Power to effect change

So who of you have come expectant tonight? Okay. As we were praying and preparing for this time together, a lot came up in my heart. Out of that, the Lord showed me what is in the hearts and the lives of the people who would be present, and I really experienced an outcry.

A lot of people are struggling, questioning, saying, "Lord, is this all that there is to life?" Feeling that you are going round and round and round, doing the same thing, seeing the same results, being frustrated, being knocked down by life, being challenged in what you believe. The great thing about coming together like this is that here we are transparent, we are honest, and we are ourselves.

This is the one place where we don't have to pretend, because then we are wasting each other's time. I believe our coming together is not a coincidence, that it falls over this Pentecost time. So I'm going to go in one direction a bit and explain, and then come back. I've put these questions there because the Lord placed it on our hearts, and as we were praying here last night as well, a lot of this came up in my heart again. But I'll come back to that, because I believe we are in a place where there are solutions.

What does Pentecost mean? I think a lot of people have that in their mind, that this is the time of Pentecost. Pentecost actually comes from the Greek word meaning "50th". In the Old Testament, they had certain feasts and festivals that they celebrated, and Pentecost was a feast of harvest, celebrating the harvest. The fact that it's called the 50th means it was seven Shabbats after Passover – seven times seven, 49, and one more day, so 50. That's where the word comes from.

For Christians who started celebrating Pentecost, we celebrate the fact that that is when the outpouring of the Spirit took place. People ask, how do you know when the Spirit was poured out? Because the Bible says, "When the day of Pentecost had fully come," and we understand from the Old Testament what Pentecost was. Christians celebrate that as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the church as we know it – the church in the sense of the body of Christ. That's when it started, on the day of Pentecost. Sometimes as Christians we don't grow up with these words and terminology, and we think it's very foreign.

I want to go through the Bible on what actually happened on the day of Pentecost. Even if you think you've heard it a hundred times, I want to encourage you to listen from a different perspective, because I'm going somewhere else with this tonight. Before we look at what happened on that day, let's look at the run-up towards it, and I'm sure your spiritual antennas are up already, because this run-up is significant for our time together as well.

I'm going to read quite a few verses fairly quickly so we can get through them, but I'll focus on the aspects I want to emphasise.

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, "You have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."”

Acts 1:4-5 (NKJV)

This is Jesus speaking, and He is saying: wait, don't go, wait for the outpouring of the Spirit. That already says something about the significance of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."”

Acts 1:6-8 (NKJV)

I'll come back to that question about restoring the kingdom a bit later. But notice: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." I've spoken about that word "power" many times – it's the Greek word dunamis, the power to effect change, not power to make you look strong. It is power that yields results; it changes things. So you shall receive that ability to effect change when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

We tend to take one portion and only focus on that. It says you shall receive power – the power to effect change – but then there's an outflowing of this power: "And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth."

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

Acts 1:9 (NKJV)

These are the last words that Jesus spoke. Put this in perspective: this is the 40th day after Passover. Jesus is ascending into heaven, taken up – we can't even imagine that. And the last thing He says is about the Holy Spirit, because, as He'd said previously, "It will be good for you that I go, because then the Holy Spirit will come." Imagine walking with Jesus on earth, and He says, "It is better that I go, because the Holy Spirit will come – another one just like Me," the allos parakletos. He will send another one like Him. Jesus could only be present in one place at a time; the Holy Spirit can be present in many places at a time.

Now there are ten days left. Jesus has just ascended. There are ten days until this feast of the harvest. How did they spend these ten days? Remember, they didn't quite know what to expect, or even when, because Jesus just said, "Wait, wait for the Holy Spirit."

There were times when Jesus sent them out – He sent the seventy out, two by two – and He would pray and say, "This power God gives you, this ability He gives you." And they went and did magnificent things because of that power that was present. But they didn't yet know what it would entail when the fullness of the Spirit came upon them. They were expectant, but not too sure what, or too sure when.

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

Acts 1:14 (NKJV)

In one accord – I'll speak about that a bit later again. It's one of the key things missing in the church, the body of Christ: instead of my position, my function, my gift, my office, the one accord. And with that, the prayer and supplication – not just prayer, not just on the surface. This is the James 5:16 kind of thing, the heartfelt, continued prayer of the righteous. They just spent this time together, expectant, hungry, focused.

Let's jump now to that day.

“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.”

Acts 2:1-6 (NKJV)

They were together, still in one accord, praying, in supplication, crying out to God, having this expectation, and the Holy Spirit came and was poured out on them. As it was poured out, they started speaking in different languages. Since there were many Jews from all around the world there, who all spoke different languages, somehow every one of them could understand what they were saying.

“Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Acts 2:38-42 (NKJV)

There is so much significance in drawing the parallels to the new dispensation, the new life in Christ, the life after the ascension of Christ, the life with the outpouring of the Spirit – the ability to be in that place of oneness with God, the place where the Spirit functions, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, as opposed to the old dispensation of being under the law.

Just a side note: even when Jesus was still on earth, that was not the New Testament. The New Testament started after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, after Jesus ascended. So often when one reads what Jesus said, you must take into consideration in what dispensation He spoke and to whom He spoke, because He spoke before this time. That's just a side note.

It's so significant to see what is happening here already. Jesus created this expectation. There was this group of disciples together, expectant, of one accord, so focused and expectant, and this presence of the Spirit came upon them and impacted them. So if we talk about this weekend, this day, this time that we are together – this is not religion. When we talk about the Holy Spirit, we are not talking religion.

