Royree Jensen preaches on overcoming weariness at Rivers Apostolic Centre
A Sunday morning service at Rivers Apostolic Centre featuring communion, community announcements, testimonies, and a sermon by Royree Jensen on persevering through weariness and discouragement.
Summary
This episode captures a full Sunday morning service at Rivers Apostolic Centre, hosted by Aaron Salisbury. The service opens with a communion time in which the congregation takes authority in prayer against what are described as demonic assignments, following a series of near-miss car accidents and illness among church leaders. A young man named Evan shares a testimony about leading a worship night for Year 11 and 12 students at his school, with 40 students attending. The main message is delivered by Royree Jensen, who draws on scripture, personal anecdotes, and Theodore Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" speech to address the theme of weariness — arguing that God has placed within every believer the inner resources to persevere through the hardest stretch of any trial. She closes with a ministry time inviting weary members of the congregation to come forward for prayer and encouragement.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening Prayer and Communion
Royree Jensen: Thank you, Jesus. You reign. You are the only one true God. You are the only one who saves. We declare your holy and powerful and mighty name in this place today. You are the King of all kings. You are the Lord of all lords. There is none like you, Jesus. Hallelujah. You reign. What a relief that is, Jesus, that you reign. You reign over all things. You are the same.
Thank you, Jesus, that we are not dry boat sitters, but we are wet water walkers, Lord. You take us into deep places. But Lord, as we were singing in that song, that can only happen because you are before us. We can look straight to you, Jesus. And whatever you say to us, Lord, is possible through you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. We bless your holy name this morning.
The Word of God tells us that God put eternity in the hearts of man, in the book of Ecclesiastes. Not that we would know everything, but that there was a resonance of eternity already within us. And in the book of John 3:16, many of us will know these verses really well. But I'd like us to backtrack to verse 14. And it says this: just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert on a pole, so must also the necessity of the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross, in order that everyone who believes in him and who cleaves and trusts in him and relies on him may not perish but have eternal life and actually live forever.
The eternal life that Jesus came and paid for and purchased then connects with that eternity in our hearts, and we are saved. As we believe in him, we are saved. And it says there that not that anyone should perish, but that they should have eternal life. This eternity that was already placed in us but now recognises. Just as all of those looking at the pole that was set up had a look and they recognised the power of the living God. When the cross was lifted up and our Saviour was crucified, the whole world recognised from the power and the display of his power that he is God. There is no other power that is greater than the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.
Corporate Prayer Against Spiritual Attack
This morning as we come and have the blood and the broken body here, represented in the elements before us, I really feel very strongly and am not amused at the work of the enemy trying to take some of our people out. And so I really believe today that we get to do what Jesus gave us the authority to do, which is to take authority over all things trying to come against the people of God, and to use that authority today.
So today as we take communion, I want us to join together in groups and to take authority in the name of Jesus. And to break the power of witchcraft and any assignments against the leaders of this house, but also against the people attending here. So today is a bit more of a serious call upon our community, because we know that Jesus Christ is a name that is above every other name, and that the blood of Jesus purchased for us the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, overcome all of the work of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm us.
At least three of our people have had near-death experiences with car accidents in the last couple of weeks, and we're saying no to that in the name of Jesus. Many of our leaders have come under the irritation of infirmity, and we're saying no to that in the name of Jesus. So we are standing. But a testimony is that when the enemy tried to take out one of the family members of us in the community here, he had no chance because the blood of Jesus was greater than even someone trying to destroy their lives. So we say no in the name of Jesus.
So let's stand together. There comes a time where a line needs to be taken, and today is that day. We are taking that line in the name of Jesus. So I'm going to ask Dave, actually, if he can come and break bread. I'm going to ask Graham if he'd break bread there. And Malcolm's breaking bread already. And we break the bread today, remembering the broken body of Christ. And we take the blood today, remembering the fact that there is power in the name of Jesus, and there is power in the blood of Jesus for today. And today is the day. It is finished, and it is enough. So come and take communion.
Thank you. Hallelujah. Where two or three are gathered in his name, whatever we ask, it will be done. It will be done. Thank you, Jesus. Let's get serious.
Thank you, Father. Lord, we declare the blood of Jesus, the power of the blood of Jesus. We declare the authority of the name of Jesus. And we speak the name of Jesus over every member of Rivers Apostolic Centre, them and their families, in Jesus' name. We bind any works or any proclamations of the enemy to cause destruction. We especially take authority over any accidents in Jesus' name. We break the power of that. Lord, tripping and car accidents, we break the power of that in the name of Jesus Christ. And any assignments against this house, we say no in the name of Jesus. We lift up the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus. And we give you thanks, Father, for your divine protection. We will not hold. We will advance in Jesus' name. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord.
