Presence on Peninsula 2024 saturday Night

Summary

On Saturday night of Presence on Peninsula 2024 Pastor Matt explains how God's presence increases our capacity to big things. With a heart to challenge you to increase your faith, to be people of great faith. Faith that steps into God's presence effortlessly.

Transcipt

Very good, who's ready for the Word? I'm ready, I'm excited because I don't have to preach, I get to sit and just listen and receive. Pastor Matt Heins, Pastor Matthias is his official name, thank you very much. I've known Pastor Matt for many, many years since I was about 17 years old. Pastor Matt was one of, as a young man coming into young adults and into 18, he was my pastor and he came alongside me and he saw something, he said, Adrian, I see something on your life and we used to catch up and go for drives in the car and go to Bunnings or whatever was happening because you were just starting on staff and you were like, you were my pastor and so we'd have these chats and he'd encourage me and then Pastor Matt was actually the first part, he was the pastor that gave me my first opportunity in ministry and he said, I want you to come on staff and he believed in me and we've had a relationship for many years. He came over to Melbourne and took over Faith Christian Church, which is one of the largest churches in Australia, became the senior pastor a few years ago, he's our state president of our movement but more important than any of that, there's all their positions but you know what I love about Matt, he loves the Lord Jesus with all his heart, he's got a servant heart. I remember we used to clean up rubbish together when we had a conference on, we'd walk outside and we'd be cleaning up the rubbish while the meetings happening and I went, that's the kind of person I want to be and I want to say thank you Matt for being an amazing example, being a man of God, serving God with Franker and you together have done a great job and you're a great preacher, man of the Holy Spirit, so why don't we give him a great hand as he comes on up to bring the word tonight.

Come on, who loves your senior pastor, Pastor Adrian and Narelle, let's give them a great hand. Thank you very much. Narelle was telling me that you were my PA, is that right? The first job? You were terrible. I can't even remember that. I just remember your ministry gifting. Wow, although I like your shoes Adrian, they're very bright. Ferrari shoes? Really? I've got no idea. They're going to make you run faster? When Narelle chases you, off you go. Katrina, I was worshipping in the Holy Ghost and I just sensed this sparkle. Amen. Well, great to be here tonight. Who's ready for the move of the Holy Spirit? Amen.

So excited to be here. I just came out of a house full of women and my daughter's getting married this year and she had a kitchen tea and I could hear my name being called. Can you make coffees? Can you do that? I said, I've got to go and preach. Went straight out the door, hallelujah. So, thank you for rescuing me. So, you know, the engagement and the kitchen tea, I'm thinking what else is there? And, you know, I'll tell you, wedding dresses, they are a rip-off. This is a whole other world. This is a whole other world. And, you know, when we ordered the dress, right, when we ordered the dress, I know this has got nothing to do with my sermon, but we'll get there, right. When we ordered the dress, the lady said to me, she goes, now, she goes, you've got to put the order in straight away because the wedding's in November and they're filling up, they're filling up the orders and so you want to make sure you just get it in just before November. So, you have to pay for express. $400 for express, right. Yeah, thank you very much. So, I'm thinking, well, you know, like the worst thing in the world is I buy the dress, it doesn't come and my daughter's going to hate me for life. So, sure enough, I pay $400 for express. It comes five days later and I go, what's going on? They go, express. They rip you off. Thank the Lord that the Holy Spirit doesn't rip us off. Amen. There's my transition. Come on, why don't you stand on your feet.

I know we're going to be, we're going to be sitting down for a little bit, but I want you to lift your hands to heaven. We're going to pray just for the touch of God today. I have to say, I was talking to your senior pastor, there's so many things that have gone on in my world in the last literally two weeks, but the moment I walked into the house of God, there was a wonderful touch of the Holy Ghost and there's something powerful about the presence of God that just puts everything else aside so that we can actually focus on him. Amen. So, why don't you just begin to lift your hands to heaven. We're going to pray.

