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Psalm 5, the Psalm of David verses 11
and 12, and then we're going to begin
to speak about the New Testament.
But let all those that put their trust
in thee rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy.
Look at the word ever.
In other words, the joy that the Christian
is to have is not to be circumstance
dependent.
Because thou defendest them, let them also that
love thy name be joyful in thee.
For thou, Lord, will bless the righteous, and
with favor wilt thou compass him as with
a shield.
Now David is saying, and this is David
speaking from his own personal experience.
God, you will surround the righteous.
And your favor that will become so evident
upon the righteous, they will know it.
It's not so much that the favor is
for the sense of those who are outside,
although that's a byproduct of it.
But those who are truly righteous will know
that your favor is upon them.
And there will be in them this inner
shout of joy that can never be taken
away by any circumstance.
Now we're living in an era and a
time when superficial joy is going to dissipate.
We're seeing events beginning to unfold.
And whether or not this is the actual
event of things that are written in the
scripture beginning to unfold.
Beginning in the Middle East and spreading throughout
the world.
Or it's only a precursor to it.
There is a day coming.
The Bible says clearly that all that can
be shaken is going to be shaken.
You're going to see people who have professed
to know Christ running and as terrified as
the society around them.
When men's hearts begin to fear and fail
for the things that are coming upon the
earth.
There is a suddenness that the Bible clearly
says is going to come into the whole
world.
A sudden unraveling of things.
When everyone is saying peace and safety.
And perhaps this is the precursor to what
Paul speaks about.
That finally there appears to come a peace
into the Middle East.
But then he says the end result of
that will be a sudden destruction.
A sudden and quick unraveling where the ambassadors
of peace, Isaiah said, are going to weep
bitterly.
Oh folks, our joy, thank God, is not
dependent on what goes on around us in
this world.
I thank God that there is an abiding
joy much deeper than anything that this world
has to offer us.
Now the book of Philippians in the New
Testament is written by the apostle Paul when
he is in jail.
Nearing, not quite at the end, but nearing
the end of his life and ministry.
He is a prisoner of Rome.
He is a prisoner of the emperor Nero
who is one of the most debauched and
wicked rulers perhaps that era in history had
ever known.
He is seemingly captivated by an evil house.
This particular season in Rome is known for
its incredible debauchery.
The immorality, the lack of virtue and value
on anything righteous or holy or good.
An absolute crumbling was beginning in the inside
of an empire that once boasted of being
able to control the entire known world.
And Paul, who is the embodiment as it
is of the testimony of Jesus Christ in
that generation, is seemingly captivated by this empire.
He is apparently, to the natural eye, a
prisoner of Rome.
All the circumstances of his life in the
natural seem to be against him.
He was put there because of unjust accusation
from people who had once been his colleagues
in religion.
Paul, in Acts 26.5, stood before King
Agrippa and he told King Agrippa, he said,
After the most straightest sect of our religion,
I lived a Pharisee.
In Acts chapter 22, verses 3 and 4,
Paul stands in his own defense and tells
those who are now accusing him.
He said, I was very zealous.
I'm paraphrasing him, but he said, I was
very zealous for my former religious life.
I even hunted down and I tormented those
who disagreed with my views.
And, of course, that's always the manifestation of
wrongly focused religion, is there's an intolerance, there's
an anger, there's a murderous spirit, as it
is, that gets a hold of people who
claim to know God but don't really know
him in truth.
Now, Paul seems to be the one who
is hunted.
He's hunted by a people he once knew
and now they hate the simplicity of his
newfound life in Christ.
And, folks, there are many of you who
understand this in some measure.
You pursued your old way of life with
vehemence.
Anybody came into your workplace that even had
a hint of religion and you mercilessly ridiculed
them.
I know because I used to do that
before I became a Christian and many of
you did it too.
If you didn't do it to their face,
you certainly did it behind the scenes.
