Unfolding Next

Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

Lighthouse believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.

We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.

Take your Bible, if you would, and look at Genesis 21.

Genesis 21.

I owe you a little bit of time.

I'll try to give back some of that tonight.

I've been taking just a little bit too much, but uh Genesis chapter 21.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

Uh we were uh here a little bit this morning, and we were using uh the illustration of Hagar a little bit in a different way.

I want to revisit Hagar just for a moment and ask you to consider something tonight.

And uh, brethren, uh once in a while, something so simple seems to trigger our attitude, and when that attitude is triggered, it uh it seems to open up uh an understanding with the Lord that maybe we didn't have before.

And I'm praying that that'll be the case tonight.

Genesis chapter 21.

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

And when Abraham and Sarah begin to celebrate their uh their son, their Isaac, the one that he's called begotten, he's the son of their old age, a miracle son.

Uh, when they celebrate him, verse number eight, Abraham makes a feast.

And when he makes that feast to uh celebrate uh their son Isaac, Sarah saw something.

And what Sarah sees in verse number nine is she sees the son of Hagar, the Egyptian.

She sees Ishmael.

Reminds you that Ishmael is about 13 or 14 years old at the time, a teenager.

And when she sees Ishmael, which had been born to Abraham, she saw him mocking.

I don't know exactly what he was doing.

I don't know if he was making fun of the feast.

I don't know if he's making fun of Abraham and Sarah in their old age.

I don't know what he's mocking.

Nobody knows.

But when she sees that, she says to Abraham, cast out this bondwoman.

Get rid of this bondwoman.

We know it spoke about in the New Testament also.

Get rid of this bond woman and get rid of the son, get rid of Ishmael.

I don't want him around us anymore.

And notice verse 11, the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, underlying the next little three words, four words, because of his son.

Now, may I remind you that Abraham was the father of both Isaac and he was the father of Ishmael.

When you're a father, you're a father.

And Abraham did not know that Isaac and Ishmael, the New Testament, would be depicted, if you would, Israel and those, if you would, of uh probably the Muslim faith.

Would you agree with that statement?

But Abraham didn't know that.

He didn't understand that.

Oz he knew was one time Sarah's suggestion said, I don't have a son, why don't you take Hagar and why don't you give birth and we'll call that our son for the heir?

It will be your son that will be the heir.

God had another plan, but may I say to you, at this time when when Abraham, out of Sarah's request, was saying, I want the bondwoman gone, I want Hagar gone, I want Ishmael gone, I don't want him around us, I don't want him around our son Isaac.

It was very grievous in the sight of Abraham.

But Abraham hearkened to the voice.

Why?

Because verse number 12, God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad.

Remember, he's about 13, 14, and because of the bondwoman, Hagar, in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice.

For in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Isaac's the the called, the miraculous chosen one.

And then he says, God says this, and also, Abraham, of the son of the bondwoman, I will make a nation, because he is thy seed, because Abraham, uh, you're the father.

And I'm gonna bless you, Abraham, because you know Abraham, you and I have a special relationship.

So I'm gonna bless both of them, but I'm gonna bless them in different ways.

Verse 14, Abraham rose.

He uh he rose up early in the morning and took a little bit of bread, took a bottle of water, he gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder and the child, and sent her away, and she departed, wandering into the wilderness.

Notice verse 15, the water was spent.

I don't know what kind of wilderness was.

I don't know if it was a desert climate.

I don't know the time of year, but the water was spent in the bottle.

Well, the the boy goes under a shrub and he's left there, and she said, I just can't watch this boy die.

And no doubt her hope is fading.

And she went and sat over, uh, went and sat her down over against a good way off, and she said, Don't, I just don't want to see the death of the child.

And she sat over against him and lifted up her voice and wept.

Now, start looking very carefully in verse number 17, and God heard the voice of the lad.

God heard the voice of Ishmael.

And don't, don't you dare, and I won't either, don't dare categorize Ishmael yet.

Don't think New Testament, think that this is Abraham's one of his sons.

And this boy's about ready, if you would, to expend himself due to thirst.

And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?

Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

Arise, lift up the lad, hold him in thy hand, for I will make him a great nation.

I want you to see verse number 19.

And God opened her eyes.

And God opened her eyes.

Brethren, in the Bible, the opening of the eyes is something that God uses that phrase a few different times.

