Praise God.
Let's pray if you got that tape you
can officially start it.
Lord, thank you for your grace and goodness.
Speak to us with clarity and in a
way that will change us.
Help us to act on your word to
put it into practice.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Turn with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 16.
2 Chronicles chapter 16.
We want to look at a simple theme
and give a clear call to seek the
Lord.
You'll understand the urgency of this as we
look at the Scriptures.
Chapters 14 through 16 deal with the reign
of King Asa, often called Asa in English,
Hebrew Aramaic name Asa.
And there's a verse in the 16th chapter
which is an odd little verse in many
ways because it's been used by people through
the years.
People who have believed God for healing.
It's been actually used to say that it's
a sin to ever go to a doctor
based on this verse.
So the verse has a little bit of
a history to it in terms of interpretation.
But we're going to read the verse and
then we're going to go back to chapter
14 and we're going to understand what this
is all about and the calling to seek
the Lord.
2 Chronicles chapter 16 verse 12.
In the 39th year of his reign, Asa
was afflicted with a disease in his feet.
Though his disease was severe, even in his
illness, he did not seek help from the
Lord, but only from the physicians.
And then in the 41st year of his
reign, Asa died and rested with his fathers.
Look at this again.
Though his disease was severe, even in his
illness, he did not seek help from the
Lord, but only from the physicians.
What is this verse about?
Why was this such an issue with this
man?
What's the lesson for us to learn tonight?
Go back to the 14th chapter, verse 2.
Asa did what was good and right in
the eyes of the Lord his God.
He removed the foreign altars and the high
places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down
the Asherah poles.
Because of corruption in the leadership of the
people, because some of the kings of Judah
had strayed from the mark, all types of
ungodly practices were instituted.
There were male prostitutes in the temple where
people could have homosexual relations, men with men,
in the name of God.
There were female prostitutes.
There were sacred poles.
There were fertility rites, all types of things
in the temple of the Lord, if you
can imagine it.
And the people were worshipping idols in different
high places in the land.
And this godly king cleaned house.
This godly king purged the land.
And it says in verse 4, he commanded
Judah to do what?
To seek the Lord, the God of their
fathers, and to obey his laws and commands.
Notice he commanded them to do it.
What does it mean to seek the Lord?
There are different aspects to it.
It certainly talks about going after him, praying
to him, crying out to him.
It means turning to him, cleaving to him,
looking to him for help and support, seeking
to know him, walk with him, obey him.
It includes all those different things at different
times.
So he commands Judah, seek the Lord, look
away from the idols, look away from the
false gods.
As I've done work on a commentary in
Jeremiah in recent years, I remember first going
through it carefully how much I was deeply
struck by God's pain over Israel's idolatry, over
Judah's idolatry.
And the fundamental sin for which God's wrath
was going to come on his people was
they turned away from him and they turned
after idols.
They worshipped with their own hands and made.
And here this godly king is calling the
people of Judah to turn away from their
idols.
He's smashing down the high places and the
idolatrous rites in the land and commanding them
to seek the Lord.
He removed the high places and incense altars
in every town in Judah and the kingdom
was at peace under him.
Why was it at peace?
Because God brought blessing, because God was with
him, because God raised him up and silenced
his enemies because he put God first.
He built up the fortified cities of Judah
since the land was at peace.
No one was at war with him during
those years, for the Lord gave him rest.
Let us build up these towns, he said
to Judah, and put walls around them with
towers, gates and bars.
The land is still ours because we have
sought the Lord our God.
Why is the land ours?
Why aren't we harassed by our enemies?
Why are we at peace?
Because we've sought the Lord.
We sought him and he's given us rest
on every side.
So they built and prospered.
Asa had an army of 300,000 men
from Judah equipped with large shields and with
spears and 280,000 from Benjamin armed with
small shields and with bows.
All these were brave fighting men.
Now something happens, now there's a test.
Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with
a vast army and 300 chariots and came
as far as Marashah.
Asa went out to meet him and they
took up battle positions in the valley of
Zephathah near Marasharah.
Now just remember this, even though he's got
all the fighting men, even though he's got
a great army, this guy's coming against him
with a vast army.
This guy's coming against him and could be
outnumbering him and outmanning him.
In other words, in the natural it doesn't
look good.
In the natural they can't simply lean on
their own strength and wisdom.
So what happens?
Then Asa called to the Lord his God
and said, Lord there is no one like
you to help the powerless against the mighty.
We're outmanned, outnumbered.
Help us O Lord our God for we
rely on you and in your name we
have come against this vast army.
O Lord you are our God do not
let man prevail against you.
The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa
and Judah.
The Cushites fled and Asa and his army
pursued them as far as Gerar.
Such a great number of Cushites fell that
they could not recover.
They were crushed before the Lord and his
forces and it goes on with the great
victory there.
Now chapter 15, the Spirit of God came
upon Azariah son of Oded.
He went out to Asa and said to
him listen to me Asa and all Judah
and Benjamin.
The Lord is with you when you are
with him.
One of these words that God gives you
that you think that's it?
You know this, the Lord's given me a
word, the Lord's given me a word.
I've got to share this with you.
What's the word?
The Lord says he's with you when you're
with him.
That's the word.
Yeah, but it's a very profound fundamentally true
word.
You forsake him, he'll forsake you.