And then all of a sudden, the faith
that you persecuted, now all of a sudden
you're now a partaker of it.
And you come in and for the first
time in your life you are starting at
least to love people.
You want to be honest.
You're starting to become a man or woman
of truth and integrity.
Your whole life has changed.
People have no reason to fear you.
You're not a backbiter anymore.
You're a builder and not a destroyer.
Everything is beginning to change.
Now, I know it's not overnight, it's gradual,
but you are changing because the life of
Christ is in you.
And all of a sudden, those that you
think should rejoice with you turn against you.
And it seems like circumstances can completely come
against you.
But yet there's a difference.
There's a joy.
You see, Paul had an inward sense of
divine purpose and he had an inexplicable, at
least to those who are outside of it,
an inexplicable joy that was an everyday part
of his life.
Paul is in prison.
You have to understand this.
Prison is not a very pretty place in
any generation, especially in the generation of Paul.
He is chained as it is daily to
Roman guards who are probably not too impressed
on the duty that they're being given.
Imagine if you're a soldier and you've got
this thing, you're all macho and you're going
to go out and you're going to fight
wars and conquer kingdoms and territories and you
wind up chained to a man like Paul
who's in prison.
And Paul has got this exuding joy that's
just coming from his life.
You're supposed to be free.
And yet the man who's chained to you
seems to be more free than you are.
I can imagine the perplexity a lot of
these soldiers must have felt.
Paul, in the midst of it all, is
writing to the Philippians.
Now, you've got to picture yourself as a
soldier that's chained to him.
And you're watching his pen begin to write
these words.
A man who's in a circumstance that completely
would overwhelm most ordinary people.
Do you think for a second it might
arouse a little curiosity in your heart to
say, what has this man got that I
don't have?
I have the shield, I have the sword,
I have the power, I have the supposed
kingdom that's dominating this world behind me.
But this man has an inner strength that
seems to be far superior than anything that
I possess.
And you're there chained to him and you're
watching him take a pen in his hand.
He's beginning to write these words.
And he writes to the Philippians in chapter
1, verses 3 to 6.
He says, I thank my God upon every
remembrance of you.
Always in every prayer of mine for you
all making requests with joy for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until
now.
Being confident of this very thing that he
which has begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ.
I can see Paul dropping his pen and
saying to the soldier chained to him, let's
pray for a moment.
You imagine yourself in a situation like that.
Oh God, I just so thank you for
these Philippian Christians.
I thank you Lord that your hand is
upon them.
I thank you God that my labor among
them has not been in vain.
I thank you that when the Holy Spirit
came into them, you began a work and
you're going to perform this work until Jesus.
You come and take them home to be
with you forever.
Oh God, thank you for this sense of
divine purpose.
Amazing to be put in this position that
Paul was in.
Now David, who wrote Psalm 5 where we
began, had known in some measure a journey
that was very similar to that of the
Apostle Paul.
We studied last week in 1 Chronicles chapter
15 about how he attempted to bring the
Ark of God, which represented the presence and
the provision of God into the very center
where the Lord longed to be among his
people.
But they did not seek God after the
divine order, David said.
And the Lord stretched out his hand and
killed a young man who touched the Ark
called Uzzah and put an end to the
whole parade.
And folks, the end result of not seeking
God the way he has revealed himself is
a spiritual death.
And there are many, I'm afraid, in our
generation that are going to experience this if
they're not experiencing it already.
The parade is about to end.
All the flag waving and all of the
foolish religion is about to just run its
course.
And many, many people are going to be
left high and dry and very confused.
And David was confused after this parade.
He said, we did this with all of
our might, but doing something with all of
your might does not make it right.
It has to be done God's way.
It has to be done according to the
Word of God.
The purpose of seeking God has to be
divinely influenced and divinely led.
It has to be something that comes from
the mind and the heart and the written
and revealed Word of Almighty God.
In other words, 2, the prophet of the
Old Testament said, can't walk together unless they
be agreed.
