One to One with Rob Rufus and Nigel Ring

I found this interview between Nigel Ring and Rob Rufus taken just after the "Together on a Mission Conference" in Brighton in 2006. It's so stirring.

NR: Were you brought up in a Christian family?

RR: I had an incredibly happy childhood but my mother was an agnostic and my dad was an atheist but a very good father. From about three years of age I was conscious of God's Presence and about the age of seven or eight, I began to read the gospels. However in my high school years I really went out of my way to undermine Christian faith; but I was longing for them to win the argument. When I finished high school my dad had convinced me that Christianity was a modern form of sophisticate superstition but I had the privilege of leading my dad to Christ many, many years later, three weeks before he passed on!

On "call-up" in the military I began to ask questions about the meaning of life even more. Then at university I got very involved with the Hare Krishna movement. I even joined a Hindu Ashram full time.

NR: Had you met Glenda at this stage?

RR: We met at university and got married. We had our first son Jay (Hindu for victory) by the time we had joined the Hare Krishna movement. In the meantime Glenda had an amazing encounter with God and was "born again". I ridiculed that a martyr could save the world. It seemed foolish that Jesus died on a cross; He could have done better as a teacher. One day a man wanted to join our community. I asked him how long he wanted to stay and he said as long as was necessary! That night he suddenly sat straight up and pointed at a picture of Krishna, shook his head and just said; "Jesus Christ is the pure sacrifice of God and He is the only way" - a pretty courageous thing to say in a Hare Krishna temple!

I was suddenly aware that I was not right with God. When I got up at 2am he had gone and I never saw him again.

NR: Angelic?

RR: I don't know Nigel. For months I tried to increase my performance in Hindu rituals. Then in the Ashram on my own, Jesus came and said; "My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Come follow Me!". So I was "born again" in a Hindu temple! That was in 1977.

NR: Did you walk straight out?

RR: I did leave as I was called up again by the South African military. But I went back and witnessed to every single one there. I heard later that some I had spoken to had left the movement.

NR: I think your second child had been born by this stage?

RR: Yes, Ryan was conceived whilst we were in the Hare Krishna movement. He is now part of our leadership team. We also have a daughter Bonnie who leads worship in our church.

NR: When you left Hare Krishna, how did you engage with a church?

RR: We went back to the university on a post-graduate course. I met Christians who had fasted for forty days for us when they heard we were going to the Hare Krishna people. They burst into tears and were amazed! We joined them as a community of people.

NR: How did you plant a church?

RR: After I graduated God called me to plant in our home town but there was nothing supernatural there. I began to read Acts and God asked me; "Do you believe everything that is My will will automatically happen?". I said; "Yes Lord!". "Do you believe it is My will to save people every week and add them to you?". I said; "Yes Lord!". "Do you believe it is My will that people get healed miraculously?". I said; "Yes Lord!". "Then how come it isn't happening?".

He spoke to me about going to sit under the ministry of Kenneth Hagin for three days. Initially I was quite critical and analytical but I watched the miraculous happening. Then God said; "Lift your hands - you can do this!". The Presence of God came on me overwhelmingly and powerfully for the first time in my life. The next Sunday our church was hit by the power of God. People with deaf ears began to hear, different people began to cry out. I felt God say; "Pray a blessing over the people". So I asked them to stand and said; "Father would you bless ..." and I didn't get any further.

I heard this amazing rushing sound through the building and saw people being picked up and carried two to three rows through the air. We had never seen anything like this. I called out and said; "You have seen that God is real. Come and get saved!". People literally ran to get saved that day. Even the local rugby team visited and broken bones were healed. The church grew by hundreds. Then God said; "I am going to lift this heavy anointing off you for a season and I want you to get to know me. I am going to link you with people that I want you to be accountable to. I want you to develop your doctrine and knowledge of Scripture. I am going to bring this power back on you at a later stage".

It was at that stage I met Dudley Daniel.

NR: Has God brought that power back to you?

RR: Every year I asked God; "Is this the year?". Every year He would say; "Be faithful - this is not the year". By 2001, 2002 I wondered if God would ever do this again but at the beginning of 2006 I heard God say; "This is the year not just for you but for much of the wider body of Christ". He promised He would restore this power at a higher level and I feel certain that as the year progresses we will see this more and more.

NR: Is this world-wide?

RR: There is fresh expectation in many parts of the world and reports of some unusual signs and wonders. I think 2006 is the year our Lord is taking His finger off the "pause" button.

NR: Such ministry comes out of an intimacy with God. How did you deepen your personal walk with God?

RR: I love to get out to solitary places; the mountains and the forests. When I first planted a church I would spend a day or two every week alone with God, not trying to prepare messages but wanting to get to know Him. I learned to fine-tune my spirit to hear His voice and talk to Him about who He is. He said; "Rob I want you to ask Me questions about Me. If you open your heart to me, I will open My heart totally to you - and reveal things to you". I found that if you develop a depth of relationship with God in the solitary places I could start hearing His voice in the noisy places. I can even stand in Mongkok - one of the densest population areas in Hong Kong and hear the voice of God.

NR: Many leaders would ask; "How did you carve out that time? Did you have a team with you?".

RR: Yes I did have a good team but there is also unnecessary guilt that comes. One day sitting on a mountain looking out over factories where members of my congregation were working, God said;

"Son those people want you here - they want you to come with dew of heaven on your shoulders and speak the living word of God".

NR: Moving in these dimensions, do you experience opposition?

RR: Yes! The enemy is against the anointing because it destroys the yokes, lifts the burdens off people's shoulders and breaks his strategies and attacks. There are anti-Christspirits trying to get the church to be more secular, to run programmes, entertainment with human wisdom. Reaction is mainly from religious people; the world longs to experience something that is supernaturally authentic. We need to redeem the supernatural back to sound theology, basing it on good doctrine, expressed by people who have healthy marriages, healthy families and so forth.

NR: Where do you find your own peer relationship that will keep you secure and where you weigh each other's ministry?

RR: A very good question! When God exploded into our church I had no understanding of proper Biblical government foundations or biblical wineskins. I had difficulty in hosting a big crowd! As I mentioned, it was then in 1984 that I was introduced to Dudley Daniel. I first met him on his day off. He came out of his study in a pair of shorts and hugged me. I got the shock of my life! I felt God say; "I have joined you to this man forever!". I began to realise that Dudley had an apostolic wisdom, understanding and grace on his life. He helped us lay proper New Testament patterns and Victory Faith Church is still very healthy today.

NR: How did New Covenant Ministries begin?

RR: When Dudley was baptised in the Holy Spirit, his denomination kicked him out. He was invited by a small group in Bryanstone, Johannesburg to pastor them. He also felt God say he should build relationships with pastors who are lonely, wanting friendship and looking for togetherness. Out of that came the phrase; "Friendship before function". This began to reflect what Jesus revealed so wonderfully with His friends who were disciples.

There were many BBQs with humour and laughter. Slowly the idea of a trans-local team began to develop; that is when I got involved. God began to open up the oath He made to Abraham to bless all nations. We began to see that we would have to plant New Testament local churches in every nation.

NR: Did you have a particular strategy?

RR: In Scripture proven ministries took the initiative to break new territory. For example Paul and Barnabas having established Antioch moved on. Dudley relocated to Australia. This sent a big signal to us all. We thought South Africa was going to fall apart but God actually blessed us. Then God called Glenda and me to join him.

NR: Were you creating South African churches?

RR: Not at all! As we planted we started working with indigenous people and they started coming on team. We wanted to reflect the culture of the kingdom not a religious sub-culture.

NR: Have you found that God has given you favour with particular sections of the community?

RR: In certain countries, doors open through situations of poverty. In others, it has come through Christian businessmen and women like Priscilla and Aquila.

NR: How did your next transition come about?

RR: When Dudley felt called to work into the USA, he handed the visionary leadership of Coastlands International Christian Centre over to me. In 2002 after seven years God called us to go full-time trans-local equipping churches in evangelism, signs and wonders and miracles so we handed the church over to Dudley's son Tyrone. Then our hearts began to turn to Asia and Glenda and I planted a church in Hong Kong.

NR: Did you know people on the ground?

RR: There were five people in Hong Kong and five young people from South Africa to help us for 6-12 months.

NR: How have you grown?

RR: Originally I thought we would build primarily with ex-pats using the medium of English. However Chinese people started coming because they heard about the Presence of God and were attracted to the message of grace. One young, very intelligent and hi-tech Buddhist man came. The Presence of God was so powerful in the meeting that he began to weep and said; "They are not singing about Buddha, they are singing about Jesus so He must be alive!". He gave his life to Christ and we baptised him very soon after that. We are, probably about 95 adults at this time plus children.

NR: Do you have any comments on multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual church?

RR: When diverse ethnic groups come together that reflects the wonderful finished work of the Cross! The idea of the homogenous church for me is foreign to the Scripture. We are enjoying being a rainbow church.

NR: Has the signs and wonders ministry opened doors for you in Hong Kong?

RR: Yes! There is a lot of idol worship that opens people up to demonic influences so when God sets people free they go and tell their friends. The potential to have exponential growth in Hong Kong and into mainland China is enormous. The secular humanistic money culture has left a real emptiness in people's lives.

The Presence and power of God is a major means to impact that part of the world.

NR: Can you disciple others into this ministry or impart it to others?

RR: Both! The main way is through impartation. It is through association with people that are moving in the supernatural like Elijah to Elisha or Paul to Timothy or Moses to Joshua and so on. There also needs to be practical instruction; how to co-operate with God; how to co-labour with God; how to partner with God. I love to coach even in services on a Sunday morning - "This is why we are doing this".

NR: You referred earlier to what God was saying about 2006. Can you expand on that?

RR: I came to London in 2005 and I was praying in Richmond Park and suddenly I felt the clear voice of God saying He is going to come with a visitation of His glory to the British Isles. It may seem unlikely or like wishful thinking but I just felt it so strongly. He said He was going to call me back and have some involvement in facilitating, in a small way, some of those things. Something would rise up within these British Isles. It would be for everyone who is hungry for God. It would require people to look at wineskins to avoid another charismatic movement that will run for a while and then burst.

Those who have been faithfully establishing wineskins for years need to start looking with expectation that they have not laboured in vain. Others will need to be looking at Scripture and to people who have built according to a Biblical pattern. This is the time to prepare for this visitation by building proper Biblical government and pattern into the church.

A Biblical wineskin embraces three elements:

1. Biblical authority structures which is proper government based on what the Bible teaches not on democracy.

2. Biblical vision which involves going to the nations and involves reaching the lost.

3. Biblical values - how we do it, with integrity, humility, with team, accountability etc.

Prophetic ministries around the world are picking up an excited expectation of something significant. This time hopefully we won't have a Philistine cart with our Uzzah's and Ahios. We will receive this visitation with a lot more reverence and honour who this is for. This is for the honour and pleasure of our great God not to make certain movements more famous or our churches grow faster. This is to see the glory of God come into the nations that multitudes can be saved.

