There's Only One Gospel - And that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ

"Health and Wealth Gospel"

“Pastor Prince, you keep talking about the blessings of health, wealth and good success. I knew that you were one of those who preach the prosperity gospel....one of those health and wealth preachers!”

My friend, there is no such thing as a “prosperity gospel.” There is only one gospel. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's amazing that there are believers who fight the teaching that God heals today. Don't they realize that they are essentially fighting for the right to be sick? Yet, the moment they fall sick, they have no qualms about seeing a doctor and taking medication, or going to the hospital. Now, if they really believe that it is God's plan for them to be sick and that He is teaching them some lessons, why do they go against His will by trying to get better? Clearly, there are some inconsistencies there.

Just look at the ministry of Jesus to see God's heart for you. Look at the four Gospels. What happened every time Jesus came in contact with a sick person? The sick person got healed! Under the law, when you touch something unclean, you are defiled. But when Jesus came, when He touch the leper, did Jesus become unclean? No. Instead, Jesus made him clean! So when Jesus came, whatever you touch, becomes clean. It becomes holy. Just like when an unbelieving spouse is married to a believing husband, the unbelieving spouse is made holy by the husband.

You will never find Jesus going up to a perfectly healthy person and saying,”I want to teach you a lesson on humility and patience. Now, receive some leprosy!” No!

When God the Father saw us at our worst, He loved us with His best. He sent Jesus. Not just to heal the sick and cast out demons, but also to take our place of absolute condemnation on the cross. Just like He multiplied the five loaves and two fish that fed more than 5000 people, and listen, with 12 baskets full of leftovers!

The Scripture tells us that Mary did the One Thing needful. She chose the good part by sitting at Jesus' feet and hearing His word. (Luke 10:38-42) You can also choose the good part by beholding Him.

But the Bible is so rich and exciting. Just by studying the word “bless,” we can glean so much more about the Lord's heart for you and me. I believe that as we take a closer look at this word, the Lord is preparing you to step into an even greater and deeper dimension of His blessings for you. Let's dive right in.

The Hebrew word for “bless” is barak, while the Greek word is eulogeo. According to the Theological Workbook of the Old Testament, both these words mean to endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity (fruitfulness in chilbearing) and longevity.

Now I really don't understand why there are some believers who fight against ministries that proclaim the truth that God wants to give us success, prosperity and health. These believers don't realize that they are essentially fighting to remain sick and poor.

It is time for believers to be like the apostle Paul – stop being apologetic about the good news that we have received. Paul declared, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jes first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.” The gospel (which means “good news”) of Jesus Christ is THE power of God to salvation. This means that there is no other power for your salvation except the gospel of Jesus Christ!

By the way, “salvation” here does not just relate to being saved from hell. The Greek word for “salvation” here is the word soteria. Its meaning encompasses deliverance, preservation, safety and health. NT:4991, Thayer's Greek Lexicon. The Lord's salvation in your life is complete and holistic, and it is based on you believing in and depending by faith on His righteousness. Don't be ashamed of just how good the good news of Jesus really is. Don't be ashamed that Jesus has the power to give you good success, heal your physical body, cause everything your hands touch to prosper, bless you with children and satisfy you with long life! 3 John 1:2 – “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things, just as your soul prospers.”

Yet, there are believers today who settle for traditional beliefs that are not biblical instead of seeking God's truth. These beliefs have held the church in bondage for decades and that is why the world sees the church as generally being poor, unable and in debt. That is why the world actually has this saying: “As poor as a church mouse.” (But in the world, even Mickey Mouse is prosperous and has a magic kingdom!)

Being An Heir Of The World Includes Having Financial Blessings

The irony is that if you were to examine the lives of those believers who fight against the teaching that God blesses His children with more than enough, you would see that they have no problems with doing their best to secure a nice home and give their children the best education that money can buy. While they do not believe that God wants to bless us financially, you would probably find them looking out for investment opportunities, hoping for promotions in their careers or searching for better job prospects to earn more.

You see, they have no problem with accumulating wealth for themselves and living well, but they have a problem when we tell them that financial success is from God. They would rather believe in their self-efforts and say that their success is “self-made,” than give God the credit. Instead of argeeing with the teaching that God is the source of all blessings, they attack it. But don't be deceived, my friend, every blessing in our lives today, every good and perfect gift, flows directly from the river of God's unmerited favor.

Our heavenly Father wants to make you a success and that success includes financial success. You already know that financial alone don't make you a success. There are a lot of “poor” people in the world today who have a lot of money. They can have fat bank accounts, but their hearts are empty without the revelation of Jesus' love for them. You and I have something from Jesus that is far more superior. The success that we, as new covenant believers, can believe God for is good, holistic success that permeates every aspects of lives!

“Well, Pastor Prince...the Bible says that money is the root of all evil. What do you have to say about that?”

