...is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit
Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge,
P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or
calling 903-963-8626.
None of these messages are copyrighted, and you
are welcome to make copies for free distribution
to friends.
Disappointments can be dangerous.
If you tell me this afternoon you don't
have disappointments, I want to know what planet
you came from.
Heavenly Father, we need your Word.
We thank you for the time of worship
and praise.
We have given to you, Lord, now give
to us your Word.
Break the bread of life.
Sanctify us, O God, to hear, give us
ears to hear what the Holy Spirit has
to say.
I honor you by standing here as your
servant now.
I honor your Word.
I honor you, Lord Jesus, and I pray,
Lord, that you come now, take authority over
every prince of power and power of darkness,
that nothing hinder the Word of God.
Nothing shall hinder this Word.
God, there are people here, Lord, this afternoon
that are wallowing in the anguish of disappointment,
and Lord, it's a dangerous place to be.
We've got to be careful.
So, Lord, teach us and woo us and
help us, Lord, to hear what you want
us to hear.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Disappointments can be dangerous.
Now, you know we've all in our lifetime
experienced various disappointments.
You know those times when you feel totally
defeated?
You can get so disappointed you feel dead
inside.
There seems to be no hope.
You've come to the wit's end, feeling of
despair because the thing that you had hoped
for didn't happen, the things you anticipated, prayed
about, waited for still lingers.
There's no answer.
It's to expect something, to hope for it,
and wait for it expectantly, and it doesn't
happen, and it brings disappointment, and often that
disappointment can turn to anguish.
Now, anguish is really pain.
It's when you feel such disappointment that you
can almost, it's almost impossible to put it
in words.
You're so disappointed it causes pain, anguish, a
sense of hopelessness, as if it's never going
to work.
No matter what I try, no matter what
I do, it's not going to work.
It's not working.
It will never work.
It brings this absolute anguish and despair.
I want to talk directly to you in
the service this afternoon who are overtaken by
a spirit of anguish, that grief, that pain
because of some disappointment.
Because you wake up every morning, there's a
cloud hanging over your head.
You try to sleep at night, it's still
there, that disappointment.
This could have to do with your marriage,
locked into a hopeless situation.
It can have to do with your job.
It can do with family, relatives.
It can do with your health.
Great disappointment can happen to many who can't
get victory over besetting sin.
That thing sets in and you get so
disappointed because you don't have victory.
Your battle is a losing battle.
You see, I feel so unclean.
I want to serve God with all my
heart.
I want to be honest about my walk
with God and I just can't seem to
get to victory.
And folks, that constant battle begins to wear
and tear on your spirit and you come
down hard and you're disappointed because you say
either I don't understand the word, I'm not
making it work, I'm told the Holy Ghost
give me power, I don't seem to get
that power.
Brings anguish to the soul.
And a lot of people are under that
kind of anguish.
I don't know what's caused your disappointment, but
I get letters from all over the country
and from around the world of people who
express the most incredible kinds of disappointments in
their life.
I'm thinking of a young pastor who many
years ago, his first pastor, went into this
little town and he was so zealous for
God and he was a praying man.
He sought God night and day in his
first church and he goes all excited.
I think there were 15 people.
This young pastor goes into that church all
fired up and he preaches his heart out
because he doesn't know it better but to
believe God to save the whole town.
So he prays, God save this town, make
us a soul winner.
He tried to fire up the people, but
that little 15 people had a little click
going.
They didn't want any soul saved because they
had fellowship.
They had this little thing going and this
pastor just poured his heart out and after
about three months they called him in and
sat him on a chair and began to
rail against him.
You're trying to tear this church apart and
just railed on him, accused him of everything,
and the poor kid, 21 years old, sat
there and just absolutely beside himself and so
much so he just got up, cried, and
walked out.
Anguish filled his heart and he went to
prayer and the young man said, God, is
that all there is?
You pour your heart out, you seek, you
fast, you pray, and you try to help
people and they turn against you?
Is this what the ministry is all about?
The young man was in total despair, absolute
despair, anguish, disappointed.
His first church.
You see, Moses came to this same point
of anguish because of a disappointment in his
calling.
In the fourth chapter of Exodus, he had
just introduced himself to the princes of Israel
and he said, God has called me to
lead you out of Egypt, out of this
fiery, this furnace of affliction, and he showed
them the two signs.
He put his rod on the ground and
it turned into a serpent.
He picks it up and it becomes a
rod.
He sticks his hand in his bosom and
he pulls it out and it's leprosy.
He puts it back in, the leprosy is
gone.
Incredible, miraculous signs, and the Bible says they
believed and they bowed their heads and they
began to worship.
This seemed like a wonderful thing God was
doing in Moses' life, a wonderful call.
Everything's working out right, but instead of deliverance,
Pharaoh increases their burden, the scripture says.
More work was laid on the people.
The people began to break under the load.
The taskmasters began to whip them.