We are not talking a set of rules. We are not talking about a box that you tick. Something happens when the Holy Spirit comes and makes you His dwelling place, when He comes upon you. In this particular case, it immediately caused a few things to happen, to which we should draw the parallel with similarities in the Old Testament. It's interesting that when they started speaking in different languages, all the Jews there, who came from different places around the world speaking different languages, could understand them.

All of a sudden they could understand them in their own native language, and they could receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the opposite of the Tower of Babel, when man wanted to elevate himself and confusion came, so they couldn't even understand each other speaking. Here comes the Holy Spirit, and He gives the ability to hear God, because there is a purpose.

It's core to what we are speaking about when we speak about the Holy Spirit: we must understand there's a purpose. Interestingly, Peter stands up here and speaks in front of thousands of people with boldness and conviction – the same Peter who, 50 days earlier, denied that he knew Christ. All of a sudden he has this boldness and conviction, not caring now about speaking about Jesus, not caring about being associated with Christ and what the implications for his life would be.

Fifty days earlier he was so scared they would kill him too that he said, "I don't know Him." What happened? The Holy Spirit, the ability of the Holy Spirit. And as he speaks, 3,000 souls were added that day. Notice the parallel: when Moses came down from the mountain and the people had built the golden calf, 3,000 people died that day, because they were under the law. Now the Spirit comes, and 3,000 receive life, for it is the Spirit that gives life.

I wanted to create that bit of perspective on what we are talking about when we talk about Pentecost, so as not to make it a religious term. Here, already on the first day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we can see that there is a purpose. Jesus positioned them in Acts 1:8: "Don't go out, because you will need this power that I will give you, the power to effect change."

Nothing has changed. We have all been called, we have all been sent, and the instruction is still the same: but wait, because if you don't do it by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are going to do it in the flesh. When the Spirit is the One at work, there is life. The Holy Spirit brings us the presence of the Father. The Father is on the throne, but the Holy Spirit brings us that presence.

He brings us that ability. He is the promise that the Father sent us. God had a plan. He sent Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life, to make it possible for us to enter into this life. And now that we've entered into that, He says, "But I've got a plan that continues. The plan doesn't end with Jesus. Jesus was that initial way to become one with Me. Now I will pour out of Myself into you, so that I can live through you."

The ability of the Holy Spirit is the ability of the Father. It is the fullness of God that dwells in the Holy Spirit. So a time like this, this weekend, when we come together and acknowledge something like Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit, it is again looking to the Father and acknowledging that without Him we are nothing. Without the power and ability of the Holy Spirit, we will not be able to do what He sent us to do. We can have all these good intentions, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, there will be no life in it.

The Spirit gives life even to the Word. When you receive the Word of God, it is the Spirit that gives life to it.

When we talk about the purpose of the Holy Spirit, I think it's important to regroup, if I can call it that, and realise it's not about power. It's not about miracles and looking great and feeling good.

As I was experiencing the presence of the Lord here tonight, it came up in my mind that, yes, it's great to experience the presence, but the Holy Spirit is not primarily there so that we can feel. It's not about that. It's the love of God, the ability of God, manifested in a human being with a purpose – not so that we can pat ourselves on the back, like the distinction that arose many years ago between those who pray in tongues and those who don't, where many of those who pray in tongues started thinking and saying that they are better than those who don't.

I can guarantee you, the Holy Spirit was never poured out so that one person can think he's better than the other, or that he has better gifts or more gifts. The Holy Spirit was poured out for a purpose, and if we go back to what we read right at the beginning, when Jesus said, "You shall receive power," the dunamis power to effect change, He said, "And you shall be My witnesses." We can often take that and narrow it down to the evangelical part.

You will be My witnesses. You will go out, and you will reach people, and you will get them born again. But it's much more than that. Being witnesses is much more than an evangelical function of having an event and an opportunity for people to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Being a witness is manifesting the life and ability of God. Being a witness is people looking at you and saying, "I want what you have," that ability.

So the Holy Spirit was poured out for a purpose, and that purpose is not just an evangelical purpose. It's a purpose that the presence of God could dwell in a human being and be visible in the earth, that we could start living a life beyond our own ability that people can look at and say, "Truly there is a God." Our lives will speak as witnesses, not just an evangelical function.

And the Holy Spirit has a mandate. That mandate is to manifest the Kingdom of God in this earth. We don't have a mandate outside of that. We can't create our own little mandates of what we think we should be doing. It's about manifesting the Kingdom of God in this earth. So when we want to embrace the Holy Spirit and His ability in us and through us, we must understand it's about Him.

If we start thinking it's the power that we have, the gift that we have, the miracles, the wonders – it's not that. It is Him. It is His purpose, His intention, His mandate to manifest His Kingdom in this earth.

I have to ask myself: when they started out, what did the church look like? We often refer to this as the Acts church. Let's quickly read that from Acts 2, verse 42.

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

Acts 2:42-47 (NKJV)

If we take that as the start of the church, which it was, and if we take it as modelled by the Holy Spirit in the role He played in them and through them, I think in many cases there's a lot that got lost along the way. There are core aspects of what the church had at that stage that are not so often present nowadays.

