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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Power of praise. Power up part 4, the power of praise. We've talked about the power of the word of God. We've talked about the power of the name of Jesus. We talked about the power of0:11 prayer, and today, the power of praise. I got 1 job today from for you today. I got 1 job, and that is to encourage you to open your mouth and give God some praise.0:24 I said open your mouth. It's football season, friends. It's football season and crazy people will be heading to temples all across0:36 this country. And they will gather 60000 strong and they will shout and praise for men wearing tights. Men in0:47 spandex. It's weird. This manly country worships men in spandex. We got a man not in spandex, but in the heavenly realms. His name0:59 is Jesus. He's eternally victorious, and he's worthy of praise. And so I wanna encourage you to praise God even when you don't feel1:12 like praising. And I wanna challenge you today to start learning how praise brings power to your life. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Now,1:24 that's a hard book to find. If you're not there yet, it's okay. But everybody at both locations, would you stand with me? Stand with me for the reading of God's word from 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I'm gonna talk about a1:35 lot of this chapter, but I'm just gonna read 1 of the key moments in the chapter. It says in verse 10, what's happening right now is Israel is being attacked. Judah, the southern kingdom, is being attacked. And1:47 the king of Judah is praying to God, and this is the prayer. This is the end of his prayer as he, faces the onslaught of the enemy, and he prays to God. And it says in verse 10, and now behold the men of Ammon and1:59 Moab and Asir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt and whom they avoided and did not destroy. Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us2:11 out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. Now verse 12, I love this. It's 1 of my favorite verses in all the Bible. It says, oh, our God, will you not execute judgment on them?2:23 For we are powerless. Can somebody just say powerless? Powerless. You need to understand that sometimes it's good to say I'm powerless. It's good to acknowledge that you don't have the2:34 power. That's how you get a hold of God's power. He fills the powerless with power. And the king said, we are powerless against this great2:46 horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. We do not know what2:58 to do. Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt, I don't even know at this point what the answer, what I'm supposed to do from here. I'm stuck. I'm paused. I have no clue. Can I tell you3:09 sometimes that's a good place to be? As long as you do what Jehoshaphat does right here. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. This is God's word. Let's pray.3:22 Heavenly father, would you speak to your people? Speak through me. Help us, Lord, to hear your voice. Help us to respond to your word. Help us to see Jesus.3:34 Him and him only, in his mighty name we pray. And everybody said, Amen. God bless you. Have a seat at both locations. You take out those notes. Make sure you write some things down. We're gonna talk about the 3 levels of3:46 faith in the face of challenges. The 3 levels of faith in the face of challenges. I don't know what you're facing, but I guarantee you, you got a challenge somewhere in your life.3:58 If you don't got a challenge, just wait for it. It'll come. The old preacher say, you're either coming out of trouble, going into trouble, or in trouble. And so everybody's gonna face some stuff. What do you do when you4:09 face a challenge? A relationship challenge, a financial challenge, a difficulty, a a new challenge you've never faced before? What's your response? Well, level 1 faith looks like this. Write it down.4:21 Problem shows up. Prayer goes up. Solution comes down. Level 1 faith takes prayer. God takes prayer into our problems.4:33 We face a situation we don't know what to do. Say, God, I'm helpless. I need you. Show up here. Help fix this marriage. Change this child. Change this spirit in me. Rescue me from4:45 this addiction. Get my eyes off of that stuff. Get my hands off of this. Get me out of this situation. I may have even created it myself. So God, I pray for forgiveness and I pray for rescue. Anybody ever been there4:56 before? And God does show up. I said last week, God always answers. 