The taskmasters, under the direction of Pharaoh, take
away the straw.
They used to have the Egyptians bring the
straw for the making of bricks at the
brick furnaces.
Now Pharaoh, under the tutelage of Satan himself,
takes away the straw and the burden is
increased.
More work is laid on.
They had the same quota but now they
had to go out scrounging for every little
blade of grass and straw and weed.
And now they're totally disappointed.
I want you to go to Exodus the
fifth chapter and I want to show you
something that is the heart of my message
here.
Exodus the fifth chapter.
And I want you to begin with me,
follow me at verse, let's start with verse
20.
They have just come out of a meeting
with Pharaoh, all the princes and leaders of
the people, the Israelites, and they've gotten the
word now that they're going, they said you're
too idle, you have time, if you can
think about having time to go out and
worship and to have a vacation, so to
speak, go out in the wilderness to sacrifice
to your God.
You've got too much time on your hand
and they increased the load, increased the burden.
And verse 20, they met Moses and Aaron,
they're coming out of Pharaoh's presence, who stood
in the way as they came forth from
Pharaoh.
They said unto them, the Lord look upon
you and judge because you've made our Savior
to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh,
in the eyes of his servants, and to
put a sword in their hand to slay
us.
You know what they're saying, Moses?
Things are worse since you came.
Before you came, we were at least able
to endure, but since you've came, you've come,
everything has gone wrong, everything has gone wrong.
And something happens now to Moses, and Moses
returned unto the Lord and said, Lord, wherefore
hast thou so evil and treated this people?
Wisest thou hast sent me, for since I
came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name,
he hath done evil to this people, neither
hast thou delivered thy people at all.
Now listen to the language of this meek,
holy, godly man.
Why are you treating your people in such
an evil way?
They've come to me and said, I might
as well have taken a sword and slain
them than to bring this kind of bondage
to them.
I've only increased their bondage.
God, why did you send me?
Nothing you said has worked out.
None of your promises have come true.
Nothing is working out.
You haven't delivered these people at all, and
not a sign of you being at work.
Have you ever at least thought that way?
Oh, at least be honest with me.
Nod or amen or something.
Lord, I pray, I seek you.
Why aren't things working out?
I haven't seen any sign of deliverance.
I haven't seen you do it, God.
Oh, yes.
See, Moses is in a dangerous position.
The children of Israel are in a very
dangerous position.
See, times of disappointment like this are very,
very dangerous because it brings you at a
crossroads and you have only two options.
Either, in this such a time, you either
reach out in one of two ways.
You can either give up.
You can give in and surrender to that
hopelessness, and if you do that, if you
give in to that disappointment, if you give
in to that anguish that comes upon you
and say, I don't understand this.
I have had it.
This is enough.
Moses could have done that.
He said, Lord, you sent me.
I have had 40 years in the wilderness.
I have walked before you.
I saw the burning bush.
I have walked honestly.
I came.
I gave everything.
I've done what you told me, and now
it's all blown up in my face.
All my directions are crisscrossed.
There's nothing to it.
It's not working.
You can't get away from it.
This man stands before God and says, you
have not been faithful to your word.
Now, he's at a point now where he's
got to either give in to that grief,
give in to that anguish, give in to
that disappointment, and if he does, he's going
to spend the rest of his life, like
Israel did, without joy, and they're going to
be wasted away and spend their whole lifetime,
38 years in the wilderness, without peace, without
the blessing of God, and they're going to
live in anguish the rest of their lives.
Or option two, you either, at that point,
cast yourself into the arms of Jesus and
say, I serve an almighty God.
I don't understand it, but I know my
God's on the throne, and you cast yourself
in the care of our Heavenly Father, an
almighty God.
You have to either jump in faith, take
a leap of faith, or you settle down
and surrender to your grief.
Some of you sitting here this morning, you
were disappointed when you were a child.
You were abused.
You had a hard lifetime.
I don't know what it is.
You could have been in a troubled marriage,
and you were bruised, and you carry a
hurt, and you carry disappointment.
Did somewhere along the line God allow you
to come to a crossroad like this, where
your disappointment, your anguish overwhelmed you, and you
had an option?
You either turn to the Lord and believe
what he says, because every time you're in
a place like this, God will send his
word to you.
God will send a preacher.
He'll put a book in your hand.
He'll put a word somewhere.
The word will come.
It's coming to you right now.
It came to Moses.
God didn't rebuke him.
He sent a word to him.
Then the word of the Lord.
Then the Lord said unto Moses, chapter 6,
Now shalt thou see what I'll do.
He comes with a whole list of promises
now.
He says, I'm going to deal with Pharaoh.
I'm going to do great things among my
people.
Do you know it's possible in a time
like this, when you're overcome with a disappointment,
you can spin out of control, and you
can spin out into a life of absolute
despair as long as you live.
You can call yourself by the name of
Jesus.
You can say, I'm going to stay close.
I'm still going to serve God, but I
don't understand.
