TV Transcripts

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1399 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

— Brother Phil Enlow: This is…this could be you. If you know Him, this is you. You’re not alone. Stuff is not out of control. You have Somebody who knows how to…who’s not only gonna lead us through all of this stuff, but He does it with His arms around us, folks!

This is an amazing God. He gathers the lambs in His arms. The lambs are the small, weak ones. Are you small and weak? This is how He feels about you! Put your name in there! Let’s stop making this general theology and start making it personal, because that’s what it has to become!

( congregational response ).

We’re not just given truth so we can memorize it in our heads and practice a religion! God wants a people that He knows intimately. He wants us to come to know Him. He wants us to know about…not just about Him, but as Ricky said the other night, but to know Him. Praise God!

“He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” (NIV). What imagery. I know He’s a Spirit who fills all eternity, but He speaks in a language we can understand. He’s not just…come on, you stupid lamb. I’ve got to take you and do something with you. This is, I love you. I know where you’re at. I know the things that are weighing down on your heart and your mind and your life. I care. Oh, if you could just lift up your eyes and see beyond all of this and understand how much I love you.

Look at the Cross every time you think about that. Does that mean anything…that God would send His Son to open the only possible way you and I could have a relationship with this great God? What He’s done for us is beyond reckoning, beyond imagining. But now, we’re in the journey.

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” What a picture that is of the amazing character of our God.

But now, you start getting the other dimension. “Who has measured the waters….” Because it’s wonderful to have somebody who’s right there with us in the middle of the storm, but what about the storm? Is He a victim too? Is He trying to weather the storm Himself? Or is He greater than all of that?

See, this is the picture. We have a God who’s great enough to be over everything so that nothing gets out of His control and beyond His purpose. He uses things. He uses difficult things, but nothing gets out of His purpose. And yet, He’s so intimate and tender. “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand….” What imagery. I mean, you know, He’s a lot greater than that, but you go to the ocean. Let’s see how much we got here.

( laughing ).

Wow. “…Or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?” Let’s see how much space we’ve got up here. “Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket…” Okay…this earth here, let’s see what we’re gonna do about it. “…Or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” So, right there you’ve got a greatness with respect to earth anyway. I mean, this is Somebody who’s bigger than all of it, has everything under His control.

But now, “Who has understood the mind of the Lord….” We know He’s powerful enough. Is He smart enough? That’s what he’s getting into. “Who has understood the mind of the Lord….” That’s the problem. People have ideas about how things ought to be and how He ought to behave Himself if He’s really God.

I’ll tell you, who are we to sit there and try to explain God or try to imagine that we are able to sit in judgement of God? We just got here, and we got here with minds that are corrupted by a rebellious spirit against Him. Oh…I’ll tell you, God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. He just goes right by that. People can think all they want to, they’ll never discover truth, and yet, He can reveal it to a child who just opens their heart, and it can become real. They can possess knowledge that the smartest person in this world doesn’t know anything about, if they’ll just say, Lord, I believe. Open my heart. What a God we have!

But, “Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?” Did God have to go to somebody and say, hey, help Me out here. I’ve got a problem on My hands. I need you to explain it to Me and give Me some counsel so I can do this job better. No! He doesn’t need any of that. He has all wisdom, all knowledge, everything!

If He…think of what David said. We’ve quoted this many times. And it isn’t just the fact that He knows everything. It’s that His thoughts to me, His thoughts about me, with all that’s wrong with me, are more than the grains of sand on all the seashores. You think maybe we ought to me thinking about Him a little bit more and live with a greater consciousness and a greater rest?

This is not a God who wants to just run things and anybody who wants to come along, okay, but I’m just sort of half…I’m upset about it, about how bad you are. This is a God who so longs to have a relationship with us. He’s dealing with us. He is seeking to influence our lives. He’s seeking to work with us constantly, 24/7. He is thinking about you, and planning for you, and watching over you, and allowing you to make mistakes and allowing you and me to make choices. But I’ll tell you, there’s a God who’s constantly working.

( congregational amens ).

I’ll tell you, He’s got a job on His hands, doesn’t He? We are something else for the Lord to conquer and change. But you know, what a God we have. You think about what it said in the days of Noah. Here was the whole world except for Noah and his family. Some of them weren’t so good. And nobody cared about God anymore. Everybody just wanted to do their own thing and rebel against God and follow their own lusts. And the word was that God said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” (KJV).

But think what He’s saying there. In spite of the condition, God was still striving. God was still making an effort to reach people’s hearts in spite of the way they were going. There came a day where He said, all right, I’m gonna take my hands off. That’s what’s ahead for this world. Right now, God is still striving.

But I’ll tell you, He has to do a lot of striving with me! What in the world is it like for somebody who’s is just constantly going like this? No, I’ve got a better idea. No, it’s not this way. They are always gainsaying God. They’ve got their own ideas, and that’s what they go by. They’re listening to the voices of the world.

Folks, I want to humble myself and say, God, I don’t [know] anything as I ought to know it. Lord, open my understanding. Open my heart to just humble myself when You talk to me, and to have a heart that’s ready to listen. It’s not like, I’ll listen as long as You don’t talk about that. I’ll listen if You don’t touch this area of my life. Well, let’s bargain here a little bit. Let’s get together and have a negotiation, negotiated truce. There’s no truce. It’s surrender.

( congregational amens ).

But it’s surrender to the greatest love that ever could possibly exist. Oh, my God, what an amazing God we have. But here he is, “Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him…” (NIV). Did the Lord have to say, I just don’t understand, somebody, help me out here?

“…And who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” That question is ridiculous, isn’t it? But doesn’t it make us think and remind us that this is a God who knows every detail?

Go on and see what he says. “Surely the nations are like a drop in the bucket.” They don’t seem that way to us, do they? “They are regarded as dust on the scales.” Okay, before we weigh something, we better clean the scale off.

( blowing ).

Blow a little dust so it doesn’t affect the outcome of whatever you’re trying to weigh. Dust on a scale, wow! “He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires.” Now, Lebanon is known for its cedars and great forests of beautiful trees. So, it was something they could understand. That’s not sufficient. “…Nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before Him all the nations are as nothing. They are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.”

Let’s go into all the parliaments of the world and the palaces and the presidential homes and just explain this to them. You’re worthless. Your nation is worth nothing. Folks, we better humble ourselves and realize how it is. I mean, men rise up, and they do all these things, and they imagine themselves to be somebody great. And then, they pass off the scene, and we build memorials to them. And then a few generations later, the memorials get torn down because it’s not politically correct anymore.

( laughter ).

I mean, what vanity!

( congregational response ).

What emptiness this world is! Why should we live for its values and its aims? Oh, God! They’re nothing, worthless, less than nothing! To whom then? You know, light of all this, who are you gonna compare Him to. “To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it.”

I mean, this was the culture of their particular day! We need a god! Okay, let’s go to the craftsman and have him create this image. Oh, great god, save me. I need better crops. I need to be healed. But really, is human society any smarter today just because we don’t do it exactly that way? We still worship the works of our hands. We still glory in the achievements of man and all the things that he’s able to come up with.

“What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot.” Okay, I can’t afford one of these nice idols so, here’s a chunk of wood. Make me an idol. Oh, God, what vanity. “He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.”

( laughing ).

Aren’t you glad your God doesn’t fall over?

( laughter ).

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught…” or to nothing, “and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them…”

( blowing ).

“…And they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal? says the Holy One.” Now is when he gets to greatness and the immensity. It goes way beyond just okay, I got…earth is nothing to me. It’s like dust in my scales. “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” Wow!

“Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O…” Bible Tabernacle, I mean, “…O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?” See, that’s the problem. We live in a world where it doesn’t look like this is the case. We’re gonna have to have eyes that are able to see beyond what’s going on in the world, what’s going on in our lives! We’re gonna have to see that there is a God who is working all things out after the counsel of His own will, and it’s gonna be right in the end.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! How many times have we seen people go out? I guess, Ricky’s a pretty good example. But I mean, we’ve seen people start out in the church here and go out and seemingly be gone. But somewhere along the line, there was a seed that was planted…and that seed didn’t die! At the right time, God worked it out when everybody else had just walked away and said, there’s no hope. I’ll tell you, God knows what He’s doing, and God is able to do exceeding abundantly more than we could ask or think or imagine.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! That’s what He’s looking for from us, is that…but we don’t want to be like this, do we? Complain…imagine that we’re just being overlooked? Oh, if…see, we’re wanting our nest to be feathered. We’re wanting that comfort. We’re wanting that security. There’s no security in this world. Our security is in the Lord, and He is not going to let you and me sit there and vegetate in a nest waiting to go to Heaven one day. He’s going to be working in us, but He will be carrying us like lambs in His arms every bit of the way if we could see it.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! So why do you say these things? “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary….” So now, you’re bringing another aspect of this into play. This is what we often emphasize in this passage. Now, you know, that’s great that He can do all this stuff, but we imagine that He’s a little bit like us in that…He gets tired.

But this God doesn’t get tired. There’s no lack of energy. He doesn’t have…He’s not bound by the laws of physics. He created those for this, for this place and this creation. He is outside of that. He never loses energy. He’s always fresh. He doesn’t have a bad day as Chip used to say. Praise God!

“He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” No one can understand the depth of His understanding. “He gives strength to the weary…” Oh, aren’t you glad? Anybody here need that this morning, besides me? “…And increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord….”

