Transcription
As I was praying, I saw the Lord Jesus walk up the stairway like how I had walked up. He walked up the stairway, came, and sat by my side. And he said this word that I have never forgotten this past 38 years in my life. He said, "I will bless my children with riches, but always keep them under your feet. If you keep them in your heart, you'll get corrupted. As long as you keep them under your feet, you will never fall to pride."
This was the lesson the Lord taught me early in my ministry. So, that is why sometimes God takes you through poverty to teach you true values, true value of money, true value of riches.
I spoke at a church in um in Congo before I came here. So, the first few sentences that I made about getting ready for the coming of the Lord, there was no amen from the crowd. Then I said another few sentences along that line, everybody was dead silent. Then I said, "And you will succeed in your life." 400 amens boom through. So, I wondered in my mind the attitude of the Christians. So, you you don't care about the second coming of the Lord Jesus. You don't care about the end-time judgments. You don't care about what is going to come to pass in the last days. You don't care about all that. All you care is money. That's all you care. Money. And how to be successful in life. And like I told you last night, because our hearts are greedy, you will get ministers who will cheat you along that line. They will come to deceive you because that's what you like to hear. False teachers, false prophets will come to deceive the people because that's what is in their heart. And you would And the Bible itself says because we are no more given to sound doctrine. So, God will turn you over into a reprobate mind. He himself gives up on you. And he will give you teachers according to what you like to hear. So, what will be the end goal? Down to the pit of hell. That is the end goal. Is that where you want to be?
This is something you should decide. But anyway, since you all like success, I'm going to give you a tip for success. You ready? No. This is genuine tip. Guaranteed to succeed. Ready? You don't want to write down this golden tip. But before I give you the golden tip, I should also give up envelopes so that I can collect offerings. I give you two tips. Tip number one. Joshua chapter 1 verse 8. The Bible says meditate the word of God day and night and you shall be successful in all things that you do. Amen. The scripture says clearly you shall be successful in all things that you do. Not only spiritual things, but also in business, in your career, in your studies, anything. You will have success because you will not walk with the wisdom of the world, but with the wisdom of God. When you walk with the wisdom of God, you will have success in all areas of your life.
Many Christians, not many, most Christians think that God only knows spiritual things. He doesn't know anything else. When God called me to do television ministry, I was a simple evangelist doing ministry in the Himalayas. Walking up the mountain, down the valleys, sleeping on the streets, sleeping in the caves, sleeping on the snow mountains. That was the kind of ministry I was doing for 20 years before the Lord called me to do this television ministry. And I knew nothing about television ministry. The only television ministry I know was to sit before a TV and watch it. And I'm sure by that definition, all of you do television ministry. Amen. So, when God called me to do this, I fasted for 40 days. How to do this work, Lord? And during the 40 days of fasting, the Lord taught me that technicalities of how to do a television ministry, how to set up a TV studio, how to buy the equipment, what kind of cameras, what kind of lighting, how to set up an entire studio, how to plan programs, how to manage an entire television network. We started with one channel, and today, in after 8 years, we have 12 TV channels all over the world. And one channel for Africa. All over Africa, our channel is available. You can watch this channel uh through satellite, direct to satellite, or through online. www.angeltv.org, and you can select the channel Africa. And we have all Africa-related programs that are in bilingual, English and French, since there are many French-speaking nations in Africa.
