Stress-Free Living

This sermon was preached by Rob Rufus on Sunday 17th May 2009 at City Church International in Hong Kong.

"Open your Bibles to wherever you feel like going this morning! Matthew chapter 6. Revelation? No - we are getting to the book of Revelation at the right time. The "Benjamin Generation", Revelation and the Great High Priest. 3 series all ready to go but God has put the pause button on that because He wants us to move into the realm of peace and recognise we are His workmanship and how to work with God and partner with God. I thought my wife looked particularly beautiful when she was giving the announcements today. I felt a romantic moment there which was a bit dangerous! I have recovered and I am back in the Spirit now - I was a bit in the flesh. But I am now in the Spirit! (*sings*) - "To wake up each morning just with you by my side. To offer a prayer each day for you. To drown in your laughter ... ". Okay let's go!

Testimony: "I am shocked at just how good the good news of the Gospel is. I am shocked that it is not preached like this by every church that fears God. But I am infinately grateful that I have heard the truth of this gospel ... We have started seeing manifestations like gold dust, incense and more. I have never lived with a greater hunger to see God's people set free and for them to know just how good God is ... Keep kicking the devil and his cronies in the teeth - it is so worth it!".

We literally have hundreds of testimonies from around the world of people getting healed and delivered from the demonic, release of resources and God is giving us partnerships. They are leaving denominational institutional religion and finding relationships that are authentic, full of integrity and full of callings, giftings and commissionings. No denominational headquarters because Jesus is the Headquarters! Heaven is the H.Q and God is moving on the earth in a fresh way! How many of you believe it is appropriate to walk in humility as more and more people are thanking us and praising us? When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a simple little donkey and the people threw palm branches down and shouted "Hosannah in the highest!" - how many of you know how ugly and inappropriate it would be for that donkey to think they were doing it for him?! Roman emporers rode into cities they had conquered on big stallions with flaring nostrils and trumpets. Jesus - the integrity of His identity - did not need additions or props - He came in on a simple donkey because He knew He was the Son of the glory of God. Jesus needs donkeys to carry the glory of God!

Freedom is the freedom from being wrapped up in yourself.

The most depressed people on the planet are those who have themselves on their minds. The formula for deliverance from depression is to not be self-concious and to not be wrapped up in yourself!

People that are wrapped up in themselves make very small packages!

You cannot get depressed if you are not on your mind!

The great Corrie Ten Boom who did such great work during the 2nd World War said; "If I look at myself I get depressed, if I look at the world's state I get oppressed, but if I look at Jesus then I really get impressed!".

The worst thing a worship leader can do before a meeting is to say to everyone; "Bow your heads - we are going to have one minute's silence and you inspect your heart and investigate and scrutinise your inner being to see if there is any sinful ways there". That is Old Covenant stuff! That is the Law that is gloom and doom! Scrutinise your heart - introspect - see if there is anything there that is sinful and wrong and ugly and then you will be ready to worship God. You will NOT be ready to worship God! You will be ready to slit your wrists because you will feel so morbid because you and me are not "it" - we are not to be self-concious but Christ-concious!

Jesus was reclining at a lounger having dinner one day and a woman who was a prostitute ran and fell at His feet and worshipped Him and He said; "Daughter your faith has made you whole - you are forgiven". What came first? Morbidity? Introspection? Repentance? Or worship? Worship came first! A man with 5, 000 demons that would snap chains came running when he saw Jesus and worshipped Him and Jesus delivered him of one legion of demons. What came first? Repentance, introspection? No!

Worship comes first in all of life because worship takes our minds off ourselves and onto God! That is what worship is! When you are a worshipper you are not self-concious! Self-conciousness is the worst curse you could live under but Christ-conciousness is the blessing of God!

There are three times in the New Testament that the Bible says "Examine yourself" and the context is grace and not morbidity. Many times in the Old Covenant it is introspective, sackcloth, ashes and negativity - that is not the Kingdom of heaven!

We must never be foolish enough to think that our sins are bigger and more important than God's infinite solution in grace at the Cross!

You may feel at times that your sins and your mistakes are so bad but they are nothing compared to God's answer through Jesus Christ at the Cross - you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!

The Bible says in 1st John 4:17; "As Jesus is in heaven, so are you in this earth". As He is so are you in this earth! God doesn't examine you to see whether you are good enough or holy enough - He looks at Jesus to see if Jesus is good enough and holy enough and He says; "Yes You are and as He is so are you in this earth!". He looks at Jesus to see if He needs to repent of any sins and says "No - He doesn't!" and THAT is how He sees you! As He is - so are you in this earth!

It's awesome isn't it!? Today I want to talk about "Stress-Free living!". Stress-free working in Hong Kong! I want to talk about living worry-free, anxious-free! "Rob I have faith for raising the dead but I don't know if I have faith for that!". No! Stress-free living is the will of God! Jesus had no special advantages over you and me. His divinity was fully restrained within His humanity and He came to the earth as last Adam with no more advantages than you and I had except that He was born righteous from a virgin and never sinned once but He gave us the gift of righteousness and we have a co-equal righteousness with Christ because we are now in Christ and positioned in His righteousness. He did not live stressed but He faced abuse, He was overlooked, He wasn't appreciated, the religious crowd kept criticising Him and accusing Him of casting demons out by Beelzebub. He never got stressed - He stayed at peace - He is the Prince of Peace and Isaiah chapter 9 says; "Of the increase of the government of His peace there will be no end!". The Kingdom of heaven is righteousness in Christ, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!

How do I know someone is walking with God? The level of joy, peace, confidence, boldness, the amount that they are not consumed with themselves but they are Christ-concious and are aware that as He is so are they in this world! There is no condemnation, no guilt, no remorse on them, no regret on them, their past has gone and God turns their future into good - using bad experiences to make those bad experiences stepping stones to good steps into success. You are condemned to success, you are a victim of victory! There is an attitude that you and I need to have! I believe that my temparament is most vulnerable to depression. I am a melancholic, I am introspective, I am poetic and have natural highs and lows but I have not been depressed for 30 years because you see I have learnt the secret! That I am responsible to monitor my moods! No guru will do it for me! Even the Holy Spirit won't do it for me! No one can alter your moods, no one can make you angry! "That person makes me angry!".

You have given too much control to someone who can make you angry. They have become your boss and your lord. No one can make you angry!

You have control over your life! "Well I am waiting for the Holy Spirit to give me the power!". No no - you do not sit behind a power steering wheel and come in at a 180 to an S bend and say "I am waiting for the power to kick in on that power steering wheel!". No! You will be polyunsaturated margarine through!

The power kicks in when you take the sovereign thing that God has gifted you with called "free will" and with your free will you take the steering wheel and then the power kicks in! When I choose I am going to be happy and choose when I am going to live with joy! When I choose I am going to depend on my God and no one can make me happy and no one can ruin my life - I am the destiny of my life in Christ Jesus! I am not a victim of circumstances or a victim of other people's betrayals and criticisms and they are not my god - I don't put my faith in man! My faith is in God!

