This was Rob's sermon launching the "Glory and Grace Conference" in Hong Kong! It was preached on Sunday 15th March 2009.
"Operating in Greater Faith"
I am speaking on "Operating in Greater Faith" or "Dealing with our Unbelief". It is not a subject I particularly like talking about and the reason is that I don't know much about it. Kathryn Kuhlman - one of the greatest ministries of the last century in signs, wonders and miracles - in some ways mentored me through video. She after all her signs and wonders said; "I don't know how to explain what faith is". Today we have got people who are such experts in what faith is. I know we have got Hebrews 11:1 and what it says; "The substance of things hoped for". That is the definition and doctrine of faith but I am more interested in the spirit of faith. The doctrine of faith analyses and is academic but genuine faith acts supernaturally. Genuine faith does miracles! Genuine faith administrates the finished work of the Cross in triumphant application to the world around us. Academic faith or those that can define faith and think they understand faith go to the prisoners and embroider the prison cells with lovely flowers and pictures of what faith is.
But when they are finished, the prisoners are still inside with a little bit more of a colourful cell. The world doesn't need more people with academic, cerebral information about faith. They need people that have real faith that gets real results and really does open people with blind eyes! That is normal Christian life! We are in awe of that because we have lived in the subnormal for so long and have been in the abnormal for centuries - so when the normal arrives we put that person up on a pedestal and say; "Wow that person has got special gifts!". No - they just found out how to move from academic definitions of faith from Sunday morning meetings to something of another realm which is the inheritance of every believer.
The other reason why I don't like talking about faith is that when you talk about faith the anointing doesn't come. Because the anointing comes to honour Jesus and manifest the glory of Who Jesus is. Our message is Christ and not faith! Hebrews 12 from verse 2 says; "Looking unto Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith". So I have to look at Jesus! It is the revelation of Jesus and seeing Him by revelation that releases faith! That His whole joy was to go through the Cross to hold back the 72, 000 angels that could have nuked Jerusalem and neutralised and obliterated all of His enemies - but He called all of those 12 legions to keep back and He said "No I must go through the Cross because then on the other side I can realise the joyful assembly of angels over Zion - the people of God to come and help them inherit everything I am going to die for them". I hold angels back and justify them and take the law off them and cancel condemnation at the Cross and make them righteous as a gift and set them free and forgive all their sins - as I look to Jesus and see all that He was willing to do for me at the Cross and as I understand that - faith begins to rise up in my heart! I am really talking about Jesus today and what He has done for us - that releases faith for the miraculous!
Apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers have no more advantage in the miraculous than the royal priests of God. They only have gifts to equip others to come to the full stature of the measure of fullness of the body of Christ. When the entire body of Christ is equipped with the fullness of God then you don't need apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers anymore! And I believe for a season on the earth those apostles, prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers will go right to the background and will not be needed anymore because the church will be at the full measure of the stature of Christ and will all be doing the works Jesus did and greater works!
He didn't give the mantle that Elijah gave to Elisha - those were measurable mantles. Elijah's mantle if it can be double meant it was a measurable mantle that Elisha got. When Christ ascended - He gave the measure of all the fullness of who He is! These are not the days of Elijah! These are the days of Jesus! These are the days of the mighty Holy Spirit without measure! The world has never seen the church that is moving in a measure of all the fullness of God.
That is the role of apostles and prophets. Their role is not to teach pattern and wineskin and technique - it is simply to say that the power of the New Covenant will not fit under the wineskin of the Old Covenant - that wineskin is finished! Gone! They are not here to raise up powerless structures of programme and pattern! They are here to authenticate the actual gospel of grace, the kingdom of heaven being given to the church - to administrate what's in heaven being given into the earth!
The credentials of apostles are signs, wonders and miracles! I cannot read a book if a man cannot produce signs, wonders and miracles! I don't care how good his theology is! Something is wrong if he cannot produce signs, wonders and miracles! There is heresy if there isn't miracles in the author! I don't mean every few years - I mean on a regular basis!
It is time for people in the church to go to someone who has got something more than you! I am constantly open to people who are further down the road than me. I don't care what colour they are, where they are, I don't care if their doctrine is weird in some areas - if they have got more than me then I am going to drink at that fountain! We have GOT to get more anointing and more revelation and we have GOT to know how to do these things in our day!
The noble Bereans received the word with joy and THEN went and searched the Scriptures. This is not the time to be analytical. If you do that - I will pick up as a prophet what you are doing. I will and then I will preach for 2 hours! I can pick up! "Knowing their thoughts - He said!". I can know what people are thinking and so I can go and explain that Scripture. They are so analytical and afraid of being deceived! If you are afraid of being deceived then you are already a deceived person because you are not moving in faith but in fear! "I am afraid of being deceived!". What you fear has already come on you! People of faith are not afraid of being deceived because they have the Holy Spirit on the inside of them Who is the Spirit of Truth and the Word of God! The most dangerous place to live is the conservative safe place! That is dangerous! The most safe place is the radical, get out of the boat and walk on water, sink, get back! If the whole bunch of those 12 had come with Peter - those 11 played it safe! All the church thinks about is the guy who sank! I don't! I think about the guy who walked for a while! I spit on the ones who stayed in the boat! That is the majority of the church world today!