And many, many people have professed to be
on this parade of walking with God in
our generation where God says, no, we're not
in agreement with one another.
The reason why you are serving me is
not the reason why I have decreed that
there should be a church on the earth.
Therefore, soon your joy and your parade are
about to be over.
I speak this prophetically into this generation.
There is a coming and end to the
charismatic parade that's gone on for many, many
years in parts of the world.
Events throughout the world are going to literally
be virtually identical to the hand of God
just reaching out and stopping the whole parade.
But thank God it doesn't stop there.
David was a man of God.
And even in all of these things that
are going on today, there are people whose
hearts are truly after God.
They may not be seeking him after the
due order, as the scripture says, but their
hearts are after God.
And so David went back into the book,
and that's where many of God's people are
going to have to go in our generation.
I see it in my mind.
I see it in my heart.
Many people are going to say, whatever parade
we've been on, it seems to have come
to a dead end.
Our joy is gone.
And instead of giving up, they're going to
go back, as David did, into the Word
of God and say, God, show me what
we did wrong.
Show me why there seemed to be so
little of the expression of your approval and
your life in this parade that we were
all involved in.
And David went back, and he began to
read, and he saw.
He said, oh God, we were not doing
it according to the due order.
You have written a reason why you wanted
to come and dwell in the very center
of your people.
And we didn't honor that.
We threw in our own oxcarts, as it
is, and our own ways of doing things.
And we became guardians, more or less, of
tradition rather than truth.
And Lord, you put your hand to it,
and you stopped it.
And all the superficial joy melted away.
And can you see the very abruptness, as
it is, of the stopping of this parade?
God simply just touched this young man, Uzziah,
took his life away, and the whole thing
stops.
All the music stops, the parade stops, the
zeal stops, all the prophesying is probably going
on stops.
And the whole thing comes to an end.
The Bible says that David was displeased.
He considered this a breach that God had
made upon all of this human effort.
But in reality, God had done this because
he loves his people, and he's always wanted
to dwell in the midst of a people
that are set apart for himself.
Now, David began to seek God, and he
sought Him according to the Word of God.
He found out where the mistakes were, and
then they took the ark one more time
and headed into Jerusalem.
And the end result, you read it in
the Scriptures, was divine order.
There was a sense of the divine, a
sense of walking with God, a sense of
God's incredible pleasure.
And Paul speaks about this in Philippians chapter
1 and verse 12.
He said, but I would that you should
understand, brethren, that the things which happen to
me have fallen out rather to the furtherance
of the gospel.
Now, Paul is saying everything is now following
a divine plan.
Paul said there was a season, now he's
not saying this specifically, but in Paul's life
there was a season where he sought God
in the wrong way.
And it all came to an abrupt end
on a road where the Lord met him
and knocked him off of his parade as
it was, and met him face to face.
I believe that's about to happen with many
of God's people in our generation.
And Paul said, now I understand that my
life is following a divine plan, and everything
that's happening to me has fallen out rather
to the furtherance of the gospel.
You see, folks, this is the key, and
it's one of the keys.
Everything that is happening in my life is
happening according to the will of God.
When you are a genuine Christian, when you
have trusted Christ for your salvation, when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you and is
carrying you, no matter what happens, whether you
have to go through the fire, go through
the flood, no matter what difficulty comes your
way, there is this inner confidence because the
Word of God says all things work together
for good to those who love God and
are the called according to His purpose.
All things, folks, all things, not some things,
all things.
Whether I understand them, whether I don't understand
them, whether I like it, whether I don't
like it, all things, wherever I am, wherever
God places me.
And you see, Paul knew this, just like
the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos.
I shared with you weeks earlier, thank God
that the last book of the Bible is
not John's recollections about the dankness and despair
and despondency of his prison situation.
Thank God he looked beyond it and saw
the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The very same thing for the apostle Paul.
