Grace and Glory Conference - Session 4 - Angels!!

Wednesday 24th October 2007 - AM Session - Fini de Gersigny

Day 2 of the conference opened with Fini de Gersigny speaking and it was once again powerfully visited by God. So much so that he had to keep stopping and sensitively blessing what God was doing which he did very well. But before I give my slightly jumbled notes, I want to share a prophetic word that Ryan Rufus brought - and the resulting experience. He prophesied;

"Over these days we are going to have increasing encounters with angels. Some of your closest friends will become angelic cherubim of God. You will get to know their names! Heaven is open above us and angels of glory are coming down upon us - columns of angelic messangers and ministers are coming down bringing the glory Presence of God!".

I wondered about whether or not to share this because I don't want to appear arrogant - but in this context of God's lavish and wonderful grace you realise very quickly that nothing that happens in regards to God giving anything has ANYTHING to do with ANYTHING that is in me. It is all because of the empty Cross and the empty tomb! So when faced with the option of whether to keep silent about it for fear of misunderstanding and accusations of arrogance - or whether to share it in faith and hope that this will become an increasing experience of many millions of Christians around the globe - I've got no choice!

As Ryan finished prophesying I became acutely aware of a presence behind me and the only way I can describe that feeling was when my deputy Headmaster at my Christian school I went to would sneak up behind me and I knew he was there somehow before I saw him with my physical eyes. But whereas his approaches were always unpleasant and negative - (mostly. I think he said well done to me once!) - this impending presence was totally different. It was like my back was to the brightest dawning of the sun and I could see glows coming from behind me. And suddenly I knew that my angel was behind me and standing with his arms and hands on my shoulders. I sensed him as a beautiful, huge tall blond figure - powerfully masculine, yet so lovingly tender. He seemed to resemble me in some ways - I noted that he had my eyes which are blue and I knew he had my sense of humour. And as he just stood there, I knew that this wasn't a demonic spirit masquerading as an angel of light because he kept pointing me to the glory cloud that was above even though my temptation was to stare. All he would do is point me and direct me and focus me in worship to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who sat enthroned above receiving the praises and worship of His people.

So ... with that awesome heavenly experience in context, Fini came to speak. BTW - please do keep reading after the sermon notes have finished! I reflected a bit at this point half way through the conference.

"Blessed are the upright - not the uptight! If you have no joy then you have no strength because the joy of the Lord is your strength! When God gives you a vision He speaks about His purposes - the Church is the supernatural Bride of Christ and;

If you aren't living in the supernatural then you aren't living at all!

(Psalm 84:1) - His dwelling place is now among His people. Without the Presence of God we would die - our lives are nothing without His Presence! We were designed to know and to hear His voice! The reason why we get thirsty presupposes something to meet that need.

The reason why we long for revival and the manifest Presence of God pressupposes that is God's purpose and His pleasure to show up!

There is no division in heaven - only glory! Every time God's glory comes on the earth we are experiencing heaven on earth! We are heavenlings having an earthly experience. God loves your flesh and He wants you to experience His glory in your flesh. If you aren't comfortable with making mistakes then you will experience unfair pressure.

God intended us to know His Presence so we can experience it and lead others into it. You cannot lead others into something that you haven't first experienced!

How do you experience God's Presence? It isn't the point of HOW I experience Him - it is the fact that I DO experience Him. We must tune our bodies to experience Him! New Agers are easy to reach with the gospel of power!

The hardest people to reach are religious people who never experienced God's power and don't want to.

Why did Jesus turn water into wine? It was excessive and it displayed the glory of God! Why does it take people so long to work out whether a move of God is of God?

Let us never attribute a move of the Spirit to the dark side and become guilty of blasphemy.

To be holy is to be enraptured with Jesus Christ. Joy is the outworking of that! "Joy in the Holy Ghost!". If the Father is happy and the Spirit is manifesting the Father's love then we will get happy! If you have to say to your people "God's Presence is here" then He probably isn't because if He is here then the people will know it.

He is a self-manifestation. If He is present then we will know it! We were designed to hear God's voice! He speaks to us because He wants to display His splendour! Why did He make giraffes!? Because He can! We need to learn to delight in the delights of God!

"I was chatting to my Dad this morning and He is crazy about me!!".

That is the gospel! "For God so LOVED the world!". Jealously guard the Presence of God! Treasure and honour the Presence of God! It is God interupting His own meetings!

We took the 1990 move of God in South Africa for granted and went back to our fields and grew up and condemned ourselves to 10 years of barren dryness!

God is doing much more than we are ever aware of! We had Toronto 4 years before it hit Toronto! But we grew up ... don't just go through the "mist tunnel" and think we have to move back into the desert!

Only TODAYS manna will do!

God will move how He wants to move and when He wants to move! Remember the sound of wine in the trees! He has never changed! He never meant it to stop! The river will determine the course of the banks! Father is the initiator - people start to worship when they hear a demon coming out because they don't want it coming into them!!".

A Pause for Thought - Where are We Going?

