Speaker 1: Welcome Just hind Away Tagalog Sermon Podcast, your daily dose
Speaker 1: of inspiring, heartfelt tagalog sermons from different pastors and speakers
Speaker 1: all over the Philippines.
Speaker 2: We hope that this podcast finds you in good shape.
Speaker 1: And now here's your message. Speak to us and speak
Speaker 1: to us today buy your Holy Spirit. We thank you,
Speaker 1: Lord God for wisdom and revelation insight. In the name
Speaker 1: of Jesus, hallelujah. Lord, I pray that each one of
Speaker 1: us would have ears to hear, hearts to receive mind's
Speaker 1: the process. Lord, that we'd be doers and not hearers
Speaker 1: only in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2: Amen. Amen. All right.
Speaker 1: Obviously, Resurrection Sunday is coming up, and we encourage you
Speaker 1: to pray for your co workers and neighbors, friends, relatives,
Speaker 1: and begin to invite and encourage people to come. You
Speaker 1: never know. You might think, oh, they'd never come. You
Speaker 1: might be surprised. Sometimes the bigger they are, the easier
Speaker 1: they fall. We gave you this little invite here, these
Speaker 1: three by five or not even three by five cards,
Speaker 1: But take these and just use it to invite people,
Speaker 1: maybe somebody you work with, or a neighbor or something.
Speaker 1: Statistics show a lot of people would come to church
Speaker 1: if they're only invited. But we don't seem like evangelism.
Speaker 1: Personal evangelism has fallen out of favor in the Body
Speaker 1: of Christ in evangelical America today. Holiness and evangelism are
Speaker 1: the two things I see that have really taken a
Speaker 1: hit in recent years in the Body of Christ. We
Speaker 1: need to get those restored, all right, So Psalm eighty
Speaker 1: four and reminders. You're finding that that the Foundational Discipleship
Speaker 1: class will be starting soon. Ten week class to help
Speaker 1: you get grounded in the Word of God and in
Speaker 1: basic foundational truths. Talk about faith and love, holiness, serving
Speaker 1: the Word of God, prayer. You'll get a lot of
Speaker 1: questions answered. And there's a note to go with it,
Speaker 1: little book to read and it I won't softpel it
Speaker 1: and say that there's not some work involved. There is,
Speaker 1: but God's rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If
Speaker 1: you purpose to take this class, I can guarantee you
Speaker 1: after that ten weeks you'll be further along in your
Speaker 1: walk with God and in your spiritual growth. It is
Speaker 1: well worth it, so be sure to sign up for that.
Speaker 1: We handed out this little flyer. There's some over there
Speaker 1: by the door. You can fill that out or call
Speaker 1: the office or email the office and to be starting
Speaker 1: that soon. I think we got about eight or ten
Speaker 1: right now, but we'd like to get more involved in that.
Speaker 1: And then on Wednesdays, we've been talking about the Healing
Speaker 1: Divine Healing Healing School. Last week we looked at Matthew
Speaker 1: eight seventeen and healing in the Atonement along with Isaiah
Speaker 1: fifty three, and it'll help you get grounded in healing truth.
Speaker 1: We're going to look at One Peter two twenty four
Speaker 1: this week. By his stripes, you were healed, not are
Speaker 1: going to be, but we're healed, and that ties into
Speaker 1: Isaiah fifty three and we'll look at what that means
Speaker 1: and what that says. So strongly, strongly encourage you to
Speaker 1: come to that. We have soaking at six thirty if
Speaker 1: you can make that, and then with seven we have
Speaker 1: just some brief worship and then we get into the word.
Speaker 1: We're typically done about eight fifteen. The messages are available
Speaker 1: in the book store as well as online, so encourage
Speaker 1: you with that.
Speaker 2: Hallylujah.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk today about going from strength to strength.
Speaker 1: This week I was reading in Matthew. I have been
Speaker 1: reading my one year Bible every year, read through it
Speaker 1: probably about thirty times. But I decided to take a
Speaker 1: little change this year, and I've been reading this apologetics
Speaker 1: study Bible, and I was in Matthew reading and you're
Speaker 1: familiar with this story that Jesus told his parable. I
Speaker 1: wanted to point something out that the Lord spoke to
Speaker 1: me and encourage us in and they'll tie into the
Speaker 1: message as well.
Speaker 2: Jesus said, for.
Speaker 1: This reason, the well Peter had come to him and said, Lord,
Speaker 1: how many times should I forgive my brother or sister
Speaker 1: who sins against me? As many as seven times? And
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I tell you, not as many seven, but
Speaker 1: seventy times seven. For this reason, the Kingdom of Heaven
Speaker 1: can be compared to a king who wanted to settle
Speaker 1: accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts,
Speaker 1: one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought before him.
Speaker 1: And you can study this out in different Bibles and
Speaker 1: get different amounts, but this is a pretty up to
Speaker 1: date version as well as study Bible. And I look
Speaker 1: down in the footnotes and their reference said, now, remember
Speaker 1: this guy owed ten thousand talents, And my footnote says
Speaker 1: a talent is worth about six thousand denari.
Speaker 2: Doesn't that help you?
Speaker 1: But it goes on to sayd talent is worth about
Speaker 1: six thousand denari or twenty years wages for a laborer.
Speaker 1: One talent was equivalent to twenty years' wages for a
Speaker 1: labor This man owed ten thousand talents. My math is correct,
Speaker 1: I believe it is. That's two hundred thousand years of wages.
Speaker 1: You say, well, that's supernatural debt. Nobody could get out
Speaker 1: of that. That's the point. We were supernaturally in debt,
Speaker 1: with our sin debt.
Speaker 2: There was no way we could pay it.
Speaker 1: And Jesus our Savior paid a debt he did not owe.
Speaker 1: We owed a debt we could not pay. He paid
Speaker 1: a debt we he did not owe. Think of that,
Speaker 1: not just twenty years wage, not two hundred years or
Speaker 1: even two thousand years. Two hundred thousand years of wages
Speaker 1: this man owed, and the Master forgave him.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: I want to rejoice today in our great salvation they met,
Speaker 1: and in our great forgiveness we have been forgiven. Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: An unpayable debt. There was no way you and I
Speaker 1: we could have been the best people on the face
Speaker 1: of the earth, done all kinds of penance, crawled from
Speaker 1: here to Jerusalem on our knees. I know you couldn't
Speaker 1: do it on the ocean, but you can do it
Speaker 1: around laps on the boat whatever.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: You could never pay your way, to pay your sin debt.
Speaker 1: This no way, This no way. And Jesus stepped in
Speaker 1: and said, it is finished. Your sins are forgiven. Hallelujah.
Speaker 2: Now the irony.
Speaker 1: Is, if you're familiar to the rest of the story,
Speaker 1: this man then goes out and refuses to forgive somebody
Speaker 1: that owed him a little debt, which is the picture
Speaker 1: of us when we refuse to forgive somebody who wrongs
Speaker 1: us or hurts us in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 1: And it said that the Master, when he found out
Speaker 1: that this person who he had just forgave an unpayable
Speaker 1: supernatural debt, when there was told to him that he
Speaker 1: refused to forgive one of his fellow servants, he said
Speaker 1: he was angry. God is angered when we refuse to forgive. Now,
Speaker 1: we've all been hurt, we've all been misused, we've all
Speaker 1: been mistreated, we've all been probably lied about, scandalized, hurt.
