1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Give him good praise in his house. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,960 Hallelujah. Are you desperate for him to be with him? 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:13,760 Be in his presence. 4 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,840 He's a great god. 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,920 If you have your bibles be turned with me to Genesis 26. 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,920 Thank you so much for being in the house of the Lord today. 7 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:33,920 If you are visiting with us, 8 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:39,920 you've just stepped into an assignment. 9 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:45,920 I don't believe in accidents, I don't believe in luck, 10 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,920 I believe in divine providence. 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,920 I believe in a god that knows how to get me to where I need to be. 12 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:55,920 To get to me what I need to have. 13 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,920 And so this day has been assigned for a long, long time. 14 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:05,920 And you're here. 15 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:07,920 So thank you so much for being with us. 16 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:09,920 Again, if you are visiting before you leave today, 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:13,920 out those doors to my left at the welcome center, 18 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:17,920 we'll have some folks waiting for you, 19 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:23,920 to let you know how much we appreciate your being here with us today. 20 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:25,920 There are, I don't know the count, 21 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,920 but probably 75 to 100 other churches in Bradley County 22 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:31,920 you could have been at this morning. 23 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,920 And so I do not take it lightly that you are at Hopewell. 24 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:37,920 Thank you so much for coming. 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,920 Genesis 26, we'll begin reading at verse 1, 26 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,920 and then verse 12 through 14. 27 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,920 And there was a famine in the land beside the first famine 28 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:54,920 that was in the days of Abraham. 29 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:00,920 And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. 30 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:03,920 And the Lord appeared unto him, and he said, 31 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,920 Go not down unto Egypt, but dwell in the land which I shall tell thee all. 32 00:02:10,920 --> 00:02:16,920 So join in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. 33 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:22,920 For unto you and to your seed I will give all these countries, 34 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:27,920 and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father. 35 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:31,920 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, 36 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:34,920 and will give unto thy seed all these countries. 37 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:40,920 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 38 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,920 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, 39 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,920 my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 40 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:52,920 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 41 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:54,920 Verse 12. 42 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:58,920 Then Isaac sowed in that land and received in the same year, 43 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:01,920 and hundredfold. 44 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:04,920 And the Lord blessed him. 45 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:10,920 And the man waxed great, and he went forward, and he grew until he became very great. 46 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:17,920 For he had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, great store of servants. 47 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,920 And I like this last little sentence here. 48 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:25,920 And the Philistines envied him. 49 00:03:25,920 --> 00:03:26,920 Huh? 50 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:30,920 And the Philistines envied him. 51 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:31,920 Take that, devil. 52 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:33,920 Amen. 53 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:36,920 I want to speak to you with the help of the Lord for the next hour or so. 54 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,920 No, I'm just kidding. 55 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:46,920 For the next little bit on the thought, right place, right time. 56 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,920 Right place, right time. 57 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:50,920 Father, I love you. 58 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:52,920 I thank you for your goodness and your mercy. 59 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,920 I pray your blessings upon the household of faith. 60 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,920 Lord, I jest with the hour, but if it's your will, so be it. 61 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:04,920 I pray, Father, that we are here to receive what the Spirit would say to the Church. 62 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:09,920 So speak to our hearts as we have open hearts, we have ears that are open to hear, 63 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:14,920 so that we would hear as the Spirit speaks to the Church. 64 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,920 We glorify you, we praise you, and I thank you for every person in this room. 65 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,920 Let your richest blessings be upon each. 66 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:24,920 To you be praised forever. 67 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:25,920 In Christ's lovely name. 68 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,920 And the Church said, Amen and Amen. 69 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:37,920 Tell your neighbor you're at the right place at the right time. 70 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:49,920 There is a, to use a word, there's a plethora of goodness in this 26th chapter. 71 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:50,920 What's that mean? 72 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:52,920 There's a whole lot of good stuff in there. 73 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,920 A lot of good stuff that we're not going to have time to cover. 74 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:01,920 The reason we've skipped, because between verse 7 and 11, 75 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:10,920 there's a whole other event, an incident taking place that deserves its own time frame. 76 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,920 But as we're here this morning, I think about the summer. 77 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:15,920 It's starting to get hot. 78 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:16,920 It's finally getting here, isn't it? 79 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,920 It's late July, but that old Tennessee summer is starting to show up. 80 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,920 Heat index the other day of 101, 102. 81 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,920 Not as hot as other places in the world, but I tell you what, 82 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:36,920 I would take, I would take Las Vegas 105 over hour 95 with 95% humidity. 83 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:38,920 They don't know what hot is. 84 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,920 They don't know hot until it's sticky to you. 85 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,920 I've been out in California 105 degrees, and I thought, well, this ain't that bad. 86 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,920 105, give me 80. 87 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,920 Well, you know what I'm talking about. 88 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,920 Isaac is coming on the scene. 89 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:00,920 Isaac had a miraculous birth. 90 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,920 Isaac had a miraculous deliverance as God would have his father take him 91 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,920 to the mountaintop to offer him as a sacrifice. 92 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:13,920 Isaac has two sons that are struggling, and the struggle will not be over 93 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,920 for yet quite some time. 94 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:21,920 Time is coming along and moving very rapidly. 95 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:27,920 Isaac to be the second patriarch of the people of Israel. 96 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:32,920 But Isaac now has found himself in a time of famine. 97 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:33,920 You know what famine is? 98 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,920 It's, it's dread, it's drought, it's, it's despondence. 99 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,920 The land is not producing hunger. 100 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:44,920 Disease is beginning to spread. 101 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:50,920 And notice it's an example to that at the time of his father, Abraham. 102 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:57,920 Abraham sojourned and he went down into Egypt because Egypt is on the bank of the Nile. 103 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:03,920 So in his own mind, he's thinking he's going to follow in his father's footsteps. 104 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,920 We're in famine, so we're going to where there's plenty. 