Fini then moved into worship and simply blessing what God was supernaturally initiating around the room. That is something that is new to me and wonderful to me. We were always warned against the Toronto Blessing in our church that the men in charge were manipulating it and were pushing people over or confusing them with psychic phenomena. I didn't experience the Toronto Blessing first hand so I can't comment on that but I doubt it - I've spoken to far more people who have experienced it and seen lasting fruits in their lives. However this move of God - this move of the Spirit that is surely beginning here doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the guys that are running the meetings. Fini and Isi and Rob generally are still speaking when manifestations start breaking out all over the meeting and they simply bless what God is doing.

When Fini commented on the "10 years of barrenness" that profoundly moved me. My dear friend Pete and I have evaluated the monumental series that Ern Baxter brought at the Dales Bible Week in 1976 - "Where Are We Going?". It was a key point for the Charismatic Movement in the UK because all the charismatic leaders of various groups and movements were there together as one in unity. Ern closed the conference with a solemn message and it was called "The Kadesh Crisis". They had a choice! The people could either go into the land and see the entire earth covered with the glory of God or they could turn around and go back into the wilderness back to their local churches and keep the blessing local. To be sure the blessing would continue and God would continue to baptise in His Spirit. But the world wouldn't be affected.

And my local home church made a choice. I overheard one of the elders of my church talking to a friend of mine when we had become functional cessationist. My friend was bravely asking him why the elders had decided to take the church out of the things of the Holy Spirit and the elder replied; "We had to grow up - we can't keep being woken up at six or five in the morning to go cast out a demon. It can't always be like that". I found that devastingly heart-breaking. I know my dad would agree that as a result of that their generation died (or will die) in the wilderness.

I sense that our generation is approaching Kadesh Barnea again and something different is in the air this time! Our Bible teachers and apostles and prophets are dealing seriously with legalism and religion in professing "grace" churches or movements. Our Bible teachers and apostles and prophets are proclaiming the grace message! Our Bible teachers and apostles and prophets are believing the Word of God when it says that these signs will follow them that believe! Our Bible teachers and apostles and prophets aren't satifisfied with running "safe" little local churches and maybe meeting once a year for some academic cerebral teaching from "specialists" if we are lucky! Our Bible teachers and apostles and prophets have got their sights set on the nations!

The prophetic cry I have heard going up again and again from this conference is this:

"China is Mine! Africa is Mine! Europe is Mine! The United States is Mine! The United Kingdom is Mine! Australia is Mine! The nations are MINE!!".

I don't know how this conference is going to end up - but what we have experienced and heard so far is that the winds of change are in the air! Oh how I pray that our generation - my generation - won't fluff it up and God must with heavy heart bury us too in the desert and look to our children and our childrens children to finish the task to which He has called us and for which He has poured out His Spirit!

Grace and Glory Conference - Session 3

Tuesday 23rd October PM Session - Isi de Gersigny

The evening session of the conference was one that I was really looking forward to with expectation as I have heard Rob Rufus make reference to Isi a couple of times and always with great esteem. Her message as you will see wasn't classic teaching - but the conference isn't about classic teaching at all. This conference is about divine impartation and in that her message ticked EVERY box! At the end of her time she began to move into incredible prophetic ministry and I took notes where I could. My object is to stir and encourage the prophetic wherever these notes are read - The reason for that is something that Rob himself said about her and what we can learn from her. He said;

"Isi is a true prophet and you can get the overflow of that into your heart. As she prophesies, the prophetic gift in you revs up. We need a revival of the prophetic because it has virtually been destroyed in the church! So as she prophesies and we receive out of that overflow, we will leave her tonight moving up onto a higher level of the prophetic".

I was so SO grateful that he said that because as Isi began to prophesy, I did indeed slip into the trap that he was helping us guard against and sink into something of a "poor-old-me" state of mind that Isi was calling out many other people by name but I wasn't mentioned. As soon as Rob said that I could sit up higher and indeed wonder at what God was doing through His faithful servant and find my own prophetic spirit stirring and getting excited! God only knows how I can put that to use when I return home!

But I am jumping ahead of myself - here are the notes from her session:

(Luke 10:19+) - Prayers we see in the Bible are the Father's will and are coming to pass. Saw a vision of a golden cone and the Trinity were standing like 3 with their arms together facing inwards and each other and in the centre was a molten gold glory pool. On Jesus back was the Book of Life with our names on it. Pride is basically the concept that it was all our idea. Yet I started with Him! I was my Father in heaven's idea even before I was my parents!

Saw a vision of a robe with each name engraved differently on it in beautiful gold calligraphy and He said; "I view you as My victory!". He is bringing us out of orphan mentality and into a realization that we are born in Zion!!

The Lord is going to dismember our hierarchial thinking this week and is saying to us; "The closer you are to a newborn needing Me, the closer you are to understanding". (v21) - Our Dad gets a kick out of hiding things from people who think they should understand it. God was irresponsible enough to reveal Himself to children who mess up! The Trinity is real and gloriously united!

