Andrew Zimmerman preaches on humility, repentance, and spiritual authority at Rivers Apostolic Centre
A Sunday morning service at Rivers Apostolic Centre in Logan City, Queensland, featuring testimonies, notices, a tithing testimony, and a sermon by Andrew Zimmerman on humility as the foundation for spiritual breakthrough and national revival.
Summary
This episode captures a full Sunday morning service at Rivers Apostolic Centre, hosted by Ps Aaron Salisbury, with the main message delivered by Andrew Zimmerman. The service opens with extended communion and a call for congregants to confess sins to one another, drawing on James 5. Testimonies follow from Shalana and Dave Hammett, who have just returned from the Voice of the Lord conference in Adelaide, reporting themes of repentance, humility, and the government of Christ coming through the church. Andrew Zimmerman then delivers the central message, arguing that the church in Australia has become spiritually passive and that humility — not louder spiritual warfare or social media activism — is the key to unseating demonic strongholds over families, cities, and the nation. He draws primarily on 2 Chronicles 7:14 and James 4, and develops a typological reading of the Abigail and Nabal narrative from 2 Samuel as a call for the church to humble itself before approaching divine judgment. He also references a near-death experience testimony from Todd, the leader of Field of Dreams, as a prophetic warning about the demonic realm harvesting spiritual energy from passive believers. Zimmerman closes with a call to corporate repentance, inviting the congregation to come forward and prostrate themselves before the Lord.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening Prayer and Communion
Aaron Salisbury: Lord Jesus, every chance we get we bless your holy, matchless, priceless, and beautiful name. Yours is the name that is above every other name. You are the great King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and there is none like you, Jesus. It is our honor and privilege to be able to come into this place today and to worship you, to exalt you, and to lift your name high in the city of Logan in Queensland and over Australia. We declare the Lordship of Christ over the land of Australia today, and we give you thanks, Lord, for a blood-soaked nation — with your blood, Jesus. We declare the blood of Jesus over this nation, Lord, and we declare that your name is above every other name. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
Just a beautiful, holy moment here this morning. I want to declare that there is no other name by which man can be saved — only through the name of Jesus, through the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. By his name and his name alone can we be saved and have eternal life through Christ Jesus.
We heard a beautiful song this morning — we were singing that he chose me in my mother's womb. I would say that he chose us before that, because he had eternity placed in our hearts from the beginning, and he was already sacrificed before the beginning of time. So I want to encourage you today: if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, the table is open — an invitation to you all day, every day, and every night. Jesus is extending his hand of invitation to you and saying, "Come." The table is open for everybody to come. Hallelujah.
I'm going to ask Darren and Noly and Branton if they just stand over there near that circle this morning. And if you don't know Jesus this morning, as we come from communion, I'm going to ask you to head over to them. They can explain that to you and they can pray for you. And the greatest fruit of this table would be that we would see people saved — that we would see people come to salvation and then be able to say, "I am a child of God." Isn't it a joy? It's a joy in this place to be known as children of the living God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.
Call to Communal Confession and Repentance
Well, as I was preparing — we've just come back from the Voice of the Lord, and it was a powerful time. We still have some of our people away, and warriors away as well this morning in Adelaide. But big themes that came through from that conference were the theme of repentance, the theme of shift, and the theme of family — family and unity. And out of that, also spaces of humility.
So I wanted to invite us all this morning into a place of humility and into a place of repentance. Jesus came that we may have life and have it in abundance. But a very interesting thing happened first — John the Baptist came, and his message was, "Repent and be baptized." But then, "One will come after me whose sandals I am not worthy to unfasten, but he will come and he will baptize you in fire and in the Holy Spirit." And I was considering that, and the Lord was sharing with me this morning that if we repent and if we humble ourselves, we make room for the fire of God and for the Holy Spirit of God to come.
In the book of James, it speaks to us about family, it speaks to us about togetherness, it speaks to us about not preferring other people — that God is not a respecter of persons. But then in James 5 it speaks about the fact that if anybody is sick, they should go to the elders, who would use oil and pray for them, and that they would be confessing their sins and that they would be healed. And then it goes on to say, "Confess your sins one to another, that you might be cleansed and healed." Cleansed and healed.
So this morning I'd like us all to stand together, and I'm going to invite everybody first to come to the table, then to go and find somebody in the room and go and confess what you are struggling with in the area of sin — whether it be actions, words, or deeds. We haven't done this in a long time, but I think it's probably time that we did, and we should do this regularly. And then once you've confessed a sin to somebody, that you would then pray for one another after you've taken communion, remembering that Jesus Christ alone is the one who can forgive sins, and who can cleanse our sin, and who can bring healing — not just to our bodies but to our hearts and to our minds and to our souls.
If you're here on your own, then please have a look around. Church family, if we have visitors, then go to them. And we would be fooling ourselves to think that we don't have any sin in our hearts or in our minds or in our actions today. This is part of humbling ourselves and inviting Jesus to come into our weakness and to heal us and to cleanse us. And then the fire and the Holy Spirit of God — we invite you, Holy Spirit, we invite you, Jesus, we invite you, Father, to come and to move in this place today.
