14 December 2008, 6PM
Apostle Andre
God's Word is full of secrets, but He reveals it to us
“Eye has not seen and the ear has not heard what the father has prepared for those that love him, but by His Spirit he reveals it.” If something has been revealed to you nobody can take it from you, it is yours.
Deuteronomy 29:29
There are certain things that God keeps to himself. He doesn't share with us. People can struggle all they want to, to know, but they will never know it.
But what He has revealed He has given to us. So we, as spirit fulfilled believers, live by revelation knowledge; knowledge that has been revealed to us.
If you have a revelation about your wife or husband, then you look at them differently. You look at them with other eyes. It is true. You will look differently if you have a revelation about your children, about the church, or what you supposed to be doing in life.
Revelation is the thing that no one can take from you and motivates you without effort.
Paul said that things have been revealed to him.
God reveals it and once you see it clearly you can do it.
He said: “you see your calling brethren …” If you never seen yourself doing something it is very difficult to do it. If I say to you, play the piano, you would say no. Why? Because you have never seen yourself doing it; it is very difficult. Hilton was 6yrs old and he said, “I want to play the violin.” None of us can play the violin. Where does that come from? My great grandfather played the violin so it was in his genes, but he saw Emma play the violin in Church, and he has played ever since. He saw himself doing it. You must see yourself doing it.
Before one cricket season Aje had been very sick, when the term started. At the 1st cricket game they picked him for the side and he said he did not practice. I told him to go lie on his bed. He thought I would throw the ball for him. I said, “close your eyes, relax and bat. I will come back just now.” After a while I went back. I asked him how many did he score? He said, 40 runs. I said, okay, go play. The next day he scored 40 or 42! Without practice. You must see yourself doing something. Who gives it to you? It is God, in any area of your life.
People who rob a bank first see themselves doing it a thousand times.
You don't rob a bank by accident, it is very carefully planned. It’s a long process. It is very carefully planned and then they rehearse it. Sin is the same, You see yourself sin before you sin.
People see themselves smoking before they start smoking. It looks so manly to smoke, but they don't know that people die of lung cancer. The guy who advertised camel died of lung cancer, it is a fact.
You need to see yourself doing the good things too. It’s what you see on the inside. What the word of God does is that it changes the picture. It changes the picture of how you see yourself and how you view other people. Till you get a revelation of who you are in Christ. Then suddenly things are different. You die to the old image. God produces a new one. Only his Word can do that.
You can't do it by motivation, because you are not the creator. God has got to do it by His Word and His Spirit.
You must first see yourself rich before you become rich. If not, and you win the lotto, you will loose it. People loose millions. They don't know what happened to it. Why? They never saw themselves rich so they didn't have capacity to use it. They just had the capacity to loose it.
Let God change the inner picture. He reveals things to you. You must first see yourself married before you can get married. That’s how it works.
One day we did Cinderella in church. Billy was the ugly sister and Leigh was the mother. Yvette told the story. Theresa wanted to be Cinderella and so the ugly sisters treated her badly. Then someone said, “I’ll be the prince,” and Derek got up and said, “no, you are not the prince, I’ll be the prince. That is my girl there.” He saw it very clearly. He made up his mind publicly and he came and was the prince and tried on the shoes.
Then I said that Jesus is the prince and he has got a shoe that just fits for you, and 24 people got saved that morning.
Suru, the mime artist, did the archer that shoots the eagle and kills it. He picks it up and walks off with it. Then the eagle starts flapping again and flies off. Then he bowed down acknowledging the superiority of the eagle, and we gave an alter call after that and many people got saved.
None of us said anything, I didn't even explain about the cross or Jesus or hell. I just said who wants to give their lives to Jesus. What did they see? They saw the archer and an eagle. But what did they see? They saw their sinful condition. God choose the foolish things to astound the wise. Sometimes we try to explain too much. We try to save people and we can't, it has got to be supernatural. Jesus died for your sins. To believe that He can keep you. You get saved and for 2 weeks you are holy and then you full of holes after that. It is very hard to believe that He can keep you till He comes. To believe that you are still going to make it after serving Him for 26 yrs etc.
You wonder why you don't have this passion I had the 1st two weeks of trying to save the whole world. What has happened to me? Well, you have matured.
It is what you see. It's not mind control it is what God reveals to you. What He reveals to you belongs to you. If you can see it you can have it. He has given it to you already. That is where prophesy comes in. You got to have vision for your life, for your family and business.
Acts 1:13-14 “when they had entered they went up into the upper room where they were staying....
These all continued with one accord in prayer and in supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus.” They had one purpose of mind, great secret, unity.
We need incentives to preserve the unity in a church, in marriage, in business, in a team.
We need to make a decision that we want unity. Unity is the key to God’s power. It is seen in the book of Acts and in this day and age. We need to know how to walk in unity so that God's power can be manifest in our lives, in our families, in our homes and in our meetings.
Acts 1 reveals certain incentives to unity, and in other portions of Acts.
