Glory and Grace Conference (Hong Kong) sessions on GOD TV!!

I was thrilled to be informed by Ryan Rufus recently that the sessions from the Glory and Grace Conference in Hong Kong are being shown on GOD TV and are currently available streaming online! I don't know how long GOD TV keep these online - so it's worth making the most of it!

Here are links to each of the sessions available - don't miss this glorious truth!

Rob Rufus - "The Lens of the Cross"

Rob Rufus - "Can Christians Lose their Salvation?"

Andrew Wommack - "The Balance of Glory and Faith"

Andrew Wommack - "Body, Soul and Spirit".

The message of grace is getting out!

No Condemnation Now I Dread! (A New Book by Ryan Rufus)

I can't think of a better way to begin a review of a new and wonderful book by Ryan Rufus (pastor in City Church International in Hong Kong) - "Extra Virgin Grace" - than with the favourite lines of a well known hymn;

"No condemnation now I dread - Jesus and all in Him is mine!

Alive in Him - my living Head and clothed in righteousness divine!

Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own!

Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own!".

The hymn has to be heard to be appreciated so I've put the link to the video here of it being sung on the BBC programme; "Songs of Praise". I didn't post it - because I wish the gathered singers looked more happy! I can't sing this hymn without crying! The point is this;

"No condemnation now I dread! Jesus and ALL in HIM is mine! ... clothed in righteousness divine!".

These truths form the very essence of Ryan's new book; "Extra Virgin Grace". He writes in the foreword;

"My conviction is that free people will free people. Therefore the greater the freedom we come into the greater the freedom we'll be able to bring others into. The essence of freedom is to know that you are 100% set free from the law and are 100% righteous in Christ - 100% of the time. Bondage is to believe that you are still under the law and not always righteous".

It's so simply obvious. Why haven't we seen more conversions? Because we're not truly free and the answers are here! Ryan writes;

"Get ready to be armed with a key that will unlock many difficult Scriptures and distorted doctrines. What is this key? It is the key of discernment between the gift of righteousness and self-righteousness".

There are many different topics addressed in the book but the "golden thread" (as C H Spurgeon called grace) runs through it all giving the book such amazing unity. A couple of thoughts about this great book.

1. Ryan writes strongly.

I have no shadow of doubt that this book will offend some. But this strength is required! Ryan's father - Rob Rufus - wrote in the foreword;

"Intellectual preaching from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has flooded this world and drowned entire nations in religious lies. These wholesale deceptions that have grossly misrepresented the true loving nature of God require and demand to be confronted with concentrated pure grace clarity. This book does that. Any sincere seeker will find the truth in these pages extremely emancipating. The grace revolution is accelerating. The earth is groaning for this message".

It is my suspicion that your reaction to this book will actually mark out where you are at in your spiritual walk. If you are offended because all your spiritual disciplines and righteous deeds are called "nothing" - then there it is. But if you are filled with hope and wonder because you see hope - then you are indeed a "sincere seeker" as Rob writes!

2. Ryan writes compassionately (as a true pastor).

His chapters 12 and 13 on "Rest" are the most loving compassionate chapters I have ever read on this. So much of Christianity these days is focused on "work" and "mission" and driving to see the lost saved. Of course this is true and must be done - but Ryan writes so rightly that you will accomplish far more if you are rested and sane - than exhausted and weary!

The reader knows that those under Ryan's pastoring (and I know this is true of CCI) will not be constantly made guilty by "applications" after sermons that demand more of them. "Come to the prayer meeting .... give more ..... do this .... do that". I know for a fact that there is no such guilt-driven exhorting in the church and we too are allowed to enjoy this!

3. Ryan writes as a teacher who writes what he lives not just what he believes.

So many books I've read are by men and women who don't really write with conviction. Especially those who are striving to "live more holy lives" under God! They come up with ideas and lists of "daily disciplines" to live more Cross-centred lives and so on. But there isn't a real heart of conviction there - because deep down, they too must admit; "I've blown it". Ryan's book is amazing because you read it and know he has begun to experience the thrilling joy of the freedom that grace brings. And it makes you want to experience that too! This book rings true!

4. Ryan isn't afraid to dispel wrong historical teaching!

My favourite chapter in this book is chapter 6 - his treatment of the Sermon on the Mount. I must admit as I have taken my baby steps into the gospel of grace since I encountered Rob Rufus properly in 2007, I have been worried by the Beatitudes and their implications for the Christian life. Many of the books in my library on the "Sermon on the Mount" take this historical approach that Ryan dispels.

For example, the great Dr Martyn Ll0yd-Jones wrote his collection of sermons on the Sermon and the book opens; "The Sermon on the Mount is not a code of ethics or of morals; it is a description of what Christians are meant to be". And that's how I've always read it!

Ryan writes masterfully however - going through each of the Beatitudes and explaining in context what each actually means. Here's a segment about the Sermon on the Mount;

"Matthew 5:1–7:29 is the "Sermon on the Mount". Is this sermon in-tended for the church? Absolutely not! It's intended for the self-righteous. It‟s a pre-salvation preach that exposes self-righteous pride and performance and reveals the need for God's righteousness as a gift through faith in order to see the Kingdom and become children of God ... He wasn't preaching to a church. He wasn't preaching to born again believers. He was preaching to Jews where the climate of the day was a striving for righteousness through works.".

So what do the various points Jesus makes in the Sermon actually refer to? For example Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God". Ryan said;

"Jesus wasn't saying that keeping most of the law is good enough. He was saying that if you want to live by the law then you can never break it. Not even once. The smallest transgression of the law brings about impurity in your heart and means you‟ll never see God. So if your “seeing God” is based on the purity level of your law keeping, then you better make sure you‟ve kept the law 100% of your entire life. Anything less and you‟re doomed! If that sounds rather extreme it‟s because it is. It‟s because it‟s meant to break down self-righteousness".

Here is a brief synopsis of each chapter and what it brings in Ryan's words;

Chapter 1: The Olive Tree vs. the Fig Tree.

The Olive Tree represents Christ, His gift of righteousness, faith, grace, The Spirit and the New Covenant. The Fig Tree represents flesh, self righteousness, works, legalism, human effort, unbelief and the Old Covenant. This chapter is a call to the Church to not repeat Adam and Eve‟s sin of trying to be more like God in eating from the Fig Tree but to rest in the Olive Tree and see the fruit of grace manifesting in your life.

Chapter 2: Re-defining What Renewing The Mind Is.

Renewing your mind is essentially about learning how to surrender your mind to your reborn spirit so that you become “spirit-led”. Transformation is becoming “spirit-led”. When you are led by your reborn spirit in fellowship with the Holy Spirit then you will walk in the perfect will of God manifesting all the riches of your salvation here on earth.

Chapter 3: A Moment Within God’s Eternal Grace Covenant.

If you‟ve ever struggled with understanding why God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden or why Israel suffered for so long under the Law covenant then this chapter is for you, and makes it very clear. You‟ll discover how grace has always been Gods intent for relationship with Him and how the Law is but a brief moment in time and for a very clear and specific purpose.

Chapter 4: The New Way Of The Spirit vs. The Old Way Of The Letter.

The letter is a religious system of external pressure and motivation to get you to serve God whereas the spirit is an internal transformation and empowered ability to serve God. Under the letter you are forced to serve God. Under the spirit it becomes your desire to serve God. For born again believers it is no longer,“Do this in order to be blessed, or don‟t do that in order to avoid punishment.” Now it is, “This is who you truly are, perfect and complete in Christ” and “This is what is available for you now, a miraculous and victorious life!”

Chapter 5: Galatians 5 Explained In Context.

Because of the confusion around this chapter, many Christians have been taken into fear and legalism, but this is a glorious chapter that God is once again shining His brilliant gospel light on to reveal what it truly means to walk in the Spirit.

Chapter 6: The Beatitudes Are For The Self Righteous!

Matthew 5:1–7:29 is the „Sermon on the Mount‟. Is this sermon intended for the church? Absolutely not! It‟s intended for the self righteous. It‟s a pre-salvation preach that exposes self righteous pride and performance and reveals the need for God‟s righteousness as a gift through faith in order to see the Kingdom and become children of God. Unless you really understand grace, don‟t go near the Beatitudes. They will mess you up! Teaching the Beatitudes to Christians produces legalism and religious pride or condemnation in them.

Chapter 7: Re-defining What Holiness Is.

Holiness has got nothing to do with sinning or not sinning. If that is what we think, then we think that we are the cause of our holiness. There is only one person who is the cause of our holiness and his name is Jesus Christ! And if you are in him, then you are holy. You don't have to try and be holy or get holy, you are holy!

Chapter 8: Hebrews 12: Understanding God’s Disciplines Through Grace.

Many people read Hebrews 12 in a very negative way that causes fear in their hearts and in the hearts of others. But actually these verses were written to encourage believers and fill them with confidence. What is fundamentally important to see when reading Hebrews 12:5-11 is that firstly, it‟s not God doing the chastising and secondly, that the chastising was not coming because of moral sins but because these Hebrews were standing for the Gospel!

Chapter 9: Romans 5, 6, 7 & 8 Unlocked.

I believe these four chapters are the bedrock chapters of understanding grace. They form a solid foundation of what the Gospel is, and will give you confidence to stand in the grace of God. The more you study them and understand them, the more you will be able to look at other verses that seem to pose a “problem” for grace, that contradict grace, and unlock their true meaning.

Chapter 10: Hebrews 5 & 6: The Impossibility Of Losing Your Salvation.

To fall away means to spiritually die again. If Christ can‟t die again and we are united with Christ, it means that we can‟t die again. If we can‟t die again then it means that we can never fall away! I believe this Scripture is written to show the Hebrews, and us, how perfect our salvation is and how impossible it is to lose it, based on the fact that Christ can never die again! And it‟s written to help us come into an amazing confidence that God is for us, always relates to us through grace, and therefore we can walk intimately with him with boldness and confidence in this life.

Chapter 11: The Theology And Experience Of Rest.

Rest is about knowing where you are seated and why you are seated there. You are seated with Christ on his throne because you have become his perfect and complete righteousness. You are not standing and working but are seated and resting. And the Holy Spirit doesn‟t just want you to know where you are, he wants you to experience where you are.

