"To say that focusing on your past sin helps you to fight temptation is a lie from the pit of hell. What right to we have to focus on sin that God has declared He will not remember? Focusing on your past sin will simply cause an increase in the law in your life, and resulting in further sin and self-righteousness - guilt and pride".
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Ryan Rufus - Glory and Grace Conference - Philippines
Rob and Ryan Rufus shared the keynote preaching at a "Grace and Glory Conference" held in Manila in the Phillipines recently. I am working through the conference messages and the power and manifest Presence of God hung heavy over the time there. Ryan's message particularly is of significance - he spoke with such authority and anointing on three vital revelations. One of the reasons I love Ryan and Rob preaching together is that their preaching styles are different. Ryan tends to be a little more structured than Rob (Rob would admit that I think!) but the similarities - wow! Both men - father and son - share a passion for setting people free into the grace of God.
So here's the transcript of the message and the link to the
"Totally Forgiven! Totally United! Totally Filled!"
Alright I want to preach three truths to you today - just coming with three very simple, Bible, New Covenant truths and I believe they will bless you. You may have heard them numbers of times already because of such amazing grace teachers in this place. I want to speak three grace truths to you today. You may hear other sides of them you have never heard before.
Holy Spirit illuminate the Word of God today - bring revelation, an unlocking, open up eyes and open up hearts. Bring supernatural revelation and supernatural change. Lord where repentance is automatic, it's accidental - where we find ourselves changing the way we think not even on purpose but just because the Word of truth is lighting in our hearts and awakening in us and we cannot go back to the old patterns, the old ways of thinking.
1. The first truth is - you have been TOTALLY forgiven!
You haven't been partially forgiven, you have been totally and completely and utterly and fully and absolutely forgiven of all your sins - past, present and future!
Most Christians do not have trouble believing Jesus has forgiven them of their past sins. But many Christians have trouble that Jesus has already forgiven them of all of their future sins. They struggle with that so they feel if they sin then they have to confess the sin and repent of the sin and be cleansed of the sin and enter into all of these dead works and faithless works because they do not have a revelation of total forgiveness.
God doesn't forgive us our sins - God forgave us our sins!
(Colossians 2:13-14) - our forgiveness is past tense. It is not present continuous or future tense. Our forgiveness is past tense - because it happened 2000 years ago and when we came into Christ, we came into total and complete forgiveness of all the sins we have ever committed and all the sins we will ever commit in the future!
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive in Christ. He forgave us ALL our sins".
Before I had done one thing - while I was still dead - He forgave me all my sins. Jesus - the Cross - dealt with every single one of your sins. At the Cross God looked ahead at every single sin that will ever be committed and He dealt with it right there. The Cross looked at every single sin you would commit and it dealt with it right there. If the Cross didn't deal with all of your sins, past, present and future - then everybody born after the Cross could never be forgiven of all of their sins. If the Cross only dealt with past sins then only people born before the Cross - that were the righteous dead and had offered sacrifices when they sinned - His blood could only then forgive the past sinners and sins. Everyone born after Jesus couldn't receive forgiveness - they would still be in their sins. So if you sinned then Jesus would have to die again.
If Jesus didn't forgive all your future sins then every time you sin He has to die again and pay for your sins again. No! The Bible says that He forgave us ALL our sins - past, present and future sins!
Hebrews chapter 10:11: "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties".
The Old Covenant is a standing and working covenant. The New Covenant is a sitting and resting covenant.
"Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" - those who are being sanctified, coming into Christ, being set apart.
Did you notice one of the most powerful verses in the whole entire Bible? Did you see it? (v12); "But when this Priest had offered for all time". For all time. Past, present and future. "One sacrifice". Not continual sacrifice but one perfect sacrifice for sins for all sins for all time. Past, present and future.
I want to declare to you today - all of your future sins are already forgiven!
Many Christians when they sin feel unrighteous, dirty, unholy - they feel they have let God down and that God is no longer pleased with them. They feel they need to do "something". So guilt drives them to want to do something to get rid of the sin, or get rid of the guilt of their sin. That guilt wants to lead them to get rid. So they say; "God I have got to confess my sins and I have got to repent of these terrible sins and get cleansed of these sins - I have got to promise I will never do this sin again".
I want to tell you know that there is no Scripture in the New Covenant for New Covenant believers that tells you, you have got to continually confess your sins and repent of your sins and ask forgiveness for all your sins - why? Because ONE sacrifice for ALL time for ALL of your sins has already dealt with EVERY single one of your sins!
We are not called to confess our sins - we are called to confess our righteousness in Jesus Christ!
Get your eyes off your sins and get your eyes onto Christ! The more you do that, the more you will overcome sin in your life.
We are not called to ask for forgiveness even after we have sinned. This is challenging some of you right now! You may say; "No - no - I have been taught in church all of my life that after you sin, you confess your sin and ask forgiveness as a Christian". Yes - you may have been taught that - but did you go and study it in the Word? Did you find in the Word of God where it says you have to go and do that? You shouldn't always believe everything we preachers tell you! You have got to find out for yourself and base your life on the truth and on the Word of God and not just on what someone else says.
You may have sinned and feel a bit guilty and want to say sorry to God and to ask for forgiveness now. The heart is not wrong. That is not bad! The heart is right but the full revelation of the finished work of the Cross is not in the heart. It is okay to say; "God I'm sorry - I did not want to do that. That's not part of my new creation nature - you know what God though? I am not going to get all morbid and introspective and sorrowful and guilty! You don't want that - You want me to lift up my head, get in the Spirit and stay in the Spirit and thank You for the free gift of righteousness and total forgiveness and I fix my eyes on Jesus who has forgiven me of all my sins. I thank You that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus".
God doesn't want guilt-ridden and introspective focusing on our sins - He wants us in Him. So we feel like asking for forgiveness. For many years in my Christian life if I sinned I would always feel like I wanted to ask God forgiveness. In fact I did always asked God. "God please forgive me - please cleanse me". How many of you have ever prayed that prayer as a Christian? Until I came into the revelation of TOTAL forgiveness! When I came into the revelation of total forgiveness - you know what started to happen? If I sinned and did something silly and started to feel guilty and go to God and say; "God I am so sorry would You forgive me" - I would always hear the voice of the Father speaking straight after I said that and He would say;
"Ryan - I already have. I did it 2000 years ago at the Cross. And you know those future sins you are probably going to commit? I have already forgiven those too!".
But then Christians who are not secure in grace will say; "Oh come now Ryan be careful - if you preach this stuff, then Christians are going to hear this and go out and sin and go crazy and sin! Because that's what Christians really want to go and do! Christians just want to sin and sin!". I don't know about you - but I'm born again! I don't want to run out and sin! My new nature that is the God-nature wants to live for God! Wants to serve God! It is not even a sacrifice - the desire and passion of my spirit is to live 100% for God!
If you could live just by your newborn spirit - your new creation nature - then you would live in absolute holiness and righteousness and the perfect will of God, if you walk totally by your spirit. Some corruption has come to our spirit and our flesh and our mind. So the Bible says we offer our bodies as living sacrifices and renew our mind. Basically we learn how to surrender our mind and our body to our spirit. So our spirit can rise up and lead us in life. As we walk by the spirit and live by all the riches that God has put inside of our spirit as we walk by His nature.
Ephesians chapter 4 it says; "Put on the new man that has been created after the nature of God in perfect righteousness holiness". Your new nature has been created after the nature of God in perfect righteousness and perfect holiness. The Bible says that God has put His law on our hearts. He has put His law on our hearts! That's not the 10 Commandments! Goodness gracious - if God did that it would kill us! No - the law God put on our hearts is His nature. It is His perfect nature.
No one has to say to God; "God, You shouldn't lie - You shouldn't steal! You shouldn't commit adultery!". That's crazy! Why? It is His perfect nature! It is just not in His nature and when we live by that nature, we live by His desires. I am teaching you grace here - sometimes it is a bit scary the first time you hear a truth because it may contradict everything we have been taught. "Is this wrong?". Let's just see if this witnesses with our spirit alright? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.
As a New Covenant born again believer, to now go and ask forgiveness after you have sinned - is a sin. It is the sin of unbelief. You don't believe in the finished work of the Cross. You are trying to do something and don't realise it is already done!
All my sins have been dealt with! All my sins have been forgiven! If you do sin - oh heaven forbid! - sometimes I sin! Sometimes we do sin. We are not running out and wanting to sin and certainly not preaching license to sin. I don't know any grace preachers that are preaching a license to sin - not one! Even after if we sin - don't start asking God forgiveness, don't start trying to confess that sin or repent of that sin. Get your eyes on Jesus and keep your faith in Him! Keep walking in the Spirit covenant! Keep walking in the grace covenant! Keep declaring your absolute forgiveness!
