1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Praise for his goodness and mercy. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,000 Hallelujah if you have your Bibles. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,920 Be turning with me to the book of Romans the eighth chapter, Romans eight. 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,000 Thank you so much for being in the house of the Lord today. 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:26,080 I'm praying the Lord continues to meet us and greets us with his wonderful, wonderful 6 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:27,080 presence. 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,160 Thank you for visiting, thank you so much for choosing to be at the Hopewell Church 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:32,160 of God. 9 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:40,040 There are so, so many choices in Cleveland and Bradley County, but you selected the best 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:41,040 today. 11 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,040 Amen. 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,040 You're here with us. 13 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:49,960 You're not going to find any better folk than what you find sitting and standing around 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:50,960 you today. 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:51,960 Amen. 16 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,000 So thank you for being here with us. 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,960 A lot to pray about this morning. 18 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,640 A couple requests we're going to pray about before I read the text and just some names 19 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,000 to put in your mind. 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Remember Sister Jessica Wingate's sister Mandy, who was in a horrific motorcycle accident 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:21,000 earlier this week, broken and broken up, cracked up, shattered up, but thank God, waking up. 22 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:22,000 Amen. 23 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,080 Sister Jessica sent me an update just a few moments ago. 24 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,440 She's had, it's either five surgeries in three days. 25 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,000 I think that's exactly what it was. 26 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,720 She had five surgeries in three days. 27 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,520 Yesterday was a long day, a ten hour surgery. 28 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,640 So remember her that the Lord continue to strengthen her heart and life. 29 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:43,640 Amen. 30 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:51,680 Got a call yesterday concerning a dear friend of mine who was tragically killed in a tractor 31 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:52,680 accident. 32 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:58,440 His grandson called me, so remember the Hill family. 33 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:05,880 They live up around the Colman area, or Coalfield, not Colman, up around Coalfield. 34 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:06,880 Remember them and your prayers. 35 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:07,880 And I know there are others. 36 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:08,880 My mind's a fog right now. 37 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:15,880 I feel the presence of the Lord in such a, such a special and unique way. 38 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,920 I can even remember what the announcements were earlier. 39 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:24,040 So you need, you need to check with your bulletin and make sure you got it. 40 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,360 I'm just excited about what the Lord has for us this morning. 41 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:29,360 Amen. 42 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:37,120 With that, look at Romans chapter eight, very familiar chapter that we like to read from. 43 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,880 It's a great resource in times of hardship and trouble. 44 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,040 Beginning at verse 31. 45 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:53,400 What shall we then say to these things if God before us, who can be against us? 46 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,440 He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. 47 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:05,840 How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 48 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:11,360 What shall or who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? 49 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,920 It is God that justifies. 50 00:03:14,920 --> 00:03:17,760 Who is he that condemn it is Christ that died. 51 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:18,760 Yay. 52 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:20,520 Rather that is risen again. 53 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:28,360 Who is even at the right hand of God who also make an intercession for us. 54 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,680 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 55 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:38,300 Shall tribulation distress persecution or famine nakedness or peril or sword as it is written 56 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:39,840 for thy sake. 57 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,100 We are killed all the day long. 58 00:03:43,100 --> 00:03:47,720 We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 59 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:48,980 They and all these things. 60 00:03:48,980 --> 00:03:54,280 We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 61 00:03:54,280 --> 00:04:00,740 Where I'm persuaded that neither death nor life angels, principalities, powers, things 62 00:04:00,740 --> 00:04:08,560 present or things to come height, dip, nor any other creature shall be able to separate 63 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:15,920 us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord for the next little while. 64 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,720 However, long the Lord sees fit to touch me. 65 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:29,960 I want to preach on this thought focused and faithful, focused and faithful. 66 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:31,080 Father, we love you. 67 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,040 We thank you for your goodness and your mercy and your grace and the abundance of your love, 68 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:39,800 your help and your hope that you extend toward us every single day. 69 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,160 Now Lord, as your word is anointed, I asked that you would stir that unction that anointing 70 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,000 that you place upon our life. 71 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,480 Lord, that spirit that causes it to be easy to preach. 72 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:56,640 Let that be in this house today that we may preach what edifies builds up, lifts up, encourages, 73 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,520 sustains the body of Christ. 74 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:07,240 But that also which glorifies you that we lift our eyes to you in our time of need, 75 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,880 knowing that you are faithful. 76 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,000 Do you be praised forever in Christ's lovely name? 77 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,800 Touch our family members, touch the church, touch those who are in need this morning, 78 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:23,120 those requests and petitions we brought to you today and many others that were not uttered, 79 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,720 but yet are as serious. 80 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,640 We ask God you move upon every need in Christ's name. 81 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,640 The church says, amen. 82 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:44,200 As your neighbor, are you focused and are you faithful? 