Testimony: Student Worship Night
And in the advanced place, I just wanted Ev to share an awesome testimony.
Evan: Well, good morning, church. It's been a crazy week for me this week. It started on Wednesday. I got asked to share at chapel at my school. And it was something a little bit scary, but stepping out of that place and just sharing it was something truly special. And hearing back from all the teachers, they were like, Evan, I don't think you just realised — no one was talking. The entire school from Year 7 to 12, everyone was dead silent. And it was only eight minutes, but everyone was hanging on every single word. Everyone was listening. And teachers were just shocked. And I was like, Holy Spirit, that was all you. Because for me, if you asked me to do that a year ago, I would have gone, I'm not doing that.
And then another thing that happened was this Saturday. It's been a dream of mine — with the senior chapel team, we've been doing once a month, we've been doing worship nights together where we've come together, sharing food and then just having an hour, two hours, two and a half hours of just worship and intentional time with each other. And it has been life-changing for me. And it's just something that is so beautiful to see.
And a dream we've been building towards is having all of Year 11s and 12s, inviting an open space, a living room, to come and just worship, have food and connect with each other. And so we've been planning this for about three to four months now, and it's called Overflow. And we had our first night last night. And we didn't know how many people were going to rock up. We just said open invite. We're inviting, it's probably like 50 to 60 kids in each of Year 11 and 12. So we're like, we don't really — we want everyone to come, but please not everyone come. We don't have room for 120 people. But we prayed and it's been an incredible time. And we got there and 40 kids rocked up.
And to be able to — my heart has been crying out for my grade and for this to shift at my school, because I've been praying like, Lord, what is it going to be? Like every Year 12 grade says, we're going to be the ones that are different. We're going to be the ones that bring the change. But I was like, Lord, what is it truly going to mean to bring change to our school? And he says, everyone does parties, but who's going to start doing worship parties?
And to sit there for two hours with the Year 11s and 12s just praying with each other, prophesying over each other, encouraging each other to take that step forward — and now that it's going to be catching in this grade and it's going to start and it's going to keep rolling over for each grade. Oh man, this is only our first one and we're going to be aiming to do one every month. I can't wait to have the monthly reports to share with you guys because it's going to be incredible. So thank you so much, church. Love you all.
Announcements
Aaron Salisbury: That is good news. Thank you, Jesus. Doing a happy dance. That's right. Thank you, Jesus.
Hey, talking about doing a happy dance — next week on Saturday, we're having the Women's Echad Feast. And we're really looking forward to the ladies coming. We've got many ladies coming from other communities. We're super excited to have a time of unity and fellowship and feasting. I'm going to say thank you so much to the men who are serving on that day. We're super excited that they offered to serve. And thank you also to the young adult men who are going to come and help us afterwards as well. Thank you for that.
And then also, please remember that next week on Sunday, we have Bishop Wayne Malcolm coming to share with us. And we're going to put in more seating because already we've had a couple of churches who are going to come and join us for next week. So let's be praying for that. If you know anyone in business who hasn't got a call to entrepreneurship or business — which is basically all of us — then encourage them to come along and let's receive an impartation from this man of God who is carrying kingdom business in his heart. So it's going to be a really good time.
I'm going to ask Erin Crawford to just come forward and share. We have a number of different exciting things happening at Rivers. And while she comes, just want to say welcome. If you're a visitor with us this morning, it's great to have you with us. And we have tea and coffee afterwards. You're welcome to come and share. And we'd love to get to know you a little bit better. So thank you, Erin.
Erin Crawford: Good morning. I have a list for you. So stay with me. It's going to be good.
The Kahu team, which is the New Zealand team, is coming very, very soon. And I know you've been waiting for details. So thank you for your patience. We have a few events that everyone is welcome to, and we'd love for you to join with us to host them.
The first event that we have is a day trip down to the Gold Coast Light Horse Education Museum. Cole Stringer is going to join us — if you know who Cole Stringer is, he is an amazing man who loves the history of Australia and can release amazing things. And we're going to introduce the New Zealand team to him at the museum there. And he's going to actually do the tour of the museum because they know him down there. It's $5 a head. We have to make a booking, and they're opening it up just for us. So we need exact numbers. I do have a board that we will put out for you to sign up on. It has, if you would like to carpool, if you'd like to go independently, or if you would like to take people with you as a driver — can you nominate that? Just circle it.
