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What to do when you don’t know what to do

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  1. Welcome to the cross power church podcast.

  2. You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.

  3. We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the

  4. cross. Now let's join the service.

  5. It's. Good to be in the House of the

  6. Lord tonight. Going to be in Second Chronicles

    2 Chronicles 20 chapter mention

  7. chapter 20. Very familiar passages of

  8. scripture in here preached out of it lots of times, different

  9. times and different things. But it something I need tonight

  10. because anybody ever been going through something?

  11. And I was going through something one time and a boy

  12. asked me. He said what do you do when you

  13. don't know what to do? We were working.

  14. I said it's a good sermon. What?

  15. I was a young preacher at that time, but I've preached this

  16. message several times in different directions.

  17. But I asked you tonight, what do you do when you don't know what

  18. to do? Pray.

  19. Sometimes we have to take action.

  20. It's it it's different meanings at different times of our life.

  21. You know, I was as y'all know, we've been going through a trial

  22. and I didn't share everything Sunday morning.

  23. We need your prayers. Candy's cancer come back as

  24. triple negative and I don't understand that stuff.

  25. It's the worst kind. But when it's called early, it's

  26. the it's it's very good success rate of treating it.

  27. So they're choosing to do chemo and, and four rounds of it.

  28. And, and, and I had another friend that that took some

  29. Ivormac. He has esophageal cancer.

  30. A good friend of mine, he's been taking six CCS of Ivormac after

  31. the chemo and was doing very good and taking the other stuff,

  32. the Finbenzanol and was doing very good.

  33. And I just share this along, you know, in case you know anybody,

  34. but but he made it. He's he's a year and then he had

  35. some pain in his neck, went back and they found some metastatic

  36. systolic or whatever. Now.

  37. So you know, we, we can't say that the that that it works.

  38. You know that that the Ivormec helps.

  39. I don't know if it does, it's not curing it.

  40. I can say that first ten people noticing it, but bottom line, we

  41. got to trust God. Amen.

  42. And it's like I told my wife, we've all got something.

  43. We want to know that we're cancer free.

  44. We want to know that we're sin free.

  45. We want to know all that. But this side of heaven, there's

  46. some things we're not going to know.

  47. You know, somebody can be walking and, and after listening

  48. to the doctors, I really thought they had a better grip on it

  49. than they do. You know what I mean?

  50. I yeah, you've been going through it and you there is no

  51. and you know, sister Linda's son and Bob's son and that, you

  52. know, they, they don't know. I mean, they really don't.

  53. They have theories, they have things.

  54. They're trying. Praise God, but God knows, Amen.

  55. And our times are in his hands. They're appointed by that You'll

  56. just pray we stay strong through it.

  57. That, you know, if we, if the chemo route works, praise God,

  58. it works, Amen. But I know God's working and I

  59. know he's never failed this yet. So that's what I can say.

  60. But we do need prayers. But I know many of you need

  61. prayers in here and tonight too. But I'm going to share some

  62. things going to continue along these lines.

  63. Sunday. The people's not here.

  64. I'll try to recap. I may not, they should be here.

  65. Amen. But but I'm going to cover this.

  66. And you know, every preacher I've noticed over the years,

  67. they get titles, they get series.

  68. But you know, I've never, I've heard lots of preachers in my

  69. time. You have too.

  70. And this message has been preached a lot of different

  71. ways. The four PS, the five PS, you

  72. can go on and on, but I want you to write some of this stuff down

  73. tonight. It will help you.

  74. But there are essentials in our life that we must have to be

  75. healthy spiritually, physically, financially.

  76. And you know, in our minds, we think that if we can prosper in

  77. those three areas, that everything in our life that we

  78. would, that we would be happy because humans are in pursuit of

  79. what happiness. But in this world, Jesus said

  80. that we will have troubles, we will have trials, we will have

  81. tribulations, we will have jobs that we don't want to go to many

  82. times. But I've found if you could get

  83. these four things, these 4 essentials, if you can get a

  84. purpose, say that with me, a purpose in your spiritual life

  85. or the, your, your earthly fleshly life.

  86. If you can get purpose, a man, we're seeing that with James

  87. Reed right now. He's been a hospital for five

  88. months, you know, and you tend to lay there in the hospital,

  89. you lose purpose, you lose focus.