83 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:52,480 Something I think we must take a good hold of and not take for granted is that the will 84 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:58,760 of God for the life of every believer is to live a victorious life. 85 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:02,000 Not a trouble free life, not a problem free life. 86 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,760 Don't, don't ever get those mixed up, but a victorious life. 87 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,960 You can be victorious and still have trouble. 88 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:18,440 You can be victorious and chaos still rain around you and you can still be victorious. 89 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:24,840 It's the will of God for the mind of every believer to understand that victory is our 90 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:31,600 starting point and victory is your finishing point. 91 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:38,200 But for us here in the flesh while we're living it and walking it out, we have to figure out 92 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:44,080 how we're going to cope and how we're going to maintain when it seems as though victory 93 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,600 is being delayed. 94 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:57,160 But when it seems a long time in coming, we, we have to determine how we're going to respond. 95 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:07,160 How do we say and stay secure in our faith during those long waiting periods? 96 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:16,920 It's important that we take in fact the reality that for sure we began in victory. 97 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:21,640 Victory was one and secured at Calvary. 98 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:27,160 The price was paid at Calvary and the security came on the third day when the stone was rolled 99 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,760 away and Christ arose from the dead. 100 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,900 That's the assurity and the security of your victory. 101 00:07:34,900 --> 00:07:41,320 The price, the debt was covered at Calvary, but the assurance and the security came on 102 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,080 the third day when Christ arose. 103 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,160 If Christ be not risen, then our faith is in vain. 104 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,040 But thanks be unto God, Christ is risen. 105 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:51,040 Hallelujah. 106 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:52,840 Christ is risen. 107 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:57,560 Therefore, being victorious over death, hell and the grave and every other obstacle that 108 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:05,760 presented itself, that same victory has been assured to you and I. 109 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:10,160 One man put it this way, there's a few things in life that are certain. 110 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,440 One is death and paying taxes. 111 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:21,320 But we all know tax evaders who still haven't paid. 112 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:25,560 But one debt they will not escape will be that of death. 113 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,960 For it is appointed unto man once to die and then to face the judgment. 114 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:36,600 So they better settle up on earth before they have to settle up in eternity. 115 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:42,100 You can be certain that trouble also and trial will find its way to you, to your dwelling, 116 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:44,720 to your home, to your family. 117 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:50,520 Job put it this way in 14 and one, man born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. 118 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:57,840 Jesus himself declared in 1633 at John's gospel, in the world you shall have tribulation. 119 00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:59,920 But that doesn't mean that he stops there. 120 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:04,520 He said, but be of good cheer for I've overcome the world. 121 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:10,720 And hallelujah, by his overcoming, you and I have become overcomers as well. 122 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:12,880 Amen? 123 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:18,960 The scripture declares it rains on the just and unjust, but know this, the scripture instructs 124 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:23,480 that the just shall live by faith. 125 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:29,640 It's faith to faith, grace to grace and glory to glory. 126 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:34,400 It was explained to me this way one time, this faith to faith is like the waves of the 127 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,560 ocean that keep coming in. 128 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:38,360 It's faith on top of faith. 129 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:40,240 It's faith that overlaps faith. 130 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:41,940 It's grace that overlaps grace. 131 00:09:41,940 --> 00:09:45,800 It's glory that overlaps glory and there's no ending of it. 132 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:46,800 Hallelujah. 133 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:47,920 There's no ending of his grace. 134 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:49,500 There's no ending of his glory. 135 00:09:49,500 --> 00:09:51,840 It just keeps coming in with the waves. 136 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,600 And what I'm looking for is a tidal wave of faith. 137 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,120 I'm longing for a tidal wave of his grace. 138 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:02,800 I'm longing for a tidal wave of his glory because it's day by day and the just shall 139 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,920 live by faith. 140 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:13,120 Understand that success, succeeding or failing during a time of trial depends on our reactions 141 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,320 to the trials that we are going through. 142 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:21,800 I don't believe for a moment that our lives hinge on the circumstances that surround our 143 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:29,640 life and the circumstances that we face, but more so on how we respond to the circumstances 144 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,360 and the things that surround our life. 145 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,900 That determines the joy and the level of my life. 146 00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:40,520 It determines the happiness that I encounter in spirits in my life. 147 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:46,600 It's how I look to God and look through the crisis and circumstances that are coming against 148 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:52,680 me that the victory that I have in him is not overwhelmed, but it is sustained by that 149 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:59,040 faith, by that same grace and enabled by that same glory that accompanies in my heart and 150 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:00,520 in my life daily. 151 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:04,960 It is a measurable experience for the child of God. 152 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:06,760 It is measurable for you. 153 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:12,300 It's how you determine the circumstances and how they affect your life, how you and I allow 154 00:11:12,300 --> 00:11:15,880 what is coming on in the chaos of the world. 155 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,280 It's how we allow them to affect us. 156 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,300 It's not the effect they have on us. 157 00:11:20,300 --> 00:11:25,520 It's how we allow them to affect us because you have to know that greater is he that's 158 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,240 in you than he that is in this world. 