Saturday, January 20, 2018
Grace and Glory Conference in Dubai Session 1
Grace and Glory Conference in Dubai Session 1
Rob and Bonnie Rufus went to Dubai to speak at a "Grace and Glory Conference" at the end of January 2008. He spoke at four sessions and they were really remarkable in that City Church International had lost a dear friend to cancer and in that grieving, he spoke so powerfully and with such faith on healing and expecting the power of God to come!
Part 3 - "He Will Come Upon You" - has been transcribed and is available here.
Part 4 - "Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost" - has also been transcribed and is available here.
Here is Part 1:
"It really is so fantastic to be here and thanks so much Mike and everyone else for inviting us. Just to hear the stories coming in as to how God is increasingly moving among you. This is always exciting to hear from people you are working with or partnering with or sharing a common destiny with. For us to be here today is just wonderful - I think it has been 4 or 5 trips here - but we do feel very much part of the family here and so celebrate your journey with you. Glenda isnt here because she hasnt been behaving for a while so she is house-bound! No - no she is not here for other reasons but today she did a makeover for a Chinese ladyin our church who lives in a very small flat - single lady - so Glenda took my son who is a painter and some other folk from our church and just did the place up and had a great time.
It is fantastic to have Bonnie here with me. We have been married 33 years this April - Glenda and myself - and have Bonnie and two sons. We were so desperate to have a daughter and werent sure whether to risk it again. You know hwen you are getting to the place where your sons are independent and ready to enjoy life and then we thought we are so desperate for a daughter and just thought; "Lets have a go!". So while Glenda was carrying Bonnie - we didnt have a scan - I went and fasted and prayed and it was a bit late because God was not going to change the sex then! But I spent 3 days fasting and praying in the mountains and in the middle of that time, God said;
"You will have a daughter and she will be a Psalmist and will play the keyboards and there will be a release of the anointing and demons will leave people while she is playing and there will be healings and miracles".
So I didnt tell anyone that except my wife and after Bonnie was born a few weeks later, Dudley Daniel came and dedicated her publicly in our church in South Africa and while doing that he spontaneously began to prophesy;
"This baby will grow up to be a Psalmist and she shall play the keyboards and demons will leave people and signs and wonders shall happen while she is ministering".
She wasnt interested in playing the keyboards right up into her teenage years and I thought; "Well Dudley and me have missed it!". But we had been in Hong Kong 3 and a half years and just before we left Australia she got a desire to play the keyboards and so technically she is not that good!! Of course the tabernacle of David said they had skilled musicians and so there is nothing wrong with being technically good and skilled and we aim for that excellence. But I also think in the Church today we suffer from a syndrome of thinking that miracles and the power of God can take place because of human talent and human skill and human technology and that is a big mistake.
The early church didnt have technology and they didnt have all the sophistication that we have today but they had God. So I think worship needs to come back to the simplicity of being under an anointing where you encounter God and are transformed. You dont have an entertainment experience but you have an encounter with God.
So I really believe that is what God is doing in the earth today is that He is bringing us back to the simplicity of the book of Acts Christianity for He is removing sophistication and doing incredible presentations (and I am not against excellence);
But I am against substituting excellence for signs and wonders and miracles and God encounters.
Last time I came with a series on grace and there is nothing more important than understanding the grace of God. If you dont understand that, you dont understand who Jesus is and what the Gospel is and what the New Covenant is.
Upon that marvellous understanding of grace, God wants to take us into New Covenant glory - into the centre of glory where we effortlessly radiate miracles.
7 million people are living on a geographical pin prick in Hong Kong. We are on the doorstep to 1 billion - 300 million people of which only about 100 million in the underground church are born again. Over 1 billion dont have a clue as to who Jesus is. We are not going to reach them by entertainment and spectacular sophisticated presentations. We are going to have to go back to the simplicity of the book of Acts.