That last sentence, of the Lord adding to the church daily, again emphasises the power and ability of the Holy Spirit – not because we have a physical thing that works and we do things right and go out and do things. We have to acknowledge that it's the power and the presence and the ability of the Holy Spirit first and foremost. Yes, we are instruments, but we can only achieve that which has eternal impact, that which has Kingdom impact, by the power and ability of the Holy Spirit.

The one thing that really speaks to me about this model of the church is that it was a very practical church. It wasn't this theoretical, religious doctrine and set of rules – it was a practical church. They did life together. They ate together. They took care of one another. When someone was in need, they would sell things and make sure everybody was taken care of. It was one big family.

I think it's one of the things that Satan has achieved very successfully in the church: what I refer to as a Western lifestyle, where it's each man for himself. I often wonder and struggle with this concept, even in Romans 12, of giving yourself as a living sacrifice, of having died to yourself – it's not me that's living, it's Him that's living. And I look at the practicalities of how that plays out, and I struggle with what I see. I really struggle with what I see.

It's like the lies of Satan about how we live our lives and what our priorities are – it's just skewed. If we truly come to that place where we say, "I have died to myself, it's not me that's living," why are we clinging on to so many things when there are people around us who need to be taken care of?

I've often said in the past, when people ask me about spiritual growth – if I asked you today, "What is the number one thing that you can do to achieve spiritual growth?" I would take a good guess.

I would say 90% of you are going to say, "Spend time in the Word," which is a good answer. Nothing wrong with that answer. Some of you might say, "Walk in the Holy Spirit," something like that. Yes, the Word and the Spirit are important, but my experience of spiritual growth is that the number one thing that causes spiritual growth is the moment you take the focus off yourself and start helping somebody else.

There is nothing that compares to that. Do you need to spend time in the Word? For sure. Do you need to spend time in prayer and supplication, in fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit? For sure. But what does that lead to? What is the outcome of that?

If we go back to the mandate, to Acts 1, where it started, when Jesus said, "And you shall be witnesses," there's a practical aspect to it, and it's more than the evangelical go-out, because He said, "You'll be My witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and all around the earth." We always narrow it down to that's the evangelists, that's what they go and do. It's more than that. To be witnesses is what caused the Acts 2 church. To be witnesses is to be taking care of the person right next to you.

There is something that I do not see as much in the church, in the body, in this time that we live in, as I see it here in the Acts 2 church, and that is that dying to yourself and taking care of those around you.

Many of you are maybe here – or it might not be the primary reason you are here – because of things you are going through: struggling and not feeling that you are getting anywhere in life, and the challenges that come kick you in the teeth every time. I've heard of so many people in the last few months who have committed suicide, and I will never downplay that or simplify it. But there's something about that, that we as a church should be playing a role in, that we are not, that should prevent that – that taking care of one another, that simplicity of understanding.

I think if we can grasp tonight that I primarily have access to the Holy Spirit, that I can physically go and manifest Christ to those around me – not the power, the miracles – we tend to fall into this trap of church and playing church and a set of rules and how it works and the structure, and yet the manifestation of that in terms of taking care of people is falling by the wayside. And that is the primary thing it's all about.

I'm going to challenge you tonight, as much as I challenge myself, to ask, "What is it that we are busy with?" I'll get back to that, but what I experienced in my time of prayer and preparation was this outcry, and it's as if I sensed in my heart that the Lord says, "I have heard."

But the answer looks different from what they think. This is the answer:

“Thus says the Lord: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.'”

Isaiah 49:8 (NKJV)

We cry out to God because we have a certain expectation of what my life should look like. Before I received the Spirit – when I received the Spirit and started praying in tongues, the first time I started praying in tongues – I realised my prayer structure changed immediately. I didn't understand word for word what I was saying, but in my spirit I could sense it immediately.

When I started praying in tongues, the first thing I did was worship God. That's what I did. Whereas before that, my prayer was my list: I need this, I'm having challenges with this, and God, when are You sorting this out? And God says, "I have heard you." But the answer is not, "Okay, wait until I sort out your health. Wait till I sort out your finances. Wait till I sort out your relationships. Wait till I turn your business around." No, that is not the answer.

That's part of the lying strategy of Satan: that we believe this lie that the Word and the Holy Spirit are there so that we can sort out our lives. If we think that's the purpose Jesus died for, if we think that's the purpose the Holy Spirit was poured out for – so that I can sort out my life – it's no wonder the church is looking the way it's looking.

Because it's this lie of a Western lifestyle: just sort yourself out, just make sure you're okay, just keep demanding and prophesying and praying that your health is sorted out, your relationships, your finances. You must sort out your life. Use the Word, prophesy, speak, declare, manifest, so that your life is sorted out. And we wait for this perfection until we can move forward and effect change in this world.

It's not our perfection that is the solution, it is His perfection. It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance, not my perfection. But it's that lie that I'm striving to have more of the Word, more of the Spirit, so that I can sort out things.

God says, "I have heard you, and I have the answer for you." And you know what the answer is? You are the answer. That answer God gave us in Isaiah says: "I've heard you, and in an acceptable time I've heard you. In the day of salvation I've helped you. I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth."

So what is God saying when we are crying out about the challenges we have? He's saying, "Great. Now go and do something about your brother next door." Because as you are doing that, the body of Christ edifies itself in love. How can love be manifested unless there are two people? Why is God present when there are two or more? Because how will you love if there is one? We manifest love because there needs to be another one.

I can spend so much time in my inner room, so much time in the Word, but that's not meant to be it. The Bible even says that knowledge puffs up – you get to that point where you know so much.

