THE Rob Rufus Seminar at TOAM 07!

This seminar achieved celebrity status and caused quite a stir at the conference because Nigel Ring announced that there were 45 seats too few in the venue hence those booked in were advised to get there early. I was told by my friends that there were people queuing from 8am in the morning for a 09:15 start! Such hunger! Such passion! So I was very excited to download the seminar from the website and see what Rob Rufus had to impart to those there. It didn't disappoint. Scott has been laughing at me because I have had to stop typing notes at times through giddiness from the awesome truths that Rob has been preaching! Here are my notes. Take them and may they bear much fruit in real Kingdom life across the nations!

Rob Rufus – “Competent Ministers of the Spirit!” – (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). Seminar – TOAM 07.

Terry Virgo introduced Rob (the advantage of status!) He prayed; “There suddenly came that moment when we knew it was all true and Jesus was alive. We praise You for these wonderful realities. Holy Spirit rest upon us now. Let Your mighty hand be upon us now. We just engage with You Holy Spirit”.

They then sang: Pour over me.

Terry concluded; “Lord Jesus we honour You – we thank You that You’ve received the promised Holy Spirit. Come fill us now”.

The hunger that is building up in the church is overwhelming. No one would cross the street for Rob Rufus but God is at work. God hated Esau – he was content with the natural but was not interested one bit in the blessing of Almighty God. He sold out his inheritance so cheaply but Jacob was so desperate for the blessing and power of God. God overlooked the cheating and still blessed him! It is amazing that guys were willing to smash through a roof to get to Jesus and got healed.

Pharisees and Sadducees were in the same room but didn’t get healed because they were in the paralysis of analysis.

They must have made a big hole to get through because they had to lower him down parallel. They had to smash at least six feet but that is what faith does and Jesus loved it! The Corinthian church has a lot that we can’t recommend them for – they had such excesses in the supernatural. They were a wacky bunch and the conservative Esau church today would have shut them down and said “No more gifts – let’s close the moving of the Spirit down because it’s off-putting”. But Paul as a wise apostle didn’t shut them down – but rather commended them for their use of the gifts and asked them “Keep on desiring the best gifts – I wish all spoke in tongues”. Paul did not shut them down because they were operating in excess – he encouraged them to go for more and more but administrate it!

The answer to abuse is not no use but proper use. The church has gone into a monastic place and has become irrelevant because we have shut excess down. God is saying it is time to break out! (Ephesians 1). Harry Potter will go out of business when God begins moving in signs and wonders! We will see water turned into wine. People will be teleported from here to Hong Kong and be preaching. There are prophets today moving in the realm of the glory that is incredible! Prophet called Josh Mills lost his rings in a hotel – they were stolen by staff. He was back home grieving over rings and went into a trance. Saw himself going in the trance back into a house of the hotel worker that stole his ring – went in the room in the Spirit – reached in and slipped his finger into it and came to from the trance and the ring was on his finger in real time. When you see axe heads float because there is an anointing on it! God has used Harry Potter to whet the appetites of the nations for the supernatural.

Healings will always be central to God’s agenda as signs and wonders because He loves people. He didn’t heal because He was the Messiah – He healed because He loved them. The Lord says “I want to heal you as an end in itself”.

He would say “Don’t tell anyone” when He healed some. The Lord is going to heal in sensational ways to convince the Harry Potter generation that we are normal housekeepers with the Lord of heaven and earth – we don’t have to be wizards or witches or warlocks.

I want to talk this morning about the working of His mighty power. Whatever sickness He met, there was never a sickness too big. He never had to admit a sickness was too advanced for His power. He always had super-abounding surplus supply of power to meet every human need. We have that also in God!

Ephesians is not just about a static position in Christ. It is more than doctrine but is trying to communicate to us supernatural life experience. It says “seated in heavenly places”. We are on earth literally ministering from heaven to earth – ministering from eternal to temporary. This is living power! This isn’t just about being saved and going to heaven. This is power to operate in the earth with.

The time is coming when God will release such power in the Church that nothing will be able to resist that power. Sometimes those with cancers or tumours get prayed for with such power and then they decline and die. We have 70% of the power and reduce it but then it re-grows. We will have the power to totally demolish the cancer and nothing can stand in our way. I have only found Jesus pray for a blind man twice. All other times it was a word – and the person in a flash was healed. (John 14:12).

Double mention of word “Power” in (v19). The working of His mighty strength. This power is a working power – an action power – a power that does something. It is a power employed to do things. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul describes the gifts of the Spirit into 3 categories –

1. Utterance. They say something.

2. Revelation. They reveal something.

The discerning of spirit is not primarily to discern devils although it does do that – but primarily angelic operations. God has got a mighty angelic army meant to minister to the Church.