I believe that when Jesus birthed that church the blood and the guts of the Cross was not to birth a comfortable little club or a people entertained by Sunday sophistications but a people that walk with God in such an awesome way that the nations know the God of Israel, Isaac and Jacob is in the midst of His people. Not just because we say He is but because people get out of wheelchairs and walk, the blind see, the deaf hear and lives are transformed.
That is what I am going for with all my heart. I signed the bottom line of commitment. I am flying back to speak at the funeral of a dear friend who passed away on Thursday night. I was with him, his wife and Glenda. The best of medical science and the best of our prayers couldnt stop Phil from going home to be with to be with the Lord at an age of 60 - which is far too young. I held the wifes hand and held the wifes hand and held Phils mortal remains - I was there for several hours with the wife with his body.
I didnt try to raise him from the dead - I didnt hear God say "Try". If He had said; "Go for it" then I would have gone for it but I am not trying to raise the dead unless He says; "Go for it". It is not always the will of God to raise everyone who dies. Jesus raised 3 recorded in the Gospel and two were young. But it is ALWAYS Gods will to heal the sick.
Taking his wifes hand, I said; "I am not going to lie to you and say that the Lord took him because He didnt. This body lying here is not the will of God. Medical science did the best they could and I did the best I could. There was no failure from heaven". I said; "Pam live a long life - get sanctified revenge against cancer. Live a long life to pray for people with cancer and see them healed!". She said; "Yes!". I didnt confuse her with platitudes that suggest the Lord had taken her husband. I held her and loved her and wept with her with my wife but told her the truth.
I want you to open to Acts chapter 5 and I hope not to teach too much in this series but more to see a demonstration of the of the Spirit of God. Please do not get put off by my intensity - that is not the Spirit - that is me! That is the way that God wired me. We are seeing some of the most terrible types of cancer being healed. I could tell you stories of when medical science gave up and people were already in a coma hours away from death and standing there suddenly God comes upon us and we pray and they are healed. We could tell you of all the wonderful miracles and healings but I was in England training and equipping on how to see the sick healed. I spent one hour talking about all the people I had prayed for that died.
I am so fed up of Smith Wigglesworths books and all the miracles he did! I wish someone would have the guts to write about all the failures Smith Wigglesworth had because there were thousands he prayed for that were not healed.
So we read about these great miracle workers in the earth today and only hear about their successes and it can downgrade our hope of us being used of God because we get retrospective on our failures. We know of loved ones who werent healed and so are tempted to develop theologies that accomodate our failures or lower the promises of Gods Word down to our experience rather than trusting God to raise our experiences up to the level of the promises of His Word.
Disappointment and failure is a terrible father to theology. The Word of God is still the Word of God no matter what experiences may add and that is why I so appreciate the reformation that God is bringing into the earth through through Bill Johnson because what he is teaching is not anchored in crusades of large evangelistic platforms but hes been anchored or rooted or grounded in the operation of local churches, ordinary people who live every day lives yet their church sees thousands of people come from around the world that are terminally diseased - no more hope of even getting home they are so sick - but they get healed in that church miraculously through ordinary people.
Very few are prayed for by Bill Johnson himself but in the midst of the congregation. Bill Johnson also talks about the thousands who come hoping to be healed and go home sick and die.
As much as that is bad news the honesty is refreshing for us who are all pursuing the ultimate standard of the New Testament and Jesus Christ; "All are healed". The day is coming when we will recover New Testament apostolic truth and all who come are going to be healed.
It is a true statement that Jesus is perfect theology. "I have come to do My Fathers will. I do nothing except what I see My Father does. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father". Everything that Jesus did was the ultimate perception of the will of God. Everyone who came to Him was healed. Even people that didnt have much faith! Even the father whos son was demon posessed came to Him and said; "Lord if You are able - do something about my son". Jesus said; "If I am able!? All things are possible to them that believe!". The man said; "Lord I believe - help my unbelief". So here is a man who didnt believe much but he still got his miracle because Jesus was there.
