Grace and Glory Conference 2010 - Session 2 - Rob Rufus

This is the 2nd session of the 2010 Glory and Grace Conference held in Hong Kong preached by Rob Rufus;

"Looking through the lenses of the Cross"

I want to talk on the wonderful Cross this afternoon. There is so much Scripture we could read but we are going to read just one verse. 1 Corinthians 1:17;

"For Christ did not send me to baptise but to preach the Gospel - not with words of human wisdom - less the Cross of Christ be emptied of it's power".

It is an astounding insight to me that the Cross can be emptied of it's living power! As soon as we rely on human wisdom or intellectual power - we empty the Cross of it's supernatural content. Later in this chapter Paul said that God will frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent.

Intellectual preaching of the Cross is no gospel at all!

Paul said he wanted to know only Christ and Him crucified. Preaching and demonstration of His power so that men's faith would not rely on man's wisdom.

The scandal of the Cross is it's simplicity. The Cross is so simple - it confuses clever people.

Yet the Cross is the wisdom of God. The Cross is profound! The Cross is deep! Yet it is in simplicity - we preach the Cross and we believe on the Cross of Christ. When the Galatian church started leaving the Cross and going into Moses law like many Christians today - for them the Cross is just that baby thing. It is for immature believers. Paul wrote a letter immediately to the Galatians and all his apostolic passion and in the complete absence of political correctness or diplomacy - he said; "You foolish idiots! Who has bewitched you?! Christ was clearly betrayed before your very eyes as crucified!".

I want to ask you unreflecting idiots - does God move among and do miracles because you obey the law or because you believe the message of the Cross?

Paul is making it very clear that when the Cross of Christ is not central to all we preach - the power of God stops moving in the church and through the church!

When we repent of our intellectual arrogance, and understand that the Greeks want great philosophy and the Jews want signs and wonders and the world is divided between those that are brain-centered and those are that are intuitive and feeling-centered - and the answer for that is not to flatter this side or that side but to hold our line boldly and preach the message of the Cross that is foolishness by the arrogance of this world's standards - but it is the wisdom of God.

The wisdom of God is what I want. The wisdom of God and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Bible says that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. The Cross is the lense that we must look at life through. When you look at principalities and powers through the lense of the Cross - you see them only defeated! You see the devil so small and the ruling spirit over Hong Kong is the Holy Spirit! All others were triumphed over at the Cross! Jesus took no prisoners.

He stripped them all of their authority, disarmed them, when you look at people through the lense of the Cross you see objects of God's love and affection. When you look at sickness through the Cross you see that all things are possible, when you look at the nations through the Cross, you KNOW it is possible to disciple nations! China can be discipled by the gospel of grace! Australia can! Africa can! All the nations will be! There will be cultural changes in government and education through the Cross.

Will all the world obey God? No. Will evil get worse? I don't know it can - but possibly. But this I know - that the greatest sign of the end of the age - the greatest sign of history being summed up at the consummation of the ages is not a temple on the Rock in Jerusalem! It has got nothing to do with "666" or the Anti-Christ! In Matthew 24:14 Jesus said in answer to the question what will be the sign of the end of the age - the gospel will be preached as a sign to all nations and then the end will come!

The greatest sign at the end of the age is a restored gospel of the Kingdom.

You say; "Rob why are you preaching with such intensity - can't you just chill and relax a bit?". No - it is because the Cross does that to my blood. Everything from the Old Covenant has to come through the lenses of the Cross. It changes before it goes into the New! Every church needs to have the lense - the filter of the Cross in place! There are certain night clubs that you cannot get into unless you have something to get in there with. There is a bouncer in the door that won't let you get in.

The Cross is God's defense to protect the Church from the ministry of death!

2 Corinthians 3:7 says the law is a ministry of death!

The law was meant to kill us and crush us and curse us and condemn us and pour wrath on us and stir up more sin in us! How many pastors in their right minds would let THAT into their congregation? Any preaching designed to perform and deserve is preaching the Law!

I don't care if you don't dress up in Levitical priestly clothes and don't say "Moses said ..." - when we preach to believers that we have to earn and deserve the blessing - we are preaching the Law. We heard this morning - preach the gospel of grace and stir believers to respond with faith and the power of the Cross will be released.

The Cross is the bouncer that won't let Old Covenant truths past through the Cross into New Covenant without them being changed.

Circumcision comes to the Cross and praise God - it doesn't get through easily! At the Cross - the bouncer made it irrelevant to have the snip on the tip! They used to snip on the tip and through it away - they never stuck it back on again with glue. Circumcision comes to the Cross and it changes as it comes through into the New Covenant! Now it is not the snip on the tip - it is circumcision of the heart!

Colossians chapter 2 says that old sinful nature which is really a nature of unbelief in the goodness of God - a nature driven to rebellion against God through unbelief in His goodness - that old nature was cut away, circumcised and thrown away - never to be brought back!

The power of the Cross removes the sinful nature from the unbeliever and gives us a new nature which is righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

A nature that does not want to sin! A nature that is just like Jesus! Identical to Jesus! That is powerful! A watered-down or powerless preaching of the Cross has produced millions of counterfeit conversions.

The Cross produces radical salvations! The curse of the law comes through the Cross and says; "I want to get into the New Covenant!". The Cross says; "No! I cancel you! You will not condemn God's people! You will not manipulate them with guilt! You will not control them with religious demons! It is for freedom that Christ has set you free! Stand free and refuse to submit to a yoke of slavery!".

What is the yoke of slavery Rob? Very simple: it tells us right there in the chapter before. Slavery is bondage from Mount Sinai. Paul goes on in that same chapter of Galatians 5 and says in verse 4 if you Christians already in Christ seek to be justified by the law then you have been alienated from Christ and you have fallen from grace! Grace is infinitely higher than the law because if you go back to law, then it means you have fallen to something low down and it means that someone hasn't been safe-guarding you with the bouncer of the Cross! Or you haven't been safe-guarding your own heart because the Cross and power will never let the law through that has been cancelled theoretically and potentially - there is now therefore NO condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus!

Every Christian should be dancing their way through life with NO condemnation! I just went into a trance there. I just saw multiple millions of believers in Christ dancing their way through life without condemnation! I saw one billion, 400 million Chinese experiencing what is God's heart before time began to hear this gospel and not an inadequate or false gospel mixed with law and grace.

To mix law and grace is to preach NO gospel at all.

For if law can get through the Cross, then it is not the cry of the Cross of Christ that is being preached. Colossians 2:14 said God cancelled the law at the Cross! To preach what has been cancelled - the Holy Spirit will not help you. The Holy Spirit will not help you preach something the Father cancelled at the Cross! The world is under the law - not those in Christ. To preach the law to the believers is to preach with whatever power it is - but it is not God. It is the power of human wisdom emptying the Cross - it is the power of human ability and the power of devils and witchcraft. The Cross is not baby steps towards some maturity.

The Cross is only one step. It is God's one-step programme. We didn't take that one step. God took that step. It was a divine loving step in Christ Jesus through the Cross. In that loving step He came right to us - so all the fullness of Who God is stepped through that Cross towards us totally available to us! And He didn't wait for us to have enough faith to step through the Cross to us. We heard this morning that before we had any faith God absolutely and fully in Christ Jesus stepped towards us through the Cross and everything God is - is with us right now. When God stepped through the Cross in fullness to us - all the heavens were opened.

The height, breadth, depth and length of heaven was open to us believers in Christ!

So when you hear believers today praying these kind of prayers; "Oh God rend the heavens and come down!" - I think God goes; "Eh? I have ripped the veil, I have ripped the heavens and stepped towards you through the Cross - I am here fully!". To say; "God rend the heavens and come down is an insult to the Cross!".

It is not judgement on my condemning anybody. I have been preaching a mixture of law and grace.

But the fact is that the majority of the body of Christ on the planet today is under performance pressure - is a sign to me that the Cross has been emptied of it's power.

Every imaginable idea by God's people - every formula is out there on the market. God stepped through that Cross in Christ Jesus towards us and He took an oath in Isaiah 54. I am paraphrasing it but it is true to Scripture;

"I take an oath that I will never step back away from you through the Cross backwards - in all My fullness I am here with you all the time whether you can feel it or not - I am here! In fullness! With you".

Who hasn't sinned in the last 3 weeks? Not once! Glenda keep your hand down!

