- 2 days ago
Category
đź“š
LearningTranscript
00:00well hi y'all it's a privilege to be
00:28able to be with you this morning and to be able to do what i love and that is to just share with
00:32you a little bit from the word of god i believe in the power of the word of god anybody else
00:36i believe it is gives us life and um so it is my privilege to be able to serve you in this way
00:43i told the earlier service this and i will say it again that your ministry your women's ministry
00:49in particular through shine has been such a personal specific blessing to me the past seven
00:56years that i have been engaged in one form or another um i i have been a beneficiary of the
01:02ministry that has come out of this house and so to be able to just pour back into you in this small
01:07way this morning really really is a privilege and uh to have been able to hang out with the girls all
01:12weekend at shine that we had a lot of fun didn't we y'all we had some fun god was here and i'm so
01:19excited now to be with you on this sunday morning i want to say this as well i had the opportunity to
01:24already again say this at first service but i want to say it again because i i mean it um jerry
01:29and i my husband and i and our boys have the privilege to be in a lot of places to share god's
01:35word and and to serve and um you need to to know that at this church the leadership that god has given
01:42you and your pastors but not only pastor stovall and pastor carrie but the leadership team that god
01:48has given to shepherd this house y'all the pastors and the leaders that god gives us in our lives at my
01:53home church at your home church these these people have given their lives to help to shape
01:59our souls they have given their lives to make sure that when we see jesus face to face we hear well
02:05done people are given their lives to do that and god at this church has given y'all some great shepherds
02:10and i hope you never take that for granted
02:12and so it is a privilege of mine today to be able to serve under the um authority and leadership of
02:23um great folks like this it's a privilege and it's an honor i want to pray for you lord jesus thank you
02:28so much for your word thank you that it is living and sharper and active than any two-edged sword
02:33i pray lord in these few moments we will spend together that you will do what you do and that is
02:37take one message divide it thousands of different ways so that every single person under the sound
02:43of my voice hears directly from you in jesus name everybody says amen amen um we have been uh so
02:52excited to be here um over these three or four days that we've been here not just my husband and i but my
02:57boys are here as well i've got a 10 year old named jackson an eight year old named jerry jr and our little
03:02surprise one his name is jude he's four years old we don't really know how he got here
03:07and i named him jude because that is as close as i could get to revelation because it is finished
03:13so jackson jc and jude they're actually in the kids ministry i think they're they're serving over
03:20there today we all wanted to jump in where we could and serve so i think they've helped to take up
03:24offering and pray over the offering and stuff over where your children are so we all just love diving
03:28in together and my boys are little athletes they just like whatever is in season at the time they
03:35want to play it right now it's baseball and my second son is our one that really is engaged in
03:40baseball now you need to know about my um my children my husband's not in here for me to introduce
03:45him to you he's in the back but um jerry is a is a big guy he's six foot three and he just looks like a
03:52football player you know 250 pounds or so and my boys are following suit these little boys are giants
03:58my 10 year old is nearly as tall as me he wears a size 10 men's shoe already my eight year old looks
04:05like he's probably 11 or so and so anytime we go out on that little league baseball field the referees
04:11and all the officials they we always have to show a birth certificate because they don't believe
04:15that our children are the ages that they are and they they already eat too much i am in big trouble
04:21big trouble and so my little boy is in baseball right now we love the beginning the beginning of the
04:28baseball season because it's still cool outside you still can actually enjoy the baseball game on
04:34saturday but y'all know what happens in the summer months i live in dallas texas i'm i'm assuming it's
04:39not too different from jacksonville florida what the summer is feeling like i mean it's just
04:44excruciatingly hot and i'm already thinking back to last summer when we were sitting through the
04:50little league world series because my boy is a pretty good baseball player because of his size he can
04:56already knock a ball over a fence he's a good first baseman he makes lots of catches and stops
05:00and gets folks out and he's got a great team so they did pretty good last year we went all the way