One of the worst things you can do is to be self-concious. The second worst thing you can do is put your faith in man. The United Nations is looking for the brotherhood of man in the absence of the Fatherhood of God. There is no brotherhood of man unless we have the Fatherhood of God. We do not put our faith in one another and we do not put our hope in man. Man will always disappoint you. No one can replace God - only God is eternal and unmoving and eternal permament grace, love and absolute solution to all of life. I would love to put all of my hope and trust in all of you. Don't do it to me! It is not fair. I am not God and I don't have the goods. I can't put my faith in you. It is not fair, you are not God! If I rely on you and you rely on me then we will have friction and problems. But if you and I rely on God and God gives me favour then He will put favour on me to want to love me and favour on you to want to support me and favour on you to support one another. Don't look to man for answers! Look to God and He will bring the answers through man - through a crow if He needs to as He did with Elijah or a donkey as He did with the prophet and Old Covenant and the answers through people but don't put your hope in your husband, wife, children or pastor or boss or nations - God is our hope and when God is our hope He manifests favour and energy and faith on people to support you and resource you and love you and be faithful and to stand with you. But no one is capacitated to replace God.

Trouble stress free living is possible! You can have trouble and stress all around you but inside here you can walk in peace. Is it the will of God? Absolutely. The book of Hebrews says "Labour" or "Strive" to enter His rest. Why do we do everything to enter into this rest? Because rest is your position of power in this earth. If you are not in a place of rest or peace then everything you sow and do will reap a harvest of corruption. The book of James says in James 3 that those who have God's peace sow in peace and reap a harvest of righteousness! Anything you sow out of agitation - any decision you make out of agitation or any decision you make out of irritation and out of frustration will cause you to sow a harvest you don't want. What you sow in peace has the victory of God all over it. What you sow in peace into your marriage and into your relationships - there are times when I want to sow something back to Glenda (and I know she feels the same) when I want to sow something back to her that isn't peace! Don't say it! Walk away and find peace and then say what I needed to say even though it is difficult and say it in peace. Many doctors are saying today that as much as 90% of diseases and sickness can be traced back to stress.

In a university they took two groups of pigs and they injected them with a substance that would cause immediate blockages in their arteries to induce heart attacks. One group of pigs began to die very quickly - in fact they all died! The other group of pigs - their arteries also blocked up but none of them died. So what they had done was subject the first group of pigs to a very intensely stressful environment. The other were subject to a very peaceful environment. So friends it is not what you eat but it is what is eating you! I have read many books on diets but the fear of saturated fats is overrated! There are many people dying of heart attacks with very little cholesterol in their arteries. I think the way you eat is important but 90% for the quality of your life and longevity.

We have people around the world and you can say it is genetics but look at how they live. They lived over 100 and eated saturated fats every day and smoked big cigars and drank a bottle of vodka! It is not what goes in but what is eating you! There are people writing books on how to eat and making millions of dollars - especially the Mediterrean diet. What they forget was that Jesus healed thousands of people of debilitating diseases who were all on the Mediterrean diet! It was Galilee and Jerusalem! They were eating olives and fish and yet they had every kind of disease. It is not what you eat but what is eating you. They took a bunch of monkeys and put them in cages and I don't agree with this - it is very cruel and I mean that. I hate these kind of experiments! But they subjected the cages to a violent electrical shock on the hour every hour for a couple of days and then took the monkeys out and found that the quality of their skin had deteriorated terribly, their blood vessels had been terribly conscricted and their kidneys were affected and when your kidneys go a whole lot of pollutants and toxins are released and they were extremely unhealthy.

I want to tell you that I believe the major killer on our planet is not HIV or mosquitos or malaria but stress that destroys the immune system and the psyche of the human being.

I could tell you all the things that I believe cause stress and I have read all the books and could list the priorities - losing a loved one or moving house are big ones. Children leaving one school and going to another, getting fired, pressure on marriage, relationships - but I want to tell you this and I really believe this. We are not pigs or monkeys. We have a will and we have choices to make and we are not victims.

The number one ultimate reason for living with stress and worry and anxiety in your life - and I got this revelation by worry and stress in my life and learning over years! - it is not lists that you get in books but it is simply this (and I say this tenderly and without judgement) stubborn, arrogant pride and a refusal to trust the awesomeness of God.

In man the reason he has to be dependent on God means he will lose his independence. And human beings because of satanic deception hate the idea of being dependent on God or anything! We want to be independent, self-made men! That is the number one cause of stress, worry and anxiety. We want to be king! And that is fine and not a problem! The Bible says in Revelation 5 that God has anointed us to be kings and priests unto our God! There isn't a priestly, clergy class! There isn't a priesthood and then the clergy! The Bible says in the New Covenant that everyone who says I believe in Christ is a royal priest! That is what Peter the apostle clearly teaches in 1st Peter! We are priests and kings Revelation 5 says! But Jesus is the King of Kings! So we can be kings reigning and ruling in life under the authority of the King of Kings! We partner with God and every part of our life is focused on what God wants for me. Not about what are the principles and laws here and the religious rules here! No - we are focused on the Presence of God and partnership with God and what is the purpose of God. Does He want me to stay here, to go there, is that His will? When you are in His will and things go wrong then you stay focused that God is bringing me through and I am trusting in my God to turn this around together for good! And I am not a victim of circumstances, I am not a pig or a monkey - I can respond with a will that can choose to depend on God!

Now how many think that Jesus had a lot to say about worry? If stress is the number 1 killer then our Lord and our King would have a lot to teach about worry and anxiety. So have you got Matthew 6? You may as well enjoy this message! Really enjoy it! You are allowed to get up and walk out and that won't offend me - but if you chose to stay then chose to enjoy this and get something out of this! Respond! Shout! Do something! The number one cause of stress is a stubborn pride and a refusal to depend on God. We will depend on men occasionaly when it is really getting bad but to depend on God?! Let's read what Jesus says about worry and stress! Matthew 6:24. I get comforted by just hearing Jesus say these words!

And Father I pray that as I read these words - the Holy Spirit will speak them into every person's heart in this room and address us with supernatural grace and wisdom that will help us live stress-free work and lives in Jesus Name!

(v24); "No one can serve 2 masters - either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you - do not worry about your life or what you will eat or drink or about your body and what you will wear". This is the key phrase that I am going to comment on in a moment; "Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air - they do not sow or reap or store away in barns - yet your heavenly Father feeds them! Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow - they do not labour". The Greek there is; "Hard, harsh labour". "Or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you - oh you of little faith?". Isn't it good that Jesus says God will clothe us even when we have got little faith?! Thank God He didn't say only those with big faith! "So do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink or wear? For the pagans run after all these these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them!". He is a good Parent! He knows that you need those things! (v33); "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself - each day has enough trouble of it's own".

