Sunday Message, Session 3 - Rachel Hickson (June 22, 2008) | Life Bible Church

My first time here. Rachel's part of the family,

so I feel part of the family. And it's been quite

a revelation driving across farmland and thinking,

what on earth can you find here? And then suddenly

you arrive here and hundreds of people in the

middle of nowhere. So it's just amazing. But

some churches you go to and you wonder if God

even knows about it. But hey, God seems to really

like you. And it's been a real privilege to be

here. And I not only feel part of the family,

I just feel excited that something is stirring.

There's faith here. There's an excitement in

God. And it's very important as we push through.

We're in a crossroads in the nations at the moment.

I'm very briefly, for those of you who don't

know me, I'm a fluffy sheep pastor. I look after

lots of fluffy sheep. back in my church. And

I made a commitment not to travel. We've always

traveled together. And you know what it's like.

You get a pastor who comes along and then he's

always traveling. I just made a commitment and

said, guys, I'm not going to travel for three

years. I'm going to let Rachel travel. But I

snuck out this week. And I just thought, I really

want to see what Rachel's doing over here. And

Rachel Ritchie is with us. She's an intern with

us. And she's been fantastic. She's born to preach.

She's a great preacher. And it's been a real

privilege watching her grow and to spread her

wings. But you need to know we are in a crisis

situation in the nation in England. You need

to pray for us. I know in the Second World War

we just screamed across the pond and said, come

on guys, you need to fight with this battle for

Europe. We're going to scream the same again.

We need you to come across and help the battle

for Europe. This is a critical, critical spiritual

battle for Europe. Because there's revival spreading

all around different parts of the world. But

fortress Europe, the enemy has sort of come thinking

we're going to hold on. Last stand, we're going

to hold on here. But he's got a big mistake.

He's made a big mistake. And we really do want

to challenge you. Just take that battle seriously.

Pray for us because there's a special time coming

that those nations are going to open up to God.

So thank you. Thank you for... Welcoming. Can

we pray for Rachel as she starts? Let's stretch

our hands out to Rachel. Father, we want to thank

you for Rachel. Thank you that she carries your

word. She carries your glory. She carries the

gift of God. And so, Father, we pray for a full

release of that word into this church. Lord,

with life, with health, with wholeness, with

revelation. Lord, come this morning and speak

to every single one of us right where we're at.

In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Well, as always,

it's been a real delight to be with you. And

we've been on a journey. We set our heart on

a pilgrimage to pursue the presence of God. And

that was the title of our ladies' conference

in pursuit, passionate pursuit. of his presence,

and I started the opening evening, and if you

want to get the CDs, it's not too sort of pink

and girly, and I don't think you'll be embarrassed

if you listen to it as a man, but we started

the opening night of just looking at that private

and public place of releasing the presence of

God, and how I believe God is calling us into

the intimate place where we get to know the face

of our Father, but then he's turning us around

and releasing us into the powerful place where

we do the works of Jesus and there's that sense

of how do we which pursuit of which presence

and I have of course all of us want that intimate

place where we know the face of the one who loves

us but I also want to know the power of the one

who heals, raises the dead, delivers the tormented

and there's a passionate pursuit for the presence

of power. as well as the presence of intimacy,

and we looked at that. And then in the morning,

I did an exegesis, really, a line -by -line exposition

of the scripture of the woman with an issue of

blood. And I called it, I Want My Life Back.

And how many times the enemy just comes, and

it's like we feel our life is flowing away. And

the process, really, the journey God takes us

on to touch Jesus and see. And have that cry

of the woman, I've got my life back. And something's

happening in me. And then there were amazing

workshops. And Gordon then did the afternoon

session for the women. On really overcoming fear

and torment. And shared his story about how God

brought him through a mental breakdown. And brought

him to a place to be bold. and strong and how

God deals with you and even the issues of life

can actually be the formation of God and out

of that desert place something can stand up that's

bold and alive and able to break through and

shared very vulnerably on how we must deal with

the fear issues if we're ever going to be a people

that know that we're loved and overcome and then

finally in the final session I did a session

on those different journeys pathways of pursuit

the pathway holiness, the pathway of intercession,

the pathway through trials to glory and the pathway

of life and how God sets our feet on a journey.

And often they're not always comfortable. We

set our heart on a pilgrimage, but God breaks

it through. And as we pursue him, we will find

him. Seekers are finders. Then we did, we had

the privilege of speaking on marriage and Gordon

really took Ephesians five, looking at the role

of the man to be. like our bridegroom and the

one who lays his life down and what it really

means to be one who lays your life down. And

he looked at five pillars of the intimate friend,

the servant leader, the proclaiming prophet,

the reconciling priest, and the defending warrior.

