I mentioned in the last post that I am using a few spare days to catch up with some archived sermons and the month of June 2007 was particularly significant for City Church International. In this sermon Rob explains exactly WHAT happened on the 10th June 2007 and the significance it carries.
This was preached on Sunday 17th June 2007;
"Please open your Bibles to Genesis 28. I have what I think is going to be a short message. I want to talk about something that happened here last Sunday and bring some interpretation to it. I really think it is for today and we would lose something of it next week. So I want to talk about the "Downloads of God's Glory". God is downloading glory into our church. Dion and the rainbow - you look in the Book of Revelation and chapter 4 and John was caught up into the heavens and he described the throne room of God and the first thing he said was; "I saw a rainbow encircling the throne". As Dion prophesied, a rainbow means that judgement is over! That is a sign of the covenant at the end of the flood when God judged the world - the rainbow said that judgement is over. There is no judgement but a throne of grace with a rainbow over it where our God sits and rules the universe and we sing praises to our reconciling God who is redeeming the earth and the planet.
Let's have a look at what the house of God is. What is it? It is the church! It is great to be in church where everyone is alive! We are living stones the Bible says. People think that the church is a cathedral in the corner with a few old grannies going to it!
But the church is the most relevant thing on the planet! It is the gateway to heaven! It is where the glory of God finds a portal to manifest into the earth!
Genesis 28:10;
"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven".
(John 1:47) Jesus said the same thing to Nathaniel. That the house of God is the gate of heaven where angels ascend and descend.
Last Sunday morning while I was talking I was aware that there was like a static electricity in the air. Something rather unusual but nothing overwhelming - just an awareness of the Presence of God. When I came to the end of the speaking and I invited people forward and we came and knelt down in the tenderness of God's Presence and let God align us and adjust our allegiances so that we were in proper alignment for the anointing to flow in unhindered power through our lives, I thought we do that for a few minutes and then we would close the service. But as those who were here remember the glory of God came into this place. When we were in the military we were trained what to do if we were in the bush and if we walked into an ambush, we were trained how to get down to the ground as quickly as possible. I said to Dion that I have never seen people fall so fast. I knew something was happening as people began to weep and others began to explode with joy.n
Afterwards I was talking to Marina. She is a very intelligent lady! She thinks - she is not weird. We were talking about the glory of God and every time I said the word "glory" I felt like I was being stung but in a nice way with a thousand beautiful stings. I was shivering and my hair was standing up every time I said the word "glory". So I said; "Marina everytime I say the word "glory" I feel voltage going through me". And very matter of factly she said; "Oh when you got up to speak, 5 minutes after you started speaking 2 very large angels assembled themselves one in one corner and one in the other".
Now this is where some people take a departure from the meeting and say; "Okay! Angels!? These are weird people! They believe in angels?!". No we don't believe in angels! We believe in the Bible and the BIBLE believes in angels! Angels were a common occurance! I want to get out of churches where angels never turn up because if angels never turn up then it is a sign that God has left the place! The House of God is a stairway where angels ascend and descend!
1. She said that they were LARGE angels.
Immediately I knew because I have studied the angelic Scriptures in the Old and New Testament and the Bible is full of the activity of angels - they come on assignment from the heavenly realm through the church and into the nations doing the will of God! They never preach the Gospel - they are not assigned to preach the Gospel. They are assigned to help human beings preach the Gospel! You won't find one angel preaching the Gospel in the Old or New Testament - they help human beings. After Jesus went through His wilderness temptation in Matthew 4 it says that He was exhausted and angels came and refreshed Him. If He needed angels when He was limited to His human body then you and I need angels! Hebrews 1:14 says angels are ministering spirits of fire sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation! We need them! We don't worship angels and will never worship angels. We worship Jesus Christ!
But I knew they were high-ranking angels - she said "large" angels. And she said they had trumpets in their mouthes. And I want to give interpretation on that. I want to say this - when angels descend they come on assignment in answer to the churches prayers. When angels ascend it means that their assignment is over and they go back for R and R in heaven. They will stay there until the church prays again and asks the Father to help us break into Hong Kong, break into China, to get marriages right, finances right, health right. And you get prosperity angels, warring angels, communication angels, guardianship angels - every human being whether they are saved or not are assigned a guardian angel. That's why the angels in heaven rejoice when someone gets saved becase they know at least if he dies he will go to heaven!