You turn your backs on him, people of
Israel and follow other gods.
He'll forsake you and give you over to
your enemies.
But when you're with him, when you're right
with him, when you're obedient to him, when
you're seeking him, he'll be with you.
If you seek him, listen to these words.
If you seek him, he will be found
by you.
There's another calling, another exhortation.
Remember, they've been seeking God.
Remember, they've been godly.
Now they have a great victory.
Sometimes after victory, you can get complacent.
Sometimes after victory, you fall asleep.
Many times the enemy comes with his greatest
attacks right after a great mountaintop experience in
God or OK, the battle's over.
We can rest.
And here's a prophet say, seek the Lord.
For a long time, Israel was without the
true God, without a priest to teach, without
the law.
But in their distress, they turned to the
Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him.
And he was found by them.
In those days, it was not safe to
travel about, for all the inhabitants of the
lands were in great turmoil.
One nation was being crushed by another, one
city by another, because God was troubling them
with every kind of distress.
But as for you, be strong and do
not give up, for your work will be
rewarded.
Does he get angry with the prophet?
Does he say, why are you exhorting me?
God's with us.
God's blessing us.
Why are you telling me to make sure
I don't forsake the Lord?
No, he rejoices in this word.
When Asa heard these words in the prophecy
of Isaiah, son of Oded, the prophet, he
took courage.
So now he's going to do an even
greater purge and move beyond the boundaries of
Judah and even move into northern Israel.
He removed the detestable idols from the whole
land of Judah and Benjamin and from the
towns he had captured in the hills of
Ephraim, which was the northern territory.
He repaired the altar of the Lord that
was in front of the portico of the
Lord's temple.
Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and
the people from Ephraim and Manasseh and Simeon
who had settled among them.
For large numbers had come over to him
from Israel when they saw that the Lord,
his God, was with him.
You have the northern kingdom and the southern
kingdom, and they were divided, and the northern
kingdom was full of idolatry.
And as the people there saw that God
was with him, they came south.
And he's calling for purging and purifying of
all of God's people.
They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month
of the 15th year of Asa's reign.
At that time they sacrificed to the Lord
700 head of cattle, 7,000 sheep and
goats, and enters into, goes the details there,
they entered into a covenant to do what?
To seek the Lord, the God of their
fathers, with all their heart and soul.
And now listen, he's serious.
All who would not seek the Lord, the
God of Israel, were to be put to
death, whether small or great, man or woman.
And this was according to the Torah, according
to Israelite law, that if there was idol
worship in the midst of the people, Deuteronomy
13, the idol worshipper should be killed.
So this is it, seek the Lord or
die.
They took an oath to the Lord with
loud acclamation, with shouting, and with trumpets and
horns.
All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they
had sworn it wholeheartedly.
They sought God eagerly.
I mean, there's a message here, 14th chapter,
15th chapter.
They sought God eagerly, and he was found
by them.
So the Lord gave them rest on every
side.
They had a battle, they had a test.
As a result of it, they sought God,
they came out even stronger, they sought him
even more.
And now God gives them even more rest.
And look at what he does.
King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maka, this
is his own grandmother, from her position as
queen mother, because she had made a repulsive
Asherah.
This guy didn't fear man.
This guy didn't fear family implications and political
ramifications.
He was going to obey God, period.
What a godly king.
Asa cut the pole down, broke it up
and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Although he did not remove the high places
from Israel, Asa's heart was fully committed to
the Lord all his life.
And look at what he does.
He brought into the temple of God the
silver and gold and the articles that he
and his father had dedicated.
There was no more war until the 35th
year of Asa's reign.
20 years, no war.
20 years to either get deeper and more
established or to get complacent.
20 years to either move forward or to
move backwards.
20 years of blessing.
And at the end of 20 years, something
has happened to the king's heart.
Whether the change was subtle from early on,
whether it happened more quickly towards the end,
scripture doesn't tell us.
But at the end of this time, the
man is in a different place.
Look at what happens.
In the 36th year of Asa's reign, Basha,
king of Israel, went up against Judah and
fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or
entering the territory of Asa, king of Judah.
So this is the king of the northern
kingdom of Israel.
These guys are brothers.
Now he's launching war, north against the south.
So what does he do?
Well, what else is he gonna do?
You know the story.
He's gonna seek the Lord.
This is a guy who seeks the Lord.
He was in trouble before and he sought
God and God delivered him.
He prayed and God answered.
His whole nation made a covenant to seek
the Lord and if anyone wouldn't seek the
Lord, they'd be put to death.
What's the guy gonna do?
He's gonna seek the Lord, right?
Wrong.
It's not what he does.
In fact, what he does is absolutely shocking.
Asa then took the silver and gold out
of the treasuries of the Lord's temple.
This is God's temple, items dedicated to him,
stuff that Asa and his father had dedicated
to the work of the Lord.
It would be like monies that were specifically
put aside to feed the poor and monies
that were specifically put aside to spread the
work of the gospel around the world.
And then some trouble comes up and that
money is stolen out of the account and
used to put into some pagan fund.
Not only does he take money from the
temple of the Lord, but look at what
he does with it.
He took silver and gold out of the
treasuries of the Lord's temple and of his
own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad,
king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.
He's gonna send the money to a pagan
king and say, hey, work with me to
get this enemy off my back.
