Pursuing Reality

It's amazing to see all of you here. Congratulations on being here. The Lord has an appointment with you tonight, and I trust you are ready to receive everything that He has in store for you. Just open your heart and embrace Him. As we were worshipping, I just realised that it's all about Him. It's all about Him. It's the reason for your existence.

It's the reason we are here, and that is what we will continue to do: just to worship Him, to worship Him and to acknowledge that He's God. He is God. That means something. He's not a man. He is God. It's an amazing opportunity that we have to know Him, to get to know Him even more, to experience that intimacy. And I'm always amazed at how the Holy Spirit ministers.

If you're really sensitive in the Spirit, I would guess you'll probably already be able to identify five opportunities where the Holy Spirit has ministered to you – even just on your way here, arriving, interacting, just being here, just worshipping. As we were worshipping this song, it says He gives light and shows me the sun. It says, You give hope, shows me the picture of Jesus. It says, You restore every broken heart, shows me everyone here. The Holy Spirit is ministering to you. Just allow Him.

The amazing thing is that the experience here tonight is not a generic experience. It's not like there's one thing happening and you have to fit into that box. God knows your heart – right where you are now, the innermost desires that you have, the place where you are at, the victories you are experiencing, the challenges you are experiencing. Everything is specific to you. God knows what is going on in your heart. And whatever happens tonight, the opportunity is there for you to embrace the restoration, the healing, the victory, the upliftment, the motivation.

Whatever it is that you require for life, it is in Jesus, and it is present here tonight. The Word says to us, do not neglect the coming together like this. There is something in it. There is a corporate anointing. There is an opportunity that gets unlocked. There is the solution that you require for life right now.

There is no other solution. There is not a plan B. Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Saviour – He is the answer to life. He is the answer to godliness. He is the answer to eternal life. He is the way to the Father. He is the truth. He is the life. He is our King. He is our Lord. He is our God. He is our reason for existence. He is the head of this body. Take a deep breath and acknowledge that there is nothing more in life that you require than Jesus Christ, your Lord, your Saviour, your King, your God, your head.

In Him we live, we move, we have our being; our ability, our existence, our substance is of Him and through Him.

We thank You, Father, for this amazing opportunity to come together tonight like this. We come expectant, Father, of that which only You can do. We come with an open heart. We come with an open mind. We are ready to receive, Father. We are ready to be activated, stirred, equipped for the work of the ministry to do what You have called us to do. Thank You for every person present here, and every person that will listen to this message. Thank You, Father, that You minister to them personally, individually, intimately right now.

Let them receive from only You. Let them hear Your voice. Let them be touched by Your Spirit. Activate the Word and give life to the Word through Your Spirit in them. Let them hear Your Word. Let faith come to them as they hear Your Word. Let them respond to it. We worship You, Father. We worship You now and for eternity. Thank You for this opportunity to take care of one another. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

You can grab a seat. This is an amazing setting. It's impossible to be in this venue, impossible to have this view, and not know that God is real.

When you come onto this premises, you already experience the presence of God. I recently spoke to somebody who isn't even aware of the spiritual aspect of this farm, and they just came here and said, "There's just something different." There's something they experience here that they don't experience anywhere else. It's not about the physical thing; it's about the spiritual presence. But I'll get to that just now.

I see there are a few new people here, so can I ask in advance for forgiveness? The rest of you, I have some credit with already over the years, but for those of you who are new – if I share everything I have in my heart tonight, we're going to need at least five hours. Is that okay? Can we hit the road running? I have so much in my heart, and I'm trusting the Lord that I can step aside and that He can speak to you intimately, personally, directly.

But there are a few things I really have in my heart that are probably a bit bold. I cannot shape a message based on what I think people will experience from it. I just need to be true to what the Lord says, and I expect every one of you is at a place where you can hear and receive. So my first question would be: who of you is willing to change? Can I see? Okay.

That was maybe the easier part. Who of you is willing to change tonight? Okay. Because if you didn't raise your hand – maybe you still agreed, but you didn't raise your hand – but if you are not willing to change, you are wasting your time being here, because when we come into the presence of the Lord, when we have an encounter with the Lord, it is impossible to leave unchanged.

But what I have realised, and I've said this so many times before, is that God is a gentleman. He does not force anything on you. Everything that God gives you is an opportunity. He presents an opportunity, and so many people – and I must admit, sometimes I get frustrated when I speak to somebody and say the same thing for the fiftieth time, and they've made the same mistake for the fiftieth time – for the simple reason that they are not willing to change.

It doesn't help to expect an encounter with God tonight if you are not willing to say, "Maybe there is something in the way that I think that must change." The victory is in our minds. You need to align your mind. We need to have the mind of Christ. None of us are in the fullness of Christ yet, not individually or combined. That means we are growing towards something. It's impossible to say that a tree is growing and for ten years it remains exactly the same length, carrying exactly the same amount of fruit. If those olive trees out there remained exactly the same length, and each tree only carried three olives, they would get ripped out and replaced with a tree that is willing to grow and willing to produce fruit.

