Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Karima Chaj podcast.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: I have a word that I want to share with you this afternoon, just 12:02.
And it's a word that I've just been sort of stewing on really since October. And the way that the timing of things works, it wasn't meant to be this time timing, but I had started to feel like the Lord was speaking about something in October, and I knew that I would bring that word to our church. You know, sometimes that's how the Lord speaks to us. It's like we bring it and then we get more and. And I had known when I'd started to feel like the Lord was speaking that it might be something that I would bring here because I could feel that it was like this word about 2025, 2026, 2027.
And yet it wasn't sort of, I didn't have the fullness of that. Well, the way it all worked out is that I broke my wrist in October and I wasn't able to deliver this word in October. And then Christmas came and I'd never delivered it to our church until this Sunday. So God bless you. If you are here from Cromer Church, you're going to get this, a version of this word twice. I would say you could take a nap, but I'm not going to say that because you need to be in the spirit, Spirit full of the Spirit, declaring the goodness of God over this place. So you may pray, but you may not nap.
And so, yeah, so it's all sort of come together that bringing it all at the same time.
And the thing about the Lord is he's just so amazing, isn't he? When we go through difficulties and stuff's happening in our lives, he speaks in the midst of it. You know, I think it's. Paul always says he wastes nothing. It's like he's in everything. And even when something difficult happens, like a broken wrist, there he is speaking in the middle, middle of it, showing us his goodness. And, you know, it's often also the way of prophetic words. You know, we often think that prophetic words are just what we hear and give. But very often when you actually read the Scriptures, the Lord is weaving his word through the life of the prophets and the things, the everyday normal and the things that are happening and even the trials of life. And so I, in this not very nice time with a really sore broken wrist, thank God it is completely recovering and I'm in it. And the Lord, he starts to speak to me about breakthrough. Breakthrough is Coming.
He's saying, see the signs. See the signs. Now, don't panic. God is good. He didn't break my wrist. I don't need a sozo. It's all going to be all right. But in the midst of. Of this, he's speaking to me. See the signs and one of our prophets here. He actually came up to me just after I had the cast put on, and he said to me, dare I say it? See the signs. Because, you see, they've been on the journey with us from the beginning of this church. And he knows that on several occasions, just before we have seen a significant breakthrough. I've broken a bone in my body. I promise I don't need. So. So I promise I'm not living under the curse. But I tell you what, there's something about See the signs when we're on the edge of the promise.
You see, the thing about breaking point and into breakthrough is sometimes that season can be a season of enormous pressure. You know, we are in the earliest stages of a revival in our land, and that means lots of things to different people. But I always say to people, you know, they pray for revival and pray for revival, and I'm like, do you know what you're praying for?
Because revival is, in fact, going to be a lot of work according to the story of Acts. And, you know, in this church, we have seen something like 1500 people come forward to give their lives to Jesus. They're not all in our church. They've gone, you know, their students, they've gone all over. They've gone to other churches. But we have seen that, and that that has created some pressure. There have been some challenges. And you, you know, when you're on this journey with the Lord, into the promise, into the breakthrough, sometimes there are moments of extreme pressure. And one of the things that's happened to me sometimes is I just get tired and clumsy, disorientated, trip over and do something stupid like break my nose or break a bone in my foot. And here's the thing. I now need to learn to see the signs and not do something stupid like run up a hill like I'm 20 years old and slip down and break my wrist. I also need to listen to my husband who said, don't run up that hill.
See the signs. The Lord is so good. He speaks through the ups and downs of life. And he said to me, breaking point into breakthrough. That was 2025, that 2026, as we went into 2026, he said, 2026 and 2027 are years of promise and fulfillment.
That's not promise and then fulfilment. It's actually promise and fulfillment. Promise and fulfilment that actually across the body of Christ. In our individual stories, many of us would see the breakthrough. And in this revival that we're already stepping into, we would see the more of his kingdom come breaking point into breakthrough fulfillment of the promises that God has spoken over our land and over our individual stories. And another analogy for the season that we're in, Remember last year, Chris Fallaton, if you were here, I know many of you were. Chris Valleton said, england is in the womb of the dawn.
He said, england is in the womb of the dawn. The birthing of a new era.
Well, you see, as I prayed this through with the Lord, he reminded me that actually giving birth takes quite a long time.
You know, it takes, I don't know, a really long time. Too long to get to 9cm dilated before you're ready to push. And I just felt the Lord say that we had been laboring in that promise, that we had been laboring in that promise. As if it was like coming to that 9 centimeters. I know it's 10, but it's 9. Actually, when you get to push, to actually push that baby out.
And that's the point, that's the moment when we're on the precipice of the breakthrough, that it can actually get bloody and quite hard.
Sorry if that's too graphic for you, but that's the moment of vulnerability. And the Lord said to me, this is where you are.