Those who wait on the Lord…the different translations that are essentially saying God, You’re the One I’m looking to. I’m in the middle of a world I don’t understand. I see stuff I don’t understand. It feels like it’s out of control. There’s a part of me that wants to complain and question. But oh, God, I want to see beyond that. Give me eyes. Help me to hear Your voice. Help me to hunger to hear Your voice, because how lovely is the voice of Lord? Yeah.

God wants to have a relationship with you and with me in the middle of all that. But it’s a relationship where we see Him not as that Rule-Maker in the sky trying to make our lives miserable…take away our freedom, but a God who wants to set us free from the tyranny of self-will that drives us to become slaves to earthly appetites and earthly aims. He wants to lift us out of that. He wants us to realize the incredible sense of concern and care. I appreciate, so much, His mercy toward us.

“But those who hope in the Lord….” There’s this sense…I mean, you think about it. What are you hoping in? Practically, from a functional standpoint, what are we hoping in? A lot of times, it’s me and what I can do. I’ve got situations…got to fix it…got to do. Got to make it right so God will love me.

I mean, we’ve got so many messed up ways of looking at ourselves and at life. Oh God, help us. I don’t want my hope to be in me. Here’s one thing I was thinking of as my mind went to this this morning. Why do we get tired? I mean, the kind of tiredness that He’s talking about here where we get spiritually tired. Why do we get tired?

( congregational response ).

That’s exactly it. We’re operating in our own energy. And God is trying to lift us out of that feeling that I’ve got to do it. I’ve got to fix it. Oh, God’s not acting, so I’ve got to act. No, we’ve got to hope in the Lord. We’ve got to see beyond. We’ve got to see a God who knows how to weave the tangled threads of this whole world together.

He got you and me here, didn’t He, after centuries and thousands of years of incredibly complex events? He got you and me here. He manages the universe. He still sees when the sparrow falls, and He counts the hairs of my head. I guess He can handle it.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! What an awesome God we have. So, the Lord here is encouraging His people, realizing they’re sitting there under a, essentially, a heathen emperor who is calling himself the king of Israel. And there’s a handful of people feeling beleaguered and wondering, is there any hope? Is God’s plan just gone begging? Will it happen? Have we just so messed up that He’s gonna throw us in the trash can, and it’s gonna be all over?

He said, no. I’m preserving a very small remnant. I’ve preserved them now, and I’m gonna preserve them all the way. Remember what He told Elijah when he thought he was all alone? The Lord said, I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. That was in Israel long before they were dispersed among the nations. Even back then in that wicked country, God preserved a remnant! God has got a remnant today in the earth. Praise God!

“…Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” That’s where this passage usually winds up, and I need that, don’t you?

But I wanted us to see it in a larger context and a larger sense. I’m like you. I find myself buried in the moment, buried in the problems of life, buried in the issues, looking inward, finding needs in me, wondering why won’t they ever change, why doesn’t, why this, why that?

I’ll tell you, God wants us to lift up our eyes and see that He is doing something that is eternal. Even in the middle of such moments, God is in control! He is not unaware! He is not someone to whom we cannot look in such an hour. He’s not someone whose love we have to earn.

We can come to Him when we are in need! Is that not what the scripture says in Hebrews 4? We’ve got a throne. You know, if we have disputes on earth, you go to court. Maybe it gets to the Supreme Court. We can go to the Supreme Court of the universe in a moment. And we can know that we’re received if we come based upon what Jesus did and not come presenting our righteousness as though we’ve earned the right to be there!

I haven’t earned any such right. Jesus earned it for me. I can go there, and I don’t have to go there and work myself up to a certain spiritual level so now I get to go there. I go when I’m in need.

And what I’m going for, I’m not going for justice. The justice of the situation already fell on Jesus. That’s been satisfied. I’m going for mercy. See, right there, it’s not about deserving it. Do you feel like you don’t deserve anything from God? The truth is, you’re in a good place, because you don’t.

But God delights in mercy. There’s nothing that gives His heart a greater thrill than to be able to show mercy to someone who doesn’t deserve it! Oh, look what I get to do. Here’s somebody who’s in this low place. I can lift them up, and they’re gonna be something great later, not because they’re anything, but because I have the power to change them.

He’s got the power to change anybody in here. There’s nobody that’s beyond His reach, beyond His power. If He can manage the universe, He can manage you!

( congregational amens ).

And if He cares about the sparrow, He cares about you and He cares about me. Oh, praise God! Don’t you want to just trust Him today? Let’s not lose sight of the greatness of His understanding and this incredible picture of a God who manages the universe. But at the same time, let’s not lose the picture of a shepherd who holds lambs in His arms, the small ones, the weak ones, the unworthy ones, who just calls on…calls on us to make choices every day to put our hope in Him and our trust in Him. My God! I want to serve somebody like this, don’t you?

( congregational response ).

I want to serve Him because I love Him, because He loves me. This is a love relationship that He longs to have with every single one of you.

( congregational amens ).

Come out of the shadows! You don’t have to live in those prisons anymore! He invites His people to come, and to come to Him and to see Him for who He is. Don’t let the Devil paint a picture of God that’s not real. This is the picture that God wants you and me to have today. He is one awesome God and His love is beyond imagining. To Him be the glory. Praise God!

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1397 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

— Brother Phil Enlow: Folks, we going to, every one of us, be in situations that we’re gonna have that knowledge. You can’t just pull out a book, what am I supposed to do? This is something that becomes ingrained in us, when we recognize the battles of our lives are not our battles. They’re God’s battles.

And if we’ll humble ourselves in His hand and trust Him, God’s gonna put you through the lion and the bear situations, so that when Goliath comes, you’ll be able to look back and say, I know God. I know Him because of what I have been through.

He taught me how to trust Him. He taught me what was really going on. I had a vision of circumstances that’s different from everybody else who might have reacted in that situation. I’ve learned from God Himself, by humbling myself.

We talked a little bit the other night about Peter, and how he came to be the powerful apostle that he was, man full of zeal, full of natural strength, always quick. But there was a lesson that Peter needed to learn.

Now think about the time in which he learned this. Was it not an hour of darkness? Yeah, it was an hour of darkness. And Peter professed the right thing, but he didn’t know that his own strength was not enough! And so he said, I will never desert you! I will never deny you! And Jesus said, yes you will. Satan has desired to test you and basically he had permission to do it. But wasn’t it an awesome thing…when you think about what was going on. What was Satan’s desire?

( congregational response ).

Destroy Him. Destroy Peter. Destroy His influence. Take away his confidence. Cause him to just walk away defeated. What was God’s objective in allowing all of this? God wanted a man who would be in a position to strengthen his brothers. He said, when you’re converted, strengthen your brothers.

Why could Peter strengthen his brothers? Why wasn’t all the rest of them who didn’t do this? Why wasn’t it their job? He had been through something that caused him to know something about God that they had never experienced: God’s love and His mercy and His acceptance, recognition!

God was the one who knew what Peter was made of! Peter didn’t know it. But God brought him through something deep, and as a result of that, and his humbling himself, and learning God’s grace is enough, God forgives. He doesn’t throw me out because I’ve trusted myself.

And I know, I know now I can’t trust myself. And so now he’s able to write, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (NIV). He’s able to write all the words of encouragement that he gave to his brothers and to all the saints to whom he wrote.

What did it take for Peter to be able to do that? What did it take for Peter to be able to stand in an hour of darkness, when he faced death? He knew his God. How did he know Him? He had been there and done that and God had tested him at every point in his life. And he’d seen, not his own strength, but God’s faithfulness—God’s faithfulness! How many of us know these things, in our heads? But how many of us have areas of our lives where there’s need right now?

( congregation inaudible ).

Yeah. Yeah. Well, God knows about that. He’s not mad at us. He loves us. He knows. He’s patient. Thank God, He’s patient. He’s got a lot to be patient with in me. But I’ll tell you, He is so faithful.

And of course, we know, we’ve heard so many times of the purpose of God in the wilderness. I led you this way to teach you, and all of that. But here’s a point that…as soon as I sat down last week, this thought came to me and I didn’t get up to give it out again. But, we have this idea, if you’re in school…school to us is kind of a duty. You might enjoy it or you might not. But either way, it’s something that you kind of have to conform to a schedule and whatever the regimen is to be in school.

So we think as school as one thing and life as another. I get out of school and now I’m free to be me. I’m free to do fun things. I’m free to do what I want to do instead of what they tell me to do.

Here’s the thought that I had: in terms of the Kingdom of God, school is ‘always’ in session. The Kingdom of God is not classroom learning. It is learning to know God in life, over and over again. But here’s the thing. You know, where we might look at school as a boring duty, what did Jesus say about it? “Come to me…take my yoke…learn from me…and you will find…” What? “…Rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I’ll tell you, God wants us to know that this walking with Him and learning from Him is not meant to be drudgery. It’s not a burden. It’s not a duty. It’s not works. It’s not law and obedience, in that sense. It’s simply the privilege of walking with Him.

What was it that enabled Noah to stand in his day? Did he suddenly wake up one day and say, oh, wait a minute, I better, I better, you know, listen to God. It says that Noah…what did he do before this? He walked with God!

What does that mean? He walked with Him! The ordinary stuff that he had to do every single day, he was conscious of God and looked to God for the needs that he discovered in his circumstances, but also in himself. He walked with God. He got to know Him. And so when it came time for the flood, God had somebody that He could talk to. “…Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (KJV).