So here Jesus gives the absolute answer to the issue of stress and worry that has absolutely saturated modern-society today. Seek first the Kingdom! And His righteousness and all these things the pagans run after and seek will run after you. Clothing, food and blessings will run after you! So unless Jesus was lying and was a charlatan and maybe He was confused like Napoleoan or lying - but! If He was telling the truth then if you don't seek first the Kingdom can you have a stress-free life? You can if Jesus was lying! But looking at the world with empirical evidence and taking an overview of society today then I would say no - if you don't seek first then Kingdom then you cannot live a stress-free life. I will tell you why in a moment! If you don't seek first the Kingdom and are seeking Him when it is convinient and really you are not putting the kingdom of Jesus first then I have to say to you with all love and compassion that you cannot qualify to live a stress-free life. You will live a life with some happiness and moments of joy but most of it will be characterised by stress, unhappiness, depression and self-conciousness. So psychiatrists can't help you - they will help you manage some principles and ideas and philosophic insights but Jesus gave the best truth above any guru or psychiatrist. "Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you".

Now "His righteousness" is not you "behaving righteously". It is not you earning or being good enough in your righteousness! It is the righteousness that He gave you as a gift! Right standing with God!

What is the Kingdom that we need to seek first? What is the Kingdom of God? Jesus said; "Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven". What is heaven like? Are angels going to psychiatrists for nervous breakdowns? Is Jesus having to have a break because He had a burn-out as our great High Priest interceding for us? No! Heaven is a place of undiluted glory, absolute serenity, tranquility and perfect peace! So why does Jesus say; "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? What is it to seek first the Kingdom? What is the Kingdom of God?

The Kingdom of God is the government of God's peace. It is the supernatural authority of a living God who created the heavens and the earth who says; "Seek first My Kingdom! It is the answer to all stressful living, worry and anxiety! If you do not want to seek first My kingdom then there is nothing I can do except send My Spirit into the earth and pull on your heart and conscience until one day you will get free from that stubborn pride and learn dependance on Me and seek My Kingdom first! Until that day - enjoy your pride and enjoy your stubbornness but you will just live eating food and passing it through your body and growing old and leaving no footprints of destiny in human history! Or you can be a Kingdom man or woman - putting the Kingdom first! And seeking the government of God's peace and the rule of God which is a gracious kind and loving rule!".

Let me put it this way - because of first Adam's fall which people call "original sin" - first Adam rebelling against God - this earth has temporarily been overrun by a counterfeit, illegitimate, illegal kingdom called the demonic. It is a satanic deception and the Bible says Satan is the god of this world and this time and this season. It is a temporary overrunning of the planet through first Adam's disobedience. So what is ruling in the philosophies and ideologies of political systems around the world but demonic lies and a lying fantasy and a corrupt wisdom of people pursuing priorities that will only lead to pain for all of their life! It is a pseudo-kingdom that is illegitimate and Jesus defeated it at the Cross and when He rose from the dead He said "ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me now go and preach the Kingdom to all nations".

So by the end of the age the Kingdom will have broken through and it is increasing throughout the earth - the government of His peace!

You get a gift of righteousness so that God sees you as perfect all the time when you walk by faith!

In a casual reading of Matthew 6 you could think that Jesus was saying to us and that all He is interested in is making sure that we will have clothes and we will have food. Nothing could be further from the truth. This thing is not about food or clothes. How pathetic to reduce the wonder of eternal grace and everlasting Kingdom - we are here for a short time on earth and will one day have resurrection bodies that will be immortal and live in Christ for eternity or we will spend it outside of the kingdom lost for all eternity. What a thing to think all He is talking about is just food and clothes! He is guaranteeing in Matthew 6 that food and clothing is a given - it is the Father's will to give you food and clothing! He wants to give you lots of food and the best food, wine and clothes! That is the Father for us! Extravagant abundance! That is His will! But is not the priority here! There is a much more gracious loving important priority here! The real priority is this; "Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?". In other words He is saying that the quality of your life - a stress-free, happy, peaceful, rested, serene, tranquil life is more important than food! And your body is more important than clothes! He is saying He will give you clothes but your health is more important than having the right name brands!

I was at the airport last night waiting to pick up Bonnie and was looking for a shirt to wear today and couldn't find one and she said "Don't get that one - it's got the label on it and everyone will know it is cheap!". I said "I couldn't care less! If it fits me and suits me I am wearing it!". But if I can afford a $50,000 suit then I will wear that too! I believe my Father wants to dress me in the best robes! But the body is more important than clothes! Hear this - it is no use wearing the most expensive clothes if the body inside is so diseased and run down by nervous anxiety and stress. He wants us to have a quality of life that is stress free and physical bodies that are healthy and not broken down by worry! It is an amazing thing in our information age that we think that there is something clever in our corrupted wisdom to half kill ourselves to earn enough money to buy a life that is stress-free! You cannot buy a stress-free life with all the money in the world! It will come by seeking the kingdom and government of God first and breaking out of a corrupted illegitimate satanic illegal government that has temporarily overrun the world affecting politics, economics and education and the way that people think. They don't think - they think humanistic and secular survival pride and arrogance against God. So they don't want to seek the kingdom first but a religion that is like a social club so they can pop into church on Sunday and have a happy little meeting that lasts only an hour because we don't want more than an hour because we have got more important things to do out there.

No! We need to be equipped to seek the Kingdom because if you want to live a stress free happy peaceful life in marriage and if you want your marriage to go like ours and longer or blessing on children then you need to seek the Kingdom first! This isn't for pastors! I am not a pastor! I am a Christian and a son of God! I never see myself as a pastor! I am one but I have never thought of myself like that! I am just a man that likes to surf and have fun and go to movies! But something in me seeks the Kingdom! He says; "The birds of the air don't sow or reap but your Father cares for them! Aren't you much more valuable than birds!?". I want to turn to someone and say "You are much more valuable than birds bird-brain!". Jesus is speaking to an agricultural/fishing society and they understand sowing and reaping and sowing up in barns! So they knew the process - you sow and clear the field and plough and sow the seed and water and pull the weeds and finally a harvest and then you reap the harvest and put it into your barns and wait for buyers! He isn't saying that we have to sit at home and wait and we won't need banks or that - what He is saying is that birds know better than us that we don't need to work in a pseudo-illegitimate economic system that is based on the fall of Adam and the curse of the earth. We can seek the Kingdom and find in the Kingdom that our sowing and our reaping and our storing in barns will happen with the acceleration of kingdom economics so there are many people that understand what I am preaching today who work LESS and are paid MORE!

They enjoy what they are doing! I am very concerned about people who come to church and say they are interested in church unity but are not interested in theology! If you don't have theology - then you are an idiot! You are! Jesus said in John 8; "My followers who follow whether they feel like it or not ...". We need to know we are not on a religious addiction to a hormonal religious high. We are not addicted to experiences! We are servants and sons and daughters of the most high God! The King of Kings and we are in partnership to release the advancement of the Kingdom of God to invade this earth as it is in heaven and to come into this earth and topple evil influences, illegitimate governments that are bringing stress and cancer and blindness and crippled disease on mankind and the church is sitting on little assurances on it's blessed behind and to hell with the world and we will live our lives for ourselves! No! We are kings! Under the King of Kings in partnership to reign and rule with the King of the Kingdom which is first in our lives before our wives, children and job! The Kingdom is first! I will chose the Kingdom before my career as a pastor!