When I was involved in a ministry in Stellenbosch, I was challenged more by people in churches than by Satanists. I was waiting for the Satanists to show up, but all that showed up was the predikant and the whatever. And one guy who had studied theology showed up – I'm using this as an example, not to knock him – and he was nailing me about everything, about the church and the doctrine and this and that, and he kept at it. One day I said to him, "So, how many people have you led to Christ?" He said, "No, none, because that's not my function." By that time, I had led a few thousand people to Christ.

So maybe my doctrine was not perfect. Maybe the way I did it was not perfect. Maybe the environment, whatever – maybe you could have a list of fifty things I did wrong. But there were a few thousand people who accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. When the Lord said to me, "Go," I said, "Okay, give me two years so I know the Bible well enough." And the Lord said, "At what stage did you think it was dependent on you?" He needs the willingness of your heart, not your perfection.

He is the perfection. He is the ability. He is the love, and that is what we bring. The moment I bring me, it will fail. The moment I bring Him, I present Him, the more transparent I can be. We use these verses, but it becomes so religious to say, "Less of me and more of Him" – but what does it mean? Does it mean I live so that people can experience Christ for who He is? Not my set of rules, not my religion, not my doctrine – and once we think we've perfected doctrine, then what? Are we only going to start effecting change then?

The thing that continues to amaze me: the day my life changed, that same day the Lord said to me, "You have enough to lead other people to Christ." The same day you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, that same day you had the ability to lead somebody else to Christ. Now we think we must go and spend years and years studying and get this doctrine perfected, and in that time, people are going to hell.

So yes, it is exciting to talk about the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, and to have this perspective of the ability and the power, the dunamis power, of the Holy Spirit. But what is the real perspective? It's not that we sort out our own lives. Should we have an expectation that things in our lives will change? Yes. There's nothing wrong with having an expectation that you will be healed, that you will be restored, that your relationships will be restored, that your business will be restored.

Yes, have that expectation. Yes, pray it. Yes, declare it. But if you make that number one, I can tell you that you're going to continue to struggle, because the solution is that you are able to... A good friend of mine used to say that you can hit a straight shot with a crooked stick as well. So don't wait. We focus on the stick, which is me.

I want to perfect the stick. Once the stick is perfect, then I can do something. By that time, Jesus has come already. It's better to say, "Less of me, more of Him. It's not me that's living, it's Him," and we go out and effect change. You don't have to go and study many years to be able to do that. How much studying does it take to be able to take a warm plate of food to your neighbour?

Not much studying. How much studying does it take to pick up your phone when you have that prompting and to phone somebody and ask them how they are? How much studying does it take to get into your car and drive to somebody and go pray with them? The Gospel is simple. It is simple, and that is the thing. If I ask you sitting here tonight – and I can testify of this – what are the things that had the biggest influence on your life?

It's when a person showed up and truly cared for you. There's nothing that comes close to that, when you experience authenticity in somebody who is maybe even as broken as you are, but they are willing to come and help you. They are willing to give. They are willing to pray. They are willing to just spend the night with you when you feel it's too much. It's not complicated. But why are we not doing it as much as we should?

I know there are many people sitting here doing great things, but I believe there's more that needs to be done. There's more of the practical church that they started out with in Acts, and if we want to talk Holy Spirit, this is what we are talking about: to go out and just help people around us. Take a plate of food, just pray with them. Go out. It is not complicated. The number one thing that will cause spiritual growth is to take your eyes off yourself and your own issues and your own problems and just say, "Father, who can I help today?"

Let's trust the Holy Spirit. Let's trust the Holy Spirit in this week to come. When last have you prayed, "Father, send somebody to me that is broken"? It's easy to minister to somebody whose life is perceivably sorted out. But Jesus didn't come for the ninety-nine, He came for the one. Are we willing to pray that prayer? To say, "Send me the desperate, the broken, the poor"?

Are you willing to have an expectation – and I'm using it as an example – are you willing to have an expectation to lead one person to Christ every week? I think one of the amazing things about the Body of Christ, when we look at that church in the beginning, it says they went from house to house, eating their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. How much stress do people experience because of wealth that they want to build up, or wealth that they need to protect, versus a place where people had, in simplicity, enough?

They had enough. They had enough to take care of each other. If you ask yourself, how much do you need to take care of somebody else? This risk of trying to perfect things manifests itself strongly in people's finances. I've been in ministry now fourteen years, and the Bible talks about the last enemy being death, but there's one that competes very closely with it, and that is finances.

You can minister to somebody, you can change their lives, but when it gets to finances, all of a sudden everything is the Body's except my finances. And I can easily talk about that because I don't have a church and none of you tithes to me, so I don't have an agenda. But I can tell you: get over this thing that your finances are your own. Get over this thing that your finances need to be perfected, like the stick, before you can make a difference for somebody else.

Get over this thing that if you don't sow a hundred thousand rand, then it doesn't mean anything. Maybe fifty rand is enough to change somebody's life. If there's somebody in this room who doesn't have fifty rand to give somebody, come and ask me – I'll give you fifty rand so that you can go and give it to somebody and feel what it feels like, and open the floodgates. There is nothing in your life that will satisfy as much as being the difference, being the solution, being able to change somebody else's life.