You took so long to get to that place because the Nazareth syndrome where Jesus could there do no mighty works is in almost EVERY Sunday morning service! Bill Johnson's church said they were so happy when they got to the Nazareth syndrome because at last Jesus could do a few healings in their midst! Before that there were none! They got so happy with a few minor healings but no mighty works! Jesus could do no mighty works in His home church and He marvelled at their unbelief! Don't play nice games! Faith is not a game - it either works or it doesn't work! We have got to find out how it works! We are not seeing all over the world every church having mighty works! Only a few sick folk are healed!
Jesus is handcuffed and strapped by the corporate shroud of unbelief and the church does not believe it is in unbelief - it has theologised and legitimised the Nazareth syndrome as something quite acceptable! This is not about a spiritual revival but a theological reformation! This is about changing the way people think and this is about a full recovery of the message of the New Covenant and a removal of the law!
Paul says God can't do mighty works and move among you by His Spirit while you think about observing the Law! In verse 12 of Galatians 3 he says the law is not based on faith!
Every time there is Law preached, the people are locked up in unbelief! Law kills faith and condemns, law is a ministry of death, makes people unhappy! Law makes people sin-concious, self-concious and not Christ-concious! Law kills faith! You can fast as much as you want and have the church go on a 40 day fast everyone and nothing will change until there is a theological reformation in the way people think!
Until then you can go into one of those churches on a Sunday morning and you can have fasted for 40 days and you can try as hard as you want but you are not better than Jesus! If He could not get mighty works happening in the Nazareth syndrome then you won't either. I don't care who you think told you can, if Jesus couldn't then you can't! Wherever He went with open heaven - there were "all" healed! They didn't all have "great" faith! All they had to have was a "little" faith! There were many with unforgiveness and bitterness and open sin in their lives but all were healed! Sin in your life and bitterness will never ever stop the power of God! Last year we had a woman come out of a wheelchair and she was totally crippled - the doctors said it was chronic, last-stages and she would die! She got out and ran around! Then she told me she came full of bitterness and only repented after the miracle! You can be full of bitterness, full of sin and with a little bit of sin - you will be healed!
What is stopping 99.9% of the church seeing the greater works? I will tell you right now! It is self-righteousness! It is the law! It is sin conciousness! "Oh it is my failures this week - I am not worthy!". It is so deeply established in the church that it is a shock once your eyes are opened! Then when your eyes are opened then everyone will say; "Oh he is critical - he is so on this! That's all his message is!". Hey - if you find the secret to seeing the greater works happen on every Sunday morning in every church in every nation and in every part of the planet then you will go crazy like I am!
You say "Well I'm not crazy - that's not my temperament!. I just don't respond like that! It's just the way you are Rob!". I will take you down to the car park, open my car door and slam the door on your fingers and you will REACT hysterically! Maybe even words will come out that you didn't plan on saying! The response is determined by the degree of the stimuli! People aren't excited because they have had no degree of stimuli of revelation of what is available for the church! The law makes you dull of hearing and self-concious! When we came to Hong Kong God said; "You preach in a way that you don't live to see buildings full of people but preach in a way to fill people with My Presence. If you preach in a way to fill buildings with people then a political, religious spirit will come on you and you will be a Sunday host that tolerates unbelief and insanity". Some pastors live to keep everyone happy and everyone coming back!
What is the use of having everyone come back if the Holy Spirit doesn't come back?! What's the use of having no signs and wonders and miracles and open heaven? Ten thousand in the meeting but no God?! I would rather go and surf in Australia and dodge sharks for the rest of my life!
Did I say turn to Mark 9? Faith brings the invisible into the visible. Faith is standing in a natural world and connecting with a supernatural invisible world. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the proof of unseen things! If you have got faith in your spirit then it is the proof of some unseen realities. Faith recognises that Jesus is the only Mediator between the earthly realm and the heavenly realm and that the Name of Jesus is the power of attorney given to family members which authorises us to activate heaven's treasures in the earth! Faith is recognising the the glory Presence is tangible and creative Presence and is a substance that transfers the invisible world and makes it visible in front of skeptics and unbelievers - they suddenly see the invisible world manifest! God first created the invisible world! God did not create the cosmos first! The invisible world came first and then the visible world! And we with faith are called to manifest the invisible world into the visible world.
Now for God to deal with unbelief that means three things. I am asking God in my life and have been for three weeks. The Bible says faith is more precious than gold. We are in a world preoccupied with money but faith is more precious than gold! You can get gold if you need it if you have faith! It is not hope! Hope has no substance - it is just wishful thinking. With faith you have substance of those things you are hoping for and you know how to pull them into this world so they become visible in front of people's eyes.
But now I am in Hong Kong - everything I want to do is walk together with the congregation and I am not running ahead. I am walking with you! Everyone is coming together with greater faith because noone is going to stick out, no one is going to be up on a pedestal and every believer is going to do the works Jesus did and greater works because we can learn the secrets of the Kingdom! They have been revealed!