Chapter 12: More Gets Done When You Rest!

When we‟re not living in the sweet spot of resting in the finished work of Christ, life seems harder, ineffective and frustrating. But when we live from a place of rest we find life becomes increasingly more enjoyable and effective. God wants us to live from the sweet spot. He wants us to enter his rest and live from that place.

Appendix: Keywords and Scriptures in Context.

This chapter is more of a study tool to help you unlock certain Scriptures rather than a read-through chapter. It focuses on a number of words like: sin, faith, lust of the flesh, fear of God etc that usually get interpreted incorrectly and explains their proper meaning. This chapter isn‟t thorough or in depth but will certainly assist you in your own studies by triggering helpful patterns of thought.

Rob, Glenda and Ryan in Ministry in the Phillipines!!

I was thrilled to see City Church released this video today of their recent ministry trip to the Phillipines - here below. This truly is one of those moments when I ache to be financially free so I could follow and be with these guys as the grace revolution spreads across the planet!

Here's the video;

The Filler of Manila, Philippines trip April 2011 (Short Version.) from City Church on Vimeo.

Photos from the Rufus's Visit to the Phillipines!!

One of the benefits of being a far-off fan of the Rob, Glenda, Ryan and Kylie Rufus is the tremendous excitement of seeing their wonderful ministry grow and develop as the grace message gathers momentum around the globe. Of course one of my aching frustrations is that I don't have the resources or a church to bring them back to the United Kingdom!

However thank God for the internet - and the fact we can enjoy and hear the wonderful message from afar. So there has just been a wonderful trip to the Phillipines (while celebrating Glenda's birthday - who I swear does NOT look the age she is!) and I'm looking forward to hearing the ministry.

Here's a few photos from the event - thanks to Glenda;

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

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

"Hi guys

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

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

Andrew Wommack

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

Rob Rufus, Fini and Isi De Gersigny.

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

Would love you to join us!

Blessings

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

Founder, New Nature Publications
www.newnaturepublications.com"

“God’s Eternal Grace Covenant” by Ryan Rufus

This incredible sermon was preached by Ryan Rufus at City Church International in Hong Kong on Sunday 27th October 2008.

“This is what we were created for – to be with You. This was Your grand master plan from the very beginning – to have us close. Father we just love Your Presence. Holy Spirit we thank You for what You are doing here this morning – taking us deeper and taking us further. Lord I don’t feel like I have ever been this far into Your Presence! What an awesome place! We just love it Lord! Let the brilliant bright light of Your shekinah glory shine into our hearts and awaken us and illuminate us to see the greater truth of You Lord. To have a revelation amidst all the lies and the confusions and perversions of Your truth – amidst all of that – let a brilliant bright light pierce us and awaken us this morning.

All week I have been very excited about preaching. I have been looking forward to it! It’s probably been the only time I have really looked forward to preaching! I have really been excited about preaching the Word this week. I don’t know the end and exactly how it will come out but we will see what the Holy Spirit does. I feel to continue about this theme of “God’s Eternal Grace Covenant”. I have just two points to share about this.

1. The first one is that God’s grace covenant does not have a beginning and it does not have an end.

His grace does not have a beginning and it does not have an end! It is eternal – an eternal covenant that God cut even before time began and it was cut between the Trinity. Jesus Christ the Son is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. We spoke last week about God’s grand master plan.

What is God’s grand master plan? To have a people clothed in His righteousness. His people – with revelation so that they can come before Him in perfect standing based on what He has done in His glory and His pleasure.

God’s grand master plan is that He would have and create a people that would not relate to Him and have relationship with Him on the basis of their righteousness but He would create a people that would relate to God and have relationship with God on the basis of Christ’s righteousness.

That is why Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth because God NEVER intended us to relate to Him through our own righteousness. He always, always, always intended us to relate to Him through Christ’s righteousness. That is why even before He created us He had already planned a way for us to receive that righteousness through Christ and through faith. Not through anything we have ever done – not through works, not through keeping the law, not through trying to please God or by being obedient, not through tithes and offerings or anything but simply on believing what Jesus did for us. That we would become the righteousness of God in Him – perfect access to Him every moment of every day!

Let me read you a Scripture – 2nd Timothy chapter 1:8. “So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord or ashamed of me His prisoner but join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who has saved us and called us to a holy life”. Remember that is not a holy life that we try to live. That is a holy life that He has called us to and given us in Christ before the foundation of the world. When He said “Be holy as I am holy” – He never meant try to be as holy as Me. That is impossible for mankind to be as holy as God. God never said be holy with your own holiness. He said “Be holy as I am holy - With MY holiness! (v9); “Who has saved us and called us to a holy life” – that’s His holiness. “Not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. This grace was given us in Christ before time began!

Ephesians chapter 1:4 says; “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world”. When did God choose us in Christ? Before the creation of the world! “To be holy and blameless in His sight”. Is that a holiness of our own? Our own self-holiness and self-blamelessness? No He chose us even before He had created us or done one holy thing and one blameless thing – He chose us to be holy and blameless in Him before creation! “In love He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood – the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of His grace that He lavished upon us with wisdom and understanding and He made known to us the mystery of His will”. What is the mystery of His will? That we would relate to Him through Christ’s righteousness and not our own. That is the mystery of God’s will! “According to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment to bring all things in heaven and on earth under one head even Christ”.

That Scripture about Jesus being the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world is in Revelation 13:8. I just want to read one more Scripture before we move on. That is Romans chapter 8:29. Another awesome Scripture about God’s master plan. When we read the Scriptures we need to see God’s master plan. We must see God’s plan! He predestined us to relate to us on His righteousness and not our own. Many of us look at the doctrine of election and predestination through the wrong lenses and through the wrong angle. We are looking at it thinking “Who has God predestined?”. It is not so much about that! It is more about the fact that before time began God predestined you to relate to Him through His righteousness and His perfection and not your own! That to me is predestination. Romans 8:28:

“And we know that God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose”. (v29); “For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brothers – and those He predestined, He also called, those He called He also justified, those He justified, He also glorified”.

God predestined you before He created you to be justified by the blood of Jesus! To be made righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus! It is awesome – God’s master plan! I hope you are seeing it. Abraham was chosen! God chose a filthy pagan sinner. We think Abraham was a holy man and that’s why God chose him. He wasn’t. He was a pagan and a filthy sinner – and God chose Him. God came to him one day and said; “Hey Abraham – you don’t deserve it but I am going to bless you”. You don’t deserve it one bit but I am choosing to bless you. To prove to you that I am going to bless you, I am going to make a covenant with you. I am cut a covenant to you and swear by an oath and bind Myself to you through an oath and a promise that says “I will bless you and make you righteous even though you don’t deserve it and I will make you into many nations even though you don’t deserve it”. And you know what? Abraham believed God. It was insane for him to believe God because He didn’t deserve it yet he believed God and that is why Abraham is the Father of our faith because he believed that God would bless him even though he didn’t deserve it. And that is the exact same faith we have. We believe that He makes filthy sinners righteous even though we haven’t merited it and even though we haven’t earned it. That is why grace is called “unmerited favour”.

God’s grace – His covenant does not have a beginning and it does not have an end. It is eternal.

It is His Plan A and Jesus was God’s Plan A! Jesus was not God’s plan B. Mankind didn’t sin and God thought; “Oh no! What am I going to do?”. Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God knew that mankind could never relate to God through their own righteousness. It was just never going to be good enough. There was only one way that man can relate to God and that is through His righteousness through the grace of God. So God had to teach this to man because there is a time when man thought he could relate to God through his own righteousness and just be good enough to earn His favour and earn His blessings. God blessed Abraham through faith and it wasn’t through anything Abraham had chosen to do or had done. It was through faith and faith alone. Israel forgot the Abrahamic covenant – they forgot the faith of Abraham. They forgot the covenant that God made with Abraham!

So when Moses came down Mount Sinai with the Law to Israel and said “If you want to be blessed then keep the 10 Commandments but if you break even the smallest one then you are going to come under incredible curse”. Israel had to think about it and thought “Yes that doesn’t sound too bad – I reckon we can do that!”. They should have said; “God what on earth are You doing!? You already made a covenant with Abraham who was our Father and You said You will bless him regardless of his performance and You would bless him through faith. God why are You making this new covenant with Israel? Why are You making this Law covenant?”. They should have said; “No God! We reject this law covenant that You are trying to make with us! We don’t want the 10 Commandments and this performance-based covenant! We want Your grace covenant not the law covenant! We want You to give us the Abrahamic covenant!”. But instead they thought “No we can keep the law”. So for 1700 years God showed them how they couldn’t keep the law and how inferior that covenant was and how weak and useless that covenant was. How it was impossible through that covenant to relate to God – God had to show mankind that the law covenant is a weak and useless covenant and the law covenant had a beginning and an end. It was a parenthesis in the eternal grace covenant of God.

The grace covenant is eternal – it goes on for millions and billions of years into the eternity of eternity. The law covenant appears for a fraction of time – a parenthesis in the grand scheme of God. The law appears – why? Why did God bring this law covenant? So much of the church today is struggling under a heavy yoke.

Jesus said “Come to Me those that are heavy burdened, laidened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke”. What was He talking about? He was talking about those that are under the yoke of the Pharisees – the law yoke. The heavy yoke of the law. It weighs you down and crushes you and destroys you – because that’s what it was intended to do. It was intended to break you and to smash you down and show you that you cannot relate to God through your own righteousness. The harder you try – the harder it has got to smash you down. That is why Jesus was angry with the Pharisees.

We look at Jesus’ teachings and think that He was giving this higher ability for us to keep the law! That is the biggest lie – He wasn’t giving us a higher law standard that we can now keep through the Holy Spirit. He was angry with the Pharisees for lowering the law for making it appear as though we can almost keep it. And people would look at them and think; “Wow – look at how holy they are. I wish I could be like them!”. Legalism was a virtue in those days. “I wish I could be that legalistic then I would be close to God”. Up until the time Jesus came, everyone look at the Pharisees and thought; “Wow – those men are so righteous”. But Jesus came and exposed their hypocrisy and they hated Him for it. He said; “Yes on the outside you look like white-washed walls, beautifully decorated and look so holy. But on the inside you are full of death, rubbish – because you think you can be holy through your own righteousness.