Now, who taught me all that? It was God. I clearly remember one day, we were shooting a drama. The drama was part of the uh my message. So, we were shooting little skits about the second of the signs of the second coming of the Lord Jesus. So, we hired a cameraman, a lighting crew, all kinds people from the movie world industry to come and uh shoot for us. So, I'm supposed to be the director. So, on the first day of the shoot so, I came and stood in the in the area where they're going to shoot the film the drama. So, the cameraman is a very professional cameraman. So, he he came to me and said he introduced himself that he was the cameraman and they don't call them cameraman or they call it director of photography. Big title. Simply is cameraman, but they you should not say cameraman. It is an insult to them. Someone who manages this camera can be called cameraman, but someone who manages a big camera, you call them DOP, director of photography or director of cinematography. You call them cameraman, they feel so insulted, they will throw the camera, they'll walk away. Anyway, so he came and introduced himself and the lighting were already, so he asked me, "Sir, everything's ready. Where do you want me to set the camera?" So, we were going to have three cameras. And I know nothing about what he was asking me. But I cannot show him that I know nothing. See, but because I'm supposed to be the director, right? But I know that's I'm a big zero who knows nothing about direction or cinematography. So, I told them so, you have to act smart. Don't you do that? Yes, I mean. So, I acted smart by buying time. So, I called the actors, I told them, "Okay, you practice first. Let's do a practice." And while they were practicing, I was fervently, feverishly praying, "Lord, please teach me now what I should do next. I do not know what to do next. I do not know where the camera should be placed. These guys are asking me the question." As soon as I was about to say amen, I saw three angels come and stand before me. And they said, "We will now teach you and guide you how to do this work." So, the angel told me, "Ask them to place the camera one in this position, camera two in that position, camera three in this position, and this is how you will do it." I was amazed, just like how I work together with angels in a spiritual environment, here the angels come to teach me in a non-spiritual environment, like a cinematography. So, that day I learned something. God knows direction. So, God knows everything.
When you meditate God's word day and night, which means in the morning and in the night, then you shall make your ways prosperous and have good success. You want financial prosperity? That is it. Tip number two. You You all are seriously writing, huh? You really want success in life. But you don't want to go to heaven. Okay, tip number two. Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, THEN ALL THESE things What things? Food to eat, clothes to wear, will be given to you. Which means financial needs for you to buy food, for you to buy clothes, for you to live a life, God will add to you. Your focus should not be on the daily necessities. Your focus should be on seeking God, seeking his kingdom, doing the works of the kingdom of God. Then God will add all these things to you. The scripture says your father knows that you have need of all these things. So why do you worry what you shall eat tomorrow, what you shall wear tomorrow? Don't worry. Your father will provide for all all that for you. Amen.
So I have given you two tips for success. So you practice these. The next time I come to Tema, I will see all of you driving Mercedes-Benz, driving Lexus, and you will and this Tema would have become more prosperous than Accra. Is it possible? Absolutely possible because your God will become the God of Tema. The Lord God will become the God of Tema. And Tema will be very rich not only in Ghana but in all of Africa. IS IT POSSIBLE? ABSOLUTELY. ABSOLUTELY POSSIBLE. The people that make their God God, that nation will succeed. That nation will not sink under. It will ride over. You will be the head and not the tail. You shall lend and you shall not borrow, which means you'll be very successful. You'll be very prosperous. And what is the key? The key are the two tips that I just gave you. Two tips. You practice the two tips, you will be very successful in life. Not only you'll be successful, you will also be God-fearing. God-fearing. Without the fear of God, if you have success, you will fall. You will be full of pride. You'll be walking with pride. You'll be walking upside down. You'll not your feet won't stay on the ground. But if you have the fear of God, then when God trusts you with riches, that riches will not become idle in your heart. They will be under your feet.
In 1985, I flew the first time on a business class on an airplane. You know, in the airplane there are three classes, the economy, the business class, and the first class. So all my life at that time I was only flying economy, that's all I can afford. And I wasn't flying too frequently in the early days. So, I was going from India to Singapore, and the church who invited me, because they bought me a one-way ticket. In those early days, a one-way ticket is only on a business class, not on economy. Today, you can buy one-way ticket on economy. So they sent me the ticket, and I didn't know it was a business class ticket. And this was the big jumbo 747 plane. It has a little hump on the on the top, like a camel's hump, and the business class seats are on the top. And all the other passengers, they sit on the first level, the first class, and then the economy class. So I checked in and I went into the plane, and I said entered into the plane, there was a stewardess there. I had to show my ticket to her. She showed my ticket and she said, "Sir, please go upstairs." So I said, "No, I should go to the back." She looked at my ticket again and said, "Sir, you should go upstairs." I said, "No, you are wrong. I should go at the back." So this war went on between us for a few minutes, and I was holding up all passengers behind. I was saying at the back, she was saying go up. I said, "No, I should be at the back." So finally she said, "Sir, go up and go back." So I thought all right, there's another way to go to the back by going up. So I was so naive. So I went up the stairway and there were only about 10 passenger seats for the business class. And there was another stewardess standing there and she took my ticket and she pointed me to the very first seat in the business class. And I was looking to go right at the back, there was no way to go to the back. So I thought, okay, this is where I'm supposed to sit. And when I sit on the business class seat, it was too big for my size. Even now. And I was I'm telling you honestly before the presence of God, I tremble when I sit on the chair. I felt so unworthy when I looked at me. During the first 3 years of my ministry, I was not even wearing a sandal on my feet. I was all over India, Nepal, Tibet barefoot. So here I was sitting barefoot wearing a gown like this in a business class seat. I personally looked down on myself as the most unworthy, unqualified person to sit here. And I was trembling and I was praying. I said, "Lord, thank you for blessing me with this seat."