Speaker 2: Some have been.
Speaker 1: Abused physically, some emotionally, some sexually, and on and on.
Speaker 1: I mean, life is a valley of bakah, a valley
Speaker 1: of tears. We've been talking about that. But we must forgive.
Speaker 1: We must keep the slate clean. You can either be
Speaker 1: bitter or be better. We must forgive. And the way
Speaker 1: we come through that valley of bakas what we've been
Speaker 1: talking about, that valley of tears, that valley of weeping.
Speaker 1: We turn it into a spring, We turn it into
Speaker 1: a Well. How do we do that? Well, we've talked
Speaker 1: about five things right here within this Psalm, and it
Speaker 1: begins by dwelling in Yaway's presence and in his house,
Speaker 1: spending time with God, being in church, getting to know God.
Speaker 1: That's how we can turn the valley of weeping into
Speaker 1: a place of spring. And then the second thing we
Speaker 1: talked about is praise and pray. Go ahead and put
Speaker 1: that up. I think we have a reminder of that.
Speaker 1: This is what we talked about. Praise and pray continually.
Speaker 1: Praise and pray continually. This is what it says in
Speaker 1: Psalm eighty four, as well as the Word of God.
Speaker 1: Praise and pray continually. Now, the tendency is for us
Speaker 1: to read that or see that and say people can't
Speaker 1: praise continually and pray continually.
Speaker 2: Nonetheless, that's what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: Pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks, pray at all times,
Speaker 1: praise God continually.
Speaker 2: It's this, The Bible is clear.
Speaker 1: Even though we feel like, well, we try to write
Speaker 1: ourselves an excuse. Take to the teacher, you know why
Speaker 1: I can't do this. God says, no, you can pray continue,
Speaker 1: you can praise continue. Then say it's twenty four to seven.
Speaker 1: It's just a lifestyle that's talking about throughout the day,
Speaker 1: even into the evening. Get up me all night to
Speaker 1: go to the bathroom. Praise your Lord, hallelujah, Glory to God,
Speaker 1: Thank you Jesus. Yeah, try it. You'd be surprised what
Speaker 1: it does for you. Just that simple thing that you
Speaker 1: may think, Oh, this is.
Speaker 2: Not even half hearted. This is about one tenth hearted.
Speaker 2: Just do it.
Speaker 1: Watch what happens. Just praise you Lord, Hallelujah, bless you.
Speaker 1: Praise and pray continually. We're talking about turning the valley
Speaker 1: of weeping into well place and strength. We've been forgiveness,
Speaker 1: supernatural debt. Now we have to let go of the hurts,
Speaker 1: the wounds that we've all encountered in life and not
Speaker 1: let them hold on to us and coming through this
Speaker 1: valley and turn into a well. It also says we
Speaker 1: are to find our strength in God, to find our
Speaker 1: strength in God. We're going to talk more about that today,
Speaker 1: finding our strength in God. And in Fourthly, you set
Speaker 1: your heart, you set it on pilgrimage. You set it
Speaker 1: on I'm going from there to there. I'm going all
Speaker 1: the way with God. I'm not going to quit. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to give up. I'm not going to throw
Speaker 1: in the towel. Doesn't matter what the devil does, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what happens. It doesn't matter what other people do.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if everybody around me backslides or quits or
Speaker 1: gives up or says it doesn't work. My heart is
Speaker 1: set on pilgrimage. I'm going from here to there. My
Speaker 1: heart has been set on pilgrimage for over forty years now,
Speaker 1: and it helps you to get through the valleys of
Speaker 1: baka that you encounter on this journey. No, my heart
Speaker 1: is set. I'm passing through the door. I walk through
Speaker 1: the valley of the shadow of Death. I'll fear no evil,
Speaker 1: for he is with me. He's with it's me. My
Speaker 1: heart is set on pilgrimage. I'm not quitting. I'm not
Speaker 1: giving up. Your heart must be set on the highway's desion.
Speaker 1: And then, fifthly, we trust in Yahweh. We trust in Yahweh.
Speaker 1: We lean on him, We have confidence in him. Trust
Speaker 1: is not just some mental thing. Well, I'm trusting. No,
Speaker 1: it's an active it's not a passive word. It's an
Speaker 1: active word. I'm trusting. I'm leaning on him. I'm putting
Speaker 1: my confidence in him. I'm resting in him, Hallelujah, not
Speaker 1: in my own abilities.
Speaker 2: In him.
Speaker 1: So let's read Psalm eighty four. You'll see these principles here.
Speaker 1: How amiable are thy tabernacles, O, Lord of Hosts. My
Speaker 1: soul longs, yea even faints for the courts of the Lord.
Speaker 1: My heart and flesh cry out for the living God. Yea,
Speaker 1: the sparrow has found a house in the swa nest
Speaker 1: for herself, where she may lay her young even thine altars, O,
Speaker 1: Lord of Hosts.
Speaker 2: My king and my God.
Speaker 1: Blessed, happy, fortunate to be envied are they who dwell
Speaker 1: in thy house, They will be ever praising you, blessed, happy,
Speaker 1: fortunate to be envied. Is the man the woman whose
Speaker 1: strength is in thee in whose heart are the highways
Speaker 1: of Zion, or whose heart is set on pilgrimage, who
Speaker 1: verse six, passing through, not living there, not camping there,
Speaker 1: not abiding there, not setting up residence there, passing through
Speaker 1: the valley of Bacah, the valley of weeping, the valley
Speaker 1: of tears. It represents trouble, rejection, persecution, difficulties, as trials, temptations,
Speaker 1: all these things we face in this life.
Speaker 2: Ba ka.
Speaker 1: God wants to turn your ba kha into blessings by
Speaker 1: applying these five principles and what we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about today, going from strength to strength. God can turn
Speaker 1: your ba kha into blessings no matter how bad it gets,
Speaker 1: no matter how much the enemy attacks, to what people do.
Speaker 1: God can take what the devil meant for harm and
Speaker 1: turn it around for good.
Speaker 2: And for his glory.
Speaker 1: He wasn't behind it, he didn't ordain it, he didn't
Speaker 1: cause it, he didn't send it. But he can still
Speaker 1: turn it around. He's a master at taking what the
Speaker 1: devil means for harm and turning it around for our good.
Speaker 1: Many are the afflictions of the righteous asama sid, but
Speaker 1: the Lord delivers them out of them all hallelujah. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: in the world, you'll have tribulation John sixteen thirty three.
Speaker 1: But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Who
Speaker 1: passing through the valley of Bakal make it a well.
Speaker 1: They make it a well. They make it a well,
Speaker 1: They turn it into a spring. And then once they
Speaker 1: do that, the rain also fills the pools. God's rain comes.
Speaker 1: As we do our part. God does his part, exceeding
Speaker 1: abundantly above and beyond all we ask or think. We
Speaker 1: take the bitter experience of life and we say, I'm
Speaker 1: just going to praise God. I'm going to keep my
Speaker 1: heart set on pilgrimage. I'm going to trust Yahweh. I'm
Speaker 1: going to dwell in his house. I'm going to go
Speaker 1: from strength to strength. I find my strength in God.