If I am in any pressure in any group of people to surrender the Kingdom first to preach a palatable message that is more acceptable to secular, humanistic modern man then I will resign my position and keep the Kingdom first! I will go without my salary! But I will live on the economics of the Kingdom because that is the way to keep a good marriage and good family, health and run up mountains and be strong because there is a way to live in the freedom of the kingdom of God - by putting it first!

Don't ask the question why we don't see more miracles! Don't ask the question why we don't see more results! Ask the question are we seeking first the Kingdom - in integrity! Until you and whole congregations seek the Kingdom and His righteousness in integrity - and let's not bluff and say we are seeking it first unless we really are! When we really are THEN the Kingdom breaks in!

When first Adam was walking with God in the glory and hearing the voice of God before original sin - God came to first Adam and said "I will bless your work" and God gave Adam a work assignment. In the earth! He gave Adam authority and dominion in the earth! And He gave Him work and it actually uses the word "work" in the book of Genesis! Adam was given work by God before the Fall! So work is not a curse - it is the blessing of God. But when Adam fell and turned in rebellion against God and sought himself first not God then the Bible says that the earth was subject to frustration and God said to Adam, "You will work by the sweat of your brow" and that is stressful work! That is the way that people labour under the dominion of Satan today. They are stressed out and they are working hard and they have big holes in their pockets. They earn a lot but it just seems to fall away to pay for this arrangement or that arrangement - and they are working by the sweat of their brow not by the transcendance of God's Kingdom but their own wisdom.

God says in the Bible that in Christ we are redeemed from the curse that came on the earth through first Adam and we are the new creation in Christ Jesus. You and I are part of the new creation order in the earth! We are part of a Kingdom people citizens not of earth but of heaven and we are all going to be there in Christ maybe very soon! The longest here maybe 30-40 years. But some of us will be there sooner! Not me - I am going last and living till Jesus comes again.

What do birds do most of the time? They sing! But I thank God that I have the privilidge of living in Hong Kong and being woken up by birds. I would rather have that than not hear any birds. In those moments when all the stress is off you and you don't need the valium or substitutes to calm you down and all that stress has gone - what is the first thing you do? Sing! You don't try to sing to get rid of the stress! If the stress goes then you sing!

I am not saying stay at home and sing and don't go to work! I believe we have to go and sow and reap and have banking but there is a heart that sings on the way to work! There is a seeking the Kingdom first! I am not a product of an evolutionary random chance but I am the design of a creator that loved me and put His signature in my soul and made me in His image and put eternity in my heart with a purpose not to eat food, pass it through my body, make money and pay off some building and then die!

He made me to change history and He made you to change history! We are called to affect the politics, economics, medical, educational world of Hong Kong and we are called to affect it with kingdom life!

As you start seeking the kingdom first and go to work start singing! As you go to work start singing! Don't sing the sad country and western songs! Try and keep away from melancholic songs! Sing like a bird! If you don't believe Jesus or you - let me encourage you how to worry better. Go to a worry seminar and train and learn from people who have got nervous breakdowns and stress in their expensive clothing and write expensive books! Go to Jesus! He really knows what He is talking about! Seek first the Kingdom! He says you can worry as much as you like but it won't make you grow! Look at the lilies! They don't toil and spin! Even Solomon in all his splendour was not dressed like one of these! Jesus!? Are you saying that the lilys of the field are greater than Solomon, the king of Israel and the king of wisdom!? Lilys have got greater wisdom that Solomon?! And Jesus will say to you "Yes". But God didn't you clothe Solomon?! No only some. The second half of Solomon's life was a disaster - it was a tragedy. He walked away from God and got independent and proud. The first half of his life - God came to him and said what do you want - wealth or long life or fame? Solomon said; "No - I want wisdom from You God". He got wisdom from God that gave Him such governmental legitimacy to rule Israel as a great king and Israel prospered under his rule!

But in the second half he walked away from God and walked away from putting His Kingdom first and it was an absolute mess in his life! He lived in a sick body with wealthy clothes and he had piles of gold and silver but was a broken and destroyed man. In the first half the Queen of Sheba came up for an interview with Solomon and asked him questions about his creativity and his kingdom because he lived with the kingdom first and God's kingdom and the Bible said that he answered with such wisdom that she gave him 120 talents of gold. 120. That is the number of God! That is millions! Billions! How many priests were in the Upper Room in Chronicles in Solomon's tabernacle when the glory fell? 120. 1000 years later when the glory fell how many were in the Upper Room? 120. How many talents of gold did she give Solomon? 120. In the 2nd half of his life he began to get harsh and walked away from God and didn't seek God on a daily basis and began to tax the people that were so far and above and rebelled against God and the Bible says that the talents came to 666 talents of gold every year. 666. The mark of the beast - the number of man's idea that man is the measure of all things. And we have the strength without God to do things and build towers and go to the moon.

Solomon started off with kingdom and ended terribly. So Jesus says look at the lilys! If these things here today and gone tomorrow get God's attention how much more you who are made in the image of God. He cares about you and wants you to work in the economics of His kingdom and put Him first and on your way to work be singing! Sometimes we think we know what is causing our stress and making us agitated! How many sometimes feel stressed and don't know why? Sometimes just an agitation - a stress and we think there is a reason! But I hope I can convince you today to not rely on a guru but on God and on a regular daily basis spend enough time in God's Presence to identify any areas of stress and see what's causing it. I can have something stressing me and think I know the cause of it and as I pray and wait on God an inward impression and an idea comes and I see that is the reason for that stress and can immediately say "okay! I deal with that and break that in Jesus Name!". Demonic presence manifests with agitation and stress and lying fantasies and overwhelming feelings that it is too big! That is a demonic presence! And that is why the apostle says; "Be alert, be vigilent, your enemy prowls around like a roaring lion" and the very next verse says "Casting all your cares on the Lord who cares for you".

Why does he connect the devil prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour to you taking the responsibility to cast your cares on Him who cares for you? Because Satan can't mess your life up at all unless he can insinuate thoughts into your mind of lying fantasies and feelings of being overwhelmed and lies about people and thoughts. Until you are in the Holy Spirit and pick up what is causing you to be stressed and then you can cast this onto Him and cast this and belly laugh by faith and rebuke the devil and sing like the birds!

