Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20220515 - I Don’t Know What to Do - 2 Chronicles 20:1-21
Transcript
- 0:05Welcome to the study of God's word recorded live from Calvary
- 0:09Chapel in Aurora, Colorado to learn more about the many
- 0:12resources available, through abounding Grace media, visit us
- 0:15online at Calvary Aurora dot org, or download our free app on
- 0:19all platforms. And now, let's open our Bibles
- 0:22and study God's word. If you would turn with me to
- 0:30Second Chronicles chapter 20 this morning, Second Chronicles
- 0:36chapter 20, the title of this morning's message, I don't know
- 0:41what To do how many of you have been in a situation or are in a
- 0:49situation where you don't know what to do.
- 0:53A lot of hands. Maybe you are in a situation
- 0:56where you don't know what to do with your life.
- 0:59Maybe you went through a breakup and all your friends are in a
- 1:03relationship, maybe you've lost your job and you don't know what
- 1:08to do. Maybe you have a child that's
- 1:10addicted to drugs and you don't know what to do.
- 1:14Perhaps your relationship with Jesus Christ is stagnant and you
- 1:19don't know what to do this morning.
- 1:22I want to give you some principles from second
- 1:25Chronicles chapter 20 that will help you to overcome because we
- 1:32have all been in situations where we don't know what to do
- 1:36and God tells us when we are in those situations what to do and
- 1:41Jehoshaphat was in a situation. Shin where he said, Lord.
- 1:46I don't know what to do. But there are some principles in
- 1:50this chapter that will help us when we are in that situation.
- 1:56So let's read second chronicles 20 verse 1 through 4 It happened
- 2:02after this, that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon
- 2:08and others with them, besides the ammonites came to battle
- 2:12against Jehoshaphat, then some came and told Jehoshaphat
- 2:18saying, a great multitude is coming against you, from Beyond
- 2:22the Sea from Syria, and they are in hawes's on Tamar, which is en
- 2:28gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, he
- 2:32freaked out. And he set himself to seek the
- 2:36Lord and Proclaim to faster out all Judah.
- 2:41So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord.
- 2:47And from all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the
- 2:51Lord, let's pray, father, thank you for what you are doing at
- 2:57this moment in time. Thank you, Father, for the power
- 3:04of the Holy Spirit In Our Lives. Thank you for your love your
- 3:11unconditional love. Thank you that you are our help
- 3:16in time of need, thank you that you give hope to the Hopeless.
- 3:22Thank you that you bring healing to the hurt.
- 3:26Thank you, Father, that you bring transformation.
- 3:30And you transform us. We thank you that you conform us
- 3:36into the image of Jesus Christ. I thank you Lord.
- 3:39That we aren't just Overcomers but we are more than Overcomers
- 3:45I thank you Father that you live inside of us and greater is he
- 3:51that is in us and he that is in the world Lord.
- 3:54I pray this morning that you would pour out your spirit upon
- 3:59us. That we would have a touch from
- 4:02Heaven. I pray that you would revive,
- 4:05oh, Lord, according to your word, according to your
- 4:08kindness, I pray, God that you would awaken the sleeper that
- 4:14you would bring forth Spiritual Awakening.
- 4:17I pray that we would be encouraged that we'd built.
- 4:20We'd be built up in our Most Holy Faith.
- 4:23I pray that we would keep ourselves in the love of God,
- 4:27praying in the Holy Spirit, looking for the mercy.
- 4:30And the return of Jesus Christ. I pray, God, that you would do,
- 4:34only what you can do in this place this morning because you
- 4:38are God, and we are not, we need you.
- 4:42God were pouring needy. We can't do anything apart from
- 4:46you, and so God, we ask you now. To work and to write the word of
- 4:53God on the tablets of our heart changes, bring forth New Birth,
- 4:59new life and bring forth God great strength from heaven above
- 5:05in Jesus name and everyone said, amen.
- 5:10In verse 1, it says that the battle came to Jehoshaphat, the
- 5:16battle came to Jehoshaphat the ammonites the B.
- 5:21They all came out to battle against Jehoshaphat, as you.
- 5:27And I know the battle is real. We are in a battle.
- 5:31The struggle is real. And the enemy battles against as
- 5:36the enemy does not want us to succeed, just like he didn't
- 5:40want Jehoshaphat to succeed. And so therefore the battle was
- 5:45coming against Jehoshaphat. We have a real enemy and we know
- 5:50what Jesus said about him. The enemy has come to steal,
- 5:53he's come to kill. He's come to destroy.
- 5:56He's like a roaring lion. He has come to devour And he as
- 6:00a Christian, he doesn't want you.
- 6:03To succeed in Christ. He doesn't want me to succeed in
- 6:06Christ. He doesn't want us to prosper
- 6:09spiritually. He doesn't want your families to
- 6:12be grounded and rooted in the Lord.
- 6:15He doesn't want you to have the presence of Jesus.
- 6:20And so the enemy, he's always on a rampage.
- 6:24He's always battling and he seeks to battle against our
- 6:28minds. He wants to distract his.