I’ll tell you, God is gonna have a people…He has a people. But right now is the time for God’s people to be ready, because being ready is not waiting for the hour of difficulty and struggle and strife and challenge. Being ready is learning from Him right now.

I pray that God will help me, and you, because darkness is coming. Darkness is coming on the earth. And as I say, this principle, the principle I’m talking about today would apply regardless of the circumstances. But is not darkness coming? Did not God talk about an hour that was coming that would be like none other in the history of the world?

Now you think about how God allows the Devil to do certain things in certain times. What about what Jesus said when He was arrested? “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” (NIV). God had ordained that He would step back and allow the Devil to do whatever he wanted and he inflicted upon Jesus the most ignominious, painful, humiliating death that they could imagine. And the Devil thought he’d won.

But all the Devil did was fulfill the very purpose of God that enables us to be here today! Thank God! Because when He died, He took my sins with Him. He took me with Him! When He came forth He brought forth a brand new me! Thank God! So we see that even when God allows darkness to happen, it’s for a great, eternal purpose. And I’ll tell you, the darkness that will end this age will be for eternal glory. It’s going to absolutely be the instrument of God finishing His purpose.

I want to be ready for that hour. I don’t know when, and what, and all the details of that, but I know it’s coming, don’t you? Do we not see the spirit of the age…they talk about globalism. It’s not about nations anymore. The elites are pulling as hard as they can to build a global society.

Who do you think is behind that? Doesn’t this sound a whole lot like the Tower of Babel? Let’s unite mankind lest we be scattered across the earth…let’s build a tower, reach up to heaven. We’re gonna have our own religion. We’re gonna have our own society. We’re gonna solve humanity’s future. We don’t need all that Christian stuff. That’s the spirit of the age. Darkness is coming. It is being engineered and God is allowing it. We are in that age.

But here’s the thing, that I really didn’t get to last week. And I just want to kind of touch on it. Because it’s not just that there’s an hour of darkness, it’s not just that there’s a people who know their God, but it’s the people who become people of action. Where others are compromised, where others immediately fall away…or they run and hide because they’re afraid, I’ll tell you, there’s gonna be a people who know their God.

And what it means is they’re gonna see what’s really going on. They’re gonna understand. They’re not gonna say, God, where are You, I don’t get this. They’re going to say, I know exactly why we’re here. I know that God is the one who has foretold what is happening and I’m not dismayed by it. I know that God is gonna bring His people through. Jesus said, I’ll be with you to the end of the age. And He didn’t lie!

And He said there’s gonna be a day when He’s gonna come in triumph, and destroy this world. And I’ll tell you, that’s gonna happen. So even though we’ve got to go through this time, when it looks like the Devil will have won…and he seemingly is exterminating Christians, right and left, it will be an hour in which Christ will triumph. He will rule and reign.

Did we not sing that this morning? Is He not ruling even when those are the circumstances? Yes, God will finish His purpose in the earth! But He’s gonna have a people who will be able to act at that time.

Now what does that mean? What is ‘doing’? “…The people who do know their God shall be strong, and do…” (KJV). What is it? Well one…certainly one of it, one of those things is just standing when others fall. Didn’t Jesus warn about a time when iniquity would abound and, “…the love of most will grow cold, but he stands firm to the end will be saved.” (NIV).

I’ll tell you, there’s gonna come a time when we’re gonna find out who really knows the Lord and who doesn’t. It’s hard to tell in America today. Man, there’s so many people that profess, oh yeah, I love Jesus. And I’ll tell you what, I pray that…I believe there’s a good number that do.

But I’ll tell you what, what’s going on in the world today…there is a darkness that is already descended in many countries. But I believe with all my heart, there are far more real Christians outside of the United States than there are here. There are large, strong movements of the Gospel, calling people out of the highways and hedges of the other parts of the world. There are real harvests going on in the midst of deep darkness and persecution.

Do you think America is gonna escape? I’ll tell you, we have a sleeping church, quote-unquote in America. But we’re gonna find out. But when do you get ready for that? Now! That’s what this is about. You don’t wait ‘til something happens. The people who knew their God, they knew Him when it was nice—when the weather nice and the circumstances were good. They were faithful then. That’s what it takes.

But I’ll tell you, this spirit, this ability to endure to the end doesn’t come from you and your strength. It comes from Him. It comes from Christ in us, the hope of glory! We learn that we can’t do it and we learn to rely upon Him. We learn about His faithfulness in every circumstance. We learn it now. And so when the challenge comes, we’re equipped. Not because of who we are, but because of who He is and His faithfulness.

But I was thinking about this, when Christ comes, what’s He’s gonna come for? A bride…a confused, divided, weak compromised people? Or is He gonna come for a bride who has made herself ready as He says in Revelation 19. There is a process by which that’s going to happen.

How many times have we read Ephesians 4? See, I’m not even opening my Bible. You all know these scriptures. But Ephesians 4, and the process by which he describes how it happens. And so many times the emphasis is on the apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists, I guess was the other one. And all these great ministries…they’re gonna get us ready.

I’ll tell you, what is their job? Why does God give gifts like that? It’s to get you ready. It’s not to do all the work, it’s to get the saints ready to participate in the work. Now participation doesn’t necessarily mean standing up here. But it does mean finding your place in the Kingdom of God, and living and walking with God even if it’s like Sophie, the washer woman.

You know God and you’re living for Him right where you’re at. That’s what God is wanting. But God wants every member of the Body of Christ to become a channel of life to the rest! How do we reach the fulness of the measure of Christ? It says, every part participates, every part is active, every part is doing its part.

I’ll tell you, do you think that just maybe God will use the darkness to purge and purify His people, and finish the job that He has set out to do? That’s part of it. How does He equip us for that? Will information do it? No, God is gonna to have to build real changes in our lives and it’s while you’re doing the ordinary stuff that you don’t even think about right now as having any relevance to this. That’s where God is gonna teach you and me the lessons that will enable us to rise to the occasion and be His people in an hour of darkness. That’s where God’s going with this.

I’ll tell you…I want to get that, because God has promised that He is going to have a church without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish, or any such thing. Only God can do that. But I want to see past what happens in this world. I want to see that God is going to use this. I want to be somebody who can rise up and say, I refuse to be dismayed by what the Devil is being allowed to do. I know God is in charge. I know that He is gonna help His people in this hour.

And one of the other things that we mention from time to time, is what about the simple fact of being light in the darkness. When there comes a time of great darkness…we’re seeing it in other parts of the world right now, many times, that’s the key to a harvest! God will use the darkness to wake up some people to say, hey, wait a minute, my life here is miserable! I see where the world is going! Everything I’ve lived for is worthless! Oh, God! And suddenly you have a heart that’s prepared.

Where are they going to find out about Him? From compromised people who just give in to the world and go with the flow? Or with people who simply know and love God. Not people who point their finger and say, what’s the matter with you, straighten up and fly right. But people who say, I know where you’re at. God has brought me out! He’s given me a reason to live! He’s given me life! He forgave my sins! I’m not better than you, but I lift up a Savior who is!

There’s going to be people who absolutely will be able to stand in such an hour and God’s going to use you. He’s gonna use the ordinary people. It’s not going to be the great evangelist who stands before thousands. It’s going to be the ordinary people who just live their life and have something different. It will shine like a light the darker it gets.

But only Christ can give us that power. Only He can change us! Only He can form those qualities in our lives, and only as we humble ourselves to His hand in ordinary stuff. May God help us!

And one thing that we’re gonna see a lot of, I’m persuaded, before it’s over, we’re going to see a need for dying grace. You think about the apostles, every single one of them, except John, died a martyr’s death. I’ll tell you, it takes something to able to stand there when they’re saying, bow or we’re gonna put you to death…and say, Jesus is Lord. I gladly lay down my life for Him. He gave His life for me. I lay it down.

You think about the three Hebrew children. You think about Daniel and the place they were put, and how they had such a confidence toward God, they said, I don’t care what the circumstances are, God is God! If I die, I die! If I live, I live! It doesn’t matter!

Paul could say that, no matter whether I live or die, I’m the Lord’s. But I’ll tell you, those prophets, apostles rather, who wrote such stirring words, words of encouragement, and instruction to God’s people, there came a time when they had to put up or shut up. They had a time when they were standing before the rulers of that day.

Paul had a time when he stood before Nero and made his final testimony of faith in Christ, and his head was taken off with the sword. I’ll tell you, you don’t just come into that casually, as a casual, Sunday-morning Christian. God has to work those qualities in our lives and He is doing it right now. He may be preparing somebody right here to lay down your life as a testimony to a dying world that Jesus is Lord.

How do you get to that point, where you have that kind of strength? Man, we’ve got to start learning now. We’ve got to say, God’s teaching me every single day. I’m in school and I want to learn.

I’ll tell you, what did Jesus say to one of the churches? I think it was Sardis. I didn’t look this one up, but if you look at the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, one of them was in a particular place of persecution where the authorities were trying to exterminate them and what was the instruction? Go hide in the cave? That might be the case in some instances. But God said this, faithful…Jesus said, His words, “…be…faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (KJV).

Man, it takes something more than human strength to be able to say that. God has to work that in a human being, to have that kind of confidence that God is in charge. He’s worth serving no matter what happens down here, because it’ll happen. Satan is going to be allowed to take over and when he does, do you think he’s gonna be happy with us?

