legalistic as well. And so there's been controlling and I think the culture in Hong Kong, the way children are being brought up as well - I think has been performance driven and there's pressure - if you do good and you do better than you are loved, but if you don't do better, then there is disapproval - there is elements of that and it's also in the western culture.
So we have to violently shake off this condemnation, otherwise in 3 years time, Rob Rufus will still be preaching this and some of you will be wishing you would go free - today is the day to go free!
You see this is what we get, we get people emailing us and they say, Rob we have been downloading and listening to all your messages - one person said a light came into my room, a literal light and filled the room and we are all free, deacons and elders. It's wonderful, and I say, Good now go tell everyone else, and they tell me that everyone says 'well what about this scripture and what about that scripture' and it's like the church is like puppets on strings, just bound in guilt. They want to believe, but oh no maybe it's too radical, maybe it can't be that good. Let me just say this - this is a principle I want to use - Don't let an unclear scripture rob you of the joy of a clear scripture!
Let me just say this now, they'll say this for example, Ephesians 5 "Don't be deceived God's wrath comes on the the sons of disobedience....." And so christians say, if I am disobedient that means God's wrath is coming on me - if you are in Christ there is NO condemnation - so I can take every verse in the new testament that may seem, if you take it out of context, that it looks like God is going to have wrath on God's child if you disobey, or if you sin, or if you make a mistake, and I can take that and read it to you and show it to you and show it you in the context, and Glenda keeps saying I should do an article on the website and take all those scriptures that make people worried and explain them in context and I wish I had the time and when I do I will - but everyone on the website and everyone in here listen to me - Do not let a Scripture that has to be interpreted and the context that is not immediately clear, do not let that unclear Scripture rob you of the joy of believing a Scripture that is clear!!
This is an oath! This is an oath! There is no trouble interpreting this - this is easy to interpret!
I God say, just like it was in the days of Noah, I took an oath, NEVER - so now I take an oath, NEVER to be angry with you again!! NEVER to rebuke you again!
Folks when you let that get into your soul, you're gonna run to your Father with open arms I tell you - right believing will produce right results.
"The anger of the King is like the roaring of the lion, but His favor is like the dew on the grass." - Proverbs ?
then
1 Peter 5:7 "The devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking who he will devour...."
So, when the devil goes around like a roaring lion, he is not the king! The King of Kings has roared like a lion in His final fury and He has finished all His roaring forever on Jesus at the cross. He has taken an oath, I will never be angry with you again or rebuke you, because he has finished all His anger, He has roared all His Kingly anger at Jesus on the cross. The devil, when he comes to deceive you does not come up to you and say, 'Hello I'm the devil I'm gonna roar and make you feel guilty.' No, he comes up to you and says 'I am God.' If you are ignorant of Isaiah 54, and the Scriptures you are in trouble. Because wrong believing will have a destructive force on your life. The Gospel is right believing, not right living. The devil comes up to you and says to you when you sin, he says 'Hello I am God, rrrroooaaarrrr, I saw that, what you did and I'm not really happy with you, I just want you to get your life a bit more sorted out.' And you say 'I know I'm just terrible.....blah blah blah....' From now on anytime you feel anger coming at you - know it's the devil!
Anytime you hear anyone say to christians from the pulpit, 'God is angry with you' - you've just heard the roaring of demonic lies. I don't care if the preacher says that with false teeth or real teeth, I don't care if he says it with a scowl or a smile, I don't care if he's short, tall, old or young, I don't care if he's got a hundred titles in front of his name, if he says to the believer that God is angry with you, he has contradicted Isaiah 54, he's made God out to be a liar under an oath. He's blasphemed the nature and the character of God and accused God of being a liar and that is a lying spirit that has demonic power - roaring against you and goes on and on and we wonder why we've got so many dysfunctional, guilty, condemned christians who don't know how to praise and worship God with liberty, who don't know how to take risks and just put up their hands. Amen!
It's not the truth that sets you free, it's the truth that you know through right believing, that's what sets you free! Let's give the Lord a clap!!
So over the past few days I have been watching with great interest - "NCMI TV" and in particular a series of interviews conducted by Tyrone Daniel - the current leader of NCMI - with his father Dudley Daniel. They really are well worth watching. In it Dudley shares his heart about where the movement of churches has come from and where he hopes it is going.
Each video is only about 5 minutes long so won't take long but the spiritual truth is well worth it! These videos have also re-emphasised to me the importance of "spiritual fathers". You can catch something of Dudley Daniel's heart here and it also helps me piece together something of how Rob Rufus became who he is today.