Speaker 1: I'm going to turn this bitter experience into a spring,
Speaker 1: into a well. And then God's rain comes, hallelujah, and
Speaker 1: fills it with pools.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 1: See, that's why some people religiously and mistakenly They look
Speaker 1: at the bitter experiences, like the bad experience of life,
Speaker 1: and they say, well, see God sent that for a reason,
Speaker 1: or God allowed that for a reason because good came
Speaker 1: out of it. No, just because good came out doesn't
Speaker 1: mean God intended it that way in the first place.
Speaker 1: Like I've heard people say, well, it was good I
Speaker 1: was in that car accident because I got the witness
Speaker 1: to two nurses while I was in the hospital. I think, you, dummy.
Speaker 1: You could have gone in the hospital fully well and
Speaker 1: witness to a hundred nurses. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: in a hospital bed to witness, you know. People always say,
Speaker 1: and I could go after biblical example after biblical example
Speaker 1: of good things that they came out of bad things
Speaker 1: when God got involved. But it wasn't God's perfect will.
Speaker 1: It wasn't his plan. But that's where people get off.
Speaker 1: They see the good that comes out of it, and
Speaker 1: they think, well, see God must have been behind it. No,
Speaker 1: just because he turned it around for our good and
Speaker 1: for his glory, I mean he that was his original plan.
Speaker 2: He won't violate his word.
Speaker 1: All right, So that God fills it with pools Verse seven,
Speaker 1: they go from strength to strength, They go from strength
Speaker 1: to strength. Say that with me, they go from strength
Speaker 1: to strength. Again, they go from strength to strength. Every
Speaker 1: one of them, callelujah, every one of them in Zion
Speaker 1: appears before God, Oh Lord, God of Host, hear my prayer,
Speaker 1: Give Euro, Oh God of Jacob see lah. Behold, Oh God,
Speaker 1: our shield, and look upon the face of Thine anointed.
Speaker 1: For a day in thy courts is better than a
Speaker 1: thousand anywhere else.
Speaker 2: Glory to God.
Speaker 1: One day in the presence of God is better than
Speaker 1: a thousand anywhere else.
Speaker 2: On that most beautiful.
Speaker 1: Remote island or place you could think of, One day
Speaker 1: in the presence of God, one moment in the presence
Speaker 1: of God far exceeds a thousand anywhere else. A lot
Speaker 1: of folk don't believe that. It's because they've never experienced it.
Speaker 1: I guess the presence the anointing, hallelujah. Nothing like it.
Speaker 1: Nothing in this earth can compare with it. Worship is
Speaker 1: the key to that. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
Speaker 1: the house of my God than to dwell in the
Speaker 1: tents of wickedness. See a lot of folk today that
Speaker 1: are dwelling professing Christians that are dwelling in the tents
Speaker 1: of wickedness for the Lord God. Verse eleven is the
Speaker 1: sun and a shield. The Lord yahueh will give grace
Speaker 1: and glory. Oh good thing, say no good thing, no
Speaker 1: good thing will he withhold. Hallelujah. No good thing will
Speaker 1: he withhold. Mister great place of shallt amen, because that
Speaker 1: means so be it. I'll take it. Yes, Lord, no
Speaker 1: good thing will he withhold. But notice there's a condition.
Speaker 1: From them that walk up rightly, not those that dwell
Speaker 1: in the tents of wickedness. They're not going to see
Speaker 1: all the good things of God, those who dwell on
Speaker 1: the tents of wickedness. But those who live holy, who
Speaker 1: live right, who walk uprightly, no good thing will Father
Speaker 1: God withhold from them. Thank you Jesus, oh Lord of hosts. Blessed, happy,
Speaker 1: fortunate to be envied. Is the man, the woman, the child,
Speaker 1: whoever who trusts batak in, the who leans on you,
Speaker 1: believes on you, commits all to you, confident He looks
Speaker 1: to you that without fear and misgiving, according to the
Speaker 1: amplified Thank you Jesus, So again look with me. At
Speaker 1: verse seven, they go from strength the strength. There is
Speaker 1: the kind of a person, there is the kind of
Speaker 1: a Christian who passes through the valley of Baka turns
Speaker 1: it into a well, a spring. They take the bitter
Speaker 1: experiences of life, the attacks of the enemy, the challenges
Speaker 1: of this fallen world, and they don't get bitter. They
Speaker 1: praise God. They stand on the word of God, they
Speaker 1: act on the word of God. They turn it into
Speaker 1: a spring. Amen. And not only that, they go from
Speaker 1: strength to strengths. They don't just go through the valley
Speaker 1: of Baka and turn it into spring. They actually go
Speaker 1: from strength to strengths. Amplified Bible says they increase in
Speaker 1: victorious power. Whether one realizes it or not, Christianity is
Speaker 1: to be lived from a position of strength, not weakness.
Speaker 1: A lot of folks think, well, yeah, it's all about
Speaker 1: being weak. No, it's all about being strong. Strong in
Speaker 1: your weakness. We Christianity is to be lived from a
Speaker 1: position of strength. If Esian six tenth has be strong
Speaker 1: in the Lord. And there's all kinds of scripture Old
Speaker 1: and New Testament about being strong. Now there are scriptures
Speaker 1: about weakness. We are weak without Him, Without Jesus, we
Speaker 1: can do nothing. We come to Christ in our weakness.
Speaker 1: We get saved in our weakness. But we don't stay
Speaker 1: in that weakness. We are to go from weakness to
Speaker 1: supernatural strength. Actually, it is supernatural strength in our human weakness,
Speaker 1: which is exactly what Paul said he discovered when he
Speaker 1: had to deal with that demonic opposition that he termed
Speaker 1: the thorn in the flesh. He said, this is what
Speaker 1: I found out. When I'm humanly weak, I'm divinely strong.
Speaker 1: Glory to God. When i'm weak, I'm strong. Now what
Speaker 1: he said, when I'm weak, I'm strong. That thorn in
Speaker 1: the flesh was demonic opposition sent to buffet him, continually
Speaker 1: attacking him.
Speaker 2: You can read Paul's life and mission everywhere.
Speaker 1: When he had opposition to the preaching of the gospel,
Speaker 1: that was that demon buffeting him. He said, it was
Speaker 1: like a thorn in the flesh. It wasn't a sickness
Speaker 1: or disease that God win at heal. That's religious tradition.
Speaker 1: It makes them none affect the word of God. It
Speaker 1: was a demon spirit sense to buffet him constantly opposing.
Speaker 1: If Paul said, I found something out when I'm weak,
Speaker 1: I'm strong. Whoo, I'm divinely strong. I'm going from strength
Speaker 1: to strength, and that's what we want to look at
Speaker 1: today how we can go from strength to strength? What
Speaker 1: do we do to go from strength to strength? What
Speaker 1: are the biblical principles? Christianity is to be lived from
Speaker 1: a position of strength.
Speaker 2: Now, in addition to those five.
Speaker 1: I gave you, you know, we're gonna look at some
Speaker 1: additional principles. But again, turning Bakhar into a well, dwell
Speaker 1: in y'allways house, praise and pray, continually, find your strength
Speaker 1: in God, set your heart on pilgrimage, trust in your way.
