1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,080 Welcome to Logan City Christian Church podcast where we bring God's Word to you weekly. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:17,480 We pray that what you hear will bring clarity to your situation and open doors in your life. 3 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:18,480 Enjoy the message. 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:19,480 May be seated. 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:20,480 Hallelujah. 6 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:21,480 Thank you. 7 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:22,480 Praise and worship team. 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:23,480 As usual, just do such a wonderful ministry. 9 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:33,440 The Lord and it's really, really wonderful. 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:38,840 You know when we're talking about Israel and invading armies that there's no army like 11 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:39,840 Israel in the world. 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:42,440 Do you know that? 13 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,560 None have ever been like this one. 14 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:54,000 Because as Trevor and I were speaking before that this army has God himself involved. 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,600 And I don't think any invading army has factored that into the equation. 16 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:07,640 And be rest and be in peace because the same God who defends Israel is the same God who 17 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:14,760 saved us and is the same God who delivers us and the same God who comforts us and the 18 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,760 same God that loves us and cares for us is the same God. 19 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,240 The same God. 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:21,240 Amen. 21 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:22,240 Praise the Lord. 22 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:27,800 Thank you, Dale, for the communion and Pastor Rowley last Sunday for the incredible word. 23 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:28,800 So encouraging. 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,800 It was just great. 25 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:37,440 And I believe Pete, last week, your communion dovetailed in as usual with the preacher and 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:38,880 it's just lovely to see. 27 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:41,160 It's just so wonderful. 28 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:50,600 Holy Spirit, I thank you for your presence here. 29 00:01:50,600 --> 00:02:02,040 And I just ask that you would move through me as we, in a sense, partner together to 30 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:11,400 share the incredible word of God, the life-changing word of God. 31 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:20,400 And Lord, I thank you for your presence here right now and the anointing to do what we're 32 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,120 called to do in the name of Jesus. 33 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,120 We said, amen. 34 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:26,120 Amen. 35 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:32,280 And you know, I'm fully aware that many of us, if not nearly all of us, if not all of 36 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:40,320 us, at some stage in recent times, or currently, are going through some challenges in life. 37 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,200 And the big word is life. 38 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,880 It's life. 39 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:48,040 Things happen. 40 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:53,640 And it's not trying to eliminate things happening. 41 00:02:53,640 --> 00:03:00,600 I mean, Apostle Paul tried three times, he prayed, Lord, that you would remove this from 42 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,040 me. 43 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,160 And Jesus didn't answer his question. 44 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,920 He just said, but my grace is sufficient for you. 45 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:23,080 And he actually had the revelation that our strength in God is perfected in our weakness. 46 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:32,880 And I want to speak today about faith, how it positions us for breakthrough, but also 47 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:40,720 that it's okay to not know what to do. 48 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,420 Hang on to that. 49 00:03:44,420 --> 00:03:52,720 It's okay in times in our life when we don't know what to do. 50 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,000 It's not a sign of weakness. 51 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:01,100 It's a sign of strength in God. 52 00:04:01,100 --> 00:04:08,120 And when we call out to God and ask for a direction, when we say to Him, God, I don't 53 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:14,280 know what to do, but You do. 54 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:23,280 And our mission is waiting on God for His direction in our situation. 55 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:31,800 And when He gives us that Rhema word or that direction, we embrace that because that's 56 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:33,800 all we got. 57 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:40,840 He's not going to give us plan B and plan C. God only has one plan. 58 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:50,280 And so we can try and counsel ourselves to try and secularize the ways of God, or we 59 00:04:50,280 --> 00:05:00,480 can try and explain away the unknowns and implement things that we understand and think, 60 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,880 oh, well, I'll walk in that realm of what I understand. 61 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:11,120 But can I say, thanks of God, that when God gives us a Rhema word, when He gives us a 62 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:18,600 direction, more times than not, it's beyond our understanding. 63 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,400 And it needs to be that way. 64 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:30,640 So I want to encourage you today that our faith, faith that God has birthed in us, will 65 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:35,360 position you for a breakthrough. 66 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,080 He is an amazing God. 67 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:43,280 And I want to use Abraham, Abram, as an example. 68 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,720 In Genesis chapter 12, I find this so incredible. 69 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:53,800 I remember not long after I was saved, I read this and I just thought, man, this dude's 70 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,280 just like Noah. 71 00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:00,880 You know, when you just say you don't know anything about the word and you read these 72 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,840 characters, I like finding key characters. 73 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:06,320 And I did then, and I still do now. 74 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,800 And I study the key characters as you find there's something that they have that is relevant 75 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,080 to what we need today. 76 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:20,860 And the traits that were not so good traits, we can identify the same in us. 77 00:06:20,860 --> 00:06:25,600 And so we can learn from these patriarchs, we can learn from these incredible men and 78 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,360 women of God in the Bible as to what they did, what they could have done, what they 79 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,800 did right, what they didn't do right. 80 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,040 And we can learn from those things. 81 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,880 But when I read this, I'm going to read the first three verses of chapter 12 and it reads 82 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:45,160 here, now the Lord had said to Abram, now the word, you know, we're saying is this the 83 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:47,300 same guy as Abraham? 84 00:06:47,300 --> 00:06:48,300 And yes, it is. 85 00:06:48,300 --> 00:06:53,680 But when that promise came, I believe I've got the timeline right in this, when the promise 86 00:06:53,680 --> 00:07:04,840 came and he accepted and the H, Abraham was indicative of the Hebrew language and culture 87 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:15,200 as far as being a father, that Abraham was fatherless, but he's name changed. 88 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:19,160 And there are many in the Bible that have name change. 89 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:27,840 Saul and Paul, Jacob, Israel, when there was a change of heart in God, God gave him a change 90 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:28,840 of name. 91 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,640 God said, I'm not identifying you with the old person. 92 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,120 I'm identifying you now as this person. 93 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:38,400 And the same is with us. 94 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,680 If ever you are struggling with past sins of your previous life and the devil wants 95 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,160 to throw it in front of you, you've been given, if you like a new name, you've been given 96 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:53,640 an incredible privilege to be called a child of the living God. 97 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,200 And Christ in you, your hope of glory is so amazing. 98 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:04,380 Now, the Lord said to Abram, Abram, get out of your country from your family and from 99 00:08:04,380 --> 00:08:08,600 your father's house to a land that I will show you. 100 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:10,200 I will make you a great nation. 