2 weeks ago in a Palm Beach, I said, God always answers prayer. We just sometimes don't like the answer. And there are5:08 2 answers to every prayer. I I said there are 2 4 answers last week here, but there is 2 responses or 2 provisions from God in every situation and every problem. And they both begin with c.5:20 Sometimes the solution is God changes the situation. Anybody like me, I like it when God changes the situation. I like it when the finances come in. I like it when the relationship5:32 gets peaceful. I like it when the job promotion happens. I like it when the increase happens. I like that. I like when God changes the problem. I like when the healing comes into my body. There's a5:43 change on the basis of God's power at work through my prayers. But sometimes we don't get change. Sometimes we get a different c word from God, and that's comfort.5:56 Sometimes God doesn't change things. He just gives us the comfort inside to go through it. Sometimes he doesn't fix the problem, but he gives us the peace of God in the midst of6:08 it. Anybody ever been there? And you didn't know what you didn't know where you just offered prayer to God, suddenly the atmosphere changed. We're gonna sing a song up here in North Attleboro at end this earth. The6:19 atmosphere changes. Like, we gotta we gotta know that even when we pray and don't see the situation change, it doesn't mean that God doesn't give us the comfort in the midst of the challenge. That's what we talked6:31 about a couple weeks ago in Apollo Beach and last week here, that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So what I'm trying to tell you though is level 1, faith, it6:41 gets a problem and it just throws a prayer up to God, And there's a solution. It's either change or it's comfort. Level 2 faith. Write this down. Prayer problem, prayer solution, praise.6:54 Now this is where a lot of Christians stay. And I I I hope this is where you are in some ways, at least, is that when you have a problem, you offer a prayer to God.7:06 God either provides comfort or change. The solution comes. And then listen to this, you take note that God came through.7:17 You don't just ignore what he's done for you. And I I wanna challenge you and I wanna really encourage this in you. Get yourself a prayer journal7:29 that where you write down your prayers, and then you wait for the answer to the prayers, and you write down how God answered that prayer. You gotta learn how to keep a7:41 record of God's goodness in your life because we forget. We forget. Then we get all caught up in what's problematic now, and we throw our hands up, and we7:52 lose faith and we give and we forget that there were problems we prayed about before. God answered that prayer. God came through in that situation and God did something and we got a record that we8:04 can go on with our God's goodness and faithfulness in our lives today. Amen. This is what the Bible is really about actually. You know what this is? This is a record of what God did for Israel.8:16 This is a record what God did for Abraham, what God did for Moses, what he did for David, what he did for Peter and James and John, how he came through in the midnight hour, how he never let his people suffer beyond8:27 their ability to undergird it. He he's a God who comes a record to remind us that we don't serve a God who's dead. We serve a God who's alive. We don't serve a8:39 powerless God. We serve the all powerful God. We serve a God for for whom no problem is too great. I got an app, and I'll give you just a free advice8:51 here. I got an app on my phone that syncs with my computer and all my devices. It's called Day 1, and it's an app. Gotta pay for it, like 35 dollars a year. I put my prayer list, and then I put my answers9:03 that God gives me. Why? I want to remind myself in the future. And I also wanna give God praise for what he did in my past. That's level 2 faith. But there's another level. It's a secret level that9:15 many people get to, and I wanna encourage you to get there, that's what today's about. Level 3 faith is this. Problem prayer praise. Solution praise. You see the difference?9:27 See the difference between level 2 and level 3? Level 3 is solution praise or prayer solution praise. Level level 2, prayer solution praise. Level 3, prayer, praise solution praise. In other words, I put9:39 praise before I see the solution. I don't wait to see it solved to praise God. I don't wait to see9:51 my answers come before I offer up a praise believing that God is able to do it. Amen. You gotta learn to get here because a lot of Christians never get here and they wonder why10:03 they're miserable. They wonder why they don't see joy in their life. You gotta learn to praise into the problem and on your way out of the problem. Amen.10:14 I got a record in Acts chapter 16 of Paul and Silas. They were preaching the gospel. They were doing what I'm doing right now. They were telling people about Jesus, and they were in the city of Philippi, and the10:24 Philippians didn't like it. And so they threw Paul and Silas into prison for preaching the gospel. And they got down into the depths of the dungeon of that prison, and they put their feet. The Bible said they put their10:34 feet