Do you think the holocaust was something? I don’t want to just be sensational about this. But I’ll tell you, there’s darkness coming, but God is faithfully working in you and me, every day, right now, to get us ready. And I want to be one of those that listens to His voice, that learns.

Jesus gave us a principle about the Kingdom of God. He said this: he that’s faithful in little, will be faithful in much. Now, do you begin to see the relevance of ordinary life? How easy is it for us to let little things slip and slide…I don’t have to be really totally honest about this. I can let that slide. I don’t have to do a serious job of this. It’s not important.

Everything is important in the economy of God. If God has put something in front of us to do, what does He say? Do it with your might. Demonstrate a heart that says, God, You have put me here and I’m trusting in You, and I’m going to do what’s right come what may.

I’ll tell you, there’s a God who sees a heart that will be faithful in the little things. Who do you think He’s gonna give the responsibility to when it matters? If you’re one of those that thinks you can just slip and slide by and not pay a lot of attention right now and be careless, and you’re gonna be fine with the real test comes, you’re deceived.

I’ll tell you, God is faithfully working, isn’t He? And I don’t want this to sound like it’s a scary kind of thing. God doesn’t mean it to be that. But the reality is, we’re living for God in world that hates Him. The god of this world would love nothing more than to exterminate you and me from this planet and take over.

I don’t know what all God is going to allow him to do, but I’ll tell you what, everything God allows the Devil to do will wind up for glory for us, for everyone that puts their trust in Him and is willing to learn.

But I guess it all comes back to the simple things. God, help us to be faithful in little. God, help us to live with a God-consciousness that says, God, where You have put me is where I need to be. Help me to learn to love You. Help me to learn how to trust You, to know You in a practical way.

You’re going to bring me face to face with needs about myself that I’d rather not know about, rather not face. But You’re doing it so that I will be able to bring those to You, and I’m gonna learn something about You as You meet my need that I didn’t know any other way. I knew it by theory, but now I know it, I’ve been there. I’m gonna have a knowledge of You that’s gonna carry me in darker and darker times.

God is preparing His people right now. Jesus’ word continually about the end of the age, is what? Be ready. He doesn’t say, wait ‘til stuff happens and ‘get’ ready. He says, ‘be’ ready. This is the hour when God is working.

So, if your life seems ordinary, boring, you wish it were different, what did the Lord say? “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God….” We need to start seeing our lives through God’s eyes and learning how to rest in Him and cooperate with Him, because God is going to have a people. I want to be one of those people, don’t you? It’s not in me to be that. But God is faithful, isn’t He? He’s gonna get us ready. So, Praise God!

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1394 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

— Brother Phil Enlow: This is life that cannot be corrupted, cannot die! My God, we live in such a low, unbelieving realm. We strive and we struggle every day. God wants to lift us out of that.

“…He cannot die again; death no longer mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all.” (NIV). There was an utter rejection of everything this world stood for, the very principle of sin. I am done with that!

I’ll tell you, we don’t need the victory over sin, we need…He didn’t just deal with sin, He dealt with us. He put me to death on the Cross with Him. That’s what it means to be united with Him! I can’t just sit there at a distance and say, thank You for what You did for me. You died for my sins. It’s me joining Him on the Cross, willingly laying down my life in the hope and the promise of what He has…the new life that He has given me. And on that ground, we live going forward. That’s what God is looking for. That’s what He’s talking about here.

All right so, “…he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” But listen to what he says. “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin….” How many of you stop there? Okay, I’m dead to sin. I’m dead to sin. I’m dead. What are we doing? That’s just anxious striving, trying to talk ourselves, trying to psyche ourselves into something, instead of recognizing it’s a fact!

But listen to where he goes on. He doesn’t stop there, does He? He says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God….” And what the Lord has begun to, just begun, I think, to see, to help me to see in a measure, is when I feel, when I hear one of the voices of my old masters — we’ve all got them — they begin to holler, anxiety, fear is certainly one of them — when they begin to rise up, I don’t have to suddenly, oh my God, there it is again, I’ve got to do something about it!

I say, I don’t have to listen to you. Lord, I praise You for what You’ve done! Thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the new life. I will not strive against these things that He has already defeated! Think about that.

How many of you remember Brother Thomas, in the context of salvation, rightly so, talking about the fact that we’ve got to come to a place where we stop trying, and we start trusting? I mean, if you’re trying to be saved, you might as well give it up. He has provided the entire package!

We have to but to come as we are and say, oh, God, I yield myself to You. I come bringing nothing but brokenness and need. But I come because that’s who it’s for. Lord, I just give myself to You, and I put my hope…let me ask you this. How did your sins get forgiven? I mean, I know the foundation of it is what He did. But how did you partake of that?

( congregation inaudible ).

Yeah, it comes down to a simple principle of faith. Ultimately, I have to come to a place where I realize He did that for me, and I have every right to lay hold of that and claim that, and on the foundation of that, God forgave my sins, and He took my guilt away.

But do you not see that by the same principle this is also something we have the right to? Somehow…again, I look back in my own experience. Somehow, I…it’s almost like I put these things in different categories. I think some of the teaching I heard probably affected that, probably caused that a little bit or contributed to it, where, okay, forgiveness of sins is a simple wonderful thing where I just stop trying to be righteous in God’s eyes, and I embrace the promise and the hope that He’s given to me. But deeper life, that’s a different thing. I’ve got to really…I’ve got to anxiously strive for that.

Do you see what’s going on here? God wants us to come to a place where we realize we are fighting battles that have already been won! That voice that wants to rise up and rule over you and take you down, and just keep you in bondage and wrap chains of darkness around you and keep you where you’re at, that battle was fought 2,000 years ago. If you died, why are we fighting these things? I mean this sounds crazy, but is that not what he’s talking about here?

Look at verse 11, “In the same way…” as He went, what He did, “…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God.” That sounds like faith to me. That sounds like believing in something that He did for me that is mine! I don’t have to qualify myself. I don’t have to raise myself up to some spiritual height.

It’s not just for the Hudson Taylors of the world. This is for every Christian. We have the right to stand in His victory and recognize that when those voices come — and they will — we have every right to look them in the eye and say, I’m dead to you. That’s history. I don’t have to listen to you.

But do we stop…and to do it…one of the things that I’ve found myself saying over and over again, and I’m sure I will say it over and over many times, because of just habits of listening, it’s that I am not gonna strive with you. I refuse to fuss and fight and strive about this. This battle has been won, because always before, that was my reaction. Oh, my God, I’ve got to do something.

And all of a sudden, the Lord is saying, no, you don’t. Jesus did it! Will you put your faith in that? Will you embrace the reality that I came into your heart and your life? I have given you new life! You can live that by faith in Me.

I know this is a lot to swallow. You’re gonna have to think about this one. My words alone cannot convey this. But I just…I had a taste, time after time the last few days. And it’s not a matter of trying to work up a feeling. But I’ve had the old voices just try to take hold and try to bring me down and just fill me with that anxiety which is one of my big ones. My mother was that way, and I’ve got a lot of her in me.

The Lord’s helping me to recognize some of those things, and to say, wait a minute. I will not stay on this hamster wheel one more minute. I will not fight a battle Jesus fought 2,000 years ago and won! I died with Him! I don’t have to listen to that master anymore!

See, there are battles, but they’re not battles of self-effort and striving, and trying to be this wonderful spiritual person! It’s letting go and recognizing that I will never achieve that. That’s why I have a Savior. It’s not in me to be any of that.

But you know, I’ve got Somebody in me who’s kind of good at living the Christian life. Praise God! I don’t have to worry about Him. I mean, He’s already fought that. How would it be if you were facing some big challenge, and all of a sudden, Jesus in all His glory is standing right next to you with His arm around you? Would you feel just a bit more confident?

( congregation inaudible ).

Yeah. But the reality is He’s not just there, He’s in every one of us. Everything that He is He shares with us. There is a victory. There is a joy. There is a peace that He longs to pour into us! And here we are trying so hard to be what we think He wants us to be, instead of letting Him just be Himself. I can’t help but go back to what Jesus said. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you…”

( congregational response ).

Rest! How many of your Christian lives are marked by rest? You know, the founder of the group I was a part of wrote some tremendous hymns based on what he had learned. And I think one of the hymns was, “Himself.” I wish I could remember all the words, but one part of it, one small part of it has come back to me several times in the last day or two. And it was this. “Once ‘twas anxious striving. Now ‘tis perfect rest.”

How can I rest? Look at all that’s wrong with me. Yeah, but Jesus put me to death, and He is here. I don’t stop trying to be all upset and all worried about all these things that I’m not. I just embrace what He is in the face of that. I recognize that I died. I don’t have to obey that master anymore.

If we listen to him and yield to him, he will continue to hold sway over us. He says that later in this passage. “….To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” (KJV).

But you see the ugly game the devil’s playing with every one of God’s people. Oh, God, help us to realize what it means to have Jesus living on the inside. Think about—think about who He is. Has He changed? I mean, yes. He’s in a different place. He’s in glory. He went up there.

Why did He go up there, by the way? What does Ephesians 4 tell us about…He ascended on high. Why? So that He could fill everything. God has put…it’s a mystery. I can’t explain it. But I’ll tell you what, the same Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is here. And every one of His children, He lives inside.