The Bible is often quoted wrongly on this. It does not say that money is the root of all evil. It says that “the love of money” is the root of all evil. Because of this misquotation and wrong teaching, many believers have been hoodwinked. When the Lord tries to bless them, they shun His blessings because they believe that having more money will lead them to all kinds of evil. Listen carefully to what I am saying. Having more money does not necessarily mean that you love money. Even someone who doesn't have a single cent to his name can be thinking and obsessing about money all the time.

What keeps you safe for financial success is when you know that your blessings come by Jesus' unmerited favor. When you have that revelation, you will no longer be preoccupied with having money because you are preoccupied with the Lord. Amazingly, you will realize that the more occupied you are with Jesus, the more money follows after you! Now, why is that? It is simply because when you seek first the kingdom of God, and put Jesus, His righteousness (not your own righteousness), His joy and His peace as your first priority, God's Word promises you that ALL the material things that you need will be added to you. The Lord always gives you money with a mission and prosperity with a purpose. He blesses you and when you are blessed, you can be a vessel to bless others. The gospel of grace can be preached, churches can be built, precious lives can be touched, sinners can be born again, marriages can be restored and physical bodies can be healed when you send out the Word of Jesus with your financial support.

Don't love money and use people. Use money to love people. May it be settled in your heart once and for all that it is God's desire for you to be a financial success and to have more than enough. You are the seed of Abraham and the promise to you is that you will be an heir of the world. It is clear that you cannot be an heir of the world if you are constantly on your back, broke and in debt.

Blessings will follow after you. You don't need to chase blessings. Blessings will hunt you down if you follow Jesus! Just like Isreal camping with their backs against the world.

You shall be blessed coming in, and blessed going out, as in Deutoronomy.

Joseph Prince's Book Unmerited Favor plus my inputs

Unveiling a God of Grace - Leadership Truths from Moses' Mistakes

 Unveiling a God of Grace - Leadership Truths from Moses' Mistakes

7 June 2012

Today I'm gonna share something that's gonna bless you, that's gonna help you,

but it's a leadership message. And I really believe God is calling you, so many of you, in this church, in fact, everyone, who is a believer, is a leader.

For sure you are a leader in society, amen. And especially more so at home. You are a leader at home. Don't just let things slide. Lead. Amen. Good leaders lead. They don't drive. They inspire, they encourage, they lead. Can I have a good amen? Good shepherds don't drive the flock. They lead the flock. And the Bible says this' how Jesus see people. You know one time the Bible says in Mark chapter 9 when Jesus look at the people scattered on the mountains, they were fainting, and they were scattered abroad. The Bible says Jesus had compassion on them, for He saw them as sheep, having no shepherd. What a beautiful perspective. A perspective that inspires compassion. - To see people fainting not because they are lazy. Or scattered because they are rebellious. But to see people, they are just like this, because they have no shepherd. Amen?

Now that is the perspective I choose to have of the body of Christ. You know some people have the perspective when they look at people, they say that “Wa, they're just plain lazy. They know what to do. They need more discipline.” or “They're just rebellious. They are just looking for a way to sin.”

You know I don't believe that.

I believe people are looking for a way out of bondage. They're looking for a way out of sin. That's my perspective.

Yes you always have a few people, regardless of what. And the few people, those few will always exist. But we don't preach to the, those few – those weird types – so much of love given and they are still rebelling. There's always these kind of people. But I believe that the majority of the body of Christ want to love God, they want to do what's right, they want to live lives that glorify Jesus. Amen? Praise the Lord. So that's the perspective I take, and I encourage every pastor, leader, to have the same perspective because Jesus had this perspective and that's why He had compassion on the people. Praise God. It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

Today I want to share with you something that backs an answer because the remefication is amazing – it is the sin of Moses. That one sin of Moses – that deprived him of entering into the promise land. And he committed this sin in the final year of the wandering, in the wilderness. God says they will wander for 40 years. And in the 40^th year, he committed this sin. So close! To the promise land. But when he committed this sin, God says, you will not bring the people into the land. What is this sin that is so serious? Now, I pray in Jesus' name that you'll never see me as putting down Moses. Because many a times you say that Moses represents the law, that's how John puts it, in John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Alright, but don't forget, as a type, Moses was a type of the law - God's claims, God's demands, on the people. But grace and truth – grace is God's supply, amen? The law demands righteousness, from sinfully bankrupt men, alright, but grace imparts righteousness as a gift to be received.

So the essence of the law is demand, the essence of grace is supply. And sometimes we can get into this mode of “demand-minded”. You know, you feel like your wife demands things from you, alright. Your husband demands things from you. Your children demands things from you. There's an assignment from your boss, you feel that it's been demanded of you. Instead of being supply-orientated with every fresh challenge “Praise God, I have this assignment but praise God the supply is enough” - then you are living under grace! Because when you live under demand, under law, you'll always be frustrated, and you'll be angry, and you'll be angry with yourself as well as with others. Alright? You will lash out. So be supply-orientated. Regardless of your projects, assignment or challenge might be this coming week, know this: when you step into that day, the supply will be there.