159 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:33,280 You have to know as we've read tonight, this very morning in the scripture, if God be for 160 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:35,760 you, then who can be against you? 161 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:40,760 Paul writing to this church at Rome, encouraging them in the dilemma of life, letting them 162 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,320 know that nothing can separate them from the love of God. 163 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:49,080 The persecution that may come upon them, those who may hate them and those who may harm their 164 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:50,080 physical body. 165 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:54,280 None of these things are able to separate them from the love of God and the love of 166 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:55,280 Christ. 167 00:11:55,280 --> 00:12:01,640 And we've got to understand the circumstances that are arising in our life have no effect 168 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,920 on the bearing of our soul other than what we allow them to affect our soul. 169 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:12,300 It's either you stand in the assurance of the faith that you have in him and the confidence 170 00:12:12,300 --> 00:12:17,880 of his grace that extends towards you and the hope that you have in his glory that enables 171 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:25,680 you to stand, resolve, resolute, unmoved, my God, and established in your faith because 172 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:29,780 the child of God knows that the lion goes about roaring. 173 00:12:29,780 --> 00:12:36,240 And if the lion is permitted to devour your body, he cannot devour your soul because your 174 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:42,560 soul is entrusted in the goodness of God's grace and in the power of God's love towards 175 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:43,560 you and I. 176 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:58,480 My Lord, it's our response, your response. 177 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:06,840 So when we are waiting for God to move, when we are waiting for that grace to enter our 178 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:13,440 lives, when we are waiting on that glory to show up and to illuminate in the darkest moments 179 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:18,440 that we feel like we've ever encountered, how do we wait on God? 180 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,320 What do we do if God hasn't moved as of yet? 181 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,000 We just keep on waiting. 182 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,280 We just keep on waiting. 183 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:34,240 We wait just a little longer because we know our help is on the way, because we know that 184 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:40,400 God has declared that he would never leave us and he will never forsake us. 185 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,320 And so we wait. 186 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:43,560 We wait patiently. 187 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:45,140 We wait diligently. 188 00:13:45,140 --> 00:13:46,600 We wait hopefully. 189 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,280 We wait righteously. 190 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:54,040 We wait diligently for the grace that is to be extended toward us and makes its way. 191 00:13:54,040 --> 00:14:00,480 We find ourselves as Daniels when he prayed and 21 days later, still no answer, but in 192 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:07,480 the afternoon on the 21st day, the angel of the Lord shows up who had been delayed. 193 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:09,120 Somebody needs to hear this morning. 194 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:15,080 A delay in your answer is not a denial of the said answer that has already been dispatched 195 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:16,160 in your direction. 196 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:23,000 So how do we wait? 197 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,720 In the waiting, we have to let our light shine. 198 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,800 Hallelujah. 199 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:35,920 In the waiting, we must let our light shine. 200 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:42,640 Let our light shine before men so that they may know, that they may understand that there 201 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,000 is hope in hopeless situations. 202 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:51,040 So what I do is I illuminate the grace that has been extended to me. 203 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,840 I let my life shine with that grace. 204 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:59,360 I let those around me in the darkest point and the darkest moment of my life, I let them 205 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:07,360 see that it is the glory of God that illuminates my soul as a luminescence of a lightning bug 206 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,360 as he lights up the night. 207 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:10,880 It may be a beacon. 208 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:11,880 Hallelujah. 209 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:16,480 It's the light of the glorious God's grace that is moving in your heart and life that 210 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:18,040 others may see. 211 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:23,120 So we illuminate and we radiate the glory of God and the help of God and the peace of 212 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:31,400 God and the hope of God that is in our lives so that others see and know we let our light 213 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,400 shine. 214 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:42,480 The Psalmist said in 52 and 9, I will praise thee forever because thou hast done it. 215 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,680 Hallelujah. 216 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:54,120 He has done it and I will wait on thy name for it is good before thy saints. 217 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:59,160 The Psalmist said, Lord, you've already done it and all I'm simply doing is waiting for 218 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,320 the fulfillment of it in my life. 219 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,680 And so I wait patiently on the Lord. 220 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:05,680 Why? 221 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,400 Because the Lord has heard my cry. 222 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:13,360 Because the eyes of the Lord go to and fro and the ear of the Lord has ever turned earthward 223 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:17,680 that he hears the plea and the cry of his children. 224 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,240 So what do we do? 225 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:21,000 We remain faithful. 226 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,080 What do we do? 227 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:28,040 We remain focused, focused on letting the light shine in your heart and let it illuminate 228 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:34,020 so others around you and the dilemma and the crisis and the chaos of their situations and 229 00:16:34,020 --> 00:16:36,080 circumstances that arise. 230 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:37,520 They know what we walk through. 231 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:39,320 They know what we go through. 232 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,120 But what they don't know is the hope that we have. 233 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,400 Many don't have the hope that you have and the help that you receive. 234 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:51,480 Many don't understand that grace is on its way, another wave of grace to enable you and 235 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,440 strengthen you in your weakest moment. 236 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:58,080 They don't understand God's glory showing up in your midnight hour. 237 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,920 They don't understand that it's faith to faith and he increases your faith. 