God's Presence is as much with you when you fail, mess up or make a mistake or even sin. We do not encourage sin. It is just silly to sin. It is not what our new creation nature wants. But we are all learning to walk this walk. And it is not our sin, our short-comings and our failings that causes Christ to be alienated from us. It is coming back under law.

People said when these great revivals came to the end, it was because there was too much sin. Friends - revival started in times of terrible sinning! Legalistic religion stirs up sinning! It is when people come back into grace that the power of Christ is operating in their lives - that is revival!

And the church would never need another revival if they would just stay in the power of the Cross!

It is like you want to get every pastor on the planet and say "Listen - there is a way for us to stay in the flow of God's Presence and power!". We are taking about 70 leaders away after this conference and we want to learn from each other the wisdom of how to administrate local church in grace. It is like Andrew Wommack said this morning - people get into extremes of both sides. This message of the gospel has to be so protected that local churches flourish in this gospel! We don't want to end up like the Galatians or end up like the Corinthians! People in grace are starting to say - listen I can be undisciplined, I don't need to go to church or read my Bible - just live loose! That is not the Cross!

If your heart doesn't beat with a passion to see the nations saved then you haven't understood grace! If the Bible isn't alive to you then you haven't understood grace! If local church isn't exciting to you then you haven't understood grace!

"But Rob I don't want to go to church that mixes law and grace!". We don't want "Grace Pharisees" who are so judgmental about everything - but if you can't a church that preaches the Cross in power then start one! There are enough of us to come help you! You can be a man or a woman, or any colour, it doesn't matter if you are not a preacher - start one! And if you are not stupid or a grace Pharisee then we will come help you! Anywhere in the world!

God's people have got to be assured of this. It is a one-step programme. There are no backward steps. Galatians 2, Colossians chapter 2 and Ephesians chapter 2, Romans chapter and Romans chapter 8 tells us why God will not step back from you. He is stuck with you even when you mess up and sin sometimes! On that Cross Christ was not crucified by Himself! Jesus said; "Take up your Cross and follow Me". Deny yourself - self-righteousness, religious arrogance, hypocrisy and come to Me those who are heavy laden and I will give you rest for My yoke is easy and My burden is light! Come to Me! And every person on the planet - the Bible says in those verses - we were co-crucified with Christ. We were co-buried with Christ, we were co-raised with Christ! We were co-ascended with Christ! We were co-seated with Christ in the heavenly realms! We are co-equal heirs with Christ!

God cannot go anywhere without you! For Christ to step away from you - He has to step away from Himself! 1st Corinthians 6:17 says;

"But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him".

So everywhere God is - you are there! When your shadow heals the sick, it is no big mystery! When your words carry miracle life and power - it is no mystery! You start this Christian race at the finishing line as a winner.

The spirit of suicide and the spirit of demonic religion is one and the same thing. Religion is occupied with trying to get us to die to ourselves.

"Come on - die to that flesh. Die to yourself!". If we believe that then we are admitting that Jesus didn't really die on the Cross. How can you die to yourself - when you have already been fully crucified with Christ? He fully died on that Cross! And your old sinful nature fully died on that Cross! And you have fully been raised from the dead in Christ! How can you die to yourself? "Rob I have heard Paul say - I die daily". Probably Tuesday morning, God allowing - I want to take Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 6 and in two sessions unpack those two chapters. We are going to hit verses 4, 5 and 6 in Hebrews 6. It says that those who fall away, it is impossible to be restored to repentance. We are going to show how many lies have been preached through not reading Scripture in context.

When Paul said; "I die daily" - he was not contradicting when he said; "I have been crucified with Christ". When Paul said; "I die daily" - he was not talking about his old nature having to be crucified again. The context was persecution for preaching this gospel. It caused him to be lashed many times and rejected by false brothers and imprisoned and go hungry, naked and sleepless. Let me promise you this - if you preach the gospel Paul preached, not in an arrogant way there will be things coming against you and attacking you and THAT is what Paul is talking about. Some days you will feel like you are dying!

For me resurrection is not a doctrine anymore! It is a daily life necessity! All the intense attacks are absolutely worth it to preach this gospel! This gospel is worth it! Come on - let's give the Lord a shout in this place!

Live Streaming from Grace and Glory Conference - Hong Kong!!

For those of you who don't know - the "Grace and Glory Conference" is going on right NOW in Hong Kong - and I was excited to get the following group email from Ryan Rufus (Founder of New Nature Publications). Follow the link if you can and let's have second best after being there in person!

"Hi guys

We've decided to stream the rest of the Glory and Grace conference! Already it's been such an amazing time with heaps more to come!!!

Tonight (Monday) at 7:30pm (GMT +8)

Andrew Wommack

Tuesday at 10am, 2:30pm, 7pm (GMT +8)

Rob Rufus, Fini and Isi De Gersigny.

Here's the link: http://ccihk.com/en/media/video/live-video (refresh (F5) a few times if you get an error message)

Would love you to join us!

Blessings

--
Ryan Rufus
Pastor @ City Church International
www.ccihk.com

Founder, New Nature Publications
www.newnaturepublications.com"

Pioneers in the Miraculous

This is Rob Rufus's message from City Church International in Hong Kong on Sunday 10th May 2009. It is not quite a classic sermon but there are some essential elements vital to anyone interested in the grace revolution. He starts off by movingly sharing about a member of their congregation who died prematurely and the church's reaction to that - and also about their efforts to raise him from the dead. Then he shares some testimonies from "Grace and Glory 2009" and the resulting impact around the world. Finally he shares some thoughts before closing. Here it is;

One of the keys to longevity in the kingdom - and by longevity I mean not how long you have been a Christian or have been a Christian but I mean freedom from bitterness, freedom from cynicism, skepticism, freedom from unbelief, freedom from fear, suspicion, conservatism, formalism. That year after year and decade after decade you keep a fresh childlike, virgin-like innocence of wonder and amazement at how great our God is. How many of you want to know the secret of that?! How many of you have met thousands of Christians year after year that every time you see them they are full of joy, gone through hell and back and have come through betrayals, disappointments, sad times, death of loved ones and rejection and abuse - yet they still have a twinkle in their eye. You see a love for Jesus there that is so childlike and so sweet and attractive. It is like a perfume comes out of their being. How many of you meet Christians like that? Every single day of your life! Praise God - we have got a church full of people like that! Why is it that there are Christians in the world that you want to avoid if you see them on the other side of the street you would rather go into the pub and sit with the real sinners. Sinners are just talking about rugby and they are really happy and their team won the cricket! They are just pragmatically determined to be happy.

You meet Christians today that sadly look like survivors of some devastating storm and like they have been pulled backwards through the exhaust pipe of a motorcar and have been baptised in lemon juice and they think that is holy! And they are "enduring for the Lord"! The Christian life should not just be characterised by discipline. It should be characterised by a great delight in our God!

When I was an atheist under the delusion of atheism for a short period of my life I began to seek the reality of a living God. I never grew up in a religious home and I looked not for God first but people that claimed they knew God and they worshipped and walked with this God and they believed in this God. I looked at Muslims and I looked at Hinduis and Buddhists and Christians.

I am sad to say that I looked for the reflection of the representation or the expression of the image of God in the people that claimed they knew God. And instead of becoming a Christian I became a Hindui. I saw more joy and more devotion in Hare Krishna people and that is why I was a serious follower of Krishna. I was totally deceived and in darkness and committed to that.

The world is not as intellectual as we think we are. There are people out there that think they are so brilliant and so philosophically together but people don't actually go with their intellectual conclusions - they go more by gut feel and intituion and emotions and by seeing "something" in people. The greatest witness of us is not just signs, wonders and miracles - although I want to talk about that today. It is very important! It is about our disposition - and a consistent attitude of credibility that continues. It is easy to be happy after a great conference. It is easy to be happy after you have just been healed miraculously or after God has just given you a couple of hundred, thousand dollars! It is so easy when your wife is making tea for you in the morning every morning!

Glenda found it easy because I made her tea every single morning on holiday. Thank you ladies - that was your chance to clap! It is easy to be happy when these things are happening. What worries me is that some Christians don't get passionately caught up in God - they get addicted to the sensation of feeling experientially happy. That is not the Kingdom of heaven! We are not to be addicted to a hormonal high. We are not to feel that God has left us when our hormonal high has left us! Do not reduce God to a hormone! Do not reduce God to a happy feeling! God is the creator of the heavens and the earth and the living God! The creator! The One that will sum up all of history at the climax and consummation of the ages in His Son Jesus Christ and every false god will be exposed in that day! God will deal with everything that is false and sum up history by the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is what keeps us on line and consistent year after year, decade after decade with a good attitude that I am in this to serve and to sweat and to give myself and invest myself to make a change in human history!