We are not here firstly for ourselves. We are here for God. And the upside, the positive side, is that there is not one of you here tonight who hasn't been destined by God to be here in a time such as this. You have a purpose. You have a purpose on Earth. You have a purpose right now, right here. Maybe you're not walking in it yet. Maybe you don't even believe it yet, and that is part of the expectation tonight: to say, "Lord, here I am. Change me. I am willing to change. What is there in my life that I need to change?" Because I can tell you emphatically, there is at least one thing in your life that needs to change, without a doubt. Are we willing to change it?

God presents us with the opportunity. Even in the Old Testament, God says, I put in front of you life and death. If I can paraphrase, He says, "But please, please, please, please choose life." God is saying to you tonight, "Please, please, please, please choose life." It's a choice. Life is a choice.

There's a big picture in terms of where we're at and where we are going, and then there is the daily execution. I want to touch on both tonight, because sometimes it's great to know the big picture out there – the Kingdom of God and Jesus and everything – but your daily reality of what you experience, what you are challenged with and what you struggle to overcome, is still a reality.

Even with this farm: when the Lord gave the owner of this farm a vision, there was a specific vision, a specific purpose. But she could walk around the rest of her life telling everybody about the vision and do nothing about it. It would mean nothing. It could be the greatest vision in the world, and it would still mean nothing. There's a big picture, but there is still a daily reality of executing, of responding. It's like being in the military: there's a strategic plan to win the battle, but when you are in the trenches, you've got one task that you must go and do, and you cannot then spend all your time on the strategic plan and the vision. You must just do the thing you have been sent to do.

So we need both. We need to spend that time in the presence of the Lord, where we lose ourselves and just see Him – His intention, His heart, His purpose, His vision, His compassion, His urgency for this Earth. We need that vision, because it gives us hope. Without hope, you will not have faith. Without hope, you will not have love. You need that hope to say, "What am I doing here?"

Maybe some of you are sitting here tonight wondering, "What am I doing on this Earth? Everything I've tried up to now has failed." You have a purpose. Don't believe the lies of Satan. You are unique, you are specific, you are precious, and you are significant in the Kingdom of God. There's a reason you are here. So we need to combine that: when you spend that time and the Lord gives you conviction and shows you something, you still need to get to the place where, on a daily basis, you physically live and activate – in the trenches, practically doing what God has shown you.

The third component, besides having the picture and having the ability to execute the step that God tells you to do today, is what we are doing here: taking care of one another. The great thing is that we are not meant to do on our own what God has sent you to do. We are here to take care of one another, because the important thing is that you do not give up. That is what Paul boasted in at the end of his lifetime. Anything he could have boasted in, the thing he boasted in was simply, "I completed the race."

I can tell you tonight, the Body of Christ cannot afford that you do not complete your race, and here comes your responsibility towards that. Do we, every day, feel on top of the world? No. Do we, every day, feel like we want to do what God has sent us to do? No. I speak from personal experience. There are some days when it is so challenging to do what God has sent me to do that if I did not have the right people around me to take my hands, I would have given up long ago. And it's the same for you.

Whatever you have been sent to do is worthwhile, it is significant. And anything that is worthwhile, Satan will come and challenge. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that, especially in the last few months, you have been challenged big time. But don't misunderstand me – I'm not going to give Satan any credit. I'm not going to focus on that stuff. We focus on the solution. We focus on the light. He who called forth light out of darkness – our solution and our focus is the light, not the darkness. But all I'm saying is: it's okay if you are challenged. It's okay if some days you feel a bit despondent. It's okay if you don't feel on top of the world every day. But we cannot remain there, and we can never end up giving up. We need to have a strategy, we need to have things in place, and part of that is the people around you, to ensure that you never give up.

We talk about change. One of the things about the Western world, the environment most of us function in, is that we've come to a place where we don't let anybody tell us what to do. We decide. We're in charge of our lives, and we function from that place. It has the effect of putting us in the dangerous position of no longer being open to listen to the people around us.

You raised your hand earlier tonight – at least I'm not going to point at anybody, so I have grace to say this – there are many of you who raised your hands tonight who are not willing to change, although you said you are. So I'm confronting you tonight to say: change. Change that attitude. Change the attitude of thinking you have all the answers. Change the attitude of thinking you don't need people around you. It is a lie from Satan. You need the people around you to complete what God has sent you for, and it's significant that you complete that.

If we need to measure in terms of the plan – and I don't want to go into detail, most of you have watched the Purpose Series; if you haven't, find out from somebody and watch it – there's a plan that God has for this Earth. When He created it, God wanted to duplicate Himself in the Earth. He wanted to fill the Earth, but not fill the Earth with sin, because sin is not from God. That was not His intention. When He said, "Fill the earth, be fruitful and fill the earth," He was talking about something that represents Him, something that speaks of His fullness, His ability, His love, His grace, His favour, His light. He said, "Fill the Earth with that." But things went wrong. Satan played a role, and the flesh played a role, and Adam and Eve messed up – and any of us would have messed up as well. It doesn't help to blame them. But the reality is, things went wrong.