238 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:04,760 Oh, my Lord. 239 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:06,680 So we illuminate. 240 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:12,080 We light up the darkness that is around us with the hope that we have. 241 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:18,400 Oh, my Lord, I will praise you forever because you have done it. 242 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,200 And I'll glorify your name. 243 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,400 I'll wait on your name. 244 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,780 Who are we waiting on? 245 00:17:27,780 --> 00:17:32,600 Maybe it's Jehovah Jireh. 246 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:36,660 Maybe you're waiting for Jehovah Shalom to show up. 247 00:17:36,660 --> 00:17:40,000 Maybe you're waiting on peace to enter into your dilemma. 248 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:41,600 Hallelujah. 249 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:45,360 Maybe you're waiting for that one who sees and provides. 250 00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:55,120 I don't know, but his name is worth waiting for. 251 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:56,480 He is Jehovah Rapha. 252 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,520 He is Jehovah Rohe. 253 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:02,600 And on and on and on and on and on. 254 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:08,400 So while I'm waiting patiently for his name to be revealed because his name has revealed 255 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:14,760 his character, his names, those, I mean, I mean, you got to you got to know that peace 256 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,120 comes in when Gideon declares it. 257 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:21,880 When Gideon says, Oh, my Lord, Jehovah Shalom has showed up. 258 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:22,880 Why? 259 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,800 Because we got a man threshing wheat near the wine press. 260 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:30,960 We got a man who understood who he was and where he ranked in society. 261 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:36,220 We got a man who was of the least tribe and of least reputation, but also dispatched with 262 00:18:36,220 --> 00:18:38,320 a divine appointment from the Lord. 263 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,080 The Lord told him, you are a mighty man of valor. 264 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,840 Oh, Gideon, you are a mighty man. 265 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:49,040 And I can see him looking around saying, who are you talking to? 266 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:50,760 I know who I am. 267 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,160 You know who you are. 268 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,880 But what you don't realize is your full potential. 269 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,680 When there's been a dispatch from glory that's come down to your life, what you don't know 270 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:05,240 is the full potential of his grace on your life and the full potential of his glory that's 271 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:14,120 about to set upon you. 272 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:15,120 Talking about nightlight. 273 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:21,320 So Gideon was a good one. 274 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:25,320 Had 20 some odd thousand in his army to start with. 275 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:29,640 That looks like a good number to you're going up a hundred thousand. 276 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:39,720 Then you end up with 300. 277 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,600 And the 300 you got didn't have enough sense to cup their hand and drink. 278 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,760 They just laid flat down and licked the water. 279 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:50,520 They lapped looking. 280 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:57,560 And then the night watch, you've been dispatched to the mountain surrounding in 100 bands, 281 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:03,040 three surrounding a hundred thousand. 282 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:13,440 But you've received instruction to light up the night. 283 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:19,040 We're receiving some instruction this morning to light up our night. 284 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,520 Focused and faithful. 285 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:28,360 And told the other two dispatches, when you hear my trumpet sound and when you see our 286 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:35,440 light come out into the darkness, you do likewise and you start blowing and you break those 287 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,440 pitchers and let's let our light shine. 288 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:43,720 And when they sounded the Trump, I'm here to tell you when they lifted up the Trump 289 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:48,800 and they let the light shine and the light illuminated the darkness, when the trumpet 290 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,360 sounded the enemy was disconfited because God got all in it. 291 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:58,240 I'm here to tell somebody, let your light shine in the darkest night. 292 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:00,040 Let your horn sound. 293 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:05,640 Let your voice raise an anthem. 294 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:06,640 Illuminate. 295 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:12,640 85,000 were defeated that night. 296 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:13,640 This isn't even part of my message. 297 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,960 This is a rabbit trail and I can't get off of it. 298 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:22,200 So I'm going to run it until it holds up. 299 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:23,200 That's the way rabbits do. 300 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:29,680 They run until they get tired of running and they'll hit a hole. 301 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:30,680 They've fought all night. 302 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:32,400 They've sounded trumpets all night. 303 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,920 They've watched the enemy defeat themselves all night. 304 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:43,560 But 15,000 escaped and Gideon wasn't satisfied. 305 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,440 For what he do, he set out on their trail. 306 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:48,720 They marched all night. 307 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:54,440 They crossed the Jordan River in the night. 308 00:21:54,440 --> 00:22:00,920 They came out on the other side and judges eight and four said they were, they were still 309 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,800 pursuing, but it was their condition of pursuit. 310 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,880 They were faint yet in pursuit. 311 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,920 They were struggling to still be going. 312 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,360 They were, they were dragging along to keep going. 313 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:19,480 They were exhausted, but they were still in pursuit. 314 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:20,480 What are you saying? 315 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:21,480 Pastor? 316 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,160 I'm saying some of you are exhausted. 317 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,960 The battle's been long and you're waiting patiently on the Lord. 318 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:32,040 But I'm telling you, clap your thunderous voice and let the heavens hear your praise. 