Every human being has an angel - from the time you are born to the time you die, you have an angel assigned to you! As the church prays - we do not command angels around - we pray to the Father and He commands the angels to do the command of His Word. He assigns angels! But many angels are so bored in heaven - they are tired of their harps! They have played their harps this way and that way! They want a church that will get out the boat and walk on the water and take some risks and stop being so religiously conservative and playing it safe and don't want to make a fool of themselves! They want a church that steps out in the authority of God and gets out the boat and says we want to see miracles happen, we are tired of normal Christianity, we want to see signs and wonders!
And God says "Wow - look at them they are praying! Angels go and help them before they make fools of themselves!". Go! And God is starting to dispatch angels that have been on assignment to other groups and other peoples and they are not using them so God will use them on assignment for people who want to change the world around them!
I would not have been in the earth today if it were not for angels. I would have been dead some time ago! I would have been killed in my bedroom in Hong Kong! Demon powers would come into my room from the time I got to Hong Kong and try and push me into my bed and paralyse me and throttle me in my bed and one night Geoff came and layed hands on me and said; "From this night God says that His angels will come around and guard you and stand around you". Angels came on assignment from heaven and guard me when I go to sleep now! Isn't that wonderful?! I am a university graduate and some say I am intellectual! I as a so-called intellectual believe that God has angels in the earth and I believe those angels will activate and move out when God's people believe in the supernatural and believe in the invisible world and stand up and say "God come and help us - come and support us!".
2. Why would they have trumpets in their mouths?
If you look in the book of Exodus, Israel when they were going to their freedom, when they were going to inherit the promises of God in the Promised Land and were going to inherit vineyards, houses, prosperity, land, estate, fruitfulness - God said "I give you the power to get wealth" (Deuteronomy 8:18). And they were on their way following a cloud of glory that they could see with their eyes! During the day a cloud of glory was moving across the desert and they would follow it. At night it would become a pillar of fire. Every now and then the cloud of glory would stop and wait in a place for days sometimes even weeks. When the cloud of glory stopped then 3 million Israelites stopped and waited there until the cloud moved again.
A great lesson for us to know - God is on the move! Move when He moves but stop when He stops! Some Christians don't even know that God is moving! Some people make things happen! Some people watch things happen! And some people don't know what happened! The church is full of people that don't know what God is doing! Get on assignment with God! Get purpose and vision and destiny to change nations and you will be the happiest person on the earth while you walk through hell! But if you want to sit on your blessed assurance for the rest of your life and get happy then you will be the most miserable person on the planet! But when you get on assignment for God and angels come to help you and God gets behind you and financial miracles take place!
They waited under the cloud of glory and that cloud of glory was like a shelter from the desert heat during the day! It gets very hot in the wilderness and it is boiling hot - the light is so glaring. There is no moisture in the air! So they would have air conditioning under the cloud of glory during the day and then during the night it would turn to a pillar of fire. How many of you know that in a desert the nights become freezing cold and drop down to freezing? So the pillar of fire kept them warm at night and they were following that. When it stopped they stopped. They knew that they could not go anywhere without the Presence of God. Some Christians do not know where the Presence of God is going and don't know when to stop or when to go! So they go out in the wilderness and say "Where's God?" and they wonder why it is so hot in the day and so cold at night spiritually speaking! The Bible says as soon as the cloud of glory began to move then God spoke to Moses and He said "As soon as the cloud begins to move - I want trumpets to sound. Awaken and get Israel aware!". The prophetic! Get Israel aware that the cloud is now moving! Get up and break camp! Get going!