You think you can be holy – you think you can earn the right into God’s Presence. On the outside you are keeping the law but on the inside you are breaking every single command and God sees you as filthy, disgusting and dead. That’s how God sees you. You say you shouldn’t commit adultery but I say to you if you have even lusted in your heart then you have committed adultery”. We say “Oh that is the new standard for us”. No – God was showing the Pharisees how extreme the law was! If you lust in your heart then you have broken all the commandments and you deserve judgement. If you want to be so holy then as soon as you begin to lust, then cut your hand off and pluck your eye out!

He was ANGRY with the Pharisees and He heightened the law to show how NO ONE can keep the law because NO ONE was intended to keep the law because NO ONE would able to be righteous enough to earn God’s favour and love and grace on us. There is only ONE covenant that is good enough and that is the grace covenant – the law covenant is not good enough. It is a self-righteous covenant and a flesh based covenant. Grace is a spiritually based covenant, an eternal covenant, the ONLY covenant by which man can draw near to God!

Abraham was not under the law. The faith of Abraham is not a law-based faith! He had a grace-based faith. What is a law-based faith? A law-based faith says; “I believe that I can be righteous enough to earn God’s blessings and God’s Presence and favour with God”. That is the faith of the law – faith in my ability. It is a useless faith because the object of your faith is useless! You don’t have the ability! Grace-based faith says; “My faith is in heaven and Him alone! It is in Jesus, the finished work of the Cross and in His ability to take My sin and give me His righteousness and His ability to make me 100% righteous before God!”. THAT’S what my faith is in! Nothing else! Absolutely nothing else! It is crazy to put my faith in anything else!

Hebrews 8:7. The lights are going to come on for some of you and it is going to change you forever and you are not going to be the same. And your relationship with God will not be the same. From when you see this – your relationship with God is never going to be the same! This morning when I was praying I saw this – I really saw this towards the end of my preparation and suddenly the lights went on and instantly the glory of God fell on me and I was weeping, laughing and it was so awesome!

Hebrews 8:7 says; “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant” (talking about the law covenant) “no place would have been sought for another”. There was something wrong with that first covenant. That’s why another covenant had to come. The grace covenant that had already been established in eternity! (v8); “For God found fault with the people”. The law covenant is a faultfinding covenant. It is based on you and your performance and so God scrutinises your performance through the law. There is no way you can please God because we are always falling short and always messing up. God always must find fault with us through the law. That covenant is a terrible covenant and that is why Jesus said; “Come to Me those that are heavy-laden, weighed down and crushed”. Why? Because they were living under a faultfinding covenant.

Imagine every day you live your life with someone who says; “Oh you did that wrong, that wrong and you should have done that, oh what are you doing? Oh you are pathetic! You are useless, why did you do that? You are a failure! You shouldn’t have done that! You did that badly! God is not happy with that! God can’t stand that!”. That is a faultfinding covenant – that is the law covenant.

Then after all that you think; “Praise God I am just going to go and worship God and get in His Presence”. Goodness gracious – good luck!

And all you can do is say; “Oh I am so sorry, I’m so pathetic and so useless!”. Even the best thing and most righteous thing you can do for God wouldn’t matter because of all the unrighteous things you have done against God. You know why it is a faultfinding covenant? Because God made the covenant with man. Now listen to this and try to get it alright? The law covenant which is a blip in time and eternity and a paranthesis in the grace covenant is a useless and weak covenant because it is a covenant that God made with man. You will see this! So the covenant is when two people come together and they make promises to each other. “I will do this if you do that – I will do that if you do this”. They bind themselves to each other through signatures and through swearing and through oaths and it is a legal contract, a covenant contract that binds you together and if you fail under your end then you are liable in a court of law.

So God makes a covenant with man and says “I will fulfil my end if you will fulfil your end. I will bless you if you keep the law. If you break the law or even the smallest part of the law then I will curse you”. That is the covenant that man signed with God. But the grace covenant – how many of you realise this? You do not have a covenant with God. God didn’t make a covenant with you. He made it with His Son. He made it with Jesus. And then He brought you into it because you are in Jesus. Jesus will never ever break His end of the covenant – He fulfils it perfectly. He is eternal! He is a perfect sacrifice. He offered a perfect sacrifice, which perfectly removes your sins and perfectly makes you righteous. He was raised from the dead and entered into the highest heavens and offered His own blood. The earthly tabernacle could never ever remove your sins; it could only cover your sins. The heavenly tabernacle can remove all your sins. He went into heaven with resurrection life and we have a high priest that mediates between God and man and He offered His blood and He has an indestructible life. He will never ever die and Hebrews chapter 7 says “Jesus ever intercedes for us”.

This is when the lights came on for me this morning. He EVER lives to intercede for you and I! That means in the eternity of eternities if we ever sin then we are STILL righteous! We will never ever get kicked out of His Presence and the oath God makes with us – the way it works is that God binds Himself to the New Covenant – the grace covenant – and says;

“I will bind Myself and promise that I will never, ever relate to man through his righteousness but I swear by an oath to always and ever relate to man through Christ’s righteousness and on man’s behalf!”.

That is why the Holy Spirit is also our Counsellor. He doesn’t come alongside and say; “Hey man, you are doing a good job”. He is our Counsellor – our legal defence. So when Satan is in heaven accusing the brethren saying; “God they broke this law or this law” – the Holy Spirit says; “Father! Remember You swore and promised to not relate to them through their performance, their righteousness or their shortcomings. You swore to relate to them through Christ’s righteousness”. Case dismissed! That is good!

Jesus ever lives to intercede because He also stands up and says; “Father You said You would always relate to them through My righteousness and I have given them My righteousness, I have made them righteous – I have removed their sins and they don’t even have their sins! He is talking rubbish! It is hot air – he’s talking lies, he is accusing! They are not found on substantial evidence – he cannot present any evidence because God has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west and they did do this”. But can you prove that they did this? I am looking but it has got no evidence!

The New Covenant is not a fault-finding covenant.

You have to get that – you have to see that. It can never be a fault-finding covenant because God is not relating to you through your performance. He is relating to you through Christ’s performance. God will never find fault with Christ – He is perfect. He is absolutely perfect! For you to break covenant with God or to lose your covenant with God would mean that Jesus would have to be made unperfect. It would mean that Jesus would have to backslide. It is absolutely impossible for Jesus to backslide – He is absolutely perfect in all description. He is indestructibly perfect. He is immutable and unchangeable and we are perfect with Him and He has made us perfect forever. This is the good news! This unlocks Scripture! Hebrews 6 says that the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is mediator and is superior to the old one. It is founded on better promises. That is God’s promise – to relate to you through His righteousness and not your own.

The Old Covenant was bad promises – it was full of promises you made to God. You broke your promise to God. But the New Covenant is founded on better promises because it is Jesus’ promises on our behalf. Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly on our behalf.

You know what it comes down to? It comes down to the fact that God promises to bless you regardless of your performance! How much of the Church is teaching performance-based blessings? The Church today preaches performance-based blessings and it is Old Covenant!

The covenant God made with Abraham said; “I will bless you regardless of what you have done!”. I don’t know if you have read Genesis 12 to 15, 22. Every time God came to Abraham, He said; “I will bless you!”. “But God what have I done to deserve this?”. “Exactly! That is the point! I choose to bless you. I will bless you and make your name great. I will make you a blessing to nations”. So much of the Church teaches that God will bless you so you can be a blessing to the nations. God says, “I will bless you AND you will be a blessing to the nations”. We have turned that thing around that says if you want God to bless you then you need to be a blessing to the nations. You need to bless the nations and then God will bless you. Rubbish! The covenant is based on better promises. God says “I will bless you even when you don’t deserve it”. Why? Because I am not blessing you on your performance but I am blessing you on Christ’s performance on your behalf. This cleans up our motives for why we serve God.

We don’t do – in order to get. We do because He has transformed us. He has blessed us already. It is an overflow of what He has done to us. It is not trying to get something from God.

I believe in tithing and I believe in generous giving. I believe in sowing and reaping as a lower principle, but I believe there is a higher principle. That Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law so that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through faith. Righteousness of God comes through faith and wealth comes through faith and health comes through faith – not from what you have done but from what He has done on your behalf. It is not law-based faith in yourself but grace-based faith in the finished work of Jesus. I love to give! I believe in tithing! I believe tithing is right there in Hebrews chapter 7. God makes a big deal about it! I believe all the glory belongs to God. I believe worship and honour belong to God and 10% of our income belongs to God – you don’t have to see it that way. But that is the way I see it currently – that is my conviction. That is the way I see it.

God is expanding and going broad with our convictions. He is redeeming New Covenant truth and bringing His word back into the New Covenant. He is redeeming New Covenant truth and He is going deep on some things we have been looking at for the last 3 and a half years like justification by faith, the gift of righteousness, those things – we are unchanging on those things and will not budge on those things! But God has us going broader on things like tithing and offering and all those things we have been taught under law such as Malachi 3 and have done them under law but God is redeeming them out of law and bringing them into grace. And we are seeing what makes it through into grace.

He is going broad now so we mustn’t let these things divide us. We are all heading to the same direction and all are at different paces and we love each other. Why don’t you stand? God is awesome and I hope you saw something today! We just want God to turn His light on so we see that it is not about our righteousness but His".

New Nature Publications on You-Tube!!

Just got back from an awesome weekend away in Brighton - to find this:



Awesome!! Get over to the website and get browsing - this is only going to grow!!

New Nature Publications!!

I am so tremendously excited to report that Ryan Rufus's new publishing company - "New Nature Publications" - has just gone live on the internet offering an awesome vision along with products and resources from City Church International and others to "rain grace upon the nations"!

Ryan's two incredible books; "Sanctification by Grace" (that I've just finished reading for the tenth time!) and "Do Christians Still Have a Sinful Nature?" are available there along with ...