319 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,480 I'm telling you, let the light that's in you shine and illuminate the darknesses that are 320 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:43,040 around you so that you will let the enemy know that you are victorious in spite of the 321 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,040 midnight. 322 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,080 Hebrews 13, five and six, four. 323 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:54,560 He has said, I will never leave the north for safety so that we may boldly say the Lord 324 00:22:54,560 --> 00:23:01,280 is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do to me. 325 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:09,120 Can you boldly declare that the Lord is your helper? 326 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:17,960 What the writer is saying here is that the immutable, unchangeable God has made a proclamation 327 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,120 and the affirmation of that proclamation is this. 328 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:27,120 It gives you an eye of the boldness that we need to illuminate the darkness that is around 329 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:36,000 us because God is faithful so we must remain focused on the faithfulness of God. 330 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,760 If we remain focused on the faithfulness of God, we'll hear these words. 331 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,560 What shall we then say to these things? 332 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,640 If God be for us, then who can be against us? 333 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:52,560 He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, he shall not with him also 334 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,160 freely give us all things. 335 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:56,960 What shall separate us? 336 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:02,040 Then from the love of Christ, when you begin to understand that there's nothing that can 337 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:09,320 separate you from Christ's abundant love and his abundant grace towards you, I know what 338 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:10,320 it feels like. 339 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:11,720 I know what it feels like. 340 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:17,160 I know what it seems like, but you got to know in your knower and become like Paul for 341 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,760 I am persuaded. 342 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:26,120 It takes a persuasion to illuminate the night with the voice of your trumpet. 343 00:24:26,120 --> 00:24:35,000 And the light that shines, you radiate and we radiate as we get closer to God. 344 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,000 God said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. 345 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,880 Empowers you and I to say, I'm not afraid. 346 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:47,600 And when we think about that, something else you need to know how to stay focused and faithful 347 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:52,720 is remember this, that God is never silent. 348 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,360 He's never silent. 349 00:24:55,360 --> 00:25:01,760 Sometimes in our place we get frustrated when we pray for a week, two weeks, three weeks, 350 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,880 we get frustrated about something and when we don't see any results that we think we 351 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:14,080 need to see you and I, when we pray, we have a measurable scale. 352 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:20,160 We have a measurable scale in our prayer life as we pray of what we need to see by the time 353 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,800 we need to see it to know that God is heard and God is answering. 354 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:30,480 Well let me just tell you, you can throw your scale out the window. 355 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,840 He knows your scale and he's not going to function by mind your scale. 356 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,120 He's got his own scale. 357 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:39,200 He got his own good time. 358 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,200 Amen. 359 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,000 And that's how he's going to work and that's how he's going to operate. 360 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:47,400 And we have to understand that we need some of us, we have to see action and movement 361 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,320 at all times to maintain resolve and to keep on praying. 362 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:57,160 If we don't see anything move or anything, well I'm just going to quit. 363 00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:58,920 God hasn't heard me, God doesn't care. 364 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,960 The devil sits right up on your shoulder. 365 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:05,800 He'll send a little imp to whisper these negatives into your mind and before you know it you 366 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:11,280 begin to believe what the devil has to say about your relationship with God. 367 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:13,280 How pitiful are we? 368 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:22,080 I feel a little boldness coming up now. 369 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,080 Paul said who? 370 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:27,040 Who shall separate us? 371 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,240 What can separate us? 372 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:31,240 Distress. 373 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:35,040 You've heard his testimony about distress. 374 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,760 He'd been left in the ocean, he'd been left in the sea, wave, toss, three days and nights 375 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:40,760 he was there. 376 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,960 He'd been stone left for dead. 377 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,680 He'd been beaten three occasions. 378 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:51,560 Whipped, been thrown in prison all for preaching the gospel, all for laying hands on and rebuking 379 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,040 demons out of damsels. 380 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:54,040 Hallelujah. 381 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,260 All because of doing good for the glory. 382 00:26:56,260 --> 00:27:02,480 You and I have not had one indication or inclination toward that kind of persecution. 383 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,560 So I think it's time we suck it up and we get over it. 384 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:07,320 We pull our bottom lip up. 385 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,240 I shouldn't have said that but I did, it came out anyway. 386 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:11,580 But we got to do that. 387 00:27:11,580 --> 00:27:13,160 We got to get our resolve. 388 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:19,160 We got to do what Joe was told, get up, stand up, gird up, get ready to run. 389 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:24,200 My God, it's time we understand that none of these things that are coming against us 390 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:27,560 are able to separate us from the love of God. 391 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:31,280 Even though you're not hearing nothing, you're seeing nothing, doesn't mean God is not up 392 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:32,280 to something. 393 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:38,320 God is always up to something. 394 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,800 He's busy while we sleep. 395 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:47,240 He's at work in the midnight hours. 396 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,300 Psalm 121, three through five, he will not suffer your foot to be moved. 397 00:27:51,300 --> 00:27:53,600 He that keepeth thee will not slumber. 398 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,640 Behold, he that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 399 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,040 The Lord, the Lord is thy keeper. 