Some of the Jews said; "No business is good here - we are not moving!". We are staying here! So the cloud went and everyone went off and they stayed but within days there was hot sun and freezing desert and drying up! You have got to keep moving with the glory of God! You can't get offended and get hurt and say "No I am just going to stay here and camp here and I am tired of following the cloud and I will do what I want with my family, my marriage!". Fine - but when that cloud moves and if you don't move with it then you are in serious trouble! I have not moved sometimes when the cloud moved - I got too comfortable. Business was good in Adelaide or in Durban! It takes a few days without the Presence of God and you start running back; "Wait for me - I am coming!". In 1st Corinthians 14 Paul says that the prophetic must make a clear trumpet sound in order for people to assemble. What he is saying is that the assembly is something wonderful - the cloud is about to move! You are going to go into greater dimensions of My Presence!
It is not just about us moving geographically. I personally don't think I will move from Hong Kong for many years. It is about moving on with God into new dimensions and new encounters and realities of the supernatural.
Bethel - the house of God - the gateway of heaven! Gates are access points and when you go through a gate you go from one dimension into another dimension. The Church is a gateway into realms of the glory! It is a gateway into the realms of what is happening in heaven!
And God says "I am beginning to move again in CCI - you have come through months and months of testing and trials and people analysing and questioning". But the cloud is beginning to move! The trumpets are sounding! It is time to move! The house of God!
John 14 - Jesus says in my Fathers house there are many mansions ... so that where I am, there you may be also. We have always said; "Well that just means going to heaven one day". I don't believe that at all! I believe we will die one day and go to heaven and that will be great. But I am in no rush to get there. Home is heaven! But we must read Scripture in context! Jesus was not talking to the disciples about going to heaven - the whole context was that Jesus was going to heaven but the Holy Spirit is coming to replace Him in the earth and the miracles that I have been doing then you will do also and greater works. Anyone believes in Me - I am going to the Father and He will send the Holy Spirit to you!
Then He goes on throughout the whole chapter talking the church moving in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that "where He is - you may be also".
So last Tuesday when I was praying for the service, I said "Holy Spirit You are an eternal being and You are not locked into time! You are the Alpha and the Omega. You see the beginning and the end simultaneously. You live outside of time! You created time! So Holy Spirit please go ahead to Sunday and be there already and be there for five days perfuming this place and preparing a place for us so that where You are we may be also! Then won't You break back into Tuesday and start working on the hearts of everyone in this church and supernaturally align us to be positioned properly to receive what You have been preparing for us on Sunday". That's why I believe being at church is so vitally important for divine encounters in what God is doing.
3. Now the question I have to ask is why were there TWO angels?
Why couldn't there have been one angel? Why two? One angel could have sounded their trumpet! So this week I began to pray and ask why two? Your head only can catch up with spiritual reality later! Education means you can study for hours and after much study and effort you learn something. But with spirit revelation you can have divine information into your spirit that you just KNOW something that is quite large information but you got it in a split second. So divine information from heaven can come instantly and suddenly you know it!
So I heard God say something very obvious to me. "While you were speaking on covenant - one angel represented the Old Covenant and one angel represented the New Covenant. And this church knows with our heads and some degree with our hearts that we are not under the Old Covenant at all! We are not under law at all - we are totally under grace and under the New Covenant. I am announcing in the spirit realm that there is a moving of the people of God out of long held conditioned positions of Old Covenant thinking and mentality of condemnation and insecurity and guilt and I am releasing this church in the spirit realm to step out from Old Covenant thinking. We know we are not under the Old Covenant but Old Covenant thinking still remains like shadows in our minds. And the New Covenant trumpet is sounding - step into the glory of New Covenant thinking!".
2 Corinthians chapter 3 speaks of two glories! We often say we are being changed from one degree of glory to the next. We try to say by that the New Covenant is going up with ever-increasing glory. That is not good interpretation of that chapter because that chapter in it's context only speaks of two glories! It talks about the glory of the Old Covenant which was a fading glory and no glory at all compared to the glory of the New Covenant! The glory of the Old Covenant was a ministry of death and condemnation written on tablets of stone but the glory of the New is that we get a free gift of righteousness, we get boldness, we lose all condemnation and it is a glory that brings a spirit of life and energy into our lives! The glory is God's view and position of you! The Old Covenant glory is how God sees you through the law. So all He sees is the perfect standards of the law and His righteous holiness must judge you and me because the law demands a perfect righteousness of us all the time. The moment you are below the standards of the law then the wrath of God must come and judge.