  90. And that's what Tony's been stressing to him.

  91. And when I talk to him and there is a purpose and God has a plan,

  92. a man. But if we could get these four

  93. things and #1 is purpose in our life, if a Christian could know

  94. that they had a purpose, they had something to strive for

  95. other than just their self. So many Christians are still

  96. looking at what self and they can't get self under control.

  97. So it's hard to go to not just Christians, preachers, you know,

  98. we tend to separate Christians and oh, they're not just a

  99. Christian, they're a preacher, right?

  100. But a lot of preachers can't get stuff under control.

  101. But if we get a purpose, it becomes clear, hey man, if I get

  102. a purpose of So I got to come over here and preach on Wizzy.

  103. I've already preached those. But but there's a purpose,

  104. right? We always have to have a purpose

  105. #2 we have to have a plan. We have to have a plan to

  106. achieve our purpose, right? But when we have a purpose and

  107. we have a plan and it's based upon the Word of God and only

  108. God that cannot fail, it gives us the other two things that we

  109. long for, protection and provision.

  110. If you could have a purpose in life, if you could have a plan

  111. in life, if you could know you're protected in life and you

  112. could know that someone or something was going to provide

  113. for you, sounds like it'd be pretty good life, right?

  114. But yeah, there's people that have those things, still aren't

  115. happy. They have guards at their house.

  116. They live behind a guarded gate. They have more money they could

  117. ever spend, but yet they're still looking for a purpose,

  118. right? We can't leave one of them out.

  119. So I want to read to you about a king.

  120. He had a purpose in Second Chronicles chapter 20, and he

    2 Chronicles 20 chapter mention

  121. reigned. He was the 4th king to reign

  122. over Judah. Remember, Israel was divided

  123. into two kingdoms, the northern and the southern Kingdom, and he

  124. reigned over Judah. It was King Jehoshaphat and

  125. there was he was a king that did promote godly principles.

  126. He did do some things for God. He did, he did try to keep some

  127. things going that David had handed down to him.

  128. He was the son of ASA or ASA and Jehoshaphat.

  129. He feared the Lord, but it was going into particular battle

  130. this day in verse 20 and someone come to him.

  131. You ever been having a good day and everything be going good and

  132. and someone comes to you. I call him news toter.

  133. Sometimes it's not good news. It's just it's some bad news.

  134. You know, we we used to have a say in my other ministry.

  135. We'd say they're a news toter. Don't be don't be repeating what

  136. they say because they're told news.

  137. It could be fake news, it could be real news.

  138. Anybody ever got those things for those pay ministry.

  139. You'll learn those things. But I had another one.

  140. The lady, that Lady told me one time it hurt her ministry, she

  141. said, She said, we just say they got pretty white teeth.

  142. Nobody knows what we're talking about except my circle as they

  143. just they got pretty white teeth.

  144. What's what's coming through the teeth, right?

  145. But you know what I'm saying, a news told or someone that that's

  146. bringing you something always got something to tell.

  147. And it's not usually about the Kingdom.

  148. It's not usually godly news. And and you know, it's easy to

  149. chime in. Sometimes we just want to hear

  150. it. Sometimes we seem we got to hear

  151. it. But you're better to refrain

  152. from it, right? But Jehoshaphat, it says they

  153. came to him in verse 2. It says in in Second Chronicles

    2 Chronicles 20:2

  154. chapter 20 verse 2, it says then some came and told Jehoshaphat,

  155. a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea,

  156. from Syria, and they are in has moment tomorrow which is in

  157. Indiga. However, you say that in verse

  158. 3, it says Jehoshaphat feared. The first thing he did here was

  159. he feared, but immediately when he feared, he set himself to

  160. seek the Lord and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judea.

  161. So the first thing he did here when he feared he gave up

  162. something, he said I'm going to give up something, I'm going to

  163. fast before the Lord and I'm going to get a hold of God,

  164. right? That's what the fast is about is

  165. getting a hold of God and it's a job.

  166. He feared the Lord and he proclaimed a fast throughout all

  167. Judea. Verse 4 So you together,

  168. together to ask help from the Lord, and from all the cities of

  169. Judah they came to seek the Lord.

  170. Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem

  171. in the House of the Lord before the new court.

  172. And he said, Oh Lord our God, our fathers, are you not God in

  173. heaven? He feared, he fasted, but he

  174. realized I've got a purpose because I've got a God that's

  175. working behind me. And he recognizes that right

  176. here. The second thing he did, he

  177. declared a fast. And then he says here that he,

  178. he recognizes who God is. Sometimes when we're in the

  179. midst of a trial and we hear bad news and it seems like all the

  180. things are coming against us from the North SE or West, we

  181. tend to forget who God is. And he says here, Oh Lord God,

  182. our fathers are. And do you not, are you not God

  183. in heaven? And do you not rule over the

  184. kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand is there not

  185. power and might I love this question here.