It's not a self-focus. The only reason the Bible is a mirror is so that we can see what Christ looks like – not so that we can try to perfect ourselves. We look in the mirror, the perfect mirror of His glory and His ability, and that is what we go and live and manifest, disregarding where you are. Whether you are one week into your journey of accepting Jesus as your Lord, or forty years down the line, it doesn't matter where you are – you have enough to change somebody else's life, because it's by the power of the Holy Spirit that you have that ability, not by your own perfection.

So let's get over that lie. Jesus said in Luke 9:62,

“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:62 (NKJV)

I think we sometimes have a skewed perception of the Kingdom of God. You saw it right there in Acts 1, when Jesus was speaking – He had spent all this time with the disciples, He's ready to ascend, and they are asking Him, "Are You now going to give the kingdom to Israel?"

They still thought He was there to bring down the Roman Empire and establish a physical kingdom on this earth. There's some of that mindset that we as Christians still have as well, that we must sort out – and hear me now on this – that we must sort out government. If we don't sort out government, then we don't have hope in this country.

We have not firstly been called to sort out the physical brokenness and systems of this world. I'm not saying we don't have a responsibility, I'm not saying we don't pray for it, I'm not saying we don't create and use the opportunities, but that's not our first focus. Our first focus is bringing His Kingdom. That is what Jesus prayed as well: "Let Your Kingdom come."

It is the thing I always say: we don't fight darkness, we manifest light. Light and darkness cannot mix. It is not possible. Have you ever switched on a light and seen a little cloud of darkness come past you?

I'll send you to a good eye specialist, because maybe there's something in your eye – but it doesn't happen. Where there is light, darkness is not possible. Even in the physical, if it's that way, how much more in the spiritual? When we manifest the Kingdom of God, we must understand it is a reality, a realm. It is God. It is His presence, His ability that we manifest. It is so superior to anything else.

So why would we try to focus on doing something in the flesh and the physical, trying to change physical things, when we can manifest His Kingdom? It says, "God is light, in Him is no darkness." So if we establish His Kingdom – in simple terms, every person I lead to Christ, every time I minister and manifest His presence, His Kingdom is being manifested, and inside His Kingdom there cannot be darkness.

So what is the solution to the earth? Grow His Kingdom. Don't worry about sorting out government. Gradually, people will become born again. People will make Jesus Lord of their lives. They will receive the Spirit. They will start living. They cannot give what they do not have. If somebody doesn't have the lordship of Jesus in their lives, to expect them to yield anything else is impossible.

So we manifest the Kingdom. We bring the Kingdom. Even Jesus, when He sent the disciples, said, "Go to that place, go pray for them and heal the sick," and then, "Say to them, the Kingdom has come." Let me read that verse to you.

“Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you, and heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'”

Luke 10:8-9 (NKJV)

What healed them? The Kingdom of God, the presence of God, the reality. Remember, there's a reality far superior to this physical reality. That is why Jesus could walk on the water – He functioned in a reality superior to the physical constraints of this earth. So it says, "Heal the sick," but why did the sick get healed?

Because of the manifestation of the Kingdom of God, the manifestation of His presence and His ability, His light that shone on them, and darkness could not prevail. The focus was not the sickness. The focus was the light. The focus was manifesting the Kingdom, and without effort the Kingdom yielded that kind of result, because that is how it works in the Kingdom.

“But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into the streets of that city and say, 'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.'”

Luke 10:10-11 (NKJV)

These were individuals who showed up, and yet they could say the Kingdom of God was near. Whether people accept it when you present it, that is up to God. It says, "The Lord added to the church daily." We cannot force somebody to accept the lordship of Jesus. Yes, we can intercede – that is why intercession, supplication and prayer are important, because it prepares the hearts of people so that when the opportunity comes... The Word says, "The god of this age has blinded the eyes."

That is Satan. Satan has blinded the eyes of many. They don't know. They go on killing, destroying, maiming, because they don't know – it's all they know, the darkness that has given birth to what is inside of them. That is what they yield to, unless you can punish them as much as you want and put them in jail for three hundred years – unless the Kingdom of God manifests in them, the light, the glory, the ability, the love. That is what changes them. Let's not fall into the trap of a physical solution.

The only solution we have is manifesting the Kingdom of God, and that brings us back to the Holy Spirit. We cannot manifest the Kingdom of God without the Holy Spirit. It is not possible. But even in these verses we just read, Jesus said, "Tell them the Kingdom of God has come near you." I thought it was the disciple that came near them. He said the Kingdom of God came near them. If we manifest that light, we manifest His life and His ability.

I think it's a time like this, when we come together, that because of our oneness, because of the condition of our hearts and our purpose of being here, we should also tell one another that we can use a time like this. They had times like this in the Old Testament when they came together, and it was a time of accountability. We should ask ourselves – I'm not saying I'm going to call you to the front or ask you to raise your hand.

I'm just saying, use a time like this for yourself to create that accountability, to say, "What are we busy with?" Let's cut out all the fluff, and being nicely dressed, and the smiling, and when somebody asks how you're doing, "No, everything is great." Let's cut out all of that and each examine, if we have to look at the last six months of our lives.

I'm asking you: the last six months of your life, how much have you created that has eternal value? Because there will always be a better time. "I just have to sort out this, I just have to overcome this, and then when I'm there, then ask me again." No, there's no time like that.

When Jesus called the disciples, one said, "I just have to go bury my dead." "No, no, no. Let the dead bury the dead." What are we busy with? When Jesus' mother and Joseph were looking for Him and couldn't find Him, and they find Him sitting at the temple, speaking to the people that know Him, they said, "How could You do that to us? Just disappear – You're twelve years old and we're looking for You and we're worried." And He said, "Don't you know I need to be about My Father's business? I'm busy with the things of My Father."