And those aspects of Jesus that we are called

to mirror as men. And then I picked up some things

about the women briefly and an overview of why

it's so important we stake. the ground with legitimate

authentic marriage and then last night we started

a series open up the gates of which this is the

last one because I believe in 2008 God is saying

come on it's time to open up the gates And there

are gateways. There's a gateway to the nations.

And dear Gordon, last night spoken, as Pastor

Brad's already said, on really how we open that

gateway to the nations. And as we look into the

Islamic world, North Africa, Middle East, and

Soviet Central Asia sort of area, and look at

the grip that's there with Islam, it's so easy

to think, well, let's just back off and go around

it. But I believe right there God is putting

his dunamis, his dynamite of the Holy Spirit,

spirit to actually open wide that gateway. And

if you go to Isaiah 45 verse 2, I love that verse

Isaiah 45:2

that God is going to give us these gates. Isaiah

Isaiah 45:2

45 verse 2. And this is what the Lord says to

his anointed, to Cyrus by whose right hand I

take hold of, to subdue nations before him, to

strip kings of their armor, to open doors. So

that gates will not be shut. I really believe

Islam thinks, oh, we've shut some gates. Christianity's

not going to get in here. But how many know God's

got the last laugh? You know, those gates are

not going to be shut. And then it goes on. I

will go before you. I will level down the mountains.

I will break down those gates of bronze and cut

through those bars of iron. I will give you,

the church, those treasures of darkness, riches.

stored in secret places. And I just want to say

that God at this time is delighting at ransacking

the devil's treasure trove and presenting them

for the kingdom of God. All through the Muslim

world, God is breaking through those gates of

iron and bronze and he's going into those dark

places and unpacking the devil's treasure trove

and treasures are being released for the glory

of God. Many of you remember last year I was

here with Helen Aza. Do you remember? And she

is still my associate. She's back in England.

And she's 50 % Egyptian and 50 % English. And

during this year, God has just been opening more

and more doors for us. Those of you who were

at the ladies' conference, literally before I

arrived here, my books have just been translated

into Arabic. And so we showed the Arabic cover

and the Arabic translation. And it was just quite

amazing. don't know if we've got them on the

screen but what an amazing thing because the

Arabic church began to say we want tools and

we want this book in Arabic and so right now

in fact the American church mainly has paid for

this it cost eleven thousand dollars isn't that

amazing to produce five thousand books of each

book to translate it all and do it all I think

pretty well all of it's coming except the last

it's a little bit you can't quite see it there

you go if it goes down And they've taken the

ancient door with heaven breaking through the

door. Isn't that amazing? When you actually see

the cover, it's quite dramatic. And that's supernatural

communication. And Rachel Hickson written in

Arabic. At least so they tell me. But they want

that too. And I thought, my, if that church learns

to pray. They reckon there's about a million

underground Christians, especially women, who

want to be trained. So I'll be working with Helen

Aza. She's... committed to stay on with me, and

she's then going to break through those gates,

and we're going to release her one -third of

her time to set training schools through Egypt

to train up an army of ordinary people. We're

literally going to have a mobile training school

of 30 people who we're going to train. We're

writing the materials now, and as we train those

30, we're then going to give each of those 30

20 manuals so that when they go back, they train

20. Do you get what I'm saying? And so they do

that for three months. Then at the end of three

months, we'll go back there. We'll train them

for another two weeks on the next module unit.

And we'll train those 30 who will then take 20

manuals each back to their places and train.

And by doing that over two... We will go for

two weeks and we'll have two teams. So we will

train 60 every two weeks. Week A, we train team

A. Week B, train me. 30 in each, give them 20

each. You can do the maths, send them back. And

we'll be doing that every three months over the

next three years to do a mobile school of theology,

specifically for women. Because that's what the

pastors have asked us to do. They said, we have

never done anything for women in the Arabic world.

And they said, we just are asking you. Come help

us train our women because we believe that they're

a secret army of what God wants to do. Come on,

we're going to open those gates in Jesus' name.

I'll just tell you one story. Did you tell the

story of Saudi? No, you didn't tell it. But this

story was given to me when I was in Egypt and

they were just talking about what God is doing

underground. Now, Saudi Arabia would still be

one of the most closed and difficult. And there

was a young girl who'd finished all her training.

She had been over in the West because still the

elite. A Middle Eastern family sends their children

to either Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, because

they pay for the scholarships. And even their

girls, they will educate them and send them.