I am trusting God that everyone will get some change that will so bless you and your family but more than that - others will see your life and say "Give me the answer!". If people are stressed, sulking and depressed and wanting to suck all the energy out of you - Jesus didn't allow that! You can say that is harsh and He wasn't. But the first time someone comes to you and says "I am stressed" you need to listen to them with such open ears and don't interupt and honour and care but the greatest show of love you can give someone is to stop talking and listen to them! When they have finished talking about their problems then you are going to have to say as a royal priest of God who is putting the kingdom first; "Okay I have the answers for you and they are not cliches and I am not insensative or glib but unless you seek the kingdom first then there is nothing that can help you. You will have to help yourself and it doesn't look like your self-help has gone very far". Somewhere you must realise my self-help principles are not working! And you must say; "I love you and God loves you but if you do not put His Kingdom first then He cannot help you while you are living under that pseudo-illegitimate false king called the devil". They say they try and go away and come back and say it didn't work and go away and try again and on the third or fourth try you begin to realise that they don't want HELP they just want SYMPATHY. And then they become a plot of the enemy to phone you just as your husband and wife are about to have a romantic dinner!

Do people a favour - don't dump your sulking on people over the phone! Say I am feeling a bit down and know you need to seek the Kingdom first and say you are phoning just for some advice - don't keep phoning just to get sympathy! Sympathy is like a nice warm bath and it gets cold after a while and it doesn't help you! I want to keep the bath warm all the time and know how to equip people to deal with depression, heartache, problems not by psych-analytical problems but a King who cares for every area of your life!

After someone has phoned you the seventh or eighth time you are going to have to say "Listen I cannot listen to all this again - I have heard it eight times! I am asking you - are you putting the kingdom first?". "No it doesn't work! It isn't working!". "Well Jesus was a liar then and I am deceived because I am happy and stress-free and you know it doesn't work so I am deceived and Jesus was a liar". Well it is easy for you to say because you get a good deal with a great wife and it is easy for you!". The trouble with that argument is that there is always someone in a worse situation than us who is happy! So the argument that you have a better deal is rubbish! You are not a monkey or a pig and you can make a choice and keep seeking until the feelings kick in and you are not a victim! You turn the steering wheel and then the power kicks in! Even though hell and rejection comes at me every day I make a choice! I will lead year after year with faith and enthusiasm but I will never be a person that sulks year after year! I will live for His honour! Two prisoners look out of the same prison and one looked out and saw mud and the other saw stars!

God authorised 12 men to spy on the Promised Land and come back and give a positive report. 10 came back and saw giants. 2 came back and saw grapes! The 10 died on the same day. The 2 waited for 40 years to lead a new generation into the Promised Land! I am going to be a Jacob or a Caleb and lead a generation of young people to their destiny! And any older person above 40 like me has a choice to become a grumpy old person who gets worse as you get old or seek the Kingdom first or set a model for young people so that when they get to 50 and 60 they are not going to be cynical and skeptical but get bold and confident that your life has purpose! The spies all saw the giants and the grapes! 2 decided what they would focus on! All 12 were spies! And they were married to Spice Girls! I am talking about eternal things here and time is going by! What is the legacy we are leaving and what awards await us in heaven? Are you serious about putting the kingdom first knowing that eternity is waiting with awards and the praises of a God for a people that chose the kingdom first and didn't give in to an easy route! The way of the kingdom is the easiest route! In that pain and troubles you have a peace that surpasses all understanding! You are walking with God every day! You can walk with a conciousness of God every day! You can pray early or late - no legalism! No have-tos! But just to spend time in the Presence of a living God who's burden is easy and His yoke is light..

God wants a people so strong that we build strong local congregations! We are building a community that incarnate an eternal truth called grace and called to be a model to every nation around the world! We will touch millions of lives and if we don't do it then others will come! We must break out - and be honest and ask "Help Me to put the Kingdom first!". Ask for help! Be honest! But if it is all self-pity then you are draining resources that could be deployed elsewhere! I am going to finish my race with my chest held high and we will never give up!"

Grace and Glory Conference, Dubai - Session 4

Rob was in Dubai recently to speak four times at a conference that I mentioned here. He was accompanied by Bonnie Rufus - his gifted daughter. This session in particular caught my attention because of Rob's key teaching on the Holy Spirit - we truly can do NOTHING without Him!

31st January 2008

I think we really do have to sort our eschatology. Eschatology is the study of last days or events and there are a lot of brokers or peddlers of fear that try, through sensation, to create loyalty to the kingdom but what they do contradicts the very release of the kingdom because they end up being so afraid of Antichrist and the Beast that they sit trembling at the Rapture bus stop waiting to escape this evil world and just go to heaven.


But our mandate from heaven that we are authorised not to go to heaven but to bring heaven to earth.


I do not believe that Antichrist is going to win or the Beast is going to win - I believe that the Kingdom of God as described in Daniel chapter 2 where Daniel through revelation interprets Nebuchadnezzer's dream of a statue and so forth and so on (which really is the interpretation of several kingdoms) - and all of these kingdoms happened as Daniel prophesied them. Then the purpose of the king's dream was a stone cut without human hands smashed the kingdoms and filled the whole earth. And of course the stone cut without human hands is the One who is born of a virgin - not conceived by the seed of man - and who came in the time of the Roman kingdom and He came and His Kingdom will fill the earth and we will topple evil.


What is evil? Evil is illegitimate authority. Who is behind illegitimate authority? The one who wanted to make himself equal to God - Satan. He then tried to deceive Adam into being equal with God.


That is illegitimate authority in the earth, that is demonic power and for the Kingdom to invade and bring social justice to the earth, we don't need just humanistic ideology or technology - we need the power of the Kingdom of heaven to break into the earth as it is in heaven.


I am so grateful to you folks for your financial gifts today. Money represents time - hours at work frozen into little notes/currency. Into those notes represents hours at work frozen into paper that can be then carried back to Hong Kong and then in the fear of God we at City Church International will by the administration of God help that into China. We are working with a number of churches across the border - we helped to plant 2 churches last year. They have just planted into Shanghai - one of the key influential cities and we are partnering with them to plant a church into Beijing.


China


So we are going right into the nerve centre of one of the biggest nations in the earth with the most booming economy. If you are going to learn a language of the world - learn Mandarin. It will be the language of the world. The future superpower of the earth. China - 1 billion, 300 million people of which only about 100 million at this stage are going to heaven. Most have grown under an atheistic Communistic ideology that has taught them there is no God. They are not immoral - they are ammoral. They don't even know there are references to truth and lives and we are going to invade the impossible.

We are so insane. We think a few of us pathetic weaklings are going to invade China and invade this part of the world because when you did that, you signed on the bottom line of an empty contract and God is now writing in the details. So when Mike said not only money but people are coming - I said, that is it Lord! Mike signed his whole church over! It is a mutually reciprocating thing and there is a lady who has been part of our church for 3 years and she has relocated to China. She is a little dynamite lady and longs to get married but the call of God on her life is like a Mother Teresa calling and she doesn't have the time to get married. Yet she longs to get married. She features in the book "Jesus in Beijing". I have the privilidge of preaching to 10's and 10's of millions over God channel but there are people in this church who may never stand on platforms but you can have influence far beyond those of us who stand on platforms.