Can we truly say that? I really want you – if it's not tonight, tomorrow – to set aside even an hour, close your door, go on your own, and ask yourself, "Let's take stock. Let's do a reality check and say, what am I busy with? What results has the last six months in my life produced that has eternal value?" I would like to venture into a dangerous place and say that if the last six months hasn't yielded anything of eternal value, it's unlikely that the next six months is going to do it, unless there is a radical change that you allow the Holy Spirit to bring.

If you think your circumstances are going to change to make it easier, you believe the lies of Satan. If we think we're going to perfect something in our knowledge, our ability, our circumstances – "I just first need to sort out this, and once I've done that, then I will start sowing into somebody's life" – it's not going to happen. Take a snapshot over this weekend. Take a snapshot of your life and say, "Where am I?"

"What am I busy with? Am I busy with the things of my Father? Am I busy manifesting the Kingdom of God? What have I yielded in the last six months that has eternal value?" We need to measure. We owe it to each other to measure. What are we busy with? Otherwise we are wasting each other's time. We're pretending to be some form of Christian, or religion, or something.

We're definitely not witnessing to our Father in Heaven. We're not looking like Jesus. If I look at the time Jesus spent – yes, He spent time praying through the night, and He would often say, "I could do nothing except what I saw My Father do. I could say nothing except what My Father said." So what He had to present was not something He had to fabricate. He had to spend that time.

He had to be impacted by that presence, that ability, that nature of who God is, and then He overflowed with who His Father was. Yes, so we can't take away from that. But we can't just do that and then do nothing out there.

If we look at the last six months of our lives, like somebody used to say, "The answer cannot be zero." The answer cannot be zero. It's impossible. It doesn't matter what our reasons and excuses are. It can't. Let's not wait. Let's not wait for perfection.

I know one of the biggest challenges people have is that they themselves are still questioning things. They themselves are still challenged. But I have a conviction that every person I pray for must be healed. And then you pray for somebody who dies, and you retract into your room and stay there for six years because the last person you prayed for died. Who is that all about? What is happening in those six years to the people you were meant to take care of, the people you were meant to pray for?

It's about Him. It's about Him.

We are on a mission. It says we are ambassadors. We represent something, not something that we fabricated, not something that we have. Yes, we have it because He stays inside of us, but what we have to offer is Him. When we walk in, like the disciples said, "But the kingdom is at hand. The kingdom has come near you" – yes, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. Yes, we manifest His presence. It's not about, "Do I have a 100% track record, and if I don't, then I retract and disappear," while people are dying and people are going to hell.

Is there anything we can be busy with that compares to somebody not receiving eternal life? What can you be busy with in this earth that is important enough that we do not lead people to receive eternal life? If we want to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, that is what we should be talking about. What impact are we having in this earth? How are we facilitating the heart of God so that people can experience Him for who He is?

Satan will keep you busy with your own challenges and your own imperfections until the day Jesus comes. So if you wait for that to do something, I can tell you now, it's not going to happen. That is why Ephesians 6, when it speaks about the armour of God, explains it in the context of saying, "Having done all, stand."

What is he talking about? He's comparing it to wrestling. In wrestling, the most important thing you can do is just to throw somebody off balance. If you can just tap their foot from under them, you've won, because everything after that is a struggle. So what does Satan do? He's just trying to tap you off balance. That's why it says, "Having done all, stand."

How does he throw you off balance? He makes you doubt. "I prayed for that person, nothing happened." He makes you doubt. But then, "that guy is saying that verse means that, and that guy is saying that verse means that," and you can spend the rest of your life on the differences in doctrines and the differences in interpreting verses. What then? Are you going to arrive at perfect knowledge, and how is that changing people's lives?

He's throwing you off balance, saying, "Just focus on doctrine." Like a guy said to me, "No, I haven't led anybody to Christ, but that's not my function. My function is to keep everybody else's ministry pure." How has that been working out for you? Let's find somebody whose ministry and doctrine are pure. It's Christ who is pure. If we only have Him to offer, that is all we know: Christ crucified. That is what we offer. It's not that we create our own little doctrine and set of beliefs and church, and then offer that.

No. Satan comes and throws us off balance by keeping us busy with the things we shouldn't be busy with, by making us doubt. "But I did sow into somebody's life, I had an expectation, and the next month I lost the commission I earned the previous month. So you're saying if I sow, I'll be financially better off, and look what happened – the month after I sowed, I lost that contract." He's throwing you off balance. "Oh no, I'm not going to try that again." He's making you doubt. He's keeping you busy. That's why you need to put on the armour of God. I don't have enough time to speak about that tonight, but every piece – the truth, the righteousness, the willingness to spread the gospel – all of that is relevant. If Satan is going to try to throw you off balance, what do you do? You don't care about that. You continue to do what you should be doing, and that is to change people's lives.

There's always this pendulum that swings through all our lives in terms of beliefs and priorities, whatever it is. But what if all of us make our number one priority to physically manifest Christ to people when we walk out of here? Physically. I ask you, when you spend time tonight or tomorrow, make time to check where you are, what you are busy with, and ask God, "God, this week I want to lead somebody to Christ. I want to sow into somebody's life." It doesn't matter – don't think it must be some big amount. I want to sow into somebody's life, and hear what the Lord says. Where must you sow? Go and make a difference, even if it's fifty rand, whatever it is. Sow into somebody's life. Become active, become relevant, because in that you manifest the kingdom – not waiting for perfection.