We also have a trip — a longer trip, which is three days. This is Monday the 6th of July to Wednesday the 8th of July. This is where we're going to actually do a traditional journey from Woodenbong up to the Bunya Mountains. So this is an immersion into Australian culture, and I just know that it's going to be powerful. The conversations that have been happening — just awesome. If you would like to know more about that, it's $150 per person, and expressions of interest forms — you can come and see me for that.
The volunteers — we want to say thank you for signing up to be volunteers to help out and to host. We will give you email confirmation about all the comings and goings of that on the 23rd.
So we have ladies this week, and I'll give you some information next week. Sunday PM is not the first week of the month this week. It's not this week either. But it's not the first week of July — it's going to be the second week, because the Ōtangarei crew is going to host that night for us. So you want to see an amazing haka that's just made for us? It will be there. And amazing, powerful young people bringing testimonies.
Sunday the 5th of July, Pastor Andy Piggott from Whangārei will be speaking. And the 12th of July, Pastor Rob from Ōtangarei will be speaking. It's all North New Zealand, guys. It's all same, same.
If you would like to be involved in the Working Bee on Saturday the 11th — I don't have a slide for that, but we will get one for you. Let us know too. I know that's a lot of information. So if you have any questions about Kahu or New Zealand team things, come and see me or flick me an email to admin. Love you all. Thank you.
Aaron Salisbury: Let's give Erin a hand. That was pretty good. Whangārei, Ōtangarei, OTC — all these names. Thank you, Lord. We're going to be meeting these amazing people. Please pray for them as they are preparing to travel in a few weeks' time.
Just the last thing about Echad — if you are coming and have not put your name down, please put your name down today. And we will make sure that everything is ready for you at 9 o'clock next week on Saturday.
Aaron wanted to let you know that we've got flyers for these at the Hub as well. So that's the Anzac Experience with Cole Stringer. Information on there, $5 per person, bookings essential.
Offering
I'm going to take up our offering. I don't want to spend too much time doing that because we want to hear the Word of the Lord this morning. But how about we all stand and prepare our hearts and prepare our offering?
In this house, we come forward to bring our offerings into the bucket. Some people like to dip their phone in as an act of faith that somehow money will come streaming out of their phone into the bucket.
But as we're here just in the presence of the Lord, I just want to acknowledge the posture of the Lord that he puts himself in. He postures himself in this place. He has designed the church to be the vessel through which the kingdom goes out to confront the powers of the world. He has set up the church to be the vessel through which the kingdom is expressed to take down the empires and the kingdoms of this world. And then he hamstrings himself and hamstrings the church by not setting up some incredible pyramid scheme that creates a whole bunch of money that just goes out and is able to confront the powers of Rome and all the powers of the kingdom. He simply postures himself and his plan and his vision for the church to simply rely on the faithful generosity of people.
That's a beautiful posture that he puts himself in. And he postures himself in that way — not even relying on the generosity of the church because he can multiply bread, he can multiply fish, he can do miracles, he could make the clouds rain gold if he wanted to. But he postures himself in that way to give us an opportunity to be generous, which stretches ourselves out of the boat a little bit and allows us to adopt the same posture that he has, posturing ourselves in that same vulnerable position so that we can experience the generosity of Jesus as he gives back to us.
I just felt to share that because I love his posture. It's just so simple. It's so vulnerable. It's so threatening. It's like the church is always threatened to be wiped off the face of the earth at any moment. He loves the weak. He loves the impossible. He loves the vulnerable. He loves the simple. He loves the gentle. Because how amazing will it be when the kingdoms of this world topple at the simple generosity of the poor who give their mite into the coffers.
So let's adopt his posture. Be generous to witness his generosity come back into your lives as well. So as we give, come forward. We have other ways that we give as well online. And if you want to come forward, come forward. And we'll take up the offering. And we bless you as you come forward.
Father, we just lift up all of the needs of the church to you. We lift up your plan, the plans that you have for this house, Lord. We pray that you would supply the needs of every vision that this church has for the extension of your kingdom, Lord. And we pray, Lord, that you would multiply your blessings in this house, Lord. You would multiply your blessings towards each and every one of us. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Thank you, Father.
It's good to have Ian and Kathy back in the house. And it's Kathy's birthday today. So if you see her afterwards, lavish her with love and sing lots of songs over her. Give her lots of gifts.
All right. It's my honour to welcome Royree up as she shares the word. So please stand and let's give her a big cheer because we love her in this house. We bless the word as it comes forward in Jesus' name. Hallelujah.