- 6:31He wants to distort. Our minds, he doesn't want our
- 6:34minds to be said on those things which are above.
- 6:37But he wants our minds to be set on fleshly things worldly,
- 6:41things circumstances situations government or whatever it might
- 6:46be and so he's constantly firing those darts and attacking our
- 6:51minds. The battle is real just like
- 6:54with Jehoshaphat the battle came against him.
- 6:59The battle was to destroy him to take In God's people out of the
- 7:04land to remove them. Now, before we look at what
- 7:10Joe's Jehoshaphat did or how he responded to the battle news, I
- 7:16want to just kind of give you a background on who Jehoshaphat
- 7:20was in second Chronicles chapter 17.
- 7:23It says that the Lord was with Jehoshaphat and that Jehoshaphat
- 7:28sought the god of his father and Jehoshaphat walk.
- 7:33In his commandments. So second chronicles tells us
- 7:37chapter 17 that Jehoshaphat that the Lord was with him.
- 7:43The Lord was with Jehoshaphat In the battle.
- 7:48God is with you in the battle. God is in, you God is with you,
- 7:53and God is for you. That's such good news.
- 7:56God is in you. If you've been born again, God
- 8:00is with you. And God is for you, and God was
- 8:06with Jehoshaphat and Jehoshaphat sought the Lord, and He Walked
- 8:11In The Commandments of God, he was a man who walked in the way.
- 8:17Of the Lord. And it says, therefore, the Lord
- 8:20established the kingdom in his hand, God established the
- 8:25kingdom in his hand. It's the Lord who establishes
- 8:29us. It's a lord who strengthens us.
- 8:31It's the Lord who settles us and our establishment comes from,
- 8:36the establishment of the Lord. He is the one who establishes us
- 8:41without him, we can't do anything.
- 8:44Another thing that we learn about Oh, Sofia, is that his
- 8:48heart, took Delight in the ways of the Lord.
- 8:52I love that, his heart, took Delight in the ways of the Lord.
- 8:58And the Bible says, in Psalm 37, that if we Delight ourself in
- 9:02the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart.
- 9:08Delight yourself in the Lord, cultivate your faith, build
- 9:12yourself up in your Most. Holy Faith.
- 9:14As the book of Jude, says, Delight, The Lord and He Shall
- 9:18give you the desires of your heart and Jehoshaphat took
- 9:22Delight in the Lord, because the Lord was his Delight is Jesus
- 9:29Christ? Your Delight.
- 9:30Are you delighting in Jesus? Are you spending time in his
- 9:34presence? His heart took Delight in the
- 9:38ways of the Lord and second chronicles. 19, 9 Jehoshaphat
- 9:44called upon the leaders to he's act in the fear of the Lord with
- 9:48faithfulness and in undivided heart and he concluded in that
- 9:53chapter by tallying is leaders. May the Lord be with those who
- 9:58do, what is right? Jehoshaphat had success because
- 10:02God was with him and I love that he called upon the leaders to
- 10:06always act in the fear of the Lord have faith.
- 10:10Have the fear of God, have the reverence of God always act in
- 10:14the fear of the Lord, with faithfulness be faithful to the
- 10:19Lord be faithful to, Lord, be sold out.
- 10:24Give 100% and do it as Jehoshaphat said, to his Leaders
- 10:29with Undivided heart. God doesn't want our heart to be
- 10:34divided. He wants all of our heart.
- 10:36He wants us to love him with all of our heart, as Jesus said,
- 10:40love the Lord. Your God with all of your heart
- 10:44and whatever you do, do heartily, do it with all your
- 10:49heart as unto the Lord pour out. Give God all of your heart.
- 10:55He doesn't want a piece of your heart.
- 10:57He doesn't want half of your heart.
- 10:59He wants. All of your heart and he called
- 11:01upon his leaders to act in faithfulness with an undivided
- 11:06heart, and he told them to behave courageously.
- 11:10Behaved courageously. We need courage, today, we need
- 11:14strong. Spines, we need strong back
- 11:17bones. As God told Joshua will be
- 11:20strong and be courageous. And then he said be very
- 11:26courageous. We need courage and Jehoshaphat
- 11:29called On the leaders to behaved courageously.
- 11:35He was an amazing man of God. Now, Jehoshaphat was a bright
- 11:40light against the dark paganism that existed during his time.
- 11:46Doesn't that sound like our world today.
- 11:49There's a lot of dark paganism that's existing during our time
- 11:53today. Jehoshaphat was a bright light
- 11:56in that time and We are called to be a bright light today.
- 12:04We are shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse
- 12:11generation. Jesus said let your light so
- 12:14shine that men may see your good works.
- 12:17And glorify your father who is in heaven.
- 12:21Shine Your Light. Don't hide the light of Jesus.
- 12:26God has called us to dispel the darkness by going into the
- 12:31darkness by shining. The light.