3. Power. Gifts of healings, and working of miracles.

“Dumais” means “explosions of almightiness”. It suggests at creating – no ear drum means a new ear drum is required to be created. (Mark 16:20). “The Lord worked with them to confirm”. We want to cooperate and work with this incomparably mighty power. This is on the level of strength when God raised Jesus from the dead. This power also took Jesus far above all principalities. When we work with this power we are operating over demonic spirits. We don’t need to shout at demonic spirits. Jesus has ascended far above them and made the Head of all things – so there is NT promises that have not yet been fully expressed. The fullness of the NT has not been fully manifested in the flesh yet and we are the generation to see that!

Get tired of talking of the devil and what he’s doing in the earth. The devil doesn’t have a home anymore. He is a misplaced vagabond. Hell is where he will be sentenced to forever. But at present he has been stripped and disarmed of his power at the Cross. His only power is deception therefore we should not believe he has power that he does not. We should be keeping our minds off devils. If they come to oppress while we are praying just say “Shut up and go”.

Demons came trying to strangle me while I was in Hong Kong – but I just said “In the Name of Jesus go” and an arc welders light flashed through the room and the room was full of the Presence of God and the demonic presence had gone. I got up a bit cynical to see if there was a lightening storm outside! The flashes of God’s power came through the room!

We must see who we are in Christ Jesus! This is resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead! You won’t get this in a Bible College or even just reading the Bible. You need the Spirit to come in flashing light of illumination. Revelation comes to the inner being and you realise that the power for you who believe – it is like the power of His mighty strength when He raised Christ Jesus from the dead. THAT’S the power! Not just to save us but it is more than that! (Ephesians 3:7). “A servant of the Gospel by the gift of God’s grace through the working of His mighty power”. This power wants to be set to work! It wants to be released! This isn’t a power to put on the mantle piece or in a museum! This isn’t a power from past revivals to be talked about with nostalgia! It’s a “NOW” power!

We are not servants of the Gospel if there isn’t workings of His power! Some are saying the Gospel is just about “peace with God, forgiven sins and heaven”.

Jesus was going from town to town healing, casting out but realised that there are masses needing shepherding. He needed more to help Him so He commissioned the 12 and then 70 more! In the earth the Christian witness is seen as telling them the four spiritual laws. Jesus wanted to duplicate His mighty work. That is what will break open the nations of the world. His work is a working of God’s mighty power.

Once read the book of Acts in one sitting and sobbed and sobbed because saw that every spearhead in the Book of Acts into a new region was broken open by a significant, dramatic miracle.

(Romans 15:17). Someone is not preaching the Gospel unless they are operating in the working of His power. Romans 15:17 shows us what it means to fully preach the Gospel – “the power of signs and miracles through the power of the Spirit … fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ”. Paul wasn’t embarrassed to tell people what God was doing with him and through him in miracles and signs and wonders.

The key of Ephesians 3 – that in order for you to operate in the working of His mighty power, first the power must strengthen your innermost being in might, then according to the degree your innermost being is strengthened – to that degree that you have been strengthened will that mighty power flow through us.

(v1) “Strengthen you with power …may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and deep is the love of Christ … surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”. That is absolutely phenomenally staggering! Why is the Church not operating in the fullness of Who God is? To be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God – the power of Mount Sinai comes and fills you! Paul is saying that the fullness of everything that happens on the Cross be manifest to you. You have the operation of all of redemption in all of it’s magnificence in you.

Then he says that this power will so help you grasp (“to take hold of, to experience, to own”) the perfect love of Christ for you.

The Hebrews were obsessed with the cube. The Tabernacle, temple and New Jerusalem are all cubes. What he is saying that when the power of God comes on you the illumination will come on you as a believer and that we should not differentiate areas of His love for us. That is Old Covenant thinking which is fading. Paul says “Don’t go back to the slavery of the law”. If we do Christ will become of no value to us at all. Imagine if Christ was here in full value operation in this room – what would He do? Heal everyone! Under Law – what would He do? Christ becomes of less value to us under the Law. When we see the full completeness of the finished work of the Cross, then we become filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. What with? Working power! That dimension of awareness will result in power at work within you and me – a power in your inner strength and being that will capacitate you to work with God so that He can do more than we can ever imagine according to the power at work within us!

(v19). Isn’t that amazing? (Mark 5). What can we do to strengthen our inner most being? The main way is by revelation of the incomparable great power being for us who believe.

Once you get a revelation of that, Paul prays that revelation will strengthen us so that we can see something that surpasses knowledge – that we can see the perfect cube of Christ’s love for us. Nothing will diminish the cube of His perfect love. Even when you fail and mess up you are in the perfection of the New Covenant. Too many believe in the mixture of Old and New. The Old says “Do – do – do”. The New says; “It’s done – it’s done – it’s done”.

You can’t live a little bit under law and mostly in grace. 1% of law will disqualify the grace at work within us. Newfrontiers has been given a foundation of grace to grasp this. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. His Presence is at work in this room! The atmosphere is impregnated with His Presence.

Love the Presence more than the power. When you love His Presence more than His power then His power will be manifested more than ever. When you love who He is then His power hidden in His Presence is incomparably great.

