Sunday sermon by Pastor Rajesh Mathew, 18 September 2022 

Acts 13:1-4- Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. 

• As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me and the Holy Ghost Sent. What the Holy Spirit said, He will do.
• Whatever the Holy Spirit has said to you, He will do. If he has promised you something, HE will fulfil. Mo matte how impossible and extraordinary it might seem, He will surely act and fulfil. There is no change in His Word. May you have a conviction about this truth. IF he has promised you something in the past, the Holy Spirit will fulfil it. 

This is season of His promises being fulfilled. He will fulfil your desire. He will build you. God is opening certain eyes and heart. What you had not seen and known in the past, that goodness will pass before you and come to you in this season.

• Before God does something, either a prophet will come and declare it or a prophecy will be released. If that is so, then get ready for God is about to do something great. • In the Old testament, before Saul and David appeared, Prophet Samuel came. Prophet Samuel came and what followed was the rising of kings.

If God has released a prophetic word over your life, God has kept something kingly and great and royal for you. 

• Moses came and we knew that through him the Israelites will be freed. Even before Jesus came, the Prophet Isaiah wrote in the Old Testament there would be a John the Baptist who would walk under the anointing of Elijah and we know from what John the Baptist said that the Saviour of the world, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords will be revealed soon. Get ready and wait in faith, something is going to manifest! 

No matter how impossible the place looks, we are possibilitarians. 

• No matter how impossible your situation is, if God has sent a prophecy then there is a possibility. 
• Elizabeth and Zechariah did not have children. It was impossible. But the Angel Gabriel of the Lord comes and says to Zechariah that your wife will bear a child. To fulfil God's prophecy, God will do the impossible.
• God will release angelic ministries to make your impossibilities into possibilities. This will happen in this church take it.

The angel said, don't say anything negative with your lips.

In Luke 24:26, Jesus Himself tells the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Why are you so thick-headed? Why do you find it so hard to believe every word the prophets have spoken? 

• The prophets have come and have declared your blessing. Your deliverance has been spoken and declared by the prophets. This is not for those who have come here with theology.
• Get ready to enter into the move of the Holy spirit, open your heart and receive what the Lord is saying! His spirit is about to do something great.

Numbers 11: 28- Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “My lord, Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of the Lord were prophets! If only the Lord would bestow his spirit on them!” 

• The same spirit on Moses (spirit of Prophecy) was released upon 70 people were raised. Even two people who outside the camp too were among them (like those watching through the internet). Some of you watching online too will receive the impartation and they hey also started prophesying. Joshua felt envious. Why so we

need 70 more? Can I not prophesy?

• The prophet Moses says, let all the people of Jehovah prophesy! That includes you all. Every one of you tap into the anointing of prophecy. All of His children will prophecy. May giftings flow in this place. May each of you minster. 

You may have come yesterday, 20 years ago, today or yesterday, if you open your heart and pray, he will do great things. The Lord will move through your hands if you are ready to pray and surrender to God, and bring His harvest in. His words shall be revealed through you. This is what Moses desired to see.

• “I will prophesy and I will move in the giftings of God. Do not be envious of me. Don’t crush my calling and gifting we will all prophecy together.
• In Acts 2, the Lord says, in the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all fresh. Your sons and your daughter will prophesy. Old men will see dreams and young men and women will see visions 
• Prophet Joel says, if you are hungry and if you call upon Jesus and open your hart, He will pour out His spirit upon all flesh! 

No matter which part of the world you are in, where you live, whether you are a man or a woman, rich or poor, literate or illiterate, just surrender to the Holy Spirit, God will fill you and use you. 

In Acts 13, we see that in In the church of Antioch, there were prophets and teachers of God's Word. What happened because of that? Something political was revealed. Paul and Barnabbas became apostles. Prophets spoke and teachers taught the Word and when they do that in a church, some apostolic works will be revealed in the church. This is not an ordination meeting.

I was in a remote part of Maharashtra where three pastors were being ordained. It was amazing to see what God was doing, the first generation of Christians being dedicated for the gospel. There was such a move of the Holy Spirit and even before anybody laid hands, people were falling under the power of God

Why do we gather together to pray? 

1. Only if there is an issue we come to pray- disease, debt and no peace at home. If there are no issues, then no prayer!? We don’t pray at all if we feel we have the solution to a problem in our hands. Here they did not gather because there was an issue or a problem.
2. In Acts 1, they gathered to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit descended like tongues of fire. These are times where people mock the works of the Spirit, troll the men and women of God, but there are a people who will not be ashamed of the works of the Holy Spirit.