In "Glory and Grace" many secrets will be revealed! Fini and Isi, Joshua and Janet Mills and Glenda and myself - but at the end of the day it will be the Holy Spirit! Things God has been saying to me this week - I have been saying "God how do I deliver this stuff?! It is just awesome!".
God wants to do three things.
1. Take every trace of unbelief out of our hearts.
There is no condemnation in this but Hebrews chapter 4 says a "sinful heart of unbelief". So unbelief is really the only sin of the New Covenant. Unbelief is the only sin the Holy Spirit will convict the world of. John 16:9; "Convict the world of sin because they DO NOT BELIEVE on Me". They do not believe on grace!
People believe in the law! The majority of people on our planet believe the law! They believe do good, get good, do bad, get bad!
The Levitical priesthood - you do good and you get good. But you do bad and you get bad! You get cursed! The Melchizadek/Christ priesthood - God did good for you in Christ and now you are redeemed from the curse and blessings are all your inheritance all the time! No bad coming! All good all the time! Blessing all the time! The Holy Spirit will convict of unbelief in grace. He will empower people to believe in the grace of God!
We must get rid of all traces, ideas, elements of unbelief and deal with it as sin! A critical attitude to the goodness of God! Unbelief is resistance to God's goodness! Unbelief is self-righteousness, unbelief is self-promotion, unbelief is saying "I am greater than the blood of Jesus! My sins are more powerful than the blood! What I did wrong is more powerful than what Jesus did at the Cross! I am more powerful than last Adam! First Adam was more powerful than last Adam!". That is unbelief in Jesus!
We have to get rid of that! We have to see that being cynical and critical and skeptical is a pollution, a demonic poison and it is SINFUL! You have to learn and be trained in unbelief by evil forces, by demonic powers! The Holy Spirit will convince you that unbelief is wrong.
2. You need to have your thinking totally renewed!
You don't entertain ANY thoughts contrary to the New Testament! You don't entertain law or sin conciousness but you have the conciousness of Christ! You have the mind of Christ! Every stronghold and every idea and every imagination that exalts itself above the knowledge of God's love! The true knowledge of God! That must be brought into captivity of the anointing! Every thought brought into the captivity of the anointing! One of the biggest problems with Christians is that they don't monitor their thought life. The devil is trying to get footholds and landing strips and build them on your mind. He is trying to land lies and things that are against the knowledge of the God of Abraham - the God of all goodness, the God of all redemption, the God who has forgiven all your sins! The devil got a landing strip on Eve and she began to think that God is holding out on us. He is keeping us out of something good. That tree of the knowledge of good and evil - if we can eat that we will be like God!
Lies! It took and it went from her to Adam. The truth is they were ALREADY in the image and likeness of God! They already had all things on the earth! They were like gods on the earth with dominion - subduing dominion power. They entertained lies! When you partner with lies you are partnering with demonic powers. You cannot have great faith and allow your thoughts to just settle on T.V and the economic downturn! No - you must stand firm! That is the worlds system and I am in the kingdom of God! The economic system of heaven! You can hear in many Christians conversations the fact that they have never trained or disciplined themselves to monitor their thoughts and take responsibility themselves to stop giving their minds as landing strips to demonic lies!
I think most of faith STARTS with dealing with the mind! Renew the mind and then you transform and then you are not in the pattern of this world! You don't think by the corrupt wisdom of this age. In fact the corrupt wisdom of this age - I want to tell you right now - is legalistic thinking! It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! It is trying to do good and avoiding evil to get more! No! You already have it all! You have been given fullness in Christ! You don't have to be religious! You deal with your thoughts! Don't allow negative thoughts! Sometimes I have to get out of bed at 03:00, go downstairs and walk up and down for an hour or two to get these thoughts off my head because I cannot allow them to just sit their percultating and get established! You need divine power to demolish strongholds, pretensions and imaginations that have taken captive of millions of Christians minds! So they sit in churches and there is an open heaven!
I can't stand it when they sit there in churches and say "We have got to get the heavens opened!". That is anti-Christ! The Cross opened the heavens! At His baptism the heavens opened! John's baptism which was a baptism of repentance for sins - the righteous, Perfect One went through a repentance baptism for sins because He is repenting on behalf of the sins of the whole world. God ripped the heavens open and the Holy Spirit came down and when Christ went to the Cross the heavens stayed open! It is anti-Christ to pray Isaiah 64:1; "Oh God open the heavens and come down!". That is anti-Christ! In John 3 and 6 God said over and over again; "I have come down - I have come down from heaven". God has come down from heaven! Then He says in John 1:50; "You will see greater things, you will see heaven opened and angels ascending and descending over the Son of Man!". The "Son of Man" includes everyone who is in Christ! Angels descending and ascending over you and your heavens are opened!