And if you are saying you don't know how to lead somebody to Christ, I will be willing to do a workshop for you, even tomorrow afternoon if you want, or whenever you are available. Send me a WhatsApp. If you don't have my number, send Brenda a WhatsApp. Tell me, "I don't know how to lead somebody to Christ." I'll spend the whole day with you, although you don't need that much – half an hour is probably sufficient. You just roll up to somebody and say, "Do you know Jesus Christ?" "No, I don't." "Do you want to?" "Yes." "Okay, pray after me: Thank you, Lord Jesus, You are Lord of my life." How much training did that require? Okay, I know there's confidence, role play, a bit more that you might want to know – I'll be willing to do a workshop for you. So don't say you don't know how to lead somebody to Christ; be willing to stand up, be activated, and go and do something.

It takes a mindset.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Colossians 3:1-3 (NKJV)

We can be busy with the things down below for the rest of our lives. We try to resurrect that old creation every day – we shake him and kick him until he's alive again. But it says, for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

There's a song that came up in my heart last night as we were praying: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." We started with that worship song about "show me Your face." When we look into that perfect glory, that love, that ability, it must transform us to such an extent that the things of this earth just lose their value.

It is like when I was praying today – this came up, and I actually went to look why it came up in my spirit. When we collect things in this world, it clogs up the arteries. Now, I'm Afrikaans, so I thought to myself, "Okay, arteries – what does artery mean? Why not vein?" I looked it up, because I haven't studied biology for a number of years. The veins flow to the heart, and the arteries flow from the heart.

So when we focus on the things of this world and start collecting, and things become important – I can't lose this, I can't lose that – it starts clogging up the arteries, which is the outflowing component. Because the inflow keeps coming. We are not meant to be dams. We are meant to be rivers. But the thing with a river, to keep it alive, is that it needs an outflow. Even the physical world shows us that. If a dam has no outflow, the water starts rotting. We need an outflow.

If you want to progress, if you want to manifest His presence, if you want to grow spiritually, it is simple: just decide for yourself that you will look away onto somebody whose life you can change. Look away from yourself. Every day, just pray this prayer: "Father, give me one person today whose life I can change. Give me one person today where I can manifest Your ability, Your love, Your glory to impact that life." It's a mindset. If every day you just say, "Father, bring me somebody today," then already your expectation is that even if you have challenges, you have an expectation that you can change somebody's life.

When Lucretia was lying in hospital, busy dying, she would still pray for people and their ulcers would be healed. She wasn't waiting to say, "Lord, if You heal me, then I'll do something." How many times do we say that? How many times do we do that – "If my business is prospering, then I will sow"? It doesn't work that way. What we have to offer is Him. And if what we do gets us kicked in the teeth, if we get knocked down, then we use it to build character.

I thought today, as I was making that note, that the title of this message will be Kingdom and Character. Because sometimes we don't see what we want to see, and if you don't, it means you're building character.

I thought about my brother's little daughter. She was very small still, and we were on the farm. The bakkie has these railings on the side, and she was climbing up. She got to the top one, lying back as she grabbed it, but the bars are round and her fingers were too small, and as she went over, straight up at the top, her fingers slipped, and she fell right back onto hard ground. She fell like poof, dust flying, and she started crying. Then, after a while, she wiped the tears and said, "Okay, not like that. Let's try again." This little child could have asked her dad to pick her up or go around the back, and she just said, "No, not like that. Let's try again." And I thought, that's building character.

So we don't always succeed. We don't always feel motivated. We don't always see the results. Every day is not perfect. But then we get up and say, "Okay, not like that." Then we build character. This time and season we are in – you saw right in the beginning, Jesus said there are times and there are seasons – part of it is training ground. This is building something for the next dispensation. So let's not miss the opportunity to be trained. Some of you train many hours in the gym, some train online, whatever it is. Let's train in life, the life of Christ. Let's go out and manifest it. If somebody says no, you continue to pray, you just continue. If you don't see what you want to see, it's character. If you don't see the results, if you fail in life, it's character. You get up.

So that makes me end off with this. There's the what we do, and there's the what we are busy with, and there's the how. And I'm always going to say this: it's not meant to be in isolation. If I go back right to the beginning, one of the things that came up in my heart, that many of you are crying out about, is that there are too many of you isolating yourselves. You cannot do that. You cannot isolate yourself.

The question I wrote here is, whose door are you going to knock at? And I plead guilty – there are a few guys who have been wanting to set up a meeting with me, and I've been busy and haven't been able to get to them. I want to encourage every one of you, I want to ask you: whose door are you going to knock at? I'm talking about the door that you knock at, whether they give you permission or not. You need to have at least one door like that. If they open the door, you stand there – not waiting for an appointment, not waiting for them to say yes. You stand there, because if you fail, if you give up... that's the thing Paul said: "I continued. I finished the race." It's not about how successful we are. It's the focus, the intent, and manifesting Him and focusing on His kingdom.

But then the important thing is that you don't give up. When you get kicked in the teeth, when you fall, who's going to be there to pick you up? You need to have those relationships around you, people you can go to at any time of the day or night, knowing you can knock and say, "I am not doing good. I need you today. I need you tonight." We need to have that kind of relationship. You need people around you whom you know love you. Sometimes we are busy, and then you just knock on their door and show up. Take the responsibility. When you know you need it, knock on somebody's door and say, "Here I am. I need to chat. I need to pray," whatever it is.

