I want to see lives changed. I want to see signs and wonders being done in the name of Jesus Christ. And as I've been seeking to the Lord and reaching out to him for a new anointing, it's began to manifest.

God's blessing has started to come. As I've ministered with several of you, I've already begun to see that God is starting to work. He's starting to bring us all to a new place.

Included in that is I've asked the Lord that I want to see his power to heal. And it's wonderful to hear the testimonies to see that already this has begun to manifest in our midst and it's going to increase. It's going to increase to the point where we are going to see amazing miracles taking place right here in our midst.

God is going to pour out his spirit upon this place in an amazing way. But folks, there's always a price to pay for it. It doesn't just fall on us.

No move of God has ever begun without being preceded by an examination of the hearts and the challenging of one's motives and actions and behavior. Today the message God has given me is unlike any message I've probably preached before. I don't like to preach messages like this.

I like to be a nice teacher and give you nice principles or I like to inspire you and get you all stirred up. Go out before God can move here folks. We're going to have to start digging a little bit deeper.

I try to escape this. I said Lord this is not my kind of preaching. The Lord said it's my kind of preaching.

You do what I told you to do. So I'm going to deliver to you today the word of the Lord, not my word. The title of my message is putting God first in everything.

I just got one verse you should all know it. It's in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33. It says so seek after the kingdom of God first and his righteousness and all these things will also be given to you.

Living in this world is not easy. There's so many problems that we face while we're trying to live comfortable lives and most of the time we're working hard to change things and that takes all the resources that we have. It takes our time.

It takes our money. It takes our effort but in the end is the sacrifice worth it. You may never get to see the full benefits of all your efforts.

You may end up leaving it all to somebody else. In the book of Ecclesiastes King Solomon who basically accomplished everything a person could in this world. He listed all of them.

He had a fresh look at it and he said what more is there for me to accomplish? But it's all emptiness. It's a waste of time. What really did I accomplish? See this world is not our eternal home.

We need to invest in another home, in another country, in a heavenly realm. Let me ask you this question. What have you accumulated for your future life in his presence? What have you accumulated and invested there or worry about that when it comes time to die? I'm still very young.

I've got plenty to live for yet. We worry about that when I'm a bit older and ready to kick the bucket. Jesus said seek first after my kingdom.

Well which kingdom comes first? Are you building your kingdom or his? Well you know they say you get nothing for nothing. What you put in is what you get out. It takes hard work you know.

You've got to invest into yourself first and after all God helps those who help themselves. There's some people quote that as though it's scripture you know. In the old testament God set aside his chosen people, the Jewish nation and they were so set apart that nobody else had a right to God's blessing.

The Jews became so superior that they wouldn't even associate with people who are not Jews. They were considered scum below our dignity and all they were worried about was us, we, the Jewish nation. God was going to send the Messiah, the Deliverer for us.

God finally sent his Messiah and he spent three years more with them trying to show them what God's real motive was and they didn't get it. Just before Jesus went to the cross they were still asking what's happening and when Jesus finally rose from the dead their first question was so Lord are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? The Jews still think that way today. Nothing much has changed.

They still want to be superior to others and consider themselves a cut above the rest. There's an arrogance there. They put making money first before God.

Built into Jewish thinking is making money and having business. In fact having a business is probably their greatest way they think of serving God. If you don't have a business as a Jew you're a failure to God and to the Jewish race.

I'm not making this up I've read what's still in Jewish thinking today what some of the Jewish rabbis still teach and Jesus saw this in the temple that made him so mad he took a couple of ropes and he chased them out and he said get out of here you've made my house which is supposed to be a house of prayer you've made it in a marketplace because all you can think about is your business and money. Sad to say Jewish thinking is also permeated the body of Christ. Many people think that the Jews are still God's chosen people and if we want to have the blessing of God we must bless the Jews.

We must be like the Jews. We must learn the Hebrew language. We must follow the Jewish customs and we dare and call Jesus Jesus he's got to be Yeshua because that's his real name.

You won't find the word anywhere in the new testament because they didn't speak Hebrew they spoke Greek and it was so important to use Yeshua why didn't at least the apostles of Jesus put it into their Greek they didn't the Greek word means far more actually means the same thing as the Greek word Yeshua as the Hebrew word Yeshua or Yahashua it's actually the same word as Joshua that same Hebrew word it means Yah saves Jehovah the Savior. I had somebody take me to task once on this he was actually a South African so what do you know Jesus would like to be called by his real name that he had his name was Johan this guy African South African. I said Johan, Jan, Yanni, Juan, Sean they're all the same thing you know I was in Mexico at the time and Juan was one of the most common names.

