"The Battle Belongs to the Lord" By Jesse Rairdon February 15th,
2015
Please remain standing if you are
able. I’d like to ask Rob to lead in
prayer for the sermon, the reading of the Word part of our worship today. Rob: Lord Jesus, God, I
give glory and honor and praise, Lord Jesus, and I thank You for this worship
service so far, Lord Jesus. I thank You
for the blessings that You’ve poured out; for the good things that You’re doing
for each and every individual within this congregation, today, Lord. I ask, God, that You bless the messenger,
Lord; grant him wisdom, grant him understanding, and, Lord, grant him the heart
that he will give the message according to Your will, Lord God. I pray, Lord, that Your anointing will be
upon him, and that your spirit will move within him. I pray, Lord, that our hearts will be open to
receive what You have for us, Lord God, so that we can take it and that we can
get better, so that we can be prepared for Your soon return. God, I give glory and honor and praise in
Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Welcome to Christian Fellowship Great Lakes
where Jesus is Lord, King, Savior, Master, Deliverer, all of those above. Amen?
I tell you what, we could have just went home with those testimonies and
the reading of the Word earlier today—I said to Parrish, “They’re taking the
message.” But it’s God’s message; now
we’re just going to be reconfirming some of those things, amen? “Victory that Lasts a Lifetime.” How many of you are enjoying this series so
far? “Victory that Lasts a
Lifetime.” I believe these are
God-ordained. I believe God put these on
our elders’ hearts for a reason. You
know, we started out with ‘A New Walk,’ you know? Now we have victory; as you continue in that
walk, you’re going to have victory in that walk, victory that lasts a
lifetime. Next month—I wish I could
start preaching that one already—God’s value system; that’s going to be a good
one. So, our scripture thought for the
month: 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be
to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the areas I’m going to
cover today, God permit: The first area we’re going to talk
about: Seek God Early in the Battles The second area we’re going to
talk about: Listen to God’s Battle Plan
and Obey The third area we’re going to talk
about is: How God Brings the Victory The fourth part is: Thank and Praise God for What He’s Done Our main text today, we’re going
to pretty much stay in 2 Chronicles 20:1-29.
We’re going to share a few scriptures other than that, but for most of
your notes, you can just jot down, and re-read it later today because, don’t
just take my word for it, take God’s Word for it. So, 2 Chronicles 20:1-29. 2 Chronicles 20:1-3 It came to
pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and
with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then
there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude
against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in
Hazazon–tamar, which is En–gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to
seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Part One: Seek God Early in the Battles Don’t wait until the battle’s upon
you, or you’re almost defeated to seek God.
Jehoshaphat’s first reaction was to seek God. “There is a God-sized problem; we need a
God-sized solution.” Then, as the
leader, he said, “You all seek, too, and fast.
We’re going to proclaim a fast.”
Now, fear is a normal human reaction.
I would be afraid, too. Fear is
not sin. Fear is something we all deal
with. Even if you’re afraid, lonely,
anxious, depressed; those are things that we deal with. Amen? Most often, we see the battle before
it’s coming, or some kind of warning is going to come. In this case, a messenger came, and said,
“Hey, there’s a big army just over those hills over there, that you don’t
see. It’s coming.” All of the sudden—whoa!—things change. Your whole life has stopped and you’re faced
with a situation that you’ve got to seek God over. So, it’s a God-sized problem; you seek god
early. 2 Chronicles 20:4 And Judah
gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the
cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. So, now, not only is their leader
praying, but the people are gathering together to pray. They’re coming from everywhere; “It’s time to
pray.” There’s a reason we pray
together. There’s a reason we have men’s
prayer; there’s a reason we have ladies’ prayer; there’s a reason why we have
prayer from the altar; there’s a reason why we sometimes stay after church and
have prayer, because there’s God-sized problems we’re dealing with and we seek
God together to get the solution. We are the people of God today; we
are His nation. We have His
promises. We have the salvation. Israel was the nation of God then; they had
those promises. They had those things. We have an enemy who wants to take what God
has given to us. Every single day, he’s
out there; he wants to take what God has given to us, from us. The enemy first uses fear as his biggest
weapon. I like this excerpt from Franklin
Delano Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in 1933: “This great nation will endure as it has
endured, will revive and will prosper.