So let's just quietly come forward, and then please find a person and please be bold and confess your sin to that person. It doesn't have to be a family member, but it might be — or it might be a spouse. And then once you've taken that communion, please pray for one another. We trust in God for powerful and beautiful and wonderful things in the room.
Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy, for your healing, for your cleansing, and for your grace. Thank you, Lord, for a free flow of your Holy Spirit, of fire and the power of God in this place. Lord, I thank you for your word that says if we humble ourselves, that you will lift us up.
Didn't the worship team just really lead us beautifully this morning in the Lord? Let's give them a hand this morning. Thank you, team. It's a very beautiful and deep time of worship this morning. Thank you.
Welcome and Notices
Welcome to everybody and to our visitors this morning. It's really good to have you with us, and please do join us for a cup of tea, coffee, and some fellowship at the back afterwards. You're welcome to just have some time with us. At the end of the service we will have prayer for people if you would like prayer. We made that invitation for you to come to the elders, and also please make use of the fact that you can invite them to your home to come and pray with you as well — should you have the need of healing and you want the elders to come and pray in your home with you, we're very, very happy to come and do that.
So this morning we'd just like to welcome Erin Crawford who's bringing some notices. Let's give her a hand.
Erin Crawford: Good morning again. So if you're a lady in the house, can you put your hand up? There are lots of you. I love that. Who's a lady in the house that wants connection with another lady? Well, I have great news for you. Wednesday morning in the house here at 10:30, we have Connection Point for Women. So if you have a day off — it is the EKKA public holiday for Brisbane — if you work in Brisbane, there's a free day for you. So you can come, and Ruth Forward is going to be speaking with us. We're very excited to hear testimony from Ruth. That will be amazing.
The other question I have for you all is: have you ever needed to give someone first aid before, or had the opportunity to maybe want to give first aid but you haven't been legal or able? So Saturday the 29th, we have my very favourite people. I've been doing first aid with these people for about 20 years. I love them. They are actually now really good friends, but they are fantastic trainers for first aid. And so if you would like the opportunity to learn first aid — if you're a ministry leader or someone who volunteers in the house — we would like a few people from each ministry to put their hand up to become first aiders. If you would like to do that, sign up ASAP. We have a minimum number that we have to reach, so we need to do that quickly. So you can see me, you can send an email to admin, or speak to Jesus. Amen.
Also, Kadesh team — if you are a part of the Kadesh team, can we put our hands up? If you don't know who that is, that's the worship team. And Sarah, can you tell people what Kadesh means? Not right this second — that's okay, we'll tell you next week. Sorry to put you on the spot there. But this week, the Kadesh team have a very good opportunity to be invested in. Friday night and Saturday — can you please come and sign on the board to make sure that we are catering for you? So please see me if you're on the worship team, the production team, the Kadesh team — really, come and see me before you go home today.
Lastly, but not leastly — not leastly, very important. If you are high school age, hands up. Oh yes, I love that. High school age, you have amazing testimony coming from Sharni today at SYS — Salt Youth Sunday Service — in the prayer room. So after the offering, jump on up if you're in high school, run out the back, because it's going to be amazing. And I'm passing the mic.
Tithes and Offering — Testimony of Supernatural Provision
Darren: Darren, welcome Darren up. Good morning. I'm going to share a scripture that people will go, "What are you sharing that for, for tithes and offering?" But I'm going to share another one after it. The first scripture I'm going to share is this one: we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and we love not our life unto death. Great tithe and offering message. Thank you very much. See you later.
The second one is one that we know because it's used for tithes and offerings almost every week in every church. And it says in Malachi 3:8–11: "Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'In what way have we robbed you?' In tithes and offerings that you have withheld. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me — this whole nation. Bring all the tithes, the tenth tithe, into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this, says the Lord, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that you will not be able to contain it. Then I will rebuke the devourer."
I used the first scripture this morning because I'm going to share a testimony. That scripture — Noelene and I have seen it come to pass. And when we see it come to pass, it is the most humbling thing to see God open the windows of heaven and rebuke the devourer.
Just before we went on mission, before coming here, for three years we were put through a test. And that test was with finances. We had our bills come in and every week we'd go, "God, you need to help us because we can't get out of this. God, you need to help us." It got to the point where our bills were overwhelming and we could not get rid of them or do anything. And so this was our solution: we sat down, had all our bills together, and I said, "Lord, I'm going to throw them up in the air. Whatever lands on my knee, that's the bill I'll pay." Threw them up in the air. One landed on my lap. That was the bill I paid.
Not long after that, we were visited by a pastor and he was talking with us. We were saying, "You know, we're just really struggling in this area. We cannot get out a foot in front of us and we cannot get our head up to breathe." And he listened to us, and I thought he'd pray for us. But he said, "No, it's time for the kings of the kingdom to step up and help you." He said, "Hand over your bills." And we went, "No, we can't do that. We've got to pay them." "No, no — time for the kings to stand up." All our bills got paid. We didn't know a cent.