And this young girl had been sent over to Britain,

and she had done law. And while she'd been there,

she had found Jesus and got born again. She began

to read the Bible, got filled with the Spirit,

but she couldn't tell her family. She had to

keep it quiet. But it was now time for her to

go home for the long holidays. And she'd taken

the Bible with her. And as she arrived at her

home, all the servants had picked up her stuff.

And she was a bit terrified because you don't

really have private space because there are servant

people in your house, in your space, in your

room. They make your bed. They do your rooms.

And she was just beginning to pray. So she kept

her Bible on her person and said, God, show me

where I can hide my Bible. I want my Bible. I

don't want to lose it. took a huge personal risk

even taking it into the house. And as she prayed,

she felt God speak to her and say, at 11 o 'clock,

you're to go up the back attic stairs and you're

to go to this high loft room. And as you go into

the room, you'll see a trunk, which is positioned

in this area of the attic. And you're to lift

the left -hand side of the carpet over the trunk

and hide the Bible under there and leave it.

So at about 11 o 'clock, she got up, went up

these back attic stairs. And as she's putting

the Bible under this area of the carpet, She

hears someone on the stairs opening the door.

She then hides into the end of the attic. And

she sees this shape come up, walk over to the

trunk where she's just put her Bible. But this

person went to the right -hand side of the trunk,

lifted back the carpet, pulled out the Word of

God and knelt down, began to pray. She went up

because she couldn't see who it was. She then

realized it was her mother. Her mother had become

a believer two years older and they discovered

each other up in the attic as her daughter went

and flipped her side of the rug and showed her

Bible. Isn't that an amazing story? I want to

tell you that we are living in phenomenal days.

And the devil holds the checkmate. Heaven holds

the checkmate. Devil might have sounded check,

but heaven holds checkmate. And we've got to

see it. So say with me, 2008. We opened the gate

for the king of glory to come in. And then in

the first service, I did three other gates, which

I'm just going to skip on quickly. They will

have been recorded if you want them to fill that.

And then I'm going to do gates, three more gates

now. But then I believe in 2008, God wants to

open the gate of hope. And we looked at Hosea

Hosea 2:14

chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, and how God loves

to take the place of trouble and open a gate

of hope. I believe one of the reasons the church

needs to stand up and walk out is because he's

made us gatekeepers of hope. And one of the things

the enemy wants to do is put such hopelessness

in people. He wants to put it in the church.

That's why when Pastor Brad made that article,

come on, how many of you are facing impossibility?

You feel that sense of hopelessness when you

walk out. In the house it feels good, but in

life it feels bad. And you see the enemy... loves

to pickpocket our hope. But Hebrews 11 verse

Hebrews 11:1

1 says, now faith is the substance of things

hoped for. And so the enemy hijacks our hope

and then our faith gets depleted. But we know

without faith, it is impossible to please God.

So we need faith and hope. And 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13:13

13 verse 13 says, these three remain. Which three?

Faith, hope, and love. And so this is the season

to open the door of hope. And God wants to take

us from the valley of trouble through the door

of hope and make sure that hope is not depleted

but completed and multiplied. Because my Bible

says his hope does not disappoint us. Romans

Romans 5:5

5 verse 5. And this hope does not disappoint

you because the love of God has been shed abroad

in your hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I think it's Hebrews 6, about verse 19, it says,

and his hope is an anchor for my soul, secure

and firm. You see, there's a security when our

hope is God -triggered, God -inspired. That expectancy,

that longing, isn't just a pipe dream, but it

is real. And God has put hope in each one of

us, and that hope is reliable hope. It's not

fantasy. And so God wants the church to be those

with a message of secure hope. That as we step

out, we have hope, keys of hope, to open the

gates for many lives. And that where they're

being overwhelmed with weariness, depression,

and disappointment, God opens a gate of hope

in Jesus' name. Amen. Gate for the nation, gate

of hope. Number three gate is the gate to heaven.

And if you turn to Genesis 28 verse 16, I just

Genesis 28:16

preached it this morning, so check me out. But

Genesis 28 verse 16, we see the story there of

Genesis 28:16

Jacob. And Jacob is a representative of a seeker

generation. If you want more, let's get the tape

this morning. But you see, Jacob was asleep and

the seeker in him had gone to sleep. And it says

this here. And Jacob woke up from his sleep and

he was not aware that God, surely God is in this

place, it says, but I was not aware of it. And

so many of us go through that process. Surely

God is in this place, but my awareness of God

has decreased. And God wants to open that up.