Jesus didn’t come as God – He came as last Adam. He was conscious as a man of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He knew this power was at work within Him. Every time we climb a spiral staircase we come around and see the same passage from a higher and higher perspective. (Mark 5). “So that she will be healed and lived”. So matter of fact! “She had suffered a great deal … when she heard about Jesus”. He had an amazing reputation. “She came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak … immediately her bleeding stopped”. Just a touch – and immediately the bleeding stopped. She felt its tangible power – its heavenly voltage. She felt that she was freed from her suffering. (v30) “At once Jesus realised power had gone out from Him”. Jesus knew how this power worked because He knew the love of His Father within Him so He was capacitated to use this power even when He wasn’t praying. It wasn’t difficult to pull the power of God from Jesus because He understood the secrets of its working. “Daughter your faith has healed you”.

That is my favourite Scripture in the whole Bible regarding healing. The woman couldn’t get public healing from Jesus because she wasn’t allowed to be in public. The woman knew she could pull the power out of from Him. The disciples didn’t even know that yet. But the woman forgot that He would feel it leaving Him.

The power is that tangible it doesn’t matter whether you shake or fall, you can feel it leaving and if it doesn’t leave you know they won’t get healed. The power has to flow out of us and into the body. If it goes into the body the power will go like a heat seeking missile to the problem if it is big enough.

“Stretch out your withered arm”. And that was in a context of unbelief. Jesus was vexed or angry. We need to get angry! Jesus got angry but in our anger we sin not. That is happening today – people’s withered hands are stretching out. The crowds were all touching Jesus! Think if you were there and saw everyone touching Jesus and then He stops and asks that – what would you think? Judas would have said “Check your wallet!”. Peter would have said “Tell me and I will chop their ear off!”. Someone touched Him and He knew it because virtue had gone out of Him. All those touches and not one of them made that power work. The power stayed dormant until one little woman with a revelation touched Him with faith and pulled the working power into her body and immediately she was made whole.

Normally in crowds like this it is 2% context transmission. 80% of the crowd here are receiving. Faith! It is important to sit people down and teach them. Jesus did – the crowds came to hear Him and be healed. Too many come to healing meetings and just want a touch. What do we do when they don’t get healed? Never! There is sovereignty and then the faith of man. Never ever say that person is sick because of sin. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law so the blessing can come to us! We cannot tell barren woman they are so because of sin. The sin Jesus speaks of in relation to healing is the sin of unbelief. If sin and sickness really were linked we would all be covered in boils! We must not get into the analysis of “Why are you not healed?”. There were all kinds of sinners in the crowds Jesus met yet “He healed them all”. He didn’t interview them as to their past! We just need enough power to get the job done and bust through everything.

Therapy is a commentary on the lack of power in the Church – therapies that border on humanistic psychologies.

Once people see how the anointing flows then others get faith to get into it. (Luke 6:17). “Hear Him”. It is very important to hear. “And to be healed of their diseases … all tried to touch Him because power was coming from Him and healing them all”. The more that understand the working of His power the greater the numbers will be healed. This is like the Church – we can become the hem of Jesus robe. We must banish our passive-victim mentality. See how big God is and how big His mission is and our lives will be transformed. The 1st Century Church were not looking to meet human needs but honour and glorify God. When people lied – they died! That isn’t meeting people’s needs and it DEFINITELY isn’t being seeker-sensitive! Ananias and Sapphira went to heaven – but went prematurely. The next verse says “Great fear seized them”. Today the Church is a buxom bar-maid that the world slaps on the behind and patronises.

God is kept out of Church because He doesn’t know how to behave Himself. Let’s keep God out of Church and cater to people’s needs. Very little needs are met in churches where their primary mission is to meet the needs of the people. Yet in Acts it says “There was no needy among them”. Live to see this – where God is the centre of attraction in the Church! God! When God is the centre then every person’s need will be met! Tell our Churches to forget about their needs – worship Him! Adore Him! And when we worship Him the glory comes and our needs are met. But when they come wanting needs met it is a disaster. That is not apostolic robust Christianity.

When you pray for people, you may run down the row touching people, you may stop – why? Regenerate power because of unbelief in one person. (Matt 8) “Cast out devils with a word”.

Your voice is a carrier of the power on the inside of you. You must listen to the nuances of the voice. 99% of miracles in the New Testament were done not by asking God to heal but by declaring the authorative commands of power. You must release something!

“Stand up on your feet!”. Sometimes there must almost be an aggressive tone in your voice. Never – ever push someone. Sometimes the power of God will slap them backwards but sometimes may slap faces quite hard! Don’t develop a Vineyard style or a hyper-Pentecostal style. Not Californian! God’s not British! Sometimes you may have to be like a Smith Wigglesworth and punch someone in the stomach.

Don’t start with the passive people! Look for the lightening conductors who are drawing on the power! They ignite the power and stir it up within you! There are no formulas or techniques. Watch who you are praying for! If you spend 5 to 10 minutes praying to impart and activate signs and wonders and they are waiting for a prophecy, you mustn’t prophecy what they want! When you are praying for people be careful – because if they are resistant you will get tired. With a resistant crowd spend time preaching and teaching from the Word of God.