"Father thank You that even that sin has been dealt with and I am still perfectly righteous!".
That is good news! The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. We are temples of the Holy Spirit and when we got born again and baptised in the Holy Spirit, He came to live inside of us with our spirit. Spirit to spirit. We are one with Christ in the Spirit. He said I will never leave you - I will not leave you as orphans and send you My Spirit.
That is proof that even after you sin - if your sin made you unholy and unrighteous then the Holy Spirit would have to leave. If you sinned and all of a sudden you became unrighteous and were not righteous until you confessed that sin and repented and got forgiven and cleansed then the Holy Spirit would have to leave until you got cleansed again! No! He never leaves!
He is ever present! Why? Because you are ever righteous, ever holy, forever and eternally forgiven!
Grace makes you happy! It is good news! It is always good news! If someone comes and turns the good news into bad news - don't listen to them! They are not preaching the good news! It is always good and should always make you happy and produce supernatural joy in you!
2. You have been totally united with Christ.
This is one of the most profound revelations that you will ever have.
In the Spirit - your spirit has been fully united with Christ so that means that you are united with Christ in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection, His ascension and in His seating on the throne.
Everything that happened to Jesus also happened to you! The good thing about it is that when He hung on the Cross, you were united with Him in that - but you didn't have to go through it! He hung there for us - He took all our sins and sickness for us and the full weight of the wrath of God, the full fire of the judgement and punishment and wrath of God was poured out fully upon Jesus and He died for your sins! Thank God we didn't have to face that judgement! Jesus faced that for us so we will never have to face that.
God will never punish the same sin twice. If God has already punished Christ for your sins, He is not then going to punish you for your sins!
That's either true or it's not! Some people preach as though God is going to punish you for your sins! Some will preach that you are sick because God is punishing you for your sins. That is a sin to say such things! That is unbelief! The Bible says that Jesus was punished for all of our sins!
God will never ever punish you with sickness for sin in your life!
Some of you are sick today and feel like it is God punishing you for your sin - you need to get free right now in Jesus Name! You need to challenge that lie from the pit of hell and not accept it! I have been forgiven of my sins! This sickness is not from God and is not because of my sins! Challenge that lie! You died with Christ! You were buried with Christ! You were raised to new life in Christ! You used to be dead to God but then God raised you up in new life - resurrected and new creation life in Christ. The life of Christ is your life. You were born again!
You were first born of water in the natural but now of Spirit by the Holy Spirit who made you alive with Christ and ascended into heaven. Ephesians 2:6; "Seated you in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus!". Do you know where you are seated right now in the spiritual? On the throne with Christ! You are a co-heir with Christ and joined to Him! That is greater than any of us realise in this room! That is so powerful and so profound. You are seated with Christ and reigning together with Christ! That is good news right there!
Do you know that if you are born again and saved and the miracle of salvation has come into your life - and He has made you alive - and you are sitting on the throne with Christ, do you know that if that has happened to you - then you can never lose that? You can never lose your salvation! You can never lose your salvation! Why? Because Christ is our life. He is our life! In order for you to lose your salvation, you would have to spiritually die again. That is impossible for you to spiritually die - because you are united with Christ and His life is your life! And He will NEVER die again! He is indestructible life - He is our High Priest in the order of Melchizadek and He ever lives to intercede for us! We are in Him - that means we can never die again! If you can never die again then you can never lose your salvation!
But what about all the Scriptures that sound like you can lose your salvation? I have looked at many of those Scriptures and when you look at them in context they are actually proof that you CAN'T lose your salvation! It is amazing! People have taken those Scriptures and used them to try and scare Christians and put fear into Christians; "If you don't stop sinning then you will lose your salvation". Ah - so I had better stop sinning because I am scared I will lose my salvation! That is the wrong motivation to stop sinning! If you do this for God then He will bless you! I don't serve God to get blessed. I serve Him because I love Him! I serve Him because His nature is inside of me! I don't not sin because I am scared of His judgement - I don't sin because I love Him! His nature is inside of me! Sanctification says your nature has been born again and made perfectly righteous in God and His nature is inside of you - your mind and flesh just need to catch up!
Sanctification isn't a process! We do not become more and more holy - no - we become holy once and for all! We are sanctified once and for all and the life we live is the overflow of what has happened! That miracle of overflow goes through our mind and through our body!
Don't ever be manipulated to serve God - you don't need to be manipulated to serve God! If you are a leader you do not need to manipulate Christians to serve God! You don't need to make Christians fearful to do things for God. No! Teach them about what has happened inside of them. Show them their new nature and what God has done in their spirit and watch those Christians come alive! You won't be able to stop them serving God! Many of you have got that revelation because I see the way you are serving God! It is not out of fear or manipulation but the way you have been gripped.
3. You have been totally filled with the fullness of God!
Colossians 2:9.
You can never come into the fullness of grace as long as you believe you are still under the law.
If you believe you are under the law even a little bit you will never come into the fullness of grace.
It is only when you believe the law covenant has completely passed away and you have died to it, God is not putting it on you and does not want you bound by it - it is a ministry of death and He has bought you out of it and resurrected you into the covenant of the Spirit! You are released from the law! You are no longer accountable to the law! God has put His Spirit inside of your hearts and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty! Liberty from that Old Covenant - you have been liberated from the letter and come into the new way of the Spirit! You can have freedom in that covenant! You don't have to run back to the law! Stay in the Spirit and watch Him transform your life!
You have been filled with the fullness of God - "In Christ all the fullness of the Deity live in bodily form". These people that say that Jesus was born of God and deny His deity are wrong! They are deceived. Jesus is God! All the fullness of the Deity of God lives in bodily form and "you have been given fullness in Christ!". It doesn't say we will be given fullness. It says (past tense) we have been given fullness in Christ! All of the riches of heaven - all of the perfection of Christ live inside of us because we have been united with Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:17; "one with Him".
There is no sin nature in there. There is nothing of the old creation that lives inside of your new creation spirit. There is no sin or unrighteousness. Your spirit has received full perfection! Full holiness! God is not trying to give you anything else - He has already given you fullness! The fruit of the Spirit - many say that if you live by the Spirit you will eventually develop the fruit of the Spirit. Actually - that's wrong! The fruit of the Spirit is what is in your new nature - the fruit of your spirit being united with His Spirit. All of the fullness of God lives inside of you!
You have the fullness of God's love, joy, patience, goodness, and all that! There is way more than nine - it's infinite! So when we walk in the Spirit by our reborn spirit then we manifest the fullness of God through our lives! Let me tell you what it means to 'walk in the Spirit'! There is three dimensions to walking in the Spirit:
1. The Spirit covenant - the grace covenant
2. by your spirit
3. in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Focus on it! Focus on grace! Don't focus on the law or sin! Focus on the gift of righteousness - the grace of God and the finished work of the Cross! Speak it and confess it! When you sin don't run back to the law and get under condemnation. Stay in the grace covenant! Focus on your reborn spirit.
Too much of the church is focusing on the weakness of people's bodies and the corruption of their minds and are condemning them! Their spirit doesn't want to do that stuff! Activate their spirit and as you do that, the spirit will take control over their bodies and minds and they won't do it! Teach them how to activate their spirits!
Don't teach how terrible the body and the mind is! Teach how incredible our reborn spirit is!
The world is full of so many lies! But the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and is our closest friend leading us in truth. Become more and more aware of His Presence in our lives. I can feel Him - I know that He is here. He doesn't leave us and walk around condemning us or convicting us of sin. He walks around and is our Comforter - our Counselor - our legal defense in the courts of heaven - He stands up and says; "They are totally forgiven and made righteous through the Cross! They are not guilty!". Follow and focus on the Holy Spirit - not the things of this world.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
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;
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.
"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.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
"Rest" by Ryan Rufus
I always think that the visual is somewhat more powerful than the written word - it takes you into the message. However I do also highly promote the written word as both mediums help get the message across powerfully!
I wanted to post this awesome message by Ryan Rufus that has been made available on You-Tube and it's well worth the time to hear it.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Activating the Prophetic - 4th April 2010
This sermon was preached by Ryan Rufus at City Church International on Sunday 4th April 2010. And was quite simply .... amazing! It is most definately critical that you read the sermon and the teaching Ryan brings on prophecy - but also there are some prophecies I have transcribed at the end from Ryan and also one from Rob Rufus (that personally affected me deeply)."I really feel God is stirring something up of the prophetic this morning – Jesus Christ is the Spirit of prophecy and He is here this morning and was ministering through Dad. It is like that spirit of prophecy came upon Dad to declare the things of heaven and the things of God. Did you feel how that was lifting us up and breaking off things of this world – humanistic wisdom and worldly distractions and things that pull us down. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ was exposing those things in the Spirit and He was smashing them off people’s lives and stirring up our spirits to rise up in Him and to go for it. So that is what is happening this morning – there is a spirit of prophecy over this meeting.