This is where you are. It's the moment where you could say, I don't want to do this. I'm going to give up. It's the moment where actually the thing ahead, you think you've come a long way, but the thing ahead, it's like one last push, you know, I don't know. The Lord began to speak to me through some scriptures, scripture that I want to just share with you and touch on some points that are about this sort of pressing in and pushing into the fulfillment of the promise. The Lord has given me some things. I think there's so many more. And I don't know what to call this talk, really.
I've named it many things. I've called it building a tabernacle in the wilderness. And I've talked about heaven's blueprint. And now I'm getting to the point where I'm like, just push the baby out.
[00:07:23] Speaker C: Just one last push.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Call it whatever you want, call it whatever you Want.
But it's something like that. That's the prophetic picture. Get this baby out now. The thing about childbirth that is so great is whatever is happening, that baby is coming out.
But let it be a fast, easy labor. Let's get this thing into the promise, the full release of the promise that God has spoken over our land and over our individual stories. And so will you grab your Bibles. We're going to read Exodus 24, and we're going to be reading from verse nine. You know, in our church, we love to stand, to read the word of the Lord. Will you stand to honor his word?
We're reading from verse nine.
Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel went up and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven in its clearness.
And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. They beheld God and they ate and drank. And the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain and wait there that I may give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commandment which I have written for you, their instructions. So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them. That if you know the story, obviously you do. Didn't go that well.
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai. Sinai. And the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
This is a significant moment of the redemption of God. You know. You see the significance there. That recreation of Eden moment that would come again and again and again, that finds its fulfillment in our Lord Jesus.
Now, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. And Moses entered the cloud, and he went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. And the Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that they may take for me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him. You shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them. Gold, silver, bronze, blue and purple and scarlet. Scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goat's hair, Tanned ram skins, goat skins, acacia wood oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. Onc stones and stones for the setting of the ephod and for the breastpiece. And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly. As I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its fear furniture, so shall you make it. This is the word of the Lord. Will you take a seat?
You know, this is a very beautiful passage of scripture and a very important moment, a pinnacle moment in the history of Israel.
And you know, I said to my church on Sunday, and I'm saying it to you now, that I don't think I can succinctly give this prophetic word in an exact sort of pointed sermon, really. It's more like a sort of outpouring of one point, which is to say this. It's like blueprint after blueprint of heavenly downloads, heavenly downloads coming into the people of God that we then activate and build.
And it will be costly.
It's more of us, it's more of our labor, it's more of our laid down lives, it's more of our giving, it's more that we lay down to push this baby out.
But it will be so worth, will be so worth it as we see what so many of us have been praying for for a very long time.
This pinnacle moment in Israel goes up and down. You know, you know the story. They've been rescued. They received the tablets, they're receiving the tablets, but they've received the law.
And then Moses goes up the mountain to receive the tablets and to receive the written law.
And there's this glory moment of being in that heavenly realm. And it's so beautiful.
Then as he comes down, you know the story, this up and down of the story, the golden calf, yuck. What a horrible moment at the end of this story.
But of course, God has said, and the tabernacle will be built.
But then there's this really sad part where Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, are burned in the fire because they misuse the tabernacle. And it's so sad, the mess of people in the midst of, of pressing into the promise.
But then of course, we know the story that Joshua takes that baton of believing God from Moses and he runs into the promised land. And we know along with Caleb, that he could not see the giants.
And I believe there's a key to that in this passage that actually I know it was Moses who went up and saw the realm of heaven in full, that Joshua went partially up, but he would have seen Moses coming down. And I'm sure that Moses would have relayed the glory and the glory of God was all over him.
And then Joshua went on with the rest of the people to build this glorious place, this glorious house, this tabernacle for the Lord. And he would guard the entrance of that place.
You see, I believe that when Moses handed that baton on, and that's the sad part, isn't it, he had to contend with a generation who didn't believe God.
But he did hand on the baton of believing God for the promise to another generation, a revival generation, to take that baton and run into the promised land. And I believe that he couldn't see the giants. Yes, because of his courage. Yes, because God had said, but because he had a vision of heaven, because he had a vision of glory that was so spectacular, he could only see the shalom, the promise of God. He couldn't see the giants.
And you see, I want to say to us here, I believe that we're in this sort of. I don't know, it's like this sort of moment in the body of Christ, in the story of revival, individual and corporate.
And you know, some of us have received a whole promise that we've been contending for.
Some of us have received a part of it. I know that's the story of this church and what God has spoken to us about, We've seen parts of it, but we're now standing on the precipice of needing to believe God for so much more.
And some of us are in that stage where God has promised us and we know, and we've got that heaven download, but we haven't seen it yet.