You come to this place where you can
get to the place.
You can spin out where you will never
again hear the word of God.
No promises.
You can come to the place as the
children of Israel did here.
You can come to the place where God
hears your cry.
He sees your anguish.
The Bible said he was touched with their
afflictions.
Our Bible said the Lord is touched with
the feelings of our infirmities.
When you're down, when you're in anguish, when
you're disappointed by things in life that have
happened to you, the Lord feels that.
The Lord knows it.
When you reach rock bottom, and wits end,
and you're down, and you're out, be careful
what you do.
Some of you had an opportunity, and you've
spun out already.
It happened ten years ago.
You've been serving the Lord ten years.
You still have anguish.
You still have that disappointment.
It's growing on you.
It's making you sour, and nobody can get
through to you.
You're not hearing a word anybody says anymore.
Now, there's hope for you this afternoon if
you'll hear the word that I preach.
We've got experts running all over the world
now, and books by the thousands on how
to overcome your anguish, and how to deal
with hurts, and people going back into childhood
and trying to dredge up the past, and
bring it out in the open.
But folks, there may be something to that
one time, but to keep going back into
the garbage pit, to keep going back and
dig up your garbage, and never coming to
a place where you say, God, I put
this in your hands.
You're almighty.
I trust you to take it out of
my life.
If you don't, you're going to spin out
and spend the rest of your time like
the children of Israel did, and I'll show
it to you in just a minute.
God comes to Moses now.
Moses encouraged.
God didn't rebuke him because he knew that
he was just speaking out of a sudden
flash of misunderstanding.
But deep in his heart, he trusted God,
and God came to him and said, Moses,
now I'm going to show you what I'm
going to do, because I am the Lord.
He said, I'm going to give you a
name that you can trust, God Almighty.
By my name, Jehovah, was I not known.
I am God Almighty.
Hallelujah.
I want you to go to chapter 6,
verse 5, beginning to read.
I have heard, this is God speaking, I've
heard also the groaning of the children of
Israel when the Egyptians, whom the Egyptians keep
in bondage.
I've remembered my covenant, wherefore saying to the
children of Israel, I'm the Lord, and I
will bring you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians, and I will rid you
out of their bondage.
And I will redeem you with a stretched
-out arm and with great judgments.
And I will take you to me for
a people.
I will be to you a God.
Oh, what a wonderful statement.
I'll be to you a God.
You shall know that I am the Lord
your God, which brings you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians.
Now I will bring you in under the
land concerning that which I did swear to
give to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob.
Now I will give it to you in
the heritage.
I am the Lord.
Folks, look at me, please.
A word came that should have solved every
doubt, should have lifted every burden.
Wonderful word.
Miraculous word.
I am God Almighty.
I'm going to be a God to you.
I have everything you need.
I am your supply.
I'm God Almighty.
I have might and power and strength, and
I'm going to give it to you, and
I'm going to work in your behalf.
Isn't that a wonderful word?
Look at verse 9.
And Moses spake so unto the children of
Israel, but they hearkened not unto Moses.
Why?
For anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage.
Look at me, please.
You know what they're saying?
Moses, we don't want to hear it anymore.
We've heard enough.
It doesn't work.
The anguish, because of anguish, because of disappointment,
I can't hear it.
Their minds are shut.
There's apathy.
There's a spiritual death.
There's a veil that falls.
They've allowed it to happen.
They have wallowed in their anguish.
They have played with their anguish.
They are now in a place where they
said, we don't want to hear anymore.
They don't trust God.
They don't trust their servants.
They don't trust anybody.
We'll work our own problems out.
Moses, you go your way.
You want to go?
Fine.
I'm not going to go alone.
I'm going to walk alone.
And this is the human attitude.
This is the human spirit.
When we feel God's not working according to
our time schedule, when we get mad at
God because we see such disappointments, we feel
God has failed us.
Like the husband who told me recently, I've
tried so hard to make my marriage work,
and my wife, nothing I say or do
gets through.
I am a dead man.
I feel nothing.
I don't care anymore.
I don't want to hear it.
No counseling, nothing.
He said, I'm going to walk alone.
I don't need a woman.
I'll never marry again.
I've had it.
Closed.
He's not going to hear any preaching.
He's not going to hear any counseling.
It doesn't work because he doesn't hear because
of anguish that's settled in as part of
his life now.
It's woven in the fabric of his character.
I've heard wives who've walked out on their
marriages, and there's no amount of counseling can
register with them now because they say, Pastor,
he killed my spirit.
I am dead inside.
I feel nothing.
Have people been so wounded?
They say, I don't feel anything anymore, and
they don't trust anybody.
I have sat with people, tried to counsel,
and I knew after an hour, not a
word I said was getting through because they
were so wrapped up in their anguish, so
married to their disappointment, that nobody on this
earth, not even God himself, can get through
because they have given themselves over to their
anguish.
They've given themselves over to their disappointment.