105 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:14,920 As he's making his journey and beginning to set himself to go toward Egypt, 106 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:19,920 the Lord appears unto him and he says, go not down to Egypt, 107 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,920 but dwell in the land which I tell you. 108 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:28,920 When we think about famine, this trouble, this difficulty, hardship and trials, 109 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,920 understand that in times of famine, everyone is tested. 110 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:42,920 For this, it's not a question of will hard times come, but how we will respond when they do show up. 111 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:49,920 You and I, we cannot control what comes and goes in our life to a great degree. 112 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:57,920 But how we respond to what does enter into our life will determine whether we go forward or backward 113 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,920 in our faith and relationship with God. 114 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:06,920 Growth is the product of active resistance. 115 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,920 If we never experience resistance in our life, we will never grow. 116 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:18,920 If you never experience resistance to your faith, your faith will never grow. 117 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:19,920 What are you talking about, pastor? 118 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,920 I'm talking about if the enemy never comes against you, 119 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,920 then you won't know that God is greater in you than he that is in this world. 120 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:32,920 And so your faith will not grow in the fact that God is the victor. 121 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,920 And by virtue of God being the victor, you are his. 122 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,920 And so therefore, you become the victor. 123 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:45,920 But if you never have the devil come against you, then you'll never know that your faith is enough. 124 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,920 It's not just that we have faith in faith, but yet we have faith in God. 125 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,920 And my faith in God is enough because there's nothing. 126 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:56,920 We've sung it to the heavens today. 127 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,920 There's nothing too hard for him. 128 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:00,920 There's nothing that he cannot perform. 129 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,920 There's no deed that he can't bring to pass. 130 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:10,920 So that means there's nothing going on in your life that he cannot be God over. 131 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,920 So if we never experience resistance, we will never grow. 132 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:21,920 We do not determine growth by what we avoid in life, 133 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,920 but what we overcome in life. 134 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:34,920 Now, I don't know why, but I'm starting to notice a trend. 135 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:43,920 When we first arrived here four and a half years ago, there was one muscle man in the church, Brother Randy Standup. 136 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:45,920 I mean, he's pretty good size, fellow. 137 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,920 He's armed by the size of my leg. 138 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,920 And so he's practicing resistance. 139 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:58,920 But I've noticed there's a few more resistors starting to show up. 140 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,920 Brother Ryan, stand up. 141 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:04,920 Brother Michael, go ahead and stand up. 142 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,920 You're a resistor. 143 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:12,920 Brother Sean, you two boys might as well just stand on up over there. 144 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:14,920 Yeah, stand on up. 145 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:16,920 You're a resistor. 146 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:17,920 Brother, you're a resistor. 147 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,920 See, there's some active resistance going on. 148 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:23,920 Muscles do not grow without resistance. 149 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:24,920 Y'all can sit down now. 150 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:27,920 I've done my spectacle out of you. 151 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:28,920 I would have some. 152 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:36,920 Brother, oh boys, he wears a big coat, so his resistance doesn't show as much. 153 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,920 But he's a resistor, too. 154 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:48,920 You can tell I'm not a resistor because I eat everything that gets in front of me. 155 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:56,920 Muscles only grow through pressure, not just pressure, but resistance against pressure. 156 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:02,920 When they get on that bench press and 200 pounds, whatever they decide to work out with, 157 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:07,920 that gravity force begins to put pressure. 158 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:14,920 And the resistance against that pressure of their arms and their back muscles and all that triceps, 159 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,920 biceps and all this begin to resist the pressure that's coming down on them. 160 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:19,920 Are you with me? 161 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:26,920 So they've been resisting pretty good because you can tell by the growth of the pressure 162 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:29,920 and resistance that's been going on. 163 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:34,920 They're doing it more than just once a week. 164 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,920 It's once a day, three, four times a week. 165 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:40,920 They're in active resistance against pressure. 166 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:45,920 They put themselves in position to be in resistance. 167 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,920 I'm not going to put myself in that position. 168 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,920 That's pretty obvious, isn't it? 169 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:58,920 But without challenges and tests to our faith, it would be impossible to measure growth. 170 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,920 They have measurements with their workouts. 171 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,920 They have things that they try to achieve and goals that they set out before them. 172 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:11,920 And it takes active resistance against a certain amount of pressure to reach them. 173 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:16,920 Can I tell you in the life of faith, there isn't a resistance that comes against you. 174 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:17,920 Amen. 175 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:19,920 There is a pressure that's in your life. 176 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:25,920 And the amount of resistance you put against it, it causes your faith to begin to grow. 177 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,920 And it begins to excel so much so that it's noticeable. 178 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:50,920 You can't be around these guys without noticing it because they wear these medium shirts. 179 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,920 All you fat brethren, stand up and shout with me. 180 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,920 Hey. 181 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:04,920 You don't see one of us with a medium on. 182 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:09,920 Hey, baby, it's two X or none. 183 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:11,920 How I'm going to preach now, I don't know. 184 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,920 It's a good thing this brother got saved before I got started. 185 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,920 I guess the Lord knew. 186 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:24,920 Right place at the right time. 187 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:26,920 Oh, Lord. 188 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:38,920 They don't. They're larges. 189 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,920 You know, God's got to have a sense of humor. 190 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:42,920 He really does. 191 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:45,920 He calls somebody like me and puts me up here in front of y'all. 192 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,920 He's got to have a sense of humor. 193 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:55,920 Without challenges, I may have a challenge when I get out of here to outrun them all. 194 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:01,920 Without challenges and tests, it would be impossible to measure growth. 195 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:03,920 Trouble does one of two things in our life. 196 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,920 Famine will do one of two things in your life. 197 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:12,920 It'll either make us more sensitive to and more aware of our weakness and our dependence upon God 198 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,920 or to make you dull and insensitive and self-absorbent. 199 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:19,920 It will cause you to withdraw. 