I want you to turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter
10. I want to share a message with you that was
really birthed through a discussion that we had
in our seniors group a couple of Wednesdays ago,
and then through those of you that are going
through training about hearing God's voice. This
is the word that God had put in my heart through
those things and just cultivating things in my
spirit. So if some of this is a repeat for some
of you, I want to tell you that God is speaking.
The devil wants to diminish your life. The devil
wants to erode away your effectiveness. He wants
to gradually steal your voice. He wants to shift
your life away from having momentum towards God
to just, you know, just being comfortable where
I am. And if we allow the enemy to have his way,
he will steal away, steal away, steal away, steal
away. to condemn anybody, people that are not
here. But you know, 40 years ago, if I go back
that far in the church, I can't even believe
it, I'm saying 40 years ago. Do you know when
somebody gave their life to Christ, they were
there Sunday morning at 9 o 'clock for Sunday
school. They were there Sunday morning, 10 o
'clock for church. They were there Sunday night,
6 o 'clock for church. They were there at a prayer
meeting usually. They were there Wednesday night
at 6 .30 or 7 o 'clock for church. The normal
devotion to... Jesus and his church was expressed
maybe four or five times a week. But there has
been a diminishing over the years. And there's
lots of reasons for it. Culture shift, all different
kinds of things. Again, I'm not saying this to
bring condemnation. But do you know the average
commitment now to people that are fully committed
to the church is to be present twice a month.
That if you are present twice a month, you are
fully committed to the church. And it's an expression
of how there is an erosion. Now there's lots
of reasons for that. And again, I'm not trying
to bring condemnation to anybody. But the enemy
has successfully diminished the power of the
church. But Jesus is not coming back for a weak,
anemic bride. Jesus is coming back for a bride
that is strong. Hallelujah. For a bride that
is all in for him. Hallelujah. He is coming back
for a prepared church. Amen. Somebody give God
praise right now. And I believe. I believe that
the diminishing of the enemy, that we have to
quit tolerating it and draw a line in the sand
and say thus far and no more. Amen? Glory to
God. And so I want to talk about a way that the
enemy tries to diminish you. And perhaps it's
not even a diminishing, but he's trying to keep
you out of a key part of spirit -filled, Christian
living. And that is this, that God has given
you a voice to sing. And I want to remind us
why it is we do what we do on Sunday morning,
but beyond that in your everyday life. The song.
The song. Now, let's start reading. In 1 Samuel
chapter 10. Samuel took a flask of oil, poured
it on Saul's head, and kissed him and said, Is
it not because the Lord has anointed you commander
over his inheritance? When you have departed
from me today, you will find two men by Rachel's
tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah.
And they will say to you, The donkeys which...
you went to look for have been found, and now
your father has ceased caring about the donkeys
and is worrying about you, saying, what shall
I do about my son? And then you shall go on forward
from there and come to the terebinth tree of
Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel
will meet you, one carrying three young goats,
another carrying three loaves of bread, and another
carrying a skin of wine, and they will greet
you and give you two loaves of bread, which you
shall receive from their hands. Here's my text
for this morning. After that, you shall come
to the hill of God. where the Philistine garrison
is, and it will happen when you have come there
to the city that you will meet a group of prophets
coming down from the high place with a stringed
instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp
before them, and they will be prophesying. And
then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you
and you will prophesy with them and be turned
into another man. And let it be when these signs
come to you that you do as the occasion demands
for God is with you. You shall go down before
me to Gilgal and surely I will come down to you
to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices
of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait
till I come to you and show you what you should
do. Verse 9, So it was, when he had turned his
back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another
heart, and all those signs came to pass that
day. And when they came there to the hill, there
was a group of prophets to meet them. Then the
Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied
among them. Father, I thank you for your word
this morning. And I ask, Lord Jesus, that you
would anoint your word to break every barrier
in our lives in Jesus' mighty, mighty name. And
everybody said, Amen. Amen. Samuel was the prophet.