  186. Sometime we need to ask God that.

  187. And and he's he's just reminding himself really here of who God

  188. is and what God can do that no one is able to withstand you

  189. isn't that powerful. No one can withstand your God.

  190. Not a not a sickness, not no principality or anything in this

  191. age or the age to come can withstand God when we have a

  192. purpose in life and our purpose is to serve him.

  193. Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants?

  194. He automatically goes back to and declares the things that God

  195. had already done for him. You know, I pity for people

  196. today that don't that don't have a purpose.

  197. And you know, many Christians, I have to go way back and in my

  198. life and many of you do too, to where we didn't have a purpose

  199. where we didn't have a plan. You know, people, people they

  200. come to church a lot of times and their biggest plan and

  201. purpose itself. How many remember, Yeah, I was

  202. always letting myself down. I was always but always doing

  203. things. And but when I put my purpose

  204. and my plans on the things of God, the things that I had begin

  205. to change, right? But it cannot happen when you

  206. don't position yourself in that place and in the correct place

  207. where where God wants me to be with.

  208. We have to have this strategic purpose in this plan.

  209. But he said, are you not God who drove out in verse 7,

  210. inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and gave it

  211. to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever?

  212. Remember that. I'm going to come back to that

  213. in a minute. Your friend say that with me,

  214. your friend forever. And they do what?

  215. Why? Was it because he was in the

  216. covenant, right with Abraham? So he was his friend forever.

  217. And they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it with

  218. your name, saying, If disaster comes upon a sword, judgment,

  219. pestilence or famine, we will stand before this temple and in

  220. your presence for your name in this temple, and cry out to you

  221. and our affliction. And you will hear and you will

  222. save. So here in the 1st 10 verses

  223. we've already seen that he declared a fast he he'd give up

  224. some things he recognizes God's sovereignty that he's that he

  225. can do anything his omnipotent presence.

  226. He cries out and it was we read on.

  227. It says in verse 10. It says here, here are the

  228. people of Ayman and Mohab and Mount Siri, whom you would not

  229. let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but

  230. they turn from them and did not destroy them.

  231. Here they're rewarding by coming to throw us out of your

  232. possession, which you have given us to inherit.

  233. He says, oh our God, will you not judge them?

  234. For we have no power against this great multitude.

  235. Never felt like that. You're going through a trial.

  236. You feel like you have no power. You have no control.

  237. You know, the first thing we try to do when we're going through a

  238. trial or going through something hard is we try to gain control

  239. of it. And we think if we can gain

  240. control of it, that we somehow bring some self comfort.

  241. But see, there's things that will come your way that you have

  242. no control over. Amen.

  243. Family, friends, things that happened to us in this life,

  244. diseases. But it says we have no power

  245. against this great multitude that is coming against us.

  246. I I thought so hard about that this afternoon when I was

  247. reading that, because, you know, the, the Bible says that in the,

  248. as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the coming of

  249. the Son of Man. And also, you know, we, we're,

  250. we're doing a lot of things now as a nation.

  251. We're bombing other countries. We're doing all of these things.

  252. And, and yet we just we, we, we do it.

  253. And, and even our president sometimes, yeah, it's like it's

  254. no big deal, but it is a big deal.

  255. A man because there is a king of the North that is coming.

  256. And he just as just as these were coming, there is a king

  257. from the north that is going to come.

  258. And and America is going to face confrontation in the near

  259. future. I really believe.

  260. Amen. And as I've said many times,

  261. there's something that that always makes me wonder about

  262. America and the things because all the people that are in

  263. America, especially now, we think we're unstoppable.

  264. But the Bible is clear that that a man will do what he will reap

  265. what he's sown at a later date. You know, America is the is the

  266. only nations that have sown nuclear bombs in here or she we

  267. have sown 2 of them. We have sown 2 of them.

  268. And thank God they're fighting to keep them out of here.

  269. But it's just food for thought there because see, we there,

  270. there's coming some things up on our country that we cannot

  271. control and we're going to see them.

  272. I believe it's the day is getting so near that and, and,

  273. and it's even a worse place maybe than we were before

  274. because we don't really think it can happen to us.