in the stocks. And it wasn't like the prison that we got today. This was painful. They had stretched their legs as far apart as possible to provide the most discomfort in the dungeon of those prisons. And my Bible10:45 tells me that Saul and Paul and Silas, they don't problem. They start offering up God some praise. They start10:56 singing some worship song in the depths of that prison. And then God provided an earthquake and set them and all the prisoners free in the power of God. But they didn't11:08 wait. So you can't always wait to praise God until the solution comes. That's just normal faith. I want you to experience supernatural11:19 faith. I believe even when you don't see God working, he's working. And so I wanna talk about that today. Where is your praise in the midst of your problems? II11:31 Chronicles 20. Look at verse 1. It's on the screen. It's in your notes. It says this, After this, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them some of the Maionites how do you11:43 like those nations' names? It's like Iraq, Iran, and Russia all came against America. Well, this is what it was like for inch ancient Israel. And they came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2 questions I wanna11:55 answer from this verse. Who is Jehoshaphat, and what just happened? Because look at verse 1 again after this. So after what? Well, what happened was Jehoshaphat, which is really12:07 a good name in the Bible, he was a mighty king. He was a good king. Ancient Israel had a bunch of kings. They had about 50 or so kings between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And out of those 50 some12:18 odd kings, there was only about 5 good ones. 300 years of Israelite history, the monarchy years, the kingdom years, about 50 kings, 5 good ones.12:31 Let me say that again. 50 kings, 5 good ones, which just should tell you that it's very common to have bad leaders. It was true in Israel.12:46 So anyway, this is about 5 good ones. David, Solomon, except he ended badly. Joash, Josiah,12:58 Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat. 6. 6 good ones. And what he had done? What did he do? What is it that what is the after this talking about? Here's what he did. You gotta back up into13:10 2 Chronicles chapter 17, and you find out that 1 of the things that he did was in the third year of his reign, it says in verse 7, that he sent his officials to go out into the nation, and look what it says, to teach13:22 in the cities of Judah. Verse 9 says, and they taught in Judah, having the book, the Bible as they had it back then, about the first 5 books of the Bible. And they taught the13:33 Bible throughout all the cities of Judah. They taught people God's word. They did what I'm doing. This is how you bless a nation. You don't bless a13:45 nation by giving them money. You bless a nation by giving them truth. You change a nation not by voting, but by proclaiming the name of Jesus.13:57 What our nation needs is not more tax increase, tax decrease, doesn't need communism or capitalism. It needs the truth of God's eternal word. That's what will change our country and change our14:09 culture. Jehoshaphat does that for ancient Israel. They start to hear the word of God. And then the second thing that Jehoshaphat was known for, it says this in verse 9 of check of chapter 19 in second14:20 Chronicles. It says that he appointed judges in the land. Look at that text. He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified other words, he put law and order in place. On the14:32 heels of teaching God's people God's word, they got law and order. Are you hearing what I'm saying? You can't possibly14:44 have law and order in any culture when that culture ignores what God's word says. And what happened, those judges, they go throughout the land of Israel. And the scripture, we're not gonna14:56 put this on the text on the screen. You can read it later. In chapter 19, it says, and and Jehoshaphat administered justice throughout all the land. Now now young people, listen to me. I15:08 I know that you guys, you 20 and 30 year olds, some odd 30 year olds, you love the term justice. Oh, that's right up in your wheelhouse, isn't it? You15:20 love the John, where's the just? We need justice. Justice. Social justice. Economic justice. Justice. Justice. Let me let me just tell you. You can't get justice without God's truth.15:31 Amen.15:32 That's what Jahoshua had patterns for. And you're never gonna get justice from secular God hating people. Because they have no they have no root. They have no15:44 foundation in truth. And there's there's no truth outside of God's truth. Please listen to me. Anybody ever tells you, well, this is my15:55 truth. No. There's no such thing as your truth, my truth. There's only 1 truth. It is what God has said. Now you don't have to believe this, and you don't have to like this, and you don't have to