7 December 2008 10AM

Apostle Andre Pelser

Ex 2:14

Moses grew up in the palace in Egypt, and with the education of Egypt. One day he saw a task master hit a Hebrew slave, and he went to help him. He hit the Egyptian so hard that he killed him, then he quickly buried the Egyptian and he thought that no one saw it. The next day, 2 Hebrew brothers were fighting about something, and he intervened and tried to stop them and break up the fight, and they said: “who made you a ruler over us?”. We know that he then fled, and dwelt in the dessert for 40 years and look after his uncle's sheep. Then the Angel of the Lord (which normally refers to Jesus Christ) appeared to him in a burning bush and said that He wants to send him back to Egypt, to set them free. We know how Moses complained, and thought that he wasn't good enough. He forgot who he was. The animation film they made of this story is called “the prince of Egypt”, but Moses had to discover that he was a prince with God, not just a in Egypt. Being a prince in Egypt, he couldn't lead them through the Red Sea. Being a prince in Egypt, he couldn't lead them through the wilderness. That worldly prince-hood, could not anoint him and give him the ability to do what God required him to do. He needed to discover that he was a prince with God. Yes, he murdered a man. Yes, he ran away. He did a whole list of things wrong, and yet when God appeared to him, He says that He will send him. By the hand of the Angel that appeared to him, the Lord used Moses and he delivered God's people.

Acts 7:35

Stephen talks about Moses. That same Moses that they accused and said: “who made you a ruler and a judge over us”; that same Moses led the people of God and became a prince.

Many times, the very thing that people accuse you of, and the very thing people speak badly about you of, is the very thing that God will use to promote you if you know that you're a prince with God. If you know who you are in Christ.

Pilate wrote “the king of the Jews” on Jesus' plaque, in 3 different languages: Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew. The leaders of the pharisees came and said that He wasn't their king, but Pilate said that he had already written it. So then Jesus wasn't then just the king of the Jews, but He became the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. He is the Great King. He is the King of kings because He is a greater king than Solomon. Solomon didn't do any miracles, heal people, raise the dead, and yet he was one of the greatest kings. Jesus is a King above that.

We have to realize that we made sons of the King. If you are the son of a king, it makes you prince. We forget who we are. The message is very simple. You are a prince with God. You are a princess with God. You need to begin to understand that, and grasp that, and begin to live, think, speak, and expect things accordingly. Yes, people might say to you: “who do you think you are”, and you might not look like a prince, or dress like a prince, of have what they have, but on the inside you can be a prince. You can start thinking, and speaking, and acting like one.

Looking at the life of Jacob. His name actually means: deceiver. He grabbed hold of his brother's heel when he was born. Tell you what, we all have a bit of Jacob in us. God can change that around.

The recipe of turning from a deceiver to a prince with God. Jacob deceived his brother. When his brother went out hunting, he was cooking lentil soup, and when his brother came back, he would only give him some soup if he gave him his birthright. His brother didn't regard his birthright as something special, he despised it for a plate of food. Now, in a sense, he was justified to steal the birthright from his brother because the brother sold it to him. His mother then, told him that it's almost time for Isaac to die and to bless them. So while Esau (his brother) was in the field hunting, Rebecca convinced Jacob to put on some hairy coats and to change his voice, and give Isaac some meat, and ask for his blessing. So Isaac ate, and he blessed Jacob. Finally Esau came with the venison he cooked and asked Isaac for his blessing, but Isaac had already blessed Jacob. Can you imagine what Esau felt like? He wanted to murder his brother, so Jacob had to flee just like Moses. There he went. He had to go and work, and he wanted to marry Rachel, but his uncle said: “no, only in the 7th year”. In the 7th year, they had a big party and the next morning he wakes up laying next to Leah, not Rachel. His uncle deceived him. The whole family were deceivers. They deceived each other around every corner. Why? It was his name, and it was his nature. How can God bless that mess? What can God do with a family like that? There is hope for us all when we see how bad they were.