Acts 2:1-4 “When the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all with one accord [With one purpose of mind] in one place and suddenly .... they were all filled and they began to speak in tongues as the spirit gave utterance.” Wonderful things take place where there is unity. He says that where brethren dwell together in unity, God commands His blessing upon people. God commands His blessing upon people in unity.
Acts 2:44 “Now all who believed were together and had all things in common.”
Acts 2:46 “they continued daily with one accord, in the temple, eating with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor” The Lord added daily.
Acts 5:12 “Through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people and they were with one accord in Solomon’s porch”
Acts 15:15 -17 “The believers were increasingly added both multitudes of men and women....”
One of the keys to the first church was unity.
Acts 8:6 “The multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles and unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed. Many who were paralyzed and lame were healed...”
Acts 15:26 “seemed good to us being assembled with one accord {one purpose of mind} to send men with you, our beloved Barnabas and Paul.”
Romans15:6 “ that you with one mind and one mouth glorify God
Philippians 2:2 “that you having the same love, the same mind, being of one accord.”
Throughout the New Testament.
This is a great secret that God wants to reveal to us and give us some incentives based on the scriptures to preserve the unity amongst us. To continue in one accord. There was a 120 in one accord and the world changed. They asked God to send His promise. The Word says it, we believe it and we expect it from God.
The lack of unity is a result of a lack of the revealed knowledge of the Word of God.
The Word tells us that division comes because of jealousy, envy and selfish ambition - James 3:16
Where there are always fighting it is because everyone wants their way and no one knows what the will of God is. If we know what the will of God is, it is very simple.
Paul tells the people in Corinthians 3 not to have divisions amongst themselves. Unity comes through the preaching of the Word. It says that they continued daily steadfastly in the word that the apostles taught, the doctrine of the apostles. That brought the unity. That brought God's blessing. That brought God's power. It is a blessed place to be where there is unity. They met in one place.
They prayed with one voice to God. They had one heart, one soul, one purpose, one passion.
Then Paul says to mark those who cause division. Why? Because they break that power.
Warn them. If they don't listen, have nothing to do with them. Unity allows God to perform his supernatural signs and wonders and manifest things of provision and wonderful things. A state of oneness is the key. A state of oneness, being one in spirit, one in purpose, one aim, one sentiment, one interest. The feelings are the same. Unity that is made up of diverse elements of individuals. One accord, to harmonize, all agreeing with no one dissenting, brings great victory. The spiritual realm responds to that. That the world may know that you are my disciples. Uniting demonstrates Satan's final defeat that God can have a people that are in one accord. They become an invincible army and unity will bring Christ back. A very powerful thing.
You cannot create unity, you can only preserve it. So the unity that exists in a family can be extended. Other people can be included in that, it can grow.
It doesn't mean that you all have to have the same likes or dislikes but you have the same purpose.
You have the same purpose in mind, the same sentiment about something.
In the beginning with the first church we started some people liked praising God and some people refused to. The moment we said, lets stand and praise the Lord, some people would sit down on purpose. Then that spirit of defiance influenced people around them and suddenly people didn't feel like praising God, because that spirit is so strong it influences all those around it. I observed this and I would put my best praisers in the dead spots, and it would break that defiance.
Those defiant people stop what God is doing.
One day a man tired to strangle me in church and suddenly the whole church began to pray in tongues in one accord. Suddenly people were in one accord. Five guys tired to put his hands down and he just pushed them away and suddenly the power of God hit that guy and he went flying into the 5th row of chairs. When he got up he couldn't remember anything, he was delivered. He was so happy that he hugged me and he cracked the cartilage that joins my ribs together and it was painful. After 2yrs the Lord healed me and I have no pain and I said, “Lord please do a proper job,” and He said, “no, I leave that as a sign of what you suffered for me.”
The church was all of a sudden in one accord because something desperate was happening.
It is amazing how people can suddenly come into one accord because they all have the same fear.
In sport it is so important that everyone play according to the strategy of the coach. In your family, in your business, a husband and wife, one of the great keys is to do things in unity. If there is no unity, wait. Just wait because some has the right picture and the others don't. Otherwise you need a totally new picture. It is good to discuss things instead of just blundering ahead, get someone to be in unity with you.
The bible says: “where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.” Where two shall ask or three concerning anything on earth I shall do it for them and my Father who is in heaven shall do it for them. You can't just get some one quickly to agree with you. It must be someone who you are constantly walking in agreement with. You got to have someone who agrees with what you are doing, one who agrees with what you are trying to accomplish and one who agrees with how God uses you. You can pray over the phone for people as long as they are in agreement. God says that if you can agree with Him, He can do it. It’s like you connect the power source. God wants us to live there, not come in and out. Where everything is possible all of the time. But when we look at the waves and we look at the wind we loose our confidence in Him.