Wherever we are in the journey towards the promised land, what I want to say to you is if we will build a tabernacle for the glory of God right where we are, if we will build a tabernacle for the glory of God, then the glory of God will take us into, into the full release of the promise, however that looks for you, wherever you are.
And I just have a couple of things from this passage that I want to highlight.
You know, just absorb them into your story, but also absorb them into the corporate story, story of what the Lord is doing as we stand on the precipice of revival.
You know, the thing in this passage that to me was so beautiful and I just couldn't get off it. I was there for ages and I just kept crying was this moment where we see that beneath the feet of the Lord, there is pure sapphire.
It's so beautiful to think that the Lord's carpet is pure sapphire that's just underneath his feet. And they were looking up, seeing this. Obviously Moses went in to see all of it that would be reproduced little by little, all those beautiful, complex, lovely, symbolic things in the tabernacle that were a part of what he'd seen there. But this temple of the heavenlies and his feet and the sapphire beneath his feet is so stunning.
You know, I've got a little sapphire in my ring. It is a beautiful sapphire. Every time I've said it a few times. I love the sapphire that you bought me in my ring, but it is a little sapphire.
You know, at Christmas, I got some really, really pretty pearl earrings, and they were more than I was expecting. And they were such a lovely gift. So, such a lovely gift. I was so grateful.
And, you know, we've got people here in our church who are getting engaged, and they keep posting their pictures of their whopping great rocks on social media. I'm sure they're getting bigger. They're doing something interesting with diamonds these days. But, you know, these big rocks.
But of all the beautiful jewelry and jewels that we can receive, it is nothing compared to, to a sea of sapphire that's beneath his feet.
You know, just thinking about the picture of John's vision in Revelation where it talks about the throne room and the sea of crystal, I tried to bring these two pictures together. I was like, they must fit together because they seem like the same thing to me. And I was, you know, looking at all the commentaries and everything, and no one puts them together. They all say they're separate pictures because one is blue sapphire and one is a crystal sea.
I was like, come on, you know, is it not the same thing? As John looked across and he can see a crystal sea. The sea is blue. Couldn't he see some dimension of sapphire in the crystal? Is it that when you look up, it's sapphire and maybe when you look across, is it two dimensional and it's crystal? I don't know. But it's glorious, isn't it? It's so stunningly beautiful. And as I was in this, I was just like, it just speaks of glory and beauty and phenomenal wealth, the phenomenal wealth of the heavenly realm.
And I was like, lord, what are you saying?
What are you saying through this picture?
And then I would come into church, into this church, and I started looking at our carpet, which is really ugly.
And, you know, I know The Lord. It's the Lord who makes everything that's ugly, beautiful. That's the redemptive story. He comes into our ugly, he's coming into the ugly there, and he makes it beautiful. He is the glorious one. But as I was reading this, I was like, he does care.
When you think about the glory of heaven, he does care.
And he only creates what is good and glorious and beautiful. You and I in creation, it's only ever good and glorious. And when you read these passages over and over again, it talks about glory and beauty, glory and beauty. That bringing heaven to earth is about glory and beauty, glory and beauty. And we don't always see it that way. And there was something just shifting in my mindset. And I was looking at our carpet, I was like, lord, this is your resting place, this is your house. I know he's in us, but the manifest presence of God that we are experiencing already because he's already here. I was like, your carpet in heaven is sapphire and the carpet here is ugly.
You see, we've been in this annoying thing with our landlord for several years. If you've been here before, you know that, that we've been in a very sort of nasty situation with the renewal of our lease. And it's unjust and it's unfair and it's just ugly. If you look in the car park and you see the filth of the car park, that gives you some image of the kind of warfare that we're in. I won't go into the ins and outs of it all, but it's been so horrible in the last year.
And when we got the 10 year lease here, we renovated this whole building for 10 years. And we've come to the end of that. And we can't until we've renewed the lease, renew some of the things here. And one of those is the carpet. And when the lights are on this, I was like, God, the carpet is so bad. Doesn't matter how much we wash it, it's still ugly. I mean, and I was just getting so dramatic in this. And I said to Steve, we've just got to replace the carpet now. It doesn't matter what Ricky's doing, we're just doing, doing it now. And he was like, well, the carpet's going to cost £50,000. We can't just replace. I mean, he's wise, he's a good steward of the Lord's money. We haven't signed the lease. We can't just do that. And I'm like, oh, Lord. So I was Just like praying before the Lord. And just as I just stewarded this moment in this passage, I was like, right, okay, well, what can we do to take a step towards the promise? If I look up to heaven instead of look at the reality we're in, which is, we can't do this now, what does it look like if I look at the carpet beneath your feet and I say, how can we start now? A step towards the promise that I know you will fulfill.