Jacob was born in an answer to prayer – Gen 25.

Gen 32 – Jacob wrestled with an angel and his name was changed to Israel. He was reconciled to Esau and he erected an altar. He saw a heavenly ladder at a place called Bethel where he made a vow. Bethel means: church. Jacob constantly went back to Bethel to renew his vow.

It's a very good habit just to go to church. It's the best thing you can do in your life. If people can  understand the implications, the blessings, and the benefits of just going to church they will pay to come in. Jacob went back to Bethel from time to time.

People are very willing to pay whatever it takes to fix something in their house, but when it comes to giving into the church, what do they give? The whole value system is wrong. You don't see the benefits of what happens while you are in church, but when the eyes of your understanding are enlightened you will see.

Hosea 12:2 – Jacob wept and sought favor. He found it in Bethel. We always focus on the moment where Jacob struggled and wrestled with the angel, but Hosea saw something that we've never seen before. The change of Jacob happened at Bethel. It happened in the church. It happened in the place that he called church. Not just through his struggle with the angel. He wept and sought favor. Where did he find it? When he struggled with the angel? No. He found it at Bethel. It speaks volumes to us. Where do we find the favor of God? When we are part of a body, a church. This is where our natures change. This where we are changed from deceivers into princes with God. This is where we begin to understand who we are in Christ Jesus. Other might say: “who do you think you are?”, but on the inside we begin to know who we are. I am a prince with God. If you begin to believe it, it will change the way you think about yourself. If will change the way you think about your situation. It will begin to help you believe God to begin to treat you like one. If you are prince, you are taught to speak differently. There is a different protocol. There are different expectations.

If a mother believes her son to be a prince but treats him like a dog, it doesn't sound right does it?

A simple strategy is: respect breeds respect. If you treat your children with respect, even when you discipline them, they will have respect for you. You can discipline someone with respect or you can nail them and make them feel like mud, and they never recover from that. You can do it like a prince. Trying to savour life, instead of destroying it with the same words. It's the just the spirit behind it. Many time we speak out of our hurt, or out of our disappointment. But how can someone disappoint the Prince that rules over everything? He is above that? God wants us to rise up above our situation. To live above what the world does to us. Then when people slander us, we know that they are speaking to a prince, and the King will deal with them.

May God open our eyes so we can see the prince in each other. We no longer just know each other just after the flesh, but we princes in each other. We look at each other differently, and we think of ourselves differently. God wants to build a generation of believers that act like princes because we are going to rule and reign with Him one day. When people say: “who made you a prince?”, we can say: “God made me a prince at Bethel”. It's not the struggle that makes us princes, it's a Bethel. There we find favor. In the church God is busy changing us and perfect that which concerns us. All of have things. We might not be like Jacob – a deceiver, but there might be other things. None of us have anything to be proud of in the flesh. The flesh is always weak, but the spirit is always willing. God wants to establish that in our thinking, in our prayer. If you approach God as a prince, there is even a different tone in your voice. How does the son of a king speak to the king? It's different. It's not a slave speaking to a king. It's not a beggar calling for some money. It's a different status. God wants to give us a different status. No matter what the world sees in us. He says that He can change us from deceivers into princes with Him if we want to.

Jacob continually went back to Bethel, and there he built an altar. It was at the church that he saw the ladder to heaven. It was at Bethel where he realized that heaven is a reality, and there is a way to get there – step by step. He also saw the angels ascending and descending. That is where he had this heavenly vision. That is where he made his vow to serve God is He will keep him.

It's in church that we reestablish our connection with heaven, where we renew our vows, where we begin to see heavenly visions, where we begin to realize that God can change us. Because only He can change us. If you only look at your situation, and the things you do wrong, yo don't feel like a prince do you? Today, God wants to raise your consciousness. No matter what people say about you, no matter how many mistakes you've made, you are a prince with God. You're a princess in God's eyes. When we get a hold of that, we can run with it in spite of everything. In spite of our wrongs, in spite of our mistakes, in spite of everything, God says: “I still see you are a prince”.

