A couple of weeks ago we were being
interviewed by some local civic leaders because they
heard that the government might offer us some
land where we could help our poor people
have a place to live and grow up
in Jesus and get trained so they can
go all over China and Asia with good
news for the poor.
And the locals were very upset about this
and they said, we don't want drug addicts
near us, nobody wants drug addicts near them.
So they came with all these objections.
And so we told them a few stories
and I said, why don't you come and
meet some of our people?
Because if you could come and meet them,
maybe you could make up your mind if
you'd like people like this to live by
you.
Well, they came to a place that we
have where we've got 150 people living in
some bungalows.
We're a bit squashed.
And it's so good what God is doing
there.
You know, after all this time in Hong
Kong, I don't know why it's now, but
God's actually doing what I've asked.
And I haven't even known what I've been
asking.
I keep praying the prayer, especially at revival
conferences, because I find in revival conferences I'm
in tension the whole time, you know.
And my prayer is, God, can you work
quickly?
Could you please quicken the whole thing?
Quickly, please quickly, please quickly.
And then I think, well, will God really
do it quickly?
Because after all, Jesus had to grow up
for 30 years, you know.
So I've been saying, God, can you do
it quickly?
Will you do it quickly?
And he is now.
I mean, God is working in a deeper
place in our people's lives than I've ever
seen.
It's happening more quickly.
I don't know why.
They're allowing God to heal them in deeper
places, quicker than we've ever seen before.
And it's so sweet.
And everybody who goes to visit them, they're
so touched.
Up comes this little man to these district
board members.
And this little man, his mouth is shaking.
And every time he talks, his lip quivers.
And he says, that's my mum to me.
I don't like being called mum.
And I don't remember the guy.
And he says, I've known her for 25
years.
And he said, I never used to listen
to her.
But these people have loved me.
And I've just come off drugs.
And he looks a bit small.
But two weeks before that, he was 70
pounds.
I mean, he was nearly dead.
And now the guy has got shining eyes
and there are tears rolling down his cheeks.
And he's telling the district board members how
wonderful Jesus is.
And he looks marvellous too.
I mean, he doesn't look frightening.
You know, he's put on about 20 pounds,
but he's still not very big.
And they went around our houses and they
met men like him.
And then they sat down and they had
the same question.
Now, where does your money come from?
And we said, well, we pray for it.
Yeah, but actually, from where?
We said, well, actually, that's it.
You know, we don't have any place or
people in the world who have a regular
amount.
It's always a surprise.
It's wonderful.
And sometimes the police arrest hawkers, you know,
for selling unlicensed food.
And they impound the food and give it
to us, you know, because it goes off.
One time, how nice, we got 10 pounds
of cow stomach.
Anyway, thank God, you know.
Lately, we've been getting all the past shelf
date, delicatessen food from the top shop in
Hong Kong, you know.
So, it's past use by day.
So, you know, we get delicatessen food and
cow stomach.
And, well, the guys like cow stomach anyway.
So, we were telling them stories.
And we got lots of stories about how
God provides.
Lots of stories.
And after about an hour, all these important
officials, they had caught it.
I don't mean they caught the language, but
they caught the spirit.
And they were saying, by the end of
the afternoon, we must pray about it.
They're not Christians, any of them.
And then one of them came up to
me and he said, if you come and
move near us, I'd really like some of
your men to work for me.
And they were the ones that they were
frightened of.
But, you know, it's a very strange thing.
What touches people in Hong Kong more than
anything else is this money business.
I suppose because it's the opposite spirit to
the one that Hong Kong was built on.
And Hong Kong was built upon enterprise, competition
and greed.
And using people for making money.
And what seems to be one of the
greatest signs and wonders for people in understanding
God's heart is that there are actually people
who don't think money is a great deal.
And we don't think money is a great
deal.
I mean, we don't.
When people talk about ministry with the poor,
they often think it's something to do with
money.
And I must tell you, it's nothing to
do with money at all.
You may need to use some.
But that's beside the point.
If we're serving a God who can put
it into fish's mouths, because we're living in
the world, but it's never where we start.
Blessed are you who are poor.
Yours is the kingdom of God.
Jesus says, don't worry, in Matthew 6.
Don't worry about what you shall eat, what
you shall put on.
Don't worry about your clothes.
Don't worry about your body care.
He says, your heavenly father knows that you
need these things.
Now he says, don't worry.
Because he knows we worry.
But he says, for Christians, you don't have
to worry.
Because we are in the kingdom system.
Now the kingdom system is the first two
chapters of Genesis, or the last two chapters
of Revelation.
It's different.
It's either before the curse, or when you're
freed from the curse.
And we get to experience it now.
Freedom from having to worry about where stuff
will come from.
And freedom from having to earn our living.
Now this is true.
I don't know if you believe this.
But the good news is this.