NR: Thank you so much Rob - An excellent place to conclude!

Imperfect Faith Can STILL Bring You Face to Face with Jesus!

I'm back! My apologies for the long break - I can no longer let life interfere with the power of the teaching of grace and glory! This sermon was preached by Rob Rufus

"Let’s open to 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. I am so excited about this message that I have just got to control myself. We are getting an increasing number of emails from around the world from people thanking us for our stand on grace and some emails you think are exaggerated. The gratitude has shifted from simply thanking me to thanking the people of City Church International. There are tens of thousands of people out there realising it is not simply about preaching a message but a message being embodied and incarnated in a people.

The price you pay to stand for a message of grace when there are anti-grace spirits – grace-hating spirits that want to discourage and confuse us and cause difficulties are realising that the price we are paying is producing life for the churches out there.

There is an apostolic thing Paul speaks about where he says; “We die daily that you may experience life”. We are experiencing life here in abundance but there is a price in our stand that is causing thousands of people around the world to take hope and come out from guilt, condemnation, law and bondage into freedom of grace in Christ Jesus. People are moving from a mixture of Old and New Covenant through the finished work of the Cross into the liberty of the blessing of the New Covenant. So they are getting revelation – a theological revolution. Churches and regions are being changed! Our 5 and a half years has literally impacted nations around the world. I can’t read all of them to you because they speak of details and I don’t want to reveal their names. Years of pressure, performance and guilt – and they all speak about coming into the freedom found in Jesus Christ! And they all mention you guys!

I want to talk about how imperfect faith – even imperfect faith – can bring you face to face with Jesus, into supernatural encounters with the Presence and power of God.

I want 2nd Corinthians to be a foundation to what I say;

2 Corinthians 1:2-4; “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort … that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”.

Within your sorrow is a seed that becomes the life and key that unlocks other people out of the pain of their problems.

If we don’t understand that the pain we go through and the sorrow we experience are to gain deeper intimacy with the comfort of God, that we would see our calling is to comfort people in their troubles by the comfort we receive in our troubles. If we don’t understand this then sooner or later we will allow our troubles and sorrow to define us. When we allow trouble to define us we become melancholic, morbid and very negative people.

The way to make the devil pay for the trouble he puts on you is to see your troubles as becoming a seed of grace that you can sow into someone else’s life.

Many people are within you that will benefit from the comfort you experience in your trouble and your understanding of the goodness of God to bring that comfort into their lives.

When a woman has a baby, she forgets the pain because inside that pain is a treasure that is given to someone else.

If we forget this then we think that pain, sorrow and difficulties are there to just to talk about all the time. That is like a mother getting off the birthing table and disregarding the baby there and going to the phone and calling all her family and friends and relatives and telling them about the terrible pain she has been through without once mentioning the baby! She has forgotten that the pain is not about trouble itself, but within the trouble is a seed of grace for someone else. In your trouble there is a life-saving seed of grace for someone else.

I have been counselled in the lowest moments of my life by two groups of people. Those who have ideals, never been through trouble or pain and have lots of Bible verses to quote and lots of inexperienced knowledge. When you have come out of their presence you feel worse! The other people bear the scars of pain, disappointment and difficulties and when they comfort you they sow seeds of grace into your life so you are freed up from self-pity, discouragement, deception that was trying to take you out in your disillusionment.

We are a people that don’t teach that if you have faith you will not go through trouble. Paul the apostle went through all kinds of troubles but he said; “These are working for me an exceeding weight of glory! Compared to the weight of glory they are building up for me – these troubles are light and momentary afflictions”. So we don’t say if you have faith, you won’t go through trouble. We are saying if you have faith you will find the God of all comfort in your trouble that will make you a humble, tender-hearted person that will sow grace into other people’s trouble.

Turn to Mark chapter 5. Let’s bow our heads in prayer – I can really sense the Presence of God here and the presence of angels. When Glenda was getting up to give the announcements I could feel the angelic presence in this room.

“Father we want to thank You for assigning angels to minister in this room – the ministers of winds and fire – we ask they would refresh the people of God. We want to thank You for Your greatest and most wonderful gift – Jesus Christ Your Son. Every spiritual blessing we have is in Christ Jesus. We thank You that every promise you have made to us are YES in Christ Jesus. Holy Spirit we invite You to come and reveal Jesus in this place, reveal Your glory – that we would know that abiding place of intimacy – that we in our sorrows would be able to discover the seed of grace to sow into other people’s lives here in Hong Kong and around the world”.

I want to read this passage in Mark 5 because it is my favourite passage for speaking on the transference of the anointing. But I don’t want to look at it from that point of view today, but a different point of view and I believe some gold nuggets will come out of this today that will bring you into a greater place of intimacy with Jesus Himself. I will draw your attention to certain phrases and words and will comment on them.

(v21); “21 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. 25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse”.

The Bible honours doctors as do we but here it didn’t work for this dear one.

27 “When she heard about Jesus”

That is the pivotal phrase for this message. She had never met Him or been in His meetings, she had just heard about Him.

“She came behind Him”.

Also very important – she didn’t come in front of Him to His face. She came behind Him.

“In the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him”.

She came behind Him but now was before Him.

34 And He said to her, “Daughter”.

That is identity.

“Your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

The Greek is literally; “Go into peace”. “Soterio” – completeness, salvation, protection. Go into peace – you have been made well. God wants to make your emotions, your soul, your spirit, your finances, your relationships well. Go into soterio “daughter”. Your faith has made you well!

35 "While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” 37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James".

Very pivotal – only Peter, James and John.

39 When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” 40 And they ridiculed Him.

What does Jesus do with people who ridicule His faith?

“But when He had put them all outside He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age”.

The lady who had the bleeding, had it for 12 years. The little girl was 12. It is not a coincidence.

“And they were overcome with great amazement. 43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat”. (chapter 6:56); “Wherever He entered into villages … they begged Him that they could touch the hem of His garment and as many touched Him were made well”.

Now in the previous chapter we saw thousands touching Him and none were healed or experienced what this one woman experienced. The seed of her 12 years of sorrow became a sowing of grace into multitudes of thousands of people that found a way to touch Him differently to the way they had touched Him before. God hasn’t caused any tragedy or trouble in your life – it is the devil behind that. He turns that sorrow into a seed of life that unlocks someone else out of the pain of their problems. She had never met Him or been in one of His meetings. Many who read the gospels (and I have thought this) if only we could have been on the earth when He walked it and could have been in His meetings and heard His gracious words from His mouth or seen His face as He spoke of the love of His Father and the Kingdom coming to earth! Oh if only I could have heard Jesus speak and been on the front row within touching distance!

This lady was in none of His meetings and had never met Him – only HEARD about Him! What could she have heard? Never anything about the Moses law concerning Him. John 1 says the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Leviticus 15 says any woman any woman with an issue of blood is forbidden from going into a public place. The sentence is immediate stoning and Jarius – the synagogue ruler – had authority to exercise that and he was right there next to Jesus. Leviticus says a woman going into a public place makes everywhere she goes unclean and everything she touches she makes unclean. But this woman touched Jesus in her unclean state and was healed! What did she hear about Jesus?

She would have heard that this rabbi was touching unclean people.

Lepers were being touched by Jesus and being healed. Under the law leprosy was considered unclean. Jesus touched lepers and laid His hands on lepers and they were immediately healed. Jesus went into the synagogue where a woman was bound over for 18 years with a demonic spirit and the synagogue rulers were teaching the law to her – and the law was telling her you are crippled because you failed the law. Jesus came in and called her a daughter of Abraham – because 430 years before the Law Abraham was a covenant of grace! He said; “You are a daughter of Abraham – you ought to be healed on the Sabbath day”. He laid His hands on her and she straightened up. She would have heard that Jesus laid His hands on a prostitute called Mary Magdalene and when Jesus laid His hands on Mary, the Bible says seven devils came out of her and she was set free from prostitution. She would have heard some marvellous things.

Now – when the crowd was touching Jesus, why weren’t they healed? Why weren’t they changed or benefited? They hadn’t heard about Jesus the way this woman had heard about Jesus. They would have heard He was a rabbi and was demanding you keep standards to earn and deserve.

But when they found out that an unclean woman actively breaking the Levitical law touched Him and was healed, the multitudes from that day began to touch Him in a different way – and you could say that the seed of her sorrow was a seed of grace that influenced thousands of people to get healed in the very next chapter!

The more people that touched Jesus differently, the more people will see that the seed of our sorrow is becoming a seed of grace to touch thousands of churches around the world and touch thousands of people in Hong Kong. It is very important that people hear about the true Jesus. A lot of people struggle to have faith for healing. I am not sure if I even understand faith anymore. Kathryn Kuhlman had a ministry that got far more people healed and some of the worst crippled people and blind people – thousands of them. She said;

“I don’t understand faith but I know my wonderful Jesus suddenly comes and fills the room and people get healed without me even praying for them!”. I don’t think it’s about faith for hearing as much as hearing about the true Jesus.

I believe this woman had imperfect faith – how do I know that? She came behind Him, not to the front of His face. Under the law you couldn’t see the face of God. Moses said; “God – show me Your glory!”. God said; “No man can see My face and live so I will hide you in the cleft of the rock and will walk by and you will see My hind parts”. She had imperfect faith – she came to His hind parts. She heard about Jesus and touched Him and the next minute she was healed, and the next minute He was calling her to His face. Through grace God in Christ came to reveal His face to humanity. Imperfect faith came to touch His hind parts like Moses. But once she was healed, she was called to His face and when she looked into His face the first thing she heard was “Daughter”. God said “Daughter”.

I also know something very special here – we must understand something. What we say about Jesus. People think I criticise everything that moves under the sun and some have called me a divisive man. Someone has to get passionate! Someone has to get stirred up and a righteous anger because multitudes of mesmerised, hypnotised Christians sit in pews having been sold a bill of lies Sunday after Sunday, century after century with arrears of doctrinal deception about God. We have got people saying that God makes you sick to make you more holy! People want to know why we don’t see more healings – we have got hundreds of years of the traditions of men that have deceived people into unbelief and have misrepresented Jesus. The devil is behind it! “Did God really say?”. I have done all the things wrong and have preached things wrong and have misrepresented God in my past.

But when I came to Hong Kong I was determined to faithfully reveal the New Covenant and the true nature of God where the people of God are in New Covenant and no longer under law and are in 100% grace and grace alone with no condemnation to those that are in Christ. I said I am going to do that God no matter how much I am mis-understood and I am going to hold my line".

Quickly go to Romans chapter 3:3-4. “Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true and every man a liar”. What is so important today is that we need to see there is a difference between facts and truth.

