WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.480 I want you to turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:06.780 10. I want to share a message with you that was 00:00:06.780 --> 00:00:12.660 really birthed through a discussion that we had 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.580 in our seniors group a couple of Wednesdays ago, 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:18.320 and then through those of you that are going 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.050 through training about hearing God's voice. This 00:00:22.050 --> 00:00:25.410 is the word that God had put in my heart through 00:00:25.410 --> 00:00:28.629 those things and just cultivating things in my 00:00:28.629 --> 00:00:32.250 spirit. So if some of this is a repeat for some 00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:34.229 of you, I want to tell you that God is speaking. 00:00:35.049 --> 00:00:42.549 The devil wants to diminish your life. The devil 00:00:42.549 --> 00:00:50.359 wants to erode away your effectiveness. He wants 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:57.200 to gradually steal your voice. He wants to shift 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.179 your life away from having momentum towards God 00:01:01.179 --> 00:01:05.480 to just, you know, just being comfortable where 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:11.040 I am. And if we allow the enemy to have his way, 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:15.620 he will steal away, steal away, steal away, steal 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:24.430 away. to condemn anybody, people that are not 00:01:24.430 --> 00:01:29.430 here. But you know, 40 years ago, if I go back 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:31.310 that far in the church, I can't even believe 00:01:31.310 --> 00:01:35.069 it, I'm saying 40 years ago. Do you know when 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:37.650 somebody gave their life to Christ, they were 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:40.569 there Sunday morning at 9 o 'clock for Sunday 00:01:40.569 --> 00:01:43.370 school. They were there Sunday morning, 10 o 00:01:43.370 --> 00:01:45.650 'clock for church. They were there Sunday night, 00:01:45.790 --> 00:01:48.090 6 o 'clock for church. They were there at a prayer 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:50.269 meeting usually. They were there Wednesday night 00:01:50.269 --> 00:01:55.189 at 6 .30 or 7 o 'clock for church. The normal 00:01:55.189 --> 00:02:00.819 devotion to... Jesus and his church was expressed 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:07.219 maybe four or five times a week. But there has 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:13.539 been a diminishing over the years. And there's 00:02:13.539 --> 00:02:17.939 lots of reasons for it. Culture shift, all different 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:20.460 kinds of things. Again, I'm not saying this to 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:24.120 bring condemnation. But do you know the average 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:27.300 commitment now to people that are fully committed 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:32.199 to the church is to be present twice a month. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.479 That if you are present twice a month, you are 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:42.240 fully committed to the church. And it's an expression 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:45.719 of how there is an erosion. Now there's lots 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.419 of reasons for that. And again, I'm not trying 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:52.919 to bring condemnation to anybody. But the enemy 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:58.300 has successfully diminished the power of the 00:02:58.300 --> 00:03:04.759 church. But Jesus is not coming back for a weak, 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:10.310 anemic bride. Jesus is coming back for a bride 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:14.030 that is strong. Hallelujah. For a bride that 00:03:14.030 --> 00:03:18.090 is all in for him. Hallelujah. He is coming back 00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:22.889 for a prepared church. Amen. Somebody give God 00:03:22.889 --> 00:03:26.900 praise right now. And I believe. I believe that 00:03:26.900 --> 00:03:30.080 the diminishing of the enemy, that we have to 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.520 quit tolerating it and draw a line in the sand 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.199 and say thus far and no more. Amen? Glory to 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:41.599 God. And so I want to talk about a way that the 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:45.580 enemy tries to diminish you. And perhaps it's 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:48.639 not even a diminishing, but he's trying to keep 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:56.460 you out of a key part of spirit -filled, Christian 00:03:56.460 --> 00:04:02.180 living. And that is this, that God has given 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:09.659 you a voice to sing. And I want to remind us 00:04:09.659 --> 00:04:13.960 why it is we do what we do on Sunday morning, 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:19.920 but beyond that in your everyday life. The song. 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:26.970 The song. Now, let's start reading. In 1 Samuel 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:31.009 chapter 10. Samuel took a flask of oil, poured 00:04:31.009 --> 00:04:35.129 it on Saul's head, and kissed him and said, Is 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:38.850 it not because the Lord has anointed you commander 00:04:38.850 --> 00:04:42.829 over his inheritance? When you have departed 00:04:42.829 --> 00:04:46.250 from me today, you will find two men by Rachel's 00:04:46.250 --> 00:04:48.949 tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:52.629 And they will say to you, The donkeys which... 00:04:52.889 --> 00:04:55.990 you went to look for have been found, and now 00:04:55.990 --> 00:04:58.670 your father has ceased caring about the donkeys 00:04:58.670 --> 00:05:01.870 and is worrying about you, saying, what shall 00:05:01.870 --> 00:05:06.310 I do about my son? And then you shall go on forward 00:05:06.310 --> 00:05:08.529 from there and come to the terebinth tree of 00:05:08.529 --> 00:05:12.930 Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel 00:05:12.930 --> 00:05:15.189 will meet you, one carrying three young goats, 00:05:15.269 --> 00:05:17.930 another carrying three loaves of bread, and another 00:05:17.930 --> 00:05:20.029 carrying a skin of wine, and they will greet 00:05:20.029 --> 00:05:22.589 you and give you two loaves of bread, which you 00:05:22.589 --> 00:05:26.149 shall receive from their hands. Here's my text 00:05:26.149 --> 00:05:28.889 for this morning. After that, you shall come 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:32.500 to the hill of God. where the Philistine garrison 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:35.920 is, and it will happen when you have come there 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:39.360 to the city that you will meet a group of prophets 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:43.019 coming down from the high place with a stringed 00:05:43.019 --> 00:05:47.100 instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:52.370 before them, and they will be prophesying. And 00:05:52.370 --> 00:05:54.689 then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you 00:05:54.689 --> 00:05:57.569 and you will prophesy with them and be turned 00:05:57.569 --> 00:06:00.730 into another man. And let it be when these signs 00:06:00.730 --> 00:06:04.129 come to you that you do as the occasion demands 00:06:04.129 --> 00:06:08.750 for God is with