God is raising such a generation in this church that will stand for the works of the Holy Spiritand not be ashamed

3. In Acts 4, we see that there was an attack against the ministry/church that was causing fear and intimidation within them. Then they came to pray to gain strength to stand up against the attack.

Today some of you will receive strength, boldness. 

4. In Acts 12, for the deliverance of Peter, they came together to pray. Then God sent an angel to set him free. Just read the Word. All you need is faith in your heart.

No matter what danger zone you are in, may the Lord supernaturally bring you our and delivery you from prisons. May He release angels to so do. This happens in the Word. 

5. However, in Acts 13, there was no agenda, there was no issue to pray for. Would you still come to church if there was no problem in your life? It is your relationship with Jesus and not just an issue you have. When you say, “I have a relationship with the Lord, where two or more are gathered, He is there”, the prophecy that you need will be released by the Lord at the right time.
6. They came together, they fasted and they worshipped. Not prayed, but they worshipped. We generally pray when we fast because we fast to see a deliverance in some issue. But the works of the Holy Spirit is manifested when you fast and worship. While they fasted and worshipped the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to them.
7. When you fast and worship, you will see the Hand of God moving. While they worshipped The Holy Spirit spoke to them and what you say when the Holy Spirit speaks is prophecy. Did the Holy Spirit speak anything to you from the time you came into the hall? 

JUST CONNECT WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT 

Are you Holy Spirit sensitive? Have you heard what God is saying to you? It may be through a song, through a testimony, through His Word. What is God saying about your situation this 

morning? Have you connected with HIM? God has great delight in you. He wants to speak to you. 

If God's works needs to be revealed, there is a saying, you need to be intentional. 

• We should be intentional. You cannot afford to leave your life anyhow. There needs to be a focus, a goal, a direction in your life which is led of the Lord. If you think that you can live anyhow and do you own thing, then you may lead your life but you will miss out on the supernatural things that God wants to do for you. If the Holy Spirit needs to work you need to seek his will and His face. You need to be intentional.

1. SELF-GENERATING- your prayer life to seek God must be self-generating, not because you mother is asking you to. In Psalm 27, he says I will seek the face of the Lord when my heart said to me, I will seek His face. If you come intentionally, you will not be disappointed. If not, you will backside. Be intentional in your relationship with Jesus. Come to seek Him, hear his voice.
2. YOUR TONGUE- You are either spiritually assisted or demonically oppressed. There is no neutrality if you are a believer. If you need a spiritual assistance in your life, you should be spiritually assisted.

o When the Holy Spirit moves in your life, He will lead you into holiness. If you are OK with sin, then the Holy spirit is not working in you. Don't be deceived. I need to walk with the Holy Spirit, I can't allow the devil to throw me in the pit. If you commit all possible sins and can still walk into church with no problem, then you are deceived, you are not walking with the Holy Spirit. Even a small negative thought will prick you if you are walking with the Holy Spirit.

o Ask Him and he will assist you, he will help you.

If you want to be helped by the Holy Spirit, your tongue plays and important role. 

• Your tongue is the steering of your life. The Holy Spirit first descended like Tongues of fire. Tongues can also be used to demonically oppress you. 

Jeremiah 18:18-19- 18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.” 19 Give heed to me, O Lord, 

• They are saying, let us attack him with the TONGUE! So, it is possible to use a tongue against you. This morning, let every tongue that rises against you be silenced by the Holy Spirit Himself.

Isaiah 54:17- MSG- but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.Any accuser who takes you to court

will be dismissed as a liar.

This is what GOD’s servants can expect.

I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”

 GOD’s Decree.

• I can expect this! I will see to it that everything works out for the best. Declare that with your own mouth.

If Peninah is troubling you with her mouth, understand that it is time for your Samuel to come out. 

• If anybody us pricking you and casting you down with their tongue, understand that it is time for you to move to the next level.
• You need to speak what the Lord has said to you in His Word. You need to condemn those voices with your tongue. It depends on who pulls the trigger first. There are people who will not be happy just because you are happy! 
• There will be people who will hate and criticise you. That doesn’t matter, fi you need to see a manifestation in your life, what is important is how you use YOUR tongue! 
• In Genesis, God said ‘let there be light’. God saw that the light was good.

What I speak I will see. Not what others speak, but what I speak is what I will see! The fire of the Holy Spirit will neutralise the negative voices of people and the enemy. 