Instead of leaning on God and seeking God,
he's gonna do the opposite.
He's gonna lean on the arm of flesh.
He's gonna lean on the arm of pagan,
sinful, idolatrous flesh.
Not to be a treaty between me and
you, he said, is there is a treaty
between my father and your father, which is
an exaggerated misplaced statement.
See, I'm sending you silver and gold now.
Break your treaty with Bashar, king of Israel,
so he'll withdraw from it.
These guys, Israel, northern Israel, and the Arameans,
they had a covenant together.
And now the king of Judah said, break
your covenant with them, come with us.
So not only is he taking money from
the temple of the Lord, not only is
he using it to hire out a pagan
king, he's asking the pagan king to break
an agreement.
This is flesh.
Do you understand?
Flesh.
Ben-Hadad agreed with king Asa and sent
the commanders of his forces against the towns
of Israel.
They conquered Aeon, Don, Abel Mayim, and the
store cities of Naphtali.
When Bashar heard this, he stopped building Ramah
and abandoned his work.
The king Asa brought all the men of
Judah and they carried away from Ramah the
stones and timber Bashar had been using.
With them, he built up Geva and Mitzpah.
In other words, it worked.
The king of Israel withdrew.
His strategy succeeded.
Taking money from the Lord's treasury, hiring out
a pagan king, and getting this guy to
break his agreement actually succeeded.
And the enemy left, which is one of
the clearest teachings in scripture.
One of the clearest examples in scripture you
can find that just because something works doesn't
mean God's in it.
Just because something succeeds doesn't mean it's blessed
by God.
But just because somebody did it this way
and it worked doesn't mean God's anywhere near
it.
It may work for a moment.
It may temporarily succeed.
It may look like it is doing good.
But if it's born and birthed in the
flesh and contrary to the plan of God,
when it's tested by fire, it'll go up
in smoke, either in this world or in
the world to come or both.
But he's at rest, at least outwardly.
Inwardly, who knows what's going on on the
inside?
At that time, Hanani the seer came to
Asa, king of Judah, and said to him,
because you relied on the king of Aram
and not on the Lord your God, the
army of the king of Aram has escaped
from your hand.
In other words, you were supposed to bring
judgment on both of these guys.
These are both your enemies and you're supposed
to fight against both of them.
Instead, you lean on one.
You may think it's a victory.
It's actually a defeat.
Why?
Because you didn't rely on God.
You lean on the arm of the flesh.
We're not the Kushites and Libyans, a mighty
army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen.
Remember what happened in the 14th chapter.
Remember, Asa, what happened earlier in your reign,
over 20 years ago.
Yet when you relied on the Lord, he
delivered them into your hand.
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout
the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are
fully committed to him.
You always hear that verse quoted.
This is the context.
You have done a foolish thing and from
now on you'll be at war.
You've got temporary relief, but what's going to
come in the end is worse.
Different friends of mine that have ministered in
areas with a lot of pagan superstitious curses
and witchcraft and stuff have told me about
people who were miraculously healed by the power
of witch doctors, but they always end up
with the worst bondage.
You may get temporary relief.
You may get a temporary answer, but you're
going to end up in a worse place
by leaning on the flesh and doing things
contrary to God's ways.
And this verse is very vivid in Hebrew.
It says, His eyes are going back and
forth, back and forth through the entire land.
He's looking.
He's searching.
It's the same word that's used in Jeremiah
five, except in a more intensive form here,
where God tells Jeremiah, go through the streets
of Jerusalem.
See if you can find one man who's
living honestly and doing right now.
Forgive the city.
Go look here even more actively.
God's looking, actively looking through the whole land,
through the whole world, through the whole earth.
So that he can stand in strong support
of those whose hearts are holy.
Most of you know the word shalom.
You've all heard the word.
It doesn't just mean peace, but it also
means well-being and wholeness.
And it's that same root here, shalem, those
whose hearts are holy gods.
He's looking for people to support.
Do you understand that?
This encourages me as I'm praying for our
work, as I'm praying for our work, meaning
the work the Lord's entrusted to us, as
I'm praying for different ones here going out
on the field in the States and overseas
to preach Jesus, as I'm praying for God's
work to advance among the Jewish people and
different things we're involved with.
And I look at the hearts of so
many here and the staff and the faculty
and the leadership, the different ones laboring and
the students and the grads and others that
are part of Fire Family.
I look at the hearts and I'm sure
that there are many here whose hearts are
holy gods.
I'm talking about sin-free, perfect people.
I'm talking about people who said, God, I'm
yours and I don't care the cost, the
consequences.
I want to live for you and do
your will.
God's looking for such people so he can
back them, so he can support them, so
he can uphold them and undergird them.
Some of you remember in Daniel 10 when
Daniel's seeking God for an answer and the
angel Gabriel comes, but he tells him that
it's three weeks late in coming.
And the first day Daniel prayed, he was
heard, but he got delayed.
There was a spiritual battle and the prince
of Persia stood against him.
And then Michael came and supported him.
Remember that?
Michael came and supported him against the prince
of Persia.
And then he was able to come and
deliver the message, deliver the answer.
That's the same Hebrew verb that's used here.
God will stand and strongly support those whose
hearts are wholly his.
I saw you've done a foolish thing.
There's going to be war from here on.
So what does he do?
Does he humble himself?
Does he repent?