Father God, we thank you today for your anointing and Holy Spirit, we thank you for your presence today. God, we thank you greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And Lord Jesus, we pray right now, we have our hands lifted up. God, I thank you, God, that your word is going to inspire us. God, it's going to challenge us. God, it's going to encourage us today. And Lord Jesus, we pray, come today, fill us with your presence in your wonderful name. And all God's people said, amen, amen.

Grab your seats.Turn to the person next to you and say, you look amazing tonight. Turn to the person on the other side and say, just calm down, calm down.

'The brothers were terrified when they saw that they were being taken into Joseph’s house. “It’s because of the money someone put in our sacks last time we were here,” they said. “He plans to pretend that we stole it. Then he will seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.” ' Genesis 43:18 (NLT)

Genesis chapter 43, verse 18. Genesis chapter 43, verse 18. I love the theme of your conference and that is presence on the peninsula. There is nothing like the presence of God. Nothing, you know, I didn't grow up in a Pentecostal church. I grew up in a mainline church. And it was a word church, but it was a church that didn't believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the pastor used to preach against it almost every second weekend. And as a 15-year-old kid, I'd walk into these meetings, I'd be preaching against the Holy Ghost until one day he actually got filled with the Holy Spirit. And so he gets up the next day and he says, hey, the very thing I've been preaching against was the very thing that happened to me last night. He starts speaking in tongues. The church went absolutely nuts. Half of the church were rejoicing. Half of the church were literally losing their mind. And as a 15-year-old kid, I'll never forget, looking outside of the front of the porch of the church, and there were two big elders having a punch-up over the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I have to say this, I was excited because it's the first time I've seen so much excitement in church life. Those boring mainline meetings, not the wrong mainline church, but those boring meetings, I thought, this is absolutely fantastic. And I know that growing up, just going into the ACC and just experiencing the presence of God. I remember one time getting filled with the Holy Ghost, getting baptized in the Holy Spirit. We'd been praying for about a week and then one day I just got filled with the Spirit of God and it was so significant in my life. And I know this, I know I'm speaking to the converted tonight, but we must never undervalue or underestimate what the power of the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. And I think one of the things that we can often do, especially as Pentecostals, is that we can just minimize the presence of God to some half an hour thing on a meeting on a Sunday morning. But can I say this to you today, the power of God was more evident in the apostles' lives outside of the meeting than actually in the meeting. There's something significant about when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that it actually empowers us in such a significant monumental way, that gives us the ability to literally change the world that we're in today. I remember years ago when I was building our church and the Spirit of God spoke to me and He said, I haven't called you to change the world, I've called you to change your world. And what I love about what you're doing, I mean the amount of campuses you've got now, you've got five campuses, you're about to start another one, absolutely phenomenal. And you are literally transforming this whole side of Melbourne. Listen, we need more healthy, strong, local churches that are filled with the power of God, that are filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit.And so I just absolutely love that.

'The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” ' Exodus 33:14 (NLT)

Exodus chapter 33 verse 14, Moses is crying out to God and God says to him, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. In other words, Moses knows that the journey that they are on, they need the presence of God. And it's interesting that God says to Moses, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. In other words, the job that I've asked you to do is much bigger than what your emotional capacity can handle. And we know there is stuff that Moses went through, some emotional turmoil that he went through in order to deal with the children of Israel. And what God was saying to him is that he's going to give him the rest on the inside that he needs in order to lead on the outside. You know there is something that the presence of God actually does in our lives that actually makes us punch well above our natural weight. You weren't meant to live in your comfort zone. You weren't meant to live like normal people live. The Bible says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. In other words, the salvation that God gives us, the empowerment of the Spirit of God, we have been called to run more than just a normal race.

Come on, turn the person next to you and say there's more in you. Turn the person on the other side and say there's even more in you.

God's presence just increases our capacity.

