So before I go ahead and play the second audio sermon of Joseph Prince, where he continues to cover what was revealed to him for the theme of his church this 2023… I’d like to just share a couple of things from what I transcribed last time.
We’ve established that though we are strong, fast, rich, and/or smart, it’s no guarantee that we will always be at the right place at the right time. No, it takes someone – Someone like the strongest beyond all fathomable strength, the fastest beyond speed, the richest beyond what we call wealth, and the wisest beyond our measures of knowledge – It takes the Creator above all time and space, and above all creation, and nobody less, to be able to orchestrate it so everyone in the body of Christ is at the right place, at the right time.
All the time. Impossible! Unfathomable! Ridiculous!… well, for us, anyway. Thank God, God is who He is… and on top of that, He is for us, and not against us. And, again, how can we make such claims? Well we’re only made confident through Christ and His finished work. It’s because of Christ that we make the claim that we are always brought to the right place at the right time…
…and, in fact, it is also because of Jesus Christ that we are so bold to claim what is said in the Scripture; or, as Joseph Prince pointed out, based on Isaiah 65:24 – Before we call, He has answered, and while we speak, behold, He has already responded. But I like that he clarified on this – It’s not to say that we shouldn’t be praying anymore, because God already answers us; No, it’s because of who we are, and because we appreciate who He is, that we pray. We pray because we’re essentially acknowledging our own limitations, and presenting them before our limitless God – We pray, because we don’t know the answer yet, or we don’t see the response yet.
But take note, this is different from saying that we pray for God to respond. No, we’re praying to God until we see His response, again, at the right place, and at the right time. So it’s not a realization that would lead us to pray less – no, on the contrary, because we know He answers us before we call, all the more that we are happy to call on Him. Because we know He hears us while we are still speaking… we are encouraged, all the more, to speak!
I’ve been led to think about so many things out of my control, things that bring anxiety to me when I think about them – things like land issues that aren’t so easily addressed or much less solved immediately… and in light of all this, so I tell myself, pray even more! It’s no accident that we’ve started praying for one another at the end of each church service I’ve hosted, beginning last year. It’s no accident that we’ve started praying as a team, even if it is online, every week. And now, I don’t question why the older ladies in our congregation are pushing for a time to meet up and pray, also weekly – by all means, let’s pray, and let’s pray more… until we see how we have been so pleasantly brought – to the right place, at the right time!
Another thing that I want to point out, another thing I appreciated with what Pastor Prince was sharing – it’s that in the right place and the right time, the grace of God is not too far away – in fact, it’s by God’s grace, as seen in the power of the Holy Spirit, that we are, indeed, at the right place at the right time, all the time! He pointed this out using Ruth as an example; when she was gleaning, Boaz took notice – Boaz, a representation of Christ, and a personification of the grace of God; we’re at the right place at the right time because Christ took notice of us, and Christ took notice of us because we’re constantly at the right place at the right time.
I dare say, because Christ is with us, and therefore does more than take notice of us, but constantly cares for us… well, He’s the reason and the cause of our being at the right place at the right time, all the time. And we may never see how this is possible all the time, but we just place our trust in Him – for indeed, He is faithful to make all things work for good. He IS faithful to make all things right, at the right time.
There’s certainly so much to unpack when you listen to someone so seasoned in the grace of God, someone as profound and inquisitive as Joseph Prince. Today, as I wait for traffic to clear… I think I’ll spend some more time listening to Him.
The Kairos Year Of Right Time, Right Place – Part II (January 15, 2023)
The best way to love someone is to share Jesus with them. The best thing you can give your children is Jesus. The world needs Jesus.
Take Christ seriously by appreciating Christ, and appreciate Christ by taking Him seriously. We never know when our words would be the words people need to hear at the right place at the right time. And even when our words are not heard, well, Christ produces fruits in and through us, whether we are intentional in our movements or not – and it is by our fruits that He shall be made known.