For any of you here, this is good
news.
You don't have to earn your living anymore.
Christians do not have to earn their living.
None of us need to work because we
need money.
They are not connected.
We are allowed to work.
And sometimes we get money for what we
work.
But we've got 100 full-time people who
receive no salary.
And they work very hard and receive no
salary.
But they're very rich in other ways.
We have people in our outreach houses.
And we don't support our outreach houses, by
the way.
We promise to share what we have from
time to time.
But the outreach houses are in poor areas
of Hong Kong.
And they feed the poor that live near
them.
And they look after the addict families that
live near them.
And I'm always saying to them.
If we've got a collection of clothes here.
Because people give us their old clothes or
their old furniture.
You can come and collect these.
But far better give your own clothes away.
Because that's what touches the poor.
It's not if you give out of the
church pool.
It's if you give your cloak when they
asked for your coat.
It's if you give your lunch, not the
church's free one.
That's what brings the gospel.
You don't need to earn your money.
Now this is something that many of us
in Hong Kong need to be freed from.
Especially men.
Having to earn a living.
Because every other person in Hong Kong is
enslaved to the father's wishes.
Their earthly father's wishes.
And usually it's something like this.
Their fathers have been poor.
They have come from China.
Or they have been refugees.
And they must earn to bring the family
up a notch.
So they can have a better way of
life.
And some of us here have inherited this.
Maybe our ancestors have been poor and have
worked hard.
And we have then a fear.
If I serve God, I'm going to be
poor again.
And it's a fear that we must have
dealt with.
Otherwise it means that men are not free
to do the job that God says we
should do.
Whether it's working in a family, in the
church or on a farm, it makes no
difference.
We must be free to hear what the
father says we should do.
Otherwise we're serving the other system because we
must have money.
And because we think that security of house,
security of job, security of education is going
to fulfill our needs.
And it's a lie.
And it's a result of the curse.
And it's still worshipping the enemy who promises
the splendor and wealth of the kingdoms of
the world if we will worship him.
If we can be set free from the
spirit of poverty, we can hear our father
saying, You can now waste your life ministering
to the poor in Winnipeg or Edmonton or
Sri Lanka or whatever.
Or maybe he'll say, I want you to
drive a taxi.
Not for the money, but so that you
can sing over the people who sit in
the back.
I know Mark wouldn't like that.
But whatever, we need to be free to
hear what God is saying.
So that we are not serving to get
the money.
So that we are not serving the wrong
system.
Now it might mean that we'll do jobs
for money from time to time like Paul
did.
And Paul was free to tent make and
free to un-tent make.
And we need to be that free to
tent make and to un-tent make.
But not to serve the world system.
Free from having to be rich or poor.
This is Paul's experience in Philippians 4.
He says, I have learnt to be content
whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in
need.
I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learnt the secret of being content
in any and every situation.
Whether well fed or hungry.
Whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do everything through him who gives
me strength.
When I was visiting the refugee camp.
We later came to run one which was
a wonderful privilege.
There was an old man there who had
come in the boat with his daughter.
And his daughter got married.
And I learnt that the daughter was trying
to cheat her father.
And she planned to, they had separated their
registration.
Which meant she and her husband planned to
emigrate without her father.
Because her father was, he had Parkinson's disease.
And he couldn't walk.
And often I found him on the bed.
And he was wet.
Because he couldn't walk to the toilet.
So I bought him a walker.
Now you understand we're dealing with, we're living
in a country.
We're dealing with people where there isn't a
government handout.
Do you understand?
We don't get paid for not working.
There is now a minute government handout for
people who don't have jobs.
But if those people live with us, they
lose it.
And so I bought this man a walker.
And I used to walk with him to
the toilet.
And it took nearly an hour to get
there.
Because he only could walk very slow.
It was very hard for him to go.
And so I would walk him there and
walk him back.
And sit him on the bed and pray
with him.
Tell him about Jesus.
And then I would say, I'm so sorry.
But anyway, Jesus will come and sit with
you when I've gone.
That's all I have to give you.
And one day I was in the clinic
in the refugee camp.
And they brought the man in.
And he had a slight scald on one
arm.
And so I said to him, what happened?
And he told me the story.
There was a kettle boiling on his bed.
Because they have to cook on the bed.
And it came to be boiling.
And you know, he couldn't move very well.
And he put out his hand.
And it spilled over.
But I looked at him and I said,
If that kettle fell on you, you should
be burnt all over.
What happened?
And he said, when the kettle tipped towards
me, He said, I called on Jesus.
And he said, a man came and he
lifted me up to the other side of
the bed.
And I just got a little splash on
my arm.
You know, that man, he was not poor.
And in knowing him, I was made rich.
Nothing much in this world, except everything that
a man yearns for.
Intimacy with the Savior who will lift you
and carry you.
He is Paul.