you. You shall go down before 00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:11.769 me to Gilgal and surely I will come down to you 00:06:11.769 --> 00:06:14.069 to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices 00:06:14.069 --> 00:06:17.290 of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait 00:06:17.290 --> 00:06:20.170 till I come to you and show you what you should 00:06:20.170 --> 00:06:24.980 do. Verse 9, So it was, when he had turned his 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:28.860 back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another 00:06:28.860 --> 00:06:32.180 heart, and all those signs came to pass that 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:35.600 day. And when they came there to the hill, there 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.240 was a group of prophets to meet them. Then the 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:43.220 Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied 00:06:43.220 --> 00:06:47.199 among them. Father, I thank you for your word 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.620 this morning. And I ask, Lord Jesus, that you 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:55.060 would anoint your word to break every barrier 00:06:55.060 --> 00:06:59.939 in our lives in Jesus' mighty, mighty name. And 00:06:59.939 --> 00:07:05.399 everybody said, Amen. Amen. Samuel was the prophet. 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:09.720 And just like Dennis and Linda have started a 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.300 school to learn how to hear from God and how 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:17.939 to prophesy, Samuel had schools of prophecy around 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:24.500 Israel. He had one in his hometown. And he had 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:29.829 another here in Gibeah. And so there was a school 00:07:29.829 --> 00:07:32.970 that Samuel led. We don't have record of any 00:07:32.970 --> 00:07:36.170 other prophet doing this, but Samuel did this, 00:07:36.209 --> 00:07:39.990 trying to raise people up in his generation to 00:07:39.990 --> 00:07:44.269 hear God's voice. And so Samuel was not talking 00:07:44.269 --> 00:07:47.769 about an arbitrary group of prophets. He was 00:07:47.769 --> 00:07:51.529 talking about a group of people that he had personally 00:07:51.529 --> 00:07:59.339 invested in. would be at a certain place coming 00:07:59.339 --> 00:08:04.399 down a hill at the very time that Saul was going 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:09.399 to meet with them. And this group, this group 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:13.500 of prophets, Samuel had taught them that in the 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:17.720 midst of your prophesying, in the midst of doing 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:23.519 what you do, you should play instruments. I find 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:26.740 it interesting. How many of you find that interesting? 00:08:27.339 --> 00:08:32.740 Now how many of you play an instrument? Now how 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:42.179 many of you have an instrument? Come on. Come 00:08:42.179 --> 00:08:45.539 on. I love the verse that Cammie opened up with. 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:49.220 Sing to the Lord. Do you know that that is a 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:55.230 command in the Scriptures? It is a command. to 00:08:55.230 --> 00:09:01.490 men and women. I point out the men because the 00:09:01.490 --> 00:09:07.889 men have a harder time singing. That's true in 00:09:07.889 --> 00:09:11.450 the society in which we live. In fact, I preached 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:16.690 this message in a church called the Garden Church 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:21.210 in Africa. And a woman came up to me afterwards 00:09:21.210 --> 00:09:29.450 and she said, She said, Pastor, today, after 00:09:29.450 --> 00:09:32.470 decades, she had to be, I don't know how old 00:09:32.470 --> 00:09:36.590 she was, she had to be 70, at least 70. She had 00:09:36.590 --> 00:09:39.570 been married to her husband for many, many, many 00:09:39.570 --> 00:09:43.850 years. And she said, today, for the first time 00:09:43.850 --> 00:09:51.929 ever, I heard my husband sing. Isn't that amazing? 00:09:53.639 --> 00:10:00.360 The command to sing is not to the gifted. The 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:04.299 command to sing is not to those worthy of being 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:11.200 on the platform. The command to sing is to every 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:17.460 single one of us. Sing to the Lord a new song. 00:10:18.019 --> 00:10:23.470 Sing to the Lord all the earth. Amen? It is a 00:10:23.470 --> 00:10:28.629 command. God has given you an instrument. You 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:31.289 may or may not be comfortable with that. God 00:10:31.289 --> 00:10:36.470 does not care. He does not care if you're comfortable. 00:10:37.009 --> 00:10:41.549 God is not concerned about making you feel comfortable. 00:10:41.690 --> 00:10:48.210 He wants to equip you with a life -changing tool. 00:10:49.129 --> 00:10:53.029 In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, it says this, For 00:10:53.029 --> 00:10:57.370 the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but 00:10:57.370 --> 00:11:02.149 they are mighty in God for the pulling down of 00:11:02.149 --> 00:11:07.820 strongholds. Glory to God. Now, I'm talking this 00:11:07.820 --> 00:11:11.480 morning about one of those tools. There are many 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:14.120 tools. And you might say, well, I'm better at 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:16.519 one of the other tools. And that may be true. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.840 But God wants everybody in the house. He wants 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.159 everybody listening to me at home. He wants everybody 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:29.200 to use this tool that He has called singing. 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:34.799 Amen? Praise the Lord. Now, before we go on, 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:39.480 I want to declare over you this morning that 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:47.799 God sings. God sings. I want to read to you a 00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:55.340 verse. The Lord your God is in your midst. He 00:11:55.340 --> 00:12:00.000 is the mighty one, and He will save. He will 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.100 rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet 00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:07.440 you with His love. He will rejoice over you with 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:12.860 singing. He will rejoice over you with singing. 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:20.399 Have you ever heard God sing over you? Do you 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:27.519 think God is so concerned about His image that 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:35.399 He doesn't sing? No, he sings. Have you ever 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:41.039 heard him sing over you? Have you ever heard 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:46.360 him lift his voice up over you because he delights 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:53.639 in you? I find this stunning. I find this stunning. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:59.100 We sometimes hear God's voice speak to us. And 00:12:59.100 --> 00:13:04.940 He does. But have you ever heard Him sing? Oh 00:13:04.940 --> 00:13:10.399 God, open up our ears that we can hear You singing 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:17.700 over us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. When our kids 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:22.360 were small and they were disquieted, Cammie would 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.240 rock them in the rocking chair. And she would 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:27.580 sing over them. And sometimes I would listen 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:32.580 around the corner. And I would listen to her 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:40.379 sing, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something 00:13:40.379 --> 00:13:47.039 about that name. If you know it, sing it with 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:58.289 me. Master, Savior. Jesus, like the fragrance 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:16.730 after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all 00:14:16.730 --> 00:14:28.940 heaven and earth proclaim kings and kingdoms 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:39.720 will all pass away but there's something about 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:49.340 that name and as she would sing our sons and 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:53.669 daughters would would quit crying, and they would 00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:58.889 often go to sleep. And as she sang, the atmosphere 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:06.289 would change. That's powerful. When God begins 00:15:06.289 --> 00:15:14.289 to sing, the atmosphere changes. I feel the Lord 00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:18.750 in this place right now. Thank you, Father. Let 00:15:18.750 --> 00:15:22.919 me read you another passage. You are my hiding 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:28.360 place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:33.899 shall surround me with songs of deliverance. 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:37.620 You see, when you get in a pickle and when you 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:40.259 get in trouble, you begin to fret and you begin 00:15:40.259 --> 00:15:46.960 to fear, but God begins to sing. And when God 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:51.700 begins to sing, The atmosphere changes and it's 00:15:51.700 --> 00:15:55.019 why you have to find the secret place. This season 00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:58.120 for us has been all about the secret place. You 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:01.340 find the secret place with God. You find the 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:06.110 secret place with God. And He... He begins to 00:16:06.110 --> 00:16:12.070 sing over you songs of deliverance. You wonder 00:16:12.070 --> 00:16:15.769 where deliverance comes from? It comes from the 00:16:15.769 --> 00:16:18.830 voice of God. You wonder where freedom comes 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:22.610 from? It comes because God begins to sing His 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:26.809 song. Hallelujah. And we are made, friends, we 00:16:26.809 --> 00:16:30.470 are made in the image of God. He sings and He 00:16:30.470 --> 00:16:36.230 made us to sing. I love the creation story as 00:16:36.230 --> 00:16:39.990 told by C .S. Lewis in the Chronicles of Narnia. 00:16:40.590 --> 00:16:43.169 I love it, and I wonder if there's any truth 00:16:43.169 --> 00:16:46.389 to it that's not recorded in the scripture. Aslan, 00:16:46.429 --> 00:16:49.690 who is representing Jesus, do you know what he 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:52.590 does the whole time creation is happening? He 00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:58.409 is lifting up his voice in song, and as Aslan 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:03.049 sings, creation order comes forth out of the 00:17:03.049 --> 00:17:08.660 ground. I wonder if some of creation that's unrecorded, 00:17:08.660 --> 00:17:11.059 we're going to be able to find out fully one 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:14.680 day. We have a few verses about creation and 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:18.059 that's it. We're going to know fully, even as 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:21.960 we are fully known. And I wonder if some of that 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:25.500 creation came forth from the singing of the Father. 00:17:26.140 --> 00:17:32.009 Glory to God. When God sings, The atmosphere 00:17:32.009 --> 00:17:38.430 changes. Deliverance comes. Things begin to change. 00:17:39.890 --> 00:17:45.690 Peace comes. We feel His love. You know, sometimes 00:17:45.690 --> 00:17:48.109 you're feeling His love. In fact, just right 00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:51.369 now, just lift your hands up to the Lord. Say, 00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:55.430 God, reveal Your love to me. Sometimes when we 00:17:55.430 --> 00:18:00.940 feel His love, We can't hear it, but he is singing 00:18:00.940 --> 00:18:08.920 over us, delighting in us. Glory to Jesus. When 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:12.259 things get tense at home or when Cammie's telling 00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:15.319 me something I don't like hearing, do you know 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:19.440 what I begin to do? I begin to say, I love you, 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:32.960 Cammie. And she goes. Singing changes the atmosphere. 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:38.640 Do you know the book of Revelation is a book 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:44.400 about foretelling? God, give us eyes to see and 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:48.559 ears to hear what God is saying in this hour. 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:52.099 Because in this hour, it's a very prophetic hour. 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:55.799 God is working powerfully, setting the earth 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:59.410 up for His return. I believe that with my whole 00:18:59.410 --> 00:19:02.509 heart. Don't think that what is happening around 00:19:02.509 --> 00:19:07.349 the earth is just the will of a president. What 00:19:07.349 --> 00:19:11.029 is happening around the earth is God moving the 00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:14.309 pieces, getting ready for Jesus to return. Hallelujah. 00:19:14.809 --> 00:19:19.829 And so Revelation, Daniel, portions of the Scripture 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:23.970 are all about forth telling, telling us. how 00:19:23.970 --> 00:19:26.789 it's going to come so that we recognize the season. 00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:29.809 No man knows the day or the hour, but the church 00:19:29.809 --> 00:19:34.990 should recognize the season of His return. Revelation 00:19:34.990 --> 00:19:39.730 is also a primary book about what happens in 00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:43.529 the heavens. And do you know, every time we see 00:19:43.529 --> 00:19:46.089 what's happening in the heavens, what do we see? 00:19:46.250 --> 00:19:51.829 We see somebody singing. Somebody lifting up 00:19:51.829 --> 00:19:56.750 their voices before God. Angels, seraphim, cherubim, 00:19:56.829 --> 00:20:00.289 elders casting down their crowns, singing, you 00:20:00.289 --> 00:20:06.529 are worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain 00:20:06.529 --> 00:20:09.890 to receive glory and honor and power and might 00:20:09.890 --> 00:20:13.009 and dominion forever and ever and ever. It is 00:20:13.009 --> 00:20:17.950 a book about worship. If you, on this side of 00:20:17.950 --> 00:20:22.609 eternity, Don't become a worshiper. You're missing 00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:29.789 out. Because heaven is filled with worship. It's 00:20:29.789 --> 00:20:32.650 what's happening day and night around the throne 00:20:32.650 --> 00:20:36.890 as they sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God 00:20:36.890 --> 00:20:41.250 Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory. 