101 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:16,480 I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. 102 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:21,620 I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you. 103 00:08:21,620 --> 00:08:24,920 And in all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 104 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:29,600 And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 105 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:34,320 Now I want you to imagine that you're Abram right now. 106 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:46,520 And God says to you, get out of your country and from your family and from your father's 107 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,840 house to a land that I will show you. 108 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:58,040 Could you imagine Abram when he was on his journeys and people say to him, what are you 109 00:08:58,040 --> 00:08:59,040 doing here? 110 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:07,760 Oh, well, I heard a voice because no one really knows for sure how Abram and God connected 111 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:09,720 in the first place. 112 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:14,480 I haven't found it and I spoke to others and they said, we haven't found it. 113 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,680 But God saw something in Abram. 114 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:22,720 He saw a man with a heart to believe to take God at his word. 115 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,680 And however their connection happened, I'm sure it was good. 116 00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:31,560 But God said to him, I have something for you. 117 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:34,040 I want you to leave. 118 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,840 The people in his travels, what are you doing here? 119 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:40,320 Well, I heard a voice. 120 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:52,680 He say that today they'll give you some tablets and they think that, you know, but 121 00:09:52,680 --> 00:10:01,880 God spoke to me. 122 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:02,880 So what did he say? 123 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:08,080 He said, I've got to leave my family, the ancestral side of things of witchcraft and 124 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:09,560 all of the old things. 125 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:11,360 He said, what did he say? 126 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,560 He said, well, he's going to take me to a land that he will show me. 127 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:15,560 So where are you going? 128 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:16,560 I don't know. 129 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:19,440 What do you mean you don't know? 130 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:27,600 You've just forsaken everything that you know, your security, everything that has been you. 131 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:36,040 You've heard a word from God and you're on your way and you don't know where you're going. 132 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:39,920 Yeah, that's right. 133 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:43,240 You're nuts. 134 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,920 And I think the world today, by and large, would say the same thing. 135 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:53,240 But I know today, like you do, like we know, like we know that God speaks to people today 136 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:58,800 and He's giving direction to people today and that God, whether it be in a dream or 137 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:04,800 prophetic word or through His written word, that God is leading His people and He does 138 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:08,480 it at a corporate level, on an individual level. 139 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:13,640 God just does it and He's always about leading His people into green pastures. 140 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:19,120 He's always about letting us know what the future holds, but we, on our part, we just 141 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:27,120 got to position ourselves to be able to identify the voice of God, the leading of God. 142 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,520 So Abraham had no idea what the future held. 143 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:35,560 All he heard was that, well, He's going to show us a land. 144 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,600 He's going to make a great nation out of him and all the nations in the world would be 145 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:46,600 blessed so He's been called into an international global ministry. 146 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:49,200 He's just like, are you kidding me? 147 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:50,200 And you believe that? 148 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:51,760 Oh yeah, I do. 149 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,320 Do you believe the call of God on your life today? 150 00:11:55,320 --> 00:12:01,640 Do you truly, truly believe and accept that if God called you to do whatever it is that 151 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,440 God has then anointed you and appointed you to do it? 152 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,520 The answer is yes, He has. 153 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:14,600 And so we can explain away, I'm just using this as an example, how faith positions us 154 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:20,040 for breakthrough and Abraham had an incredible breakthrough in his life. 155 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:24,840 He goes off and he knows, but you'd already known by then that he couldn't have children, 156 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:30,200 that his wife Sarah was barren and God's saying to him, on this journey that I'm going to 157 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:35,360 take you on that I'm not telling you until we get there and all these things of the unknowns 158 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:41,120 and from your wife that's barren, you're going to, in a seed, the seed will be sown and you 159 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:46,000 are going to multiply, your seed will multiply over the face of the earth. 160 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:53,160 Now who's going to believe that? 161 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:57,960 That's why it says that Abraham was a friend of God, that he believed God and it was accounted 162 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,560 to him for righteousness. 163 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:04,760 And that's all he had. 164 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:10,000 He had an ability to believe God at his word. 165 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,280 Did Abraham have any faults? 166 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,960 You better believe it. 167 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:23,160 God is not about selecting perfect people. 168 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:31,000 I can tell you now I wouldn't be here if he was, just ask my wife. 169 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,000 But God sees what's in you. 170 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:39,400 He knows what's in you. 171 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:44,600 And each and every one of us have been given a measure of faith. 172 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,800 And so you have it, I have it. 173 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:54,560 And so maybe there are times in a smaller way, he's not as great as this with Abraham, 174 00:13:54,560 --> 00:14:02,520 God's placed this impression on your spirit to do something. 175 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:12,320 I remember years ago a new Christian came to me and he said, Rob, I am confused. 176 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:20,480 I was at the shop the other day and I had this knowing like this inside of me that I 177 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:25,960 had to give somebody in the shops $50. 178 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:31,160 He said, I reckon it's the devil. 179 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:37,840 And I felt like asking him, have you got polished the sand? 180 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:44,280 I had the same deal. 181 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:46,000 I said to him, what did it feel like? 182 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,080 He goes, it's just, this is a new Christian. 183 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,960 He said, it's, I just knew it. 184 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:53,760 I said, what did you do? 185 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:58,840 I ain't given my money to nobody. 186 00:14:58,840 --> 00:14:59,840 And I understand that. 187 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:04,560 I remember when I got saved, I went to church for the first time and when you're used to 188 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:12,280 drinking a lot and they take up an offering and an open basket with a $50 note, I'm like, 189 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:16,280 who gives a $50 note? 190 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,640 But I saw two cartons of beer going past me going, bye. 191 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,760 I mean, God changes us in the process, right? 192 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,160 Well, I hope He does. 193 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:37,080 And so, faith, you see, this guy, I told him, I said, look, I know exactly what you're talking 194 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,680 about, being there, done that. 195 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:46,800 I said, if God ever does that to you again, just do it. 196 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,120 Just do it. 197 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:53,440 And it was, I don't know, I can't remember how much longer he came to me, just so happy. 