The same Jesus who had power over the waves, the winds and the waves, the same Jesus who raised people from the dead, who came back to life Himself, the same Jesus who had compassion on the weak and the weary, everyone who was struggling, He didn’t look down like the Pharisees did at the sinners! They felt a heart that reached out to them in love!

Do you not know that Jesus who is with you now feels that way toward you? What did David learn about the Lord? How precious are Your thoughts toward me? They’re more…they’re like the sand by the seashore. Oh, my. Do you not realize how deeply Jesus is thinking about you every single day and how that is marked by His love and His compassion and His desire to share Himself with us?

Do you think He gets glory out of our struggles and our unbelief? I’ll tell you, I’ve got a lot of unbelief to repent of. But I’m so glad. See, there’s where the blood comes in. Thank God. I don’t have to live under the condemnation of that. He knows where I’m at.

There’s no magic experience where I can suddenly catapult over to here and be right where some of these great saints were. But I’ll tell you what, God can take us forward if we will realize how we get there. It’s not by anxious striving. It’s by believing in what He has done for us.

Here’s a couple of simple illustrations. How do you get air out of a glass? Oh, we’ve got to get a pump. Oh, my God! We’ve got to seal it up and get a vacuum pump and make sure we get all of that air out of there so there’s room for water. I mean, it’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Yeah. You pour water in, the air goes. I don’t need to get the bad stuff out. I need more of Jesus in.

( congregational response ).

I’ll tell you, if you’ve got devils this morning, you don’t need just to get rid of your devils. What did Jesus say about that? When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest and he can’t find it. What does he say? All right, I’ll go back and look to my…and he comes back, and his house is empty…all cleaned up, religiously reformed, but nobody is living there. And so, he takes seven of his buddies and comes in, and it’s worse than it was before.

I’ll tell you, we need Jesus. We need our hearts and our lives opened to Him. Come to Him and just realize who it is that we’re surrendering to…the love that you’ve been looking for all your life, you’ll find it in Him, the peace, the joy. It’s not something we have conjure up or feel all the time. It isn’t about those things at all. But I’ll tell you, we can meet the challenges that come against our faith. We can meet them with the grace and the work that God has already done for us.

You know, I thought of another illustration like the glass. You know, where there are a lot of hard wood trees, more where I grew up, the leaves die in the fall, and a lot of them fall, and some of them blow down. But inevitably, there are some of them that hang around until spring. Now, suppose there’s a man who gets all excited and upset and says spring is coming. We’ve got to make room for these leaves. Oh, come on! Get the ladders out! Let’s pull all these old leaves off. Yeah, we laugh. It’s stupid. How do the leaves go?

( congregational response ).

The new growth! Just automatically, there’re gone! That’s what I see the focus of the scriptures on. It’s not like, oh, God, I feel this need. I’ve got to somehow do something about it. Inevitably, if we approach it that way, it’s gonna be us striving. It is gonna be anxious striving, instead of just meeting that and say, you Devil, you were defeated at the Cross. I don’t have to listen to you.

And we turn, and we invite Him to fill us, and we thank Him, and we praise Him for what He has done. And instead of trying to not be this, we just lay hold of that and say, Lord, I thank You. Fill me with Your love, Your peace…all the qualities that You’re wanting to build in me.

The Christian life is not one of ‘not doing’ bad things. If that’s the focus to any degree in any of our lives, you are doomed to the same kind of failure, as we mentioned, that Paul experienced in Romans, chapter 7. You will be trying to do this on your own. It’s not God’s plan. Jesus comes in, and He changes us from the inside out.

And He changes us, not by principles and tricks and psychological tricks, but by His Presence. He is there! The living Christ lives within! He is really there, and we can really trust Him!

You don’t earn this privilege! Jesus earned it for us on the cross. If He has joined us to Him, we have the same rights to everything that Jesus has and is!

( congregational response ).

Oh, may God help us to lay hold of what He has given to us. And I think the title that probably is more appropriate is “Stop Trying, Start Trusting.” That’s the thing that has come to me over and over and over again.

And I have found myself…I mean, there’s a barrage. Satan’s not gonna quit. Your old masters are not gonna quit. They may bear down harder. But my answer to that thing that wants to rise up and make me anxious and fearful is a whole lot different. I am not gonna strive about this. That is counter intuitive, isn’t it? I refuse to strive about this. Jesus took care of you 2,000 years ago.

But do I stop there? Do we stop there? No, we have every reason to turn and to praise Him and to rest in Him. It’s not trying to work up a feeling. A lot of times we won’t have them, because it’s by faith not by feeling, isn’t it? It’s not just to try to feel a certain thing.

You know, we sing about His arms around us, and that’s a reality, but we don’t have to ‘feel that’ to know that He’s there. Why? Because He promised He’d never leave us nor forsake us, didn’t He? Now, you go off and do your own thing, and He’s gonna have to deal with you about that. He’s not gonna be with you if you want to rob a bank, okay? It’s not Jesus coming and being our servant so we’ll have a successful life in this world.

But I’ll tell you, if we’re serving Him and we’re looking to Him, we have every right to look to Him for every single resource we need! And that’s everything! The sooner we learn that we are nothing and can do nothing, and deserve nothing…and that’s okay, because He is everything. It all comes from Him, and it comes back, flows back to Him.

Oh, I think His heart is so sad so many times when He watches us struggle. Oh, there they go again. They’re trying so hard to be a Christian, when I’ve paid it all. They don’t need different rules to live by. They need just Jesus living on the inside. Oh, that makes all the difference. But the Lord wants us to walk with a confidence in that fact, to stop trying!

What is it that holds you? What is it that continually drags you down and holds you back? Stop trying! You’ll never beat it that way. Start trusting in what God has said He’s done for you.

I’ll go back to this. How did you get your sins forgiven? Is this any different? We are looking to something that happened at the Cross. Thank God the blood was shed, and it covers my sins, and He receives that sacrifice as though I myself had paid for my sins. He becomes not just my sacrifice or my substitute but my representative. But He’s also my representative in laying down my life and being united to Him forever.

Folks, if you’re not there, that needs to be the cry of your heart. Oh, God, I want to be united with Him! I want to be part of what’s gonna last forever and not part of this world. The cross is our door of escape from everything that is coming upon this world.

But oh, what a…it sounds terrible to human beings. It sounds like such a horrible thing to die. But I’ll tell you, to the extent people have done this and let go and let God have His way, what’s been the result? Oh, misery and bondage and religious obligation! No! It’s victory! It’s freedom!

That’s what God wants every one of us to have today. Where you’ve been defeated, He wants you to have, to realize that’s a battle that’s been fought. It might rise up like Goliath, might curse your God and tell you what he’s gonna do. What did David do? He said, the battle is the Lord’s!

How many of you remember some of the circumstances where Brother Thomas and Sister Thomas…the Lord gave them the song, “The battle is the Lord’s and it’s already won.” They were in the middle of a spiritual battle against demons, multiple cases going on at the same time. They were weary, and the Lord gave them that song. “O the battle is the Lord’s and it’s already won. at the cross, at the cross it was done.” And all we have to do is strive and struggle and try…wait a minute. “All you have to do, is believe that it’s true, and the battle is won for you.”

And how many remember what happened when they got to the next place? The battle was over. They didn’t have to do anything. The Lord had already gone before them. Folks, God will help us to lay hold of this. We’re gonna have to change the way we think, the way we react, and it’s gonna have to come into alignment with what God has said.

Is this true, or isn’t it? Did I get this out of the old Sears and Roebuck catalog, or is this God’s truth? I believe it. I believe God wants us to possess it. And I am sick and tired of trying to be a deeper-life Christian, which I have done occasionally in my life. It doesn’t work. But He has given me everything I need to stop trying and start trusting. He did the work. It’s complete! Jesus said, it’s finished! It’s finished. Is it?

( congregational response ).

And can we not lay hold of that? Is there something we need to do to qualify ourselves where we earn it, we deserve it? No. He invites the broken, the needy, the wounded, the helpless to come and find, in Him, everything that we stand in need of. I’ll tell you who’s gonna get the glory.

Praise God!

( congregational response ).

Praise God for what He’s done. So, stop trying, and start trusting.

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1374 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

— Brother Phil Enlow: Well, praise the Lord! I have some things on my heart this morning, and either this is a burden from the Lord or something, but we’ll see. But I feel like the Lord has laid on my heart something that is needful for all of us, and especially in the religious climate of today.

And it has to do with repentance, and what repentance really is, because we have so much that goes on in religion, where repentance is really kind of an external thing, an outward thing, where we take on religion, we take on certain outward things that people can see, but it never really gets down to where it needs to get.

And repentance, obviously it involves Christians, but it involves everybody that comes to the Lord. There’s no coming to the Lord without repentance. He doesn’t give us eternal life so we can continue to live the life we lived before and then somehow carry that to heaven, it’s a transformation.

And it’s what Josh mentioned this morning. There’s a reconciliation part where the legal issue between us and God is settled because Jesus paid our sin debt. But there is a transformational side of it without which it’s not salvation. And unless He replaces our life with His, all we’re doing is just living our life and that’s no good. And that can be religious. That can be a whole lot of things. And, it’s like the scripture says, we don’t know our own heart.

( congregational amens ).

We don’t know it. “The heart…” the Lord said through Jeremiah, is, “…deceitful above all things…” (KJV). And then He asked the question, “…who can know it?” And I think the implication is that none of us is in a position to know his own heart. We need the Lord! And I’m so thankful that He’s faithful to those that really come to Him from the heart, He’s faithful, isn’t He?