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:47.880 Hallelujah. And Jesus taught us. Jesus taught 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:53.119 us to pray, as it is in heaven, so let it be 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:58.059 on the earth. You wonder why miracles start to 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:01.920 break out when we worship? It's because the atmosphere 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:07.039 of heaven is coming down to the earth. Oh, glory 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.619 to God. Oh, glory to God. The atmosphere of heaven 00:21:11.619 --> 00:21:19.380 coming down to the earth. Your voice. He wants 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:26.140 you to think thoughts like, well, I'm glad I 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:27.799 made it through another worship service. That 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:31.940 was a long one. I sure like it when Brianna leads 00:21:31.940 --> 00:21:35.019 better than Pastor. Because Pastor goes on and 00:21:35.019 --> 00:21:41.000 on and on and on and on. When you have thoughts 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.539 like that, you're missing the whole point. Because 00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:48.640 the whole point is that heaven, the atmosphere 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:54.519 of heaven, come to the earth. Glory to God. And 00:21:54.519 --> 00:21:56.880 the enemy wants to diminish that in the church. 00:21:57.460 --> 00:22:02.019 But Jesus said that the gates of hell will not 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:05.859 prevail against the church. And all the diminishing 00:22:05.859 --> 00:22:09.160 that he is trying to accomplish to weaken the 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:12.019 church and to make it less effective and to make 00:22:12.019 --> 00:22:16.039 it less real. It's going to come to nothing in 00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:21.759 Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:26.559 God. We praise Your name, Lord. Worship is a 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:34.400 huge weapon in spiritual warfare. It changes 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.799 the atmosphere. It was no wonder that the prophets 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:42.680 coming down the hill were playing instruments. 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:46.420 And I know the Scriptures doesn't say this, but 00:22:46.420 --> 00:22:49.640 I can't help but also believe that they were 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:53.740 singing to the Lord as they played. And it's 00:22:53.740 --> 00:22:57.700 no wonder that in that atmosphere, Saul, the 00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:02.880 first king of Israel, was transformed and changed 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:09.200 into another man. And God began to work in him. 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:14.019 Hallelujah. When you first came to the church, 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:16.619 maybe not this church, I'm talking about the 00:23:16.619 --> 00:23:19.000 church, you gave your life to Christ and you 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.180 first started coming to church, did you wonder, 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:26.299 what is that that I feel? It's the presence of 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:30.759 God. That's what that is. It's the presence of 00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:37.480 God. Are you with me this morning? No. In spiritual 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:43.599 warfare, God... will sometimes call you to use 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:51.279 singing even more sometimes than praying or other 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:55.380 forms of prayer, which this morning is about 00:23:55.380 --> 00:24:00.720 singing. In Psalm 8 -2, it says this, Out of 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:05.599 the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:11.369 ordained praise. Because of your enemies that 00:24:11.369 --> 00:24:14.630 you might silence the enemy and the avenger. 00:24:16.130 --> 00:24:19.450 That means this. It doesn't matter how old you 00:24:19.450 --> 00:24:23.009 are. That when you lift up your voice in praise, 00:24:23.309 --> 00:24:28.589 that the enemy flees. The voice of the enemy 00:24:28.589 --> 00:24:33.089 is silenced. It also doesn't matter how old you 00:24:33.089 --> 00:24:38.089 are in Christ. You can be a brand new believer. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.039 And when you lift up your voice to the Lord, 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:45.400 His presence comes and the voice of the enemy 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:49.700 is stilled and silenced. Now this is important 00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:52.720 because the enemy whispers things to us all the 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:56.819 time that we're tempted to believe. And you know 00:24:56.819 --> 00:25:01.559 the place where that voice is stilled is when 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:06.769 you begin to sing and you begin to praise. And 00:25:06.769 --> 00:25:11.269 it's true for every single believer. It's not 00:25:11.269 --> 00:25:14.309 just true for the pastor. It's not just true 00:25:14.309 --> 00:25:19.829 for the singers. It is true for you. It is true 00:25:19.829 --> 00:25:24.250 for you. Hallelujah. Let the high praises of 00:25:24.250 --> 00:25:27.170 God be in their mouth. Let a two -edged sword 00:25:27.170 --> 00:25:31.230 be in their hand to execute vengeance on the 00:25:31.230 --> 00:25:35.299 nations and punishment on the people. Hallelujah. 00:25:35.380 --> 00:25:39.099 I love King Jehoshaphat. I love that story. Now, 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.140 God did not do this every single battle, but 00:25:42.140 --> 00:25:45.759 in this battle, he gave us an incredible illustration 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:49.000 about life, and it was Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:52.660 20, verse 21. And I'll just get to the heart 00:25:52.660 --> 00:25:55.480 of the story where it says, and when he consulted 00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:57.799 with the people, he appointed those who should 00:25:57.799 --> 00:25:59.980 sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:04.650 of holiness as they went out before the army 00:26:04.650 --> 00:26:08.670 and were singing, praise the Lord for His mercy 00:26:08.670 --> 00:26:13.390 endures forever. Now, there is a war right now. 00:26:13.529 --> 00:26:15.730 In fact, there's several of them around the earth, 00:26:15.829 --> 00:26:17.789 but you know in their strategy, you know what 00:26:17.789 --> 00:26:22.049 they did not do? Send forth the singers first. 00:26:23.609 --> 00:26:28.849 Hey, who can sing? I want you to get on the front 00:26:28.849 --> 00:26:35.440 line and move into Iran. Just singing, praise 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:39.519 the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. Go ahead. 00:26:39.740 --> 00:26:47.000 Go ahead. If they announced that as a strategy, 00:26:47.220 --> 00:26:56.380 what would the world think? And that is exactly 00:26:56.380 --> 00:27:04.200 what Jehoshaphat did. Moab, Seir. Amen. The three 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:08.680 armies gathered against them. And Jehoshaphat 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:14.960 puts the singers in the front to praise the Lord. 00:27:16.380 --> 00:27:23.099 Wow. Wow. Praise the Lord for His mercy endures 00:27:23.099 --> 00:27:29.940 forever. They've got spears. They've got arrows. 