So I want to talk to you today about having faith for more of the presence of God. And I want to stir your faith today because I believe that faith and the presence of God are the two things that are linked together. Come on, who knows that the presence of God doesn't come by our works but the presence of God comes by our faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith in God doing great things. And so today I want to stir your faith for big things. I want to challenge you to increase your faith, to be people of great faith.

You know I've seen this in the world today and I've been a minister for many years that I've seen many people when they get saved they have faith that Jesus has saved them. Praise God that God has given us saving faith. Amen. But our faith needs to go beyond that. Faith for daily living. Faith to deal with the big issues in life. And you know what I love about the Word of God is you've got this angle of the Word of God that speaks about the stamina and the increase and the characters that we need to embrace in order to live a life of longevity. But then you have this other side of the Word of God that speaks about us being people of faith that we step into something that is far beyond our natural ability.

And so today I want to stir your faith for big things. Church, God has called you to live a big life. To deal with some of the big rocks. You think about David, he would have never thought that morning that he woke up that he was going to conquer Goliath. I mean no one raided him, not even his own father. And yet there was a touch of God upon his life. He didn't look at the expectation of man but he looked at the expectation of his heavenly father and he says to Goliath I'm going to come after you not in my name but in the name of the Lord the heaven of hosts. In other words David is a wonderful example of someone who just had great faith to do great things.

You know there are some Christians that I meet and they deal with big Goliaths and they go oh wise God put me in this position. And then I have other Christians that I meet they say you know what that Goliath I was made for that because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

So I want to talk to you today about increasing your faith, living with great faith. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith. We walk by faith and not by sight.

'And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. ' Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, and without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Faith is the currency of heaven and I believe that faith is the currency of a healthy Bible believing church. Come on if you believe it say amen.

But you know often as I mentioned before we often define our faith by some of the big things that we go through but I think we also define our faith by not allowing some of the little frustrations and the annoyances of life to actually rob us of the big things that God wants to do in our world. I've been amazed at believers that once were on fire for Jesus and now they have just taken the edge off their hunger for God. It hasn't been the big things that have taken them out but it's been the little frustrations throughout life that has worn down their passion, that has worn down their hunger and has worn down their expectation of what God can do in their life. You know the people that I get excited about the most are not the new Christians that come out of full on fire for God but it's the 70 and the 80 year olds that are still on fire for the things of God that haven't allowed, that haven't allowed just the discouragement of life just to rob their passion and their hunger for the things of God. So I want to give you four things that I live by in order to increase my faith and to be in a place of great faith.

I want to read to you this passage out of Genesis chapter 43 verse 18. It's got nothing to do with faith but it does highlight that when we allow the small things to rob us of the big expectation of what God can do that we completely lose our way. The Genesis 43 verse 18 it's the end of the story of Joseph. I mean kind of who loves the story of Joseph? Just the wonderful consistency of the faithfulness of God and we see that we get to the end and Joseph is now the second highest in the land and because of the dream and his ability to interpret the dream a pharaoh has now placed him in charge of all the grain and in all the storehouses and they've had seven years of abundance and now they're going through the years of famine and so Egypt are now starting to sell the grain to all the other nations and Joseph's brothers hear about this. They've run out of food and so they're going to Egypt to actually buy the grain.

The Bible says and this is probably the first time they come and they buy the grain they go back home and they find that the silver that they purchased the grain with has now been put back in their sacks because Joseph recognizes them but they don't recognize him. So they go back again, freaking out, thinking, "What's going on here?" And the Bible says that they called Joseph, calls them into his inner chamber, and we see the conversation they have amongst themselves. And this is the point: God is doing something big, but they can't see past their small issues. So we see this conversation taking place, and I would say this: now, maybe I have a different mind, but I would say this is one of the funniest passages that I've ever read in the Old Testament. Right? So Genesis chapter 43 verse 18 says this: "Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, 'We were brought here because of the silver that was put back in our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us, seize us as slaves, and take our donkeys.' He wants to take us, attack us, overpower, seize us as slaves, and take our donkeys. In other words, the second in charge in Egypt could have had the finest of horses, could have had the best of slaves, could have had anything he wanted, but he puts together this elaborate plan of bringing everyone together over multiple days, putting the silver back in the sack to draw them out again for one purpose: to take their donkeys. I mean, think about the absurdity of that thought and that statement. They were so consumed about their little donkeys that they didn't see the bigger picture of what God was doing.