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we
have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” It causes us to stand still and do nothing. So, what do you do? you seek God early. God will give you the way out. God will give you the victory. In other words, fear is going to paralyze
you; it’s going to leave you standing still, cause you to do nothing. There’s a proverb that says, a slothful man
says, there is a lion in the streets (Proverbs 26:13). A lion is in the streets. Who is that lion? the devil. He’s a roaring lion, walking about, seeking
whom he may devour so that he can take what God has given to you (1 Peter 5:8). He’s out there already; he’s in the
streets. So, are you just going to stay
there and be paralyzed, or, are you going to seek God, and go out there and
face what you’ve got to face? The devil
will also try to get you to think that you’re alone; you’re the only person
fighting this battle. Nobody else, this
has happened to before, and nobody else cares. 2 Chronicles 20:5 And
Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of
the LORD, before the new court, There’s a lot into that. Read about the new court in Jerusalem, and
pray about that. God will give you
understanding. 2 Chronicles 20:6 And said,
O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over
all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and
might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? He knows the answer to these, but
he’s standing in front of everybody, reminding them and himself, “Hey, we need
to go to God, and this is how we do it.
God, didn’t you tell me You’d deliver me? You’d save me?” So, they’re reminding God of what He already
knows, but it’s a good thing to do that.
Amen? There’s no problem God
cannot solve, whether it be big or small.
Sometimes, like Andy was sharing earlier, we just let the little problems
just kind of fester, and build up, and we just kind of push them aside and deal
with the big ones. We think the little
ones are just going away, or it’s just my problem; nobody else sees it; nobody
else knows about it. But, then,
eventually, it gets bigger and bigger, and it takes you out, and not only that,
it affects those around you. Sin does
affect others around you. It affects
your family; it affects your home; it affects your workplace; it affects
everybody around you. You’ve got to deal
with it; you’ve got to become victorious.
Amen? So, there’s no problem that
God can’t solve, and there’s nothing that can stand before Him. 2 Chronicles 20:7 Art not
thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy
people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever? Remind God of what He’s already done
for you. That’s the purpose of Greg’s
testimony today: It wasn’t to say, “Oh,
look at Greg, how great he is and how long he’s been saved;” it’s to say, “This
is what God has done for me. I’m not
just reminding myself, but I’m reminding you that you can have that victory
every day, too.” February 4th, 1996; I
just went over nineteen years baptized a few weeks ago. Every day is new; every day is fresh. For some people, that might be only a little
bit of time, like Bob; Bob’s been around forever. He was around listening to Moses preach. Thank God for each and every day. I thank God for elders like Bob who shared
with me along the way and kept me in line; told me, “Hey, that’s not
right.” Amen? 2 Chronicles 20:8-13 And they dwelt
therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for Thy name, saying, If, when
evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand
before this house, and in Thy presence, (for Thy name is in this house,) and
cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and
Moab and mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came
out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Thy possession,
which Thou hast given us to inherit. O
our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company
that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee.
And all Judah stood before the LORD,
with their little ones, their wives, and their children. I want to focus on verse nine for
a moment. It says, “…for Thy name is in
this house…” How many know that the name
of the Lord is a strong tower (Proverbs 18:10)?
How often do we go to that name when we first get into trouble? We know where we can go, and we know that
God’s name is in this house. Amen? Sometimes you go to help people,
or you let things slide—you have honest intentions in all the situations, you try
to do good, but those you try to do good to sometimes turn against you. That’s what happened in this situation. So, now, you’re faced with a situation where
somebody you thought you could trust, or maybe someone that you let slide, or
you didn’t conquer like Israel—you didn’t just blast them out of the water with
God’s Word, you were patient with them, and now they’re coming against you,
trying to take what God has given to you.
So, now, you’ve got to go to God because, “God, I don’t know how to deal
with this one.” Maybe it’s family, maybe
it’s a close friend. I’ve had that
happen before; fall amongst false brethren.
God will judge them. Ask—if
they’re going together, God will judge them; that’s God’s battle to win. “I don’t know what to do in this situation,
God, but I’m going to seek You for it.
I’m going to seek You for the answers.”
Greg got to the point—he was sharing in his testimony—this thing had such
a powerful hold on him that he wanted to end his life. Drugs.
I’ve been there before; I’ve had crack in my life. I know how strong of a hold that kind of
thing can have on you. God delivered me
from a lot. That’s one of the things
that God’s delivered me from, but I understand that there’s things that try to
keep a hold, or try to creep back up in our lives and try to take control, and
take possession of what God’s given you.