If He can change Jacob – the deceiver – into a prince, He can change you. We can become what we were meant to be by the grace of God.

30 November 2008 10AM
Apostle Andre Pelser

2 Pet 1 - As we spend time with God's Word, and as we fellowship together we begin to change. As we partake of the precious promises of God, we begin to partake of His Divine nature. This Divine nature helps us to overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust. The corruption that is in the world can only be defeated by the Word of God taking root in us. God's Word is the escape route, and it changes the way you think. This is also what repentance means: to change the way you think.
It's not about being positive all the time, it's just your perspective. You have to have the right perspective. If you only try to be positive, you negate half of your life, because you need a negative and a positive to make a circuit. You have to think through negative things sometimes to arrive at something positive. You have to go through some negative experiences in order for you say what you've learned from it.

Prosperity is following in Christ's footsteps. Christ had such an abundance of God's life in Himself that He was able to give it to everyone who believed in Him. God's abundance flowed through the channel of His love, for He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

True prosperity is actually living like Christ lived on earth. He had abundance, He never had lack, because His heavenly Father took care of Him. True prosperity is not just getting hold of money. True prosperity is not just getting a raise at work. True prosperity is following in Christ's footsteps. Walk as He walk, and God doing things on your behalf for you, through you etc.

The good Samaritan that picks the man up from the side of the road and put him in an inn, then charging all the costs to his own account speaks of abundance. It speaks of Jesus. It's through true prosperity that the church is able to do God's work on earth and to extend His kingdom in the hearts of men and women. We are to win souls, and the main work of God is to conquer people's hearts for Jesus. If you can conquer someone's heart for Jesus, the job's done.
God counts His prosperity in lives that are changed through faith in His only begotten Son's death on the cross and His glorious resurrection.
As we seek the riches of His kingdom first, all else will be added unto us. We call Him Jehovah Jireh. That is what Abraham called the place where he went to sacrifice his son. When God asked, challenged and tested him to sacrifice the son of His promise, and Abraham obeyed God and God stopped him before he could go through with it by providing a lamb. Abraham called that mountain “the Lord will see to it; the Mount of the Lord's provision”.

As a church, we have come to that place. Heb 12:22-24 – Mount Zion, the place of God's provision. His provision is unlimited. What we need to understand about the way God speaks and the way He works is that He keeps providing. He doesn't speak once and do it, and then forget about you. When He said: “let the be light”, there was light. He didn't have to say it everyday since then. When God speaks it is permanent. It is forever. It is forever, not just for this life. When God speaks something, it's continuously the same word, if we can believe it.

God always has faithful people that will hear His voice. People that are willing to be the vessels through whom God provides. God rewards that. But we have got to hear it, and believe it. Then your faith will be tested. It will surely be tested because God works that way. He doesn't tempt you, but He does test you. If something is not tested, you don't know if you really have it. How did you pass school? You had to be tested to see if you actually learned something. It's not to be nasty, but to show you how much you have learned. It's the same with God. He tests whatever He gives you. If you are faithful, He rewards you. He rewards faithfulness.

Many times we don't know how we will react in a crisis or in a test. Out of the test you learn what you should have and could have done. We get to know ourselves for who we really are.