The small-minded mentality of the brothers. I call it donkey mentality. We deal with a lot of donkeys in life. Come on, come on, you can let loose tonight. Loud donkeys, stubborn donkeys, ugly donkeys, annoying donkeys that we can just develop a donkey mentality with, losing sight of the big picture. Life is full of donkeys, donkey issues. I'm sure Pastor Adrian was dealing with some donkey issues this week. Maybe some of you have been the source of the donkey issues. I'm glad this is not live stream. It is, I'm gonna sound like a donkey. There, donkey-minded people, donkey problems, donkey here, donkey there, donkey, donkey everywhere. They're locked into their donkeys. They couldn't see the big picture.

If we want to be people of great faith and people of faith that step into his presence effortlessly, let me give you four ideas here when it comes to being a person of great faith. Number one, I've already said it: don't worry about the donkeys. Stop allowing your faith to be defined by the little donkeys that can be the frustrations of life. I would say this to you today: you were made for bigger things. You were anointed for more than donkeys. God had anointed that whole family. Joseph was the only one that rose to the occasion. You think about it, there was an anointing on the brothers and on Joseph. It wasn't that God had anointed one and not the other. These were the tribes of Israel. Great nations would come out of these particular brothers. They were all anointed, but it was one of them that looked past the donkeys and grabbed hold of the destiny that God had for his life.

The amount of believers that I often meet in my ministry that I think when they're dealing with stuff and they're getting so fractured and so fearful and so consumed over small things, in my head I just think, "You were made for more than this? You were made for that frustration at work. You were made for more than that painful experience that you've been going through. You were made for more than even the stuff that you're dealing with today. You were made for more." And I just think if we want to grow in our faith to be people of great faith, we just can't worry about the donkeys. I have to get my head out of donkey mentality. It's the small stuff, it's the irritating stuff.

What was the donkey mentality of the brothers? Well, there was a lot of fear. There was a lot of misunderstanding. The brothers were filled with suspicion. They were assuming the worst of their situation. It just highlights to me that fear can often completely distort my perception where I lose track of the bigger thing that God wants to do. I believe that God wants to break people's fear tonight in the name of Jesus. I think fear is one of those things that you've got to keep working on. You've got to keep coming against, right?

They felt guilty. There was an issue with their conscience. They probably would have remembered the things that put Joseph through, and maybe they thought, "All of a sudden now we're going to get paid back for all the wrong that we did." We don't know, but the reality was this: they lived with donkey mentality when God wanted to do something so much bigger and something more significant. My encouragement to you today is: you were made for more than the donkeys. Don't allow the donkeys to rob you of great faith.

The second one is this: this is the second one that I do in my own life. I have this understanding that no matter what I'm going through, that God is always moving. God is always moving. I may not see it, I may not even feel it, I may not even right now fully understand it, but I have this underlying faith in my heart that God is always moving in my circumstance. You know, there are times that I remember preaching overseas one time, and Pastor Adrian will probably experience this himself, that sometimes you walk into some of these countries, right, and the music's not the same, maybe you had bad food the night before, so you're not feeling great, you've got a sensitive stomach, and so you're coming into the meeting and nothing is the same. You are not feeling great at all. I tell you, church, there have been times that I've been in meetings, I have felt nothing at all, but by faith, I've understood that God wants to move in that meeting, and it has been amazing that when I haven't relied on my feelings, but I've actually relied on faith, it's been profound of what God has actually done.