00:27:31.180 --> 00:27:36.440 They've got swords. But we've got something they 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:44.920 don't have. We have a song. And in the spirit 00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:51.200 realm, the enemy still trembles when we sing. 00:27:52.109 --> 00:27:55.809 And the Bible says when they began to sing and 00:27:55.809 --> 00:28:00.049 praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people 00:28:00.049 --> 00:28:02.710 of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come 00:28:02.710 --> 00:28:07.849 against Judah, and they were defeated. Somebody 00:28:07.849 --> 00:28:11.349 give praise to the Lord. Hallelujah. Glory to 00:28:11.349 --> 00:28:15.230 God. They lifted up their voices, and the enemy 00:28:15.230 --> 00:28:19.609 was defeated. Hallelujah. Oh, we give praise 00:28:19.609 --> 00:28:25.720 to God. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory 00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:30.700 to Jesus. Now, Saul, in this story, time would 00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:33.680 go by and Saul's heart would harden against God. 00:28:33.980 --> 00:28:38.500 And he backslid. And in fact, he started consulting 00:28:38.500 --> 00:28:41.400 witches. He started going the wrong direction. 00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:47.039 And God released an evil spirit to torment Saul. 00:28:48.009 --> 00:28:51.069 And that opened door in Saul's heart, the lack 00:28:51.069 --> 00:28:54.490 of repentance. Saul refused to repent, and so 00:28:54.490 --> 00:28:59.069 that demon continually badgered him. And I want 00:28:59.069 --> 00:29:01.650 to thank God that when we move away from him, 00:29:01.730 --> 00:29:05.769 he does not leave us alone. God's heart was to 00:29:05.769 --> 00:29:10.210 move Saul to repentance. But Saul refused to 00:29:10.210 --> 00:29:14.130 repent, and this demon spirit drove him nuts. 00:29:14.730 --> 00:29:20.049 Mad. And so somebody had the bright idea, bring 00:29:20.049 --> 00:29:23.569 somebody that can play an instrument. And I love 00:29:23.569 --> 00:29:26.829 it because the chapter before, the story right 00:29:26.829 --> 00:29:30.910 before, David is anointed the next king of Israel. 00:29:31.049 --> 00:29:34.650 And who did they just happen to call upon to 00:29:34.650 --> 00:29:39.150 come and play before King Saul? David. And the 00:29:39.150 --> 00:29:43.869 Bible says in 1 Samuel 16, 23, And so it was, 00:29:44.029 --> 00:29:47.670 whenever the evil spirit that was sent from God 00:29:47.670 --> 00:29:53.009 was upon Saul, David would take a harp and play 00:29:53.009 --> 00:29:56.410 it with his hand. And I can't help but also think 00:29:56.410 --> 00:30:01.170 that here that David sang. And then Saul would 00:30:01.170 --> 00:30:05.369 become refreshed and well, and the distressing 00:30:05.369 --> 00:30:09.960 spirit would depart from him. And I ask you why? 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:18.539 Because when David sang, the presence of God 00:30:18.539 --> 00:30:23.480 came. And when the manifest presence of God was 00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:31.660 in the room, demons had to leave. When you begin 00:30:31.660 --> 00:30:36.720 to sing, everything that the enemy... is coming 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:41.000 against you with. When the presence of the Lord 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:49.819 fills the room, has to flee. Fathers, I want 00:30:49.819 --> 00:30:58.000 to encourage you to sing at home. I got one amen. 00:31:01.769 --> 00:31:04.269 I want to say that again because I feel like 00:31:04.269 --> 00:31:06.990 there's power in that. Because there's intimidation 00:31:06.990 --> 00:31:11.269 on some of the men when it comes to singing. 00:31:11.849 --> 00:31:14.910 I break that intimidation off of you in the name 00:31:14.910 --> 00:31:23.890 of Jesus so that you can sing. It changes the 00:31:23.890 --> 00:31:30.859 atmosphere. It changes the atmosphere. I've got 00:31:30.859 --> 00:31:35.900 to move along in this message. In 2 Kings 3, 00:31:36.299 --> 00:31:39.940 I've preached on this a long time ago and I've 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:43.519 shared it in a couple of different places. But 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:45.599 it's so powerful and it's the calling of God 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:49.980 that He placed initially on my life. In 2 Kings 00:31:49.980 --> 00:31:56.259 3. And the story is this, that Jehoshaphat... 00:31:56.879 --> 00:32:00.619 was going to be defeated by Moab, and so Jehoshaphat 00:32:00.619 --> 00:32:03.180 did not pray. Have you ever had a situation where 00:32:03.180 --> 00:32:08.220 you did not pray? And then later you wished you 00:32:08.220 --> 00:32:14.359 did? Jehoshaphat did not pray. When you don't 00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:17.319 seek the Lord about something, it will not go 00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:21.339 well. But in his own thinking, he thought, well, 00:32:21.339 --> 00:32:24.059 if I can just get two other kings to team up 00:32:24.059 --> 00:32:27.990 with me, we can take care of Moab. And so without 00:32:27.990 --> 00:32:32.289 praying, Jehoshaphat teams up with Jehoram, the 00:32:32.289 --> 00:32:40.049 wicked king of Israel, who was the son of a wicked 00:32:40.049 --> 00:32:46.130 king. And he teamed up with the king of Edom. 00:32:47.289 --> 00:32:52.450 And he was a wicked king. But he was thinking 00:32:52.450 --> 00:32:57.680 numbers, numbers, numbers. I just got to outnumber 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:02.200 Moab. And he did not pray. And guess what happened? 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:04.859 They wandered for a week. They ran out of food. 00:33:04.940 --> 00:33:07.140 They all got discouraged. Everything fell to 00:33:07.140 --> 00:33:10.000 pieces. And Jehoshaphat comes to his senses. 00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:17.380 God will bring you to your senses. And he said, 00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:21.099 we've got to pray about this. Is there a prophet 00:33:21.099 --> 00:33:24.799 in this area that can help us? And somebody said, 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:29.000 well, Elisha lives right over there. Elisha, 00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:32.059 the one that served Elijah, he lives right over 00:33:32.059 --> 00:33:35.059 there. And Jehoshaphat says, send for him now. 00:33:37.259 --> 00:33:40.359 Well, Elisha came, and when Elisha got there, 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:43.859 there was Jehoshaphat, there was Jehoram, there 00:33:43.859 --> 00:33:46.779 was the king of Edom, the three of them, and 00:33:46.779 --> 00:33:50.579 Elisha knew two of these kings are evil men. 00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:57.839 And he came into the situation, and he looked 00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:01.079 at Jehoram, and he said, I want to tell you something, 00:34:01.220 --> 00:34:05.359 Jehoram. that if Jehoshaphat was not here, I 00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:07.440 would turn around and leave. I don't even want 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.119 to be with you. Well, what do you think the atmosphere 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:21.360 was like? It was filled with anxiety. It was 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:26.679 tense. And then Jehoram responds. And he said, 00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:30.170 I want to tell you something, Elisha. Moab is 00:34:30.170 --> 00:34:33.909 going to destroy us all. Well, what a thing to 00:34:33.909 --> 00:34:37.510 say to the prophet. Even Jehoram, the wicked 00:34:37.510 --> 00:34:40.869 king, was filled with discouragement and he injected 00:34:40.869 --> 00:34:44.969 that discouragement into the atmosphere. You 00:34:44.969 --> 00:34:48.010 have division. You have an angry prophet. You 00:34:48.010 --> 00:34:52.010 have discouragement in the atmosphere. Do you 00:34:52.010 --> 00:34:56.909 think it's conducive to prophesy? It is not. 00:34:58.889 --> 00:35:01.530 It's not conducive for God to move in that atmosphere. 