That is what I am sensing to speak on this morning – just the prophetic. What is prophecy and what is the prophetic? I have got a whole load of prophetic words that after I have preached I just want to declare over City Church and some people – prophetic things that the Holy Spirit is stirring in me and I want to say that the Holy Spirit is going to stir some of you as well. This isn’t going to be just practicing what we have learnt. This is going to be allowing the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of prophecy to move upon us and to declare with creative words and powerful and authoritative words – the Kingdom of Christ coming to rule and reign over people’s lives in Hong Kong.
Teaching releases teaching and revelation. Testimonies release testimonies. Demonstration releases demonstration.
You can hear teaching about the prophetic all your life and that is not necessarily going to release you in the prophetic. You can hear some testimonies and that stirs you to want to go out and do the same – but something about the demonstration of it that releases an anointing that we catch and activate so we can then prophesy with power!
I shared this word about a year ago in City Church at the end of a meeting. The Holy Spirit came upon me and I began to share and declare something. Some of you were here and we are going to play that. It goes for a while. Just engage with the Spirit – allow the Spirit of Christ to move upon you. Today is about proclaiming and activating rather than technical stuff;
“There is another level of discernment when we get established in the gift of righteousness. It says that we have this credible discernment between good and evil – between what is of God and what is of the enemy. I feel that particularly in hearing His voice and in hearing the voice of God and hearing the voice of the enemy. The enemy comes and tries to appear as though he is God – speaking with warnings and judgement, punishment and condemnation. God is taking us into another level of discernment where we know immediately that is the enemy, the voice of the accuser, the liar and that we can call his bluff – call him out and know it is him. We hear the voice of God. My sheep know My voice! Let the voice of the Father speak to you right now – listen for His voice.
He will say things to you like; “You are My beloved, I love you, you are righteous in Christ, I have made you perfect, there is no condemnation or judgement or punishment towards you. You are My child, I am your Father and I love you with an unearned, unconditional everlasting love. You don’t earn or deserve it – but I give it to you freely through Christ. It is unconditional and it lasts forever and ever and ever! Hear the voice of God speaking that into your spirit this morning. That’s what He is saying to you. Let’s hear His voice. I sense there are some hear this morning that are struggling under accusation – all you can hear is accusation coming against you. There are cycles of accusation that come around every now and again. Every now and again I walk through periods in my life where I feel accused on every angle. That is of the devil! That is demonic! I want to tell you this morning – that is demonic. That accusation you are facing right now is demonic – that is the voice of the devil – not the voice of God speaking to you.
This morning God is breaking that accusation off you. Jesus is your counsellor, He is your defender, He doesn’t put that junk on you – He breaks it off you. He speaks for you. He defends you. This morning Jesus is defending you. Thank You Jesus that You come against that voice of accusation and right now we take authority over it and over people’s minds who are bombarded in their minds – we take authority in the Name of Jesus and we break it right now! We release the voice of God to speak into those people’s minds and to speak into their spirits right now! Receive that!
Now the Father is speaking destiny over you. I have called you for an incredible destiny. I have set you aside for great works and I have set aside great works for you – I have given you the privilege of working and living in My Kingdom and given you the privilege of sharing in this gospel. I have earmarked you to touch nations. I have earmarked you to proclaim this incredible gospel through every sphere of society, through every area of your influence, I am calling you to new spheres, new levels of influence, new impact zones – I am empowering you for great works, greater works than that of Christ! I am preparing you for miracles, empowering you to do mighty miracles, to raise those cripples and open blind eyes and open deaf ears! I have called you to these things and I am backing you – I am for you, no one can be against you and I will carry these things out in your life. I will see them into fulfilment – you WILL walk in these things – you WILL walk in your destiny – you WILL walk in your assignment – you WILL walk in your calling – I shall guarantee it in Jesus Name! Stand in Me! Cling to this assurance, hold on to this incredible hope – do not throw away your confidence but stand in faith in this incredible gospel. Stand in this hope and be filled with My courage. I am putting courage in you to do incredible things.
I am giving you boldness to go beyond yourself with things that are going to surprise you and shock you and things that are going to impress you – I am going to show you the power of My might and show the nations the power of My might through your life! You will say things that as they come out of your mouth will shock you and will fill you with an incredible light and you will see My wisdom being revealed as you are speaking one on one to people and to different people that are anti and obstinate and are accusing and twisted up – I will give you surgical words that will pierce through to their hearts and will unlock them! I am setting them up! They have got no chance! You will pierce through to their spirits and they will see Me and receive Me and I will use you to do that.
You are my holy battering ram! You are going to smash open gates that have been bound for centuries and heaven will pour into those places. Places, towns and cities that have been bound up in legalism. You are going to smash through those gates! You will see those gates smashed off by My holy battering rams – those gates are coming down, I am sick of those gates! They will not resist this gospel! They will not resist the power of the Kingdom! And I am using you to smash those gates down and you will see the Kingdom released in those places and awesome change coming to governments, business, schools, hospitals, entertainments – as the kingdom comes! Not as the law comes or as judgement comes but as the Kingdom comes!
That is MY voice – says God! Those are the things I say – says the Lord. Just receive My joy. Stand and receive His joy. Lord – Your joy is our strength. Some of you haven’t felt this joy for a long time. Some of you are scared to feel it again because you are scared you will go back into depression. Don’t live your life by fear! Don’t let fear dominate you. Just surrender right now to the joy of the Lord. Don’t worry about tomorrow or the next day. Just right now – receive His joy. He is good and His love endures forever and He has good plans for your life. Let Him fill you with His joy. His joy is warfare. When the enemy sees you laughing with the joy of the Lord He gets very very scared! We receive Your laughter – Your joy – Your peace!”.
Why the prophetic? What is prophecy? I just want to share three things and then continue launching into the prophetic and prophecies.
1. What is the purpose of prophecy?
a. It is to speak forth the things of God.
That is what prophecy is. Speaking forth the words of God! The things of God! That is literally what prophecy means. It doesn’t just have to do with the future. Many of us when we think about prophecy – we think it is like fortune telling. It isn’t just about the future – but also about the present and the past. Prophecy is God revealing Himself in situations and events and bringing God’s perspective over events. Understanding God’s will and wisdom and of His ways in a situation – this could be in a current or future situation where you don’t know what is happening. Someone can come with a prophetic word;
“This is what is happening in your situation – God says “I am here!”.
It could be something that happened in the past that you are unsure of and you have carried it for a long time and has been confusing. The Spirit of the Lord comes on someone to prophesy to you and say; “This is what happened to you in the past but God says “I was there and I was doing this and I will turn this around for good” and He comes and releases the grief and takes away the pain and brings encouragement to you. That is the prophetic – God’s perspective on future events, current events and past events.
I had a prophetic word a while ago for someone in a meeting here in December. I had a dream one night and God does show things in dreams sometimes. He showed me someone that was struggling with their relationship with their father and God showed me that they grew up feeling rejected and not feeling loved by their father. They felt that it had something to do with them – their weight and something about them was the reason why their father didn’t love them and rejected them. They also felt that the father loved the brother or the sister but didn’t really love them and they were carrying this since they were a little girl and grew up with it. I declared that word over the meeting and explained it and said;
I had a prophetic word a while ago for someone in a meeting here in December. I had a dream one night and God does show things in dreams sometimes. He showed me someone that was struggling with their relationship with their father and God showed me that they grew up feeling rejected and not feeling loved by their father. They felt that it had something to do with them – their weight and something about them was the reason why their father didn’t love them and rejected them. They also felt that the father loved the brother or the sister but didn’t really love them and they were carrying this since they were a little girl and grew up with it. I declared that word over the meeting and explained it and said;
“This is what God says was happening during that time – God says that your father did love you and it had nothing to do with you but he was distracted with other things and he did not know how to show his love for you and that bothered him. He struggled to show his love but did not know how” and as I was saying this – Sarah hit the floor and came under the power and Presence of God and was ministering to Sarah. I didn’t even know it was for Sarah – I thought it was for someone else.