And we see that Paul is in need
sometimes.
And he has plenty sometimes.
And he said, whether I'm well fed or
whether I'm hungry, I'm content.
Now this amazes me.
Because it would seem to me that if
we have the good news of the kingdom,
why should we be in need?
Until I understood what Paul was talking about.
You see, Paul is free from the fear
of poverty.
Paul is free from the need to be
rich.
Paul is free from the need of being
poor.
Now I know a group of people that
work in an Asian country near me.
And they're a mission who are dedicated to
the poor.
And I tell you, I feel awful being
around them.
Because they're under the spirit of poverty.
They only allow their people to have two
skirts each.
But it is a cheat, because I know
they've got five dresses at home.
They just don't want to have more than
the people that live around them.
But it's like playing a game.
They walk around looking like martyrs.
It's not happy to be around them.
And I find that when I'm around them,
or they come and visit me, I cheat.
I walk instead of taking taxis.
Now I'm quite happy to take taxis from
time to time.
I'm happy to walk miles from time to
time.
I don't have to do either all the
time.
You see, I don't have to be poor.
I don't have to be rich.
And many of us who are under the
spirit of poverty feel we have to be
either.
And that's the problem.
You see, Paul's contentment was nothing to do
with whether he was well fed or hungry.
His contentment was knowing God.
Which is why worship is where we start.
His contentment is nothing to do with his
circumstances.
And if our contentment is in our relationship
and our intimacy with him, we can be
well fed or hungry and we're just well
fed or hungry.
And sometimes when we're hungry there will be
miracles of bread multiplied.
And sometimes, for some reason not.
I mean, Paul could work miracles.
But it seemed that he still was shipwrecked.
He still was flogged.
He was still in circumstances that many of
us would question.
If many of us were in the circumstances
that Paul was in, we would probably say,
I must be doing something wrong.
And you know, just as Gary was saying
about some of the Old Testament comments on
poverty, so it is today when we see
Christians going through hard times, we actually criticize
them.
They must be doing something wrong for them
to be suffering like this.
Well, they may come.
And rich times may come.
And we can enjoy either.
We do not have to be rich.
And I know some people who feel that
we must be rich if we're the children
of the Father.
And I know other people who believe that
because we're Christians, we're under this sentence of
having to have less than everyone else, especially
poor missionaries.
And so we have this extraordinary phrase which
has grown up in the church, which goes
something like, Have you heard the call?
Well, rubbish!
We're all called.
This is not a few poor people who
have to go off to the ends of
the earth.
This is a universal commission.
It is a call that some people hear.
It's a privilege we're all allowed to share.
And there will be wanting times.
And there will be times of plenty.
And if we're free from the spirit of
poverty, we can thoroughly and greatly enjoy both.
And I'm happy to take taxes.
And I'm happy to spend my last penny
on my friends.
Both are a privilege.
Neither are a sentence.
One of the things that John Wimber talks
about, which he observed when he was doing
his research on church growth, was what he
calls the redemption and lift.
And this is a comment on societies in
the world where the gospel is preached and
people respond to Christ.
You can actually see that they are not
as poor.
Their lives become ordered.
Water is brought into a place, education, facilities.
They begin to be able to live better
in a personal life.
And so a community gets more prosperous.
And many of us can trace back this
as our own inheritance.
Especially certain Christian groups in this country will
find that they are living at a fairly
good standard now because of the honourable, holy
way of life of their forefathers, which will
bring some kind of prosperity.
But what John Wimber observed historically is that
when people have come upper class, so to
speak, they have been set free from poverty
and they begin to enjoy a better way
of life, the problem is that they get
stuck.
And that that generation then will not move.
And possibly the generation that are born after
them are born into middle class and they
are on their way up too.
They do not want to go back down.
And I am determined to beat redemption and
lift.
Why?
Because the other way that Jesus addressed the
spirit behind the curse of poverty was by
voluntarily becoming poor.
That we might, through his poverty, become rich.
All the wrong way round.
He addressed the curse of poverty by becoming
poor for us.
That we might become rich.
And this is my challenge to you tonight.
But it is voluntary.
It is voluntary.
I am happy to live simple and take
taxes from time to time because this is
what Jesus did for me.
He was the heir of everything in heaven.
I mean, he had a place with the
Father.
There is his throne.
Everything you could want in heaven.
And because of his great love for us,
he left heaven and came to a world
that did not welcome him, that did not
love him, that spat upon him, that scourged
him.
And it was because of his great love
for us that he came in the flesh.
Not shouted from heaven.
And so, what I long for in the
world is Christians like ourselves, who are in
fairly good circumstances, saying, I have inherited this
through my ancestors, all through the grace of
God, all through whatever.
And now I choose to go back to
the poorest of the poor because I have
a God whose riches, he says in 2
Corinthians 9, will always be enough to supply
not only my needs, but extraordinarily, he says,
he will give us enough to supply the
poor.