198 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:55,520 He said, you know what? 199 00:15:55,520 --> 00:16:00,760 I had another opportunity and he said, I think it was God, I'm not sure if it was, but I 200 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:01,760 did it anyway. 201 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,240 I said to him, what harm can it do? 202 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,240 So he gave. 203 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:09,560 He gave this money. 204 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:17,440 You know, in the period of about 12 months, because this man was broke, he was unemployed, 205 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:23,940 he was looking for a job, his family was shot to bits and he realized that I'm going to 206 00:16:23,940 --> 00:16:27,480 make a difference in the lives of others as much as I can. 207 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:33,680 Within 12 months, this man had a job, he was financially stable and God was working in 208 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:34,680 his family. 209 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:42,360 And I'm not saying it was because of money, I'm saying it was because of his obedience. 210 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:45,480 Whatever that might be, what is in your hand? 211 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,000 What have we got? 212 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:48,400 What can we do? 213 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,600 What gifts do we have? 214 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:55,920 And so this is this, with this faith being positioned for breakthrough and that's what 215 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:56,980 he did. 216 00:16:56,980 --> 00:17:01,120 And so, Abraham, you know, go to the land that I'll show you and Abraham obeyed God 217 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,640 first before knowing any of the details where he was going. 218 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:11,080 It's kind of like Chantelle and I on a road trip. 219 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:12,080 Where are we going to go? 220 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,120 I don't know, we'll find out when we get there. 221 00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:23,840 It takes the adventure out of it. 222 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,680 And some nights we're towing this caravan around going, where are we going to stay tonight? 223 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,320 We should have planned it. 224 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:39,400 But no, it's part of the adventure. 225 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:46,680 In that time of need, we need a word from God. 226 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:50,240 It's as simple as that church. 227 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,120 It is as simple as that. 228 00:17:54,120 --> 00:18:03,680 And it's okay when you're faced with a test or a trial to say, I don't know what to do. 229 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,840 It's perfectly okay. 230 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:15,840 And we know that in the late 80s and 90s and therefore and so forth with the faith movement 231 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:23,780 took a branch that went further than what the Bible ever intended it to go. 232 00:18:23,780 --> 00:18:29,800 To the point that you wouldn't go to church if you had a toothache or a cold because people 233 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:33,400 say you don't have faith. 234 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:38,080 And if you're going through strife or trouble, well, where's your faith? 235 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,480 If you had faith, you wouldn't have this happening in your life. 236 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:41,480 What's wrong with you? 237 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:44,920 Who remembers that? 238 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,400 It was like, really? 239 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,400 I thought we're on the same team. 240 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,560 I thought we're doing this together. 241 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,520 I thought we were doing life together. 242 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,160 That's how it should be. 243 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:08,040 And so that's why I'm saying that it's okay in the company of your friends to say, I don't 244 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,800 know what to do. 245 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:16,560 We're better off saying, I don't know what to do before God to say, God, I know, I'll 246 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:17,560 sort this out. 247 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:19,440 I'm a man of faith. 248 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:20,920 I'm a man of the Word. 249 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:26,540 I'm a man of prayer and I'll work it out in Jesus' name. 250 00:19:26,540 --> 00:19:34,440 And oftentimes we can take a direction guessing we might get it right. 251 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:39,680 But if we get it wrong, how many people do we take on that path? 252 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:46,240 And this is why I'm saying it's okay to say, God, I don't know what to do. 253 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,640 There is nothing wrong with that. 254 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:54,200 I believe that need, that will bring healing in the lives of some people today. 255 00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:55,200 It's okay. 256 00:19:55,200 --> 00:20:00,480 I want you to know it's okay to say, I don't know what to do. 257 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:01,480 We got that? 258 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:02,480 We all good? 259 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,360 I can move on from that? 260 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:09,040 Okay, I'll bring it up in a couple of more paragraphs. 261 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:14,920 So we need a word, a direction from God and then we need to believe it and we need to 262 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,920 stick with it. 263 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,560 God will give you an impression. 264 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:22,560 That's who He is. 265 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:27,360 He's our heavenly Father and when we say, God, I don't know what to do, please show 266 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:28,360 me. 267 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:30,080 What is it that I need to do? 268 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:35,880 And sure it will be that you will have this witness in your spirit, you'll have this knowing 269 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,940 or God will speak to you. 270 00:20:38,940 --> 00:20:46,400 And when we hear it, I guarantee you many times it's not what we were thinking. 271 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:52,520 I had a word from the Lord in a situation about a year and a half ago and I knew the 272 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:57,480 Lord wanted to speak to me and I thought, this is going to be great. 273 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:02,720 And then I got the word and it's like, it's not what I was expecting. 274 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,560 That's hard. 275 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,400 How can I do that, God? 276 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:16,620 What I see now more clearly today than I did that time back then, you know why? 277 00:21:16,620 --> 00:21:21,920 It's because God was giving me wisdom for the future that what He already saw, He was 278 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,800 giving to me back then that He wanted to prepare me. 279 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:27,840 He wanted to position me for breakthrough. 280 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,980 Do you hear what I'm saying? 281 00:21:30,980 --> 00:21:36,720 God already knew the whole time what was going to happen and sometimes we can base and it 282 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,880 can be a mistake, base our decisions based upon what we see today. 283 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,560 But God's saying, don't do that. 284 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:49,240 Let me show you what's coming so that I will forewarn you and prepare you so you already 285 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,760 be in front of what's coming. 286 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:59,860 But when God shows us, do we accept and embrace and believe what He's showing us? 287 00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:04,080 Sometimes that can be the challenge. 288 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:09,160 Even if Jesus came to you in a time of need that you've been praying and you're in a situation 289 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,560 and you're saying, Jesus, I need you to intervene. 290 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:14,280 I need a word. 291 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:21,400 And then Jesus in a time of need, He appears before you and says, this is what you need 292 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:23,360 to do. 293 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:24,360 Here it is. 294 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:29,800 If you do this, it will work for you. 295 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,360 Would we do it? 296 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:35,840 Would I do it? 297 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:40,240 I would like to say yes. 298 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:48,560 If we read in God's Word that the Word says what we need to do or gives direction, would 299 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,480 we do it? 300 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:57,580 And the reality is, is that whether it's written in the Bible or Jesus says it to us personally, 301 00:22:57,580 --> 00:23:00,980 it's the same thing. 