Saturday 10 May 2008

There is a rush of divine supernatural power coming to you!

This is last Sunday's message from City Church International -and what a sermon it is. Rob makes some extensive further comments about the Florida Outpouring but goes on to magnificently mix grace and glory. We may see revival but let us build it on a foundation of grace!

"I have waited for what has broken out in Florida! How many of you have not heard what is going on in Florida? One of the greatest revivals in the earth - a historical revival - started literally almost to the day (or within days) when your pastor (he is Rob Rufus!) stood in this pulpit to this congregation and said; "A Global Flood is Coming to the Planet" and it will touch the whole planet and there will be a flood of miracles, signs and wonders like the earth has never seen before. How many of you remember that? Within that time the Florida Outpouring broke out!

They went from a 700 seater church to a few thousand seater then to a 10,000 auditorium and now they are in a massive stadium! If you go on God TV or on your computer then you can watch this revival take place. It has got all the ingrediants of the last 100 years of revivals all concentrated into one. You won't see play-play stuff, you won't see a lot of shouting and hype and pretense. What you will see is CNN reporting, media have come, people getting out of wheelchairs in front of your eyes in the United States of America! Not in Africa or a Third World country - but in a sophisticated nation where there are seldom miracles! They mainly take place in China, India, South America and in Africa.

Miracles are happening in a Western country - they are seeing blind eyes opening and deaf ears opening! Not a few - I am talking about hundreds and hundreds of miracles every single day! CNN reporting! Journalists coming in! Todd Bentley preaching through the TV and it is going to 240 nations of the earth! It is being communicated through the media! Hundreds of millions around the earth are hearing it! Todd Bentley looks in and says Keith Richards (the Rolling Stones star) is watching this now (knowing by the world of knowledge) and you are in bondage to drugs. Keith Richards reported to a high level Hollywood reporter that is exactly what happened! He was sitting watching God TV and Todd Bentley said; "You are watching this now!.

Paul Cain - one of the leading prophets from the 1950's and 60's who survived that - fell into some stuff recently but God has brought him out and God is restoring the prophets, he said; "The day is coming when there will be such miracles that stadiums won't be able to fit the people in". Paul Cain is going to be there to watch what he prophesied 20 years ago coming to pass.

City Church International Man: "I believe this is a word from God. This started as a revival but I believe God is saying this is no longer a revival. This is My timing. This is My calendar and it goes on. This is the beginning of something that goes on. Revival's start and finish. We think of the Welsh Revival and so on. This is not a revival. This is not just a revival. God says it might have started that way but this is My calendar and it goes on - and it is going to spread and go around the world!".

Rob: "Amen I absolutely concur 100%.

When I prophesied - look I am going to boast! - when I prophesied this along with a lot of other prophets around the world (just that mine was right on the button to within days!) - but remember when I prophesied; "A Wave of Glory is Coming?". What I said was that this is not a new season. Revivals come and go - they are seasons. Seasons come and go but I said that this is a new climate - a new atmosphere and a new dimension that will keep increasing until the return of Jesus Christ comes!

This is what Christians have been praying for centuries and into manifestation and the prophets are saying that it is contageous - it is tangible and it is transferrable. People have already taken it to dozens of cities around the United States. It is breaking out and they are having weeks of meetings every single night. It is breaking out in the United Kingdom. The prophets are saying it is going to break out in England and where do you think we are going?!?! I have already written to Graham Marsh where there are masses of people already registering for our Empowerment Conference where we are the main speakers. I wrote to him and said;

"I hear in my spirit that the great Eastbourne Outpouring is coming to England! Get ready! Tell the people we are going to see mighty signs and wonders!".

Last Thursday night we had the most powerful meeting we have ever had in our history as a church. It was an awesome time - I had a word of knowledge that the gold dust would appear now and it immediately happened on numbers of people! In the middle of that, Audrey said; "We have got to get someone to Florida to go and get this and bring it back!". I heard that and I prayed and waited and thought and the next morning I got up and was on streaming watching the Florida signs and wonders and I felt in my heart God say, "Ask Ryan and Kylie to go - just ask them to go!".

So this is where I am bringing you in - because we fly out tonight to minister to over 1, 000 leaders in Northern Europe and around the U.K. But we want to send Ryan and Kylie from this body because this is catchable. That's what churches around the world are doing. They're sending people there to catch it and bring it back because you can catch it and carry it back and splash it out.

That is why I say - don't miss out on next Sunday morning because Ryan and Kylie will fly in on Saturday night and step into this meeting carrying the Florida anointing on their lives!