200 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,920 It'll cause you to pull away. 201 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,920 It'll cause you to get up off the bench if it's too much to resist it. 202 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:37,920 But I'm here to tell us this morning there is a right place and a right time so that the help that you need to show up at the time of resistance when pressures coming against you, 203 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:42,920 that'll help you to resist and push the trouble away. 204 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,920 There is a positioning for us and that positioning. 205 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,920 These brethren do this because of a passion that they have. 206 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:57,920 They have a passion for help and they have a passion for strength and they push themselves to that point to be what they are. 207 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:02,920 I don't have that type of passion. My passions are directed in other directions and at other things. 208 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,920 My passions go a different way. 209 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:12,920 But our faith all has to be, it has to be passionate toward God and nothing else. 210 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,920 Your faith cannot be diverted like we all have. 211 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:22,920 I walked out into the parking lot this morning and I told someone, I said there's probably not another church in town that their parking lot looks like ours. 212 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,920 There's two boats and a honey wagon in our parking lot this morning. 213 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,920 If that ain't a real church, I don't know where else you need to go. 214 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,920 Hello? Two boats and a honey wagon. 215 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,920 And it means that the people of God, whatever the necessities of life have come, 216 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:45,920 they put some things aside for a few moments that they may have their passions in alignment to the glory of God. 217 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,920 Oh, I'm going to go fishing, but I'm going after my soul is fed. 218 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,920 I'm going to go to work, but it's after my soul is fed. 219 00:15:52,920 --> 00:16:04,920 I'm aligning my passions so that my resistance against the pressure of life is honed and I have the strength that I need to overcome. 220 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,920 If famine, trial and tests bring us greater revelation of God, 221 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:14,920 then they have served a greater purpose and goal in our life of ease and comfort. 222 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,920 If they bring you closer, if famine gets you closer to God, 223 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:25,920 if trouble and trial and tests and these temptations that come against you cause you to grow closer to God, 224 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:32,920 then are they not more beneficial than a life of ease and comfort where there is no enemy coming to pursue you? 225 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,920 I'm telling you because of the enemy, my faith is strong. 226 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:39,920 Because of the enemy, my resistance against him prevails. 227 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,920 Because I know that he that is in me is greater than he that is in this world. 228 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:48,920 Because of the faith that I have in God, when the pressure of life comes on, 229 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,920 when trouble comes on, when drought comes on, when trial comes on, 230 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:57,920 I know I can lift up my eyes into the hills and know that whence my help comes from, 231 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,920 my help comes from the Lord who is the maker of the heavens and the earth. 232 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:07,920 I know that at that moment I can whisk myself away and dwell in the secret place of the most high 233 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:12,920 and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty and know that he is with me. 234 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,920 I have resisted. 235 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:22,920 Because of being at the right place at the right time. 236 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:31,920 The greatest revelation of your life is probably hidden in the greatest trial of your life. 237 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:38,920 The greatest revelation of your life, the revelation of knowing God and God revealing himself to you 238 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:43,920 is hidden in the moment of your greatest trial of life. 239 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:52,920 Because if you don't give up, he will prove himself mighty in your life. 240 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:59,920 And in order to do that, you have to put yourself at the right place and be there at the right time. 241 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:04,920 Happened that way for Isaac. Isaac knew if he could get to Egypt, everything was fine in Egypt. 242 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,920 There was water in Egypt. There's no famine in Egypt. 243 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,920 But something stopped him in his progress going toward Egypt. 244 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:16,920 We all know that Egypt is symbolic of the world and being out in sin and being out in the world. 245 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,920 And when we stop to understand this, think about Isaac going down to Egypt. 246 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:29,920 But I'm so grateful for a God who intervenes in our going because he appeared unto Isaac and said, 247 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,920 Do not go to Egypt. 248 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:34,920 But now you have a dilemma on your hand. 249 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,920 What are you going to do if you can't go to where relief is at? 250 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:45,920 Well, hear me. If God has given you a word, then you have to resist being driven by the famine. 251 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:50,920 Because if God has spoken something into your life, if he says dwell here, honey, 252 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,920 there is no river wide or deep to keep you in his grace. 253 00:18:54,920 --> 00:19:00,920 But if you stay even in a barren place where he has established your going, 254 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:09,920 he will meet you there and he will bless you there. 255 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:16,920 Greatest revelations of our life make their way through the greatest trials and tests of our life. 256 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,920 It's up to you and I to refuse to be famine driven. 257 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:30,920 You have to refuse. You have to resist the pressure to be driven by the famine. 258 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:35,920 Now, we have spiritual famines that come about in our lives, too. 259 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,920 There's been a famine for the word of God before. 260 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,920 A man across the land throughout the dark ages. 261 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,920 God seemingly was silent, but God wasn't silent. 262 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:52,920 God's never been silent. Why? Because he's always had a remnant. 263 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:57,920 Even throughout the dark ages. Amen. There were those. 264 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,920 We heard last week firsthand that there's a remnant in China, 265 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,920 even though communism is running rapid and lives are being taken day by day. 266 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:10,920 But yet there are millions, millions who have not bowed their knees. 267 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,920 There are millions who are the remnant. 268 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,920 It doesn't seem like the word of the Lord is going through China, 269 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:18,920 but there's an undercurrent. We heard it. 270 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:20,920 That underground church, there's a current. 271 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:26,920 There's a rushing raging river of the Spirit of God that's flowing beneath the surface in China. 272 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,920 And souls are being saved and lives are being changed. 273 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,920 Make your way down to Indonesia. There's a Pentecostal revival. 274 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,920 Hundreds of thousands are giving their hearts and lives to the Lord. 275 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,920 And the baptism of the Holy Ghost is being poured out. 276 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:41,920 It may look like there's a famine in this world, 277 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,920 but honey, there's cloudbursts all over the place. 278 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,920 And he's pouring out wherever he will. 279 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,920 Disciples in the midst of their storm, Paul and Silas in their prison. 280 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,920 It's these great moments of intense persecution, trouble, trial, 281 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,920 where you may have your greatest revelation. 282 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,920 You may feel like you're about to go under. 283 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,920 Hello, but come walking across the storm of your life. 284 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,920 He that is walking elevated above your problem, 285 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,920 he walks upon the tops of the highest wave of it, 286 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,920 and he makes his way to where you are, 287 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:22,920 and he can look into your life and declare, 288 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,920 Peace be still. My God, somebody needs to hear that today. 