05:05to the little league world series which i think is hysterical because by world they mean the people
05:10who live right in our neighborhood so we were out there at the little league world series and you
05:17know what happens those of you who have sons you know what happens when they get to a series in any sport
05:21it means that you go out early in the morning and you play one game and then if they win they go to
05:25the next game if they win they go to the next game you are just out there all day basically until they
05:30lose over a series of days whenever they lose then they've disqualified themselves from the series
05:35so we're sitting out there in the hot texas sun playing game after game waiting for our next turn
05:42playing another game and i don't you know you're hot i don't know if it ever is okay for you to pray
05:48that your kid loses so that y'all can go home i don't know if that's ever okay and i will neither
05:54confirm nor deny that i ever did that but you're just sitting out there pouring sweat and we were
06:00getting ready for the next game and my son realized who the next team was that they were playing
06:07and he got a little insecure these boys on this other team that we were getting ready to play that
06:14were the next in the series for us to contend with they had already played my son's team earlier in
06:19the season and when my son's team which was a pretty good team met up with this other team
06:24those boys on that team had annihilated my son's team i mean these were serious baseball players
06:30you know where the kids are serious and the parents are serious and everybody's serious on that team
06:35over there little boys that seemed like they were born and immediately their parents gave them a
06:40baseball and admit and decided that they were going to play baseball i mean these are just those kids
06:44that you want to race out there on the field and knock somebody out from messing with your kid
06:47those kind of kids and my son saw that this was the team that they were going to be playing
06:53and his hands got all sweaty and his heart was beating in his chest he was getting all nervous and
06:59his head was hanging down as we walked over we gathered up all his gear we were walking over to
07:03the field and he just was insecure and lacked courage and as we walked over to the dugout to
07:09get ready for the game we had to actually pass the other team they were sitting all on the grass
07:15underneath a tree trying to get some shade and as we passed them me and my son jc my second son's
07:21nickname is jc we heard the other team two of the members of the other team say this
07:27there's jc you know he's the kid remember him he was the first baseman that made all the stops when
07:33we played them it's it's jc the one that hit the ball and it went over the fence that's him
07:38my son heard his name crossed the lips of two members of the opposing team and all of a sudden
07:45that head that had been hung down was straight up in the air all of a sudden he poked his chest out
07:52all of a sudden his palms weren't sweating anymore and confidence overcame him it's amazing what happens
07:59to you when you overhear what the enemy really thinks about you there is a man in scripture that
08:06i want to talk to you about today whose circumstance pretty much i'm sure in a group this size mirrors
08:12your own circumstance because there's a man named gideon that is going up against a battle where he feels
08:17outnumbered he's completely insecure he lacks courage and confidence because he feels like he does
08:23not have what it takes to contend with what's in front of him and many of you are in your own
08:28personal battles there's a battle in your marriage there's one in your finances there's something going
08:32on with your parenting right now or there's a struggle happening on your job and you're feeling
08:36you feel like you're in the fight for your very life and don't you know that when we have physical
08:42struggles there is always a spiritual reality that is underneath them that we are literally waging
08:48spiritual warfare really the physical things that are happening are really just symptoms of the real
08:54problem the real problem is that we have an enemy that is waging war against our soul you and i are in
09:00spiritual warfare we are in a battle and if we're not careful we can look at the battles that we are
09:06fighting look at look at the symptoms the marriage struggles the the struggle with our children or
09:11in our own hearts or in our own minds or in our bodies we can look at the struggles and deal with
09:16the daily rhythm of those struggles and we can lose our confidence and like my boy jc we can see the
09:22difficulty in front of us and our start wringing our hands and hang our head down because we lack
09:27security but everything changes when you know what the enemy thinks about you because listen my friend
09:33even if you don't believe what the bible says about you your enemy knows that what god says about you