And the reality was this: the brothers had one perception, but God was creating a master plan. God was building, God was saving a nation, God was raising up his people to have incredible influence. God was doing something so profound. He was moving, even though they couldn't see it.

When I ask you today, in the stuff that you're dealing with right now, do you have this fundamental understanding that God is moving? That right now, that God is moving upon your family? That right now, that God is moving upon your circumstance? That right now, in this part of Melbourne, that God is moving?

You know, let me give you two stories. We like you, we have a lot of different nationalities that come into our church, and being in Dandenong, we've got, you know, we have a number of refugees that actually come in, and through our WeCare, through our community care, they get connected into our church, and then they start coming to church, and they get saved. And anyway, we had a new friends' lunch, and this couple that had come in from overseas were at the new friends' lunch, and I sat with them and began to communicate with them. They'd just come in from overseas, and so their English was really, really poor, so I had to listen intently to hear what they were saying. They came from a religious background, but they didn't come from a salvation background. And so when they came into our church, they actually gave their lives to Christ and they encountered Jesus for the very first time, right? And so in his broken English, I'm asking him about his background, and he's talking to me, he's telling me a whole bunch of stuff, and I said, "What has been the major difference between your religious background where you came from and now being in this church?" Because he calls our church a Protestant church, right? So I said, "What's the difference between where you came from and your experience with God today?" He goes, "The number one thing, the number one thing that has literally changed," he goes, "I grew up in a religious background. Not once did I hear the voice of God, but now I can't stop hearing him speak. I can't stop hearing him speak." Right? So you think about this, right? In a new country where there is no language barrier between him and the Holy Spirit, there is no language barrier.

About a couple of months ago, on our Sunday night service, I had this couple that came up to me and they said, "Hey, you gave us a word about three years ago. Do you remember the word?" I said, "No, I don't even remember the word that I gave last week." They said, "Oh, you gave us this word." And they said, "You gave us this word that you saw me, my work, and I was living in a season of frustration in my work." And he said, "That was actually true." He goes, "I really didn't like where I was working." And he said, "You said that you saw the hand of God take me out of that environment, completely transport me to another completely different environment." So he goes, "When I heard that word, 'Oh, that's a strange word,' I said, 'Well, that was a strange word.' I said, 'You sure I gave you that word?' He said, 'Yes, you did.' I said, 'I can't take responsibility for that word.' He goes, 'You won't believe what happened about two months later.' He goes, 'I was working in a car rental company and he was working on the other side of town and they'd asked him to come into another part of town, actually in the Dandenong area, just for the day.' They said, 'Hey, staff is sick. We need you to go there.' So he went there, started working away. A guy walks in who had just crashed his rental car and he was fully insured. And he goes, 'Normally, I go on the other side of town, but they asked me to come to here, to the Dandenong area. I don't know why, but anyway, I'm here.' So the guy said, 'Well, let me help you out.' He starts typing away, trying to look up who the guy is and his details. They finally work out the car wasn't in his name. It was in his wife's name. His wife was insured as well. They're going through it all, takes about half an hour. Guy's typing away on the keyboard, sorting it all out. Thirty minutes later, he said, 'All done. Thank you very much. You can go.' The guy looks at him and he goes, 'You know, the other location, they just couldn't help me at all, so they sent me here. They said, 'You're really good at what you do.' He goes, 'I give him his business card.' And on it, he's the owner of a major IT company here in Melbourne. He goes, 'I love your customer service so, so well.' He goes, 'If you ever want another job, give me a call.' So the guy rings him two weeks later, and he comes to me, goes, 'Three years later, goes, 'Three years, two and a half years now, I've been in this job.' He goes, 'I'm now director of the company.' He goes, 'My previous job, I could never afford a house in Melbourne. I just want to let you know, we bought our first house.' That word that you gave me was so accurate and so powerful. God is so good.