400 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,200 The Lord is the shade upon your right hand. 401 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,520 This is the God we're talking about. 402 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:17,600 The God who moves outside of our vision and occupies himself with tasks beyond our comprehension. 403 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:23,900 We had a marvelous deep discussion Wednesday about the Trinity of God. 404 00:28:23,900 --> 00:28:27,480 It's boundless, it's bottomless, and we're never going to figure it out. 405 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,880 We just have to keep on believing that the Father and the Son and the spirits at work 406 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:37,480 doing great things in our hearts and in our lives, orchestrating everything that is before 407 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:43,400 us, but can we even begin to comprehend what God is doing on any given day in any given 408 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,000 moment? 409 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,520 His eyes peer into what we can't see. 410 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:58,320 His hands skillfully shape what we can only fumble around with. 411 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:04,040 God's not like Pastor Waters with a Rubik's Cube with the universe. 412 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:05,760 Don't hand me a Rubik's Cube. 413 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:11,160 I've never gotten over one side. 414 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,600 And the frustration of it all is meaningless to me anyway. 415 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:26,560 It's not going to affect me or the world or eternity if I get two sides. 416 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:32,840 There are too many other things in life to frustrate me so I don't even fool with a Rubik's 417 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,600 Cube. 418 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:40,280 God bless those who have been given the talent to do it with their feet. 419 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,520 Hallelujah. 420 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:48,280 There are out there who in the world has time to sit around with a stupid Rubik's Cube and 421 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:53,560 try to do it with your feet. 422 00:29:53,560 --> 00:30:00,520 I'm not afforded the luxury of that kind of time. 423 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:09,720 But I assure you this, God is not fumbling with the universe and the intricate details 424 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:10,880 of your life either. 425 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,080 He's not fumbling. 426 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:18,360 No, I'm doing all of this and about... 427 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:26,040 If it was round, let's hit it with a bat. 428 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:31,960 There are some things in life we occupy ourselves with for hours on end that have absolutely 429 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:33,440 no benefit. 430 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:35,920 Well, it's a mind game. 431 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,920 I've got other things working my mind. 432 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,680 It's working. 433 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:47,160 Trust me. 434 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:56,160 I'm trying to figure out the airflow, the space that I need on my next smoker. 435 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:59,920 Where do I need to put the baffle plate to make sure it draws correctly to get the right 436 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:03,360 amount of smoke and the right amount of heat to cook that brisket? 437 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:11,160 Who needs a Rubik's Cube to work your mind? 438 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,840 Priority. 439 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:22,520 God is not fumbling over the details of your life like he don't know what to do next. 440 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,840 He's not just twisting trying to hope he gets it right. 441 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:30,520 He's not just doing this and saying, whoop, now I still got a blue one on the yellow side. 442 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,880 Tell me how that works. 443 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,840 One discolored square. 444 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:44,100 Now, that's what my life would look like if I kept fooling with it. 445 00:31:44,100 --> 00:31:51,200 But God, in your life, the steps are ordered. 446 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,920 They're not just thrown out with a hope and a wish. 447 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:56,660 God is in charge. 448 00:31:56,660 --> 00:32:01,320 This is the God who reaches and thinks and plans and shapes and watches and controls 449 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:06,920 and feels and acts while we're unconscious under the sheets and our comforters, he is 450 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:11,840 orchestrating our lives daily. 451 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:18,080 Don't forget the idea that God is off attending to some black hole somewhere. 452 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:23,160 Never think that he's fussing over the hydrogen molecules in some distant galaxy. 453 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:24,520 He's already done that. 454 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:30,200 It's already done. 455 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:35,600 They are what they are by his design. 456 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:40,520 So he's not somewhere just gone on vacation. 457 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:44,680 While you and I feel alone, he's never silent. 458 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:49,160 His word eternally speaks into our existence. 459 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:57,320 Tribulation, nakedness, sword, peril, none of these things can separate us. 460 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,800 So never forget that God is at work. 461 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:06,240 When it comes to your and my life, he never stops observing. 462 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:07,660 He never stops seeing. 463 00:33:07,660 --> 00:33:09,380 He never stops directing. 464 00:33:09,380 --> 00:33:10,880 He never stops guarding. 465 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,720 He never stops planning. 466 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,360 God is at work. 467 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:24,960 How we stay focused is knowing that God is never silent. 468 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:33,320 There's two sides to reality and you and I can only perceive one. 469 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,400 God exists in the other. 470 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:43,320 And I know we'd like to see over there, but I really don't know if we would. 471 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:49,300 Because I don't know what he's already stayed off by his hand that the enemy wanted to do 472 00:33:49,300 --> 00:33:52,280 in my life. 473 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:57,060 And I don't need to see any more than I already see on this side. 474 00:33:57,060 --> 00:34:02,080 You and I don't know what he's doing in the realm of spiritual possibilities and reality. 475 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,280 All we see is the reality of the finite. 476 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:08,600 We can't understand the reality of the infinite and what God is doing. 477 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:10,120 His ways are higher. 478 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:17,360 His ways are past finding out and he's never silent. 479 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,720 He works in every circumstance. 480 00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:25,200 He's already worked in every circumstance. 