And just like Dennis and Linda have started a
school to learn how to hear from God and how
to prophesy, Samuel had schools of prophecy around
Israel. He had one in his hometown. And he had
another here in Gibeah. And so there was a school
that Samuel led. We don't have record of any
other prophet doing this, but Samuel did this,
trying to raise people up in his generation to
hear God's voice. And so Samuel was not talking
about an arbitrary group of prophets. He was
talking about a group of people that he had personally
invested in. would be at a certain place coming
down a hill at the very time that Saul was going
to meet with them. And this group, this group
of prophets, Samuel had taught them that in the
midst of your prophesying, in the midst of doing
what you do, you should play instruments. I find
it interesting. How many of you find that interesting?
Now how many of you play an instrument? Now how
many of you have an instrument? Come on. Come
on. I love the verse that Cammie opened up with.
Sing to the Lord. Do you know that that is a
command in the Scriptures? It is a command. to
men and women. I point out the men because the
men have a harder time singing. That's true in
the society in which we live. In fact, I preached
this message in a church called the Garden Church
in Africa. And a woman came up to me afterwards
and she said, She said, Pastor, today, after
decades, she had to be, I don't know how old
she was, she had to be 70, at least 70. She had
been married to her husband for many, many, many
years. And she said, today, for the first time
ever, I heard my husband sing. Isn't that amazing?
The command to sing is not to the gifted. The
command to sing is not to those worthy of being
on the platform. The command to sing is to every
single one of us. Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing to the Lord all the earth. Amen? It is a
command. God has given you an instrument. You
may or may not be comfortable with that. God
does not care. He does not care if you're comfortable.
God is not concerned about making you feel comfortable.
He wants to equip you with a life -changing tool.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, it says this, For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
they are mighty in God for the pulling down of
strongholds. Glory to God. Now, I'm talking this
morning about one of those tools. There are many
tools. And you might say, well, I'm better at
one of the other tools. And that may be true.
But God wants everybody in the house. He wants
everybody listening to me at home. He wants everybody
to use this tool that He has called singing.
Amen? Praise the Lord. Now, before we go on,
I want to declare over you this morning that
God sings. God sings. I want to read to you a
verse. The Lord your God is in your midst. He
is the mighty one, and He will save. He will
rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet
you with His love. He will rejoice over you with
singing. He will rejoice over you with singing.
Have you ever heard God sing over you? Do you
think God is so concerned about His image that
He doesn't sing? No, he sings. Have you ever
heard him sing over you? Have you ever heard
him lift his voice up over you because he delights
in you? I find this stunning. I find this stunning.
We sometimes hear God's voice speak to us. And
He does. But have you ever heard Him sing? Oh
God, open up our ears that we can hear You singing
over us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. When our kids
were small and they were disquieted, Cammie would
rock them in the rocking chair. And she would
sing over them. And sometimes I would listen
around the corner. And I would listen to her
sing, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something
about that name. If you know it, sing it with
me. Master, Savior. Jesus, like the fragrance
after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all
heaven and earth proclaim kings and kingdoms
will all pass away but there's something about
that name and as she would sing our sons and
daughters would would quit crying, and they would
often go to sleep. And as she sang, the atmosphere
would change. That's powerful. When God begins
to sing, the atmosphere changes. I feel the Lord
in this place right now. Thank you, Father. Let
me read you another passage. You are my hiding
place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You
shall surround me with songs of deliverance.
You see, when you get in a pickle and when you
get in trouble, you begin to fret and you begin
to fear, but God begins to sing. And when God
begins to sing, The atmosphere changes and it's
why you have to find the secret place. This season
for us has been all about the secret place. You
find the secret place with God. You find the
secret place with God. And He... He begins to
sing over you songs of deliverance. You wonder
where deliverance comes from? It comes from the
voice of God. You wonder where freedom comes
from? It comes because God begins to sing His
song. Hallelujah. And we are made, friends, we
are made in the image of God. He sings and He
made us to sing. I love the creation story as
told by C .S. Lewis in the Chronicles of Narnia.
I love it, and I wonder if there's any truth
to it that's not recorded in the scripture. Aslan,
who is representing Jesus, do you know what he
does the whole time creation is happening? He
is lifting up his voice in song, and as Aslan
sings, creation order comes forth out of the
ground. I wonder if some of creation that's unrecorded,
we're going to be able to find out fully one
day. We have a few verses about creation and
that's it. We're going to know fully, even as
we are fully known. And I wonder if some of that
creation came forth from the singing of the Father.