In fact, he says, you will be made
rich so that you can be generous on
every occasion.
So I am going to ask somebody who
was a refugee, to share where she came
from and where she's gone back to.
This is Yen.
My name is Yen.
I'm born in Vietnam.
I'm born in...
I have four sisters.
I mean, we have four children in Vietnam.
I'm the third oldest.
And I think we are not very poor,
but we are not...
I think we are rich.
I don't know.
But anyway, in this time, my parents, they
work very hard to get money and they
don't have a lot of time for us.
Sometimes I go with my mom and she
do business.
She sells cigarettes or sells stuff, and I
watch her.
And it's 1979.
Then all the Vietnamese kick all the Chinese
people out, like Jackie said about the refugees.
And after we became two refugees, and after
we take the boats to Hong Kong, and
I remember we are the one, we come
very late with little boats.
And after we live in Hong Kong two
years in a refugee camp, and I remember
the camp, it's quite a lot of huge,
big camp, and a lot of people live
there.
And a lot of people is inside.
And inside is quite confusing because all the
parents, they go out to work to get
money because they try to have more money
to get out to a better country.
And two years later, we go to Switzerland.
I never know why we go to Switzerland,
but after we went to Switzerland, and I
grew up there, and I visit school, and
I study, and in this time, finish the
school, I get to know Jesus.
And before, I was not Christian.
I always ask why I'm so poor, why
I'm so sad, because in Switzerland, they have
only, they are quite rich, and they have
family.
They have only two children or one children.
And since we come in Switzerland, I get
one more sister, one more brother.
This means we are six.
And sometimes it's quite hard for me, like,
oh, we are so big family, and I
feel like a little stranger.
And it's funny, after I became a Christian,
and after the Bible tell always God provide,
God is faithful.
And after I always thought, really?
He's faithful?
And after I start always complaining, say, Lord,
why you let me born in this world?
And why you let me to move from
place to place, and you let me grow
up in Switzerland, I mean, a country, it's
very rich, and I feel sometimes I'm not
worthy to have the money, or to have
all the social things to look after us,
and because only my father work in Switzerland,
my mother is housewife, and it's quite hard
for one person work for family, and it's
six children.
But anyway, we grow up, and I start
always asking God why, yeah, why I'm here
in Switzerland, and why I'm Chinese.
And one time, it's for three years ago,
I was in a conference in Germany, and
I first time Jackie sharing, and I mean,
what she sharing touched me, but what really
touched me, I see the teenagers from Hong
Kong, and I find like, wow, they are
drug addicts, but they have insight more than
I have.
And after this meeting, and I'm sure God
put something in my heart, and after I
start, and God started talking to me like,
we're about to go back to Hong Kong
to surf the pool, and after my pride
come up, and after I feel like, no,
Lord, I find not fair, you put me
from a poor country in a rich country,
now you take me back to a poor
country, I find it's hard, I cannot do
that.
And after with the time, he put pain
in my heart, and inside of me I
know like, because perhaps I see my parents,
they work very hard for money, when I
say like, I don't want that, I don't
want to be rich, and empty inside, I
don't want, because I know this is not
what, to have a lot of money, this
is not my goal, I want to go
out to do, to see miracle, to see
people to be safe, to see Jesus.
And after I come to Hong Kong, quite
a lot, a lot of things has happened,
because they don't want to give me the
visa, and I get frustrated.
Anyway, I come to Hong Kong, and after
I joined the mobile for three months, and
before coming, I was very proud, because I
thought, now I'm nearly five years Christian, I
know everything, and after I come, and joined
the mobile, and they teach about the spiritual
gift, teach, give, give you up, it's mean
like Paulie say, or John say, dying, and
I feel like, wow, I can do that,
it's so very hard, but God teach me,
in this time, then I was in the
girls house, it's mean of women, they are
drug addicts, and after they come in the
women's girls house, first stage, really I want
to go to boys house, not to women's,
but I don't know why it happen, but
anyway, I was there, I say, okay Lord,
it's your will, and after I start, and
I start to work, because I was, I
don't know how to serve, it's for me
very new, and then my Cantonese is not
so good, my English is not so perfect,
and better comfort in Swiss German or German,
and after I must learn the languages, the
culture, especially the culture make me very hard,
because I mean, I understand the Chinese culture,
but something Swiss in me, reject the Chinese
culture, and sometimes I get very frustrated with
women, because they treat you, they mean like,
you are stupid, and I don't like it,
people think I'm dumb or something, and after
I get very frustrated, and I know they
treat me, and after I get angry, and
after I tell to God, like, Lord, why
you put me in this house?
Why?
In Switzerland, my friends, they never tell me
I'm stupid, they never tell me, they never
treat me, they will love me, they care
of me, but after he told me only
simple, what about Jesus?