come back. But what you16:06 will always find is that when I get up on16:08 this stage, I'm not gonna tell16:10 you my truth. I'm gonna tell you his truth. You16:13 don't have to like it. I don't I don't mind if you don't like it.16:16 In fact, if you're not a believer, I expect you not to like it. But those who are called by our father in heaven will always listen to the voice of their shepherd. Jesus said, my sheep know16:28 my voice. So all I gotta tell you is what he's done and what he said, and you'll come. But anyway, Jehoshaphat brings listen to this again the truth of16:40 God's word and justice to the people. That's what we need. That's what every nation needs. And on the heels of that, look what happens on the heels. Back to verse 1.16:52 Look at it. After this, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Meonites, they came up to attack him. You somebody got to understand something. Just because17:03 you're under attack doesn't mean that you've done something bad. And sometimes the Lord will allow you to17:15 be attacked after you've done what is right. Please listen to this because Monday morning's coming, and you've been to church17:27 today. And you're gonna be tempted. You're gonna get that that scathing report at work or someone's gonna treat you nasty nasty or something's gonna happen. You're gonna get a flat tire on the way to work. Whatever. I17:38 don't know. Something's gonna happen, and you're gonna say, well, that's what I get for going to church. Sometimes you do the right thing, and the enemy comes at you. In fact, I think he comes after those who are doing17:50 the right thing more often. If the devil's not attacking you, it might be because he's got no problem with you. Well, that was good preaching.18:03 I wouldn't even read my notes, but that was good preaching. That's when the Holy Spirit gives it to me. Anyway, Jehoshaphat does what is right and good, and the Lord18:15 allows his enemies to attack him. That's got to be heartbreaking. Then look at verse 2, and I love verse 2 because this happens in life all the time. It18:27 says that a man came back it up on the slides, guys. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, a great multitude is coming against you. They're coming against you. Hey,18:39 Jehoshaphat. They're coming for you. Don't you just hate those kind of people in your life? Like, why are you telling me? I know. And and it says they're coming from beyond the sea and from Edom. And then the last part18:50 of verse 2, they come they're in Hazazan Tamar. That is in En Gedi. Verse 3, Jehoshaphat responds just like you and I would. Then Jehoshaphat was what? Afraid. Yeah.19:02 Fear is normal. It's natural. It's the result of the curse. Fear is the result of our separation from God. This is the first thing that Adam19:13 and Eve felt after they sinned and ate the forbidden fruit. They ate the fruit. They were in peace and harmony with God. They ate the forbidden fruit. God shows up. They run and hide. God finds them.19:25 What are you doing? He says, I heard you, and I was afraid. That's the first testimony of what happened. The reason why people are afraid of almost everything is because there's19:37 a separation in their heart between them and God. And so the inverse is true. When you're connected to God, you have no reason to be afraid.19:49 Okay, but it doesn't mean that fearful things won't happen. So Christians, please understand, stop beating yourself up if you feel afraid sometimes. It's20:01 just a reminder you're not home yet. And it's also a call from your father in heaven to reconnect with him. You got fear? Pray. In fact, you gotta20:13 learn to have this, like, in this Pavlov's dog response to fear in your life. As soon as fear comes in, offer a prayer. That's what Saul that's what Joshua does. It says he was afraid and20:25 Don't just leave it in afraid. Man, I was afraid. And and he set his face to seek the Lord. And he proclaimed a fast. That's getting serious about prayer. He20:37 proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Then verse 4 says, and look at all the ands in this text, by the way. He sought God, he prayed, and he fasted.20:49 And Judah What's the next word? And Judah, verse 4, and Judah Assemble. That's what we're doing here today in our 2 locations today earlier for first service. But that's what we're doing today. We're21:01 assembled. Please understand the importance of getting together as the church. They assembled in the face of their fears.21:14 They assembled. Man, that was 1 of the things that drove me nuts about COVID, the lockdowns. And I'm never gonna stop talking about it, so don't don't get upset. Just expect. Never gonna stop talking21:26 because I was so ticked at what our governmental leaders did to you. They told you, you can go to the liquor store. They told you, you can21:38 go to the casino. They told you, you can go to