We will be in Europe and the UK streaming and watching it and what God is doing in Hong Kong and feeling very homesick. So this is our chance to sow into revival. Ryan is self-employed so if he doesn't work there is no income. That's a week without wages because he paints houses. What I felt to say to you - let's sow into this revival! It will cost them 9, 000 dollars each on the air fares. That's a pretty long flight to Florida and I think that's pretty reasonable. So let's say 20, 000. The hotel will cost $50. They had to get something 5 miles away because God has become Florida's biggest tourist attraction. So I am going to ask you to pledge - and I know you are not ready and we didn't warn you to do it. But I know we have a generous heart in this church.

I am saying to you please - no pressure or guilt! If you don't feel free to give anything then please don't worry about it. Don't feel guilty about it! Live free! We will find the money somehow. We will trust God for this airfare and these things. They are flying out tomorrow and be back Saturday. We've got some pledge envelopes so City Church International is going to Florida! We've just had a neck healing over here - a neck just clicked and unlocked! Wonderful! The Lord has just healed someone here!

Isn't it wonderful that God has raised up a man - I think he is 31 - Todd Bentley, and He is using him in this whole revival and it's not going to stay in Florida but will spread around the world. Todd was a drug addict up to the age of 18 and he was an alcoholic. He drunk with his dad at the age of 11 years - his dad was also an alcoholic. He was arrested in prison 5 times with tatooes all over his body and earrings. He wears a T-shirt and jeans and has no high school education yet God saved him at 18 or 19 and called him into full time ministry at 20 years of age. He left the saw mill and went full-time through Patricia King's prophecy!

We've just written to Patricia King and Joshua Mills asking them to come back and do "Glory and Grace Conference" with us in March next year!

So Todd goes around the world and has seen the dead raised and mighty signs and wonders.

God's not needing your intellect or how clever you are. God wants hungry, desperate, available people that want to make a difference and heal the broken-hearted and see the multitudes saved and see the Church awake and be in revival!

The greatest miracles take place when you put the people with unbelief out of the room. Jesus went to Jairus's house where his daughter was dead and there were people in the room full of unbelief, doubt and double-mindedness. Jesus had to put them out of the room to say; "I say to you young girl - arise". The greatest miracles I've seen through my ministry are right at the end of meetings when most of the people have gone. The great miracle in Australia with the crippled lady coming out of the wheelchair happened when three quarters of the people had left - and only people with hunger were hanging in.

They saw a woman that had been on television and the doctors had said she will never walk and will be dead within six months. She came out of that wheelchair because everyone was there hungry, clapping, applauding and believing.

You cannot move in the miraculous when there are too many people with a conservative, religious spirit on them who are nervous of noise, nervous of responding at high levels. The greatest miracles can come to a church where most if not all are on board with the fire of God.

We could have filled this building by now but I have preached some people away from this church because I understand that if we are going to grow to the thousands then we have to have a people that are full of faith and full of joy. I offend people on purpose so that their offense will show a religious spirit and they won't come back!

I know that God said don't live to fill buildings with people but live to fill people with My Presence. "If you live to fill buildings full of people who are full of My Presence and I can do what I want in those meetings and I can move in power because the atmosphere of faith is in that place and everyone is charged up to believe God for signs and wonders!".

Here is a testimony from Fini and Isi (de Gersigny). "Sorry I missed Rob's call. We've been involved with outreach to the New Agers ... ". This is invading the impossible! This is taking the supernatural out of the church buildings and going to where the lost are! "... since Wednesday. This was a "Mind, Body and Spirit" Festival and we have been putting in about 7 hours at the festival". They had their own booth prophesying over people! "It finishes tomorrow. 17 folk from our church are involved and we have seen several wonderful miracles and folks saved too! New Agers saved at a New Age festival! On Thursday a woman came bandaged up with a shard of glass in her foot that the doctors who operated on couldn't remove because it was too close to a nerve".

"After prayer, the girl praying for her noticed a large piece of glass on the carpet next to her. She said; "Is this your glass?!". The lady had seen it on X-rays and said it was. When they opened up the bandage there was no lump where the glass had been - no scar and of course no pain. She danced around!". This is my spiritual son Fini! "She danced around and went to all the stalls telling everyone what happened. A lady got saved right away who saw what happened. We have had backs and allergies and arthritis and other stuff instantly healed.

We are pretty amped and look forward to testimony time in our services! I have been following what's been going on in Florida and have enjoyed listening to some of the latest podcasts from Bethel where some of the team have just come back from Florida as well as all over the world. There certainly is an increase in expectancy world-wide on God pouring out His Spirit which is so encouraging for those who have an ear to hear. Thrilled that Ryan and Kylie are getting to go! Lots of love Fini and Isi".