Glory to God. When God sings, The atmosphere
changes. Deliverance comes. Things begin to change.
Peace comes. We feel His love. You know, sometimes
you're feeling His love. In fact, just right
now, just lift your hands up to the Lord. Say,
God, reveal Your love to me. Sometimes when we
feel His love, We can't hear it, but he is singing
over us, delighting in us. Glory to Jesus. When
things get tense at home or when Cammie's telling
me something I don't like hearing, do you know
what I begin to do? I begin to say, I love you,
Cammie. And she goes. Singing changes the atmosphere.
Do you know the book of Revelation is a book
about foretelling? God, give us eyes to see and
ears to hear what God is saying in this hour.
Because in this hour, it's a very prophetic hour.
God is working powerfully, setting the earth
up for His return. I believe that with my whole
heart. Don't think that what is happening around
the earth is just the will of a president. What
is happening around the earth is God moving the
pieces, getting ready for Jesus to return. Hallelujah.
And so Revelation, Daniel, portions of the Scripture
are all about forth telling, telling us. how
it's going to come so that we recognize the season.
No man knows the day or the hour, but the church
should recognize the season of His return. Revelation
is also a primary book about what happens in
the heavens. And do you know, every time we see
what's happening in the heavens, what do we see?
We see somebody singing. Somebody lifting up
their voices before God. Angels, seraphim, cherubim,
elders casting down their crowns, singing, you
are worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
to receive glory and honor and power and might
and dominion forever and ever and ever. It is
a book about worship. If you, on this side of
eternity, Don't become a worshiper. You're missing
out. Because heaven is filled with worship. It's
what's happening day and night around the throne
as they sing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God
Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.
Hallelujah. And Jesus taught us. Jesus taught
us to pray, as it is in heaven, so let it be
on the earth. You wonder why miracles start to
break out when we worship? It's because the atmosphere
of heaven is coming down to the earth. Oh, glory
to God. Oh, glory to God. The atmosphere of heaven
coming down to the earth. Your voice. He wants
you to think thoughts like, well, I'm glad I
made it through another worship service. That
was a long one. I sure like it when Brianna leads
better than Pastor. Because Pastor goes on and
on and on and on and on. When you have thoughts
like that, you're missing the whole point. Because
the whole point is that heaven, the atmosphere
of heaven, come to the earth. Glory to God. And
the enemy wants to diminish that in the church.
But Jesus said that the gates of hell will not
prevail against the church. And all the diminishing
that he is trying to accomplish to weaken the
church and to make it less effective and to make
it less real. It's going to come to nothing in
Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to
God. We praise Your name, Lord. Worship is a
huge weapon in spiritual warfare. It changes
the atmosphere. It was no wonder that the prophets
coming down the hill were playing instruments.
And I know the Scriptures doesn't say this, but
I can't help but also believe that they were
singing to the Lord as they played. And it's
no wonder that in that atmosphere, Saul, the
first king of Israel, was transformed and changed
into another man. And God began to work in him.
Hallelujah. When you first came to the church,
maybe not this church, I'm talking about the
church, you gave your life to Christ and you
first started coming to church, did you wonder,
what is that that I feel? It's the presence of
God. That's what that is. It's the presence of
God. Are you with me this morning? No. In spiritual
warfare, God... will sometimes call you to use
singing even more sometimes than praying or other
forms of prayer, which this morning is about
singing. In Psalm 8 -2, it says this, Out of
the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have
ordained praise. Because of your enemies that
you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
That means this. It doesn't matter how old you
are. That when you lift up your voice in praise,
that the enemy flees. The voice of the enemy
is silenced. It also doesn't matter how old you
are in Christ. You can be a brand new believer.
And when you lift up your voice to the Lord,
His presence comes and the voice of the enemy
is stilled and silenced. Now this is important
because the enemy whispers things to us all the
time that we're tempted to believe. And you know
the place where that voice is stilled is when
you begin to sing and you begin to praise. And
it's true for every single believer. It's not
just true for the pastor. It's not just true
for the singers. It is true for you. It is true
for you. Hallelujah. Let the high praises of
God be in their mouth. Let a two -edged sword
be in their hand to execute vengeance on the
nations and punishment on the people. Hallelujah.