The disciples had already being trying to pray for this son and couldnt get him healed and were about to develop a theology that is current and had gripped the church today that is not Gods will to heal all people because they tried to get the boy healed and they couldnt. Then Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration and cast the demon out and the boy was healed proving it is always Gods will to heal.
A man with leprosy said in Matthew 8:1 - "Lord if You are willing make me whole". He knew that Jesus was able but he wasnt sure that He was willing. Jesus said; "I am willing - be healed". Over and over again it says; "They were ALL healed". Everyone was healed. The only place He could not do miracles was in Mark chapter 5 in His home town. "He could there do no mighty works except a few folk with minor ailments and He marvelled at their unbelief". That did not say; "He WOULD there do no mighty works". It said; "He COULD there do no mighty works". What is the Bible saying? It is saying that He wanted to but He could there do no mighty works. That wasnt just because of their unbelief. They were offended at Him because the last time they had seen Him, He was just a normal carpenter and He had not been baptised in the Holy Spirit. Now He had come back and He was moving in the power of God and they wanted to limit Him to the last place they saw Him.
There are many in this room and you have got people who want to limit you to where you were a year ago, or 6 months ago. Can I be audacious and say that what is going to come on you tonight will activate you in a whole realm of the glory of God and when you go into other contexts, you may not be able to do mighty works there but you will go to other contexts and you will be able to do mighty works over there. There are people who want to pigeon hole you and not want you to change. We are not staying where we are! But we are changing! We are being transformed!
There is only one church that we are free to model on - there is no other option! It is the Church that Jesus birthed when He was raised from the dead! He spent 40 days after His resurrection speaking to His disciples and when He had finished that time He went up to heaven and when the Day of Pentecost came a Church was birthed! When that Church was birthed, it was as close to the original pure idea that Jesus had! When you want to know where the quality of the river of your life is - you do not go down in the lowlands where all the tributaries have come in with pollution. You go up to the origin of the river. I own a lodge up in the Drakensburg Mountains at the source of a river and I do not test the quality of its original pure nature 50 miles from the origin. I go right up to the source and when you drink that water it is like crystal, pure champagne! It is that clean!
If you want to know what the Church is like, you go right up to the original one before the tributaries of the traditions of men and the toxins of men have flowed in through the centuries and diluted it with the corrupt wisdom of men and preaching the Gospel and human wisdom thereby emptying the course of its power. If the early Church was true to what it should be then it should have revealed what Jesus was and Jesus healed ALL that came - He healed them as a man with His divinity restrained within His humanity.
Jesus was doing the miracles that He was doing and was not trying to show us what God can do - He was showing us what normal man can do through being rightly related to God.
Jesus lived a NORMAL Christian life! How many know that Jesus was last Adam? First Adam had subduing, dominion authority given to him directly by God. Do you know what evil is? Philosophers cant define evil from. What is evil? Evil is a manifestation of illegitimate authority. All authority is in God - He is absolute authority - He is self-sufficient, self-existance - He has absolute authority! He delegates that authority but there was a worshipping angel in heaven called Lucifer who wanted to be equal with God and exalt Himself to a position of equality with God. Illegitimate authority is a lower authority trying to make itself equal or above a higher authority. When Lucifier did that - He was thrown out of heaven down to the earth and was bent on getting on authority back in heaven.
He knew that there were stages strategically. He had lost all authority in heaven and he now has to buy off delegated authority. So he takes the same deception - which is selfish ambition. James 3 says where there is selfish ambition there is EVERY evil work. So with selfish ambition to be equal with God, he tries to deceive Adam who had delegated authority to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which is coming under law) and then you will be "equal to God". So he deceives Adam into grasping after illegitimate authority which is a manifestation of evil, the earth is cursed, sickness and disease come in through a manifestation of illegitimate authority which is evil. So Jesus comes as last Adam. How does He come as last Adam? Instead of grasping after authority (even though He had the full nature as God), He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped after but made Himself nothing. Humbled himself. He made Himself opposite to the devil and humbled himself and took on the form of a man and then was obedient even to death on the Cross and therefore God exalted Him to the highest place that at the Name of Jesus every knee must bow.