The Trinity aren't worried about the church, the state of your finances or even you! He sees churches all the same - He doesn't grade them and isn't impressed by taller or smaller churches, bigger or littler. It is the foundation of rock that really counts! Even if one person has a greater anointing for a greater task - it doesn't make them more important in His site!

What is coming on the earth is so overwhealmingly full of His love that we will not be able to grade it as before - it will be an apostolic/prophetic ministry with a childlike spirit that will bring the world to it's knees!

(Luke 10) - the 72 came back to Him. Don't be so interested in where your name is displayed. When God puts His Spirit on you, you don't measure things to the same grade. It is as powerful to keep your mouth shut about yourself as it is to declare the wonders of God.

Worship isn't something you do - it is something you BECOME.

"No man can come to the Father except through Me". So don't stay in front of the Son all the time confessing your sin! The whole object is to get to the Father! The measure of your unbelief is how far you think He is away from you.

He wants union by revealing Himself! Mary and Martha's story was all about revealtion. Repentance is so powerful that you never want to go back! I cannot go a MOMENT without His Presence! He isn't just the cherry on the ice cream - He is the whole dairy farm! As He is - so we are in this world.

Prophecies:

To a man who brought a spiritual song that was wonderful in the worship:

"Your songs and the simplicity of your songs will break places open and you will move in all waters reaching and touching children everywhere. Gold will come from your hands and gold will come from your mouth. The shutters of your eyes will be open to His glory and you have looked into His eyes and He can communicate with you just by a look".

To another man:

"There is going to be accelaration of vision and dreams in this day. What you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Churches will be birthed in a day!".

To a couple with a church in New Zealand:

"There is a prophetic pregnancy over New Zealand! Going to jump before you think in acts of God - leap out! People will come from other ministries and a fresh wave of apostolic/prophetic will sweep the nation! An angel has been apportioned to bring breakthrough for this month! You will crush things in your way - things won't crush you! A new music sound will come from within your midst that will shock nations. I decree over your place; "Open Parking!".

To a man:

"Your offerings have gone up like a sweet fragrance - you will see sermons will be sung with a sweet song - God is bringing the wheels of ministry into alignment. There are big keys of faith that will open big doors for big breakthrough!".

Then she mentioned a word of teaching that was so helpful;

"Whenever something is real to you, you will know Him better. Revelation reveals Him better but condemnation puts the veil back and distances Him".

Then there was an amazing moment where both Fini and Isi got the women in the conference to rise up and stand together: "Daughters of Zion need to rise up!". Isi brought some very tender and loving but absolutely accurate words to some of the women standing around the place - dealing with and setting free from condemnation that has been put on them by church leaders, by men. I saw many many women laughing with joy, shaking under the power of God or weeping. It was a truly holy moment and it just brought such thrill to my heart!

So Day 1 is done!

Grace and Glory Conference - Session 2

Tuesday 23rd October - Grace and Glory Conference, Hong Kong!!

After a brief tea break and some amazing refreshments from the City Church folk, we went straight into the second session where Rob Rufus was once again speaking to us. He had his accomplished daughter Bonnie accompanying him on the keyboards. Here's what he said;

"The Ministry of Life".

It is easier to plant first generation grace churches than rebuild grace into an existing church. Paul wasn't put into prison for adhering to law but for preaching grace. We are not against law - we are for what law was given for! (Acts 13) - When good news is being taught then people will gather! "Paul boldly preached the message of grace". People addicted to pornography are being set free from it by the true message of grace off our website!

This is contending much more than personal blessing in the church. We are contending for the freedom of nations!

In June 2007 - two angels arrived with trumpets into our church and the glory of God hit in force. God said that He was lifting the periphery fence. The angels were announcing we were leaving the Old Covenant and coming totally into New Covenant freedom.

Grace liberates women from male control!!

At Brighton we saw the power of God come like never before. Was praying at Church of Christ the King in Brighton and saw a line of people waiting to be ministered to. God said; "Watch this - it isn't like it was before. The periphery fence is being lifted". People were healed totally before even receiving prayer! Running down a line of lead elders at the conference and (Greg Haslam) hit the floor and hit his head on the chair. He afterwards said to me - "Rob I really needed that!". It was EFFORTLESS. Got a chest infection the last day at Brighton and thought it was a broken rib but flew back to Hong Kong and got healed instantly to preach!

All we have to do is step over the periphery fence and into the glory but we have to keep on walking deeper and deeper into the glory cloud of God and we will radiate miracles effortlessly! (1 Corinthians 15:45-46) - We are tired of labouring under the pressures of man. Every human being in the earth is either under the first Adam or in the last Adam. If we are in first Adam (Romans 5:12) then we are dead and inherit his death. But! (Romans 5:19) through the obedience of the last Adam we inherit His obedience!

Obedience is not the basis of your confidence before God. If you are in first Adam then you cannot backslide out through good works! Just so if you are in the last Adam then you cannot backslide out through unrighteous acts!

