Joseph Prince - Make Jesus Your Priority and Prosper
Today, I want to share something that I think in that light, you will see light. Let’s go straight to Exodus 25 verse 31. «Let them make Me a sanctuary,» God says, «that I may dwell among them,» mikdash in the Hebrew. «According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it». Tabernacle is the Hebrew word «mishkan».
Now here, listen carefully. God talks about a pattern. He showed Moses. Moses came up the mountain. I’m going to show you a pattern. So in other words, God unveiled, like opened up the curtain of heaven and showed him the pattern in heaven. The tabernacle on earth is just a pattern of what it is in heaven. We are studying the things. So today we are going to study one aspect of the tabernacle which I think is going to help you see light. Guess what, the menorah, the lampstand. Okay, let’s go down Exodus 25 through verse 31, «You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold». Number one, say pure gold. It is gold without alloy, without mixture. Pure gold because it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. The lampstand speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me show you a picture of the menorah. Now we are not saying that it’s exactly like this, but the Bible says, menorah, six branch on either side, amen, three branch comes out, and then it is pure gold. Made of pure gold. That’s our Lord Jesus. There’s nothing in mixture. There’s nothing in him that is coarse or ugly or immoral or unclean. Everything about him is pure, beautiful, he’s lovely. When it comes to the lampstand, it is beaten work or hammered work. He was hammered so much.
Isaiah 52 tells us that even before the cross, even the movie «The Passion,» you still can see Jim Caviezel’s face, but the Bible says in Isaiah 52, show them, «His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men». Can I tell you something? If you want to succeed in life, if you want God’s blessing and favor to be on everything that you do, if you want your family life blessed, if you want anything that you do to prosper, let me tell you this. You must be in sync with heaven. Then all of heaven’s resources are on your side, and heaven’s priorities are like this. In the middle, in the middle is always Jesus. Are you listening?
John turned to hear the voice and he saw in the middle, there were seven golden lampstands, as we know later on, it’s seven churches that was present on earth at that time, and yet, in the middle of it, he saw Jesus. So notice the way God arranged. God says the branches, they all have a lamp. Each one has a lamp, right? Each one has their own light, but the center shaft, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the lamps here, the three lamps here, must point towards the center. The three lamps here must point towards the center. You must arrange the lamps so that they give light in front of it. I love the word in front. It says, the face of. Sit back, watch this.
So you have the center shaft. Notice how all the three on each side is pointing to the center. Can you see that?
In your light we see light. So, all the three on this side is pointing to the center. All three on this side is pointing to the center. In other words, whatever we do, marriage, business, child rearing, always remember, Jesus is in the center. In Mark 4, «These are the ones sown on good ground, they bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, some a hundredfold». We know that, but in the next one he says, next verse, he says, «Also He said to them, 'Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? '» What is the Lord saying here? Now in the Old King James, basket there is a bushel. A bushel of wheat. A basket of wheat. That’s the expression they use. It is a term for commercialism. Bed is a picture of what? Ease, laziness, pleasure, all right? God gives you a revelation and you are hiding it under commercialism.
Notice, under means what, it’s hidden. Light is not to be hidden. And under a bed, again, hidden. Under a bed, what does it mean? It means you are lazy. The light is not benefiting anybody, but you have the revelation. You say, man, I praise God, man, I got that revelation on it, but it’s doing nothing for anybody. So Jesus says, listen, don’t hide it. Don’t let commercialism, you know, drown that light that’s in you. God raised two young prophets by the name of Zechariah and Haggai and I’m telling you right now, God is raising young people all over the world, and even in this church, God is raising a new generation, amen! I’m part of them. It’s a grace generation, and I love the way the Bible says it, that before the lamp of God went out, amen.
Look at this in Samuel. «It came to pass at that time, while Eli,» the priest, «was lying down in his place». There was a high priest but he was like a half-past six, you know what they call it, priest. He doesn’t have it all together. He allowed his sons to commit adultery and to live promiscuously and to make people despise the sacrifices of the Lord. So God says a new generation is coming. It’s a Samuel generation. Now this is prophetic of our times as well. His eyes, Eli was lying down, his eyes had begun to grow dim. In Peter, the Holy Spirit says, when you forget your sins are forgiven, you are short-sighted, even to blindness. It’s a picture of a priest. A priest cannot be blind. That’s one of the requirements of the law. He cannot be blind. He must have insight of all the people. He must have keen insight and discernment.