And it goes on to say, and so I grew afraid.

But how awesome is this place? This is none other

than the house of God. This is a gateway to heaven.

And I want to say right here in Harrisburg, you

can have seasons when you're very God aware.

You can have seasons when you become very God

aware. unaware. But we need to open that gateway

of heaven, that seeking hungry atmosphere of

our heart that just seeks his presence. It keeps

the right awareness. Surely God is in this place.

It's very easy to get overwhelmed and get distracted

and fall to sleep and become sleepy in your expectancy.

But Jacob woke up. And then he had a right awareness.

And God wants to open an awareness of heaven

over your life. Don't let the enemy lull you

to sleep and then tell you God's disappeared.

God didn't disappear. Your awareness of him disappeared.

And God wants to open heaven over your life today.

He wants to open that gate in 2008 so you are

aware of the goodness of God and heaven over

you. We all go through seasons when the cloud

comes in and obscures the truth. vision it didn't

mean the mountains went away they just got obscured

the third gate we want to open the gate of glory

in the land and we read this in Ezekiel 43 verses

Ezekiel 43:1

1 and 2 and it says and the man came and positioned

me at the east gate and I shared how that picture

of the east gate is a picture of the the division

between the church and the community again and

again between the temple porch and the marketplace

that east gate is the divider and the water of

God comes from the throne under the east gate

into the land you find that all the way through

Ezekiel 47 you track the east gate through scripture

and you'll find it's always that junction And

it says, and the man bought me. And sometimes

we need God to bring us to a new community awareness.

We need him to take us from the intimate place

of the altar and stand us at the east gate and

say, take responsibility. That's your land. What

are you going to do? And then we have to release

the water of his word. We have to begin to speak

his word into the situation and watch what it

does. And it says then, and so I opened the east

gate and the land was radiant with his glory.

I want to see that gate open. I want to see the

gateways into our communities becoming radiant

with the presence and the glory of God. I want

to see people being God -aware and God -presence

-aware rather than a cultic power and, you know,

even secular power. People are more aware of

the presence of the devil than they are of God.

I always remember a young friend of David's,

my son, coming into our home when he was about

17. And he just said, take me somewhere where

I can sense the presence of God. People want

to know what the glory feels like. And so he's

calling us, come on, stand at the east gate.

Let the water of the word be released like the

roar of waters. And let the land begin to shimmer,

radiate, gleam, glisten, literally. With the

glory of God. So now the three last gates. Let's

see if I can do them quickly. But the number

five gate. As I believe in this season, 2008,

God wants to open the gate of inheritance or

the gate of legacy. And in many ways we've echoed

this cry all the way through the worship. This

is the gate where the King of Glory walks in

and ancient doors have to make way for the King

of Glory. And this is Psalm 24 verse 7. So lift

Psalms 24:7

up your heads, O ye gates. Be lifted up, you

ancient doors, that the King of glory may come

in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong

and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up

your heads, O ye gates. Lift them up, you ancient

doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who

is he, this King of glory? The Lord almighty.

He is the King of glory. And so in 2008, I just

believe God is wanting to open gates. And it

says, be lifted up, O you gates. Be lifted up,

you ancient doors. And God really began to speak

to me when I was just meditating on gates and

doorways. And he said, Rachel, so often in the

church, you only think about the gateways that

go forward. But sometimes you need to go back

to open the ancient gates of legacy and inheritance

to release a full generational blessing to propel

you into all that God has for you. So lift up

your heads, O ye gates. Be lifted up, you ancient

doors. Release all the legacy, for the King of

glory wants to come in. And so often, as we open

up those gateways, it isn't just, oh, let's find

a nice key. They open nicely. It isn't like,

oh, wow, God wants to do this, so it's just happening

easy. What is the picture of the God that opens

these gateways? It's the God of war. We have

to wrestle for our destiny. We have to wrestle

and fight out every inch of the way. Just like

the early Israelite nation. How many know God

broke open the gate and got them out of their

prison house in Egypt. He crossed them over the

Red Sea. They battled through the wilderness.

But even when you read Joshua chapter 1, now

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

the season was inheritance. They said, go, here's

your land. Walk into a land full of milk and

honey. Was it easy? No. They battled every inch

to take their inheritance and legacy. They had

to open the gate of their ancient promises. They

have to open the gateway of their legacy, their

history, their generational flow. And to step

into their destiny, they had to open the gate

of their legacy. Do you get what I'm saying?

And I believe in 2008, God is wanting to open

gates of history to release your destiny. It

isn't that we go back and live there forever.