Then it says He sent Jesus, and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came, and He was the Lamb that was slaughtered to make it possible – the only sacrifice that could be sufficient to pay for all the sins of every single person on this Earth. He made it possible. To receive salvation is amazing. To receive eternal life is amazing. But it doesn't stop there. God's plan for you on this Earth is still to fulfil what His initial idea was.

So there's the plan, and there's the execution. If you are in business, you know that with any plan you have, you continuously – sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly, sometimes yearly – take the plan and measure the actual status against it. If you have a budget, there comes a point where you compare actuals against budget; otherwise, it doesn't help to have a budget.

So if we take a snapshot and measure what was God's plan for this Earth against where we're at, it's not a pretty picture. But it's also not a surprise, because the Bible says gross darkness will cover the Earth. If you look at 2 Timothy 3:1-7, it says:

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

2 Timothy 3:1-7 (NKJV)

"And for such people turn away. For of this sort are those who creep…" Okay, I don't want to read the rest. So this is not a surprise – there are many verses we can look at. But that doesn't mean we are not the solution. Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. These are the outflows, the results of the impact that Satan had in this earth. But we are here to destroy that. So there's a responsibility that we have. And, as you know by now, I've spoken about this many times: there are two worlds that we function in.

We function in the spiritual world and we function in the physical world. If you become born again, if you receive the life of Christ – 2 Corinthians 5, you are a new creation. Those that are in Christ is a new creation. You receive that new life form, and you function from that place. It says that if you are in Christ, you function from Heaven. You are then just visiting this earth, as Peter describes it – you just stay in a tent. This body is just a tent.

At some stage you're going to pack this up and move on to the real dwelling place. This is a temporary dwelling place. But while we are in this earth, we have a responsibility.

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:24 (NKJV)

Spirit is life, truth, reality, Latinus. We must worship God in reality. Now I'm going to challenge you again: when we say we are willing to change, when we take this plan that God has, we take our reality.

Now, forget for the moment about what the earth looks like, what the world looks like – that verse already described what we can expect in terms of what's going on in the world. But if we step back from the focus on that, and if you measure where you are at in terms of the plan God has given you, what are the implications? What is the willingness for you? My definition of faith is that it is not wishful thinking.

It is not hoping that God will come and do something. Faith is knowing what reality looks like and acting according to that reality. But here's the challenge: do you know what reality looks like? I am increasingly confronted by the fact that we try to understand reality based on our experience and based on our own results.

God is not dependent on what you know of Him or don't know of Him, or believe or don't believe. He is who He is. He is the I Am. What you believe or don't believe, know or don't know, is not going to change anything about that. His reality, the spiritual realm that He functions from, says God is a Spirit. If you want to worship Him, you worship Him in spirit, on His terms.

You worship Him in truth, on His reality. So there is that expectation, that continuous process we're busy with, to say, "Let me look away from the things of the earth. Let me look away from my understanding, my experience, my challenges." If you continue to measure God by what you physically experience, you're going to have a problem, because we are progressively going through stages.

We are going through dispensations. We are growing towards something, coming to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, but it's based on the knowledge that we have of Him. So we're not at that place yet. And I'm not even talking about the fact that He is God and we are human beings. Yes, you are a new creation and you have His image and His likeness inside of you. You have His life, His ability, His Word, His Spirit – but you are not God.

So we are not in a position to try to determine what reality looks like based on our experience, our understanding, and even our intellectual ability. Even if you're the most intelligent person on this earth, you cannot measure the reality of God. You will get stuck right at point number one: where does God come from? Right there, you're dead in the water. Your intellect will not be able to solve that. So we need to get to the point where we at least acknowledge that He's God, and then acknowledge that it's about Him, and that there is a reality.

Now we need to accept the responsibility to get to know that reality. So if we want to measure, what do we have access to, to measure with? We have the Word of God and we have the Spirit of God. But I have a responsibility. Hear my heart on this: if I just stand up every day and say, "God, why is that thing not looking the way it should look? Why am I still having that challenge?"

And that's what I spend all my time on every day – measuring my experience and questioning God about that experience – I'm going nowhere. If instead I spend my time asking, "What does reality look like?" and more and more understand that reality, I wonder – if you went to heaven tonight and God showed you His reality, His set of rules, His ability, His way of functioning, and you saw all that and came back tomorrow, would your life look different?

Who of you thinks your life would look different? Many of us do not do things because His reality is not real enough to us. We measure with something that is limited – my understanding, my experience, my exposure – and I say, "If, with what I know, I measure, then I need to come to some sort of answer."

And typically that answer is trying to question God. We have a responsibility, and that responsibility is firstly, in this context, to get to know reality. How will we worship God? He says He's looking for true worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. How will we worship Him in truth if we don't know what truth looks like? I think the majority of things we blame God for actually come from Satan, but we accuse God, blame Him and question Him.

Meanwhile, Satan is having the time of his life. We need to understand: the moment you have been born again, and you have the life of Christ in you and you are in Him, you function according to a different set of rules. You function from within Heaven, from where you look upon things. You have this new life form inside of you, this new ability inside of you. But now we need to learn – we function in both the spiritual and the physical.