But that's not where it stopped. You see, when he rebuked the devourer, he said he would open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that we would not be able to contain. We were so humbled by it because we had money stuck under our door. We had money stuck in our letterbox. We had money arrive in our bank account that we didn't know where it was coming from. We had money turn up in our wallet and we're going, "What? I thought I'd got rid of it." It was so overwhelming, we thought we were being disciplined by the money that was coming in.
However, I said before we went on a mission, we were put through a test. When we went on a mission, we went for three years. We did not have a cent to our name. We did not get an income, and we did not get any support with it. We thought we would be, but we didn't. That entire time we're going, "Lord, you need to help us get through this. You need to help us get through this." All our bills were met. We had no money. Not only did all our bills get met — when we moved up there, we moved up with a ute and a trailer full of possessions. When we moved back, we moved back with a semi-trailer.
But the best part — and the best part of God opening up the windows of heaven was — for three years where we had no income coming in, nothing that we could say to our name or anything, we were able to give away $30,000. It came through us, and God opened up the windows of heaven.
Now I'm just saying that not to boast and say, "Oh look, we're rich." Because seriously, I'm not rich, but he is. And his promise is: if you do this, then I will do that. And we cry out and we go, "Oh, I'm not seeing that blessing come through. I'm not seeing that happen." His timing is perfect. He's not going to bless us with a million dollars today because we tithe. He's not going to bring that increase and do that. But when he says, "I will open the windows of heaven and I will rebuke the devourer" — he can't lie.
And so this morning, tithes and offering — I shared my testimony because God is unchanging. He tells us to do it. But the word that I love when he tells us to do that is "test me." And he never says it anywhere else. So test me. Be an obedient child and test him. So come forward this morning, bring your tithes, bring your offering, and bring it with joy.
If you're visiting with us, on the screen there are ways to give, but please tap to your storehouse. You're welcome to give offerings if you're visiting, but please tap to your storehouse. Also, missions baskets are out for the church here if you want to give towards missions this morning.
Thank you, Jesus. We thank you for your amazing abundance that you pour out upon us. Lord, thank you for the invitation to test you. It seems a little bit strange for us, but Lord, we're going to step out into that and step in faith. Lord, we thank you as these tithes and offerings come in. Father, I thank you that you indeed would rebuke the devourer on behalf of those who have given, Lord, and that you would also, Lord, open the floodgates of heaven, Lord, that they might be abundantly blessed to be able to bless abundantly. Amen.
Introduction of the Speaker
Aaron Salisbury: Thank you for that testimony. Your word and testimony says that you will do it again. So we thank you for many, many more testimonies coming from that testimony. And we bless you and thank you for being an awesome shepherd and a great provider in our lives. Thank you, Jesus.
Well, the Word of God is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, but in the house we have a vessel who brings it with love and grace and kindness and truth. So let's stand together and welcome the Word and welcome Andrew Zimmerman as he brings the Word. Thank you, Jesus.
Praise the Lord. Keep standing. Let's thank Jesus. We worship you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Let's just stay standing and honor the word. Jesus, you are the word. You are the plumb line, and it's you that we fall upon today to be broken. Lord, we choose to honor the name of Jesus. Let's just keep standing. We honor Jesus over family. Lord, we honor the name of Jesus over Logan City. We lift up the name of Jesus over Logan City, over every other religion in our city. Above it all, Jesus, your name. We give you the glory and the praise today.
Put your hand on a shoulder near you and just say this with me: we are joined together as the body, as one. We are not greater together than Jesus, but he is the Great One that we are following. We are in team together. Brothers and sisters, we are the family. Amen.
Andrew Zimmerman — Testimonies from the Voice of the Lord Conference
Andrew Zimmerman: I love it. I love that. Thank you. Just fresh off the plane — that's why my hair looks like it is, because I was hanging out the side of the airplane with the window open. And at three something this morning, Shalana and David Hammett and I left Adelaide and we got here before some of you today. So we're happy. Home — there's no place like home. And we love this place. And it's a privilege for me.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Andrew and I'm part of the furniture here. And I've got some stains, but I am so glad for the blood of Jesus. Just like this carpet's got some stains, but it also has the map of Australia in it as well. I'm going to position myself right up here in the gap.
But I'm going to ask — is Shalana here too? Do you want to come, Dave, and just share a testimony of something that happened? Did you want to come, Shalana? Yes. All right. You come first because I know you're on assignment. Are the children okay? Aunty Sue's under it. All right. Ladies first.
Shalana Hammett: Well, thank you. Besides being a wonderful time and a lot of confirmations, one I would like to share: on the second night in worship, the lady leading the worship was the wife of the leader of Field of Dreams — which at the time I didn't know. But during that worship period, I have scoliosis, and I felt a strengthening in my back — very strong. I felt like God was doing something in my spine. But it was more than just healing my spine. I felt like my heels were digging into the ground and I was just really tight and strong.
And then the next day, Darryl Crawford Marshall spoke about how when he first preached, God told him to go and lay prostrate before the Lord. And he was so excited about preaching. Anyway, he had invited people to come and just humble themselves and lay on the floor, which God had been telling me most of this year to do — which I did do at least one time down the front during worship. And while I was on the floor, somebody stepped over me, and a lady stepped up on the stage and spoke. She said, along with a number of other great encouraging and confirming things, that she believed that God was healing and giving people new spines.