289 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,920 Life's upside down and the winds are raging, 290 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,920 but coming on the raging winds are the one who speaks to the winds. 291 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,920 It's he who is the King of glory, he who is the majesty of all eternity. 292 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,920 He's walking upon your situation and he's able to look at you and speak, 293 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,920 Peace be still. 294 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,920 It's in those moments that I need a revelation. 295 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:51,920 It's in those moments that I need to hear God, 296 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,920 but what do you do when it takes a little while for him to get there? 297 00:21:55,920 --> 00:22:00,920 Well, you stay there. Don't go anywhere. 298 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:05,920 Do you know what kind of faith it takes to pull off the next move 299 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:07,920 that Isaac pulled off? 300 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,920 He sowed in a time of famine. 301 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:14,920 Do you know what kind of faith it takes? 302 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:20,920 Because if nothing else, you can grind the seed and live a little while longer. 303 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,920 But I'm here to challenge somebody this morning, 304 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,920 don't be tempted to eat your seed, 305 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:27,920 because it's the seed of your faith. 306 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:30,920 Oh, my Lord, don't let the enemy consume 307 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,920 and take up the last ounce and the last drop. 308 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,920 Don't let him draw out of you the last trust that you have in God. 309 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,920 You're here this morning at the right place at the right time. 310 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,920 God wants you to know, just hang on. 311 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:44,920 It may take a little longer than expected, 312 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,920 but I've already spoken a word. 313 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,920 If you look at verses 2, 3, 4, and 5, 314 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,920 you hear God over and over and say, 315 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:57,920 I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. 316 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,920 My God, he's speaking and I will in your life this morning. 317 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:03,920 It may be famine where you're living, 318 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:10,920 but don't give up because he declares, I will. 319 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:16,920 So when you get your I will in the midst of your famine, 320 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,920 the midst of your drought, 321 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,920 as long as you stay where he told you to stay put, 322 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,920 you're at the right place. 323 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,920 Sojourn in this land, he said, I'll bless you. 324 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:35,920 Stay right here and I'll bless you. 325 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,920 Be a stranger. 326 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,920 It's only a temporary, a sojourner is just a temporary resident. 327 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,920 What's that mean? I'm only passing through. 328 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:53,920 I'm going to be here a little while, but not long enough to call it home. 329 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,920 Surely y'all ain't going to make me preach that. 330 00:23:57,920 --> 00:23:59,920 This old world is not my home. 331 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:04,920 I'm only passing through. 332 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,920 Oh, Lord, I can't feel at home in this world anymore. 333 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:13,920 Why? Because it's not your home for the child of God, for the regenerated sin 334 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:18,920 washed. 335 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:20,920 This isn't your home. 336 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,920 Because of that, you know where your home is. 337 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:31,920 And because of that, you can say, Oh, Lord, you know, I have no friend like you. 338 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:41,920 If heaven's not my home, dear Lord, what would I do? 339 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,920 You're just so joining through this land. 340 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:45,920 What is that supposed to mean? 341 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:50,920 Don't make permanent decisions based upon temporary circumstances and situations. 342 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:56,920 Don't make a decision that's going to alter the rest of your life over a temporary situation. 343 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,920 One of my favorite phrases of scripture is this too came to pass. 344 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:02,920 It shall come to pass. 345 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,920 Whatever you're dealing with, whatever you're going through. 346 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,920 Can I tell you that the famine ended up being over because God sent rain? 347 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:12,920 Can I tell you there's rain going to come into your life? 348 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,920 Your famine won't last forever. 349 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:16,920 There was a famine in Abraham's time. 350 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:17,920 There was a famine in Isaac's time. 351 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,920 And there were famines in Elijah's time. 352 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,920 So it wasn't over, but it was only a temporary circumstance. 353 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:29,920 There's some temporary circumstances going on in somebody's lives in this room this morning. 354 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:31,920 And you're about to make a life altering decision. 355 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:40,920 Hold on until you hear from the Lord. 356 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:46,920 Isaac sowed in that land in the time of famine. 357 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:54,920 Now doesn't it take faith to sow in a time of famine? 358 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,920 There's one thing I have learned over the years about sowing seed. 359 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,920 It takes water to make it grow. 360 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,920 Huh? 361 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,920 I don't know if it only rained on Isaac's field. 362 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:09,920 I don't know how it got wet. 363 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,920 I don't know if God watered it from the bottom up. 364 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,920 You know he can do that. 365 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,920 I don't know how he done it. 366 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,920 The how is not really the matter of the fact. 367 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,920 The fact is he did. 368 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,920 It might have rained just on his 20 acres. 369 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:28,920 I have no idea. 370 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,920 But the Bible clearly states that he reaped 100 fold. 371 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:35,920 He had a harvest. 372 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:43,920 My Lord, in a dust bowl circumstance, there's only one farmer getting wheat or barley. 373 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,920 And that was old Isaac. 374 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:46,920 Why? 375 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,920 Because the God of Abraham is his God also. 376 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:55,920 The God of Abraham has reaffirmed and reestablished his covenant with him. 377 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:56,920 I will. 378 00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:58,920 I will your seed. 379 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,920 I'm not talking about you wheat. 380 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:02,920 I'm not talking about you barley, Isaac. 381 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,920 I'm talking about humanity as the promise I made to you. 382 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,920 Daddy, I'm carrying it over to you because I'm not going to let you fail 383 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:15,920 so that the world may know that I am Jehovah, that I am God, 384 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:28,920 that even in the midst of the famine, by faith, the harvest comes. 385 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:30,920 He said, I'll bless thee. 386 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,920 He had no evidence. 387 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,920 Write this one down, sister. 388 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,920 Don't miss this one. 389 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:47,920 He had no evidence, but he had confidence because he received a word from the Lord. 390 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,920 He didn't have no evidence. 