The same way I said we have this plan and then the daily execution – now you have the spiritual life form, but you consist of three things. You are spirit, you have a soul, and you stay in a body. The fact that you have become born again, that you have the life of God inside of you, doesn't mean your thinking changes. Being born again happens in your spirit. What needs to happen after that is that you now need to change your mindset – your soul, your mind, your will, your emotions – based on the reality you have moved into.

That is why it says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do you get transformed? The spiritual transformation has already taken place. Now this transformation needs to take place where you look at that reality. It says the Word of God is a mirror. So if we want to know what reality looks like, if I want to know who I am – most of you probably know that one of the biggest challenges in schools with children is two things: identity and purpose.

The major challenge that schools have with children, wherever you go, is their identity and their purpose. Isn't it amazing that, for us too, that is by default where we start with somebody – their identity and their purpose. So the solution to change lives is simple in that sense, but we need to come to the point where we know that reality.

And please bear with me here – I'm not talking tonight about dead works. I'm not saying everything is dependent on you, on what you need to do. Though I will touch on it now: how much is Him and how much is me? Because we get to the point where I see the picture, I see how wonderful Jesus is, but I can never live up to that expectation and standard. That's not where we want to be. Bear that in mind in the context of what I'll be talking about.

But you live in a physical world, and you need to transform. I said to somebody earlier tonight: you cannot give what you do not have. If you want to share the Gospel, you need to know the Gospel. If you want to talk about reality, you need to know reality. I cannot come to somebody and represent God – the Bible says we are ambassadors.

So you represent something, and more and more we are transformed into His image, into His fullness more and more. So I need to more and more reflect Him. I cannot come to somebody and share only that which I have experienced success in my life with.

I would not be faithful. It's not dependent on what I have been successful in. Reality is reality – whether I have functioned in it yet or not, whether I'm successful in it or not, whether I understand it or know it, whatever – that's not the measurement. So when we talk about measurement, remember I'm talking about this big picture, and it's relevant to you as an individual. What has God called you for?

Where are you at, and how do you measure that? You measure it according to the Word and according to the Spirit. And when you're at that place, the measurement cannot be the physical and intellectual understanding that you have at the moment. The measurement needs to be the Word of God. And how can the measurement be the Word of God if we do not spend time in the Word of God? Now, I'm not into religion, I'm not into condemnation, none of that. I'm with you – like you, I am on a journey with the Lord.

I'm on a journey with the Holy Spirit. Obviously, I don't even have to say that I don't have all the answers. I don't get everything right that I'm meant to get right. But I'm on a journey, and I'm fulfilling my purpose, and you are fulfilling your purpose. But jointly, we are building one another to gradually more and more represent Him and look like Him in this earth, so that people can look at us and say, "Truly there is a God. I want what you have." Somebody said to me yesterday about that.

I'm not going to be able to recall who said it, but the person said, paraphrasing now, "I share the Gospel, and if necessary, I use words." But that's the reality. We need to help one another. And this is the thing I'm saying to you: are we willing to change? Are we willing to maybe switch off the television and spend more time in the Word, so that I can see reality and get a conviction of reality?

Am I willing to spend enough time with the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit gives life. Remember, the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. I've shared many times with you – it depends what word is in our spirit that the Holy Spirit can work with. I give Him a sword, or I give Him a little pocket knife, because that's the only word I have in my spirit. The Holy Spirit works with the word that is inside of me. Now, if I give Him a pocket knife, I should not blame Him for what He is able to do through me.

I need to take up that responsibility. I'm showing you the reality, the guidelines, the practicalities of how we execute that. I'll say to you again, it's the old thing we always use about gravity: it doesn't matter whether you understand gravity or not, it's either going to work for you or against you, depending on how you use it. It's the same with the reality of God and the principles of the Word of God. I can ignore it, but it's going to either work for me or against me.

There's not a default. Yes, it says everything works together for good for those that love God, but there's a lot embedded in that. That's not a generic statement to say I can do whatever I want and it's going to be okay. It's not – that's a lie. It doesn't work that way. Yes, there's grace. Not for one moment am I saying you need to do everything right to experience the presence, the grace and the favour of God. By no means – that would defy the whole purpose of what Jesus came to do.

It says we have received the gift of righteousness. We cannot live good enough to become righteous. It's a nature that we receive, and it's a gift. But then after that – I've previously described it as being, knowing and doing. So there's a point where you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, and you become born again. That's the being part.

“Those that are in Christ is a new creation.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

Then there is the knowing part. If you are going to do something – like I've explained many times – two people can say exactly the same word; in the one it will bring life, in the other it will bring death, depending on what you put inside of that word, what's behind it. So you cannot just do. That is why there's no life in religion. There are a few verses that speak about that – it says, "You make the Word of God of no effect because of your traditions."

There's no life in religion – a set of man-made rules that say, "This is what you must do, this is how you must live," and all of that. There's no life in that. The life is in the Spirit. Our ability to function from that place, where we can bring life forth, is where we need to be.