So I went up and shared that with her afterwards. I asked, "Who was the lady who went and spoke?" Because I was on the floor crying, but I did hear what she said. And it was Rachel. I went up and told her I wanted to share with her what had happened the night before. And she said, "That's great. Can you pray with me?" And I felt like I wanted a word to describe what happened to me. And she prayed about being fortified. And that just felt like a real strengthening.
Early last year, a huge transformation process began taking place in my life — and it's still happening. But I had attended a ladies' camp with a group of ladies from where I grew up in Guyra. And that was a massive weekend for me, and I believe that's where it all started. And that camp was called Fortified. So it was really like this journey of coming to a space of where God is really placing me. Yeah, so thank you.
Andrew Zimmerman: Isn't that awesome? Let's give thanks to the Lord. Thank you. I just want to point out that Shalana didn't have someone put hands on her to pray for her. She was in worship. She was praising Jesus and she received healing. So that should encourage us that we can get that healing direct as we're worshipping the Lord, because he is Jehovah-Rohi, the Lord who heals. Dave, you got a testimony?
Dave Hammett: It's good to be home. The whole conference started with repentance, as Wendy said, and the theme continued all the way through. And we ended up on the floor, as Shalana said. One thing I did like is about the government — the government of Jesus. The government is on his shoulders. And even all the conversations that we had in the car and over meals is that it starts in the church first for the healing of this nation. We think that the government's going to save us, but Jesus — the government — is on his shoulders. And he has to come through the church first.
And one thing that I liked was it was the door and the floor — humility, repentance. That's going to heal the nation. And I was reminded of the scripture that if we humble ourselves and pray, he'll hear from heaven and heal our land. And then I believe it'll go to the government from there. But it starts with us. The government of Christ comes through us on the earth, and that's why we need a backbone. We've got to stand up.
And the last person that preached — the leader — shared of his near-death experience in the hospital. And how he could feel the spirit realm. He knew that at nine o'clock on a Sunday he could feel the power of the saints worshipping God. And different people that came in and the spirits that they carried. And he said that the government has the enemy all through it, but we've got to stand up and bring God's government and the authority. And it comes through humility. And he said holiness and the fear of the Lord.
The Message — Humility as the Key to Spiritual Authority
Andrew Zimmerman: Humble Dave, thank you so much. My first verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14. Dave just quoted it there. I'm going to jump into having a look at that today. But I just didn't want to yell at you today because we're with family. And we can have a conversation today around the Word of the Lord to let his Word work in us.
And we really need his Word to work in us, just like Shalana. The word in Shalana looked like her back being healed. In fact, it was strengthened and lengthened. And she said, "I felt like I could dig my heels in." And I thought that was an interesting thing when you look at what the Lord was doing, because many of us in the church — and I'm not saying this church, because we are perfect here. We are absolutely perfect. How's my theology, Aaron? It's not humble.
But for us, and I'm going to say us as the body of Christ, we've become spineless — not because we set out to have no spine, but because the enemy, similar to in the story with David and Goliath, has been speaking out accusation against Jesus and the body of Christ every day. And it's ramped up. And when we, the saints of God, are silent, the enemy robs our voice but he grows in strength.
And I'm not trying to give glory to the enemy, but we have to call a spade a spade. And when we hold back — and I'm not just saying that you all need to go and ramp up on your social media, more aggravated, really strong Christian Bible posts to your unsaved friends. That is not what I'm saying we should do. And if you do that, I'm not saying that's bad, but I'm saying that's not the tool that's going to shift a heavenly realm. Social media is a tool, but it's not the right tool to unseat a principality of infirmity over Logan City.
What's the tool that's going to unseat the demonic realm around our lives, around our families, around our community, and around our nation? And at the conference we were just at, I saw it. And it looked like humility. And it's not glossy. In fact, it's actually hard. It's hard. But it's good.
Just like when we have to go to the doctor with a broken bone — I can wish that broken bone away, but I need someone who has the knowledge and the skill to help me reset that bone, and I've got to go through a process of pain to get what's broken fixed. It's like a mechanic with my car. If I don't know about oil and putting it in the engine, and I'm just running around like a madman, and there's red lights that I kind of think are like part of the party system in the car — I'm not reading the sign, and I'm putting my car into a place of danger because I'm not looking after what the Lord has given to me. And I might have to humble myself and pay twice the normal repair bill. But that looks like the type of pain that I have to go through to get something fixed. And so same in the body.
So today I want to talk to the body, but I want to talk to us as individuals. Because how does a rain cloud form? It starts with one droplet at a time. And you release a droplet. You release a sound. You release a tear. Did you know your tears, when they hit the ground, have spiritual power? More than yelling at the TV or at your neighbor or your husband or wife. Just turning up the volume doesn't equal spiritual warfare and breakthrough.