He said, no, I have a divine sense
that I am in the will of God
and I know nothing can happen to me
that God hasn't allowed.
And if He's allowed it, He's allowed it
for a reason.
And Paul would say, the only cry of
my heart is that whether in death or
whether in life, that Jesus Christ be glorified.
Oh God, be glorified through my life.
How could Paul have known that chained to
a Roman soldier, stuck in a prison, seemingly
a prisoner of one of the most debauched
kingdoms in the world, that he is penning
the words of eternal scripture?
How could he have known?
Except in his heart, he had this divine
trust in the leading of God.
And Paul goes on to say that my
bonds, verse 13, in Christ, are manifest in
all the palace and in all other places.
Now, that's very significant.
We're going to come back to that later
on.
He's saying, Paul says, yeah, I'm in this
room as it is, wherever that was, and
I'm chained to a soldier.
But there's something about my presence here that
is making Christ known through me far beyond
this little place that I'm living in.
Now, if you can catch this today, you
might feel like your life is insignificant, but
you don't know how many people that you
are beginning to influence in your own home,
in your own family, in your own community,
your own workplace, when you're seemingly going through
very difficult times, but you are holding steadfast
to your confidence in God.
And there's a deep inner trust within you
that he has everything under control.
You have no idea how many people's lives
are being affected by that.
And he says, verse 14, and many of
the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by
my bonds are much more bold to speak
the word without fear.
They see me, they know my life, they
see what I'm going through, and they see
God sustaining me.
And it's giving them courage to take a
stand.
Verse 15, he says, some indeed preach Christ
even of envy and strife, and some also
of goodwill.
The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely
supposing to add affliction to my bonds.
The other of love, knowing that I'm set
for the defense of the gospel.
What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense
or in truth, Christ is preached, and I
therein do rejoice, and I will rejoice.
Paul says, one thing about me, nobody can
ignore Christ, whether they're trying to preach to
add affliction to my bonds, or whether they're
doing it out of sincerity.
God is in me, I'm trusting Jesus Christ
to keep me, and Christ in me cannot
be ignored.
There's a man of God.
In the midst of all of this debauchery
going on in Rome, there's a man of
God, seemingly changed and insignificant.
But if you can see it, it's as
if the life of God is radiating throughout
him.
It's touching people for all kinds of various
reasons, and Paul says, all throughout the palace.
There's this noise going abroad, that there's this
man of God, seemingly unshaken with this incredible
confidence in his God.
David, when David began to seek the Lord,
according to divine order, the Bible says it
multiplied blessing, not only came to him, but
went all throughout Israel.
In 1 Chronicles 16, verses 2 and 3,
it says, after they brought the ark into
Jerusalem, David gave all of the people sufficient
provision to go home, and to begin to
rejoice.
Paul says the same thing in Philippians chapter
4, verse 1.
He says, therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and
long for my joy and crown, so stand
fast in the Lord, dearly beloved.
Verse 4, he says, rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say, rejoice.
Verse 6, be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which passes all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ.
You see, there is a provision made through
the life of a man or woman of
God, who seeks him after the due order,
and in turn is blessed, and the blessing
starts to flow through your life.
Do you remember that was the promise that
God made to Abraham, and all the descendants
of Abraham by faith, I'll make you more
than you are, I'll take you where you
could never go, I'll give you what you
could never possess, I'll flow through you and
through your life, there will be multitudes throughout
the world will begin to know the blessing
of the divine life of Almighty God in
Christ Jesus.
And lastly, David appoints singers, once the ark
is set in its proper place, in the
very center where God longs to be, he
appoints singers and porters, and there's order, all
you see is order coming in.
And folks, one of the evidences of the
true anointing of God is order.
It's an ordered mind, it starts with you
and me, it will expand to the sanctuary
and the things that we do, but it
starts in the individual.
You'll have an ordered mind, an ordered heart,
an ordered life, you begin to know what
to do.