You can't feel the supply now because God gives the supply one day at a time. Like manna, one day at a time. So the supply will be there. Be supply minded. Be grace minded. But Moses, as a type is the law, but, as a man, the Bible says he's the meekest of all men. The Bible calls him “faithful” in all his house. He was faithful to God. What a man. What a leader. He's the leader of leaders. Alright, so we're not disparaging Moses, he's the meekest of all men. I remember when his sister Miriam spoke against Moses, she became a leper. So far be it from me, to put down Moses. You understand? Alright, but there was one sin that robbed Moses of the privilege of bringing God's people to the promise land. What is so drastic, a sin, that Moses was robbed of the very thing he wanted. We're gonna study that. It's gonna bless you.

Let's go to that sin that was committed that deprived him of the privilege of seeing the promise land – Numbers 20: “Then the children of Isreal,”, now by the way, this is the very first month of the 40^th year, the final year of their wandering. Isn't it sad? The final year. You are so close to the promise land, and he committed this sin. The Bible says in the wilderness of Zin in the first month, the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there, and was buried there. Miriam was the sister of Moses. Now there's no water for the congregation so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses and spoke saying: “If only we had died when our brethen died before the Lord. Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our animals should die here? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grains, of figs, of vines or promegrenades, nor is there any water to drink. Forty years! of murmuring. And they have not improved.

You think about it, this is the 40^th year of their wandering. And they are still murmuring. It's the first recourse of the flesh, it's always to murmur. Amen. Why pray when you can murmur right? Alright, the first recourse of the flesh is always to murmur. Alright, you murmur against your spouse, you murmur against your parents, you murmur against your colleague, your boss. You murmur against everything alright because you don't believe God! The first recourse of faith! is always to draw near to God. To tell God what you need. To trust God, that in His time, He makes all things beautiful. Amen?

So the people are murmuring. In verse 6 it tells us “Moses and Aaron went from the presense of the assembly and to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.” Next verse: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying “Take the rod, you and your brother Aaron” So Aaron is here as well. Aaron is the first high priest of Isreal. “Gather the congregation together” The third thing you need to know is the congregation. The congregation or in Hebrew, the kahal, kahelat they call it. It's always the term used in Isreal, when the messianic believers get together they call it the assembly, the congregation.

So three things to remember, no 1: The rod, no 2: Aaron the first high priest, no 3: The assembly or congregation. It always speaks of the Lord's people, the assembly, the church, the congregation. Today, made of Jew and Gentile. Back then it was all Isreal. But there's a truth for our times.

Then God says this to Moses: “Speak to the rock, before their eyes,” Whose eyes? The assembly's eyes, the congregation's eyes. “Speak before their eyes”. Alright let me establish right here, the rock is Christ. It's a type of Christ. We find this in the new testament in 1 Corinthians 10 “They all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that same spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ” Who is that rock? Christ. So the people are murmuring because there was no water and sometimes God bring us to the end of ourselves, so that we can know what is in our hearts. Full of complaining, full of murmuring, alright, full of unbelief. So He brings us to that place so that we can know what is in His heart, full of love, full of compassion and full of resources and supply. If we're not brought to that place, we'll never know what's in our hearts and we'll never know what is in His heart. That's the purpose for the wilderness.

Are you in a wilderness journey right now? Alright stop looking into your heart, stop murmuring and start looking into what is God's heart.

So here, the Bible tells us the rock was Christ. And what God wanted Moses and Aaron to do was to speak to the rock – which is Christ. And God says: Numbers: what's gonna happen: it will yield it's water. I love the Hebrew, the Hebrew says: “He will give you His water” Isn't that cool? “He will give you His water” as if it's a person. And we know the rock is Christ!

Speak to the rock! And He will give you His water. Speak to Him.

So he's supposed to speak to the rock before them. Before their eyes. Mark that down okay. And the Bible says “Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals”.

So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered their assembly together before the rock. So they gathered all the assembly together before the rock and Moses said to them: “HEAR NOW YOU REBELS!” I think he's mad(angry). I think he's angry. Now you would think after 40 years of hearing the murmuring of the people of Isreal, he's entitled to some anger.

He said “HEAR NOW YOU REBELS, must we bring water for you out of the rock?”

Number 1, Moses, it's not you that bring the water. Alright. He called them rebels. He never calls the people of God rebels before. Now, he calls them you rebels, he was angry. What did God say to do to the rock? Speak. Then Moses lifted His hand and struck the rock. Twice! With His rod. And water came out abundantly. Stop here, and let me just tell you this – sometimes, even a ministry that condemns, a mixture, a ministry that is anti-grace, alright, at the end, there's still some results. The result does not mean that the sermon was right. Doesn't mean that message is from God. But God still send the supply because He loves the people. Are you listening? Sometimes people are still healed, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3 “Even the ministry of condemnation had glory. You know those past revival that preach alot on sin, and make you feel the fires of hell (on your backsides), you know when they preach, I mean, those ministries, they still have glory. But the Bible says, the ministry of righteousness that is coming EXCEEDS in glory. Amen. You ain't see nothing yet. Amen. Alright, so results does not mean it's of God. Okay. No one knew! that Moses rebelled. No one knew that God told Moses to speak to the rock. Except God. And Aaron. No one else knew. And the Bible says “and the congregation and the animals drank”. Now watch this: next verse: “Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 'Because you did not believe me, to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel,'” Now your new King James say Hallow, your old King James say to sanctify, that means what? Make holy. Hallow means make holy.