As I was praying, I saw the Lord Jesus walk up the stairway like how I had walked up. Very real like how you see me standing before you. He walked up the stairway, came and sat by my side. And he said this word that I have never forgotten this past 38 years in my life. He said, "I will bless my children with riches, but always keep them under your feet. If you keep them in your heart, you'll get corrupted. As long as you keep them under your feet, you will never fall to pride." This was the lesson the Lord taught me early in my ministry. So that is why sometimes God takes you through poverty to teach you true values. True value of money. True value of riches. Once you learn the true value, then you'll be trusted with true riches. Amen. So, let not your heart hunger and thirst after riches. Let your heart hunger and thirst after righteousness. AMEN. THEN, ALL [screaming] THESE THINGS THAT YOU need will be given unto you.
Do you want to hear another success story? All right. Another tips I'm going to give you. This one is a mistake I made in my life. So, when I was starting out my ministry in the '80s, full-time ministry, the most popular doctrine at the time that came out from America, flooded Asia, was the doctrine of prosperity. I'm sure you Do you have this doctrine here? And it has corrupted Africa, doesn't it? So, that doctrine was just given birth at that time. So, it flooded everywhere. And so, the principle to that doctrine is whatever you want, you name it, you claim it, and then you confess it. Period. So, I got excited about reading that, I mean, studying about that doctrine. So, and uh so, I began to pray, "Lord, I want a car." Not a small car, Rolls-Royce. Have you seen a Rolls-Royce? The grandest car on planet Earth so far. So, I began to pray, "Lord, I want a Rolls-Royce. Lord, I want to Rolls-Royce." Then, I also read another book by Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho. He said, "When you pray, you must be accurate. You must tell God exactly the color, the model, the type, everything. You must visualize everything so that God can bring you that correct model. If not, he will be confused. If you just simply pray car, there are so many cars. Which car to give you? Right? And there are so many colors. Which color to give you? Heaven will be confused. So, you must be very accurate in your prayer. So, when I read that, I understood, "Okay, now I know how to pray accurately." So, I I looked at all the models of the Rolls-Royce car and I found one particular model that I liked very much, the Silver Cloud and a white color. So, I began to make my prayer very accurate now so that none of the angels can mistake. The Lord, I want a Rolls-Royce car, white in color, Silver Cloud model. Every day I pray this prayer. So, one day, I went to a mall. As I was coming out of the mall and walking by the car park, I saw the very car that I was praying for. I said, "Oh my God, this is my chance." So, I I I told the Lord, "Lord, look at the car. That's the very car that I want." I even told the angels, "Please take a good look. That's the exact model, exact color." And I went very close to the car, looked around, nobody was watching, and laid my hands there. "I claim this car." In Jesus' name, I CLAIM IT MINE, and I walked away. So, I came back home after lunch during my afternoon prayer. I knelt down to pray. As I was praying, the presence of the Lord came into my room. And I heard the Lord Jesus ask me a question, "Son, what do you want, a car or a Rolls-Royce?" So, I thought for a moment. I said, "Lord, I want a Rolls-Royce." So, the question The Lord asked this question again the second time. Son, what do you want? A car or a Rolls-Royce? So, I thought for a while, why is it that God doesn't understand? What is a car? What is a Rolls-Royce? Maybe because in heaven they only have chariots. They don't have Rolls-Royce. I reasoned like this. So, maybe