But all through scripture, there's almost this

contradiction. There's certain scriptures. You

can go to Philippines, chapter 3. It says, you

know, forget the former things. Don't go back.

Let go. Do not hold to the past, but take hold

of the new. And so you think, oh, well, God keeps

telling me, don't go back. You know, Isaiah 43,

18, you know, do forget the former things, don't

dwell on the past. See, a new thing springs up,

do you not perceive it? So you think, I've just

got to forget about the past and press into the

new. Then there's another whole lot of scriptures,

Deuteronomy 6. Come on, meditate on yesterday,

build an altar, remember the former things. Ecclesiastes.

Don't forget the former thing. And you think,

well, God, can you make your mind up? One minute

you're saying forget, don't look back, don't

hold press in. The next minute you're saying

meditate on it, think about it. But this is the

key. I believe that God is asking us to understand

our legacy and our inheritance and our destiny.

But he's asking us to forget the failure and

the negativity of yesterday. But we've got to

remember the inheritance of yesterday to get

what I'm saying. You see, I believe in every

single one of us is generational seed. And so

often when we look at our generations, we only

look back three or four. We look back to our

grandparents and maybe our great -grandparents

and maybe we look back and what we see is not

very pretty. And often we look back to deal with

the negative stuff. We get rid of maybe if there's

been alcoholism or maybe there's been sexual

impurity. And we look back and we think, oh,

there's some nasty skeletons in the cupboard.

Let's just cleanse them and get rid of them and

then I can walk free. But many times we don't

go digging for the treasure troves. But God is

saying, come on, lift up your heads or your gates

be lifted up. Lift up those ancient doors that

the king of glory may come in. Now, my Bible

says that the negative generational flow operates

to three and four generations. Do you agree with

me? But what does it say about the positive?

But his love lasts for how long? A thousand generations.

Hello, do you get what I'm saying? So you see,

there are legacies in your generational flow

that go far beyond your great granddad, that

you can begin to open up right down your family

line for yourself individually, for yourself

corporately, for this city, for this region.

There might have been some negative choices,

but I bet there's some seed in this ground that

has powerful legacy, inheritance seed, more than

your grass seed that goes all around the world.

There is righteous seed. hear that goes back

quite a few generations, that we need to open

up and then walk on and warfare for those promises.

Just out of interest, how many of you here, as

far as you're aware, are maybe the first in your

generation to turn to God? Could you just stand?

You will be what I call turning generations.

You've made a stand to choose Jesus. And you

haven't come, as far as you know, from a Christian

home, Christian family, Christian viewpoint.

You are the first turning seed. You're very precious.

You made a stand in your generation. But as far

as you know, people behind you didn't. I want

to say, you might have looked back to your grandfathers

and thought, what's that? But I bet somewhere

in your family line, there is an ancient door

and a gate that's calling. Come on, open up the

gates. Open up the gates. And I want to say to

each one of you, did you realize you are a gatekeeper?

And a gate opener. You have opened a generational

gate of blessing for your family line. Because

as for you and your household, you're opening

a new gateway of blessing, a new legacy, a new

inheritance. And how many of you would say it's

been tough? Well, you see, lift up those gates.

Let the king of warfare come in because you're

going to have to fight every inch of the land.

Just like the Israelites, when they wanted their

promised land, the devil hates initiators, hates

the firstborn seed. He hated Jesus, the firstborn

seed that made a way for every one of us. He

hates you. Because you're turning at not only

your life, because he understands legacy. He

knows it's not just about you. It's about who

you are, what you carry in you. It's about your

kids that come from you and the grandchildren

and great -grandchildren. You're opening a whole

river that he hates. So he's going to fight you.

Do you understand? And that's why you're turning

generation. So, Father, right now, don't sit

down yet. Right now, in Jesus' name, and if they're

standing with you, we pray for an awesome authority

to come upon these turning generations, that

you will give them a new tenacity to break through,

not only for them, but for their kids and their

grandkids. And we turn generations. We open gates

for the kingdom of God, for the king of glory.

is coming into your family line. The king of

glory is going to walk right through your family

line. You've opened a gate and now the king of

glory is going to come in. Who is this king of

glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. This is the

king of glory. Be lifted up, you ancient gates,

whatever your family names are. Come on, you're

going to make way for the king of glory to come

in this generation, in this family line. Write

down sons, daughters. Mothers, children, write

down the family line. Make way because the king

of glory is coming in. In Jesus' name. In Jesus'

name. And everyone say, amen. But for those of

you who have come from a family line, maybe we

don't even realize. I'm just going to tell you

a story. I'm telling stories. But this totally

blew my mind. I am Rachel Hickson today because

I've been married to this man for nearly 27,

28 years. 27 and a bit now. And I changed my

name. But before I was married, I was Rachel

Vincent. Or, if you say it in French, Vincent.