Jesus died not only for the sins of the world but also for the sickness of the whole world. God does not put sickness on people. He is absolute life! (John 10:10) - "I have come that you may have life and have it to the full!". Jesus did not come to make immoral people moral but to make living people live. (1 Corinthians 2:7-8) - The Cross was God's secret wisdom destined for our glory before time began. The Cross was set up to restore the glory that Adam lost.

Death no longer follows your sin. If you do sin there are everlasting arms of grace and that sin has already been dealt with at the Cross.

(Hebrews 2:14) - "Fear of death" - not just physical death being talked about here but also death to your dreams and death to your visions. Paul is saying never again will he go under the death of law but a broker of life!

Don't negotiate with death - no death to my vision! China WILL be saved!! Many Christians have already given in through sickness of heart - it is too high a price to lose our dreams!

What is coming out of your mouth must be life-giving. (John 20:21-22) - "Just as I was sent - so I send you". And He BREATHED into them just as His Father BREATHED into Adam. He breathed into His disciples life-giving conciousness.

You can have many messages on grace but until the life-giving Spirit breaths on you, you will not truly believe it.

Minster from the heavenly to the earthly! We are united with Him in resurrection and co-seated with Him! (Romans 8:11) - "He will give life to your mortal bodies". It was John G Lake's ministry to South Africa that put something into the soul so that there was no blood-shed in the 1994 elections but a freedom. Doctors saw bubonic plague on his skin and actually dying! He refused the fact that he was a phenomena but that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in him - and just so in his! Oh for more John G Lakes!

It makes no sense to be happy about going to heaven when demonic powers run rampant spreading sickness wherever they go! Don't let anyone side-line the miraculous to the fringe! The ministry of Jesus was signs and wonders and the miraculous! "Freely you have received now freely give!". He went on to say "Rejoice that your names are in the book of life" - this isn't some dead heavenly register! The context of this passage is (Revelation 21:27-22:1-3) and it speaks also of the "Tree of Life" and "The River of Life". This Book of Life is pulsating alive and your name is wrapped up in it!

We are now already in the New Jerusalem! See an anointing come upon your life for the healing of nations! (Galatians 3:6) - "Consider Abraham!". (Isaiah 60:1) - "Arise shine for your light HAS come" but too often the church isn't rising and shining! The nations need healing! Europe has been raped by secular humanism!

The United Kingdom is on the brink of a mighty revival!!

Churches of the New Jerusalem - (Colossians 3:1) - "Since you have been raised with Christ set your mind on things above".

Christ is ready to appear in this life as often as you are ready to appear with Him in glory! You will reflect the characteristic of the world that you are most concious of.

(John 1:50-51) - Wherever I go now the heavens will open. Is that arrogant? No. It is all of grace! The blessing given to Abraham overrode anything he did! Abraham lied - yet received the wealth of nations. Jacob stole the inheritance and lied but went to Bethel and encountered open heaven there! Do not tithe under Malachi 3.

How can failing to tithe reverse the power of the Cross? God doesn't meet your needs according to your needs but according to His riches!

We must become heavenly-minded full of the conciousness of God. Enoch became so concious of the heavenly realm that he was simply "no more". "Rob Rufus walked with God and was not". The throne of God is surrounded by an emerald rainbow. That means "No judgement - no judgement!!". It is tinged with emerald green which means soaked in the anointing!

Grace and Glory Conference - Session 1

Tuesday 23rd October 2007 - Grace and Glory Conference, Hong Kong!

Thanks to my very kind new South African friend Allen I have been able to get some internet access and can post a few sessions! I don't know how regular I will be but I will post when I can get the opportunity. Well we have just had the first two sessions at this incredible conference and I am already staggered at the Presence and weight of God by His Holy Spirit in this place. Before the conference begun everyone was gathered virtually from about 08:00 for a 9:30 start! You could cut the air with a knife!

Rob Rufus - Introductory Remarks:

To open the conference Rob Rufus first addressed us with his fatherly aims for this conference. He said this:

"God is going to do a number of things through this conference. 1. He is going to bring us together.

Unity doesn't bring the glory - the glory brings unity.

2. This is a conference about divine encounters.

You can know the whole Bible but if you don't have divine encounters then you are nothing but a walking Pharisee.

3. Too often we are concerned with numbers and make growth the most important feature - but His Presence and His glory will fill buildings and then the people will come. 4. We need to actively lift sails of faith into the wind of the Spirit. If we only have the concept of being filled with the Spirit like an empty jug being filled with water then a month later, this conference is only going to be a pleasant memory. But if we can learn to catch the winds and go forward in purpose and up in the glory like an eagle - then we will be truly filled with the Spirit!

The golden rule in this conference is that there are: NO RULES!!

Don't wait for ministry time! Lift your sails of faith NOW and let's go!!".