Can you imagine God coming right to them
and says, I will be a god to
you.
Everything that God is.
I bring life out of nothing.
I produce resurrection out of death.
I call things into being that don't even
exist, and I'm here for you now.
All I promise you, I told you, now
you're going to see it.
I want to hear it.
Because of anguish and her cruel bondage.
You say, well, wait a minute, Brother Dave.
Didn't God go with them?
Didn't He take them out of Egypt?
He says, I will take you to me
for a people, and I will be to
you a God.
Didn't He take them?
Didn't He lead them by fire at night
and in the cloud by day?
Yes, He did.
But He didn't do it because of the
people.
He said, I will remember my covenant.
He did it by covenant to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.
He said, I promise to take a people
in, and I'm going to take it.
And not once did those people believe.
They never did believe God.
Never.
They never had one single day of joy
other than a few times they danced, and
that was a frivolous joy.
Not based on any foundation of faith.
There was no true joy.
They lived for 38 years in the wilderness
in anguish, bitterness, rebellion, and never did enter
in.
Every one of them except Joshua and Caleb
died after spending 38 years in pain and
anguish and misery.
Still called the children of God.
Look with me, if you will, at
verse 9 again.
But they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish
of spirit and for cruel bondage.
I meet Christians with that frame of mind.
I know a couple.
The husband just died last month.
He was 80 some.
I think she's 82.
He died of Alzheimer's.
She's dying.
I'm sorry, he died of cancer of the
throat.
She's dying of Alzheimer's.
She didn't even know her husband died, and
she didn't have anybody in the world.
We've helped some financially the best we knew
how.
I've known that couple for 45 years, and
I remember when the anguish set in 45
years ago.
I don't remember a day in 45 years
I ever saw a smile.
I don't remember a day in 45 years
there was anything but murmuring and complaining.
Murmur about cold.
Murmur about heat.
Murmur about money.
Murmur about health.
Everything was, I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying.
Every day I'm dying.
I get so sick and tired of hearing
I'm dying.
They lived 80 years dying for 45 years
of dying.
Never any happiness.
They sat in my meetings many times.
No joy.
It's all gone, because they became addicted to
their misery.
If they didn't have their misery, they didn't
have nothing to talk about.
Oh come on now, people in this church
right now, people hearing me right now.
You'd have nothing on the telephone to talk
about except your pains, your aches, about your
childhood.
Anybody who listens, they get tired of it.
Folks, people don't want to hear it.
I don't want to hear it.
Not when I know I've got a God
big enough to solve it.
You say, brother, that sounds mean.
No it's not.
Not after years and years.
I want you to listen very carefully to
what I'm about to say.
When you're in anguish or a great disappointment,
when you have hit the lowest point in
your disappointment, and you're his child, he's not
gonna let you stay there.
He will come by his Holy Spirit, just
as he did at this point, and he
will give you a word of hope.
I'm giving you a word of hope right
now.
For some of you, the word is coming
now, just as it did to Moses, coming
to you right now.
And you're gonna have to make up your
mind.
A spirit of unbelief can get a hold
of you.
And just when God's about to bring you
into a new life, just when God's about
to answer every prayer you've ever prayed, just
when God's about to say, now I'm going
to move, you won't be there.
You'll be swallowed up in unbelief.
Unbelief.
You can shut your heart, shut your mind.
You can give up and harden yourself.
I know many Christians, they have simply given
up.
They have given up.
They say, I'm gonna go on the best
I know how, but I'm just gonna go
on.
And they seem to plod through, but nothing
works in their life.
Everything goes sour.
I want you to go to Deuteronomy with
me, please, the first chapter.
You're following me, aren't you?
Deuteronomy 1.
Let's start at verse 30.
And in the wilderness where thou hast seen
how that the Lord thy God beareth thee
as a man that beareth son, and all
the way that we went until we came
into this place, yet in this thing you
did not believe the Lord your God, who
went in the way before you to search
you out a place to pitch your tents
in by fire at night and to show
you by what way you should go in
a cloud by day.
You know what he's saying?
I took you up in my arms and
I took you, not because you, but because
you didn't believe me.
You didn't trust me.
You didn't believe at all.
He said, yet I went out and searched
the place for you.
Verse 34.
And the Lord heard the voice of your
words and was wroth and angry and swear
saying, surely there shall not one of these
men of this evil generation see that good
land which I swore to give unto your
father, say, Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and
he shall see it, and to him will
I give the land that he hath trodden
upon, and to his children, because he hath
wholly followed, obeyed the Lord.
Look down, skip over to Deuteronomy, the ninth
chapter, the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, and I
want you to look at verse 6 and
7 with me.
Deuteronomy 9, verse 6 and 7.
Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth
thee not this good land to possess it
for thy righteousness.
For what?
Thou art a stiff-necked people.
Remember and forget not how thou provokest the
Lord thy God to wrath and to willness.