Speaker 1: I was talking to somebody last Sunday after service and
Speaker 1: they said to me, they you know I'd gone over
Speaker 1: those five points. They said, there's a six point. I
Speaker 1: thought you were going to list. They said, you kind
Speaker 1: of touched on it, and you kind of danced around it,
Speaker 1: but you never quite got to it, he said. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, tell me what's this sixth point? And
Speaker 1: they said, it's always darkest before the dawn.
Speaker 2: A lot of.
Speaker 1: Times, right, you know, when you feel like throwing into town,
Speaker 1: giving up and quitting, that's the very time you're on
Speaker 1: the verge of a breakthrough, and the devil knows it.
Speaker 1: The time you most feel like quitting is about the
Speaker 1: closest you'll probably be.
Speaker 2: To your miracle.
Speaker 1: Don't quit, don't give up, don't throw in the towel.
Speaker 1: It is usually darkest before the dawn. Don't quit, don't
Speaker 1: give up. And then somebody else said to me after
Speaker 1: the message, they said, well, another thing that I found
Speaker 1: out that it's you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: keeps us from passing through the valley of Baka and
Speaker 1: going on the higher ground is fear.
Speaker 2: Fear. I said, well, what do you mean fear?
Speaker 1: And they said, well, fear of what's ahead for one,
Speaker 1: fear of moving on with God. They said, it's real
Speaker 1: easy and comfortable in Baka, be easy to get comfortable
Speaker 1: in that low life. Really, there's a certain fear sometimes, Well,
Speaker 1: what's going to be expected of me if I go
Speaker 1: on with God, go on to higher ground with God?
Speaker 1: What's he going to ask of me? And I thought
Speaker 1: that's a good point too. So all these things come
Speaker 1: into play. But remember, God will turn your bacause into blessings. Hallelujah.
Speaker 2: How do we go from strength to strength? Now? Again?
Speaker 2: We are to live from a position of strength.
Speaker 1: If esian six ten be strong in the Lord the
Speaker 1: powers might one Corinthian sixteen thirteen says.
Speaker 2: Be strong, act like men.
Speaker 1: Now that's not saying women are to act like men.
Speaker 1: This just talking about that principle, be strong, be strong.
Speaker 1: One John two fourteen. He says, I write this to you,
Speaker 1: young men, because you are strong, and.
Speaker 2: He gives it.
Speaker 1: He gives a clue as to why they are strong.
Speaker 1: Two clues. Actually, he says, you are strong and the
Speaker 1: word of God abides in you. You know, when the
Speaker 1: word of God abides in you, you'll be strong. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: if you abide in me and my words abide in you,
Speaker 1: you'll ask what you will know to be done. He said,
Speaker 1: I write this to you, young men, because you are strong,
Speaker 1: and the Word of God abides in you, and you
Speaker 1: have overcome the wicked one. When you are strong in
Speaker 1: the Lord, because the word of God's abiding in you,
Speaker 1: you'll overcome the wicked one. So we are to live
Speaker 1: from a position of strength. Two Timothy two to one
Speaker 1: gives us another clue. It says, be strong in the
Speaker 1: grace of God. So this strength that we're talking about,
Speaker 1: going from strength to strength, is not nothing of our
Speaker 1: own doing or that we conjure up. It's be strong
Speaker 1: in the grace of God, the free favors of God,
Speaker 1: the operational power of God, the riches of God. Be
Speaker 1: strong in that the God I receive your strength, Paul said,
Speaker 1: be strong in ya wah, not strong in yourself. So
Speaker 1: we can live from a position of strength. Now, there's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with admitting weakness. Jesus said, without Me, you
Speaker 1: can do nothing. There's nothing wrong with admitting that and saying, well,
Speaker 1: without God, without Christ, I'm weak, but near my can says,
Speaker 1: let the week say, let the week say what I
Speaker 1: am strong. Not let the week say I am weak.
Speaker 1: You think that's what it said. Can listen to most
Speaker 1: professing Christians. But no, you didn't say, let the week
Speaker 1: say I'm weak. He said, let the week say I'm strong.
Speaker 1: He didn't say, let the six say I'm sick. He said,
Speaker 1: let the six say I'm healed. The let the fearful
Speaker 1: say I'm fearful. No, let the fearful say I shall
Speaker 1: not fear. Let those without that are lacking say, oh
Speaker 1: I have so much lack. Let those without lack say,
Speaker 1: the Lord's.
Speaker 2: Supply my needs. And on and on.
Speaker 1: He has said Hebrews thirteen five and six. So that
Speaker 1: we may say glory to God. So live from a
Speaker 1: position of strength. Remember God's instructions that Joshua, I mean,
Speaker 1: Joshua had a big challenge taking over from Moses. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine following Moses?
Speaker 2: Wow? I mean that would be some shoes to fill.
Speaker 1: I mean I'd be like stepping in for Billy Graham
Speaker 1: nowadays or something like that, you know, but even more so.
Speaker 1: Plus you got now three to five thousand murmuring, complaining
Speaker 1: Jews that are ready to turn on you at any moment.
Speaker 1: But notice God's instructions to Joshua right at the very beginning.
Speaker 1: I'll have them up here on the screen, he says
Speaker 1: four times in just the first chapter. In the very beginning,
Speaker 1: he says, beasts strong and of a good courage. Joshua,
Speaker 1: be strong, be of good courage. Then he goes on
Speaker 1: a little later and he says, only be thou strong
Speaker 1: and very courageous. So he says, be strong, and then
Speaker 1: he says, be very courageous. Then he says, have not
Speaker 1: I commanded you. It's a command, be strong and of
Speaker 1: good courage. Christiansby lived from a position of strength. And
Speaker 1: then the fourth time in that same chapter, he says,
Speaker 1: only only be strong and of a good courage. Be
Speaker 1: strong and of a good courage. It said of the
Speaker 1: apostle Paul, when he first got converted, said Saul increased
Speaker 1: all the more in strength. He grew more and more powerful.
Speaker 1: As of Jesus, the child grew and became strong in spirit.
Speaker 1: He grew and became strong in spirit. It shows he
Speaker 1: was operating in his humanity. God doesn't have to grow
Speaker 1: and become strong in spirit, but in this humanity he
Speaker 1: grew and became strong in spirit. And then recall what
Speaker 1: Jesus said is the greatest commandment, the first commandment, Love
Speaker 1: the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind,
Speaker 1: all your soul, and all your weakness, all your strength.
Speaker 1: Thou shalt love the Lord your God, all your heart,
Speaker 1: all your soul, all your mind, and with all your strengths,
Speaker 1: not human strength, the strength that we get from God.
Speaker 1: And this is the first commandment. Remember, God is referred
Speaker 1: to the Psalms as our strong power, our strong refuge
Speaker 1: numerous times. In fact, one of God's eloheim compound names.