Sermon: Little Steps — Overcoming Weariness
Royree Jensen: Thanks, Mike. Good on you, Dave. How's everybody today? Well, that's a good thing. Praise God. I nearly wasn't last night. I got in a car crash. Me and Failene coming home from a thing down at Goldie, and yeah, somebody wanted to take us out. But we're here. And it wasn't Failene's fault that she was driving — I'm just letting you know, just in case she comes here and you think evil of her. Hallelujah.
Father, we thank you. You are an amazing God. You are full of mercy and grace. You direct our steps. You know us from the inside out and back to front. And Lord, sometimes like the chrysalis, we're swinging upside down in the breeze, in the darkness, and you are changing us from the inside out — called transformation. Before we know it, all that gunk has turned into something beautiful. So Lord, would you just come as we look at your word today and bless the people in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, for the information of the intercessors — I had a long talk with Betty Turama from Bougainville, the wife of the president, and you've been praying for her. Thank you. She specifically asked me to make sure that I pass on her thanks. She is back in Bougainville, having been flown from India directly to Bougainville, which is there — it's impossible, but anyway — and I had a lovely long talk with her and she's looking really well. So thank you. She's asked me to pass that on, and also greetings from the president. So there we go this morning.
The Instructed Tongue
Isaiah 50, verse 4 says, "The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know how to sustain the weary." How's your tongue? Poke it out and have a look. Is it instructed to sustain the weary?
I have a very practical message today. I didn't want to risk anything else.
What's an instructed tongue? It literally means that something has been built within you so that you can sustain the weary. Something has been built or piled up on the inside of you so that when you meet someone who's weary of well-doing or is in some kind of deep yoghurt, you have a tongue that can instruct them how to cope with where they're at. Sometimes that's really all they need.
So I have something inside of me today that has built up over all too many years for me to mention to you — of success and failure, joy and sorrow, discerning motives, my own motives as well, and understanding what sustains the weary. I think there must be some weariness in the house, or maybe this is just self-confession today. Take your pick. I don't really care.
So I have an instructed tongue. Today you can partake of my humble, extravagant wisdom — oxymoron for you — so that you can be sustained in times of weariness, fatigue and uncertainty, so that something builds up on the inside of you. Not just for you, but for others, that you can encourage them. Because I know of nothing that makes people drop out of the Christian race like weariness and discouragement. The biggest church in Australia hasn't been to church for years. We're not quite sure how to encourage and put strength into them. We don't have an instructed tongue. We are quick to criticise because we don't understand the cross.
So here's my humble, extravagant wisdom. Build something inside of yourself. There are structures that God has put within us for resilience. Funny little word, isn't it? And that structure — like instruction — is to build a structure within. If you get instruction, you've got a structure on the inside of you that stuff can hang on, that people can build on. So instruction is really important. And the structure that we build mostly with is the Word and the Spirit, because you can't depend on too many people to have an instructed tongue. So get your own and build your own structure.
The Third Quarter of the Marathon
So let's just look at this. This is simple today, all right? So when you go home, poke your tongue out, have a look at it in the mirror and see if it's changed. Because there are some practicalities too to the whole thing of weariness and discouragement.
You see, it's not the end of the marathon that fatigues you. It's not the end of the marathon that makes you feel weary. Not that I would know, because I have never run one and have no intentions of doing so. But at the end of the race, there's hope that the end is very near. And you can see the miles falling away with each step you take.
Shireen used to be a 100km runner. And my thing was, why would you? Because she's running through the bush, she'd be texting me through the night to let me know how she's going. And she says, I only have another 50 to go. And I get back and I said, did your mother teach you nothing? What are you doing running around in the bush with 50km to do? How are you going to do another 50? And she texts me back and she said, I'm just going to do it one step at a time. Just going to let the miles go behind me. And I'll get there. And I'll probably be the last one. It didn't seem to worry her. It worried me.
So the end is within sight in the last part of the marathon. But the marathon runners — and you can look it up and have a bit of a read about it — say that the most difficult part of the marathon is the third quarter. When you've got half of it behind you, and you're already fatigued, and you already want to quit, you've got half of it behind you, and the other half still to go, but you haven't got anywhere near the last bit yet. So it's that third quarter that's the hardest part. Because the last part — yay, you're doing pretty well, you made it almost. But that third part of the marathon is very demanding, both psychologically and physically.
And you could pull out. Maybe you should. Here's your brains — you don't have to run that far. You could pull out. But someone in the crowd calls out your name. Someone in the crowd calls out and says, come on, you can do it. You can do it. You're over halfway. Stick at it. You can do it.