391 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:54,920 I guarantee you when the plow went in, the ground was still puffed up dry. 392 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:56,920 Huh? 393 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:01,920 When he busted up the clods, I guarantee you it was still dry. 394 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,920 I guarantee you the day that he went out and began to sow his seed, 395 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:10,920 there wasn't a cloud in the sky, not a cloud anywhere. 396 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,920 It may have been even a week before it rained or the earth got moistened 397 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,920 or the heavy dew fell to cause that seed to germinate. 398 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,920 I don't know how God did it, but all I know is this. 399 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,920 He did it because he reaped a harvest of 100 fold. 400 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:31,920 I don't know how much he planted, but whatever it was, he got 100 fold in return. 401 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,920 It doesn't matter if it was a handful. 402 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:36,920 It doesn't matter if it was a five-gallon bucket full. 403 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,920 It doesn't matter if it's a transfer truckload. 404 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,920 He got 100 times whatever he put on the field 405 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,920 because he was a man who believed and trusted in God. 406 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:49,920 He didn't have the evidence, but he had all the confidence in the world 407 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,920 that the God of Abraham was going to be his God as well, 408 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,920 and he was going to fulfill his word to him. 409 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,920 My God, you need to hear it today. 410 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,920 If he said it, he'll perform it. 411 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:10,920 As long as you remain at the right place. 412 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:20,920 Over the years, you can imagine over 30 years of ministry, 413 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:27,920 I've heard about every leaving story that you could be told. 414 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,920 Somehow they all end up getting back on the Lord, 415 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:35,920 and if somebody tells me the Lord is sending me, I say, God bless you. 416 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,920 But if you start to do a little investigation, I say, well, where is he sending you? 417 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:41,920 Well, I don't really know. 418 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,920 But then there's an alarm that starts going off with me. 419 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:51,920 I've never known God to be puzzled about where he wants to go to church. 420 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,920 I've never known God to be standing around scratching his head 421 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,920 where he's going to show up next Sunday. 422 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,920 So I just got enough faith in God that if he's got direction for you, 423 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,920 he's going to tell you before he tells you to go 424 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:14,920 because he wouldn't want you wandering about without a shepherd. 425 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,920 Oh, he wouldn't want you just sitting out there. 426 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:18,920 I don't. 427 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,920 He's going to direct you where before he releases you to go. 428 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:32,920 I won't stop right there because that bus will really shake. 429 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,920 He had no evidence. 430 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,920 Verse six, and Isaac dwelt in the word. 431 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,920 That's exactly where God told him to stay. 432 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,920 The word garar means lodging place. 433 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,920 It also means combat. 434 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,920 He told him to stay in a difficult place. 435 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:58,920 Can I tell you, God may have you put up your tent in a difficult place sometimes 436 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:03,920 and not let you leave. 437 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:10,920 I've had a few tents pitched over the years. 438 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:16,920 When I thought it was pulling up peg time, he did. 439 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,920 He wouldn't let me pull the peg until it was peg pulling time. 440 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,920 How many of you just understood what I said? 441 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,920 Do I need to explain that for some of the rest of you? 442 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:32,920 In other words, God wouldn't let me leave until he said it was time to leave. 443 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:33,920 It's a sojourn. 444 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,920 It may not be there forever, but you're going to be there until he says go. 445 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:39,920 That's the way it was with Isaac. 446 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,920 It wasn't a forever place. 447 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,920 It's a lodging place. 448 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,920 It says for us that God can bless us anywhere. 449 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,920 God is not limited or governed by the economy. 450 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:57,920 Isaac reaped in that same year. 451 00:31:57,920 --> 00:31:59,920 That's the key to it. 452 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:03,920 It wasn't next year, it wasn't the year following, it wasn't three years down the road. 453 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,920 He reaped in that same year. 454 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,920 A hundredfold. 455 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,920 Can I tell you, God can bring his blessings to where you are? 456 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,920 Whether it's a nice place or not. 457 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:25,920 One just popped into my mind of, oh, Mephibosheth been in that place called Lodobar. 458 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,920 Anybody ever heard about Lodobar? 459 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:30,920 It's a wasteland. 460 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:31,920 It's a wasted place. 461 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:32,920 It means nothing. 462 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:34,920 There's nothing there. 463 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:38,920 And there's Mephibosheth in Lodobar. 464 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:43,920 But when God gets on your trail, when he gets ready to bless you, 465 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,920 he will dispatch the blessing to where you are. 466 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,920 It doesn't matter if it's Gerar, it doesn't matter if it's Lodobar, 467 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:52,920 it doesn't matter if it's Cleveland, Bradley, Mags County, 468 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:54,920 it doesn't matter where you are. 469 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,920 When God gets ready to bless you, he's going to direct his blessing 470 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,920 and it will find you there. 471 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:02,920 My Lord, we're going to preach on that in just a little while. 472 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,920 Many times we miss the harvest, we miss the blessing, we miss what God has, 473 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,920 we miss the word that will come to fulfillment for us 474 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,920 because we quit sowing in the times of famine. 475 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,920 My, my, do you realize when you're dry spiritually, 476 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,920 if you'll come in and start sowing a little praise, 477 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,920 there's a promise in Scripture that will be fulfilled into your life. 478 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:25,920 He will dwell in the praises of his people. 479 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,920 If you'll lift him up and you begin to praise him, 480 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,920 he will not leave you standing there glorifying him 481 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:33,920 without him showing up to where you are. 482 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:35,920 So don't tell me you haven't felt God. 483 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:37,920 Don't tell me you haven't been in his presence 484 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,920 because you're telling on yourself. 485 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,920 It tells me you've not been in his word, you've not been in prayer, 486 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,920 you've not been in praise, you've not been in worship 487 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:55,920 because you cannot go there without finding him there. 488 00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:02,920 There are times that you won't feel anything at church. 489 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,920 There are times that you may attend for weeks or months on end 490 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,920 and it seemed like everyone in your circumference 491 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:18,920 is just drenching with his glory and you leave out dry as a powder cake. 492 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:20,920 What are you going to do? 493 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,920 You're just going to go look for another place 494 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:28,920 without being sent, without being released? 