What we need is authority. We need authority and we need power. And we know where the power is. How do we overcome the enemy? Blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our life unto death. So we know a lot of stuff. We know the Bible. Some of us have known it since we were in children's church — and that's me. I've been in this house since I was nine.
But I felt this week that what I saw was the spiritual realm responding to humility in a way that made my heart excited for what the fruit would bring. And so I want to talk a bit about the key of humility and how do we prioritize his presence above my needs.
Unity in Leadership and the Family
I'm going to talk a little bit about prioritizing the Lord. And this is a trust factor, because if it starts with me — it also starts with leadership. I'm going to ask Aaron and Wendy to come up and just stand with me. Rory is not here and Hans is not here today, but they stand with us.
What is good for us will flow into the spiritual realm around what we oversee. And in Australia, we're good at having people above us and below us, but we're not very good at having people alongside of us, because we like hierarchy, we like order, and we certainly know what it's like when there's no order. I want to honor the authority that has been given to us, and it is humbling. We have the fear of the Lord. Every day we are in prayer for the church and the city.
But the enemy will work really hard to bring division in leadership. Because if he can bring a division — just say the four of us — he can impact all of us in the spirit. And so I want to say thank you to all the intercessors for praying for us as a leadership. I know that for some of us in this team, we have been hitting hell. Hell has been unleashed on us. And you know what? Bring it on. Because the word says the gates of hell will not prevail. So they might come against us, but they're not going to overtake us because we're overtaking it.
So what I just want to do today is say something as a leadership team: we are not going to be passive and we're not going to just sit silent and spineless, but we are standing up. We have stood up. I want to honor Rory — in this house she stood up in front of the nation this week and called it. Rory called it and she said, "Guys, if we don't humble ourselves as a nation, we could lose our nation." And this is the severity of it.
My brother Dave mentioned Albanese — we have to stop criticizing a man who isn't walking with the Lord and know that his office carries responsibility, but we cannot negate and delegate our authority to someone who's not walking with Jesus. That's our responsibility.
So unity matters. It's super important for us to guard. And I just want to honor the leadership that we have in this house — we're pretty unified. We've got room for improvement, haven't we? But we're dedicated and we're committed. Thank you. I just want to honor the weight of the house.
But just like it is in the leadership of the church, so it is in the leadership of our families. And we can see the assignment of the enemy against mom and dad and between husband and wife. And we know the same principle works. If the enemy can get a wedge in between mom and dad, guess what? It begins to bring an opening for the enemy into the home. How many decades have we seen this onslaught?
And so unity between husband and wife in our godly homes is so important. You don't have to put your hand up, but married couples — we have been getting slammed. Absolutely slammed by the enemy. But guess what? Bring it on. Because the blood of Jesus is stronger. And what we hold and what we stand in is powerful because it actually feeds into the atmosphere. Our testimony is not just what we speak. It's the life that we live.
The Authority of the Believer
So I just want to release today: there is a greater call out in the body of Christ for us to step up into something. It's a place of authority. You have authority. You have to take your place. And I can guarantee you that the enemy did not get up today, yawn, and go, "I'm going to have a day off." He didn't do that today. It's game on in the camp of hell. There is a plan. There is a blueprint. They are following it to the T. But there's one thing that they don't have that we do — it's Jesus. We have the captain of the Lord of all of angels' armies, and that is who you are in alignment with.
And this alignment with him is not passive. The Bible says it's those who are in Christ. Does that mean I can fall out of Christ? But there is a place where we can be passive and let the fire go out. And we can be like in the parable — the guy who buries his stuff and sits there with his hands in his pockets and says, "I'm just not quite sure. I'm just going to wait and see. I'm going to hedge my bets."
Rory did an incredible message — actually, all the messages were incredible. But it was the message brought about Elijah first. Elijah said, "The God who answers by fire, he is the Lord." And the children of Israel were following another God. They were worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth, which was a false mother and father. And on the mountain, the man of God who represents the one who stands up was on his own, and he had to bring the nation to a turning point.
And this is what the Lord was saying: that pride, when it creeps into our heart, blinds us. Write this down — pride restricts us from seeing what sin is actually doing. So pride has a blinding element. Pride also has a puffing up. It inflates itself. And when mixed with our soul, becomes a critical combination where we don't need God.
And the challenge for us is that we can come to church, we can tick the Christian box, but we're not engaged in any spiritual warfare. We're in a place now where you cannot avoid spiritual warfare. I'm really, really sorry to say that. But if you're looking for an easy Christian life, we have just stepped across a threshold. We saw it across COVID. It's not going away. But it's not going to shift unless we shift. We have to shift.
Todd's Near-Death Experience — A Prophetic Warning
And I believe we have an opportunity. And this is the hope that came through the conference. Todd, the leader of Field of Dreams, six weeks ago was in a medical emergency. Many of you know that and many have been praying. And he said thank you to the intercessors.
Todd had a really bad infection in his tummy. And within two days, he went from feeling okay to "I need to go to hospital" to "we need to operate immediately — you have a perforated bowel, you have a buildup of pus, and you've got septicemia. And if we don't operate now, please sign this waiver. You're not going to come through." This all changed for him in three days. Just doing life. Now he's almost at the point of death.