But what if there's no one to call out? What if there's no one calling out at you — you can do it, this too shall pass? What if no one's calling out? These are times in your life when no one's going to call out. No one is going to call out. And it's what you can do at that time that will build the structure on the inside of you that is going to sustain you and sustain the weary.
The Mountain in Papua New Guinea
I was in Papua New Guinea a couple of years ago at Prayer Mountain in Moresby — which is a whole lot better than Prayer Mountain in Ita, because it's really just a sizable hill. And there were supposed to be trucks that were going to take us oldies up the top, but the truck didn't appear. Surprise, surprise, it never does. And so I decided I won't go up the mountain. It's just a bit of a stretch too far for the old girl. And so I thought I wouldn't go up.
But a guy came over to me and he said, do you think you could get up that mountain? I said, mate, I've got two chances — Buckley's and none. And he said, I could help you get there. He's a bit of a skinny little whipstick, and I thought, yeah, you can carry me, mate. He said to me, do you trust me? And I'm like, no, why would I? I don't even know you. And he says, well, just start and we'll see how we go, and I'll stay with you. I said, okay. I thought I could sit down after the first ten minutes and wait for everyone to come back.
He said, here's what you do. Don't look to the top of the mountain. Don't look to where you're going yet. Watch your own feet and take very small steps. In fact, you shouldn't even reach out — just one step that almost doubles with the next one. Don't look up, don't look around, see only your own footsteps. That's all. Just watch your own footsteps. And don't look around and don't look up and don't look down and don't care about anybody else.
He says, I'll be with you all the way. Well, when we got to the top, I did look around, and I found we were the first people up there. Hansi and some of the others had already climbed and were already there — they'd started much earlier. But I'm looking around — where's everybody? And he said, I told you you would get here.
Adjusting Your Pace
So this is practical today, all right? It's just very practical — a tongue to help the weary and the discouraged. You may need, as a practical thing, to adjust your pace and your footsteps from time to time. Adjust your pace and your footsteps. Or even slipstream in behind somebody that's twice the size of you so they can do most of the effort. And just mind your own business for a while. Just watch your own footsteps and you might get there before all those who are striding out amazingly well.
We're about to enter into the third quarter of the year. It's not the time of celebration, the time when we're having parties and looking for two months of holidays with the kids from school and whatever else. It's the third quarter. And it's a time where the weariness and discouragement and even boredom can set in. Watch your footsteps. Just take little steps if you need to. Just keep going, or you'll look like a sook and you won't get to where you're supposed to be going.
And it may not just be the time of the year. It might be circumstances. It might be that you've been carrying a load for too long. It may be the demonic is trying to get you out of the race. That happens. Happened last night — I think an angel pulled alongside and said, back off. It may be demonic. The evil one is trying to get you out of the race. Or it may be that you are the one in the arena and all the armchair warriors have got a lot to say. It's like me watching the State of Origin. I think, what a drongo, why would you do that? Hurry up. So the armchair warriors all know how to do this, except you're in the armchair.
The Man in the Arena
I want to read to you what one of the presidents of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, said about the man in the arena. Here it is.
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again and again. Because there is no effort without error. There is no effort without shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deed?"
Have you ever failed at something? But you had a crack. And the ones who were watching you were not doing it. You were.
Let me say the last paragraph again without comment.
"Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But the one who actually does the deeds, who strives to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasm and great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause — ever spent yourself? — who at best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least he failed while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
So what I'm saying is, have a go. Weariness comes to everyone. Discouragement comes to everyone. Don't quit. You're in the arena. You will have people who want to poke a hole in the air. Just fill it with a baked bean and keep on going. You know what I'm saying.
The Best of the Best Got Weary
The best of the best in the scriptures got weary at times. Even Jesus. So you're in good company.
John 4, verse 6 says, "Jesus, being weary as he was from the journey, sat down by the well" and talked to a Samaritan woman. Yeah, we all know the story. Jesus, weary with the journey.
I feel that there's some weariness. And at first I thought, oh, I think it's just me. But sometimes when it happens to me, it's actually you're picking up on what's going on in the house. And sometimes it's just your own and you get them mixed up. So if you're not weary today, great. Go and have a party. But the scripture talks about the best of the best getting weary.
In Judges 16:16, Samson — it says he was nagged by Delilah who prodded him day after day until he was weary to death. So girls, don't nag your husband until he's weary to death. Seems like he was nagged to death.
And then in Judges 15, again Samson, the strongest man, he comes to an end of himself and he says, now I'm just going to die. I'm going to fall into the hands of those uncircumcised fellows. And God opened a hollow place and water came out of it and Samson drank and his strength returned.