Well you know I'm gonna make the Mexicans call me Johan because that's my real name stupid Jesus wants to be called by his real name and we got to greet everybody with Shalom which is the Hebrew greeting even even the apostles Peter and John who were as Jewish as you can get didn't do that they use the greeting grace and peace yeah peace is Shalom but Shalom is a Hebrew tradition the church is stuck with Hebrew traditions which kingdom are you seeking first the Jews were always running off after idols and after false doctrines and after the heathen nations and God had to keep slapping them and bringing them back when finally their Messiah appeared they rejected him because he didn't look like what they wanted he wasn't coming to build them and make them so great he was coming to call them to death to sacrifice everything I get so angry when I see Christians adopting Jewish culture when Jesus said it is finished folks the Jewish nation was finished the old covenant was finished there's a new covenant has been formed and that new covenant contains Jews Gentiles and every other nation and there's no difference between Jew and Gentile the scripture says yes it's nice having Jewish thinking I could get wealthy never seen many poor Jews yet standing on the covenant of Abraham the God said I will bless you did you know that you as a believer are part of a different covenant of Abraham did you know that did you know that Abraham is your father in a far greater way than he's the father of every Jew in this world as the Jews only have father Abraham by natural descent we have father Abraham by spiritual descent and the spiritual blessings that God gave to Abraham they're ours now you don't have to be poor Abraham was very wealthy no no I'm not saying you need to give up any of these things but where's your way of approaching it where is your motive in serving God is it colored by all of these traditional thinkings what did Jesus say about his people reading Jeremiah 2 verse 13 for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and dug wells for themselves broken wells that can hold no water see the Lord really wants to bless his people and he's offered everything we need you see but people like to rely on their own efforts why should I go to the fountain when I can dig my own well you know what the difference is it's about dependence I don't want to be dependent on somebody else I want to prove I can do it myself how much time and money we put into our own dreams and goals how much effort do we put into the kingdom of God and answer that honestly let me ask you this question where do you go first when you're not well to the doctor no well I don't believe in medical science so you go to the naturopath all the problems in my bones so you'll go to the chiropractor did I say it's wrong to go to those no I say where do you go first thank God for medical science thank God for some of the principles of of the naturopaths and and and and using nutrition and and health and wealth and exercise to get healthy bodies thank the Lord for what some of the chiropractors will learn to get our bones back into order where do you run first or you're feeling down where do you go first the experts oh you know my medical aid covers psychological help so I'll go see the psychologist and pour out all my problems and I'll feel a whole lot better or you go and find somebody who will listen carefully to you and agree with everything you say and say all the right things that make you feel good where do you go when you're down where do you go when you're in conflict where do you go when you're afraid when you're depressed when you're discouraged where do you go first is it the Lord I'm not gonna answer that question you must where do you go when you are in financial need well that's obvious you go to the bank and you get a loan you go to the credit company and you get a credit card is that the obvious place to get money when you need it well if they won't give it to you go and find somebody wealthy who maybe would be generous enough to give you some you go and nag him a bit oh you know I'm your favorite cousin's uncle you could could you help us out you it would be funny if it wasn't true okay here's what God says about that and now Jeremiah seemed to have a road to hoe you on this because in Jeremiah 17 5 he says that says the Lord Yahweh cursed be the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the Lord Yahweh cursed that's a strong word are you putting your trust in man or in God it does raise up men and women and anoint them and he uses them and yes God can use them and we can look to such people but that's no we're going to is it we're going to the world he's oh you know my my pastor knows nothing the point is me going to him you know he probably is going to send me to the psychologist anyway he'll tell me to go see a doctor see that's why we've got to change the church all the times they said if you're sick I call for the elders of the church better still lay hands on one another for these signs shall follow those who believe they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover are you getting everybody around you to lay hands on you the moment you begin to suffer what do you believe that is a last resort when the doctor finally says sorry I can't help you when the medication they gave you doesn't work well I guess we've got nothing but the Lord left now I'm pretty hard up you wonder why God says why didn't you come to me first you don't trust me I can't do anything of you if you don't trust me I'm a faith God without faith you cannot please me don't come and beg and plead go begging and pleading doesn't work this is a God of love and he wants every good thing for us but he has a way of providing it I'd like to ask you whose rules are you following God has told us what he requires of us he set a standard for our behavior and any violation of that is called sin and what does sin do it brings a separation between us and God God says in the old testament your sins and iniquities are separated between you and me we cry out to him it's a cloud in the way God's listening