I will take all the happy feelings, all the goosebumps, all the joy and all the blessings because I want as much as I can! How many of you want to know the secret to consistent living with a good attitude? I promise you this - it is not going to inner healing classes or going to introspective psychology with a few Scriptures attached to it but is more secular humanistic that sounds kingdom theology. It is not going to all these courses. They have their place and I am not against them - just keep them in their right context!

The way to stay free and liberated and growing in passion year after year - overcoming disappointments year after - is not trying to love God. That is Old Covenant. "You shall love Me!". God said to Israel; "I want you to love Me with all your heart - but you won't". He said in Deuteronomy; "I will make a New Covenant and I will circumcise your hearts and you will love Me". The New Covenant says; "We love Him because He first loved us".

So these Christians that are trying to love God - Peter saying; "I will follow You anywhere Jesus! I will do whatever You say! Others will abandon You but I will come to prison with You! ... Jesus? Not quite sure who you are talking about - never heard that Name!".

The one that knew Jesus loved Him was the one at the foot of the Cross. He was the one that pushed through. All the threats and all the dangers - because it is not about trying to love God. The more you try and love God, the more the devil will remind you how you don't love Him enough. You are not good enough - you don't have enough passion for God!

You will never generate passion for God by trying to generate passion for God!

Passion for God is a fruit - a response - a result to something else! It is a response to the glory of the New Covenant that He loves you unconditionally and He sees you blameless without accusation and you are the righteousness of God permamently and none of your sins can dilute your righteousness because your righteousness is not based on your obedience - your holiness or your performance but on the obedience of the One Man - Jesus Christ! You are always righteous no matter how many mess-ups or mistakes you make! You stand up and say "I thank You that I am the righteousness of God and you have no accusation, condemnation and I am blameless in Your sight because of Jesus Christ! You love me!".

If you don't see it that way then everytime you mess up and make a mistake then some Christian or the devil will come to you (sometimes they are close because religious people operate by religious demon spirits and speak by demonic powers) and they will speak and say "Look how you messed up your marriage and this and that and your children and you are obviously not committed to God enough. You obviously are not committed enough! Love Him more! What's wrong with you!?". That is curse and is Old Covenant! It is knowing He loves you perfectly in height and depth and length and breadth - the perfect cube. The height is not shorter than the length and the breadth is not longer than the depth. On every dimension of the perfect cube God's full love is unconditionally, irreversibly, always towards you and never ever going to change! He is not counting your sins against you and there is absolutely no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus! When that lives in you you can love Him with no remorse and no regrets and no sense of "if only I could put the clock back" - no! He turns all things together for the good to those who love Him and are called together according to His purpose.

You are condemned to success, a victim of victory and what the enemy meant for evil - God means for your good! There is nothing in all creation that can seperate you and me from the love of God in Christ Jesus!

We need to shout this gospel from the rooftops and tell the church and tell the world that it is a new day and a new covenant! It is amazing how if you are out of the orbit of the Word of God or the Spirit's movings you will gravitate to your default settings if you are not fully equipped in righteousness as a gift and go back to trying to earn God's favour. Trying to be good enough! In this economic downturn people who have been saying; "If you tithe enough then God will keep the windows of heaven open and then you will be blessed" - Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law and He opened the heavens permamently over us in Christ Jesus! So we tithe! I tithe all the time with everything I get not because of law but because I am a partner with El-Shaddi! I am walking with God! I am investing financially with God into eternity.

I don't tithe to get the windows of heaven open - I tithe because they are open! I don't tithe to get blessed. I tithe because I AM blessed through grace!

People who have been preaching law to release finances are struggling during this economic downturn and that makes me wonder about that theology! People that say God is blessing us through Abraham's blessing and through the redemption from the curse of the law - He blesses us with blessings because of faith in the goodness of God and the finished work of the Cross and they are prospering in the economic downturn! Their finances are breaking through!

We had a phenomenal holiday - probably one of the best we have had in many years. I won't tell you everything because you will be jealous. It felt like God had conspired and got a whole lot of angels on assignment to make this holiday work for us. We are so grateful to God - thank you to those that prayed for us while we were away. Holidays are very important - you should take them as often as you can! So we are grateful for that. I just want to say that I listened to all three of the messages of Ryan and Steve and no flattery here - this is integrity. Top quality stuff. It was superb ministry of the Word of God. Not bubble and froth but superb quality and content of revelation of the Word of God.

If you missed those messages I strongly encourage you to go get them and download them freely off our website. I will not miss a message while I am away because every sequence is a stage to the next unfolding sequence that we are being sequenced towards higher levels of release and liberty and glory. If you have been in this church a few years and you have missed dozens of messages or only come in lately - go back and listen to all the files and catch up on the revelation! I really mean that! There are people around the world doing that and we should be doing that! I asked Ryan to continue in that teaching on what is holiness and it is a departure from the traditional religious teaching of holiness and the New Covenant revelation of holiness because I thought that was a classic message last week and a classic insight. I wish we could release him to fly around the world and preach it across the world. I believe he will one day. He isn't preaching today though. Ryan will pick that up some other time and I will pick something else up today.

Now as I said at the beginning of this meeting we lost a son from this house who went to be with the Father some time Saturday morning. He came to Christ in our home and some of you were there when we baptised him in our back garden and I spent many hours having coffee with Ian through the many challenges and issues he faced for his three years as a Christian. He died in his sleep and we think it was a heart attack - we are not sure. Steve and Ryan and myself went around to Ian's home where he was still in bed - his body was there. He was with the Lord but his body was with the Lord.

He had been gone for a few hours by the time we got there and we thought we would give it a go. We would pray his spirit back into his body and command his spirit and life to come and death to go. We gave it an hour and a half standing over his body, laying hands on him and holding his face and praying for him. The glory of God was in that room and the Presence was there and just an amazing sense of God's peace actually. I am not making excuses now - I am going to go for raising the dead at every opportunity! People say "Have you raised the dead?". Well I haven't prayed for any dead people. Well then you are never going to raise the dead! You have just got to have a go. I am going to pray for every blind eye and deaf ear - I don't care! I am just going to do it and not be afraid of failure! Just go for it!

Everything is open target! All the way through - all I could think of was every service Ian would come to and he wouldn't miss, he would come up the front at the end of the service and say "Lay hands on me" and me or the ministry team do it. He just wanted to feel the Presence of God. He so longed - he would come under that Presence and be laid out on the floor and be there for hours shaking and enjoying God's Presence and His glory and he would always ask me; "Rob - how can I experience God's Presence more often? When I am in His Presence I always feel perfect peace and feel so precious in the love of God! An hour or so after the service life returns to normal and I feel torment and trauma and pain and if I could just stay in His Presence!".

So we tried to pull him back from that Presence! I could hear Ian arguing with the Lord saying; "I love my mum, I love City Church International but I don't want to go back!".

Afterwards when they came to collect Ian's mortal remains and we asked them to wait ten more minutes and we kept trying upto the last moment and afterwards speaking to Ryan, he said "Dad you know the whole time I felt like Ian was saying to the Lord, I don't want to go back!". I am saddened that a brother in Christ never finished his calling as we understand it. In the economy of God Ian will fulfill his calling embodied in us. God will use certain things to make sure the legacy of Ian continues through the earth. Even as I am speaking this will go to tens of thousands around the world. Ian! Pam is just a hero - a warrior of faith. She was in that room praying for his resurrection. There was no hysteria in her voice, no anguish in her voice, no sense of "This isn't fair!". It was just good theology, good revelation on the nature of God. That God is not a thief and He didn't take her son. Afterwards I was speaking to her and she said; "I wanted Ian to live - I wanted his resurrection but I told the Lord - not because I love him and he is my son. Because I do love him and will miss him terribly. But I just wanted him to finish his purpose". I said; "Pam - Ian's purpose will be fulfilled!".

And she said; "Yes! We will get redemptive revenge and we will see people raised from the dead and we will see people impacted by this gospel!". This is a mother now! We want to salute you Pam for being the woman of God that you are.

This will be a very key Thursday night in our home - the prayer meeting. God is laying things on our heart as a church that we are going to push further into and we want to pray and intercede and petition God this Thursday. I know Glenda has already welcomed Will and John but I want to do so again. We are privilidged to be having lunch with them straight after the service. What I am very excited about is that Andrew Wommack is hoping to come and minister into Hong Kong in October next year and so we will talk about the possibility of him coming to our church!