This next testimony is going to blow your mind and it's about us. We checked out in Singapore and it's about our website. Let me read you his email. "Subject: There is a spike in numbers. (I only found this out a few days ago). Although this is not possible with man, Glenda talked of Todd Bentley's revival a few days back and we might have to upgrade our servers on the CCI website where we have been having an average of 37, 000 downloads on our messages a month.

We had a server over-whelm a few days back and the server went down because the number of hits we had in the month of April was 340, 481!!!

We did put the Hong Kong Glory and Grace messages up and so there's been a lot of hits on those". He reckons there has been about 200, 000 hits on that. But they jumped to about 100, 000 on our normal download. So we are going to have some work on this thing! "The average over the month of April per day was 11, 606 people!". Doesn't that tell you that there is a hunger out there for the message of grace?! Why are people trying to cut this message off and fight it? There is a revolution taking place! People are going to get so tired they will say look if the leadership won't move with this message, we are going where they are! We are going where grace is!

340, 481 people are now visiting our online ministry!

This is what I felt in my spirit on Thursday morning while I was praying and sitting still. The words; "Amplification" and "Acceleration" came to my mind. I take very seriously the audible words that come up in my spirit. It has changed my life and positioned me to do what God has called me to do or avoid what He is wanting me to avoid. That inward audible voice told me about 9/11. The Taliban came up in my spirit hours before that 9/11. I heard in my spirit; "Taliban! Taliban!" and knew this was coming.

Wow! The total in pledges already is $22, 400 (for Ryan and Kylie!). Thank you guys! You are sowing into revival!

"Amplification" and "Acceleration". Over and over again! Then the Lord said; "I am increasing My power speedily to you. I am going to bring My power speedily to you. I am going to bring My power rapidly to the people of God - to this Church!". Amplification and acceleration - increase and more power quickly to this Church!

This message is called; "There is a rush of divine power coming to you!". Or; "God's supernatural power is in a rush to come to you individually and to us as a Church". Or; "How to have the power of God quickly in your life". We need to live with a constant sense of expectancy in these days.

A constant sense of the supernatural breaking into our lives - we need to believe God that when we go to work that when we get a word from God for that person at work that doesn't know Jesus and that insight that He gives us, will enable them to know that God loves them and understands the problems they are going through because all prophecy is never to put people down in the New Covenant but to encourage, exhort and comfort. That's what prophecy is - that you have a word in season for that person.

We need to expect when we go into a business meeting in front of the board that we can say - cast your nets down on this side of the boat and you will see a great catch coming in. We need to expect as teachers in the classrooms that angels will show up and the Holy Spirit will come in and they will feel the glory of God in the classroom! We need to live with expectancy! I am convinced that Jesus Christ never came for us to live the lives of misery or even mediocrity. I am more than 100% persuaded that Jesus Christ came (in John 10:10) that "you may have life and have it more abundantly". (1 John 3:8) says; "For this purpose was the Son of God manifest to destroy, to terminate, to eliminate the works of the devil". (1 John 4:4) says; "Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world".

We may not all be living there but I tell you it is the will of God that misery, sorrow and sighing flee from the lives of believers! We are meant to live abundance of life and in joy and be happy! We are not meant to work so hard and be so unhappy and have so much stress and strain. We are meant to live an abundance of life - it is the will of God! God wants it! He's for it! He is backing it! He can bring change!

If we abide in and trust then the prosperity of God will come and where there will be finances overflowing but we don't have to kill ourselves to get it!

If we are ambassadors of the Kingdom (and we are) then our resources come not from the kingdom we are in or the nations we are in, but from the kingdom we are really in as citizens of heaven. I don't care if rent goes up - I don't care if the cost of living goes up in Hong Kong. Our income comes from heaven and I tell you the days we are coming into - these Christians who live by the limitations of the earth are going to be exposed for the frauds that they are and those who live by the kingdom of God and are truly walking in open heaven will find provision for everything happening ine earth right now.

Fradulent and counterfeit Christianity is about to be exposed in the earth. Bigoted people who know the Bible intellectually - know it academically and are legalistic and moralistic - they are about to be exposed as counterfeits and as frauds because they cannot make it through the hard times that are coming on the planet - for there is a wave of glory coming but there is a wave of shaking coming and it will be harder and harder for those who don't know the heavenly realm and who don't walk in revelation and who don't walk with God in intimacy every day.