You know a young boy was asked in his sunday school class: What is God's name in the Old Testament. He answered “Hellowed,” So you say Why? “My mummy always pray 'Father in heaven, hellowed be your name.'” Alright so Hallowed means what? Make holy. Seperate unto. God says to Moses and Aaron, you did not make me appear holy. Before the people. And because of this, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. Wow. So why is this sin so major? So drastic. That Moses was not allowed to bring the people into the land. Now I've heard preaching that says that 'beware of the sin of anger. ANGER robbed Moses, the great leader of the promise land.” Now, you must remember that there was another time Moses was angry. Remember he came down the mountain he saw the golden calf and the people dancing around the calf? *sings* Tonight, we are young... You know. And what did Moses do? He was Angry, alright. He took the two tablets and he broke all ten yo! He broke all the ten! He was angry! And God did not rebuke Moses. You know why? Because at that time he was in sync with God. God was also angry. Are you listening. Anger itself is not wrong. The Bible itself in the book of Ephesians, written to Ephesus, it says “Be you angry but do not sin in your anger.” Alright. We need to get angry at sin, we need to get angry at injustice – bullying tactics. People who put down others Amen! I mean Jesus was angry at the Pharisees but notice He wasn't angry at the prostitutes. He wasn't angry at the tax-collectors. He wasn't angry at the social outcasts. If you study the life of Jesus and He's the same yesterday today and forever. He was angry, at the ruler of the synagogue when the guy was seeing whether Jesus would heal on the sabbath. We learned that. You'll be surprised how many religious people would be shocked to know that Jesus is not angry at the social outcasts! There's no record! That he's angry at them. All his strong words are reserved for the Pharisees. Those who are self righteous. “Don't come near me, I'm holier than you” His strongest words. He never calls a prostitute “You brood of snake,”, He never calls a social outcast “You whitewash” He never calls them that. He calls the Pharisee that. What makes Jesus angry?

So the answer is that, it's not anger per se that robbed Moses of the promise land because he was angry at other times and God allowed it. God approved of it actually in an earlier case. So what's the problem here? Ok watch this, this happened in the 40^th year. This wasn't the first time the rock was struck. Forty years earlier, when they just came out of Egypt, God made a way when there was no way. God brought people through the Red Sea, unto the other side. And they experienced God's provision at the bitter waters of Marah, and then the next chapter, God rained bread from heaven, manna from heaven. Now remember this, they were not yet at Mount Sinai. They have not yet received the Ten Commandments, and then they had no water, in a place called Rephidim. They were just close to the receiving of the Ten Commandments. They are close to receiving the law. But before the law, God gave them water out of the rock.

So let's go to the forty years ago incident first. To understand this passage. Let's go to Exodus 17, “And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said 'Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestocks with thirst?'” So Moses cried out to the Lord saying “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!” Next verse, the Lord said to Moses, “go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel.” Just now, at the end of forty years, when God said to Moses to speak to the rock, it is before the congregation. Elders of Israel is not mentioned. Here you have the elders of Israel, very significant. Right at the last line, “and Moses did so at the sight of the elders of Israel”. Alright, the last line there, can you see that? Also take in your hand your rod, Moses' rod, with which you struck the river and go. The river Nile, remember that? He struck the river with his rod. Moses' rod is a rod of judgement. Moses rod is a rod of Judgement. The law. The first miracle of the law, the first miracle of judgement is to turn water into blood. Resulting in death. The first miracle of grace, is to turn water into wine, resulting in celebration and life. So the rod of Moses is the rod of judgement. God says take that rod, your rod, behold... When God revealed this to me, I was very touched. Deeply touched. When God opened this up to me. Look at this, look at what the Lord said:. And I believe Jesus in His preincarnate appearance was speaking to Moses, look, behold, Hinneh, Behold in Hebrew. I will stand before you on the rock in Horab and you shall strike the rock. You know the word I will stand, alright, on the rock, is the preposition that says, on, at, in. I will stand in the rock, don't forget the rock is Christ. And the Lord says the people are hungry, they have needs, but because there are people who have sin, they are murmurers, complainers, they are people of unbelief, I don't want God's righteous smiteing to come on them. Smite me. And the waters will flow to the people. Smite me. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. It was done before the elders of Israel. Moses did so at the sight of the elders of Israel. Amen. Notice the side, the elders of Israel. So we have the phrase 'elders of Israel' again. Alright. Now, strike the rock, so that the waters may flow so that the people may drink. So God's heart is for you. You are thirsty spiritually. And that's why you are looking for love in all the wrong places. There is a thirst, for fame, for recognition, there is a thirst, for fulfilment, there is a thirst for better things in life. The Lord understands that, but the Lord doesn't want you to pursue it in an illegitamate way. He says when you come to me, I will give you water. Remember the woman at the well? Jesus talks to her about water. What was the problem? She had 5 husbands. But Jesus talk to her about water. You understand water yo? Some people are not satisfied, with all the water they have. Why? They are looking for true water. Living water. Jesus says you've been drinking at the wrong well. But if you drink the water that I give you, you will never thirst again.