And then David had 600 men and they'd been out fighting and 200 of them were too exhausted to cross the ravine. That's in 1 Samuel 30. So there's 200 men that just couldn't go any further. And again in 2 Samuel 21, David himself becomes too exhausted — so much so that David's men said, never again will you go out to fight. We will do the fighting for you. Because the king was shot through.
And then there was Elijah in 1 Kings 19 that came to a broom tree, whatever that is, and sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough. Take my life." And then he lay down under a broom tree and fell asleep. See, there is a physical and emotional and mental and spiritual tiredness or exhaustion that can come upon us.
Now, I'm not talking you into this today. I'm talking you out of it. It's just that I'm saying that if you're there, you're in good company. A lot of these big shots found it there. But there was an antidote. There was a way out for them and there is a way out for us.
Look, the first thing we can go to is the phone and have a whinge to everybody, or we can go to pills. Now, if the doctors put you on pills, lucky you. I'm not saying not to. I'm just saying that that's not our first course. That's not our first response. There's other responses that go well ahead of them.
So yeah, this emotional and spiritual and mental tiredness. We're going to ban burnout in the house. We ban that word burnout. Because we had a season a few years ago where everyone was burnt out and I'm like, no, no, no, no. But here's the thing — sometimes it can just be a demonic assignment. And sometimes it's just you're not looking after yourself very well. Or sometimes it's just because you're running with the wrong mob and you've picked up on their cooties.
The Antidote Is Within You
God has put something within you to sustain you. You've got to know how to trot it out. You've got to know when to trot it out. God has put something in you, if you care to use it.
When we read the scriptures about people like Samson and David and Elijah, God always provided a way out. And every time it was within them. Though they needed to do some physical things to adjust — slow their pace, have a sleep, have a meal, whatever it was — there was stuff that was already within them, God-given stuff, that would help them find the way out. Because the scripture says, "There is no temptation or testing that has taken you but such as is common to man, and God is faithful, who will with the temptation or testing also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." So God puts stuff in us.
Again, in PNG, back in my younger days when we're walking through the bush, there were these little poisonous things — we call them wait-a-while — because they had little plants with thorns on them that seemed to reach out and wrap themselves around your leg as you're walking. And so you had to wait a while to undo them. That's why they were called wait-a-while. And they would sting and they had poison in them. And I'm walking along whinging to the New Guinea girls. Oh, that really hurt. Because they were full of sympathy — laughing at me. And they just said, oh, don't worry, there's an antidote to that. They just went and got another plant and applied that, because the antidote was close to where the thornbush was.
And it's like that with God. Where the thornbush is, there is an antidote not far away. So when you're weary or you're snared, there's an antidote. And God put it not in another bush — he put it within you. He put it within you.
Elijah's Recovery: Sleep, Eat, Drink
The antidote for Elijah — if we want to read it, we should read it, because then if I read the Bible it will legitimise the message. 1 Kings 19, great chapter. I really love it.
Let's just land on verse 3. "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. And he came to a broom tree and sat down under it and prayed that he might die. 'I have had enough, Lord,' he said. 'Take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors.' Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once, an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and eat.' And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. And he ate and drank, and he lay down again and slept again."
He's tired, this bloke.
"And the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat.'"
So practically, sometimes you just need to sleep and eat. You just need to stop. Find yourself a broom tree. Sleep and eat. "For the journey is too long for you." So he got up and he ate, and strengthened by that food, he runs a marathon. Think about that. It's good food, good tucker.
The antidote for Elijah was to sleep, eat, and drink. Sometimes it's just the practicalities of life. Just stop for a bit. Sleep, eat, and drink.
Go to the Place That Inspires You
God also instructed him — I'm going to read it all — to go to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, and go into a cave there. The same cave where God had told Moses to go, and said, I'll just cover you there with my hand and let my glory pass in front of you. That same cave, that same place. He says, go there and get some fresh inspiration.
Where do you go for inspiration? Where is your place of inspiration? Or don't you have any? Find a place that inspires you. I get inspired at the beach. Second to that, I get inspired in my front garden. But go to the place that inspires you, which is what God told Elijah to do.
Stop Playing the Negative Video
And he also told him, stop playing the negative video inside your head. Because God was saying to him, what's the matter? What's up, Elijah? And Elijah said, oh, you know, I've been faithful, and everybody hates me, and nobody likes me, and I'm going to the garden to eat worms because they're killing all the prophets. Well, it was all distorted because he was the one killing the prophets. But anyway, we do get kind of out of whack at times.