And when he opened her eyes, what it depicted was something was revealed to her that was necessary for next.

I want to say it again.

Something that that was necessary for next.

What do you mean?

Next.

Like, what's next?

What ailethy?

Well, you see our situation.

And now I'm gonna show you what's next.

And sometimes, brethren, our eyes need to be opened for next.

Like some of us need next.

Right now.

What do you mean, next?

Brethren, we walk by faith.

We're in our pilgrimage, we're in our journey.

And and we believe God's in control, and and certainly we have plans, but sometimes we get in situations where we don't know what's next.

It's too complicated to figure out.

Brethren, somebody says, I want an uncomplicated life.

If you're gonna live godly in Christ Jesus following his will, sometimes he's gonna lead you into complex.

Sometimes he's gonna lead us into you need me now.

You you don't, you can't figure it out now, you need me.

And I I've led you, if you're gonna launch out into the deep water and see God's business in the deep, you're gonna need to know next once in a while.

And I'm gonna show you what it is, but I'm gonna do it in such a way where it says, and God opened her eyes, revelation revealed, and she saw a well of water.

That was next.

And she went over, and when she saw that well of water, I don't know if it's already been there.

I don't know if she just didn't see it before.

I didn't know if he he sprang that well up.

Brother, I want to tell you something.

There could have been not a well there, and then there could have been a well there.

I don't know.

I just believe God does it his way.

And notice she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink, and God was with the lad.

Now let me make this little statement to you, and it's not gonna sound important yet, but as we watch a pattern, it is.

Oftentimes, next is not for us.

It's for someone else, it's for something else.

It's for God's will for something else than ourselves.

Now, no doubt this helped Hagar.

But it wasn't Hagar that was gonna become a nation, it was the lad.

I'm not saying God didn't have Hagar in mind, but I'm saying to you the focus was the lad.

That the lad is gonna become a nation.

And God was gonna be with the lad.

And Hagar was there to get the revelation of what was next, and Hagar, the mom, went over to fill the water bottle.

Evidently, the lad was too weak to do it.

Praise God, Hagar.

I don't I don't know what you think about Hagar, but don't disrespect her.

Read about her, find out who she is.

She tried to be obedient the whole way.

I I know that after she became with child, she looked back at her mistress, she looked back at Sarah in a different way.

But she's human.

And whatever you do, don't put Hagar down.

Hagar's an Egyptian trying to obey.

And she gets the revelation, her eyes are open, and she goes over and fills the water bottle.

Why?

God heard the lad.

And God showed Hagar what is next.

And she takes a little water bottle, but it's a miracle.

Brethren, I don't know about how do you say this, but that must have been with Hagar the rest of her life.

How we were out there and I'd given up on the boys' life.

And the angel of God came by and said, What aileth thee?

It's not the first time the angel of God was sent for Hagar.

But not just for Hagar, it was mainly for the lad.

Oftentimes God will give us something, but it's not to make us look good.

It's not, it's not to lift us up.

It's not for us to go out and be braggadocious about what God showed us.

In fact, a lot of times it's better to keep it real quiet, not tell a whole bunch of people.

And sometimes God will show you what's next for a situation so God can accomplish what he wants to accomplish, but what he wants to accomplish is not really lifting us up.

It's his will that he wants lifted up.

But he'll show us what's next, he'll open our eyes, he'll give understanding.

Are you still with me tonight?

Sometimes it's for our family, sometimes it's for our ministry, sometimes it's for something for him.

And we're supposed to take the little water bottle and give it to someone, and God's gonna bless that someone.

But it's not like, hey, I just want to know that uh I figured it out.

We don't figure things out often, often it's just revealed.

Like if God gives you something out of the book and you give it to someone else, sometimes it's best just to not repeat it.

Like, well, yeah, and I've done this before and God has rebuked me.

Yeah, I told so-and-so this, showed this one in the book, and showed them in the Bible and everything, and it's like uh, who are you trying to glorify?

Me or you?

Come on, are you with me or not?

Like I gave you what you needed, you gave it to them, you don't have to go tell everybody.

Because it's not about you, it's about them getting what I wanted them to get, and you ought to praise the Lord, I let you be the messenger.

You ought to praise the Lord that I let you fill the water bottle.

You ought to praise the Lord, I let you see that there was a well there.

And all you're supposed to do is fill the water bottle and give it to the lad, because the lad's going to be the nation.