Psalm 112 says the man that fears God,
he gives him discretion, even in his daily
affairs, he knows what to do, he knows
how to do it, he knows how this
is happening, other than it's just divine, it's
God's voice within him telling him how he
should govern his life.
And there's this outbreak of joy begins to
happen.
And all around the ark of God, the
singers are appointed, David writes his first psalm
for this situation, he hands it over to
the singers and it's an incredible psalm, you'll
find it if you have time in 1
Chronicles chapter 16.
But one of the elements of this psalm
is he says that God gave you the
land when you were just a few, he
gave it to you and he rebuked kings
and he said to kings, touch not my
anointed and do my prophets no harm.
He said I sent you in to possess
an inheritance and I gave it to you
not because you were strong, not because you
had great numbers, but I gave it to
you because you trusted in me.
I gave it to you because you believed
in my preachers and I gave it to
you you become aware that it was my
power and my strength.
I thank God that I stand here today
as you do in this sanctuary and I
can say from an honest heart I am
a Christian not by might, not by power,
but by the spirit of almighty God.
I stand.
Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 and verse
10, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly
that now at the last year I shall
again wherein you were also careful but you
lacked opportunity not that I speak in respect
of want for I have learned that whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content.
I know both how to be abased I
know how to abound everywhere and in all
things I'm instructed both to be full and
to be hungry both to abound and to
suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.
Who strengthens me.
I can love my enemies.
I can speak the truth.
I can do whatever God asks me to
do.
I can be what God has called me
to be.
I can do it.
Not through human strength but through Christ who
lives in me and is willing to make
me much more than I could ever be
in any of my own strength.
Paul says I can do all things and
his life was a testimony to that.
He was in a prison.
He was chained to guards and I know
I'm laboring that point but folks he's not
just writing down some cute little theology.
A lot of people are writing these words
today and they're preaching these words but they
never had to go through anything and it's
a great doubt that they ever can because
they never sought him after the due order.
They're not living Christian lives for the purpose
of God.
Not everyone in David's day not everyone in
Paul's day not everyone in our day rejoices
with those who have found an abiding life
in Jesus Christ.
Paul comes home from this incredible rejoicing before
the ark to only find his own wife
despising him in her heart and it's such
a type.
Jesus himself said a man's foes shall be
they of his own household.
They've both gone through hard times together.
It's not been easy for David.
He's been pursued by an insane king.
He's had to hide in caves.
His wife Michal's been taken from him given
to another man and she's gone through some
difficult things but in spite of what they've
both gone through they're together again and they've
both become co-inheritors of this incredible life
that God wants to give to them.
But you see one man who just learns
to rejoice.
He's just dancing before the presence of God.
God you've been faithful to me.
God you've been good to me.
He's not focusing on the struggles.
He's not saying why Saul?
Why these disgruntled men that you brought?
Why did I have to go into the
land of the Philistines for a season?
He's just left it behind I believe that
all things have worked together for good and
they have worked together for good but he
comes home to find his partner his wife
is not of the same spirit and she
despises this joy that is in his heart
probably because of the circumstances that she has
also had to walk through in her life.
I think of the prodigal son who comes
home after a long season of famine only
to find his older brother who represents religiousness
and achieving righteousness through human effort and works
despises the simple joy this young man has
of just receiving from a father who loves
him.
He finds himself at the receiving end of
this despising.
In every generation at every communion table there
is a Judas folks who is not there.