So how do you get ultimate power and authority? By not grasping after it. The devil grasped after something that was not his to have and was illegitimate authority, deceived Adam into illegitimate authority - evil manifestated in the earth. The last Adam came into the world by the opposite route by not grasping after but by letting it go.
Under the anointing of the Spirit He showed us not what God can do but what man could do - what first Adam was meant to do, what you or I can do - rightly related to God through grace and the gift of righteousness.
So Jesus operated in this earth, He operated in the limitations of last Adam. He did not have all authority in heaven and on earth. How do I know? He gave it all up and made Himself nothing. He was anointed to be last Adam so when He came against the devil - He did not come against the devil as God or as having all authority but as a man with delegated authority to deal with the devil who had stolen Adams delegated authority. I dont want to bore you with theology but if you will come with me on this, you will see the opening into the greater miracles that God is leading you into. When the devil said to Him, "If you will worship me I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth" - the devil knew that Jesus was God the Son and if he could have got God in the Son to worship him, He could have got right up there equal to God and taken over heaven.
But what he didnt realise was that Jesus did not say to the devil; "You have no right to offer Me the kingdoms of this earth - that isnt yours!". Jesus never questioned or contended that point. He knew that first Adam had been delegated dominion and legitimate authority over the whole earth and first Adam had given it to Satan who had now become the god of this earth. So last Adam who was God - yet did not grasp after equality with God - came down to earth and made Himself nothing, restrained in humanity operating with delegated authority only as last Adam - but He never gave into the devils temptation. When He went to the Cross (Colossians 2 says) He cancelled the written code against us. The written code is the 10 Commandments - the ministry of death. He cancelled that at the Cross - taking it away - and disarmed the powers and authorities. He triumphed over them - making a spectacle of them at the Cross. And while Jesus was doing that He cancelled first Adams authority.
He cancelled the authority the devil had and so when He was raised up from the dead and He said in Matthew 28, "ALL authority in heaven and on earth has now been given unto Me - you go and disciple nations" - when He said that, He was not saying that as God because you cannot give authority to God. That is a blasphemous idea. No one can give authority to He who has ultimate authority. A mere man in the earth said; "All authority in heaven and on earth has now been given to Me". A man on earth - Jesus had been given and inherited it in heaven. How did He do that? He gave it up. He had authority! But He made Himself nothing and then man re-inherited all authority in heaven and on earth! And then gave us that re-inherited that authority not just His pre-Cross authority but a level He did not operate in before the Cross. He said; "I am going to the Father and when I go I will send the Holy Spirit and anyone who believes in Me - will do the miracles I have been doing and even greater works will he do". How can he do the greater works? Because He re-inherited divine authority as a man and delegated that authority that the devil grasped after. Jesus went the opposite way and reinherited that authority so He is equal with the Father and Romans 8:16 speaks of being joint heirs and heirs of God.
Now the inheritance of the church is to walk in authority that He has given and do greater works that Jesus did because an authority has been given to us and much of the Church has settled for healing a few people with flu, with busy agendas and eating food - passing it through their body, paying the mortgage and hoping to have a comfortable life but we have an inheritance and an obligation - we are called to do the works that Jesus did and never give up because we have failures and set-backs!
God does not need my strength! He has got enough! He needs my weakness to perfect His strength in partnership with me.
In 2006 I went to Brighton to speak to 4, 500 leaders and they wanted me to speak on the miraculous and the morning I got up to fly to the UK from Hong Kong I was feverish and sick. Normally I am a healthy person. I could hardly walk I was so sick. By the time I was on the plane I knew I was into something serious. I had picked up some virus in Hong Kong and within the first day in Brighton, UK I knew I had something that could kill me. My bed was wet and I couldnt sleep. I was frightened of falling asleep that I wouldnt wake up alive. If I was an elderly person or a young person I would have died. Now I am going to speak to 4, 500 people on moving in the power of God! I dont take painkillers and dont like taking them but I was begging my wife to give them to me as fast as they could come!