but he can't hear because it's blocked by your sin didn't change God he's still more than willing to bless but he set a standard now God's ways are not the ways of the world and as I 55 aided says this for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways says the Lord but as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts but when we want to accomplish something where do we look we look to the trends of the world we look to the fashions of the world and how they are doing things we look to the archetypes of what's being programmed by our particular culture or nation what is everybody else doing out there to succeed obviously I need to do the same thing if I want to succeed in this world if I want to go into business I need to go and get an MBA and learn all the worldly principles of business don't I do I we pick up the bad habits of the world then we start accepting a few of the things they do all the bad stuff because we want to get the good stuff and we can't get the good stuff without the bad stuff so we just accept the whole lot don't we and then we overlook their sinful behavior you know I need a bit of entertainment so I'll watch this movie okay okay so they swear a lot and they use the Lord's name in vain I will just ignore that they're stealing and killing and committing adultery I'll just ignore that we become hardened to the evil of this world you know the sinfulness of man we overlook it you know what we've done we've turned away from the true source and then we say okay Lord I will try and do it the best way I know and I ask you to bless it you know what you're saying Tim you're saying I don't want to be dependent on you I don't want to depend on you for everything I want to do it my way and Lord please excuse me for doing it my way and bless it please you know where this starts starts in early childhood the child starts out totally dependent on the parent I mean a baby is just totally dependent on the parent and then the baby learns to crawl and to walk see and then it finds out it can go places of its own of its own choice then it begins to talk and finds out it can express itself and say what it thinks usually about two or three thereabouts child stands up and you try to help them they say no I do itself I do itself I'm independent I don't need you anymore mom I will show you I can do it by myself you know what's the sad thing some of us never outgrow this phase and God comes into the picture just becomes another parent and we're trying to do him the same way I'm not going to depend on you for everything it makes me a nobody it makes me weak and helpless I want to be strong and independent I want to prove I can do this myself so Lord just leave me to do it and then you promise to bless the work of my hands so as I do the work of my hands Lord cough up please you promised come and bless it now folks he's the fountain of blessing and he wants us to depend totally on him and on him alone he wants to provide your every need not just your needs he wants to give you the things you desire as well well you know how do I know this because the word tells me that and if you don't know these things time to get into the word Psalm 37 verse 4 says delight yourself also in the Lord you are aware and he will give you the desires of your heart all he says is delight yourself in me put me first seek first my kingdom come to the fountain commit your way to the Lord trust also in him and he will do it oh you know Lord I'm planning this business I've laid out my whole business plan and how I'm going to do it I've checked all the ins and outs in the marketing and everything that's involved and so I'm asking you to bless it have you had the guts plain guts to take your plan and give it to him and say Lord correct it if it's wrong oh we can't do that you know you may disagree with the way I'm doing it you know maybe my business is a bit carnal and doesn't really glorify him maybe God may not be very happy about the kind of business I'm doing so I won't take any chances after all I figured it out I studied it I've read all the books I've listened to the advice of the experts and this is the way to go you know commit your way to the Lord commit your plan to him trust him and he will bring it to pass in a way you could never ever figured out you see he'll withhold nothing from you folks he said that all these things will be provided for us he said first seek first my kingdom and my righteousness all not some all not the ones I feel are giving you all of them will be provided for you now that's a promise you can stand on and there's no exceptions and whatsoever we've got to put him first we're going to look to him alone as our source it's not your own efforts it's not your job or career it's not your business activities you're going to look to him alone as your healer not the doctor or the naturopath or the other expert you're going to look to him alone as your helper not the friend or companion not the encourager or motivator not the counselor or advisor what is the ultimate goal we aiming for to experience the blessing of the Lord in everything that we do to have his presence with us at all times to hear his voice guiding us giving clear direction step by step along the way to walk in his supernatural power to see signs and wonders done in his name to see miraculous financial provisions and other provisions in his name to experience overwhelming joy right in the midst of all our problems and to experience total peace when the whole world is falling apart this is what he wants for you and he's not going to deny it to you you must come to the fountain of salvation so where do we start how do we make this happen okay here's step number one take everything you have and give it all to him well you know god only required a tenth in the old testament yeah that was for the jews because jacob made a vow and said lord i'll give you a tenth if you bless me god blessed him he was obligated to give the tenth and all of his generations were also obligated to give the tenths we don't preach tithing here because we are not jews so that's great i don't have