I love King Jehoshaphat. I love that story. Now,
God did not do this every single battle, but
in this battle, he gave us an incredible illustration
about life, and it was Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles
20, verse 21. And I'll just get to the heart
of the story where it says, and when he consulted
with the people, he appointed those who should
sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty
of holiness as they went out before the army
and were singing, praise the Lord for His mercy
endures forever. Now, there is a war right now.
In fact, there's several of them around the earth,
but you know in their strategy, you know what
they did not do? Send forth the singers first.
Hey, who can sing? I want you to get on the front
line and move into Iran. Just singing, praise
the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. Go ahead.
Go ahead. If they announced that as a strategy,
what would the world think? And that is exactly
what Jehoshaphat did. Moab, Seir. Amen. The three
armies gathered against them. And Jehoshaphat
puts the singers in the front to praise the Lord.
Wow. Wow. Praise the Lord for His mercy endures
forever. They've got spears. They've got arrows.
They've got swords. But we've got something they
don't have. We have a song. And in the spirit
realm, the enemy still trembles when we sing.
And the Bible says when they began to sing and
praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people
of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come
against Judah, and they were defeated. Somebody
give praise to the Lord. Hallelujah. Glory to
God. They lifted up their voices, and the enemy
was defeated. Hallelujah. Oh, we give praise
to God. Glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Glory
to Jesus. Now, Saul, in this story, time would
go by and Saul's heart would harden against God.
And he backslid. And in fact, he started consulting
witches. He started going the wrong direction.
And God released an evil spirit to torment Saul.
And that opened door in Saul's heart, the lack
of repentance. Saul refused to repent, and so
that demon continually badgered him. And I want
to thank God that when we move away from him,
he does not leave us alone. God's heart was to
move Saul to repentance. But Saul refused to
repent, and this demon spirit drove him nuts.
Mad. And so somebody had the bright idea, bring
somebody that can play an instrument. And I love
it because the chapter before, the story right
before, David is anointed the next king of Israel.
And who did they just happen to call upon to
come and play before King Saul? David. And the
Bible says in 1 Samuel 16, 23, And so it was,
whenever the evil spirit that was sent from God
was upon Saul, David would take a harp and play
it with his hand. And I can't help but also think
that here that David sang. And then Saul would
become refreshed and well, and the distressing
spirit would depart from him. And I ask you why?
Because when David sang, the presence of God
came. And when the manifest presence of God was
in the room, demons had to leave. When you begin
to sing, everything that the enemy... is coming
against you with. When the presence of the Lord
fills the room, has to flee. Fathers, I want
to encourage you to sing at home. I got one amen.
I want to say that again because I feel like
there's power in that. Because there's intimidation
on some of the men when it comes to singing.
I break that intimidation off of you in the name
of Jesus so that you can sing. It changes the
atmosphere. It changes the atmosphere. I've got
to move along in this message. In 2 Kings 3,
I've preached on this a long time ago and I've
shared it in a couple of different places. But
it's so powerful and it's the calling of God
that He placed initially on my life. In 2 Kings
3. And the story is this, that Jehoshaphat...
was going to be defeated by Moab, and so Jehoshaphat
did not pray. Have you ever had a situation where
you did not pray? And then later you wished you
did? Jehoshaphat did not pray. When you don't
seek the Lord about something, it will not go
well. But in his own thinking, he thought, well,
if I can just get two other kings to team up
with me, we can take care of Moab. And so without
praying, Jehoshaphat teams up with Jehoram, the
wicked king of Israel, who was the son of a wicked
king. And he teamed up with the king of Edom.
And he was a wicked king. But he was thinking
numbers, numbers, numbers. I just got to outnumber
Moab. And he did not pray. And guess what happened?
They wandered for a week. They ran out of food.
They all got discouraged. Everything fell to
pieces. And Jehoshaphat comes to his senses.
God will bring you to your senses. And he said,
we've got to pray about this. Is there a prophet
in this area that can help us? And somebody said,
well, Elisha lives right over there. Elisha,
the one that served Elijah, he lives right over
there. And Jehoshaphat says, send for him now.