And it's like, I'm just glad I get to be a part.

Come on, are you still with me?

Uh look if you would and stay with me.

Look at Ephesians 1.

Let's go in the New Testament, Ephesians 1 and Matthew 15.

Now, I'm not saying we're not important, but sometimes we're not.

Let me say that again.

I don't want to say we're not important, but sometimes we're not.

Sometimes we're just water bottle fillers.

But just the fact that we get to see the well, fill the water bottle, take it over to the lad, thank God we get to be something.

Look at Ephesians 1 and watch this principle again.

Often it's for someone else.

What?

The next.

The the the understanding.

So in Ephesians 1, here's the principle.

And if you don't have this kind of highlighted in your Bible, please let me encourage you to.

Highlight this in your own Bible.

Verse 17 of Ephesians 1.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and, what's the word?

Revelation.

Something revealed in the knowledge of Him.

That the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened.

Brethren, wisdom in revelation is the light bulb goes off in our brains.

Now, that's what the cartoon depicts.

You ever see the cartoon where the light bulb turns on?

Let me tell you what it really is.

It's the Holy Ghost giving you something.

It's the Holy Ghost saying, Let me show you something.

I'm going to open something up to you now.

I'm going to reveal something to you.

But oftentimes it's not just for us, it's for someone else.

So the eyes of our understanding.

The eyes of our understanding, please listen.

Faith cometh by, say it, hearing.

And hearing by the word of the Lord.

Now, hearing does not just mean in the ears, it means understanding.

Faith cometh by hearing.

Hearing is like understanding.

Faith cometh by hearing.

Hearing is not just hearing, but it's listening and understanding.

And understanding by the word of God.

So the understanding is enlightened, but understanding and faith go hand in hand.

Let me say that again.

Faith and understanding in the Bible go hand in hand.

Let me show you, please, a scripture depicting that.

Look at Matthew 15.

Matthew 15, you're doing well tonight.

And we're going to see for a woman what was next.

Matthew 15.

Remember, faith and understanding, the eyes of enlightenment.

Hagar saw a well.

The well was revealed.

She got the fill the water bottle.

Look at Matthew 15.

And let's go to the backside of what happened.

It's important, Matthew 15, look at verse 28.

Verse 28.

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, Oh woman, great is thy faith.

What he's saying is, Oh woman, you've got some real understanding.

Something has been revealed to you that's not revealed to many.

Woman, great is thy faith.

So now with that in mind, back up just a little bit farther and notice verse 22.

Notice this woman of Canaan, she's not Jewish.

She came out of the coast and crying unto him, she's not Jewish.

And she says, Have mercy on me, O Lord.

And then she says, Thou son of David.

That's a Jewish term.

Where did she get that from?

Canaanites don't call the Lord the son of David.

But this woman did.

She was ahead of her time.

Would you agree with that?

What do you mean, ahead of her time?

She's already thinking like a saved Gentile.

And she said, Oh, have mercy, O Lord, thou son of David.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

She's not asking for herself.

She needs a water bottle filled for her daughter.

Oftentimes, brethren, it's not for us.

What's next?

It's for someone else.

But if we just get to fill the water bottle or we get to plead before the Lord before them, in this case, the woman, she just wouldn't give up.

What do you mean?

Oh, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil.

Notice verse 23.

He answered her not a word.

Well, why didn't he answer her?

Well, she he knew she was a Canaanite.

Well, what has that got to do with anything?

Well, he had to go to the Jew first.

Come on, are you still with me or not?

Now I want to tell you something.

It's doctrinal, but he's not going to withhold from her.

He already knows that she understands.

I mean, please, let's let's remind yourself there's no surprises with the Lord Jesus.

He didn't go, whoa, jump back.

Great is thy faith, woman.

It wasn't like that at all.

Nothing surprised him.

He foreknew everything.

Come on, is that right?

So, so so he she says, but but he answered in her own word.

His disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away.

Why?

She was a Canaanite.

But if she crieth after us, she's bothering us.

Just send her away.

Brethren, there was a in their mind, there was a caste system.

We're Jewish and she's not.

Well, he answered and said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Lord, son of David, my daughter's grievously vexed.

No answer.

Send her away.

But he does say this: I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Or she came and worshipped him.

When he did answer her.

And then when he said, I'm gonna, I'm I'm not sent to you.

I'm sent to the house of Israel first.