So many people in the church are believers in theory. But the reality is that the administration of their life is closer to a practical atheist. There is very little in these Christians lives that you have to say they are solving problems through faith. They are solving their problems by “what is” and are dealing with “what is” by “what is”. So they are multiplying their problems.

This creates so much controversy and pain and I wanted to deal with this so sensitively and I just don’t have the time. Let me say I am dealing with this from a sensitive heart.

The fact is that you may have sickness in your body. The truth is that by His stripes - you WERE healed. The fact is you may be in financial debt - the truth is that at the Cross He has ALREADY redeemed you from the curse of poverty that the prosperity of Abraham may come upon you. The fact is that you may have sinned and done something seriously wrong - you may have failed God - that is the fact. The truth is you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

There is coming a defining and dividing dispensation in our time of the people of God who chose to be wrapped up in the facts or be wrapped up in the truth. If you focus on the facts then you will chose the things that are to nullify the things that are. But if you focus on the truth then you will chose the things that are not to nullify the things that are. You will seek the covering presence of the cherubims and the glory to get into the Presence of the God who calls things that be not as though they were.

I want you to look in John chapter 8 very quickly. Any fact that does not line up with the truth of God’s Word is a fact waiting to be nullified by the things that are not. I want you to look quickly at John chapter 8. I want to show you that Jesus constantly spoke about the two worlds - the superior world of heaven and the world that is from below that is temporarily corrupted by satanic deception. Satan has a system of politics, economics and education of doing things and God has a heavenly system of doing things and He says - let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we begin to get into the world’s system, we begin to try to deal with problems of what is - by dealing with what is.

Jesus says here - in John chapter 8 and verse 23; “I am from above, I am not of this world”. If you go to verse 28, Jesus said; “I am the One I claim to be … but speak what the Father has taught Me … He has not left Me alone”. That is the key theme of what I want to talk about in the coming weeks. He has not left me alone. “The truth will set you free”. What will the truth set you free from? It will set you free from the facts. Are you wrapped up in the truth of God’s Word or are you wrapped up in the facts? Now we are not to deny the facts - we have to face the facts and recognise that they are there. But we are then to look on the things that are unseen and get wrapped up in the truth.

It is not a waste of time to be lying on the floor soaking under the manifest glory of God - it is not a waste of time to go into the secret place and let God love you and manifest His glory over you and saturate you so every cell in your body is vibrating with eternal life, divine virtue and divine quickening of your mortal body so that God can then do the things that are impossible to do.

I wonder has God really called us to have faith for miracles? Or has He called us to have faith to surrender our whole life to come under His hovering Presence? Because when you want to have faith for miracles, it puts all the pressure on you to have faith. If all you are saying is; “God I know I can have faith for Your manifest Presence” - then the God who does miracles does the miracle.

I can’t do the miracle and neither can you. What do we need to have faith for? His hovering Presence. God has to come out of the invisible and manifest tangibly. No miracle can happen unless the Presence of God manifests tangibly in reality so that your very physical body can feel His Presence. Go to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32 is God’s announcement of the superiority of the New Covenant. Most of you have heard me read this and quote it but I want to read it again. Verse 40. We no longer earn or deserve the blessing, Jesus Christ earned the blessings on our behalf and redeemed us from the curse of the law that the blessings may come on our lives through faith and faith alone. So Jeremiah 32:40 says; “I will never stop doing good to them”. How long is never? Does never ever run out? “I will rejoice …”. The Hebrew word means; “To turn and twist with deep emotions of ecstasy and joy in doing us good”. V41 again.

Let me put these two verses together - then the will of God is to NEVER stop doing you good! 24/7 every second He wants to do you good! How does He do us good? With rejoicing! So if He never wants to stop doing you good then it means that He never wants to stop dancing with deep emotions and twists and turns and ecstasy in doing you good. The greatest fun God gets - is doing you good!

Why do so few Christians feel a consciousness that the Creator is not remote and a distant deity but He is a very engaged Being that is literally dancing over me and you with ecstasy and deep feelings of wanting to do us good and never will stop doing us good? How come that is not reflected in the life of the church?

I think it was when Jesus said - your traditions have nullified the Word of God. I don’t think people believe this. I don’t think people have the faith to surrender to the covering Presence of the God that calls the things that be not as though they were. I think people have got caught up in rituals and religion and ceremonies. Religious principles and protocol - but have we got caught up in revelation and eternal intuition and insight into this God dancing over you all the time? We have been told that when God manifests over us it is a sovereign initiative and there is nothing you can do about it and He will just come. Now the gifts of the Spirit operate as the Spirit wills but I am not talking about the gifts here today. Jeremiah 32 is not God talking about the gifts - it is God talking about Himself dancing over you all the time!

Some of you have heard my account of when I went to Brighton two years ago and I was invited to be the main speaker at a conference for about 5000 leaders. The weekend before the conference Terry Virgo invited me to come to the church he is based at that he has planted - it is quite a large church - and minister Sunday morning and Sunday night. So I preached Sunday morning and came back Sunday night and it was packed out. People had come from all over and they had brought lots of sick people and I preached again in the evening but realised I had to pace myself because I had to preach seven times in the week to thousands of people. At the end of the evening service I thought I had to get out of the door and then saw this long queue lining up and the first one had crippled hips and I just knew that it was not going to happen. I couldn’t do it. Someone said “Will you come over?” and as I am walking over I suddenly felt over my physical body, my head and everywhere the dancing God. He was wanting to rejoice over doing me good and anyone that got into my radius.

Any time you watch a DVD of an evangelist or a preacher and see someone bringing them out of the wheelchair with boldness and no lack of confidence - anytime you see that, don’t think that is their natural temperament. They are under something. I am tired of ministering to broken lives if I am not under something. It is just flesh and religion. “Come out in Jesus Name!”. “I am not coming out”.

As I got closer I could just feel the intensifying dancing of a God who just wanted to do me good and anyone around me - this God of perfect love. I walked up to the first lady and I said; “Lady what do you need?”. That’s all I did. I didn’t put my hands on her or pray and I felt this all around me. She started to describe her symptoms and about 30 seconds into her describing the symptoms (I had said nothing - just fixed my eyes on her) she started shaking. I hadn’t prayed for her, hadn’t said “In the Name of Jesus” or put my hands on her and she started shaking and vibrating and then she falls over! I just was standing there listening to the symptoms. A minute or two later she got up and her hips were totally straight. I said “Next!”. 20 people - about 8 out of 10 - the exact same thing happened. I never prayed for them - it was effortless! I didn’t have to speak! While giving me their symptoms they were healed!

I think that is closer to the Jesus ministry than what I see. Mark chapter 1 He walked into the temple and a demonised man started screaming. “Aaagh why have You come before our time?”. He hadn’t preached yet! Shut up - and come out. They marvelled at His authority.

In Eastbourne in southern England quite recently I went to speak at a conference there with Glenda and Millie was there. On the last night I was tired. The pastor came and in the large hall there was a bunch of people there who had the worst crippling conditions I had seen. I know if you are trying to get cripples healed and that thing is not over you - it is shocking. You are trying to pretend you know what you are doing but you don’t have a hope of getting them healed! You can go through the religious formulas and pretend something has happened but everyone with the know-how knows that nothing is happening. It is almost disgusting and discrediting the real ministry of Jesus!

So I walk over there and as I get closer the dancing God comes over me. Suddenly I am not Clarke Kent - I am now Superman. But it is not me! As I am walking it is getting stronger and stronger and I see this woman who is crippled and as I get closer and closer the demons start screaming; “Aaagh leave us! Leave us!”. Literally! And they are out. They are gone. She topples over and gets up healed. Everyone I step towards are healed. Many of you saw the DVD I brought back of dozens of people. One lady was so crippled she couldn’t pick up her child - and her husband had to leave his career to look after her children full time. She went down under the power and the next morning she came dancing into church.

How many of you think this is the love of God - how many of you think it is shocking and disgusting that we do not see more of these things?

Because of the traditions of men! Let me tell you honestly and vulnerably - I have been doing this for 30 years. I want to tell you what I have just described today has only happened to me maybe about 100 times. I have daily anointing! I am not talking about anointing here or the gifts of the Spirit but God coming. Actually He is not coming - He is always there. But why isn’t He always manifested? He said I will never stop doing you good - I will rejoice and dwell to do you good! If I can come under the dancing God all the time then maybe you and me can start approximating the promise of John 14:12; “Anyone who believes in Me .. And even greater works”. Acts 10:38 said that God anointed Jesus with power and He went about doing good and healing ALL. If Jesus could go about any time of day, any second if anyone touched Him in the crowd, anyone that asked for healing, He could give healing on the spot!

I suspect that Jesus walked under the glory Presence of the Father all the time! The religious world has told me that any time He comes and does that it is just a sovereign mood of God. I think you and I have got something to do. I am now convinced that the will of the Father by the witness of the Spirit in my heart - the inheritance of every person that says Jesus is my Lord are meant to walk for most of our time under the manifest Presence.

I have said before that you wouldn’t be able to get to sleep it is so powerful. If you have never experienced this I wish I could put it on you today because you can never describe it - you don’t know what it is like to walk up to crippled people without that and know the fear that comes over you. The terror of knowing you are going to disappoint them. You have no idea what that is like if you havent done it. Neither do you have any idea what it is like when you are moving towards them and He comes over you - there is NO fear just utter, reckless boldness! You just know that nothing can get in the way, just an invincible sense of God over you.


People have watched people with that power over them and when they don’t have that power have tried to copy as a formula and have tried to pull people out of wheelchairs and then they just fall on the ground. When you are under that power you do things that you would never do. You are not copying. You are not mimicking someone else under the power - just because God is on you! Maybe it will lift slightly in intensity every now and again so you can relax a bit but I believe it should be there on call so quick! Imagine how your mortal body would be renewed in your youth with resurrection life. The grey hair turned dark again! Cellular regeneration! Rob how do you live in that all the time? You want to know? There are people who lecture in Harvard on how to run a business who have never run a business. You have theology professors teaching on the gifts of the Spirit in seminaries who have never moved in the gifts of the Spirit.

You cannot give away what you don’t have.

I don’t want people giving me information on the Kingdom - I am sick and tired of Bible information. I know the Bible pretty much well from back to front - but my biggest need right now is to learn from someone who has got the goods. It is a sign of hunger that you say you want to know - but to tell you the truth, I don’t really know. I have never met a person who does know. Except One. This is what I suspect He is whispering to me (and I am just giving you my suspicion). Two words; “Total surrender to the Holy Spirit”. Not less of me and more of you. NONE of me and ALL of you! Every part of my life, everything that I am - whatever you want me to do and give up - everything I surrender. I want to be branded by your jealous love and possessed by your jealous love. Rob how do you surrender?