The Kingdom of heaven will break through and the underground church needs to break through and become a prophetic voice in China. It is mainly the rural people in the underground church - there is a lot of legalism and they lack apostolic fathers but they are zealous and laying their lives down, they are being put in prison for the Gospel. No matter what you hear, it is still happening today. They had orphanages and "dying rooms" where babies were given to the orphanages with cleft lips who couldn't feed from a bottle and so they are starved rather than change the bottle and they are put in the "dying rooms" without water simply to starve. So this lady went from Hong Kong with a degree and went into these dying rooms and said to the official; "I am taking this baby to my hotel room" and against all protocol he let her go. Out of that she started an orphanage called "Mother's Love".


When Glenda and I stood there and saw the little graves with little shoes on ... I am telling you this becuase you have already given. Emotional manipulators tell all the sob stories and then say, "Now give". That is the wrong motive for giving. You give because God gives you a release of faith that this is what we want to give into. Emotional manipulation is demonic - so I am telling you this after. We stood there and looked at the graves of little babies who could have lived if they had been fed properly. She opened the orphanage and the babies started living. Then the government of China realised that you can make money with a proper orphanage. Americans will pay for orphanages. So the whole government took over the orphanages and wouldn't give babies to private orphanages anymore. So she had to give up the orphanage but now runs an orphanage for special needs children that no one wants. Glenda and I went in there and you see these kids and no one wants them. She said "I will be your mother".


Some of them are so far gone and yet under the love of God they are changing. One of them has been healed of broken bones and HIV. You drive through these little villages and they are ghost towns with the men gone and just women there waiting to go. There are only 2 million people in China at the moment with AIDS but in the next year that will jump to 20 million people. Then you can imagine the next jump if this thing isn't dealt with. We opened a hospice to help people dying of AIDS and now the government is getting behind them and inviting her and her team to come and educate them. The Kingdom of heaven is breaking in - we are finding favour with Communism government! The heart behind Communism is to care for the people. A right distribution of wealth. Unfortunately because of an evil heart, it never works. But friends don't think Satan doesn't get behind capitalism either. Capitalism could work if the Kingdom of a loving heart was behind it. Communism could work but because of legitimate evil they are both invaded by principalities and powers.


So many dear people in churches around the world are being taught to turn away from the living power of God. As they see the need for social justice around the world they say; "Let's forget about signs, wonders and the power of God - yes we believe in it, but let's put it to the side of church life but the main thing is that we become equipped to change church life with social justice". The motive is good but it is a deceptive, demonic thing they have been beguiled into.


The issue behind social injustice and poverty is not just bad administration and lack of technology but a demonic power that has to be invaded by divine power in signs and wonders and miracles. Behind that can come technology and education but when we drop the power of God and replace it with natural humanistic administration that has come into the Church - and we are ashamed of people falling under the power of God in meetings and are ashamed of people getting drunk in the Holy Spirit and we are ashamed of demons coming out because we may disturb some sensative, cute, nice little Christian then we are being beguiled by demonic power.


I find it the most abhorrent thing to think that some people describe Church as nice people meeting with other nice people to become nicer. Why does the Bible say that God wants us to be hot or cold but if we are lukewarm, He just "pukes" us? It is actually "vomit" - the Greek there. To vomit is an involuntary experience - it is not that God wants to. But lukewarmness and nice-ness is so alien to the passion of God that it can't stay in the Presence of God. You cannot topple evil and bring in the Kingdom by being nice. The last thing Jesus was, was a "nice person". You do not have people screaming at you and wanting to kill you by being "nice". You don't crack a whip and go into temples and say "This is wrong" by being a nice man. The last thing church is, is a bunch of "nice people". We are the warriors of God. We are the people of the Kingdom violently and forcibly bringing down evil and bringing in the Kingdom. We are not leaving a planet full of earth and going to heaven one day. We are going to change governments!


Can a nation be born in a day? Yes whole nations can be born in a day. Even maybe Fiji is an example of a nation being born in a day where the vast majority are worshippers of the Living God and not just religious stuff but born again in the power of God, believing in miracles, signs and wonders - not ritualism. Amen? What is the biggest warning that is prophesied in the Bible - the most terrible evil in the last days? If we miss this, we have missed the greatest warning that we are not beguiled by.


2 Timothy 3:1 says there will be terrible times in the last days and then he goes on and says people will be lovers of themselves and not lovers of God but the climax - the worst is that he says there will be people in the church with a form of godliness but who deny the power. Have nothing to do with them he says. The church today is filled with people today who have a form of godliness - they have a pietistic demenour and can go to the ceremonies and the religious rituals but they are Pharisees and Sadducees, Couldn't-sees and Wouldn't-sees.


They want to bring about social justice and change politics but they are doing it building their Babylon. They are doing it building their tower of Babel without reference to the Kingdom of God and they are Christians who have been beguiled out of the power of God. Harvard University - one of the greatest so-called institutions in the USA - was birthed in revival, signs and wonders and the power of God through the corridors of that great university. It was birthed for the dissemination of the Gospel - today it is intellectualism, a haughty arrogance and the delusions of man's self-sufficiency. You can hardly find God there today. Why? They have good motives - we are going to change the world, we are going to do things but gradually they said that the power of God is embarrassing. People falling, laughing, crying, repenting as the Spirit of God comes upon people. It is illegitimate authority - man trying to make themselves equal with God. That is strange to have that power coming on the earth and we don't want that. Schools and universities that started in Christian motives have ended up in intellectualism.


The greatest social reformers are those that seek the power of the Kingdom of God in signs and wonders and out of that bring social reformation.


Amen? Over a 100 years ago, the Salvation Army, when dark days ruled over the United Kingdom (and those days are here again).


But I believe great revival is coming to the United Kingdom - can you say amen? Revival in the United Kingdom will hit dark Europe and I am training Chinese Christians to go as missionaries to dark Europe and to the United Kingdom.


In those dark days members of Parliament were having sex with 13 or 14 year old girls claiming to be Christian and parading themselves in the House of Lords. And a movement by the Salvation Army - they had what they called "stacking boards". On the side of walls you would see little shelves all around the walls. They would say that as they began to worship people began to fall under the power of God because when the weight of God's Being comes upon you, you cannot stand anymore. So to make room so that people don't stand on them, the ushers would stack the people. Under that movement the age of consent was raised up to sixteen - a legal challenge was brought about to protect women and it was birthed by a movement in fire and power. Look at the Salvation Army today and it is a social justice movement, a buxom barmaid patronised by the world. The early church were feared. You will never understand church history unless you look at it through the lense of apostolic truth.


You don't need the power of God on your life if your mentality is to have a home and family and a nice happy little life because that is a self-centred life. We need the power of God to topple evil everyone of us will have to give an account for the earth in which we live - the day is coming when God is bringing His whole throne to earth. And the earth shall be the dwelling place of God. We read in Peter that the earth is going to be "melted up" - no the Greek word there is actually "re-formed" and we will see elephant and rhino and no pollution. Seas full of fish the way that God created - it is good! It is very good!