'We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. ' 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (NLT)

This is the thing, right? The prophetic didn't activate that word. All the prophetic did was just reveal what God was already doing. The apostle Paul, when they go through hell in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, and he's talking about when they are really coming under persecution, he makes this incredible powerful statement. He says, 'We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.' Listen, church, in the New Testament church, there was this fundamental understanding amongst the chaos, the pressure, the pain, the difficulty, that God was always moving. God was always moving.

The third one is this, and I finished with this. Number one, don't get caught up in the donkeys. If we want to be people that live in the fullness of the presence of God and people that take on big things in faith, don't worry about the donkeys. Number two, having a revelation that God is always moving. We may not feel it, but he's moving. Can I say this? I know I can scence the presence of God here tonight. He is here. His presence is here. His anointing is here. Number two, God is always moving.

Number three is my observation is that people of great faith in the word of God just had a healthy disconnect from constant discouragement. They had a constant disconnect from constant discouragement. People of faith in the word of God, there's one thing that you won't see or you'll see very little of: constant discouragement. You would think with Joseph after he's thrown in the pit, I mean, he's walking up to his brothers in his new coat, he's not realizing the attitude against him. He finally works it out when they actually throw him in the pit and they want to kill him. You would think after that experience that he would go, "I've been through such the worst of betrayal. I am done. See you later." But there was something in Joseph. There was something in Joseph that kept him on the narrow path. You would think after being in Potiphar's house, doing the right thing, just being a godly man of God, and Potiphar's wife falsely accuses him, he ends up being thrown into jail. You would think after that unjust experience that he would go, "I'm done. See you later. I'm gonna do my own thing." Not that you can do a lot in prison, but I'm done. See you later. What does he do? There's still a confidence in him about the purpose of God in his life. You would think that when the cupbearer and the baker are thrown into prison with him, right, and then he interprets their dream and nails it correctly, that they forget about him. You would think that he would say that, "I'm done." The Bible says that when he was called forth in front of Pharaoh, the Bible says that he washed his face. In other words, he positioned himself again. He gave of his best because there was something within him that the enemy could not take away. There was no discouragement in Joseph, but there was a confidence in faith, no matter what he went through.

You and I, we get discouraged in our faith when we can't get a car park in Chadstone or things don't go the way that we want them to go. Come on, this is a mature word tonight. Come on. Or maybe the church didn't do what we wanted to do, so we leave. Mmm, that's some good pizza. Or something small happens that annoys us and ticks us off. You just don't see that in the word of God.

You know what I find in the New Testament with the apostles? All the hell that they went through, there's not one time that I see whinging and complaining. Have you noticed that? I don't see Paul going, "The heck is going on? This wonderful experience on the road to Emmaus, God came down and all this rubbish I'm going through, I'm out of here." You don't see Peter, you don't see John. It is a privilege to them. There is a lack of constant discouragement.

The Bible speaks about the shield of faith, right? Against the fiery darts of the enemy. I don't reckon the shield of faith is often physical things. I think it's often emotional things and things in the mind. And it's the shield of faith that actually protects us from crossing that line of constant discouragement.