• Every day you need to look at the mirror and prophecy yourself. When you start speaking, the Holy Spirit will start moving and acting upon your words. • Speak of words of blessing over yourself, over your family, your home, your children. • You need to say that “I will be used powerfully by the Lord”, you need to say it, you may feel that you are lying in the beginning but the Lord will start acting. You need to say, “I will have a peaceful married life” Don’t be married and miserable.

David had a wife called Abigail. Bathsheba too was his wife. He had two wives but that was then. Now you can have only one and even that one you are unable to manage well! Be happy and joyful with what you have.

• 1 Samuel 25, Abigail come to David as a wife. She bends down. May I be a servant who washes the feet of her Master. She is called to be his wife but she says that she will still be a servant and she says that with her own mouth. But Bathsheba said, “You promised me that my son will sit on the throne”. My Son will be the next IAS officer. Say this to the King of kings. The Lord will do this for you.
• 2 Samuel 3:2- Abigail’s son is Chilliab (Kileab) Chillax! He was only chilling. He never got anywhere. Why? Because his mother spoke that over his life. It is in your mouth that you blessing will manifest. 

In your mouth is your manifestation 

An African preacher, Addeboy’s mother used to keep prophesying, You will call and 100 persons will respond. And that became a reality.

May you move forward, may you walk in gifting of God. May you be the head and not the tail. May you move forward. May you walk in the gifting of God. May your generations move 

under the power of the Holy Spirit and be used mightily for the kingdom. Let no disease touch your families. God’s divine protection upon your life. May the Lord bless you. may His face shine forth for you. may new ways open up. May new seasons manifest forth. May unusual wisdom flow through you to solve unusual problems. May you experience the authority that god has given you over demons. May you be a holy nation and a blessing to the church. May giftings flow. May ministries open up. May you never be put to shame and may the Lord honour you. 

3. WHAT DRIVES YOU

Some are called, some were sent, some just went. Don't just got be driven by anything but by what God says.

What drives me is the presence of the Lord. 

• What drives me is the Spirit of God. Not your career or your talents. You need surrender to what God wants for you. 
• It was the Holy Spirt that drove Philip. He was not a pastor but an usher. But God shook a city through Him, the land of Samaria.

One person called me the other day, I don’t even know him properly, he was baptised here but now leaving to Africa as a missionary 

• Philip is driven by the Holy Spirit. Get off the way on Gaza. There was a Eunuch coming on a chariot, reading the scroll. Have you every read a book in a moving car? 2000 years ago, a person was reading huge scrolls and parchments in the moving chariot. It was shaky but imagine his hunger! Imagine how much he wanted to know about God. Some of you, have not opened the Bible for a week after last Sunday. This eunuch was reading from the Book of Isaiah. 
• God asked Philip to get off the chariot and Philip was translated to the next level and started walking by the side of the chariot.

Such are the people who will move to the next level.

If you are asked to go one mile, go two miles. If you are asked to pray for one hour, pray for two. Such are the people who will be a part of the revival! 

• If you are asked to walk, be ready to run! Be ready to run after hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Philip is driven by the Holy Spirit. WHAT DRIVES YOU? 

On your way to your destiny, you can't stop to stone every barking dog on the way because what is driving you is your calling and your destiny.

• You move forward worrying ‘what other people may say’ only when you are not pregnant but when your Samuel in in you, it doesn’t matter what Peninah is saying. • 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, I want to walk under the unction of the Holy Spirit. Christina life is a life led by the Holy Spirit. 

4. THE ‘T’ FACTOR- THANKSGIVING 

• There are two kinds of people 

o one, who is tired, complaining, doesn’t see any value in coming to church, challenged and oppressed, sees no worth in reading the Word. The Lord will ask the angels to go teach him patience, endurance and faith.

o Another person comes singing, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. Immediately Jesus too is enjoying the song and He sends the angels to send him blessings, favour, voice of God, grace, anointing. Not only that HE Himself will walk to him. This is what happened to Paul and Silas when they worshipped in the prison and praised God, they saw the doors open, 

Even in the jail and prison, praise God and worship Him. There His voice, His blessing and anointing will be released. 

What do you need to do? THANKSGIVING

• David forgot everything the moment he saw the ark of the tabernacle, He forgot that he was king. He took off his kingly garments and danced before God like a fool. You all don’t do that because some of you don’t know what the presence of God is. His wife was ashamed of him.
• Please make sure that you marry someone who bends their knees before God and a person who is not ashamed to carry the Bible. Marry such a person and you will be able to celebrate God all the days of your life.