the pot distillery or whatever that thing is, dispensary. You can21:48 go get high, you can21:49 go get drunk, but please, please, please don't go to church or you'll certainly die. Which just shows you what God they serve. What22:01 God they trust in. You know why they wouldn't close liquor stores? Do you know why? Because they knew if they closed the liquor stores, the alcoholics couldn't cope. That's why.22:14 That's why there was no legitimate reason to keep liquor available during the lockdowns. But they knew, sociology told them, if you restrict people from drinking, the addict the addicts won't be22:26 able to control themselves. They're that addicted, which which just betrays the fact. How many Christians couldn't come to church? Which just betrayed the fact that once even when the church was back open and people22:37 wouldn't come back, it just shows you how they were not so committed and addicted to Jesus Christ. Alcoholics are more addicted to alcohol than Christians are to22:49 Jesus in this country. That's a serious problem. We gotta get back in touch with loving Jesus with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to let him know, if I don't got you, I can't cope, Lord.23:02 If I don't got him, I23:04 can't manage. And I will never, and I promise, and I've said this several times, I will never close these doors again. They're gonna have to put soldiers23:15 outside to close these doors and in Apollo Beach. I don't think we have to worry about Apollo Beach. You all know what I'm talking about.23:27 So they assembled. They prayed, but there was still 1 more thing they needed to do. So it says this, Jehoshaphat offers up this prayer. And I love there are some23:39 prayers in the Bible that you gotta learn you gotta learn as models on how you should pray. Look at verse 5. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of the lord and I'm sorry. In the23:51 assembly of Judah in Jerusalem, in the house of the lord before the new court and said, oh lord god of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule24:03 over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you. Look at the first thing Jehoshaphat does in24:15 prayer. He talks up God. There's no space in your nose to write this down, but I want you to write it down in the margins. When in prayer,24:26 talk up God. Don't talk up your problems. Some of you you don't pray, you whine. Oh,24:38 God. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Oh, God. Oh, God. I'm so mad. Oh, God. I'm so Oh, God. Oh, God. Help me. Oh, God. Alright. Yeah. There's places for that. But you know what? At some point, stop.24:51 Stop talking about how bad things are and start acknowledging how big God is. You gotta tell him you know who he is. My son, Jake,25:03 every time we go out, can I have ice cream? And I talked about this again and again. He's got many tactics to manipulate me into getting him to have and my fate my favorite is when he25:15 tells me that I can afford it. Because I'll say, no. No. No. He said, come on, dad. I know you got the money. Like, I25:27 gotta hand it to you. Alright. We're going. He reminds me that he understands what I am. You you gotta do that with your father in heaven. Don't25:39 whine. Worship. Don't complain. Praise. Got it? God, I I know. When I was when that hurricane was coming and barreling down on Apollo Beach, I was so25:50 nervous. I was afraid for our location. Man, we were gonna get what what Fort Myers got. And so I went to the church early that morning. Some of you followed me on on Instagram, and I put the video out there. So26:02 anyway, I was in this church, which you don't know is I was in the church building early that morning as the hurricane was starting to bear down. And I just started to talk to God. And God put in my mind that moment with26:14 the disciples in the boat when they cried out the wind and the waves, they woke they had to wake Jesus up. Don't you care that we drown? And he just wakes up. He rebukes the wind and quiet the waves and everything's26:25 calm. And they're like, who is this that the wind and the waves obey him? And the Lord put that into my spirit as I started to pray. And so I walked around in the sanctuary in up a hall of beach, and I just started to26:36 pray. Lord, I know who you are. You're the God who controls the wind and the waves. And so I pray that you keep it from this building, and keep it from this church, and keep it from their homes. So you gotta26:48 pray that you know what God is and who he is and what he's able to do. You can't whine. You gotta worship. Verse 7, it says, did you not, God, drive out the nations before Lord, you27:00 brought us here. That's what you gotta tell God. Lord, you brought me this far. You didn't bring me here to fail. You didn't bring me here to destroy me. And then notice what he says,27:12 and didn't you promise to give it to our father Abraham? Then if you read verses 8 and 9, he mentions 2 other names, Moses and David. Now those 3 names, Abraham, Moses, and David, represent27:24 3 covenants that God made with the people of Israel. 