09:38is absolutely true so
09:40so even if you don't believe it you need to know that that he knows that you and i are already
09:49victorious even if you don't believe it he knows that you have been forgiven even if you don't believe
09:55it the enemy knows that he is already under your feet he knows that you have been given power and
09:59authority that he will never ever have access to he knows that he can form a weapon against you but
10:05that that weapon will never be able to prosper he knows that since god is for you nobody not even him
10:12can ever be against you he knows that you have been made competent by god's spirit it would be ashamed
10:18for the enemy to know all that stuff about us but us not know all that stuff about us it would be a shame
10:25for the enemy to be more convinced about our potential and about our power than we are
10:30everything changes when you know what the enemy thinks about you when you know brother sister that
10:38when he sees you coming he is shaking in his boots there's that child of god that has the blood of
10:45jesus christ sprinkled on her
10:47there is that man who is fighting for his family because of the holy spirit's power that works within
10:57him gideon is afraid he's got 300 soldiers they are going up against the midianite camp the midianite
11:05army has 135 000 soldiers the ratio is 450 to one talk about being the underdog gideon lacks courage and has
11:18complete overwhelming paralyzing insecurity but right before the battle god sends gideon down to the enemy
11:24camp he stations him right beside a tent where two men are talking gideon hears his name past the
11:31enemy's lips he hears the enemy say that if gideon and the 300 come that they know they are going to
11:37be annihilated gideon can't believe they even know who he is much less that they're afraid of him but once
11:42he hears the enemy speak his name and realize that the enemy is so insecure thinking about gideon and the
11:49300 coming a confidence overwhelms him he is ready to go to battle knowing that the lord will give
11:56the victory it's the same way that you and i can leave this place on this sunday morning approaching the
12:02battles that are in our daily lives we can have security because now we know what the enemy thinks about us
12:07now we know that he already knows we have the victory and so gideon
12:13confident confident and secure is getting ready to go into battle and in judges chapter 7 he's getting
12:22ready to show us how to win a battle anybody interested in how to win a battle in your life
12:31if you have your bible with you turn to judges chapter 7 or your iphone your ipad any manner of
12:37just flip on over to judges chapter 7 because there are some details in here there are many
12:45actually but i'm going to pick three of them to share with you three things that are going to help
12:49us know how to advance into battle and claim the victory that is ours judges chapter 7 verse 15 starts
12:58this way and it came about when gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation from those
13:04two men that he bowed in worship let's just start right here gideon was once insecure and timid and
13:14paralyzed because he had no courage gideon now is closer to the battle than he has ever been the rumors
13:20of the battle are what have permeated the verses leading up to this point but now the battle is imminent
13:26he is uh more close and more uh up close and personal with the dilemma than he has ever been before
13:33but we see him making a decision to worship god in advance he doesn't know how he's going to fight
13:39the battle he doesn't have a strategy for what specifically he's supposed to do he has no details
13:45yet on how he's supposed to instruct the 300 as to how they are to advance in battle and yet he shows us
13:51that if we want to win a battle we have to begin the battle on our knees we have to choose to worship
13:58in advance before we see how god is going to work out the situation and so he worshiped in the face
14:04of impending danger he worshiped in the face of adversity he worshiped even though he was still
14:10outnumbered and stretched far beyond his reach he he worshiped before one instruction of strategy for
14:16warfare was given he worshiped because the enemy was already afraid of him before the battle was already
14:22was begun and so even in your circumstances my friend even if you have no idea how in the world
14:29god is going to fix the dilemma that you are facing in your life right now the way you win a battle is
14:35to begin that battle on your knees to make a decision to be the kind of man to be the kind of woman that
14:41worships god in advance even though they have no clue of how god is going to work that situation out
14:47think about joshua he goes into the promised land with the children of israel and as soon as they
14:54cross the jordan river there is a battle to fight jericho sitting right there the scriptures say that
14:59the walls were tightly shut up that means they were pretty much impenetrable they wanted to be secure