But anyway, the pretty obvious example in the scripture of repentance is David. And we know that the Lord chose him out of Israel because he was a man after God’s own heart. And so what happened to him is, not only an example for us, but it’s a warning for us, because he was a man after God’s own heart.

He was just a young man who kept his father’s sheep, and learned to know God and to worship Him and then had cultivated a certain amount of life with the Lord. And the Lord chose him because Saul had turned away and become self-willed in what he did. He had his own ideas. The Lord told him to do something and he sort of halfway did it, but then he injected his own ideas and his own fear, and other things crowded in. He wasn’t really faithful to the Lord in that.

And so, the Lord chose David and it quickly became obvious to Saul that God’s hand was with David and not with Saul. And so the next thing you knew, Saul was trying to kill David and David spent — I think something like 13 years in a very challenging school — of running for his life, hiding, trying to deal with this situation and that one, and gathering people around him. But forever and a day, he was in danger and struggling just to get by and looking to God.

But you know, God had him in school, didn’t He? This is how we learn about God. We’ve heard this so many times lately. We learn about Him when life is challenging and we’re forced to go to Him. David couldn’t simply rely on his skill as a soldier, which he had. He had, many times, just to simply rely on God.

And there were times when Saul’s army was on one side of the hill and David was on the other. And David was hiding in the back of the cave and Saul’s army was in the front. And finally, he had to actually leave Israel. And, we know all about that part of his life. But, God was shaping David, shaping his character, preparing him for the throne that he was to sit upon.

And then finally, Saul is killed in battle and David is brought into Judah, the tribe of Judah, and becomes their king. And that precipitated a seven and a half year war with the house of Saul in which, finally, after all this time when David was, what, about 30 years old, I believe, suddenly he is accepted and put on the throne in Jerusalem of all of Israel.

And we see him beginning to do the things that he thought he needed to do. He decided to bring the ark back to Jerusalem — didn’t do it the right way and that caused a problem for a while, But nonetheless, there was a disposition of his heart that you do see at every point in his life. Every time he failed, he failed forward. He learned. He grew.

He sought the Lord when he failed to bring the ark back. And finally the Lord revealed to him, you didn’t do it the way I told you to do it in Moses law. You can’t just ignore all that. And so, he brings the ark back to Jerusalem and there’s great rejoicing.

His wife doesn’t think much of it, one of his wives. So, the Lord had to deal with her. But anyway, now the ark is back to Jerusalem and so he prays and he comes to the prophet and said, you know, I live in a house of cedar and God’s house is in a tent. I want to build Him a house. And the Lord sent the prophet Nathan back to him and said, I’ve never dwelt in a house and never asked you to build Me one. But I am going to establish your house after you and bless your seed and your house is gonna last forever.

And, of course, we know it has because Jesus was born of the house of David, wasn’t He? His kingdom is forever. So, in that sense, the lineage of David will never end. So anyway, David praises the Lord and goes on about his business.

And you know, part of the promises to Abraham was that Israel would eventually possess, his descendants would eventually possess, a part of the land in the world. It went from Egypt to the Euphrates River. And so David set about conquering areas that had never really been subdued. And chapter after chapter, you will read about his exploits and how they’d go out to battle against this country and subdue it, and this one, and so on.

He was basically setting up what became Solomon’s early reign, the greatest king in the earth of his day. He basically inherited what David had provided. There was a peaceful kingdom of people who were subdued under Israel. They paid tribute. Israel ruled and reigned and they became the greatest kingdom in the world.

But David was busy doing all of this until one spring — and you know the story, but it’s worth repeating here, because it is a warning to every one of us that we don’t know our hearts and we can’t just get careless. We cannot just sort of assume, hey, I’ve got this, like Josh was talking about walking on the water, hey, I’ve got this. This is cool. I can do what I want.

David became careless and when his army went out to war, he stayed home. He said, you know, I deserve a rest. How many times do we indulge ourselves because we feel like we’re entitled? That’s human nature. We all do it. But anyway, he felt entitled to sit this one out.

And so, one night he was restless, got up out of his bed and from the vantage point of the castle, he saw a woman bathing and she was beautiful. And so he — you remember the story how he sent his servants out — so in that sense, this was not secret, was it? Servants knew. The servants went out and got her and he had a one-night stand with this woman.

And I’m sure in David’s mind this was no big deal — I’m entitled. I’m the king. I can do this. And so anyway, but the Lord saw what was going on, didn’t He? And so, what happened was, of course, that one-night stand turned into a pregnant woman, who sent word to David about that.

And so, he figures, I’ve got to do something. I can’t let this be known that I did this, that I’m responsible. And so, he calls and sends to the army and has Uriah, her husband, brought in. Uriah’s an amazing character. This guy’s not even an Israelite. He’s a Hittite, one of the heathen nations that they had conquered, and yet he had such a respect for God, such a respect for law, he was such a principled individual that you see it play out in his life here. I have an idea we’re gonna see him one day. You know, he was a faithful man, despite what happened to him.

And so, he came back and David says, go home, here are some gifts, go home and spend the night with your wife, but he wouldn’t do it. And his reason was, the armies of God are out in the field, should I go — am I entitled to this little vacation here? And he wouldn’t do it.

And David finally resorted to — I mean, you see how sin takes over, and begins to lead you down a wrong path? David had come to a crossroads, hadn’t he, in his life? And it was either continuing on what he was doing or…he took a little [detour], didn’t he? And Bathsheba was the detour.

And one thing led to another, led to another, led to another, and instead of stopping, he just kept right on going and he was gonna cover it up. And so, he has Uriah back. Uriah won’t go, so David has him for supper. But his real motive was to get the guy drunk. He figures if he gets drunk, his resistance will be down and he’ll do what I hope he’ll do and then my sin will be covered up. So anyway, you know how that didn’t work.

And so, finally David figures my only solution is to get rid of him. And so, he knows that Uriah is such an honorable man that he can actually send a message to the commander by Uriah and Uriah won’t even read it. He’ll be so honorable he won’t even read his own death sentence. And you remember how the message was: put him in the hottest place of the battle where the danger is the greatest and then retire from him so that he will die. There’s nothing really secret about this. His servants knew about it. His commander knew. But I mean, this is a king! And in an absolute monarchy the king’s word goes.

And so, he does it. He sends a report back to David and he tells the guy, if David complains about the dead soldiers, why did you do this? Don’t you know better than to use that strategy? Then he told the guy to say, Uriah, your servant is dead.

And so David got the answer he was looking for and obviously Bathsheba was notified of this. And there was a suitable period of mourning in their culture, and then David took her into the castle as one of his wives. They had multiple wives in those days. And so, she became his wife and bore him a son.

So one thing you notice about this, this is not some little one-day thing, is it? This is something that evolved over a period of time. There was probably a year or so. Because if they went out to war in the spring, they were back at war. So, I mean, there are nine months at least for the child to be conceived and born, and then — we don’t know what the time frame is exactly, but it’s probably close to a year. Let’s just estimate that.

And David is completely — this man who is after God’s own heart is clueless! He has no idea what he’s done! No idea how God feels about it, and he’s just walking in self-deception! Folks, we don’t know our hearts. We need the Lord! We need one another, don’t we?

( congregational response ).

And so, this is David’s condition. And in that sense, it’s a tremendous admonition to us. I thank God there’s a place of forgiveness, don’t you? But, I mean, David was in a serious condition. And so, you remember how God sent the prophet Nathan to David.

And in order to approach the king — I mean, you think about the faith of Nathan. You don’t take a message like this to the king and expect to live, under a monarchy. But Nathan had the faith to go to him and tell him a story.

And the story was, there was a rich man and there was a poor man. The rich man had flocks and herds and was just rolling in possessions. The poor man lived with his wife and family and they one little ewe lamb that they brought up and it was like a daughter to him. They fed it from the table. It was more of a pet than anything else, a member of the family. And so a traveler comes to visit the rich man and instead of going out into his own herds, he goes across the street and gets the poor man’s lamb and takes it and serves it to the traveler.

Well, David’s righteous indignation was boiling over when he heard about this. Man, he was ready to get the guy until Nathan said, you are the man. And the Lord began to tell him what he had done. You had everything. I gave you a kingdom. If there had been more, I would have given it to you. I mean, if you’d asked for more. I’ve given you everything, and yet, you had Uriah murdered so you could have his wife.

And it was a shock to David, I have all ideas it was a tremendous shock to him. And he recognized that he had sinned. But it wasn’t just, you’ve sinned. It was, from now on there’s gonna be trouble. You’ve done this, the sword will never depart from your life.

Folks, when we go down the wrong road, there are consequences, aren’t there? And, that’s what happened with David. There were things that happened in his family. He had rebellions in his own household. He had to flee for his life. There were all kinds of things because God’s name got dragged through the mud because of what he did.

See, folks, we’re representing the Lord, aren’t we? And we need to live like that. And I just pray God will give all of us grace and help us to really check up on our hearts.

But anyway, that brings us to Psalm 51. Because here we see David in a real genuine example of repentance, I mean, this is the model repentance. He really goes into the depths of what repentance really means.