Abraham had to obey God before all the blessings came. Obedience is a struggle. You sometimes have to give up something that you truly want. It doesn't come easily. We are not born obedient. We are born disobedient. Babies grow up thinking that everybody has to obey them. When a baby cries, everyone keeps quiet, gives them milk or whatever they want just to keep them quiet. When they start to grow up they realize that they can't order people around anymore. It's a battle because the obedience has now come. We have to learn obedience through the things that we suffer. God's blessings to Abraham because of obedience was that He gave him children and grand children that would obey God for centuries, even until today. We are called children of Abraham. If you begin to obey God and go through the tests that He allows for you and you come out. Look at the mistakes the men of God made. If you really look at it, you'll wonder how God put up them. But their hearts were right towards God. They didn't stop serving God. They kept on and they said sorry, and God forgave them. God is so quick to forgive, and then He never thinks of it again. But because Abraham served God and obeyed God when he was tested, for centuries his family is still serving God. How about that? How about leaving a legacy like that behind? God gave him the ability to face his enemies and to conquer them. That is a wonderful blessing. When people come against you, God helps you to defeat them in the situation, and to overcome the thing, and walk away victorious. God gave him the opportunity to have a positive influence in changing and saving lives. He was known as a man who obeys God. In fact, he was known as a friend of God.

And you, being a friend of God, will suffer many accusations from religious people. In fact, sinners have more respect for people who know God than religious people do. To be a friend of God has got a price. When you walk into a place people feel it. Sure, they will reject you and try to do things to you, but in the end you'll win. You cannot lose with God. You and God are a majority. You cannot lose. Just keep going.

Abraham's act of obedience made the gospel message clear. When he was asked to sacrifice his son, we now understand God sacrificing His only begotten Son. One act of obedience explained the gospel for centuries to people, to multitudes, to nations. Abraham wasn't thinking of us today when he obeyed God. He had no concept of how his act of obedience would circle out to touch people thousands of years later. Your act of obedience could go further than what you realize. One act of obedience – one. It made the gospel clear to people.

The lady that broke the alabaster flask, and poured it on Jesus' feet – an expensive perfume that she wasted in the eyes of some people. You know what, we're still preaching about her today. Jesus said: “what you have done will become a memorial for you”. Lk 7:37-50. It is thousands of years later, and we are still telling this story. One act of obeying the prompting of the Spirit. We don't know the repercussions of our actions of obedience. That is where the blessing lies. So, true prosperity is following in the footsteps of Christ.

Prov 1:19 – the opposite, greed, takes away the life of its possessor. Greed makes life worthless, because you can never have enough, you are never happy, and you are never satisfied. Greed takes away the life of its owner. People who are only greedy for gain, and all they can think of is more, more, more, are never happy because the love of money is the root of all evil – 1 Tim 6:10. There is nothing wrong with money. We need it to do work with and to do things, but when you start loving money it's the root of all evil. Those who want to grow rich quick fall into all sorts of traps of the devil and eventually shipwreck their own faith. The actual reason why God will give you power to get wealth is to establish His covenant in the earth – Deut 8:17-18. That is why God wants to bless us, so that we can establish His covenant in the earth. God wants to bless you, but He wants to know if you will help Him establish His covenant. People lose what they have eventually, because they don't help to establish God's kingdom. That is why God prospers them, but they think it's just for them and they lose it. The Rockerfellers is a very rich family. The father, held home-church every morning. He taught his sons godly principles every morning, and made them give thanks. He taught them tithing, to do good to humanity, to salvage things, to set up things that people can enjoy like art galleries etc. The one daughter never wanted to attend these meetings, and the mother neither. It was just the father and the sons, and you know, God has blessed that family for generations. The daughter eventually brought great shame on the family, because she wouldn't want to hear what the father was teaching. You can't chase after money and think that it will make you happy. You can't chase after fame and think it will satisfy you. The only thing that satisfies is Christ. That is all. Everything is worthless- once you get it, you throw it away. The only things that lasts are the Spiritual things, the true riches. As we seek the true riches, He says that He will add all the other things. We need to change our way of thinking, and only God can do that. The way He does it the quickest is through preaching.

How can people believe if they've not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? They won't hear, then they can't believe, then God can't do the work. God has chosen the foolishness of preaching, so the He can accomplish His purposes in our lives.