Worship and Prophecies:

We were then led into worship by an amazing couple who Rob Rufus has known for quite some time - called Fini and Isi de Gersigny. They are both incredible musicians as well as being awesome worship leaders. The astounding thing was that the Presence of God was such that we didn't actually sing any songs for about half an hour. We just stood and basked in the glory that was beginning to swirl and hover around us. Fini and Isi very sensitively played music and got us to sing in the Spirit but didn't allow their agenda to interfere with the Holy Spirit's leading at all. There were some very powerful prophecies during this time. The lady worship leader - Isi said;

"I have had a vision of healing angels coming into the room and standing behind those who are sick and they have red crosses on their shoulders. They come and stand ready to minister especially to those who have the flu".

The thing was that I had woken up that morning with a nasty chesty cough and a blocked nose so wasn't feeling 100%. But as she shared this vision - I felt a hot fire go through me and suddenly I could feel my lungs expanding and my nose clearing. Truly angels were in the place!

The worship leader - Fini - then sang a prophecy over us and the line that just kept resounding in my head again and again was this:

"Everything I have is yours".

The grace and wonderful generosity of our God! Finally Rob Rufus himself prophecied something that has been on my heart since the beginning of the year now - he said;

"This conference will commence a series of psunamis and tidal waves that will go out from Hong Kong in ever increasing concentric circles until the nations and the entire world are impacted, the promises are fulfilled and the earth is covered with the glory of the Lord!!".

Rob Rufus - Main Session - "How Grace and Glory Connect":

God's high thoughts are to the new covenant - the gospel of grace. There is so much legalism in the church because we are not good at reading our Bibles in context. If our thinking raised the dead then we would have emptied entire graveyards by now! But instead we have gone into the "paralysis of analysis".

Thinking won't raise the dead - only drinking will. The bigger the miracle required the more we must dial down on the flesh and let Him dial up His power.

The glory of the New Covenant is a never-fading glory so why do revivals die? We were meant to start and stay in glory! His power is revealed in the gospel of His grace.

"I cannot allow anyone to go into New Covenant glory with an Old Covenant mindset".

The cherubims are the peripheral fence guarding the glory. The glory is God's Presence manifest in a tangible way. The Law is the knowledge of good and evil and the spirit of Adam and Eve died when they disobeyed God while their intellect gained ascendance.

(2 Corinthians 3) - Written to the most immoral church in the history of the world. Even the unsaved were shocked at what was going on in the Corinthian church!

Jesus did not come to make immoral people moral but dead people live.

(v6) - "The letter kills". He is talking here about the 10 commandments. A Western mindset is to have people teaching the concepts without the experience - but this is about an impartation of life! Paul is speaking in 2 Corinthians about two glories - a fading glory on tablets of stone and an unfading glory. The Old Covenant glory reveals God's opinion of you through the law - "It is a ministry of death".

On the day that the Old Covenant came into existance, 3 000 people died for worshipping a golden calf. But on the day that the New Covenant came into existance, 3 000 people who had done something far worse than worship a calf (crucified the Lord of glory) were saved!

Any law observance brings a curse - the law is a composite one-ness. If you lie, in the eyes of the law you are guilty of murder, idolatry and adultery. But believe in the Cross and God sees you in EVERY area of your life as perfectly righteous! Mix law and grace and God must dismiss the value of the finished Cross.

Law demands perfect righteousness from you but grace gives perfect righteousness to you!

If your sin can stop the power of God's favour on your life then your sin is more powerful than God's grace. Whereas if your sin and God's grace meet in a boxing ring then it is a no-match!

In law if you meet and touch a leper then you are unclean and must die. In grace if you meet a leper then they get healed!

(Romans 8:1) - If you feel condemnation after you sin then you are still under law and not under grace. Paul kept loving the Corinthian church despite their sin yet got angry with the Galatian church for leaving grace! In the glory you don't WANT to sin! The Gospel isn't about right living but right believing. It isn't holy to get morbid about your sin! Most in-patients in asylums are there because of coming from legalistic backgrounds.

(Matthew 17) On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus clothing turned white and the disciples could see Moses and Elijah. Peter thought Jesus could be positioned equally and worshipped equally with them. But then a cloud of glory came down and they fell into it and when they woke up - "They saw only Jesus". Jesus and Jesus alone! God wrote on the tablets of stone but before He did He warned Israel that it meant 100% law. They should have pleaded and asked for the covenant with Abraham but they didn't and in self-righteousness said "We will!".

Self-righteousness does not lead to holy living but to idolatry.

It is legitimate to ask a barren woman under law whether she opened herself up to sin to cause such a state but under grace it is totally illegitimate and cruel. Grace rather says; "Be free and be bountiful!". In the Old Testament sacrifices the entire thing was obliterated including the stones by the fire of God - the sacrifices weren't enough. But at the Cross Jesus could say in triumph, "IT IS FINISHED!!" - having endured the searing blasts of God's wrath. The sacrifice was greater than the judgement!

FIRE!!