Where is the land of Goshen in your heart? Is it in your life? It’s your very being, the victories that God
has given you, the joy that God has given you; the devil’s trying to take that
away, and steal that from you, rob you; don’t let him. Amen? Part Two: Listen to God’s Battle Plan and Obey So, that was it; they sought
God. They got to the place where they
said, “We can do nothing. We don’t know
what to do. This is a God-sized problem
that requires a God-sized solution.” 2 Chronicles 20:14-15 Then upon Jahaziel
the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of
Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the
midst of the congregation; And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto
you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the
battle is not yours, but God's. Notice how he didn’t say, “This is
my words, and I want to give you some encouragement?” He said, “Thus saith the Word of the
Lord.” When a prophet comes, and a man
of God stops, and says, “Thus saith the Lord…” you’d better pay attention. Seek God—make sure it’s of God—but you’d
better stop and listen, because God wants to give you some solid
direction. He wants to give you a way, a
battle plan, because the battle belongs to the Lord. 2 Chronicles 20:16 To morrow
go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall
find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. So He’s even telling them exactly
where they are going to be at. Wouldn’t
you like to be a general and have that kind of battle plan of the enemies, and
know exactly the location where
they’re going to be at? And they don’t
know that you know where they’re going to be at. Amen?
I don’t if I just twisted that up a little bit for you. I tell you what, they were going to be
surprised if Israel just happened to show up.
Amen? 2 Chronicles 20:17 Ye shall
not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the
salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be
dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. Yeah, you still have to go out to
the battle. You still have to go do
something, but you’re about to see what God’s going to do. Amen?
Don’t stay in the house and hide behind the TV, lock the door, and, you
know, don’t call anybody. Get out and
fight the battle, and God’s going to fight it for you. Amen? 2 Chronicles 20:18 And
Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. So, they’ve got the battle plans;
what’s the first thing they do? they worship God. Worship is a key in a lot of things that we
face in this life. Sometimes I even turn
off the Christian music station, and, just me and God; I just worship and turn
off the noise. Sometimes I just want to
turn off the noise of what they’re trying to tell me about God, and I just want
to be connected right with God. But if God
told you to do that, to just keep that station, then just keep that station
going. Amen. Another thing about music: Don’t go to the world to get
encouragement. Don’t turn to the world’s
stations, and let the world tell you how you can fight this battle. Let God tell you; you can get some good
worship music on, amen? 2 Chronicles 20:19 And the
Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the
Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. So, here’s the worship leaders,
getting up and standing and worshipping; praising God. Sometimes we come to church and it seems like
they’ve got to try and pump us up.
That’s their job and, you know, that’s what worship leaders do: They stand up here and sometimes they’re not
on the right page either. They got to
work through things and fight their battles, too. But, wouldn’t it be great if we were already
worshipping, and they stand up and worship with us and we’ve got—wah! When we get to that place in worship we’ll
really be seeking God, we’ll really have answers from God, we’re really going
to fight the battle together, amen? So, I like one thing, really, Greg
pointed out, too, he kept listening to that still, small voice, step by step,
place by place. “Go over here to the gas
station.” Even before then, you know,
“say this; get this address…” God was
laying out a battle plan all along. Part
of his step was that he had to seek God along the way, too, “God, lead me to
your people.” “Okay, I’m going to honor
that prayer. Go over here; talk to these
people. These people are going to talk
to you.” Put it on his heart to go over
across the street to that church, “That’s where My people are at.” Amen?
And it was such a victory that he didn’t even realize until a few months
later that God had totally delivered him for all those things. Isn’t that great with God? Sometimes you’ll be walking along and,
“Wow. God just delivered me from that,
and, wow! I’ve just come to realize that
I don’t have that problem anymore.” One
of the things, addictions that I had, too, was smoking. Man, I smoked for years. I smoked cigarettes, cigars, pipes, anything
I could smoke; I smoked it all. But, the
night that I came where the believers were, it was a Wednesday night, something
that God dealt with me—He knew that I couldn’t deliver myself from
cigarettes. I tried; I tried just about
everything I could, but, He spoke to me that night—well, the next day,
actually, I went to my friend’s room—we were in the barracks, and you could
smoke in your barracks room—I lit up a cigarette with my friend and He said,
“You don’t need that anymore.” I looked
at that cigarette and put it out, and I never picked up another cigarette
again. Something He had to clean or
something; God just took that away right there.
He fought that battle for me. Part
Three: How God Brings the Victory. 2 Chronicles 20:20-24 And they rose
early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they
went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of
Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe
his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people,
he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of
holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for
his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the
LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which
were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and
Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and
destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every
one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in
the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead
bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. None escaped; total victory. I mean, there wasn’t even one left to stand
up and try to fight. So, this battle,
how God brought the victory was He set up ambushments against one another. Even in the New Testament, Apostle Paul got
into kind of a bind; he got into a situation where there was a room full of religious
folks who were against him. God gave him
wisdom, and said, “There’s Pharisees and Sadducees in this room.” Look it up later; I’m not going to give you
the exact verse now, but, “There’s Pharisees and Sadducees in this room.” He was a Pharisee, so he knew that there was
a great division between them, and it was the resurrection of the dead. He said, Because of the resurrection—I’m a
Pharisee, my father was a Pharisee—I’m telling you that it’s because of the
resurrection of the dead that I am here, that you guys are trying to judge me
for.” Those are my words, not Paul’s,
but God brought a victory through wisdom and said, “You’re going to use this
situation,” and thy turned on one another.