Then I had this word; “You need to make some sort of contact with your father – something is different know, something is getting healed and reconciled”. That week – Sarah said her dad phoned or text on the Wednesday. Her father called her because they hadn’t had a too good relationship and Sarah has been carrying that for a long time. Her dad called and said he needed to speak to her about something stuff so they got together and the father shared his heart and said he didn’t love her the way she needed and he said he was sorry and he did love her and it was not about her brother. There was a huge reconciliation and God did something mighty – that was prophetic! It was talking about the past but God revealed and highlighted what was happening. It is talking about the present – God is healing you and taking away the grief. This is what He will do in the future – make contact because He will heal.
Someone else came to me recently and said that because of that word, they had a major reconciliation with their father as well. This had been going on for years – they had a very strained and struggled relationship with their father with a lot of stuff going on in the past. That week her father rang her and there was a miraculous reconciliation. I don’t know if that would have happened if I had not declared that.
I don’t want to put God on a box but when God moves on us – we need to declare it and step out and speak it! That releases the power of God into a situation and pulls the power and life of God into a situation and it changes situation! This is where the Kingdom literally comes and manifests through our words into situations and into people’s lives.
It doesn’t have to be complicated! Let’s de-mystify this – the prophetic does not have to be mystical. Speaking in tongues is mystical – because the lost don’t understand what we are saying! But the Holy Spirit can reveal this. Tongues is us speaking to God and to build ourselves up. The prophetic is God speaking to man. God is revealing Himself with clarity and power to people – so don’t come under this pressure that you have to come up with a profound word when you prophesy. That is putting pressure on yourself and manufacturing things. Just be a vessel that God can use! Just say “God I am willing and ready whenever You want to use me to speak Your words into people’s lives over situations – I want to be a vessel you can flow through”. And sometimes it can be the simplest words!
I was in a meeting once and I was looking out over the congregation and suddenly the Holy Spirit highlighted two people in the congregation and knew God wanted to say something to them. I looked down and said “Holy Spirit – what do you want me to say?”. And I got this; “Two decisions”. That’s all He gave me. Two decisions – two major decisions that they are facing at this current moment and God wants them to make the right decisions! Nothing profound about that! So I got up to the mike and said; “No one look around but those two people over there – God is singling you out today because He wants to speak to you – you have two major decisions you need to make in your life and He wants to make the right decision”. That was it! After the meeting and this was a couple – a guy and a girl. They were boyfriend and girlfriend and the guy said; “I know I need to give my life to the Lord” and there and then he gave his life to the Lord, got baptised in the Holy Spirit and I took him out the back and baptised him in water.
Then I had this word; “You need to make some sort of contact with your father – something is different know, something is getting healed and reconciled”. That week – Sarah said her dad phoned or text on the Wednesday. Her father called her because they hadn’t had a too good relationship and Sarah has been carrying that for a long time. Her dad called and said he needed to speak to her about something stuff so they got together and the father shared his heart and said he didn’t love her the way she needed and he said he was sorry and he did love her and it was not about her brother. There was a huge reconciliation and God did something mighty – that was prophetic! It was talking about the past but God revealed and highlighted what was happening. It is talking about the present – God is healing you and taking away the grief. This is what He will do in the future – make contact because He will heal.
Someone else came to me recently and said that because of that word, they had a major reconciliation with their father as well. This had been going on for years – they had a very strained and struggled relationship with their father with a lot of stuff going on in the past. That week her father rang her and there was a miraculous reconciliation. I don’t know if that would have happened if I had not declared that.
I don’t want to put God on a box but when God moves on us – we need to declare it and step out and speak it! That releases the power of God into a situation and pulls the power and life of God into a situation and it changes situation! This is where the Kingdom literally comes and manifests through our words into situations and into people’s lives.
It doesn’t have to be complicated! Let’s de-mystify this – the prophetic does not have to be mystical. Speaking in tongues is mystical – because the lost don’t understand what we are saying! But the Holy Spirit can reveal this. Tongues is us speaking to God and to build ourselves up. The prophetic is God speaking to man. God is revealing Himself with clarity and power to people – so don’t come under this pressure that you have to come up with a profound word when you prophesy. That is putting pressure on yourself and manufacturing things. Just be a vessel that God can use! Just say “God I am willing and ready whenever You want to use me to speak Your words into people’s lives over situations – I want to be a vessel you can flow through”. And sometimes it can be the simplest words!
I was in a meeting once and I was looking out over the congregation and suddenly the Holy Spirit highlighted two people in the congregation and knew God wanted to say something to them. I looked down and said “Holy Spirit – what do you want me to say?”. And I got this; “Two decisions”. That’s all He gave me. Two decisions – two major decisions that they are facing at this current moment and God wants them to make the right decisions! Nothing profound about that! So I got up to the mike and said; “No one look around but those two people over there – God is singling you out today because He wants to speak to you – you have two major decisions you need to make in your life and He wants to make the right decision”. That was it! After the meeting and this was a couple – a guy and a girl. They were boyfriend and girlfriend and the guy said; “I know I need to give my life to the Lord” and there and then he gave his life to the Lord, got baptised in the Holy Spirit and I took him out the back and baptised him in water.
The girlfriend was off with one of the elder’s wives and sharing and speaking to her and I found out the next day that she had said on the way to the meeting; “God unless you single me out in the meeting tonight I am never again going to a church ever again”. She said as I singled her out she got covered with goose bumps and she knew God was speaking to her. She was pregnant and was booked into have an abortion that Wednesday. Because of that word she didn’t go and made the decision not to have the abortion. The strange thing was that the next week or so she actually had a miscarriage. God showed me this – He spared her of carrying the abortion and the grief for the rest of her life. God spared her that. A simple word; “Two decisions”.
I say that just to say – don’t come under that pressure of feeling you have to come up with profound stuff. God is on it – it will be prophetic! He can say one word and be all over it! He will do the rest! We get into trouble when we try and elaborate on what God is saying thinking it’s not profound enough! I need to come up with something else! No – just give and release what God is giving you. If it’s from God it will be good! The second thing;
b. It builds the church.
It builds up and strengthens the church.
Prophecy is positive!
It is not judgement or destruction – it builds up! Dads word this morning was actually very positive – even though for some it may have seemed not. Sometimes it does have to be tough love when we are getting choked by the things of this world – He comes to smack those things off us and cause us to shake off and rise up and manifest the Kingdom through our lives. As long as we are choked by worldly things the Kingdom cannot manifest through us. Prophecy is positive and builds up – let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 14.
Don’t you love the prophetic? Sometimes it just changes the atmosphere. The atmosphere can be so natural and we are trying to break in. The next thing Joshua Mills will get up and say; “You live at Number 13 Easter Avenue” – remember that at Glory and Grace last year?! God showed him someone’s address – it was Fini and Isi. He gave all those prophetic words and didn’t you just feel the atmosphere shift when he said that? It was like people were suddenly realising that God is in this place!
The prophetic shifts the atmosphere.
Sometimes if I am in a meeting and it doesn’t seem like stuff is happening, I will be probing the Holy Spirit for a prophetic word and will be pushing Him for a word and just get up and announce that word – suddenly it shifts the atmosphere and expectation gets lifted that God is here and doing stuff!
What is the purpose of prophecy? To build up the church – 1 Corinthians 14:1. I am going to read from the King James version. “Follow eagerly after charity and desire spiritual gifts”. Are you desiring spiritual gifts? It means LUST after spiritual gifts! It just means “strong desire” for spiritual gifts – but “rather that ye may prophesy”. Have a strong desire to prophecy! “He that prophesies … for edification, exhortation and comfort”. “I would that ye all speak in tongues but rather that ye prophesies for greater is he that prophesy”. He that prophesies brings edification, exhortation and comfort.
Edify – that is what the prophetic does. “Edify” means “House” and “To build”. Or to “build the house of God”. The prophetic word is to build the house of God. It speaks mainly about the present. Edifying is building up the house of God in the now.
Exhort – which is “one side” and “a calling to”. To exhort someone and come alongside them and is prospective – for the future. To put courage and strength in someone for the future.
Comfort – is the same word as exhort but is in retrospect. For trials experienced and the prophetic can bring comfort to them. It takes away pain and grief and brings explanation and strengthens those people.
The prophetic therefore speaks to the past, present and future.
It can sometimes cover all things but the prophetic “comfort” word is about the past. This is what you are experiencing – but I am with you. This is what Dad was saying this morning. The trials and the tests that you have walked through – it is about entering the Kingdom. God says it is through suffering that we enter the Kingdom but then God opens the Kingdom for us to walk in. Don’t get disillusioned but look up and see the big thing God is doing! Edifying – “I AM with you. I love you. You are my child. You are the righteousness of God in Christ”. This promotes spiritual growth! It breaks us out of the natural and brings us into the realm of the spirit. Whatever situation you are facing right now – do not fear, not fret. I am with you and bringing you through it. This is about God coming alongside of us to put boldness and confidence in us – I am with you! I will open the doors and I will walk with you and you can trust in Me!