And I just thought, well, I'm Rachel Vincent.

We were on holiday in France, in the south of

France, in the Cévennes area. It was very hot.

We were tired. We needed a drink and a bit of

shade. And so Gordon is much more sort of museum

orientated than I am, especially when the museum

is in a foreign language and you don't speak

it. I mean, that doesn't particularly excite

me. But Gordon speaks French. So we decided to

go into this tiny little museum. The Museum of

the Desert. I mean, it doesn't exactly sound

exciting. But we went in there. And as we walked

in there, I was fascinated because this was the

museum of the Huguenots. And all there was all

their stuff. It was in French. But the fascinating

thing is everywhere was this Vincent family.

Vincent, Vincent, Vincent. And it awakened my

curiosity. And the founding sort of mom and dad

from the 1680s to the 1730s were a couple called

Samuel and Sarah Vincent. And this couple carried

a fire to see the next generation break through

and carry really signs and wonders and miracles

and carry the prophetic. And they were known

as the prophetic family of the Cervant area.

And they said, and written in the French was,

it was particularly carried upon the woman. And

Sarah Vincent was an extraordinary prophetic

revelatory woman who carried a heart cry for

the next generation. She began to pray over the

children in this area and there was a young boy

called Thomas Vincent who was the nephew of Sarah

Vincent who she particularly took in and trained

amongst the others. And the Spirit of God so

fell upon these Huguenots that the Catholic traditional

church absolutely hated them, because God began

to give them, in their own French dialect, the

direct translation of the Bible. Now, at that

time, the Bible had not been translated. It was

still in Latin, High Latin, and these were illiterate

farming people in the Cévennes area of France.

But by revelation, prophetic revelation, they

began to recite scripture in local French dialect,

and children as long as three years old were

found singing. and skipping in the fields, reciting

scripture by heart. This so incensed the Catholic

priests that they began to gather them up and

they began to literally burn at the stakes the

men and women and persecute them. And that was

the Huguenot persecution. They began to fled

to about four different areas, to London. to

Holland, Belgium, and Germany. And from that

place, they actually began to infiltrate Kanzensador

for the Moravian revival. And then many Moravians

left in boats and came to east coast of America.

So you've got them coming in the 1770s, 80s,

landing here. You also had them beginning to

infiltrate London and a famous lane called Fetters

Lane, where a young man called John Mesley went

and visited the Fetters Lane, where the Huguenots

had gotten with the Holy Spirit glory crowd,

and his heart was strangely warmed. And it all

began from this little road. Now, many of you

know that I've had a real heart for London. Do

you remember that? And when I came back from

India to London, God gave me such a clear picture

that he wanted to touch London with the glory

and the fire of God. And when I wrote out the

London prayer vision back in 1995, I used this

imagery that just as there had been the great

fire of London in the 1770s, And it had burnt

London but saved the city by dealing with the

plague that the rats had carried in the sewers.

So I believe that a new day of glory was going

to come. And the fire of God was going to descend

upon London. And this time it would be a spiritual

fire. But it would burn out the sin that had

hidden in the roots of the city. And God would

extract it. And how many of you think, well we

think we're original. Well after this. I began

to research the Vincents. And I discovered that

this son, this nephew, Thomas Vincent, escaped

on a boat with another part of the family. And

he was sent to London. And during the Great Fire

of London, he prophesied over the city of London.

The prophecy is called the Holy Wrath of God.

You can find it online. If you put Thomas Vincent

in, in the Huguenots, you can find it. And part

of the essence of what he prophesied that day

was, today London burns with a great fire. It

will save the city from the plague that has stolen

so many lives. But this is not the true fire

of London. In many years from now, another fire

will hit this city. And the glory of God will

be seen in the city of London. And London will

be saved from her sin. And London will again

turn to be a city that loves God. I thought,

how does God do that? We've traced it and we

are related. Open up the ancient norms. The reason

I'm sharing this is, you see, I believe sometimes

we think we have weird, outrageous passions and

dreams. You see, I'm not a London girl. I grew

up in India. I'm a mish kid and a preacher's

kid. I've never lived in London, really. Never

born in London. We had a business in London for

a while. But I couldn't understand this triggering

passion for London. Even today, you can see him

telling that. It breaks my heart. I carry an

intercession for London. I can't explain that.