As I have travelled the world going to church after church you stand there and you know that you can't do much - even though the heavens are opened! Because if people are sitting there with closed heads and they think the heavens are closed, they are in wrong thinking. Wrong theology! Arguments! Pretensions! Lies! No the heavens are open! It is a problem with closed heads! So we need a theological reformation to open heads. Otherwise the prophet can go and fast for 40 days and come into a Sunday morning glittering with the power of God and have a few miracles that impress people and they then say; "When you have recovered come back and do that again! It was so much fun!". While the open heavens are entitling everyone to inherit open heaven atmospheres and encounters with God! "Rob - teach us faith!". I am! Deal with unbelief in the heart and see it as sinful and ungodly and partnership with the demonic. Deal with thoughts in the mind!
3. Position Yourself to be Full of Faith.
The reason why Jesus did what He did when people had even just a little faith and were full of bitterness and sin and yet He could still heal them by the multitudes - the reason why He did that was because there was no unbelief in Jesus - there was no footholds in the way He thought about His Father and His whole heart was absolutely full of faith all the time. So He would see a crowd that only had five loaves and two fish and His mind wouldn't reason any other way - His heart and everything just thought "God can do this!" and He did it! It wasn't difficult for Jesus to do miracles! Jesus just did miracles effortlessly because all three of these areas were dealt with. No unbelief in His heart, no partnership with wrong thoughts in His head with the devil and He said; "The prince of this world comes but he has no part in Me". He had no landing strips in His mind. You say; "Ah that's because He was the Son of God". The devil tried over and over again to get landing strips. Jesus had to fight the same things. "He was tempted in all ways like as we - yet without sin". All ways! Every kind of sexual sin, all kinds of unbelief, He was tempted to take premature inheritance and worship the devil to get the kingdoms of this world.
But He resisted all the demonic thoughts. Sometimes I know when a thought over my mind is a natural thought by watching T.V and that needs to be dealt with. But other times there are other thoughts that are like demonic hornets that go round your head. You must deal with those thoughts and get them off by speaking the Word of God! "I am not under this! I am not under condemnation! I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! No I will not commit that adultery!". Praise God I am not confessing for me! I have never committed adultery or come close to it but if I let those thoughts land that day then they would have driven me to rationalise stupidity. I am so grateful to God that I can say after 34 years of marriage that I have had no physical intimacy or emotional intimacy with anyone but Glenda Michelle Rufus.
Is this a difficult thing to have all these three areas? All unbelief taken out of our heart, all thoughts dealt with in our minds? A heart full of faith? No it's not a difficult thing because it is the will of God! How can it be difficult if you burn with a passion to have it?! If you want to be church-goer that hears sermonettes every week then forget it - don't even start on this journey! You are never going to make it! But if you burn with a passion to be part of the company of people that usher in the fullness of the heavens into the earth then this is easy! I tell you why it's easy - the more revelation the church is getting of the open heavens - first it takes our faith and then we reach out and get revelation and realise the heavens are open!
The more revelation of open heaven coming to the church, the more open heaven experiences we are having!
Last Thursday night was probably one of the most open heaven encounters that many of us in this church have had. 50 of us packed into our lounge on the steps! I don't know if it was because there was not enough oxygen in the room but awesome things began to happen! I can tell you with integrity that for about 5-10 minutes I felt the very air moving, the molecules in the air vibrating and moving in that room! Now I know if that vibration had gone up just one increment higher then the very building would have begun to shake like in the book of Acts. We were one degree from that! There are different frequencies and degrees in the Spirit of vibration and different degrees of angelic presence, different degrees of the glory! At certain degrees you can only get certain results. Next degree more results and next degree people overweight can just lose weight!
God can deliver people from the Amalakies and the Hittites and deliver us from the cellulites! He can do it!
All over the world it is beginning to happen. People are standing there having to hold up their trousers because they lost 20 pounds just like that! I know the cynics say; "Oh wait till I see it!". Well you probably never will. I say everyone is innocent until prove guilty! Any report I hear - I believe that! I believe it! I am positioning my thinking! I will get to honesty in a moment! It is taking a people that have lived in such shallow levels and taking them to other levels and as soon as we go beyond what we are used to, then people get nervous. Something weird could happen! It is weird to stay in the shallows! Something weird is going on in the church! They are not doing the works Jesus did and greater works! They are not moving in miracles! I don't want to be a Christian! I have given up being a Christian! The word "Christian" is only mentioned twice in the New Testament but the word "son" is mentioned dozens and dozens of times! I want to walk as a son! Romans 8 doesn't say that the world is waiting for the manifestation of Christians! It says they are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God to be revealed!
Creation is groaning and waiting for sons!
Christians go to Sunday morning church and they are so cute and so polite and so nice! They can't cast devils out though and they don't know what is going on and they don't know the realms of the heavens. Jesus did what He did at the Cross with all the cosmic consequences to sum up history through Himself and the vast majority of Christians haven't got a clue what their inheritance is! That is WEIRD! That is abnormal!
That is disgusting and God is going to raise the prophets up again who were put down by a pastor/teacher religious culture that took over the denominations of the earth.