In New Covenant God provides His righteousness for us permamently for 24 hours every single day we are seen by God as perfectly righteous in Christ Jesus! The New Testament glory is God's opinion and view of you through only grace. God never looks at you through the law. He never shifts His position of you from the Old back to the New. God is in a perfect position looking at you only through grace and only through the New Covenant glory all the time every second - even when you fail and SIN! Even though we don't want to sin and we hate sin. God doesn't put you back under law when you sin! What would be the point? No God said that the law would crush us and condemn us and judge us! So the New Covenant even when we sin and mess up God can relate to us with authenticity because His wrath was already poured out on Jesus Christ in your place forever and ever - it's not even an issue anymore under the Old Covenant!
This is the point I want to make - if you find your confidence before God is based on your performance and based on how well you are doing then you have put yourself in an incredible place of pressure. Because only when you are doing perfectly well will you feel that the Father loves you and accepts you and approves of you. The moment you start doing bad you will feel you have divine disapproval over your life. How do you know when you are doing good enough to have the Father happy with you? How do you know when you have done enough to keep the Father happy? There is always a pressure to do more!
I want to go more and love Him more! I want to! But if I live in confidence based on me fulfilling all my want-tos then when I don't fulfill all my want-tos then I will feel insecure before the Father. It is not about you and me having to do more! Jesus did it ALL! He was enough! In Him you are accepted! In Jesus it is finished! All the things I do are never to get His approval - I have already got it in Jesus Christ under the New Covenant and that liberates me to have the right motive in what I do for Him! Every week Glenda and I get letters like this from our website and most of them we have never met. Most of them are saying "The grace message has set us free". I don't know this couple - they are from the UK and from Watford.
"Dear Rob and Glenda,
We just have been so passionately stirred - the last two weeks to write this email and tell you what the grace of God has done for us. There are no words to describe what is happening to us. It is a freedom and liberty that has lifted us off our feet with joy. We are truly FREE!!!!!! It has been the most amazing thing to truly understand God as Father and His sweet Presence. I had this revelation a month ago and I had a life-changing experience with the Holy Spirit in my quiet time where it was so tangible it was upon me. The room was so bright that I was afraid to open my eyes. Trembling, laughing and weeping at the same time I don't know what is happening to me - all I know is that I just want to know Him more and more and fall deeper in love with Him. For Rory it is freedom to rise up and boldly speak the gospel to his collegues at work. His journey is at least an hour there and an hour back on the M25 (the biggest parking lot in the world because no cars move there) and the teachings from your website refresh him every day and he says that it feels like he has been born again again! It has helped us understand the Scriptures in such a profound way that you just want to read and read and read!".
It is amazing that people keep asking me if I am under grace then I won't read the Bible, pray or nothing! No! No! No! When the grace of God truly sinks in and you hear that trumpet sound to get out of an Old Covenant mentality and come here - you cannot learn grace with your head, you must learn it with your spirit and when it hits your spirit then you will know! Let me encourage if it hasn't hit your spirit yet then it is going to sooner or later! When it does you will know! You will be changed! You will have confidence before God!
"Our friends have noticed the change in us! Some have said we are drunk??? So as a result our CD writer has been working overtime as we continue to pass the message onto others. We just want to encourage you and thank you as you continue to teach the message of God's grace. Please let us know when you plan to have a conference in Hong Kong! We would love to come! Love in Christ, Rory and Cindy".
Lets read 1st Corinthians. You will never move from that Old Covenant mentality into the freedom of the New Covenant mentality by trying to analyse it with human wisdom. It is too big. You and I have been indoctrinated since we were children that nothing is for free and you have got to earn everything! If you are thirty or forty years of age then you have had thirty or forty years of brainwashing and indoctrination. Nothing is for free! In this world's system that is absolutely the truth! Nothing is for free! You work for it by the sweat of your brow and that is the judgement that came on Adam and Eve. Before the Fall they could think where they wanted to be and be there - from one geographical location to another. They named the animals and had governing power over the earth. They thought let's have prosperity and prosperity came. They thought let the fruits come and fruit came. After the judgement God said that by the sweat of your brow will you work. In the New Covenant sure we have to work in the world's system but in the Kingdom miracles come FREELY!
