David Hathaway

According to the Will of God Pt 1 (Romans 8)

I want to talk to you on a subject which is very dear to my heart and encourage you to pray, based on a very strong and powerful experience in my life from Romans 8.
In 1964, as many of you know, I was diagnosed with throat cancer. I had refused ALL medical treatment. Yes, I had had the X-rays and the camera down my throat, many different tests, and every one of them confirmed that I had throat cancer. But I determined to pray my way through, in part because I was pastor of a church which had been founded on my evangelism and the miracles that took place in that evangelism. The miracles were recorded in the local newspaper – blind eyes, deaf ears opened, cripples healed! So I determined, NO medical treatment, I’ll fast and I’ll pray and God will heal me!

Called and set apart for a specific purpose (Romans 1:1-12, Pt2)

We need to pray one for another, encouraging each other in the faith. The Apostle Paul exhorted in Romans 1:9-12, “God is my witness, that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers that I may be able to come to you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to establish you, so that TOGETHER we may be comforted by our mutual faith.” This has been one of the problems with the lockdowns, when we haven’t had the normal services – because the whole purpose of our faith and our meeting together is to strengthen one another. Not to criticise, not to condemn, but to come together to build ourselves up, to grow spiritually in the faith.

Called and set apart for a specific purpose (Romans 1:1-12, Pt1)

We are called and set apart for a purpose: it is a divine calling. We are to regard ourselves as a servant of Jesus Christ, following the Master’s Voice. Jesus Himself said, “Many are called, but few are chosen!” We need to serve in such a way as to be considered worthy of the calling of Christ. 

God does what He says! (Jeremiah 32 & 33, Pt 2)

God is saying to Jeremiah, “Call unto Me and I will answer – and show you great and mighty things you don’t know!” (33:3.) Not only will God answer, but when He answers, He will show miracles, powerful things, bigger than anything we can imagine! And in v6, God is saying, “Behold, I will bring health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth – the abundance of blessing!” It jumped out at me, I knew God was saying that to ME!!! Health and healing! God promised me healing – I knew at once He would heal my body of lung cancer. But not only that, He would also give me health – that means, I don’t get sick! Come on, nearly 20 years later, I’ve got more energy, more vitality now than at any time – it was part of the promise! God does what he says!

God does what He says! (Jeremiah 32 & 33, Pt 1)

God does what He says! When I am seeking the Lord in prayer over some specific issue, I want to see His answer in writing: I don’t want a ‘word’ or ‘impression’, I want it written in the Bible! Twenty years ago, when I was battling lung cancer, God gave me the clear answer that I would be healed from the very Scriptures that I want to share with you in this message!

Driven by a vision of revival (Joel 2: 23-28)

God has given me a clear vision of the revival that is to come. In 1889, God gave British missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, a vision that in the last days the last great revival would begin in Russia, and the Russians would bring it into Europe, and then the Lord would come back! And the amazing thing is, I have seen that great revival, I’ve been part of it – my job has been to fulfil that prophetic vision! 

The latter rain of the Spirit (Joel 2:23)

I’ve always believed in a coming end-time revival. In Joel 2:23 the prophet says, ‘Be glad you children of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.’ 

The whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-17, Pt 18)

We are in constant spiritual warfare – and God is calling us to fight! I want you to be strong, I want you to put on the full armour of God, so that together we can stand and defeat the enemy – and see the Glory of God, the Glory of Christ here on earth! 
 

The Body of Christ on earth (Ephesians 4:30-32/5:1-30, Pt 17)

The fruit of the Spirit in you is the evidence of the new life you have: The Spirit of Christ in you, being revealed through your mortal body! Our human bodies HAVE to be made subject to the Spirit, so that we don’t ‘grieve the Spirit’. We’ve got to put off the flesh and put on the Spirit of Christ, in order that we can truly represent who Christ is! And so that we can share in the Kingdom which is to come.