And Todd gave witness and testimony of the spiritual realm. He went to hell and he went to heaven. He encountered both realms. The part that I just wanted to draw out was what was happening in hell. And this is challenging, but we're in family.
What he mentioned was: in hell, God showed him, allowed him to see, that the demonic realm were harvesting from the souls of men energy and power, and were using that to inflate and to grow and to strengthen their powers on the earth. He said it was so real. And as the Lord showed him this, it was like — you know when you go to Questacon in Canberra and there's the Tesla effect, where you put your hand on it and you know the power, the zapping? He said that is what the enemy was doing — he was drawing power off souls. And it's in Revelation, it talks about when Babylon falls, and it talks about how the demonic realm use souls like a trading platform.
Everyone take a breath in. The Bible says that is called ruach, the breath. That is God-given. Do you know demons don't have that? They don't have ruach. Everyone take a big breath. That is a gift from God. That is life-sustaining energy. And even if you say, "I don't want to follow you, God" — that's everybody's choice — you still have the gift of God. I think it was Hans preaching a few months back, and he said, "What would happen if that breath just came out of you? God took it back." You'll be over — ragdoll. So Todd sees this encounter and it's a wake-up call.
And he says to the Lord, "What's the answer?" And then he began — as my brother was sharing — it was 11 days, no food, and he couldn't move. He's catheterized. He's had an operation. And he made some awesome funny jokes about being disconnected from certain parts of his body that he will visit in the future, and the little bag that he was carrying around. "I've got my own portable en suite." And it was just this guy — I'm talking about Aussie humor, going through a near-death experience. And aren't we amazing? Come on, Australia. We are amazing.
And so Todd said, "Lord, what's the answer?" And he was in a coma-like state where he would wake and sleep, wake and sleep. And he saw heaven and encountered the love of God. And he said, "When you experience that, you don't want to come back." And we've heard that from near-death experiences. But he was in his room with all the tubes, and he said there was an overwhelming sense of love that filled the room — an incredible presence that sounded like wedding bells. He said it was like love that never ended.
And he said to himself, "What's just happened?" Because he was extra sensitive. He said people were walking past the room and he would be aware of someone's presence and they were outside. And he hadn't eaten for 11 days. I mean, if you haven't eaten for 11 days, you're going to be sensitive. But it's also that gift — all of us have it. We are spirit. We are not just flesh. We are spirit.
And he said to himself, "What is that? What is that?" And he realized it was about 9 a.m. and it was a Sunday. And the revelation came that all across Adelaide, God's people were praising him. And he heard the sound of the praises — not just from the crazy Pentecostals who were loud, but from the whole body of Christ who were joining together and they were praising the name of Jesus. He said it was so powerful that it infected the whole city. It had changed the atmosphere.
And he was there going, "We don't realize when we come for corporate gathering and we're praising him — we are having powerful impact into the atmosphere realm when we praise the name of Jesus." And that impact is what causes the forces of hell to stumble and get a kickback. Why is that? Because the demonic realm cannot enter into humility, but we can. We can.
Pride, Passivity, and the Trap of Powerlessness
Now let me ask a question. Is it possible for me to say something but not mean it? Is it possible for me to sing something but not mean it? For me to mean it means that I am adding my belief with my word. But many of us have become numb with what we believe. And why is that? Because the enemy is working nonstop to get my attention. He's got seven traps for me.
I wake up in the morning and someone's done the wrong thing to me. Immediately I want to bash them. All right, I don't know about you, but I'm going to just be honest about my flesh — I want to punch them. They've taken something. They've done something wrong to me. Immediately I'm tempted into doing something harmful towards my brother and my sister. If I give in to that, the Bible says I lose authority. I disjoint myself in the body of Christ.
I get upset towards my wife and I just start being mean to her. The Bible says God won't hear my prayers if I'm not looking after my wife. So I can do a little lie — just fudge that a little bit, just take a shortcut. And before I know it I've made all these little decisions. In my mind they're little and I'm not even thinking about it. And I forgot to read the Word today. And I forgot to spend time in his presence. But I managed to fit in my 30 minutes of my favorite Netflix show because I was bored. And now I'm going into my spiritual warfare day. And I'm already tangled, muzzled, disjointed. And the enemy's like, "Ha — gotcha."
The other one is I've pulled back from fellowship, and I'm not doing what Wendy did today — I'm not pressing into my brother and my sister to say, "I need to confess my sin." And the Bible says if you say you don't have any sin, you're actually saying you're a liar. So we convince ourselves that we're good, but we're probably just nice. And then we find ourselves in a place that I would call powerlessness. And we don't operate in the authority that's been given to us.
So that's all the bad news. But the good news is that what pride can't do, humility can.
James 4 and 2 Chronicles 7:14 — The Word on Humility
And so the Lord says, let's go to the Word in James 4. And I haven't forgotten 2 Chronicles 7. James 4 — thank you, Lord, for your word. It is a sword.
James 4, verse 1: "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have, so you commit all kinds of things like murder. You are envious and try to obtain. You fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask."