We cannot afford that any one of us gives up, especially when you are down in the dumps, when you say, "I don't care anymore, I don't want to do this anymore, I don't see the results." Especially then you need a failover switch – that switch to say, "I can see it's not going well with me." That failover switch is: whose door am I going to knock at tonight? We need that, because we cannot afford that one of us does not finish the race.

So yes, what are we busy with? But how do we do it? We don't do it in isolation. Get activated. Get activated. If you do not have some form of prayer group, then just start one. That's the exciting thing about the phase we are in: you don't need a pastor, you don't need a structure, you don't need a booklet. You just need to decide that you are going to pray with one or two other people. Even if it's for half an hour a week, decide, "Monday evening, 8:00, I'm getting two people, and we are praying together." What is necessary? You're not building a church, you're not preaching doctrine, you're just saying, "Let us pray together."

We cannot all be babes continuously. You can't sit for ten years with somebody who keeps feeding you. There comes a time – that's why we are in this phase – to say, "I am going to do something next week. I'm going to start a little prayer group with two people, and we are going to pray. We are going to prepare the hearts of those the Lord is going to send to me, so that I am ready to minister to them when they come." So it's a time of activation. Don't do it on your own.

But let's measure, let's evaluate: how much of what we are busy with is kingdom? How much of it has eternal value? Who of you is willing to take the time over this weekend to evaluate where you are at and what is necessary? So many of you have accountability groups – if you have one, then make yourself accountable and say you're going to take stock this weekend about where you are at and what we are busy with. And then let's encourage each other.

I really want to encourage you, on a weekly basis, to have an expectation that we say to each other, "How are we practically living Christ?" Let's not complicate this thing. Let's take care of people. Let's sow into people's lives. Let's take care of each other. We pray. We bring food. We just show up. We pray together. We get one or two people together. We have an intercession group. Whatever it is, let's make this practical. Let's just take care of people. That is the manifestation of the body of Christ. Don't cling onto your finances. It's really something I've seen over the years – people struggle so much to let go. Just find somebody and sow into their life. Make a difference. The Lord will show you who it is. Be specific, and be guided by His prompting.

We thank You, Father, for this opportunity to come together and to hold each other accountable again, to acknowledge this mighty gift of the Holy Spirit that You've poured out, and that we can celebrate over this weekend. This mighty gift of Your Spirit, Father, is here for Your agenda, Your purpose and Your kingdom.

Thank You, Father, that we can embrace Your Spirit and allow Your Spirit to change our hearts. We received Your Spirit through the love that You have for us. Because of Your love, Your Spirit was poured out in our hearts. Let us embrace that, and we pray, Father, that You continue to strengthen us through Your Spirit, through Your Word, and through one another. Let us be able to take care of each other, physically take care of each other, and really show that we care. Make a difference.

Let's not complicate what You have given us. Thank You, Father, that we can celebrate the ability of the Holy Spirit in us and through us to establish Your kingdom. We pray, Father, that You guide us in this time we have spent over this weekend, to take a snapshot and to regroup and see what we are busy with, what we need to get rid of, and how we implement what is necessary in our lives, and just have an expectation. Every day, Father, I'm praying this as a corporate prayer.

I'm praying this on behalf of everybody whose hearts represent that: Father, I'm saying send us someone every day. Send us someone, Father. Send us someone that is desperate, that is crying out, that is broken, that needs help. Send us someone that we can touch with Your love, Your kingdom, Your presence, Your ability, so that You can be real. Thank You, Father, that there is no solution outside of You to our environment, to our families, to our marriages, to our health, to this country.

Thank You, Father, that Your presence is made known, and where You are present, Father, lives change. Thank You that You have chosen us, that we can be vessels, even in this earthen vessel that is fragile, Father, that we can contain the ability of the Almighty God, for whom everything is possible. We worship You, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

We're going to continue with worship, but we are going to be here afterwards. I really want to encourage you not to disappear if you have questions or a burning desire on your heart, or just want to know about the things I've spoken about. You just want to know how to get going, how to be activated, or you just need help.

Just come and speak to us if you have questions about praying in tongues. There are a few people here who can pray with you to pray in tongues, or whatever it is. This is family. This is authentic. This is sincere. This is where we help each other. Even if you need financial assistance – and I plead guilty, I was meant to send it on the group today – if somebody needed financial assistance to get here tonight, so even if it's just about your finances to get here, or finances in general, come and speak to me.

We are really here to help. We still have a bank account that is open under the nonprofit company, Alethinos, and somehow people are still sowing into that bank account, and that bank account is only used for one thing, and that is for people. There is no salaries, no expenses, nothing that goes through that account other than for people that are in need. So I want to tell you, there are finances, and there are people willing to help. So if you are that one who is struggling and you need help, don't go home in your same desperate situation.

What we have – and I speak for myself – what we have belongs to Christ and belongs to the body, and there should be none of us that lack. That is what we read: they sold everything, and that's in the context of when somebody needed something, and they needed to sell something, they did it to take care of somebody. So let's live that out practically.

After worship, please don't disappear. There will still be coffee and rusks downstairs. You can go and have coffee there, or just come up here and speak to anybody around, and receive that which God wants to touch you with tonight.