Did you get Mark 9? When I leave here I have got to deal with my thoughts because the devil says that was a bit rough and you sounded critical and then the Holy Spirit comes and says "No it wasn't! You didn't go far enough!". Then I feel peace come over me! So this is what many of us don't understand - faith and unbelief can exist in your heart at the SAME time. That confuses people! They say "I've got faith" and they have! But they also have got unbelief. When I think often people have got 10% faith and it is real faith but 90% unbelief or 20% faith but what you don't hear is the 80% unbelief. So much of the church teaches them to be ashamed of their unbelief and pretend that they don't have any unbelief. So they just say the faith they have got and when they say it they are telling you the truth! But very seldom will you hear them admit; "But I think I have got about 80% of unbelief". If they could admit the 80% of unbelief then we can make a connection and get this miracle happening! But God is a God of truth and He can only anoint authenticity.
I am not exaggerating - I have documented cases of this with cancer that had progressed so far that doctors had given up. I wish I could say thousands but I can tell you dozens with medically verified facts! They said there was no hope! There was no medication going on - the family members had called us in because they were dying and nothing had worked! I say thank God for doctors because they are saving millions of people's lives. The church should be praising God for doctors! But we have gone in and healing! Miracles! No cancer! Disappeared! I have also had the terrible experience of people calling you into someones home and you don't know them. They are in the last stages of the disease and you want to pray for them because your heart is; "I know it's God's will for these people to be healed!". So you go in and you say; "How are you?". I want to locate where their faith is. And you hear this; "We have got all the faith in the world!". And I just want to cry and say; "Can I be honest? If you had all the faith in the world then you would be healed already. Let's not play games. Real faith attracts real power that has the ability to heal ANY disease!".
No they have a little bit of faith but 80-90% unbelief. If they were honest they would say; "I lie awake at night thinking I am going to die - I know this won't work". That is their unbelief and if they could just tell me that then I can say; "Right now we can work with something! Now we can deal with that unbelief and work with this integrity!". The church has got to help people and stop this teaching that makes denying and surpressing unbelief = faith. That is NOT faith! That is deception! If people had all the faith in the world then we would be hearing miracle reports in every local church every Sunday morning!
Never put people under pressure to pretend they have got all the faith in the world. Every time I have done that I have regretted it. Locate where their faith is at - locate how much faith and unbelief they have got and then help them to deal with that unbelief!
Mark 9:14 through to verse 32; "as soon as they saw Jesus they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him". That gives me goosebumps! When the revelation of the true Christ is revealed in Hong Kong then seven million people will be filled with wonder and will run to meet Him because He is in the house of God amongst a miraculous people who are moving in supernatural signs and wonders.
(v16); "I asked Your disciples to cast out the demon but they could not". Amazing - today we would have said that proves it was not the will of God. They prayed and it didn't work so it can't be God's will. Keep your suffering for the glory of God! Jesus' response; "Oh unbelieving generation ... bring the boy to Me ... if you can? Everything is possible for him who believes! ... I do believe - help me overcome my unbelief". THERE is humility friends! Faith and unbelief at the same time asking the Lord to help him overcome the unbelief.
(v25); "I command you - come out of him and never enter him again ... the spirit shrieked, convulsed violently and came out". I have seen that happen lots of times!
"He replied this kind come out only by prayer". Now some translations say; "only by prayer and fasting". I don't particularly like the NIV. I just use it because a lot of people use it. But I am glad in this case that the NIV didn't say "fasting". "This kind can only come out by prayer". Is there a kind of demon that won't come out unless you go and pray and fast? People have this idea in the church world that demons can possess people so easily. They can get into you so easily and are so hard to cast out. They get in and you yawn and they are in! Then you must go and fast for weeks to get them out! But you burp and they are in! But I want to tell you that it is so difficult for a demon to get hold or possess an unsaved person never mind someone who is in Christ. It is so hard! They are trying to tell people; "We can get into you easily". If they could then as soon as fell asleep they would be in! But we have this theology that they come in easy but are so hard to get out. They don't get into you easily at all. You have to be traumatised and traumatised.
I don't believe that Jesus said "this kind" meant a kind of demon but a kind of unbelief because if He meant a demon then anytime you struggled to cast a demon out they could say; "Ah it's because you haven't fasted enough".
People say; "Ah I am overweight because I have got a fat demon!". How many of you know that Christians blame demons for everything? Demons are sulking because they are getting blamed for things they never, ever did! Many demons need deliverance and inner healing. You want to say to some Christians; "Come out of this demon!". For those people who say they are overweight because of a fat demon - you can say; "Well THIS kind DO come out by prayer and fasting!".
It is not demons that come out by prayer and fasting but unbelief. "This type". Andrew Wommack talks about three kinds of unbelief that I want to tell you about quickly and then we can close in the next 2 hours. Three types. I listened to that teaching and thought "Wow that is pretty good!". I disagreed with the last point slightly but before we get there let me tell you in advance that I really honour Andrew. He is the only one that I have ever heard recently teaching that the Holy Spirit only convicts us of unbelief and of righteousness He convicts us is the righteousness in Jesus Christ. He has gone to the Father and judgement is about the devil being condemned and disarmed at the Cross! So I disagree with him on his last point but everything else is wonderful.