Speaker 2: That we haven't looked at.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've just been looking at the Yahweh compound names,
Speaker 1: but the Eloheim compound names. One of his names is
Speaker 1: El gibor l gibor the mighty One or the strong one,
Speaker 1: the strong One, halleluj and he's your God. So what
Speaker 1: are you going to do? You can choose to live
Speaker 1: from a position of weakness, or choose to live from
Speaker 1: a position of strength. You can choose to live in baka,
Speaker 1: or you can choose to pass through baka. You can
Speaker 1: choose to wallow in the trials and temptations of life,
Speaker 1: or you can choose to go from strength to strength
Speaker 1: and increase in victorious power. Remember Hebrews eleven thirty four
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Faith, it says, if some out
Speaker 1: of weakness were made strong, out of weakness were made strong.
Speaker 1: So let's look at how do we go from strength
Speaker 1: to strength seven points.
Speaker 2: I pondered this.
Speaker 1: And I thought, you know, what are some practical things
Speaker 1: that caused us to go from strength to strength? And
Speaker 1: I've proved these in my own life. Others have proved
Speaker 1: them in their lives. Millions down through time have proved
Speaker 1: these seven principles. Applying them, you can go from strength
Speaker 1: to strength. They're not super difficult, they're very doable. And
Speaker 1: yet people get so caught up in this world that
Speaker 1: they they failed to apply them. So write these down somewhere.
Speaker 1: If you got room next to song, maybe four verse seven,
Speaker 1: write it down there, or write it after the song,
Speaker 1: make a little note there, you know, or an error
Speaker 1: or something. And mostly usually most Bibles, after one book
Speaker 1: closes before another one starts, you have quite a bit
Speaker 1: of blank space. Not always, but sometimes you could say,
Speaker 1: you know, just write down see page you know, six
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy, and write down these seven points. You
Speaker 1: might say, well, that's what's this all about? You just
Speaker 1: trust me. Trust me. Years from now, maybe week from now,
Speaker 1: you'll be reading and you'll say, what is this? See
Speaker 1: song page one, six seventy ooh, forgot about that? Write
Speaker 1: all over your bible. Keep a notebook, but especially in
Speaker 1: your Bible, make notes in the margin and down below.
Speaker 1: When God speaks to you things, write them down.
Speaker 2: Halleluj. I got in my.
Speaker 1: Book of Ephesians. I can't even I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: swamped with notes. It's just they're so small, sometimes like
Speaker 1: what's what going on? But boy's a wealth of good
Speaker 1: things in there. Hallelujah. So how do we go from
Speaker 1: strength to strength? Let's read it again, eighty four to seven.
Speaker 1: They go from strength to strength. Every one of them
Speaker 1: in Zion appears before God. So these are seven points
Speaker 1: the Lord gave me going from strength to strain. Number
Speaker 1: one is this, be truly converted and born again. That's
Speaker 1: the very beginning spot, right there, be truly converted. This
Speaker 1: is a big problem today, a big problem. A lot
Speaker 1: of paint people think they're saved because they've said the
Speaker 1: Sinner's prayer, or they've gone to church, or they're raised
Speaker 1: in a certain denomination, or they do Christian things. See,
Speaker 1: there's a deception. Some people think I become a Christian
Speaker 1: by doing Christian things. I'll go to church, I'll be
Speaker 1: a good person, I'll treat others well, maybe even I'll
Speaker 1: read the Bible and I'll pray.
Speaker 2: That does not make your Christian.
Speaker 1: Doing Christian things does not make a person a Christian.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, you must be born again. We have to
Speaker 1: be saved by the blood of the Lamb, and then
Speaker 1: we start to do Christian things. But a person needs
Speaker 1: if they're going to go from strength to strength, the
Speaker 1: very beginning point is to make sure I'm been truly converted.
Speaker 1: I am just said the Sinner's prayer or trusting in
Speaker 1: religion or church attendance for my salvation? Am I truly converted?
Speaker 1: We don't hear a lot of conversion today. You hear
Speaker 1: mostly about maybe even being born again, which is nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with being born again, but that's what true born
Speaker 1: again is.
Speaker 2: To be converted. The word or the phrase born.
Speaker 1: Again is found three times in the New Testament. The
Speaker 1: word converted or conversion is found forty eight times in
Speaker 1: the New Testament. Now, not all of them speak of
Speaker 1: being converted in salvation, but a great majority of them do. See,
Speaker 1: we must experience conversion. What did Jesus say, if anyone
Speaker 1: come after me, let him take up his cross? And
Speaker 1: he didn't say, if anyone come after me, let him
Speaker 1: say the sinner's prayer. We got too many people that
Speaker 1: just said the sinner's prayer, answered an alder call, and
Speaker 1: they think everything's okay.
Speaker 2: You're living like the devil, living like the world.
Speaker 1: They think they're saved just because well, yeah, back in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, I prayed the sinner's prayer?
Speaker 2: Have you borne any fruit? Have you been converted?
Speaker 1: You? Has your life changed? And if it hasn't, something's wrong.
Speaker 1: So we have to be converted, truly born again. Now,
Speaker 1: the word conversion, it literally means this to turn around,
Speaker 1: So we turn and we go a different direction. It's
Speaker 1: what's that sound like? Repentance? Turn around to reverse, to
Speaker 1: change one's mind. I think we have it on the
Speaker 1: screen here. Yes, turn around, reverse to change one's mind.
Speaker 1: Become another kind of person. If a person is truly converted,
Speaker 1: they become another kind of person. I'm not the person
Speaker 1: I used to be. People that went to high school with.
Speaker 1: They say, that's not Morbidzure, that's not the Morbidzuer I knew.
Speaker 2: No, I'm a news creation. Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Brother Hagen talks about when he after he got saved,
Speaker 1: he used to go down to the county square and
Speaker 1: he said, those are depression days and you have all
Speaker 1: kinds of men hanging around just looking for work, nothing
Speaker 1: to do. And he just go up to somebody on
Speaker 1: the street corner and he say, I'm a new creation,
Speaker 1: just a young seventeen year old boy. I'm a new creation.
Speaker 1: They go, what he said, I'm a new creation? What
Speaker 1: do you mean, young boy? If any man be in Christ,
Speaker 1: he's a new creation. Old things have passed away, all
Speaker 1: things becoming and begin to preach to them, get someone
Speaker 1: born again, hallelujah, be truly converted, become a new person,
Speaker 1: to return from error.
Speaker 2: We were walking in.
Speaker 1: Error, to turn to the service and worship and love
Speaker 1: and obedience of the True God. This shepherd, Holly, that's
Speaker 1: the definition of conversion from the Complete Word Study Dictionary.
Speaker 2: I love that last part.
Speaker 1: See, we not only turned from something, we turn to
Speaker 1: something that's true repentance. That's true conversion.
Speaker 2: We turn.
Speaker 1: We turn from error to the service and worship and
Speaker 1: love and obedience of the True God.
Speaker 2: Our shepherd, yahweh rohe.
Speaker 1: Now, conversion is both an act of God and an
Speaker 1: active man. It's all God and it's all man. It's
Speaker 1: divine grace. God initiates it and we respond acts three nineteen.