He is just a key cutting edge ministry in the earth today - I believe heading up this whole revelation of the grace revolution that is speeding up across our planet!

I wanted to look at the Benjamin generation but I don't feel we are ready for it yet and I wanted to look at Revelation through the finished work of the Cross because the last bastion of those that are judgemental and believe God hates the world and wants to kill everyone - their last bastion is a heretical interpretation of the book of Revelation. So I want to look at what the seven seals and the seven trumpets are and see what the book of Revelation is saying in the light of the Cross!

I also want to do a series on the Great High Priest - which is an awesome revelation - the typology and looking at Christ's fulfillment in the heavenly tabernacle and your heart will expand with the wonder of how secure we are in Christ.

Today I just want to talk about "We are God's workmanship" - a very simple message I prepared last night. I want to read to you a few emails and came back from holiday and had a pile of hundreds of emails. Most of them wonderful testimonies of what God is doing around the world off our website and as a result of people who went back from our "Glory and Grace conference" in March and some of the impact there. I don't know if you remember a couple from Sri Lanka that lead a church and planted a church in Colombo. A trendy Sri Lankan guy and we had lunch with them. But Joshua Mills went up to them and prophesied and when he did the oil started flowing straight away out of his hands. They had such an encounter with God and had such revelation of grace while they were at the conference - so this is what they wrote;

"Dear Rob and Glenda, hope you remember us - Kirby and Fiona from Sri Lanka. We attended the Glory and Grace Conference 2009 and have been back now over a month. It has been an amazing time of revelation and progress in the glory realm. All thanks to amazing grace! We have noticed a definite increase in the signs, wonders and miracles at our works of wonder meetings. We know this is because of the Christ mantle and impartation we have received at Glory and Grace 09 in Hong Kong. The grace teaching has profoundly impacted the ministry and we are soaking in your archives online every week for more. We hope to return next year to the Hong Kong conference. We can't begin to thank you enough and convey how your teachings have impacted our lives. We are so excited to be alive in these times when the Father is shedding more and more light on this beautiful thing called grace. This is good news! And we will preach it! It is everything we hoped for! Everything we longed for! Everything we live for! Jesus is the best! Love and blessings to you and yours - Kirby and Fiona".

"Some testimonies over this last month since coming back from the conference. 27th March - a man paralysed after four years after a stroke, could not talk, walk or lift his hands. After coming to their meeting, he walked, raised hands and praised Jesus as well as shocking himself when he replied out loud and clear; "I can't talk!" only to hear himself do it!".

It is so good to applaud these things because we are celebrating the acts of grace! When you can applaud what God does in other places, I believe He turns up more in your place! We have been like that boat - when the crowds were pressing onto Jesus and He asked the guys to lend Him the boat and He preached from the boat to the multitudes so He wouldn't be crushed. When He had finished preaching to the multitude He said to the guys; "Launch out into the deep". They caught a big catch! We have been like that boat that Jesus was leant - serving churches around the world through our website, through Glory and Grace conferences and worship that flows from here. I believe as we have activated miracles in many different nations from this little church in Hong Kong - God is positioning us for a great increase of miracles here in Hong Kong.

"There was an old woman who has blind and received her sight!".

The blind see and the lame walk - sounds like the gospel! It doesn't sound like church or religion - it sounds like kingdom! The gospel! A lady had a kidney stone healed instantly and many more amounting to about 50 healings.

"Then in Sri Lanka on the 3rd April a lady 90% blind and squint - a Buddhist came only for healing and stubbornly stated "Not to get converted". Was very negative and in a bad mood on arrival. She only came because a friend brought her. She received her sight much to her surprise! She could not help but praise and thank Jesus for what He has done! A young girl around 10 could not read without glasses and received her healing and read texts from a small print Bible without the aid of spectacles. Other miracles as well as the manifestation of oil from hands and have had oil appear in their hands as well as heat. Hands get so hot and when placed on someone else, it actually feels unusually hot and on occasion this happens and we touch others they get very high!!!!".

Now I don't know why God does this oil and different heat and things but if it is God then I am happy! Then this family - the Lewis's;

"Dear Rob and Glenda and everyone at City Church International. We live in Guernsey - Channel Islands - just off the coast of France. We started downloading your messages at the beginning of 2008. Our lives have been truly transformed. Up until that point we thought we had a good understanding of grace but in hindsight we knew we were not under the law but only knew a minute amount about grace".

That is the problem you see - many Christians know we are not under law but don't really know or understand what that means and really live as those under the law. They really don't understand grace because they haven't heard the law properly preached or heard the grace of God properly preached.

If you preach the law properly - it means cut your hands off, pluck your eyes out when you sin. It means take your children out and stone them if they keep on disobeying. It means stone people who break the law. It means fly into buildings in 9/11. That is consistent with the law. It means stand outside abortion clinics and shoot people. That is the law! It is a ministry of death! You cannot water it down to try and behave well. It means kill people if they don't behave well!

People say we preach an extreme grace message - it is because they have never heard the law in all it's true spirituality.

To look at someone with lust in your eyes and your heart - you have committed adultery and you should be stoned. Literal adultery! If you hate someone without cause then you have murdered them! That is the true spirituality of the law!

They have heard a compromised watered down and diluted law. That is why they can mix this compromise law with a compromised grace and mix them together. If you preach the extremes of grace - that is no more extreme than the law! Everyone with a brain will know you cannot mix them together ever again! As extreme as law is - grace is a scandal! It is so wonderful and complete!

"In hindsight we knew we were not under law but only knew a minute amount about grace. For years we had remained on the fringe of church life as we could see the horrific effects of control. It was clear that this was not the way church was supposed to be but we couldn't see how the church could be transformed into a glorious Bride. Now our eyes have been opened, the veil has been lifted and so much truth has been revealed and our lives have been turned upside down. The Bible has come alive! We are learning new things every day! We listen to your messages every week and we are also so grateful for the worship you put on the website. Your church has blessed and inspired us and we are so grateful for your continuing input into our lives. It was an enormous privilidge to come to Glory and Grace in 2009".

I didn't even meet them.

"We have been meeting with two other like-minded couples and arranged an evening of Glory and Grace on our return from Hong Kong. We invited several other people who we knew were also listening to your talks and hungry for more of God. It was a great evening of impartation. To our great relief God turned up and it was simply awesome! As a result a few fragmented people have become a solid group meeting to worship, encourage others and to see that we are equipped to fulfill our destiny. We are looking forward to our first supernatural treasure hunt this Saturday. People in our church have noticed that something has happened to us especially since Glory and Grace and we have had such fire inside of us and such boldness that we are having an amazing time telling people how the good news is really GOOD news! Last week we were invited to speak at a small group and we shared our testimony and spoke about our identity in Jesus and they are keen for us to go back and tell them more. We are so keen to see more and more people set free from religion and know that Jesus will build His church here. Thanks again for all that you have imparted to us. Looking forward to the next Glory and Grace. With love Jeremy and Ann".

How many of you think we should have another Glory and Grace next year?! I have got so many testimonies here - from Thailand and it is deeply Buddhist but God is breaking out. This couple came from Thailand and I want to read what they said about you - CCI! They said;

"What has impressed us very much about City Church is the absence of pretense and religious masks among the people of City Church. The Lord shall make you reflect His matchless glory and Presence in increasing measure!".

When we were away on holiday I just felt like God was saying that He wants to change up a gear and release us into another realm of supernatural miracles, healings, signs and wonders and people being healed through us. Not just through the ministry team but ALL of us. There are no superstars or gurus here and that is the truth! I am on a journey as much as you are.

When I was at Glory and Grace and I saw how Joshua Mills moved, I had lunch with him and I said; "Teach me Joshua!". I am twenty something years older than him but I want to learn from him! I want to learn! I want to remain a novice!

You are not a novice when you are raising the dead regularly and seeing many blind eyes open and many cripples walk and I have seen people come out of wheelchairs on numbers of occasions and I am still a novice, I want to see so much more happening! If I don't see many signs and wonders then I started getting tempted to go into intellectualism! I did that 10 years ago. I put on scientific seminars against macro-evolution and I exposed it as totally unscientific because of blind faith religion. I had professors there and leaders of universities there speaking to crowds of 1500 people and yet you don't convert people that way! Their heads just analyse intellectual facts!