And so on Sunday, we started this funny little tabernacle fund, and we asked people to give. And I'd had this picture of people raising their hands. Now, listen, we had the most awful week last week. I'll just let you into that secret. The most awful week last week in the negotiations with our landlord, Lord, over this building. And I'm like, why last week? Why did it have to be just before? I was gonna, you know, do the tabernacle offering. And I said, lord, you still want to do this? And I saw all these people raising their hands. I was like, okay, yep, we're gonna do it. And I felt like a saleswoman. I was like, you know, £6 for a tile, £24 for a square meter. Only I said it all wrong because I'm not good at numbers. I said, 24 pounds per square foot, which apparently is totally different if, you know, that's much bigger. And then I was like, £9,000. Nine. Well, I'm getting really confused. 9,000 tiles, 1,000 square meters. And I'm like, anybody want to give to the offering? I mean, I never do offerings like that. I do the offering all the time, and they're much more dignified. And I'm getting people to raise their hands and. But here's the thing.
As I looked out and I saw the faces of our people, I knew that God was pleased.
And I said to them, you know, I don't know whether we're going to be able to replace this carpet here and now, or we're going to take it into this journey that we're in and build it somewhere else. But what we're doing is we're putting a stake in the ground and saying, even though we're not there yet, we're going to build a tabernacle for your glory according to the. The pattern of heaven on earth coming to earth. We're going to take a step.
And people came and they just. They was. It was so sweet. At the end, loads of people came forward and just brought their little offering. People that don't have much and a Woman just. It was so sweet. She gave me a ring for the offering, and a little boy made a little, little pot to collect his gifts for the tabernacle. And I just know that the Lord was pleased because what we're doing is we're trying to get our heads there and to start the journey into the promise.
You see, underneath his feet there is sapphire. And we sang today, you know, that beautiful song about, I don't deserve the royal robes, but we have royal robes. And I think in the body of Christ. You see, this is. I feel this is so important to us right now in this point of revival, that we're in. In the body of Christ very often in our nation. And I want to say this really kindly, but we're shopping in Primark. Nothing against Primark, except clothes don't wash. Well, we're shopping in Primark instead of reaching up for our royal roads.
And it's a picture of, you know, we need to look to the pattern of heaven and have faith in God for the promise before us and take a step. And I do not know what is going to happen with this building or what God is going to do next. We're in this. Not yet in stepping into the fulfillment of the promise.
And so it is a step of faith with our people because we actually don't know what the outcome's going to be or how we're going to get there.
But you see, I've known many, many people on the journey, and Moses is one who didn't see the full release of the promise in his lifetime, but he did hand the baton on.
The baton that he handed on was a baton to believe God for the promise.
It doesn't matter actually, whether we see it all. It matters that we have faith in God now and build according to the pattern of heaven.
And God doesn't do ugly.
He doesn't do cheap, and we've got to change our thinking.
And he's. I just believe he's challenging us right now in this moment to lift up.
You know, it may be that in your classroom or your school, there's no money or your. Your health center or your church or whatever, but what does it look like to actually look up to the pattern of heaven and say, I'm going to take a step, step and build for the glory of God now, according to your glory and beauty, according to the royal robes that I have access to.
I don't know what that looks like for you, but for us, it looks like pressing into this promise, even though we don't know what the next step is.
And I have known many beautiful, faithful Christians who prayed for the revival that we are seeing the beginning of, who have gone to glory now. They didn't see it all. You know, my Steve, when he got saved, he sat at the foot of a Methodist minister who had. Actually, he was a retired Methodist minister who had been praying for him when he was on his paper round.
He got saved at 13 years old. And he would sit with this retired Methodist minister who would tell him the glory of the stories of the Wesleyan revival.
And it put a hook in him.
It put a hook in him. And we have to carry the same faith in God and do the same for the generation that's behind us. No matter how much of the fulfillment of the promise we see, we hand that baton on generation to generation.
But will we believe God and look heaven to earth and take a step?
Second thing I want to say to you is.
And this.
It feels a bit painful to say this, honestly, you know, and when you give this sort of prophetic sense, you always want it really just to straightaway be an encouragement, but straight away, it's maybe not going to be encouragement. But we're going to get there, okay? We're going to get there.
You know. You know the story as it goes on, that while they were waiting for Moses, that beautiful moment, and they're in the glory, like they're up the mountain, they're near God in a way that they'd not been able to be, and they can see the glory of God. They could see the fire, his presence, and they were able to eat and drink in his presence.
And then if you read on, you read the story, you know that the sad thing is that before Moses can even deliver this vision, they build that golden calf.
And it's like when you're reading it and the Holy Spirit is just like, wow, this is so beautiful. So beautiful. I know the story. I know the story. And then you get there, it's like, why did they do that? Why on earth in this moment, on the precipice of a breakthrough, there had been so much that had gone before. They'd seen. Seen the glory. They'd seen the glory of the Lord. And there were those ups and downs, but what on earth.