How do you come to that place of surrender? I don’t know but this is what I suspect - you have to become so disillusioned with your failures to get the sick healed and so horrified at the lack of knowledge of the revelation of God chosing the things that be not to nullify the things that are and so horrified with your failure. You have to come to the end of your reputation in the eyes of men and so utterly embarrassed. I think you have to go through pain and try to get the sick healed and misunderstood and accused by those who didn’t get healed that it was your fault and you are a failure. And live with the rejection and misunderstanding. You have to live with the agony and lay on your face at night and say I am a failure in so many areas of supernatural ministry.

Dear Jesus all I have left is my love for You and if you can take that and take something that is not and nullify the things that are then I offer my body and soul and spirit as a living sacrifice that something I have only seen 100 times will become something that happens all the time. That the millions in Hong Kong do not need to be deprived of a church that has fully surrendered. I know not everyone wants to surrender like that. The vast majority of Christians are more caught up in the things that are and more caught up in their careers.

I can't describe to people the pain and rejection I have walked through in the last few months - the rejection involving thousands of people, people we have known for 25 years, the lies and cold shoulders. That could make you paranoid and reactionary and bitter or it can backfire on the devil and precipitate in you a face on the ground, a laid down lover that surrenders all. I live with eternity with nothing and surrender. We have to be emptied of every fleshly delusional arrogance and pride and all controversy against God and come to trust Him. When you sin and make mistakes and lose your temper, you look to God who chooses the things that are not to nullify the things that are. His grace to me is abounding - He will never reject me or disapprove of me - He is for me! What can be against me? He so sees you as precious that He doesn’t want you to have any idols or distractions - He wants you because you are such a jewel and precious. He wants you completely! And we don’t!

We think we have surrendered all but we have had hostility and defences and complaints and pride and self-promotion against Him! But pain takes that away. It either makes you bitter or makes you better. Every time Satan comes, he comes to make you bitter. If you chose to use the things that are to make the things that are then you are going to get bitter. But if you get revelation to use the things that are not and get into the Presence of the Living God who uses the things that be not as though they are then this good God will manifest His dancing over you. And when you walk through a place that place will be benefited because you were there. People in your radius will feel the unseen world touching you.

Close your eyes - He is here now.

Kathryn Kuhlman used to say “God isn’t looking for golden vessels or silver vessels - but yielded vessels”.

The Power of the Authoratative Command for Healing - Part 2

This amazing sermon was preached by Rob at City Church on Sunday 17th September 2006. I did Part 1 a while back and it was such profound revelation to me as to how we can much more effectively pray for the sick. The transcript of Part 1 is here.

"Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3. This is our eighth teaching on the series - "God's willingness to heal". If you have missed it, it really is worth getting the series from the beginning. This is our second teaching on; "The Power of the Authoratative Command". A lot of positive feedback from people saying how much they learnt from last weeks teaching and how faith rose in their hearts.

I want to now talk about the dynamics behind the authoratative command. For those who weren't here, let me simply say this in 20 seconds. In the New Testament, in the Book of Acts and in the Gospels you see Jesus very seldom asking the Father to heal people. The same with the Book of Acts. What they did most of the time was to command healing to come and sickness to go. They commanded cripples to get up and walk. They commanded blind eyes to open, deaf ears to open and it was done by the authoratative command. We went into detail and we looked at Scripture to substantiate that.

This morning I want to talk about what is the dynamic behind that authoratative command. What can we do in our own hearts in order to nuture the outflow of the authoratative command? I learnt about the authoratative command in 1981 not in a Bible school or by reading a book or by some mentor. I learnt really by the Holy Spirit who helped me and I want to tell you this - the only way you are going to grow in effective ministry to the sick is that you have got to start! You learn on the job! The trouble with Bible schools is that they take people away from the life of the local church and then professors who have never planted local churches themselves - professors that have never prayed for the sick or raised the dead or have seen blind eyes opened or cripples walk - they teach people the academic principles and information about these things but have never done it themselves! There are professors at Harvard University who have never started a business but who teach people on how to start a business! These are just concepts! But the Hebrew model of life - the Christian model of life and the Kingdom of heaven model is about God-encounters and teaching out of experience and that is the model we need!

That is why I say don't wait to go away to Bible college and get all the Bible information dumped on you and then you come out of there puffed up with a lot of Bible knowledge but it is all academic and not experiential. I have to say which Bible college did Peter, James and John go to? They raised the dead! Where did the 12 disciples go to? They went to the college of the Holy Spirit! They learned by making mistakes!

If you learn to fail forward then you are going to grow! But if you are a person that is so perfectionist you will be frightened of making mistakes. And he that doesn't make mistakes - makes nothing!

It is impossible to learn how to do this except by making mistakes. I had to pray for a lot of blind eyes and rebuke a lot of blindness before I saw blind eyes opening. Some people will never see blind eyes opening because they never try to do it - once! You will learn while you are doing it! So in 1981 as a young man in the ministry, there was a young lady in our church called Dawn. She came to Glenda and I and said; "The doctors have just diagnosed me with breast cancer. I have got a tumour the size of a pigeons egg and they want to remove it in 3 weeks time - emergancy surgery". And she was going to lose her breast. So we said come on Sunday morning where there is a corporate anointing and we will pray for you! We were very new in this and had just started out. All our background upto then had not prepared us - the church we were a part of did not pray for the sick. They were just very conservative about it. We hadn't been mentored in this. But for 3 days I had been listening to Kenneth Hagin on faith and so I had come back armed with 3 days of experience.

I want to say to you that you may think you don't know the Bible well enough. Rob really knows it well. There is no one on the planet that knows the Bible perfectly! Bonnie is doing a theology correspondance degree at the moment and she is asking me some very testing questions! I am amazed at how much I don't know! But it doesn't intimidate me!

Because it is not how much of the Bible you know - it is how many God encounters you have had in portions of Scripture!

I know people that know the Bible from back to front but do not have a supernatural manifestation going on in their lives! The Pharisees and Sadducees knew the Bible! Jesus said "You search the Scriptures but they speak of Me! Here I am!". Knowledge of the Bible can just puff you up! Now it is important to know the Word of God. But if you just listen to the Word of God on Sunday morning, get the CDS, look at your notes during the week, turn up on Thursday nights where we don't do lectures on praying - we get God encounters where people learn how to petition, the prayer of faith, supernatural warfare - not by lecture but by Hebrew style of doing it! Doing it! I have just had a fellow elder from South Africa who planted the church with me in 1979 and he is an older man than me - he turned 70 yesterday. I gave him a call and he said "I just so wanted you to be in South Africa so I could publicly honour you for being my father and mentor in the faith". I was going; "Hold on now - I am 51 and you are 70!".

He said; "It's got nothing to do with age! Fathering in natural secular society is biological fathering. In the kingdom you can be younger and father someone and you did it because you invited me to come and do things. And I learnt more by doing things with you than by sitting in a lecture hall!". So this church is only 2 years old and we have got people who can pray now better than most Christians I have met. They have learned "doing"! That's why I get people out to pray for the sick because I want them to learn how to pray for the sick rather than spectate the guru doing it. That's why you have got churches around the world with a big man at the front or a woman who can do miracles and in the congregation you have got people who don't have a clue. That is not the Kingdom of heaven. All you have to do is be here on a Sunday morning. We teach the Word and you learn by God encounters experientially under the anointing - you grow in the understand of grace, faith, kingdom, godly government, how to run your home, management, family life in the kingdom. You are learning that week by week and over several years when you look back you will have grown in a whole lot of stuff!

Or you can go somewhere where there is no life and spend in an academic world with professors who have never "done the stuff" and come out armed with a whole lot of academic understanding and in my opinion that is the WORST thing that could have ever happened to the church that is led by people that have learned the ministry in an academic world of non-practice of the supernatural.

That is why they are academic and they have equipped millions of people to be like them - academics! Cerebral knowledge of doctrine and theology! And knowledge just puffs up.

"Rob so you are saying Bible schools are wrong?". Personally I think they are wrong! I can't see them in Scripture! Where did they learn their theology in the Book of Acts? They learnt it on the job! The apostles trained, taught and equipped! There are certain prophetic schools that are temporary where you go for a 2 or 3 month period but anything that takes you out of the life of a local church is wrong! The Bible has got nothing to teach about individual piety. Some Christians say; "I don't want to worship God in a local church - I just want to go and worship God on a mountain all by myself". They are talking about individual piety and you ask them; "Do you believe the Bible?". Well they are lying! Because the Bible says "Encourage one another!". The Bible says "Forgive one another - serve another!". How do you do that unless you are in a community of believers where you have got to work out your piety through relationships that get difficult at times. You can live in a fools paradise of how spiritual you are - you can be an expert in how to raise kids and be an expert - until you HAVE kids!

You can teach people on relationships and how to work out relational conflict from not being part of a local church until you become part of a local church and realise to your shock that other people are just as imperfect as you are. So I cannot see in the New Testament anywhere where they have Bible schools. You know what they did? They raised the dead, got cripples walking and turned the world upside down because they moved in the supernatural.

Under the Old Covenant there were prophetic schools. I would prefer to see prophets and apostles come to a local church and stay there for a few months and equip and train that local church. You take a few people out of a local church to go to a prophetic school and they come back all frustrated because everyone else hasn't caught it and they have got it! I think the New Testament does not have prophetic schools - the Old Covenant did. I am not saying people should not go to a prophetic conference for a while but I think in Hong Kong, that Hong Kong Christians are addicted to conferences and seminars. I have found that people who run after conferences and seminars and run after the latest en-vogue speaker coming to town are the most rebellious when it comes to local church and are the most independent and unhappy people often living under witchcraft because they do not have proper grace government of a local church where there are gates put in there by God.

People are not growing and advancing unless they are part of a grace government of a local church.

So Dawn came to us with a pigeon egg tumour. I had never dealt with a woman who unless God healed her could lose her breast and lose her life through cancer! So she came up on the Sunday morning and Glenda and I laid hands on her. I laid hands on her head! And we prayed "Father would You please heal Dawn in the Name of Jesus?". That week she phoned and said that the lump was still there and nothing had changed and I could hear the panic in her voice. I thought "Oh God what's happened? When you pray for the sick they are meant to be healed!". So I said "Come back next week Dawn!". Jesus prayed for someone twice! So she came back the next week and we prayed "Father heal Dawn! Heal her of this cancer! Heal her of this lump so she doesn't have to have it operated on! In Jesus Name!". The next week Dawn phones us in real panic now and says she only has a few days left and then needs surgery - her breast needs to be cut off. We are going "God what's going on!?". So I said; "Dawn please come and we will pray for you and He doesn't heal you then we will at least pray that He will guide the surgeons hands". If you are a woman and are going to lose a breast, that is big in terms of their sense of value and dignity or beauty - that is very serious psychologically. So she comes the next week and is due to have the operation in a few days.