And so God says to him, can you stop playing that same video? We've seen it enough. We're tired of the video. And that video will not produce any faith in prayer. All you're going to have is a video of self-pity. So stop playing the video over and over.
Return to Your Motivational Gifting
And he also says to him, get back into your motivational gifting. Because when we get tired and we stop, we can stop for too long, and then you get demotivated, and then you get depressed when you actually should be in your motivational gifting.
And what God said to Elijah was, go back the way you came. How did you get here? That's the way out — it's how you got here. Go back the way you came. And he says, I want you to go and to anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat, as king. I want you to anoint Jehu to have a chariot and get hold of Jezebel and throw her down for the dogs to eat. That's what I want you to do. This is your motivational gifting. Throwing people to the dogs. Whatever it takes. This is it.
You get into your motivational gifting. Because when you are in your gift that motivates you, you actually get strong. Joy comes, you see. If you spend too much time outside your motivational gifting, you'll just get weary. So know what it is that makes you spark. It doesn't have to be coming to church, though it's good for you to do that. But it might be painting or running marathons or reading books. What motivates you? You need to find it.
Moses and David
And for Moses — I didn't even read to you about Moses, but Moses had to overcome his weariness. He was a bit of a control freak. And control, trying to control others, can make you very weary. One of my favourite sayings now is, I don't care.
Moses' father-in-law came to him and said, mate, what are you doing? You see, everybody in Israel — there's millions of people — they're queuing up around the block again and around the block again. What are you doing? And he said, delegate. Let somebody else do that. And so put some over tens and some over hundreds and some over thousands, and go sleep, eat and drink.
David's salvation was that he encouraged himself in the Lord. His men had been defeated. The enemy had taken off their wives and their kids. And so David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. Got no more tears. Used them all up. No strength left. David's two wives had been captured. And David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him. That's great following to have. Stoning, with stones. Because it was so bitter in their spirits because their sons and daughters had been captured.
But David found strength in the Lord his God. It was within him. All these men that have been fighting hard go off to fight a battle and come back and find the whole shebang is gone — wives, kids, belongings, everything. And the men that are with him, instead of saying, David, oh mate, let's have a committee meeting — at least let's have a committee meeting — they want to stone him. Funny how that happens. But it says David encouraged himself in the Lord.
Being spiritual about it all does not negate the practicalities. Eat, sleep, drink, rejoice, delegate — all that stuff.
Isaiah 40: Waiting on the Lord
Isaiah 40, verse 27. I'm nearly done. I said that before, didn't I? Yeah, you get that. Big jobs.
Isaiah 40, verse 28 — let's save a bit of time. "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will rise up with wings as eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint."
That word wait is not, ah, come on God, can you hurry up, want this done and dusted? That word wait is not a waiter at the table. That word wait actually means to entwine yourself by twisting — like a three-strand cord. You entwine yourself by twisting around the Lord. That's waiting. That's waiting. You become part of the purpose of the wait. There's a weight in the wait. There's a weight in the wait.
Psalm 119, verse 28 says, "My soul is weary with sorrow. Strengthen me according to your word." Because what the Spirit enables, the Word sustains. Get that? What the Spirit enables, the Word sustains. You can be enabled to do something by the Spirit, but if you haven't got the Word there — when the Spirit's not tangible and manifesting in your presence, you better have the Word or you're going to be a sorry-looking thing. Because what the Spirit enables, the Word sustains.
Jesus said in Matthew 11, "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and find rest for your souls, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Light and easy. Light and easy.
So God puts something in us to overcome adversity. The adversity can lead to great weariness. Trust me. Even to the point where people like Elijah said, let me die. I want to die. So we're not going there, because we know that there's a way out. And the way is within you. It's the Word and the Spirit. You fight back. You push through. You come to a place where that weariness does not overcome you. You overcome it. Then go have a holiday, eat, sleep, drink — whatever it is that you need.
The Rooster Story
I want to tell you a story about a rooster.
It's a small town in the USA. Everything happens in the USA because nobody knows where any of these little towns are, so you can tell whatever you like. Anyway, it was a true story about a small town in the USA. It's a farming area and they'd had floods that had damaged their crops and their houses, and they just got it cleaned up and the people were weary from repairing and doing the stuff, when a tornado came in the dark of the night and smashed everything. And the houses lost their roofs. Furniture was smashed and broken. There was glass and timber piled up everywhere. No one could really assess the damage because it was very dark.