00:35:02.349 --> 00:35:04.809 And can I tell you that sometimes in your home, 00:35:04.869 --> 00:35:08.230 you have the wrong atmosphere. You believe in 00:35:08.230 --> 00:35:11.469 God for a miracle, but your home is filled with 00:35:11.469 --> 00:35:14.909 discouragement. And your home is filled with 00:35:14.909 --> 00:35:18.469 division. You can't quit arguing amongst yourself. 00:35:19.269 --> 00:35:25.469 And you're expecting God to move? Elisha couldn't 00:35:25.469 --> 00:35:28.949 even make anything happen in that atmosphere, 00:35:28.949 --> 00:35:34.269 but he knew he was called upon to prophesy. And 00:35:34.269 --> 00:35:37.670 so after he says that to King Jehoram, I wouldn't 00:35:37.670 --> 00:35:41.670 even look at you. In verse 15, he says this, 00:35:41.829 --> 00:35:51.809 but bring me now a minstrel musician. It's powerful, 00:35:52.070 --> 00:35:56.780 friends. Why did Elisha do that? He didn't always 00:35:56.780 --> 00:36:01.900 do that, but he did it here. Why? Because the 00:36:01.900 --> 00:36:07.400 atmosphere needed to be changed. And I love this 00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:11.139 musician. I cannot wait to meet this musician 00:36:11.139 --> 00:36:15.460 in heaven. I do not know his or her name. Probably 00:36:15.460 --> 00:36:20.260 a male in this time frame. I do not know his 00:36:20.260 --> 00:36:23.389 name. We're not told his name. We don't even 00:36:23.389 --> 00:36:25.929 really know what instrument he played. Maybe 00:36:25.929 --> 00:36:30.989 a harp. Maybe some kind of lyre or flute or whatever. 00:36:31.130 --> 00:36:35.889 Did this musician sing or not? We don't know. 00:36:36.070 --> 00:36:42.230 But the musician showed up. And in that atmosphere, 00:36:42.650 --> 00:36:48.250 the musician began to do something. The musician 00:36:48.250 --> 00:36:53.579 began to play. And we don't know how long the 00:36:53.579 --> 00:36:57.199 musician played. We don't know how much time 00:36:57.199 --> 00:37:01.239 it took. But when the musician came, it says, 00:37:01.300 --> 00:37:07.400 then it happened. When the musician played, that 00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:13.099 the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha. It was 00:37:13.099 --> 00:37:15.760 when the musician played. And said, thus says 00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:19.239 the Lord, make the valley full of ditches. And 00:37:19.239 --> 00:37:23.139 he goes on and on and on about the strategy. 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:28.699 The strategy is released through the word of 00:37:28.699 --> 00:37:33.219 the prophet. And that strategy was implemented 00:37:33.219 --> 00:37:40.659 and Moab was defeated. Hallelujah. But why? Why 00:37:40.659 --> 00:37:44.010 did Jehoshaphat win the battle? Why did the other 00:37:44.010 --> 00:37:48.130 two kings participate in the victory? Because 00:37:48.130 --> 00:37:55.329 a musician began to play. A musician began to 00:37:55.329 --> 00:38:03.690 play. A musician began to play. When somebody 00:38:03.690 --> 00:38:12.289 steps forward with the weapon, This weapon of 00:38:12.289 --> 00:38:20.469 warfare. And they use it. The power of the enemy 00:38:20.469 --> 00:38:28.889 comes down. What we find here, discouragement 00:38:28.889 --> 00:38:35.280 leaves. Anybody been discouraged this week? Come 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.420 on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come 00:38:37.420 --> 00:38:40.059 on. There they are. There's all the hands. You've 00:38:40.059 --> 00:38:46.280 been discouraged. Do you know the remedy? The 00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:50.980 remedy? You begin to step into the presence of 00:38:50.980 --> 00:38:56.300 the Lord with worship. Discouragement cannot 00:38:56.300 --> 00:39:00.559 stay in the atmosphere of the presence of the 00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:04.090 Lord. And the atmosphere of the presence of the 00:39:04.090 --> 00:39:09.710 Lord comes when we sing. When we sing, now here, 00:39:09.769 --> 00:39:12.389 I'm not talking about just singing. You know, 00:39:12.409 --> 00:39:14.809 you can sing along with the radio, you know, 00:39:14.829 --> 00:39:17.789 whatever it's playing, secular music or whatever, 00:39:17.969 --> 00:39:20.829 and that sound of singing is not the sound that 00:39:20.829 --> 00:39:23.710 God inhabits. So I'm not saying that just any 00:39:23.710 --> 00:39:26.489 type of singing. But this morning what I'm talking 00:39:26.489 --> 00:39:31.210 about is the heartfelt, engaged singing as unto 00:39:31.210 --> 00:39:35.489 the Lord. Amen? And Psalm 22 .3 says that's the 00:39:35.489 --> 00:39:39.769 kind of singing of praise. that he inhabits. 00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:44.389 Glory to God. I wonder, the prophets, you know, 00:39:44.409 --> 00:39:47.730 most of the prophets are written in verse. Did 00:39:47.730 --> 00:39:50.989 you notice that? That it is written just like 00:39:50.989 --> 00:39:53.389 the Psalms are written. We know the Psalms are 00:39:53.389 --> 00:39:57.989 meant to sing. And I wonder if many of the prophets 00:39:57.989 --> 00:40:02.010 did not just give or orate their prophecies. 00:40:02.010 --> 00:40:06.590 I wonder if they sang their prophecies. I don't 00:40:06.590 --> 00:40:11.050 have any study that would back that up. I briefly 00:40:11.050 --> 00:40:16.409 tried to find some, but I wonder. It's written 00:40:16.409 --> 00:40:22.230 in verse. And did they accompany their prophecy 00:40:22.230 --> 00:40:29.190 with song? The victory comes because a musician 00:40:29.190 --> 00:40:38.269 begins to play. And Paul... tells us this. They 00:40:38.269 --> 00:40:43.690 lived in a time of intense warfare, battle over 00:40:43.690 --> 00:40:48.409 the church. You think that our lives are difficult? 00:40:49.690 --> 00:40:52.650 I've come from some places where the gospel is 00:40:52.650 --> 00:41:01.730 scarce. The gospel is scarce on my island. What 00:41:01.730 --> 00:41:06.050 we experience is not like what anybody else is 00:41:06.050 --> 00:41:10.630 experiencing around the world. And Paul knew 00:41:10.630 --> 00:41:16.550 that we would need encouragement. He said this, 00:41:16.610 --> 00:41:19.190 Do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, 00:41:19.230 --> 00:41:23.469 but be filled with the Spirit. And then he defines 00:41:23.469 --> 00:41:27.860 a part of being filled with the Spirit. And we 00:41:27.860 --> 00:41:30.159 know from other places in the Scriptures about 00:41:30.159 --> 00:41:32.460 speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit 00:41:32.460 --> 00:41:34.980 and the different things, the different ways 00:41:34.980 --> 00:41:39.380 that the Spirit operates. But Paul here, in talking 00:41:39.380 --> 00:41:43.019 about being filled with the Spirit of the living 00:41:43.019 --> 00:41:47.840 God, says speak to one another in psalms and 00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:53.119 hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making 00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:58.300 melody in your heart to the Lord. If you're going 00:41:58.300 --> 00:42:01.079 to be filled with the Holy Spirit, there's going 00:42:01.079 --> 00:42:03.340 to be something happen in your life. One of those 00:42:03.340 --> 00:42:12.960 things is you are going to sing. Sing. Sing to 00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:18.119 the Lord. Sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. 00:42:18.179 --> 00:42:20.320 Something unique is happening in this house. 00:42:21.260 --> 00:42:23.420 Something unique has always been happening in 00:42:23.420 --> 00:42:25.420 this house, but it's coming up to another level. 