that's why the Lord is having difficulty trying to understand what is a car, what is a Rolls-Royce. So, the second time I told the Lord, Lord, I want a car that must be a Rolls-Royce. So, there was a 2-minute silent. Then the the question was repeated the third time. Son, what do you want? A car or a Rolls-Royce? See, by then I have learned in my ministry some little common sense that if the Lord asks a question two or three times, something is wrong. So, when the Lord asked me this question three times, I knew something was wrong. So, then I prostrated I mean I I was kneeling down. I asked the Lord, is there a problem, Lord? And the Lord told me, to go for to go from point A to point B, you just need a car. You don't need a Rolls-Royce. An ordinary car can go from point A to point B. A Rolls-Royce is one that will puff up your ego. Puffs up your flesh and you will show forth show off your wealth, your status, and how great you are. So, now you tell me, what do you want? A car or a Rolls-Royce? I felt so deeply convicted by this. I prostrated myself before the Lord and I repented for my stupid greed. Stupid greed. I I stupid. I was stupid. Didn't know what I was asking. So, I repented and I confessed my sin to the Lord. I said, "Lord, let's erase all that. Let me pray again all over again." So, Lord, I need a car to travel from point A to point B, even if it's a small car for one person, it's fine. But, if you feel that a car is not necessary, a bicycle is necessary, I'm fine with that. Then, I went one step further. But, if you feel that you want me to walk from point A to point B, I'm also happy with that. So, when I prayed this prayer, the Lord was so pleased with my prayer. He smiled, he blessed me, and he left. And from that day till 2006, I was walking everywhere. No car. Walk everywhere. From India all the way up to Nepal, up to Tibet, walking everywhere. High mountain, low mountain, 12 days at a time, 20 days at a time. The most recent trip I did was last November, last October, to Nepal. I took trek up the mountain for 20 days to reach the Tibetan people living in the mountains.
So, the point is this. The riches of this world are greed. Greed. What you really need is what is your need? See, like the question the Lord asked me, a car, even a small car can take you from point A to point B. For that, you don't need any fanciful car. Even a car without any name can do that. Even right now, during these times, Uber can do that. Right? You don't even need to buy a car anymore. Just dial the number, go on your app, you and a chauffeur-driven car comes to you. So, all these false doctrines are from the pit of hell. Amen. True riches comes from God. True riches. When you are faithful and true, and when God can trust you, then he will promote you. Then he will bless you. Amen. So, those are all the appetizer for you today. Was it good appetizer? Amen.
So, this wonderful conference is called the holiness and purity conference. When I was praying for this conference, the Lord gave me three messages. Part one, part two, and part three. So, yesterday I shared the first message, which was part one, and today is part two, and on Sunday will be part three. So, all these uh messages that will prepare you to be holy in spirit, soul, and body to prepare for the coming of the Lord and for the end times. Yes, amen. End times. So, on the 28th of September, at 10:20 in the morning, when I was praying, I heard the whisper of the Holy Spirit saying to me, "The Lord will purify his people." That is the message you need to preach in this conference. The Lord will purify his people. Please turn your Bibles with me to the book of Malachi, chapter three, and the verses two and three. Malachi chapter three, the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter three, and we will read verses two and three. "But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Amen.