Speaker 1: Remember Peter got before a crowd, and this is what
Speaker 1: he preached to him, Repent and be converted. He didn't
Speaker 1: say repent and say a sinner's prayer and times of
Speaker 1: refreshing will come. No, he said, repent and be converted,
Speaker 1: that your sins may be blotted out so that times
Speaker 1: are refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of professing Christians have never experienced
Speaker 1: the times of refreshing that come from the presence of
Speaker 1: the Lord because they never repented, had been converted. They've
Speaker 1: just gone to church or done good things, and they think, well,
Speaker 1: why do I what's lacking? It starts with being repenting,
Speaker 1: changing our mind and being converted, and then times of
Speaker 1: refreshing come. Somebody says, well, you're not going to get
Speaker 1: many converts that way preaching conversion. Yeah, Peter only got
Speaker 1: five thousand men saved that day, just the men, not
Speaker 1: counting women and children, only five thousand. So yeah, you
Speaker 1: can't really preach this way and expect Decisions Number two
Speaker 1: after being truly converted and born again, we're talking about
Speaker 1: going from strength to strength. Receive the Holy Spirit baptism.
Speaker 1: Receive the Holy Spirit baptists. Now, when a person gets saved, converted,
Speaker 1: born again, it's by the work of the hoispirit. They
Speaker 1: get the Holy Spirit. But there is an experience subsequent
Speaker 1: to the new birth, subsequent to salvation called being baptized.
Speaker 1: In the Holy Ghost Acts one eight, Jesus said you
Speaker 1: shall receive power and luke. At the end of luke,
Speaker 1: he breathed on them and he said, receive ye, the
Speaker 1: Holy Ghost. That's where they got born again. But he
Speaker 1: said to these same people later on an axe, he said,
Speaker 1: you'll receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you.
Speaker 1: Go into the upper room and wait for the outpouring.
Speaker 1: Later on the Book of Acts, these people got born again,
Speaker 1: but then they sent some of the apostles down to
Speaker 1: them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. I need
Speaker 1: the Holy Ghost baptism. You need the Holy Ghost baptism.
Speaker 2: We all do. Like I said before.
Speaker 1: You can live the Christian life without the Holy Ghost
Speaker 1: baptism and speaking in other tongues. You can live it
Speaker 1: that way. But it's like peddling a bike with the
Speaker 1: air barely in the tires. But you get those tires
Speaker 1: fully inflated. Whoo, that's the Holy Ghost baptism. You can
Speaker 1: do it. You can go up that hill both ways.
Speaker 1: But I may know you got your work cut out
Speaker 1: for you. When your tires are underinflated. But you get
Speaker 1: your tires fully inflated, a whole lot easier go up
Speaker 1: the hill and down the hill and in the straight places.
Speaker 1: We need the Holy Ghost baptism. Somebody said, yeah, but
Speaker 1: I just don't know about that tongue stuff. Get over it.
Speaker 1: It's a supernatural prayer language. It's the devil trying to
Speaker 1: get people so afraid. It's like you think it was
Speaker 1: some deadly virus or something. You talk to some people
Speaker 1: about spirit being baptized. The noise, Yeah, but what about
Speaker 1: that tongue stuff. It's not gonna hurt you. It'll magnify
Speaker 1: your prayer life seventyfold. You'll be able to pray the
Speaker 1: mysteries of God, the secrets of God. Instead you're doing
Speaker 1: all your praying out of your head, You're gonna do
Speaker 1: it out of your spirit. I pray in tongues every day.
Speaker 1: I probably have for forty some years. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I've missed the day that's the second nature to me,
Speaker 1: I'll be walking somewhere over about sick of them.
Speaker 2: I tell you, I must say you why he that.
Speaker 1: Speaks an unknown tongue builds himself up, edifies himself, doesn't
Speaker 1: talk to men, talks to God, just becomes second nature
Speaker 1: to you. There's power in it. We need holy ghost power.
Speaker 1: And Jesus said, if you receive that holy ghost power,
Speaker 1: you'll be a witness.
Speaker 2: You'll be a witness.
Speaker 1: You shall receive power after the Holy ghost comes upon
Speaker 1: you and you'll be my witness. He didn't say you'll
Speaker 1: do witness, and he said you'll just be a witness.
Speaker 1: It'll just come naturally. You just can't help but witness
Speaker 1: because you're full of power. If you study the Book
Speaker 1: of Acts. That's what turned these timid disciples who were
Speaker 1: hiding now out and afraid, and the bold witnesses that
Speaker 1: turn the world upside down. The Holy Ghost signs and
Speaker 1: wonders and miracles. By the power of the Holy Ghost,
Speaker 1: it's nothing to be ashamed of, embarrassed about, or apologetic
Speaker 1: for her power from on high.
Speaker 2: This is well, why are we talking about that?
Speaker 1: We're talking about going from strength to strength, get truly converted,
Speaker 1: and then get baptized in the Holy Spirit. Speak in
Speaker 1: other tongues, begin to speak in other tongues all the time.
Speaker 1: It's for everybody that asked. Jesus said, if you then,
Speaker 1: being evil, now to give good gifts to your children,
Speaker 1: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit to those who ask him. Luke Elevin, just ask
Speaker 1: if you need help, and like prayer, see me or
Speaker 1: somebody else. We'll be glad to pray with you.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Next day, this this is my testimony.
Speaker 2: I think others were decorate.
Speaker 1: Next to getting saved, the best thing that ever happened
Speaker 1: to me, hands down, was to get baptized in the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit and speak in other tongues, no question, I
Speaker 1: don't even have to think about next to get and say.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's even better in finding Penny getting a
Speaker 1: good wife. He finds a good wife, finds a good thing,
Speaker 1: and obtained favor from the Lord. I found a good wife,
Speaker 1: a good thing, and I'm gotten favor from the Lord.
Speaker 1: But and she'll understand because she baptized the Holy Ghost
Speaker 1: speaks in other tongues too. That's there's no that's you
Speaker 1: can't compare to. I mean, she got a good thing
Speaker 1: when she got me too. I mean it's like she
Speaker 1: got the best. I tell her that all the time.
Speaker 1: I said, man, you are highly favored of the Lord.
Speaker 1: How you got the one of the best husbands around.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm talking about, don't you, Jamie. It's
Speaker 2: just I mean, it's just it's just part of it.
Speaker 2: But but what you that's a man thing.
Speaker 1: I was saying something like that the other day, and
Speaker 1: she said to David, little Sarah's little son, David said David,
Speaker 1: don't listen to this. You don't need to get started
Speaker 1: this way. And Sarah, I think, said her pain says something.
Speaker 1: It's hopeless. It's just a man thing.
Speaker 2: They all do that.
Speaker 1: Look in the mere man, I get better looking every day.
Speaker 1: So anyway, the baptism in the Holy goes. Okay, we
Speaker 1: better move on number three, going from strength to strength.
Speaker 1: You hunger after truth? You hunger after truth? What do
Speaker 1: you hunger for? What is truth? Well, truth is the
Speaker 1: Word of God, Truth is Jesus.
Speaker 2: But you have to if you're going to.
Speaker 1: Go from strength to strength, you have to hunger after truth. Now,
Speaker 1: going to church is great, and that's a part of
Speaker 1: hungering after church. But I'm talking about what do you
Speaker 1: do Monday through Saturday? Do you hunger after truth?
Speaker 2: Are you want it?
Speaker 1: Reads and studies your Bible and praise and seeks more
Speaker 1: of God? What do you read? What do you watch?