You know, my mother-in-law, Frank's mum, passed away about three weeks ago unexpectedly, and we're just going through that grieving process. Want the musicians to come? Oh, we're awesome. You guys are on point. When the kids were young, she's got five kids. When the kids were young, her husband left her for her best friend. So now she's raising five kids on her own. Not only that, but her husband was involved in some parts of organized crime in a particular part of Australia. All that came out right at the end. Her dad, who'd left her mum, took that family through hell. The kids remember violent times where the father would just beat the mother. They just had these memories. And when dad came after he'd leave mum, he would just be violent, horrible to the family. The mum came to a point that she said, "I'm done. I don't want to live anymore." Until one day, someone came knocking at the door, and it was actually Danny Guglielmucci's mum who actually led her to the Lord. She had a massive encounter with the Holy Ghost, gave her life to Jesus, everything changed. She came from a Catholic family, and back then they didn't really understand the Pentecostal Church, so they thought that she'd joined a cult, right? And so some of her cousins, who were very wealthy, had given her a flat because they felt sorry for her, because her husband had left her. They kicked her out of that flat, they threw her to the curb, threw her to the street, said, "You're involved in some wacky cult, you're out of here." And yet, because of what Jesus Christ had done in her life, there was just a resistance to this constant discouragement, where it could have taken someone else out, it just didn't take her out. She went through hell in the early parts of her life, and yet I've known her now for over 30 years, yet I never saw a woman that was bitter and twisted. You would think after all that she went through that she'd be hard, she'd be angry, there'd be something in her spirit that would be toxic, and maybe for every reason that she justified in feeling all these things, but what I saw was a woman of love, of grace, of compassion, a woman that never spoke bad about anyone. Her husband, on the way back, her ex-husband, on the way back when he was doing some illegal stuff, got hit by a truck, ended up in the hospital for nine months with brain damage. This is now a few years after he'd left her for another woman. What did she do? Every day she went to the hospital to look after him and feed him. You can't do that when you've allowed the enemy to discourage your soul. Yet God had done a profound significant work in her life that was so powerful that in the end, she actually led her husband to the Lord. I do her funeral, her grandkids see, my son is one of them, gets up and talks about their faith. Her whole side of the family come, they hadn't seen that side of the family for years, they are shocked in a good way about the upstanding citizens that the grandkids have become out of her obedience of faith and not allowing discouragement to rob her soul. Eight ministers have come out of her bloodline, eight ministers. Her story of forgiveness, of not allowing discouragement to rob her, to hurt her, to go deeper than what it should, has been an incredible testimony of faith.

Listen church, God has given us everything, everything that we need. The New Testament speaks about this. God has given us everything that we need to live a godly, holy, righteous, full-on life for the things of God. I think sometimes we take ourselves out of the race when we allow the donkeys to come in and rob us of our faith. And I encourage you today, while we go through seasons of discouragement, we all do, just don't allow constant discouragement to rob the purpose of God in your life. You don't see it in the New Testament, you don't see it in the Old Testament, you see the humanity of people, but you just never see this constant discouragement that takes people out. Let's be people of great faith, amen, the shield of faith, the shield of faith that protects us from the fiery darts of the enemy.

I want to pray for you tonight, I just believe that God just wants to seal this word tonight. I want you to stand to your feet, I'm going to be finished in just a few moments. You know, tomorrow morning I'm going to be preaching on prayer. Prayer is one of the things that I just, I love, but I want to preach on what are the signs of answered prayer. We talk about the faithfulness of prayer, we talk about the commitment to prayer, but we never talk about answered prayer. I want to talk to you tomorrow about what are the signs of answered prayer, about what it means to actually really see God do something significant in your life. But tonight, tonight, I just sense tonight that God just wants to put the shield of faith around people that maybe today that your faith has taken a hit, that tonight as you come forward, I just believe the Holy Spirit is just going to impart a gift of faith upon your life, that tonight the Spirit of God is just going to recharge your faith again. There are some of you here today and you've allowed discouragement to go deeper than what it actually should. We all go through discouragement, but God is saying to you tonight, come on, I want you to pull it back, you've just allowed it to go deeper than what it actually should have ever gone. Come on, pull it back tonight, and I just believe that tonight God is going to surround people with the shield of faith. And if you're in this place tonight, say, you know what, I want an increase in faith, I want an increase in faith, I want to begin to see the Holy Spirit do greater things within me. And so tonight, as an act of obedience, God, I'm lifting my hands to you, and God, I'm wanting to receive a gift of faith. I'm wanting you to put the shield of faith around me. Holy Spirit, I don't want to get caught up in the small things, but God, I know that you're always moving. And God, I pray as I leave this meeting tonight, God, that there is an increase of Holy Ghost faith upon my life. And today, that's you. As we sing this song, I want you to get out of your seat and just begin to worship the Lord for a few minutes. Your act of obedience, I believe, is going to release something in the atmosphere tonight. Come on, if that's you, why don't you come? Come on, hallelujah. Come on, if that's you, why don't you come? Come on, why don't you come? People are coming, we may need to push the chairs back.