This short 30 second video clip is one I took during one of Rob's main sessions at Together on a Mission 2007 this year. You can't actually see him but he is moving along a row of people laying hands on them and praying for them. I can't quite explain why but the anointing on this video is so strong that whenever Scott or I listen to it, we get goosebumps! I think it is the confident, bold way that Rob yells out; "FIRE!". This isn't a timid, tentative prayer of hope and desperation that God may do something to the one who is being ministered to. This is a confident, bold man of God who trusts in the lavish, generous nature of His God and believes passionately in His desire to bless His Bride - the Church!! And the most powerful way that God can bless His Church is to truly send the fire of Pentecost upon them.

I would be thrilled if this short - poor-quality - video clip brings something of the power and Presence of God into your room where you are watching this. It's the same Holy Spirit!! May you receive the fire of Pentecost today!!

The War-like Rob Rufus!!

I spent a pleasant hour or so in Starbucks after work transcribing notes from Rob Rufus's latest sermon in the series on the Holy Spirit. I must admit I was quite gripped to hear him in a manner that I haven't been used to before. While he is always an extremely powerful preacher, he always seems to come across as amusing, gentle and loving. His opening comments in this sermon reminded me of the over-used quote from the Chronicles of Narnia about Aslan the lion; "He's not a tame lion you know". It made me respect and appreciate Rob even more to know that he is able and willing to follow His Lord and become war-like if the situation so demands it!

You may ask what situation was that? It appears from his comments that this week has been a particular time of testing for City Church International. It reminded me that we cannot forget Rob and the church in prayer as they host the "Grace and Glory Conference". Let's not go passively but remember them in prayer and intercede before God that He bless those who are serving at the conference!

But then Rob went on to say a bit about the forth-coming conference which did nothing to calm down my excitement and anticipation of this event! He said this;

"Sometimes in a war, the call comes out - all leave is cancelled! Sometimes you will hear; "All hands on deck - we're on full alert - suicide bombers are coming!". I promise you as a prophet of God that in the last few weeks the enemy did not just try and take out 1 or 2 of you out. He tried to absolutely destroy the existance of this church. It took 30 years of experience in prayer and fasting to make him keep his hands off ...

Life is not always like this - we have seasons but we are hosting a conference and must be alert and take this in our hour of opportunity. While something so key is happening - we cannot rest! ... This conference time is not just a teaching time of sitting in rows. It is going to be a conference where angels turn up, God's glory is coming. We've got people from the Middle East, America, Europe, South Africa, China and Taiwan coming to our little church!

The nations are coming for a divine impartation to take revival back!".

These words may offend some - but for those who know Rob Rufus well will know that these are words of faith. He goes on in the sermon (to come shortly) to unpack from the Bible how it is faith that brings the blessing and anointing and glory of God - not works! Hearing this sermon made me realise that this life isn't Utopia. We aren't to be devil-focussed as Rob's said before but we still do face an enemy who's extremely committed to seeing the work of God taken out - and something as key as this conference will be sure to worry and concern him.

"The Grace-Hating Spirit" - Part 2 - CCI, Hong Kong

Here is the second sermon in the series - "The Grace-Hating Spirit". It was again particularly powerful for me as the subject that Rob was covering was; "FREEDOM!". And he covered it incredibly powerfully. I pray the notes are of use and of awesome blessing.

I want to dedicate to my dear friends Julie and Aaron and Don who are friends I feel such closeness with as we journey out of legalism and into an ever-increasing enjoyment of the grace of God.

25th August 2004.

Galatians 2: The subject we are dealing with is 'Do not give into condemnation even for a moment'. This is a pivotal message. This message defines for me the departure point between dead religion and living New Testament Christianity.

The title of this message is; "THEY WILL NEVER TAKE AWAY OUR FREEDOM!".

A quote from Mel Gibson's film Braveheart -

"You have come to fight as free men and free men you are. What will you do with your freedom! Will you fight? Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least a while and die in your beds where you'll dream of that come back here and tell the English that they may take our lives but they'll never taken our freedom!".

This isn't personal against the English! But folks that should be the cry of the Church! To the devil! To each other! I have said that to God, I have said, "Lord if I can't live in freedom - if I allow religion to conform me and control me then Lord please take me home. I do not want to live on this planet as so many Christians controlled by the spirit of condemnation, the fear of rejection, controlled and manipulated by guilt and fitting into the religious norm instead of being a pioneer - a prophetic person that breaks out and advances the Kingdom!".

We can live and survive and not rock the boat and the establishment will think we're cute and nice and ecumenical but we will die in our beds with great regret that we did not do something that would leave footprints in the sands of human history and leave a legacy behind.

That is not dramatic talk - this is the reality that beats in our hearts. There is freedom that God creates us for. You cannot keep people down - they will rise up because we were created to live in freedom. God is wanting to raise up churches that say we will not settle for anything less than the freedom that is in the kingdom of heaven. I am 50 years old and I have lived this way all my life but there is something of a greater passionate desire to see churches live in all the fullness of what Christ died for on the Cross and brought through in the Resurrection.

