'Eat the Honey'

Very good. I'm just going to get Angela's two props out again because I thought

it was such a good demonstration or a good idea.

What's the word I'm looking for?

An analogy that I'm going to preach on it. How's that sound?

You didn't even know that either, did you? So you guys may be seated.

Thank you. Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Michael.

Good job. Let's give Michael a big round of applause. laws.

It just filled it in, didn't it? It was just fantastic. I loved it.

Loved it. He's such a humble guy, isn't he?

Great guy. Great guy. Excellent.

That song we sang, my hiding place, my safe refuge, my treasure,

Lord, you are, you know, my hiding place, my safe refuge.

Isn't it good that we can have a hiding place and a safe refuge. But you know what?

There's some times where we need to leave that and get out and fight the battle. Amen?

Sometimes it's time for us to get out of our hiding place.

We're still protected. God is still there for us, but sometimes it's time to

get out and fight. Who's with me?

Yeah, yeah, that's good. So I'm going to preach this morning.

The title of my message is actually Eat the Honey. Who likes honey?

Yeah, I don't know of anyone that doesn't like honey. Does anyone not like honey?

Anyone got any allergies to honey? Yeah, sorry.

Never mind. But sometimes we've just got to eat the honey.

Eat the honey. And Richard and Wendy, when do you guys head off?

So are you with us next week? Excellent. We'll pray for you then.

We just don't want you to go. These guys are heading over to Europe to visit

their son, which is going to be fantastic.

And that's a blessing. And we're going to pray for you guys before you go.

And thank you for trying to bless us yesterday with tickets to that movie.

That was very thoughtful. I'm just sorry we couldn't get there.

But anyway, that's all good. Eat the honey.

Eat the honey. Get out of the hiding place. Get out of the safe refuge and eat the honey.

Go from the old and step into the new.

And, you know, sometimes there's a little bit of a hiccup here,

but God is with us so we can keep powering through.

I've got a bit of a long Bible passage this morning to read to us,

30 verses, but I'm going to read quickly, except for those hard names to pronounce.

You'll have to stand with me and pray for me while I'm trying to pronounce some

of these names because there's some rippers.

Okay, 1 Samuel chapter 14, verses 1 to 30, and it's titled Jonathan's Daring Plan.

1 Samuel 14:1–30

Jonathan's Daring Plan. One day, Jonathan said to his armor bearer,

come on, let's go over to where the Philistines have their outpost.

But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of Gibeah around

the pomegranate tree at Migron.

Among Saul's men was Ahijah, not Elijah, Ahijah, the priest who was wearing

the ephod, the priestly vest.

Ahijah was the son of Ichabod's brother Ahitab, son of Phinehas,

son of Eli the priest who had served at Shiloh.

No one realized that Jonathan had left the the Israelite camp.

Bear with me for a second.

The old, the new. Okay? Very good, Angela.

No one realized that Jonathan had left the Israelite camp.

To reach the Philistine outpost, Jonathan had to go down between two rocky cliffs

that were called Bozes and Sina.

The cliff on the north was in front of Mikmash.

That's easy, Mikmash. And the one on the south was in front of Geba.

Let's go across to the outpost of those pagans, Jonathan said to his armour bearer.

Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord.

He can win a battle, whether he has many warriors or only a few.

Going from the old across to the new. Very good.

Do what you think is best, the armor bearer replied. I am with you completely, whatever you decide.

All right, then Jonathan told him, we will cross over and let them see us.

If they say to us, stay where you are or we'll kill you, then we'll stop and not go up to them.

But if they say, come up and fight, then we will go up.

That will be the Lord's sign that he will help us defeat them.

When the Philistines saw them

coming, they shouted, look, the Hebrews are crawling out of their holes.

They're safe refuge. They're hiding place. They're crawling out of their holes.

Then the men from the outpost shouted to Jonathan, come up here and we'll teach you a lesson.

Come on, climb right up behind me, Jonathan said to his armor bearer,

for the Lord will help us defeat them.

So they climbed up using their hands and feet and the Philistines fell before

Jonathan and his armor bearer killed those who came up behind them.

They killed some 20 men in all and their bodies were scattered about half an acre.

Suddenly, panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and in the

field, including even the outposts and the raiding parties.

And just then an earthquake struck and everyone was terrified.

Saul's lookouts in Gibeah of Benjamin saw a strange sight.