I don't know what that's about. But I began to

discover it as I opened my ancient doors. I began

to discover I've got destiny seed in me from

way back, which gives me an authority into the

city of London. And there's something on me that

I couldn't even understand. And it isn't in my

mom. And it's not in my grandmother. But it's

back in my seed, 200 and something years old.

But God's seed is incorruptible seed. And his

destiny seed never dies. And there's seed in

some of you that has never made sense. But lift

up your heads, O ye gates. Be lifted up, you

ancient doors. Because the king of glory is going

to come in. And every inheritance and every destiny

seed will be birthed and break through. Because

the Lord is mighty. And he's mighty in battle.

Amen. The final, I've got two more gates. One's

very quick. But the next one's six. The sixth

gate is understanding the gates, the open and

shut gates. Understanding the open and shut gates.

And this was another revelation to me. And you

find this scripture in Revelation 3, verse 7.

Revelation 3:7

Revelation 3 verse 7. And you see, as we step

Revelation 3:7

into the season, 2008, the season to open the

gates, we need to understand gates that are shut,

gates that are open, what they mean, and how

to live in those seasons. And to the angel of

the church of Philadelphia write, these are the

words of him who is holy and true, who holds

the keys of David. What he shuts, Ron, no one

can open. But what he opens, no one can shut.

Do you understand? What he opens, no one can

shut. What he shuts, no one can open. You see,

most of us in the Christian life, we have this

theology, and I'm not sure where we get it from.

That if it's an open door, it's God. If it's

a shut door, it's the devil. Do you agree? And

so as soon as there's a shut door, we pray, we

fast, we kick, we scream, we headbang, we think.

We go crazy because if it's a shut door, it automatically

has to be the devil. If it's an open door, it

automatically has to be God. I just want to say

that I had such a revelation that that's not

necessarily true. And I believe this is such

a critical season where we need to begin to discern.

Yes, of course, there are hindrances. Yes, of

course, there are wrestles. Yes, of course, there

are obstacles where the devil resists and we

need to fight through. But we need the discernment

to know whether this is a season of resistance

or we're fighting God. How many know there's

a big difference? And so you see. This is what

the word of the Lord says to you. What he opens,

Rhonda, no one can shut. Isn't that comforting?

No one can shut it. But Rhonda, what he shuts,

no one, not even you, with all your prayer, all

your intercession, can open. What he shuts, no

one, not even us, can open. And so I began to

think about this. I began to think, well, what?

What is that about? What are the shut doors about?

Well, let's keep on reading. He said, for I know

your deeds. Now see, I have placed before you

an open door. So what I have opened, no one can

shut. What I've shut, no one can open. I know

your deeds, but now see, I've placed before you

an open door. And I know you have little strength,

yet you've kept my word and not denied my name.

Let me give you an illustration which maybe will

explain this. And I believe this is going to

be a revelation for many of you. I believe in

our Christian life, we go through seasons of

shut and open doors. And every shut door is not

just the enemy's strategy against us. It's actually

what I've termed the holding zone of God. He

leads you. And it's like the prophets talk about,

well, God's deceived me. You really felt that

the Holy Spirit leads you by word of knowledge,

prophetic word. You end up at this door, you

cry, you pray, you kick, you scream. And you

suddenly think, but this door's resisting me.

Let me illustrate. When we were in Watford, we

were the senior pastors of a group of four churches.

We knew God began to speak to us. It was time

to release those churches and move on. And so

we began to pray about where to go. At that time,

God... open, many different words and opportunities

for us about Peterborough, which is a city about

150 miles north of us. We were very connected

with the senior pastors there. They really wanted

us to come in and help them. It's a perfect fit.

I know them really well. In fact, I still minister

in their church ever so frequently. Seven years

ago, I gave a prophetic word to them, go buy

land. It's time to buy a field. They did. And

today they've built an awesome sanctuary. many

stories to tell how God just confirmed and used

me prophetically so accurately beyond my ability

to know anything and so God was opening the door

so for two years we went up there we attended

all their team leadership meetings we went on

their away days we looked at 48 houses in that

area would our house sell no and it was not a

difficult time to sell and our house was a very

eligible We could not shift anything. Nothing

moved. Yet it just seemed to go up to Peterborough.

We built relationship. We did everything for

two years invested. During this time, we're kicking,

we're praying, we're fasting, we're doing everything.

This door, what God shuts, nobody opens. Then

our son comes to us, Mom, Dad, I want to go to

university. Will you help us look at Oxford?

So Gordon goes with him to Oxford one Sunday

because that was the open day of the college.