I need to go back to where I want to go, otherwise I'm going to deviate. So, the being, the knowing and the doing. You first need to have that life inside of you – you can't give what you do not have. Then the knowing part is the knowledge, the plan, understanding the Word of God and coming to that knowledge. There are so many verses about how we manifest the fullness of Christ – it's coming to the knowledge.

You need to come to the knowledge of the fullness of Christ to be able to manifest it. So that's an active process we need to be involved in. And only then is the doing part, when you go out and are able to actually bring life.

So there's a decision.

“And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Ephesians 4:24 (NKJV)

There's a critical component we need to understand. When you have become born again, inside of you – you're a spirit man, you are a new creation, you have the life, the ability and the form of God inside of you. But that does not manifest automatically. That does not mean that every decision you make, you make from the spirit, from a place of life. That is why it's a continuous process for every one of us: do you live from the spirit man, from reality, or do you live from the physical man, from the corruption of this earth?

We are still in both. We have not been taken out of this earth. So there is an active process that says, "Put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:24, in the Passion Translation, puts it quite nicely too.

“And to be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ within, as your new life, and live in union with Him. For God has recreated you all over again in His perfect righteousness, and you now belong to Him in the realm of true holiness.”

Ephesians 4:24 (TPT)

Embrace the glorious Christ within. There is a process. The fact that you became born again was only the beginning – it was not the end. That doesn't give you the ability to necessarily not function in the flesh every day. So that's why I say to you, once we get to the point where we understand where we are going, what we need to do, and that every one of us is necessary.

And if we need to measure now, it's inevitable that we come back to this question: how much is Him and how much is me? How much did He do that is enough, and how much must I do? And does that mean what He did was not enough if I need to also do? So there are a few things we need to understand. I touched on it earlier: God is who He is, and He's complete and He's sufficient. We can add nothing to that, because we can't even fully understand it.

What Jesus did was the complete price. It was the complete price. It was the full price. You can add nothing to what Jesus did. You need to understand that, because in terms of where you position yourself in Christ, your nature, your ability, it is important to understand that the price that Jesus paid is the complete price. That is why everything you receive because of that is grace, is favour, is a gift. Your nature of righteousness is a gift.

It is by grace that it can be of faith to receive salvation. So you need to use your faith to receive salvation, but before faith is grace. So position yourself there to understand you cannot add to what Christ did. The price is sufficient. You do not do what you do on this earth, you do not journey in your purpose, to add to what Christ did in terms of your position with the Father.

Your position with the Father is determined by what Jesus did. Did you hear me? Amen. Because Satan uses this as a barrier. It says, let us come with boldness to the throne of grace and mercy, that we may receive grace and mercy. You come with boldness – why? Because Jesus paid the complete price. You do not come to the Father and say, “Oh, you know what, I was not able to live up to Your expectations yesterday, so now I'm shy to come to the Father, now I don't have boldness to come to the Father.” What Christ did to position you with the Father, you can add nothing to it.

What we need to do on the earth now is to continue the instruction we received from Jesus. We continue with the work that Jesus started. He brought salvation, and now what is our function on this earth? We need to continue with that. We need to win souls and baptise people when they become born again. If you have not been baptised – and I'm not talking from a religious perspective, I'm not talking of sprinkling water on your head, I'm talking about baptism. Baptism is when you decide, you yourself decide, and then it happens. Chat to somebody afterwards; it's important that that happens.

So we win souls, we baptise them. Then we need to equip them. Ephesians 4 says He gave evangelists, He gave apostles, He gave pastors, He gave teachers for the perfecting of the saints. That word katartismos actually means, like in those days when they went out on a ship – you don't just put equipment on the ship. Most translations use the word equipping of the saints, but the proper rendering is actually the perfecting of the saints, or in common words, you put on everything that is required.

So if you go out with that ship, you have a checklist: what is necessary for me to survive a storm, to do whatever challenges, to catch fish, to have fresh water, to have food. You equip, you perfect, you put everything on the ship that is enough and sufficient for it to fulfil its purpose. So the equipping is not, “I give you a little something, and it's like this sideshow.” No, it's the real thing. It is what you require to be able to fulfil your purpose. Everything that you require.

So that equipping is the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, and that's why you have all those different offices. So we win souls, we baptise them, we equip them – that's the discipling process.

One of the biggest challenges I have experienced with Christians is that when Satan has lost his number one battle, he goes for the number two battle. The number one battle – the moment somebody becomes born again, he has lost that battle. The number two is to just pacify that Christian: as long as you are born again but you just don't impact the Kingdom of God, he will focus on that. He will get people into a place with things that are seemingly good. He will get people to focus – and hear me on this – on how they can improve themselves for the rest of their life. And we think it's great that I focus on how I can improve myself.

But you know what? The amazing thing for me – when my life changed about twelve years ago, the amazing thing I realised the day I became born again, that same day, I had the ability to lead somebody else to Christ. I needed nothing else. So don't fall into the trap. Now remember, there's a reason for every component. How will I know what reality looks like if I don't spend time in the Word? How will I give life to that reality if I don't have an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit? So I'm not downplaying that at all; it is critical.