Not how much you prayed or how holy you are or how good you are or how nice you are. You could have just messed up and a download of glory comes. A promotion at work, a healing in your body, a miracle in your marriage. You say "I didn't deserve this!" - yep! Never ask God for what you deserve! If you do then warn me so I can get out of Hong Kong! The New Covenant is all about receiving the generosity of a Father freely! Worldly wisdom will never let you move from Old Covenant thinking. You will stay in bondage. The trumpet has sounded! If you just say "God I repent of worldly wisdom and worldly ways of thinking and I just come into the foolishness of the Cross and at the Cross it is enough!". He did it! It is finished! Worldly wisdom says the Cross wasn't enough! Religious systems say that you can't have free things from God! The wisdom of God is the Cross! Worldly wisdom is working by the sweat of your brow to earn it!
Chinese communities have been brainwashed to earn it! A worldly wisdom has to be broken! Let's read 1st Corinthians chapter 1:17;
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent?".
The Bible is going to speak in a minute about the spirit of this world. We will see that the Holy Spirit can show your spirit what God has given FREELY to you without you earning or deserving it.
(2:1); "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.".
Now Paul is about to say that we do have a wisdom in the church! It is God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that planned the Cross before time began!
When Adam rebelled God didn't have a nervous breakdown! Before time began God knew what was coming and He planned the secret wisdom of the Cross destined for our glory! He says that the powers of darkness, the rulers of this world did not know God's secret wisdom and operated in the spirit of this world and had they known the secret wisdom of God they would have NEVER crucified Jesus because if they had found out that at the Cross you and I would be liberated to the New Covenant and into the glory of the New Covenant then they would have let Jesus live to old age! Jesus didn't come to the earth to live forever and ever He came to the earth to die as a perfect virgin born Son of God.
Jesus is unique in the entire earth as the virgin born Son of God and when He died on that Cross He ambushed every demonic power and ruler of darkness, all their clever intellectualism could not see the secret wisdom of God at the Cross! Neither can any human being but for those who believe "It is finished!" and God's glory is for me and I am out of the Old Covenant and not under law but in grace - from that moment on we live in the trumpet sound of the New Covenant!
(v6); "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory".
Your mind can't work this out in natural wisdom. It must be heard inside. Your brain cannot contact an infinite God and your ears can hear beautiful melodies but only your inner being, your spirit can hear the wisdom downloaded directly by the Holy Spirit. We must be so sensitive to the Spirit of God! No one knows the thoughts of Rob Rufus apart from my spirit and you don't know the deep things of God. It is impossible to know the deep things of God by your natural mind but the Spirit of God who is God equal with the Father and Son searches everything even the deep things of God and we have received the Spirit so that we may know the things that God has FREELY (not earning or deserving) given to us!
When that starts to sink in then you have been delivered from the wisdom of this age which is satanic and delivered into the wisdom of the age to come. You are on your way for deliverance from condemnation and you are going to be a wonder-worker, a miracle worker! Lets read (v9);
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ".
That is absolutely phenomenal!
Demons are about to break and be cast out who are hating this message. My spirit knows these things. Those little demons know that I know that they know that they are already defeated and our power is of infinite phenomenal strength. I am fed up of demons! They just come out now in the presence of the anointing. Straight out. Stand and lift your hands and welcome the Holy Spirit. None of us are 100% in the New Covenant mentality yet - but we are moving there. We are first fruits of generations that will never be born into Old Covenant law teaching and will be born in grace and will never have to struggle with what most of the church has had to struggle with. The next generation will be liberated congregations! We are walking into the rainbow of God and leaving behind chains and bondage and entering into the trumpet sound of the New Covenant! Is Jesus good enough?! Yes He is so therefore I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ!"
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