Mary in John chapter 12 comes in takes
this incredible gift the perfume and pours it
on the feet of Jesus and wipes his
feet with her hair this is an incredible
moment here is a lady who is by
type and example is saying I am completely
abandoned to you Jesus I don't understand everything
but I do know you are the resurrection
and the life my brother has been brought
back to life through your spoken word and
I am willing to abandon all to you
but there is always a Judas at a
table like this who is not there to
be abandoned to God he is only there
to use Christ to fulfill his own agenda
and if Christ can't fulfill his agenda he
will ultimately betray him for money and folks
don't tell me for five seconds we haven't
got hundreds of Judas's in the church of
Jesus Christ today are not there to be
abandoned to his purposes they are not there
to serve him they are not there to
take the most precious things they have and
pour it upon his feet no they are
at the table for what they can get
and when they can't get it they will
betray him for money you can be sure
of it it is a spirit that is
very much alive in our generation and lastly
the Pharisees themselves betrayed Paul because they had
become guardians of tradition instead of truth and
it is abandoned in the human condition they
started out wanting to preserve truth they wanted
to be a trust as it is for
truth but they ended up creating traditions Christ
himself said you have taken traditions and I
will give you your traditions but they were
so holding to their traditions that they were
willing to crucify God almighty himself when he
came into their midst and of course it
was only first nature for them to betray
Paul when he had found the simplicity of
a relationship in Christ so folks if you
are going to live for God you have
got to go through this gauntlet as it
is let me call it a spiritual hazing
for lack of a better word you are
going to have to go through it I
have been through all of this I know
what this is about I know what this
place of beating as it is for those
who are not willing to seek Christ after
the due order but Paul possessed an inward
and a contagious and an unconquerable joy there
was something in this man that could not
be conquered and folks this is the heritage
of the church of Jesus Christ this is
the only joy that is going to take
you through perhaps what you are already experiencing
today and what you may experience in the
days to come all other joy is going
to fail this is the only joy that
is going to take you through now you
say to me explain it clearly to me
please so I might understand what this joy
is now do not turn there but let
me explain to you in Luke chapter 10
verse 21 Jesus had sent the disciples out
and they came back with a report and
they said even the devils are subject to
us and the Bible says in that hour
Jesus rejoiced in spirit and at that time
of this report a leaping came into his
spirit as it is a visible tangible thing
that Luke heard about and he said I
thank the old father Lord of heaven and
earth you have hidden these things from the
wise and prudent in other words those who
have to figure everything out do not see
this those who have to know every reason
for everything that goes on cannot see this
you have hidden it from the wise and
prudent and you have revealed it to babes
you have revealed it to those who simply
trust isn't it amazing just say God I
trust you it is as simple as that
I do not have to figure it out
I am not where I am by some
fluke of spiritual nature I am exactly where
I am supposed to be I am in
the marriage I am supposed to be in
I am at the job I am supposed
to be on I am in the family
that you put me in I am in
the body that you gave me I was
raised where I was supposed to be raised
I do not have to figure it all
out I trust you God Hallelujah Lord you
knew me before the foundation of the world
you knew my name you knew how I
was going to be born but you loved
me and you allowed me to be born
that my life might be a testimony of
your glory and your sustaining power and your
salvation in my generation in other words Jesus
said Father you are using these simple trusting
ones to destroy the influence of evil over
men's lives simple trusting ones who do not
have to figure it all out they just
trust they walk through life and their lives
are a visible testimony of the reality of
Jesus Christ they walk through the fire they
are singing they walk through the flood they
are rejoicing there is a trust there is
an abiding trust in the heart exactly the
place where I am supposed to be this
was the source of Paul's joy you see
he knew that captivity could never captivate the
life of Christ within him he knew that
God was using him to touch the lives
of those who lived in the darkest of
places folks sometimes we have to go into
the fire because there are people there sometimes
we have to go into the cave because
there are people there sometimes we have to
go into the storm because there are people
there it would be nice to get saved
and all of us be taken by God
and put in a little palace somewhere a