I just sense tonight there are some people, you need to lay some donkeys at the altar. You need to surrender some donkeys. There'll be some little things that have really robbed you of your faith, and you go, "I don't even know why I get annoyed at these things, I just do." But the way that the enemy is coming is just really just taking the edge off the things that you really want to believe in. The Holy Ghost, I don't know why I get annoyed at some things, I just do, it's just part of my personality. But they say, "Me powerful when I surrender that to the Lord and say, 'God, I give you that, I surrender that, that's not a big thing, I've made it bigger than what it is.' Today If you need to lay down some donkeys at the altar tonight, come on. I want you to come. Come on, church, let's draw a line in the sand. Come on, there are people coming tonight. Come on, why don't you come? That's it. I can just sense the Spirit of God drawing people tonight. We're not going to sing it. Come on, why don't you come? That's it. It's really allowed you just really robbed you of your faith, just robbed you of the great things that God wants to do. Those little annoying donkeys.

Come on, I want you to come. I want you to come as a church. I want you to draw a line in the sand so we're not going to be defined by the small things. There are bigger things that God wants to do in this church. You know what you've just seen is just the beginning. It's funny as I was worshipping, I didn't want to share it because it just sounds like the thing that it's just a natural thing, but I saw a much bigger auditorium here. Adrian, I'm looking around as I'm worshipping thinking this thing's too small. This thing's too small. This thing's too small. This thing's too small. Deuteronomy, I think it's chapter 12, said that land that you're going to is very different from the land where you've come from. That is a word for you today, Adrian. The land that you're going to is very different from the land where you've come from. There's a lot the Lord was saying to Moses. There is a line in the sand where you're going is very different to where you're coming from. In the name of Jesus, this is what God says: the land that you came from was irrigated by hand, but the land that you're going to will be irrigated by the heavens. In other words, it's something that you cannot produce on your own strength. It is literally something the Holy Ghost would just begin to do, a manifestation of the presence of God. And I declare increase in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus.

In the name of you know how hard it is, church. You know this. You know how hard it is to pioneer a new campus. It is back-breaking work. It is three steps forward, four steps back. But what I love about your senior pastors, they just stay in the game, and sooner or later it crosses the line, and things begin to shift, and you begin to see the heavens open. I prophesy that and I declare that today in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Come on, as we begin to sing today, if you're dealing with donkeys, I want you to lift your hands to heaven, say, "Holy Spirit, today I surrender my donkeys to you." Come on, today, if you need the shield of faith as we begin to worship the Lord, you want to begin to say, "Holy Ghost, I pray for the shield of faith just to come around me in Jesus' name." Come on, come on, oh come on, my soul, she gets shy on me, lift up your soul, hallelujah. Don't you get shy, Holy Spirit, right now, come into this place in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus, we take authority over discouragement right now in Jesus' name. God, I pray where there are the depths of despair, I pray in the name of Jesus, you would come and fill those wells with faith. I just sense there are empty wells in this place tonight that God is going to fill with faith again, with hope, and with joy, and with a confidence that he would do far exceedingly more than what we could ever hope for or ask or imagine. Father, we prophesy that in Jesus' name. And God today, we surrender our donkeys to you. Even now as we think, you know, even right now as you think about them, God is saying, you know, just look at that donkey, it's just ridiculous. God has given you the right perspective of the very thing that captured your soul. He's putting it in its rightful place, in the place of insignificance. And God, I pray that in the name of Jesus, God, that right now you put the shield of faith around people right now. God, let there be an increase in faith. Let there be an increase in faith in the name of Jesus.

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