to pay the tenth anymore no he wants a hundred percent now oh that hurts are you telling me i should give all my salary to the church oh boy if that's what you were doing with your tithes you missed it so bad give him all the abilities you have not just what you own give him all your desires wrap them up in a package and say here they are lord they are yours and now that you've given him all that give him also your rights well you know i have my rights oh the whole world's going to war over rights don't they you know today we have men's rights and women's rights and children's rights and animals rights and everybody's got a right i would have admits they're wrong we've got rights okay i'll demand my rights i have the right to be heard okay if you've given that all to the lord you don't have rights anymore oh that's asking a lot actually you don't have a choice he's not inviting you to do this it's everything you have belongs to him anyway you belong to him everything about you belongs to him he's just giving you the privilege of using it a bit so your right to be appreciated and understood belongs to him and you no longer try to defend it it's his job your right to be vindicated and proved not guilty no longer belongs to you it belongs to him and if he doesn't vindicate you you don't get vindicated this is no longer your right you're right to get the same as everybody else oh boy in your family of siblings that's bad johnny got more than me you know just look at that he got more food on his plate than me that's not fair and it carries on into adulthood doesn't it we're always complaining about somebody else got more than me you know a certain group of people are getting more than me a certain culture or race are getting more than me you gave your rights to him you don't have that right anymore let it go and you need to see this as a powerful investment you know why because it heals the highest return of any investment in this world it's better than investing in a bank or in a financial program insurance company or some wealth thing or bitcoin or whatever people do these days well now that you've done all of that what do we do next ask him what you should do he's in control now everything about you belongs to him he makes the choices not you what should i do your lord where should i start what should i do first where do i go next well you know it's much easier to consult the experts and ask them what you should do next isn't it after all they've had a bit of experience in this world he created the world first he created it he's the ultimate expert but maybe you're just too lazy to listen to his voice he can make all the excuses in the world and say well you know if god if i could hear god then i would do what he told me well you have a job ahead of you don't you you need to hear his voice because you know what he's talking 24 hours a day 24 hours a day he's talking if you're not hearing him it's not his fault it's yours if you'll do this you can count on his blessing there'll be no restrictions or limitations he's not going to give you a partial blessing i've found that when you commit yourself totally to the lord like this he gives you more than you even hope for i don't care what you're asking for you're asking for a husband a wife when i was looking for a wife i laid down a list because i learned i must be very specific though this is the kind of things i want in a woman about 10 of them i think i had how was i being fussy no there was plenty of leeway between those 10 there were some things that i didn't demand but there were certain things that i wanted but secretly there were a few things i kind of wished i could get but i didn't think i had a right to demand them and the lord finally brought the wife of my dreams and my prayers he not only gave me the things i asked for he gave me some of those secret little things that i'd hoped for but didn't feel i had the right to ask for that's the kind of god he is you can't out give him he only gives good gifts look if what comes isn't what you asked for god didn't bring it really well maybe you're a bit too fussy so god's got to hunt a bit further maybe what you're looking for is the other side of the world doesn't even speak english that's possible so don't blame god if you set the standard too high okay but he'll give you what you asked for and more because he always gives you the best so where do you stand today i've just given what god gave me maybe even as i've spoken the spirit of god has moved in you and convicted you of some other things that you've sought and desired and figured it was the right thing to do perhaps you've been so programmed by what other people have told you what believers have told you even what preachers have told you but you figure that's the right thing to do well what did god tell you often if somebody comes to me and says i i i feel i want to do this what do you think the first thing i say is what did god say oh that's why i'm asking you i said did you journal about it well what's journaling you need to learn journaling i will teach you you need to hear his voice what did he say to you you can bring that to me and i will judge that i will judge that and i'll say um yeah that sounds like god that that's not the voice of my shepherd sorry folks i don't know where you heard that that came into your mind from another source it violates the word and it violates what i know his nature is god isn't like that sometimes you may need somebody to help you to learn these things better but once you come to the place where you know that you know that you know that you're doing what god has approved you can go forward boldly and in confidence and expect results and if the results aren't there you can demand the results because god will always honor his word if the results are not coming chances are the enemy has stuck his nose in there and blocked it well then we need to kick his nose out you need to learn how to do that once you know that you've committed everything to the lord there's nothing in this world that can stop it because he's the supreme authority and if you'll just give him