481 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:31,120 He provides you and I promises throughout his word. 482 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:38,640 Some have estimated over 30,000 promises in the word of God. 483 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:41,680 30,000. 484 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:48,000 If I can just wrap my little mind around one or two of them and hold onto them, that encourages 485 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,520 my faith. 486 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,140 30,000. 487 00:34:53,140 --> 00:34:58,600 His word is rich. 488 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:08,000 Makes me stay focused because he is faithful and his promises remain true. 489 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,080 God's word is field. 490 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,560 They relate to our problems in life. 491 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:20,640 But if the enemy against our soul can cause us to forget those promises, he will claim 492 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:27,360 victory over us because we surrender it. 493 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:33,160 But the promise in 43 Isaiah 2 says, when you pass through the waters, I'll be with 494 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:36,520 you. 495 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:41,960 Through the rivers, they will not overflow you and when you walk through the fire, you'll 496 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,000 not be burned. 497 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:49,120 Neither will the flames kindle up against you. 498 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:55,240 I hope I don't stand still long enough for them to kindle up. 499 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:57,440 We have his promise. 500 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:02,800 Second Peter 2 14, whereby we are giving exceeding great and precious promises that by these 501 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,280 you might be partakers of the divine nature. 502 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,720 Understand this, that a promise is only as good as the one who makes it. 503 00:36:09,720 --> 00:36:10,720 Right? 504 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:15,820 A promise is only as good as the one who makes it. 505 00:36:15,820 --> 00:36:19,320 There's a promise for our dilemma. 506 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:25,880 There's a promise for your problem. 507 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:31,520 Financially the promise is this, Philippians 4.10, but my God shall supply all of your 508 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:38,120 need according to his riches by Christ Jesus. 509 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:50,640 I told you the other day, the young and the old, but never forsaken, never begging. 510 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:53,160 He's the one who provides for us. 511 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:59,600 Promise for those of us who are sick, Exodus 15 26 declares, I am the Lord that healeth 512 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:06,160 thee and by his stripes you were healed. 513 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:11,440 We were confused, Proverbs 3 and 6 says in all of our ways acknowledge him. 514 00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:16,560 When fear grips our heart, know this, he that dwells in the secret place of the most high 515 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:24,120 shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 516 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:28,120 The psalmist said, what time I am afraid. 517 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:33,680 There are times when the enemy seems large, doesn't he? 518 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:38,680 But the Lord is on your side. 519 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:48,800 Understand we have not been given the spirit of fear, but of power and of love. 520 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,920 Sound mind. 521 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,400 The promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. 522 00:37:54,400 --> 00:38:00,080 If depression overwhelms you with that darkness, remember Psalm 121, in one I will lift up 523 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,600 mine eyes into the hills. 524 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:12,680 For whence cometh my help, my help comes from the Lord. 525 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:17,360 When we feel lonely, Matthew 28 and 20, when he declared that he is with us always, even 526 00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:22,320 to the end of the age. 527 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:29,200 When we sin, when we mess up and give in to temptation and we sin and the devil says we're 528 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:35,440 done, there's a promise for that. 529 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:43,200 If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse 530 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:48,520 us from all unrighteousness. 531 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,200 What a promise. 532 00:38:52,200 --> 00:39:03,400 So in order to remain focused, I have to illuminate, I gotta let my light shine. 533 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:08,240 In order to remain faithful, I have to know that God is not silent. 534 00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:16,400 He has already spoken into my dilemma. 535 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:24,040 I have to remain faithful in trusting him as I'm focused on his promises and what thus 536 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:27,680 saith the Lord. 537 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:34,760 And to know that when the enemy comes in to attack my humanity as it did Christ in the 538 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:44,720 wilderness, our response can be, get behind me for it is written. 539 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,240 It is written. 540 00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:51,800 It is written. 541 00:39:51,800 --> 00:40:04,840 It's already recorded what God will do concerning your and my circumstance. 542 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:13,360 And don't get in a hurry when he's not doing it as fast as you want it done. 543 00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:22,480 It may just cause the delay to be a little longer until we get the right frame of mind. 544 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,480 Know that God is faithful. 545 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:35,160 Instead, I'm gonna close on this and how we stay focused and faithful is we don't rely 546 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:39,840 on our own efforts and on our own merit. 547 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:45,120 We rely on God's power. 548 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:52,440 Isaiah 40, 29 declares that he gives power to the faint, to the struggling, to the failed, 549 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:54,600 to the exhausted. 550 00:40:54,600 --> 00:41:07,000 He gives power to them that have no mind and he increases their strength. 551 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,320 Man's finite ability. 552 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:20,400 We cannot cope with the issues and dilemmas of our day and our own strength. 553 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:25,200 Listen to what Paul told Timothy in that first letter, fourth chapter, verse 17. 554 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:31,880 16, he said, at my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. 555 00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:38,400 And I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. 556 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:45,360 Notwithstanding that, the Lord stood with me. 557 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:48,920 Everybody had forsaken Paul, left him there by himself all alone. 