  275. We don't really think that it's going to have.

  276. We think that we're bigger and better.

  277. And if that's true, why are we not mentioned in end time

  278. prophecy? So we better be praying.

  279. We better be praying for our leaders because there's some

  280. things that are coming against us.

  281. Nor do we know what to do. Preaching to you tonight about

  282. what to do when you don't know what to do.

  283. These are steps, he says. We do not know what to do, but I

  284. like this. The last thing he does here is,

  285. he says, But our eyes are up on you.

  286. Our eyes are up on you, so we know where God is, but we can't

  287. place our physical eyes upon God.

  288. That's why we spend all the time around here preaching in the

  289. spiritual right, because we have to see with our spiritual eyes.

  290. Now all of Judea, all of Judah with their little ones, their

  291. wives, and their children stood before the Lord.

  292. Then the Spirit of the Lord in verse 14 came up on Jay Hassle,

  293. the son of Zechariah, the son of Ben and I, and the son of jail,

  294. and the son of Matthea the Levi, the sons of Aspen in the midst

  295. of the assembly. And he said, listen, all of you

  296. of Judea, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King

  297. Jehoshaphat Thus says the Lord, do not be afraid nor dismayed

  298. because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours.

  299. What a thing for God to tell you, what a thing for us to

  300. recognize. And he says tomorrow go down

  301. against them, they will surely come up by the ascent of Zing,

  302. and you will find them at the end of the brook before the

  303. wilderness of Jerusalem or Gerald.

  304. You will not need to fight in this battle preached on that

  305. many times. You will not need to fight in

  306. this battle. What would a battle be like if

  307. we didn't fight in it? It'd be a good battle.

  308. But see, why would he not have to fight?

  309. Because he had already positioned himself.

  310. He already had a strategic purpose.

  311. He was where God wanted him. But many times we don't realize

  312. where we're at spiritually and we don't position ourselves.

  313. Going to follow up on some of this stuff Sunday of how to

  314. position ourself. A position is a situation or set

  315. of circumstances, especially one that affects one's power to act.

  316. Did y'all get that? A situation or a set of

  317. circumstances, especially one that affects one's power to act,

  318. What makes it? What affects our power that we

  319. always think we have to fight? What would it be like here?

  320. See, the God told him, He said you will not need to fight in

  321. this battle. Just position yourself.

  322. If you're in the right position, you don't have to fight is what

  323. he was saying right? But we're always in the fight

  324. position, you know, spiritually, we're always going through a

  325. battle because we haven't positioned ourselves before the

  326. battle to where we didn't have to fight in it, right?

  327. So we're always having to fight. What's the number one thing that

  328. causes us to have to fight, makes our response time to a

  329. battle or trial slower? What is it?

  330. It's sin. Sin.

  331. That's why we preach on it so much because sin makes your

  332. response time slower when you're feeding your life spiritually,

  333. sin will always make your response time slower because if

  334. we don't have we have unrepented sin in our heart.

  335. Condemnation comes in and then we don't even want to go to

  336. church. We don't even want to hear the

  337. word of God. We don't build our faith because

  338. we we we think we sin in our eyes is on the sin.

  339. So it's slower slows our response time.

  340. See, a position is a state of being placed where we have an

  341. advantage over the rival. You need an advantage over Satan

  342. tonight if you're going to defeat him, because you're in a

  343. competitive situation, whether you realize there or not.

  344. A lot of people throw up their hands and just say, well, I've

  345. been saved, I've been baptized. It's God's battle.

  346. But that sounds good. But if you hadn't positioned

  347. yourself, the enemy's fixing to come in and he's fixing to

  348. defeat you because he's your rival.

  349. And the stakes are high because it's a soul that's going to live

  350. somewhere for eternity. And Satan wants your soul a man.

  351. He has a point that he thinks he can prove to God, and he's

  352. trying to prove it. The stakes are high.

  353. Wake up, look up because your redemption draws nigh.

  354. But I challenge you, take these steps get you a purpose.

  355. See, not everyone wants to hear the gospel, much less live it.

  356. I begin to think of, you know, two people go to church on any

  357. given Sunday. Two people turn on the radio any

  358. given day and listen to a message and preaching something

  359. about positioning yourself or preaching something about the

  360. things we've overcome in this life.

  361. Well, one person takes it as they got their checklist out

  362. there. Like, man, I've done that I've

  363. done that. This is a good thing.