The vast army of Philistines began to melt away in every direction.

Call the roll and find out who's missing, Saul ordered.

And when they checked, they found out that Jonathan and his armor bearer were gone.

Then Saul shouted to Ahijah, bring the ephod here.

I've just remembered kids' church, but they've gone, haven't they? Yeah.

Nevermind, let's keep going. Then Saul and all his men rushed out to the battle

and found the Philistines killing each other.

There was terrible confusion everywhere. Even the Hebrews who had previously

gone over to the Philistine army revolted and joined him with Saul,

Jonathan, and the rest of the Israelites.

Likewise, the men of Israel who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim joined

the a chase when they saw the Philistines running away.

So the Lord saved Israel that day and the battle continued to rage even beyond Beth-Avon.

Now the next part is titled Saul's foolish oath.

Now the men of Israel were pressed to exhaustion that day because Saul had placed

them under an oath saying,

let a curse fall on anyone who eats before evening, before I have full revenge on my enemies.

So no one ate anything that day, even though they had all found honeycomb on

the ground in the forest.

They didn't dare touch the honey because they all feared the oath that they had taken.

But Jonathan had not heard his father's command and he dipped the end of his

stick into to a piece of honeycomb and ate the honey.

After he had eaten it, he felt refreshed. But one of the men saw him and said,

your father made the armies take a strict oath that anyone who eats food today will be cursed.

That is why everyone is weary and faint.

My father has made trouble for us all, Jonathan exclaimed.

A command like that only hurts us. See how refreshed I am now that I've eaten

this little bit of honey?

If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they found among our

enemies, think how many more Philistines we could have killed.

Now, we can read that passage, and it's an awesome passage.

Reading it this week, it just meant a lot to me. But we don't know how long

Jonathan was in that situation for. Was it six hours?

Was it a day? Was it a week?

Or was it a month? We don't know.

We don't know. But what we do know is that he was in the same situation as around 600 other men.

There was Jonathan and his armor bearer, and there was 600 other men who were

all in the situation together, hiding out from the Philistines,

fearful of the Philistines.

But Jonathan decided that something wasn't right.

It was time for him to walk from the past into the future.

He decided something wasn't right. He decided that it's not right for the child

of God to be hiding in fear of the enemy. me.

Somebody's going to get a revelation today here, I believe, whether you're here

now, whether you're listening on the podcast, somebody's going to get a revelation

that it's not right for you to be living in fear of your enemy.

That very moment, Jonathan made a decision to do something daring,

the old to the new, something daring.

He decided to do the same thing that David did.

He decided to make a run at his enemy. He decided to make a run at his giant.

And I don't know who I'm talking to today, but I've got a feeling that somebody

is getting ready to make a run towards their giant.

The devil has been laughing for far too long and has been criticizing you and

harassing you for long enough.

It's time to break out. It's time to make that journey.

Nothing will change until you get fed up with it. And I'll tell you what, I'm getting fed up.

I'm getting fed up. Who am I talking to today? Am I talking to anyone today?

I saw nods. I saw hands. Come on.

Let's get over it. Let's get out. Let's make a move on the enemy and let's power through this.

Who's listening to this message right now who is fed up with things as they are?

Yeah, come on. Come on. You may be only one of 600 in the same situation that

you may be in at the moment,

but one is all it takes if that one believes God.

Moses was one man. And look what he did. Led the Egyptians out of Egypt.

Elijah was one man, the great prophet.

Gideon was one man. David was one man.

Jesus Christ was one man. And every one of them changed history.

And can I just throw in there that Jesus actually changed eternity.

One man. One man. You may be in a situation like Jonathan was,

a bad place, a painful place, between a rock and a hard place.

You've been pressed in on every side, and it seems that there's no way out.

But I've come to prophesy to you today, you're coming out. You're coming out.

I know Joseph himself was thrown in a pit and in a prison, but he didn't stay there. He came out.

He came out and he went to the palace.

I know the three Hebrew boys were thrown into the fiery furnace,

but they didn't burn up. they came out and they got promoted.

I know Daniel was thrown in a lion's den, a den of lions, but he didn't stay there.

He came out and he became one of the biggest and greatest men in the kingdom of Babylon.

I'm prophesying to somebody today, you are coming out. You are coming out.

Today is your day. Today is your day for this journey.