So, the Pharisees and the Sadducees started fighting with each other,
and they almost forgot that Paul was the person they were trying to defeat
(Acts 23:1 - 23:10). So, God will give
you victory sometimes, and set ambush against the enemy. There’s some other ways that God uses,
too. There’s more than a few of
them: Grace. Remember I talked about how
sometimes the devil gets you to think that you’re alone, and you’re the only
person fighting this battle, and nobody else ever feels like this, and you just
kind of stay in your pity party and suck your thumb, and…? 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 And lest I should
be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure. For
this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He
said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. If you look at the things—there
may be different terminologies, today, but depression, anxieties, fear, that’s
all in there. He said, “Those things
happen to all of us, but, because I have come to the point where I realize that
it’s not about me, but the battle belongs to the Lord, I get grace. Then the strength of Christ rests upon me,
and He’s able to fight the battle much better than me, anyway. Amen?
So, therefore, when I am weak, then am I strong.” How do you get more grace? Look up the Scripture that talks about,
through the ability, God gives more grace to the humble, but He resists the
proud (James 4:6). That’s part of your
homework, too. I know I’m giving you a
lot of homework, today. Another part He gives us; how He
brings the victory, He provides an escape plan.
He provides an escape plan.
Sometimes you’ve just got to live to fight another day. Sometimes you’ve just got to get out of that
temptation, get out of that battle; like Greg said, “Tell the devil where to
go.” Amen? Sometimes, you’ve just got to say, “Enough! I don’t want to fight this battle! I rebuke you in Jesus’ name. I’m not going to take this anymore; I’m
done,” instead of picking up the phone and keeping communication with that
temptation or whatever, or going back to that internet site, or going back to whatever
it is; being able to stop it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to man... So, we all deal with this thing;
it’s common. You may think you’re the
only one, but you’re not the only one.
We all deal with it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 …but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able… You know what the most important
part of that is? God is faithful. If
nothing else, remember that today: God
is faithful. 1 Corinthians 10:13 …but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. At the beginning of World War II,
when France was being invaded by Germany and basically overcame the French
army, and what was left of the French Army and the British Army were at
Dunkirk. Basically, you had the canal
there, and the invading German Army. There
was really no place to go. The way to
escape was due to the fishermen, the boats, the British Navy got them out of
there somehow. 330,000 men lied to fight
another day. The same thing happened with
Moses. Pharaoh was pursuing them with
this great army; they weren’t warriors, they had no way to fight them. They were getting ready to get pushed into
the sea, and God provided a way to escape with an outstretched arm—we sang that
song—and a strong right hand, He led them through that sea, and destroyed the
enemy, that king that was pursuing them.
Sometimes you just have to live to fight another day. Amen? God provides the armor. Sometimes God gives us the victory because He
provides the armor. Or all the time; I
shouldn’t say sometimes. All the time
God provides the armor. We just have to
put it on. Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour
of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Okay, he’s pointing out here that
you’ve got an enemy, and you’re going to have to fight. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Things before you were born,
before you were created are already at war. Things in high places. Where do you think Satan came from? Where do you think he was knocked down from?
Heavenly places; high places. So, he’s
out there, trying to defeat you. You
can’t defeat him yourself. This is a
spiritual battle, and we need spiritual armor to protect ourselves. Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto
you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand. You can’t stand unless you have
the armor. Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth… Loins girt about with truth… What is truth? What is so important about that part in the
armor? Someone comes at you with a lie… What does a belt do? it kind of holds your
pants up; it kind of holds things together.
It kind of gives you fortitude, you know? If I didn’t have a belt, I’d be in
trouble. Truth is going to hold you up
against a lie. That’s going to protest
you, because the devil fights dirty.
Amen? So, that truth is going to hold
you. Ephesians 6:14 …and having on the
breastplate of righteousness; Okay, that’s where we have—you’re
dealing with your emotions, but the righteousness of God is going to give you
that breastplate; it’s going to protect you.
Righteousness is the perfect balance.