So whatever the need may be, the answer is at the water. You are thirsty for something. And you are thirsty for that water that only Jesus can give. Are you listening? But in order for you to receive that water, somebody has to pay for sin. See, God is holy, though God is love and God loves you, with an infinite love, an unconditional love, strong, strong love. But the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so sin must be paid. Somebody has to pay for sin. You know when we do wrong, something inside us say “Somebody must pay.”,”Somebody must pay” And the thing is this, I've said this before, our DNA is so intelligent, that when you do something wrong, inside you it says “Somebody must pay”, “Somebody must pay”, “Somebody must pay.” And what you do sometimes is that you make your family pay. Sometimes you make your children pay. Sometimes you make yourself pay. But you feel like the justice needs to be done, justice needs to be done, your selves are so intelligent, that your DNA will send a message saying “He wants to punish himself, let's create a disease”.

Now doctors cannot explain autoimmune disorders. They only say things like your body is fighting against itself. Doctors can give you medications for the symptom but they cannot cure autoimmune disorders. They don't understand why somebody's body is fighting against itself. It's almost like your body is punishing itself. It's attacking itself. Are you listening? Cancer is a case in point. It's yourself attacking yourself. So the thing is this, like I said, when you sin, when you do wrong, you don't revert back to the cross. You must look to the cross! When you look to the cross, there is my punishment, there is my beating, there is my smiting, there is my judgement. Everything inside you say Peace. And your DNA says “Boys, hold it! All is well. It has been, Paid. Do you understand? And that's how wholeness comes through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is finished. Amen. You see, even those who disputes the gospel, they know in their hearts, somebody has to pay. Somebody has to pay.

Alright so Jesus stood down there, and all the claims of God's holy on your life, all the claims of God's holiness and righteousness on your life and my life, Jesus met IN FULL. All the divine claims, can only be met, in a divine manner. It wasn't me who paid God. If it was me who paid God, I can question the payment, and the satisfaction of the recipient. But if it was God! The Son who paid on my behalf, it is paid. It is finished. So for all, for your conscience to be at rest, you must know this. For you to have a happy heart, you must know this. All the divine claims of God on your life, has been divinely met.Through Christ. All of it. Met in full. And much more left over. Hallelujah.

So Jesus stood there. And Jesus say 'Smite me'. And the water will flow, for the people to drink

All typed out by me, source taken from Joseph Prince Resources. Sermon.

What Is On Your Heart?

What Is On Your Heart?

Hebrews 8:10
10“... I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts...”

Many of us have been taught that we cannot trust our hearts. We quote verses like “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked...” (Jeremiah 17:9), not knowing that Jeremiah was referring to the man who had not received Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

I have had people come to me and say, “Pastor Prince, I don’t know what I should do with my life.”

“What is on your heart?” I asked one of them.

“I would love to work among children.”

“Then work among children!”

“But I am waiting on the Lord to tell me to do that.”

“Well, He has given you the desire, so go and work among children!”

“But the desire comes from my heart. How do I know if it is of God?”

My friend, once you are saved, you have a brand new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), and you can trust the promptings of your heart because God dwells in you and He leads you from within. And don’t worry because His promptings will never contradict His Word. It will lead you to good success.

Often, you find that when you follow your inner promptings, it is actually God who has put those desires in your mind and written them on your heart. I remember years ago when I approached one of our church leaders and told him, “I really think that you are called to be a full-time pastor.” It turned out to be a confirmation of what he already knew on the inside. You see, God was already leading him from within. Today, he is one of our full-time pastors.

If you enjoy something and desire to do it, then go for it! Go with the flow. God Himself says that He will guide us from within. Let’s not doubt Him. And don’t worry about the outcome. Your part is just to follow the flow. God’s part is to work in you both the willingness and the performance of it! (Philippians 2:13)

Beloved, because God has given you a new heart, He will write His desires on it. And as you fulfill these desires, you will bring forth fruit, and not wither and die. Whatever you do will prosper!

© Copyright Joseph Prince, 2006. All rights reserved.
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus

To Elder HoKiatKoh

This email is entirely typed out by me since 10:30am. PLEASE READ all that I've written! Please don't just glance through! God bless.

I will apologise to my mother cos I know she loves me very much. Same with God too. "We love because He first loved us". And because you know God loves you alot and that's why you won't want to ill treat your mother.
But firstly, when we say sorry to our mothers, we dont say I've done this and this and a long list of confessions to her right? Its like we both know you don't have to in every wrongdoing to yr mother you confess it right? Saying sorry to her is like "Mum, that time I scolded you, I'm sorry for that". We sometimes too when we do wrong things to our mother, we go up to her and tell her "Mum, I have done something wrong, i'm sorry."