- 12:33We aren't to run. From the darkness, but we are to
- 12:36run into it and we are to shine the light of Jesus and
- 12:41Jehoshaphat, he was a bright light in the midst of extreme
- 12:45paganism. In the midst of Darkness, he
- 12:48brought the light of God into that culture and God has called
- 12:54us to do that today. However, he wasn't perfect and
- 12:59he messed up big time, but his faith in God, brought good to
- 13:03him. And God's people during his
- 13:07Reign now. How did Jehoshaphat respond to
- 13:12the news? That the armies?
- 13:15The enemies were marching toward him.
- 13:19How did he respond? When he heard that bad news
- 13:23notice verse? Three and Jehoshaphat, feared
- 13:30Jehoshaphat, feared. That's how he responded.
- 13:34When he heard that the enemies were marching toward them.
- 13:38To destroy them, to kick them out of God's land.
- 13:42He feared, he was terrified. He trembled.
- 13:47He was troubled. He freaked out.
- 13:51And you and I when we are faced with difficulties, when bad
- 13:57news, comes our way, or something tragic happens in our
- 14:03life or things. Go Haywire fear has a way of
- 14:09creeping in Fair, has a way of coming in and it terrifies and
- 14:14it can trouble us and it can over take us and we have to
- 14:19remember that God has not given us.
- 14:21Spirit of fear, but of power of love, and of a sound mind, a few
- 14:27years ago, I had a retinal detachment.
- 14:29It was a freak accident. Now, don't worry my wife didn't
- 14:33punch me in my right eye. She didn't do anything like
- 14:37that. I wasn't in a boxing match or
- 14:39anything. We were in Israel and we had
- 14:42four days left. And I noticed in my right eye
- 14:45that I started experiencing this black curtain and it got worse.
- 14:50They went from bad to worse and by the time we left, when I
- 14:54looked at my wife's forehead I could see about that much of her
- 14:57forehead. That was the only Vision that I
- 15:01had left and it was freaky and I could feel the Panic going on.
- 15:06In and I could feel at times that that fears starting to rise
- 15:11and I knew we had to fly from Israel back to the United
- 15:16States. And I knew that was going to
- 15:18take a long time and I had set up an appointment to see the
- 15:21optometrist the following day, but I can feel the panic and the
- 15:25fear and and you start thinking of those things like, what if
- 15:29I'm not going to be able to see again?
- 15:31What if I can't wink at my beautiful wife.
- 15:33Again, you know, those kinds of things.
- 15:36And you have just that that those emotions those thoughts
- 15:40and and I had to just preach to myself and like, David.
- 15:44He strengthened himself in the Lord.
- 15:47He preached to himself, he proclaimed God's word back to
- 15:51himself and we have to do that throughout the day throughout
- 15:55the week and the months we have to preach to our self.
- 15:59And so anyways I got in and I saw the am has he looked at my
- 16:03eye and he said it doesn't look good.
- 16:05And I And I said, do you think I'm gonna be able to see you
- 16:07again Doc and he said I'm not going to tell you I don't know.
- 16:11Go see a specialist I went the next day to see a specialist and
- 16:16by the grace of God, they had one surgery open at the final at
- 16:21the final surgery of that day, they got me in did surgery.
- 16:26Came out, everything was good, but then I found out that I had
- 16:29a gas bubble in my eye, they put gas in my eye and the doctor
- 16:35told me, okay. For the next seven days you have
- 16:38to lay face down and when you get up you have to walk face
- 16:41down. Don't don't look up because if
- 16:44you do that gas, bubble will explode and then you will lose
- 16:48your eye completely. So, here I am face down for
- 16:53seven days, almost 24 hours. Out of the day, the enemies
- 16:58messing with my mind, the enemies throwing darts at my
- 17:02mind and I'm fighting off this, this fear and this Panic with
- 17:06the word of God just preaching to myself, reminding myself of
- 17:10God's promises. And as I did that, the enemy he
- 17:15fled because he doesn't want to be around the power of God's
- 17:20word, but that fear, it comes in.
- 17:23And when you don't know what to do or you don't.
- 17:26Know how things are going to turn out.
- 17:28The enemy has a way of bringing fear into our lives.
- 17:32Fear is defined as a painful emotion or passion, excited by
- 17:38an expectation of evil or the apprehension of impending.
- 17:43Danger, fear will mess, you fear will mess you up.
- 17:50The Bible says that the fear of man brings a snare, the
- 17:54byproduct of fear is Harry Panic, depression and fear
- 18:01messes with your mind, it clouds your mind and you can't think
- 18:05clearly fear will keep you in a state where you don't know what
- 18:11to do and what I had. God's word, what does God's word
- 18:14say toes? And first, John 4:18, there is
- 18:17no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear because fear
- 18:22involves torment. There is no fear in love, but
- 18:26perfect love. Casts out all fear because fear
- 18:29involves torment, fear will torment.
- 18:33You, farewell tears, you up, and that's why we need to remind
- 18:38ourselves that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of
- 18:42power of love and of a sound mind isn't that good news that
- 18:48God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of Power of Love And A
- 18:53sound mind. We can Earth calm, because of
- 18:56the perfect love of Jesus Christ.
- 18:59The God's perfect love. Casts out all fear.
- 19:04How do we face our fears? We Face our fears by faith.