3 word for covenant is promise. So covenant is a word for I wanna make sure27:35 you're getting this. 3 promises God made to Israel. Abraham he said to Abraham, I promise this is your land, and you will always have it. By the way, that promise is still true. The nation of Israel still sits on that27:47 land 3500 years after God promised it to Abraham. Number 2, the Mosaic covenant. If you obey the words of this law, the word of God, I will bless you and I'll27:59 protect you. So he calls on that promise. And number 3 promises the Davidic kingship promise, which is God said, I will always have a son of David on the throne. And28:11 Jehoshaphat is like the great, great, great grandson of David. He and so he calls on the 3 covenantal promises of God. Here's what I'm trying to tell you, New Testament Christian. Are you aware28:24 of the promises God has made to you? So so that when you're facing trouble, you know what you can call God out on. You28:35 can tell, I read your I read your bestseller. You said you'd never leave me or forsake me. You said you'd put the lonely in families.28:48 You said if I raise my children in the ways of Lord, when they're old, they will not depart from it. These are your promises. I'm just calling you out on your promises. And I don't think that insults God at all. I think28:59 that pleases God because it tells him that you take his word seriously. You got no peace in your heart. You say, Lord, your word says if I pray, I should have peace. Your word says if I give29:11 thanks, I should have peace. And that's exactly what Jehoshaphat he models this for us. And then verse 10, he says, now they're coming to get us. They I love the fact that he says, and now the men of Ammon and Moab, whom29:22 whom you said not to destroy, you didn't let us attack these people. Now the reason why that God did not let Israel attack Ammon and Moab and Edom is because29:34 they're relatives of Israel. Ammon and Moab come from Lot. You remember that weird story where Lot gets drunk and his daughters sleep with them and they have babies? That's where Moab and Ammon come from.29:46 Gross, but that's their relatives. Lot was Abraham's nephew. And then Edom is the descendants of Esau, who is the brother of Jacob. So these are29:58 relatives. And God said when they came out of Egypt, he said, you can't you can't touch them because they're your brothers. And then he says in verse 11 and I love Jehoshaphat's honesty. He says, Look, in verse 8, you30:09 told us not to touch them. Look at verse 11. Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out. How many of you have ever said something like that to God? Hey, Lord. You30:21 told me to do this, and look at what I'm getting. It's okay. It's okay to voice that frustration with God, but he's not done. Look at verse 12. Again, I love this30:32 verse. So God, will you not execute judgment? Will you not will you not help us? We're powerless. And again, it is so good. It is so healthy and so spiritually beneficial30:44 to get to a point in your life where you can tell God, I have nothing left. But my eyes are on you. And in that moment, there's another verse where it30:56 says, They all stood there. Verse 13 says, They all looked Jehoshaphat the king, and he's making this prayer in front of the people. And he gets to the end of the prayer, and he says, I don't know what to do, but31:08 my eyes are on God. This is the king. He's supposed to know what to do. He's the king. I mean, he doesn't even try to fake it. You know what I'm saying? Imagine if I was like, guys, we're31:20 facing the serious difficulty at Oswater's church, and to be honest with you, I have no idea what we're gonna do. Like, I'm supposed to know what to do. No. He doesn't he doesn't fake it. He just is honest, and he says,31:29 Lord, we don't know what to do. Our eyes are on you. And the whole nation's watching him do this. And I'll look at the next verse, verse 14, it says this, And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel. Now Jehaziel is31:39 not a name that has taken off with American vernacular, but it should be. Because in the midst of that prayer, the Holy Spirit moves on this man, and it says he was the son31:51 of Zechariah, the son of Benaniah, the son of Jael, the son of Mattaniah. How of you are glad you're not reading the scriptures publicly today, all these names? Leave that to me. Okay. A Levite of the sons32:03 of Asaph. Circle Asaph in your notes because you need to know who Asaph is. This is the great, great grandson of Asaph. Who's Asaph? Asaph was the worship32:15 leader when David was king. Jehazael comes from a long line of people who knew how to praise God.32:27 When you get in problems and situations that you don't know what to do, get around people who know how to praise God. That's why you come to church. That's why we pay32:39 our worship leaders. That's why you fund them through your tithes and offerings. That's why they work so hard all week to make sure the music is good. That's why we do it on first Tuesdays up here and soon down in Apollo32:50 Beach because we need to get around people who know how to lead us in praise and worship to God when we don't know what to do. And so he speaks up in verse33:02 15, and he hears hears his words. He says, listen to this. Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem and king Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid. Just underline do not be afraid. Do33:14 you know that 365 times in the Bible, the words do not be afraid show up? 365 times, which that number should tell you something. God doesn't want33:26 you afraid for a single day. There's always a word, do not be afraid for every day of the year. So do not be afraid.33:39 Do not be dismayed, verse 15 here. And then it says, thus says the Lord, you shall not for the battle is not yours, but God's.33:50 Now here's the thing. I belong to God. If you believe in Jesus Christ, you belong to God. That means34:02 everything that's yours also belongs to God. That means my money belongs to God. My children belong to God. My home and my stuff belong to God. My marriage belongs to God. And34:14 here's the best part. Are you ready? My battles belong to God. You're never alone. He's always watching over you. Verse 17. You will not need to fight34:26 this battle. Stand firm. Hold your position. See the salvation of Lord on your behalf. Judah, Jerusalem, do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Tomorrow, God against them, and the Lord will be with you. Then verse 18, it34:35 says this. Then Jehoshaphat bowed34:53 Oh, I love that line. Very loud Voice. Voice. Voice. Yeah.35:03 Some of you watch when we sing a song,35:05 you're so stubborn, you don't even open your mouth. And you tell God the excuse, oh, he knows my heart. He knows I really love him inside. Does that work with your wife? Does that work with35:17 your sweetheart? Do you say, I know I never tell you I love you, but you understand. I'm saying it with my heart. You have to vocalize praise, friend. You have to learn how to vocalize35:29 praise and with a loud voice, out praise the problem. Verse 21, when he'd taken counsel, counsel, this is Joshua. When he taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the lord and35:41 praise him in holy attire. And look at what it says, and they went before the what? The army. Look at Jehoshaphat's plan. Now this will never sell in the Pentagon. Never.35:55 Should things escalate with Russia, President Biden's not gonna be like, Hey, Waters Church, can we get your worship team down here? Never gonna happen. But this is God's people, not the world's people.36:07 And they put the worship leaders before the army on the way into battle. And they sang, give thanks to the Lord for for his steadfast love endures forever. And verse 22 says, when they began to36:19 sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Siro who had come against Judah, and they were routed. Verse 26, they took hold of the spoils, and they blessed the36:30 Lord, and they called that name the Valley of Barakkad. Verse 27, then they returned every man to Jerusalem and Judea. Judah and Jehoshaphat at their head returning to Jerusalem with joy for the Lord had made them36:40 rejoice over the enemy. So they this is what happens, ladies and gentlemen. Level level 3 faith. This is the the road map. The problem, the prayer, the praise into the battle, the36:52 solution, and praise on the other side of the battle. You gotta learn to sandwich your problems with praise. You gotta learn to praise before you see the solution happen.37:04 And that's what I'm challenging you do today. When things are at their worst, when things are coming at you, when you don't feel like it, open up your mouth and praise the Lord. And37:16 never let the devil and problems of this life rob you of knowing how to love God and worship God for who he is. In fact, you can go back into the scripture. It says that37:28 the nations heard them sing, they got confused, they started fighting each other, which is just a picture of what happens in the spiritual realm for God's people today. When you37:39 praise, the demons that are assigned to attack you don't know what to do. They try to mess with your marriage and you start praising God. You're like, what the heck are we gonna do now?37:52 They start robbing you of your money. They start robbing you of your they start bringing all these enemies against you, and you just I love you, Jesus. I thank you, god. You are in charge. You are in control. I knowShow more
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