302 00:23:00,980 --> 00:23:04,720 It's going to be the same. 303 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:06,920 Would we do it? 304 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:14,620 And when we get the inner birthing of that divine direction in our life, that inner persuasion, 305 00:23:14,620 --> 00:23:21,560 the impression or the message that we get from heaven or we get from Jesus Himself or 306 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:26,020 we get from the Word of God is not going to be any different at all. 307 00:23:26,020 --> 00:23:27,360 It's the same. 308 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:28,840 God does not change. 309 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:33,640 He's not going to give you counsel contrary to what is written. 310 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,320 And so, faith is natural to the spirit man. 311 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,200 You are spirit. 312 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,960 You have a soul and you live in a body. 313 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:47,360 And our spirit man that came alive to God through the new birth really came alive to 314 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:50,160 God in the new birth. 315 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:56,720 And so, your spirit person, the real you, was connected with God spiritually. 316 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:01,560 And it's almost like, remember those remote control cars that you can... 317 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,080 I remember I bought Gus one for Christmas when he was only about this high and I wouldn't 318 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:06,080 let him have a go. 319 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,240 That was so much fun. 320 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:14,040 I crashed it and broke it and so you never got to go. 321 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,280 I had fun. 322 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:23,040 But it's just like God sending us that signal. 323 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:32,600 And are we tuned into that signal to respond to what He's showing us? 324 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,800 I believe that's how simple it is. 325 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,080 Faith in God's not hard. 326 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,200 It's about us being positioned for breakthrough. 327 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,440 Just like Abraham, he just simply believed God. 328 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:47,920 Where are you going, Abraham? 329 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:48,920 I don't know. 330 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,920 God didn't tell me that yet. 331 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,320 Oh. 332 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:56,320 So when are you going to get there? 333 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,720 I don't know that either. 334 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:01,720 And here's my wife, Sarah. 335 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,720 Sarah, she's barren, we can't have children, but that same voice told me we're going to 336 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:06,720 have children. 337 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:08,720 And you believe that? 338 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,000 Yep, I do. 339 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,320 Because there was an inner persuasion. 340 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:22,920 I want to take an example from the Bible before I close, and no, that's not the first close 341 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:28,520 for the message today. 342 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,880 The example of Jehoshaphat. 343 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:38,280 My Lord, what an incredible account. 344 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:43,120 I don't like even calling it a story, because it's just like once upon a time, there was 345 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:47,520 a man called Jehoshaphat, and three invading armies came. 346 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,440 It makes it sound like a kid's story. 347 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:50,680 It's not a kid's story. 348 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:52,880 This really happened. 349 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:57,400 This really happened, and it's incredible. 350 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:02,760 So I'd like to turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 20. 351 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:09,200 I'm going to read that passage, which to me is absolutely incredible. 352 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:14,120 If you're going through a situation in your life, or if you know of somebody that's going 353 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:21,920 through whatever it might be, read this passage of Scripture, because there is life in this, 354 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:28,080 there's direction in it, that it shows us exactly what we need to do when things come 355 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:33,920 against us and we are faced with the impossible, but yet we serve a God with whom all things 356 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:34,920 are possible. 357 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:36,500 So how do you reconcile the two? 358 00:26:36,500 --> 00:26:39,680 It's all in here, all in this chapter. 359 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:45,280 And so out of all the examples in the Bible, a person or a nation was under extreme danger, 360 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,080 under extreme persecution. 361 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:48,440 There was no way out. 362 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,040 It would have to be these guys in my opinion. 363 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,040 And so it's quite a long bit of a read. 364 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:58,120 So if you happen to notice your neighbor nodding off, falling asleep, give him a rib, give 365 00:26:58,120 --> 00:27:01,200 him with the elbow on the rib, and say, wake up, the preacher's reading. 366 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,520 You need to hear this. 367 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:03,520 Amen? 368 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:04,880 Praise the Lord. 369 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:10,100 You know I'm joking, kind of. 370 00:27:10,100 --> 00:27:12,520 Second Chronicles chapter 20. 371 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:19,140 And it happened after this that the people of Moab, the people of Ammon and others with 372 00:27:19,140 --> 00:27:24,420 them besides the Ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. 373 00:27:24,420 --> 00:27:30,020 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat saying, a great multitude is coming against you from 374 00:27:30,020 --> 00:27:39,280 beyond the sea, from Syria, and they are in Hazazon Tamar, which is in Ngedi. 375 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:46,340 And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout 376 00:27:46,340 --> 00:27:48,120 all Judah. 377 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:51,960 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord. 378 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,880 And from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. 379 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:03,720 And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before 380 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:12,160 the new court and said, oh Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? 381 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:17,100 And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? 382 00:28:17,100 --> 00:28:23,400 And in you, sorry, and in your hand, is there not power and might so that no one is able 383 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:24,400 to withstand you? 384 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,320 It's a good word for Israel today. 385 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:34,560 Verse seven, are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your 386 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:41,540 people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever? 387 00:28:41,540 --> 00:28:48,760 And they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name saying, if disaster 388 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:55,460 comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence or famine, we will stand before this temple 389 00:28:55,460 --> 00:29:02,360 and in your presence for your name is in this temple and cry out to you in our affliction 390 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,000 and you will hear and save. 391 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:11,220 And now here are the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who you would not let Israel 392 00:29:11,220 --> 00:29:16,960 invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy 393 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:17,960 them. 394 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:23,840 They are rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession which you have given 395 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,160 us to inherit. 396 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:31,720 You see, one of the things that I know that the devil desires to do is to try and dispossess 397 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:37,040 you of the promises of God. 398 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,240 That's what he tries to do. 399 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:45,260 Verse 12, oh our God, will you not judge them? 400 00:29:45,260 --> 00:29:52,100 We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know 401 00:29:52,100 --> 00:29:57,360 what to do, but our eyes are upon you. 402 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,040 Now all Judah with their little ones, their wives and their children stood before the 403 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:03,040 Lord. 404 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:09,480 And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benanyah, 405 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:10,480 the son of Jehi. 406 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,960 What happened to Jack, Frank and Bill? 407 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:21,560 The son of Mataniah the Levite, the sons of Asap in the midst of the assembly. 