From the day that thou didst depart out
of the land of Egypt until you came
unto this place, you have been rebellious against
the Lord.
Look at me, please.
God didn't deliver Israel because of anything in
them.
He was keeping covenant.
Remember that.
Now give me, I'll give you one more
verse.
Go to chapter 9, verse 24.
Skip over to verse 24.
You have been rebellious against the Lord.
From when?
The day he came and introduced his calling,
the place I just registered.
The first time I told you God called
me, you rebelled then because of anguish of
spirit.
And folks, that anguish of spirit, because they
gave in to it, they were not capable
of faith at the Red Sea.
They were not capable of faith at Marah.
They were not capable of faith at any
test.
The ten times God tested them, they were
not capable of faith because anguish had been
the ruling spirit from that time.
This is the end of side 1.
You Are you
seeing the picture of the danger of unbelief
setting in?
Unbelief hardened their hearts way back then, no
matter what God did.
Now what of all the miracles and the
signs and wonders because they refused to believe
and trust in Almighty God.
Lord help us.
Look at the consequences.
Look at chapter 2.
Look at the chapter 2.
What happens when you spin out into unbelief
and you don't trust God in your disappointments?
Chapter 2, Deuteronomy.
Let's start verse 14.
And the space in which we came from
Cadiz, Barnea, until we were come over the
brook Zerud, was thirty and eight years, and
to all the generation of the men of
war were wasted out from among the host,
as the Lord swear unto them.
For indeed the hand the Lord was against
them, to destroy them from among the host,
until they were consumed.
So come came to pass, when all the
men of war were consumed and dead from
among the people, that the Lord spake unto
me.
Now look at me please.
You understand that even though they were God's
people, they were not heathen, they brought upon
themselves this judgment to live wasted lives for
38 years.
Folks, I don't know about you, I don't
want to waste a day, let alone my
life.
I don't want to waste a day.
I don't want anguish and disappointment toward God
to rob me of my simple childlike faith.
When I'm disappointed, when I don't understand, I
want to run to the Lord and embrace
Him and say, God I don't understand, but
I know you have a plan.
I know you'll do it right.
You'll do exactly what is right.
There's only one thing that keeps you in
despair and that's unbelief.
You don't have to be in anguish, you
don't have to go on in your disappointment.
The only thing that holds us there is
our unbelief, nothing else, nothing.
Let me talk to you a minute about
Isaac and Jacob.
Isaac is the father, Jacob the son.
Remember when Jacob cheats his brother?
And now his brother Esau has threatened his
life and so Isaac and Rebecca know they
have to send Jacob away.
Now remember, Isaac's a rich man now.
He has all kinds of cattle and sheep
and donkeys.
He's got armies of tents.
He's got almost an army following him, their
families and their clans.
And he's to really inherit his father's properties
because in those days the blessing of God
was equated with material things.
The more material things you had, the more
blessing of God was upon your life.
That's how it was judged.
And he's got to go now and Jacob
is in his last visit with his father.
He's not going to see his father for
years.
He's being sent to Phaedon Aram to find
a wife among his own kind.
He's not sent away with cattle, not a
donkey to ride on, not one of the
little tents, not even a pillow.
He's sent with only the clothes on his
back.
It doesn't seem to make sense when you
see he's going out on a journey.
No cattle, nothing to start a new life.
He's saying, go get a wife.
No, usually they would set up the son.
They would give a dowry.
They would give him something to set up.
Even we do that.
We do our best to try to set
up our children when they get married.
Nothing.
He sent out, Jacob sent out with nothing
but the clothes on his back, but he
was giving something.
He was given something from his father worth
more than all the money in the world.
He was given a blessing.
Now, before I tell you what that blessing
is, you'd have to go back.
I'll have to set the stage for just
a minute.
You go all the way back to the
call of God.
The Lord appeared to Abram.
He said, Abram, don't be afraid.
I'm your shield and I'm your exceeding great
reward.
And the Lord came to Abraham, the father
of us all.
And he said, I am God Almighty.
He revealed himself.
I am God Almighty and I've come to
make you fruitful.
And that was the blessing.
And what God was saying, all you have
to know is that I am everything you
will ever need.
I am all-sufficient, all-powerful.
I am God Almighty.
You need nothing else.
That's why Abraham, the faith of Abraham is
so extolled by the New Testament and by
God himself, by all the apostles.
Because here's a young, here's a man that
steps up nothing more than on the word
of the name of God.
A revelation of his name and the power
of his name that he could rest upon
that name.
That no enemy, he was told, I'll be
your shield.
God knew he's going to go out and
face, he's going to live among enemies, going
to destroy them at any time.
He's a small clan to begin with.
God began to prosper him, of course, but
he sends him out with nothing more than
a revelation of his name.
His name.
I am to you, Abraham, I am God
Almighty.
God Almighty.
I'm your shield.
I'm your refuge.
I am the only reward you need on
earth.
I'm your great reward.
Now, God revealed that to Isaac.