And he begins by saying, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” (NIV). So, from the get-go, he is not appealing to God based on anything he is or he has done. In other words, I have no right to come to You based on — I can’t look at my life and say, I’ve done good things, so therefore — there’s nothing. He comes on the basis of God’s showing mercy, end of story, that’s it! God, You’re a merciful God. I’m just gonna come because I know the kind of a God You are. Please have mercy on me, oh God. Lord, I need You.

“…According to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” According to Your unfailing love…aren’t you glad God’s love is not failing? Wow! I mean, here’s — if this had been us, how would you have reacted to something like this? If somebody — if it had been you? Oh my God! But here’s a God who is pure and holy! There’s nothing at all wrong with Him. Everything about Him is pure and yet David somehow knew that he could come to God even in the depths of this situation.

And it’s evident from his language, he’s not soft-pedaling anything, is he? There’s no basis upon which I can come to You, Lord, except for the fact that You are a merciful God! “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.”

Now notice up to this point David is dealing with what he has done. Now you understand that are two levels of things going on here. ‘Sins’ are one of them. ‘Sin’ is the other. You understand the difference? Sins that are acts in the real world, they are acts of something. There’s something we do that is against God. Those are acts of sin. Those are sins. But where do they come from?

( congregation inaudible ).

Yeah. See, they come from a nature that can only sin. There’s not a single thing you and I can do that is acceptable in the eyes of a holy God. I don’t care what kind of a golden chalice you use to dip in and serve something. If you dip it out of a sewer, it’s still gonna be sewer water.

And so, David has to deal with something else besides just what he’s done. He’s done these terrible things. He recognizes that it’s not just out here and against somebody. There’s nothing except, oh God, it’s You and me. This is between You and me. I have sinned against You, Lord.

I’ll tell you, genuine repentance gets us to the point, every one of us, where nothing else matters. It isn’t what somebody did. It isn’t the circumstances. It isn’t a mistake. Oh, we love, every one of us love to use that. I made a mistake. Well, no. It’s gone way beyond that. There is something that I allowed in my life, that came out of my life and my heart that caused me to do something and that was against God. Period.

And David is shut up. Everything else doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you, when somebody comes to Christ, there may be issues in your life, there may be things you’ve been hurt by, there may be all kinds of issues in your heart and your life, but I’ll tell you, when it gets right down to it, the issue is not gonna be what’s happened to you. The issue is going to be, I am a sinner before a holy God and if I don’t do something about it, I’m gonna be lost and condemned in the end.

This is just You and me, Lord. Nothing else — it doesn’t matter what anybody else has done or ever will do, that’s not the issue. It’s You and me. Oh God, I need mercy, and the only ground upon which I can come.

But David, as I say, up to this point, all he’s dealing with is the external. I ‘did’ stuff. It was against You, Lord. And so he puts that in its proper perspective. But now, he’s going to get to something else. And here he says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”

So you see where David’s going here. This isn’t just stuff I did, this is what I am. And he’s realizing, he’s having to face the fact that what I did is not just some little boo-boo. This comes from here. Something’s got to happen in here if I’m gonna really be right with God. I can’t be satisfied to say, oh God, I sinned. Forgive my sin.

See, remember when the prophet, Samuel went to Jesse, David’s father, to anoint a king, and Jesse’s oldest son was brought out before the prophet. And he was tall, handsome, just looked like the perfect — this is surely the guy. What did God say? He says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

And I see in this prayer of David, I see David kind of getting this. Human nature wants to deal with externals. We really want to appear well before one another, don’t we? And it’s awfully easy for every single one of us at some point in our life to feel like, if I can present myself to others in a certain light that everything is okay, and it may not be, because the need that I have, the need everyone of us has — I’ll start with me. It’s not what I do, it’s what I am.

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 1372 — taken from Closed Captioning Text

— Brother Phil Enlow: I’ll start with a verse that’s been referred to over the years…it’s been a while since I remember it being read here and it’s in Proverbs chapter 18. There’s a little wisdom from Solomon that I believe bears on what I’ve been thinking about and it’s in verse 21, and it’s this: “The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (NIV).

And, putting that in its context, you back up one verse. “From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.” Then it says, “The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit.” So it’s evident to me that Solomon saw a connection between what we say and even practical things in life, ‘cause he’s talking about, we eat the fruit of it. And I think it’s more than just feelings and something intangible. I believe it actually makes a difference in life.

You know, there’s a certain amount of this that has kind of filtered down into the natural realm. You go to hear some of these positive thinkers, how to be a millionaire and that sort of stuff and they’ll talk about how you’re supposed to talk yourself into it. You’re supposed to have these affirmations and…I am really rich, I’m great, I’m this, I’m wonderful, as though that can somehow translate that into reality.

There’s a measure of truth, but that’s obviously not the point of what I believe the Lord wants to share with us. It’s not about getting for self in this world, but it certainly is in participating in what God’s purpose is for us as a people and as individuals. And, I believe with all my heart God wants us to be more conscious, certainly me, of the role of the tongue in faith. You know we were created in God’s image, were we not? When God does something how does He do it?

( congregational response ).

He speaks, doesn’t He? And I believe that that indicates something of the way God does work in and through us…that it’s wonderful to believe something. It’s good, it’s great to have a real conviction and say, yes, I believe every word in this Book. But there’s a way that that gets implemented. There’s a way that that gets, as I say, translated into our lives that I feel like…certainly I can confess that many times I’m stuck in an area of uncertainty and unbelief when it comes to the practical side of it. We pray and we sort of beg God and hope for the best. Am I overstating that?

( congregational inaudible ).

Yeah. And I feel like God wants to bring us to a level of faith where we can pray in faith, we can believe for needs in our lives in faith, we can believe for needs in others. And I believe God can bring a people to the place where when it’s needful and appropriate, they can speak a word and see something miraculous happen.

That’s obviously not the point, ultimately. You know there are some people who have gone to seed on this kind of thing and it’s the ‘name it and claim it’ as though we’re little gods and God wants us to grow up and to be able to speak things into existence, and we can speak ourselves into prosperity in the world and success and all of that stuff.

And it kind of takes hold of a principle and ultimately brings it over into the realm of self, sometimes into the realm of fantasy…where people are gonna go into a…I remember reading in one of Jim Cymbala’s books and he’s talking about folks that convened a conference in a certain city, and man, they were gonna drive the Devil out of that city. And it’s like they had the power to come in there and just go through whatever they went through and man, the Devil was gone. I mean, that’s fantasy.

But you know, I don’t want to jump into the other ditch and say, boy that’s really wrong, therefore, we just sort of live in an area of muddling through in unbelief, and declaring that we believe all this, but not really ever seeing a whole lot. I want to see God at work. I want to Him at work in me. I want to experience the things that He talks about here to a degree that I haven’t.

And I want to be that kind of a people in an hour like this where we have a faith that actually works in the real world. It’s not just that we believe it, but that we actually see it. And, I thought of a number of Scriptures I’m gonna ask the Lord to kind of put them together. But I thought of one that really shows the principle that I believe is involved here and it’s in Romans chapter 10.

Paul is teaching his way through the Gospel and what it is in Romans 10, and he’s talking about the Israelites and how they thought that the relationship with God was established through Law. He gave them laws to obey, they obeyed them, and by that means they were accepted by God. And Paul says that’s not it. That was a schoolmaster at best to teach us, to bring us to the place where we would come through Christ and what He did, and upon that ground alone, we would a place of acceptance before God.

But in…let’s see…verse 6, “But the righteousness that is by faith says: Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) or who will descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart…” Now see, it needs to be in the heart, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t stop there. There are two parts to that.

Now watch where it goes with this. “…That is, the word of faith we are proclaiming,” So something has been proclaimed. It has resulted in a word that has penetrated into the heart. It’s made a difference. It’s brought about an understanding. It’s brought about a conviction that something is true—that this message is true. Not only that, it’s true for me. I need this message. It’s a word from Heaven to help me.

“…That is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if…” What? “…If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

That’s pretty plain, isn’t it? There are two parts to faith, in other words. It’s wonderful to have a conviction in the heart, but there has to come a point where it is spoken. Just as God speaks and something happens, we are meant to speak if we are to actually bring the blessing into reality in our lives and ultimately we can affect other people by what we say and what we do.

But oh my, we are so good at…somehow, we assert these things, but when it comes to really believing it, this is where we fall down. I don’t feel good. Things don’t look good. We go by how we feel. We go by…we find all the fine print that the Devil can kind of manufacture in our minds about why this doesn’t apply to me now…this, that and the other.

Somehow, we don’t pray with any kind of real faith. We don’t stand with any kind of faith. We don’t really believe to the degree that God wants us to in the reality of what we say. Namely, that we have all things in Christ, He has provided a full and a complete salvation.

You know, we referred, I think it was last week, to Paul’s admonition to Timothy and it was to, “Fight the good fight of the faith….” And I think in the King James, which is what I tend to remember, it says, “Lay hold on eternal life….” There’s something that has to be laid hold of. In other words, it’s there…God says, I’m not gonna just dump it on you, you have the responsibility, you have the part to play to actually take hold of that.

And that’s…I don’t know, I just sense this. Why are we…why is there so much unbelief? Why is there so much unbelief? And I believe this is a huge key. It is a much bigger key than we have perhaps imagined. And it’s not that we can just in a sense of self-will, we can just decide, I want this to happen and by God, I’m gonna confess it into existence!