00:42:26.090 --> 00:42:28.949 And I'm reminding you about singing because there's 00:42:28.949 --> 00:42:31.690 people like Saul coming into the house carrying 00:42:31.690 --> 00:42:35.570 demons and trouble. I'm not saying they're possessed. 00:42:35.610 --> 00:42:38.150 They might be, but they're badgered by demons 00:42:38.150 --> 00:42:42.289 all week long. And they come into the house of 00:42:42.289 --> 00:42:45.650 the Lord. Do you know what they don't need? They 00:42:45.650 --> 00:42:47.730 don't need somebody that's just singing because 00:42:47.730 --> 00:42:51.750 of religion. Do you know what they need? They 00:42:51.750 --> 00:42:55.900 need an atmosphere. that is explosive with praise, 00:42:56.239 --> 00:43:00.119 that is inhabited by the power and the presence 00:43:00.119 --> 00:43:02.960 of the living God. Because people that have been 00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:05.260 badgered with demons all week, that don't know 00:43:05.260 --> 00:43:08.119 what to do about it, when they get in that atmosphere, 00:43:08.500 --> 00:43:11.599 do you know what happens? They go, oh, it feels 00:43:11.599 --> 00:43:16.099 so nice in here. And we don't want them to be 00:43:16.099 --> 00:43:18.599 like Saul and just feel better for a moment. 00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:21.739 We want to teach them and call people to repentance. 00:43:22.710 --> 00:43:25.369 Because when they repent, they'll really be delivered 00:43:25.369 --> 00:43:29.389 and not just feel better on Sunday morning. And 00:43:29.389 --> 00:43:31.769 if that's your case, if you just feel better 00:43:31.769 --> 00:43:35.429 on Sunday morning, and when you go back, you 00:43:35.429 --> 00:43:38.949 don't feel so good, God is calling you to full 00:43:38.949 --> 00:43:43.510 repentance so that you can be delivered and set 00:43:43.510 --> 00:43:47.110 free. But the world needs a people that understand 00:43:47.110 --> 00:43:51.610 worship. That when we worship the atmosphere, 00:43:53.689 --> 00:43:58.989 Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual 00:43:58.989 --> 00:44:10.050 psalms. Has your voice been diminished? Maybe 00:44:10.050 --> 00:44:13.210 the enemies just kept you all along from that 00:44:13.210 --> 00:44:19.429 part of your walk with God. Maybe that's a door 00:44:19.429 --> 00:44:23.320 you've refused to open. I don't have a voice. 00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:30.840 That's not my personality, Pastor. That's not 00:44:30.840 --> 00:44:38.340 my personality. And that's a real question. That's 00:44:38.340 --> 00:44:43.400 a real struggle, you know. I say that not in 00:44:43.400 --> 00:44:49.800 jest. And if you've felt that way, The enemy 00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:55.440 wants you to stay that way. The Lord wants to 00:44:55.440 --> 00:45:00.619 help you in that and move you to a place of freedom 00:45:00.619 --> 00:45:09.039 in singing. Hallelujah. Singing and making melody 00:45:09.039 --> 00:45:18.030 in your heart to the Lord. There's lots of places 00:45:18.030 --> 00:45:22.030 to go here, but I want to conclude with a story 00:45:22.030 --> 00:45:32.269 in Acts chapter 16. And Paul and Silas are in 00:45:32.269 --> 00:45:37.409 prison. Others have already been killed. They've 00:45:37.409 --> 00:45:43.630 been beaten and they're in stocks. And they're 00:45:43.630 --> 00:45:48.070 going to be killed in the morning. Paul and Silas 00:45:48.070 --> 00:45:56.690 are going to be martyred in the morning. And 00:45:56.690 --> 00:46:04.349 Silas looks at Paul, says, Paul, this is the 00:46:04.349 --> 00:46:13.010 end. It's been a good run. Are you feeling okay? 00:46:16.199 --> 00:46:20.199 I'm hurting, Silas. I can't move my hands. They're 00:46:20.199 --> 00:46:31.780 cramped up. My back. Well, what are we going 00:46:31.780 --> 00:46:38.280 to do, Paul? And Paul looks at Silas and says, 00:46:38.460 --> 00:46:54.119 why don't we sing? Why don't we sing? Oh, praise 00:46:54.119 --> 00:47:03.760 the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his 00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:13.679 name forevermore. For all my days, I will sing 00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:25.369 God's praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Our God. Silas. 00:47:26.489 --> 00:47:30.650 Silas, will you sing with me? Will you sing with 00:47:30.650 --> 00:47:36.650 me? This is our last night on earth. Let's sing. 00:47:37.789 --> 00:47:41.590 Because even now, he's worthy of our praise. 00:47:42.670 --> 00:47:47.840 Let's sing. And Silas joined with him. Oh, praise 00:47:47.840 --> 00:47:55.679 the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His 00:47:55.679 --> 00:48:04.400 name forevermore. For endless days I will sing 00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:15.700 God's praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. Oh, 00:48:15.700 --> 00:48:20.159 hallelujah. Hallelujah. My mother turned 80 this 00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:24.340 year. And she told me at her birthday party, 00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:34.960 she said, I can't sing like I used to. Anybody 00:48:34.960 --> 00:48:45.429 experience that? Some of you laughing. You know 00:48:45.429 --> 00:48:49.610 what the enemy would want my mother to do? Just 00:48:49.610 --> 00:48:57.110 quit singing. Just quit singing. Who wants to 00:48:57.110 --> 00:49:02.230 hear that anyway? But I want to tell you something 00:49:02.230 --> 00:49:06.550 that God doesn't care whether you're eight or 00:49:06.550 --> 00:49:12.909 whether you're 88 or anywhere in between. He's... 00:49:13.019 --> 00:49:16.360 calling you to lift up your voice. And everybody 00:49:16.360 --> 00:49:21.119 in the jail began to hear it. Everybody in the 00:49:21.119 --> 00:49:28.199 jail began to hear the song that was being sung. 00:49:29.940 --> 00:49:34.980 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And they began to listen. 00:49:35.719 --> 00:49:39.219 And they began to say, well, that's never happened 00:49:39.219 --> 00:49:43.480 in this jail before. This place of misery. This 00:49:43.480 --> 00:49:49.940 place where they give us nothing to eat except 00:49:49.940 --> 00:49:54.480 to keep us alive. Whoever heard the sound of 00:49:54.480 --> 00:49:59.380 singing and they listened in to their ear and 00:49:59.380 --> 00:50:03.739 they began to hear Paul and Silas and they began 00:50:03.739 --> 00:50:08.099 to sing with them, I believe. Are you pulling 00:50:08.099 --> 00:50:14.010 that song up? Anastasia, play that one. Yeah, 00:50:14.050 --> 00:50:16.929 play that one. I feel like God's going to set 00:50:16.929 --> 00:50:20.030 some people free right now. Because the same 00:50:20.030 --> 00:50:22.530 thing that happened then still happens today. 00:50:23.030 --> 00:50:26.849 Because they begin to sing. And they begin to 00:50:26.849 --> 00:50:30.889 lift up their voice. And the jail cell began 00:50:30.889 --> 00:50:36.929 to shake. God sent angels. And the jail cell 00:50:36.929 --> 00:50:44.610 began to shake. Hallelujah. And the stocks that 00:50:44.610 --> 00:50:48.250 were holding their wrists, they began to break 00:50:48.250 --> 00:50:53.769 open. Oh, glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah. 00:50:54.349 --> 00:50:58.170 Oh, we give you praise, Lord. We give you praise. 00:50:59.449 --> 00:51:09.639 Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. O praise 00:51:09.639 --> 00:51:20.039 His name forevermore. For endless days we will 00:51:20.039 --> 00:51:31.489 sing Your praise. O Lord, O Lord our God. Oh, 00:51:31.489 --> 00:51:39.670 praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise 00:51:39.670 --> 00:51:49.530 His name forevermore. For endless days we will 00:51:49.530 --> 00:51:58.070 sing Your praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. 