Well, Elisha came, and when Elisha got there,
there was Jehoshaphat, there was Jehoram, there
was the king of Edom, the three of them, and
Elisha knew two of these kings are evil men.
And he came into the situation, and he looked
at Jehoram, and he said, I want to tell you something,
Jehoram. that if Jehoshaphat was not here, I
would turn around and leave. I don't even want
to be with you. Well, what do you think the atmosphere
was like? It was filled with anxiety. It was
tense. And then Jehoram responds. And he said,
I want to tell you something, Elisha. Moab is
going to destroy us all. Well, what a thing to
say to the prophet. Even Jehoram, the wicked
king, was filled with discouragement and he injected
that discouragement into the atmosphere. You
have division. You have an angry prophet. You
have discouragement in the atmosphere. Do you
think it's conducive to prophesy? It is not.
It's not conducive for God to move in that atmosphere.
And can I tell you that sometimes in your home,
you have the wrong atmosphere. You believe in
God for a miracle, but your home is filled with
discouragement. And your home is filled with
division. You can't quit arguing amongst yourself.
And you're expecting God to move? Elisha couldn't
even make anything happen in that atmosphere,
but he knew he was called upon to prophesy. And
so after he says that to King Jehoram, I wouldn't
even look at you. In verse 15, he says this,
but bring me now a minstrel musician. It's powerful,
friends. Why did Elisha do that? He didn't always
do that, but he did it here. Why? Because the
atmosphere needed to be changed. And I love this
musician. I cannot wait to meet this musician
in heaven. I do not know his or her name. Probably
a male in this time frame. I do not know his
name. We're not told his name. We don't even
really know what instrument he played. Maybe
a harp. Maybe some kind of lyre or flute or whatever.
Did this musician sing or not? We don't know.
But the musician showed up. And in that atmosphere,
the musician began to do something. The musician
began to play. And we don't know how long the
musician played. We don't know how much time
it took. But when the musician came, it says,
then it happened. When the musician played, that
the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha. It was
when the musician played. And said, thus says
the Lord, make the valley full of ditches. And
he goes on and on and on about the strategy.
The strategy is released through the word of
the prophet. And that strategy was implemented
and Moab was defeated. Hallelujah. But why? Why
did Jehoshaphat win the battle? Why did the other
two kings participate in the victory? Because
a musician began to play. A musician began to
play. A musician began to play. When somebody
steps forward with the weapon, This weapon of
warfare. And they use it. The power of the enemy
comes down. What we find here, discouragement
leaves. Anybody been discouraged this week? Come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on. There they are. There's all the hands. You've
been discouraged. Do you know the remedy? The
remedy? You begin to step into the presence of
the Lord with worship. Discouragement cannot
stay in the atmosphere of the presence of the
Lord. And the atmosphere of the presence of the
Lord comes when we sing. When we sing, now here,
I'm not talking about just singing. You know,
you can sing along with the radio, you know,
whatever it's playing, secular music or whatever,
and that sound of singing is not the sound that
God inhabits. So I'm not saying that just any
type of singing. But this morning what I'm talking
about is the heartfelt, engaged singing as unto
the Lord. Amen? And Psalm 22 .3 says that's the
kind of singing of praise. that he inhabits.
Glory to God. I wonder, the prophets, you know,
most of the prophets are written in verse. Did
you notice that? That it is written just like
the Psalms are written. We know the Psalms are
meant to sing. And I wonder if many of the prophets
did not just give or orate their prophecies.
I wonder if they sang their prophecies. I don't
have any study that would back that up. I briefly
tried to find some, but I wonder. It's written
in verse. And did they accompany their prophecy
with song? The victory comes because a musician
begins to play. And Paul... tells us this. They
lived in a time of intense warfare, battle over
the church. You think that our lives are difficult?