408 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:27,680 And he said, listen, all you of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and you, King 409 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:35,520 Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this 410 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:44,280 great multitude for the battle is not yours, but it's God's. 411 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,600 Tomorrow go down against them. 412 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:52,080 They will surely come up by the ascent of Ziz and you will find them at the end of the 413 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,880 brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. 414 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,200 And you will not need to fight in this battle. 415 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:06,600 Imagine yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. 416 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:12,160 Oh Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed. 417 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,720 Tomorrow go out against them for the Lord is with you. 418 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:21,200 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Judah and all the inhabitants 419 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:26,280 of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. 420 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:31,480 Then the Levites of the children of the Koalites and the children of the Korites stood up to 421 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:37,660 praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high. 422 00:31:37,660 --> 00:31:42,800 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. 423 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:49,600 And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, hear me, oh Judah and you inhabitants 424 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:51,640 of Jerusalem. 425 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,320 Believe in the Lord your God. 426 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:59,960 Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. 427 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:03,880 Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. 428 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:09,400 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the 429 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:14,200 Lord and who should praise the beauty of his holiness. 430 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:20,480 As they went out before the army and were saying, praise the Lord for his mercy endures 431 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,280 forever. 432 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:29,080 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord sent ambushes against the people 433 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:35,560 of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who had come against Judah and they were defeated. 434 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:40,920 For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly 435 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,640 kill and destroy them. 436 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:51,560 God is able. 437 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:56,600 And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped each other to destroy, 438 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:01,920 sorry, and they helped to destroy one another. 439 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:07,920 So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude 440 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:12,400 and there were their dead bodies fallen on the earth. 441 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:14,000 No one had escaped. 442 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:18,880 I often wonder, did the last person commit suicide? 443 00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:22,160 No, he probably died of wounds. 444 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:26,920 But when Jehoshaphat and these people came to take away this spoil, they found among 445 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,960 them an abundance of valuables of the dead bodies and the precious jewelry which they 446 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,960 stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. 447 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,600 And they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. 448 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,780 Let me tell you something about this. 449 00:33:43,780 --> 00:33:50,200 When the battle's done, don't be afraid to collect the spoil. 450 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:58,440 In the face of a battle, already claim, devil, you're going to pay back everything that you've 451 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:00,440 taken from me. 452 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:01,840 Claim it. 453 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:02,840 Speak it. 454 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:04,540 Declare it. 455 00:34:04,540 --> 00:34:10,840 Be bold about it. 456 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:16,640 It's like you do so much work, so much prayer and time and seeing and getting a breakthrough, 457 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:22,360 but how often do we declare in our prayer, I declare and decree in the name of Jesus 458 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,120 that the devil repay and pay back everything. 459 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:31,440 By the way, Alex, George, I wanted to acknowledge you guys before and I just saw you there, 460 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,400 pastors from a church in West End. 461 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,720 Lovely to have you with us. 462 00:34:36,720 --> 00:34:39,320 Praise God. 463 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:44,180 So claim it, not only get your victory, get your spoil. 464 00:34:44,180 --> 00:34:51,080 Get back what belongs to you in the name of Jesus. 465 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,360 And on the fourth day, they assembled in the valley of Barakah. 466 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:58,620 For there they blessed the Lord, therefore the name of the place was called the Valley 467 00:34:58,620 --> 00:35:01,720 of Barakah until this day. 468 00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:06,740 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, which Ahosaphat in front of them 469 00:35:06,740 --> 00:35:12,840 to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. 470 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:18,640 So they came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments, harps and trumpets to the house of the Lord 471 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:24,280 and the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the 472 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,680 Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. 473 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,560 It has a good word for Israel again today. 474 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:36,520 And then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his kingdom, God gave him rest all around 475 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:37,520 the kingdom. 476 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,280 I want to go through a few points here, bring some things out that I think are extremely 477 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,520 beneficial and then we'll call it quits for the morning. 478 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:45,520 Praise the Lord. 479 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,080 But I know this is going to encourage you. 480 00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:53,020 In verse three, Jehoshaphat took the time to seek God. 481 00:35:53,020 --> 00:35:55,900 He presented the situation before the Lord. 482 00:35:55,900 --> 00:35:57,520 We need to do the same. 483 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:02,360 When situations are coming against you, not working out or you feel like you're between 484 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:09,280 the Red Sea and the invading army and mountains either side, just like the Exodus. 485 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:13,560 Let me say this, that you need to present your case to the Lord. 486 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:17,820 We need to bring it to Lord, to petition God and just saying, God, this is what I'm going 487 00:36:17,820 --> 00:36:18,820 through. 488 00:36:18,820 --> 00:36:19,820 This is what's happening. 489 00:36:19,820 --> 00:36:21,780 Lord, I'm bringing it before you. 490 00:36:21,780 --> 00:36:23,780 And this is what Jehoshaphat did. 491 00:36:23,780 --> 00:36:24,780 He was a man of God. 492 00:36:24,780 --> 00:36:28,460 He took the time to present his situation to the Lord. 493 00:36:28,460 --> 00:36:32,560 He set himself before the Lord and he proclaimed a fast. 494 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:33,560 Incredible. 495 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,440 You imagine, you're going to get a whole nation to fast. 496 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:40,640 How do you police something like that? 497 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:45,120 But verse 12, I want to go straight to, and this is powerful. 498 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,240 Oh, our God, will you not judge them? 499 00:36:48,240 --> 00:36:53,260 For we have no power against this multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know 500 00:36:53,260 --> 00:36:58,200 what to do that our eyes are upon you. 501 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:07,760 Here is, he says, a man of God leading the people of God, a God-fearing man, the pressure 502 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,800 and the weight of responsibility and leadership on his shoulders, not only before God, but 503 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,280 before millions of people. 