- 19:09We fight fear with faith. That's how we Face our fears by
- 19:15faith. We stare our fears in the face
- 19:19by faith. And we overcome, we don't allow
- 19:22fear to get the best of us. We don't allow fear to torment
- 19:25is or terrorism. We don't allow fear to paralyze
- 19:29us because we face those fears. By faith and when you're fearful
- 19:36face those fears and walk through them and watch God do
- 19:40Great and Mighty things as you face them and as you walk
- 19:43through them and as you overcome them through the power of Jesus
- 19:48Christ, another way is by remembering who God is in
- 19:52Genesis chapter 15 God speaking to Abram or Abraham.
- 19:58He said, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram
- 20:02in a vision saying, do not be afraid Abram.
- 20:06I am your Shield, your exceedingly, great reward.
- 20:10If you have had fear, You're in good company because men like
- 20:16Abraham Jehoshaphat. Timothy many others in the Bible
- 20:23faced bouts with fear but they were able to overcome and God
- 20:28told Abram, do not be afraid. I got you, I'll take care of you
- 20:33and I will protect you. Don't allow fear to overcome you
- 20:39and when Jehoshaphat heard the news, he feared and notice, what
- 20:45else he did, in verse 3. And he set himself to seek the
- 20:48Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah, he feared,
- 20:55but he didn't stay stuck in that fear.
- 20:58He then sought the Lord, he cried out to God, as we will
- 21:04read here in a few, and a few minutes, he prayed to God.
- 21:09He poured out his heart in prayer and God heard the Cry of
- 21:15his heart. He also called for a fast
- 21:18fasting is simply letting go of the physical Arena.
- 21:23In order to focus in on the spiritual Arena, Jesus said when
- 21:29you fast when you fast, not, if but when when we fast, we draw
- 21:37closer to the Lord, and when we fast, we deny our flesh.
- 21:43And when we fast, we depend upon the Lord, it shows the Lord that
- 21:48we are depending upon him. So fasting is Simply letting go
- 21:54of the physical arena in order to focus in on the spiritual
- 21:59Arena. We do it to come into the
- 22:02presence of the Lord to experience his presence and to
- 22:06experience his power. And it was he called for a fast
- 22:11because it was a time of desperation.
- 22:14It was a time of desperation, just like Nehemiah fasted in a
- 22:18time of desperation. Daniel fasted in a time of
- 22:23Desperation, and we're living in those times of desperation,
- 22:28where we need to seek the Lord, where we need to fast and
- 22:31Proclaim. And we need to let go of the
- 22:34physical. And we need to come into the
- 22:36spiritual realm and seek the presence of the Lord.
- 22:41And, and so, we can depend upon the Lord.
- 22:45What did the people do? They gathered together verse 4.
- 22:49So Judah gather together to ask count from the Lord and from all
- 22:54the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord.
- 22:59I love that. The people gather together to
- 23:02ask help from the Lord. When the battle is Raging and
- 23:06when fear is on the rise, we need to come together.
- 23:10Now is not the time to pull away, but now is the time to
- 23:14pull together and to a Ask help from the Lord, they gathered
- 23:21together. They didn't go to their to their
- 23:23homes and Hideout. But they gather together and
- 23:27they cried out and they ask how from the Lord God has called us
- 23:32to gather together. We're better together when were
- 23:36United were stronger, when we are a team working together for
- 23:42the cause of Jesus Christ moving forward in the same.
- 23:47Same Direction with her eyes on Jesus.
- 23:49Our hands on the plow moving as a team in sharing the Gospel of
- 23:55Jesus Christ teaching others, God's word praying together,
- 24:00helping each other coming together pulling together, man,
- 24:05God does powerful things. You see it in the book of Acts,
- 24:08I know you guys are going through the book of Acts on
- 24:11Sunday. When you look at the early
- 24:13church, they gather together often.
- 24:17They came together in one a chord when they were faced with
- 24:21persecution when the authorities were persecuting and coming
- 24:26against them and trying just to destroy them because they were
- 24:29preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of
- 24:33Jesus from the dead, they told him to stop preaching, what had
- 24:37God's people do, they went to their companions, they gather
- 24:42together and they asked the Lord to give them bold.
- 24:47Enos to speak the word of God in power.
- 24:50They didn't retreat. They didn't step back.
- 24:54They stepped up and they said, Lord, give me boldness.
- 24:57Give me power to speak your name and God gave them boldness.
- 25:02They gather together. There's power when we gather
- 25:06together and since the enemy is always attacking us, we are
- 25:10better together and we need to be united.
- 25:14We need to be working together praying.
- 25:17Gather praying for one, another doing church together doing
- 25:20life, together being the church together and moving forward
- 25:26together, and I love that they gather together.
- 25:29They didn't pull away, but they came together.
- 25:33Another thing that Josiah did is he prayed in times of
- 25:41uncertainty and unpredictability, there was a
- 25:45lot of uncertainty and Things were unpredictable, let's check
- 25:49out his prayer beginning in verse 5 through verse 12, then
- 25:53Jehoshaphat stood in the Assembly of Judah and Jerusalem
- 25:58in the house of the Lord, before the new court and said, check
- 26:03out this prayer and said O, Lord, God of our fathers.