Does he say, Oh my God, I've sinned.
How far have I fallen?
No, he gets even harder.
Asa was angry with the seer because of
this.
He was so enraged that he put him
in prison.
What happened to this guy?
At the same time, I saw brutally oppressed
some of the people.
Think of the way it starts.
Think of the way it ends.
The events of Asa's reign from beginning to
end are written in the book of the
kings of Judah and Israel.
And the 39th year of his reign, Asa
was afflicted with a disease in his feet.
Maybe now he'll wake up.
Maybe now that there's judgment, perhaps judgment for
his mistreating of the people and mistreating of
the prophet.
It's clearly understood in Old Testament terms.
This is judgment.
He's under judgment.
He's in severe pain.
Sometimes people don't pray until they're sick and
in pain.
Sometimes atheists don't pray until they're on their
deathbed.
Then they wake up and they cry out.
Maybe now in the severity of his illness,
he's going to wake up and pray and
seek God.
He still doesn't.
And there's just there's a slight variation in
the Hebrew and something I noticed when years
ago, writing my doctoral dissertation on the Hebrew
word for healing and getting into all these
detailed studies and things.
And I noticed something that some of the
commentators and translators had missed.
Though his disease was severe, even in his
illness, he didn't seek the Lord, but rather
consulted with the physician.
It's a different preposition.
It's a minor thing in Hebrew, but it
speaks volumes.
That particular idiom means to consult in an
idolatrous way, like consulting Baal, consulting an idol.
And most of the doctors, you have to
remember, you didn't have a normal medical practice.
And most of the ancient world, Egypt and
Mesopotamia and these countries, the doctors were often
priests.
These things were associated with magical rites.
It would be today like going to some
witch doctor or to some New Age healer
who's going to speak some special words over
you and give you some kind of crystal
and bring in all these false religious practices.
It was a mixture.
And this Hebrew idiom indicates just that either
he went and sought pagan physicians or ungodly
physicians within Israel.
It was the exact same thing he did
in the midst of war.
He did it again.
Instead of seeking the Lord, he went.
He knew there's a need.
He needs something supernatural.
So what does he do?
He goes and consults godless physicians for their
help.
And so he dies.
The thing that makes it all the more
tragic, as you've heard his name over and
over, not the way you normally hear it
in English, Esau, but the Hebrew Aramaic pronunciation,
Asah.
Most scholars agree that this is a shortened
form of a name.
Just like the name Mike in itself means
nothing.
It's short for Michael, which in Hebrew is
Mikael, who is like God.
So also this name in all probability was
either Asael or Asaya, which means God or
Yahweh healed.
That's the guy's name.
The guy's own name comes from the Aramaic
root for healing.
And this guy is the one famous in
his death.
He consults godless physicians or idolatrous help rather
than seeks God.
The guy's name is Healer.
The fact that this ends up being the
reason that he dies, because he doesn't get
healed.
The fact it ends up that the reason
he's at war, which means other people are
going to die.
The fact that it was a result of
his not seeking God is a vivid message
to all of us, because either we seek
God or we die.
We may live natural lives and we even
may prosper to a certain extent in our
walk and calling with God, but if we
do not prioritize seeking God and going after
God and being diligent to lean on Him
and cleave to Him and cry out to
Him, we will not make it.
We will not see the purposes of God
fulfilled and some of us won't make it,
period.
It's a shame that often it takes crisis
to push us to pray.
One reason we don't see more people healed
in life and death situations, terminal diseases.
One reason.
I'm not condemning anyone.
I'm not pointing a finger as a holier
than thou.
I'm just making an observation.
I've been part of situations like this, along
with people, seeing painful, grievous things happen.
I don't say this lightly, but one reason
that we don't see more miraculous answers to
prayer when someone's on their deathbed with cancer
is because seeking God was the last alternative
when everything else failed.
You know, it's almost like I don't work
out athletically for 10 years and then I
realize I'm sick, so I'm going to run
the marathon.
You're not going to make it.
So when everything comes against us and our
first reaction is always medicine, and I'm not
saying it's sin to use medicine.
Please don't mishear me.
This text in no way teaches that.
And in fact, there are other scriptures in
the Hebrew Bible that indicate that there are
medical practices that were common among the people
and accept it and expect it.
That's not the issue.
I'm talking about our attitude, our dependence.
When our first line is always medical help,
lean on man, get a diagnosis.
Okay, we got to go to a specialist.
Okay, the specialist can't help us, but they
can refer us to a specialist specialist and
maybe a highly trained person that's helped many.
But I'm talking about the attitude of our
heart.
And then finally, we travel around the world.
We get the special medication, the special diet,
the special thing, and all else fails.
They said, there's nothing we can do for
you.
And you think, all right, I'm really going
to pray now.
Sometimes it's a little too late to start.
You know what I'm saying?
You're in a life and death situation, and
on your way down, it's a little tough
to just suddenly rise onto the super faith
that's going to drive back the powers of
death.
I'm not saying it can't happen.
I'm just saying it's a lifestyle pattern.
And for many of us, unfortunately, we don't
pray with urgency till we're under pressure.
It amazes me.
I know it's human nature, but it still
amazes me that in war times, church buildings
in America get packed out.
Well, what is that?
Are you trying to get some kind of
consolation or suddenly going to become religious and
pray?
I mean, it's such a strange thing when
following God and walking with him is your
lifestyle.
You know, do you now get up and
breathe because there's war?
No, you do that every day.
It's your lifestyle.
And yet the fact is, sometimes it takes
extreme pressure to get us to cry out.
One of the most common things that drives
us to pray is lack of money.
When I say most common, I don't mean
in our circles, I mean in any circles.
Because you can't spirit, you know what I'm
saying?
You can only rebuke the bills so long.
You can only speak faith, you know, to
the telephone company so long.
You can only, I mean, there's a certain
reality, you know, when you walk in smiling
to Burger King and just standing there because
the Lord's going to give you a meal.
There's only someone you can stand there and
smile before they say, sir, get out of
the way.
People are trying to order here.
What would you like?
But see, here's the thing.
There's always the temptation in the midst of
it to try to find another way.
Yes, we're diligent and vigilant.
If Scripture's plain, if you don't work, you
shouldn't eat.
You know, we're not talking about handouts.
We're not talking about irresponsibility.
We're not talking about not carrying our load.
We're talking about things that are above and
beyond human ability.
Above and beyond our means.
And in the midst of it, there's great
temptation to just do it the way of
the flesh.
To just hatch a plan.
To just make it work.
Well, somebody did this, surely it'll work for
me.
I know King of Judah, I mean, he
took this money from the temple of the
Lord and he used it to hire out
a pagan king and he got victory.
It worked for him, it can work for
me.
It works for this ministry and look at
how much they've been promoted and prospered so
we can do the same thing.
And I've found it to be a grace
of the Lord in terms of part of
my walk and my calling and it's also
part of the fire identity that maybe somebody
else can do it, but I can't.
In other words, even if I try, it
won't work.
Even if just by the law of probability,
if everybody lets this thing drop, it'll drop.
If God tells me not to let it
drop, I let it drop, it'll go up.
You know what I'm saying?
He won't smile on it, he won't breathe
on it, he won't bless it.
We find ourselves here at fire and maybe
some of you visiting are in a similar
situation, but we find ourselves in such a
paradoxical situation.
A situation with such fundamental contradictions in which
for many months now, all we've received is
green light and go ahead and go for
it and take the land kind of words
in our spirit.
And those of you that have been in
our midst regularly in prayer and worship and
seeking God, God's been meeting us, God's been
with us.
We're not working something up, trying to convince
everybody.
It's going great, isn't it?
Yeah, it's great, great.
He says it's great, so we'll say it's
great.
We're not trying to convince people and get
you all psyched up and look at the
person next to you and say it's great
here at fire.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
I'm happy, you're happy, we're happy.
I'm talking about God's been in our midst
and overwhelmingly assuring and encouraging and going before
us and meeting us in so many ways
and teams going out.
Just being in India and talking to Steve
Heights who's leading the team back and forth
in India, just saying it's the most prayerful
team he's seen and worked with.
It's so focused there and we get reports
from the team in Morocco and others and
people going at it and local outreach here.
Just reports we got of the last 24
hours of God touching young people in the
community and filling them with the spirit and
different things happen.
God's with us and he's given us a
forward march.
I was talking to a colleague, a radical
-hearted guy, and he said, so you have
your facility in Charlotte?
I said, well, we're trying to lock it
in.
We're actively working on it and trying to
lock it in now.
We believe we have the right place now
and we're trying to lock it in.
And he said, you guys are crazy.
You're going to be there all in September
and have school start?
You don't even have a facility yet?
I said, actually, we're doing well for us.
This is pretty good.
Normally we only get a few days notice,
you know, start a new school.
How long do you have?
A few weeks.
I mean, the way God's led us, you
know, we're praying earnestly.
God, are we supposed to make our move
now?
Is this the time?
Are we supposed to make our move now?
Is this when you want us to go
to Charlotte?
Is this the time?
Really praying, really resting with it.
And then we get word, building's sold, you
have to be out by June.
Yes, Lord, we'll be out by June.
Got it.
And in the midst of it, I'm talking
about stretched out, going for it.
There is no money.
It's the most amazing thing.
It's the most, I mean, people that normally
send money haven't sent money, you know, and
they're not mad at us.
It's not like we did something wrong and
they don't like us anymore.
It's wild.
And there's this, and then just when you're
in a situation, and most of you have
been there, where it's like, God, if you
don't answer, if you don't help, this ship's
going down.
So you figure he's going to answer.
Powerful miracles.
You know what he does?
He just gets enough water out so it
doesn't totally sink.
It's like, oh, come on, either down or
up.
I mean, one or the other.
I mean, I look back at journal entries,
you know, six months ago, two years ago,
and this is it.
Our back's against the wall.
If you don't answer now, it's over.
So in other words, he meets, but then
he only meets so far.
You've been there, too.
And listen, I mean, this is, we have
visitors and friends here, but this is basically
our, you know, our community here.
And I'm talking honestly.
We're not taking another offering at the end
of this.
This is not an offering.
Oh, wait, why should I withhold a blessing?
I was in meetings in Japan one time,
and they had really gone for a great
facility to have meetings, one of the most
ambitious things that, you know, it would have
been one of the largest gatherings.
As it was, it was a good-sized
gathering, but they really, they overextended themselves massively.
And they just kept taking offerings.
Like, you know, we were only there 48
hours.
We did seven meetings in the 48 hours
that we were there, one of these in
-and-out, quick things in between two locations.
And Scott was there with me, but they
just keep, they're still short.
Sometimes a few times in the service, and
people just kept giving.
I mean, we're not, and bless them, they
did it joyfully.
At least appeared joyfully.
But, you know, we're in a situation now
where, I have to say honestly, despite the
fact that by God's grace we have fire
workers now in probably 25 nations of the
world that we've personally sent out and are
covering, and fire workers in different parts of
America, from New York to California, and all
the way in between, and inner cities and
different things, and the new plant in New
York City, and doors opening for Jewish ministry
beyond anything we've seen in years.
And all this blessing, and so much to
be praying for, so much to be crying
out for.
I honestly believe that we would not be
praying with as much urgency if we had
a million dollars in the bank.
I mean, I'll tell you what, Lord, you
can test us with that.
We're willing to be tested, Lord.
We don't mind.
Some people say, oh man, if I had
all that money I'd just backslide.
Lord, we're willing to be tested.
But, you know, you feel the pressure, the
squeeze.
What do you do?
You go after God.
And sometimes the beauty of it is He
doesn't give you any other alternative.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not like there's another way out.
It's not like we have something in the
temple treasury to take and hire out a
pagan king.
And the things that others would do, God
won't let us do.
But I'm sure, as sure as I'm standing
here, that God's telling us, and this is
a pattern, okay, I don't expect, I certainly
hope, that for the rest of our lives
and the rest of our years together at
fire and in ministry, that we will not
be under this kind of ongoing pressure just
to meet needs.
If it's pressure to raise up and send
out more people, well, amen, praise God.
Or more pressure because we want to feed
more poor or help more people in need.
But just to pay salaries and meet needs
and function from day to day, I certainly
hope that it does change.
I certainly hope so for two reasons.
One, the pressure's intense.
Two, I've been telling everyone it's coming.
It's coming.
See, even the kids.
They're believing.
Notice how the kids of all of our
faculty and leaders and staff are so thin.
It's going to happen, Emily.
I'm telling you, it's going to happen one
day soon.
But I honestly believe, I honestly believe
in all seriousness, that in the midst of
everything else going on, even though there are
natural explanations for some of the pressure and
so on, that for us as a community,
okay, this is part of God's way to
get us to go after Him with more
passion and more earnestness and more focus and
more intensity and more commitment as a pattern
for who we have to be for the
rest of our lives in ministry.
It's been spoken to us so many times
in so many different ways from people in
our own midst and from others with burdens
that we will succeed, I mean, in God's
eyes, succeed in the work He's called us
to do to the extent that it is
prayed in and bathed in prayer and kept
in prayer.
That the work will only move forward to
the extent it is prayed for.
That we will only have blessing to the
extent that we are a house of prayer.
And that is easier said than done.
And yet, we have no alternative.
We have no choice.
We have no way out.
Some of you are like that in your
own personal lives.
You are backed against the wall.
That can either be the place of leaning
on the flesh and doing the wrong thing,
and maybe for a moment, getting some temporary
relief.
And I'm not telling you here that if
you had to go and get a loan
for something that you're in sin or you're
guilty of what Asa was doing, unless God
plainly spoke to you and absolutely said, do
not do this, I'll come through for you.
I'm not saying that if you go out
tonight, if you gave the money you had
in your pocket and you go out tonight
to get something to eat and use a
credit card, I can't believe you sinned and
you wait for God to supply you and
die.
I'm not laying that on anybody.
I'm not thinking that.
I'm not saying that.
I'm talking about a much larger thing.
I'm talking about a much larger battle, a
much larger issue.
And the thing that's interesting is as we've
all prayed, and you would think, you know,
the leadership team in particular carrying the burden
of so much going on, you would think
that we'd be able to, you know, between
us that we'd figure something out.
Or we'd hatch some new plan or we
do things differently.
And God just keeps saying, just go after
me.
I'm with you.
Go after me and start this new thing
and send these people out and give more.
The most recently he spoke to us to
do was to give more.
I don't mean he said take 90%
of everything that comes in and live on
10%.
It wasn't even a radical thing, but it
was still a specific directive.
The one recent specific directive that we got
from the Lord was to give more.
I believe though, and I talk about the
money to talk about the larger thing, which
is this.
Somehow, on a deeper level, with what God's
calling us into, with the urgency of the
hour.
And when I say the urgency of the
hour, I don't mean because there's war, and
I don't mean because we're at a certain
date in the prophetic calendar.
I mean because it is an urgent day
and an urgent season when God is doing
extraordinary things and the devil's at work.
And we've been in the last days for
2,000 years and the intensity only increases.
Somehow, we must hear God's heart call to
go after him even more.
We were so blessed when part of the
FIRE student body came to leadership and said,
listen, we have a burden on a particular
day to set that day aside to fast.
And when we're not in class, to just
gather together in one room and pray, go
after God.
Can we just be released to do it?
What an encouragement to us.
I'm not saying be in competition with one
another.
And how much is this one praying?
Well, I've got to pray more and earn
brownie points or something.
I'm just saying that there's a squeezing.
We felt it so deeply.
We carry the weight of a lot of
lives, a lot of people, a lot of
situations.
My dear friend in India, Yesupatam, every day
has to provide 1,500 meals.
And there's no guaranteed monthly support that he
knows is always going to be there.
And you've got several hundred children that are
going to be fed three times a day
and workers out in the field and others.
And where's the money going to come from?
And you say, yeah, well, it only costs,
you know, you can support a full time
worker there for 30, 40 dollars a month
in that part of the world.
True.
But when another full time worker makes a
dollar a day or two dollars a day,
that means money is not easy to come
by.
And you're in that situation.
I share with Yesupatam, we talk often and
share our hearts.
And he has been so delighted to hear
about the money pressure we're under.
He is so thrilled.
He said, brother, he said, this to me
is the best proof of all that you're
in the center of the will of God.
He said, every major thing I've ever done
for God, I've been under extraordinary pressure.
The money hasn't been there and yet God
comes through.
So I hope you hear my heart.
This is not an unbelieving.
What are we going to do?
Nor am I preaching this to try to
trick God.
You see, not everybody knows you're going to
have to do something.
I told everybody about our situation, how I've
been trusting you and praying to you.
And if you don't come through, they're all
going to know.
There's no manipulation in this.
You may think like that, but I don't
think like that.
I've had people judge me all the time.
You know what it tells me?
The junk that's in their heart.
Because I don't think like that.
I'm just telling you that God laid this
word on my heart.
I preached it, but not talking much about
money at all.
In New York, I felt led to preach
it.
I felt led to bring it again tonight.
It's a life and death thing to seek
the Lord, to go after Him, to press
in, to shut down other things and cry
out to God.
In the midst of the pressure, in the
midst of the intensity.
And as sure as I'm standing here, God
will be faithful to back His work.
And I'm saying this not just for fire,
I'm saying this for individual lives.
I'll be done in a moment.
Hudson Taylor, before going out on the mission
field to China, determined to live completely by
faith in London.
Again, if you are living by faith and
your needs are not being supplied and you
are becoming a burden to other people, then
you're not in faith to get a job.
And Scripture is explicit on it.
And don't bail people out that are lazy.
You're not helping them, you're hurting them.
Don't bail people out that are in a
spiritual fantasy.
I remember the first school where I was
teaching.
One of the gals there was way behind
in paying her tuition.
And she came in to see the director
of the school and she said, I'm here
by faith.
He said, no, you're here by my good
grace.
But Hudson Taylor lived this thing out.
He determined while he was in school not
to get support from his uncle, not to
get support from his father.
And he wrote to each of them and
said, I've gotten support from another source, hoping
that they would each think the other one
did it.
Of course, they figured out quickly enough what
he had done, but his other source was
God.
And he figured if I can't live by
faith and make it in China, in England
rather, it's not going to work in China.
I'm just telling you what he did.
But he proved the thing out and was
pressed right to the end.
Sometimes one particular account, he just had one
coin in his pocket and the poor man
needed it and it was going to be
the difference for his wife to get medical
help.
But his only coin, it was one of
these agonizing things and he knew he had
to give it.
Boom, it was a major breakthrough in his
life.
The last thing he had saved a life.
And there was a time when there were
multiplied hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of workers in the China Inland Mission, full
time, who never made their needs known, were
all faith missionaries.
That is not the calling for everybody and
it is not unbelieving to make needs known.
It's done throughout Scripture.
Paul shared needs, Moses shared needs, David shared
needs.
It's commonly done in Scripture.
But somehow or another in our own lives,
forget the money thing, be it with sickness,
disease, be it with spiritual opposition, be it
with pressure, be it with difficulty, be it
with things that you come against, you will
be pressed beyond measure.
You will meet with enemies that are too
big for you.
And the only alternative is to seek God,
seek God, to go after God, to press
in after God, to take hold and not
let go.
Whether it be in protracted prayer and fasting,
whether it be in sometimes we may gather
in the near future at fire and just
set aside whole days and gather as a
community and just go after Him.
Whichever form it takes on, this is for
you and God to work out.
I'm not laying anything on anybody.
But I'm saying we seek God and we
live, we prosper in Him and we are
blessed and we seek Him and go
forward and we are enabled to do everything
He's called us to do and we don't
seek Him and it all sinks.
So we're going to stand to our feet
together.
If you need a title for the message,
you could just call it, Seek the Lord.
This is not the key now to every
breakthrough, the next five minutes, OK?
But we do want to pray together and
then release all those that want to go.
I may leave in a few minutes and
go home, spend more time in prayer.
So we're not judging by the clock, OK?
We're not laying a trip on anybody.
But we're going to go after the Lord.
Just out of curiosity, obviously, any time you
preach on prayer and seeking God, it's relevant.
I mean, always preach a message on loving
God.
How many find it relevant?
Well, everybody always.
But how many of you find this particularly
relevant at this time in your life?
Would you raise your hands?
OK, well, good for all those that it
applies, especially for those that it doesn't.
Tuck it away.
It will apply one time or another.
Amen.
We just specifically want to pray for a
few folks.
Some of our leadership have slipped out already
because of heavy schedules.
We want to be remembering again.
I'm just asking to keep this in mind
over the weekend to pray for Josh Peters,
John Kava, Bob Gladstone as they're out ministering
or Bob will be out in the West
Coast and Josh and John will be in
North Carolina.
It's a critically important work with us.
Keith, where are you going to be?
Tallahassee.
And as you know, I'm always pray for
me because I'm always out somewhere ministering in
Long Island and back in New York.
But there's some folks that are that are
with us tonight that we won't be seeing
again for a while or while they're here.
We just want to especially pray for them.
So, Farrell, why don't you just come on
up here?
Tim, if any of your family that's here,
just come on up.
Tina, would you want to come up so
we could surround you and pray?
And the Ellwoods back there.
Any other grads that have been away for
a while?
Little John Joe, if you guys want to
come up.
We just want to pray for some of
our family and friends and co-workers, folks
that are going to be sent out.
Bless the Lord.
We're going to surround them and pray.
And then just corporately, first of all, we'll
pray corporately, then we'll pray for them.
And then we'll release Aaron and the team
to just go whichever way you want to
go.
Those who want to stay and pray.
Great.
Hey, guys.
Good to see you.
OK.
Anybody I'm missing, Scott, that's on their way
out or just here for a little while?
OK.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to cry out to God together
just for corporate breakthrough.
OK?
Just in one concerted way that God will
remove every barrier, that he'll bring us fully
in line with everything he wants to do,
and that he'll bring release and that it
will be clear it's his hand.
OK?
We want him to be glorified.
Whatever the thing is we're talking about, be
it the financial that I used as a
major illustration tonight, be it anything else, we're
just going to believe corporately.
Whether it's doors open for ministry, whether it's
household changes of radical nature, whether it's life
and death health things, we're just going to
cry out with one voice to God.
OK?
And then, first, our fire staff and leaders
that are here, we want to surround these
guys and then other fire grads and then
other fire family.
Any of you that know any of these
folks here, we just want to pray a
blessing on them.
OK?
How much longer are you here, Alice, before
you go out?
OK.
You might as well stand up with Tina
since you guys will be seeing each other
a lot.
Praise God.
Alright, in one focused way, as if we're
shooting an arrow of prayer heavenward.
OK?
We're going to cry out for God to
move and act and break through, break down
every barrier, move things out of the way
and give complete victory and answer supernaturally from
heaven.
Amen?
So lift your voices with me.
Everybody lift your voices.
Just begin to cry out.
Father, Father, mighty God, mighty
God, it's written in the Word that the
righteous cry out and the Lord hears.
The righteous cry out and the Lord hears.
When we're pressed and pushed against the wall
and we've been seeking God and going after
him, this is not a new innovation.
This has been our pattern, our habit, our
heart.
We cry out when the forces of darkness
come against you, when that death report comes
against you, when there's no way out report
comes against you.
We cry out in obedience to God with
a pure heart, with clean hands.
He answers from heaven.
Father, Father, Father, we cry out to you,
living God, not to impress you with noise,
but to say our hearts are crying out
in faith.
Our hearts are crying out, pressed beyond measure.
You are faithful.
God, we thank you for all the good
fruit that is being produced and is going
around the world.
We thank you, O God, for the work
that you have started.
Now we pray, bring it to the next
place.
Bring it to the next level.
Father, in the name of Jesus, open the
windows of heaven.
Open the windows of heaven and pour out
blessing that there is no room to contain.
By your spirit, rebuke the devourer in every
life here.
Be it in sickness and disease, be it
in robbed opportunities and closed doors, be it
in finances, be it in depression or discouragement.
Rebuke the devourer, Father, by the power of
your spirit.
Father, Father, gracious God, gracious God.
And I want you to just think about
any wall.
What's the biggest wall that you're facing now?
Be it a wall of everybody being against
the calling in your life.
Be it a wall of no finances.
Be it a wall of massive physical health
attack.
Be it a wall of no vision, no
direction.
Be it a wall of depression, opposition, fear,
whatever it is.
The children of Israel fell.
Don't wait for the walls to fall.
Look at that and if God's telling you
forward march, those walls must come down.
What are those walls?
Who are the Goliaths standing against the living
God?
Who are the ones saying you cannot take
this land?
Look at those walls.
Nobody's ever knocked down these walls.
Nobody's ever come this way before.
What are those walls?
Can't happen in a Muslim land.
What are those walls?
Can't go against the system.
What are those walls?
Look, you're being naive.
Doesn't work.
Face those walls.
Unbelief, fear, face them.
Great God.
Our God is triumphant.
We are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us.
I love what Catherine Booth said, the waters
are rising and so am I.
I'm not going under, I'm going over.
We are overcomers.
Whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory by which we
overcome the world.
Even our faith.
Often we're commanded and exhorted to shout in
Scripture.
Several occasions where we're commanded to in the
Psalms.
Several occasions the people of Israel were commanded
to shout.
We're just going to do it.
When I say hallelujah, I want you to
let out a sustained shout.
Let it be a shout of victory.
Let it be a shout of faith.
Let it be a shout of saying God
is with us and the walls are coming
down.
Let it be a shout that says I
refuse to bow down to the fear.
I refuse to bow down to the pressure.
I refuse to be manipulated.
I refuse to turn back.
When I say hallelujah, I want you to
raise a shout of victory.
Let this be our demonstration that brings shock
and awe in the enemy's camp.
Hallelujah.
Shout to God.
Shout to God with the voice of Christ.
The walls must come down.
Come let us sing for joy to the
Lord.
Let us shout aloud to the rock of
our salvation.
Yes Lord.