504 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:20,120 And he makes this statement that is so profound. 505 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,840 As a leader that people look to, that's supposed to have all the answers. 506 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:28,880 He says, Lord, I don't know what to do. 507 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:31,880 That was his breakthrough right there. 508 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:38,280 If he did not, before God, say, I don't know what to do, our eyes are upon you, I highly 509 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:43,720 doubt God would have spoken through a prophet to give him the battle strategy. 510 00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:49,120 And this is why it is so important that I'm back to this again. 511 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:57,080 Not only is it okay, but it's entirely necessary that we can be honest and say, I don't know. 512 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,880 I really don't know what to do. 513 00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:04,560 That's when God begins to shine his strongest. 514 00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:12,960 You see humility, he says that we have no power, nor do we know what to do. 515 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:21,560 A powerful principle, humility precedes God's best. 516 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,760 It is not a sign of weakness, church. 517 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,680 It's evidence of strength, of good leadership. 518 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:33,000 I don't know where we've got this from, how we've developed leadership skills that the 519 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,400 leaders got to know everything. 520 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,320 Let me tell you, a leader does not know everything. 521 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:44,280 But God does, and he knows what to do. 522 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:48,400 And it's totally okay, I say it again, to admit when we don't know what to do, it's 523 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,400 totally okay. 524 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,120 In James 1.5, it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. 525 00:38:55,120 --> 00:39:00,360 So we're in situations where Pastor Rollie was there last week, that we were confronted 526 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:05,160 with a situation that the reason why we're asking God for wisdom is because we're saying, 527 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,080 I don't know what to do. 528 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:12,320 But help, I need some direction, I don't know which way to go. 529 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,880 I could guess, but I don't want to guess. 530 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:17,960 I need a word from God. 531 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,080 I need an impression from God in my spirit. 532 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:22,400 I need that. 533 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:28,240 And when we get that, we embrace it and go, I know that's God. 534 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:32,160 I don't understand all of it, but I know it's God. 535 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:37,280 I'm embracing it, and I'm going to believe it, and I'm going to walk with it. 536 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:43,120 Now, let me tell you one of the first things that happens when you get a word from God, 537 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:50,880 He gives you direction, and you embrace it, and you believe it, and then comes the serpent. 538 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,820 Did God really say? 539 00:39:54,820 --> 00:39:59,000 Did God really say that? 540 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:04,680 And send people along your path to say, well, that's absurd. 541 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,960 Yes. 542 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:09,680 How could that be? 543 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,720 We're back to Abraham, aren't we? 544 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:17,680 So when we lack wisdom, we're actually saying, well, I don't know what to do. 545 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:20,880 And it says here that, let him ask of God. 546 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:26,680 God wants us to ask him for wisdom, to involve God in the situation, to involve God in the 547 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:31,600 picture is a very, very important part of our Christian walk. 548 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:33,840 And it says, he gives to all liberally without reproach. 549 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:36,280 In other words, he's not going to braid you for it. 550 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:37,880 He's not going to get mad at you. 551 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:45,640 He's going to rejoice and say, Rob, ask me for advice, some wisdom. 552 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:46,800 And now I can help him. 553 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,080 Now I can show him which way to go. 554 00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,080 How good is that? 555 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:52,080 How good is that? 556 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:54,160 All right, I think it's pretty good. 557 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,000 Thank you, Ryan. 558 00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:01,840 It's great to see Ryan back again after a period of time away with family. 559 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:06,680 So when we don't know what to do, ask God, he will give you a realm of word, a direction, 560 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:11,320 in birth faith, insurance, inner persuasion, lead you to the word or whatever it might 561 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:12,320 be. 562 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:16,540 And you know like, you know like, you know like, you know right away this is from God. 563 00:41:16,540 --> 00:41:18,800 We embrace that. 564 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,280 And as I said, it may not make a lot of sense at the moment, but God already knows the future. 565 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:27,560 He knows the end of the story and he gives us that information, how to position ourselves 566 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:31,000 in the beginning. 567 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:32,440 So why not ask God what to do? 568 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,280 He knows all the answers. 569 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:39,160 However, if we are too proud to admit that we do not know what to do and we don't ask 570 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:44,280 God for wisdom, we set ourselves up to fail as well as others that are following us. 571 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,440 And we need to be aware of that. 572 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,400 Very important. 573 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,480 We don't know what we don't know what we don't know. 574 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,000 And that's a common saying, isn't it? 575 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:56,000 We don't know what we don't know. 576 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:00,640 So if you don't know something, you don't know that you don't know it. 577 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:04,520 If you're totally confused right now, join the queue. 578 00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:07,560 But it's true, we don't know what we don't know and it's okay to be honest, if we don't 579 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:13,480 know what to do, then we don't know what to do. 580 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,640 Is that message coming through clear today? 581 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:21,040 He's saying, Rob, we get it. 582 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:22,040 Move on. 583 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:29,760 But I feel that this is a major part of the journey of breakthrough. 584 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:39,040 I feel it's been a missing ingredient, at least maybe for me, maybe for all of us. 585 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:40,960 Pride inhibits teachability. 586 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:49,120 If we desire to grow in God, we need to maintain a teachable spirit. 587 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:53,760 It's impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows. 588 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:59,840 Can I say that again, it's impossible for a man, for a person to learn what he thinks 589 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:02,600 he already knows. 590 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:07,520 We learn nothing from life if we think we are right all the time. 591 00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:09,560 Hello. 592 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:18,360 I like this one, he who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions. 593 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:21,880 Interesting, isn't it? 594 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:25,640 He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions. 595 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:29,520 So we may have a good database of knowledge in that, but there's still more that we don't 596 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:30,520 know. 597 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,760 And we're not expected to know everything. 