So we lay hands on her and I am about to say; "Father please would You heal Dawn". But just before I pray I feel the Holy Spirit rise up in my spirit and He says; "Don't pray for Dawn! Command the spirit that is within that tumour and keeping that tumour alive! Command that force life to go and curse what is in that tumour and demand that the tumour shrivel up and die! Don't pray for her!". And before I knew what I was doing, I said; "I CURSE this tumour!". No asking! "I CURSE this tumour and I demand that the very life that is within this tumour that is demonic and it leave right now and I command that it vanish and disappear in Jesus Name!". That was the first time I had prayed a prayer like that! The second I prayed it - she got smacked through the air under the power of God.

So we finished the service and went home and the next Monday morning very early the phone rings. Picked it up and I answered and I couldn't make any sense because all I could hear was hysterical joy. "AGGGGHHHH!!". I thought it was Cantonese! She had her sister there and they were screaming and I thought "Oh no she is dying!". So I said; "Now Dawn calm down - what's happening?". And she said; "It's gone! It's gone! We have checked it! It's gone! It's totally disappeared!". And I am going; "It has?! It has!?". Now I am getting hysterical! So she went to the doctor and got it checked out and all surgery was not necessary and absolutely unnecessary!

Since then I have COMMANDED sickness to go and COMMANDED demons to go and seen greater increase of the miraculous!

Now when eagles make love - and have intimacy for conception they don't do it in the nest. They don't do it in the Bible school. They literally fly 5,000 feet into the air and lock their talons and then freefall towards the earth and somewhere between heaven and earth conception takes place! And in this meeting right now the Holy Spirit is calling us to lock in with Him and be raised up into the heights of revelation and we will conceive an increase of the supernatural in our lives. A greater authority to deal with the opposition and the miserable things that try to rob us of the quality of our lives and then they will help us to get people free from cancer, blindness, cripple-ness, pain in their backs!

Do you know that the word "conception" comes from the word "concept"? That the wrong concepts can cause a problem with conception! In fact you get the word "contraception" from the word "concepts". Wrong concepts can cause contraception to the conception of the miraculous. Wrong concepts about God! If you think God is just a mean angry Judge and if you think He doesn't love you or if you sin and mess up then God says; "That's it - I will use someone else". Those kinds of concepts will cause contraception to conceiving the supernatural of God in your heart!

In the Old Covenant the glory of God was hidden behind a veil and when Jesus died on the Cross, all your sins - past, present and future - were blotted out and God is not ever going to see sin in your life again! He has declared you righteous as a gift! You stand before Him with the very obedience of Jesus Christ being credited to your account as a free gift! Isn't it amazing that we got saved we understood that we couldn't deserve it or earn it and there was nothing we could do to get it. It was all grace! We received it as all grace and then from then on we tried to earn it and deserve everything else that God gives us. If you could not earn or deserve the greatest gift which is the righteousness of God then you can't earn anything else - it is ALL grace! A wrong concept of law and grace will stop conception like a spiritual contraception!

When Jesus said "It is finished!" - the veil in the Temple was split from top to bottom so that the Presence of God could come out to the people of faith! Now in the New Covenant it talks about a veil too! In 2 Corinthians 3. It speaks of a veil over the mind. What is that? It is having wrong concepts in your head about God, His Word and His grace. God has to strip the veil off our minds by enabling our minds to rid us of the conceptions or concepts that religion has brainwashed the church with for nearly 1,500 years so we can go back to where the church was in the book of Acts. Full of miracles, signs, wonders with no hierarchies, popes, archdeacons but humility and servant-hearted friends standing together and serving God.

When Jesus spat in His hand and put it onto the man's eyes and the man's eyes were opened to a new dimension of seeing - there are two places in a man's body where his DNA is most strongly represented or carried. That's in his saliva and in his sperm. There is a spiritual saliva from heaven that God wants to rub onto our eyes so that we can enter into a new dimension of seeing through concepts that have been working as contraception against us conceiving the supernatural of God! When we talk about this language; "Bridegroom" and "Bride" - please don't misunderstand that we are talking about physical sex between us and Jesus. That is not what Adam is saying or what I am saying. We are talking about the symbolism that the Scripture uses of the Bride of Christ and Jesus as the heavenly Bridegroom. Let me say this - in the book of Revelation and in chapter 17 there are two women identified in that chapter. There is what is called the harlot/whore of Babylon and the Bride of Christ. Now the harlot/whore of Babylon represents churchgoers who just want to go to church and be religious and have a gratifying religious experience but don't want conception. They don't want the responsibility of being impregnated. They are the harlot/whore - give me that good religion and positive experience! "I am not coming to church unless people make me feel good and treat me just like I want!". Indulgant gratification - that's the harlot/whore posturing and posing to be the Bride.

But the Bride of Christ - as much as the bride wants intimacy and gratification and enjoyment of her heavenly Bridegroom - she wants to conceive His DNA! She wants to conceive and reproduce His miracles! That is the difference!

You will see that difference between sheep and goats. God right now in the world - hear me now - I tell you the truth under the Spirit - God is seperating sheep nations and those that are goat nations. Goats represent those that are rebellious. He is seperating sheep Christians from goat Christians and is declaring and identifying those are goat churches and those that are sheep churches. He is taking goats out of sheep churches and sheep out of goat churches. He is bringing sheep from goat churches to sheep churches and taking goat churches out of sheep churches and relocating them to goat churches! You mark my words! There is a realignment happening in the Body of Christ worldwide.

The 11th September 2006 - last Monday - the prophetic anointing increased in the earth and prophets will speak much more confidently now. And pastor/teachers that have dominated the church in a pastor/teacher culture are going to have to move aside so the apostolic and prophetic can once again in signs and wonders - and not in academics! We have had too many apostles just teach and teach. New Testament apostles came in signs and wonders and raised the dead! No one should ever call themselves an apostle again from last Monday unless they are moving in the miraculous supernatural signs and wonders. No one who really is an apostle should even pronounce themselves as one - I know Paul says "Paul, called to be an apostle". But he said it as a calling. He didn't pronounce himself and neither did he call "that one and that one" and voted himself to announcing who is an apostle and who isn't! A lot of books that have been written on apostolic ministry by sincere people - but it may be better that they are burnt now and we just go and read the Bible and see what apostles are.

From the 11th Septemer - Monday - there is a seperation from pretenders to authenticity. Counterfeit Christians to the genuine. Contraception Christians to conceiving Christians. 11th September - I woke up on that morning which was when the Twin Towers came down five years ago and I just felt instantly inside my spirit that I knew that I knew. I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew that some things are just the Kingdom on the inside of us! I believe in science but if you reduce the Kingdom down to what science alone can show in a laboratory - science is a product of the invisible realm of God. The prophets have been so complexed about their subjectivity and the teachers that have been so objective teaching line upon line principles and have been so certain - so the prophets have begun to back off! But they need to stand up! Don't tell people you are a prophet or an apostle and definately don't put it as your title! Just stand up in confidence and say; "The word of the Lord is ... He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying".

The fruit is in the eating! God encounters! Real signs and wonders of fulfillment! Prophets have almost disappeared off the scene of the church for the last 10 years because of the moral collapse of some major prophets and because the church readily pushed them aside and made them have prophets conferences which a few go out from the church to get all excited about and come back to a church dominated by pastor/teachers. The pastors and teachers are important but they need to come in humility and bring teaching and revelation and teachers need to step up and start praying for the sick and stop hiding behind their theology! Paul was the greatest theologian this world has ever seen apart from Jesus! But he raised the dead and opened blind eyes and got cripples walking! You don't have to fight this or get intense about it because God is going to do it anyway! You just have to say; "Lord take the veil away from my eyes and my mind - put Your spiritual saliva on my mind - I want to have a new dimension of seeing". Prophets will say on that day a new release came!

If the Holy Spirit had not put spiritual saliva on my eyes as I stood in front of Dawn for the third time and helped me to have a new dimension of seeing - that concept in my mind that you have got to pray for the sick would have caused a contraception so that her miracle could not have been conceived and at least she would have lost a breast. At worst that cancer would have taken her life. So what I am saying is - this isn't playing church anymore! It's not about coming to church and hearing a little sermon from the guru or the vicar! It is "Lord I want the veil off my mind!".

I want you to look at Ephesians 3. I laid that as a foundation and I could almost stop where I am. (v20); "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine according to His power that is at work". The Bible has just said that God is able to do immeasurably more than our greatest prayer meetings could ask or think or imagine according to the power that is at work within US! Not at work just within a prophet or an apostle! But is at work within US! The Church! US! The Bible is saying that this power that can do immeasurably more than we can ask is not going to work from heaven. There is a power at work within us that is going to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine!

Some of you heard me tell the story of a man who took a day off sitting by the lakeside and watching a man fish. Every time a man caught a beautiful fish and he would get it up on the bank and measure it and shake his head and throw this beautiful fish back. And he did that with every fish after measuring it with a six centimeter stick. Finally he caught an emaciated little fish and got his stick out and measured this small fish and he was so happy and put the fish in his bag and the stick in his bag and put his hat on and started to go home. The man watching couldn't take it anymore and ran up and said; "Excuse me sir - why did you throw all those beautiful fish back after measuring them with that six cm stick?". The man said; "It's very simple. At home I have only got a six cm frying pan". Because of wrong concepts Christians sit while the beauty of the New Covenant is taught and take their concepts or six cm measuring sticks and measure the promises. Measure up what they are hearing under the anointing and say; "It doesn't fit into my concept". And they don't even know they are dismissing it! "Count me out God!". Because concepts are contraceptives to the supernatural. Hong Kong is going directly to hell. There are only a few thousand born again people here. There is seven million in this city of which most worship some style of idol. It is going to hell unless the church gets free from it's six cm measuring stick and wrong concepts.

Unless Hong Kong idol worshipping people see the dead raised, the blind eyes opened, the deaf ears hear, cripples, paralysed and lame walking in the Name of Jesus they are not by the millions going to believe!

So what we are talking about is not just a nice little church morning! God has been looking for decades for a church that will believe this stuff and He will dump His glory in them! How do we break the six cm stick? Very simple - by the power of revelation! Go back to (v14). Let's find out how to break that stick! "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from His family in heaven and on earth derives it's name. I pray that out of His glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power by His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith and I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power with all the members of all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that goes beyond knowledge - that you may be filled to all the measure of all the fullness of God". Not just for the early church! "Throughout all generations for ever and ever!".