I don't know what has been pressing in on you and causing you stress and pain

and heartache and grief, but God said to tell you, you're coming out.

You're coming through that.

In Psalm 34, 19, this is a great passage of scripture.

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.

Not sometimes, each time.

Each time. Just knowing you're coming out would be enough for most of you.

But God said, not only are you

coming out, but you're going to do some damage on your way out as well.

The devil is shaking in his boots.

You're going to do some damage. You're getting ready to put some stuff that's

been in your face under your feet.

Under your feet. You're getting ready to step on top of the things that have been on top of you. you.

Is anybody ready to bruise the devil this morning? Is anyone ready to bruise the devil?

Jesus said that we will tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the devil.

We're going to do some stamping on the devil. That means that the stuff that

you've been wrestling with for a long time and battles you've been fighting

for a long time are getting ready to come out and to end suddenly. Suddenly.

I feel like I'm prophesying here right now. I feel like prophesying right now

because I believe there's a spirit of suddenly in the church this morning and over our lives.

Suddenly. It's not soon.

It's suddenly something's going to happen.

Suddenly, that medical condition that's been dragging on for years is going to clear up.

Suddenly. Suddenly, suddenly that property, Angela, you've been trying to sell

is going to sell and you're going to make a profit from it.

And anyone else who's got property on the market at the moment,

not our house, by the way, I'm not going anywhere.

Suddenly that strained relationship is going to be healed. Who's feeling the suddenly with me?

Suddenly that financial burden you've been under is going to be lifting.

Suddenly, somebody is standing on the edge of a miracle this morning.

I feel a suddenly sneaking up on somebody. That sneaky little suddenly is sneaking

up on you and getting ready to change something in your life.

I just wanted to tell somebody today that has felt like the sweet things in

life have I've passed you by that if you keep walking, keep praying,

keep praising and keep confessing the word, keep believing in his promises,

you're on a collision course with something sweet in your life.

Is anybody ready for some sweet stuff in their life? Some gluten-free sweet stuff in their life?

I know I'm talking to some people who've been in some bitter places and you've

tasted some disappointment.

Disappointment but God told me to tell you that he's getting ready to give you

sweet for your sour and he's getting ready to give you beauty for your ashes.

Who's ready to receive that?

Weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.

I see the sun rising on a brand brand new day for us. It's a new day. It's a new day.

So as Jonathan and his armor bearer moved out in faith, God gave them a great personal victory.

Not only that, it encourages the rest of the army, the other 600,

and turns the whole battle around.

After a good deal of fighting and knocking down the enemy, they come to a place

where there was honey on the ground. There was honeycomb on the ground.

They didn't have to climb trees. They didn't have to fight the bees for it.

All they had to do was reach out and take that honey.

Somebody needs to know today, all you need to do is reach out and grab it.

Reach out and take it. You know what? Jesus has already climbed the tree to reach the honey for us.

And he even let them nail him to that tree.

All the blessings of God, all the provisions of God are in our reach. They're in our reach.

Jesus has already fought the bees for us and spoiled principalities and powers,

making a show of them openly.

He's already dealt with it. There's healing for our bodies.

There's prosperity available for us. There's deliverance from every bondage.

There's household salvation available for us.

There's peace. There's joy. There's strength.

All that's left for us to do is to eat the honey.

Eat the honey. That's a word for somebody here this morning.

Eat the honey. Eat the honey. Kathy, eat the honey.

Enjoy the blessings of God that are there within our reach.

Now, note that the Bible says when they reach this wonderful place of blessings

and provision, that no man would eat it. No one would eat the honey.

Why? Because of Saul's negative words. Saul's curse hung in the air and rang in their ears.

Don't eat anything. Don't eat anything.

Friend, friends, family, loved ones.

The devil knows that he is defeated the

devil knows that he's defeated he knows that

jesus paid the price he knows that he

can't stop the blessing from coming to you so the only thing left for him to

do is to get you to rob yourself of the blessings of god don't taste the honey

that's what the devil wants don't taste the honey to deprive yourself and cheat

yourself out of what what is already yours.

How it must make the devil smile to see Christians, to see the children of God

surrounded by God's blessings and provisions, yet living like we're under a curse.

It must make the devil smile.

The curse of poverty, the curse of lack,

the curse of sickness and disease, The curse of barrenness, the curse of fear,

the curse of bondages and the curses of addiction, the curse of negative words

that have been spoken over you,

honey dropping all over the place and all around us.