Speaker 1: What do you listen to? Are you hungering after more
Speaker 1: and more truth? More and more truths? It caused you
Speaker 1: to go from strength to strength if you hunger after truth.
Speaker 2: Just this week I went up to.
Speaker 1: Wisconsin for a My Ordaining Organization AFCM had a overnight
Speaker 1: or so. I went up there Thursday and Friday and
Speaker 1: it was over. It was about six six and a
Speaker 1: half hour drive from here to Wisconsin, and uh, I
Speaker 1: just listened to the word preaching all the way up
Speaker 1: there and all the way back. I think I got
Speaker 1: more out of the trip than I did the conference.
Speaker 1: Jes Listen, Now, I could have listen to the radio.
Speaker 1: I could listen to talk radio, I could listen to music.
Speaker 1: Could just been quiet. You know, that's what a lot
Speaker 1: of folk do. I'm talking about Christian you know, listen
Speaker 1: to the radio all the way up there, listen to
Speaker 1: secular music, even all worship music would have been fine.
Speaker 2: But I said, now I'm just gonna pump the word in. Oh.
Speaker 1: I just feel the strength, the strengths coming into me.
Speaker 1: What do you hunger after?
Speaker 2: You know? God?
Speaker 1: I was doing that and listen to somebody preaching, and
Speaker 1: God spoke to me during the while I was listening
Speaker 1: to then preaching.
Speaker 2: He said, you can.
Speaker 1: Tell a lot about a person's spiritual hunger by what
Speaker 1: they listened to, what they watch, and what they read,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to music. That's just where God
Speaker 1: spoke to me. You can take it or leave it.
Speaker 1: But what kind of music do you listen to that
Speaker 1: tells you a lot about your spiritual hunger or lack thereof.
Speaker 1: He said, you can tell a lot about a person's
Speaker 1: spiritual hunger by what they listen to, what they watch,
Speaker 1: and what they read. That's a great indicator of where
Speaker 1: is my hunger? What am I really hungry for? Football, basketball, sports, hobbies?
Speaker 1: Social media? What do I really hunger for? The latest gossip,
Speaker 1: what helly weird is doing?
Speaker 2: And on and on.
Speaker 1: Oh, there's so many distractions in this life, so many distractions.
Speaker 1: Hunger after If you're going to go from strength to strength,
Speaker 1: hunger after truth, let me encourage you to discipline yourself
Speaker 1: in spiritual things. Discipline yourself. Say no, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to get feet on the candy, the mental candy that's
Speaker 1: all around me in this world. There's mental candy everywhere,
Speaker 1: and yet it's sweet and it's tasty, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: provide any true nourishment. It just makes you lazy. But
Speaker 1: discipline yourself in the spiritual things. Hunger after Truth. Thank
Speaker 1: God for CDs And you know, I know this is
Speaker 1: old fashioned, but cassettes and iPods and now you can
Speaker 1: get it on your phone and on your laptop, and
Speaker 1: there's just so there's a well, I mean, there's ministry
Speaker 1: after ministry after ministry where you can get awesome anointed sermons,
Speaker 1: download them or listen.
Speaker 2: To them right there. Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: One of the one of the preachers I was listening
Speaker 1: to on this trip was Keith Moore, and he was
Speaker 1: talking about he said when he said, when he and
Speaker 1: his wife at the very beginning, he said, we were
Speaker 1: just living in a little podunk town and a mobile
Speaker 1: and a trailer cord and a and a motor mobile home.
Speaker 2: He said, we were broke.
Speaker 1: We were down and out. He said, we had nothing.
Speaker 1: He said, my wife worked for. If he was a
Speaker 1: dentist or doctor, he said, but he worked for And
Speaker 1: he said, this guy had all kinds of cassette tapes
Speaker 1: of Kenneth Hagen, Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, Charles Capps, Jerry Seville,
Speaker 1: you know, the Filet Mignon, the good stuff. And he said,
Speaker 1: he kept saying to my wife, he said, here, take
Speaker 1: some of these. And you and your husband listened to
Speaker 1: him and they yeah, and you know, they didn't want
Speaker 1: to listen to preaching. I mean, they thought just Sunday morning.
Speaker 2: That was enough. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like I've had all intakes Sunday morning, you know,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna ask me listen to preaching outside the church.
Speaker 1: It's like, who does that kind of weirdo listens to
Speaker 1: preaching outside of Sunday morning. You go and you tolerate
Speaker 1: the twenty minute sermon and that's it. You get on
Speaker 1: with your life. So he said, they just get kept ignoring.
Speaker 1: He said, fine. His wife, just because he was her boss,
Speaker 1: just to pacify him, he took it. She took some
Speaker 1: of the tapes home and she said, well, he wants
Speaker 1: us to listen. And they said, well, let's listen to
Speaker 1: and he said what are what are they? And sid
Speaker 1: they were cassettes and he said, well, what is it music?
Speaker 1: He said, no, it's preaching, he said, preaching. Who listens
Speaker 1: to preaching on cassettes? I mean, cassettes are from music
Speaker 1: that was what this was the CDs back then or
Speaker 1: the downloads in you know. He said, the only thing
Speaker 1: we ever listened to on cassettes was music preaching. Who
Speaker 1: would listen to preaching? And he said, I don't know
Speaker 1: about this. They said, well let's try, and they put
Speaker 1: one in I forget who it was, Kenneth Hagen or
Speaker 1: Kenneth cop was somebody, and they said, whoa, we never
Speaker 1: heard it on this, Wise said. The next night they
Speaker 1: listened to another one. He said, I found myself going
Speaker 1: home every day from work and getting excited about Come on, honey,
Speaker 1: let's listen to another one.
Speaker 2: He said. It revolutionizer life.
Speaker 1: Now they have a worldwide ministry.
Speaker 2: He said.
Speaker 1: And I know for a fact that God was able
Speaker 1: to take me from there to here where I'm at today,
Speaker 1: through listening to those cassette tapes. He said, I have
Speaker 1: no doubt. I have no doubt. I know in my
Speaker 1: own life I've been able to go from strength to strength.
Speaker 2: By doing it.
Speaker 1: I listened to hundreds of messages every year. Every year,
Speaker 1: I've listened to probably tens of thousands of messages over
Speaker 1: the course of my life.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah. It just feeds you, what are you hung now?
Speaker 1: I could have spent all that time listening to talk
Speaker 1: radio or sports radio, or the news or secular music,
Speaker 1: and I'd be none the better. I'd go from weakness
Speaker 1: to weakness instead of strength to strength. But God told us,
Speaker 1: he said, I've set before you life and death, blessing
Speaker 1: and cursing.
Speaker 2: You choose. It's your choice.
Speaker 1: So as much as I'd like to make people do
Speaker 1: it again do it, I can't do it. Ain't better
Speaker 1: than God. It's your choice. So I'm just laying out
Speaker 1: some choices here. There is power in the Word of God.
Speaker 1: This is transforming power. This will transform our lives. This
Speaker 1: is supernatural power.
Speaker 2: You don't believe that. Just try taking a.
Speaker 1: Bible, even a little Bible, and set it on your
Speaker 1: work at your workstation, you desk, the machinery where you
Speaker 1: work or wherever.
Speaker 2: Just try. Just watch.