A new book by Rob Rufus called "Invading the Impossible!"

The vision is this;

"The vision of New Nature Publications is to provide an ever increasing amount of grace resources to churches and people across the planet and to see those churches and people come into the fullness of His glorious grace. Our desire is that the lost will find these resources irresistible as well, as they encounter gracious grace filled people who are getting these resources out!"

I do urge you all to go have a browse! This is an awesome answer to prayer for all those who hunger and long for a people of reality and grace to arise in the earth and start showing the lost that not all religion is hypocrisy and legalism!

Re-defining Holiness by Ryan Rufus

This sermon was preached by Ryan Rufus at City Church International, Hong Kong on Sunday 2nd May 2009

"The week before I preached a one-word title message called "Rest" and this morning I have a two-word title message called; "Re-defining Holiness". I am excited to preach this word and I believe God is excited about this word this morning. It is His Word and He wants to do something here this morning. "Re-defining Holiness" - re-defining what holiness is.

Living a holy life should never be defined as "living without sin". In fact sin has got nothing to do with holiness at ALL!

We have been programmed to think that it does and this morning I want to undo that programming. The religious world has made not sinning to equal holiness. They have made that the most important issue for the church today. The religious spirit across the world today is trying to put pressure on leaders to preach more on holiness and not sinning and it seems so virteous! But it is a demonic deception and many are blindly falling prey to the religious spirit. This morning I want to come out strong. There are some things in the Body of Christ that need to be smashed down today!

The lie that says "If you don't sin then you are holy but if you do sin then you are unholy" - that is the 10 Commandments right there! What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word "Holy". Stop sinning? If that is the first thing we think of when someone says "Be holy" then it means our minds have been programmed by the law to define what holiness is.

Holiness has got NOTHING to do with sinning or not sinning! If that is what we think, then we think WE are the cause of our holiness and I am telling you there is only ONE Person who is the cause of our holiness and His Name is Jesus Christ!

If you are in Him, then YOU ARE HOLY! You don't have to try and be holy or get holy - you ARE holy!

Hebrews 10:10 - it is amazing that this is in the Bible. "We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all". You have been made holy once and for all! Now I am going to try and define what holiness is and it isn't complicated.

God was holy long before sin ever existed. In fact God's holiness could not be referenced to sin at all. Sin wasn't around! If we limit the holiness of God to the mere abscence of sin then we are limiting His awesome holiness! God's holiness is far greater than just the abscence of sin.

What is holiness then? Holiness is who God IS. God IS holy! If you are in Him and born again then you are holy!

The sin of Adam that we were all born into - we were made sinners (Romans 5 says) - and it is the sin of Adam and our state of sin that seperated us from God. Now it wasn't that sin was unholy. It was the seperation from God that was unholy.

A state of seperation from God is a state of unholiness.

Then Jesus came and offered the once-for-all sacrifice that permamently removes all of our sins and makes us blameless before the Father. He made us righteous and blameless and because of that we were able to come into God. It is the coming into God that makes us holy! People confuse holiness and blamelessness! We mustn't confuse the two. Blamelessness is the removing of our sins. Holiness is the coming into God. Let me read to you Ephesians chapter 1:4; "He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight". Blameless is us becoming righteous. Holy is us coming into God.

Now holiness is not about what you DO. It is about where you ARE. Where you ARE will affect what you DO.

So the question is; "Where are you?". If you want to understand what holiness is then you need to understand where you are. So where are you!? Ephesians 2:6 tells us; "God raised us up with Christ" - that is being born again. "And seated us with Him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus". You are seated in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus! That is where you are! That is your heavenly position seated in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus! What else is true about this heavenly position? Ephesians 1:3; "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that is in Christ Jesus". Your heavenly position is that you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. God cannot bless you anymore in the heavenly realms - He has fully blessed you in Christ Jesus! You have received every blessing in the heavenly realms!

Your heavenly position in Christ is that you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ! Colossians 2:9, 10 says; "In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ". Other translations say "You have been made complete in Christ". That means you can't receive anymore fullness in your heavenly position in Christ! That means you have been made absolutely complete in your heavenly position in Christ! Some of you are looking like you don't believe that! You need to see where you are! We are not talking about your flesh or your soul but your spirit that has been made alive with Christ and seated with Christ in the heavenly realms! How can God be in heaven and also living inside of you? That is the glory realm! It is multi-dimensional and don't try to understand it with your mind! You have been given fullness in Christ! That means you don't have to try and achieve anymore righteousness or achieve anymore perfection. You have got 100% righteousness and 100% perfection and 100% obedience and love and faith and authority and health and riches! And 100% victory and passion and access to God all the time! That is your heavenly position in Christ!

What is your heavenly position? It is that you are seated in the heavenly realms and have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and have been given fullness and made complete in Christ. You have been made holy and complete in Christ and that is your heavenly position!

Living holy is not about living without sin! Living holy is about living from your eternal heavenly position in Christ Jesus!

That is holy living! That is holiness! The Greek word for "holiness" is the same word for "sanctification" and it means two things. 1. Seperation or seperated or seperate. 2. The life that flows out of someone who has been seperated. So you have been seperated from your old life of sin and we are talking about what it is to become holy. It means you have been seperated from your old life of sin in Adam and you have been brought out of that and into Christ and seperated unto Christ and brought into your heavenly position in heaven. Now the life that you live flows out of that place. Or at least it has the potential to flow out of that place because if you don't see and have revelation of that place then you will live your life from this natural earthly place.

To live holy is to live from your eternal, heavenly position. To live unholy is to live from your current earthly condition. It has got nothing to do with sinning. It has got to do with position. It has got to do with where you are living from.

The truth is we live in our current condition from our eternal heavenly position. Sin is not unholiness - it is the by-product OF unholiness. Or rather it is the by-product of not living from our eternal heavenly position. If you were to live 100% from your eternal heavenly position you would never sin while in your current condition. But it is not about sinning anyway! The religious world makes it all about sinning! It is all about what you have got to do and what you have got to change! It is all about behaviour modification and it is trying to put behaviour modification on your current condition. Forget behaviour modification! Forget change!

Forget trying to change your character in your current condition and SEE your heavenly position! As you SEE your heavenly position then THAT begins to flow through your current condition!

The religious world makes holiness the most important issue. I believe holiness is the most important issue but not the way the religious world has defined it as living without sin. God wants you living holy - they say! God wants you living without sin! Actually God is not that interested - and that is not God's priority! God's priority is that you live holy - but that is living from heaven! From your eternal position! We have got to seperate the concept of sin from holiness and see heaven!

When you define holiness as living without sin, people automatically think if they stop sinning then they are holy! That gets their focus on themselves, on their flesh and on their human efforts and makes them think that not sinning is the cause of their holiness. But there is only one cause of holiness and that is Jesus Christ! And if you are in Him then you are holy forevermore!

Now to live holy is to simply live from that place where you are in Him and are seated and given fullness in Him and that is it! That will get your eyes off yourself and onto Him and who He is and who He is in you and who you are in Him. The more you see that the more that will begin to flow through here.

The more you see your position the more you begin to live from your position and the more you begin to live from your position the more you will overcome sin but greater than that the more you will see heaven coming to earth through your life and the more you will start doing the works Jesus did and greater works.

God did not leave us on earth to see how much sin we could overcome! He left us on earth to see how much heaven we could bring to earth through our lives!

The religious world says "Produce fruit!". It is actually so important and serious what I am saying this morning. God is shifting mindsets in the body of Christ and bringing down the lies that have blinded men and women for centuries and bringing them to see true holiness. How they have limited what holiness is and how they have got people involved in what God is not involved in! God is involved in seeing heaven come to earth! The more you over come sin but the more that realm breaks in through your life! At the end of our lives we are not after saying "God I didn't sin!". That's useless! We want to be able to say that we walked in all the things He had for us in this life. We want to see heaven come to earth and see this world shaken and thousands of millions saved and brought into the Kingdom. The religious world says "Produce fruit! Change!". Grace and truth says "No - get established in the love of Jesus Christ!". I believe the way we get rooted and established in the love in Jesus comes through seeing our heavenly position, seeing what He has done for us through His love in Christ and taking us up and seating us in the heavenly realms and giving us fullness. The more revelation we get and the more we see the heavenly realms - that is faith! Faith is seeing the heavenly realms! It is not about what you DO - it is by faith. Simply believing. Simply see by faith the heavenly realms.

The more you see by faith your heavenly position - then the more your current condition gets rooted in the heavenly realms and the fruit of being rooted up there will show over here! You don't even have to make it manifest. You won't be able to stop it manifesting.

The religious world tries to pull on leaves and branches to make the tree grow. Forget it! Feed the roots and the tree will grow and produce fruit! Get rooted and established in the heavenly realms and the fruit will show up in the earthly realms!

If you don't see that holiness is about living from your position and who you really are, then when you read Scriptures about holiness - you will assume all they are talking about is not sinning - when in actual fact they are trying to say that if you live from your position in the heavenly realms then you will not only overcome sin but you will see heaven coming to earth and you will see the kingdom coming to earth!

Go back and read all the holiness Scriptures! People will send me emails about this and that Scriptures and that is fine! I am for that because I believe this with conviction! Go back and read with conviction!

Bill Johnson says; "Our destiny is to go to heaven but our assignment is to bring heaven to earth!". My version of that is that; "We have already achieved our destiny because we are already seated in heavenly places and now the life we live, we live from heaven to earth bringing heaven with us!".

You could say the more you live from the heavens, the more the heavens will show up in your life. It is not bad to live from the heavens. Don't mock people who are always in the heavens and living from the heavens. You need to live more from the heavens - you need to be truly more holy! That is the appropriate way to say that! When you hear that you don't think; "Me, my, what I must do, my sin". You think, "Him and what He has done and how awesome He is". As a consequence of that faith errupts in your heart to lay hold of the things that are yours in Jesus Christ. I want to leave you with this thought.

The more you find out about your position in heaven, the more you find out about your potential on earth.