And I feel very guilty, because after I
realize, I don't know, I realize in my
life, what I want to have in my
life, that I want to reach, to have
a lot of money, to go in America
for holiday, or to serve Jesus, to give
all things, and he love me to die
really, and sometimes for me, very hard, because
my parents, they are not Christian, they will
give me oppression, because, yeah, and especially to
the woman, they are a lot older than
me, and they have a lot of experience,
and I find I'm very like a little
girl, like, I know nothing, how they talking,
how they attitude, and I find like, Lord,
how can I love them, because they reject
you, but after, I don't know, and after
I feel like, God always remember me, when
I feel angry or frustrated, he always remember
me, what Jesus do for me, and I
feel very guilty, and I say like, when
he always ask me, are you ready to
love them, and I say like, I will,
because when I don't go, who will love
them, so
you understand, we're all getting healed on the
job, I want to finish by talking about
some miracles, and then I want to pray,
about the spirit of poverty, I believe that
we do, need to expect signs and wonders,
to be evidenced in setting people free from
poverty now, I can't see any other answer,
for a sick poor world, and I believe
the greatest sign and wonder, has yet to
come, and I believe this great sign and
wonder will be, when Christians, go, it's not
happened yet, I've been to so many missionary
conferences, that have got so many strategies, of
reaching the world, by the year 2000, and
I don't know why, we keep inventing new
strategies, and new programs, when we've not yet
done, the original strategy of Jesus, which was
love God with all your heart, and soul
and strength and mind, and love your neighbor,
and we invent every other strategy, but that,
and I think the sign and wonder, that
the world is waiting to see, is when
Christians are free enough, from being enslaved to
the world, to be happy, about sharing with
our neighbor, one by one, and then going,
wherever it is that God says, many of
us are so unfree, we prefer to stay,
we had, when I became a Christian, I
had a large number of girlfriends, who would
not leave, the church, that I was in,
because there was such a lot of nice
men around, go while you're young, you
could meet a much better man on the
job, whatever it is that we're
afraid, we're going to be deficient in, by
going, God will provide much better for, if
we're obedient, we're afraid of missing out, there
are many people, who are afraid, that they're
not going to be around, where renewal is
happening, it doesn't matter, as long as we're
around, where Jesus is happening, and we have
people, that feel they've missed, I've missed all
my friends weddings, I missed all my, I
missed my nieces, growing up, I missed all
my sister's children, you know, one year they
were babies, and the next time I saw
them, they were 14, I missed all that,
but this is what Jesus said, no one
who's left home, or brothers, or sisters, or
mother, or father, or children, or fields, for
me in the gospel, will fail to receive,
hundred times as much, in this present age,
and in the age to come, eternal life,
and I remember, when I first heard that,
it was one of the many times, I
was having a meeting, in the wall city,
which no one came to, and a friend
came up, and she saw me looking despondent,
and we prayed, and I had a message
in tongues, and this was the interpretation, and
I looked it up in scripture, and I
had never seen, that it said, that if
you left these, for the sake of the
Lord, and the gospel, you could receive a
hundred times, in this life, and persecutions too,
in brackets, so I said to God, all
right then, I will have a hundred mothers,
a hundred fathers, I missed both my mother,
and my father dying, by the way, I
wasn't there, I will have a hundred homes,
and I will have three hundred, brothers and
sisters, and you promised, in this age, I've
missed being with them, I miss seeing their
families, but there's nothing, it's nothing, you
know, because I've got much more, than 300
brothers and sisters, my mothers and fathers, are
coming along quite nicely, and we've got, even
the houses, that we've been lent to stay
in, we're coming up into the hundreds now,
we're housing 400 people, I don't know quite
how it works, and I look at these
people, and I think, God, you are so
kind, in this age, I get to see
what you promised, in this age, and you
know something, none of my family were Christians,
when I left England, and they all came
to Christ, without me there, I think they
came to Christ, because I left, and
people say to me sometimes, I can't afford
to serve God, I've got two children, and
I say, well, I got 400, I can't
afford not to, we are longing to see,
people who will believe, for this age, that
the Lord can do miracles, I had learnt
from scripture, that we were responsible, for our
neighbours, and when I inquired of God, what
is my neighbour, who is my neighbour, he
showed me, that it was the one I'd
seen, and some of us, we prayed about
this last night, the one we'd seen, just
like the Samaritans saw, the one that was
in the street, and so, one day we
got a phone call, from somebody that, told
us about, 5000 refugees, no, I beg your
pardon, I think it was 6, that were
on an island, near Hong Kong, and it
was just concrete, on the island, there was
no shelter, and there was no water, and
we, the government was supplying them, with minimal
food, but we heard, that they were hungry,
and they were dehydrated, so I said to
my friend, well will you go and ring
up, Hong Kong government, and find out, how
we can help, and she came back, and