00:52:00.329 --> 00:52:08.650 Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, 00:52:08.789 --> 00:52:17.889 praise His name forevermore. For endless days 00:52:17.889 --> 00:52:25.429 we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord 00:52:25.429 --> 00:52:34.309 our God. now listen listen the stocks came off 00:52:34.309 --> 00:52:39.329 of their wrists and feet the chains around the 00:52:39.329 --> 00:52:43.010 other prisoners broke off and the doors flew 00:52:43.010 --> 00:52:49.469 open and you would think that the prisoners would 00:52:49.469 --> 00:52:54.510 just rush right out but i believe there's something 00:52:54.510 --> 00:52:58.190 between the lines that happened That we don't 00:52:58.190 --> 00:53:01.590 see in Acts chapter 16. But I believe it was 00:53:01.590 --> 00:53:06.389 there. Because I believe in that moment. That 00:53:06.389 --> 00:53:12.889 God gave a word to Paul. That said, Paul. Don't 00:53:12.889 --> 00:53:16.889 go through the door yet. Stay where you are. 00:53:18.389 --> 00:53:21.289 Stay where you are. Because in the atmosphere 00:53:21.289 --> 00:53:24.530 of the presence of the Lord like that. The word. 00:53:28.429 --> 00:53:33.030 he heard a word stay right here because there 00:53:33.030 --> 00:53:37.510 was a jailer and the jailer came running and 00:53:37.510 --> 00:53:40.630 the jailer saw all the doors open and he thought 00:53:40.630 --> 00:53:45.610 for sure the prisoners had escaped and he took 00:53:45.610 --> 00:53:50.869 a sword to his to his throat and was about to 00:53:50.869 --> 00:53:56.170 kill himself but paul yelled from the prison 00:53:58.219 --> 00:54:05.199 We are all here. And that day, the jailer and 00:54:05.199 --> 00:54:09.800 all of his family came to Christ, was baptized, 00:54:10.139 --> 00:54:14.099 brought the prisoners out, and washed their feet. 00:54:14.260 --> 00:54:20.300 Somebody give God praise. Glory to God. Why was 00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:24.079 that jailer saved? Why was his household baptized? 00:54:24.699 --> 00:54:32.340 Because somebody began Somebody began to lift 00:54:32.340 --> 00:54:36.500 up their voice. When we sing, the atmosphere 00:54:36.500 --> 00:54:41.699 changes. Shackles break off of people. And lives 00:54:41.699 --> 00:54:48.760 are never the same again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 00:54:49.480 --> 00:54:57.500 Glory to God. Oh, praise the name of the Lord 00:54:57.500 --> 00:55:26.800 our King. Praise the name of the Lord our God. 00:55:27.119 --> 00:55:35.480 Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless 00:55:35.480 --> 00:55:42.980 days we will sing God's praise. Oh, Lord, our 00:55:42.980 --> 00:55:50.650 Lord, our Lord. Now I want to do one thing this 00:55:50.650 --> 00:55:54.670 morning because some of you need to respond. 00:55:55.550 --> 00:55:59.929 You have felt diminished and you have felt the 00:55:59.929 --> 00:56:05.130 enemy waging war on your soul. And this is not 00:56:05.130 --> 00:56:07.289 about condemnation like you've done something 00:56:07.289 --> 00:56:11.989 wrong because that happens to all of us. But 00:56:11.989 --> 00:56:14.329 this morning what we want to do is we want to 00:56:14.329 --> 00:56:18.949 be the voice of God. And we want to sing this 00:56:18.949 --> 00:56:23.539 song of deliverance over you. And so I would 00:56:23.539 --> 00:56:25.800 like you to step out of your seat and come down 00:56:25.800 --> 00:56:28.900 to the front. If you've been in that place of 00:56:28.900 --> 00:56:33.679 warfare, of difficulty, of trial, and you haven't 00:56:33.679 --> 00:56:36.219 had breakthrough, come on, come on, come on. 00:56:36.239 --> 00:56:39.300 We're going to sing over you this morning, this 00:56:39.300 --> 00:56:41.199 morning. God, would you just speak to people? 00:56:41.300 --> 00:56:44.019 They know they should be down here at the altar 00:56:44.019 --> 00:56:46.880 right now. God, would you just speak to people 00:56:46.880 --> 00:56:50.500 to step out right now because shackles are going 00:56:50.500 --> 00:56:54.719 to break. In the name of Jesus, we thank you, 00:56:54.739 --> 00:56:58.039 Father, for moving powerfully in this place. 00:56:58.159 --> 00:57:02.119 In Jesus' name. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah. 00:57:02.480 --> 00:57:05.500 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 00:57:06.199 --> 00:57:09.320 Oh, we give you glory, God. We give you glory, 00:57:09.500 --> 00:57:13.239 God. We give you glory. We give you glory. Hallelujah. 00:57:13.619 --> 00:57:17.940 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. 00:57:18.059 --> 00:57:22.039 Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We praise your name. 00:57:22.280 --> 00:57:24.760 We praise your name. God is doing something right 00:57:24.760 --> 00:57:28.360 now. God is doing something right now. We thank 00:57:28.360 --> 00:57:31.539 you, Father. We thank you, Father. We give you 00:57:31.539 --> 00:57:35.480 glory, God. We give you glory, God. Oh, my God. 00:57:35.699 --> 00:57:40.179 Here we go. Oh, praise the... Come on, sing it, 00:57:40.199 --> 00:58:18.889 sing it. One more time. Oh, praise the name of 00:58:18.889 --> 00:58:30.289 the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. 00:58:30.389 --> 00:58:40.389 For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, 00:58:40.389 --> 00:58:54.190 Lord. Does this mean, Pastor, that I will always 00:58:54.190 --> 00:59:03.170 see with my eyes the blessing? Does this mean 00:59:03.170 --> 00:59:08.230 that if I'll just sing that nothing bad will 00:59:08.230 --> 00:59:15.090 ever happen? Does this mean that life will be 00:59:15.090 --> 00:59:24.639 roses from here on out? I want you to hear the 00:59:24.639 --> 00:59:31.619 song of Habakkuk. The fig is not blossoming. 00:59:33.760 --> 00:59:39.340 There's no fruit on the vine. The olive crop 00:59:39.340 --> 00:59:50.739 failed. And we have no food. My flocks are gone. 00:59:53.039 --> 01:00:01.559 The hurts can't be heard. That's how he started 01:00:01.559 --> 01:00:12.119 his song. Yet, I will sing anyway. I will rejoice 01:00:12.119 --> 01:00:19.179 anyway. I will practice joy in the Lord my God. 01:00:23.789 --> 01:00:28.769 The Lord God is my strength. He will make my 01:00:28.769 --> 01:00:33.889 feet like the deer's feet. He will make me walk 01:00:33.889 --> 01:00:44.309 on high hills. That's what Habakkuk sang. Sometimes 01:00:44.309 --> 01:00:46.809 you sing Habakkuk's song. That's just the way 01:00:46.809 --> 01:00:55.599 life is. But you sing. The devil wanted to keep 01:00:55.599 --> 01:00:59.679 Habakkuk quiet. The devil did not want this song 01:00:59.679 --> 01:01:06.059 to be put in the Bible. But Habakkuk said, no, 01:01:06.159 --> 01:01:09.460 it doesn't matter. I don't understand why my 01:01:09.460 --> 01:01:12.920 enemies look blessed and why Israel looks defeated. 01:01:13.659 --> 01:01:18.019 I don't understand why people that don't serve 01:01:18.019 --> 01:01:23.440 God get all the good things in life. while my 01:01:23.440 --> 01:01:33.500 life stinks. But it doesn't matter. The devil 01:01:33.500 --> 01:01:38.860 is not going to have my song. And so, Lord, I 01:01:38.860 --> 01:01:43.139 just lift up this church to you. I lift up everybody 01:01:43.139 --> 01:01:47.280 standing here, everybody listening at home. I 01:01:47.280 --> 01:01:50.679 just ask in Jesus' name that the song of the 01:01:50.679 --> 01:01:56.980 Lord would be in their hearts and in their minds 01:01:56.980 --> 01:02:04.039 and in their mouths. And God, I pray that you 01:02:04.039 --> 01:02:10.380 would put a melody, you'd put a melody in our 01:02:10.380 --> 01:02:14.699 hearts. I pray, God, that even as Pastor Ben 01:02:14.699 --> 01:02:17.860 sent me another song that God had given to him, 01:02:20.460 --> 01:02:23.340 A sound from this house heard nowhere else in 01:02:23.340 --> 01:02:27.719 the world. I pray that you will release that 01:02:27.719 --> 01:02:32.159 into this house over and over and over and over 01:02:32.159 --> 01:02:36.599 again. I pray that the song of the Lord would 01:02:36.599 --> 01:02:40.679 come forth. God, I pray that we would hear you 01:02:40.679 --> 01:02:46.840 singing over your people. Give us ears to hear 01:02:46.840 --> 01:02:52.989 what you are saying. In Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah. 01:02:53.050 --> 01:02:56.550 Can we give the Lord praise? Give the Lord praise. 01:02:56.570 --> 01:02:57.650 Give the Lord praise.