1. One type of unbelief is a type that people in the church have simply because they have not heard the will of God.
They haven't been taught the covenant of grace. They haven't understood that it's God's will to heal everyone. They have been told that it's not God's will to heal everyone. I want you to go to Matthew 8 and I know this is obvious but I have found out that you can't take everything for granted. Local Chinese people have come to this church when we have been about to have water baptism and have said; "But those pepople only got saved a few weeks ago! How can they be water baptised?". And I don't know what they are talking about! Then I say "Explain"and they say that the church they go to, doesn't allow you to be baptised for six months up to a year - maybe even two after you are saved because you are in classes and on probation to see if you are good enough! So before I realise what I am saying, I say; "That is demonc teaching - the doctrine of demons because you open the Bible up to 2 or 3 passages and you see that as people got saved they were immediately taken to the waters of baptism on the SAME day!".
So I said; "You know what they are doing? They are controlling you with witchcraft and that is demonic!". See we take these things so innocently and think it isn't so serious. We don't know the ramifications of messing with people's heads about trying to earn or deserve something that is a sign of grace. Then they try and make you earn grace! The sooner the better! If possible on the same day! Close the Red Sea and Egypt behind you! 1st Peter he says baptism is a sign to angels of grace! So I take nothing for granted anymore - there is so much wrong teaching which is why people struggle to have faith. Go to Matthew chapter 8. I know we are going to have lots more crazy people in the earth and they are going to be criticised as being critical and they better not be critical! I think when people come and get to know me personally and spend time with me in my home - they can see me weep, they can see the tenderness in my heart, they know that I love!
That's why I am like this! Because I HATE what religion is doing to people! I love people! Jesus stood up in Matthew 23 and said; "You scribes and you Pharisees - you kill the prophets! You stinking whitewashed walls! The blood of the martyrs will be upon you before this generation is over - you will know the vengance of God on the blood of the martyrs!".
THIS generation He said! In Revelation 5 it says that the martyrs were underneath the altar crying out for deliverance. And they got it when He died on the Cross! When He said; "It is finished - the graves errupted and the martyrs walked around Jerusalem!". He said; "They are the martyrs that you killed because of the Word of God which they preached. You religious leaders - you killed them because they stood on the Word. You are guilty of all of their blood!". Look at Matthew 8:14; "When Jesus came into Peter's house He saw Peter's mother-in-law". So Peter did have a wife. "Lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her". That quick.
"He healed ALL the sick". Scripture must interpret Scripture and the Scripture is going to tell us why He heals all and why it is ALWAYS His will to heal ALL. "This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases". That is Isaiah 53. Now Isaiah 53 is the place where He took our sin away and the punishment for our peace was upon Him. So Isaiah 53 speaks about all our diseases, sickness, pain being taken away at the Cross where Christ was MADE sickness for us at the same place that He was made our sin. Yet today in the church if you ask someone - if someone comes to Jesus and says; "Lord forgive my sins" would He say; "No it is not My will to forgive your sins?". No! Of course He wants to forgive your sins! Yet the majority of the Church is not convinced that He wants to heal ALL our diseases.
He has already healed all our diseases at the same place He was made sin and forgave us all our sins! Psalm 103; "who forgives all our iniquities and heals ALL your diseases!". He says to the man who was lame and the Pharisees judging Him; "What is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or take up your bed and walk?". Both happen at the Cross and He was speaking about it before it happened at the Cross! So for people to question God's will for healing they should then question God's will to forgive! Because at the same time sin and disease were both dealt with by Jesus at the Cross! It is God's will to save every person on this planet! But everyone doesn't believe! It is God's will to heal ALL that are sick.
There is faith in saying God is able but EVERYONE knows that God is able!
This is the New Covenant! Jesus died to ratify your rights as inheritors and joint equal heirs with God and then He rose from the dead as our heavenly lawyer to make sure it is prosecuted by the power of the Spirit! It is the will of God to heal everyone! But everyone doesn't get healed - because of the Nazareth syndrome. Jesus said "I have come down from heaven to do My Father's will". In Nazareth the will of God - Perfect Theology - couldn't get everyone healed! Why? Because of their unbelief.
2. The second type of unbelief is because of deliberately WRONG teaching.
The teaching that the power of God has passed away and the days of miracles are over. God is not moving the way He did in the past. That unbelief is harder to deal with than the first type. Now they have been established in religious doctrines of demons. What is the answer to that unbelief? Just more teaching! Teach and teach and teach! A clarity of the Word of God! Show them that the power of God hasn't passed away from the Word of God! Go to all the difficult Scriptures that they use to support their arguments. Go and answer them all in their contexts. It is very clear - those people need quite a bit longer to get free from their type of unbelief.