I was thinking if we don't see more signs and wonders maybe I should go back and study more apologetics and get more intellectual and persaude people about the existance of God and the reliability of the Bible and that it is not made-up myths but that it is a supernaturally inspired book and give evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and intellectual arguments that are persuasive. I realised that is a bad sign that my mind is thinking that! Then I felt the Spirit of God say to me; "You and City Church are about to enter into a realm of greater signs, wonders and miracles and the enemy is trying to mock the very idea of miracles and signs and wonders. He is trying to scorn the very idea!". You go and pray for the dead and don't see them live; "Ah! You see it doesn't work!". He is trying to mock and scorn! I came away encouraged though - thinking I am going to do this again!

I have prayed for 50 cripples and seen maybe seven or eight walk. I want that to get to 50 out of 50! I have to fight through the same cynicism as you have! You have no idea what my intellectual university brain was trained with! Some of you think I am gifted with some lucky charm and never live with doubts and unbelief and cynicism and skepticism! You must be crazy - you don't know how I have to wrestle! I know some of you that come under a spirit that wants to mock the very idea of doing miracles. That is not you! There is a demonic spirit that is anti-anointing! Anti-Kingdom and anti-authentic gospel!

This gospel is not just about grace but about God testifying to this great salvation through signs and wonders and miracles! If you preach grace and don't see miracles then you are not preaching grace!

That is what I love about Andrew Wommack's ministry. He preaches grace and they see signs and wonders. He raised his own son from the dead when he was black - that is how far dead he was! You preach grace and there must be confirming signs and wonders and miracles! That spirit of cynicsm - how many of you have felt when you hear preaching on miracles or going for a run and out somewhere quiet, and you think about miracles and you hear a voice saying; "Eugh, it won't happen - it can't!". We have seen them! They have happened! Not just in the UK when we saw hundreds! And in Dubai - where I just got an email from the "Power Encounter" conference I was at and people who couldn't fall pregnant for years and now babies are coming! Miracles can be pulled in or out from inside of you and we have seen miracles!

In the Hong Kong Glory and Grace in the fire tunnel that little boy came through with a squint eye and the next morning he came running up to me pulling on my pants as I am trying to get out the door; "Rob, Rob! Look at my eyes!". Eyes perfectly normal! God straightened his eyes! We have seen miracles in Hong Kong! That couple from Sri Lanka - she had big scarred ridges on her back and scars had completely disappeared! Those are miracles in Hong Kong! Not in the UK or in Africa but here in Hong Kong! We are seeing miracles in Hong Kong! Sally sitting over there had her hips turned around in this building! If I see a thousand attempts to heal someone and a thousand people are prayed for and one gets miraculously healed without any argument - if 1/1000 gets a miracle then it is evidence to me that God does miracles today!

We haven't seen one but dozens even in this year! But as grateful as I am and we need to applaud God, I know with a burning ache while I was on holiday that Hong Kong is a city destined for miracles. This city has not been known as a city for signs, wonders and miracles! Jackie Pullinger in bringing drug addicts off heroin through speaking in tongues is a great sign and wonder! But I am talking about churches that regularly see the blind see and the cripples walk! Mighty manifestations of cancers disappearing and lumps going! The dead being raised! There is very little evidence of that in 100 years of the church being in Hong Kong! I felt God say; "It is Hong Kong's time for signs and wonders - it is our time to move into that realm!". I preached a whole message on how to overcome disappointment! When you pray for the sick and nothing happens! Your children ask you; "Why did they die?" and you don't know how to answer your children! I talked about how to overcome disappointment and we must do that.

But without signs and wonders and healing - we are not manifesting an authentic gospel. A biblical gospel will have signs, wonders and miracles and healings!

Balance that with what I said at the beginning. We are not going on a religious high. We don't live from miracle to miracle but from faith to faith - from glory to glory - from Scripture to Scripture. But if you live that way you will see the miracles!

You have got to keep contending because if you don't contend then the vast majority of the church worldwide if it doesn't have prophets and apostles and evangelists and teacher/pastors contending, passionate, overcoming their own disappointments, their own cynicism, their own skepticism and unbelief - pushing through the demonic lies, if you don't have leaders like that then the church will gladly settle quickly to sermonettes on a Sunday and dead religious rituals and laws and superstition and guilt and doctrines of demons!

It is so vast around the world that when the true gospel appears there is such hatred against it and such a reaction in certain parts of the earth! But I tell you what there are people standing up around the planet right now and preaching the gospel that Paul preached and it is gaining momentum and signs and wonders are gaining momentum and around the world there is over 176, 000 people being saved every day! Every day! It is a documented record of hundreds of resurrections from the dead - documented records in books today! The dead are being raised! Mighty miracles are happening! We live in Asia and in China and God knows that the Chinese must see signs and wonders and miracles! Even sophisticated Hong Kong people! I want to say this - that you will either be a mimic-er and a follower or a pioneer and an initiator. You will either live in the fruit of the breakthroughs of others or you will breakthrough yourself.

Where would this world be - in the natural - if we didn't have men and women through our history that overcame the formidable intensity and the savage opposition of skepticism and cynicism and the scorn and mocking of people who dared to believe and dream that there was something possible that is greater than what we can see right now with our eyes?

Any inventor, any person that breaks society and history into another dimension had to endure hell and opposition and even their friends and close friends and members of their congregations or political groups and educational groups that mocked them and ostracised them as fanatical fringe and madmen. In their hearts there was a dream that they felt that something greater than what they see can happen! They are the initators! What would this world be without the Wright brothers who believed men could fly on wings? Now we fly all over the world and take it for granted! But imagine when there were no planes flying and the Wright brothers were saying they believed they could find something to overcome the law of gravity and can have men fly around the world! The people mocked them! We have such an inbuilt desire to be loved and understood and accepted and patted on the back - and that is the problem. We have a need for man to recognise and approve of us and accept us. That's why you have so few inventors and initiators because they are constantly afraid when they try and fail and the scoffers mock them!

The Wright brothers believed and they were mocked! The people said if God wanted us to fly then He would have put wings on our backs. That is arrogance! And the Wright brothers flew and got wings and took off! Roger Bannister said man could run a mile under four minutes and he was mocked - he broke it and then everyone else started breaking it! I have run the mile under four minutes but I am a mimic-er! I am a follower! He was the initator! Eddison invented the light bulb and tried over a thousand times and each bulb failed. One day he created a bulb that worked and he said that over a thousand times he learnt what didn't work until he got what did work. Today at the flick of a switch we turn on lights but we forget that there was a man that was mocked. In the natural - the world would be a poor place if everyone were mimic-ers and mockers and scoffers of those who have the guts and the courage to step out and say "I can't stand passivity! I can't stand apathy or status quo - I believe there is a God who can do things differently and better in the nations of the earth!". The Church is like a sleeping giant! The Church is a place where there is so little change taking place but we are subjects and partners with a God who creates and brings initiative and transformation and revolution! He is not the God of stagnation but the God of creativity and diversity and colour!

I am SO frustrated sometimes at how quickly churches settle for the lowest religious common denominator of happiness and peace and personal victim mentality! The majority of Christians pray for the sick a few times and if it doesn't work then they back off and formulate a theology to legitimise and accomodate blatent evil hearts of unbelief and then they mock and scoff at those who step out and fail! Well we may break a thousand lightbulbs but one day that lightbulb is going to come on! And almost everyone that is dead that we pray for will be raised from the dead! And all the blind eyes and deaf ears and cripples! In Jesus Name! Because He said; "The works I do shall you do and greater works!".

Those Scriptures haunt me - how can I leave them behind!?

Faith is Conducting Heaven's Influence Into The Earth - Part 7

This quite awesome sermon was preached by Rob Rufus at City Church International on Sunday 5th April 2009.

"The Good Shepherd".


At the "Glory and Grace Conference" - people became slightly like the Bible - we're not there yet. They were much more drunk in the Book of Acts in the original church! People got so drunk in the Holy Spirit on the Wednesday or the Thursday night at "Glory and Grace" that they rolled down the driveway where we were meeting and staggered through the streets and people in the coffee shop reported them to the police. This is a true story! The Hong Kong police came and saw members of this church staggering drunk in the street - no alcohol on their breath at all! They said; "What are you doing?". And the people said; "Oh no, ha ha, we have just come from a church meeting! And we are so happy!". The police said; "That's fine - carry on - carry on". Those must be anointed police to recognise that these people were not drunk on alcohol that leads to stupid things but drunk on the very essence and nectar and atmosphere of the glory realm that believers are set for for all eternity and that was a little experience of the glory! And people were drunk for hours! Some actually lost their cool drinks! I saw coke cans rolling down!