she said, well Hong Kong government says, they're
fed up with Christians, and, if there are
6000 people, on this island, they said for
instance, if you were to send oranges, it
would be no good sending 4000, because it
would be a riot, you'd have to send
6000, and you'd have to do it, every
day, not once off, and you'd have to
get your own boat, to take the oranges,
and it's several hours, away from Hong Kong,
so my friend said to me, shall we
pray about it, and I said no, you
don't need to pray about things, you're told
to do, so, we added up our money,
and we found that, if we sent oranges
for three days, all our money would have
gone, and we have to feed 400 people
a day, that's the people that live with
us, that's not counting the people, that we
share with in the streets, so I said,
well will you telephone the government, and say
we'll start sending the oranges, tomorrow, and I
thought like this, you're going to feel really
stupid, if Jesus came back on Monday, and
you said, well I was keeping this money
for next week, how could you justify that,
if you've seen hungry people, how can you
keep money for next week, so, we found
an orange wholesaler, and they're very expensive in
Hong Kong, and we're not allowed to preach
the gospel, by the way, because it was
the Hong Kong government, so we laid hands
on the oranges, and we sent off these
oranges, and people got to hear about the
oranges, and so we started in our bank
account, we started an orange account, and money
came in, for the orange account, and we
bought oranges, and laid hands on them, and
sent them out, and in came money, and
it happened so fast, that we began to
understand, the meaning of the phrase, let your
right hand know, what your left is doing,
it was coming in, and it went out,
and it was coming in, and it went
out, and this went on for three or
four months, every day, and then they moved
the refugees, and we didn't need to do
it anymore, and we found we had Hong
Kong, $100,000 left, in our account, which
is for you, what is about, 18,000
Canadian I suppose, left in our account, so
my friend said, well what shall we do
with this, and I said people gave it
for the hungry, but by this time I'd
seen, a newspaper about Ethiopia, and the problem
is I'd seen the newspaper, do you understand,
and if you've seen them, and people were
having to choose in Ethiopia, whether to die
in their village with their friends, or take
the risk of walking to town for food,
and dying away from their friends, what a
terrible choice, so we sent the $100,000
to Ethiopia, because we'd seen them, why should
we keep it for any other reason, it
was given to us for the poor, we
could give it away for the poor, and
so we found, an unfair multiplication, and our
Christmas parties are famous, they started one year,
when people came to lunch at Christmas, and
Gary was explaining how his wonderful friend, whom
I know, started to come to their Christmas
meal, well when it happened to us, we
weren't expecting this, all these visitors turned up
on Christmas day, non-Christians, they turned up
at Hangfoot Camp, and we were going to
have a gorge, we were going to stuff
ourselves at Christmas, and all these strangers came,
and I said what have you come for,
and they said lunch, and I said wine,
and they said you're Christians, and it's Christmas,
and I sort of realised, that they would
go to Disneyland, on a bank holiday, and
they thought they ought to come to Christians,
on Christmas day, so we gave them our
lunch, and halfway through the lunch, we suddenly
thought, oh this is great, they come to
lunch, I mean that's the gospel, so the
next year we thought, instead of being taken
by surprise, we'll invite them, so we invited
everyone in Hong Kong, to lunch, of course
we didn't know how many would come, and
the next year we only had 250 people,
and the next year we had about 500
people, and the next year we had about
900, and the last year we did it
we had 10,000, we sent out buses,
to all the fly overs, and we gave
street sleepers written invitations, come to lunch on
Christmas day, that's the gospel, and they would
tell their friends, and we would send a
bus to the pickup point, and you would
just see, miles and miles of street sleepers,
and grannies, all these single old grannies that
live alone, they were queuing up, and they
would say to their friends, Jesus healed my
wrist, and there's a bus coming tomorrow, and
you can get your wrist healed and lunch
too, and we just got, the bus would
have to go back six times, for all
these grannies that wanted their wrists healed, or
wanted to come to lunch, or wanted Jesus,
or whatever it was, that they were yearning
for, and we didn't have a gospel preach,
by the way at the lunch, the lunch
was the gospel, and on the bus we
had our helpers, who prayed for their wrists,
before they got there, and we had westerners
in the toilets, now we have squatty toilets,
holes in the ground, and you know in
Hong Kong, in all the big hotels, you
have poor Chinese ladies, handing out toilet paper
to rich foreign visitors, well we did it
the other way around, we have this team
from Australia, who came every year to do
the toilets, and for 12 hours they were
in there, they prayed over the toilet paper,
and as each granny would go in, they
would give the granny a bit of toilet
paper, and the grannies would say, Westerners gave
me toilet paper, and they'd come to Jesus,
that's a sign and wonder, they gave up
their Christmas with their family, and their usual
gorge, to wipe toilet seats, for lonely old
grannies, who experienced now, a taste of the
kingdom then, and therefore wanted so much the