But living like you're under a curse. The devil's a liar.

The devil is a liar. I came to tell you on the authority of God's word that

the curses are broken in Jesus' name.

Galatians 3 verses 13 to 14 says this, and it's all about curses.

Galatians 3:13–14

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law.

When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing,

For it is written in the scriptures, scriptures, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

Through Jesus Christ, through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with

the same blessing he promised to Abraham,

so that when we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

In other words, eat the honey, eat the honey.

Honey what's stopping us from eating the honey what's stopping us from eating

the honey you might say i don't deserve it i'm not worthy all your life you

were told you were a nobody,

you'll never do anything or go anywhere you'll never amount to anything well

guess what it's not based on your worthiness it's based on his worthiness his

worthiness jesus blood makes us us worthy.

Go on, reach out and grab that honey and taste it.

In other words, you've let people label you and define you and bind you and to steal your identity.

But I've come to tell you, you are somebody.

You are the child. You are a child

of the most high God. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

You are the apple of his eye.

You are the reason he came and you are the reason that he stands at the right

hand of God the Father in heaven making intercession for you. You are the reason.

What's stopping you? What's keeping you from tasting the honey and from the abundant life?

I tell you today, all of us have sinned. Every one of us have sinned and come

short of the glory of God.

But the blood of Jesus is greater than any of our sin.

It doesn't matter No matter what you've done or where you've been,

the blood of Jesus makes you clean.

2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says, This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

2 Corinthians 5:17

The old life is gone and a new life has begun.

Saul said to them that day, or sorry, Hebrews 10, 17.

Here's another one. He says, I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.

It's God speaking. I will never again remember their sins and their lawless deeds.

Amen. Amen.

So Saul said, he said to the 600, he said, let a curse fall on anyone who eats

before evening, before I have full revenge on my enemies.

Many of God's people, many of God's people are missing out on the blessings

of God because they're being told everything is waiting for them in heaven.

And they have to wait. They have to wait until all of life's battles are over

and they get to go to the glory land before they enjoy their blessings.

But Jonathan says, Dad was wrong. Jonathan said, Saul was wrong.

He said, my father has made trouble for us all.

A command like that only hurts us. See how refreshed I am now that I have eaten

this little bit of honey.

If the men had been allowed to eat freely from the food they'd found among our

enemies, think how many more Philistines we could have called.

Jonathan said, Dad was wrong.

Dad was wrong. In other words, Jonathan was saying there are some blessings

along the way as well. Well, yes, there's blessings waiting for us up in heaven,

but there's blessings along the way for us right now as well.

I know that when we get to heaven, it's going to be wonderful.

But I'm not in heaven yet. And in fact, I'm pretty sure none of us are in heaven yet.

There are some blessings on the way that God wants us to enjoy now. now.

Many good Christians have died of sickness and diseases that they could have

been healed from, but they were told, God doesn't heal anymore.

Or maybe it's not God's will to heal you.

Or maybe this is just your cross to bear.

Or this sickness is for the glory of God. The truth is, the truth is,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Now, who believes that Jesus healed people?

Yep. If Jesus healed people, if he healed the sick, he still does.

He still does now. Now.

And he never asked you to carry a cross of sickness and disease.

He carried that cross for you.

And he took those stripes on his back so you could be healed.

He himself, Jesus, took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses in his own body

so that you could be healed.

Any sickness, any sickness. And sickness never has and never will glorify God.

It never will any more than sin glorifies God.

It doesn't. God is glorified when the sick are healed and the sinner is saved.

That's what brings glory to God.

Eat the honey. Eat the honey.

Tell the devil he's a liar and that you know the truth. truth.

Jesus took your sicknesses so you could be well, be healed in Jesus' name.

Josh, come on up. Michael, come on up for me as well.

Eat the honey. Eat the honey. Jonathan walked right into the middle of that

crowd, just standing around looking at honey.

Jonathan walked in and they were just standing around looking at all the honey around them.

And he stuck his staff into the honey and And he started eating it.

I came to tell you today, eat the honey. Eat the honey.

Brothers and sisters, eat the honey.

Only remember this, though. Give God the glory for it. Give God the glory as you eat the honey.

Walk through this world like we should, with your head held high and your shoulders back.

Knowing that you are somebody, knowing that you are a child of God,

knowing that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

That's what the people in this world need today. That's what the people out there need today.