  364. I got all these things going to my spiritual life and they stick

  365. their chest out. I've been reading my I've been

  366. doing everything the preacher said this morning, man, while

  367. the other one is sitting over here ain't done none of it on

  368. the same seat on the same royal pews a few pews down.

  369. You're getting lifted up because you positioned yourself to

  370. receive the word of God and the Holy Spirit to minister to you

  371. while the other one over here hasn't been positioned in their

  372. self. So two people, you can preach

  373. one message, one thinks it's really good.

  374. The other one thinks is you. They just got beat over the head

  375. with a 2 by 4, right? Why?

  376. Anybody ever been there and don't want to go back because

  377. they took such a beating, but yet the other one took such a

  378. blessing? What was the difference?

  379. One had positioned herself, right?

  380. You know, you can almost see it what people's going through

  381. sometimes. Couldn't you sister Linda

  382. preaching the same? You see their fate.

  383. Oh, I just hit them because they're doing that and they're

  384. like, you know, and then the other bless God, that's under

  385. the blood. Wow.

  386. One has positioned herself, one has not.

  387. Position yourself. Many people want to talk to you

  388. about the Lord because they know you're a Christian.

  389. I was hunting with a guy a few months ago and got a got AI had

  390. talked to the same guy he was talking to just a few days

  391. before and the the conversation was totally different.

  392. He didn't know I was even there and I was hearing it.

  393. You know, everybody likes to talk on speaker.

  394. Beware the things you say, the things you do.

  395. People will find out sooner or later.

  396. But I was like, this is the same guy that just told me how he was

  397. growing. This is the same guy that was

  398. preaching to me and quoting me scripture 2 days ago.

  399. Is that really human? I got all said who was you

  400. talking to? And he tell us that's what I

  401. thought. I just prayed for him, you know.

  402. But see, we have to discern these things because I thank God

  403. every day for my new song. How about you?

  404. I thank God every day for my new tongue, for all the things that

  405. God gave me when He saved me, Amen.

  406. I don't hear these people talking about what they give up

  407. when they got. I thank God for all the things

  408. He gave me, Amen. He gave.

  409. Somebody ought to praise the Lord in this house, Amen.

  410. He give you a new song. He give you a New Hope.

  411. He give you a future. He's worthy of our praise today.

  412. See, after receiving the report, Jehoshaphat stood in the

  413. assembly. He realized that he said we

  414. don't know what to do. But when he did not know what to

  415. do, he said our eyes remain on you.

  416. The battles, not mine. It's God's.

  417. I find peace in that. Amen.

  418. Because you're fighting a battle you can't win anyway.

  419. Position yourself and you will find there's some battles that

  420. you might not have to fight. The best way to fight battles

  421. when you're going through trials, when you're going

  422. through heartaches, go to John chapter 15 and verse 9.

    John 15 chapter mention

  423. We can't fight battles. If I came to you and I'm not

  424. going to do it, so don't get nervous, But if I came to you

  425. and said there's what is it in your life that I could just take

  426. out tonight that I can just take out and give you back what

  427. you're wanting in that area? Just take that piece that's got

  428. you all disturbed and take it out.

  429. You know, I, I would dare say if you went out on the street and

  430. ventured out and begin to give people the microphone to

  431. announce it, they it would probably be broke money because

  432. people think it fixes things when we know it don't.

  433. But I think the second one, what do y'all think it would be?

  434. In fact, you could go to people and say, I want this thing

  435. that's causing you not to be able to live for God like you

  436. need to. It just pulls you down every

  437. day. What would it be?

  438. I thank you. Boldness.

  439. Yeah, that does a lot. Pride maybe.

  440. But I really think, I think that people would have an

  441. individual's name if I could get rid of this one person.

  442. Because every time they're in my life, every time, maybe it's two

  443. or for some people it's more than one.

  444. For some people, it's everybody. And they hadn't figured out that

  445. it's them, right? You ever know somebody?

  446. It's everybody else. But everybody sees it.

  447. But you, you have to look at your own self sometimes.

  448. But I think sometimes it would be like that.

  449. But when you're fighting a battle, it doesn't matter what

  450. it is. And I'm just, I'm going to be

  451. honest with you. And I, this is what I fear for

  452. the United States of America because I fear our leader's a

  453. smart man. I fear our leader does reach for

  454. God, but I fear our leader lacks love.

  455. I fear our leader lacks love. And without love, we're nothing

  456. in John chapter 15 and verse 18. Let's go to verse 9, John 15,

    John 15 chapter mention John 15:9

  457. verse 9. It says as the Father, love me.