Be imitators of Christ: How to be successful in ministry (Ephesians 4:15-16, Pt 16)

It’s essential that we grow into the likeness of Christ, that we share His desire, His passion... It was only a few years ago, going on one of my prayer walks, I was saying, "Holy Spirit, You know more about Jesus than anyone, I want You to share with me the secret of how Jesus ministered, how He was successful in evangelism, how He was successful in the ministry of healing. Holy Spirit, I want to learn more about Jesus, I want to be more like Him." 
I had one young man work with me many years ago, but unfortunately he wanted to copy ‘other people’. Yes, we can learn from other people, but I don’t want to ‘copy’ somebody else! I want to be myself, because God who made us, made us unique! We are not to be ‘imitators of other people’, of another evangelist, of another pastor. We are to be imitators of Christ! After all, He is the Head, from whom the whole Body is fitly joined together.

The purpose of the fivefold ministry (Ephesians 4:11-15, Pt 15)

I am moved by the very great depths of this letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians, and I want to speak about Ephesians 4:11-13 where he is talking about the fivefold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The purpose of this ministry is to bring the Church, the members of the Body of Christ, the ‘saints’ into the place where they can contribute in some way into the ministry, to ‘edify the Body of Christ’ – until we all come to a sense of unity in the faith, unity in the knowledge of the Son of God – into maturity!

God has a purpose in your adversity (Isaiah 30:20-21)

We were created by God to fulfil a Purpose! In your life, God sees and God knows the future. I want to encourage you to seek the Lord. Recognise from Isaiah 30, that although the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction in your life, your ‘teachers’ will not be removed from you, but you will continue to see the way through – and your ears will hear a Voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk in it!” All my life I’ve heard that Voice. And today I’m hearing that Voice again, knowing that it gives me the confidence to live through the adversity and the affliction, because I have heard! Even in this God is saying, “This is the way, walk in it!” I pray God will give you the courage!

Fed by the bread of affliction (Isaiah 30:18-20)

When you are a child of God, when you are walking in the Will and knowledge of God, many things which happen in your life – some of which may be painful now – are like an instruction, a teaching, to prepare you for the future! In Isaiah 30v20, ‘Although the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction…’ I’m sensing, that although your life’s experience will be of adversity and affliction, yet they will become the very thing which God will use for His glory. When I look back on my life and my 70 years of ministry, it is very clear to me that in order to come to where I am today, the Lord had to take me through adversity. I would not be where I am, seeing the power of the evangelism and the phenomenal miracles unless I had had cancer twice and been in prison.

Unity through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3, Pt14)

There is One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Faith… We know this from Ephesians 4… One Lord, One Baptism, One God and Father of all… There is such a sense of Oneness in Christ! The Church is not just a place where Christians gather together, the Church is fellowship, it’s unity, the place where we get our strength, our power, it’s like a school, it’s where we get our education… The purpose of the Church is to strengthen the work of the ministry.

The fullness of the love of God (Ephesians 3:17-21, Pt13)

It’s a very beautiful thing the Apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians 3:17-19, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and depth and height of the love of God.” 
This is really beautiful, it’s Paul being very expressive and very explicit. We’re so familiar with two dimensions, flat, and with three dimensions where there is some depth and perspective. But Paul’s description of the love of God is higher and greater, more enlightening, it’s wide, it’s long, it’s deep, and it’s high – four dimensions – the height AND the depth! I’m intrigued! God’s love is not just the length which encompasses the world, it’s not just the width, but it has a height – and it has a depth – it’s an almost unfathomable mystery of God. And yet Paul wants us to understand it.

Held by the love of God (Ephesians 4:1-6, Pt 12)

We are held by love, an invisible power that doesn’t let us escape out of the Grace of God! Oh, what a wonderful description of being a ‘prisoner of God’. We are held ‘captive’ to His Love… It so binds us, so holds us… But it’s not only God’s Love for us, but our love for Him! Our love for Him acts as a lock, a guard, to prevent us from getting away! So, you and I, we’re a ‘prisoner’ of the Lord! Not in the sense of pain and suffering, but something full of Glory, full of joy! I follow the Lord because I love Him! I preach the Gospel – because I love Him! I see the miracles – because I love Him! My whole life is governed by love. Love is surely one of the most powerful forces!