We have power to connect directly to God, and Jesus said we must ask and seek and knock. But here's the challenge: when we are in powerlessness, we forget to ask and we grumble instead. Whereas the Lord wants us to ask him.
Let's keep reading. Verse 5: "Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose? He jealously desires the spirit which he has made to dwell in us." The spirit to dwell in me. "But he gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"
So when we step into a place of humility, God gives power. Grace is supernatural power to do what you cannot do. That's what the blood, that's what the gift of Jesus is. And so humility is a powerhouse for the Lord.
Let's go through and have a look at 2 Chronicles 7:14. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear and forgive them and heal the land."
The key here is humble. It's the starting point. And when I said before, is it possible to say something and not mean it? I learned very early in my marriage that when I just said the word "sorry," it wasn't enough. I had to back it up with my whole heart. And so how do I get my whole heart and my words connected? The key I want to release for us today is humility.
What does humility do? Humility opens my eyes to see and to hear. And I can't repent unless I see the problem. I don't know I've got a problem until I see the problem. But I can't see the problem until I humble myself. Humility is a starting point.
Rory said it at the conference: there is a door in the floor. We can't see because pride blinds us. As soon as we humble ourselves, the blinders come off and we can do something that's painful — ask this prayer: "Lord, show me where my error is. Show me what is the problem. Let me see it how you see it."
When he corrects us, he does it with love. And when God corrects us, he convicts us. And what conviction means is to be cut to the heart. You know when you've sinned and you've felt that conviction — that is what humility will bring. Humility will bring conviction. And that's what we need.
When we're praying for our unsaved family, guess what we can pray? Conviction. Because no one will turn away unless they've got a convicted heart. Remember in the book of Acts, Peter preaches, "You killed Jesus. God came in the flesh and you killed him." And it said they were cut to the heart. When we are cut to the heart, then we can repent.
But what we say is, "Hey brother, you need to repent." I can get up on a milk box in Queen Street Mall and I can yell at you, "Repent!" And that lines up with the Bible, and I get that — that guy's doing a good job. But if hearts are not being convicted and there's no humility, it's not a full deal. And fire will only fall on sacrifice. Fire falls on sacrifice. Do we need the fire and the power to shift our nation back to God? We do. What is the key? Humility. It's not the end, but it's the beginning.
Humility is the virtue that makes room for something greater. Without humility, you will not learn. Because to receive instruction, you must honor someone with greater authority than you.
Australia — Down Under and Under His Authority
Well, good word, Andrew. We heard this over and over at the conference — "down under." What does that mean? It's what everybody other than Australians call us. Yeah, from down under, mate. And there was a little bit of, "Hey, we need to throw that off." And I think so too, if it comes down to our identity — we're not down and under in who we are in Christ.
But I heard something and it cut me to the heart. He said, "Andrew, Australia can't get up and over until she goes down in humility and comes under my authority." And that was a warning to me, because I could keep doing church for the next 20 years while my nation rots — not just in hell when they die, they're in hell right now. Hell looks like torment that you can't break out of. Who knows somebody right now who's in a torment that they can't break out of? Put a hand up. Look across the room. Forty percent. Guys, that is living hell.
And I believe many of us are in prayer. Many of us are contending. But rather than turning up the volume knob of anger at the enemy, what if it looked like the quietness of conviction and humility to get my heart right before the Lord? And here's the kicker — I've got to be prepared to change whatever he shows me in my life. I have to deal with it. I've got to repent. I have to. Because I am an idiot if I believe revival is going to come because we sing really good songs. Because we could be singing them but not meaning it. We can even be reading the word but it's not convicting us.
So I want to start it off by saying I am convinced that the problem will shift because of what I will do with me. It starts with me. I can't change you but I can change me. And I want to start today by saying I have had apathy in my personal life. I have not been showing up with my appointment with the Father every day. And you can say, "Oh Andrew, it's okay. He loves you." Thank you, friend. I need it. We need it. But I have an assignment on my knees every day. And for a long time now, I have not been in my assignment. And I want to repent before the Lord and before you. And I want to change this. Start with the man in the mirror. Because apathy, I believe, is one of the very things that's stopping our nation from stepping into her destiny. It's manifesting in my life.
What Humility Looks Like — Posture, Walking, Kneeling, Prostrating
So what does humility look like? I'll just read a few things that we can do.
Posture. Standing. The Bible talks about standing. It's important that we stand for truth. It's important that when the Lord calls us, we stand up. It's important that we hold and we stand on the Word. We're standing on the rock, so there's an importance to standing.
But I want to talk about walking. Jesus walks with humility. Jesus is perfect love, and perfect love looks like walking in humility. If you watch Jesus walk, that's what humility looks like. If you want to see humility, it's Jesus. It is who he is. It's what he does. He walks. I think it is in Micah where it says, "Walk humbly before the Lord." Pride resists, but God gives grace to humble people.