  458. Think about this. I also have loved you.

  459. This is Jesus talking. You know, we think many times

  460. the enemy comes in and tells us he don't love us because of what

  461. we've done. That's not true.

  462. He still loves us. Abide, man, I, I just got all

  463. over me today when I read that. Abide and my love.

  464. See, His love is an endless love.

  465. It's a bound, unboundless love and it reaches out and it

  466. touches me. If you keep my commandments, you

  467. will abide in my love. That's powerful, isn't it?

  468. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His

  469. love. Jesus needed love.

  470. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in

  471. you. See, if you don't have love, you

  472. don't have joy, and that your joy may be full.

  473. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved

  474. you. That's that's powerful.

  475. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his own

  476. life for his friends. Remember what we read a while

  477. ago back there in Chronicles? You're my friends and said we

  478. were. We have remained his friends

  479. since the covenant with Abraham. You're my friends if you do

  480. whatever I command you. No longer do I call you

  481. servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing.

  482. But I have called you friends for all things that I heard from

  483. the Father I have made known to you.

  484. You did not choose me, but I chose you, and I appointed you

  485. that you should go and bear fruit.

  486. I like that that you should go and barefoot and that your fruit

  487. should remain that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He

  488. may give you these things. I have commanded you that you

  489. love one another. See, there's a place that God's

  490. trying to position us, and I've known some great teachers, some

  491. great preachers, but I didn't feel love.

  492. We can never get away from love, and love is one of the hardest

  493. thing. Jesus said that that's one thing

  494. we have to do is love our neighbor as ourself, right?

  495. But there's a place that God's trying to position you in so you

  496. can win your battle. How many believe that tonight?

  497. It might be a trial. It might be hard pressed on

  498. every side, but position yourself.

  499. And when you position yourself, you might get an answer like

  500. Jehoshaphat did. You don't need to fight this

  501. thing. Let me handle it.

  502. Let's go to let's go back to Second Rock Chronicles verse 18

  503. through 22. I'm going to read here and I'm

  504. verse chapter 20, verse 18 we're let's just read on down.

  505. I listed 17 that says you will not need to fight in this

  506. battle. Say it with me.

  507. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the

  508. Lord who is with you. I wonder how many Christians

  509. think about positioning their self every day.

  510. They just walk around like a blonde.

  511. You know God's going to take care of.

  512. God's going to do it. Oh, God's going to do it.

  513. I walk out in front of this truck.

  514. God just going to stop it out here running 70 miles an hour.

  515. No, God give you wisdom, right? God give you the power and might

  516. to position yourself. He says, O Judah, O Jerusalem,

  517. do not fear nor be dismayed, for tomorrow go out against them.

  518. I like this right here. See, when you position yourself,

  519. the Lord is with you, the Lord is with you.

  520. Jehoshaphat bowed his head and his face to the ground, And all

  521. Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord,

  522. worshipping the Lord, than the Levites and the children of the

  523. Coathites, and the children of the Whoever stood up and praised

  524. the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

  525. They stood up and they begin to praise because they had

  526. positioned herself. So they rose early in the

  527. morning, and they went out into the wilderness of Tioka.

  528. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and he said,

  529. Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the

  530. Lord your God, and you shall be established.

  531. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper.

  532. That word still true today. I believe it.

  533. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those

  534. who should sing to the Lord. I like that he didn't appoint a

  535. council that could come in and talk to everybody about the

  536. problems. He said we've all got problems,

  537. we've all failed, but today we're going to worship a man.

  538. Today we're going to praise the Lord.

  539. I talked to some people that was here Sunday morning.

  540. They said, man, I haven't felt the Holy Spirit like that in a

  541. long time. As I begin to walk to them

  542. altars, I said, God, I want to feel your presence again.

  543. And as I said, it doesn't matter how much you fall, you got to

  544. keep getting back up. But he said he appointed those

  545. that who should sing to the Lord.

  546. You know, that's the greatest counseling session you could

  547. ever have. This somebody who wants

  548. counseling, just bring them on in the office, turn some praise

  549. and worship. And I said, look to the God that

  550. can fix it. Amen.

  551. Because I can't fix it. He can.

  552. He appointed those. I wonder if there was something

  553. I Can't Sing. I'll do anything, but I Can't

  554. Sing. And then there was some that

  555. probably wanted to sing and couldn't sing at all.