It will become impossible to live in this time we are going into as the atheists live and as the secular humanists live and as the unbelieving Christians live and as the unbelieving Christians live.

This is going to be a time when the people of God walk in the glory - walk in the anointing - walk in the Presence.

God is not an idea we examine on a Sunday morning - He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He created the air you breathe. He created the lungs you breathe that air with. They belong to Him - the earth is His and the fulness thereof. This planet belongs to God and He wants it back! God is shaking the nations but the kingdom cannot be shaken (Hebrews 13). Those who walk in the kingdom cannot be shaken but those fradulent counterfeit Christians will be shaken in these days. They will not make it through - it's time to press into the glory realm - into the heavenly realm - to hear the sounds of heaven in your spirit - to hear the glory sounds in your spirit - to not put God on hold.

"Sorry God - I am putting you on hold now - I have got a busy life to lead". No - we never put God on hold and we put God first and we listen to His voice when it comes up in our spirit. "Amplification" and "Acceleration" - more power is coming into the earth. This is God's will for your week! We've got this false religious idea that Christianity is meant to be so hard. Jesus said My yoke is easy and My burden is light. The way of the transgressor is hard. Now there is pressure that comes to the believer from the devil but you are coming into a new realm of authority to deal with him. You have got to get this into your heart - it is God's will for you to enjoy life!

I love Joyce Meyer's ministry. It is called; "Enjoying Every Day Life". She said they changed it to that because there are so many Christians that are miserable. It used to be "Life in the Word" but there are a whole lot of Christians in the Word who are miserable so she called it; "Enjoying Every Day Life". She said; "I'm not talking about when you go on a great holiday or when you watch a great movie - every day life! Brushing your teeth! Going to work! Being at work! Enjoying every day life! That's the will of God!". You may not be living that life now but that is the will of God for you.

Be persuaded it is God's will for you! Monday - fun! Tuesday - in the glory! Wednesday - prosperity with persecution (which you can fob off with diplomatic immunity as His ambassador!). Insults? Paul said; "I delight in insults and hardships and difficulties because when I am weak then I am strong and God's power is perfected in my weaknesses". What do you do with people that have a revelation that I am meant to enjoy every day life? Thursday - success! Friday - lead 5 people to Christ. Saturday - prayed for a cripple in the street - healed and walking. Sunday - gather with a whole lot of other people just like me who have had a great week and have celebrated the glory of Jesus! Celebrate how wonderful and not getting together to commiserate how hard life is - but getting together with people who live under an open heaven!

People who are disgusted and hate religion with a passion because the devil is behind the spirit of religion - people who hate the serious morbidity - this epidemic of melancholy that is in the body of Christ. It is a disease that ought not to be there! We are Zion! The city of God! The joy of the whole earth! It used to bother me for 30 years and I have just worked it out in Hong Kong and it has changed the life and the rhythm of this church. I worked it out! For 33 years I used to say, "Lord some Sundays the congregation is electrified and happy and they contribute to the meeting and put faith on the meeting and praise You with abandonment. It is exciting to be there!". But then the next Sunday there is the same group and they need to be resurrected from the dead! Did they kill their mother-in-law during the week?! Did their gold fish die!? What happened during the week!?

Then the Lord showed me; "It is two issues son. Number 1 - they have not been taught the grace of God. They have a legalistic view of the power so that when they have a good week and they are pretty holy and they obey most of the time and do most things right. They then come to church and feel they are worthy to clap and praise in faith. But then during the next week if they make mistakes, disobey, sin and just fall then they come into church condemned and accused and feeling like a failure. The pastor and worship leader has to work so hard and almost get in the flesh to lift meeting. Number 2 - no one has equipped them how to refresh themselves and encourage themselves in the Lord during the week".

I want to talk briefly about the power of God being on your life every day of the week based on grace and not on legalism. How many of you believe that amplified power is accelerating towards you and coming quickly towards you every day?!

I am finding the power of God comes on me in the most unsual places. Just sitting in a resturant eating and the power of God just falls! It is really happening! Some of you restrict the power of God to a Sunday service! The power of God is rushing to you and the anointing is for you - to come on you in every day life to enjoy!

Romans 1:16 - the Greek word for power is "Dunamis". We get the word "dynamite" from that - it means dynamic power! Supernatural power - the power of God! (v16); "It is the 'dunamis' of God - the salvation of God". Salvation in the Greek means "peace, protection, preservation, healing, prosperity, health, complete freedom from demonic powers". "Of everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentiles".