Isaac knew him as his name, God Almighty.
And now Jacob is about to leave and
his father turns to Jacob and he says
to Jacob, just before he leaves, he lays
his hand on his head and he says,
Jacob, the God Almighty bless you and make
you fruitful and give you the blessing of
Abraham.
In other words, Jacob, you're going to make
it just fine if you will exercise the
faith of your grandfather Abraham.
Your grandfather made it through the wilderness.
He survived all his enemies because he stayed
on a name.
He relied on a name, the power of
Almighty God and it's your God.
I bless you with this name.
I bless you with it.
So Jacob starts out and he says, the
blessing of Abraham.
I've had nothing.
Halfway to Patanerim he falls asleep.
I told you he had no pillow.
He made a rock his pillow.
And he has a dream and he sees
a ladder reaching into the heavens and the
father standing at the top of the ladder
and he sees angels coming and going.
What he's seeing is God's supply route.
He's God Almighty with a host and army
of angels coming and going, meeting the needs
of his people, ministering.
The ladder is there and he sees it.
He sees these angels coming with blessings and
swords, guardian angels with blazing swords.
He sees every supply, loaded down with supplies,
everything that anybody would ever need.
He sees the angels coming and going.
God gave him a vision of his supply
route.
You say that's wonderful?
Wonderful.
But we've been given something better.
God has provided something better.
We don't need the ladder because one day
God the Father sent his Son and our
Christ descended that ladder.
Angels stepped aside.
Thank God for ministering angels.
Yes, but God has provided something even better.
We do have ministering angels, but we have
God himself came down in human flesh and
he came down to experience our grief, our
disappointment, our anguish.
He took all that anguish upon himself.
There's not an anguish that you know that
he doesn't know.
He's felt every kind of disappointment that you
and I could understand.
He had enemies come against him.
He was spat upon.
He was falsely accused.
He had his beard ripped from his face.
He experienced lies.
He was rejected.
Everything that we've gone through, those who were
supposed to have loved him, failed him.
They turned against him.
They denied even one of his own disciples.
Turned him in.
Those he came to die for killed him.
So he tasted of it all.
Hallelujah.
And now he's ascended to the heavenly Father.
But let me tell you, I don't need
a ladder.
I'll tell you why.
Because God Almighty, according to Paul the Apostle,
I have the blessing of Abraham.
The blessing of Abraham is a name.
God Almighty.
El Shaddai.
Every name that God has ever named himself.
He's not up there.
He's right here abiding in my vessel in
this temple of the Holy Ghost.
I don't have to wake him from the
dead.
No, I'm preaching loud, but I don't have
to wake him from the dead.
Somebody said it sounds like you're trying to.
He abides.
He lives.
He's here.
Something better has been provided.
Folks, who can imagine this staying in anguish
and disappointment when all we have to do
is talk.
He's here to communicate, to trust him.
It's our unbelief.
You are continuing your anguish and disappointment because
you don't trust him.
That's it.
It's a lack of faith.
It's settled into unbelief.
You say, well, I don't believe.
We'll listen to this.
And to him that is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think
according to the power, the almighty power that
worketh in us.
We get the picture that this almighty God
is somewhere out there in the cosmos, floating
around.
The Spirit's just floating around the cosmos.
He said, if you love me and obey
me, I will come and abide in you.
My Father will come, Jesus said.
The Spirit of God abides in us.
We have the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost.
We have the Godhead abiding in us.
It shouldn't be hard to communicate with somebody
who lives here.
He said, the word is nigh you, even
in your mouth.
It's in the belly.
Out of your belly flows rivers of living
water.
Why not?
Because of where he lives.
Hmm.
Oh my.
I'm coming to a close shortly.
In Exodus, with this I want to close.
In Exodus 34, don't turn in verse 5,
it says, the Lord descended in a cloud
and he proclaimed his name to Moses.
He said, I'm going to, and in fact
Isaiah said, here's what the Lord said, and
the Lord proclaimed.
The Lord, the Lord.
In Hebrew it's Jehovah, Jehovah.
And that means one that gives being to
that which is not.
Jehovah is one who gives being or life
to that which is not.
He who brings something out of nothing.
He who creates out of nothing.
He doesn't need anything to work with.
He says, it's done before you even know
it's done.
If it's in his mind, it's finished.
All he has to do is think it,
it's done.
It's beyond our comprehension.
But he said, I am Jehovah, I'm Jehovah.
And then somebody says, well, Brother Dave, I
know Isaiah said you to stay or rest
yourself in the name of God.
Stay upon the name of God.
In other words, trust in the name that
God has given to you.
Well, let's talk about that.
In this revelation to Moses in Exodus 34
chapter 5, let me tell you what it,
how it interprets.
Somebody says, my temptations, Pastor David, are so
strong, my lusts are too mighty for me
to handle, my battles a losing battle.
And yet the Lord says, according to his
name, you trust in my name, El, meaning
the strong, mighty God.