- 26:08Are you not God in heaven and do you not rule over the kingdoms
- 26:13of the Nations and in your hand is there, not power and might so
- 26:19that no one is able to withstand, you, are you not our
- 26:23God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land be
- 26:28before your People Israel and gave it to the descendants of
- 26:32Abraham, your friend forever? When I read that your friend
- 26:38forever, I just go like. That feels so good.
- 26:43Your friend forever Abraham was God's friend forever.
- 26:49Jesus calls us friends. If you've given your life to
- 26:53Jesus, if you've been born again, you are a friend of God
- 26:59and a friend sticks closer than a brother.
- 27:03We are God's friends forever because we will be spending
- 27:08eternity with him forever. Therefore, we are his friends
- 27:12forever. I love that part of his prayer.
- 27:16Abraham, your friend forever. Are you a friend of God forever?
- 27:24If not, you can become a friend of God Forever by giving your
- 27:28life to Jesus Christ by turning from your sins and coming to
- 27:32Faith? In Jesus Christ.
- 27:34And then you can become a friend of god.
- 27:38Notice the prayer goes on in verse 8 and they dwell in it and
- 27:42have built you a sanctuary in it for your name.
- 27:46Saying if disaster comes upon us, whether it be through sword,
- 27:51judgment pestilence or famine, we will stand before this Temple
- 27:57and in your presence, in your presence for Your name is in
- 28:04this Temple. Your name is in this house.
- 28:07Your name is in this place and we will cry out to you in our
- 28:13Affliction. And you will hear and save.
- 28:17And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and mount seir whom
- 28:22you would not let Israel invade. When they came out of the land
- 28:25of Egypt, but they turn from them and did not destroy them.
- 28:31Here they are. Rewarding Us by coming to throw
- 28:35his out of out of your possession, which you have given
- 28:39us to inherit o Our God. Will you not judge them over our
- 28:47God? Will you not judge them?
- 28:49I love this prayer. Jehoshaphat did not know what to
- 28:54do. And when you don't know what to
- 28:57do, pray, pray and wait, pray and wait, stand still and see
- 29:05the salvation of the Lord. Pray in times of uncertainty.
- 29:10Pray in times of unpredictability, are you in a
- 29:14time of uncertainty right now? Are you living in a time of
- 29:18uncertainty? Right now, our country is in a
- 29:20time of uncertainty. There's nothing certain in our
- 29:25country Right now, we don't know what's going to happen from one
- 29:29day to the next. And when there are times of
- 29:32uncertainty people freak out people, run to pills, they run
- 29:39to drugs. They run two things at that
- 29:42could help them to cope rather than running to the certain to
- 29:47the certain God rather than running to God, who gives a
- 29:51certainty in the midst of uncertainty.
- 29:54God is certainly Certain even though times are uncertain, God
- 29:59is certain, that's why we trust in the Lord with all of our
- 30:02heart. That's why we lean not on our
- 30:04own understanding. That's why we acknowledge God in
- 30:07all of our ways. That's why we build our life.
- 30:10Upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ because he's a rock and
- 30:14he's Our Redeemer. And when the storms come and
- 30:17when uncertainties flood in, we are certain because our
- 30:22certainty is in Jesus Christ. We don't trust and Certain
- 30:26riches, but we trust in the Living God, who has given his
- 30:29all things, through his divine power that pertains to life and
- 30:34godliness. We have certainty in Christ.
- 30:37If you're Shakin in your uncertain and you haven't put
- 30:40your certainty in Christ, give your life to Jesus Christ and
- 30:45you will find certainty in your life.
- 30:48And in the things that you are going through, certainty is
- 30:52found in a certain God not only that but there were times Times
- 30:56of unpredictability, he's praying in these times of
- 31:00unpredictability, we don't know what's going to happen.
- 31:04Things are so unpredictable, but guess who's on the throne, Jesus
- 31:09Christ, he rules and Reigns things, may be falling apart
- 31:14according to the world's ways, but things are falling together,
- 31:18according to the plan of Jesus, because Jesus said that these
- 31:22times would come, that men will be lovers of themselves lovers.
- 31:26Hours of money, headstrong violent hearty, having a form of
- 31:31godliness, but denying, the power of God.
- 31:33Jesus said that these times would come, there would be times
- 31:37of unpredictability, but we know what Jesus has said, Jesus said
- 31:42he's coming again. We know what is going to come?
- 31:46We have Victory. Thanks, be to God who has given
- 31:49us the victory, through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
- 31:52Therefore, in times of uncertainty and in times of
- 31:55uncertainty, Unpredictability be steadfast, be immovable, always
- 32:01abounding in the Lord. Knowing that, whatever you do
- 32:04for Jesus is not in vain Jehoshaphat, poured out, his
- 32:09heart in times of uncertainty, and in times of
- 32:13unpredictability, he poured out his heart and I love his prayer.
- 32:17He said, God, you rule God, you roll.