little celestial palace on earth that nobody could
touch the armies of the evil ones try
to get close they get zapped you know
like bugs in one of those bug lights
but that's not the way it is we
are called to go where people are you
see Paul knew this Paul said earlier in
Philippians in other words they think they have
me captive but they don't have me captive
I have the spirit of Christ within me
the living God who created the universe is
inside of me he cannot be captivated now
Paul writes at the end of this epistle
to the Philippians a letter to the Philippians
there's a little secret in here when I
first saw it he says in verse 22
chapter 4 he says all let's go to
verse 21 he says the brethren which are
with me greet you all the saints salute
you now here's where it gets interesting chiefly
they that are of Caesar's household that's an
amazing thing you know we can just pass
that over and Paul is writing in code
almost to the church guys you've got to
understand I'm winning people to Christ all over
Caesar's palace as it is they're coming to
him everybody that were allowed to come to
him were not restrained even though he was
chained to a soldier and all over Caesar's
palace this place of debauchery and wickedness and
captivity and earthly power and a lot of
the Caesars of course believed that they were
themselves gods and all over this place I
see cooks I see cleaners I see soldiers
I see people I see Christ and Paul
can't say it deliberately lest he betray somebody
he throws it out and folks we can
miss it he says all those salute you
chiefly especially in other words those of Caesar's
household this is the source of Paul's joy
God was using him to touch lives of
those who lived in the darkest of places
it's as if you and I are writing
and we wrote a letter if you wrote
a letter to us under different circumstances and
at the end of the letter you said
the once hopelessly addicted now studying for the
ministry salute you the single mothers who used
to see no hope for their children but
now see their children as mighty in the
hand of God send you greetings former liars
who are now addicted to telling the truth
wish you well they are now ambassadors for
the newfound freedom that they have found in
Jesus Christ those who once served Islam or
Buddhism or Confucianism send you greetings hallelujah to
the Lamb of God Paul's saying through my
life the Holy Spirit has gone into Satan's
stronghold and I know there is no stronghold
of his captivating power that Jesus Christ has
not overcome this is the abiding joy this
is the source of joy that I have
found that God wherever you have me you
have intended me to be and you are
going to use my life to overcome the
deepest, darkest strongholds of the enemy in this
generation hallelujah to the Lamb of God hallelujah,
hallelujah this is the source of joy that
cannot be taken away hallelujah hallelujah bless God
this is the stronghold today firstly for people
who need ministry who are in very hard
places may I encourage you to trust God
may I just encourage you to trust God
that's as deep as it's going to get
today trust Him if you can walk out
of here today saying Lord I believe I
believe that everything in my life has been
planned by your hand I'm not overcome of
the enemy I'm not captivated by Caesar or
anything of his household I'm exactly where you
want me to be and Lord I'm going
to just sit where I am and I'm
going to trust you I'm going to trust
you I'm going to praise you I'm going
to thank you I'm going to let my
request be made known with joy and God
I'm just going to in this place in
this place of the deepest darkness I'm going
to see people released for the glory of
God from the grip of Satan I'm going
to see them released oh folks your kids
come home listen to me single mothers they
know you don't have hardly enough money to
go around for the month they know your
place is difficult but if you can hold
firm and when they come home they see
you sitting trusting God with everything in you
you are going to break all of the
influence of evil that's coming against them there's
no purpose here there's no plan here go
out sell drugs go out live a life
of sin go out be violent go out
express your anger you're going to come against
that you're going to see all of that
destroyed as your children come home and they
see you there not fretting but confident they
see you rejoicing in your God they see
you trusting God they see you writing notes
when they come home at night they'll break
these chains of evil and then you'll experience
this incredible joy that God gives to those
who simply put their trust in him I
don't know how else to say it that's
as easy as it gets that's as complicated
as it gets Jesus said father you've hidden
this from the wise and prudent and you
revealed it unto babes what was hidden from
the wise and prudent he said I beheld
Satan as lightning falling from heaven I saw
Satan falling in these difficult places I saw
him speedily coming down I saw his kingdom
being absolutely routed and demolished I saw it