Saviour, that gave them that taste, and we
gave presents, too for the children, and every
year we have run out of food, we
cook on two gas rings, Gary says they're
anointed gas rings, the whole lunch on two
gas rings, and it was hot food, I
mean proper food, and one year people had
given turkeys, and they all ran out, so
the turkey carvers, they were carving thick, not
thin slices, and they all joined their hands,
and closed their eyes, and they prayed over
the carcasses, and when they opened their eyes,
there were more turkeys, we see food multiplied,
now you can practice this, really, but I
tell you how to practice it, the secret
is, you can't have your own reserve, because
when the little boy gave, his lunch to
Jesus, he thought he was giving his lunch
to Jesus, and this is how it works,
I believe that we Christians, can go into
refugee camps, we can go into Africa, and
we can see food multiplied, if we give
ours, because when we give the little we
have, into Jesus hands, and it's just a
broken little, he breaks it, and multiplies it,
and blesses it, and it feeds so many,
and each year the children's gifts, have run
out, and I've got friends, who still talk
about it, they say I know there weren't
any more presents, we have them labelled 5
year old, 4 year old, 3 year old,
and they, put their hands in the sack,
and there's always one more, it's a wonder,
to behold, there's always one more, we've finished
what we had, and it's like Elijah's, they
put in their hand, and another one comes
out, and they put in their hand, I
don't know how it works, but I do
know it demonstrates, the heart of one, who
has room for so many, in his kingdom,
that he says go out, and compel them,
to come in, and it's the love of
Christ, that compels them, and we can expect
to see, signs and wonders, in actual provision,
for the poor now, do you want to
be involved in that, do you want to
be involved in that, would it not be
wonderful, if the vineyard learnt this, along with,
healing the sick, would it not be wonderful,
if we practice, multiplying, food, and resources, because
I can't see any other way, that the
world, is going to be filled physically, and
reached spiritually, but let's pray now, about being
set free ourselves, from the spirit of poverty,
that we can actually bring, good news, not
just, good advice, please stand, thank
you Lord Jesus, that you became, poor for
our sakes, and now you reign, over all,
and we look forward, to your invitation, to
reign with you, and we thank you, that
you were willing, for a while, because you
wanted us to share, heaven with you, we
thank you, that you are willing to leave,
the riches of heaven, and the comforts, and
to come to a world, which despised you,
and beat you, and stoned you, and scorned
you, and didn't recognize you, we thank you
Jesus, that you did this willingly, because you
loved us, and Jesus, we want to learn
of you, we want to learn, to worship,
the Father first, we don't want to worship,
the splendor of the kingdoms, of this world,
but Father you know, that we're afraid, and
we know that, you're always saying, don't be
afraid, so we come to you, for a
solution, to that which has, kept us in
bondage, we want to be set free, from
the fear, of being poor, we want to
be set free, many of us, from having
to earn, our livings, we want to be
set free, from having to pay back, our
parents, or generations, who've struggled, out of poverty,
so we ask that you'll come, and meet
us, where we're afraid, there are two, main
groups of people, I want to pray for,
I'm going to ask you, to come forward
in a minute, and one of, one of
these groups, you may be, like me, you
may have grown up, believing that, Christians, especially
the poor, full time, cold ones, we're going
to have to, live poorer, than everyone else,
as if we're sentenced, to poverty, this is
a lie, but for many of us, it's
a real fear, so I'm going to ask
you, to come forward in a minute, the
other group of people, that I want to
pray for, are many of us here, who
believe, that we have a right, to the
money that we have, because we've, earned it,
or we got, educated enough, to get a
salary, or maybe, our parents, struggled for it,
if you know, that you have this fear,
I ask you to come forward, and we're
going to pray for deliverance, that night, this
night, that we ourselves be set free, from
the fear, of being poor, to
hear what God is saying, about your future,
because of your fear, of not having enough,
or fear of not having, a secure income,
we'd like to pray for you, I
met a prostitute, once, and when she came
to Christ, I said to her, you can
pray for your daily rice, and later on,
I met her friends, and they said, she
can say that, because she lives like this,
if we don't live like this, we can't
say it, to the poor, do you want
to be able to trust, that God really,
now, is like, it's going to be at
the end of the book, or the beginning
of the book, that he's a provider, for
everything, we don't have to earn our living,
it's a curse, this earning a living, the
joy is serving, in the place that he's
chosen for us, without fear, of not having
enough, let's have
the ministry team come around, if you can,
in front of this group, I
feel like the Lord has been giving me,
some instruction as to, what to do right
now, you know, sometimes we, we know what
God has said to us, we know who
to call, and then we have to say,
well Lord, what do we do, we know
very clearly, that this, is a deliverance of
sort, it must be, if it was a
simple thing, for us to walk out of
this spirit of poverty, we would have walked
out of it, long ago, generations ago, but
you know, it's a difficult thing, sometimes we