I believe part of our relationship with God, certainly what He describes here, is the establishment of a relationship with God. Namely, there is a conviction in the heart that is ultimately confessed! Jesus is my Lord! I believe in Him! I absolutely believe what the record is of who He is, what He did for me. I embrace that. But I don’t just embrace it, I confess it.

How many of you remember what was said of some of the Jews, in fact, I think it was some of the Pharisees, I don’t remember exactly, but it was in John 10. Where Jesus spoke some words and it said, many believed on Him, but…but they would not confess Him for fear of the Pharisees or of the Jews. So somehow it got this far but it never came out. It never really got sealed, didn’t seal the deal.

And I find myself in this place where…oh God, I need this, I want this, and somehow there’s something there that undermines the ability to absolutely say, Devil, I stand on what God has said. I am what He says I am. He gave me what He says He gave me and I am going to stake my claim on that.

I’m not coming to You, Lord, based upon my merit. I’m not coming to You because I have earned this place or this privilege. You have given it to me and You have declared it to be so. You have declared this is mine, I claim it. And I’m willing to say it. I’m willing to come out and take a stand with my mouth that’s positive. I don’t want to be one of these that…I believe it, but. And we do that, don’t we?

( congregational response ).

We have ways of undermining what we say we believe when it comes to us, now. I’ll tell you what, I just…I don’t know. I was thinking about…somehow my mind went to Angus Buchan. Some of you know who he is…”Faith Like Potatoes,” just a simple South African farmer. I went and listened to a little bit of an interview of him yesterday when he came to my mind. Just a simple man who came to the Lord and had the audacity to actually believe what this says. Scary, isn’t it?

And he would run into situations and instead of, oh well, it must be God’s will, he would actually rise up against what was going on and just cry out to God and sometimes he was almost willing himself to take hold of this Word.

Do you remember that scene about the fire? There was an out-of-control fire and he was running around fighting the fire, but he was crying out and proclaiming the promises of God in the face of that, and God sent a storm. And somehow the Lord has taken that simple farmer and given him a global ministry before, sometimes, hundreds of thousands of people, and he just has a simple faith to pray for people. He has simple faith to be able to see somebody instantly healed.

You know, that one example that wasn’t in the movie, but it was in the testimony later, where he was in a congregation…anyway there were a whole lot of people there, a meeting, and the majority of the people in that meeting were Muslims! And he’s laying it out there and talking about the power of God and how God is great.

And the Lord kind of talked to him about some man who was crippled on the front row and he went down to pray for him. And I think he had to pray for him a couple of times, but when it was done, the man was just jumping around, his legs were bending and everybody was going crazy! And, when he was trying to find out what was going on, he found out that man had a steel rod in his leg. There was no way it was gonna bend. I mean, God had completely undone and reversed everything about that and done it right in front of a whole crowd of people. You can imagine what that did for faith in the Gospel, which is the point. It’s not to say, wow, that was a miracle. It’s to authenticate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

( congregational amens ).

And, I pray that God will bring us to a place, maybe ‘back’ to a place in a measure, where we see God at work in lives in a greater way than we do! It’s not just the instantaneous, miraculous, but God can do that, too, and I want more faith like that. And I just pray that God will help us to begin to take hold…you know, we often use the case of the Israelites and how they were taking the land, and how it was such a half-hearted way at times. There were parts that they just couldn’t seem to get.

And what happened was that they would go into an area, a certain tribe, and try to take it and the inhabitants would resist them to the point where they believed in the resistance more than they believed in the promise of God.

Now, we don’t say that when we come in here and sing and say all these wonderful things that we sing about, but isn’t that kind of true in our lives many times? We run up against something that just seems to be an intractable situation, it’s been that was as long as we can remember, and instead of rising up and saying, Devil, I don’t care what you say, I am declaring the Word of God. This may take time. I don’t know what God’s purpose is, but I’m gonna stand in faith upon what God says. I’m not just gonna ‘hope so’ and believe it.

And I don’t want to just say brave words, I want to really marry up two things. I want to marry up a conviction in here and I want to marry it up to my lips, in prayer and in confession. There’s something, there’s a principle that God operates. Now you can say all the right words and it’s not in here, so part of the equation isn’t there. But I believe that God can take us from where we are at, and I believe He can lead us, I believe He can impart to us a faith that will enable us to grow.

You know, you think about somebody like David, we’ve used him as an example often. And, David, of course, didn’t start his career against Goliath, but he had some situations that happened that caused him…God caused him to exercise his faith. A lion and a bear come out, what am I gonna do? Am I gonna just surrender the sheep to the lion or the bear, or am I gonna rise up and say, God gave me this job, I’m gonna step out in faith and I’m gonna do something? I’m gonna put legs on my faith. And so, he did that and God gave him the victory and he was brought to a point where he had what it took when the time came.

And, praise God, I was looking for the Scripture about Goliath. But notice when he went out to Goliath…he didn’t just have this conviction, I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, I know God’s gonna be with me. Man, he spoke it! He wasn’t quiet about his faith. He put it into action. There was the action, but man, there were the words. “David said to the Philistine…” (NIV). This is in 1st Samuel 17 if you want to look it up, verse 45. “…You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.” Man, that’s some…

( congregation inaudible ).

…Yeah. That’s pretty plain, isn’t it?

( laughing ).

See, he’s not just…and I don’t believe he’s going in there just kind of blowing smoke. This isn’t trash talk. This is something that has a foundation. Folks, we have a foundation. We don’t have to invent happy talk just to get through life. We have something that God has done that is apart from you and apart from me. He’s done it. He’s laid that foundation for me and for you.

So, “This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Whoa! You know, I’d love to have that kind of faith, too, wouldn’t you? We face situations and, well, I don’t know. Don’t you think the Lord wants to lead us to the point where we could have a greater conviction and a greater faith in things?

You know, I was thinking about something Brother Thomas said many times, and I know those of you who were here will remember it. He talked about faith. What does faith do? It starts where it’s at. And it starts where it’s at, with what it has and with what it doesn’t have. It just starts!

And what I see in my own life is a need to begin to rise up and use this tongue in a positive way to build faith, to ask God to give me, not only the conviction about what He has said and where I need to go and what I need to do, but to back it up with what I say.

I mean, you think about just some of the areas where this affects us in prayer. How positively do we pray? Do we pray as, well, I hope something happens…I pray, Lord, I know they’re sick…I’ll just pray. God wants to bring us to a place where we can have a greater faith and a conviction. He told us to, “…Pray for one another, that ye may be healed.”

You know, one awesome thing that we need to doing when we’re praying, just for example, just to talk about that, is to pray the Word of God! I mean, then it’s not just me and my wishes about fixing stuff. Now, it’s God, You said. Lord, I’m coming to You, but I’m coming to You because of a promise that You gave in Your Word and I’m standing on that and I believe it. Lord, You said!

Now you think of Jacob, for example. He was going back from his exile in…anyway, modern Iraq was where it was. And he was coming back to Palestine and Esau was coming out to meet him. Well, things weren’t so great when he left Esau and he was afraid for his life, especially when he heard Esau was coming with 400 men. This was a very real situation. And so, he did what he knew to do. But boy, he came to God and he said, Lord, You said.

( laughing ).

You said that You were gonna bless me. You said, You were gonna bless my descendents. You said, I have a covenant with You. And Lord, look what’s happening! Oh, God! You see, he’s coming on the ground of the Word. He’s coming on the grounds of what God had said, so it’s not just, oh God, I’m in trouble. It’s, oh God, I’m looking to You.

Jehoshaphat kind of did that, didn’t he? Yeah, they were facing this massive army that was coming against the Israelites out of nowhere. They were just minding their own business and suddenly this army comes on their border. And Jehoshaphat goes to God, but he doesn’t just say, oh God, save us from our enemies. He says, God, You did this. God, You did that. God, You promised this, You promised that! We’re Your people! We’re looking to You!

Remember what Solomon prayed! Remember what You told Solomon when You established the temple here! Oh God, we’re coming to You on that ground of Your promises! Lord, we don’t know what to do, our eyes are upon You.

Man, that’s a great place to be. I’ll tell you, if we come to God in that kind of a spirit, God’s gonna be able to quicken His Word and we’re gonna be able to have a fellowship and a knowledge of Him that isn’t just second-hand, ‘yeah, I believe that stuff’ kind of thing. God wants us to have a real relationship with a living God, where we can grow in our faith, we can have the kind of faith that he’s talking about there.

And, some people who think about using the tongue in a positive way will imagine that we should never say anything that’s…well, let me backtrack. Some people will say, well, I need to be honest, ‘cause things aren’t going so good right now and I don’t feel good, so, Lord, You prize honesty. I want to be honest.

Well, a lot of times, what we do…what we’re calling honesty is really kind of unbelief, because we may be asserting situations, but honesty tends to stay there. You know what I’m talking about? And I’ll use David as an example. You will look at many of his Psalms and he will talk about, oh God, my enemies are all around me, my sins are before me…this, that and the other thing…I’m in a desperate situation. Oh God, help me, save me! And he’ll talk about the situation with an honesty.

But you’ll notice something, he doesn’t stay there. He’ll lay out the situation and he’ll say, but, You are my God! But, Your faithfulness will never fail. But, I trust in You, Lord, I’m looking to You! That’s the kind of…see there’s a place to be honest. It’s not that we fantasize. But there is a way to confess in the face of things that are very real, to confess God’s faithfulness, to confess God’s Word, and to say, God, this is where I’m standing!