You have the potential for total victory over sin! You have the potential to walk in divine health! You have the potential to walk with God in the glory realm 24 hours a day, great wealth to finance nations, blessed with every spiritual blessing, to continuously hear the voice of God day in and day out, to raise the dead, to do the works Jesus did and all that God has planned for us to do! I don't preach on faith! I am not against faith. Some people focus on faith. Preach the thing that produces faith and you won't even have to preach on it! Same with sanctification - forget about it! Don't worry about sanctification! Focus on the things that cause sanctification! Stop trying to preach obedience and holiness but rather the things that empower it! Sanctification is not about trying to sin less and less but learning to live from hte heavenly realms more and more. It is not about trying! But seeing! Seeing who you really are! The church preaches too much about who you aren't. A sinner - filthy, disgusting! No - you need to hear who you really are! Son of God! Righteous forever! Perfect! Seated in the heavenly realms! Blessed! Made perfect! Holy! Made complete! That is your true identity!

"Come and undo in a moment centuries of false doctrine".

"It doesn't matter what abusive leaders were against you - He is for you! And He is representing your minstry to the world!".

"Rest" by Ryan Rufus

This sermon was preached on Sunday 19th April 2009 at City Church International in Hong Kong.

"We are just going to have a mellow preach this morning and try and not be long. The word of the Lord this morning that He gave me this morning is "Rest". That's it! That is it! So thank you, that was quick eh? There is not much to do when you rest. But Steve was praying that out in the prayer meeting this morning and I was really excited about that because I had written it on my hand. "Rest". It didn't manifest there but I felt the Lord saying that His word this morning to City Church International is "Rest". Rest is two things. Firstly it is a theology - the rest of God. And the rest of God is also a living reality. I don't want to just know the theology of the rest of God - I want to experience the living supernatural reality of the rest of God. I want to enter into the rest of God and God wants CCI to enter in and live in the rest of God! The living supernatural reality of the rest of God. As I speak this morning I just believe that His rest - that supernatural reality - is coming upon us. So receive that right now!

Lord, we just release Your Presence of peace and of rest upon each person right now in the Name of Jesus. We are not looking for a cleverly crafted word. God gave me this word in 5 minutes this morning! We are looking for You and Your Presence and Your peace and Your rest. Those that might be uncomfortable with this kind of a meeting - Holy Spirit we pray that You would just dissolve all their discomfort right now and let them be comfortable in Your Presence with You.

I had a long week this week - working Monday to Friday and very working very hard. The only day I had to prepare for today was yesterday and I felt this pressure that I had to get up Saturday and prepare for Sunday with the goods. I felt God said "No just have a day of rest - watch movies and get couch time". Ryan loves couch time! Just rest and watch movies! God said "Don't worry I will give you a word". That can be scary if you have got to preach the next day. What happens if He doesn't give you a word and you get up looking like an idiot?! Maybe I do care a little bit - but I would rather just communicate what God has and it could be the simpliest word but as long as it comes with His Presence and His impartation then you can say one word - "Rest" - and it can change your life. So Lord keep releasing that rest! The Bible says "Strive to enter into His rest". So it is the only thing we are told to strive for! How cool is that? Strive to enter into His rest. For everyone who enters into His rest ceases from his own work. Ceases from his own work!

God created the planets and the galaxies and the universe in six days and the Bible says He rested on the seventh day. It wasn't because He was tired. It just meant He stopped working on the seventh day. It was finished. The Old Covenant is a six day covenant - a working covenant. The Law is a working covenant. The New Covenant is a seventh day covenant and is rest! A rest covenant! It started when Jesus said "It is finished!". It is FINISHED! We entered into a seventh day Sabbath day covenant! God only showed me that this morning - I have never studied that anywhere! We are in a Sabbath - seventh day - covenant!

That means our work has finished! Grace says "Stop working". And just believe.

Jesus said this is the work that the Father requires - to believe on the One He sent. Not to go and do this or that or to keep the 10 Commandments. Not to try and be holy. Not to try and not sin or win the world for Jesus. He says THIS is the work - to believe on the One He sent. Grace says "Stop working".

God says come and lift false burdens that we are carrying. We have a passion to serve Jesus and live for Him and do stuff - I do! But the enemy can get behind that and say "You are not doing enough. You need to do more". He will start to drive us and we get into false burdens and think we have to be more holy and change more. "God wants me to change more!". God says "Stop trying to change!". God says to CCI this morning; "Stop trying to change!". God doesn't want you to try and change. Stop trying to change yourself! I don't know if I even have a theology of changing! So much emphasis on changing in the body of Christ!

I think the more we see Him and the more we see who we are in Him and the more we see where we are seated in the heavenly realms in Him - the more that realm begins to flow through our lives. We don't need to change! We just need to see Him. Sanctification is not about trying to sin less and less - it is about living from your eternal position in Christ more and more. Sanctification isn't about trying to be holy. I am going to preach about holiness. I am going to preach on being holy. And I am going to re-define what holiness really is because the church has got holiness really wrong! Holiness has got nothing to do with sin at all! The church has made it all about that.

What's the first thing you think about when I say - holiness? Don't sin! That is the 10 Commandments right there. If that is what you are living under then that is the 10 Commandments.

If I sin then I am not holy. If I don't sin - then I am holy. It's rubbish! Sin has got nothing to do with holiness at all.

I am going to leave that there! Otherwise I will end up preaching that whole message! Holiness has got to do with where you are seated. That is what holiness is - where you are seated in Christ! Living holy is simply living from the place where you are seated in Him. That's holy living. I will explain more about that the following week. It will release you completely from trying not to sin. Just see who you are and where you are! Not sinning is the by-product of holiness.

The religious world is putting pressure on pastors to preach more on holiness and congregations more to try and stop sinning and be more holy and it is putting pressure on churches to live under the 10 Commandments and is totally bogus and it needs to stop in the body of Christ! Stop teaching "holiness" and stop teaching obedience! Stop teaching sinning less and teach more on who we are in Christ and where we are seated - perfect in Christ! 100% righteous in Christ forever more! Seated with Christ on a throne and made holy!

Hebrews 10 says you have been made holy! You can't be anymore holy! You are holy! If you are born again then you are holy. The seventh day covenant! That is a good one! It could be totally heresy but ...! We are in a rest covenant! The work is finished!

Stop trying to complete your holiness and complete your righteousness! Stop trying to complete blessings and approval from the Father! You have got it all! You have got the faith of the Father! Let's just cease from our works!

Ryan if you preach that then it's going to lead to passivity! It will lead to fatalism! Graces says "If you never did another thing for God for the rest of your life then He would still love you and approve of you and be pleased with you!". That is it! That is what Grace says! If you never did another thing for God for the rest of your life then He would still love you, accept you and approve of you!

Because He is not relating to you on your performance - He is relating to you on CHRIST'S performance and you are in Christ and He is pleased with Christ, loves Christ and is happy with Christ. You are in Christ and "accepted in the beloved".

You don't have to do another thing for God to get Him to accept you or to get Him to love you. He loves you completely and utterly and fully! We live with this thing in our mind that if we are not praying enough or winning the lost enough then God is a little bit unpleased with us! That is a LIE from the devil!

If you never read your Bible for the rest of your life and praying another prayer to God for the rest of your life or never tried to win one more person to Christ for the rest of your life then God would still fully love you, accept you and be pleased with you!

But then won't Christians not want to do anything? No! Actually it takes all the "have-tos" off Christians! I don't want to live my life by someone saying "You have to do this". That is the 10 Commandments again! Grace takes all the "have-tos" off us and says we don't have to do another thing! You don't have to live for God or try and stop sinning! It takes all the "have-tos" off and when they get taken off then all the "want-tos" begin to come out!

Grace awakens your spirit to all the goodness that God put in there at the point of salvation and draws those things out!

Because my spirit is being made perfect in Christ - Ephesians 4:23 - says we have been created after the very nature of God. My spirit has got the nature of God in it! So many people preach that we still have got a sinful nature and that is a load of rubbish! My spirit is part of the new creation order and that means nothing from the old got put back into my spirit.

When my body dies and I go to be with the Lord then my spirit will be instantly with the Lord and nothing will change in my spirit! Because it's already part of the new creation order! So nothing has to change in my spirit! Nothing of the old - no evil or sin or unbelief - my spirit is made perfect in Christ!

When you take the "have-tos" off the Christian then all those things in my spirit - the nature and love and passion of God and fire of God is all there! And that wants to come out! Grace awakens those things to come out! It is good! If this is the first time you have heard anyone say anything like this then I don't blame you for being a bit shocked!

We at CCI are a bit used to this but most of the church doesn't preach this stuff and they have been lying to you. It is not because they are evil. Most times they are doing their best with good intentions. A lot of legalism in the church is simply because of bad theology. When you haven't seen your salvation and you haven't seen what God has done in your spirit then you feel like you have to move Christians to action. "Do this!". All these clever manipulation techniques are used to get Christians into action. But they fail! The only thing that should move us is the Spirit of God in the inside of us and that connects with who I am! Grace moves me! Unmerited favour moves me! Not external pressure! God took off external pressure and external restraint and put internal restraint!

Believe it or not a born-again Christian doesn't want to go out and sin! A born again person wants to get rid of sin and struggles with sin and doesn't like sin! The flesh and mind still like sin but your spirit doesn't like sin! Sin is foreign to your spirit! The more we live by our spirit the more we can overcome sin. The more we don't walk into sin! God isn't trying to put external restraint on us when He has already put internal restraints for us to live by that! Maybe someone needed to hear that. The more you preach this stuff, the more those "want tos" rise up and the more people are empowered to be Spirit-led. If you are putting "have-tos" on people then you are not teaching them how to walk by the Spirit but by denominational law and church conformity. You are putting pressure on people to conform.

No one has a right to tell another Christian that you have no right to drink alcohol! Maybe God told you not to drink alcohol! But if you say to another Christian we are not allowed then that is external and if they bow the knee to that then they didn't do it because the Spirit led them to do it but because someone put pressure on them to do that. You can't say to someone you need to pray every morning for one hour. You have to read your Bible! God might have told you to do that but He might not have told your neighbour to do that! You have no right to put that on other people!