Prophecy is important so that the gates of hell will not prevail in our lives!
c. Prophecy is pulling heaven into the NOW.
It is pulling heaven’s resources into the NOW situation in this world. You are ambassadors of Christ – you are ambassadors of the highest government in the universe. Seated with Christ far above all principalities, all powers, all rules, all titles, all dominions – FAR above (exceedingly above every power – every cancer, every sickness) and we are seated with Him far above every demonic sickness. You transcend with Christ into that high place. You are an ambassador of heaven – you represent the highest government. Jesus has been given all authority and all power. You come representing the One that has infinite wealth! He is not poor! He makes His streets out of gold! You represent Him as an ambassador! You are not a beggar trying to tell other people where you found food! I spit on that rubbish! I am NOT a beggar – I am a son of the most high God and I carry the authority He carries!
When I speak, my words are HIS words! His words come through my mouth speaking creation and declaring the words of heaven! God spoke the world into being! Life was created! There is life in His words, power and authority in His words! You are an ambassador of that realm! The very words you speak come from that realm! When you speak to situations – you say you don’t care what the situation is telling me, it is the natural – inferior reality – the reality of the Kingdom is where I come from and I speak with creative power to change this realm!
Melchizadek released Abraham and spoke a blessing to him revealing God to him! Abraham was blessed by God and by heaven. Heaven’s endorsement and favour – we are the seed of Abraham. We are of the same faith as Abraham. Abraham represents grace! And Melchizadek represents a high priest of grace. Grace entitles you to the Kingdom and to heaven’s resources but law takes them away. Grace gives – the law takes. The law strips and crushes. The law weighs down like a heavy burden because it was never intended to make you righteous – it was intended to smash you down and to smash your self-righteousness so you come to the end of yourself and say “I am lost – I cannot do it on my own! My efforts are useless” and this causes us to look up and see Christ and receive the gift of His righteousness. Grace gives! Then He seats us in the heavenly realm and blesses us with every blessing! Because He blesses you with heaven you receive entitlement! You receive an inheritance in the Kingdom! Heaven is backing us! Heaven is for us.
We have the resources of heaven at our disposal!
In Luke 13 – remember the woman who was bent over for 18 years? It was the Sabbath. The one day of the week under the law covenant that was a taste of grace where they weren’t allowed to work. Jesus is the Sabbath and we enter into the rest covenant. This woman was bound for 18 years while the Pharisees were indignant. Jesus said “This daughter of Abraham” – what was He saying? Ought not this daughter of Abraham – she has a RIGHT to healing, an ENTITLEMENT to healing and He was angry because something was stripping her of the right to be blessed and healed and walk in heaven! What was it that Satan had bound for 18 years? 3 x 6. 3 is the number for completion and perfection. Six is the number for man. 666 is the perfect man number and the number of Anti-Christ. She was under an Antichrist spirit! This covenant was against Christ and was a flesh based covenant. It weighs people down and she came under that covenant and it weighed her and crushed her – it was against Christ. Why do you think the Pharisees resisted Christ? Because they were under an Anti-Christ covenant. Man’s self righteous efforts to keep that covenant – something the covenant was never intended to do. That covenant was intended to bring us to Christ but man has kept on trying.
To resist God and to try and be righteous in themselves is an Anti-Christ spirit that weighs people down.
Jesus said; “Woman – you are loosened from your infirmities”. He spoke the word of Christ. He was giving a metaphor about those in Abraham – those elected to grace – the moment they came under the law, they came under an Anti-Christ spirit that weighed them down. Christ came to reveal Himself and set free. Come into your entitlement! Come into heaven! Then He gave a parable about a fig tree. The vineyard could either represent Israel and those in Abraham. A vineyard represents grace and wine and joy and freedom and liberty – so could represent Israel or the church or the nations. The fig tree was a small part of that. Israel that came under the law was called the fig tree. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they became aware of their nakedness and shame and what did they cover themselves with? Fig leaves.
Fig leaves represent human effort to try and be righteous and cover up sin. Figs represent flesh and human effort and performance.
When Israel came out from under Abraham they came into performance and into flesh. The law is a flesh, performance-based covenant. Then this man came looking for fruit on the fig tree and found none. He said cut it down and throw it into the fire! That is the end result of the fire. It takes away and brings curse and destruction. So the man working in the vineyard said no – let’s dig around it and give it one more year. He wasn’t talking about a church plant! He was giving another illustration about Israel. Jesus ministered in Israel for 3 years. His mission was to bring Israel out of the law covenant and into the grace covenant and righteousness of God. After 3 years they hadn’t done that and there was no fruit.
The law covenant does not produce fruit. Under the law you cannot produce fruit.
Then He went to the Cross and they crucified Him but they still didn’t come out from under the law – Israel stayed under the law. Only some came out. Jesus was walking with His disciples in Mark 11 and they came across a fig tree and Jesus was expecting to find fruit on the fig tree and saw there was none – so out of the blue (seemingly) He cursed the fig tree – “You shall never bear fruit again”. And then they went on to Jerusalem and when they came back passed the fig tree, it had withered from the roots up and died.
Jesus was saying that this law covenant – self righteousness – will NEVER bear fruit! It will never be good enough for God!
Then He said; “Anyone who has faith shall say to this mountain – be uplifted and cast into the sea”. You know what mountain I think He was referring to? Mount Sinai! The mountain of the law – where the law covenant came from! Anyone who has faith in Christ shall say to the things that are taking away and robbing and crushing and weighing you down in your life – shall say to those things; “Be uplifted and cast into the sea!”.
Law says you have to earn it. Grace says you’ve already got it. You have got all the blessings of the Kingdom – you are an ambassador.
You have it all in Christ! Prophecy says “Now it is time for those things to manifest in this situation. Now I am going to speak the creative word of God – I will speak those powerful words over this situation and say ‘Cancer – be uplifted and cast into the sea!’”.
I felt God say as I was preparing this that we are coming into a time when cancer will be destroyed through City Church!
I have a few prophetic words to share right now as the Holy Spirit stirs. Why don’t we just close our eyes?
Holy Spirit we thank You that You are here in this place and Father we thank You for revelation of the magnitude of Your being – that we could see and have understanding and revelation of the magnitude of Your being and ascribe greatness to Your Name!
Folks I believe that is what fear of the Lord is. It is having an understanding of the magnitude of God. The magnitude of His being and recognising how great God is – because that is the beginning of wisdom.
True wisdom only comes from God. When you recognise who He is and the magnitude of His being a fear comes and it is not a fear of judgement or of how great He is. When you see how great He is – that is the moment you begin to have wisdom!
________________________________________________________
Holy Spirit come and stir up the prophetic in us – thank You that there is an activation of the prophetic here – that this is a time of building up and edifying and strengthening. Thank You that You are opening our eyes to see heaven and the greatness of where we are seated and all that is ours in Christ. You are opening our eyes to see and ears to hear the things of God and releasing dreams and visions. There is coming an increase of dreams and visions over us – in Jesus Name!
I feel the blessing of God – the blessing of Melchizadek – it is the “now” season and I feel that City Church is coming into greater realms of blessings. Dad prophesied at the beginning of the year that it is going to be a year of ridiculous, unprecedented blessings on City Church and I feel there is something in this area of financial blessings that is coming on City Church. God is about to dump great wealth on City Church! God is unleashing and unloading great wealth upon City Church! I felt this thing about opening up channels – it is not about sowing and reaping or earning a blessing. It’s not about giving so God gives. That is human agenda – it is about the gospel! It is about spreading of the good news!
I say that just to say – don’t come under that pressure of feeling you have to come up with profound stuff. God is on it – it will be prophetic! He can say one word and be all over it! He will do the rest! We get into trouble when we try and elaborate on what God is saying thinking it’s not profound enough! I need to come up with something else! No – just give and release what God is giving you. If it’s from God it will be good! The second thing;
b. It builds the church.
It builds up and strengthens the church.
Prophecy is positive!
It is not judgement or destruction – it builds up! Dads word this morning was actually very positive – even though for some it may have seemed not. Sometimes it does have to be tough love when we are getting choked by the things of this world – He comes to smack those things off us and cause us to shake off and rise up and manifest the Kingdom through our lives. As long as we are choked by worldly things the Kingdom cannot manifest through us. Prophecy is positive and builds up – let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 14.