So you say; "Rob are you saying that an increase of the power within us is linked to a revelation of how much God loves us?". That is EXACTLY what the Scripture is saying! It says height, length, width and breadth of the love of God! A four-dimensional understanding of God's love! Why does he use all four? Hebrew people understood what a cube was! They understood that a cube represented perfection in all dimension! When God told Moses how to build the Holy of Holies He gave him the exact dimensions. 10 metres by 10 metres by 10 metres. When Solomon built the Temple he built it as a cube but expanded it to 20 metres height length and depth. The New Jerusalem in Revelation is 200, 000 km in a perfect cube! What does it represent? It means that the love of Christ is not short in one area towards you. It is a PERFECT cube - a full perfect total love towards you! In other words in some area in your life you are more holy and have got success in that area - you are tempted to believe that in that area God's love for you is a bit longer but in that area where you are still struggling with sin or failure or problems - in that area God's love is a bit shorter. What Paul is saying by revelation is that the love of God for you has to surpass knowledge and you have to get revelation that He has a perfect cube of love for you. He loves you in all four dimensions and His love for you is not short in one area towards you! He loves you unconditionally!

Romans 5 says that while you were yet a sinner and a rebel in your mind against God, God demonstrated His love for you in that He died for you. In John 17 Jesus said that the Father loves US the SAME way He loves Jesus! That is the end of people saying that He loved Jesus because Jesus was so perfect and so holy. No - He loves us! With the same perfection and it is every second of every moment of every hour of every week of every month of every decade! And when the veil of the wrong concept of God's love is removed from your mind and you go into that which surpasses knowledge and the power reveals to your heart together with all the believers by the power of the Spirit the height, length, breadth and depth of the love of Christ then you and I are filled to all the fullness of the measure of God on the inside of us - that God is able to do exceedingly above what we are able - to do - not that is at work in heaven! But that is at work within us! Out of that internal reality we speak healing commands and it manifests in external reality! If the power within us is condemnation, insecurity, inferiority complexes and condemnation, feelings of guilt - then what we will speak on the inside will come out on our external reality.

When we get a revelation of this perfect love of God for us - no matter if your father or someone else abused you - if you get a revelation that THIS father loves you then that which comes into your inner being is the measure of all the fullness of who God is! He was writen to the Ephesian church and they were saved, justified, baptised in the Spirit and spoke in tongues! He is speaking about something way beyond that!

That is why Jesus could stand up against a storm and say "Peace - be still!". Because storm out there was no match for the peace that was in here. His internal reality came out through words and then everything - cancer, cripples - has to surrender to the internal reality that is in the Church!

And ALL these concepts can be taken away - the veil - and the church walks in New Testament freedom and New Testament life.

If you read the New Testament with an Old Testament veil over your mind you will be in more bondage than if you just stayed under the Old Covenant! I have heard people say this and I did it myself years ago - that if they tithe under law how much more shall we do under grace. If you go a bit further then everything you see in the New Testament that looks like a command; "Avoid evil, don't do this, don't do that" - and the New Testament does talk like that - then you are talking on more law than you could ever imagine! The New Testament is meant to be spirit and life and the grace of God! You cannot mimic Christ's behaviour in the abscence of eternal encounters of the love of God and the grace of God!

These days are so exciting!

God's Covenant of Increased Blessing - Part 1

I am carrying on my wonderful exploring of the City Church International archives and suddenly realised that I haven't transcribed a sermon from 2005 yet. So here is the first!


Preached on Sunday 6th March 2005.


"The prophetic is really important isn't it? Someone said "Would it happen if someone didn't prophesy?". Well - I don't think so! I think the prophetic releases that creative word that brings it into reality. So we need to prophesy over one another! The Bible says that we can all prophesy. There is not some with the gift of prophecy and others don't have the gift. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 14 that we can all prophesy! We are not all prophets! But we are all priests of God and all priests of God can prophesy. The gift of prophecy is different to the office of the prophet. Prophecy encourages and exhorts and comforts and builds up so prophecy is really powerful.

Please open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1. How many of you are going to make a date with God this week and spend some time alone with the Lord and refresh yourselves? It is so important you know! The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles! They renew their strength if they wait upon God. We all need to break free from the gravitational pull of this earth. Some people say that you are so spiritually minded that you are no earthly good.


Some people are so earthly minded that they don't know how to touch heaven. We need to rise up with wings like eagles and move into the heights in God. I had some issues this week and they looked so burdensome and so impossible and so difficult that I didn't know how I was going to cope! So I ran up into the mountains to pray and when you get up there you are so tired that you cannot pray anymore! But in that time with God He began to address my heart and refresh me and release me from things and as I waited on Him mounting up with wings like eagles and it is amazing on the heights with God how your problems DIMINISH the HIGHER you get with God!

And God is magnified! God is so big that He cannot go anywhere because He is everywhere! God doesn't increase but we magnify the Lord. In other words He becomes increasingly bigger in our understanding as we go up to those heights. I remember that wonderful message that Ern Baxter preached one day on the eagles. And he came out with this little song on the eagles and I tell you what it is so corny and cheesy but there is an anointing on it! It goes something like this;

"Rise into the sunlight rays - using both your wings of prayer and praise, rise like eagles higher in the sky. Things will look so different when you fly!".

Maybe I should have done the junior church today! I want to talk about "God's Covenant of Increased Blessing for our Lives". This is not a prosperity cult - we don't focus on prosperity but we focus on Jesus! We don't focus on healing - we focus on the Healer! We don't focus on anything but Jesus. So we are going to look at the covenant that God cut with His Son Jesus Christ to increase the blessing on our lives. Satan is a poverty spirit. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 28 that God will bless our coming in and our going out. Our barns and livestock and credit accounts. Be the head and not the tail. Those who rise against us will flee in seven different directions. He goes on and on and on! You will lend to many but borrow from none! The opening verse says that if you will obey Me and do all My commands then these blessings will come on you and OVERTAKE you! You can't even run away from them! Then He goes on and says if you don't keep these commands and laws then all these curses will come upon you and it is sickness and disease and poverty. And He said because you did not serve Me with joy in the times of prosperity then so you will wear a yoke of poverty.

So part of the curse of the law is poverty but Christians today take oaths of poverty and think that is holy and not knowing it is part of the curse of the law! People think it is acceptable to live in defeat - no it is part of the curse! The blessing is victory and our enemies fleeing in seven different directions!

The one stumbling block for many Christians is; "If you keep all My commands and laws". So they think they must earn it and if they keep all the laws then they will earn the blessings. But Galatians 3:15 says; "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being cursed in our place that the blessings of Abraham can come on the Gentiles by faith". This is not earning it - this is by faith! This is a better covenant with superior Mediator based on better promises! The covenant of grace says you receive the promises by faith in the finished work of the Cross and not by you trying to keep the law. If you try and keep the law then you will come under curse because if you don't keep it perfectly then you will come under curse! You break it in one area and you come under curse! But if you step out of law keeping and into faith and the finished work of the Cross then the blessings will come on you and overtake you!

Faith is based primarily not on a knowledge of God's ABILITY but on a knowledge of God's WILL. Even the devil knows God is able! It doesn't take great faith to know that the One who created the heavens and the earth is able to do awesome things! Faith is based on a revelation of God's willingness.

If I was a multi-billionaire and I said to everyone of you that I am able to give each of you one hundred million pounds British! There is no basis of faith for you - just because I am able doesn't mean I am willing! The question Christians are asking is - is He willing to do this for me? If I said I am a multi-billionaire and I am able to give each one of you a hundred million pounds but today I am only willing to give three of you it - you couldn't have any great faith! You could only hope that you are one of the lucky ones! Hope will never get your prayers answered! So many Christians say "I am hoping so!" - well forget it, nothing is going to happen in your life!


Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the substance of things hoped for". Without faith your hope has got no substance to it! It is just empty wishful thinking and weak human optimism! But with faith that comes by revelation of the will of God that faith will add substance to your hope and your hope will be made manifest with the substance of your faith! So if I told you I was a multi-billionaire and I was able to give each of you a hundred million pounds but I am also WILLING and here is an attorney and here is a document and I am able and willing! Then you would jump up with substance in your hope because you know that my will is to give you one hundred million pounds!

It is guaranteed! Now your hope has got substance to it which is the basis of your faith! Without a knowledge of God's will there is no basis for faith - there is just empty hope. Now we will look at the Word of God because the Bible says in Romans 10:17 that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". So when you know what God's will is for you then you know that you can put your faith in God's covenant of increase and blessing and you know that He will bless you! Why do we want to be blessed? Because we are selfish and greedy? No we want to be blessed because the qualification for being a blessor is that you first have to be blessed! It is from the innermost parts of our being to the outer most parts of the earth - that is the call of God. The nations are our inheritance! But the innermost parts of our being ought to be blessed and overflowing with love otherwise we will export bondage to the outermost parts of the earth. We need to be free on the outside then the sufficiency and supply of God Almighty will flow to the nations!

Genesis chapter 1. Let's pray;


"Father we ask for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to open the eyes of our understanding and our hearts as to the hope of our calling and what is your exceeding power towards us that same power that worked in Christ when You raised Him from the dead. So You have worked that same power in us and we are the very glorious inheritance of You Father. Open our understanding to see that we are very joint heirs with Christ and heirs of God! Thank You that through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness we are ruling and reigning in life through the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray today Lord that I would not preach a euphoric triumphalism - a false hope or a false pretence or a pretended victory. Our victory today is a genuine one because it is not based on our performance or our ability but it is in Him. Open our eyes! May the grace of God come on everyone's employment that the blessing may come on us all. Thank You that our businesses are not the source - You are the source and You can supply way more than our businesses can! In Jesus Mighty Name".

Now we will teach today so hang in a bit and stay open to God's Word and lets receive this impartation. Here at the very beginning of creation God announces out of the generosity of His heart great blessing on man and woman. The theological principle of "first mention" is a very powerful theological principle. The first mention of something shows that it is God's intention to go on and on and on. Let's read this. Genesis 1:27. He has just created man and woman and this is the first thing that comes out of His mouth. This is the heart of God for His people! (v27); "In the image of God ... that moves on the ground".

Now folks I want you to do warfare with me today in the Spirit. I don't believe we attack principalities and pull them down into the basement of the church and lock them up in plasma bottles - no we pull down strongholds that are in the mind! That are in opposition to the Word of God!


Do you know that's what 2 Corinthians 4:10 says? Our weapons are mighty through God to the demolishing of strongholds ... bring it into the captivity of Christ! The enemy has fought me all week to stop me preaching this message! There is excesses in this message and people have backed off from this thing and the devil doesn't want the church blessed - he doesn't mind if we just have enough and a survival mentality! But God has cut a covenant of increased blessing that should keep on increasing daily, monthly in our lives! So you are going to need to fight with me okay! The devil tried to take me out before I preached this message! Take the Word of God and suck it out of me! Let's all be Americans today!

The Bible says that EVERY promise God has made (no matter how many promises there are) they are all YES in Christ Jesus and through us the AMEN is spoken to the glory of God!