God is trying to take false burdens off us and get us to move by the Spirit and not by the pressure of man. God doesn't want us living and moving by the pressure of man but by the Spirit and by His voice. We enter into that rest! Can you feel yourself right now entering into that rest? Some say I am not happy - I have still got that problem and that can become our focus. God says get our focus off that and stop trying to change this or that. God says I am not even putting pressure on you to try and change that!

All I want is for you to see Me! That is all God wants!

Maybe someone else put that pressure on you! Just see God! Just see how good He is! How awesome and loving God is! See how happy He is with you! God takes absolute delight in loving you! That was such a revelation to me! I think Dad preached that a few weeks ago. We all hear that God loves us! Some think God has to love us because He saved us! Actually God has delight in loving us. It brings God pleasure to love us and He enjoys doing it. Have you heard that in your spirit? God delights in loving us! God is happy with us!

Lots of people say that Christians should live with a sense that God is not happy with them and if they have that sense then it will move them to try and live to get God to be happy! That is manipulation - it is demonic and witchcraft! "We have got to have more sin conciousness because then people will feel like they are sinners and will be moved to get rid of sin!". That is WRONG! So many people preach that!

If all you hear about is repentance and what you have got to repent of then your entire focus is on how short you have fallen from God and how useless and how unhappy God must be with you. That is awful. We should be focused on how perfect we are in Him and how right we are with Him. How perfect He is! And how we are in Him and how much He loves us and how much He is blessed by us! God is smashing some mind-sets here this morning. Some things we need to let go of. If we don't get grace references points in our life then we come in here and hear grace preached and think "Yes this is awesome - I love it" and go out and then people carefully put "What about this scripture?" into our minds and then we get knocked around and end up back in a place where we are not reigning in life and feeliing the pleasure of heaven on us. Once we get certain things established in our hearts then it will be like reference points that we will not be moved on. People can throw any clever slants on Scripture they like but we will always live in a place where we know that God is happy with us, likes us, and we are 100% righteous!

Some of these reference points are; teaching about the gift of righteousness. You have to understand it! You have to understand total forgiveness and understand propitiation. God has already poured out all wrath and punishment on Jesus fully. That means He will never ever judge or punish us! People say you are sick because you did this sin or that sin. No that is rubbish! God will never EVER punish you again because He fully punished Jesus! The gift of righteousness - you are 100% righteous in Christ! Hebrews 10; "perfect FOREVER" by one sacrifice! That means righteous! Perfectly righteous! He doesn't just "see" you righteous but knows all your sin is behind that. No - He has MADE us righteous. We need to see ourselves 100% righteous because that is how God sees you all the time. That is a reference point. Get it established even when we sin and mess up! That must get established and you won't be moved!

People will say "Ah you did that sin, you are not righteous, you have got to go and repent and confess and get right with God". It's rubbish! Strive to enter into His rest! Nothing else!

It will lead to being Spirit-led and it will lead to supernatural initiatives from God!

How many programmes does the church run - this programme and that programme!? It is so that Christians are doing something and not wasting their time! "You need to be a good steward of your time". God says - no enter into my rest! And I will give you supernatural initiatives! You are not being a good steward of your time if you are doing things that you don't even have faith for. When all the "have tos" are off and you are walking by the Spirit - then He can come even in a dream! God gave me an assignment in a dream! It changed my life! It was in a vision! He can drop a business idea! A guy at Bill Johnson's church wasn't doing much with his life and the only thing he could do was archery. One night God woke him up and gave him a new design for a bow. He invented this bow and has one of the highest selling companies of bows! That is incredible! God will wake you up and give you something! Rest! Go to sleep and let God wake you up!

I have never done so much for God since I have been in Hong Kong and learnt about rest and grace. I feel I have done so much for God since being here! I just waited for God to give me supernatural initiatives and He does! And you just follow!

Some of you look like you need some rest! We have been flat out lately! It is appropriate God speaks to us about rest at this time! Let's go into our future in rest! It doesn't mean passivity or fatalism but doing exploits for God! It is doing HIS exploits for God! Those are the big and powerful ones! God is speaking this morning! He is speaking! There is leadership and God speaks through them. Sometimes you can hear Him through your leaders but ultimately you want to hear Him for yourself! When Kylie and I came to Hong Kong big leaders were saying "No" - but we came and we are glad we came! God speaks through them and we are not undermining that. Dad preached last week and the first place of authority is the voice of God. Second is the Word and third is man.

Miracle at City Church International!!

I got this brilliant email from my fellow transcribing friend - Heather - giving a bit more detail in an awesome miracle that God did at City Church last Sunday. It's absolutely vital that testimonies form part of this website because as Rob himself said;

"Testimony" comes from the word; "To do it again". When you share a testimony of what God has done in a miracle in your life - that testimony is a sharing of a prophecy and it carries with it a power to duplicate what you are testifying happened to you".

Here's what Heather wrote to Ryan and I;

"Hi guys

I can't believe I'm doing this when I should be packing, but anyway, I took a picof Sally on Sunday (attached) and thought it would be great to put on our website. Here it is:

It was her 2nd visit to CCI. She'd been experiencing a hip problem for about 3 years and couldn't move much. And her right leg she could only bend a little ... and walked with pain all the time. She could not sit for more than 15 minutes because she got a lot of pain. When she was prayed for, she felt electric shock go through and all around er. After the prayer, all the pain was gone and she could move like she couldn't do before at all. She believes that God has replaced her hip with a totally new one.

Praise and Glory to God!!!!!!!!
Hallelujah!!!!

Lots of love
Heath".

And we say - "More God! We want more! We're so grateful for what you are already doing! But keep demonstrating and proving the gospel of power with signs and wonders!".

Hearing the Voice of God

This sermon was preached by Rob Rufus on Sunday 7th December 2008 and just before Rob came up to preach, Wayne Duncan brought a significant prophecy to City Church. Wayne is based in South Africa and leads a church there that is enjoying an amazing move of God. He and his wife were visiting City Church that week.

Wayne Duncan: I just wanted to share something that during worship I felt God drop into my heart and it wasn't planned. This church - as small as it is - has an internation effect. You guys touch countries and people all over the world. As we were worshipping I was so caught up with the profoundness of what I believe God has called this church to be. God kept on showing me even from early this morning - the tip of a spear. I saw it stabbing a soft ceiling the whole time and during worship I felt God gave me the fullness of it. I felt God was saying

"Do you see it - have you seen it and do you know? Don't underestimate the power of the divine strategies of God and don't underestimate the significance of your role in His divine strategy". I felt God say that He has positioned this church to be part of the most significant move that Hong Kong has ever seen. A revival that will touch the city and will be spoken of by every citizen. The Name of Jesus will be on the lips of everyone! I felt that in heaven there was a trumpet that was sounded a while ago and the call of that trumpet resonated in many people's hearts and that's why many of you are here even now. You heard the call of God and it is significant in and through that thing God wants to release in Hong Kong - He has called you here.

Then I saw the rest of the pole for the first time reaching down in the vision. In that pole I saw those who were worshipping and I saw those of you praying at home and getting caught up into the glory and every time someone prayed and everytime someone worshipped and everytime someone was laying down a part of their lives I saw that as something that was going into the very pole that was driving the spear tip. And that added weight and momentum and support behind the thrust. I felt there was an army of people that were called to serve. I saw finances being released and I saw a huge army of people bringing energy into it.

Then I saw the most awesome thing in the third part of the vision - I saw Jesus Himself grabbing the spear and thrusting it through and I believe there is a time coming of incredible breakthrough. Don't underestimate your significance. God has significantly and strategically placed you and placed you in this church and in Hong Kong for this time. It is now! Hong Kong is going to see something unprecidented and never seen before in terms of the power of God. Even as we were worshipping and saying "Jesus come build Your throne" and we were declaring the glory of what is to come. We were declaring the glory of the breakthrough and there will be multitudes and thousands of people saved as that spear shoots through into new places. So bless you guys - go for it - we love you".

Thanks Wayne. I appreciate you guys - they came to "Glory and Grace" last year and their lives were turned upside down and their church came instantly into a move of God. One of the phenomena that happens regularly (so it is not a hit and miss thing) in their church and where they travel, when they lay hands on people - people get gold dust. Even when they don't lay hands on people's hands! And it's not 1 out of 10 - it is a high percentage of times. No pressure guys! But afterwards we will line everyone up! I am inspired to live every day with the belief or conviction that my Father really wants to pour out grace and mercy on me every single day!

Grace means the absolute goodness of God and only His goodness coming my way! Never judgements, never divine frustrations, never divine disapproval.

The Old Covenant has finished! The Law has gone and Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law that the blessing of Abraham may come on us and that we have a God whose nature is to do us good all the time! He is not impatient, He doesn't get frustrated, He is not disapproving of us - if that is what you think He is, then you are wrong for you are reading the Old Covenant. I suggest go after the Cross! Don't even go after the four Gospels if you want to start! People say "Start at John" - no don't start before the Cross! Start in Acts chapter 1 after the Cross in the New Testament and see the power of God being poured out from a Father who is smiling! And there is a happy sky over your head! Then go back and read the Old Covenant and see how grateful you should be that you are living in the New Covenant and it is good to read the Old Covenant so you can understand how wonderful it is for God to have positioned us to be in the New Covenant. I am inspired to live every day with goodness and mercy following my life.

David - that great king - had God say of him; "THIS is a man who is after My heart". David in Psalm 23 said; "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me ... some of the days?". "ALL of the days!". Bad hairday, good hairday, bad Monday - all my days, every single day! If you had a bad week it just means that you weren't sensitive to the desire of God to dump goodness and mercy on you! He was trying to and He just couldn't because you didn't expect it or believe it. But once you do - then He can! Now hell might have been breaking out with all kinds of friction and frustration and anger relationally but God was wanting to dump goodness and mercy on you every single day of your life! If you will start looking for it and expecting it and believing for it!

What is the difference between grace and mercy? I thought they were the same! No - big difference! If you were breaking the speed limit by a long way in Hong Kong and policeman pulls you over to give you a fine and he comes up and looks through the window and he is overcome with mercy and he says; "I am not going to give you a speeding fine" - that is mercy! You kiss his hand, his glove, his cheek, his head and you receive mercy! Then you see him take out his book and say "Oh no! I knew it was too good to be true!" but he gives you a cheque for $10,000 and says; "I just want to give you that - I just feel in a good mood!". THAT is grace!