Why would they agree to the covenant and all that that had been taught and then just, well, just throw some earrings in and build a golden calf. It's just ridiculous. I know that it says in the story that they got tired of waiting and, well, what. You know, and it was a long Time while they were waiting and they were waiting for the fulfillment of the promise, and they built the golden calf.
Waiting for the Lord is not always the easiest moment.
But as I asked the Lord, I was like, was it really that they were just tired and bored? And obviously the text says that, so I don't want to go outside of that too much, but I just felt like the Lord said it was just easier, you see, it is easier, isn't it, to just throw a few earrings in and build a tacky golden calf than to receive a glorious blueprint from the King of Heaven and steward that promise for some of us for a lifetime. My story is church planting. I don't know what yours is, but we steward the promise of God for a lifetime. And we build and we build and we sacrifice and we lay down and we give our lives again, and we give them again and again and again, and we build and we lay down our lives.
It's easier sometimes to just have less or to just do less than God said.
You know, in our story, the Lord has said three. Three things to us. He said his presence, his salvation, sozo healing, part of that, and to change our thinking about money. And when he said that to us eight years ago, we were like, money feels like a really odd one. But anyway, we understand it now at the beginning, you know, his presence, of course, draw near to God and he would draw near to us. And he never left us. It was just that we needed to learn again how to wait on him, how to adore him, how to come back into realizing that that's the priority for why we gather.
And then his salvation. Well, it took time. Actually, it took a while. And some of you have heard the story. It wasn't easy. It was a hard journey. But then once the first one came after six months, almost every Sunday since, for the last, whatever. I don't know, I. We can't remember the time now. Six years, seven years, something like that.
Someone has given their life to Jesus on a Sunday. It's hardly a Sunday where they haven't.
And it just seems easy now. Many people are talking about it in our nation. It's not just our church. Many people are talking about it. And we would think that was the hard one.
We would think in our country that would be the hard one. But I think that the thing he said to us about changing our thinking about money according to the glory of heaven coming to earth is perhaps the one that we've been most challenged by.
Because, you see, as we just stand on the precipice of needing a building, we're like, we need like £10 million. That's ridiculous.
To actually build a building that would facilitate what we do. It's ridiculous.
And so it is a huge mind shift to get our head round. But you can do it, Lord. I know we believe it, but actually, when you're in the practical reality of taking the steps, it requires a mind shift.
And, you know, there is a temptation in that moment to say, well, you know, we could just keep it small.
We could just stop preaching the gospel. You know, 1500 have given their life to Jesus. We can't fit everybody in this building. We haven't got enough room.
There's, like revival stuff happening every night. If you were here last night for the pastor's reception, because it's later in the month, in the month of January, there was just stuff everywhere and we don't have enough space.
We don't.
But we could just say, we'll just consolidate and do things a bit smaller. We'll just, you know. And actually our people who are so courageous could actually say the same. Wasn't it just easier when it was little old us? Wasn't it just easier when it was one service instead of three? Wasn't it just easier when every which way I look, I was able to talk with people who had known the Lord for 20 years, not somebody who's just got saved and doesn't even know how to take communion, let alone smile on a Sunday morning. You know, it's real.
This is real. When people give their lives to Jesus on mass.
And it might be, you know, we could just take that moment. You see, what I want to say to you today is that we are on the precipice of breakthrough. And this is a vulnerable moment. This is a moment. The baby's coming, whatever we do. But let's not be in the same situation of Israel where we stand, step back, and we have to trip up and build a golden calf and hand on a promise to another generation. Let's take it now.
You know, I said to you the birthing analogy was significant.
It's another picture. It's another picture because I promise you, for those of you who've had babies, you will know that when you actually get to 9cm dilated, you're like, get me out of here. I don't want to do this bit now.
[00:34:25] Speaker C: I've had enough.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: Stop. Stop, somebody. I can't do it. You know, well, maybe. I know lots of people have special classes now that make them all calm and they Take deep breaths and stuff like that. But I seriously didn't. And I had no classes, and I was holding my breath when we got to, like, 9cm dilated. And I was only 24 years old and none of my friends had had babies. And my whole body just started shaking, and I didn't know what was going on. Like, it's like from the. You just start shaking all over and there's this burning pain. Sorry. So graphic. Sorry. Not sorry, but there's like this burning pain. And every. You're just like, I can't do it. And then I just started screaming. When my son's head crowned, I started screaming at the top of my voice. Poor child. I was screaming and screaming and screaming. And the midwife just said to me, juliet, stop screaming.
We want this baby to come out of your bottom, not out of your mouth.
Good word.
Because what.
[00:35:26] Speaker C: What's going on? I'm like, ah, God, no, it's not.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: Coming out of my mouth.
What's my point? Don't build a golden calf.