15:05they had closed themselves up and tightly shut up walls so that people could not get in and
15:13um and wreak havoc in their city but joshua and the people of god surround them god gives them
15:21instructions he says for six days you walk around the walls on the seventh day here's what i want you
15:27to do walk around the wall seven times and then shout and then the walls will come down don't wait for
15:37the walls to come down and then shout shout first before you have seen one brick fall from that
15:44impenetrable wall shout in advance and in response to your worship i'll make those walls come tumbling
15:51down i just wonder if the walls that you're waiting to come down in your life you're waiting for the
15:56bricks to start falling and god's waiting for you to start falling down on your knees with your arms
16:02outstretched thanking him in advance for the victory in your life you want to win the battle
16:08whatever battle you're facing whether it's in your own mind or in your own heart or in your marriage or
16:14in your family with your children in your singleness on your job if you want to win the battle if i want
16:19to win the battles of our life we have to make a decision to begin the battles on our knees i had the
16:26opportunity to go to um kiev i was in the ukraine just a couple of weeks ago and it is a a community
16:34a city a country that is really steeped in a lot of history and tradition and i had an opportunity to
16:41visit a lot of sites while i was there one of the things that i could not wait to see was the orthodox
16:47christian um temples and churches that are still set up there from centuries ago and so i was able to go in
16:54into these very ornately decorated kind of golden uh the churches are just unbelievably beautiful
17:02and you walk inside of them and all the things that you might expect just um uh golden ornate
17:08designs and candles lit everywhere and there are a lot of tourists like me that come in just to get
17:13a glimpse of it you can walk down into some stair down some stairs that go down underneath the church
17:19buildings and many of them where there are caves and labyrinths of um tunnels that take you to where
17:24monks used to live centuries ago and underneath there not only are there rooms you can see where
17:30monks used to live but there are caskets glass caskets that contain bodies of people that were
17:36considered to be the saints of old those bodies are wrapped up in towels and they're there in glass
17:42caskets and again there are tourists just like me but there are also people who very much still believe
17:49that there is power in those saints the bodies of those saints from centuries ago so we saw throngs
17:55of people thousands of people coming themselves bringing their babies bringing their spouses bringing
18:01the sick the people that needed healing whether emotionally financially or otherwise so that they could
18:06come in and touch that casket or kiss that casket so that some of that power would leave this casket
18:12and and come to them that person that dead person and come to them and while i was watching that
18:18happen i thought to myself that that person dead certainly can't do anything for you because when
18:22they were alive they couldn't do anything for you but our jesus is not dead he is alive and seated at the
18:30right hand of the father and all power is in his hand right this moment to help us wage the battles in
18:36our lives and not only that in one of those churches i went in there was a beautiful platform kind of like
18:41this one it was ornate and gold and candles everywhere and people were coming in to kneel
18:45in front of that platform and there was an entryway almost like a parting right in the middle of this
18:50um this staging that was at the front of this uh church and you could look through this entryway like
18:56someone could walk through the middle of this stage and you could see there was another golden
19:00ornately decorated room through the center of the of the of that church the stage there and i said to
19:07the woman who was with us who was helping us to figure all this out and kind of giving us a tour
19:11i said to her who goes back there and she said well we can't go back there because women aren't
19:16allowed back there only men can go and she said not all men can go you have to be a certain kind
19:23of guy from a certain echelon in life a certain affluence in the community everybody's not allowed
19:27back there and i said well what's back there she said well it's kind of considered like the holy
19:31of holies and and only certain men can go back there and as i watched people literally standing at bay
19:40from what they considered to be the glory of god the presence of god the ability to worship god
19:45when i watched them standing back and away from that because they weren't the right gender or they
19:49weren't the right race or they weren't the right affluential status in society to be able to go back