Okay? It’s a just weight, the
Bible says. Not too much of this and not
too much of that; it’s just perfect, it’s a perfect balance. Sometimes our emotions will pull us off, have
us off-keel, have us going every which way, but that righteousness of God will
hold you, and keep you, and show you what to do. Don’t make major decisions based on your
feelings and your emotions. Take it to
God and have that breastplate of righteousness, allow God to keep you, amen? Ephesians 6:15 And your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace; What does it mean to prepare? you
fast and pray. To have your feet ready
for the right thing. If I go outside
right now in a pair of sandals and no socks, I’d be pretty cold. My feet are pretty bare. That might not be a good thing if I go out on
the ice rink to play hockey and I don’t have those skates, I might be in
trouble, as I’m slipping and sliding all over the place, right? The preparation of the Gospel of
peace… When you’re bringing peace to a situation, you’re allowing God to
prepare you to bring peace. Amen? Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the
shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. Why is that above all? Why is faith above all? Your heart, all your core, is what the shield
protects. Everything, all your vital
organs, that shield is protecting. So,
if you don’t have faith, you’re defenseless.
If you don’t believe God is going to bring you the victory, you’re defenseless. Ephesians 6:17-18 And take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God:
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; The helmet of salvation. Do you know that God has saved you and
delivered you and given you these promises?
Every time that the devil tries to come into your mind and tell you that
you’re not saved, you’ve got that helmet there to protect you. Now, when I come to church, I get
dressed up; I prepare. You know? I put on different clothes. If I’m going fishing, like Bob—I don’t really
fish much, but if Bob’s going fishing, he doesn’t put a suit on, and a tie, and
go out there and fish, do you, Bob? It’s
a different amount of preparation. Well,
the same is spiritually—when you leave, when you get ready for your day, you
should be putting on the whole armor of God.
You should be that serious about—Like Andy was saying; Sonia was kind of
checking him out and straightening out his clothes a little bit, kind of
getting him ready. We should be kind of
having our armor on, making sure all of our armor is on, because the devil is
out there. He’s ready to fight you. Whether you’re ready or not, whether you’re
wearing the armor or not, he’s coming to attack you. He’s coming at you hard, and he’s going to
come at your weak points, and he’s going to find a spot… He thinks you have armor, so you’d better
have that armor on, amen? So, what’s out of place? Andy was kind of talking about, you know,
there’s some things in our life that are kind of out of place, and God will
take that armor, and put that armor on right, and adjust it, and get it in
place to fight the battle, amen? Or God
is able to fight the battle. Part
Four: Thank and Praise God for What He
Has Done Yeah, we’re at our last part. 2 Chronicles 20:25 And when
Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found
among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels,
which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and
they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. It took more time than the battle took,
gathering all the spoil. It’s kind of
like that with God, you know? If we let
God fight the battle, there’s so much more, we can’t even carry it all
away. We have to go back and get more;
go back and get more. To the victor goes
the spoils, right? In our victory, our
spoils are heavenly things, or spiritual things. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, gentleness,
meekness, faith, kindness… The fruit of the spirit; that’s our spoils. We get those, amen? 2 Chronicles 20:26-29 And on the fourth
day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed
the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of
Berachah, unto this day. Then they
returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of
them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice
over their enemies. And they came to
Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD.
And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had
heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. There is a reason why they closed
with that, and fear came upon the enemy, because they were praising and
thanking God, the enemy knew that God did this.
They could have just said, “You know, they got some infighting, the
enemy kind of destroyed themselves. How
they knew was because God’s people were singing, praising, and thanking God for
the victory that they had done. The same
is with our lives: When we go, we get
the victory, we win the battle, we have the victory with us, and we’re singing,
and praising, we’re thanking God… “There’s
something about him. It’s not that he
just got a promotion, or he has a nice car…” or even a car, “There’s something
about him. There’s something about her. She’s got, you know, there’s a difference in
her life.” And they give the glory to
God. That’s our sermon for today, and I’ll
leave it to Andy and Parrish to close it how they’d like, but I really like
that song, ‘How Great Is Our God.’ You
know, maybe they’d want to close with that, but, again… Praise God. How Great Is Our God Verse 1 The splendor of the King clothed in majesty Let all the earth rejoice, all the Earth rejoice He wraps Himself in light and darkness tries to hide And trembles at His voice, and trembles at His voice Verse 2 Age to age He stands and time is in His hands Beginning and the end, beginning and the end The Godhead, three are one Father, Spirit, Son The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb Chorus How great is our God, Sing with me How great is our God All will see how great, how great is our God Bridge Name above all names, Worthy of all praise My heart will sing, how great is our God Name above all names, Worthy of all praise My heart will sing, how great is our God
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