The baby's coming anyway. The revival, the promises, all of it. But let us. You at this moment and recognize the signs. This is a moment where we have to make a consolidated effort to look up and say, yes, God, we will take this last step, one last push for you, whatever that means.
We're going to see the full release of this promise. Because there are so many generations that went before us that did not see what we are seeing right now, let alone what's coming now next.
And he tells them to build according to the pattern of heaven.
I think this is the most challenging thing for us.
I mean, obviously it's not challenging because, you know, we're charismatic.
But I think it's that, you know, the blueprint from heaven that God gives us the promises. There are waiting times. There are things that we control and things that we have to wait for.
But you see the moment when we receive the vision from heaven, the thing that God has told us to do, that's our time to take a step and start moving and start building. You know, they had to lay down great gifts and sacrifice and time and energy to actually get that thing built. Once we've received that blueprint, and then we have to go and, you know, this offering is so beautiful.
So many different things in the offering that they had to bring, according to the pattern of heaven, this glorious tabernacle that they would build all these stones and beautiful stuff. And.
And they had to. Had to bring that to build it. And I, as I was just praying over it, I was like, lord, this, this is blowing my mind. It's changing my thinking about giving because I often do the offering here. Very often I do it. And, you know, if you do the offering a lot in your church, you've got like, probably a 20 point sermon on why we need to bring our tithe. And, you know, we, we give in our heart what we've decided to give, offerings on top and we reap what we sow. And God loves a cheerful giver. And, you know, we've got all these words and they're all right, they're all in the Bible, it's all good. But as I was reading this, I was like, well, they saw this vision of your kingdom come and they gave to that exactly what you needed. God, that's a different way of bringing an offering, isn't it?
And I just began to think about this thing, this challenge. This is just the challenge that the Lord has laid before us. But I think it is something for the body of Christ. Because you see, when we talk about revival, we talk about, yes, salvation, but then there is that Reformation part where we actually start to build for the Lord, whatever we're building.
And that's the thing that starts to cost money, phenomenal amounts of money. And I think there is a challenge before us to give according to the pattern of heaven. What is he actually doing? What does he want to do? And from the poorest to the richest Christian, to actually look across the expanse of a revival and say, I will give to you. That.
And that's a different way of thinking. You know, as Steve and I were really, we were really praying about this. What are you trying? What do you want us to change?
And Steve was with Pastor Ricardo and Pastor Patricia in Colombia and they had this sort of sweet teaching moment when he was saying, you know, I know God is stretching us. He wants us to think differently. We need a miracle. And.
And he just said, you need to take God at his word. And there was just this teaching moment where they went to, I think, Genesis 26 and he talked about Isaac sowing in the famine and receiving a hundredfold what he'd sown. And he said, what do you need, Steve? What you need, you need to reverse that back and give away according to that promise.
And so Steve went to our board and they had this conversation about, well, to start with, I mean, eventually we need £10 million, but to start with, we need four. Let's start there. So that's £40,000 out of our giving fund that we need to give away if we're going to take the Lord at his word, according to that promise. And so that was agreed. And we could have just done it there quietly, but Steve felt like the Lord said the. That we were to do it as a church. And so in our offering, we came and we said, okay, we're going to start to give some money away. And we talked about this promise and we said, God, we're just asking God, where are the places that he wants us to give that are having or seeing revival, that are seeing his kingdom come, that we're to sow into and believe God that we would also receive a hundredfold. And so we did £10,000 to each place.
And the first week we did it, £10,000.
There was like this, woo. Everyone was cheering. Everyone was very excited, really on board. And the second week we did it, which was the next week, everyone was like, whoo.
Trying to muster up, you know, £40,000. In the context of a building fund, it's not lots and lots of money, but in the context of. Of all of our lives, £40,000, I think, unless you are very wealthy, is a lot of money, isn't it? And for the people who've given to a building fund, to see us giving it away, that's a challenge to all of our thinking, isn't it?
And so we get to the third week and we're giving away another £10,000. And they're like, huh.
Whimper across the room, no clapping.
We get to the fourth one, we had a little break. I think we had two weeks in between because we were asking the Lord. We got to the fourth one and it was silent across all our services.
And we said, you know, the Lord is changing our thinking about money.
We're going to give according to the pattern of heaven. What is he doing? It's not just about us. We're not just looking at little old us.
And that is a change.
And I think the Lord in this season is challenging us all to think differently, to really think about what does it mean for the body of Christ to keep shopping in Primark?
Not that I've got anything against Primark, but the clothes do shrink.
Instead of reaching for our royal robes, what does it look like to receive the glory and beauty of heaven and know he does all things well? He doesn't do tacky, cheap, sticky, ugly golden calves.
He does beauty and glory. And beneath his feet there is sapphire.
What does it look like to keep going, to see the full release of his promise, everything he has seen said and not give up Even if that means passing on a legacy of believing God to the next generation.