19:55there i thought thank you jesus christ that 2 000 years ago when you died on calvary you tore the veil
20:00from the top to the very bottom and so we all have the privilege we all have the privilege to worship
20:09god y'all we should never take that for granted that no matter what your gender no matter what your
20:14race no matter what your background no matter what educational level you come from you and i all have
20:20the privilege to go boldly to the throne of god hebrew says and worship him in spirit and in truth
20:26we should never take for granted never take for granted that we have the privilege to begin the
20:33battle on our knees because y'all he listen now he doesn't need our worship he receives it because
20:40he wants to but he doesn't need it he's still god whether we worship him as or not he just is who he
20:47is and so we have the privilege while others right now in the year 2013 still don't think they have
20:55access to him you and i can come boldly to the throne of grace he gives us the privilege to win
21:02a battle by beginning the battle on our knees the question is why did gideon think or what gave gideon
21:10the courage to worship god even though the minyanites were were rallying their troops for battle right
21:16there in front of him what gave him the courage to do that i think we find our answer at the end of
21:20verse 15 it says gideon returned to the camp of israel and he said arise for the lord has given
21:29somebody say has given the lord has given the camp of midian into your hands i love this so much
21:36gideon goes back to the 300 and he says to them get up boys the lord has already given the victory into
21:43our hands he does not say to them y'all get up because i hope god's gonna give us victory today
21:48he doesn't say arise let's go in hopes that maybe possibly if we work hard enough we can claim the
21:56victory that's not what he says he says guys let's go because the lord has already given us exactly what
22:03we've asked him for you know how you win the battle you begin the battle on your knees and you face the
22:09battle from a stance of victory there are some things in your life my friend simply because you are a
22:16believer in jesus christ that have already been accomplished for you they have already been done
22:22you are not fighting in your battle right now that you're facing in your life you are not fighting for
22:29victory you are fighting from victory you are already victorious i am already victorious because
22:36we are part of the family of god he has already overcome the world satan knows it you and i need to
22:43know it as well that victory is already ours you begin the battle on your knees and you face the
22:49battle from a stance of victory what does that mean you know what it means listen the bible is filled
22:57with promises that are available to believers in jesus christ in fact there are over 8 000 promises
23:04over 8 000 promises that are written in the scriptures that can be claimed by believers in jesus christ
23:118 000 opportunities for us to experience what the bible says because i don't know about y'all but
23:16listen i don't want to just know that he's powerful because i read about how he can divide the red sea in
23:21the old testament how he raised lazarus from the dead in the new testament i appreciate what he did in the
23:25scriptures but what i want is to see all of that experienced in my own life i want to experience god
23:33for myself so he's given us over 8 000 opportunities to experience him uh through the scriptures to
23:41experience him personally in our life but most of those promises he did not place in our hand he placed
23:48them within our reach that means that there is a process involved you have to cooperate with him
23:56in order to experience the victory that's already yours it's not that you don't have the promise
24:01it's just that you have to cooperate with him in order to experience it and grab hold of it in your
24:06life you and i have the opportunity to walk in victory to claim the victory to experience the
24:13victory that is already ours do you remember when joshua and the children of israel when they went into
24:17the promised land joshua chapter 1 god said to joshua every place you put your foot that land it's
24:26yours it's already yours but you have to put your foot on it and claim it in order to experience it
24:32and to enjoy it do you know that the children of israel spent um many years dozens and dozens and
24:38dozens of years hold up in a little side of canaan when the entire land of milk and honey the entire
24:45promised land of milk and honey was available to them they were hold up in one little corner of the
24:50promised land because the enemies were over there and they didn't want to risk what what it might take
24:55to fight those enemies they were so intimidated by the enemy in canaan they stayed in one corner
25:01instead of experiencing all that god had for them it wasn't that it wasn't theirs it's just they weren't