Mercy stops God giving you what you do deserve - judgement and grace inspires God to give you what you don't deserve but to give you what Jesus deserves - because He died on your behalf!

I am convinced that no one can believe what I just said - that every day God's desire is to dump abundant goodness on you. You can try and study and confess a million times; "I am the righteousness of God" but you will still live with a conciousness of doubt and resident cynicism about the fact that God wants to dump every day grace and mercy on your life!

The only way we are ever going to believe this is to have a community that believes the voice of God! When you hear His voice -not my voice or some preachers voice - but God's voice tell you that you are the object of His affection and you are the objection of His sonship and you are an inheritor of the wealth of heaven and a joint equal heir with Christ - when you hear Him say THAT to you then forever you believe that our God wants goodness and mercy to follow you all the days of your life!

Today I want to speak on "Hearing the Voice of God" and there are many many people around the world that want to hear the voice of God! They long to hear it! But the good news is this - many of you in this room have already heard His voice. If I called out in the worship and said; "Who hear has heard God say something to you in this worship?" - many of you will have heard God. Those who didn't hear - it wasn't because He didn't speak. He did speak but you didn't hear because you didn't expect to! This is the good news - the One who cannot lie said; "My sheep know My voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow". I am so glad that He didn't say; "Sensative, New-ager, loose wrist, artistic, intituative, sensitive types hear My voice!". No - He just said MY sheep hear My voice! If you have truly met Jesus Christ as a resurrected Lord and discovered His Lordship - if He came into your life then I promise you that you are a sheep and you know His voice!

To know His voice is to hear His voice!

It doesn't matter what your temperament is or your personality - some people are prophetic people and they are artistic, poets with a sensitive soul. They can walk into a room and feel what people are thinking in that room! Before anyone tells them! Others God has not designed them like that. He has designed them to think strategically and to think pragmatically and to think like that because if they didn't then they couldn't do the job that God called them to do. So thank God everyone is not an artist! Or pragmatic! It would be a chaotic world if everyone was artistic but it would be a bland boring world if everyone was pragmatic and strategic, task-orientated thinkers! Some are feelers and some are thinkers! But God didn't say a certain temperament or personality - He said, "My sheep know My voice!". So certain types of personalities will hear the voice of God in a more artistic way. They will see pictures whereas the task-orientated people will have a thought or a flash of an inspired idea.

It is responding to those promptings and being more sensitive to the intutative. 9 out 10 times when I meet a stranger I know things about them immediately! My head tries to talk me out of it but my first impression is always right. I know when people are pregnant! We all hear the voice of God and I don't mean psychics. Psychics hear a false voice - because any voice you hear that takes you away from Jesus or from the Word of God or from thinking your life with eternity in mind that I will give an account for this life - any voice that distracts you from that is never the voice of God! It is the voice of a psychic, the voice of witchcraft, the voice of the demonic. My sheep know My voice! Jesus says in Revelation eight times; "He that has ears let him hear what the Spirit says!". The good news is that He didn't say "He that fasts and prays and gets good enough willl eventually grow ears and be able to hear Me". He said; "He that HAS ears let him HEAR!".

The grace on the prophetic ministry is that we are not speaking to the deaf society when we talk to the born again Christian. The grace on prophets is to announce to believers in Christ that you already have ears and now under the power of the Spirit I say to your ears; "Let them hear!".

Too many people are trying to grow ears to God whereas the prophets are saying "He that HAS ears" - who has ears? My sheep know My voice! Everyone in Christ has spiritual ears to hear the voice of God and the prophets say; "I activate you and release you into revelation supernaturally to recognise that you have ears! Now ears - HEAR what the Spirit is saying to the church!". So I say to City Church International and everyone listening on the website; "You have ears and can hear so HEAR what the Spirit is saying - let your ears hear!". And when you hear this grace and mercy following you all your days! A hearing community are positioned to believe that grace and mercy at a high level follow you!

In 1st Corinthians 14:1 the Bible says very clearly; "Eagerly desire the best gifts especially the gift of prophecy". We have got working of miracles, the gift of faith, word of knowledge - to know facts and events about someone where that information was not fed to you by natural information and you just knew, word of wisdom - you know things about their future, discerning of spirits - you know what angels are doing around you and you recognise if it is a demonic presence and prophecy and tongues with interpretation.

And it says "desire those gifts". Every believer can operate in all nine of those gifts like every believer can have all nine fruit of the Spirit. That is why Paul says; "Eagerly desire" - which is the word; "Lust after" or "Hunt after". In those days when they went hunting it wasn't for sport but for survival to eat.

So "hunt after the gifts" because your very life depends on it!

My son is alive today because of the gifts of the Spirit. When I was in L.A the Spirit spoke to me and said "Pray for Ryan right now and apply the blood over his life" and it stopped him being killed because he went into a car accident and he walked out of a smashed car and stepped out unharmed when many had been killed in that spot in recent years. I didn't know it - I was in L.A getting ready and was showering and walking to go to a meeting and stopped and said; "Oh Glenda! I have got to pray for Ryan" and put my Bible down and saved his life! Hunt after these gifts! Eagerly desire these gifts because it can save lives! It's saved Glenda and my life too - we have been going somewhere and the Spirit says; "Don't go" and the people who did got killed. People heard God on 9/11 not to go into the Twin Towers and they are alive today!

What we are talking today is very important! "Eagerly desire the best gifts" - hunt them down, lust after them and ESPECIALLY the gift of prophecy! Why?

Because prophecy is hearing God and saying what He is saying.

Reading the Bible and preaching or teaching is not prophesying. It is reading what God said a long time ago. Prophesying is saying what God is NOW saying. "Eagerly desire" - to hear what God is saying and the anointing to say what God is saying across a coffee table or in the middle of a sports match, work or a commercial meeting - listen to what God is saying and desire above anything eles to hear what God is saying and be able to say it. Why? Because that revelation of the voice of God will open up all the other gifts and will manifest gifts of healing, working of miracles and all those other things - as a community start hearing God! I believe and say again - you CCI have ears and you are hearing! Let your ears hear! People say why doesn't God just speak audibly and loudly to my physical ears? Well that would be great wouldn't it? Easy! "Rob! Don't work today! I will provide!". "Yes Lord! Your servant hears!". God has spoken like that in the Bible and I know people personally who have heard that audible physical voice. I personally as far as I know have never heard His audible voice with my physical ears. One time it was so audible in here that I did jump around thinking someone was talking to me but that doesn't happen a lot - that loud inner audible voice but it has happened a few dozen times.

He often speaks so quietly and so whispered that you have got to develop a history of listening to actually get the tones of that voice. With art of practice you begin to hear that voice every day. I would say over the last 20 years there hasn't been a day gone by when I haven't heard thati inward voice. It is an inheritance because everyone who is a son and has received Jesus as their Lord knows His voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. A strangers voice takes them away form Jesus! In John 12:28-30 says Jesus was standing there and there was a large crowd and God the Father spoke and said "This is my Son" and some said "It thundered" while others said "It was an angel". So no one in that crowd recognised God's voice when He spoke physically and audibly! We live in a world today and think that if God would just speak physically and audibly then all the world would believe and all believers would hear His voice! It doesn't work that way. John 12 shows us that. 1 Kings 18:12-13 says that Elijah was standing on the mountain top and there was a fire and an earthquake and God was not in the earthquake or the fire or the dramatic things.

God was in the still quiet voice. God told Elijah things to do in the still quiet voice that saved the whole nation of Israel. The instructions God gave to Elijah and which he put into practice brought Jezebel down! Jezebel was a witchcraft spirit that hates the apostolic and hates the prophetic.

There are so few prophets operating in the church world today because the pastors and the teachers in denominations have allowed prophets and apostles to be kicked out and silenced and no one wants to listen to them because they are too wild and too passionate and too full on for the average person who wants a religious club!

The church world by and large have gone into total irrelevancy because the prophets have been silenced. Elijah ran from Jezebel in panic and fear after being a mighty prophet and on that mountain he heard the still quiet voice of God not in the earthquake or thunder or fire but in the small voice and he went and anointed Elijah and Jehu and successors that brought Jezebel down and liberated Israel back into revival and a return back to God! That's what the quiet voice is! Too many Christians are saying they want big, technicolour angels talking to them - I want to hear the audible voice with these ears! No - sensitise your spirit and that can change nations and can save your marriage, your family, your finances, stop you getting engaged to the wrong person, taking a wrong job or going or staying somewhere. You need to hear God! So many Christians have got a speech impediment and can't seem to talk with confidence and boldness and authority with prophetic, apostolic authority! Instead they speak like the Pharisees of the law! But when Jesus arrived they said; "With what authority does this man speak?". Why? Because when you hear God you speak with authority!

I am talking about the nature of a loving God - not some god that says go fly into buildings and blow them up. That is NOT God. That is something else. People can't speak because they are not hearing. And ear, nose and throat specialists say if someone has got a speech impedient, the first thing they look at is a hearing capacity. Because if you are not hearing then you can't speak properly! Let me give you two things about hearing the voice of God. Not technique but how to steward this gift. God will give this gift in greater capacity to those who know how to steward it rightly.

1. This gift is not to make you rank as a super saint.

God spoke through and to Balaam's donkey! Therefore do not think that hearing God makes you the voice of God! That is why there are idiots out there who were once great prophets but they are idiots now because they think "I am the voice of God! When people don't obey me they have rejected God!". No - you are not concerned with them rejecting God. You are insecure and you feel rejected so you hate the church and you withdraw because the church didn't change fast enough or get in the process of seeing the promise fulfilled. Sometimes that process can take decades! Prophets don't have a sense of time sometimes and come in with a sense of immediacy! "God says revival is on the way!". Next week God! This is three months of teaching on how to hear God, how to be a community that hears God! Some people are just coming around to the idea of there being a God and Him being interested in speaking! You must prepare people with grace and what He may say and how you interpret what He says and how He says it.