because there was a few that went out
who had a trust in their heart I
saw it and it's hidden from the wise
and the prudent and given to those who
have this abiding trust within their heart I
want to pray today for those who are
in these difficult places because I know that
God will give you the courage and strength
to be a testimony to what's happening today
you're not outside the will of God throw
away the lies of the enemy that somehow
you failed God and God is angry with
you he's not angry with you he loves
you and suffering can't be entrusted to everybody
there's a lot of people who can handle
suffering but those who have gone deeper in
God can be entrusted with things that others
who are just on the surface of their
relationship with God know very very little about
what's going on in their household today you
are captivated by the power of evil but
I want to tell you today if you'll
just get out of your seat and head
towards God if you'll just do that today
you will behold Satan as lightning falling from
heaven if you'll just get up and say
God I trust you to set me free
I'm in this place I don't understand everything
but I do know that Jesus died for
my sin I do know that by the
power of God he rose from the dead
on the third day and triumphed over all
the powers of evil I do know that
the scripture says he took captivity captive and
gave gifts to men and I don't understand
it all but I'm getting up and I'm
going to trust God and I'm getting out
of this place of captivity I'm getting out
of the immorality I'm getting out of the
dark thinking I'm getting out of the violence
I'm getting out of these places and I'm
going with God I don't care what goes
on I don't care how powerful people say
they are I'm going with God Hallelujah Would
you stand please in the annex you can
move your way forward and stand between the
screens in the main sanctuary if the Holy
Spirit has spoken to your heart today you're
being drawn of God I want you to
join me at this altar today will you
please I'll be praying for those who need
courage to trust God and praying for deliverance
and salvation for those who are captivated by
darkness would you move out of your seats
please let's pray together and we're going to
believe God Pastor Neal said this morning in
the pastor's room I feel in my heart
that this is going to be a great
day of deliverance from evil in this house
I believe that with everything that's in me
this is a day of deliverance folks this
is an hour of being set free from
the power of sin Hallelujah Father I pray
now Lord for those that are very difficult
place I pray God that we might see
this as a divine appointment we're not being
overcome but through us Lord you are overcoming
evil with good God thank you you will
be our provider you will be our deliverer
you will be our life and bread you
will be our source of joy you'll be
the sense of reason for living every morning
when we get up God thank you that
you have entrusted to some of us the
hard places in life I thank you for
it God with all my heart can you
thank God for that today can you thank
him for the hard places those
that are in the hard places I want
you to know something you are a special
army in the hand of God you are
in the company of Jesus but yet we
are encouraged today through his words and you
hold fast to your trust in God and
in the days to come other people other
generations others around will be encouraged by the
trust that you will allow God to place
in your heart Hallelujah now I'd like to
pray for those who want to get out
of Caesars house how many are living in
Caesars house today and you just want out
you thank God for the honesty you are
just living there you say enough of this
I want out of this place I want
to live for God pray with me please
pray nice and loud Lord Jesus I am
a sinner Jesus thank you that you so
loved me that you became a man and
died a terrible death on a cross to
pay the price that I have done I
am sorry for my sin and I don't
want to live in sin any longer I
believe that you died to pay my penalty
I believe that you rose from the dead
on the third day as living proof that
my trust in God is not in vain
I believe that Jesus Christ you kept my
captivity captive you destroyed the power of all
of my enemies and I don't have to
live in any prison any longer I don't
have to live under the dominion of sin
and darkness and evil anymore I don't have
to look for joy in a life of
sin there is a deeper joy there is
an abiding joy and it comes from knowing
you Jesus today I open my heart how
wide I do God and I say Lord
Jesus Christ come into my life be my
Lord and my Savior I give my life
to you because you gave your life for
me oh God I trust you and I
believe that I am forgiven I believe my
future is secure I believe that my life
beginning today has meaning and has purpose I
believe that I will have a joy that
cannot be shaken by any of the events
of this world or the circumstances of this
life Jesus Christ from this day forward you
are my Savior you are my Lord and
I belong to you God thank you now
thank him and rejoice before him