I've come from some places where the gospel is
scarce. The gospel is scarce on my island. What
we experience is not like what anybody else is
experiencing around the world. And Paul knew
that we would need encouragement. He said this,
Do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation,
but be filled with the Spirit. And then he defines
a part of being filled with the Spirit. And we
know from other places in the Scriptures about
speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit
and the different things, the different ways
that the Spirit operates. But Paul here, in talking
about being filled with the Spirit of the living
God, says speak to one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord. If you're going
to be filled with the Holy Spirit, there's going
to be something happen in your life. One of those
things is you are going to sing. Sing. Sing to
the Lord. Sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord.
Something unique is happening in this house.
Something unique has always been happening in
this house, but it's coming up to another level.
And I'm reminding you about singing because there's
people like Saul coming into the house carrying
demons and trouble. I'm not saying they're possessed.
They might be, but they're badgered by demons
all week long. And they come into the house of
the Lord. Do you know what they don't need? They
don't need somebody that's just singing because
of religion. Do you know what they need? They
need an atmosphere. that is explosive with praise,
that is inhabited by the power and the presence
of the living God. Because people that have been
badgered with demons all week, that don't know
what to do about it, when they get in that atmosphere,
do you know what happens? They go, oh, it feels
so nice in here. And we don't want them to be
like Saul and just feel better for a moment.
We want to teach them and call people to repentance.
Because when they repent, they'll really be delivered
and not just feel better on Sunday morning. And
if that's your case, if you just feel better
on Sunday morning, and when you go back, you
don't feel so good, God is calling you to full
repentance so that you can be delivered and set
free. But the world needs a people that understand
worship. That when we worship the atmosphere,
Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual
psalms. Has your voice been diminished? Maybe
the enemies just kept you all along from that
part of your walk with God. Maybe that's a door
you've refused to open. I don't have a voice.
That's not my personality, Pastor. That's not
my personality. And that's a real question. That's
a real struggle, you know. I say that not in
jest. And if you've felt that way, The enemy
wants you to stay that way. The Lord wants to
help you in that and move you to a place of freedom
in singing. Hallelujah. Singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord. There's lots of places
to go here, but I want to conclude with a story
in Acts chapter 16. And Paul and Silas are in
prison. Others have already been killed. They've
been beaten and they're in stocks. And they're
going to be killed in the morning. Paul and Silas
are going to be martyred in the morning. And
Silas looks at Paul, says, Paul, this is the
end. It's been a good run. Are you feeling okay?
I'm hurting, Silas. I can't move my hands. They're
cramped up. My back. Well, what are we going
to do, Paul? And Paul looks at Silas and says,
why don't we sing? Why don't we sing? Oh, praise
the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his
name forevermore. For all my days, I will sing
God's praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Our God. Silas.
Silas, will you sing with me? Will you sing with
me? This is our last night on earth. Let's sing.
Because even now, he's worthy of our praise.
Let's sing. And Silas joined with him. Oh, praise
the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His
name forevermore. For endless days I will sing
God's praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God. Oh,
hallelujah. Hallelujah. My mother turned 80 this
year. And she told me at her birthday party,
she said, I can't sing like I used to. Anybody
experience that? Some of you laughing. You know
what the enemy would want my mother to do? Just
quit singing. Just quit singing. Who wants to
hear that anyway? But I want to tell you something
that God doesn't care whether you're eight or
whether you're 88 or anywhere in between. He's...
calling you to lift up your voice. And everybody
in the jail began to hear it. Everybody in the
jail began to hear the song that was being sung.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And they began to listen.
And they began to say, well, that's never happened
in this jail before. This place of misery. This
place where they give us nothing to eat except
to keep us alive. Whoever heard the sound of
singing and they listened in to their ear and
they began to hear Paul and Silas and they began
to sing with them, I believe. Are you pulling
that song up? Anastasia, play that one. Yeah,
play that one. I feel like God's going to set
some people free right now. Because the same
thing that happened then still happens today.
Because they begin to sing. And they begin to
lift up their voice. And the jail cell began
to shake. God sent angels. And the jail cell
began to shake. Hallelujah. And the stocks that
were holding their wrists, they began to break
open. Oh, glory to God. Glory to God. Hallelujah.
Oh, we give you praise, Lord. We give you praise.
Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. O praise
His name forevermore. For endless days we will
sing Your praise. O Lord, O Lord our God. Oh,
praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise
His name forevermore. For endless days we will
sing Your praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God.
Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh,
praise His name forevermore. For endless days
we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord
our God. now listen listen the stocks came off
of their wrists and feet the chains around the
other prisoners broke off and the doors flew
open and you would think that the prisoners would
just rush right out but i believe there's something
between the lines that happened That we don't
see in Acts chapter 16. But I believe it was
there. Because I believe in that moment. That
God gave a word to Paul. That said, Paul. Don't
go through the door yet. Stay where you are.
Stay where you are. Because in the atmosphere
of the presence of the Lord like that. The word.
he heard a word stay right here because there
was a jailer and the jailer came running and
the jailer saw all the doors open and he thought
for sure the prisoners had escaped and he took
a sword to his to his throat and was about to
kill himself but paul yelled from the prison
We are all here. And that day, the jailer and
all of his family came to Christ, was baptized,
brought the prisoners out, and washed their feet.
Somebody give God praise. Glory to God. Why was
that jailer saved? Why was his household baptized?
Because somebody began Somebody began to lift
up their voice. When we sing, the atmosphere
changes. Shackles break off of people. And lives
are never the same again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Glory to God. Oh, praise the name of the Lord
our King. Praise the name of the Lord our God.
Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless
days we will sing God's praise. Oh, Lord, our
Lord, our Lord. Now I want to do one thing this
morning because some of you need to respond.
You have felt diminished and you have felt the
enemy waging war on your soul. And this is not
about condemnation like you've done something
wrong because that happens to all of us. But
this morning what we want to do is we want to
be the voice of God. And we want to sing this
song of deliverance over you. And so I would
like you to step out of your seat and come down
to the front. If you've been in that place of
warfare, of difficulty, of trial, and you haven't
had breakthrough, come on, come on, come on.
We're going to sing over you this morning, this
morning. God, would you just speak to people?
They know they should be down here at the altar
right now. God, would you just speak to people
to step out right now because shackles are going
to break. In the name of Jesus, we thank you,
Father, for moving powerfully in this place.
In Jesus' name. Hallelujah, Lord. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Oh, we give you glory, God. We give you glory,
God. We give you glory. We give you glory. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We praise your name.
We praise your name. God is doing something right
now. God is doing something right now. We thank
you, Father. We thank you, Father. We give you
glory, God. We give you glory, God. Oh, my God.
Here we go. Oh, praise the... Come on, sing it,
sing it. One more time. Oh, praise the name of
the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore.
For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh,
Lord. Does this mean, Pastor, that I will always
see with my eyes the blessing? Does this mean
that if I'll just sing that nothing bad will
ever happen? Does this mean that life will be
roses from here on out? I want you to hear the
song of Habakkuk. The fig is not blossoming.
There's no fruit on the vine. The olive crop
failed. And we have no food. My flocks are gone.
The hurts can't be heard. That's how he started
his song. Yet, I will sing anyway. I will rejoice
anyway. I will practice joy in the Lord my God.
The Lord God is my strength. He will make my
feet like the deer's feet. He will make me walk
on high hills. That's what Habakkuk sang. Sometimes
you sing Habakkuk's song. That's just the way
life is. But you sing. The devil wanted to keep
Habakkuk quiet. The devil did not want this song
to be put in the Bible. But Habakkuk said, no,
it doesn't matter. I don't understand why my
enemies look blessed and why Israel looks defeated.
I don't understand why people that don't serve
God get all the good things in life. while my
life stinks. But it doesn't matter. The devil
is not going to have my song. And so, Lord, I
just lift up this church to you. I lift up everybody
standing here, everybody listening at home. I
just ask in Jesus' name that the song of the
Lord would be in their hearts and in their minds
and in their mouths. And God, I pray that you
would put a melody, you'd put a melody in our
hearts. I pray, God, that even as Pastor Ben
sent me another song that God had given to him,
A sound from this house heard nowhere else in
the world. I pray that you will release that
into this house over and over and over and over
again. I pray that the song of the Lord would
come forth. God, I pray that we would hear you
singing over your people. Give us ears to hear
what you are saying. In Jesus' mighty name. Hallelujah.
Can we give the Lord praise? Give the Lord praise.
Give the Lord praise.