She worshipped him.

She wasn't offended.

She worshipped him and said, Lord, help me.

Now the help wasn't just for her, it was for the daughter.

Come on, is that right?

Help me.

But he answered and said, It's not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs.

Brother, that's pretty harsh.

Not like harsh, like sarcastic.

That's doctrinal.

So again, he says, you know, I'm not supposed to take the meat.

That's for the children of Israel, and you're a Canaanite, and I'm not supposed to give it to the dogs, which you are.

She's still not offended.

Come on, you still with me or not?

She's still not offended.

Why?

Because the eyes of her understanding are enlightened.

Something has been revealed to her.

Something she understands, and she's not going to give up on this thing because she understands he's going to the Jews first, but there's still some crumbs for the dogs.

The Jews get the main course, but the Gentiles still get some crumbs.

Brethren, I don't know about you.

I'm glad to be eating on the crumbs tonight.

Maybe I'm not a Jewish person by birth, but I'm Jewish by being born again.

And the crumbs are good enough.

Brethren, we get to understand some things in this book, and of their crumbs, can't wait to get to hear and see the whole book.

And she says this.

She said, truth, Lord.

Now wait a minute, wait a minute.

She didn't say, Lord, you know, like, yeah, I'm telling you that you're telling the truth.

She says, she was saying, Yes, I understand that, Lord.

That's the truth.

I get it.

I understand.

Look, all the apostles are around.

They have no idea what's going on in this conversation.

But the Lord and this woman do.

The apostles are out to lunch right now.

All they're thinking is, Canaanite, send her away.

But the Lord and her is having a dialogue.

Is that true?

And she's not going to give up on her daughter.

And so she says, uh, she says, truth, Lord.

Yet the dog eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.

She says, I know my place.

But you got something for us, too.

Where's she at?

Brother, she's already where Peter's taking the gospel to the Gentiles, to Cornelius, and the like thing is falling on them.

You say, was she already there?

She had some understanding that the apostles didn't have yet.

Come on, are you still with me?

Sometimes faith allows us to understand what is next.

And next was, truth, Lord, but uh, if you could just let a little crumbs fall down, I'm only asking for my daughter's healing.

And I know you're healing Jewish people, but she also probably knew he had healed some Samaritans.

Come on, is that right?

And they were Gentile dogs too.

In fact, the ten lepers, the one that turned around, was a Samaritan.

The idea, brethren, is something was revealed to her.

And it was, he called it great as thy faith.

Sometimes we need to know something, understand something, but it's not for us, it's for someone else.

She's not trying to lift herself up, she's trying to say, My vexed daughter has a devil.

I'm here representing her.

It's like, would you please heal her?

And I understand.

I'm not first in line.

I understand what you're doing.

But I'm still asking for some crumbs.

Just give me some crumbs from the master's table.

I'm okay being under the table.

I'm okay that I'm not eating up there with you all.

But if you'll just let some crumbs fall down, then the dog will have something to eat.

I'm just asking for my daughter.

Are you still with me or not?

I mean, you know the dogs, they're under the table.

They don't get to eat on the top of the table.

But they're okay if some crumbs fall down from the top of the table.

And that's all she's asking for.

But she's doing it by faith and with understanding.

And she's asking for what's next.

But it's not for her.

And notice what happens.

O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt, and from, and her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Brother, that's the water bottle delivery.

That's Hagar getting the water to take to the lad.

That's this woman not giving up.

And by the way, while you're right there, you're doing great tonight.

Look at Luke si uh look at uh Matthew 16, it's just across the page.

Look at verse 17.

Verse 17, verse 16, Simon Peter says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Verse 17, Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjon.

I want you to see this.

For flesh and blood hath not revealed it.

But my Father, which is in heaven.

You say, why did you say that?

Because that woman, flesh and blood had not revealed that to her.

God, the Father in heaven, had, and that's why he said, Great is thy faith, woman.

Because God knew where that came from.

He knew that came from his heavenly father.

Brethren, we don't get anything unless God allows it.

If we think we're smart or intelligent, we just need to realize it's because God opens our minds, but a lot of times he opens our mind and reveals something for someone else.

And we get to be the messenger.

If you're a counselor, if you're a Bible teacher, if you're a father that's giving out devotions, if you're a mother teaching your children, if you got a Sunday school and you're teaching little ones, I mean, whatever it is that you get to give the word of God out, realize we're just water deliverers.