The power of salvation is dynamic power that is in the Gospel. What releases that power? Is it days of fasting? Is it all your obedience, holiness and striving, and how much you pray? They are important but that has got nothing to do with it! That does not produce the power! (v17) tells us where the power comes from. "A righteousness from God is revealed". That is the trouble with people fighting the grace message - it is a righteousness revealed - it has to be revealed. If it's not revealed then you don't see it.

It has been revealed to me - to this church. We will never give up what has been revealed to us. It is not a righteousness from man or the law or your performance.

It is God's righteousness revealed in the Gospel that is given to you as a gift. When you believe that - the power of God and of salvation manifests and accelerates into your life.

"A righteousness by faith from first to last". There are people saying that you get saved, justified and get righteousness by faith - but now you are saved you have got to have another faith for sanctification. It is by faith - from FIRST to LAST. You are the righteousness of God! The power comes by;

1. Knowing you are not under law.

2. Knowing you are not under condemnation.

3. Knowing you are not under accusation.

4. Knowing that God is not counting your sins against you ever again.

5. He has forgiven all your sins in one single moment - not in instalments but one moment.

ALL your sins - past, present and future!

The glory of God raised Jesus up from the dead because heaven's justice and integrity was satisfied and all sinning has been righteously punished forever and ever and dealt with! When God raised Jesus from the grave for our justification, He was raised up with an immortal body - the immortal Son of God! That means He was carrying none of your sin that He went into the grave with. What happened? Did He leave the sin behind? No the sin was obliterated out of existance and it doesn't exist in the universe! God can't find your sin anywhere! It has gone! Jesus was raised from the dead!

You have a permament, eternal rightousness! Go to Galatians 3. What would you do if you were the devil and Paul the apostle came to town and taught that you were the righteousness of God as he taught? "I am not ashamed of the gospel ... a righteousness from God is given to man apart from works". That's where the power flows from believing that message! What would you do if you were the devil? I would do my best to cover and obscure the Cross - I would do my best to water down the Cross. People accuse grace preachers as preaching "cheap grace". No, no. The devil is preaching cheap grace. He is watering down!

He will cover the Cross and obscure it with cultic powers and false teachers to the point where believers feel like they have got to measure up to something. They have got to do something to earn the power and they get back under the law and back under striving and the miracles stop.

Galatians 3:1-7; "Oh foolish Galatians - who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this - did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having begun with the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain, does He who supplies the Spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Know then that it is those who are of faith that are the sons of Abraham".

So Paul is saying - you foolish Galatians, you used to have signs and wonders, the power of the Holy Spirit moving among you supernaturally - now you have got no supernatural left and you have gone back under the law - back under human effort and you have suffered for NOTHING! You have gone into the works of the flesh and Galatians 5 describes the works of the flesh. Bondage.

I remember travelling around Australia and I would get to churches (and I don't mean this unkindly - there were numbers of wonderful churches we have been to in different nations that are full of life and full of glory) but I have to say the majority - on Sunday morning, it is DULL. There's a lot of clapping and hoo-hah but there is no anointing - it is dull. While you are speaking there is a dullness over the people. It is like they are just in a fading glory - under an Old Covenant! They are in a fading glory and dull of hearing, dull of revelation, no joy - just dull! Boring! They scream and shout at a sports match but at church they are DULL! I would find it would take me 3 to 4 services Sunday morning, Sunday evening - and then the lights would come on! Joy, liberty, laughter, enjoying God and enjoying each other! You know what happened over and over again? Pastors made a FATAL mistake in those churches. They began to say this;

"That is a gifting of Rob - to break churches through".

Serious mistake! It is a serious misunderstanding of Galatians 3! I don't have a special gifting to break people through. I have a special MESSAGE - the anointing and move of God follows a MESSAGE! It doesn't matter if someone is a prophet or a teacher or an apostle or an evangelist or a pastor or just a priest of God if they preach this MESSAGE of grace then the Spirit of God will break into people's lives with acceleration. It's not a special gift! I would go back to those churches where I had seen people broken through in 3 or 4 months later and they were as dull as when I had first arrived. Sometimes even worse - because they were doubly deceived because it was the pastor's fault. He had just said that is Rob's gift and then brought the law and performance and false holiness and demanding obedience of people to earn the blessing. He had brought Old Covenant teaching and the fading glory and dullness came over the church.

A few years ago I made a decision - I am never going back to those churches to nearly kill myself unless those pastors repent of their message and take Paul's message. Then I will gladly go in and minister. It is wrong and cruel to expose God's people to this liberating message and they experience temporary OPEN HEAVEN and then it closes over them again because of a mixture of false teaching of a mixture of Old Covenant and New Covenant.