25:06willing to go get it what would happen if you and i decided we're not going to be intimidated by the
25:12enemy over there anymore that we're going to decide to stand on the victory that the scripture says
25:18is already ours and then place our feet firmly on the promises of god believing that what he said
25:24is exactly what he can accomplish in our lives you win the battle my friend
25:28you win the battle by beginning the battle on your knees and facing the battle from a stance of victory
25:37think about how the 300 must have been affected when gideon came back and said arise the victory is
25:47already ours i mean think about that because the last time they saw gideon he was leaving the camp
25:52in fear and insecurity to go down to listen to those two men on the enemy's team to talk about him
25:59when he left he was insecure and he lacked confidence but now he's coming back and his head is up in the air
26:07and he's saying guys let's go get us a victory how do you think the morale of the 300 changed when
26:13their leader came back confident in what god had said the whole camp was completely 100 percent different
26:20the morale rose their confidence all rose it swept through there like a wildfire because one person
26:26came back believing in god what would happen if you were the one that went home confident that
26:32that maybe our marriage can be saved i'm going back assured because on the authority of god's word
26:39the two of us we can make it on the authority of god's word i am standing confidently on what god
26:45says believing that victory is already ours what kind of environment would change in your life on
26:51your job in your home at your high school in your university if you just went back believing that god
26:57is who he says he is and that he can accomplish what he says he can accomplish everything hinges on one
27:05person believing god on one person choosing to be the one that will take god at his word i have a
27:14friend that lives across the street from me her name is rachel she's actually uh been one of my
27:18closest friends for about 10 years now so it's neat to leave to be a neighbor with a very close friend
27:24and uh jerry and i live in a very rural part of dallas fort worth we like it that way um there are creeks
27:31and and and trees and mud and bugs and all the thing little boys need in their life and so we like
27:38living there for that reason um i like to send them outside to play anytime they come inside and say mom
27:43we're bored i say oh no you're not you see that tree out there go play with it
27:48you can eat it you can play tag with it i don't care what you do with it but you're not gonna be
27:54bored today out in the country here boy so we love living out here but i'll tell you a problem we had
27:59we first moved um out to this this little area of dallas and and i moved there because my friend
28:05was there and i would go visit her and we loved the area so much every time i would visit her we thought
28:09oh let's see if we can find a place for ourselves out there we found a wonderful little house and
28:14this little house actually is um we weren't as much as excited about the house itself which is a
28:20great little house but it was the land that i loved i loved that my boys could run and play
28:24tall trees i just love trees and this house is nestled underneath a bunch of tall trees and it's
28:32beautiful but it posed a problem because we could not get for the life of us a a strong um signal so
28:39that we could get wi-fi high speed internet access it was a problem it took us about two or three months
28:45to figure out how we needed to navigate um the airspace so that we could kind of peel through
28:50these tall trees and get the signal we needed for for this high speed internet access and you know
28:56it's hard to go back to dial up once you've had a taste of high speed it just it just doesn't work
29:01out too well and at the time i was in the middle of writing a bible study and so i really needed the
29:06research acts easy access quick access of my uh computer and internet and i had to send huge files
29:13back and forth to publishers and so i was really having a lot of trouble so i was so grateful for my
29:19friend rachel because my friend rachel even though she has a lot of huge trees around her house as well
29:24they had long since figured out this internet thing and so i would just grab up my book and grab
29:29my bible and grab my laptop and i would grab my purse and i would march across the street and sit
29:33down at her kitchen table and mooch off of her high speed internet access in fact she began to expect
29:39me one time i went over the door was just wide open just there was just a screen door there she knew
29:43i was coming she wasn't even home she just left the door open the screen door and i walked right in and
29:47there at her kitchen table she had put a lamp right there and a cup of coffee she knew i was coming
29:52so i sat right there every day for quite some time and just mooched off of her high speed internet