And a lot of it's not for us.

But I'm thinking Hagar, after she took the little bottle of water to the lad, I'm just thinking Hagar must have taken a drink too.

You say, what do you mean?

There's advantages to carrying the water bottle.

Because you get to drink a little bit too.

And even though the crumbs are for the daughter who gets healed, she got a little bit out of that too.

But it wasn't for her glory.

Because the apostles are like, are we done with her?

No.

Wow.

God wasn't done with her.

And the daughter was made whole.

Boy, that woman went away rejoicing.

But she went away believing.

It was faith, it was understanding.

Everybody's still with me tonight.

So here's what I'm here's a little thing I'm trying to get across to you tonight.

When we pray and ask, often it's Lord, this is not to glorify me.

What do you mean?

Please grant it.

But it's not to glorify me.

It's for someone else.

I know my place.

I just, if I can just go over and get a little water out, because you opened my mind to see that's where the water is, and I can get a little water out and take it to the lad.

This is about the lad, this is not about me.

And by the way, it's about someone else, it's not about us.

You still with me tonight or not?

If God gives you something, mom, dad, friend, to a friend, something in business, something in the military, something that you need, oftentimes there's a bigger picture.

What do you mean, a bigger picture?

It's it's so God gets glory in some way, shape, or form.

And the next, what's revealed, is not to make us look like someone.

Now it builds our faith.

It's nice to be involved, but often it's for someone else.

And the someone else, if you would, is who God wants to bless.

You say, Well, what about me?

Just be happy you're filling the water bottle.

Just be happy that you understand what a crumb is.

Just be pleased with that.

Because, brethren, we're not we're not out to glorify ourselves.

But sometimes he has to open, if you would, our minds a little bit, and it is for someone else.

Look at Numbers 22.

I'll watch your time tonight.

Numbers 22, and we'll finish with this.

Numbers 22.

And if you know Numbers 22, uh, I don't know if you've ever read the story of Balaam and Balak.

It's it's a it's kind of a story that you got to read.

Well, some of us have to read three or four times to really get it.

Just the storyline.

Because it's it's it's kind of complicated, just the storyline itself.

Numbers 22.

And I want to lead you to this so you you see the context.

Verse 31.

Verse 31.

Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam.

So Hagar's eyes got open.

The Canaanite woman's eyes of understanding were already open.

And verse 31 is the story about the donkey talking to him.

You know the story?

If you don't know the story of the donkey, come on.

You got to get in your book.

Find out about the donkey.

If you're new to Christ, if you're new to Christianity, okay, you're alright.

No problem.

But you want to read Numbers 22 so you know about the story of the talking donkey.

There's a lot of jokes about it and different things.

You just need to know about the talking donkey.

Uh, if you've been saved for a while and you don't know about the talking donkey, come on, get in your Old Testament a little bit.

Because what's going on here is Balaam is being summoned by Balak.

Balak wants Balaam, verse number, chapter 22, look at verse 6.

Verse 6.

Balak is an enemy, B-A-L-A-K is an enemy of the Israelites' people, and he summons Balaam.

And he says in verse 6, come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.

He's talking about the Jewish people.

Come and curse this people, for they are too mighty for me.

So I want to hire you, Balaam, to come and curse this people.

For here's what he said.

Um, verse 6, right at the end, whom thou blessed is blessed, and he who thou cursed is cursed.

He said, Whatever you say comes to pass, so I'm gonna hire you to curse this people.

And I'll give you the rewards in verse 7 of divination.

I'll make you, I'll promote you, I'll bring you to honor, I'll give you a lot of stuff.

Verse 9, God shows up.

Verse 9.

God comes to Balaam and said, Uh, what men are these?

Have you ever noticed God asks that a lot of times?

Like, what are you doing, Hagar?

How are things?

What's going on?

What things?

I mean, he's just that way.

Come on, is that right?

He does it a lot.

He says, uh, he says that God came to Balaam.

He said, What men are these with thee?

And Balaam says, Well, it's Balak.

Uh he's a king of Moab, and he wants me to curse the people.

And verse 12, God says to Balaam, You're not gonna go with him.

For they thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.

You say, What's this got to do with anything?

Um, Balaam is gonna get a little bit twisted in his walk.

What do you mean?

Balaam is gonna be told under certain conditions he can go with them.

But he gets a little ahead.