Guys I am coaching you to help people get free - I am struggling slightly here and I am not sure why. Maybe it is just personal because I am about to fly out and I have got conferences and a lot of preaching ahead of me. I want you to hang in with me please. I could stop now and you guys go next week but I want to download this to you - it is "amplification" and "acceleration" - and I want to get this thing finished! Let's go to Acts 1:8. This is Jesus speaking to His disciples; "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and in all Samaria and to the ends of the earth".

Notice He didn't say you MUST be My witnesses! That's the law. He said; "Just get the power guys - and you will be". It is not just preaching a factual gospel - it is that the power of God is ON you and you are living testimony and witness because you are carrying something supernatural on your life. Let's see how the power comes. Let's go to Acts 2. I love this! I want you to see the word "Rushing" - the power of God rushing in.

"When the Day of Pentecost arrived, they were altogether in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing ...". What does "rush" mean? The Holy Spirit was in a hurry! Acceleration! " ... like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the house where they were all sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to each of them and rested on each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance". The Spirit of God didn't grab their tongues and wag them around - they did the speaking and the Spirit gave them the utterance!

"Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews - devout men from every nation under heaven and at the sound, the multitudes came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language and they were amazed and astonished saying 'Are not all these who are speaking Galieans? And how is it we hear each of us in our own native language?". Go down to verse 11; "We hear them telling in their own tongues the mighty works of God". What is the Spirit of God stirring them to talk about? "The mighty works of God!".

How many of you know that Pentecost is a Jewish feast that Israel celebrated? Israel have seven feasts they celebrate but three main feasts. The Feast of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. We know they are shadows but the substance is in Jesus. The substance is in the power of the New Testament! The Passover was the shedding of the blood of lambs so they could come out of slavery in Egypt. That is you in substance being saved by the blood of Jesus. Then 50 days after Passover is Pentecost and they celebrate Pentecost every year. There was the first Pentecost of the Old Covenant celebrated every year over 1500 years and then the first Pentecost of the New Covenant! The first Pentecost of the Old Covenant was on Mount Sinai when the law was given. The first Pentecost of the New Covenant was what we have just read. 50 days after Passover.

On the first Pentecost of the Old Covenant, the law was given and the law as we know it is a ministry that takes away life and kills and condemns. On the first Pentecost of the Old Covenant on Mount Sinai, 3, 000 people were put to death. On the first Pentecost of the New Covenant 3, 000 people were saved because life came gushing into the earth. On the first Pentecost of the Old Covenant they spoke of the works of the law and how the law focused on what man must do. In New Covenant Pentecost they focused on the mighty works of God - that is where the focus of the New Covenant is. Not your works but the mighty works of God!

Now many Christians have got their feet on Mount Sinai and one foot on Mount Zion. Because Mount Zion is where New Covenant Pentecost came from. You cannot add grace to the law - you cannot have your feet on both - but they do! Old Covenant focuses on our works but New Covenant focuses on His mighty works!

The devil wants you and me every day to focus on our works - our sins - our shortcomings - our failures. The Holy Spirit wants you to focus on Jesus righteousness as a gift for you! The devil wants you to focus on what you SHOULD do and what you SHOULDN'T do! This power will get you doing a whole lot of things without you even TRYING to! The Holy Spirit under New Covenant Pentecost wants you to focus on what Jesus has DONE and the works HE has done and the mighty works He HAS done on the Cross and the mighty resurrection - what HE did for YOU! The Old Covenant focuses on what YOU should be doing - the New Covenant focuses on what HE has done for YOU. Jesus mighty works for YOU, on YOUR BEHALF!

I want to say this (and I get caught by this now and again); "I should be doing this, that". The Holy Spirit says; "Focus on what He has done - focus on His works - that is the New Covenant Pentecost!". Then you suddenly find you are doing the will of God anyway!

There is a whole new teaching coming out to react to the grace message and it goes like this; "There is very little difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was the law without the power to live it. The New Covenant is still under law but now we have the power to live it!". That is a very dangerous deception my friend! If you buy into that lie then you will be focusing on the wrong thing. You will be focusing on the POWER helping you to live upto a standard to be righteous. You are righteous forever every single second of every single day. Keep your eyes off your performance and keep your eyes on the performance of Jesus Christ on your behalf.

You are not under the law - you are redeemed from the curse of the law. Christ is the end of the law to all who believe! You are not living up to a standard but you are living an empowered life! I get the heebie-jeebies because I love God's people when I hear people say this;

"The standards required of us under the New Covenant are higher than those required under the law".