- 32:22God, you are powerful and mighty God, no one is able to withstand
- 32:29you and God your track record is good.
- 32:33You drove out the enemies in the past and you can do it again.
- 32:37God, you drove out the enemies in the past and you can do it
- 32:40again. If you did it, then you can do
- 32:43it today. God hasn't changed.
- 32:45He's the same today as he was yesterday.
- 32:48God is still in the business of performing.
- 32:52Miracles. God is still saving and
- 32:55transforming lives today. God is the same.
- 32:58He doesn't change. He can part the waters for you.
- 33:02He can do something. Unbelievable, unmistakable.
- 33:05God can restore your marriage? God, can restore your
- 33:09relationships. God can bring your product calls
- 33:12home, God can deliver your family and your friends from the
- 33:16power of Sin, from the presence of Sin from addiction, or, from
- 33:20Whatever It Is. God has the The power to deliver
- 33:24believe in Jesus, it's not by might nor by power.
- 33:27But by the Holy Spirit, saith the Lord, God, your track record
- 33:31is good. You drove out the enemies and
- 33:33the past, you'll do it again. And we need to be, we need God
- 33:37to drive the enemies out of our families, out of our Lives, we
- 33:41need God to drive them out because the enemy, he's like a
- 33:45roaring lion. He's come to steal, he's come to
- 33:48steal kill and destroy his. Come to devour, we need a Raise
- 33:52up the standard and how do we do that by raising up the word of
- 33:57God in our homes? Raising up the standard in our
- 34:00homes. I love.
- 34:05That he said, if disaster comes upon us, whether it be through
- 34:09sword, judgment, pestilence or famine.
- 34:12He said, here's what we will do. We will cry out in our
- 34:18Affliction and you will hear, and you will save God.
- 34:23We know that no matter what comes our way, you will hear and
- 34:27you will save. That's faith.
- 34:30That no matter what comes our way sword pestilence famine?
- 34:35Disaster. Whatever comes our way, we are
- 34:38going to cry out in our Affliction.
- 34:41How many of you know that God Comforts, those who are in
- 34:45Affliction. God Comfort says, when we are
- 34:48afflicted, he's the God of All Comfort.
- 34:50He's the father of mercies. He comes alongside of us and he
- 34:54Comfort says, but I love his faith.
- 34:57No matter. What comes our way, you will
- 34:59hear and you will save God. Here's why, because God is a
- 35:04God. God who's not dead?
- 35:06God is alive. We serve the only God that as
- 35:10only resurrected from the grave that's Jesus Christ.
- 35:14God hears and God Saves he's in the business of saving he can
- 35:18save you today. He hears and he saves and I love
- 35:22this poured out prayer. It's faith.
- 35:27As the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 but without faith, it is
- 35:32impossible to please him. It is impossible to please him
- 35:37without faith. We must believe that he is.
- 35:41And that he is, a rewarder of those who diligently seek him
- 35:45without faith. It is impossible to, please God.
- 35:49So, if we don't have faith, it's impossible to please him.
- 35:53But we must believe believe have faith.
- 35:56We must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those
- 36:02who diligently seek him. He had faith in his prayer, and
- 36:08when we pray, we need to pray in faith and he said, o Our God,
- 36:13will you not judge them? And notice the second part of
- 36:16verse 12, for, we have no power against this great multitude.
- 36:21That is coming against us. God, we don't have any power.
- 36:28We don't know what to do. We don't have the power.
- 36:32We need your power. If we don't have the power of
- 36:35God will be defeated. Paul, the Apostle said, when I
- 36:38am weak, he is strong. He also said in Ephesians be
- 36:42strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, we can't
- 36:45fight the battle without the Lord's power.
- 36:49We need his power. He recognize God, we don't have
- 36:53the power, our powers not in us, our powers not in our military,
- 36:58our powers not in our might our powers.
- 37:01Not in our resources, our power is not in our bank accounts.
- 37:05Our power is not in our education, our power is in
- 37:09almighty. God, who gives us the power?
- 37:13He is our power. Are you connected to the power
- 37:17of God through prayer? Are you coming into his
- 37:20presence? Are you connected to the power
- 37:23of His word? Because the word of God is
- 37:25powerful. It's active, it's sharper than
- 37:28the sharpest knife. It will revolutionize your your
- 37:32life. It will radical change you.
- 37:34Radically it will revive you as the Bible says, revive us.
- 37:38O Lord, according to the power of your word but we need to be
- 37:41connected to his power to his word In Prayer by spending time,
- 37:47and opening up the word of God. Are you losing the battle?
- 37:53Could it be that you are depending upon your power and
- 37:56not God's power second. Corinthians 10:4 says, for the
- 38:00weapons of our Warfare are not carnal, But Mighty in God, for
- 38:07pulling down strongholds, the weapons of our Warfare, the
- 38:12weapons of our battles that are not carnal.
- 38:14They're not fleshly, but Mighty in God for pulling down
- 38:19strongholds and he recognized and he cried out here.
- 38:23God, we don't have any power. And then notice what he also
- 38:27said in that verse 4, we have no power against this make great
- 38:31multitude that is coming against us.