I wanted to read so many testimonies and emails that have been coming in from all over the world of the after-effects of the "Glory and Grace Conference". There are healings and testimonies - I will read them out next week maybe. Of people deaf hearing - the first Sunday back! Miracles, fresh message of grace being preached around the world in different churches! I would love to read about some miracles that happened here - people from this church and others went into resturants in Hong Kong and shared the gospel. Gold started appearing on their hands and they started showing unbelievers the gold appearing in their hands! That is signs and wonders evangelism! It is giving them something to be fascinated by so they say "What is this?" and then you have a right to speak the truth! I would love to read you a letter from a small opal mining town in South Australia where they are having revival because of City Church International Hong Kong and the downloads off our website and aboriginal people are getting set free from generations of curses and issues! I would love to read you all the good things that God is doing! But I want to get straight into the message because we have a wedding here today at 12:00.

Open your Bibles if you feel like it! How many of you remember that when Peter the apostle was speaking at Cornelius's home and Paul when he was speaking against his accusers and they spoke about Jesus and they said this; "This thing about Jesus never happened in a small corner in Israel but it was noised abroad for the whole of the nation to hear about!". In Acts chapter 4 when the disciples are arrested for the miracle of that man that was crippled at Gate Beautiful and they said that this teaching and talk about Jesus has filled the whole city and we forbid you to preach in His Name!

You and I were not born to live quiet little Christian lives in the corner somewhere meeting for little chicken dinners after church, for cute little Christianity! We were born and we were destined for the world to know that the greatest event that has ever happened is not some celebrity coming to Hong Kong - but it is Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the Nations! In the New Covenant God has changed the way He looks at the world! He is now not counting men's sins against them! He has reconciled the entire world to Himself and He has cancelled the law at the Cross!

Are all going to go to heaven? No! That is the tragedy! There is one sin that He could not die for and that is the sin of unbelief in Jesus. But He has forgiven the world! He is not judging the world! The tsnuamis are not God - it is the earth creaking and cracking under the stress of first Adam's fallenness! But our God is in a good mood and He is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh and all who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved!

We were called to make a riot! We were called to go to prison or we were called to have revival - but we were NOT called to be ignored!

The church is ignored in many parts of the world until signs, wonders and miracles start happening! Until boldness comes on the people and they get so full of love that they can't help it anymore! It is not about them anymore and their retirement fund and their happy little life! They are so full of the overflow of the goodness of God that they MUST tell people who are half-way to suicide, depressed, on drugs, on excess alcohol - they MUST tell broken people that I have been redeemed, I was broken and HE rescued me! And I have seen the dead raised and I have seen blind eyes opened and the deaf hearing and I have seen cripples come out of their wheelchairs and it wasn't me - it was the God I met!

And most of us will have to say that I didn't meet Him in church! Because church doesn't preach this Jesus! Church preaches another gospel, another Jesus and another Spirit! They teach something that is comfortable for little small-thinking religious bigots who would gather every Sunday and be happy with their little fellowship and to hell with the world and don't let the world find out about us! No - let the whole world find out, not about us, but about the One that we worship!

We are impacting nations from Hong Kong! You should read the email! Miners down there in the opal mines, working in dark tunnels with MP3's in their ears - listening to "Glory and Grace" - listening to City Church messages on grace - and singing! They say they are singing and shouting down there in the opal tunnels! Other testimonies and miracles! I want to talk today and it is going to be Part 7 on "Conducting Heaven's Influence into the Earth". One of the biggest revelations for me is the picture of our Lord in a specific way. Jesus and God Almighty are pictured in many, many tremendous images. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He is the Lamb of God, He is the Captain of the Host, the Warrior King! But the picture He is most pictured in throughout the Old and New Testament - by far the most often used picture of our God is that of a "Good Shepherd"!

You need to come into the revelation I have come into! One of the biggest privilidges in recent months in my life personally is the rediscovery that the best that I am is that I am a sheep in His flock. He is the Chief Shepherd and yes I am a shepherd, but I am a sheep! Under the Chief Shepherd! Many pastor/shepherds have problems because they don't see that they are sheep! First we are sheep with sheep needs and the greatest privilidge that I am discovering is being a sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd. The Bible talks about goats and sheep - goats are those that are very independent and it is a representation of pride. Goats find their own paths on the rocky cliffs and they go where they want and when they want. Sheep find safety and security when they have a good shepherd leading them! We call them "dumb sheep" but maybe we should call them "humble" because they are followers of the shepherd! They trust that shepherd's integrity has absolute authenticity and that shepherd absolutely has designed a master-plan for their lives that is not going to lead them through death and destruction and breakup and pain! That He has a green pasture for them and He has still waters for them and if they follow Him they will lack for nothing!

When David, this great warrior king who could cut people's heads off - when he found out about Saul's offer to him; "200 Philistines" - this man who wrote the Psalms! - went and cut foreskins off men he had killed with his own hands! That is a man I love! I like those kind of men! I like those men and want more men like that in the church! Not to kill because you are not allowed to do that. But I am tired of effeminate men in the church. I want men, rugged, crazy, bold men! Every wife tries to tame her men because she wants him to be more considerate then she tames him and resents him for being so tame and then runs off with some ugly guy because he climbs mountains and is rugged and adventerous. God called men to do what the Man Christ Jesus did and go into the Temple and kick tables over and crack a whip and say "This is MY Father's house! You Pharisees! You brood of vipers! You are so clean on the outside but on the inside you are stinking corpses!". The man! We have a man in the church today! Where are they?! Sitting politically correct in so-called false unity! Not rocking the boat! Well Jesus is shaking the boat and breaking the boat! He is breaking the religious boat!

There are millions going to hell because of the politically correct men in the church! Sorry - this isn't part of my message! There are women who are so awesome all over the church world because they have had to stand up because of the absence of men!

Hong Kong needs more Chinese men strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might! We have so many beautiful Chinese single sisters! For the lack of men with some chest on them and some boldness!

And they will say; "I want to follow a man like that! He is decisive and courageous! Boy I want to follow him!". He is not dominating and he will never punch me! But he will punch a man that tries to hurt me! I punched a high-ranking United States officer of the marines in Australia. As a Christian pastor! So his face was bleeding! Why? Because he crossed the line and tried to do something that my wife wasn't encouraging. You say "Oh that isn't Christian Rob". No, I know but a son of God does those things.

I don't want to be a Christian! I want to be a son of God!

The point I am trying to make is being a sheep. This man called David - the warrior king - said "The Lord is my Shepherd". There are so many people who are so full of; "I am an apostle! I am this and I am that!". No - you are a sheep and He is the Shepherd! And I shall not lack for anything! And David didn't lack for anything - for wealth, for victory, for armies, for friends, for the anointing - he never lacked because he said "The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down in green pastures". The word in Hebrew for "green" is the word for the anointing. It means "newness, freshness".

The new anointing of the New Covenant is different to the old anointing of the Old Covenant. The old anointing reminds you of your sins. The New Covenant reminds you that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! The Old Covenant anointing reminds you of everything that is wrong with you. The New Covenant anointing reminds you of how perfectly right you are with God all the time because it is in Christ Jesus! The Old Covenant says "I will not remove the iniquity of the guilty" and imputes your sin to you. The New Covenant does not ever impute your sin to you but it is declared; "Your sins He will never remember!".

He makes me lie down in realms of the NEW! There is a newness today happening in this church. New, green pastures! New! "Beside still waters". That doesn't mean stagnation. The Hebrew word means "restful waters". The Hebrew word for healing has it's root word in "relaxation". It is when you enter into rest there is healing in your life. "He makes me lie down next to restful waters in green, new fresh anointing that I am righteous in Christ".

Anyone who knows the voice of the Good Shepherd, the voice of religion they will not follow! The voice that condemns you, the voice that says "Do harder, you are not doing enough, come on try harder". That is the voice of the church. It is not the voice of the Good Shepherd. HE makes you lie down in green pastures and next to restful waters. He will always lead His sheep by rest. He never drives you, He never manipulates you, He never makes you do a thing. He leads you by rest and when there is unrest - that is Him letting you know; "Don't make that decision!". I don't care if it is a big decision - do I leave this country and go to that country or marry this or that person or change this or that job. EVERY decision must be made out of rest!