And what will it look like for us all in our giving not only our wealth, but also our lives and our labor and our dreams and everything according to the pattern of heaven coming to earth in this coming revival? What does it mean for us all?
And, you know, I was so, so drawn to this theme of the blue in this passage, you know, the beautiful sapphire beneath his feet. And then when they give, they have to bring these threads, purple and scarlet and blue, they bring the blue thread. And of course, they would have made that blue thread to bring into this offering. And I just, I was like, lord, what are you saying in this? And then as you read on, you see this beautiful theme of the blue.
You know, the blue is in the veil between the holy and the. Between the holy of holies and the holy place.
And the blue is at each division.
It's here on the edge of the curtain of the tabernacle, but it's also at the screen on the outer courts, this blue thread.
And as the priests were dressed, they were dressed. Their ephod was blue. This blue thread.
You see, I believe that this picture is about us partnering with God, co laboring with God in our giving, in our service, in what we're laying down for him as we look heaven to earth. And as we do that, we are literally weaving the threads of heaven, the threads of redemption into the world, into our spheres of influence, into the places that we're leading into our city. Because, of course, these places were places of division, where heaven meets earth, and beneath his feet there is sapphire.
That's the place.
And you know, I know that we all, we see all of this for us, we see it all through the glory of the new Covenant, don't we? We see it all through the glory of Jesus, where we know that even though the law is obsolete, it's only obsolete because of the fulfillment of the law in Jesus.
We know that Jesus was the temple that was to be torn down and rebuilt in three days, that he is the one who has come to dwell with us, the fulfillment of all the promises of the law.
And we know now that you and I are that temple of the Holy Spirit. And because of that, 2 Corinthians 3, we get to live in the glory of his presence and have this vision of heaven. We understand all of that, especially because we're charismatic.
We understand it all. But so often in the body of Christ, we see the outward working of that, that sort of heaven coming to earth in Us as our holiness, as our sanctified lives, as the goodness and kindness and peace that we bring to the earth. We see it as the signs and wonders and healings and heavenly encounters and the gifts of the spirit. We see all of that.
But what I want to say to you today is, as well as all of that I want to say to you today, it's also about what we build.
Because what we build, when you look at this picture, actually matters to God.
And there is a commission as part of the package of the New Covenant that you and I would reach to that glorious place of heaven and build something of worth on earth, a place where heaven touches earth, a place that is glorious and beautiful according to the pattern of heaven that will weave in to everything around us, that thread of heaven.
And I believe that right in this season.
Well, I don't. I don't know if you're seeing it, but we're definitely seeing it at Cromer that our young people are actually prophesying this right now.
You know, one of the things I have been just. It's been so beautiful to see so many young people just really taking hold of flags.
Like, they love flags, our young people. I don't know whether it's going to be catching, I promise you. Because now I've said it, if you're not seeing that, you're going to start seeing it. I promise you. Just take it.
But I grew up in an environment and a world where actually only super weird older people had flags.
Charismatics.
It's true. We thought that's only what we're people do.
Nothing to do with the flags for me. And then, you know, in this journey of revival that we've been in, our young people are just dancing with flags all the time. And we have to be a bit careful of health and safety on a Sunday.
But the evening service and our revival prayer is just full. And every time I look at them, I'm like, it's heaven.
Because it's all the colors, it's all the beauty. It's heaven. And there were two girls the other week, and, yeah, we've got the Ark of the Covenant. And they were in our revival prayer, and they both had gold flags. Chloe, Amia, where are you?
Come here. Bring your flags. And they both had these gold flags. This is particularly lovely because these girls are twins, so. So it just makes the picture so beautiful. So it was something. As they were doing it in our revival prayer, I was like, I'm just encountering the Lord here. And I was watching them you just. You stand there, and you stand there. We're going to wait for the music.
But just the two of these, you know, they speak of the glory of God, the glorious creation of God. But they began to wave these flags, and it reminded me of something. And then I was reading in this, and I was like, it's the ark.
I could feel the angelic in the room.
And then there's another one of our worship leaders, Daniel, who very often, when he's singing about the blood of Jesus and always what tore the veil, and he has this flag that he waves around his head. I got into real trouble on Sunday because I said, he doesn't know what he's doing. Daniel always knows what he's doing.
But my point was that actually it's like it's a prophetic picture because he waves it over his head. It's again, it's like this heaven coming to earth, this place of weaving the threads of heaven, heaven to earth, actually looking up to the glory and bringing the glory into the now.
And so, you know, our beautiful young people are all prophesying this. And I think it's a season for us to say, yes and amen to all that you want to do, Lord, we believe you.
And I think that while we're here, all the other sessions, what's going to happen, I think the Lord's going to really lift some of us into a place of fresh vision.