Kneeling. When you don't want to start — you're like, "Andrew, I hate your word, but I know I have to do it" — what can I do to start this process? Any act where you lower yourself and your needs in the priority order and lift Jesus above that, and your walk with him and his word and his heart — that's humility. Anything that we bring under his authority, that's humility. Anything that's not under his authority actually says, "You can't have a part of me." So this is imperative that we come under his authority, or else we will be, as he said in John 10:10, an illegitimate hireling that when the enemy comes, you're going to take off.
I don't want that to be me. Do you want that to be you? When the pressure hits, that you've got nothing — authority is found when you are in him and under him. That's where delegated authority works. We're going to see an increase of the power of Jesus to pray for the sick as we walk in humility. But the humble path is a narrow path. Jesus is the one that calls us to it.
There's kneeling. Some of us have bad knees. And I don't know about you, but I go about three minutes and all my blood cuts off and I'm going into pins and needles. So we're going to learn how to do side kneeling, side saddle. What I just want to say is kneeling is powerful. Paul prays and he says, "Our heavenly Father, before whom I kneel." There's a place of humility. Start with kneeling. Because as you begin to humble yourself, this is what the Lord will begin to do — he will begin to show you areas that you need to get right. He's going to convict you.
Oh, bride, let's love conviction. Let's love having our heart cut, because we're making room to be less of wrinkles and less of spots, so that when we stand to pray, we'll be pure. Our voice will cut through. God can't hear pride. He only hears humble hearts.
The other one is to prostrate. We heard Shalana say that for a while, God's been saying, "Come and lay down." I think many of us have felt that. I've seen a few people laying down. I want to say this — permission in church to lay down before the Lord. It is an actual sign of humility.
In 2 Samuel, it's the story of Abigail. And Abigail is a type of bride who is a part of a husband or a system that is anti-God, rebellious, proud, and cannot see good. We're in that generation right now. Our young people are calling evil good and good evil. This is the Nabal atmosphere that we're in. And David says, "My men are hungry. Give us some food." Nabal says, "No, I don't even know who you are. Get nicked." But actually, he was family. Nabal was family to David. So there was a requirement to give. And David gets his men. He says, "Saddle up, swords on — judgment day at Nabal's place."
Abigail hears that David's coming with judgment. And it says she prepared a sacrifice. And she hurried. She humbles herself. She lays down before David. And she cries out and she says, "Have mercy."
This is the time for us, church, to step into a cry like Abigail. "Have mercy, Lord." Because here's the thing — judgment is coming on sin and onto the earth. Give me a scripture that says that's not happening. What is our role? To keep doing church, or to get out before the Lord and say, "Have mercy on our nation. Have mercy, Lord, on the 50 million babies that are aborted every year on our watch." And not to be overwhelmed, but to be convicted and to align ourselves with him so that he can win the victory through us. Through us.
Matthew 7:13: "Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who are entering through that. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life."
That's the way of humility. It's a narrow pathway. We have to let go of what pride wants us to accumulate. But it's time to prepare the sacrifice.
Call to Corporate Repentance and Altar
I believe at Rivers, we are already engaged in this. But are we mature yet in the fullness of this? Have we got some room to move on this? Have we got some work to do in the area of humility? So could we do something radical — let go of trying to care what other people think about us, get honest, get authentic, get real, and just begin the process of humility, conviction, and repentance? And if the tears come, let's not rush off the floor until we're completely consumed by him, by his fire. Because fire will fall on the sacrifice.
I want to invite you to come with me out the front today. If you don't want to come out the front, at least just come into the aisles. Let's just step out of our normal. Let's stand. There's a map of Australia that needs some work here. I believe we have an altar in this house. There is an altar. But what happens with altars when we don't attend to them? They come under disrepair. And when we're not attending to the altar of the Lord, the enemy is building strength off blood sacrifice that's not the blood of Jesus. So we have more work to do. And it's not more yelling. It's something other.
Lord, we want to open up repentance season at Rivers. We want to acknowledge seasons change. We've had a season of repentance in this church, Lord. We remember the 90s. We remember the early 2000s. We were snotting on this carpet at Knoll Street. But Lord, apathy has crept in. And we are sorry that we have become numb in our heart towards you and with each other.
Holy Spirit, we don't even know how to humble ourselves. We don't even know how to do this. But you are the helper. Would you come and help us? Would you help us to become absolutely in hatred of sin? Cut to the heart again. Lord, would you shift our songs? And it's not that our songs are bad, but Lord, they're not enabling conviction. We're singing them, but we don't mean them. Shift us, Lord. Shift us, Lord.
If my people — this is family, guys. The Lord's not sitting at Queen Street Mall saying, "If my people." He's in the church saying, "My people — you're my people. If my people who bear my name, if they humble themselves and get cut, I will show them the areas that are stopping them from their prayers breaking through."
The Lord is going to show us that grudge that is blocking my heart from entering into celebration of the lost, because I'm grudging it out against a brother. Lord, that we would treat each other like the body of Christ. Could we agree to that?
Lord, we ask today — show me you. Show me your love, that I would never be the same. Help me to love my sister the way that you love. Help me to love my brother the way that you love. Because this is the opportunity for us to love the lost that are coming. We're supposed to be practicing. If we can't get it with one another, how can he trust us with the harvest?