  556. You have both kinds, right? But it's not that we listen to.

  557. It's about the praise. Amen.

  558. It's about the praise. But it says that.

  559. And it says that those who should sing to the Lord.

  560. I like that. Should some shouldn't, I guess.

  561. But he said He appointed those who should sing to the Lord and

  562. who should praise look well, they look at look at the praise

  563. they give here, the praise, the beauty of holiness.

  564. It's a lot different than the praise we see today.

  565. You know, some of these concerts that people spend enormous

  566. amounts of money to go to and and these these people charge

  567. minimums of millions of dollars to just to come and they serve

  568. alcohol at a lot of them serve alcohol.

  569. If I was going to preach somewhere like that, I would I

  570. would ask him not to serve alcohol.

  571. I wouldn't go right. But they're up there.

  572. You can see them zoom in on some of them.

  573. They're worshiping the Lord and drinking alcohol and just be in

  574. the world. But it's today we're going to

  575. worship God. I'm not sure that this right

  576. here don't fit and who should praise?

  577. We all should praise, but there's a praise that he

  578. receives is a praise that he rejects because what you're

  579. praising is the beauty of holiness.

  580. I like that, don't you? So if I'm not, I can praise.

  581. But there's sometimes that when I begin to praise, His Holiness

  582. has got to get on me. Right as they went out before

  583. the armies and they were saying praise the Lord for his mercy.

  584. Endure, say it with me forever. Now when they begin to sing and

  585. praise, y'all ready for this is the best part.

  586. When they begin to sing and praise say it with me.

  587. When I begin to sing and praise, I Can't Sing well you better

  588. learn, you better find somewhere that you can sing.

  589. When they begin to sing and to praise the Lord boy like this

  590. the Lord said an ambush. Tell the enemy my God's about to

  591. ambush you against the people of Amon and Mohab and Mount Seir,

  592. who had come against Judah and they were defeated.

  593. Your God set in an ambush. I told the devil that this

  594. morning. So my God's about to set ambush

  595. for you. Enough's enough for the people

  596. of Amon and Mohab stood up against the habit, inhabitants

  597. of Mount Siri to utterly kill and destroy them.

  598. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Syria, they

  599. helped to destroy one another. Isn't that cool?

  600. They didn't. God caused him to fight amongst

  601. ourselves. And he said you ain't going to

  602. have to fight because they're going to kill themselves.

  603. That much like America. Hey man, we ain't nobody's going

  604. to have to wipe us out if we keep going.

  605. We're going to kill ourselves. Hey, man, we're going to break

  606. out because we can't get along and acknowledge God.

  607. That's the truth. You want to hear some more?

  608. So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they

  609. look toward the multitude, and there were their dead bodies

  610. falling on the ground, and no one escaped.

  611. When God sets an ambush is serious.

  612. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil,

  613. they found among them in an abundance of valuables on the

  614. dead bodies and precious jewelry which they stripped off for

  615. themselves more than they could carry.

  616. He said you don't got to fight this battle.

  617. We're just going to bless you today because they had

  618. positioned themselves and let's let's go down to verse 29.

  619. You go home read the rest of it and it says in the fear of God

  620. was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that

  621. the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.

  622. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him

  623. rest all around. Go home and read deny the rest

  624. of that. I'm going to keep you read it,

  625. but 31 to to the end there go read what happened to

  626. Jehoshaphat. He wavered a little bit.

  627. He joined in with a he joined in with another king and did some

  628. things that that that he he didn't really have nothing to do

  629. with it, but he kind of joined forces with it a little bit.

  630. And God did not bless some things in his life after that.

  631. He his and and he was unable to pass his faith on to his son

  632. Jerome, because after him, he he killed his brothers and he

  633. married a daughter of King Ahab. I don't know if it was because

  634. he wavered a little bit there, but you read it in 35

  635. Jehoshaphat. He, he allied himself with

  636. Isaiah, the king of Israel, who acted very wickedly.

  637. So he wavered a little bit. It's important to keep the plan

  638. of God, the purpose of God, the protection of God and the

  639. provision of God in your life. There's key things that

  640. Jehoshaphat did here to position himself.

  641. The number one thing he did, and I'm going to close, he took his

  642. eyes off the battle. Whatever you're battling

  643. tonight, maybe it's a habit, maybe it's something else,

  644. Whatever it is, take your eyes off of it because there's a

  645. great multitude that you can't see.