He said, I've given you a name that
you can trust, strength, strong arm, almighty power.
And then the scripture says, greater is he
that's in us than he that is in
the world.
So you can't come and say, my lust
is too strong for me, my temptation is
overpowering me.
God says, no, the Spirit of living God
in you has the power of almighty God,
almighty.
I've revealed my name to you, El, powerful,
almighty.
You say, but I'm afraid that God's had
it with me because I failed him so
many times.
Maybe God's not willing to help me this
time.
I know he's strong, I know he's almighty,
but I wonder if it's too late for
me.
Sure, I believe God is almighty, I believe
God's all-powerful.
And yet the Lord's going to come to
you and he's going to say, don't be
discouraged.
My name is strength, it's power, but my
name is also merciful.
I'm strong, I'm mighty, but my name is
merciful.
So that means I'm willing to help you.
Merciful means willing to help.
He's never unwilling to help you.
My name is strength, it's power, it's almighty,
and it's merciful.
You say, but wait a minute, Brother Dave,
I have nothing good to bring to him.
I have nothing of worth in me.
I feel worthless.
I know that God is strong, I know
that he's almighty, I know he's merciful, but
God says, my name is also gracious.
He's talking to Moses.
My name is gracious.
That means I have all the mercy and
the grace that you ever need, no matter
what you've done.
You say, but Brother Dave, I've been sinning
for so long, for 10 years.
Some of you say, I've been sinning 20
years.
I've heard people say, I've been sinning against
God for 40 years.
Some have been sinning against God for 50
years.
I'm so steeped in sin.
How can God have mercy on me?
I know he's strong, and he's mighty, and
he's powerful, and he's almighty, and he's merciful,
and he's gracious, but God says, I've got
a name for you that you can trust
in.
You ready for this?
I'm long suffering.
Now think of all this.
This is all wrapped up in his name.
Isaiah said, stay or rest upon the name
of the Lord, his name.
He has provided a name for every disappointment.
He's provided a description of himself for every
anguish that you and I suffer.
I am long suffering.
You say, but Brother Dave, I've broken every
vow I've ever made.
I can't even count the times that I've
grieved God, and I've sinned, and I've failed,
and I've cheated, and I've lied.
God says, yes, I'm strong.
I'm almighty.
I'm merciful.
I'm gracious.
I'm long suffering, but I'm also abundant in
goodness and truth.
It goes on and on, folks.
You can't get to an end of his
name.
His name is as eternal as he is.
Hallelujah.
He has provided everything you need for victory.
He's coming to you right now through the
lips of this pastor saying to you, if
you'll come now out of your anguish, step
out of your disappointment, and take a step
of faith and say, God, I've had enough
of my anguish.
I've had enough of this disappointment.
I turn my back on it.
I turn to you.
I believe you're God almighty.
You're going to meet my need.
I'll trust you.
I will trust you from this day on.
I'm going to trust you.
I've committed my life completely to a life
of confidence in God, total dependence on the
Lord.
I'll be tested on that, even for saying
it.
But by God's grace, every day I get
up now and there's a problem.
I did this all day Friday and all
day Saturday.
I had problem after problem.
One thing after another.
I said, God, this is your problem.
I trust you.
You work it out.
I can't handle the Lord.
You work it out.
Somebody said, what are we going to do?
I said, I'm not doing anything.
God's going to have to do it.
You wait for the direction.
You wait for him to speak.
Doesn't mean that you become apathetic.
No, but when you reach the brick wall,
you stand still.
Lord, you've got to break that wall or
you're going to have to give me strength
to leap over it.
You're going to have to do it your
way.
He will provide a way.
He's a way maker.
The Bible says, they that are of faith
have the blessing of Abraham upon them.
The blessing of Abraham is a walk of
faith.
The blessing of Abraham is God said, if
you will trust me, I'll be your shield.
I'll be your strength.
I'll be your power.
I will defeat all your enemies.
Nothing shall be impossible to you.
Nothing.
Even though I test you and try you
as he did, when he had him go
to the altar to make a sacrifice of
his own son.
God said, when I see that you trust
me, when I'm convinced that you trust me,
I'm convinced that you're wholly dependent upon me,
then I will move.
I will act.
I will do it, but God won't do
it to the point where he knows and
he sees that live or die, you're going
to trust him before the sons of men.
All God's been wanting all these years from
the very beginning of time, God's been looking
for people to whom he could be God.
He said, I want to be God to
you and I want you to be a
son, a daughter to me.
Folks, isn't that what God said?
Will you just let me be God?
That's incredible.
Just let me be God to you.
Oh, hallelujah.
Lord, be God to me.
Be God to me.
You know what that means?
Everything I need.
Will you stand please?
God, be God to us.
Now I'm asking right now, balcony and the
main floor, everybody in this building within the
sound of my voice, wherever you're at, if
you've had a great disappointment in your life
and you've had this anguish and it's overwhelmed
you, I'm asking you to come and step
out and make the right decision.