495 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,920 I'll tell you what part of the problem in our modern day church is 496 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,920 we've got too many people seeking a worship experience 497 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,920 without a God encounter. 498 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:47,920 Let me tell you what that means. 499 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,920 Let me tell you my definition of that statement. 500 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:54,920 We want to go to the place that appeases our flesh. 501 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,920 I want to go to the place that the songs make me feel good, 502 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,920 that they got the lights set just right. 503 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,920 I want to go and they engage me in worship. 504 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:08,920 Well, I'm here to tell you right now. 505 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,920 Worship has nothing to do with you other than being a willing participant. 506 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:16,920 Worship is about him and him alone and it becomes idolatry 507 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:19,920 when you've got to feel good, when it's got to sound good to you, 508 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,920 when it's got to be the right note, the right key, the right genre, 509 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:25,920 when it's got to be just right for you. 510 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,920 It's no longer about him, it's about you. 511 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,920 We've got people running all over from door to door, place to place, 512 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:36,920 looking for an appeasement in worship without encountering the God 513 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:38,920 in whom they are to be worshipping. 514 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,920 Because the more I worship him, the lower I feel like I've got to get. 515 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,920 The more I praise him and the weight of his glory that moves in, 516 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:48,920 puts me at the right place at the right time. 517 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:50,920 It's not about us. 518 00:35:50,920 --> 00:36:10,920 We think it is, don't we? 519 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:11,920 Because we'll shut down. 520 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:15,920 I'll tell you something that irritates me to no end. 521 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:23,920 When I go to places and the singers are just bouncing all over the place. 522 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:27,920 I mean, they in it to win it, you know what I'm saying? 523 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,920 If it gets slow, they get low. 524 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:36,920 When the bread of life is broken, they're nowhere to be found. 525 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,920 Can't even buy an amen from them, but they want you hooping when they're hoping 526 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:41,920 and hopping when they're hopping. 527 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:48,920 But when you break the bread, they're gone, getting a drink of water. 528 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:59,920 I'm going to be real careful right here, but I'm going to tell you the truth. 529 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:03,920 If that's all you've got, I don't want what you've got. 530 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,920 I don't want you leading me anywhere. 531 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,920 Because if the word isn't the central focus part of your life, 532 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:17,920 your worship is empty and vain. 533 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:18,920 You won't get a lot. 534 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:25,920 That's a little golf clamp, but that's about all you can get for preaching like that. 535 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:26,920 I've seen it. 536 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:28,920 I've watched it. 537 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:34,920 When I see it, it irritates the life out of me. 538 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,920 David was a man of the word and worship. 539 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,920 I think you can do both. 540 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:47,920 But his desire for God outweighed his heart playing. 541 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:56,920 And at the right place, at the right time, so many of us, we forfeit the blessings, 542 00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:01,920 the eye wheels of God, because we begin to back up. 543 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:02,920 Back up in prayer. 544 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:03,920 We back up on the word. 545 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:06,920 We back up on our giving. 546 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:11,920 Back up on our confessions and needing his grace and glory. 547 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,920 So we begin to murmur. 548 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,920 The word murmur means to back up. 549 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:22,920 Many times at the point of our breakthroughs, we break down. 550 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:28,920 Because instead of praising and glorifying and magnifying God and demonstrating our faith in his promise, 551 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:35,920 we begin to murmur and doubt and become discouraged and we back up. 552 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:40,920 You'll be amazed to do a little word search on the word murmur and see how many times it's used through Scripture 553 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:45,920 and how many times the people of God murmured and backed up. 554 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:50,920 Murmured and backed up. 555 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:55,920 Instead of breaking through, they broke down. 556 00:38:55,920 --> 00:39:00,920 But you know, we serve a faithful God, don't we? 557 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:07,920 And we're going to sow, Pastor, because he always brought them back around to another point of breakthrough. 558 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:08,920 So why are you telling me that for? 559 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:14,920 I'm saying because if you've murmured and backed up, you're coming toward another breakthrough. 560 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:24,920 It's time to begin to sow so that you may reap. 561 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:26,920 Oh, it's already 12. 562 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,920 I just now got to my five points. 563 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:30,920 I'm going to give them to you. 564 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:31,920 You write them down real quick. 565 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,920 You ready? 566 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,920 Being in the right place at the right time. 567 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:41,920 Requirements for positioning yourself for blessing. 568 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,920 Number one is the right place. 569 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,920 Be where God tells you to be. 570 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:49,920 Geographically, spiritually, in any other way. 571 00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:51,920 Be where God tells you to be. 572 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:52,920 Obey his direction. 573 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:58,920 You must be where God has told you to be in order to get what he's promised to you to receive. 574 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,920 If you're not there, you're not going to get it. 575 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:04,920 First Kings 17, three and four. 576 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:09,920 Get the hints and turn the eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith. 577 00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:11,920 That is before Jordan. 578 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,920 And it shall be that you shall drink of the brook. 579 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:25,920 And listen, I have commanded the Ravens to feed you there. 580 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:31,920 Now, if he camped over at Mouse Creek, the Raven wasn't going to find him. 581 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:38,920 If Elijah went to Candy's Creek, set up, waiting on supper, he fasted that night. 582 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:39,920 Why? 583 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:42,920 Because it was not Cherith. 584 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,920 He commanded the Raven to go to Cherith. 585 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,920 He told the prophet to go to Cherith. 586 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:55,920 Animals got more sense in listening to God than most people do. 587 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:57,920 How do you know? 588 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:06,920 Well, he told a whale, a great fish, whatever you want to call it, go swallow that backslidden prophet of mine. 589 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:10,920 He just got thrown out of the boat. 590 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:12,920 What did the whale do? 591 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:20,920 He told Jonah. Did he not? 592 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:27,920 Do you realize that whale went around for two and a half, three days with a belly ache? 593 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:33,920 You swallow this obedient prophet and see what happens. 594 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:38,920 Then he hears the greatest voice again say, go speed him out on dry land. 595 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:43,920 My pleasure. 