If you let rest lead you by the Good Shepherd's leading then you will look so clever! People will think you are so well educated! People will say; "How did you invest then just before everything went up? And how come you pulled your stocks out then just before everything went down? Did you study? Are you highly educated? Do you have a great IQ and talents for the investment world?". No. I am a sheep and the greatest privilidge is to be a sheep because I am not a goat. I don't pride myself on independence and I have looked at goats and I have been a goat and there is a trail of depression, broken relationships, hell, addictions, no I never want to be a goat again! He makes me lie down in green, new pastures and restful waters! And He guides me with rest!

I have seen the educated goats and highly talented goats lead frustrated lives of failure in their marriages and everything they do is frustrated yet they are most educated and clever people! Because they don't know what it is to be a sheep and to trust the integrity and the goodness of this shepherd.

When we were deciding on "Glory and Grace" and we had to make up our minds about 7 months ago - we started planning. The economic credit crunch had already kicked in big time. And we had to decide whether to meet again in this hall or go to the 800 seater hall. I was already getting friends ringing me and saying they wouldn't be able to come because finances were difficult. Pastors weren't being paid salaries. And I remember Marike, Glenda and I went and looked at the hall and they were inside. I was standing outside and I said; "Lord I am not gambling with the church's money. I haven't given everyone an opportunity to decide whether they want to have this conference or whether to meet in that hall. It is therefore not my right to gamble with City Church's savings". And if we fell short of the budget - because I was calculating that hall was $65,000 and hundreds of thousands to run the conference with speakers, hotels and advertising - I said I would pay it out of my own pocket. I said; "Lord do we hire this hall?".

And as soon as I said that, peace! Restful waters! Rest! "Go ahead!". And when Marike and Glenda came out I said, "That's it! We are signing!". The next few months leading upto "Glory and Grace" people were cancelling and letting me know that they couldn't come - even key people. Then our website collapsed! It was hacked into and destroyed! And I thought "What are we going to do?". And I felt "Rest!". You know what? The conference came and the building was full! There were signs, wonders and miracles that many people in their entire Christian lives had never seen! Lives were changed! Not only was the budget met but we put into the savings accounts of City Church International a nice healthy figure of finance numbers that was left over! Not into my account! This church's account! And people thought; "Rob is such a good conference leader! He is so clever! So experienced! We can trust this man - he knows what he is doing!". No! I was a dumb sheep! I just listened because if He had said "Don't take that hall" and if there was unrest then I would have not taken the hall.

Don't keep being a goat making stupid decisions of independence and then when hell beaks loose you say "It's the devil!". No - it's not the devil! It's the goat! Goats butt here and butt there! "Rob I know that's true BUT there's an economic downturn!". He restores my soul! If you could look at the state of the average person in Hong Kong I think you would be shocked and horrified. If you look out at a yacht on the marina you can see their sails but below the surface there are barnacles stuck that hinder their passage through the water. If you could look at the state of people's souls - what is that? Their soul hasn't been restored and has wear and tear year after year but if you follow the Good Shepherd then He restores your soul. Why has the church got so many "inner healing" seminars and so many "Cleansing Streams" seminars and all kinds of supplements to the Cross, all kinds of things to add-to rather than the simple?

Did the apostles have all of these seminars and all of these supplement ministries? Or did they just preach the Cross and the power of the Holy Spirit and the revelation that you are not under law but grace and the manifestation of the Good Shepherd turned up and healed their broken hearts!?

This introspection - go back to your mother's womb, go back to your past, back to your budgies cage where it committed suicide. Please! We have got to stop this! It is anti-Christ, it is anti the Gospel and it is anti the finished work of the Cross and I haven't seen anyone helped by it yet! The proponents of it are the most insecure people! It is the truth! I have been leading churches for over 30 years and I have seen and watched these things and have watched the people who have led them and I haven't seen convincing results! But I have seen a people emerge when this Gospel is preached and this Good Shepherd is revealed and the goats repent and become sheep. Stop sticking your head into a sausage machine and then turning the handle yourself! And coming out the other side; "It's the devil!". No it is your goat thinking that got you into the problem! I was too busy to let the Shepherd do this or that! We just sit and watch stuff instead of learning about the anointing of the New Covenant. He leads me in the pathways of righteousness for His own Name's sake! This is for His Name sake! It is not the sheep that keep the Shepherd! It is not the sheep that are responsible to make the Shepherd look good! It is the Shepherd who feels responsible to make the SHEEP look good! If He has a lot of sheep walking around crippled and half their hair is off and they are mangy then it doesn't make the Shepherd look very good does it? It is for His own Names sake!

The pathways of righteousness that He leads us in - righteousness theologically and accurately - means the gift of His righteousness!

He leads me in pathways of ever increasing revelation that I have the righteousness of God as a free gift! For Romans 9 and 10:1-4 says Israel sought after righteousness according to the principle of the law and never gained righteousness. The Gentiles who did not seek righteousness obtained righteousness and then in Romans 10:2-3 says that Israel was zealous but their zeal was without knowledge and they did not submit to the gift of God's righteousness but sought to establish their own righteousness but those who look to Him will never be put to shame! WE have the righteousness of God and this Good Shepherd will keep leading you in that pathway of understanding the righteousness of God!

Remember that little woman who touched the robe of Jesus and she had 12 years of bleeding. She touched His robe and felt power come out of His robe. What does Isaiah 61 say? It is a Messanic prophecy about Jesus - it says that He will be clothed with the robe of righteousness. What did she touch? She touched His RIGHTEOUSNESS. She touched the hem of the robe which is the colour blue for the Israeli rabbi - the colour of grace. She touched righteousness and when she touched it - 12 years of bleeding stopped. But not her righteousness! She was led in the pathways of His gift of righteousness.

What did Jesus say? Matthew 5; "Stop being so worried, stop taking care of this and worrying about that, and running after this and burning the candle at both ends - you are overworking! This is what the pagans do - they try to store up and have!". He said; "You seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things ...". The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack NOTHING! I lack no love, no finance - I am not in debt. I lack no health. I am not a goat but a little dumb sheep and all I have to do is what my Father shows me and do whatever He tells me! If there is unrest then I don't do it! I don't leave, I don't go, don't preach, don't say unless there is rest! Seek first the kingdom and not your righteousness!

The church will say; "Get more righteous - righteousness is your performance!". There is NO such righteousness in the New Covenant - that is OLD Covenant righteousness earned by the law! Paul said; "I don't want a righteousness that is by the law but one that is apart from the law that is by faith in Jesus Christ!". There is no other righteousness except imputed righteousness that is a gift!

Seek first the Kingdom and HIS righteousness. The more you seek that to understand it and be led in the pathways of the revelation of righteousness for His Namesake then all things will come to you. That would stop about 90% of pastoral counselling in the church world! Most problems are goat problems! That doesn't mean you don't come for counselling unless you be seen as a goat! No I need counselling sometimes and if we have goat problems then this is a grace church and we love goats! A little bit of goat in all of us! She touched the robe of His righteousness and 12 years of bleeding stopped. Now I just want you to think of something here and this is very important for your future.

God said through Isaiah - Israel you are seeking a righteousness that is by the law. Israel your righteousness to Me is like filthy rags. He didn't say your sinning is like filthy rags. He said your RIGHTEOUSNESS - your morality - you trying to be good enough to earn blessings - you trying to keep the law to be good enough - your righteousness is like filthy rags! Am I being crude or biblical? What is the Hebrew? Anyway who has studied the Hebrew there knows that filthy rags is referring to a woman's menstrual cloth. That is what it refers to. That is God! I am not being crude. Women have menstruation cycles a few days every month and it is healthy and beautiful and glorious and it is God and it brings fertility and it is wonderful. It is God's design. But He said; "Your righteousness is like filthy menstrual cloths. Paul said self-righteousness is like faeces or dung or poo (Philippians 3). The modern church with it's Victorian morality can't take Bible words anymore - it has become so politically correct.

Where has the laughter gone in this place? All I am doing is speaking and reading Bible to you. Your efforts to please Me with all your works and your absence of faith in what happened at the Cross is like dirty menstrual cloths. There was a woman who had a menstrual cloth on for 12 years. You can't give birth when you are bleeding for 12 years. The Church has got it's menstrual cloth on and it hasn't come out of the Dark Ages yet. It is still not finished in the Reformation. It has got so much menstrual cloth, it is bleeding on the inside because of the savagery of condemnation, guilt and accusation by the law. 12 years of wearing a menstrual cloth, 12 years of not being fruitful and not giving birth to dreams and visions and signs and wonders and miracles and all paralysed! She touched His robe of righteousness and 12 years of bleeding stopped like that. He leads me in the pathways of righteousness for His Name sake!