make sacrifices, and that doesn't work, you know,
this thing is often like, the proverbial hotel
California, we can check out anytime we want,
but we can't leave, and so this requires,
the power, delivering power of God, so I've
been listening to Jackie, I've been asking the
Lord, well how are we set free, and
the Lord's been reminding me, of some scriptures,
the first is of course, that you'll know
the truth, and the truth will set you
free, I've watched this lady for years, swing
the sword of truth, and it can, slice
the chains, away from our hearts, can break
the power of fear, and so she's been
speaking truth, and that truth is powerful, but
as I said this morning, we are constant
prayers, Lord hone the edge of this thing,
you know, now we want to make sure,
that this is sharpened, and can come right
to the heart, of this thing, so that
it slices it off us, without slicing us,
and what I want you to do, I
was asking the Lord, now Lord what is
the truth, that can set us free here,
what is it, and I want you to
actually, do something and trust that the Lord,
perhaps will give you some, that he'll use
this, and make it childlike, and simple for
you, I want you to open up your
hands, and in your hands, I want you
to imagine, I just think right now, what
are all of the things, that you think
you need, you're probably a whole, arm load
of things, and you probably, don't have most
of them, or you're probably afraid, that in
getting most of them, you're going to drop
the others, that you desperately need, but you
don't have a sack, or anything else to
store it all, just your hands, don't look
at me, don't look at anyone else, just
begin to let it come to your mind,
the Lord will start to show you, all
the things you believe, that you need, and
the Lord turned me, just keep your eyes
closed, and think as you're thinking of these
things, the Lord reminded me of the thing,
we often, so often I think misuse, this
little story of Mary and Martha, and Martha
was distracted, by all the preparations, that had
to be made, and all the things she
needed, she needed help, to get all the
stuff together, to take care of Jesus, and
the Lord answered her, and said Martha, Martha,
Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset, about
many things, but only one thing is needed,
reminded me of the great commission, when Jesus
said, now go into all the world, and
in a sense, fulfill Luke chapter 4, 18,
19, be the good news, go into the
whole world, and be the good news, and
then gather up the people, that respond to
the good news, and make them bearers of
the good news, go into the whole world,
I'm sure the disciples, had a million and
one questions, about all the things they need,
but I think he told them, the one
thing they need, he said, and I am
with you, to the very end of the
age, he reminded me of Exodus, where Moses
said, he was going to take the people
on, and then there was a little dialogue,
between him and the Lord, will your presence
go before us, will your presence lead us,
and in fact Moses said, your presence doesn't
lead the way, we ain't going, because the
one thing, that distinguishes us, from all the
people of the earth, is that we are
the people, of the presence of God, and
I want to say this with authority, and
this is the truth of God, that can
set us free, we only need, one thing,
we only need, the presence of God, we
only need him with us, if he is
not with us, if we are not with
him, all the king's horses, and all the
king's men, won't do anything, to satisfy us,
but if he is with us, and we
are with him, it is all we need,
we say we believe it, and we don't,
we don't at all, but what Paul was
saying, in Philippians 4 is, I've learned this
one truth, he is all I need, Jackie
has been preaching, all day long saying, it
is really true, he is all we need,
and all I know is that, when we
stand as we are before the Lord, we
must stand as the man, who said Lord
I believe, help me in my unbelief, there
is a little way, in which we believe
this, there are so many ways, in which
we don't, all we can do again is
say, oh Lord have mercy on me, I
want to believe, and that is enough, it
is all it takes, and he can start
a process, what I want you to do,
is take all that stuff, that is in
your hands, as essential as it might be,
seemingly, in the system of this world, and
if you want, ask the Lord, for a
trade, trade it all, for his presence, Lord
if you will go with me, that will
be enough for me, Father for everyone, who
even begins, to voice that cry to you,
I ask you to take, the sword of
your spirit, and break the power of the
lie, that says we need anything else, or
anything more, and I proclaim this, to the
depths of your, of everything that makes up,
who you are, he is all you need,
Jesus is enough, he is more than enough,
he is beyond, what you could think of,
or even imagine, or ever ask for, the
presence of God is enough, and the key
to the presence of God, is to say
yes Lord, I will follow you, and I
ask you Father, to break the power of
fear, to break the power of doubt, and
insecurity, to break the power, of all of
the arguments, of all of the, counsel and
advice, that is the doctrine of demons, we
proclaim Lord, that you are enough, and that
you, can and will lead us, and provide
for us, so that we will be the
richest, of all people, from the inside out,
so Lord, would you take the power, of
your spirit right now, confront these principalities, and
powers, confront these areas of darkness, and control,
and dominion, and would you shatter them, with
the light of your truth, Father would you
do this now, would you let your presence,
just move through this room,