We start to look at situations and we loose hope. But he says, “agree with Me.” Philemon 14 “But without your consent I will do nothing.....”. Paul was writing to Philemon regarding his slave Onesimus. Paul said that he was sending Onesimus back to Philemon and that if he owed Philemon anything, Paul would pay it. But he didn't want to compel Philemon to do it, but if he didn't give his consent Paul would not do it. God revealed to me that unless I agree with God, God can't do anything for me.You must first agree with God and agree with his word before he can do anything for you, heal you, guide you, prosper you, show you things to come, build you up, strengthen you etc.
The key to unity is the Word of God because the Holy Spirit only works in line with the Word.
So the key to unity in a church is that the people must know the Word on the same frequency.
That is what we are trying to accomplish. That is why we want every member in the church to study the Bible course, to study the Word the way we teach it because then everyone is on the same frequency. We would know the Word together and the Word creates that unity which is to the benefit of us all.
He says “where brethren dwell together in unity I command my blessing.” Who doesn't want to be blessed? Unfortunately most Christians want to get it for themselves, by themselves, on their own and then come brag about it when they testify. We should do it for the good of the cause. For the good of the community, the good of the team, so that we are all blessed by the same blessing having unity concerning the Word.
If we speak the Word you can't bring your opinion. Opinion means nothing where the Word is spoken. It is the word of a King. It is authority. When we all bow to the word he commands his blessing. The problem is that everyone wants to do things their way according to their opinion, according to their way. The Lord says no, agree with Me, agree with My Word. So when we agree with His Word, His Spirit works, doing incredible things in our midst. It becomes effortless. Why? Because the unity was established in the church. Church is an amazing place, it is not somewhere we go to on Sunday, it is a place we have logged onto in the Spirit. That is why people who live in America are still part of the church, they not here on Sunday but their spirits are linked. We work together, finance the same things then the blessings are the over flow. He says that He will pour out on us blessings that there will be no room enough to contain it.
Who carried you till today? Who provided for you? Who sustained you? That is more blessings than what you could have provided. It’s already enough. But our human nature is never satisfied, we always want more. If you begin to count your blessings, one by one, you will be amazed to see what the Lord has done.
Unity is something you can have in yourself as well. Many times we think one thing but we say something completely different and then we do something totally opposite. That is not unity within yourself. You are not straight-lining your spirit, soul and body. Jesus always said what He meant.
That didn't mean He was rude. Jesus didn't use that as an excuse for rudeness. He used it to speak the truth because the truth is very powerful. What he thought, He wrote and spoke and did. It is very powerful. That puts your spirit soul and body like an arrow on the right track.
God speaks to you, stop sinning. You say that you are sorry to the Lord, but you go sin again tomorrow. It meant nothing. We think we can do that to people so we do it with God too. Later the Lord puts His staff around us for our own good.
Sincerity is not something you can produce, it’s not something you can fake, it is something that is very real. To be honest with yourself and with others. Sometimes you have to be diplomatic. You don't always have to say what you think about people. You can pray about what you think to God.
Sometimes you got to give people some room to grow. Try to be sincere. Give them space.
The first time someone does something, you don't say, “I don't think you are going to make it,” but you give them room to grow. You can give them advice. You are patient. That is how God is with us, that is a good Father.
Words are powerful, A father telling his son that he will amount to nothing, those are powerful words. Every son wants to please his father, every daughter wants to please her mother. You break down the unity that could be in a family through your words. Your words should rather encourage them.
Earlier this year Hilton had scored some reasonable scores. One game he scored one run and then they got him out and I stood there thinking, man that’s tough. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said to tell him this: “that was a great one run, God is happy.” When he came to me I said, “Hilton, you know that God thinks, that was a great run man. God is happy with the one run you made.” Something changed in him and he had some nice scores for the rest of the season and he ended up being number 2 of his side. He felt good when I said to remember the one run. Mostly fathers say, “why did you play such a stupid shot?” because they want to be proud. The Holy Spirit taught me something wonderful.
A young couple got married and the husband came home the first day from work and she was crying and there’s no food and he says, “what happened?” She says, “I struggled the whole day to get the salt into the little holes. My granny told me to fill the empty salt shaker but she never showed me what he said.” What do you say in a moment like that? You should say, “man, that one piece of salt you got in there is a great piece of salt!” Just to encourage someone.
When you encourage someone, they will believe that they can do anything. That is what our heavenly Father does for us. None of us are good enough as earthly fathers. We often fail because we do and say the wrong thing. Ask them forgiveness because you know you fail. Our heavenly Father never fails, and He wants to be in unity with you. He wants you and Him to agree about things. Once you and He agree, you are majority.
David and God destroyed the Philistine army, Samson and God destroyed 3000 Philistines at a time. You and God in agreement are the majority. Agree with his Word. You need to know His Word before the power of God is released in your life, in your family or your business. It begins to make things effortless. The power of agreement, the power of unity, something that man cannot control or create. It is based on what is revealed to you through the word of God By the Spirit of God.
Unity is great key in life and great key in ministry. Be in agreement with God and in relationships.