3. The third type of unbelief is with the disciples when they couldn't cast this devil out.
How many of you know that they didn't have a problem with the first two types of unbelief? They knew the will of God was to cast out demons! They knew the power of God hadn't passed away because they had seen Jesus do it over and over again and He had empowered them in Luke chapter 10 and Luke chapter 9 to cast out devils and heal the sick and came back to Him rejoicing that devils were subject to Him in the Name of Jesus! So they had seen and they had cast out devils! Now they are wondering why they couldn't cast this one out. They were okay with the first two types of unbelief. Tick those off. Third type of unbelief was this type;
When they looked at the natural and saw how bad the natural was - if you are being governed by education and programming and propaganda and endless training by religion or by secular humanistic thinking and intellectualism then you are governed by your natural senses. You are governed by the limitations of your natural five senses - smell, taste, touch, feeling and seeing. So when you pray and what you see is convulsing after you have prayed and manifestations of what looks worse after you pray - if you are governed by your senses then you will be overwhelmed by a type of unbelief that will go; "Oh it is not working". So He says; "THIS type comes out by prayer". If you want to add fasting then add it - I am not adding it and I will tell you in a moment why! This type comes out by prayer!
What is prayer? Prayer is going and getting alone with God. It is saying "Today I am not going to movies, today I am switching the TV off, today I am going to be alone with an invisible God and I am going to let this invisible God speak to my spirit and I am going to hear and experience things that is not with my natural ears, eyes or intellect".
But I will hear a supernatural invisible God speak in my spirit and I am going to learn how to be governed more by my five spiritual senses than my five physical senses. So what I see contradicting in the natural will be overwhelmed and surpassed and superimposed by a higher level of sons and daughters of God (not Christians) that know the invisible and know the supernatural and when you hear a living voice with inner ears and not these natural ears then you can do something! If you need to fast to help you then that is fine.
Never ever teach (and I will never teach this again) that fasting is the key to miracles. That is what most of the modern church has taught and it has not helped! It has caused more problems! Most of the modern men and women I know who move in miracles and signs and wonders hardly ever fast. I know how whole congregations that have just about killed themselves fasting and don't have miracles today! Jesus did fast for 40 days but that was for us - He was going in to deal with the devil as last Adam and He won! He won a battle for us! Jesus did things for us so we don't have to! We walk in the inheritance of His victories!
In Luke chapter 5 the Pharisees come to Jesus and say "Why don't YOUR disciples fast? John the Baptists disciples fast and the Pharisees disciples fast". The context in Luke 5 was the old sinner Levi who found grace through Jesus and brought all his sinning mates and threw a party for Jesus and Jesus was eating and drinking with Levi! And the Pharisees were mad; "Eating with sinners! Why don't you fast?". Jesus said; "How can the bridegroom tell His guests to fast?! When we are enjoying the celebration of the Bridegroom! When the Bridegroom goes then they will fast!". It is so wonderful because He only went for three days! On the third day He rose to life and said; "Behold I am with you to the end of the age!".
Every day my Bridegroom kisses me and I feel His Presence! I don't need to fast! My Bridegroom is with me! Paul the apostle who was an ascension gift after the resurrection - he didn't know Jesus after the flesh only after He had gone to heaven. Paul got his commission from heaven not from man! And he never taught fasting as a means to get greater faith! NEVER! They did fast at the commissioning of Paul and Barnabus but there is no revelation of the key of fasting to get greater faith!
I have people come when they hear of miracles in my life and they come and say "How much do you fast?". The church has taught them that! Bad teaching! "Well I fast regularly! Every night I go to bed! I do not eat for about eight hours! Then in the morning I break fast!". They are looking for a formula as to how this person came out the wheelchair and what did you do? What is your formula?
NO formula! I just let the Bridegroom kiss me! I look at Him and as I look at Him faith comes because I see grace and I understand and deal with my thinking and let my heart be filled with God! I get away with Him! I have got to go somewhere quiet! Jesus went regularly to solitary places! How many Christians get alone with God to hear the invisible voice? How many of you want your faith to go up another level and unbelief to go down another level? I believe in the worship and I thank all of you who have come from overseas. Something is going to be broken open wider.
The heavens are open - but you need portals to bring that open heaven into the earth. YOU are the portals of God! Your faith is the portal of God!
On Wednesday morning while registrations are going on, people will be already getting healed. While they are trying to sign up they will already be falling under the power of God! I believe in teaching and we will teach but as the conference goes there will be such an open heaven that heaven will be teaching us by the power of the Spirit by revelation! So I want to close with this to precipate and position you - to cause your faith levels to go up and your unbelief levels to go down. "Increase our faith!". They think increased faith is quantity. But Jesus thinks of faith as quality. He said; "If you have got faith as small as a mustard seed then you can say to mulberry trees - be transplanted!". I don't think He meant literal translation - He never did it once. He never moved physical mountains so He is not setting a precident for that. He is saying that there is a certain quality of faith and for that faith - nothing is impossible! Economic downturns, financial problems, sickness, disease - there is a faith that can transplant mountains!