But when it comes to effectiveness in the Body of Christ, we need to be moving, we need to be doing, we need to be doing something, we need to impact the things we've been called for. The great commission we received from Jesus: He said, go and make disciples, baptising, healing, raising from the dead, cleansing, purifying. Make a difference in somebody's life.

And I'm saying this respectfully – some of the new people might ask where I position all of this. But if I have to choose between sitting at home and reading the Bible and going out and leading somebody to Christ, for me it's an easy decision. Now I'm not saying you have to choose; both are important. But what I am saying is Satan can keep you busy in your inner room for the rest of your life, and we are not making a difference on this earth.

So what have we been called for? We win souls, we baptise them, we equip them. And then, importantly, with that, we journey with them. The amazing thing is you are not on this journey on your own. If you are, there is something wrong – it's a decision you made, and you need to change that decision. We speak about things that you are willing to change in your life, and that's one of them: you need to change that. You cannot function on your own.

So we don't just get people born again and leave them. We get them born again, and this process repeats itself: you get somebody born again, you perfect them, equip them, you give them everything they need. And even from day one, they can lead people to Christ, so there's not much they need to know. They don't need to go and study for many years. They don't need to go to Bible school immediately. All of that is good, and they can go and do that, but don't let that pacify people. So you start actively discipling people, and then you support them, and all the tools available for us are there. So there's a big picture.

But if we need to measure where we are at – we cannot position ourselves, and I say this very respectfully, where the majority of my Christianity is about how do I sort out my own life. Because Satan will keep you busy sorting out your own life until the day just before Jesus comes. That's not what we've been called for.

Now I want to quickly share about the fact that we are being tested continuously, and how do you respond to that? There's a way we need to deal with the fact that we are challenged, that we are tested, and what we are meant to bring out of it. We are mostly challenged by things we experience that are inconsistent with the Word of God.

Because you have an expectation, you have read the Word, you see realities in the Word of God, and then you experience things that don't look that way. That is one of the major challenges we experience. The question is, coming back to reality: do we know what reality looks like? Because if I experience something in my life, would I know that it's consistent with reality or not?

If I don't know what reality looks like – and that's what religion did to many of us. We didn't know better because we didn't know reality, and there was this person between us and God. We didn't have a relationship. We didn't have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We couldn't test the truth. The Bible says test things. We need to challenge things. We need to test things, and through that process we come to this place of knowledge, we come to the place of truth.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 Peter 1:3-5 (NKJV)

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1:6-7 (NKJV)

There is something that the testing of your faith produces that has everlasting results. When it speaks about faith, hope and love, it talks about the next dispensation. We will require faith, hope and love. Why will we require faith in the next dispensation? There is something in this process of growth, of spiritual growth we are growing towards, that is significant in the dispensation to come.

Everything is not just about whether we can produce results. The bar is set high, make no mistake, because Jesus came from heaven and He determined where the bar is set. So for us to grow into that, to mature spiritually, means there is a bar that is set high. But remember, we are talking about two different things. To receive salvation, the bar is flat on the floor. To receive salvation is simple: you believe and you speak that Jesus is your Lord.

That's it. It cannot be more simple than that. But when it starts coming to the manifestation of His righteousness, of His ability, of His glory, of His presence on this earth, the bar is raised, and the more you grow, the more spiritually mature you become, the more the bar is raised. Why? Because God is raising up sons of God. He's raising up a body that comes to a maturity without spot and without blemish. That means there are some things that will just not be acceptable to us.

There's an expectation, and remember, we are distinguishing between righteousness, which is my nature, and living in holiness. There's an expectation that my righteous nature, my knowledge, my relationship, my ability through the Word and the Spirit, positions me where I can live holy. And that's where God wants to take us. We are on a journey, so that means we need to be challenged, to be purified, to see the genuineness of my faith, of my ability, of my knowledge, of my understanding of reality, so that I can manifest that reality in my environment.

Not everything that challenges you is bad, is negative. And that's why when you are at that place, you can start talking about how those things will work together for your good. It says that the genuineness of your faith – remember my definition of faith: your understanding of reality and acting accordingly.

Hear me very well on this. We are not measuring your expectation to say, “God, You're a good God, please come and do something about this.” This is not what we are measuring. We are measuring: do I know what reality looks like? Truth. Do I know what that looks like, and am I able to respond according to that truth? And yes, we know what that truth looks like. We know that the Bible says to us everything that is included in the price that Jesus paid, everything that's included in that word salvation – the comprehensiveness of that, whether you like it or want to have a discussion about it or not – the reality is it includes divine health, it includes prosperity, it includes the ability to overcome.

It says whatever is born of God overcomes this world. I'm not talking about wishful thinking. I'm not talking about things I like or don't like, whatever. I'm talking about the reality, God's reality. So when we respond, is my response based on what reality is? That is what is testing the genuineness of my faith. But it produces something. It says it's much more precious than gold, because even gold is tested by fire. It says it's testing your faith so that it may be found to praise, honour and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

James 1:2-3 (NKJV)

So there, we need to value something like patience. Our ability to interact with God, our ability to hear His voice or not hear it, and be able to just continue until God says, “Yes, you can now do it,” or, “No, don't do it.”