I just think WHAT have you done to the people of God!? "Well because we have more power". The power doesn't come so we can live up to any standard. The power comes to live in freedom and we will grow in victory over sin and holiness and obedience - but if you are thinking that the New Covenant is power to live up to standards then you are focusing on standards and trying to get the power to get you to live up to that standard. So you are taking the focus OFF Jesus and AWAY from Jesus and His works and onto YOUR works!

You hear teaching like this; "Well Jesus said under the law thou shalt not commit adultery, but you just look at someone with a desire for adultery and you are guilty of adultery ... you see! That is the New Covenant standard! It's a higher standard than the Old Covenant!". Folks that is a complete mistreatment of the Scripture! Jesus wasn't preaching the New Covenant when He said that. He was addressing bigoted, arrogant people - not the Jewish people but the Pharisees and Sadducees who were putting heavy yokes upon the people. Yet they themselves had watered the law down to the point where man could sort of keep it. So they weren't ready for the New Covenant Pentecost because they felt self-righteous and self-sufficient!

So Jesus was saying; "I am telling you that the standard Moses taught - but I am the Law-giver". This is what the Law was. It is so severe that it is meant to strip you of all self-righteousness and of any hope of being righteous and complete abandonment so you must turn to grace and receive righteousness as a gift for in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed that is by faith from first to last.

Did you notice that this wind of the Spirit came rushing in? Did you notice that this wind of the Spirit came rushing in? Did you know that Ezekiel had a vision of the temple and he saw the glory of God lift off the temple? Lift off the Holy of Holies and hover over the Holy of Holies - linger there for a while. Israel was worshipping idols and going after false gods and so they were under the law and the glory lifted off the Holy of Holies.

The glory lingered there - it stayed there for a while. He was reluctant to leave! Then slowly moved to the outer court - like the Spirit of God didn't want to leave. Even under the law and condemnation and fading glory, He didn't want to leave! But because they worshipped idols, He finally lifted off the Holy Outer Court and goes to the Mount of Olives and lingers there - reluctant and slowly waiting!

Then Ezekiel saw the Spirit of God go back to heaven. Israel was without the glory for 100's of years. Now the first day of the New Covenant is the Day of Pentecost. Grace is in place and no longer under the law, no longer have to keep standards and measure up and be good enough. Grace has opened the heavens! The Spirit left slowly and reluctantly under the law but He comes RUSHING back once grace is in place! He accelerates and rushes into your life EVERY day!

Every day He can fall on you in resturants, fall on you at work! He will come on you -rushing into your life! One more Scripture and we close. Go to Acts chapter 10. Peter - a Jewish apostle - is going to Gentile Christians and they are not saved. Acts 10:36 - the Gentiles have invited him and they are Italians and it is Cornelius's home. Peter is preaching to Gentiles who are not born again; "He is the One appointed by God ... to Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins" - not "sin" only - "through His Name. While Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the Word and the believers of the circumcised who had come with him were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles for they heard them speak in tongues and extolling God".

Now the Holy Spirit fell on them - He could not wait - He came rushing into the meeting and fell on them. They got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit straight away! Sometimes you can be preaching and people break out in laughter and people say; "Oh that is interupting the message!".

No the message CAUSED the interuption!

At what point did the Holy Spirit break in here where He couldn't wait anymore? "I can't wait anymore Peter - get out of the way!". He interupts the sermon when Peter said; "Everyone who believes on Him receives the forgiveness of sins". Peter was saying this and THEN the Spirit fell.

Do you understand what is going on here? Those who have been Christians for a number of years will. Modern preachers criticise this as "easy believism". You just believe and there it is! Where's the repentance Rob!? Notice they didn't even challenge repentance here. There are many places in the book of Acts where repentance doesn't seem to occur. Acts 10 - no repentance and they got saved. We went to China and where is repentance!?

Folks - repentance is something quite beautiful. It simply means change the way you think. God is not my enemy - God loves me! I want to be saved! And God comes rushing in! Today they would say to people that if you want to receive the Holy Spirit you must go through five classes and get purified and repent of all sin and get rid of this and get rid of that. Listen - the Holy Spirit said; "I'm not interested in that rubbish - this isn't the law - this is New Covenant! This isn't Mount Sinai! I am coming ready or not!". And He falls on them! I would love to be able to talk about the "Feast of Tabernacles" but I am going to close with reading this to you.

When you get into this flow the Holy Spirit falls on you over and over again and more and more. I don't know how many of you can receive this.