What do you mean, certain conditions?

Well, well, he says, look at verse number uh 20.

Verse 20, and God came to Balaam at night and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them.

But yet the word which I shall say unto thee, thou shalt do.

And Balaam rose up in the morning.

Now, what's implied there is the men had not called him.

Verse 22, because God's anger was kindled.

God's anger was kindled because he went.

Well, he's riding along on his donkey and he's going off with Balaam, or Balach, he's going off with the enemy, and uh he gets into this situation where the donkey sees the angel of the Lord standing, resisting, and the animal sees it.

And uh Balaam's hitting the donkey, and I'm just paraphrasing, Balaam's uh hitting the donkey, saying, Let's go forward, where the donkey can see something that Balaam can't see yet.

I often wonder, I wonder, you know, how that all works.

And you say, Yeah, this is one incident.

I don't know.

You know, I'm not saying animals are spiritual, but I just wonder what we don't see.

We think we see, but we don't.

I'm just saying, I when it says the rocks will cry out, I just think they will.

If we don't.

You say, but they're not alive.

Yeah, you don't know.

The earth groans.

God hears the earth talk.

Come on, is that right?

Yes or no?

The earth told the Lord the blood.

You say, now that can't be true.

Well, wait till we get to heaven and find out.

We don't, we don't, we just think it's earth.

We dig in it and grow plants and everything.

I don't know.

Yeah, don't get weird on us.

I'm just saying, we don't know.

Not everything's revealed to us.

And so the donkey's seeing the angel.

And uh, and verse 30.

Verse 30.

Uh, the ass, the donkey says, Am I not thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day?

Was I was I ever want to to do so unto thee?

You know what's going on is Balaam's beating the donkey, and the donkey says, Wait a minute, we've been together a long time.

I've never done that to you.

You've been riding me a long time, and now you're beating me.

And I've never done that to you.

And I know it's kind of funny, but verse 31 the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn.

He bowed down his head and fell flat on his face.

Brethren, I don't know how it all works, but I think if we saw something like that, we go down low.

In shock, trauma.

Fell flat on his face.

The angel says, uh, why have you been beating your donkey these three times?

I've been withstanding thee.

And I want you to know your way is perverse.

You're you're not supposed to be with them yet.

And I want you to know something too, uh Balaam.

Had your donkey not turned out of the way these three times, I was gonna kill you.

Verse 3.

And save her alive.

And then the angel says to Balaam, Go with the men, but only the word that I shall speak unto thee.

It's not self-willed.

You say, Why are you bringing this up?

His his understanding had to be opened.

But there was a big picture involved.

What do you mean?

What's the big picture?

The big picture is in uh in verse uh chapter 24.

It's in chapter 24, verse 10.

This is the big picture.

Watch 24, 10, and we'll be done.

And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam.

Why he smote his hands together and Balaak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

I thought to promote you to honor you, just keep blessing them.

I'm I'm I hired you to curse them.

What's the big picture?

The big picture is God is telling Balaam now what to do, and he's saying, Bless my people.

Stand up against the enemy.

You're not gonna curse what I've blessed.

You're just a messenger, Balaam.

I put the word in you and you do what I say.

You're just a water carrier.

It's not about you, it's about my people.

It's about not doing what the enemy wants you to do.

It's about obeying me, it's about doing my will, it's about blessing them, seeing them as I see them.

It's not about you, Balaam.

In fact, had your donkey not spoke to you, which by the way, I opened the donkey's mouth.

You'd be in a mess.

Hagar, it's about the lad.

Canaanite woman, it's about the daughter.

Balaam, it's not about you, it's about my people.

And sometimes what net is next is how he opens up something to us.

He opened the eyes of Hagar, he opened the understanding of the Canaanite woman, and he opened, if you would, the donkey's mouth so it would open the eyes of Balaam, so he could see the angel.

My point being is this, brethren, what's open to us is often not for us.

There's a bigger picture.

And it's not to lift us up and to glorify us, it's for God's will to be done.

And sometimes what's next, maybe we just need to adjust our thinking a little bit and say, Lord, I'm too much thinking about myself.

You opened this up and you opened that up, and I think I'm intelligent.

Or I think I'm smart, or I think I'm prophetic.

And I realize if you had to open the mouth of a donkey to tell me what to do, that pretty well puts me in my spot.

That it's a privilege to even get to serve you.