Be clear that if you don't confess your sins, it doesn't mean you don't say sorry. You don't need to confess your sins to be forgiven with God because He has already forgiven you with Jesus Christ. Then, after you know that you have been forgiven by God, you will feel sorry from your spirit and then you would go up to God and say sorry, cry out to Him. NOT that we HAVEN'T been forgiven, and we need to Confess our sins TO be forgiven. You understand what I'm saying?
That means, ask yourself, are you forgiven because you confessed your sins or are you forgiven because of Jesus Christ?

About yr health and wealth gospel: there is only one gospel, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not that God owns the universe and therefore you as His children have to be rich. his preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that because Jesus was made poor for our sakes, that through him, we may become rich. It is not that Jesus never fall sick, so you should not fall sick. If you fall sick, then it is the devil and something is very wrong with you. Nothing is wrong with you when you fall sick. But Jesus was bruised so that we may become healed. He was wounded so that we may be well. You must understand that. Ask the Holy Spirit to look to Jesus in whatever you think.

We are blessed not because of what we do. We are blessed because of what Jesus has done on the cross. When God blesses you with prosperity, financial blessings are included, but only as a small part of the whole. About yr "lifestyle of Jesus", Jesus died without a home, so that we may have homes. Jesus died rejected by His people, so that we may be accepted by God through Christ Jesus. You understand what I mean? We don't compare pastor to pastor because every pastor can be richly blessed by God.

Ho Kiat, it is not when we confess our SINS that we show gratitude to Him. It is when we know God sent Jesus down to die for us, THEN we show gratitude to him. When we know God loves us so much, we THEN tell him, God, I'm sorry for that sin that hurts you. It's not because the birds and animals were expensive for sacrifice that God sent his lamb for us. He sacrificed Jesus as the sacrificial lamb because He loves us.

I find that you contradict yourself when you say things, like for example, you say that we need to confess our sins to be forgiven. But then you then say about Jesus died for us on the cross then every time we are conscious of the wrong we have done, we say sorry to God through Jesus.
So you get why it's contradictory?
First point is we have to confess our sins in order to be forgiven, then second point is we come to God and we love him and say sorry to Him BECAUSE OF JESUS, because we have been forgiven by God ALREADY. You do nothing and you can do nothing. So which is which?

Do we confess our sins TO BE FORGIVEN? Or we are already forgiven so we can't help but be sorry for our sins that we have done?

This contradiction is what i call a mixture of law and grace.
We have to rightly divide the word to be law or grace.

Just want to tell you about what is law and grace:

The Law was given, Grace came.

Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Amen.

Under law, God Demanded righteousness, from bankrupt men.

Under grace, God IMPARTED Righteousness, and He gives to men.

Under law, the soul that sins, will die!

But under grace, because Jesus died, even though you sin, there is no more death for you.

Are you listening?

Under Law, God said I'll by NO Means - very strong language, I'll by no means, clear your sins, your guilty. But I'll visit their sins to the third and fourth generation. That is, under law.

But Under Grace, God uses the same language, I'll by NO MEANS remember your sins, Anymore. That's been a change. Hallelujah!

But still we hear people preaching, Do good get good, do bad get bad! - That's the law!

Grace, is not like every religion of the world, teaches do good get good, do bad get bad!

But what is grace? Grace is you can receive good you Don't deserve, Because Jesus receives all Your Bad he don't deserve.

The first miracle of Law by Moses was water willl turn to blood, resulting in DEATH.
The first miracle of Grace is Jesus turning water into wine, resulting in LIFE and CELEBRATION! Hallelujah!

When God gave the Law on Mount Sinai, btw do you know that last Wednesday was the Feast of Pentacost, Sahhun. The Jews celebrate Pentacost, for the giving of the Law. Do you know how many Jewish friends, they'll tell you they celebrate Pentacost because Pentacost reminds them of the giving of the Law.

But notice that the New Testament, in Acts chapter 2, when the day of Pentacost was Fully come, God gave not the Law but the SPIRIT!

Alright, over here on Mount Sinai, when God gave the law on the first Pentacost, 50 days from Passover it teaches, on Mount Sinai. When God gave them the law, 3000 people died at the foot of the mountain.

In the New Testament, when the day of the Pentacost was fully come, God gave the SPIRIT and 3000 people were Saved at the foot of the mountain.

Which proves the Law Kills, but the Spirit, Gives LIFE.

Have you moved mountains? Have you moved your pulpit from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion?

God has moved mountains, have you realised that?

God is no longer at Mount Sinai, God is at Mount Zion.

And those who are established at Mount Zion will never be shakened, forever.
They who trust in the Lord will be at Mount Zion, they'll no longer be old, it's anew!

The old covenant based on the law, even the Ten Commandments came from Mount Sinai.

The Bible calls the Ten Commmandment the Ministry of Death! 2 Corinthians 3 Very clearly tells us, because some people will say, this law we are no longer under is not Ten Commandments, it's actually ceremonial Law - we no longer kill animals we no longer circumcize our children.