The Feast of Tabernacles was the last feast and the greatest feast. It is the ultimate closing of the age feast. We have seen all the feasts fulfilled but we haven't seen the Feast of Tabernacles fulfilled yet. I am telling you that I believe this outpouring in Florida is a feast not of Pentecost but of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is the single, great ingathering of the harvest in the time of the rain. I've got about a 20 hour teaching on the Feast of Tabernacles from many years back but I want to give you in 1 minute (don't check your watches) - put John 7:2. It makes clear that this is the feast of tabernacles and in John 7:14 Jesus came during that feast and on the last day, He stood up and cried out; "If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink ... this He said about the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive for as yet the Spirit had not yet been given for He was not yet glorified".

Now Jesus HAS been glorified! Remember John 17 - Jesus said; "Father glorify Me with the glory I had before". And He is going back to heaven - died on the Cross, raised and ascended on high and was glorified. He spoke to His disciples for 40 days and 10 days later Pentecost. 50 days after Pentecost Jesus was glorified. The Spirit fell at Pentecost - but this is speaking of the Feast of Tabernacles, the great ingathering - the ultimate climax and consumation of the ages is about to be summed up in a Feast of Tabernacles. A greater outpouring than the Day of Pentecost! A great ingathering of billions of people into the harvest - into salvation in Jesus Christ in our time.

I feel His Presence upon me. The Feast of Tabernacles - the great ingathering. I am going to read seven things that the Old Covenant teaches that this Feast was about. I will read them and close! I can give you Scriptures for each of these seven things that all talk about the Feast of Tabernacles - the great ingathering, the great outpouring - greater than Pentecost!

1. It was a Feast that manifested unity - not institutional but organic unity. I wrote this down about the Florida Outpouring while I was watching this on streaming on Thursday morning. I felt God speak this to me and I wrote it down;

"About this anointing through the media - what God impressed me with was that this anointing is linking and joining on-fire Christians in a conciousness and awareness of global unity - a sense of desiring and standing for each other's success and for everyone's protection. The Body of Christ loving one another Because of the anointing of the Feast of Tabernacle coming on the earth".

Let's stand with the global day of prayer in the city next week - there is an anointing of organic unity. I don't like minister's fraternals - I don't like arranged unity and organised unity and we all have to go down to the lowest denominator and agree to disagree. That's not unity! Unity is dynamic and it is powerful! It is the outpouring of God that will bring a Feast of Tabernacle unity and the power of the Spirit and not man organising it!

2. It is a Feast of Joy. It speaks of ecstatic joy in the Feast of Tabernacles! For 1900 years there has been a drought of joy. This Feast will bring ecstatic joy.

3. It is a Feast of Ingathering. A great ingathering of the harvest in the time of the rains.

4. It is a Feast of Rest. There comes a peace and a rest in the Presence of God. How many want to enter rest on a daily basis?

5. It is a Feast of Glory. The Church will pass from the realm of the natural into the realm of the supernatural.

6. It is a Feast of Restoration. The prophets are talking about God restoring all things now! Even a lost penknife - a lost wallet - a lost suitcase - things are falling from the air in front of them! "Lord I want my penknife back" - bam! There it is on the bed! Family are gathering! Natural things are being restored around the earth. But it also means that every gift and every ministry are being restored and even important are going to be positioned correctly in the Body of Christ. Evangelists are not going to try and be teachers and pastors. Everyone will be ordered - restoration of EVERYTHING! That has been lost through the years of the Dark Ages.

7. It is a Feast of His Appearing. In the middle of this Jesus will suddenly appear as He did in John 7. He started teaching - revelation from the Son of God. His manifestation will appear in the glory in the Feast of Tabernacle.

There is coming a distinction between those who will walk under an open heaven depending on God in sincerity and integrity and genuinely depending on the supernatural and those who are intellectual, self-righteous, legalistic, and religious. The shakings that are coming and the revival that is coming will make a distinction in the Body of Christ.

"What is happening in Florida is not just for Florida - God is speaking clearly - it is going all over the globe. It's for Hong Kong. God we need it in Hong Kong! We're desperate for it for Hong Kong! ... Let the Feast of Tabernacles manifest on that gathering ...".

2 comments:

Peter Day said...

I am simply overwhelmed with joy at reading this. I feel fresh vision and passion flooding my heart. All this confirms what God spoke to me a few months ago - instead of constantly preaching about what our church should be doing for God, rather I am to speak much of what He has done for them!

Anonymous said...

Rob, you have inferred that one can be saved without repentance from sin and have Acts 10 and an example, is this what you believe. Can you please clarify this point. Thanks.