But just before daybreak, people began to come out of their damaged houses to see what the situation was. And just as daylight broke, they heard a noise from under a pile of rubble. People rushed over to see if someone had been caught in the rubbish. But what they saw was a rooster making its way to the top of the pile. It was wet. It was soggy looking. Its feathers were bent every which way. It had a broken wing. And they watched as the rooster struggled to the highest point of that pile of rubbish — a large pile of rubbish — and then, stretching out its neck as roosters do, and puffing out its chest as roosters do, because the day had dawned, the daylight is breaking through. And that's what roosters do at break of day, because that's what God put in them. Regardless of circumstances, that's what they do, because that's what's in them.
And listen — God has put stuff in us. When we're weary or discouraged or circumstances seem to be overwhelming us, there is something that God has put in us. Because there may not be someone who's going to cheer you on in the race. In fact, some of them might be hoping to God you fall over. But God put something in you. He put a rooster in you. He put a cock-a-doodle-doo. Well, he put it in some people.
Closing Appeal
So guys, simple message today. I didn't want to go into the depth of revelation or any of that stuff, because sometimes we just need a practicality to keep on trucking. Just keep on trucking. And it's within you. You can keep on going. You can keep on going. It doesn't mean you don't rest. It doesn't mean you don't take time. But just little steps. You don't have to answer everybody. And before you know it, you're at the top looking down on those that are still puffing their way up.
So, do we want to make an appeal? Does anybody weary want to come for prayer? Peter didn't even pass the rooster test. But I do want to pray, or I want somebody to pray for you. I'm a bit weary. You might get a prayer. You might not. I might respond to my own appeal today. I've done it before and nobody knew. But now I'm old and I've lost my filters. I don't care.
Let's just stand together. And we're going to make an appeal for all the broken roosters in the house. To know that it's within you to keep going. That if somebody comes and cheers you along, how wonderful is that? But don't count on it. Because somebody's hoping someone else will win the marathon. But you — you know that there is something within you. It's the Word and the Spirit.
Come as a broken rooster with your feathers fluffed, wet and a broken wing. Whatever it is that's wrong with you, come. Because someone will come and pray courage. And they're going to say, they're going to call out and say to you, keep going. You can make it. You're more than halfway. Keep on keeping on. Move it along. Keep going.
Well, there's a few scraggly roosters coming down. Hallelujah. Thank you, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father. We make a joke of it, but it's not funny when you're in it. It's like getting chased by the KGB — funny afterwards. Very funny afterwards. It's like getting smashed by a four-wheel drive in the middle of the road. It was funny afterwards. But not at the time. Because you're going through it.
So maybe some of you out there could come down and start ministering to people at the front. And you could say to them, hey, keep going. I've got your back. Hey, keep going. The finishing post is not yet. But you're doing well. How about we did that? How about some of you, instead of waiting for me to come — you can come and tell me. Somebody come and tell me. I'd really like that. Especially if you're my friends.
Just get out of your chairs. Some of you that are not weary. And just come and say to somebody, hey, you've got this. You're going to be okay. This is a demonic attack. But you have got the goods. Come on. Some of you get out of your chairs. I'm calling you down. Each person should have about three or four people around them. Come on. Each person should have more than one person. We're not just praying. We're saying, you can make it. You can do it. I believe in you. Your circumstances are really bad right now. But you're bigger than your circumstances.
Come on. Start to share and encourage each other. And maybe some of you in the seats back there could just turn and say, hey, come on. You can do it. Don't be weary in well-doing. For in due season, in due season, you will reap if you don't faint.
Thank you, Father. I thank you. Today I break discouragement off people's lives. I break fatigue off people's lives. I break weariness off people's lives. I break off those who've even thought of suicide because the way is too hard. I'll break you, stinking thing, in Jesus' name. I break off those things which have overwhelmed you. Know that within you is the Word and the Spirit.
Come on, some of you young ones. There's somebody down here that you should be praying for. Tell them they can make it. Tell them they're awesome. Tell them, take a little step. Just tell them.
Somebody come and stand in front of Alex and eyeball him. Dave, come and stand in front of him. Eyeball him. You blokes, eyeball each other. And tell him he's doing a great job.
Alex, you're doing a great job, mate. You are doing what nobody else has tried to do. You're pushing through. All hell's come against you because it's about inheritance and it's about heritage. And all hell's coming against you, trying to hold you back and pull you back and say, I can't do it again. Here's another thing that's come against me. All that stuff — tell it to go to hell. You tell it to go to hell because that's where it came from. And in the name of Jesus, may you prosper and have a major significant breakthrough in Jesus' name.