We sing that song, if You say yes, if You say no – what is my response? Am I able to hear God's voice when He says yes? Am I able to hear when He says no? And what do I do when He says no? Am I really willing to let go when He says no? This produces something. It's not – and I'm sure you're hearing my heart – it's not about just living right and doing good and everything in my life being perfect and me not making mistakes. It's not about that. It's about this continuous interaction with the Holy Spirit, a relationship that produces something in me and through me, and that continues to grow.

So sometimes I will be tested and sometimes I fail. But then I need to learn from it, and I need to have the people around me, to have the transparency to say, “I failed this test, but you know what? I have a conviction I'm not going to fail it again, and you are going to help me, and I make myself accountable.” And then I aim to overcome that. If you look at your life six months back and you look at your life now, are you still at the same place? Because then something is wrong. We usually say we are willing to change, but are we really willing to change? And one of those things is being set in your own ways, not willing to listen to people around you, not able to take that input.

“…that patience may have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

James 1:4 (NKJV)

You will lack nothing. In the context of what has value, in the context of what has eternal value, in the context against which we are measured, we will lack nothing. But this is a different way of looking at these things.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

James 1:5-8 (NKJV)

The word receive – often the Greek word used is lambano, or even katalambano. And that word lambano is not a passive receive. It is not something that comes, or somebody comes and puts something on your lap and you have received it. Katalambano or lambano, in most cases where it's used – there are different forms – but in most cases it is an aggressive laying hold of, taking possession of. So we need to understand there are things I need to take possession of, the things which are mine, the things that have been given to me in Christ. The more I understand that knowledge, the more I understand reality, the more I function within that.

I need to lay hold of it. I need to manifest it. And again, that comes to this place of acting according to the reality. So it doesn't matter if I've tried it ten thousand times. Somebody said yesterday about Todd White, that he prayed for like three thousand people or whatever before the first person got healed. Are you willing to do that? Or do you try the first one and say, “Ah, you know what, maybe this is not for everybody, maybe it's not included in what Christ paid for,” whatever. Now he's healed millions.

And you will understand if I say he is an instrument in the Lord's hands. We cannot just say, “Well, you know, I've tried once or twice.” It is this continuous process of being able to persist and function from that place. And if I'm challenged, how many times is enough? Jesus paid the price so that every single person on this earth should receive salvation. And salvation is a comprehensive word. It's not just eternal life – it's two different things.

I quickly want to jump to the last verse I'll share, in 2 Peter 1:5-15. I want to share one or two things about that in terms of how we deal with these things, because I'm trying to get to this point where I want to say to you: I understand that you are experiencing challenges. How do you deal with it? What do you take from it? But how do you ensure that you remain standing and you fulfil what God has called you for?

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 1:5-8 (NKJV)

That's a mouthful. But I want to start with the end and bring that back, to say there's a big picture, there's a goal, there's something that we're aiming towards.

Remember, even from Ephesians 4, where it speaks of coming to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ – but how do we get there? Through the knowledge, the unity of the faith and the knowledge of Christ. So there is something we need to gain in terms of knowledge, to position us there, to understand what it looks like where we are going. But it is a continuous process; it runs together. We continue to gain more knowledge and understanding of where we are going, and at the same time, as I grow in the knowledge of who Christ is, I increase in the knowledge of His ability, and the more I increase in the ability to manifest more of that.

Both happen simultaneously. But it ends with this: you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are the things we are talking about in the trenches: what are the things we require, what are the things we need to do? It speaks about it very practically. It says, "Giving all diligence." I'm quickly going to run through what that Greek word actually means, highlighting one or two words from every sentence.

Diligence is haste, speed, eagerness, a sense of urgency. Do we have a sense of urgency? There are people going to hell every single day. There's a sense of urgency about it – Jesus said He doesn't want anybody to go to hell. It says, "Giving all diligence, add." That word add, as I've already said, has two components: the receiving side, or the getting side, which is the lambano – you need to actively lay hold of these things, to take possession. But on the other hand, there is the giving side. When it says add, all of what you are reading in that verse is not just receiving. Add means receiving and giving – so look at it from both sides.

Then it says, "To your faith, virtue." That is moral excellence and purity. I've already touched on that: we should know that we are moving towards living holy, although that is not the same as our righteous nature. To virtue, add knowledge – we need to grow in knowledge, more perfect knowledge, enlarged knowledge. We have a responsibility, so it matters how much time we spend in the Word of God, how much we study it.

To knowledge, self-control – to master your physical abilities and desires, you require self-control. To self-control, perseverance, which speaks of endurance, steadfastness. I love this part of it: a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose despite severe challenges. There is no surprise that we are going to experience challenges, but can we add perseverance? A man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose despite severe challenges.

To perseverance, add godliness. That godliness speaks of reverence and holiness – reverence towards God, and holiness in terms of our living.

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

2 Timothy 4:8 (NKJV)

To godliness, add brotherly kindness – that is our love and practically taking care of brothers and sisters. And to brotherly kindness, add love – that self-sacrificing love. Now, you can go and study this at home; it is seven or eight things it mentions. But it says if you have this in your life, you will not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is amazing what the components are that this is made up of.