The kingdoms of this earth shall become the kingdom of this Lord and of His Christ. God is not going to leave an evil planet and pull His frightened little cowardly Church sitting at the rapture bus stop out and then He can nuke the whole planet and only a few little idealistic, pietistic Christians will be in heaven.


An Aussie would say; "No I would rather go to hell and be with my mates!". If that is what is going to be in heaven, a few self-centred Christians who don't see that the call on their lives is to bring order to their marriage and children - not just for an end in itself but to extend the kingdom to topple evil. 2 million of our brothers and sisters in Sudan have been murdered in recent years. Others have had their arms cut off and women their breasts cut off by rabid fanatical extremists religious idealists and the Church says nothing!


It hardly even prays for these things. Because if you are overwhelmed by your personal problems then your prayers are prayers of self--centredness and self-preservation which is self-righteousness. You will never know the glory of God if you live like that.


In the 1600s the UK was on the brink of a bloody revolution that would have killed hundreds of thousands of people in a violent bloody industrial revolution. It was happening in France across the Channel. Thousands were being guillotened in the country under demonic power. France hasn't recovered from that yet. That was not the will of God for that to happen but secular humanists got in to try and bring change through their own personal humanistic abilities but Satan came behind that and destroyed it. I thank God for the Hugenots wh escaped from the country to South Africa and brought the Word of God to South Africa. Right across the Channel the UK was being set up for that and God raised up people like John Wesley.


Wesley came preaching in a demonstration of power - not just "Your sins have seperated you from God - repent and be saved evangelically and then you will go to heaven one day but while you are here live like you are living in hell". No he came and preached the Kingdom of God!


And they called it "Wesley's disease". The police called it "Wesley's disease" because as Wesley and Whitfield preached to the thousands of hardened sinners, men would throw stones and bricks and them and spit on them. As the bricks and spit hit them, they called it their medals of honour for Jesus. They kept preaching the gospel to hardened miners and Wesley and Whitfield said they knew when they were breaking through because the hardened soot-covered faces began to have white streaks running down their faces as they wept. Then when the meetings were over sometimes thousands of men would be left lying unconcious under the power of God. Secular historians say that the preaching of Wesley and Whitfield singularly stopped a bloody revolution in the UK that was happening in France.


George Whitfield said that when he went to Massachusetts, the young men used to climb the tree to better see him as he preached. He said; "Young men I am about to preach - come down out of the trees because the power of God is about to fall and the kingdom of heaven is about to break into the earth and topple illegitimate authority or evil. Evil and rebellion agaisnt the King of Kings". Some of them came down and some of them stayed up and observers said that as Whitfield was preached they heard the "thud-thud-thud" as young men fell from the branches under the power of God. Isn't that amazing? Secular historians said that the preaching of the gospel and the demonstration of power brought social reformation and rights for children and protection of children.


But the Church is abandoning it's heritage - they are abandoning the mighty power of God for seeker sensative services and meetings where we don't offend anyone because of the power of God. We don't want the the power of God to come in our meetings because God is embarressing - God thinks the Church is His!


That is disturbing to us because we just want to live a comfortable little life. We want dry-cleaning services - in by 09:00 and out by 10:00. "Sermonettes". Do you know that revolution in France wasn't the will of God? It could have been prevented.


Do you know that the future can be changed right now by decisions we make today? That nations, communities and regions have their outcome in balance based on Christians making decisions today on what the Church is and what the Kingdom is and what their assignment in life is to see the Church really powerful in God.


Turn to Isaiah 55. Every time I preach I say, "Please Lord let me be nice - let me not challenge anyone or anything - let me just get pats on the back!". I am not challenging you - Jesus is by His Spirit. He said; "Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you". He didn't say seek first your marriage or your children and all these things will be added to you. I have seen people put their marriages before Jesus - and over 30 years as a pastor those marriages have ended in divorce, their children ripped apart by divorce and I say; "Can't you see? Put the Kingdom first!". Glenda and I have been married 23 years and we have six granchildren and all our kids are serving God. If that is not your experience that is not to put condemnation on you at all - in fact it is to give you hope.


Regret is a useless emotion - you cannot do a thing about your past - forget it but you can do something about your future and the decisions you make now. If you are ever brought into a place of powerless hopelessness - that is not the Spirit of God. You are dealing with demonic oppression trying to bring you into regret and powerlessness and hopelessness. The Kingdom of heaven empowers you to make decisions that affect your future.


Forget about your past - it has gone. I feel for you - I really do - but there is nothing you or I can do about the past. The way to aggressively attack regret is to forget the past and look into your future and say; "God I make choices now that may be gut-wrenchingly difficult but I signed on the bottom line of a blank contract and I put your kingdom first. Where I live - when I re-locate - what career I take - where I move to. It's what you want God. Not what I want and then God you fit in. No I am your ambassador and I want to go into a place and represent you and not speak on my own but on behalf of the King of Kings. I am a walking embassy of the government of God".


Some live by hindset and it looks so clever. But the greatest calling is to have fore-sight. Yet even greater than foresight is insight. We are called to work with insight - to see the future and become the future in the now. We are a statement of a future age to come. We are the true new age. The rainbow new age - that is the deception. That is the false, the demonic. We are a statement of the age to come living in the now - in the earth.


So I was going to talk on the "Glory of God" because the Bible says in Habbakkuk 2 that "the knowledge of the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea". So the knowledge of the glory - not just the glory! The knowledge of the glory will cover the earth.


The glory is the manifest, weighty, tangible Presence of God that will cover the earth and we will get revelation or knowledge in the last days of the glory that no other generation has had. The Bible says that the "glory of the latter house will be greater than the former house". That Christ will have a glorious house without spot of wrinkle or blemish. The glory of God will fill the Church and we will carry the manifest glory of God.


I wanted to talk today on the quantum physics of the glory - about the expanded glory and the concentrated glory because we have to learn about the knowledge of the glory if we are to see bread multiply and fish multiply to see the hungry fed! And it is happening in the earth! Food is being multiplied in Mozambique with Heidi Baker to feed orphans. Chickens are multiplying. Bill Johnson said they have had chocolate multiply! The good news about that is in the quantum physics of the glory - is immediate weight reduction and people have lost 20kg in a meeting and I have seen it! The miraculous power comes down and I have seen trousers and dressers out here because the God who destroyed the Hittites can also destroy the cellulites!


One thing that worries me about being caught in one area of Christianity or one movement or one denomination is that you isolate yourself and think that's it and we need to expose ourselves to the Kingdom of God.


God is not building movements or denominations - He is building HIS Kingdom and I am interested in the Kingdom! That doesn't mean to say we don't partner with movements or people - we are just not insular or locked in.


We have to expose ourselves to the Kingdom and thousands around the world are losing weight. Now instantly some of you object to that! Millions in the world are saying that but 60% of Americans are obese and I don't mean that unkindly. But they are coming and are getting weight reduction! What are signs and wonders? Signs are something that point to Jesus. We don't run after signs - the signs point us to Jesus. Jesus is the centre!


