Pastor Joseph Prince (2nd service live)
Amen = be it unto me, not by my efforts but because of Your promises
Deut 28:12 The Lord will bless whatever you set your hands on
Romans 1:17
The righteous shall live by faith
Or "He who is righteous by faith will live"
Both are correct
Sermon proper
John 10:7-11
It is never ever God if you have your joy, health, relationships, children or goods stolen
Anything that steals is not God, it's the devil
God never steals or takes away something in order to teach you a lesson
God wants you to enjoy the life more abundant (John 10:10) and this has nothing to do with cars/houses/money. It's about the "ahhh! it's good to be alive!" inside of you
The God of miracles is not over.
The righteous shall live by faith
Or "He who is righteous by faith will live"
Both are correct
John 10:7-11
It is never ever God if you have your joy, health, relationships, children or goods stolen
Anything that steals is not God, it's the devil
God never steals or takes away something in order to teach you a lesson
God wants you to enjoy the life more abundant (John 10:10) and this has nothing to do with cars/houses/money. It's about the "ahhh! it's good to be alive!" inside of you
I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
God's heart is that He wants you to prosper. But note that here John is praying for Gaius to prosper.
If it's God's will, then why must we still pray? So that everything in the heavenly realm will come into the earth realm. To make the blessings that are God's will & already supplied in heaven, made manifest in the earth realm.
Also, this gives us so much confidence to know that when we pray such prayers, which are aligned with God's will, how much more we know that they will definitely be answered!
It's about turning the unseen into the seen.
God's protection is what keeps us alive, not our smarts. On our own, we can't place ourselves at the right place & right time.
God will not force His blessings, health, salvation etc on you even though it's His will.
Eg. It's not God's desire for man to eat from that tree, but man has free choice & God won't violate it. The response He wants is, "I love u Lord, so I won't eat from that tree."
(Me: Eg. God definitely wants everyone saved, but if He doesn't force that most important decision / His 'primary' will on us, how much more other 'secondary' wills.)
Jesus wept. (John 11:35)
Where? At Lazarus's funeral
He was going to raise him from dead anyway, so why did He cry? Bcos He knew that there would be many more who would die and this was never His will
God hates death.
All sickness goes back to the sin of Adam
This means that the will of the Father is to heal since Jesus went around healing
Under Grace = stripe (at the cross) for healing (Isaiah 53:5)
Isaiah 53:5-6
V5 by His stripes we are healed
Healed here is about physical healing
At the cross, Jesus bore both our sins & diseases
We have to know that God hates sin & diseases and that's why He put them on the cross
We don't need to convince God to hate them
God made everything on earth first & made man last to enjoy everything He made. Like new parents of 1st child.
Why didn't God just step in and prevent the devil from having access to this world?
Because God gave the earth to man and man gave it to the devil. God can't step in because that would mean that the earth never belonged to man in the first place or that God never actually gave it to man. So God gets the earth back in a legal way - by coming as man & overcoming the devil.
We pray for it to happen
Just as = in proportion to
Prosper = passive = we receive automatically when our soul proposers
Be in health = active = we are the one doing, it doesn't happen automatically, we must pray for it to happen
Here, John is praying for Gaius, & he believed in grace so his soul was definitely prospering. So why did John still pray that way?
Side track, proof that Gaius believed in grace
Gal 2:11-14
Peter was saved before Paul, but here, Paul rebuked Peter
Paul doesn't compromise over a meal
Ie. Gospel was at stake because maybe he was eating bacon behind, but stopped eating in front of Jews straight away
V14 walked not up rightly according to the truth of the gospel = walked not in the truth
No good thing will He withhold from those who walk up rightly = walk in the grace of God (Psalm 84:11)
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Another example of praying even if it's God's will:
Jer 25:11 70 years in captivity
Jer 29:10 God promises that after 70 years, He will bring them home
Daniel 9:2-3 Daniel still prayed
(by the way, Daniel had prophecies but learnt of this 70 years from the books which shows that the Word is impt no matter how close u are to God)
We pray for our husband and for prosperity not just for own sake, but because the poor can't help the poor. It's prosperity with a purpose.
Isaiah 53:5-6
Immediately after "by His stripes we are healed", it says all we like sheep have gone astray
Jer 29:10 God promises that after 70 years, He will bring them home
Daniel 9:2-3 Daniel still prayed
(by the way, Daniel had prophecies but learnt of this 70 years from the books which shows that the Word is impt no matter how close u are to God)
Immediately after "by His stripes we are healed", it says all we like sheep have gone astray
1 Peter 2:24-25
Same thing here, immediately after "by His stripes we are healed", again it says all we like sheep have gone astray. The difference is that here, the sheep returned to the Shepherd
Once you see Jesus as your Shepherd, that's where you get healing
If you feel you have to take care of yourself / your family / have to look out for yourself etc (like being your own shepherd), you will start to fall sick.
V25 returned = passive = you have now been returned
How did you return? The Holy Spirit made you return, it's not on your own effort to return
The Shepherd went to look for the sheep, found the sheep, carried the sheep, brought the sheep home and celebrated. Shepherd is active.
What did the sheep do? Sheep did nothing except to have prayed and consented to be saved & loved. Sheep is passive. Allow yourself to be shepherd-ed.
Shepherd left the 99 to look for the lost 1. (Luke 15: 4 etc)
Who looks? Jesus looks for us, it's not us looking for Him.
Psalm 23
The entire psalm is about what the Shepherd is doing. He makes me lie down, leads me, restores me, guides me etc.
No lack = no lack for peace, finances, health, favour etc in life because the Lord is my Shepherd
He will take care of us for the long haul. But what if we missed it? That's okay, it's not the end of the world and the Lord is still our Shepherd.
Eg. Branching into Korea TV.
It's tiring to defend yourself. Just let God defend you.
If God opens the door, it's ours. If God shuts the door, it's not meant for us at this present time.
How to deal with critics? Ignore them, don't lend them the weight / glory that God has given you.
How to deal with closed doors? Don't fight / struggle to open them. Let God pave the way.
John 10:7-11
V7 I am the good Shepherd (context)
V8 thieves & robbers = religious teaching
It is because of a lack of shepherd teaching that the thief comes
The only suffering for Christians is for standing for your belief. NOT about sickness & pain.
Pray out of a revelation. We're not denying that the pain is there, but denying that it can hurt you
When dealing with addictions, quit trying to quit / quit trying to do smth. Just a revelation that Lord, I cannot, but you can. I know you have something better for me.
Jer 23:3-8
V4 The shepherd revelation is going to become strong in the last days.
Shepherd = feed = raah (see picture)
What do we feed on? Grace = the Lord our righteousness (V6), not our own righteousness
Remove the hei (grace) = ra = evil (see picture)
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| Shepherd = feed = raah |
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| Remove the hei (grace) = ra = evil |
3 things will happen to people sitting under good shepherding:
- No more fear
- No more discouragement
- No more lack (health, supply etc)
V8 North country = Russia = Moscow
Leaders, think of yourselves as a Shepherd, not CEO or coach etc
Matt 9:36
Those going astray are because they are sheep without a shepherd.
The Lord sends the Holy Spirit to draw us back.
God knows, but God wants us to say & ask.
… how much more your Father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask. (Matt 7:11)
I.e. we still have to ask.
Don't take things for granted. Pray for favour and right place right time.
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