They need to see and we need to show them what blessed looks like.

We do. That's what we're here for, to show them and them and them what blessed looks like.

In other words, they want to see somebody eating the honey.

They want to see somebody being blessed and eating the honey.

Now I'm closing with this one thought.

One man ate the honey. One man ate the honey and it didn't make him sick. He wasn't cursed.

It didn't make him sick. In fact, it made him stronger.

It lightened his eyes. It prepared him and it empowered him to keep going.

My message to you guys today is eat that honey.

Reach out and grab that honey. Come on, let's pray. Come on. Thank you, Lord.

We thank you, Lord, for the provision that you give us.

We thank you, Lord, for the boldness that you give us to come out of our place

of hiding from the evil and the bad things around us and from the enemy around us.

Thank you, Lord, that you've empowered us to come out and to go and to conquer the evil around us.

Lord, I pray for every person here this morning, Lord, that they would get out

of that one chair and move across to the future and that new chair.

Lord, and on the way, Lord, they would reach out and they would taste the honey

that you've provided for them.

Lord, you've provided honey for us to be sustained and to be strengthened and

to encourage, Lord, so that we

can continue on in that journey and we can overcome our enemies, Lord God.

We can overcome everything that comes in our way, Lord.

Sickness, illness, disease, Lord God.

All of those things, Lord, you have come to tell us that you have already overcome

for us so that, Lord, we need to reach out and eat that honey Eat that honey in Jesus' name.

Lord, reach out and taste that it is good.

Reach out and taste that it is strength giving, that it is empowering,

that we are being empowered by the honey that is left for us to reach out and to taste.

Lord, I pray this morning, Lord, that people would walk out of here this morning, Lord,

and they would just reach out and they would taste the honey,

the blessings of life that you have provided for them, that they can overcome,

that every person here, Lord God, facing any difficult situation.

Facing any horrific situation, Lord, can overcome that by the blood of Jesus

Christ and that we can taste the honey that comes from that salvation,

Lord God, from being saved.

Lord, bless us as we go this week, Lord.

Bless us as we go. Bless us as we, as I said earlier,

as we lift our heads and square our shoulders and declare that Jesus Christ

has already dealt with this for me and I'm just here to taste the blessings of life.

And Lord, the people that would look on us would be encouraged and they would say, I want that.

I want some of that. How do I get some of that?

And Lord, we would be prepared, Father, other to share with them,

to share with them the journey, to share with them and to encourage them,

Lord, that they can come out of their place of hiding,

their place of fear, and Lord, move into a life of blessing and love and salvation

and freedom in Jesus' name.

And we thank you for that, Lord.

Lord, we thank you, Lord, that from an old story in the Bible,

an old recount of a battle in the Bible,

Lord, that we can read that and we can be encouraged and we can be inspired

to get up out of our old seat and move across to a new seat of blessing,

of blessing, of wholeness, of healing in Jesus' name.

We thank you, Lord. We thank you, Father. Father.

Lord, I take the opportunity right now to pray for those who among us who are not well.

Lord, I pray for healing in Jesus' name.

Go to them right now, Lord God, and touch them and heal them in the name of Jesus.

Lord, we stand together in belief and strength and prosperity,

Lord, knowing that, Father, you have fought the battle. We have prayed the prayer.

We have laid hands on on those who are unwell. And Lord, we are going to see

a full recovery in Jesus' name.

Pray for that, Lord God. I just, I'm frustrated, Lord, that Father,

people would still believe today that that is not something that's within our reach.

And Lord, it is within our reach.

And I pray for that in Jesus' name.

Healing and prosperity and wholeness in Jesus' name.

We thank you, Lord. Lord, we thank you that we're coming up to Easter.

The remembrance, Lord God, of what you did for us, that you climbed that tree

and you were nailed to it and you were crucified and you died for us, Lord God.

But then you rose again into new life, Lord, showing us that there is a new

life to live, providing a new life for us.

Lord, we bless you for that. We bless you in Jesus' name.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father.

Thank you, Father. Lord, in this time now, just speak to the individuals.

Speak to the individuals, Lord God. Speak to us, Father. Show us that there's honey there for us.

Encourage us to reach out and to take and to eat and be strengthened in Jesus' name.

Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord.

Praise your name. Praise your name. Be blessed everyone in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.