Many of us have been stuck in the now reality of where we are. And I know we have to work within our means and all of that and the time tension of that. But there's something about stepping, like pushing this baby out, lifting our eyes up and saying, we'll take a step according to the pattern of heaven. We say yes, and we are going to be the generation who see the full release of your promise. We're going to see it now, whatever that means individually, corporately. Is something about the revival we're in. For us, it's a building. I don't know what it is for you, but. But take it.
Take it. These guys, their flags, they're prophesying it. Take it. Take it. Whatever is your promise, take it now. Say it again. I believe you, Lord. I believe you, Lord, for what I am longing to see in our land, in our church, in our story, in our workplace. I believe you, Lord. I'm taking it again. And I promise, Lord, that I will lift my eyes to the glory of heaven. And I will take a step to build according to the pattern of your glory, not according to this present reality I'm in. Will you.
Will you do that? Will you stand? Will you stand?
So here's the thing. The Lord often speaks to me in pictures, just like the. The picture that I had of the guys that were raising their hand in our church service in response to this. That was one response. But as I was preparing for here, the picture that I had was the flags.
The flags. And just actually a symbolic sense of us lifting our eyes up as we come into worship and making a commitment to take a step with Him.
I don't know where you are, are in receiving the promise of the promise of revival in your world, but I know that for every single person in this room, we need to lift our eyes to the glory of heaven. And I believe that some of us are really challenged about the royal robes, reaching for the royal robes. And maybe some of us are challenged in our thinking about money and finance and wealth and making do with what we've got instead of believing God for something bigger and something better.
It may be some of us have really maybe given up on some of our dreams and it's time to come again. Some of us maybe have even said, gosh, I just want to pass it on to the next generation.
Now, I've done my bit. And the Lord says, no, you need to pass on a narrative of belief. And that means you believe it and you steward it until the very end.
The revival that many of you have been praying for, you don't get to pass it on yet. We're not in all of it yet.
So if you know that you need to take a step with the Lord.
If you know that you need a fresh vision of heaven coming to earth in your ministry, in your scenario, in your workplace. I want you to come out, come down. Come down to the front. Come out into the aisles. It doesn't matter whether you're at the front or the back. Just come out. Come right to the front. Respond.
Come right out, come right out.
Don't do that thing where you sort of kind of come into that awkward moment like, what's she going to do to me next? Stay in the spirit.
Stay in the spirit.
Stay in the spirit. He's already speaking into your hearts. Just start to talk to him now. Begin to receive it.
Begin to commit to what he's saying in your heart. Some of you, you need to repent. You need to repent of poverty, thinking of thinking less than God wants to give you. You need to repent of maybe even in some way building a tacky golden calf, settling for Less than he said.
[00:54:38] Speaker C: You actually need to say, lord, I'm sorry.
[00:54:40] Speaker B: I'm sorry I did that. I'm sorry I did that. I receive the full release of your promise. I receive the full release of your promise.
Y.
[00:54:54] Speaker C: Receive it afresh. Ministry team, you can come and put your hands on them, but the Holy Spirit is just starting to do it. Just take it.
[00:55:01] Speaker B: Take it.
[00:55:01] Speaker C: Take the fresh vision. Take the fresh vision. Take the fresh fire.
[00:55:08] Speaker B: Yes, receive it.
[00:55:10] Speaker C: You can start to sing. You can have your own prayer time with the Lord. I don't care what you do, but just take it. Commit again. You can do it. Quiet, quietly. Some of you, the dance of heaven.
[00:55:22] Speaker B: Is coming on you.
[00:55:24] Speaker C: Some of you actually need to be praying that your young people get a vision, A vision from heaven to prophesy.
[00:55:31] Speaker B: The glory and the color.
[00:55:33] Speaker C: The glory and the color Heaven coming to earth. Lord, we just declare right now every mindset will come into alignment with the pattern of heaven. And we say over our land we are not poor. We are not going to be in a poverty lack mindset. God, we believe you for the buildings. We believe you for the millions that are needed for revival. We believe you for the resource for the ministries. We are saying to you today, Lord, we do not receive a narrative of poverty.
We declare that we are canceling poverty over our land. Some of you who are intercessors, you need to start to pray that now we are breaking and declaring a canceling of the mindset of poverty over our land. And we are receiving the fresh vision according to the pattern of heaven. And we recognize that we lift our eyes up and we lift our eyes up to the sapphire beneath your feet and we give you all the glory for what you are doing and what you are gonna do in our land. We thank you, God, that we are receiving a revival that you have promised. And we say yes and amen. God, we are not gonna be like the unbelieving generation who didn't go into the land. We're gonna take up the mantle of Joshua. We're gonna take up that mantle and see the full revolution release of your promise.
[00:57:02] Speaker B: Heaven on earth.
[00:57:11] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Chroma Church.