In Christ EVERYONE is a super saint!

If you hear God a lot He will encourage you and talk to you and confirm you and you will hear His tender voice. But you hear God for other people as well! So use the gift of hearing God to bless other people! I learnt these things the hard way. My first trip to Australia and I stand up in front of the congregation I have never met in my life and I am going to be given the leadership of this church but I am kind of on probation that day. I know it and they know it. They are Aussies and I am a fresh South African and I have my best behaviour and I am going to preach my best sermon and bring out the real me later! So I am in the worship and worshipping God and God says; "Joan!". My mum's name is Joan! "Is my mum okay?". I heard; "Yes she is alright". So why are you saying Joan? Am I Jonah?! "No you are not a Jonah - there is a lady here in the service called Joan and she has never met you - call her out by name as soon as you get upto preach". So I said "Okay God!". Praise God this is going to get me into this church! When they see they have a prophet in their midst! That knows people by name! If I get the name I will get amazing details about her life that will prove to her I am a prophet!

I get upto preach and everyone is looking at me and I say; "The Lord has shown me that there is a woman here by the name of Joan". A middle aged lady at the back jumps up and comes running forward all excited. So immediately I lay my hands on her and say; "Joan - the Lord would say to thee that your name is Joan ... and He would say that He knows you by name and He would say to you - Joan - that your name is Joan and that He knows you by name!". And I am inwardly praying "More! Please God! Give me the downloads!". So I had to say; "And Joan that is all the Father would say. Go back". There are numbers of times I have walked home depressed after the service thinking I preached terribly and the devil agree and a few people ally with that! Public speaking is the biggest fear on the planet apart from dying. So my preaching is a flop! I am thinking they all think I am stupid! At the end of the service Joan comes running up to me all excited and says; "I am a widower and live on my own and am so lonely and was saying to God when driving to church that I don't want to test you but I feel like You don't even care and don't even know my name but this guy coming today - if he doesn't call me out by name - then I am not going back to church. Wasn't that amazing?!".

I wanted to slap her! Why didn't you tell the people!?!? For my credibility?!?! God said "Because to hear His voice is not to promote you but to love people - to love them and show them God knows about them". But if we think it is to promote us then that is why we have got frustrated weird prophets in the world today and the church didn't appreciate me! Many times they haven't! But some of us prophets are around and not cynical or hating the church! Lastly;

2. Prophesy and speak the Word of God in humility.

We are all prophetic by the way - there are prophets and there are sons that prophesy - every Christian can hear the Word of God and speak on behalf of God to people. Not what the Bible wrote 2000 years ago but what He is saying now to this person. If I have got seven doors to go through and choose from then I can't open my Bible because the Bible doesn't talk about doors - I have got to hear God tell me which door to go through. I need to hear God today! And if I have a problem speaking with boldness and authority then I need to check that I recognise that I do have ears to hear.

We need to prophesy in humility because no prophetic person prophesies perfectly. The Bible says we prophesy "in part". We don't see everything 100%. That's why we need other prophets and we need local church. I prophesy through my temperament but I need to hear someone else who hears God differently. They each have a bit of the puzzle. So this thing about someone who doesn't prophesy accurately - they aren't a prophet. Not true! The only Person who was accurate 100% was Jesus! The highest level prophets still get it wrong occasionaly and the psychics get it wrong 99% of the time but have vague clever ways of hiding it and clearing it up. This is what determines a false prophet - Deuteronomy 13:1-5; "Someone who hears God accurately and with that incredibly accurate gift they use it to draw the people away from God and to wow the people and make it all about personal power". That is Satan! He didn't want to see God worshipped. Lucifer did not want to worship God but be equal with God - that is why he was cast out of heaven.

Everyone under the deception of Lucifer - the voice that is not the voice of Jesus wants personal power. To use what they have got to draw people to be impressed with them! Deuteronomy says a false prophet is someone hearing God accurately because the gift is genuine. The Bible says in Romans 14 that God won't withdraw the gift or shut it down. But they are using the genuine to draw other people to themselves or other gods. Not Jesus! That is a false prophet! People who come and don't prophesy accurately but don't try and draw people away from God - have no fear of those people! They are just speaking out of their imaginations. A false prophet is someone who hears God but uses it to draw people away from God. A true prophet use the gift to make a Joan know she is loved and even if it doesn't draw people to you it will draw people to Him which it did to Joan!

Always see if prophetic people are drawing to Jesus or whether they are drawing a following after themselves and where they making people dependent on them and people want to use them like a crystal ball gazer so they become dependent on them.

A true prophet is God bringing liberty through them and then they equip and train you to hear God for yourself!

I was leading a church in South Africa and a couple were our closest friends. They had been trying to have a baby for 16 years with no hint of conception and were totally discouraged. I was in the bush praying and just enjoying God.

If you try to hear God then you won't.

The Father is not like a wife! So I was just enjoying Him as a son and I hear the inward audible voice; "I want you to call this couple out publicly and prophesy over them that within 3 months she will fall pregnant". God! No! Go privately! "No I want you to go public!". God! If I am wrong I won't look good! It is all about fear of man! So I called them out and prophesied. "You shall fall pregnant within 3 months" and everyone claps or is stunned. Within 24 hours she fell pregnant. Everyone was shouting and excited. 3 months she walked with that baby but then instant miscarriage. Gone. I can't tell you how depressed I was. I was about 28 with no mentors in the supernatural. Kenneth Hagin sort of from a distance. Noone fathered me. I had to learn it on the mountaintops alone. So I had to learn what I learnt by the mistakes I made. The whole congregation is stunned and I am stunned and struggling with my own depression! They are questioning God and me!

I was tempted to get up and say "You saw a prophet in your midst call out a woman who had not been pregnant and announce she would be pregnant within 3 months. My prophecy came true! She was pregnant! But the Lord shows me there was sin in their life and they did not believe and therefore God judged them!". But God didn't say that and wouldn't say that because He wasn't judging them. I just knew as a 26 or 27 year old that I didn't understand what happened and that He had to speak to me or I had to get up and apologise to this entire congregation that I didn't have enough information and that I didn't understand or know enough but apologise to all for my inexperience. I am learning and I told them that!

And I found out that people are incredibly forgiving if you are honest. They know a cover up and a con from a mile away.

The entire congregation received it and relaxed and within a year she fell pregnant and has got 3 daughters. This is the thing I learnt - I believe I did hear God and she did fall pregnant. God called me to do it publicly not to show me off but because He wanted that baby to live to full term and be born. He wanted to lift us in 1985 into a high level of corporate hearing from God. He wanted a baby to be born to show forth His glory and His honour. I didn't know enough about the devil and the devil's hatred of the womb or fertility. If I had known what I know now then we would have guarded her around with a sentinel of intercessors till that baby was born. When that baby was born it would have taken that church into a much higher level of breakthrough in the supernatural. We don't realise how many aborted, still born manifestations of cancer, healings are getting aborted before they come to full term because he is not stronger than God but God has given us partnership with Him by learning how to operate and how to hear clearly as to how to do these things better.

About seven or eight years later I had learnt now and understood a bit about this. So we got a prophet from the USA writing to us in Australia when I was leading Coastlands. And he said "In this month of this year your church will be rocketed to national profile in Australia and will go on national TV in a positive way". We didn't have a clue what this prophet was saying or what it meant. His name is Liam from L.A church. About a month later I was closing a service down with about 1000 people there and as I am closing ...

And I know this frustrates practical people - that prophets frustrate practical people and vice versa and God says balance each other. We don't want practical people pulling out or prophets pulling out - we need everyone to come together because both need both. The feelers need the thinkers and the devil is trying to alienate each but the Holy Spirit is pulling both together!

As I was giving the benediction the Holy Spirit gave me a 20 minute prophetic word that said; "I am the God of great love and great power and I want to demonstrate myself in the nation of Australia and I want to show forth signs and wonders but I show off My power for a purpose and if those that are crippled can't walk in your midst and if the deaf aren't here and if the Satanists aren't here - then why should I manifest My power? Because My power comes for a purpose! If you will bring the cripples and bring the broken and take the effort and drive with your cars and bring them then I will do great miracles".

Now you can't put that on every congregation. I am not even putting it on you! He was saying that then to them! They knew it was the voice of God and ran out and got everyone! So next week I came in and there was everyone! I saw wheelchairs everywhere. When you are prophesying you can see five sentance ahead! So I preach on the two Adams and have a salvation call and a lady in a wheelchair is there. I didn't know but she had been on national televison and doctors had said it was impossible for her to walk again and she was dying and every joint went out of joint. She was beyond medical science! It is not about us looking good! I will keep apologising if I make a mistake!

So I said "Father are You doing this miracle?" and He was! A leg shot forward and she spoke in a deep voice; "I am not coming out!" and I said; "I am from Africa and you ARE coming out!". We cast demons out in Africa! Australian demons can't hide when the power of God comes! So it came out and she came out the wheelchair and walked around the building and walked for five days! She got her children back and was about to get her job back. She slipped in the shower and fear came on her and all her joints went out. So they rang me and I was so depressed again - "What are you doing God!?". I am mad and discouraged and depressed! There's always people - cynics are always waiting! I am still human enough to want to kill when people don't give you love! Because they never try any of this stuff! So I think I am never going to step out in prophecy ever again! I am going to be a nice guy! And give life skills and 20 minute pep talks! No - I was born for the glory, born to contend!

Suddenly the inward audible voice came; "When you land in Melbourne, phone this man and go to Michelle and say the demon has gone back worse and then she will walk again and it will go on national television". They prayed and demons came out and she came on national television. Prime time to millions of Australians! If you can't dance and praise God then maybe you need to go in a wheelchair and have God heal you! How many of you know why now it is so important that Jesus said My sheep know My voice and they will not follow a stranger? There is nothing greater than hearing the voice of the good Shepherd. I go out on the hills of Hong Kong and I want to hear the voice of the good Shepherd!

Don't try and get Him to talk! Mainly praise and worship Him! By the time I get back, I know it will be okay! That word "hearing" is the rhema word. We need to read what God said then so we know what God is like but need to hear what He is saying "NOW".