the license to live through you he'll raise up what's needed he'll raise up a prophet on the other side of the world to pray for you and to release on your behalf you will never ever know it they will never know you because that's the way prophets work suddenly everything falls into place you think wow isn't that amazing how did that happen wasn't your good planning trust me am i saying you shouldn't know now all of these principles are true but where did you go first where did you go first okay what need do you have today are you needing healing in your body are you discouraged and want to be lifted up are you battling financially are you lonely and you need company you need a life partner what do you need today from the lord and what have you done to try and get that need met well i'm going to tell you something without you having prophetic revelation what you did didn't work because you still got the need so why do you keep doing it sometimes we better against the wall and don't get it after a while but you know i'm hurting myself more than i'm hitting the wall we don't get it i kept hitting until i break through trying to get that door open but actually the real doors on the other side if you just stopped and said lord you'll say hey that's not my door why are you trying to open that it's the door there ah i didn't think about that before she didn't ask i want to go to the lord in prayer and i want you to examine your heart and i challenge you to do exactly what i said take everything you have go through a list started with all the things that are the most valuable to you the things that you can't live without the things that you would die if somebody stole them start with those give them away they're our lord they're yours and then be ready if god says give it to somebody else you know i've come to the place of nothing that i own is mine and i've got some nice stuff that i've accumulated you know i've been through several cycles of this where in mexico we'd accumulate so much good stuff and god said give it all up and come to south africa where there's nothing so we gave it away we look for christians and churches in the in the area that maybe had needs we get them all our good stuff all our musical equipments in our chairs and our printing press and everything we had every time i got a new guitar somebody got their eye on it and said oh it's a nice guitar and i said okay you want it you can have it so the lord gave me a better guitar and i was really enjoying that until somebody looked at and said well that's a nice guitar you know how many guitars i gave i gave away before i got the guitar believe it that i'd give away in the end this you can have everything but you must never own anything you can have anything but you mustn't own it belongs to the lord you know what if somebody wants my car they can take the keys now if god tells me of course there are better cars out there to get so i wouldn't really advise it but hey see that's the attitude we must have but we so want to hold on to what we've got and protect it in case in case what in case the lord fails us it's what you're saying to lord i really don't trust you i would rather trust myself i will trust my bank account i will trust my friends and contacts i will trust my investments i'll trust my business you've forsaken the fountain of living waters and you've tried to dig dead wells that cannot hold water give it up father i bring your children before you now and i bring myself even before you know my heart you know that even i've been challenged by this lord because i too have failed you i ask that you will just challenge us and stir us remind us afresh that you're there to give us everything and more far more than we could ask or think you said in your word and we just let it all go and give it to you so that you can take this clay you can squeeze it and reshape it and remold it and make it into the kind of instrument that you want that you can use so lord i take now everything i have think about it let it go through your mind everything everything i have i put it in a package and i say here it is lord it belongs to you i take all the things i've desired and all my goals and ambitions and dreams and i put them in a bag and i give them to him i take all my natural abilities and the things that i studied and learned so hard to learn to do well and i give them to him so that i stand now as one who has nothing as one who desires nothing and as one that's unable to do anything help us like a baby that even needs the parent to feed it you can come to that place you're going to unleash a power that you've never seen before you're going to unleash miracles in your life that you didn't think were possible because god's not going to leave you there it's not going to leave you there it's going to take that and multiply it back to you a hundredfold and more thank you jesus thank you jesus lord i thank you for each one that loves you and has committed their heart to you and i ask you to bless them in abundance in every way that nothing is lacking that you give us even more than we need you give us even more than we desire we can go out in this world and show them what it means to be a christian show them what we have that they don't have without trying to compete with them on a worldly level and show them we've got so much more than they could ever have and i know you will be glorified in us as we do this and so we invite you in our holy spirit to have your way invite you to pour your living waters now upon each one that has made this choice and this commitment and submitted it to you i ask you to unleash that damn now i ask you to burst it i ask you to open the sluice gates i ask you to gush it out in abundance in every way hallelujah and as the scripture says it will come upon us and overtake us the blessing will run right over us and overwhelm us and run ahead of us we can't even catch it because that's what you want lord and i know that's what you're going to give your people as they made this commitment to you thank you for it in jesus name

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