598 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,360 And so then when we don't know what to do and we don't know everything, why don't we 599 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:41,520 reach out to God who does know everything? 600 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:48,160 And then embrace it, believe it, and hold on to it. 601 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:54,760 We are forever learning, hindsight is always a good teacher, right? 602 00:43:54,760 --> 00:44:01,520 It's always a good, I should have done that, I should not have done that. 603 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:05,960 It's the Lord's wisdom that prevails. 604 00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:13,680 We may seek the counsel of man, which at times we can get good counsel. 605 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:17,940 But we really need to be seeking the counsel of God first. 606 00:44:17,940 --> 00:44:21,480 That is our first port of call. 607 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,200 Amen? 608 00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:31,960 The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject. 609 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:36,160 But God knows everything. 610 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:42,560 The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, but the man who does not ask is 611 00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:44,480 a fool for a lifetime. 612 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:48,160 So what does that mean? 613 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:53,120 You may feel foolish saying, Lord, I don't know what to do and God's going to help you 614 00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:55,560 and get you through and you're going to prosper. 615 00:44:55,560 --> 00:45:02,600 But those who don't ask, they don't change. 616 00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:05,720 And they stay stuck in their position. 617 00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:09,080 So what if the Lord says to do something, would we do it? 618 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:13,040 Or if the Lord says to do nothing, would we obey? 619 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:15,320 Because we may feel we're related to Mr. Fix-It. 620 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:19,720 Is there anyone here that you have Mr. Fix-It in your bloodline there somewhere that we 621 00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:22,440 feel we've got to fix everything? 622 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:23,880 Come on, you can put your hand up. 623 00:45:23,880 --> 00:45:25,240 I've got mine up. 624 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:26,720 Oh yeah, yeah. 625 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:35,480 Lord, we'll have an altar call later for the others that didn't. 626 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,400 We do what God calls us to do and He'll do what we can't do. 627 00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:43,720 It's as simple as that. 628 00:45:43,720 --> 00:45:48,680 This part I believe is just being honest with God, I don't know what to do, is such an important 629 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:53,800 part of our walk of faith. 630 00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:56,320 Amen? 631 00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,800 So if we say that I've got a word from God, I know what to do, we need to make sure we 632 00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:03,320 do have a word from God. 633 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:08,840 We really need to just, I do have a word from God. 634 00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:17,040 And if you have a word for somebody else, you need to make sure it is a word from God. 635 00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:21,880 Because we don't want to discourage people. 636 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:28,720 Sometimes a word can be given as an encouragement out of sympathy or concern, but it's given 637 00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:31,440 only on what we understand of this part. 638 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:34,240 We never know the rest of what people are going through. 639 00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:41,040 And that's why it's so important, if we do have a word from God, let's make sure it is 640 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,560 a word from God. 641 00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:47,640 Because the person that you give it to, if it's not a word from God, are at their most 642 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:52,000 vulnerable point right there. 643 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:57,320 So if it is a word from God, it'll encourage them, if it's not, it'll put them down. 644 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:02,560 So that's just a heads up for me, for anybody else. 645 00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:06,680 We do have a responsibility as members of the body of Christ to ensure that if we say, 646 00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:10,760 thus saith the Lord, that it is a thus saith the Lord. 647 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:15,360 And I don't want to discourage anyone from trying either, but it's just, we work together 648 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,200 on all these things and do our best to get it right. 649 00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,160 Because we do care for people, love people, and the reason why we want to give people 650 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:23,800 a word is because we care for them. 651 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:28,380 Verse 12, our eyes are upon you, not the problem. 652 00:47:28,380 --> 00:47:33,080 Very important, keep our eyes on God, not the problem. 653 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:37,000 God answers Jehoshaphat's humility and his quest for direction. 654 00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:42,080 Verse 14 to 17, just read quickly here, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon, yeah, we 655 00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:44,280 went through all of that before. 656 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:53,080 And so Jehoshaphat, I don't know if you read it as I read it, he got a word from God. 657 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:59,120 He got direction from God exactly how to do this. 658 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:03,080 Exactly, nothing missing. 659 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:08,840 And so God spoke through a prophet and delivers divine direction, divine assurance and faith. 660 00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:15,160 And he also said, don't be afraid, this battle is not yours, but it's God's. 661 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:18,520 I wonder how many battles we have fought and engaged in over the years that wasn't ours 662 00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:20,480 to fight in the first place. 663 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:25,800 I wonder, I wonder for me, but you won't need to fight in this battle. 664 00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:28,440 But the prophet gave a word. 665 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:36,160 Now can I say something without anyone getting offended or hurt or just say, oh the pastors 666 00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:39,720 doesn't like prophets, I do. 667 00:48:39,720 --> 00:48:43,360 I admire the prophetic, I think it's important. 668 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:49,680 It definitely has a place in the New Testament church, it's so much needed. 669 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:54,240 It's part of the fivefold ministry gifts. 670 00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:58,240 If it wasn't needed, Jesus wouldn't have appointed people to be prophets. 671 00:48:58,240 --> 00:49:01,320 It's just as simple as that. 672 00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:09,680 But we don't go running to a prophet to get a word. 673 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:13,140 We still here this morning? 674 00:49:13,140 --> 00:49:19,480 We run to God first to get a word. 675 00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:23,880 A person one day said to me, I'm confused. 676 00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:28,760 I went to this prophet, that prophet and that prophet with the same situation and I had 677 00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:34,800 three different directions from each prophet. 678 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:43,760 If you knew as a pastor how many times I see that, it would make you shudder. 679 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:48,760 And I think often, I just feel the Spirit of the Lord going this way. 680 00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:58,040 I think often the prophetic is so misunderstood, it's so needed, it's so powerful. 681 00:49:58,040 --> 00:50:02,320 But the devil knows that he's got to shut that big cannon down. 682 00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:03,520 So what does he do? 683 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:09,360 He brings in something similar, a counterfeit. 684 00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:10,480 We need to be discerning. 685 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:17,320 That's why I never recommend to anybody to go to a prophet first, seek God first. 686 00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:23,320 And if you're in a church and you have leadership and a pastor speak to them, Paul said to Timothy 687 00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:29,720 that those that you know, those that have shown the fruit of their ministry in your 688 00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:33,880 life, trust them rather than someone that you don't know. 689 00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:38,120 Now they may be entirely accurate and they could be. 690 00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:41,500 But from where I'm standing and any other person that's been in ministry long enough 691 00:50:41,500 --> 00:50:46,040 to see how many people have followed a word that wasn't from God and that has destroyed 692 00:50:46,040 --> 00:50:56,280 families, businesses, ministries and so forth, it's really, really wrong. 