  646. A host of heavenly angels that's there to help you.

  647. Just as the enemy was coming for Jehoshaphat, he's coming for us.

  648. He's not stopping. But he proclaimed to fast.

  649. He spent more time with God number #2 and he asked for help

  650. from the Lord. He stood with boldness and he

  651. proclaimed who God was. He recognizes His sovereignty

  652. and he recalls past victories. When we when we do these things,

  653. it puts us in a position for victory.

  654. Don't forget love. Just as Jesus said, we're

  655. friends of His. As we close, I want to read this

  656. very important passage of Scripture here in First

  657. Corinthians 13. If you ever think you've

  658. arrived, go read this. He talks about the greatest gift

  659. here. And when you're positioning in

  660. your battle, I said the number one thing you got to do is love,

  661. Amen. You got to love those that

  662. persecute you because if you if you, if you start looking at

  663. just those that persecute you, pretty soon love will leave you.

  664. And the apostle Paul says here in First Corinthians 13, he

  665. says, let's stand as we read this, though I speak with

  666. tongues of men and angels, but I have not loved.

  667. I have become a sounding brass or a clanging symbol.

  668. People in the world need to know that we love them.

  669. Amen. When you're going through a

  670. battle, even if you're fighting against somebody, they got to

  671. know that you love them. If you're discipline a child,

  672. you got to discipline, but they got to know that you love them.

  673. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all

  674. mysteries, that'd be a great thing, wouldn't it?

  675. And all knowledge. And though I have all faith so

  676. that I can remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing.

  677. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I

  678. give my body to be burned, well, it's pretty serious.

  679. But have not love. It profits me nothing.

  680. There's some people hard to love.

  681. Anybody got them in your life? Seems like the more you love,

  682. the more they take. But look what it does here.

  683. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy.

  684. Love does not parade itself. It's not puffed up.

  685. It does not behave rudely. We need love, right?

  686. It does not seek its own. It's not provoked.

  687. Love's powerful. It thinks no evil, does not

  688. rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth, bears all

  689. things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures

  690. all things. Love never fails.

  691. How could something do this? Because it's the DNA of God.

  692. God is what? Love.

  693. That's why you need love, you need God.

  694. But where there are prophecies, they will what?

  695. Where there are tongues, they will cease.

  696. Where there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

  697. Or you get so old you can't remember it right.

  698. It vanishes. For we know in part, we prophecy

  699. in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that

  700. which is in part will be done away with.

  701. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,

  702. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put

  703. away childish things. But I'm preaching to somebody

  704. tonight. Be a man for now we see in a

  705. mirror dimly, but then face to face.

  706. Isn't that powerful? Now I know in part.

  707. But then I shall know, just as I also am known.

  708. Now abide faith. Now abide faith, hope, love.

  709. These are the three. But the greatest thing I can do

  710. is to love. I think we forget that

  711. sometimes. Even in the battles when you're

  712. going through the battles, even when somebody's made you mad,

  713. you know, God's places verse on my heart for the last few years

  714. and he says, Oh no man, nothing but to love him.

  715. And then what would what would life be like if the old no man,

  716. nothing but to love him? I'm headed there.

  717. Amen. By the grace of God, I'm headed

  718. there. Father, we love you tonight.

  719. Father, we all face battles. We all face trials in this life,

  720. but help us to do his King Jehoshaphat did help us to

  721. recognize who you are. Help us to keep our eyes upon

  722. you. Help us to know that you have a

  723. plan, you have a purpose, and where your plan is and where

  724. your purpose is, there is provision and there is say it

  725. with me protection. And we thank you for that

  726. tonight. But most of all, when we're in

  727. the heat of the battle, help us to proclaim a fast, ask for help

  728. from the Lord and stand with boldness and proclaim who you

  729. are and recall past victories. But most of all, help us to

  730. love. For without love we're nothing.

  731. Without love we're nothing. And we thank you that you are

  732. love, and we thank you that love overcomes all things.

  733. Father, give us love tonight. We'll have no worries, because

  734. you are love. It's in your Son's name.

  735. We ask and pray. Amen.

  736. Thanks for listening to the Cross Power Church podcast.

  737. May you know that true hope, peace, and salvation can only be

  738. found in Jesus. If you're near Campbell, TX, we

  739. would love for you to join us in person.

  740. You can find service times at crosspowerchurch.com.