But the concentrated glory is when the glory comes into intensity. The expanded glory is when the glory affects the molecular structure of our bodies so that you can walk through a wall like Jesus did or you can walk on water like Jesus did under that glory.


The concentrated glory is different - when the devil said turn the stones in bread, Jesus didn't do it - but the devil knew that Jesus could because the molecular structure can change - if the structure can change so that water comes out of the rock, then the structure changes. You say this is freaky stuff Rob. Well lots in the Bible is freaky! An axe head sinks to the bottom and Elijah puts his anointing on it and the axe head floats. Imagine if we went back to what Christianity is meant to be - how easy it would be to change nations and see multitudes saved.


But there is a demonic illegitimate authority in the earth trying to beguile the church out of the power and just be nice, cute, sweet. I puke on that kind of religion that is sending millions to hell and God pukes it out!


I want to talk briefly on how joy and peace work together - joy and peace. How many of you have got so drunk in the Holy Spirit over the last 3 nights? I believe that is supernatural weaponary against the demonic. He gives us the oil of joy for the spirit of mourning. The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. If I allow my life to come under helplessness, heaviness, mourning - I have allowed my life to come under helplessness that is demonically inspired. And I cannot allow my life to come under the miraculous power of God if I am oppressed by loss of joy and loss of peace.


For peace and joy are the main weapons of glory in our warfare against the devil. Now I am into intercession, I am into praying, I am into binding, I am into fasting - but the main weapons of our warfare to invade the impossible is the supernatural joy of God and the supernatural peace by which we crush Satan under our feet. If you lose your joy and lose your peace you will not move in the miraculous.


You will live under a cloud and when you come into the service you will carry a cloud of the demonic over you. But if you live in joy and you live in peace, you will carry the atmosphere of the miraculous - "All things are possible!". We are not meant to be coming in every Sunday and just getting free - getting free - and getting free from the same problem we had last week. We are meant to come into the revelation of the Kingdom and carry the glory over our lives so that unsaved people come in and get set free from what's oppressing them.


The church is constantly reaching out to the garment of Jesus for another little thing and another little thing and there's nothing wrong with that (we need to do that till the day we die) but that shouldn't be the MAIN THING is that we become the garment for the world to touch!


Miracles take place in this setting and the office and the workplace and we change society and topple evil and topple poverty and topple the sex slavery of children, we topple Babylon - not by arrogance of self-righteous but by weapons of humility, graciousness and supernatural joy and supernatural peace. I don't understand this - I have never preached what I am about to preach anywhere in the world. But God gave me these Scriptures this morning and just said "Preach it". I used to think that peace preceded joy but God said; "No, no it's not like that. Joy comes first and then peace follows!". Many of those people laughing in the Spirit last night I guarantee had the most wonderful supernatural peace. So joy feeds your peace and peace feeds your joy.


Look at Isaiah 55 - (Isaiah 53-55) - this is about the gospel and the New Covenant coming into the earth. Isaiah 55:12; "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace and the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you and the trees of the fields will clap their hands". Now in prophetic language, mountains refer to nations. They can also refer to problems. Nations will burst into song for the people who go out in joy and be led forth in peace. Zion the joy of the whole earth is led out in joy and goes forth in peace, nations will burst into songs of praise or mountains of problems will have to give way to the song of joy and peace in the earth.


Peace is a supernatural sign of the government of God - it is a supernatural sign of legitimacy upon you. Not peace when everything is going well but peace when everything is going horrifically wrong, then you have a sign that the supernatural sign of the authority of God's government is upon your life. (Isaiah 9) says Jesus shall be called the prince of peace and the government shall be upon His shoulders and of the increase of His ... peace there shall be no end. This will go through the whole earth and conquer the earth and the mountains shall burst forth in joy and be led forth in peace. This isn't just personal prosperity for me but a weapon to manifest the concentrated glory for signs and wonders and miracles.


Rob - do you live in joy and peace all the time? My wife will tell you no - but I am getting there more and more. I am learning every day to live in peace. Sometimes I feel agitated and anxious and I think no - this is a sign of demonic power. Trace back to where I lost the peace and it is either an email or a phone call or criticism and I think "Father ... I receive". When you are living in peace you are living in the power of the supernatural presence of God's government.


When you are living in anxiety and fear you are saying words that agree with and make alliances with a demonic power to empower a disarmed devil to oppress you. But when you are living in joy and peace, your words are the carrier of the power and glory of God.


(Matthew 10:7) - Jesus said when you go and preach the Gospel this is what you do; "You heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead and cast out lepers - that is your message". Then He said go in and look for a man of peace and then you walk into that home and say "Shalom" (nothing missing - nothing broken) - the peace of God be upon this home. If your peace is not received then withdraw your peace, shake the dust of your feet and leave. Because you see if they will not receive your peace then they will not receive the signs and wonders and miracles.


I have been in crusades and you can just touch and people come out of wheelchairs. There is such peace. I have been in other places where people are agitated and you can do nothing. You have to withdraw the peace of the Kingdom until in their restlessness they seek a peace. But self-righteous people are driven to prove themselves all the time. (Romans 14:17) - Kingdom means the government, the rule and reign of God. "Righteousness" means the free gift of righteousness given to you in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom is in the Holy Spirit. In between is righteousness, and peace and joy! (Romans 16:20) - a command to the church today. If I don't invade the impossible then the impossible will invade me. If I don't attack Goliath then Goliath will attack me. There are chemical reasons for not having peace but by and large there is no excuse.


(Romans 16:20) - "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet". How many of you think that "crushing" and "peace" are words you normally connect? "Crush" - "Peace"? Peace is a weapon of war. When you lose your peace you need to monitor your life - not the pastors or deacons but you and I must monitor our lives. People want priests and gurus so we don't have to take any responsibility for our lives. No - our job is to equip you for you to walk in peace and joy. I want to quickly show you two areas to live in peace. The devil wants you agitated and anxious. Job said the things I feared most will come upon you. I want to speak words of peace.


Jesus was asleep in the storm! Why could Jesus sleep during a storm? Because His inner life was not equipped from an earthly realm - His inner life was equipped from a heavenly realm. We are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus - right now! He said to the storm; "Peace, be still". Who sent that storm? God? No! They were on a mission - why would God send that storm! It was an act of the devil - a demonic storm but it had to bow to the Creator.


When you walk in peace you will speak peace on your finances. Jesus equipped them to speak peace! How many of you would keep your job if you kept asking your boss to do what you are employed to do? The anointing equips people to set other people free! I am moved with compassion for the members of my church. I do counsel them and I do love them - but sympathy is not compassion! Compassion is saying I love you and putting my arms around you and fasting and praying for you. But compassion motivates you to move in the supernatural and move in the power of God to set the captives free.


Philippians 4 - joy comes first and then peace. You can rejoice in your suffering because you understand the mercy and favour and grace of God. (Romans 5:1-11). "We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that our suffering produces ... hope and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His Holy Spirit ... while we were still sinners Christ died for us ... we REJOICE in God through our Lord Jesus Christ whom now we have received reconciliation".