I want you to take a step of
faith.
I want you to say, God, I'm coming
now to commit myself to a life of
faith.
I'm not going to carry this anymore.
You're going to lay down your hurt.
You're going to lay down your anguish.
You're going to lay down all of your
bitterness.
You're going to lay down all the thoughts
of the past.
Say, Lord, I want to enter into new
life of hope and faith and rest in
the Holy Ghost.
If you're backslid, if you're cold in heart,
if you don't know Jesus, come with these.
Balcony, go to the stairs on either side
and come down any aisle and we'll meet
you here.
Lord bless you.
Amen.
You are at a crossroad.
If you've come down here because you have
suffered or endured a great disappointment in your
life, this is a wonderful time.
It can become an opportunity to abound in
faith.
It's an opportunity to say, God, I'm as
low as I can get.
That's a good place to be.
Where your end of all flesh, end of
trying to depend on yourself to accomplish any
good thing and say, Father, I turn to
you now in full surrender.
You come forward to resign.
You resign all of your human efforts, all
of your angles, trying to figure things out
and say, Lord, I turn it over to
you now.
I'm going to rest.
I've always said that the evidence of faith
is rest.
The evidence of faith is rest.
If your soul is not at rest, you're
not believing God.
There has to be a total rest.
God said it's possible.
In fact, Luke makes it clear that Jesus
came so that we would not have to
live in fear the rest of the years
of our life.
So we not have to live in fear.
God doesn't want you to live in fear.
He doesn't want you to live in tears
and anguish.
He wants his joy and peace and rest.
He said, there's a rest that remains for
you to enter in.
That rest is simply a life of faith,
trusting God for everything in your life, for
direction, for money, for healing of marriages, whatever
it may be.
He has everything you need.
But you've got to turn to him, absolutely
turn to him and say, Holy Spirit, you're
going to have to speak to me.
You need to spend quality time with him.
You have to be into his word.
Bathe yourself in his word.
It's not complicated.
It's very, very simple.
But God says, you don't come into my
presence entertaining doubts.
Don't entertain doubts.
Bring every thought into captivity.
Bring every doubt into captivity, the obedience of
the Lord Jesus and say, Lord, I may
not understand, but by God's grace, I will
trust you.
I will believe you.
Hallelujah.
You're saved by faith.
You're sanctified by faith and you're kept by
faith.
You're kept from the wicked one.
God keeps you by faith in his power.
Is there anybody here doubts he has the
power?
Does anybody here doubts that he's almighty?
Does anybody here doubt that you have a
problem he can't solve?
I don't think anybody would say that.
I think everyone here would say, I know
he has the power.
I know God can do it.
Is he willing?
Yes.
He said, I'm willing.
Is he ready to forgive?
He said, he's more than ready to forgive.
He's patient, long-suffering, he's kind.
And I want you to confess right now
you're unbelieving because that's the worst sin of
all.
Worse than drugs, alcohol, anything else is unbelief.
Let's look to him right now.
Just close your eyes in his presence and
pray this prayer with me right now.
Jesus, I ask you now, forgive my doubts,
forgive my unbelief.
Lord, I'm carrying a heavy burden.
I've been deeply disappointed.
I've been hurt in my life.
There has been anguish, a lot of hurt.
I don't want to carry it anymore.
It's been too hard and depressing.
I want to know joy.
I want your peace.
I want my soul to be at rest.
Now, Jesus, I've confessed my sin.
I've confessed my unbelief.
Help my unbelief.
Give me faith.
Help me to trust you.
I love you, Jesus.
I know you're willing to help me.
I take my disappointment in my hand and
I lay it down at your feet.
Say, here it is, Jesus.
Take it away.
My grief, my anguish, my guilt, my condemnation,
and all my fears, I surrender to you.
Now, let me pray for you.
Father, I pray now that you help us
to understand that all we have to do
is turn to you with all of our
hearts.
We simply have to turn around.
We turn in another direction.
We turn away from facing our fears and
our anguishes and our disappointments.
We turn right around, face the other direction,
and say, Jesus, we're looking unto you, the
author and the finisher of our salvation.
We're looking unto you who made me all
these promises.
I believe you'll keep your word to me,
Father.
I'm willing to risk my life and my
future on it.
Look at me, please.
You have got to risk your life.
I risk my life on it.
That's right.
I risk my life.
You say, what if I, what if I
trust God and it doesn't work out and
I might die or something?
You'd get the best reward of all.
I mean, you would go right into his
presence and God, the Father, would embrace you
and says, what faith you had.
I had to bring you home.
Folks, I see some of you right now
say, oh, Paul said, I have a desire
to be with the Lord.
If you really love Jesus, you want to
be with him.
There's nothing to fear.
Amen.
He said, I've come to give you life
and that more abundantly.
Hallelujah.
Glory be to Jesus.
This is the conclusion of the tape.