(Galatians 2:4). These are our foundation verses! The Bible says God does not judge by external appearances whereas the religious world is very much obsessed with judging by external appearances. Paul makes it clear that there are people who think their portfolio is to come into churches and come amongst believers and spy on their freedom with religious disapproval in their eyes. They work in demonic anointing and can bring people back into slavery.

Paul said we did not negotiate with them. If you sit and discuss these issues with these kinds of people even for a moment they'll get inside your head. Before you know it an hour has passed, a day has passed, a week has passed and before you know it your life has been controlled by religious condemnation.

If you give in for a moment something of the Gospel is lost - the truth of the the Gospel is diluted the only expression of the power of God - the only agency for the power of God is through the Gospel. We are talking about a daily battle where spirits come into your mind and try and bring you into condemnation and bring you into guilt, trying to intimidate you and manipulate you and make you feel unworthy. Don't give in for a moment!

The reason why we can't give in for a moment is that too much is at stake (2 Corinthians 3). It's not just your personal happiness that is at stake although that will also be stolen. But it is also the destiny of millions of people.

Every revival has ended up crushed by condemnation - every move of God through church history has ended up crushed in dead religious formalism because they gave into the spirit of legalism. They formulated rules and lost their freedom through grace.

God is raising up people we have never heard of. There are no great names that will appear in these next few years. People are going to come out of obscurity who have been preserving their freedom and will be the new Joshua leadership that will take the church into the Promised Land. There are Moses leaders that took people out of bondage but sadly they didn't take them into freedom. They took them out of slavery but didn't take them into promised inheritance. There is coming a Church around the world that will not just come out of slavery but will go into promised inheritance and posess the land at this age.

We must not give into condemnation because the Spirit of liberty has the power for transformation. Say "transformation!". That's what we are going to be talking about tonight - transformation! (2 Corinthians 3:17). How do you discern whether God's Spirit is in a church? You ask is there freedom. We could say it like this. Where the Spirit of the Lord is not moving, there is no freedom, there's only slavery, guilt and conformity to religious sub-cultures. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.

"With ever increasing glory". God's purpose for your life is to transform you into the very likeness of Jesus Christ, so we begin to walk like Jesus Christ, walk in the power of Jesus Christ, the Name and authority of Jesus Christ. There is a Spirit of freedom that is transforming us into the very likeness of Jesus Christ with ever increasing glory! If we submit to the spirit of slavery, condemnation there will be no transformation going on in our lives but if we stay under the Spirit of freedom then you and I will be progressively transformed into the very stature of Christ. Not just individually but corporately!

(Romans 8) Compare the word "Conform" with the word "Transform". The word "conform" means "to make like, to bring into agreement, corresponding in form". But the word "Transform" means "to change the nature, character and inner disposition of the person".

If we experience conformation without inner transformation, we will come into a culture of bondage.

The older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son had outer life conformation. So he conformed to what he thought the rules and regulations of the house were. He worked in the Father's house but received nothing of the Father's inheritance. All he knew was confirmation not supernatural transformation. But the prodigal son came home and instantly transformed into sonship in the house while the older brother living for years in confirmation receives nothing. Many in the church are full of "Older Brother Syndrome".

I am glad that the older brother didn't get to the prodigal son before the Father did.

If the older brother with his confirmation had got to the son in his brokenness he would have made him realise he had to conform before he was welcome back into the house. But the Father got to him and made him realise that he didn't have conform, just gave him supernatural grace and transformed him into a fully fledged member of that house. That robe in the Greek means "first robe". There are no 2nd class citizens in the Kingdom!

Conformation is not wrong as long as the power behind conformation is the power of transformation. If there is no transformation power then our conforming will only be performing.

Have belived these things for 25 years - believe in balance! Don't give in to the grace-hating spirit for something of the gospel will be lost! Too many people don't have the freedom to be who they are but feel pressure to fit in and be who they think they are wanted to be. That is bondage and slavery and the minute you give in, the Spirit of freedom can't take you from one degree of glory to another. That's why you see Christians stuck in patterns for decades.

Many churches don't preach rules and regulations but the worst ones are the unstated ones because they are subtly manipulative. That is demonic witchcraft- it stops the miraclous and stops signs and wonders.

There is nothing more terrible than to be a performing parrot or a duck. You cannot keep that up for long. Conformation is not wrong as long as the power behind conformation is the power of transformation. If you don't have the power of transformation then our conforming will be only performing. Have been part of church life where the people are performing because of the pressure of the fear of rejection and desire to fit on so the heart makes us do things and we don't have heart in it. No faith or joy or conviction for it but we know we have got to do it to fit into the religious sub-culture!

The Bible uses the word "conform" in Romans 8 but it is not without transformation that comes through grace. Romans 8 - the idea of you being transformed into the very likeness of Jesus in this life is a reality. God wants a church in this life in the full measure of Jesus Christ. That plan of God is not some fleeting fancy. This is a pre-meditated purpose of God - predestined.