And it’s most likely that we would be out and about – in fact, apparently, we’d find we are brought to the right place at the right time, whenever we are in movement. Elisha was plowing a field, when Elijah lay his mantle of succession upon him. Matthew was out and about, collecting taxes when Christ called him out to follow Him. The other fishermen were mending their nets when Christ called them to follow Him. He could use anybody, and He could make him ‘fit for the master’s use’, fully equipped with every spiritual blessing.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit can be divided to the knowing gifts, the vocal gifts, and the power/doing gifts: Knowing gifts consist of the Word of Wisdom (a word about the future, e.g. the flood made known to Noah), the Word of Knowledge (a word about the present, Acacia/Gopher Wood to be used – a word to be used for a long time), and Discerning of Spirits – It’s not just about discerning evil spirits, but also detecting angels; I suppose any Truth ultimately points to Jesus, else it’s fact, or questionable. We certainly need these gifts, especially this third one, in a world of fake news.
The Vocal gifts consist of Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, and Prophecy. I’ve had to pause here because I don’t necessarily believe that tongues is limited to glossolalia but also miraculous fluent speaking of actual languages. And to clarify, prophecy is needed for us or for others. Finally, if we have gifts to know something, and gifts to say something, we also have Power gifts, for us to do something: Healings, The Working of Miracles – e.g. the cancellation of debt, the miraculous cancelling of disaster, and stuff out of the ordinary and natural; Third, Supernatural impartation of Faith. Faith here is ‘when you know that you know that you know’. It’s an unwavering, mountain moving faith.
And remember, these are gifts – we already have these in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit! The fruits are produced as we continue to live… but the gifts are here and now, and now and forever… and one more thing, these gifts manifest on their own, not necessarily activated by our command, but by our cooperation with Christ in us, and us in Christ…
Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle (corporate competitions, military conflict down to simple arm-wrestling) to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent (men of understanding), nor favor to those with knowledge (men of skill), but time and chance happen to them all.For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.
Ecclesiastes 9:11
We’re reminded that the word ‘time’ in verse 11 is ‘ev’; Most of the time the meaning or where it’s used is for favorable moments, or favorable time. If it is used for times of evil, it’s specified, e.g. ‘an evil time’. It’s the same thing for the Greek ‘kairos’. Most of the time, these words are used and it implies that the time is favorable, or positive… And the good Pastor clarifies at this time, this isn’t necessarily a year of ‘Kairos’ for the entire world.. but it is certainly going to be so for the people of God, the body of Christ.
The plagues of Egypt are brought up as an example. The plague of flies represents things that happen around us, physical or spiritual. The plague that impacted the cattle represents how a food supply can be impacted by curse – Exodus 9:4 reads, “But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”’; It shows how bad happens to everyone else, besides, as it mentions, the people of Israel. We can draw the same conclusion – those of us who are of God need not fear curses befalling us, around us (flies), above us (darkness), in what we eat and drink (cattle), in our dealings outside (hail), and so on and so forth; personally, I would say they would still impact us but it would not last forever.
For man does not know his time. – Folks who are not aware of the times as God directs them (‘Now (kairos) is the time of salvation’) are ensnared in the times of evil. And especially during these times, so many things happen, and we could try as the world would have us try, to be the strongest, etc; but even when we’re at the top of our game, it could be entirely possible that someone else could crash into us, etc.
It’s not merely a pleasant thing, therefore, for us to be in the right place at the right time; oftentimes, we find to be in such circumstances, not necessarily for fortuitous purposes but if we were elsewhere we may lose our lives. We NEED to be in the right place, at the right time… and around this time, through Joseph Prince’s extensive perusal of Scripture in the light of his knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, He points out that Christ is, indeed, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, and the Aleph and the Tav. In the Hebrew version of Ecclesiastes 9:11 he points out that, at the mention of ‘time and chance happen to them all’ – the letters Aleph and Tav are seemingly ‘signed’ into that verse.
Christ causes things to happen to us. Christ causes us to be in the right place and the right time. Indeed, the world needs Jesus, more now than ever. We find ourselves in testing times, and in moments where our chances of success or even just survival are significantly slim.
Putting it all together so far, as we reach this halfway point of the sermon, I suppose we ought to just keep praying – and pray we shall, for everything out of our control, for ourselves, for others, in honor of the One who hears us before we call out, and the One who brings us to the right place, at the right time.
Thank You, Lord.
Until the next post, God bless you.
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