The Smell of the Lamb defeats the enemy – Ps Ray Bevan (guest pastor from Wales)

Ps Ray Bevan

The HS is always fresh.

1/3 of Kids in Wales lived under the poverty line. Church bought a factory and started a ministry called Jesus Cares. Before they completed the vision, they hit a massive financial crisis. Prayed. Ps Prince suddenly called Ps Ray and he didn’t tell Ps Prince about their issues. He said the LORD wanted him to sow from our church into his. The giving to the Welsh church resolved the crisis and has helped them to feed over 200000 people a year.

Met Ps Prince 9y ago in Africa whilst preaching there. Ps Ray says he is 17yo with 50y of experience. Lol. Ps Ray always considered himself a preacher of grace until he met Ps Prince. When he heard Ps preach, his soul danced. Been in the ministry for over 30y but wanted to feed. The diff is, the HS revealed, Ps Ray preached grace a lot but Ps Prince preached grace alone.

When shepherds watch their flocks by night
Ps Prince is being sent around the world to share a full revelation of the gospel of grace to the shepherds watching their flocks by night. A saviour has been born to you- not a judge… that’s the message Ps preached. And through Ps Prince’s preaching, he found himself in spiritual Bethlehem to encounter the saviour who has been born to us to receive Healing, Salvation…

We are a new covenant church. 🙂

(Grace to the Rescue- album by Ps Ray Bevan)
(Grace shouts Louder- book by Ps Ray Bevan)
(Ray Bevan the early years album)

Sometimes we go through a tough time and we want an angel to appear to us or a prophet to speak to us… for Ps Ray, very often, when we expect God to speak to a sensational he will speak to you in the supernatural through the normal things like shopping in a supermarket for peas. It could be a secular song but Ps would steal it from the devil and make it anointed. 🙂

In a boxing ring, a Christian and the devil spars. And the referee counts down 1-10 and the guy doesn’t get up. The devil celebrates. But then the refree continues counting and the devil cries out it isn’t fair. But grace keeps on counting until you get up.

Religion and circumstance might have counted u out but grace keeps on counting until u get up

Some have been KO by disappointment due to unanswered prayers, unfulfilled dreams… u are never too old or to young to pursue your dreams. Not retiring, refiring.

Some feel KO because of disappointment with people. Unfairly treated, rejected, abused… and the disappointment filling your heart makes it hard to trust God.

When u go through a crisis and someone tells u to trust God, he just wants to slap the person. Lol. What do u think I’m trying to do?

Some of u are experiencing the most traumatic season of your life and finding it hard to trust God.

Why is it so difficult?

Prov 3:5-6

V5 don’t depend on or put weight on your own understanding
V6 in all your ways agree with Him

The LORD vs your reasoning/ your logic/ your understanding.

The reason why it is hard to trust God when your emotions are beating u down is because u are human. In our desires to follow Jesus, we sometimes forget we are humans and we have to deal with our humanity. That’s why trusting God is difficult. Devotion would be easy without our emotions.

Would be great if we sometimes didn’t feel the tinge of revenge or retaliation esp when we are unfairly treated.

God came in the person of Jesus Christ to trust God in our humanity.

Heb 4:15-16 NLT
Because Jesus knows what it is like to be human, to trust His Father as a U human… so we can come boldly

In the garden of gethsamane we see Jesus… Mark 14:33-34

Jesus was so stressed he perspired blood. Young men in world war perspired blood before running towards the trenches because they knew they were in the face of death

Nevertheless not my will but Your will be done.
– Jesus demonstrates how to trust God when emotionally stress.

Even on the cross…

1 Peter 2:23 NLT

He left His case in the hands of God because He always judges fairly

The most important thing to do when life is hard and people are unkind is to trust God.

In our humanity we hate to be vulnerable. Because of that, we find it hard to trust God because we need to be vulnerable to Him.

The people taunting Ps Ray with lies on the net made him upset. The LORD put in His heart and said, Stay on the cross, it is safer there. The LORD didnt come down the cross to prove to people He is the messiah. He stayed on the cross.

Trusting Jesus can cost us emotionally but it allows God to deal with our situation. God doesn’t care about the way we react to Palm Sunday praise, but how we react to good Friday’s nails

Trust is faith plus nothing.