Here the story of the Judges ended up with a blind judge between the pillars, Samson. The kingship ended with Zedekiah. One of the last things he saw before they put out his eyes, Nebuchadnezzar put out the king of Judah’s eyes, was his sons being murdered right in front of him and then they put out his eyes. All right, the Judges ended with blindness, the kingship ended with blindness, now Christendom will end with blindness in the church of Laodicea. You are blind and you don’t even know it. You are blind, Jesus said. So that’s Christendom, which means we don’t want to be the church of Laodicea. We want to be the church of Philadelphia. A church that sees. So this leadership, Eli’s leadership, is becoming, his eyes are becoming dim, and look at this.
«And before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle,» whoa, you must never allow the lamp of God to go out! «Before the lamp of God went out where the ark of God was, while Samuel the young boy was lying down». Samuel is a picture of the grace generation, why? Because his mother is grace! Literally her name, Hannah, means grace! And God spoke. Before the lampstand fire went out God spoke and God said, «Samuel». God never allow his lampstand, he said, you look around the church today, now that it’s being subjected, suppressed all over the world. You know, it’s not easy to be a Christian nowadays, you know. People will take shots at you and they make you, you know, right seems wrong now. White becomes black, black becomes white. All kinds of immorality seems normal now. Even the movies are trying to change your minds.
So, back to the story of the remnant that came back from Babylon, from a place of confusion, a place of mixture. They come out and they want to build God’s temple. Don’t forget, they are discouraged for about 15 to 20 years, amen, and now, God sends the young prophet called Zechariah and Haggai and they prophesied. Haggai’s prophecy was, «How can you live in your houses,» because during this time when they were not building the temple anymore, all right, because the king threatened them, they took their life easy and all that and they built their own house, their own riches and all that, and Haggai says, «Look guys, you know, you eat, but you’re not full. Don’t seem to prosper. Why, 'because my house is neglected, ' God says. Now God says, 'Go take wood, bring to the house and build the house of God and I’ll be glorified in it, ' God says».
So this young Haggai, young prophet, he prophesied to the leaders. Then Zechariah, another young prophet, God raised him and this is what Zechariah said. Zechariah had a vision in Zechariah chapter 3 of Joshua the high priest. Why he was so discouraged, and it’s because the Bible showed Zechariah the prophet, Joshua was clothed in dirty clothes and standing at his right hand was Satan, and Satan was accusing Joshua, the high priest. Now as the high priest goes, so goes the nation, and he was listening to the accusations of Satan, and then Zechariah got involved in the vision, said, «Lord, take away that dirty clothes and give him a fair turban. Give him beautiful clothes,» and the robe of righteousness was given to Joshua, amen.
So all the while, we think it’s the powers that be that stopped the building. Actually, what allowed the powers to be was because of his self-condemnation. He didn’t realize that the whole thing is spiritual warfare. The enemy is involved. That’s Zechariah 3. Zechariah 4, God deals with the other ruler. What’s his name, Zoro, remember, Zerubbabel. Here’s what we see. «Now the angel talked with me,» Zechariah says, «came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, 'What do you see? ' So I said, 'I’m looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.'»
Drop down, «So I answered and spoke to the angel, 'What are these, my lord? ' The angel who talked with me and said, 'Do you not know what these are? ' 'No, my lord.' He answered and said to me: 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit, ' Says the Lord of hosts,» amen. Any opposition to the building of the temple in your life, whatever it is that God has given you the assignment for, whatever God has called you to do, amen, to raise a family that is holy, strong, powerful, in these end times, amen, God will give you the grace for it. It won’t be by might. You don’t need people’s power. In fact, the word «might and power» talk about army and wealth as well. Right, you don’t need all this. You just need his Spirit. God doesn’t see you the way you see yourself, amen. He has a call on your life and he will see to it that whether you see yourself as that or not, he will see you as that, amen.
All right, is this blessing you all? I’m going to bring this to a close. Now we go to Isaiah 11. Praise the Lord. I told you, in his light, we see light. By the way, they prospered, okay. Get them Ezekiel or Ezra 6:14. «So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered,» let’s read this together, the underline, «they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo». One more time. «They prospered through the prophesying,» stop. «They prospered through the prophesying». Do you know something? Today, we have prophesying even in preaching. A form of prophesying… prophetic, you know, there’s a forthtelling. Not just foretelling, but a forthtelling by the Spirit and people prosper. You think about it, just by listening to a sermon that’s anointed, people start prospering. I don’t know how many people… and this is beyond count already now.
How many people have said, «I listen to Joseph Prince,» and I’m not the only one to listen to, but since this is my church and I’m talking about my ministry here, amen, and I know I believe in grace, so it stands to reason I talk about myself, can I not? So, I don’t know how many I’ve heard that said, as I listened to the message, it’s not enough just to listen. I went to church today. No, it’s time to listen every day. You know why? Have you noticed lately, the attacks are becoming daily, and many a times, even at the wrong time, the devil doesn’t care. It’s a child. It’s a baby. He has no respect for such things. Have you noticed that even at night, you’re sleeping, he says, okay, play fair like he’s sleeping. There’s no such thing.