This is what God is going to do in these days in this last days in his church. He's going to purify the church. Why God is going to do that? Because we are not going to do that. Since we are not going to do that, or we are lagging behind. See, the coming of the Lord is hastening. The entire heaven is ready for the coming of the Lord. Sadly, the church is not ready. The very people for whom the Lord died and purchased them by his precious blood are not ready. THE BRIDE IS NOT READY. I'M sure this church has conducted many weddings. Have you seen many weddings in this church? All right. The day before the wedding or before a wedding is planned, months of preparation goes the the venue, the gown, the dish and that everything. Am I right? All those of you already married. And on the day of the wedding, the bride spends hours doing all the makeup. Am I right? Am I right? So, I went to one wedding. One of my staff was getting married and I was speaking at the wedding. So, when the when they told the bride is coming, and uh I saw a woman walking down the aisle and I turned to the pastor was with me and I said, "Pastor, they have changed the bride. This is not my staff. I'm sure." And the pastor told me, "It is your staff." I said, "No, pastor. Look at her. She doesn't have too whitey face like this. She looks like a ghost." But I didn't tell this to anybody, only to the pastor. She looks like a ghost. And when she came closer, only then I recognized her. Oh my god. Because my stuff is pretty in the natural without any makeup. So when she put on tons of layers of makeup, it made her look otherworldly. Anyway, so all this preparation goes, am I right? And then selecting of the gown. You will not want to rent, you will buy. Do Africans do that? Oh my, you too, huh? They do that in India, you know, just for that one moment event. You will rather buy than rent. You do like that? Okay, anyway. So and what if you put on weight? So you want to make sure that you stay slim and nice, maintain your weight till the wedding day gets over, am I right? Girls, all right. So now I'm going to ask you a question. Have you ever seen any bride walking down the aisle on her wedding day in her pajamas? Have you ever seen any bride her hair undone? Just got up from her bed? Have you? No. A bride always gets ready. Then why is it that Christ's bride is still in her pajamas? Why is Christ's bride hair is undone? Why is Christ's bride doesn't have makeup on her face? Why is Christ's bride not wearing the wedding gown? Christ's bride, I I tell this honestly, but in truthfully, with all sincerity without meaning offense to anybody. Christ's bride is not even in her pajamas. She's in her nakedness. She's not even wearing her wedding gown. She's naked, ugly. This is how you look like in the spiritual realm. Do you know that? How much it will pain the heart of the Lord Jesus? How much? He has sent so many teachers to you to teach you to prepare. Many true prophets to you. True teachers to you to blow the trumpet, sound the trumpet about the soon coming of the Lord Jesus. What have you done? Why are you unprepared? That is why the scripture warns in Revelation chapter 16 verse 15, "Behold, I come like a thief in the night." Not necessarily 4:30 in the morning. In the night, WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT, MAKE sure you have your garment on. Lest you be found naked. Lest you found naked. It pains my heart to stand here and say this to you looking at the spiritual condition. If my human heart can feel the pain, how much more the heart of the Lord Jesus? I did not die for you. The Lord Jesus died for you. How much he will feel the pain? So, therefore, he has decided to do something. He will purify his people. He himself will do it because we are not doing it. So, here the scripture says, "For he is like a refiner's fire and like a launderer's soap. And he will sit like a refiner of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver."
Let's look at the scriptures in depth. Who can endure the day of the Lord's coming? Now, the word endure in Hebrew means who can bear, who can stand when he comes. Many people I do not know about Africans yet, but many Americans they they say like this, "Oh, you know, Jesus Christ is my buddy." Do you say like that? "Oh, Jesus Christ is my friend." Do you say that? "Oh, when I see Jesus, I'll put my arms around him and we will walk hand in hand because he's my buddy." But I tell you, who can endure when he comes? Who can endure? Why? Because when he comes, the coming of God is fiery. Exodus chapter 19, verses 16 and 18. When God came down on Mount Sinai, the entire mount quick TREMBLED AND IT BURNED AT THE TOP. The whole Israel TREMBLED WITH FEAR. THEY COULD NOT EVEN ENDURE THE VOICE of God. 3 MILLION OF THEM, THEY BEGAN TO RUN AWAY from Mount Sinai and told the prophet Moses, "We don't want to hear God's voice. WE ARE SCARED. YOU TALK TO HIM and you come and tell us what God talks." Can you imagine how awesome the voice of God must have been for them to run away? That's how terrible, awesome God is. Secondly, when he comes, his glory is like a blinding light. Second Thessalonian chapter 2 verse 8, it blinds you. A good example is found in Acts chapter 9. On the road to Damascus, the soul saw Jesus Christ in light and he fell down flat. And that's not the full glory of the Lord Jesus. Just a little light. If a little light can cause him to fall down, how much more when he comes again in full glory? It will be blinding, blinding. Who can endure? That is why the prophet Malachi asked, "Who can endure? Who can stand before the blinding light?" Thirdly, Matthew chapter 25 verse 31 say it will be so full of glory. Glory, full of glory. In Exodus chapter 40, we read after the setting up of the tabernacle, the cloud of God's glory came down on the tabernacle of Moses and no one could enter in. No one could enter in, full of glory. The same truth we read in Second Chronicles chapter 5, when Solomon's temple was dedicated, the cloud of glory came and filled the temple and the priests could not enter in because it was full of glory. Who can endure?