29:58access it was so great to have somebody near me that had the connection that i did not have based
30:04on the positioning that i was in right then it should be that in your life and in mind that when our
30:10circumstances position us in a place where we're just underneath a lot of tough circumstances and
30:16issues and dilemma that are keeping us from having the high speed connection that we want to have of peace
30:21or joy or faith we got to have people in our life where we can go over into their life and
30:25mooch off of a little bit of their high speed faith or joy or peace
30:29relationships worth having that there are people that change the entire environment of our home
30:37or our job or our organization because they come firmly established on the promises of god
30:44but even more important than us looking for somebody else to do it how about you do it
30:48how about you be the one that other folks can come to because you're the one firmly planted on the
30:54truth of god word god's word how do you win a battle you begin the battle on your knees and you face the
30:59battle from a stance of victory now i don't know if it was while gideon was on his knees or while he was
31:05racing back to the 300 to tell them arise let's go i don't know when exactly it happened but at some
31:11point god downloaded to him the instructions the strategy for the battle verse 16 he says to his men
31:19or he divided the 300 men into three companies he put trumpets and empty pictures into the hands of
31:26all of them with torches inside the pictures verse 18 he said to them when i and all who are with me blow
31:33the trumpet then you also blow the trumpet around the camp and say for the lord and for gideon now in
31:41my bible there are headings that are above i read from the new american standard bible and there are
31:46headings above each chapter just a little synopsis of what that chapter is about but also inside of each
31:53chapter there are verses grouped together they're they're actually called pericopes they're these sections
31:58of scripture that are grouped together and above each pericope there's another label in my bible so you
32:03might have a couple of verses together in the bible in your version and then it'll have another label
32:07above it so you can see what these verses in particular are about above the verses that i just
32:12read you are right right in that vicinity there's a heading in my bible that says the confusion of the
32:18enemy now i know the bible is completely inerrant and that nothing should be changed but if i had been
32:25writing this particular part i probably would have labeled this part the confusion of the 300
32:31because if gideon had come back to if i were one of the 300 and gideon had come back and said go get a jar
32:39a light and a trumpet and let's go to battle i would have said you have got to be kidding me
32:46you mean you don't want me to get a sword you don't want me to get a bow and arrow you don't want me
32:51to take off my jewelry and take off my earrings and ball up my fists and get some vaseline and get ready
32:55to rumble you gotta be kidding me what kind of battle strategy is this it makes absolutely no
33:04sense and here's the deal my friend most of the time god's strategy doesn't make sense you want to
33:10know how to win the battle you begin the battle on your knees you face the battle from a stance of
33:15victory and you choose to plan for battle using divine strategy god's strategy will rarely match up
33:23with your strategy in fact isaiah 55 puts it this way his ways they just aren't your ways his thoughts
33:29they're just not your thoughts we would be so much better off if we stopped trying to make his thoughts
33:34our thoughts stop trying to make his ways match our ways i don't know about you guys but listen
33:39i oftentimes rationalize myself out of being obedient to god because if it doesn't make sense to me i think
33:46it must not be god but the contrary is often true if it doesn't make sense to you it's probably god
33:50because only god could come up with something like that and some of you have had a solution for
33:57that problem bubbling up in your spirit for a long time you've been thinking about it and it wakes you
34:01up in the middle of the night but you keep discounting it because it doesn't make sense
34:06and maybe the spirit of god is saying to you today plan for battle using that divine strategy lord you
34:16want me to apologize to my spouse you know he started it right lord you want me to give that
34:22five that little five dollar financial gift uh to this particular ministry that that's not gonna
34:26accomplish anything and and it's my starbucks money i know you don't want me to give my five dollars
34:30to the church lord you want me to move here even though it seems like there's a better house over
34:36there lord you want me to take this job even though they're gonna pay me more money at this job
34:39lord you want me to leave corporate america and go to ministry it makes absolutely no sense at all