So I'm going to practically encourage you about one or two things. Go and study these scriptures and this message again, understanding where we are going, the fact that we will experience challenges, but the significance of being able to persevere, to continue, that our faith is tested, that we produce results that have eternal value, not just value in this earth, and the fact that we should be mobilised.

We can't just keep sharing the vision. Do we live it practically every day? Do you identify the opportunities at your work, at your sport, at your school, at university, wherever you are? Are you able, actively, every day when you wake up, to say, "Here I am, Lord. What can I do today in the Kingdom?" Something that came to my spirit in this preparation was the way that God commanded light to come out of darkness.

Do we have the ability to bring the good out of every person we come into contact with? The Bible speaks a lot about us as Christians not having the luxury to badmouth other people, to speak badly about other people, no matter what they did wrong. We do not have that luxury, and we can never find ourselves in that position. So make that your life ambition: to every person you meet, ask yourself, "How can I bring the good out of that person?"

Obviously, it starts with the ability – the way that God called light out of darkness – to start with our ability to lead somebody to Christ. Start with that, eternal life, but remember the process: then we need to disciple. If you don't know how to disciple, it's very simple – just being able, as the third step, to journey with somebody and say, "Let's study the Word together. Let's pray together." There are enough opportunities on a weekly basis wherever you are, and if you don't know of any, speak to somebody who can tie you in with one of the groups where there is prayer, where there is Bible study, whatever it may be, so that you can continue to activate others as well.

The quickest thing you need to get to is to change somebody else's life. I'm simplifying it now, but for the sake of understanding: don't focus on yourself. The focus is not how you get yourself to this level of spiritual maturity. The soonest you start making a difference in somebody else's life, the sooner you are going to grow spiritually. And then this came up in my spirit: what did Gideon's men and David's mighty men have in common? Any of you want to guess? Very simple – they showed up. It's as simple as that. Don't try to qualify yourself for what God has called you for. God doesn't send the qualified; He qualifies the sent. So if you are willing, if you are willing to be sent, if you are willing to go and make a difference, then just show up.

Just show up. Show up, make yourself available. Ask anybody – say, "How do I get involved? How do I make a difference?" There is enough opportunity for you to get involved and to make a difference. So I know it was quite a number of diverse things I spoke about, but the core of it, for me, is this: I know you are being challenged, but see it in the perspective of the big picture – where we are heading, what you have available, the tools you have available, and how we should look at this in terms of our focus, to make a difference in somebody else's life.

Can we close our eyes? Thank You, Father, for this amazing opportunity for us to come together like this and to hear Your voice. We want to acknowledge, Father, and be transparent, that we can say we are challenged in many ways, and we don't every day feel as if we are winning the battle. But thank You, Father, for perspective about who God is, His love, His favour, His ability, His completeness.

Thank You for perspective about the price that Jesus paid, the complete price. Thank You that what Jesus did was enough to give us eternal life. It was enough to position us in right standing with the Father. We do not have to add anything to that. Thank You, Father, for the opportunity to take up our responsibility, not just to talk about the vision, not just to share the desires, but to practically, physically make a difference.

Help us, Father, to have that relationship with Your Spirit, to hear Your voice clearly and respond to it. We want to pray this prayer every single day when we wake up, Father, just to say, "Here I am, Lord. What is it You want me to do today?" Let us grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us grow in the knowledge of reality, of truth. Let us grow in our ability, through Your Holy Spirit, to manifest more of You, more of You, Lord.

And thank You, Father, that You increase our desire to make a difference in the lives of those around us. Our goal is not to focus on our own lives. Help us, Father. Send us the people who are broken. Send us the people who need help, and equip us through Your Word, through Your Spirit, to be able to make a difference, that we can experience that light, that hope, that restoration, and be able to minister it.

Thank You, Jesus, that You made it possible that Your fullness can function through us, through the ability of Your Holy Spirit. And thank You, Father, I want to pray for every person here tonight. Thank You that You stir up their hope. Thank You that You encourage them, that You strengthen them. Thank You that You give them the ability to implement the required changes, to really effect change in their lives, in their mindset, in their disciplines, in their routines, in making You priority.

It is the desire of our heart, Father, that You change more lives through us. Show us the way. Strengthen us through Your Word. And thank You, Lord Jesus, that we can live by Your faith. This life that we now live, we live by Your faith, the completeness of what Your faith achieved. It's not dependent on our works, but dependent on us accessing what You have completed.

Thank You, Father, for every person here, that they will show up, make themselves accountable, and that none of us will function in isolation, that we can take care of one another. Thank You, Father, I declare tonight that not one person here will fail to fulfil their purpose. I rebuke the works of Satan.

Those weapons fashioned against them shall fall to the ground and amount to nothing. Thank You, Father, that the lies will be revealed. They will come into the light, and they will be destroyed. Not one person here will continue to believe the lies of Satan. They will see themselves for who they are and the price You paid for them. Thank You, Father, that we can complete this journey through Your ability, through Your Word, through Your Spirit, in the name of Jesus.

Amen.