Don’t you love the prophetic? Sometimes it just changes the atmosphere. The atmosphere can be so natural and we are trying to break in. The next thing Joshua Mills will get up and say; “You live at Number 13 Easter Avenue” – remember that at Glory and Grace last year?! God showed him someone’s address – it was Fini and Isi. He gave all those prophetic words and didn’t you just feel the atmosphere shift when he said that? It was like people were suddenly realising that God is in this place!
The prophetic shifts the atmosphere.
Sometimes if I am in a meeting and it doesn’t seem like stuff is happening, I will be probing the Holy Spirit for a prophetic word and will be pushing Him for a word and just get up and announce that word – suddenly it shifts the atmosphere and expectation gets lifted that God is here and doing stuff!
What is the purpose of prophecy? To build up the church – 1 Corinthians 14:1. I am going to read from the King James version. “Follow eagerly after charity and desire spiritual gifts”. Are you desiring spiritual gifts? It means LUST after spiritual gifts! It just means “strong desire” for spiritual gifts – but “rather that ye may prophesy”. Have a strong desire to prophecy! “He that prophesies … for edification, exhortation and comfort”. “I would that ye all speak in tongues but rather that ye prophesies for greater is he that prophesy”. He that prophesies brings edification, exhortation and comfort.
Edify – that is what the prophetic does. “Edify” means “House” and “To build”. Or to “build the house of God”. The prophetic word is to build the house of God. It speaks mainly about the present. Edifying is building up the house of God in the now.
Exhort – which is “one side” and “a calling to”. To exhort someone and come alongside them and is prospective – for the future. To put courage and strength in someone for the future.
Comfort – is the same word as exhort but is in retrospect. For trials experienced and the prophetic can bring comfort to them. It takes away pain and grief and brings explanation and strengthens those people.
The prophetic therefore speaks to the past, present and future.
It can sometimes cover all things but the prophetic “comfort” word is about the past. This is what you are experiencing – but I am with you. This is what Dad was saying this morning. The trials and the tests that you have walked through – it is about entering the Kingdom. God says it is through suffering that we enter the Kingdom but then God opens the Kingdom for us to walk in. Don’t get disillusioned but look up and see the big thing God is doing! Edifying – “I AM with you. I love you. You are my child. You are the righteousness of God in Christ”. This promotes spiritual growth! It breaks us out of the natural and brings us into the realm of the spirit. Whatever situation you are facing right now – do not fear, not fret. I am with you and bringing you through it. This is about God coming alongside of us to put boldness and confidence in us – I am with you! I will open the doors and I will walk with you and you can trust in Me!
Prophecy is important so that the gates of hell will not prevail in our lives!
c. Prophecy is pulling heaven into the NOW.
It is pulling heaven’s resources into the NOW situation in this world. You are ambassadors of Christ – you are ambassadors of the highest government in the universe. Seated with Christ far above all principalities, all powers, all rules, all titles, all dominions – FAR above (exceedingly above every power – every cancer, every sickness) and we are seated with Him far above every demonic sickness. You transcend with Christ into that high place. You are an ambassador of heaven – you represent the highest government. Jesus has been given all authority and all power. You come representing the One that has infinite wealth! He is not poor! He makes His streets out of gold! You represent Him as an ambassador! You are not a beggar trying to tell other people where you found food! I spit on that rubbish! I am NOT a beggar – I am a son of the most high God and I carry the authority He carries!
When I speak, my words are HIS words! His words come through my mouth speaking creation and declaring the words of heaven! God spoke the world into being! Life was created! There is life in His words, power and authority in His words! You are an ambassador of that realm! The very words you speak come from that realm! When you speak to situations – you say you don’t care what the situation is telling me, it is the natural – inferior reality – the reality of the Kingdom is where I come from and I speak with creative power to change this realm!
Melchizadek released Abraham and spoke a blessing to him revealing God to him! Abraham was blessed by God and by heaven. Heaven’s endorsement and favour – we are the seed of Abraham. We are of the same faith as Abraham. Abraham represents grace! And Melchizadek represents a high priest of grace. Grace entitles you to the Kingdom and to heaven’s resources but law takes them away. Grace gives – the law takes. The law strips and crushes. The law weighs down like a heavy burden because it was never intended to make you righteous – it was intended to smash you down and to smash your self-righteousness so you come to the end of yourself and say “I am lost – I cannot do it on my own! My efforts are useless” and this causes us to look up and see Christ and receive the gift of His righteousness. Grace gives! Then He seats us in the heavenly realm and blesses us with every blessing! Because He blesses you with heaven you receive entitlement! You receive an inheritance in the Kingdom! Heaven is backing us! Heaven is for us.
We have the resources of heaven at our disposal!
In Luke 13 – remember the woman who was bent over for 18 years? It was the Sabbath. The one day of the week under the law covenant that was a taste of grace where they weren’t allowed to work. Jesus is the Sabbath and we enter into the rest covenant. This woman was bound for 18 years while the Pharisees were indignant. Jesus said “This daughter of Abraham” – what was He saying? Ought not this daughter of Abraham – she has a RIGHT to healing, an ENTITLEMENT to healing and He was angry because something was stripping her of the right to be blessed and healed and walk in heaven! What was it that Satan had bound for 18 years? 3 x 6. 3 is the number for completion and perfection. Six is the number for man. 666 is the perfect man number and the number of Anti-Christ. She was under an Antichrist spirit! This covenant was against Christ and was a flesh based covenant. It weighs people down and she came under that covenant and it weighed her and crushed her – it was against Christ. Why do you think the Pharisees resisted Christ? Because they were under an Anti-Christ covenant. Man’s self righteous efforts to keep that covenant – something the covenant was never intended to do. That covenant was intended to bring us to Christ but man has kept on trying.
To resist God and to try and be righteous in themselves is an Anti-Christ spirit that weighs people down.
Jesus said; “Woman – you are loosened from your infirmities”. He spoke the word of Christ. He was giving a metaphor about those in Abraham – those elected to grace – the moment they came under the law, they came under an Anti-Christ spirit that weighed them down. Christ came to reveal Himself and set free. Come into your entitlement! Come into heaven! Then He gave a parable about a fig tree. The vineyard could either represent Israel and those in Abraham. A vineyard represents grace and wine and joy and freedom and liberty – so could represent Israel or the church or the nations. The fig tree was a small part of that. Israel that came under the law was called the fig tree. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they became aware of their nakedness and shame and what did they cover themselves with? Fig leaves.
Fig leaves represent human effort to try and be righteous and cover up sin. Figs represent flesh and human effort and performance.
When Israel came out from under Abraham they came into performance and into flesh. The law is a flesh, performance-based covenant. Then this man came looking for fruit on the fig tree and found none. He said cut it down and throw it into the fire! That is the end result of the fire. It takes away and brings curse and destruction. So the man working in the vineyard said no – let’s dig around it and give it one more year. He wasn’t talking about a church plant! He was giving another illustration about Israel. Jesus ministered in Israel for 3 years. His mission was to bring Israel out of the law covenant and into the grace covenant and righteousness of God. After 3 years they hadn’t done that and there was no fruit.
The law covenant does not produce fruit. Under the law you cannot produce fruit.
Then He went to the Cross and they crucified Him but they still didn’t come out from under the law – Israel stayed under the law. Only some came out. Jesus was walking with His disciples in Mark 11 and they came across a fig tree and Jesus was expecting to find fruit on the fig tree and saw there was none – so out of the blue (seemingly) He cursed the fig tree – “You shall never bear fruit again”. And then they went on to Jerusalem and when they came back passed the fig tree, it had withered from the roots up and died.
Jesus was saying that this law covenant – self righteousness – will NEVER bear fruit! It will never be good enough for God!
Then He said; “Anyone who has faith shall say to this mountain – be uplifted and cast into the sea”. You know what mountain I think He was referring to? Mount Sinai! The mountain of the law – where the law covenant came from! Anyone who has faith in Christ shall say to the things that are taking away and robbing and crushing and weighing you down in your life – shall say to those things; “Be uplifted and cast into the sea!”.
Law says you have to earn it. Grace says you’ve already got it. You have got all the blessings of the Kingdom – you are an ambassador.
You have it all in Christ! Prophecy says “Now it is time for those things to manifest in this situation. Now I am going to speak the creative word of God – I will speak those powerful words over this situation and say ‘Cancer – be uplifted and cast into the sea!’”.
I felt God say as I was preparing this that we are coming into a time when cancer will be destroyed through City Church!
I have a few prophetic words to share right now as the Holy Spirit stirs. Why don’t we just close our eyes?
Holy Spirit we thank You that You are here in this place and Father we thank You for revelation of the magnitude of Your being – that we could see and have understanding and revelation of the magnitude of Your being and ascribe greatness to Your Name!