Had a look around. They finished and wanted to

go to church. They walk into St. Alda's. Gordon

sits down next to the senior leader's wife. She

turns to Gordon and says, you're going to be

the next pastor here. He bursts out laughing.

She bursts out crying. He said, there's no way.

To cut a very long story short, within a week

we're at interview. Within another 24 hours,

the bishops confirmed us. We're back home. We've

got the job we didn't even look for. And that

next day, someone's banging on my house saying,

here's a cash offer for your house, which was

about $25 ,000 above the market price. My house

is gone. And I go, God, what was that about?

And he says, see, behold, I have placed before

you a shut door that no man can open. Not even

you, Rachel, but I know your deeds. But see,

now I've placed before you an open door. And

I said, well, what is this? Open doors, shut

doors, open doors, business all about. And he

said, well, it's about holding zones of faith.

He said, what was happening in Oxford was not

yet even ready for you, but I had to disconnect

you from Watford and I had to prepare you to

move you. So I put you in front of a shut door,

which put you in a season of trial, of faith,

of preparation, of tears. And no, that door wasn't

going to open because it wasn't actually about

you going through the door. It was actually about

you being presented with a door. Do you understand?

But now I place before you the open door. And

he said, and I love it. And God says, but I know

you've got little strength left. Yes, God, you

finished me off with that shut door. I've got

no confidence I can hear God. I've got no confidence

I know what I'm doing. So I'm going to make this

next open door so easy you'll kick through it.

How many of you can recognize that in your life?

As I'm beginning to unfold it, it's like, oh,

I see. And it wasn't our intercession was bad.

It wasn't even the devil closing. It was actually

a timing issue. And I believe for so many of

us, God takes us into seasons of shut doors,

which are timing issues on alignments of a whole

lot of destiny, call. timelines, geographies

that all have to come together. But none of it

is wasted because it puts a depth and a capacity

and a passion in us so that when I know you've

got little strength, here's the open door and

I'm going to give it to you because of two qualities.

You've had consistency. You haven't denied my

name. And you've had faithfulness. You've kept

true to your heart. And there are many people

here. And you've thought, well, what's it about?

Maybe I don't pray enough. No, maybe you just

need to back off headbutting that door. You can

kiss your hurting toes and say it's okay. I don't

have to kick this door anymore. Actually, it

could be a closed door, but I'm going to stay

sitting at this door because I know that you've

got my plans. You've got my future. You've got

my hope. Yes, you've led me to this place and

it's a holding zone for the purposes of God.

I don't have much strength or confidence in my

ability to hear, but right from this position,

I know I could see the next open door and you

will reveal it to me in Jesus' name. Amen. And

for so many of us, we need to understand this

Revelation 3 season. Shut and open doors. Because

it's a season of transitioning and positioning.

And God will get us to the right place at the

right time. Amen. And finally, the last door,

which is very quick, I promise. Door 7. Revelation

3 .20. Just turn on a little bit more. Behold,

I stand at the door and... Knock, gateway door.

And the privilege of this door is all the other

doors, Jesus is the gatekeeper of this door,

you're the gatekeeper of. You can come and play

for me if you want. And I think what an awesome

privilege that God allows us to be a gatekeeper.

You know, Proverbs 4 .23, above all else, guard

your heart. Guard that gate to your heart and

open it. And I just want to give a little bit

of an eastern twist to this. It says, behold,

I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens

the gate, door to their heart, and invites me

in and lets me sup with them. You see, it's true

also in farming communities. You have the nice

front room which you bring guests into that you

don't know very well. You have the back kitchen

room where the kitchen table is, where when you've

done a hard day's work, you come in the door,

you kick your boots off, and that's where life

is really done, around the kitchen table. And

it's the same in the East. There is this thing

of, let me come in to your real world and sit

at the family table and sup with you. Don't put

me in the front room and give me the drinks and

be polite. I want to see life in the back room.

And you see, there's an invitation of relationship.

This is the gate of relationship. How deep will

you let God into your life? Are you still playing

front room politics with God? Come in, God, sit

down, this is the thing. No, he says, I don't

want that. I want to open the gates right to

the back room. I want to come to the supping

table. Now, the supping table was the family

table. It's a back room, the farmyard, where

you kick, it smells a bit, it's not perfectly

presented, but it's real. Life is lived in this

table. He said, will you open it and let me in?

So why don't we stand? If you are interested

in hearing other podcasts or contacting Life

Bible Church, go to www .lifebiblechurch .org

or call us at 541 -995 -8282.