There is a biblical purpose for saying "Amen" because as you say "Amen" then you seal that truth to your heart with a golden nail that seals it to your heart! God's desire was to bless Adam and Even and give them increase! And for a while they walked with authority and anointing and dominion. There is a first Adam anointing. The last Adam being Jesus. Here is the federal headship of the human race in first Adam and first Adam walked with such power and authority under freedom in God and then he is seduced by satanic lies that tell him in deception (starting with Eve and then him because he made Eve his goddess instead of God his God and he let Eve manipulate him and deceive him as well because he chose Eve instead of God and that is a pressure that comes on anyone) - Adam rebelled and received the deception that he can be "like God" which is the teaching of the New Age! Satan wanted to exalt his throne above the throne of God - he was jealous and envious and wanted to be God but he cannot be God because there is only one immutable transcendant God.

So he was seduced into believing that he didn't need God and that he could become God and as he did that he committed high treason and died spiritually. He was cut off from the blessing and increase and he had to labour by the sweat of his brow. He entered into a "works ethic" mentality that was cursed. The ground and his life was cursed! And he was cut off from the covenant of increased blessing! The world today and many Christians still labour under the curse instead of the covenant of increased blessings! The world outside of Christ is labouring and working hard for the blessing and as much as they accumulate and they get through the sweat of their labour they find a vacuum of emptiness and they lose it in bankruptcy over and over again. But we are in last Adam and a covenant of increased blessing! So God looks on mankind in sweat and labour and confusion and curse and He has mercy and grace and so He decides that He is going to get back into the earth realm through a man called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans. He is an Iraqui man actually who then becomes the founder of the people of Israel.

So go to Genesis chapter 12. I love the people of Israel and the Jewish nation but I also love the Arabs! Look at Genesis 12:1 - this is the first encounter that Abraham has with God. "The Lord said to Abram ... so Abram left as the Lord told him".

You know that word "blessed" in the Hebrew there is the word "Hasad" and it literally means this; "favour - the dispensing of goods and favours in abundance - good will - special liking, special kindness - in hot pursuit of you - coming on you - blessings coming on you". That is God's promise to Abraham! One condition - leave your father's house and leave the old ways. Now I do not believe that necessarily means we all have to geographically leave our families and children. I believe more of a cardiological change than a geographical change. There has to be something where we come out from the conditioning of the influence of our past - the conditionings and limitations of people's ideologies that we grew up under. I believe we have got to connect with a covenant of increase and to do that we have got to leave the influences of our past that leave limitation on our lives. I do not believe that all of us have to leave our families and friends and children. We have had to do that by coming to Hong Kong. Some are called to relocate to nations in the purposes of God because God wants all nations to be saved and touched with the gospel!

But not all are called geographically and permaemently. All are called sometime to go for the gospel's sake but we are called to leave the mentality that conditioned us when we were growing up. We are to honour our parents but we do not need to take things from our lives if what they gave to us made us cynical and skeptical about the gospel. The very idea that the gospel is only relevant for heaven but on earth it is irrelevant and Christians are a joke and they walk around begging for everything with pastor's discounts and they are as poor as church mice and this mentality where the world patronises and condescends to the church because the church is always begging and poor and needs more and more! But when we have a covenant of increase! You have relatives in this room who think you are crazy when you come to church and they think you are wasting your time and they think Christianity is something one day when you get to heaven. Instead of understanding that this is a covenant that God has cut of increased blessings in our lives.

Go to Mark chapter 10. We are warring well here! We must leave the influences and leave the things behind that have put limitations on your life. (10:29); "I tell you the truth no one who has left home or ... will fail to receive a hundred times as much in THIS PRESENT AGE". I don't know what that means! Is that a hundred homes? "Homes, brothers". Glenda and I have got hundreds of thousands of friends and I am not talking about they are just vague - we know hundreds of thousands of people! 20, 000 churches that we are working with! We just can't remember their names! "with them persecutions". You get blessed like that you will be persecuted! It won't be the world attacking you, it will be some church people! The Pharisees and Sadducees and wouldn't sees and couldn't sees! This is blessings in this present age! This is leaving behind the poverty thinking and limitation thinking and have no power or authority but one day when you get to heaven it will all be worthwhile.

That is NOT what this Bible teaches!

(Genesis 13:1) Abraham had become very wealthy in livestock and silver and gold! When did Abraham become very wealthy? When he had LEFT his family, his home, his country where they worshipped idols! He followed El-Shaddi - the God who is more than enough! God's promise was true! It didn't just say he was rich - it said he was VERY rich in silver and gold! I don't have silver and gold! But I have always turned salaries down in the church because that is too much! It is not about driving around in Rolls and smoking cuban cigars! It is that God's people get blessed!

Because the more we have the more we can do! In Hong Kong money is their god and it is a devilish god! The love of money is the root of ALL evil! People think that if I have got enough money then I don't need God! I want to tell you that money is a great servant but a terrible God! You can't do a thing without money! Money says you can buy that land, buy that building, send five thousand pastors out on the field and plant 20, 000 churches in China! That's what money says in the right hands of the right stewards! Money takes on the character of the hands that it is in! Under Hugh Hefner and Playboy it buys more and more pornography and destruction! Under righteous hands that money takes on a righteous purpose and our money represents our hours and our time!

You can be as anointed as you want but if you don't have money then that anointing can't get to where it needs to go!

No one says to me when I get on a plane; "Oh you are a pastor? Don't worry about it! This air fare is free!". You can't take the gospel anywhere without money! This idiotic thing that money is not important is insane! Jesus said if you are not faithful with worldly wealth then you cannot be faithful with true riches.
If you are stingy and small-minded with money then you will be the same way with the anointing! But when you are free with money and releasing money then you are free in releasing power and the grace of God into the nations!

So Abraham became very rich after he met El Shaddi! Some people in Hong Kong need to understand this that when you walk with Him leaving the old influences behind and walk with God you can become very rich! We may not all become multi-millionaires but we call all LIVE like multi-millionaires! I don't have millions in the bank but I live like one by the blessing of God! Everything we want it seems God does it! Genesis 15 - now this is a long reading but stick with this! Every verse here is a whole series but we will only make a comment on the main one. (Genesis 15:1); "I am your shield and your great reward". Now I want you to see that is covenant language. The enemy cannot destroy you! (v2); "A son coming from your own body will be your heir ... so shall your offspring be". A covenant of increase! Abraham believed the Lord and He credited to him as righteousness! "I brought you ... to give you this land so you can take possession of it ... oh sovereign Lord how can I know?".

Faith is based on knowing the will of God not just His ability.

"How can I know I will take possession of it .. birds of prey came down but Abraham drove them away". You have got to keep the demonic off your inheritance! "As the sun was setting Abraham fell into a deep sleep". That is the Hebrew word again "Radam" and it means to fall under the power or be under the influence of the Spirit. You can hear things going on around you but you are caught up in the Presence of God. "I will punish the nation they serve ... you will go to your father's in peace and live to a ripe age ... a smoking fire with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces ..". This would have blown Abraham's mind and we cannot understand it if we don't live in Africa or North America. "Covenant". Many people in the sophisticated Western world don't understand what covenant is. "Covenant" was well know throughout the world. Dr Livingstone was able to penetrate into Africa because he made covenants with powerful chiefs and the sign of the covenant was a cut on the wrist or the palm of the hand. He walked through dangerous areas and held up his hand and they would see he had a covenant - there is more to him than we see with our eyes.

We touch him and are touching a whole backing of many tribes that are powerful and stand with him. A covenant was an alliance where they cut an ox in half or would exchange coats and belts and would walk through these slain split oxen and as they were doing it they would recite the terms of the covenant; "Everything I have is yours - everything you have is mine". Anyone attacks you and they attack me - if we break this covenant these are the things that will happen. That was known throughout that world. What would have blown Abraham's mind was when God said "I am going to make a covenant with a human". All My resources are yours! Anyone who fights against you fights against Me! How many know who got the better side of this bargain!?

Here is the revelation of the New Testament. When God cut this covenant with Abraham, He said; "I don't want man's abilities in this. It is not by your righteousness or by your human effort. Man's performance is too fluctuating! So we need a covenant that is so secure that it is above and beyond reproach! That even when we fail and mess up this covenant stands constant" and sure and God said; "You won't walk through the cut halves of the ox with Me. I will put you to sleep under anaesthetic. You can see what's going on but you will sleep. The preincarnation Christ - the Angel of the Lord - walks through the calf and God the Father cuts a covenant with His Son on Abraham's behalf. So for this covenant to be broken Jesus would have to backslide. John 8 - Jesus said before Abraham was - I AM. He said "Abraham saw Me and He rejoiced!". Abraham saw the Son of God walk through and God the Father cut a covenant with His Son. That's why God required Abraham to be willing to give up his son so God the Father could get His Son into the earth to die and that was the ultimate cutting of the Abrahamic covenant and sealing it and finalising it here on earth.

So for you to constantly be taking your spiritual temperature and be worrying am I hot enough? Am I righteous enough? He wants us hot but to get the blessing is NOT based on your efforts or your righteousness or your strength! This covenant is as perfect as the Father is perfect, the Son is perfect! They cut the covenant with each other on our behalf! We are in Christ! And if I put a piece of paper in this book, even if that piece of paper has got a few little blotches in it then whereveer the book goes so does the piece of paper even with it's imperfections! And the Holy Spirit is the administrator of the power of the blessings of the finished work of the Cross!

We are just condemned to victory! We are victims of victory! Truth sets free!

God cuts His covenant and now Abraham knows that he has got it now! God can't back out! Imagery of stars - increase! Genesis 17 - now Abraham has got substance for his faith! Now his faith lept into another dimension! Let us see how long the Abrahamic covenant is for! (v1); "When Abraham was 99 years old ... walk before Me and be blameless". He didn't say be PERFECT. He said be BLAMELESS. A very big difference between the two words! Blameless is that you have got no big problems in your life! We are perfectly righteous in Christ as a gift and we are becoming more and more blameless, sinning less and less and less. It doesn't feel like that some days Rob! I know - we all have days like that apart from Glenda! (v2); "My covenant between Me and you and will GREATLY increase your numbers!". I don't understand people who say they just want a small church of 20 people and just want inner healing and to hell with the world! We are on a covenant of increase and there are 7 million people in Hong Kong who don't know their right from their left and are on their way to hell! It is wrong to have a concept of smallness! Is it wrong to have a relational drive? Not at all! We must have relationship before we function! We must have such good relationships that we can speak the truth in love! It is grace and truth! You don't speak one without the other! First with God and then each other!

But we must understand that we can grow as a New Testament church into thousands and still have intimacy with each other and with God! There is just a wineskin the Bible gives! (v3); "Abraham fell face down ... father of many nations ... name will be Abraham ... I will make you VERY FRUITFUL". (v7);

"I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your descendants after you!".