You know why you have goats? Because they are people under law and angry with the church because they don't realise He loves them. When you realise this is a Good Shepherd and I might have a hurting heart and might sit under grace message for a few months and the hurt will still be there but it is getting less and less and you are getting healed! You may have decisions that took years and years to get into and you are not getting out of it - seek first His Kingdom! Touch the robe of His righteousness and that menstrual robe mentality is gone! Now people that receive the grace message - all it is doing is equipping you. It is not guaranteeing you immunity to condemnation! How many of you have found that out? That equipment is not a passive thing in your hand! You hear the message of grace and some frothing at the mouth, insane man preaches it year after year and you sit there and are getting equipped but what you DO with that equipment is not my responsibilty.

We that receive the message of grace love to believe we are not self-righteous in any area. "Praise God I go to a grace church and I believe I am the righteousness of God that is in Christ Jesus! There is NO self-righteousness in me! No filthy menstrual cloths over my head!". Oh yere? You want to look me in the eye and tell me there is NO area in your life that you are not self-righteous in? Come on. Anyone want to do that today? Let's find out who has got self-righteous areas in our lives. I believe deeply at many levels that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus even when I have messed up and made a mistake - I am still the righteousness of God. It is a permament standing in Christ. Do I have any self-righteous areas in my life? Unfortunately - yes. Where? Not telling you!

Here is the litmus test - this is how you know which area you have self-righteousness in. Any area in your life where you have worry, anxiety frequently - that is an area where you are living in self-righteousness. Let me say that again. The pagans and heathens - most of these precious Hong Kong and expat people - 99% of people in this city take thought and worry. How do you know that someone is a heathen and self-righteous? Worry. Anxiety. What shall we wear? What's my image? How will I pay the bills? He said; "Take no thought!".

No worries mate! I am sure that Jesus was an Aussie! He said "Take no worries mate!". Tell them! Be honest! Let them see the real face! God doesn't have faces that He hides behind! He has a beautiful face! Let people see the real you! Let your anger out! I would rather you punch me and we kiss and make up later than this false artificial politically correct rubbish! I don't want people saving face! I want people to be angry with me! I want reality! Stop worrying about this and that but seek first the Kingdom of God!

What is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is the reign of God - the Good Shepherd leading your life!

It's not a pretense that He is leading your life when it is convinient! But I want to marry this person! Unrest! But I want! Don't! Oh He doesn't know what He's talking about! We really follow the Good Shepherd! That is His beautiful peaceful government! Not you trying to be holy, obedient or good enough!

His righteousness and His obedience and His holiness and His obedience and His fulfilling the law given to YOU as a gift! When you believe that it will start changing the way you live! You will have greater victory over sin and addictions and the control of addictions!

Any area you have anxiety or worry in - you are being self-righteous because in that area you do not believe you are the righteousness of God. Those who believe I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus have such a secure self-image and a trust in this Good Shepherd that they are not going to worry about going down.

When this woman with a menstrual cloth on her for 12 years touched the robe of righteousness - her bleeding instantly stopped.

In (v34) of that chapter He turned to her and said; "Daughter!" (a believer) "your faith has made you well - go in peace and be freed from your suffering". When you read that you don't get the full meaning of what Jesus was saying. I promise you this - the New Testament was written in Greek primarily and the Old Testament in Hebrew. In the Greek - and it is easy to find - when He said; "Daughter ... go in peace and be freed from your suffering" - He did not say "Go in peace". The Greek word for "in" is "en" - He said; "Go eis" which is "Go INTO peace". Go into the realm of peace! Go into the reality of peace and your healing will be permament! The English says; "And you will be freed from your suffering" but He says; "Go into peace and your healing will be permament". I can guarantee you that it was her self-righteousness that drove her into stress-worry and anxiety that finally caused 12 years of bleeding - that He knew He could stop that flow of blood by the power that came out of Him but if she doesn't go into peace, which is going INTO the righteousness of God then she will get that same condition back again.

Any area that you have anxiety or worry in - then in that area you are not seeking first His righteousness but your own and your own hard work and own earning and own deserving and your own leading to guilt, condemnation, worry and anxiety. How many you truly believe that it is the will of God and it is possible for believers to spend all of their lives without worry and without anxiety? How many of you believe that is a possibility?! Is it happening in the Church!? Christians are some of the most depressed people I have met! Because they are under laws and rules and regulations! They know how to act on Sunday and "Hallelujah, praise God" and go home and have weird depressions and ideas and worries. That is not the Kingdom and Jesus didn't die for that! Go INTO peace! What is the Kingdom? Romans 14:17 - righteousness! The whole book of Romans is speaking about not being self-righteous but receiving the gift of righteousness! Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!

When you believe you are righteous then peace comes and joy comes in the Holy Spirit! I am committed to having no areas in my life where I live with self-righteousness! I don't want a menstrual rag over some areas of my life. Every area of my life I want to believe that I am the righteousness of God! Every area! No worry and no cares! "Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death". That staff brings them in close and the rod would beat the living daylights out of any wolf. When He says "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" - He is not saying that God leads you through the valley of the shadow of death. The implication is that it is sheep that decide to take short cuts! It is sheep that want to be a goat today and end up walking through the valley of the shadow of death! Even when we end up in that valley then this Shepherd doesn't say "To hell with them" but He comes into that valley and picks you up and carries you back on His shoulders celebrating and having a great party! The Bible says He will abundantly party and according to forgiveness Ephesians chapter 1 says; "He forgives us according to the riches of His grace!". If you want to know how much you are forgiven then find out about the riches of His grace!

People will worry if you are not worried! Just follow the Good Shepherd! Follow the Good Shepherd into new green fresh revelation, restful waters, restore your soul, you will touch His righteousness and that eternal bleeding will stop and wholeness will come into your soul.

The man and the women who can conquer condemnation and religious guilt by believing the grace of God is a man or woman that the Lord will appoint to be a commander-in-chief on this planet. That is what David said - anyone who can go up and rescue Jerusalem from the Jebbusites, the oppressors, the condemners. The man who will go up by the watergate and rescue Jerusalem from the Jebbusites; "I will make commander-in-chief". The man that can defeat the oppressor, the spirit of heaviness will in Hong Kong be a commander in chief because there are millions living under the oppression of the Jebbusites.

Not only over the church but the unsaved - because they suffer guilt and oppression! There are husbands that work so hard and feel so guilty that they are neglecting their children. I say this to you - any decision you make motivated by guilt is a disasterous decision. Religion will motivate people to do things by manipulating them with guilt and it makes them twice as subject to the Jebbusites. The husband or wife that can understand that guilt and condemnation are of the devil and not from the Good Shepherd - when a partner sees them feeling they are neglecting the children and that wife or husband learns that they are being rude, irritable and unkind then they don't take it personally because when there is guilt in your life then anxiety, worry and depression will follow. They may be irritable with you but inside they are feeling guilty because they are neglecting the children because they are working so hard. The husband or wife who realises the worst thing they could do is put more guilt on them - that is a commander in chief husband or wife and he will not let the Jebbusites have any more room. A husband or wife who realises that any decision made out of guilt will bring destruction on this home - but they instead realise they must take the guilt off their partner and their partner will worship the ground they walk on and be amazed but you are really just a sheep walking and following.

I know pastors that leave the ministry because they feel guilty about the people that leave their church and can't meet the needs of everyone. Every church has got someone leaving saying there is not enough love here. Pastors who leave - and hundreds left Jesus! - but He didn't make a decision to destroy His ministry. The man that gives up his job that is so busy because his wife is complaining and then they have nothing and the wife complains that there is not enough. I have seen men and women give up careers because they feel guilty about neglecting their children and then they make their children gods and give their children everything. I watch those children grow up and those children grow up confused and messed up. You can motivate people out of guilt but they are doing it as hostages. It is not the amount of time you spend with your children but the amount of peace on your life while you spend time with your children. I say this to people - make NO decision based on guilt from children, people, anybody. Wait for the orders of rest and peace. Follow the Lamb and not the pressure of guilt. Your kids won't appreciate you spending time with them based out of guilt but the little time you can give to them because you are no longer self-righteous and bound by worry and anxiety and depression but free and full of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit then they will appreciate that time - whether it is half an hour or an hour! They will appreciate it! If out of peace the Lord says "Leave" and you leave governned by peace then you will be under the government of heaven.