I am just pathetic and disorientated. I cant cancel! They have paid NFI. I go in and think I will try and act - but that is hypocrisy. I got up and said; "The reason I am shaking is not the anointing - it is not because I have just given up heroin - it is because I have never been so sick in my life". So I come forward and lay my hands on you and I will give you what I have got! But you know just being honest about my state of weakness opened the hearts of those British people and I spoke from a place of weakness and confusion and trembling - and the power of God fell. Demons came out literally. Yes sophisticated British people do have demons! They came out with shrieks! The leadership of NFI were on the floor under the power of God. Terry Virgo himself was on the floor shaking under the power of God. I am just standing there thinking "God I am finished - I am so tired, I want to go to bed but Ive got another session and I can hardly stand!".
All through that time the power of God just got more and more and more. Healings! They invited us back last year in 2007 and gave us more sessions. I cant make myself sick - that worked last time - but half way through the conference I got pleurisy! I didnt know what it was - I thought I had cracked a rib because I was running into the crowds and people were falling all over the place and people were being healed and falling on me and I thought I had cracked a rib! I was preaching and there was pain! I dont believe I should get sick but I did! God hates sickness as much as He hates sin because He dealt with both at the same place. I love what Bill Johnson says. Everyone says; "What about Job?". Bill says; "What ABOUT Job?! I am not a disciple of Job! I am a disciple of Jesus - He healed everyone!". Jesus was perfect theology! Job was the question - Jesus was the answer! Job pointed you to the answer - Jesus! The Old Testament was written to point you to questions that would prepare for the Answer that came! The Pharisees were so deceived by bad theology that they thought the questions were the answer!
The Old Testament was meant to prepare us for the answer - Jesus Christ! It NEVER says; "God will use your sickness to sanctify you". He healed them all except in the stuck-up, bigoted home town of Nazareth. People that were so over-familiar with you and wanted to keep you where you were some time ago. He healed them all! If you believe anything that is contrary to the manifestation of the theology of Who Jesus is then you have reason to suspect your theology. If you believe in Job more - then you have something wrong with your theology. Did Jesus had said to one person; "My Father doesnt want to heal you or you have too much sin in your life then you cant be healed"?. In Matthew He was preaching to thousands! And it says; "And they were ALL healed". Dont tell me they were all perfect saints out there! There could have been so many naughty boys out there!
If Jesus was here today and so many thousands of people had HIV or further advanced AIDS - He wouldnt say; "Your sin got you into this". Jesus would heal them ALL.
Lets go back to the source - the origin. I am back there in Brighton last year. The best miracles I have seen is not the origin! It is restoration - a journey back.
Part of this process is that the devil wants you and I to get overwhelmed by disappointments so that we make theologies that accomodate our disappointments rather than saying; "The will of God is to heal them ALL" and we must never be satisfied until they are ALL healed.
Before we go any further this week, I just want to say that there is a bottom line. God is hammering out a contract to all of us. God gave me my contract in 1981. When He came in a visitation He showed me what churches are about - there are no other options - and He asked me to sign a blank contract! How many of you would sign a contract where the other party said to you; "I want you to sign on the bottom line of an empty page!". And then after you sign all the details will be filled in. You wouldnt sign it! But thats what God asked you to sign. He asked me to sign it in 1981. He said;
"Son in terms of signs, wonders and Christianity that is sold out to seeing the miraculous - the book of Acts - I am asking you to sign an empty page and I will fill in the details after youve signed. Are you willing to do that?". I said; "Yes Lord".