This is not a temporary covenant! 430 years after this covenant was made the Mosaic covenant was inaugurated where God's finger wrote the Tablets of stone. This Bible says that this covenant is an eternal one! The law covenant was a temporary covenant! It lasted for 1,700 years and the book of Hebrews says that the Old Covenant is now obsolete! It is now redundant and we do not have to take bulls and goats into temples and we are not under law but under grace. It is not how many hours a day that earns you the blessing! It is FAITH in the finished work of the Cross!


In that kind of faith you want to pray, you want to be a blessing! This is an eternal covenant - not temporary like the law! You say; "Rob is the law of God still relevant in the earth?". Yes - to every unbeliever and to every unsaved person is under the law (Romans 3, 7) - the law was not there to SAVE you but to LEAD you to Christ! The law is to show you can't save yourself! The law was brought in because of sin! So we can come to Christ with faith that we are not under the law, not under the supervision of the law and we are dead to the law, redeemed from the curse of the law that the blessing of Abraham may come on us!

Go to Genesis 24:1; "Abraham was now old and well advanced in years and the Lord blessed him in everyway". He was increasing in blessing! To be blessed iean every way meant there was no area in your life where you are not blessed! You are blessed in every way! Abraham got what God said He would do! Go to Genesis 24:34; "So he said ... the Lord has blessed my master abundantly". Go to Psalm 105. Remember God told Abraham that his descendants would be in slavery and come out laiden with many possessions. (v37). This is the prophetic word God gave Abraham happening. "He brought out Israel laiden". How many Christians do you see today laiden with the good stuff? "laiden with silver and gold. No one was feeble". After years of slavery! The power of God came down on that place and I believe healed the whole 3 million! This is the Bible!

We must NEVER get to the place where we say "I am going to lower the Word of God down to my current experience". Say; "I want to have the faith to raise myc current experience to the Word of God!".

Look what he says in (v38); "A cloud of covering and fire at night ... He opened the rock and water gushed out .. He remembered His promise to His servant Abraham .... He gave them the lands of the nations ... ".

Go to Psalm 115 and read from (v9); "Trust in the Lord ... He is their help and shield ... He is their help and shield. The Lord remembers us". The Hebrew word there means; "You are on the forefront of His thinking". God is plotting and planning and scheming ways that He can bless you!

"Small and great alike". It doesn't matter what your station is! "May the Lord make you increase!". Go to Isaiah chapter 60. You are always going to have in every church someone saying; "Yere but Rob ... !". It is a goat religion! Sheep follow! But Rob! But Rob! You don't know how small I am! We are so narrow minded we can look through a keyhole at the same time! We have poverty over our generations! Someone sinned back there and we are going to be punished! I know God is great but look at me! Look at the promises of God and know you have NO excuse! You have substance for your faith!

(60:21): "Then will ALL". Hebrew means it includes EVERYTHING and excludes NOTHING! It means that in the Greek too. ALL means ALL!

"Then will ALL your people be righteous". It is announcing the New Covenant! "The least of you will become a thousand - the smallest a mighty nation!". God cannot lie! He cannot exaggerate and get carried away! Is this possible?! There are 7 billion people on the planet of which 6 billion are not born again! That is enough to go around! I believe this church can grow to 20 000 and it is still too small!

When we stay in unity that we are in a covenant of increase then God can add to our number daily those being saved!

"But that was for Abraham and the Jews". I am just a Gentile! All I have got is the Gospel that saved us from going to hell! Abraham got the blessing and he didn't have the gospel! The Jews didn't have the gospel - we get the gospel! That's what maybe 98% of Christians in the world believe! They wouldn't tell you but that is exactly what they believe! Go to Galatians chapter 3. This is foundational for next week! Let's read! "I am just a Gentile with the gospel not the blessing!". (v6); "Consider Abraham!". Well we have been doing that for an hour! "He believed God ... those who BELIEVE are children of ABRAHAM ... the gospel in advance to Abraham". This is not the law covenant which was temporary! This is still the law covenant! (v8); "Those who have faith are blessed along with ....". Not hope! Faith is based on a knowledge of the willingness of God to do it for you. "Those who have faith are blessed along with ...". Why are believers so afraid to be blessed? The main thing is justification by faith - sure! "But all who rely on observing the law are under a curse". Too many Christians are under law. "Do this and get blessed". "ALL who rely on observing the law are under CURSE". Crippled with condemnation and negativity and can't even think of God wanting to bless them!

God is NOT pleased when we crawl into the throne room! If my children came to me like that then I would slap them! "Oh Dad I am not worthy to have a chocolate - can I just have the paper?!!". I would say; "What's wrong with you!?!? Have the entire fridge!". "No I am not worthy I did not take the garbage out!". I would say; "Have the entire fridge and then take the garbage out!".

(v10); "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to EVERYTHING written ... Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us ... He redeemed us" - in order that we would go to heaven? No. "In order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit!". (v24); "Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law ... Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise". Covenant of increase! Let's quickly look at 2 Scriptures. Acts chapter 2.

Let's see the church that began 2000 years ago and lets ask ourselves is that the way that the church is today? This was the baby church and we have had 2000 years to grow into the full stature of Christ! But we went into the Dark Ages 500 years after this and for 1000 years the church was in religious superstition and hierarchial control, demons and doctrines of demons. You can trace the last 500 years in waves of restoration as the church comes out of religious tradition! The church is coming back to her apostolic and prophetic calling! God is raising up the Ephesians 4 Ministries again! It won't just be an evangelist running a crusade! Evangelists will preach the gospel and then apostles will come and establish foundations and raise up elders and biblical pattern and we will go further than the book of Acts!

I have been to fraternals for 20 years and will continue with God's leading to associate with all the pastors in the city I can - I believe in the spirit of unity! But the Bible says we have the five fold ministry to move us from spiritual unity to a unity of faith and come to the full measure of the stature of Christ Jesus!

That is why we must NEVER meet on the lowest common denominator not wanting to offend each other! You can't read that passage - we don't believe that here! No the covenants must be taught clearly and your traditions nullify the the Word of God! I have worked and led fraternals for 20 years! But I know that is not where it is going! Get into unity and we will have revival!? We have been in "unity" for centuries! We have got to move towards the full stature of Christ by apostles and prophets getting up and SAYING it like it is! With love! There are too many politicians in pulpits today being politically correct! That will never take us to the rugged, authoritative church that paralyses principalities and powers and administrates the power of the Cross into the nations and plants churches!

This church is where we are going! Ride the bus Gus! Some want to get to what I have just described but they are on the wrong bus! You can sit on the wrong bus and pray and fast until you have got no flesh left and pray in tongues but you won't get to the right destination! You can sit in religious traditions of men and say I am being faithful! But the Bible says you must be faithful to your leaders and submit to their authority and if they are preaching stuff that you don't believe in the Word of God then you must believe that too!

There is an apostolic bus that took off in the earth and it is gathering momentum! It is local church based! Apostles circulating and relating to elders! They don't fire elders or own buildings! The local church owns the building! Apostles don't come in as executives or superintendants but as friends with affection and love and build foundation into that church! That is biblical!

(Acts 2:42). Do they have a covenant of increase? Everyone was involved! "All the believers were together and had everything in common ... every day they continued to meet together ... and the Lord added to their number daily those who are being saved!". INCREASE is the will of God!

Notice they didn't add to their number by their religious evangelistic programmes! The LORD added to their number DAILY those who are being saved!

(Acts 4:32) "All the believers were in mind ...much grace was upon them ALL ... no needy person among them ... distributed to everyone as they had need". Acts 6:7; "So the Word of God spread ... increased RAPIDLY ...". Now let me close with a practical application. This covenant is based on faith. But something that can short-circuit your faith is a lack of thankfulness for what you have currently got. I don't understand why God has blessed some of you in areas He hasn't blessed me in! I don't understand why He hasn't blessed you in ways He has blessed Glenda and me.

But all I know is that it is His will to bless me in EVERY WAY!

I have got to be thankful for what I have got right now! If God is blessing you and I start getting jealous and angry and bitter then people will start manipulating and turning Christianity into communism. Christianity is not communism but anointing sacred holy righteous capitalism! Those who invest their talents get more! Those who take risks get more! Those who bury their talents lose it! That is capitalism! The Church is not socialist! They act lazy and are there to beg! As God blesses the church and we give to the poor, the Bible says we are lending to the Lord and we will get repaid! There is no needy in our midst! People in Coastlands gave their cars! There is NO manipulation here! You don't have to give one thing! People gave cars to those who didn't! People paid for others to go on holiday! We were seeing dozens saved and added! If I get bitter and twisted and beat myself up - I have had pastors all over the world tell me about buildings that can seat thousands! I felt a funny feeling and God said I should celebrate what they have got! If you don't thank God daily for what you have got then that jealousy will cut off your faith!

God CANNOT bless you if you are jealous because Galatians 5:6 says that faith operates through love and if you don't have love flowing in your life then your faith won't work.

If God wants to give you something then you don't have to hint! "Faith-hints". God can put it on someone's heart to provide! But don't be too proud to ask for help! We will try and find a way to provide! Walk around your small apartment and thank Him that the rain doesn't fall on your head! Thank Him for the bed and the toilet! And then tell Him about the covenant of increase and ask Him for a bigger one! We need to be increase minded! If your salary is such and such then thank Him!

But God doesn't want us to SURVIVE - He wants us to THRIVE!

He wants us to thrive with an increase mentality! You may be just making ends meet but thank Him that the ends are meeting! Now ask Him for a salary you believe in! "Just have faith". We thanked God that we had two months of savings when we went to Australia! But then we asked for the figure we wanted and that was the salary I was getting! Then in a short while it was doubled!

Your company is too small to give you all that God wants to give you! He can provide through your company but through plenty of other sources too!

He can kill some of your rich relatives! Joking! When we brought our first house it was so small that even the cockroaches had claustrophobia! But don't despise the day of small things! Glenda could tickle me in the ear from the kitchen while I was in the bedroom! But I praised Him for the little house and reminded Him of the covenant of increase! I don't want to live off the church or the state! But in a covenant of increase I can own several houses and live in one and sell the rest and live when we have to retire! I believe we should be so blessed that we can have more than what we need so we can resource others!

The local church should be the most powerful Kingdom resource on the planet. God's agency is local church!

There must be affect through local church and for it to function it will take finances! Giving to local church is investing! This church is very generous for it's size! The Christians in South Africa and Australia resourced us here in Hong Kong! But last month I told them to cut it by a third because you guys are coming through here and soon I want to tell them to cut it by 100% because we are increase minded! I thank God for the six or seven people saved here! But now we want 30 or 40 and then to a thousand!