558 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:56,280 He said, I hope God doesn't hold it against him. 559 00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:04,120 Notwithstanding though, the Lord stood by my side, look, though the world forsake you, 560 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:09,280 as long as the Lord's on your side, you're gonna win. 561 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:14,400 Said he stood with me and he strengthened me that by me, the preaching might be fully 562 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:19,040 known and that all the Gentiles might hear. 563 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:24,280 And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 564 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:31,240 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly 565 00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:38,040 kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. 566 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:40,440 Amen. 567 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:45,200 What a way to look at your circumstance. 568 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,080 What a way to see your dilemma. 569 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:48,200 Everybody else has left me. 570 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,360 I'm here by myself. 571 00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:57,660 But the Lord stood with me. 572 00:42:57,660 --> 00:43:01,840 You may feel like you're standing all alone, but you're not. 573 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:09,480 You may not see anyone else praying with you, praying for you, but know this, the Lord is 574 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:17,200 standing by your side. 575 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:24,080 rely on his great grace, first Peter five, 10, possible Peter put it this way, the God 576 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:29,840 of all grace who had called us under his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. 577 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:40,800 After you've suffered a while, make you perfect, established strength and settled you. 578 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:45,600 Some things here the Lord's gonna do that word perfect. 579 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:48,040 The Greek is catered. 580 00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:50,480 Means to make an adjustment and to put in order. 581 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:55,840 I mean, there have been to a chiropractor. 582 00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:59,240 Now as a kid, I used to watch my dad. 583 00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:00,920 He had a bad back. 584 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:02,480 I'd ride with him. 585 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:10,700 I see my dad literally on a cane with two hands, walk between his legs into that office. 586 00:44:10,700 --> 00:44:15,880 Not but the 20 minutes later come out twirling the cane. 587 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:16,880 It amazed me. 588 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:17,880 I was just a young kid. 589 00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:22,040 I thought, and I know he was hurting cause he had them dad tears. 590 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:23,040 You know what I'm saying? 591 00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:30,560 He's in pain, but when he'd come out twirling, he got an adjustment. 592 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:39,200 You may be like that right now spiritually, but you're about to enter into a place. 593 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,680 There's some cataritzo about to happen to you. 594 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:43,000 There's some perfecting. 595 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:47,000 There's an alignment about to happen to you. 596 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:48,160 He said, stablish. 597 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,760 He's going to stablish. 598 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:53,240 That's where we get our word, Steve, street. 599 00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:57,240 So we get our word steroid from it. 600 00:44:57,240 --> 00:45:02,080 I'm not looking at a medium in the house cause I know these gentlemen work hard to get what 601 00:45:02,080 --> 00:45:09,120 they got, but you know what we need from time to time in our family. 602 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:16,400 Our faith, we need a boost. 603 00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:18,120 There's good steroids and bad steroids. 604 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:21,580 Y'all know that for you need people. 605 00:45:21,580 --> 00:45:28,000 They run that needle about yay long in there and give you a watch shot, steroid shot. 606 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,720 It strengthens you, doesn't it? 607 00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:39,080 It helps you for a little while to make strong, to turn resolutely in a certain direction. 608 00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:40,360 Stablish. 609 00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:45,480 He said, strengthen to bind together, no wavering or falling apart. 610 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:48,480 Hold it together. 611 00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:50,480 He's going to help you hold it together. 612 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:54,360 You ever felt like you're about to fly apart? 613 00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:59,680 I'm alone. 614 00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:06,440 I felt like I'm about to lose it sometimes and he has to strengthen me. 615 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:07,640 He has to empower me. 616 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,000 I have to get a little strength. 617 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:19,960 I have to get a little steroid of faith boost. 618 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:24,240 Then he's going to settle you. 619 00:46:24,240 --> 00:46:28,640 He's going to grounds you. 620 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:34,880 Going to put you firmly on a foundation. 621 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:39,560 How do I stay focused and faithful? 622 00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:50,800 I get a tune up most of the time from the neck up. 623 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:52,680 You know, it's my mind that fails me. 624 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:55,560 My body's falling apart, but it's my mind that fails me. 625 00:46:55,560 --> 00:47:00,000 That's really, I'm trying to pack on as much as I can. 626 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,520 One of these days, I know it's going to deteriorate. 627 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,080 I want to last as long as I can. 628 00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:10,880 I try to do that way with faith. 629 00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:23,120 I try to pack on as much as I can because I know it's not if, but when. 630 00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:26,200 It's not if, but it's when. 631 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,480 When am I going to need a booster? 632 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:35,000 When am I going to need an alignment? 633 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:36,000 When am I going to need strength? 634 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:39,400 And when am I going to need put on a firm foundation? 635 00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:41,440 When am I going to feel like the psalmist? 636 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:51,320 When he said he picked me up out of the miry clay and he put me up on a rock, settled me. 637 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:59,200 You ever feel like life's just like quicksand? 638 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,760 I mean you're struggling, but you just keep getting deeper in. 639 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:09,440 And the more effort you put out, it seems as though the worse it gets. 640 00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:20,040 Well, for those in the quagmire of life with me, he's going to make it better. 641 00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:30,560 We just got to stay focused and remain faithful because I know this concerning you and I, 642 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:36,640 he is focused and he is abundantly faithful. 643 00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:50,160 Father, I love you today.