For 18 months we saw dozens and dozens of miracles and incurable diseases healed every week. We grew from 120 people to 600 in about 14 to 15 months. More than 50% of our growth was with new people being saved and added for the first time. I love it when a church grows mainly through the unsaved getting saved. That means you are in the power of God! Every week we saw wheelchair cases get out and walk, blind eyes opened, deaf ears opened. That was happening on a regular basis - every disease, not one was left out apart from AIDS. I didnt know about AIDS then. I signed the bottom line.
Then God said; "I am going to lift this heavy anointing off you for a season so you can develop character to handle and steward this kind of power and then I will bring it back on you". Then by 1985 the miraculous had gone down a bit and there had been great discouragement because when you pray for a marathon runner or for a woman who is healthy and they die and strangers invite you in because they have heard about the miracles in your church and you pray for them and they die and then you have to face the strangers husband or wife and try and pastor them through the grief and pain while you lead a church.
I got to the point where I said to Fini de Gersigny; "Fini I am not praying for the sick anymore. I am giving up this miracle ministry. I just want to preach the Bible like a Bible teacher and disseminate Bible information. Academic information and keep it safe. Then at the end I will close my Bible and say service over". I said; "Look most pastors are doing that. There is so little pain in that". Fini just put his head on my neck and began to weep and his tears ran down my neck and didnt say a thing. Then he said; "Please dont stop praying for the sick Rob". God spoke to my heart. I was so discouraged. In 1985 God sent Bill Hamon - an outstanding prophet of accuracy and he didnt know me at all. He called me out of the crowd and gave Glenda and me a prophecy. Right at the end he said;
"And son - your love has come up into the heavens and the heavens have felt your love for Me. You have signed the bottom line of the contract".
Now this prophet had no idea that I had gone through that with God in 1981. We have to contend - we havent arrived - until we have gone back to the pure origin. We have got to cut off the tributaries of the traditions of men that have filled the church with toxic ideas that deceive us into unbelief and into accomodating the doctrines of demons. When I held my friends hand in Hong Kong this week, I said;
"God I am going to keep contending till everyone gets healed and they die at least at 75 if not beyond". I dont want to have to bury children and mens wives or husbands. More than that Lord - I want to see what the early church had so the atmosphere in regions and towns are filled with the fear of God and the awe and wonder of God so that people right across Dubai 24 hours a day, seven days a week know a manifest substance of Gods awesome Presence hanging over the region and in the high rise buildings and suburbs until people cant handle it anymore and cry out to this invisible God to be saved!".
That is the only hope for Dubai! You wont do it door to door knocking. You wont do it one on one. You wont do 1 billion 300 million Chinese one on one. I think people just need to be ready to sign the bottom line. At the moment we are not seeing all healed, ideas are being presented that God uses sickness to sanctify us - all of these ideas - but also our view of God! There is not enough fear of God in the church! I dont think theres enough awe of God. I love what Bill Johnson said; "We talk about the price we pay". And I am sure for some of you living in Dubai, it is a big price. I know for my son and daughter-in-law living in Hong Kong, it is a big price! They are there by the call of God! They wouldnt be there! You dont choose to live in Hong Kong just because you like it I promise you. If you are this coloured skin, it is not nice. Only 2% expats - most of the Chinese cant speak English. The culture is so different - so very different. Its so very crowded. I wouldnt be in Hong Kong a day if it wasnt the call of God!
I miss Durban daily. I miss Adelaide daily! We have expats that come through and want to milk Hong Kong for all its worth but dont consider themselves ambassadors of the highest government of the universe called on assignment to invade the impossible and live for the King and for eternity. They think children, future, retirement but the culture of the Kingdom says; "The King has assigned you - has appointed you and you go to any nation, anywhere He says - not on the basis of expediency or what will this mean for my retirement or my childrens education - because you see God has got the best for your marriage! In His will! His will isnt always convinient and what suits us best.
2008 is going to be owned by people who no longer give their loyalties to the systems and org