If God gives you wisdom, mom and dad, it might be for those children.

If God gives you wisdom in business, it might be for your family and you do well, but it might also be for missions.

What's next may be that God gives you an idea and an understanding, reveals something to you, a military for a promotion.

But that promotion, it may glorify you, but that's not the big picture.

The big picture is the big result, like the lad is going to be a nation.

Like I want to show everybody that this woman, I can reveal anything to any woman, and God's no respecter of persons.

Like I want Balaam to not curse my people because that people is blessed, and by the way, they still are.

Even with all this stuff going on right now in the world, whatever you hear on the news media, just know that God still got his eyes on the nation of Israel.

They might not be what you would think, or you hear this, or their attitude, or this, or you might think they carry a big stick, or whatever.

Whatever they're doing right or wrong, even though they can't see who their Messiah is yet.

When however that goes, and whether they're for the United Nations, get kicked out of the United Nations, listen to someone, don't listen to somebody do their own thing, listen to politics, not listen to politics, whoever their leaders are, just know God's got a whole lot of grace.

And we are in because of the time of the Gentiles when he turned away just a little bit to let some crumbs fall for us.

What do you mean we're in?

The Gentiles get in to provoke Israel to jealousy.

Come on, is that right?

Romans.

And the idea, brethren, is just the fact that we get to be the ones, and I'll go back to this, to be the ones that there's the water.

Wow, it's a miracle, but it's not for me.

I got a job to do.

I'm supposed to get that water and take it to the lad.

Why?

Don't you know who the lad is?

Look, God says, I'm with the lad.

I've got something to do with the lad.

And I'm letting you be a part.

If you're a messenger, be that messenger so you can be that messenger again.

So you can be that messenger again.

So you can be that messenger again.

So you can make that good business decision again.

So you can make that good business decision again.

So you get make that good decision in the military.

So you can pass that college course again.

What are you saying?

Don't think you're doing it.

Give the glory to him.

Are you still with me tonight?

It's one little thought, and the little thought is he opens something up to us.

Thought, vision, rebuke, blessing, whatever it is.

And often there's a bigger picture involved.

And Lord, help me not to seek my own glory in this.

Help me to see that you're doing this for the vexed daughter, the lad, the nation of Israel.

Uh, the men on the boat that was with Paul.

Well, you say that.

Euroklodon, in the midst, God showed up to Paul and says, Don't be afraid.

The angel, Lord, be a good cheer.

All the men that sail with me, with you, they live.

The boat gets destroyed, but I got to put you on a certain island for a while.

The big picture, Paul, it's not about you so much, it's about what I'm gonna do with you on that island.

And I'm gonna let the men survive with you.

By the way, I would imagine they went to the preaching services too.

And God got glorified.

There's a few people on the island that got saved.

Would you agree with that?

And the men got to hear that all too.

The point of it is, Paul, uh, be a good cheer.

I've got to get you to Rome.

But we're gonna stop on a certain island along the way.

Because I'm gonna have you.

Do some evangelistical work there.

And then we'll move you off later.

Paul, I think, was given that thorn to keep him nice and low.

And it buffeted him.

So God could reveal more to him for the big picture.

Are you still with me tonight?

So whatever your big picture is, realize it's about God getting glory.

God can use you.

God can use us.

God can use us as a church.

But what we need to do is not so much exalt our church, it's exalt the head of our church, Jesus Christ.

If somebody else says something good about our church, praise the Lord.

Coming off a leadership conference, it's not about us, it's about the big picture.

Church is getting encouraged.

We ought to just be glad that we dipped the water in a little bit and could distribute a little bit.

And we didn't do it.

God sent people by.

We tried to do our little part, and there was some revelation, and it seemed like that went well, but don't glory in it.

Give God the glory.

If we're going to glory, glory in God.

But sometimes it's like, what are you trying to get it cost us tonight?

I need to be careful that self doesn't get glorified in my own mind.

In my own mind, I'm just filling the water bottle.

I just understand the crumbs and I'm resending the daughter.

If God has to stomp me, stomp me with a donkey, because I get out of timing.

I get out of, I do my own will, self-will.

Thinking I'll get honored and promoted.

Careful.

He might put me in a rock in a hard place and have a donkey speak to me.

And say, why are you treating me this way?

I've never hit you before.

And he fell flat on his face when God opened his eyes to see.

Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619 461 5561.