But watch this, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything of ourselves but Sufficiency is from God! who ALSO made us sufficient. Who made us sufficient? God. As ministers of the New Covenant.

Always remember, if you wanna preach the old covenant, God will not help you.

Have you noticed that people who fight for the ten commandments, alright, they hardly memorise the Ten Commandments.

It seems like the Holy Spirit refuses to help you memorise the ten commandments. What is the 6th commandment, hmm hmm...

Notice the Holy Spirit doesnt help you,

But the Holy Spirit helps even little children memorise: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

I understand the heart of people who are fighting to put the Ten Commandments in pubilc schools, I understand. They want morality. Alright.

But we should be fighting to put John 3:16 in every public school.

Because grace, is what would meet our young people.

GRACE is what would cause the dominion of sin to cease our their lives. Can I have a good Amen.

Alright so, the Ministry of Death

God made us sufficient as the Ministers of New Covenant, is not gonna help you minister the old covenant, nor of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter Kills, but the Spirit gives Life! Like the first pentacost, God give the law, it kills, but the last Pentacost, the Spirit gives life.

Have you noticed that the First Pentacost, when God gave the law, it meant was "You shall Not, You Shall Not! You Shall Not!" It makes you introspective, it makes you, place demands on yourself when you are spiritual bankrupt. God knew that but Man did not know that.

Alright, so when God gave the Law it's all about Men's work, "You shall not, You Shall Not, You Shall Not"

But when God gave the Spirit, on Mount Zion, they all ran off, speaking in Languages, Magnifying the wonderful work of God.

Under Law, Men's works are magnified.
Under Grace, God's work are magnified.

It's magnified in such a way, natural tongues cannot express it.

Because we talk about the wonderful works of God, Human tongues fail.
_________
Do you feel that your direct access to God has been blocked by sin? Dear, please know that now, no sin can block us from directly reaching for God. You know why? Because it is paid for by Jesus.

Confession of our sins is different from confession in Jesus name you know? Confession of sins BY OURSELVES to be forgiven is different from confession of your sorryness IN JESUS you know?

About the washing clothes thing, yes, we come to Jesus to be renewed in the spirit. But remember you are whiter than snow. I have to stop here for now. Its a long message.

I've been greatly blessed by a pastor too.

God bless.

What does it means to “Meditate” on the Word of God?

What we need is a whole new generation of grace preachers who can be very strong and courageous in preaching the unadulterated gospel of Jesus, His person and His perfect the unadulterated gospel of Jesus, His person and His perfect work on the cross. We need leaders who are established in the new covenant of grace (unmerited favor), and who will not be satisfied with putting new wine into old wineskins by compromising with a mixture of law and grace! Be bold and preach and gospel as it is without adding to it by magnifying man's works, or subtracting from it trying to remove God's unmerited favor that produce good success. It's time for us to bring the people into their promised inheritance!

Meditating On the Word of God

What does it means to “Meditate” on the Word of God?

Coming back to Joshua's appointment as Moses' successor, look at the instructions that God gave Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mout, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” God told Joshua that to have good success, he had to meditate on the law day and night. Joshua lived under the old covenant, so how should we, who live under the new covenant, benefit from this scripture?

We need to read this portion of scripture in view of Jesus' finished work. That is why it was essential for me to spend the last couple of chapters establishing you firmly on the rock-solid foundation of the new covenant of grace. Now that you know that we are no longer under the law, what is the new covenant way to be blessed and to experience good success? Joshua only had the law to meditate upon because the New Testament had not been written yet. For us, the secret to good success is found in meditating on God's Word in the light of the new covenant of grace.

Before we can go into what it means to meditate on God's Word, what exactly does it mean to “meditate”?

When the Bible talks about meditation, it's not referring to a mental exercise. The Hebrew word for meditation in the Old Testament is the word hagah, which means to utter or mutter. So to hagah is to speak under your breath. Notcie that the Lord told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth...” He did not say that it “shall not depart from your mind.” The key to meditating on God's Word is not mental contemplation. It is in speaking God's promises with your mouth!

“Pastor Prince, does this mean that I should keep repeating God's Word? For instance, should I keep saying 'by His stripes I am healed' when I need healing?”

Meditating on God's Word does not mean making vain repetitions of scriptures. Meditating on the Word is muchmore and is something that first occurs deep in your heart. The psalmist David captured the essence of meditation most aptly when he said, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue...” As you are meditating on God's Word, ask the Holy Spirit to give you a fresh revelation of Jesus. Let that scripture burn with revelation in your heart. And as you speak out of that burning revelation, God anoints the words that you speak. When you declare, “By His stripes I am healed,” and that declaration is uttered with a sense of revelation and faith in Jesus, there will be power in your declaration.

Meditate On Jesus, The Word Made Flesh, And Experience Good Success

Under the new covenant, we get to meditate on the person of Jesus when we meditate on the Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh, and as you meditate on His love for you, on His finished work, on His forgiveness and on His grace, God guarantees that you will have good success.