- 38:33Nor do we know what to do, nor do we know what to do.
- 38:40Lord, we don't know what to do. You might be walking through a
- 38:44Health crisis. You might have gone through a
- 38:47recent divorce bankruptcy, depression.
- 38:52Loss of a loved one. You might have someone that is.
- 39:00Badgering you bullying? You giving you a hard time,
- 39:05making fun of you mocking you Over the last couple of years,
- 39:10we've been in situations where we didn't know what to do.
- 39:14And this is when we have the tendency to put our eyes on the
- 39:18situation, the circumstance on people rather than putting our
- 39:24eyes on the Lord and like Peter, the Apostle.
- 39:27When he God told, when Jesus told him to get out of the boat
- 39:30and walk on the water, he got out, he started walking on the
- 39:33water and then he took his eyes off of Jesus and he put his eyes
- 39:38on the waves and the winds on the Storm.
- 39:42And he began to sink. He began to sink Jesus because
- 39:48he's so gracious. Lifted him up.
- 39:52If it would have been one of us, we might have said just let him
- 39:54sink for a while. Let him go down a lot deeper and
- 39:58cry out. but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to
- 40:04sink and we have a tendency When we don't know what to do, we
- 40:10have a tendency to do, what we think is best.
- 40:14We have a tendency to be wise in our own opinion.
- 40:18We have a tendency to do what we think is, right?
- 40:21Rather than what God thinks is, right?
- 40:25And when we do that, we take our eyes off of the Lord, in this
- 40:31battle that we Face. We can't lose sight of Jesus.
- 40:36We need to put our eyes on. Is.
- 40:38And as Jehoshaphat said here, nor do we know what to do.
- 40:45But our eyes are upon you nor do we know what to do, but our eyes
- 40:54are upon you. Lord.
- 40:56I don't know what to do. And that's okay.
- 41:00But my eyes are on you. I don't know what to do, but my
- 41:04eyes are upon you because I know if my eyes are on, you, I know,
- 41:11you know what to do, and I know that you will tell me what to
- 41:15do, you will order my steps. You will give me guidance and
- 41:19Direction and so if my eyes are on you, I know that, you know
- 41:24what to do. Therefore, I'm going to keep my
- 41:27eyes on you. If your eyes are on Jesus, God
- 41:33will see you through. If you've taken your eyes off
- 41:36the Lord, put them back on him. Ask God to correct your vision,
- 41:43go to go to the optometrist, go to the word of God and God will
- 41:47correct. Your vision.
- 41:49God will give you fresh. Eyes.
- 41:51Dove eyes. He'll show you what to do, even
- 41:53if it's day by day, even if it's Moment by moment, God will show
- 41:59you what to do. And we need our vision to be
- 42:03corrected at times. Because we take our eyes off,
- 42:07the author and the finisher, the Perfecter of our faith, and we
- 42:11put our eyes on things that we ought not to be putting our eyes
- 42:14on. We put our eyes on worthless
- 42:16things, rather than, on worthy things like, Jesus Christ, who's
- 42:20worthy. We need to fix Our Eyes Upon
- 42:23Jesus Christ. And God will correct.
- 42:26Our vision. Take your eyes off of yourself.
- 42:30Take your eyes off of your circumstances.
- 42:32Turn from your sin, And God will give you fresh Vision.
- 42:37We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
- 42:40Because God, you know, what to do, you know what to do?
- 42:45And that's where we want to be. We want to be In his presence.
- 42:52We want to have our eyes on him because we know that he knows
- 42:56what to do. Not only do we need to put our
- 42:58eyes on Jesus, not only do, we need to fix our eyes on those
- 43:02things which are above where Christ is seated, at the right
- 43:04hand of the Throne of God, but when we don't know what to do,
- 43:07we need also the power of the Holy Spirit, notice verse 14,
- 43:13then the spirit of the Lord verse 13, excuse me.
- 43:17But all Judah with their little ones that A Little Bambinos, a
- 43:21little ninos. The little ones are wives and
- 43:23their children, stood before the Lord, that's always a good place
- 43:27to stand before the Lord, they stood before the Lord.
- 43:34Then then the spirit of the Lord Came Upon jaha's.
- 43:39All the son of Zechariah, the son of Benny, oh, doesn't say
- 43:42that. Son of JAL, the son of
- 43:45mattaniah, levite of the sons of asaph in the midst of the
- 43:49assembly and he said, listen, all of you Judah, and you
- 43:54inhabitants of Jerusalem and you, the spirit of the Lord came
- 43:58upon him and notice who is now speaking to the, to the king and
- 44:03you King, Jehoshaphat, God had a word for King.
- 44:07Jehoshaphat from a man who was filled with the spirit of God,
- 44:11the spirit of God Came Upon him. And this man had a word for King
- 44:16Jehoshaphat, who is terrified, who didn't know what to do.
- 44:21And he said, now, you King Jehoshaphat Thus says the Lord
- 44:26to you, do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great
- 44:30battle for the battle is not yours, but Gods tomorrow.