34:45nobody's gonna understand because i don't even understand my friends are gonna think i'm crazy
34:49that's the exact strategy that you might need to win the victory that's in front of you my friend
34:54you have to decide
34:56you and i have to decide if we'll be like simon that when when god said to him push out into deep
35:04water and cast out your net again will we be willing to say it doesn't make sense but at your
35:09bidding i'm gonna say yes lord anyway battles are won when we begin the
35:15battle on our knees face the battle from a stance of victory and plan for battle using divine
35:20strategy i'll close with this i was thinking about a friend of mine that works um well she worked for
35:28our ministry she was an intern for the summer she traveled with us a bit she wasn't familiar with
35:34the dallas fort worth airport and if any of you have ever flown through dallas you know that we have
35:38an airport in dallas it is big so we've got terminal a terminal b terminal c terminal d and terminal e
35:48so before you can even start to begin to find your plane you have to at least get to the right terminal
35:53once you go to the terminal there are about 30 gates or so in each terminal then some of those gates
35:59have an a part and a b part so it might be gate 30 a and gate 30 b so you really have to be detailed on
36:07where you are going and on this particular trip that we were taking we were leaving from terminal d
36:12so we drove up to terminal d with with my entire family and our new friend katie and this was her
36:18first time really at the dallas fort worth airport and so we got uh into the airport we went through
36:23security and you know what that means we basically took all our clothes off to get through security
36:27and katie happened to get into a line that was going really slow so my entire family made it
36:33through security before katie had even gotten uh close to going through and so we saw her there
36:37on the other end of the line and my husband decided to send her a text and he said hey we'll meet you
36:41at the gate our gate is 22a now once you came through security in the d terminal our gate was
36:48literally right to the right i mean it wasn't far at all just a few steps and so we said we'll meet you
36:52at the gate gate 22a she waved back at us and said i'll meet y'all there well we sat there at the gate
36:58waiting for her and then they they started boarding the flight we were still waiting for her we got on
37:02the plane and we sat down man the minutes were clicking we were getting really um nervous because
37:07it looked like she was going to completely miss the flight we had no idea where she was she was just
37:11right there in security which was just a few steps away from our gate we sent her texts she didn't
37:16answer them we could not figure out what was going on but after just a few moments and i mean
37:21literally right before the plane was getting ready to take off i mean to the point where they had
37:25started to call her name across the loudspeaker in the airport like you're the last person to board
37:30this flight we are getting ready to leave you you know you are in trouble when they start calling
37:33your name she finally raced down the jet bridge she raced onto the airplane she was sweating her hair
37:40was plastered onto her face she looked completely spent she plopped down in her seat and i said katie
37:45what in the world happened she said well jerry text me to come to 22a but i just i assumed that he
37:54meant a 22 so i went to a terminal i got on the tram that takes you all the way around the entire
38:03airport and went all the way to a terminal because i just assumed that's what he meant and jerry overheard
38:09her say that and he just shook his head and he said katie man if you would have just believed
38:14that what i wrote was what i meant it would have saved you so much time and energy and sweat
38:22i just wonder today if the divine strategy you've been given the one that you've been discounting
38:29because it does not make sense i just wonder if the holy spirit of god today is saying to you
38:33if you will just believe that exactly what i'm saying is exactly what i mean victory will be yours
38:40and i'll save you a whole lot of sweat on the way you want to win the battle begin the battle on your
38:47knees face the battle from a stance of victory and plan for battle using that strategy yeah that one
38:55that sounds ridiculous to you you use that strategy and victory will be yours let me pray for you
39:01lord jesus thank you so much for this clear simple word from scripture i pray lord that you would
39:06cause it to be embedded and sealed into our hearts so that it changes us and transforms us i'm praying
39:12that circumstances that are represented by those who are all over this room circumstances will be
39:17changed victory will rain down over them in jesus name amen
Recommended
58:30
|
Up next
1:58:30
0:15
7:39
1:23
0:15
1:22
1:55
1:28
7:18
1:25:00
1:31
21:43
3:28
1:30:24
28:30
28:30
55:36
36:18
Be the first to comment