In Exodus 3 we find Moses keeping his father-in-law’s sheep and he comes to Horeb, the mountain of God. He sees a bush on fire but not consumed by the fire. Fires burn and destroy, but not this one. So he comes closer, and God calls him from the fire, “Take your shoes off, you are walking on holy ground,” and He introduces Himself, “I am the God of your father, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” God is revealing Himself to Moses in a very personal way, as the God who has revealed Himself to, and been known by, the predecessors.

God says, “I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, and I know their sorrows, and for this reason I am come down to deliver them.” (I preach on this verse in Ukraine!) The children of Israel are in affliction, they’re slaves in the land of Egypt. In the English, God doesn’t say, “I WILL come down,” but “I AM (already) come down!” He’s already here. He is the God of the past, the present and the future! His promise to the predecessors was to deliver Israel, to take them into Canaan and give them their own territory.

But here God commands Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt!” Moses is just a shepherd, a man who had fled Egypt, because 40 years before he killed an Egyptian. So humbly he says, “Who am I that I should do this?” This is a question we all must ask. I know God has called me, I know what He has called me to do, but who am I? God’s promise to Moses is, “I WILL BE WITH YOU.” In 75 years of ministry, God has always been with me, there has never been a time when I’ve not been conscious of His Presence, His Power, His Leading.

There is only one Holy Spirit – HE is IN me! Not outside, I am not waiting for another Holy Spirit – HE, the Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead, who was in Paul and Peter, that mighty, miracle-working power of the Great God I am boasting about, is in me now, and HE has been in me for over fifty years! I cannot receive any greater power than that I already have, in me now!

That is why I do not seek a new experience and that is why the FIRE has not gone out for fifty years! Yes, I am different now to what I was fifty years ago. But notice HE is not different, I am! During fifty years HE has cleaned out a lot of my self and pride, my own works, and because I am not perfect, He will continue to do so until I am raptured into glory. However, HE does not change – I do!

Jesus said, ‘He that believeth on Me, out of his inner being shall flow rivers of living water.’ The Holy Spirit is the source, but the Word of God says that when we have received the Holy Spirit, the source is in us! External experiences are of the world, the flesh or the devil.

Many believers are seeking a new anointing, a new power, something extra to what they already have, a Toronto Blessing, or other phenomena. I went to Jerusalem forty years ago without receiving a new anointing. Why? What I am seeking is already within me! I have it now, I am not waiting for a new anointing, I have all the power I need in my spirit now! How? Well fifty years ago I was seeking to be filled, baptised with the Holy Spirit. When I received, it was a manifestation of fire, of power, speaking with tongues like they did on the Day of Pentecost – and miracles soon began to follow. What a baptism of Power and of Fire I received that day! I received the Holy Spirit, all the mighty Power of God, everything. Now that powerful anointing which before had been outside of me, that third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, was now IN ME! There is only one Holy Spirit – HE is IN me! Not outside, I am not waiting for another Holy Spirit – HE, the Spirit who raised up Jesus from the dead, who was in Paul and Peter, that mighty, miracle-working power of the Great God I am boasting about, is in me now.

Forgiveness is at the heart of the Gospel, yet it is one of the hardest things for us to do. How can we forgive others when they have hurt us so badly? But unless we forgive, we ourselves cannot be forgiven; Jesus taught in Matthew 6, 'If you forgive those who have sinned against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.' Our example of how to love and forgive is Jesus. Romans 5:8-10 teaches, 'God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by His life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God - all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.' - We must forgive and renew friendship, just as God did for us.

'So real to me' used by kind permission of Vinesong

The challenge today is for believers to demonstrate who the REAL Jesus is. It’s a responsibility we cannot refuse or delegate, because the people in the world are confused by religion, by all the different philosophies – we’re living in a multi-cultural society and they don’t know who the REAL Jesus is! Religions are merely a man-made interpretation, therefore there are many. Theology is the theory without the practice. The God I know, admire, worship and serve is a God of Fire – Power – Action. And He requires action and obedience from us so others can find this real God.

There is a real danger that in our attempts to attract others into our faith we tend to water it down, whereas desperate people need strong faith in a strong powerful God. So this weak Gospel repels rather than attracts those we should be winning. I believe the reason we see so many young people converted in Russia is that they are looking for a real, convincing faith, which they find, and they are converted to faith in this God of power.

I like to boast about the power of my God because He is a God of action! Yes, God is a God of love, of compassion. But the God I know and serve, the God of the Bible, is not passive, but militant in action on our behalf. A God of love, but also a God of power.

Today it’s time that we began to rise up and recognise the power and authority that we have in Jesus’ Name. Power to preach a life-changing Gospel, power to bring healing miracles in order that He might receive the glory, and so that we as ‘ordinary’ people might have something dynamic to demonstrate in our lives! When Jesus healed the paralytic man (Matthew 9:6) He said, ‘So that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth... rise up and walk!’ Today we must become men and women of action to continue the demonstration begun by Jesus, so that non-believers will desire to have what we have!

The challenge today is for believers to demonstrate who the REAL Jesus is.

Behold He is alive! Christ is risen from the dead! He broke the chains of death, He is risen, risen from the dead!

I believe in life after death! The Scripture teaches that death is not the end, it is only a beginning, the path to life. There is a resurrection of the dead. - That is the urgency of the message of Jesus, the message to every one of you listening. Jesus said, 'After three days I will live again' - and on the third day He arose, and He is alive forevermore. And that is the evidence that there is life after death for every one of us who will believe.

'Behold' and 'Jesus is risen' used by kind permission of Vinesong.

Original Air Date: 6 April 2015

The message to all of you listening is one of comfort – especially for those who have lost loved ones: a mother, a father, even a child. Before Jesus died, He promised that after three days, He would rise again. And on the third day, He came out of the grave – He is alive. This is the assurance that there is life after death for all who believe in Him.