Folks I believe that is what fear of the Lord is. It is having an understanding of the magnitude of God. The magnitude of His being and recognising how great God is – because that is the beginning of wisdom.
True wisdom only comes from God. When you recognise who He is and the magnitude of His being a fear comes and it is not a fear of judgement or of how great He is. When you see how great He is – that is the moment you begin to have wisdom!
________________________________________________________
Holy Spirit come and stir up the prophetic in us – thank You that there is an activation of the prophetic here – that this is a time of building up and edifying and strengthening. Thank You that You are opening our eyes to see heaven and the greatness of where we are seated and all that is ours in Christ. You are opening our eyes to see and ears to hear the things of God and releasing dreams and visions. There is coming an increase of dreams and visions over us – in Jesus Name!
I feel the blessing of God – the blessing of Melchizadek – it is the “now” season and I feel that City Church is coming into greater realms of blessings. Dad prophesied at the beginning of the year that it is going to be a year of ridiculous, unprecedented blessings on City Church and I feel there is something in this area of financial blessings that is coming on City Church. God is about to dump great wealth on City Church! God is unleashing and unloading great wealth upon City Church! I felt this thing about opening up channels – it is not about sowing and reaping or earning a blessing. It’s not about giving so God gives. That is human agenda – it is about the gospel! It is about spreading of the good news!
If you give for the Kingdom’s sake then you are aligning yourself with the Kingdom and I believe God is wanting us to open up grace channels of blessing into the nations and it will come in the form of finances. We are to give finances but I also believe that people from around the nations are to give to City Church so that grace can flow through – it takes great wealth and finances to send people on missions and finance the Gospel! It takes wealth for all of that to start. There will be opening of channels into China, money, people, missionary work into China, for buildings and teams – as those channels open, there will be a greater release and more can flow through those channels. There will be channels opening up into Africa and into Europe. God will open up!
God is putting impressions in my spirit for (person). Why don’t you stand? As we were speaking I had an impression of a big solid block being put into the earth in the ground – like a big foundation. God is establishing something in your life – a big solid thing. Before I saw you floating around and drifting around – little blessings here and there to people. But God is building something deeper into your life – a big solid block in your life. I felt Him say you will start a foundation – it has something to do with government endorsement and favour and has to do with helping and blessing other people and you may not even understand it or know what it is and you don’t even have to try but God will bring it along your path and inspire you and release it and have faith and follow after Him. God will use you to set up and establish and then momentum will come and be created. That little bit of effort you put in will reap much result and after a while it will be like you take your hands off and God takes you to other things and God will use you to bless all over the world! Now lift your hands. Father come and release this over him in Jesus Name. Release it – activation.
I felt like this year there will be more people demanding an explanation from you and from us and from City Church. There will be a demand as to why we preach this Gospel. I felt like God is saying don’t worry and don’t fret – I am giving you wisdom. For some people demanding this that are quite aggressive and Pharisaic and try to demand – there will be some tricky business, people trying to trap and con us but God says I am with you and I am giving you wisdom. Some people will demand an explanation and you will look at them and simply say; “No – I am not giving you an explanation”. That is that! There will be others that God will give you the wisdom how and what to say – because there are people connected who are in bondage because of their legalism and bondage. God wants you to release those people.
God will give you the wisdom how to respond, when to respond and what to respond with.
I felt God saying that there are coming revival atmospheres over City Church and I feel Him saying it will be greater than the Lakeland Outpouring! I have had that on my spirit for quite a while now. It will be greater than Lakeland and in many ways different – it will be a foundation of grace that can sustain it. There will be people of revival that carry revival atmospheres with them. City Church is a church of the revival atmosphere. Greater healings, greater miracles, greater signs and wonders, greater salvations! In the meetings – revival atmospheres over meetings and people that will go into the schools, marketplace and carrying the atmosphere of revival!
Rob Rufus:
While Ryan was speaking the whole time I had this sense that the Lord is so pleased with us as a people – that we take the Word of God and don’t just walk away and forget. God is saying – well done, we desire to see the Word of God administrated in our lives as best as we can at the level of faith we have. But I felt the Lord not in a demanding way but in an encouraging way – I felt He was saying to every one of us that more and more He wants us to translate what we hear on a Sunday morning into everyday activity. Religion can make a thing of Sunday morning but then religion goes out and lives a secular life. Bill Johnson says many Christians live just like atheists as though God does not exist. An atheist doesn’t think of God wanting to bless you and bring solutions to your issues. I want to encourage you this – translate this prophetic word to prophesy over your own destiny and own life – pray in tongues during the week and edify yourself. Prophesy over your own life!
When Ryan was speaking – and I didn’t know he was going to speak on this message – but I was sitting in the study preparing to speak at “Glory and Grace” having to re-write a whole lot of notes because of the context I am going to speak in. The demonic oppression became so heavy I felt like my brain was warping and twisting. That is how heavy the spirit of witchcraft and hated felt that was coming against me yesterday morning in my study. I had to put my notes down and went up to my bedroom and I could have laid down and just cried but I had a feeling of despair and anger at God – I was so tired of this stuff.
I want to live a normal life – one day without having to fight the invisible realm of darkness that hates this message. I thought I could either lay down and have a pity party and let the world go to hell or I could stand up and prophesy over my destiny. That is a decision I have made every day for 5 and a half years in Hong Kong. Not one day has been easy. It is always easy when I prophesy over my life, pray in the Spirit and trust God – then it is easy! When the breakthrough comes I get into a place of victory and triumph and then the rest of the day is easy! But every day if I do not make that decision to prophecy over myself and edify myself then I – Rob Rufus – would be dead. Hong Kong would have killed me. The oppression of the evil one would have killed me. I am thriving in Hong Kong, I am excited, I am bold! I tell you these stories not to feel sorry for me. Do NOT feel sorry for me because every day I thrive and excel in joy for God! My passion on a Sunday morning is not a performance – I live like that every single day! Not one exception in 5 and a half years! I didn’t lie down but stood up and began to speak the word of God over my life.
As I was speaking Scripture over my life the prophetic anointing rose up and I began to prophesy over my life, over this church and over nations and I felt doors opening over nations, resources being released, we are affecting millions of people! That is reality right now! We are affecting millions in a positive way! Doors are opening, chains are snapping! By the end of that hour I was laughing with joy and went back and wrote my notes with a clear mind and peace all around me. You must be in peace! Peace doesn’t just come – you have to get into the prophetic and stir yourself up!
I wish I had 5 prophets standing around me every day! That every time I get discouraged they would prophesy and I could feel good! But I almost never have prophets around me so every day I have to prophesy over my marriage, my finances, blessing over you and this church! When every one of us takes what happens in these meetings and operate in these truths every day – we will go the 3rd level very quickly and then to the 4th level! Don’t face pressures and forget about God and try to solve the problem like an atheist! Strengthen yourself up in the Lord! Don’t allow yourself to stay negative for too long! Stay edified, stay comforted!
God is putting impressions in my spirit for (person). Why don’t you stand? As we were speaking I had an impression of a big solid block being put into the earth in the ground – like a big foundation. God is establishing something in your life – a big solid thing. Before I saw you floating around and drifting around – little blessings here and there to people. But God is building something deeper into your life – a big solid block in your life. I felt Him say you will start a foundation – it has something to do with government endorsement and favour and has to do with helping and blessing other people and you may not even understand it or know what it is and you don’t even have to try but God will bring it along your path and inspire you and release it and have faith and follow after Him. God will use you to set up and establish and then momentum will come and be created. That little bit of effort you put in will reap much result and after a while it will be like you take your hands off and God takes you to other things and God will use you to bless all over the world! Now lift your hands. Father come and release this over him in Jesus Name. Release it – activation.
I felt like this year there will be more people demanding an explanation from you and from us and from City Church. There will be a demand as to why we preach this Gospel. I felt like God is saying don’t worry and don’t fret – I am giving you wisdom. For some people demanding this that are quite aggressive and Pharisaic and try to demand – there will be some tricky business, people trying to trap and con us but God says I am with you and I am giving you wisdom. Some people will demand an explanation and you will look at them and simply say; “No – I am not giving you an explanation”. That is that! There will be others that God will give you the wisdom how and what to say – because there are people connected who are in bondage because of their legalism and bondage. God wants you to release those people.
God will give you the wisdom how to respond, when to respond and what to respond with.
I felt God saying that there are coming revival atmospheres over City Church and I feel Him saying it will be greater than the Lakeland Outpouring! I have had that on my spirit for quite a while now. It will be greater than Lakeland and in many ways different – it will be a foundation of grace that can sustain it. There will be people of revival that carry revival atmospheres with them. City Church is a church of the revival atmosphere. Greater healings, greater miracles, greater signs and wonders, greater salvations! In the meetings – revival atmospheres over meetings and people that will go into the schools, marketplace and carrying the atmosphere of revival!