The only way we can receive the peace of God.
Some of u need to sing the song of Frozen.

Trusting God means u surrender control of an out of control situation. M

Grace surprises u every day. If u are not surprised about grace…

Ps Ray was in Adelaide to preach, living in Room 824. He went to the veranda to relax when all of a sudden felt something brush against his leg. Started whistling and didn’t dare to look down. It was a white rabbit!!

He called the reception about the white rabbit. Was told to leave the rabbit there.

Grace is like the rabbit. Turns up in the most unlikely place and unlikely time to surprise u. Surprises u that He still uses u.

God works all things together for our good. Never gives up on us or forsakes us and remains strong towards us.

When we are at our spiritual and emotionally weakest, that’s when He turns up with His strength. When we are weak, He is strong.

When our humanity cries for sensibility, His grace gives us the ability to trust Him during our vulnerable times.

The armies of Israel come on the planes of Jericho. Warriors ready to fight. It was tightly shut up. Asked for a strategy from Joshua. Swords are sharpened and ready. Joshua was told to circumcise the army by the Lord. Talk about being vulnerable. God was going to show them what it means to trust Him. Emotions will scream out. Understanding will protest. But when we trust Him, God can start working for us and we will have a peace.

Wanted them to celebrate the Passover. It is all about The Lamb. Left Egypt with lamb in them and wanted them to enter Jericho with lamb in them.

So they prepared lamb, roasted it before their enemies, before they invaded Jericho.

It is not the smell of sensationalism of our strategies that bring fear into the heart of our enemies but the smell of the lamb.

People ask Ps Ray what is the secret of our church. The secret is the smell of the lamb rising from our pastors, our praise and worship and our congregation.

The smell of a lamb is the aroma of trust. Of Christian giving up control to the LORD. The aroma of life to those who are believing. The smell of the enemy’s defeat.

What out of control situation are u trying to control? Even though by trusting God u will feel vulnerable, u will leave your case in the hand of God.

Ps Ray was invited along w 7 other people to a famous flying trapeze show. At the end, the man swings on the trapeze and asked who wants to try this out. Ps Ray raised his hands and said me! He thought the guy was joking. But the guy said come on here. He had to commit to it. He had to climb a ladder all the way to the top and his whole life was flashing in front of him lol. He found himself on a tiny plank. The man said you’re gonna swing out and back & when u swing back, u have to lift your legs up. When u swing out the third time and horizontal thirty metres up in the air and he is the expert, let go. Before he had time to think, the trapeze man pushed him off the plank. And at the third swing, the expert yelled let go. Letting go didn’t compute with him. He went 15 times like that and each time he was horizontal, he was told to let go but he didn’t. He finally did because he was so tired. He let go. That was when everything went into slow motion. He was flailing in the air like a star fish on speed and fell on to the net and sprung up and down. Finally he settled in the net and had to get off the net.
He walked back to his friends and they asked if he was scared, he said no. Lol.

It is easy when u are through it, it is when u are horizontal thirty metres up and the expert yells let go… Jesus is the expert… your emotions will scream out because u feel so vulnerable. We hate the feeling of vulnerability but some of us need to let go of something in our life and we need to do it now.

We need to let our children go. Some of us with older kids can’t let our kids go. We try to control and it doesn’t work & it makes us stressed out and worried. U got to let it go to Jesus. Don’t lean on own understanding. That biz u have tried every strategy in the book. Time to let it go to Jesus.

Letting go is a massive emotional step. Jesus was demonstrating that we don’t have to deny our humanness but we don’t have to lean on it. There is another level.

What Jesus does for failures who wish they could turn back the clock and redo things- He makes breakfast for them. Peter messed up badly and grace made him breakfast. Jesus never once said, did u regret what u did then? I want to see some remorse and regret. But what He was concerned with- is do you love Me now.

U have failures and bondage of regret. To weep again- regret comes from a Norwegian word that means this. Time to let this go and surrender to His love.

U have been trying to control it, beat yourself up to it. But today trust God and let the enemy smell the Lamb over you.

—-> Ps Ray Bevan (http://kings-church.uk)