596 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,920 Guess where Jonah landed? 597 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:47,920 Dry ground. 598 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:48,920 Right? 599 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,920 What about the, what about old Balaam? 600 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,920 What about old Balaam? 601 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:59,920 I'm going to do the New American Standard version for you. 602 00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:02,920 He was riding his donkey. 603 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:08,920 He was riding his ass. 604 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:15,920 Indirect disobedience from God. 605 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:23,920 And the donkey, the donkey's got more sense than a backslidden prophet. 606 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,920 Cherish out of the way. 607 00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:28,920 Keeps him from getting killed. 608 00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:34,920 He can't see it because he's blinded. Right? 609 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:36,920 Goes a little further. 610 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:41,920 And here's an angel in the way with a sword and his donkey's not having that. 611 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:45,920 So he scrapes poor Balaam's foot on the wall. 612 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:48,920 He commences to beat the donkey. 613 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:53,920 And God opened the mouth of the donkey. 614 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:59,920 And the donkey preached a three-point sermon to a backslid prophet. 615 00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:03,920 The donkey. 616 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,920 Wouldn't you love to been there? 617 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:11,920 Have I ever failed you before? I can see Balaam like. 618 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,920 Have I ever run your foot against the wall before? 619 00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:16,920 Have I ever done that before? 620 00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,920 Could you not see that sword out there? 621 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:24,920 I tried to save you and here you are beating on me. 622 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,920 Oh, I'd have loved to heard that one. 623 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:32,920 The donkey. 624 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:37,920 A rooster. 625 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:38,920 Peter the cock's up. 626 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:45,920 Three times to you. You've denied me, son. 627 00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:47,920 First time he tried. I thought he made his point. 628 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:52,920 A little rougher. Third time he just flew into a cussing fit. 629 00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:56,920 You better go read it. 630 00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:58,920 I'm not one of them. 631 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:02,920 The old rooster crows on command. 632 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,920 Huh? 633 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:08,920 And at the right place at the right time. 634 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:11,920 The raven was told to go to Cherith. 635 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:13,920 Not any other place, not any other spot. 636 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:16,920 He was told to feed him at Cherith. 637 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,920 God has a commanded blessing looking for you. 638 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:22,920 It may have flown over your head a dozen times, 639 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:27,920 but it won't land on you until you're in position. 640 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:39,920 You won't bless. Get out of your back slidding condition. 641 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:44,920 Number two. Right time. 642 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:48,920 You have to have faith in God's word and in God's timing. 643 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:53,920 Well, when is the right time? When it shows up. 644 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:55,920 It won't be early. He won't send it early. 645 00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:58,920 It will never be late. 646 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:02,920 Don't you know he's an on-time God? Oh, yes, he is. 647 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,920 Huh? 648 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:12,920 In the fullness of time, Mary gave birth. 649 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,920 When the time was proper. 650 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:17,920 In other words, when it was time on God's calendar, 651 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:20,920 on his clock in the expanse of eternity, 652 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:26,920 when the moment arrived, not before, not after, 653 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:29,920 but the fullness of time. 654 00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:33,920 So what does that mean? You have to wait. 655 00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:37,920 And you have to wait patiently. 656 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:40,920 What happens if I have to wait a long time? 657 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:45,920 Well, the brook will dry up. 658 00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:49,920 Didn't Elijah's brook dry up? 659 00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:54,920 There come a day when there was no water to drink. 660 00:45:54,920 --> 00:46:01,920 But he stayed at the right place until he got a word in the right time. 661 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:03,920 Okay, now I want you to go to Zarephath, 662 00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:10,920 because over there I've commanded a widow woman to feed you there. 663 00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,920 Not Bethel. 664 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,920 Not Nazareth. 665 00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:21,920 Not Jordan. 666 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:28,920 Zarephath. That's where you've got to go. 667 00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:30,920 Ecclesiastes 3 and 1, 668 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:34,920 saying there is a season, a time to every purpose under the heaven. 669 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:40,920 You and I must believe that our harvest will come. 670 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:43,920 You have to believe that there is a time of his saving grace, 671 00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:51,920 his healing power, his delivering hand, and his provision. 672 00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:54,920 Galatians 6 and 9, part of our responsibility, 673 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:58,920 let us not grow weary in well-doing for induced season. 674 00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:03,920 We will reap if we think not. 675 00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,920 Stand and I'll finish these other two quickly. 676 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:10,920 Number three, you've got to have a right attitude. 677 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:12,920 That'll preach one. 678 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:16,920 Y'all glad I've run out of time. 679 00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:20,920 You must allow God the freedom to use whatever means 680 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:24,920 whereby he chooses to get the blessing to you. 681 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:29,920 You have to accept the method. 682 00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:35,920 He may plant you here and make you have to listen to me for a while. 683 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,920 Curling inhumane. 684 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:42,920 The right attitude. 685 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:46,920 Jesus healed by various methods. 686 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:48,920 Hear this. 687 00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:59,920 To reject the method that he used was to reject the on-time healing in the moment. 688 00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:08,920 He spits, make a mud ball, and is going to wipe it in the eyes of a blind man. 689 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:15,920 If the blind man heard him, and he comes toward him, he says, 690 00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:18,920 What are you doing? Well, I've made up some mud. 691 00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:23,920 Did you spit in that? 692 00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:24,920 Well, yes. 693 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:29,920 Well, you're not putting that on me. 694 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:37,920 To reject the method was to reject the healing. 695 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:43,920 I don't know what he's trying to get through to you, 696 00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:54,920 but if he's trying to get through to you, you've got to have the right attitude. 697 00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:57,920 Can you imagine Elijah turning down the food from the raven? 698 00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:02,920 The raven was a nasty bird. 699 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:05,920 It wasn't like a dove or something like that bringing him food. 700 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:10,920 It was an old raven. 701 00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:14,920 I know what would be in the back of my mind. 702 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:23,920 What carcass did he pull this off of? 703 00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:33,920 It's a scavenger, but in a time of famine, who can be too picky? 704 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:42,920 Folks are starving to death all around you. I'm talking about famine. 