You can just take one verse and meditate on Jesus' love for you. For example, you can begin to mutter Psalm 23:1 under your breath: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” As you meditate on this simple verse, you begin to realize that the Lord is (present tense) your shepherd. A shepherd provides for his sheeps, feeds them and protects them. Because Jesus is your shepherd, you shall not be in want for anything. You shall not lack wisdom, direction, provision – anything. You begin to see that Jesus is present with you, providing for you, watching out for you, and making sure that you and your family will have more than enough. Now, right at that moment, in that short period of meditating on Jesus, faith is imparted and your heart is encouraged with the reality that Jesus is with you, even when you are facing some challenges.

Whether you are a homemaker, salesperson or business owner, your soul will be nourished and strengthened when you meditate on Jesus. In fact, every time you meditate on God's Word, Jesus will propel you into success without you even realizing it! Without you having to scheme, devise or make all sorts of plans, Jesus will direct your steps, lead you to the place that you are supposed to be and cause doors of opportunity to supernaturally open wide for you. When you meditate on Jesus, your ways always become prosperous. Now, don't be afraid to use the word “prosperous.” It's God's promise in the Bible. When you meditate (mutter) on Jesus day and night, the Bible says that “you will make your prosperous, and then you will have good success”!

Some people think that they are prosperous once they have made their first million. But when you examine their lives, you find that somewhere along the way in their struggle to make more and more money, they have lost the very things that are really important. They may have built up an impressive investment portfolio, but their children want nothing to do with them anymore and they have hurt the people who once loved them. That is not true prosperity or good success.

When God blesses you with prosperity, financial blessings are included, but only as a small part of the whole. Good success from Jesus will never take you away from your church. It will never take you away from your loved ones. Most of all, it will never take you away from yourself. You will not wake up one day in the midst of your pursuit of success and find that you no longer know the person looking back at you in the mirror.

My friend, learn to meditate on the person of Jesus. He is your good success. When you have Him, you have everything. The Bible tells us that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The word for “God” here in the original Greek text is Christos, referring to Christ. In other words, faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of Christ.

Jesus is your good success. When you have Him, you have everything.

Faith does not come just by hearing the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of Jesus and His finished work. In the same way, meditating on God's Word is about meditating, muttering and hearing about Jesus. This does not mean that you read only the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. No, every page of the entire Bible from cover to cover points to the person of Jesus!

If you desire to experience good success in your life, then I encourage you to meditate on messages preached by ministries that are all about exalting the person of Jesus, His beauty, His unmerited favor and His perfect work for you on the cross. Listen to new covenant ministries that do not mix law and grace, but rightly divide the Word of God and preach the unadulterated gospel of Jesus. The more you hear of Jesus and the cross, the more faith will be imparted to you and you will experience good success in your life!

Chapter 15

The Blessed Man Versus The Cursed Man

When learning anything, there are always foundations that need to be established before you can continue further. In Mathematics, you must learn addition before you can move on to learning multiplication. In learning the English language, you must first be established in recognizing letters in the alphabet before you can move on to basics of spelling, sentence structure and punctuation.

Similarly, if you want to delve deeper into God's Word, you must first be established in the truth that you are now under the new covenant of grace. Every revelation in God's Word is built upon the revelation of Jesus Christ and His finished work. My desire is that as you continue to walk through the pages of this book with me, you will come to a place of maturity in your understanding of the new covenant of grace.

The Book of Hebrews tells us that “everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” This means that if you are established in your righteousness (the word of righteousness) through Christ, you are no longer a spiritual baby. Once you have the revelation that your righteousness is not dependent on your own right doing, but on your right believing in Jesus, you have matured and become skillful in the word righteousness.

You see, it does not take the Holy Spirit to understand the law. If you were to walk down any street and interview passer-bys to find out how a person can get to heaven, most of them will probably tell you that you can get to heaven if you behaved well and did good deeds. This emphasis on one's own behavior, efforts and merits is actually works based on the system of the law.

In fact, the belief systems of man are based on the system of the law. Simply put, if you do good, you get good. If you do bad, you get beat! The world has no problems understanding concepts like retribution and judgment under the system of the law. You may have seen the sitcom My Name is Earl. Well, the people of world are generally like Earl. When Earl does something good, he expects something good to happen to him. Conversely, when he does something bad, he expects some form of punishment.

Jesus did everything on our behalf and He qualified us for heaven and for every blessing of good success!

But you know what? You and I have something that the world cannot understand, and it is called grace (unmerited favor)! We did not do anything – Jesus did everything on our behalf and He qualified us for heaven and for every blessing of good success! Even when we fail, we can have a confident expectation of good instead of a fearful expectation of punishment. This is not because we have stored up enough merits or good deeds. It is purely because the blood of Jesus has washed us whiter than snow. What we have as new covenant believers is so good that we need the Holy Spirit to be able to understand the exceeding richness of Jesus' unmerited favor toward us.

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Excerpt from Book - Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince