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I want to talk to you this morning
about the unreasonableness of faith.
Faith is totally illogical, totally unreasonable.
The unreasonableness of faith.
This message has been borne out of fire
and floods.
It may seem a little disjointed.
I don't even know where I'm going to
go with it.
But I know it's burning in my heart.
I didn't borrow it.
I didn't get it from a book.
I got it in a hospital room.
Father, I thank you.
How precious you are to us in the
time of need.
And Father, I sense and I know in
the spirit that there are many that are
here this morning that are going through the
testing time of their life.
Many that are discouraged to the point of
being at wit's end.
And Lord, I know that you always have
a word for us.
How faithful you are.
Lord, I come as your servant and I
yield my body, my spirit, my mind and
all to you.
Lord, you've been speaking to me in a
little hospital room while waiting on my wife
and just speaking into my heart something for
this body this morning, but mostly for my
own heart.
And the way you spoke to my heart
and your great love and mercy and how
to get out of despondency, how to get
out of the feeling of despair, whatever the
enemy may bring into our lives.
And we pray this morning that you would
speak supernaturally to everyone hearing we pray in
Jesus name.
Amen.
You know, when God demands of us believe,
have faith, he's making the most unreasonable request
ever made to mankind.
The very definition of faith is unreasonable.
We are told that faith is the substance
of things hoped for, evidence of things not
even seen.
There's no evidence.
It's totally beyond logic.
And he asked us to believe and to
have faith.
Now, let's talk about this unreasonableness of faith.
I'm going to take you into the Old
Testament and then into the New Testament, just
give you a picture of how unreasonable it
is, and then you'll understand a little more
about what you're going through and how to
face it.
At least this is how God delivered me
from, it's not just this time we all
go through.
You know, people that are discouraged, people are
going through it, don't live there.
God delivers you and there can be a
whole season, a wonderful season when you're free
and rejoicing.
It's called the good times.
Enjoy them, because the discouragement is going to
come flooding in again.
And usually troubles come in threes and fours
and tens and twelves.
And sometimes it never seems to end.
But consider the faith demanded of Noah.
When you stop and look at this picture,
you see how totally illogical it is.
There's no sense, there's no rhyme, there's no
reason given to this man.
Here's a generation that's spun out of control
completely.
A generation of giants that are giving birth
to what the Bible calls mighty men.
A generation that has gone so far that
God says, I can't handle it anymore.
It's beyond my ability to stand with it.
It's enough.
I'm going to destroy mankind.
And in this time of murder and violence,
God comes to this man, Noah, and he
says, I'm going to destroy mankind.
Their violence has come up before me and
I want you to build an ark.
And you've got 120 years yet of mercy.
And in that 120 years, I want you
to build an ark and I want you
to collect two of all animals on the
face of the earth.
Now, folks, he had to be collecting that
for 120 years.
I don't know how long.
It may have been the last 20 years
after the ark was built.
I don't know.
But can you conceive of how unreasonable a
request this is?
And to feed them and to provide food
for all of these animals.
And he comes to and gives him the
size of it.
He gives him the width and the length
and one door and one window.
God speaks to this man and gives him
this incredible step of faith.
And he's to do this in spite of
the fact that there were giants all around
him and mighty men, the scripture says.
And these were violent men, violent giants, violent
people all around them, skeptics.
And God says it's going to rain for
40 days and 40 nights.
And he had to explain to him what
rain was.
And for 40 days and 40 nights is
going to be this cataclysmic event come.
And all he is given is a word,
just a word from God, just directions from
God, just a word.
That's what this is.
That's what this book is.
It's the word of God.
And that's all he's given.
And he's asked no evidence, no nothing else.
God didn't send an angel down there as
an architect in human flesh and draw him
the design.
He gave him the design.
He did it all.
It's totally unreasonable.
And he was told, believe this.
And he was told to keep his heart
moved with fear.
This whole time for 120 years, he keeps
his heart moved by fear on the sheer
word of God.
Nothing else.
No other evidence, nothing.
Now, folks, when you stop to think of
this task and how difficult it is, people
still believe it's impossible.
They mock it.
They say there's no such thing as a
flood.
How could he gather animals from all over
the earth at that time and in the
face of all this opposition when giants could
have broken through and destroyed?
I don't know how many times he must
have been thwarted in every area he turned.
How many times were he discouraged?
How many times did a voice come to
him and say, Noah, what are you doing?
This is foolish.
Are you sure you heard a voice?
Do you really have the word?
You're stepping out on this for 120 years.
This could be just a dream.
You're a fool.
But he kept coming back to the word
of the Lord.
And that kept him all this.
And that saved a whole generation.
Noah and his family.
Hebrews 11th chapter, if you'll turn there for
just a moment, speaks of Noah in verse
7, chapter 11, verse 7.
By faith, Noah.
This is all this man has.
This is the only thing this man has
to act in this most unusual way.
Boy, I'm so glad I was not living
in that day.
I'm so glad I was not Noah.
By verse 7, by faith, Noah, this is
all being warned of God of things not
seen as yet.
Evidence of things not seen.
He is told to do this, all of
this simply on an act of faith, believing
the word he prepared an ark to the
saving his house by the which he condemned
the world and became heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith.
What is the righteousness by faith?
Hearing the word, believing it and acting upon
it.
Nothing else.
One word.
I don't believe God kept coming back to
him time and time again.
He gave it to him and he says,
I want you for the next hundred and
twenty years to look back to this word
that I gave you and you live on
it, you act on it and you believe
it.
You say it's unreasonable.
There's no logic to this story whatsoever, but
God answered.
You think of Abraham.
God said, go out and leave your country.
Abraham says, where?
He said, I'm not telling you.
Just go.
Just get your family together, pack up and
start in a direction I'll tell you.
I'll give you direction.
I'll give you a pointer.
And he gives him his first step.
And that's all.
Nothing else.
Totally unreasonable.
You wives, how would you like if your
husband came to you?
And said, I have a word from God.
We're to move.
Where?
Well, I don't know.
But I want you to pack up.
I want you to we're selling everything.
The house goes on sale, the furniture, everything.
And we're going to slim it down and
we're going to get a few camels and
donkeys and we're going to we're moving.
There's no rhyme or reason to it.
It's a step of faith.
By faith, when he was called to go
out to a place which he should after
receive her inheritance, he obeyed.
He went out not knowing where he was
going, not knowing where he's going.
How often we want God to tell us
what's happening to us.
And while we're going through it, what's the
next step?
Where am I?
Where am I going, Lord?
Folks, I don't know where I'm going.
If you do, please tell me how you
worked it out with God.
I don't have this last idea what holds
tomorrow or down the road that we have
plans that we have made, but I don't
know how they're going to turn out.
I don't know the next step.
The Lord says, you go and I'll be
with you.
That's all he said.
I am will be with you.
And God said, that's all you need.
If I never give you another word, I'm
with you.
No harm can come to you.
Obedience.
He, you know, he takes him out on
a starry night and he says, Abraham, look
up, see the innumerable stars number, count them
if you can.
That's amazing.
He stands out in the story.
In those days, they didn't have lights.
They didn't have electricity.
Those nights were dark.
How the star, the heavens would light up.
And he says, hey, start counting, start right
there in the middle of that big, bright
star and start counting them.
Abraham must have shaken his head.
I remember being down in Marco Island on
vacation.
I'm standing on a starry night and I'm
thinking about how about God's grace and about
what my part is and what God's part
is in living a righteous life.
And and I heard a still small voice,
David, jump over the moon.
I thought that's that's not from God.
Jump over the moon.
And the Holy Spirit spoke and I said,
you can no longer, you can no more
save yourself, you can no more work your
way into my good graces than you can
jump over the moon.
And you've got to see how hopeless and
helpless it is to present any flesh to
God and be saved.
It's absolutely by faith, by grace alone.
He gives you the power.
He gives you.
Yes, he will enable you.
If folks, if one day I'm going to
jump more than over the moon, I'm going
over the sun and the stars and I'm
going to heaven, I'm going to glory in
that day.
Hallelujah.
He comes to him.
He says, I am the Lord.
And he believed in the Lord and he
counted it to him for righteousness.
There it is again.
Faith.
Counted obedience, not just believing, but acting on
that faith is counted for righteousness.
Faith demands that we hear the word of
God.
We hear his promises with no evidence and
that we act on it and base and
base our whole life and our future on
the word of God.
What about the children of Israel?
Think about the conditions that God brought them
into.
The Bible says he brought them to this
place where there are mountains on both sides
and the sea in front of them and
chariots from Pharaoh rushing down upon them.
And, you know, I look at that scene,
it's totally unreasonable.
To expect in my flesh, when I look
at that, I said, God, that doesn't seem
fair to me.
All their children are crying.
You can't get across that sea.
They have no boats, they have no rafts
and they get 20 feet in and it's
over their head.
What are they going to do with their
children?
And they look back.
All the spotters on the hills can see
the dust of these chariots.
Lord, in one night you threw all the
firstborn.
Why didn't you just lay all of those?
Why didn't you slay all those charioteers and
that army and leave them in the desert?
What's the difference in drowning them in the
water or leave them die in the dust?
And I said, Lord, that doesn't seem fair.
It's unreasonable that with all the crying children
and they've obeyed you and yet you allow
this thing and God led them into this
situation.
But God expected them to believe the word
they'd been given.
The word was, I am going to take
you in my arms and I'm going to
carry you through a wilderness.
And I am going to let no enemies
going to prosper against you.
And I will be with you.
Just stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord.
It was a word that God gave to
them.
And I want to tell you something.
God has absolutely no patience.
He's a patient, loving God, but he has
no patience whatsoever with unbelief.
He's done.
And my flesh wants to say, well, Lord,
give them a little slack.
Man, these people, if I'd been there, I'd
have been crying.
I'd have been murmuring and complaining.
Believe me, I would, because I've done it
on this side of the sea.
Come on, you look at 10 times God
brought them into place.
He brings them into tomorrow to the bitter
waters and he's waiting for 10 times.
The Bible said they provoked him 10 times,
provoke, provoke, provoke.
What is the provocation of Israel in the
wilderness?
Time and time again, God was trying to
find something of faith in them on which
he could build.
He was trying to find a testimony to
all the world and to all history that
here's a people when I take them into
hard places, I expect them to act on
my word so that the testimony that my
word, this is the living God.
The word is here in its life.
And God wants that known.
He wants it to be practiced.
Folks, we have no other way to get
out of any situation we're in except the
word of God.
You tell me of any doctor, psychologist, preacher,
evangelist, anybody in the face of earth can
get you out of any situation you're in.
You say, well, send me a millionaire and
I'll show you how to get out.
No, because if you got out of that,
you'd have some affliction hit your body.
You have something happen to your family.
They can't get you out of all of
these things.
There is only one hope, and that's the
living word of God.
Unreasonable?
Yes.
But God demands of us that we act
and believe and act on his word.
You know, this is the question was asked.
Why is there no food?
Why is there no water?
Why are we in this condition?
Why did you bring us out here to
kill us?
And I don't think it's changed.
We don't use the same words, but Lord,
why this test?
Why am I going through this present condition
that I'm in now beyond my comprehension?
We still keep asking that.
And folks, God is a loving father, but
I don't believe he owes us an explanation
when he's given us the answer.
He's given us everything that we need in
Christ Jesus, all that we need for life
and godliness, all we need for every situation
in life has been given to us.
And so it was with these in the
wilderness.
You know, the Lord has at his disposal
all the resources.
He has the willingness.
And he could just speak the word at
any moment and deliver you and me out
of every situation before we go into it.
He could do it halfway through.
He can do it at any time.
And you have to have this in your
mind.
I know that God has the authority.
He has the power.
He has the resources.
And he does not put suffering on his
people promiscuously for no reason.
He doesn't allow us.
Now, the Bible says that God himself led
the children of Israel into that condition, into
that scary place.
And some of you are in that frightening
place where you feel stripped and you feel
empty, you feel hopeless and you feel helpless.
And what does God expect of you?
Folks, God allows that human flesh to have
its tantrum.
We're human, yes, and there are times I'll
tell you what, people, when some loved one
dies, I know when Jiffy died, people don't
understand.
You know, some people think if you have
faith, you don't cry.
No, if you have faith, you do cry.
And I cried a river of tears and
others, and there's healing power in that.
But you didn't hear from our family.
You didn't hear the complaint, God, why did
you do this?
Why did you do this?
What did I do?
And sometimes when we get in these places,
we say, Lord, what kind of sin did
I commit?
What did I do wrong?
Is this judgment?
Some of you right now are going through
the greatest trial you've ever had.
You are as discouraged as you've ever been.
Now, God wouldn't deal with me like this
and give me this message for you unless
he intended you to hear something of a
supernatural kind of voice from heaven to show
you that the situation you're in right now
is common to all men.
It's not unusual.
When we set out on our mailing list,
announced about Tiffany's passing, 13-year-old granddaughter
from Kansas, there's hundreds and hundreds of letters
from all over the world.
And I was shocked at the numbers who
wrote, said, we lost our three-year-old
granddaughter to brain cancer, so many from brain
cancer, children.
A mother who wrote, said her daughter, day
after 9-11, was sitting in the schoolyard.
They were sitting with the family and a
tree branch falls, hits her on the head
and kills her.
And one after another, my 16-year-old
daughter was murdered and mutilated.
And they were encouraging us.
They were not writing and complaining and saying,
why did he do that?
Why did God allow that?
Folks, I don't know how these things, but
that's what happened.
The children of Israel kept asking why when
all the time they had the word of
the Lord, they had all the resources they
needed if they would have drawn upon them,
if they were to really believe what God
said.
And it's an amazing thing.
God doesn't come along with anything other than
his word.
He comes.
Yes, he sends angels at times, but he
does that for those who believe his word.
He's not an impatient God.
He allows us to express our fears.
He allows us to say, I'm overwhelmed.
I feel down.
And sometimes you'll pick up the phone and
call somebody and, yes, you don't take it
out on God, but you say, this is
over me.
I'm at wit's end.
And it's a form of murmuring and complaining,
but maybe not meaning any harm.
And God gives you time for that.
But, folks, I want to tell you, and
I warn you in the love of God,
and I know from the experiences that I've
had with a lot of suffering in ministry
and in the family, spiritual, physical, mental, all
kinds.
I don't know any man or woman if
God hadn't gone to hell and back with
one trial difficulty after another.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and
the Lord delivers them out of them all.
Yes, but how?
He allows you to go through that.
But if you hang on to that, why?
If you hang on to those questions, if
you hang on to the doubt and unbelief,
you're going to spin out into a pit
that you can never get out.
You're going to harden your heart.
You're going to get angry at God.
And the Lord expects you.
He'll give you time.
But there comes a time that you have
to lay hold of the Word of God.
And if you just sit and languish in
your affliction, if you just sit and languish
and go over questions, Lord, how did this
happen?
Where am I going next?
What's going to happen next?
And you don't get into this book and
you don't get a hold of the promises.
He's given us every promise we need for
every condition.
And finally, the Lord will come to you
and say, look, you have no excuse for
your feelings right now.
You have no reason to accuse me or
to doubt me.
You have none whatsoever, because I have given
you a promise.
I've given you everything that you need, and
I expect you to lay hold of it
now.
And if you lay hold of it, I'll
anoint that word by the Holy Spirit and
it'll become life to you.
It'll be healing power above any medicine you
could ever know or take.
The Word of the Lord.
This is the answer.
It's the only answer.
It's the only hope.
It's the only hope for Israel.
And this scripture says, here's the promise that
had been made to them before they marched.
I will bring you out of affliction into
a land flowing with milk and honey.
No one will be able to stand against
you.
The great I am will be with you.
Not a promise shall fail.
But hear that again.
I will bring you out of affliction.
I don't know who I'm talking to, but
to some of you here this morning that
are in great affliction, God's promised to you,
I will bring you out of your affliction.
This is going to pass.
Every one of those trials, those ten trials
of Israel passed.
They ended up, their carcasses lying dead in
the wilderness, simply because they would not enter
in, the scripture says, because of unbelief.
Someone they had heard did provoke him.
So I swore in my wrath, they shall
not enter into my rest.
That unbelief aroused the wrath of God to
a loving people that were destined to be
his witnesses for all time and into eternity.
But they would not go back and remember
and stand on the word of God.
They wanted something reasonable.
They wanted something they could see and feel
and touch.
They wanted somebody to spell out their pathway.
But that's not faith.
Faith is saying God has given me a
promise, and I lay hold of that promise,
and I'm going to live and die on
that promise.
I'm going to cast my whole life, everything
I have on the word of the living
God.
Hallelujah.
With whom was he grieved for 40 years?
Was it not with them who had sinned,
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
They believed not.
So we see they could not enter into
his rest because of unbelief.
And folks, you can go into the Bible
from cover to cover in scripture.
You find men and women of God going
through great troubles and great afflictions.
It's all through the Bible.
It's all about the afflictions of mankind.
The psalmist wrote in his affliction, why is
my soul cast down?
Why this restlessness in me, this quietness in
me?
He said, why do I feel so helpless
and so useless in my affliction?
Have you ever been there, folks, when you
felt helpless and say, I'm not of use
to anybody?
And that's what came over David.
You hear Elijah under juniper tree begging God
to kill him.
He's so downcast, he's ready to quit on
life and his ministry.
Jeremiah cried out, Lord, you've deceived me.
And I was deceived.
I will no longer mention your name.
He said, that's it.
I don't understand this, God.
And what he was really saying, I've done
nothing but seek you and given my life
to you.
I've prayed, but I feel now that I
have been deceived.
Lord, you've deceived me because everything that you
told me to preach, I don't see any
of it happening.
I've been made a fool, is what he's
saying.
Now, God understands that.
But I want to show you how these
men came out of it and how in
the middle of their affliction, the Spirit of
God came down, turned the light on and
showed them the answer.
Remember what David said.
David said, thy words were found and I
consumed them.
No, I'm sorry.
David said, Jeremiah cried, Lord, thou hast deceived
me and I was deceived and I will
no longer mention his name.
His despair, though he cried out, thy words
were found and I did consume them.
And thy word was unto me the joy
and rejoicing of my heart, for I am
called by thy name, O Lord, God of
hosts.
David said, I remembered your word.
Elijah said, Lord, your word came back to
me.
Jeremiah saying, I remembered your word and that
word became the joy and rejoicing of my
heart.
And it was the remembering of his word.
It was coming back to his word that
all of these men go all through the
Old Testament.
You'll find the same story.
These men came out of it, not by
counselors.
The Lord waited, he listened to their human
outcry.
And now he says, all right, you've cried
it out, you've had your time.
Now will you trust me?
Will you go back to my word?
Will you lay hold of that promise?
If you lay hold of that promise, I'm
going to see you through.
Folks, it doesn't matter how you got into
your trial.
It doesn't matter how you got discouraged, whether
it came from God, whether a situation God
has allowed or whether the devil brought it
into your life or whether it's your flesh.
It doesn't matter how or where it came
from.
The only thing that matters is how you
get out of it.
And there's no other way out of it
but this.
You go to the New Testament and suddenly
you find out what appears to be the
most unreasonable demands ever made on mankind.
Can you imagine the Jews for centuries, they've
been taught and they've been looking for this
messiah and this messiah that they believe is
coming, is coming in majesty and power.
He's going to come with an army.
It's going to be such a mighty army.
He's going to overrule every army on earth.
He's going to go into Rome and destroy
the Roman Empire and break the yoke of
the Romans from their neck.
And they anticipate that he's going to make
them a prosperous nation, the greatest nation on
earth.
And this mighty deliverer called the Messiah is
going to come and set them free from
their poverty and no more pain, no more
sickness.
And he's going to come in great majesty.
Instead, he comes on a donkey.
He comes born in a stable.
He comes with an unreasonable life history.
No earthly father.
An immaculate conception.
And here are these Jews that all their
lifetime anticipating this kind of messiah.
And here comes this lowly man, this meek,
lowly Nazarene.
And they say, we know who his father
is.
We know his mother.
He's a carpenter and he's calling himself God
in flesh.
Folks, it was the most unreasonable thing to
expect from these people, faith.
How do you believe somebody that's fixing your
dining room table is God?
How do you believe that this man here
in Jerusalem, Gamaliel, sits with hundreds of young,
brilliant scholars?
And here are the scribes, the brilliant men
of the day, they're teaching in palaces.
And here is the man who cries he's
the Messiah.
And he's up by the river or in
a hillside teaching the poor and the lepers
and the lame.
And he's saying, believe in me, I'm God
in flesh.
You hear this man saying, unless you eat
my body and drink my blood, you can't
get to heaven.
And they've been spending all these years working
themselves to heaven with 663 rules and regulations.
And he comes along and said, just trust
me.
I'm from the father.
If you see me, you've seen the father.
If you don't believe in me, you don't
believe in God.
You think that if you were there, you
would have, oh, thank you, Jesus.
You are my Lord and my savior.
No, no, no, no.
Now you stop and think about this for
a minute.
The absolute illogic, the absolute unreasonableness of the
demands of faith.
This man does miracles and they don't believe
him.
He said, at least believe me for the
miracle's sake, but they won't believe it.
And Jesus says, I am the living son
of God.
No man comes to the father except by
me.
Now you go into the temple and you
watch him rush into that temple with cords
and he's driving out the money changers.
And they're saying he won't even tell us
where he got the authority to do this.
We don't know who he is.
Think of a lowly man dressed in a
seamless robe and picture this as a synagogue
without the electricity and all the finally we
have here.
And a man walks in, a man walks
in and he picks up the Torah and
he opens to start reading from Isaiah about
the coming of the Messiah.
And he closes the book.
He says, I'm that man.
And the Lord says, believe it.
The Pharisees are crying out, unreasonable.
The Pharisees, he said, he that heareth my
word and believeth on me shall have everlasting
life.
The Pharisees cry out, you bear record of
yourself.
Your record isn't true.
In other words, you're telling us that we're
to believe just your word.
To take you at your word.
Look at this, so I won't over preach
you.
I've been thinking about that this past week.
The demands of faith.
When God speaks to a whole generation and
he comes, he says, I'm the living word.
He that believeth in me shall never hunger
and never thirst.
That's all glory.
I don't have to work anymore.
He's going to feed us.
Maybe he is the Messiah.
Until he said, then eat my body and
drink my blood.
And the saying was too hard.
How do you believe this when you can't
comprehend?
Jesus said, I bear record of myself.
Yes.
Yet my record or my word is true.
I am one who bears witness of myself.
And the father that sent me beareth witness
of myself.
Why don't you understand?
Because you cannot hear my word.
And that's why we don't understand our afflictions.
That's why we don't understand.
Because we are not hearing what he said.
In our despair, in our hard times, we
go down and lay down in that despair
and just question.
And we let this drag on and on
and on.
When all you need to do is, you
don't even have to get on your knees.
Just say, oh, Holy Spirit.
You said that that's the life.
These words are life.
And they're hope.
And you go to the psalms if you
have to go into his word.
Don't just open it up and say, Holy
Ghost, lead me.
Start in the first chapter and psalm and
start reading it.
Mark it and let God speak to you
by his word.
That's the only hope, folks.
We are living in a time, I'm going
to close in just a moment, we're living
in a time of the greatest revelation of
the gospel in the history of mankind.
We have more teachers.
We have more supplies.
We have more literature.
We have more help books.
There's not a famine of the preaching of
the word.
There's a famine of hearing and obeying the
word of God.
But there's not a famine of preaching.
There is powerful preaching all over the world
today.
Everywhere we go in any land, you'll find
powerful preaching, anointed preaching.
You'll find those who've been set in with
God.
And yet there's never been more distress.
There's never been any more affliction, mental, physical
and spiritual, never in history, in spite of
all of God.
You know, amazing thing, pastors today, and I
know, and God's been speaking to my heart
about this.
I'm going to wrap this up now.
Now, I want you to listen closely.
Pastors now are having to spend almost all
their time praying and getting messages to try
to pick people up, pick their chin off
the ground, how to conquer fear, how to
do this, and five points to do this,
and five steps to this, and how to
deal with affliction and despair, and all of
these things.
Helps.
Lifting up.
Folks, there's nothing wrong with that.
But you see, the real problem, the real
issue is this.
He has already given us a word.
It's here.
It's finished.
And God expected it out of Israel.
He expected it out of the Jews.
He expects it out of you and expects
it out of me.
That I don't need a preacher coming to
me with steps.
I don't need somebody trying to just keep
propping me up.
Trying to bring me some human source of
encouragement.
I have got to believe what God said
and I have to take quality time and
get here and study the word until I
bring out of a message of hope.
I want to close with this.
Five more minutes.
I want to give you an imagined conversation
between the Lord and I'll call this man
Discouraged Christian.
A little conversation.
Get your Bible out.
Put it on your lap and open to
Psalm 33, Psalm 32.
I got up early this morning, I was
sitting at my desk and praying and I
said, Lord, how do I close this message
and try to try to make it clear?
And I received this from the Holy Spirit.
It's just a simple little thought.
A conversation between the Lord and Discouraged Christian.
All right.
Discouraged Christian.
Comes to the Lord.
He says, Lord, I'm down and I'm discouraged.
You promised you would not allow me to
bear more than I would be able to
bear, but you'd make a way of escaping.
I don't see it.
I'm overwhelmed.
If you would only tell me, explain to
me what this is all about.
The Lord is answered.
Psalm 32.
The Lord says, go to Psalm 32.
You don't believe the Lord speaks like that.
He spoke to me this morning and told
me to go there for you and for
myself.
Psalm 32.
Start in verse six.
For this shall everyone that is godly pray
unto thee in a time when thou mayest
be found.
Surely in the floods of great waters they
shall not come nigh unto him.
For thou art my hiding place.
Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.
Thou shalt compass me about with what?
Songs of deliverance.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in
the way which thou shall go.
I will guide thee with mine eye.
And folks, I want you to see that
the deliverance is on the way.
But the Lord said, I'm instructing you in
this process.
I'm guiding you into a new way that
don't be as the horse or as the
mule, which has no understanding, whose mouth must
be held in with bit and bridle, lest
they come near unto thee.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but
he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall
compass him about.
All right, we're talking about somebody in affliction.
What's it say?
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye
righteous, and shout for joy, all ye who
are upright in heart.
You say, unreasonable.
I'm hurting.
I'm in affliction.
Rejoice, be glad and shout.
Yes, because I am is on the throne.
Discouraged Christian.
Lord, I'm feeling helpless.
My strength is nearly gone.
Fear and doubts plague my mind.
I can't see a way out.
And the future looks so hopeless.
God says, go to Psalm 33.
Psalm 33, start verse 18.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon
them that fear him, upon them that hope
in his mercy.
Do you believe God sees you in your
time and in your affliction, in your discouragement?
That's what he said.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon
them that fear him, upon them that hope
in his mercy to deliver their soul from
death and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waiteth for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
Our heart shall rejoice in him because we've
trusted in his holy name.
Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us
according as we hope in thee.
We hope in your word.
One last conversation from discouraged Christian.
Lord, sometimes I feel I must have offended
you.
Is this troubled judgment of some kind?
And Lord, please tell me it's going to
end sometime.
God says, go to Psalm 34, start in
verse 6.
This poor man cried.
The Lord heard him and left him in
all of his troubles.
As my Bible says, it saved him out
of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord campeth round about
them that fear him and delivereth them.
O, taste and see that the Lord is
Lord's not being bad to you.
Lord is good.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Fear the Lord, for there's no lack or
no want to them that fear him.
The lions may lack and suffer hunger, but
they that seek the Lord shall not lack
or want any good thing.
Look at verse 15.
The eyes of the Lord upon the righteous,
and quote it with me, his ears are
open unto the cry.
Verse 17, out loud.
The righteous cry, the Lord heareth and delivereth
them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them of a
broken heart, save such as are of a
contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
Let's stand.
Hallelujah.
And the last word, the last verse, the
Lord redeems the soul of his service.
None of them that trust in him shall
be left desolate.
None that trust in him shall be left
desolate.
You will be left in your situation.
Oh, Jesus, forgive us for our unbelief.
Lord, we're stressed out because we don't believe.
We are in affliction so long and we're
not getting out of it because we don't
believe.
Lord Jesus, forgive our unbelief this morning.
You're here to tell us there's no reason
for you to stay where you're at.
You can move out of it today.
You can make a move of faith right
now.
Lord, this faith demands that we go back
into your word.
We don't pick up the phone.
We don't expect it to come just from
a preacher.
It comes from digging into your word.
God, get us back into the Bible.
Get us back into the word so that
we can have the resources we need in
time of trouble.
Glory be to God.
Thank you, Jesus, for your love this morning.
Now, I'm going to give an older call,
an invitation for those in this place.
I believe that some of you that are
visiting here today, the Lord sent you.
He arranged all this.
You thought it just happened.
There's no such thing as happenstance with the
Lord.
He brought you here.
This is one of the simplest messages I've
ever preached.
He brought a simple message to you.
He wants to deliver you today, not just
by laying on of hands, not just by
somebody praying for you, but for you saying,
Lord, I'm going to step out of this
by faith, and I'm going to quickly get
into your word, and I'm going to lay
hold of a promise, and I'm going to
stay on that promise until I see total
victory in my life.
That has to do with temptation.
It has to do with affliction.
It has to do with discouragement.
It has to do with fear, bondage of
any kind.
The Lord loves you, but he expects you
to obey what he said.
He expects you now not to expect deliverance
from any other source, but you digging into
his word.
You find the promise.
I gave you some, but I just told
you.
Do you understand it?
There were just three chapters there.
In three chapters, look at all the promises,
look at all the hope and help that
was given just out of three chapters.
Can you imagine the whole book of Psalm?
Can you imagine the whole book itself and
all that he said to take us through
the fires and the floods and everything and
we just trust in his word?
Father, find out those that are here this
morning who need a miracle at the risk
of the word of the living God.
Now, if you're here this morning, and I'm
going to narrow it down.
Otherwise, we'll just have the whole audience come
because we all have to go through these
times.
But if you're here this morning, and the
Bible calls it wit's end, means I can't
go any further.
I'm as discouraged as I've ever been.
And I need the Holy Spirit to touch
me today and lay this, I have to
have a victory.
Now, I want you to take your seat
and come and stand here.
We're going to believe God for you right
now.
Up in the balcony, go up the stairs
on either side and say, Brother Wilkson, this
message was for me.
I had to have this today.
Now, not just those who are here for
the first time, but those who come to
this church, you're welcome to join these.
If you're not right with God, you've been
running from the Lord.
Follow these that are coming.
Nobody needs to know why you're coming.
But you can come boldly to the throne
of grace now and receive mercy.
You step out and you believe the Lord
right now.
But don't come unless you say, I'm going
to believe God's word.
I'm going to step out in faith and
lay hold of God's word.
And in the annex, and in the overflow
rooms, you come from the overthrow rooms into
the big room and just move forward, stand
between the screens.
And I'll pray for you in just a
moment.
Step out.
You've got to identify this to yourself and
to God.
It's not just that there's a reason for
stepping out.
And that's saying, I'm taking a step of
faith.
I want you to take that step right
now.
I asked the Lord to give me a
word.
And when I ask God for a word,
you know, sometimes people say, well, I want
somebody to give me a word.
And someone just prophesies.
I'd rather stick to the Bible.
I'm going to stick right to the Bible.
And here's the word that I received for
those who came forward.
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, which
delivers the poor from him that's too strong
for him?
Hey, the poor and the needy from him
that spoileth him.
The enemy has come to try to spoil,
to defeat you.
And the Lord comes to you with this
word.
Who's like unto thee, O Lord, who delivers
the poor from him that's too strong for
him?
You see what you're going through.
You can't fight it in your flesh, can
you?
Some of you are tired fighting.
You're tired of what you're going through.
You're just tired and weary.
Don't try to fight it anymore.
Because you say, he said he's stronger than
all my enemies.
He's stronger than the forces of hell, all
demonic powers that come against me.
I'm going to trust in the Lord.
Hallelujah.
The eyes of the Lord are on the
righteous and his ears open to their prayer.
I want you to pray this prayer with
me right now.
Everyone that came forward, there may be others
who are standing here, did not move.
God sees your heart and he knows your
cry.
And if you pray this from your heart,
I believe God will answer.
Pray this with faith.
Pray it from your heart.
Lord Jesus, I don't understand.
I'm overwhelmed and I have hurt in my
heart.
Because I don't want to be angry at
you, Lord, but I need help today.
I can't go any further unless you give
me help and strengthen me.
Forgive my unbelief.
Forgive my questioning and send your word to
me.
Send a word directly to my heart that
I can stand on.
Oh, Lord Jesus, I know you love me.
You promised not to forsake me.
And you said that this was above me.
This is beyond me.
And my enemy is too strong for me.
And my conditions are too overwhelming.
But I come as a child to say,
Lord Jesus, restore my confidence, my faith in
your love and in your promise to keep
me and protect me and forgive me.
Now let me pray for you.
Father, I believe your word.
This is how you have brought me out
time and time again.
Every affliction.
Every discouragement.
Lord, you have sent your word to me.
You told me that prayer was not enough.
You can pray for hours.
You can cry for hours.
But until you stand on the word and
believe it, nothing's going to happen.
Lord, that prayer and all of our devotion,
all of our times seeking you in intimacy
has to end up in this.
For without faith, it's impossible to please God.
And they that come to him must believe
that he is.
And he's a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him.
But without faith, we can't please you.
Not our tears, nothing else.
So we come now and say, Lord, I
believe.
Lord, I believe your word.
Hallelujah.
Now, how does God send his word to
you?
You take the first step.
You've got to get this book open.
You find some quality time.
Turn off the television.
Turn off the radio.
Turn off everything.
Go to some quiet spot, even in the
office or wherever you can, wherever you can,
but especially at your home and say, Lord,
and you've got if you'll start in the
Psalms, don't go promiscuously through the song.
Start at verse one, chapter one.
Get a pen or pencil and mark it.
And he's not interested in how many chapters
you read.
You stop at a place where suddenly your
heart leaps.
This is where I am.
This is what I need to hear.
And you underline it in a circle and
just put a big knee right beside it.
And every time you go discouraged, go back
to that me and say, hey, that's me
right here.
Lord, I stand on that.
You gave me that word 10 days ago
and I'm standing on it now.
And you keep standing until you've got at
least 20, 30 verses that you can go
back to and remember.
And every time the devil comes and lies
to you and say your future is going
to be a mess and you're a mess
inside, I don't care what you think.
I can be a mess and still trust
God.
I can trust God with all my heart.
Hallelujah.
Lord, forgive our unbelief.
They that seek the Lord shall not lack
any good thing.
And the eyes of the Lord are open.
Hallelujah.
The Lord is near to those who have
a broken heart and he saves those of
a contrite spirit.
And again, this poor man cried.
The Lord heard him and saved him out
of his troubles, all of his troubles.
He saved him out of how many?
Once you just raise your hands and thank
God for his goodness to you right now.
Lord, we raise our hands and say, thank
you, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus.
Lord, I believe.
Help my unbelief.
Thank you for your precious word, Jesus.
Thank you for your precious word.
This is the conclusion of the message.