705 00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:46,920 Don't reject the method. Get the right attitude. 706 00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:50,920 Then there's the right action that follows the right attitude. 707 00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:57,920 You've got to be obedient. You've got to do what he says do, how he says to do it. 708 00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:03,920 What Mary says to those servants whatsoever he says unto you, do it. 709 00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:11,920 Naaman, go dip seven times. 710 00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:15,920 He said, well, that Jordan's a kind of nasty place. 711 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:18,920 There's some prettier water over across the hill. 712 00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:24,920 Well, you can go on over and dip all you want, but you're going to be a leper when you come out. 713 00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:28,920 If you won't heal, you dip seven times. 714 00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:33,920 Not five. Are you hearing me? 715 00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:37,920 It took seven. 716 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:43,920 What about the little widow woman? Borrow vessels, not a few. 717 00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:47,920 Get the pots. Go aggravate your neighbors. 718 00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:50,920 Get as many as you can get your hands on. 719 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:55,920 Remember, all you've got left is a little cruise of oil. 720 00:50:55,920 --> 00:51:00,920 And I want you to pour out of what you've got left. Are you hearing me this morning? 721 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:07,920 I want you to pour out of what you've got left until you run out of vessels. 722 00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:15,920 It's a supernatural resource that you have. 723 00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:19,920 Make those ditches. Dig your ditches. They were in the battle of their life. 724 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:22,920 Go out in the field there and dig a bunch of ditches. 725 00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:24,920 Well, why are we digging ditches? 726 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,920 See, that's where we are flesh and our humanity gets it. 727 00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:41,920 Well, why do you want me to dig a ditch? If God says dig a ditch, it doesn't matter why. 728 00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:46,920 God says go to Hopewell. It doesn't matter why. 729 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:52,920 You just go to Hopewell. You just get yourself there and you wait. 730 00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:58,920 You'll see when you dig the ditches, he fills them up with water. 731 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,920 And the glorious sunrise is on it. Beautiful. 732 00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:05,920 I can imagine as the warriors are looking, man, what a sunrise today. 733 00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:09,920 It could be our last day. This could be the last sunrise we ever see. 734 00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:12,920 And what a splendor it is. 735 00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:18,920 And it begins to shimmer and sheen on the water and it looked like puddles of blood. 736 00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:24,920 And the army flees at the sight. They never had a lift of hand. 737 00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:29,920 It takes the right action. You got time for one or two more? 738 00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:35,920 Fill the waterpots with water is what Jesus told them. 739 00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:37,920 He told Joshua to step into the Jordan. 740 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:45,920 You tell those priests that are bearing the ark to get out front and get in. 741 00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:49,920 Lord, that don't make no sense. 742 00:52:49,920 --> 00:52:53,920 How many times do we have to learn his ways are not our ways? 743 00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:58,920 His thoughts are not our thoughts. They're so much higher. 744 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:03,920 How many times do we have to hear that he'll take the foolish things and confound the wise? 745 00:53:03,920 --> 00:53:10,920 One of my favorites is the little fat bumblebee. 746 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:14,920 Aerodynamics is not in his favor. 747 00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:20,920 According to science, his little wings aren't big enough to carry his little body around. 748 00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:23,920 But do you know why the little bumblebee goes like this? 749 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:27,920 Because the Lord created the bumblebee to fly. 750 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:33,920 And that's why the bumblebee flies. 751 00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:36,920 Because he says so. 752 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:38,920 Here's a good one. 753 00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:42,920 Here's what I want you to do. 754 00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:50,920 Joshua, you tell them I want them to march around the city once a day for six days. 755 00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:54,920 Tell them not to say a word. 756 00:53:54,920 --> 00:54:00,920 Boy, if I had time to camp right there, we'd go all the way back to that little word murmur. 757 00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:02,920 And back up. 758 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:09,920 God had already had them back up once over some grasshopper comment. 759 00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:12,920 Forty years, he finally got them back. 760 00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:19,920 Finally got them across, and I said don't say a word, because y'all will ruin this. 761 00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:24,920 And on the last day, I want them to march seven times around. 762 00:54:24,920 --> 00:54:34,920 And when you get the seventh time around, I want the trumpeters to blow and the people to shout. 763 00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,920 And just watch what I do. 764 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:40,920 Right action. 765 00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:47,920 So right place, right time, right attitude, right action will lead you to the right response. 766 00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:51,920 And that right response is a response of praise. 767 00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:55,920 You have to praise him through. 768 00:54:55,920 --> 00:55:05,920 And you have to praise him as though you're experiencing the blessing now. 769 00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,920 Because he has promised it. 770 00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:12,920 And if he's promised it, it will come. 771 00:55:12,920 --> 00:55:13,920 When? 772 00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:15,920 At the right time. 773 00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,920 With us being in the right place. 774 00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:20,920 With the right attitude. 775 00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:22,920 With the right action. 776 00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:25,920 With the response. 777 00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:31,920 Prior to the promise. 778 00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:35,920 Praise tells God that you believe his word. 779 00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:39,920 You realize praise is the purest form of faith. 780 00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:49,920 Because we exalt God, we glorify God before God does anything. 781 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:56,920 Father, I love you this morning. 782 00:55:56,920 --> 00:55:59,920 You may be here this morning saying, well, the ground's too dry. 783 00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:02,920 It's too hot. I'm afraid. 784 00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:08,920 But in the same breath, you tell me that I know I've heard from God. 785 00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:15,920 You've heard God say, I'll be with you and I will bless you. 786 00:56:15,920 --> 00:56:24,920 I don't know. You may be here out of position this morning. 787 00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:29,920 God tells Isaac not to go to Egypt, that he was going to bless him right where he was at. 788 00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:34,920 In spite of the conditions, in spite of the circumstances. 789 00:56:34,920 --> 00:56:39,920 And in spite of his own desire. 790 00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:44,920 I'm going to bless you there. 791 00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:48,920 I need to know this morning. 792 00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:56,920 Are you at the right place and ready for the right time? 793 00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:59,920 I do know this by you being here today. The Lord has spoken a word. 794 00:56:59,920 --> 00:57:03,920 Man, I'm telling you, he dropped it in my heart. 795 00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:11,920 Some of you may be struggling in a dry season, in a time of famine. 796 00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:17,920 You haven't felt God seems like for quite some time. 797 00:57:17,920 --> 00:57:20,920 But he's not left you. 798 00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:25,920 Because his promise is he will not forsake you. 799 00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:28,920 That he'll be a friend that sticks closer. 800 00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:32,920 Closer than a brother. 801 00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:34,920 So pastor, I need to touch this morning. 802 00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:39,920 I need to get back in position and get ready for the right time. 803 00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:42,920 I need a little attitude adjustment. 804 00:57:42,920 --> 00:57:48,920 I need to let my faith be my action and my action be my faith. 805 00:57:48,920 --> 00:58:03,920 And my praise be prior to the promise.