Mountains speak figuratively of problems. Your problems will be brought low. Your cancers will be brought low. You will transplant cancers from here to hell! Gone! So they say; "Increase our faith!". Mustard seeds - it's quality is that it is small. If Jesus was living in our technical age then He would say to us - if you have faith as small as an electric fuse then all the power from the nucleur power stations conducted through power lines can come and light up your world.
The power of an electric fuse is not it's size but it's quality. What is it's quality? It has got the quality of conduction.
There are certain metals that electricity will not pass through. Copper! They need high conduction! And low resistance. Unbelief is low resistance to grace! If you have got an electric fuse with high resistance then you can only conduct a low level of that power. The fuse will defuse if the power gets too high! Certain fuses can only handle low level heavenly power. The church has been full of unbelief because the law has been taught to the people of God so the power of God can only operate at a low level.
When the power of God is de-fused then the church re-fuses the power of God and they become con-fused.
Then the church formulates theologies to legitimise the abcence of power! The atheist resistance is so high that it says the power station doesn't exist. But the problem is not with the power station or the powerlines of God's Word but the fuse box in the church! Stop teaching the law! Stop making them think about their sins!
Jesus didn't come to make you feel bad! He came to make you feel good about what He can do for you on the Cross!
Let me put it this way - five levels of faith.
1. Unbelief = Total Resistance to the grace of God = no faith at all.
2. Lots of resistance = Temporary faith (Mark 5).
3. Medium level resistance = weak or little faith.
4. Little resistance = strong faith.
5. No resistance = great faith!
Only two people had great faith in the whole of the New Testament according to Jesus and they were Gentiles because they had never lived under the law because the law is against faith. Why is the church so weak in the world - because the majority of the church has been preached a mixture of law and grace and it is killing and making them think wrong and putting unbelief in their hearts! All three types of unbelief are operating! There is a way to go from no faith to great faith!
Imagine a local church where every member has got GREAT faith, NO resistance to all of heaven's fullness to come into the earth and saturate regions with the atmosphere and beauty of the power of anointing - hanging like a smoke over the city because the people know how to pull heaven into the earth!
That's what I pray Father - every area of unbelief to be rooted out of my heart - every area of cynicism and skepticism, and pride and conservatism. Remove it from my heart. Let my mind be like the mind of Christ. Let me not entertain thoughts of sin conciousness and condemnation but Your thoughts and Your ways. Give us understanding of Your thoughts that we may stand in that grace. Fill us with great faith! Let our resistance through unbelief and legalism come down! Help our resistance come down so that we may come into "Glory and Grace Conference" as a people operating in high levels of faith and low levels of unbelief! Let angels come into this place! We ask them before the Throne - we acknowledge Jesus before men, now cause Your angelic host to come as chariots of fire, let them help us to inherit the invisible world! Holy Spirit! Change the metal of my conductor! I want a quality faith conductor! This is the realm of glory! It is not for the conservative or faint hearted or religious! It is for sons! Those who are redeemed from the curse of law that the blessing of Abraham may come on us in fullness!
Take one anothers hands oh lightning conductors and let the fire of heaven - the divine virtue - heavenly materiality - heavenly realities that faith is the evidence of existance come into manifestation! Right here! In this place! FIRE! Right through! Fire from heaven without holding back! Don't resist! Yield! FIRE! Burn up conservatism! Burn up condemnation! Burn up debt! Release prosperity! Release the blessing You gave Abraham - give to the people of faith! The anointing is coming even more tangibly! I am just going to obey God. Down the rows let go of your hands. Keep the rows clear but keep holding each others hands. I am going to run down the rows and slap the hands. I have got faith that the power will run down the rows and it will take 2 minutes but leave everlasting results! The guys in the rows stick your hands out and don't close them otherwise I will break your arms! I am going to run down these rows and faith will take that anointing. I pray they don't get Rob Rufus's anointing but Jesus anointing and an impartation of the life and glory of heaven - the breaking of self conciousness, analytical attitudes - a ripping open! A ripping of the shrouds! Let bodies be healed now! May mortal bodies feel immortal power! FIRE!
We will not tolerate conservatism at Glory and Grace! We didn't have this conference to cater for normal Sunday morning church but to see the glory come! FIRE! They've gone through the doors! FIRE! More Lord! Pour in the heavenly wine! Let the party begin before Glory and Grace starts! The first miracle Jesus ever did was to produce 700 litres wine in one go! We declare an opening of festivities! Let Your people get drunk on the new wine! In Jesus Name! A guy fell right through the door at the back - he got thrown through the door! We have an "open door" ministry! The Lord threw him out the door! Lord we are so grateful but not satisfied! We want so much more than this! If this is all we operate in then millions in Hong Kong will go to hell! We are so tired of being brainwashed with religion as normal and what people call anointed was just to comfort Christians - a "positive experience". We declare that pathetic! We want the violence of heaven to destroy evil in the nations! Let the whirlwinds of heaven come down and break evil in Hong Kong! Break abuse! Break demonic darkness! Break that which is against kingdom of heaven! Topple evil in our city! For the sake of all the nations represented at Glory and Grace, we pray that there will be such a release of the Spirit - 10 times more power than this morning in the conference! FIRE!
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