You know, today there’s a fair game, you know, a player is injured on the soccer field. The other opposing team will kick the ball out and all that, and the devil, he sees you down, he will kick you some more. There’s no such thing as fairness. So the devil is attacking you every day, you ought to be listening every day, 'cause the Bible says you will prosper through the prophesying that you are listening to. You have to be careful who you listen to. Give them that bushel, the basket, and the bed passage again, Mark 4. Look at this. You know what comes after this, «those who hear the word». It says, take heed how you hear. With what measure you hear, it be measured to you again, amen. Amen, Isaiah 11, I haven’t forgotten. Okay, praise God.
«There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots,» referring to our Lord Jesus. In Revelation 1, it says this, «Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,» notice that? Now before I leave you, I want to pray that you get baptized with the sevenfold Spirit of God. Can I do that? But you need to know why he has come. What is the assignment? It’s not for himself. Look at this. Isaiah 11, «The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him». The Spirit of the Lord is center branch, okay? «The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,» this is power, «the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord».
I’m going to show you the menorah. I’m going to show you this picture of the menorah and then the Spirit of the Lord is the center branch. Left and right, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. By the way, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, we have nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom and understanding is a word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits. It is your inheritance. Your competitors, they can use their schemes and their plans and all that. You use the gifts of the Spirit, but remember, it’s not for the bushel and the basket. It’s not for the bed. It’s for Jesus, remember that, but he’ll be involved in every area of your life. The gifts are not just for the church. It’s for businessmen. It’s for teachers. It’s for mothers bringing up their young, amen.
So that’s the expression. Then we have the counsel and might. The Spirit of counsel and might. This is power. The gift of faith. The gifts of working of miracles. The gifts of healings. The Spirit of counsel and might. Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus that God strengthen you with all might by his Spirit in your inner man. I pray in Jesus’s name that you be strengthened with all might. You know why we are impatient with people? Hey, you know, would you like to know whether you’re strong in the Spirit? Would you like to know? Your patience with people and with circumstances. Circumstances is the word «perseverance,» with people is the word «patience,» and the Bible says, the prayer of Paul, we must pray, ever since I realized this, I’ve been praying this for myself, for my family, and I pray for you all also, this prayer, and this is the prayer I pray.
I pray for those who are serving on Sunday, just yesterday, that God will do this for them because they deal with people all the time, and the prayer is this, that you be strengthened with all might by his Spirit in your inner man, listen, unto all patience, that’s perseverance, and longsuffering with joyfulness. That’s the Spirit of counsel and might. Then the other one. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Knowledge, the gift of prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues. It’s knowledge and the fear of the Lord, amen. Always when Solomon wrote about wisdom, he talks about your tongue and the Spirit of the Lord. Now this is what God wants to manifest in your life. When this happens, go back to Isaiah 11. What’s going to happen?
The next verse says, «His delight in the fear of the Lord,» referring to the Messiah, our Lord, «and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears». How many times have we decided because of what we see? We decide based on what we hear. People come and tell us things. My wife did this, my wife did that. Next thing you know, you are angry with the wife, and you are her friend. No, you must, if you really want to help your friend, you need to listen. Don’t be moved by what you see and what you hear. Always tell yourself, in a marriage breakdown especially, and you’re a counselor and you’re helping your friend, the best way to help them is to listen to the Spirit. Sometimes that person may need some help. For the problems that we have today, don’t go to the world and try to find light.
If you’re studying psychology, you know that, study. If you’re studying philosophy, whatever part of your studies, you study. If you need whatever it is, study, but know this, there is no hope, no answers for your life, in them. Natural light, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, yet they are counseling you. Be very careful. Do not… natural light has no answer for supernatural problems. You need to go into the church. You need to hear the word that’s preached. Not just motivational preaching. Scriptural, Christ-centered preaching, and then you will prosper. Grace-based especially. The Samuel generation kind of preaching, and then in his light, you will see.
Now I know what to do. How many preachers who sat under my preaching even, all of a sudden they have sermons for their own sermons, or they see things they never saw before. I’m not even talking about it, but they see things in the Bible that as they are sitting down there. Even for preachers, they see light in God’s light. You have all the light and the Holy Spirit to give you light in a world that’s gone very dark, amen. You have no excuse, friend. Jesus was beaten to give us this light of the sanctuary. We have wisdom that is extraordinary, that is supernatural, amen, and that’s why, church, I’m excited and I’ve just started, and I’m leaving you already. Praise God, amen, got to bring light elsewhere. Praise the Lord. Give Jesus the praise and the glory and the honor.