Rob Rufus:
While Ryan was speaking the whole time I had this sense that the Lord is so pleased with us as a people – that we take the Word of God and don’t just walk away and forget. God is saying – well done, we desire to see the Word of God administrated in our lives as best as we can at the level of faith we have. But I felt the Lord not in a demanding way but in an encouraging way – I felt He was saying to every one of us that more and more He wants us to translate what we hear on a Sunday morning into everyday activity. Religion can make a thing of Sunday morning but then religion goes out and lives a secular life. Bill Johnson says many Christians live just like atheists as though God does not exist. An atheist doesn’t think of God wanting to bless you and bring solutions to your issues. I want to encourage you this – translate this prophetic word to prophesy over your own destiny and own life – pray in tongues during the week and edify yourself. Prophesy over your own life!
When Ryan was speaking – and I didn’t know he was going to speak on this message – but I was sitting in the study preparing to speak at “Glory and Grace” having to re-write a whole lot of notes because of the context I am going to speak in. The demonic oppression became so heavy I felt like my brain was warping and twisting. That is how heavy the spirit of witchcraft and hated felt that was coming against me yesterday morning in my study. I had to put my notes down and went up to my bedroom and I could have laid down and just cried but I had a feeling of despair and anger at God – I was so tired of this stuff.
I want to live a normal life – one day without having to fight the invisible realm of darkness that hates this message. I thought I could either lay down and have a pity party and let the world go to hell or I could stand up and prophesy over my destiny. That is a decision I have made every day for 5 and a half years in Hong Kong. Not one day has been easy. It is always easy when I prophesy over my life, pray in the Spirit and trust God – then it is easy! When the breakthrough comes I get into a place of victory and triumph and then the rest of the day is easy! But every day if I do not make that decision to prophecy over myself and edify myself then I – Rob Rufus – would be dead. Hong Kong would have killed me. The oppression of the evil one would have killed me. I am thriving in Hong Kong, I am excited, I am bold! I tell you these stories not to feel sorry for me. Do NOT feel sorry for me because every day I thrive and excel in joy for God! My passion on a Sunday morning is not a performance – I live like that every single day! Not one exception in 5 and a half years! I didn’t lie down but stood up and began to speak the word of God over my life.
As I was speaking Scripture over my life the prophetic anointing rose up and I began to prophesy over my life, over this church and over nations and I felt doors opening over nations, resources being released, we are affecting millions of people! That is reality right now! We are affecting millions in a positive way! Doors are opening, chains are snapping! By the end of that hour I was laughing with joy and went back and wrote my notes with a clear mind and peace all around me. You must be in peace! Peace doesn’t just come – you have to get into the prophetic and stir yourself up!
I wish I had 5 prophets standing around me every day! That every time I get discouraged they would prophesy and I could feel good! But I almost never have prophets around me so every day I have to prophesy over my marriage, my finances, blessing over you and this church! When every one of us takes what happens in these meetings and operate in these truths every day – we will go the 3rd level very quickly and then to the 4th level! Don’t face pressures and forget about God and try to solve the problem like an atheist! Strengthen yourself up in the Lord! Don’t allow yourself to stay negative for too long! Stay edified, stay comforted!
When you stay like that then you can strengthen and edify unbelievers very quickly! Father I never want to be a victim! I don’t need inner healing or therapy! I don’t need the traditions of men or the bank or the world’s economic systems! I need you God and I have got you! I have got all the resources of heaven and when I am feeling discouraged and lying on the ground and giving up – in my pain, I will stand up and put my shoulders back and lift up my head and I will prophesy over my life the power of God – the victory of God – the destiny of God! I refuse self-pity! It is from the devil and it is poisonous and dangerous! I will cry, wipe the tears from my eyes – I will strengthen myself in the Lord! I will be bold! There is no devil big enough in Hong Kong to stop this message of grace!
I have a word of prophecy for someone here today; you have become cynical and sceptical and you feel it is normal and acceptable because of legalism in your past and the religious church world that you have rejected. You don’t almost feel that church is relevant anymore and so you are sceptical and cynical. And the Lord says in a loving way; “You feel this is okay because the religious world and legalism is so bad that you now can live cynically about church”.
I have a word of prophecy for someone here today; you have become cynical and sceptical and you feel it is normal and acceptable because of legalism in your past and the religious church world that you have rejected. You don’t almost feel that church is relevant anymore and so you are sceptical and cynical. And the Lord says in a loving way; “You feel this is okay because the religious world and legalism is so bad that you now can live cynically about church”.
The Lord says; “The reason you are cynical is not because of the religious world – it is because you don’t believe totally the gospel of pure grace. Those that believe the truth are set free by the truth and people who understand that the church of Jesus Christ is very precious to Jesus – even if she’s got problems, even if she’s got the law there still, even if she has bondages – she is PRECIOUS to Jesus”. And the criticism of His church and His body is not the truth and the Lord breaks off you this day – that cynical spirit and releases unto you a spirit of faith to believe the true gospel of grace and to love the body of Christ in ALL the church throughout the WHOLE world!”.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Sunday, September 27, 2009
An Endorsement from Joshua Mills!!
I've been mentioning Ryan Rufus's latest book "Sanctification by Grace" recently - and loving posting them out to people. I can't emphasise how much this book is working in my life and tearing down strongholds of legalism that have locked me in condemnation and in fear for so long. So it's always a thrill to find out what other people think about the book.
Ryan sent me a few reviews done by some other people. One is by the well-known and very awesome Joshua Mills of New Wine Ministries. Joshua was a guest speaker at the latest "Glory and Grace Conference" in Hong Kong. While he was speaking he stopped and gave a very specific address - which turned out to be that of Fini and Isi de Gersigny, who he had never met before. He went on to bring them a very encouraging prophecy.
Here's what he says;
“Ryan Rufus is a champion in the kingdom of God. His revelation and ministry of grace is setting the captives free, healing broken lives and releasing joy in the goodness of God’s glory. Through Ryan’s teachings you will be challenged and empowered to accomplish all that God has called you to be!”
Here's a few other reviews of what people thought of this incredible book of Ryan's;
"I had some fantastic feedback from folk in our church who read your book. I’m looking forward to reading it myself ... … I read your book yesterday - a masterpiece! Well done!! By far the best book I have ever read on the subject. I would highly recommend this book as compulsory reading for anyone serious about understanding how to work out their salvation"
Steve Wheeler
Lead elder.
Highway Christian Community, Natal, South Africa.
"There has been a lot of misunderstanding in the body of Christ over the years concerning this topic. It's so refreshing to read a book that focuses on Gods role in sanctification, rather than my performance or efforts at holiness. Seeing God's involvement in our lives will cause us to run to God and embrace His work in and through us. Ryan helped me fall in love with Sanctification, rather than be afraid or intimidated by it. I love being sanctified!"
Wayne Duncan
Lead elder
Coastlands Christian Church, Port Edward, South Africa
Ryan sent me a few reviews done by some other people. One is by the well-known and very awesome Joshua Mills of New Wine Ministries. Joshua was a guest speaker at the latest "Glory and Grace Conference" in Hong Kong. While he was speaking he stopped and gave a very specific address - which turned out to be that of Fini and Isi de Gersigny, who he had never met before. He went on to bring them a very encouraging prophecy.Here's what he says;
“Ryan Rufus is a champion in the kingdom of God. His revelation and ministry of grace is setting the captives free, healing broken lives and releasing joy in the goodness of God’s glory. Through Ryan’s teachings you will be challenged and empowered to accomplish all that God has called you to be!”
Here's a few other reviews of what people thought of this incredible book of Ryan's;
"I had some fantastic feedback from folk in our church who read your book. I’m looking forward to reading it myself ... … I read your book yesterday - a masterpiece! Well done!! By far the best book I have ever read on the subject. I would highly recommend this book as compulsory reading for anyone serious about understanding how to work out their salvation"
Steve Wheeler
Lead elder.
Highway Christian Community, Natal, South Africa.
"There has been a lot of misunderstanding in the body of Christ over the years concerning this topic. It's so refreshing to read a book that focuses on Gods role in sanctification, rather than my performance or efforts at holiness. Seeing God's involvement in our lives will cause us to run to God and embrace His work in and through us. Ryan helped me fall in love with Sanctification, rather than be afraid or intimidated by it. I love being sanctified!"
Wayne Duncan
Lead elder
Coastlands Christian Church, Port Edward, South Africa
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