- 44:35Go down against them. They will surely come up by the
- 44:38ascent of ziz and you will find them at the end of the brook
- 44:43before the Wilderness of drool. You will not need to fight in
- 44:48this battle position yourselves, stand still and see the
- 44:52salvation of the Lord, who is with you.
- 44:55Oh, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed
- 45:00tomorrow. Go out against them.
- 45:02For the Lord is with you and Jehoshaphat bowed his head with
- 45:07his face to the ground and all Judah, and the inhabitants of
- 45:10Jerusalem bowed. Before the Lord worshiping the
- 45:14Lord. Wow.
- 45:15This man, Filled with the spirit and he spoke in the spirit.
- 45:21You and I, as a church, we need that outpouring of the Holy
- 45:24Spirit. We need a fresh outpouring of
- 45:26the Holy Spirit as Paul. The Apostle said be filled with
- 45:30with the Holy Spirit, be filled be filled over and over again
- 45:36with the Holy Spirit, be he filled with the spirit of God,
- 45:41we need that fresh feeling in order to overcome to have
- 45:46Victory in those areas in our lives.
- 45:49Where we been defeated. If you want to have victory over
- 45:52failure, ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to fill you.
- 45:57So that you might overcome. But I love that.
- 46:01This man spoke in the spirit of God, and he said, do not be
- 46:04afraid or dismayed dismayed means to be shattered or
- 46:08deprived of Courage. Jehoshaphat was shattered.
- 46:12He was deprived of courage, and he said in the spirit, the Is
- 46:16not yours but it's God, The Battle Belongs to the Lord.
- 46:21All you will need to do is stand still.
- 46:23See the salvation of the Lord position yourself?
- 46:26Seek those things which are above get your eyes back on the
- 46:29Lord. Let the Lord fight the battle
- 46:31for you because he ultimately is the Conquering King.
- 46:37And is the Conquering King, you're not going to need to
- 46:39fight in this. Battle.
- 46:43We need the power of the Holy Spirit when we don't know what
- 46:46to do. And finally, we need praise.
- 46:49We need praise Verse 18, verse 19, then the Levites of the
- 46:55children of the Cohen Heights and of the children of the Cora
- 46:58Heights. Stood up to praise the Lord.
- 47:02The god of Israel with voice is loud and high.
- 47:05So they Rose early in the morning and went out into the
- 47:07Wilderness of Toccoa. And as they went out,
- 47:10Jehoshaphat Instead Hear Me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of
- 47:16Jerusalem, notice the faith that he spoke believe in the Lord
- 47:22your God and you shall be established.
- 47:25Believe His prophets and you shall prosper.
- 47:29And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those
- 47:33check this out. He appointed those who should
- 47:35sing to the Lord. The lord loves praise.
- 47:39He appointed those who should sing to the Lord?
- 47:42And who should praise the beauty of Holiness?
- 47:45As they went out before the Army, and were saying, praise
- 47:49the Lord for his Mercy endures forever.
- 47:53Praise the Lord for his Mercy, endures forever.
- 47:56Now, when they begin to seeing and to praise the Lord said,
- 48:00ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and mount seir who
- 48:04had come against Judah and they were defeated, they were
- 48:09defeated. Praise.
- 48:12These guys are surrounded by enemy forces and what is
- 48:17Jehoshaphat, do, Jehoshaphat sends out the quieter first, the
- 48:23choir was armed with nothing. But worship and praise.
- 48:31They were armed with nothing but worship and praise.
- 48:34When we praise God, almighty. Praise puts the enemy to flight
- 48:40because he hates when we sing and praise when we worship.
- 48:46Jesus, as a lifestyle, the choir was armed with nothing but
- 48:50worship, that's insane. But to the Lord, but not to the
- 48:54Lord because the Lord puts the enemy to fly through the power
- 48:59of praise. I was listening to this worship
- 49:01song the other day. And it says, I will praise
- 49:06before my breakthrough till my song.
- 49:09Becomes my Triumph. I'll praise before my
- 49:13breakthrough to my song. Becomes my Triumph.
- 49:16Our praise to God is more powerful than we realize.
- 49:20We need to put praise into practice.
- 49:23And we need to lift up the name of God Almighty through the
- 49:27power of praise, and it puts the enemy to flight if you are in a
- 49:31situation where you don't know what to do, don't Panic instead
- 49:35pray and ask God to fill you with the power of His holy
- 49:39spirit so that you could overcome put your eyes on Jesus
- 49:43and finally, praise the Lord. I'll praise before my
- 49:47breakthrough till my song becomes my Triumph.
- 49:52If you don't know what to do now you know what to do from these
- 49:57verses, from this scripture, we pray that you've been encouraged
- 50:03by this Bible. Study delivered live from the
- 50:05sanctuary of Calvary, Aurora for prayer or a copy of the study,
- 50:09call us at 877, 30 Grace, that's eight 77304, 2:53 or visit us
- 50:18online at Calvary Aurora dot-org.
- 50:22Blessed is you worship Jesus this week?
- 50:22Blessed is you worship Jesus this week?