The eternal NOW handpicked us to be at the end of the age and like Jesus Christ through the transforming power of the Spirit and we would not give in to condemnation or manipulation to see that come about.

You say - God must be disappointed in me - He can't keep up with me. (Hebrews 1) says He is upholding all things by the Word of His power. I think He can certainly uphold you! He is keeping every cell in the universe together by some mysterious force of life. (Galatians 2). "He holds all things together". Have you ever failed and heard the laughter of the enemy. The mocking gloat of darkness against you? Yet God says "I turn all things to good for those who love Me!". He wil break our enemies apart! (Romans 8:28). Attacks in the quiet lonely place is torment!

People have lost the awesome sovereignity of God's rule - the world is His! - not the devils! All God wants is to know is do you love Me? God doesn't want a few that look like Him - He wants many! When is the limit of God's justification reached? NEVER! He is the God of the constant justifying grace, mercy and love - He didn't choose you on a whim but premeditated your existance. He foreknew you! He has already glorified you in the heavenly realms!

We have churches around the world which are saying we are apostolic/prophetic but where are the Acts signs and wonders? Where are the shadows healing the sick? When you water the Gospel down you can fast for months and not have power because power is in the Gospel! When we lose the Gospel we become Galatians 3 and lose the message of the Cross.

You don't have to fast to get power - you believe the message and then the power comes and then you fast and pray IN the power!

There is nothing more miserable than fasting and praying without power! You fast and pray because you believe the power of the Cross and then awesome power is released!

(Romans 12:2) "Do not conform ... but be transformed by the renewing of your mind". What the Bible is saying is that world is trying to conform us into it's pattern without giving us transforming power but trying to conform us through guilt. The power of the world is to conform us through the fear of rejection. You will begin to think differently and your mind will be re-programmed.

Now I have heard Christians mis-quote this passage. "By the renewing of your mind by the Word of God". It does not say "by the Word of God". To add that is not right. The Word of God does help to transform your mind and renew it but primarily the way our minds are renewed is by the supernatural power of the Spirit of freedom - by the glory of God - by the Presence of God!

I know churches that preach the Word and people are simply not transformed by it and the pastor has to counsel everyone every week to cope with life and not be transformed. When people's minds are truly renewed - it's not just by preaching of the Bible. The letter kills. You can preach the Word of God without power demonstrated by God and you have got people trying to live the Word out in their own strength. They've got New Testament laws and rules and they are trying to live by and trying to conform to what the Bible says.

But they are in a new bondage worse than the Old Testament! Because they think they're free but don't feel they're free! If you are free - you will feel free!

It is the power of God that truly transforms our lives. We need the power of God back in the church. We need people on fire who are free because they are transformed by grace and not condemnation. (2 Corinthians 10). We plant churches out of a foundation of liberty and freedom and the call of God not a desire to get accepted. "Divine power to demolish". The power of God demolishes strongholds - what are strongholds? "Arguments and every pretence". Strongholds are thought patterns in the minds.

Thoughts are taken captive by the anointing. These thoughts argue against any God-feeling. God is against them. If it is God's will for people to be ill then to make them better by healing must be against His will! We must take these thoughts captive - they are untrue.

God wants people to be healed! (Deut 28) - speaks of God having to allow sickness to come.

All the preaching in the world without power will not transform people and set them free because they don't have the anointing. The anointing is the massive missing ingredient in many lives today.

(Revelation 12). We need the power of God to cast down the accuser.

Passive minds are the most dangerous minds on the planet. Satan loves them! He can land on their minds with all his pretension and convince them this is what God thinks of them. You will not survive in Hong Kong if you don't have an active aggression against that grace-hating spirit.

(Revelation 12:10) - "Salvation and power and kingdom ... accuser accuses day and night". It is a daily obsession with the devil. We must use the blood daily! If you are in fear of death then you will give into condemnation and fear of rejection (Joshua 5).

You will not possess your inheritance in this life unless you let God roll away your reproach. Prophetic word to the church today - you won't enter into your personal dream - your personal inheritance - personal promised land unless we let God come in power and anointing and roll away our reproach.

A reproach means shame and blame and feeling bad about yourself. (v9) - "I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you". The stigma of slavery. Some control by withholding approval or by over-flattery. Egypt has put a reproach on the Church! God says He will roll it off and (v12) when that happens the manna is going to stop and we will begin to eat of the promised inheritance of Canaan. Manna represents what God feeds you while you are going around in circles with the reproach on you as soon as that is off - you will start eating of your inheritance!

It is time for us to go into inheritance. The power of God can break strongholds tonight. Don't be passive any moment of your life! Don't give in even for a moment! Conformation without transformation is motivated by guilt and fear of rejection from man or God. If you can get free from fear of man - you are truly free. Transformation is because grace gives you space and time to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ - to renew your mind in a steady sphere of progress.

According to the Scriptures God wants us to live to 120. We can change our future by decisions we make about the present now. If we are passive about our future we will perpetuate our past into our future. Be so secure in grace that we don't have to react when men try and control us - we just will not allow it.