693 00:50:56,280 --> 00:51:02,280 And I believe many times we can get a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom and be so accurate. 694 00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:06,600 You know, a word of knowledge, something that's going on in a person's life and God gives 695 00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:10,160 you a word and you tell them, they go, yeah man, that's what I'm going through. 696 00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:14,800 And you pray for them and they're encouraged or a word of wisdom is, you know, saying, 697 00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:17,840 no, I see this as what's going to happen out of this. 698 00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:20,480 And then it happens and people say, oh man, that was so accurate. 699 00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:23,760 Thank you, you gave me the advice in advance and this sort of thing. 700 00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:27,040 Then that person that gave these words goes, I'm a prophet. 701 00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:29,160 No, they're not. 702 00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:35,400 You see, the gifts of the Spirit have been given to every single believer and the Spirit 703 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:39,560 of God expects every single believer, would like every single believer to operate in those 704 00:51:39,560 --> 00:51:41,920 gifts for the benefit of the body of Christ. 705 00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:46,120 But we can't go put a prophet hat on and go start a ministry and write a book and sell 706 00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:50,680 books, get a name up in lights and say, I'm a prophet now. 707 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,640 It's a five-fold calling. 708 00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:59,760 I don't know why I felt in my spirit that, okay, I'm going to close. 709 00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:06,680 There are some things that he said, he positioned yourselves, position yourselves, be immovable, 710 00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:12,880 motivated by God's promise, stand still. 711 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:16,580 I want to just close on those two words, position yourselves and stand still. 712 00:52:16,580 --> 00:52:21,780 This is all related to the word that was given through the prophet. 713 00:52:21,780 --> 00:52:26,040 Now that you've received this word, this direction from the Lord, you've got it. 714 00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:27,320 You've got your word. 715 00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:28,800 You've got your direction. 716 00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:31,040 Now stand still, position yourself. 717 00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:36,840 In other words, embrace yourself, fortify what you've just received that this is not 718 00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:38,720 open for debate. 719 00:52:38,720 --> 00:52:42,360 This came from God and this is where we're going. 720 00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:44,100 We're not moving from this. 721 00:52:44,100 --> 00:52:45,100 And stand still. 722 00:52:45,100 --> 00:52:47,160 In other words, be single-minded. 723 00:52:47,160 --> 00:52:51,120 It's not this today and that tomorrow and we're back to this today and back to that 724 00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:52,120 tomorrow. 725 00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:55,400 It's either the word that God has given you or it's not. 726 00:52:55,400 --> 00:53:00,320 And Jehoshaphat, he embraced it and he took it seriously. 727 00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:06,600 And you notice that when you get a word from God, a word for you in a given time, you know, 728 00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:13,520 it's an amazing thing because when we hear it, we believe it, we identify with it and 729 00:53:13,520 --> 00:53:18,280 then we embrace it, it causes great joy in your life. 730 00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:19,320 What did Jehoshaphat do? 731 00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:22,120 He fell on his face and he worshiped the Lord. 732 00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:25,000 What a relief I can hear him saying. 733 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,060 And then what did he do? 734 00:53:27,060 --> 00:53:28,520 He got the praises. 735 00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,600 He got the worshipers. 736 00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:34,800 And I could just imagine, you know, the Lord said to them, hey, you're still going to have 737 00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:38,520 to go and front up, but you're not going to fight. 738 00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:43,520 So what they were doing was they were singing this song and praising the Lord. 739 00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:45,120 Was it saved that they were singing? 740 00:53:45,120 --> 00:53:48,120 It says, praise the Lord for his mercies and jewel forever. 741 00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:50,280 What a powerful faith statement that is. 742 00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:51,840 They were singing because they were sold. 743 00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:55,240 They would believe, they caught the vision, what God wanted to do. 744 00:53:55,240 --> 00:54:00,480 And they knew, this is our bit here that we have to do. 745 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:02,720 God doesn't want us on the battlefield. 746 00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:08,320 He just wants us here, praising God and worshiping God. 747 00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:15,380 We can't have our eyes on the problem if our eyes are on God, worshiping him. 748 00:54:15,380 --> 00:54:19,680 And the results of that, it says that you will see the salvation of the Lord. 749 00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:23,660 Is there anyone here today that you'll believe in God to see the salvation, the deliverance 750 00:54:23,660 --> 00:54:27,120 of the Lord in any given situation? 751 00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:31,080 Maybe you're believing God for someone to come to Christ. 752 00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:34,480 Maybe I know there's a few people here this morning that you're believing for loved ones 753 00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:40,160 to come from overseas to be accepted and, you know, get their PR and all that sort of 754 00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:41,160 thing. 755 00:54:41,160 --> 00:54:43,000 You're in a battle. 756 00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:48,000 You are believing God for something that's not yet happened, but don't give up. 757 00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:53,360 Get a word from God, get God's strategy and embrace it and hold onto it and position yourself 758 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:56,040 and go, this is it. 759 00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:57,040 And stand still. 760 00:54:57,040 --> 00:55:00,440 We're not, you know, floundering here and there and everywhere. 761 00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:06,320 The Bible says in James chapter 1 that a double-minded man will receive nothing from the Lord. 762 00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:08,200 So we need to be single-minded. 763 00:55:08,200 --> 00:55:11,200 Amen? 764 00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:12,760 Praise the Lord. 765 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:17,240 I just want to say this as I close. 766 00:55:17,240 --> 00:55:20,120 You can come out for prayer later on if you like. 767 00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:21,120 That's good. 768 00:55:21,120 --> 00:55:24,160 But I want to say this. 769 00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:29,880 We can, I'm trying to find a really gentle way to say this as I close. 770 00:55:29,880 --> 00:55:34,160 Oh, help me Lord. 771 00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:37,200 Let me point it at me. 772 00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:39,080 This is the best way. 773 00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:46,040 There was a time that I was believing God for something and it just wasn't happening. 774 00:55:46,040 --> 00:55:49,040 And the Lord made it very clear to me. 775 00:55:49,040 --> 00:55:54,760 You can have all the prayer from the best preachers, from the most anointed people. 776 00:55:54,760 --> 00:56:03,160 But if you do not take that step yourself to say, I'm believing God. 777 00:56:03,160 --> 00:56:09,220 If you don't do that, they can't do it for you. 778 00:56:09,220 --> 00:56:15,040 We can't rely on their faith to get us through. 779 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:19,640 God's given you a measure of faith, given me a measure of faith. 780 00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:22,760 And it's okay again to say, God, I don't know what to do. 781 00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:26,480 And I feel in my spirit, there's some of us here today, you know what? 782 00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:32,880 I'm hearing what you're saying and it's resonating in my spirit that I need to hand whatever 783 00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:38,240 it is you're going through, hand it over to the Lord fresh and new and say, Lord, I've 784 00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:43,120 been trying to take care of this and it ain't working. 785 00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:48,760 I'm here today to say, God, I don't know what to do. 786 00:56:48,760 --> 00:56:50,960 I don't know what to do. 787 00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:56,640 And ask God for him to show you what to do. 788 00:56:56,640 --> 00:57:01,640 Church, it's that simple. 789 00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:02,640 Amen. 790 00:57:02,640 --> 00:57:09,760 Thank you for joining us. 791 00:57:09,760 --> 00:57:12,420 We pray God's richest blessing on your life. 792 00:57:12,420 --> 00:57:17,080 If you haven't already, make sure to join us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 793 00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:21,120 You can also find us at LoganCityChristianChurch.com. 794 00:57:21,120 --> 00:57:49,120 See you next week.