Speaker 1: Just take a Bible and set it there and watch
Speaker 1: the reaction. You can take any other book in the
Speaker 1: world and nobody won't think anything of it. But you
Speaker 1: take a Bible. Where are you some God Jesus.
Speaker 2: Not Wait, what's that doing here?
Speaker 1: There's power in it, power in the Word of God. Okay,
Speaker 1: number four, we got to move on here. Be a
Speaker 1: person of prayer. We're talking about going from strank the strength.
Speaker 1: Be a person of prayer. Privately and corporately. Pray on
Speaker 1: your own and take advantage of prayer meetings. Get in
Speaker 1: prayer meetings. It'll help you go from strength to strength
Speaker 1: number five, be consistently in church and in fellowship. God
Speaker 1: is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Speaker 2: God is a rewarder. Think of that.
Speaker 1: God is a rewarder. He rewards those who diligently seek him.
Speaker 1: In Hebrews eleven six, he rewards those who diligently seek him.
Speaker 1: The more you're in church, the more you'll be blessed.
Speaker 1: You know, and hopefully you found this out by now.
Speaker 1: The very time when you feel the least like going
Speaker 1: to church, and you feel the most spiritual opposition to
Speaker 1: going to church, that's about time you're about to get
Speaker 1: the most blessed.
Speaker 2: Because the devil.
Speaker 1: Knows you're in for it, so he's trying to I
Speaker 1: can't tell you over the years how many times I've
Speaker 1: heard people say, oh, man, I wasn't going to come today.
Speaker 1: I woke up tired, I woke up not feeling good,
Speaker 1: and then this happened, and this happened, and I was
Speaker 1: thinking I had to just stay home, but I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go anyway. And I got so blessed.
Speaker 1: I got so blessed. Hallelujah. Well, we're not gonna get
Speaker 1: blessed to stay at home.
Speaker 2: I know that.
Speaker 1: So when you sense that opposition, say, nah, mister devil,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna fall for that. Don't give him the pleasure.
Speaker 1: Be consistently in church. It was Jesus' habit is jesus
Speaker 1: custom to be in the synagogue. Well, if it's good
Speaker 1: enough for Jesus, good enough for me. These people would say, well,
Speaker 1: I'm still Christan, I just don't go to church. Well,
Speaker 1: you're in direct disobedience to the Bible, it says, don't
Speaker 1: forsake the assembling of yourself together. Can't get a more
Speaker 1: plaine than that. All right, Number six, Live We're talking
Speaker 1: about going from strength to strength. Live for God and
Speaker 1: from God.
Speaker 2: Live your life for God.
Speaker 1: That means like obedience, faithfulness, forgiveness, holiness. Live your life
Speaker 1: for God, but also live it from God. Paul said,
Speaker 1: be strong in the Lord. Here's how the amplified reads,
Speaker 1: be strong in the Lord, be empowered through your union
Speaker 1: with Him. Draw your strength from him. That strength, which
Speaker 1: is boundless might provides. Draw your strength from him. Yes,
Speaker 1: live for God, but live from God. Draw your strength
Speaker 1: from him.
Speaker 2: He is the strength of our life. Now.
Speaker 1: Isaiah forty thirty one is a big clue to that.
Speaker 1: It says they that wait upon the Lord shall what renew?
Speaker 1: They're what now that word renew it also means exchange.
Speaker 1: They that wait upon the Lord saw exchange there. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can exchange my strength, which is really weakness, for
Speaker 1: his strength, which is power. Yes, they that wait upon
Speaker 1: the Lord, those that spend time ministering the Lord, those
Speaker 1: that draw their life from the Lord. There's an exchange
Speaker 1: that takes place, and they will renew their strength. Let
Speaker 1: me illustrated this way. This would be us here, this
Speaker 1: is you, this is me, pretty pretty flimsy, pretty weak,
Speaker 1: you know, not a lot of strength in this. I
Speaker 1: mean you can take this and just easily. You know,
Speaker 1: the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. He can
Speaker 1: just come in and steal, kill and destroy, real easy,
Speaker 1: No problem will But I'm glad that wasn't my thank
Speaker 1: you for divine protection. Lord. But they that wait upon
Speaker 1: the Lord shall renew their strengths. The word wait upon
Speaker 1: in the Hebrew, one of the meanings is they bind
Speaker 1: together by twisting. Yes, this is you, this is me,
Speaker 1: here's the Lord. As you wait upon the Lord, you
Speaker 1: bind together by twisting. And whereas at one point this
Speaker 1: was easily cut. Still can't now try it. It ain't
Speaker 1: going to happen. All this is going to do is
Speaker 1: dull the blade here. This is your life in Christ.
Speaker 1: When you bind together by twisting, you exchange your human
Speaker 1: weakness for His strengths. And this is you in Christ.
Speaker 1: No weapon formed against you will prosper. No evil befall you,
Speaker 1: No plague come near your dwelling. Greater is he who's
Speaker 1: in you than he that's in the world. Try and
Speaker 1: deal with that devil. Callelujah.
Speaker 2: Ain't nobody here.
Speaker 1: No matter how tough you think you can bend this
Speaker 1: or break this in half, it ain't gonna happen. You
Speaker 1: are strong in the Lord, and then the power is might.
Speaker 1: But it's not for every Tom, Dick and Harry. Not
Speaker 1: everybody just prayed the sinner's prayers as I go to
Speaker 1: church two times out of every eight. No, it's those
Speaker 1: that weigh upon the Lord, those that bind together by twisting.
Speaker 2: All these seven things I'm talking to you about.
Speaker 1: That's how you bind together by twisting. All right, let's
Speaker 1: say the last one and will close. Receive what belongs
Speaker 1: to you and act on it. Receive what belongs to
Speaker 1: you and act on. You have certain rights things that
Speaker 1: belong to you in Christ, in the word. Whether you
Speaker 1: ever possess them or not, they belong to you.
Speaker 2: You must find out what they are.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things in the natural that belong
Speaker 1: to people that they never take advantage of.
Speaker 2: They should, but they don't.
Speaker 1: Now, just because they don't, we can't say they don't
Speaker 1: belong to them. Just because somebody doesn't take advantage of
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean don't belong to classic example, the right
Speaker 1: to vote. Every citizen of the United States has the
Speaker 1: right to vote, and yet every election, what do we
Speaker 1: see millions who don't take advantage of their right. Over
Speaker 1: half of the citizenry in a national.
Speaker 2: Election doesn't take advantage of it, and.
Speaker 1: Then a local election about over two thirds or seventy
Speaker 1: percent don't take advantage of their right to vote. Now
Speaker 1: can we say, well, they don't have a right to
Speaker 1: vote just because they didn't take advantage of it. Well,
Speaker 1: you have a lot of rights in Christ. Baptism of
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, healing, deliverance, freedom, victory, love, joy, peace,
Speaker 1: and freed of the spirit gives the spirit, on and
Speaker 1: on and on, holiness, divine protection, divine direction, well just
Speaker 1: if a person's not walking, it doesn't mean doesn't belong
Speaker 1: to them. It's theirs, and you don't even have to
Speaker 1: ask for it. It's already yours. The name of Jesus
Speaker 1: belongs to you. You don't have to ask for the
Speaker 1: name of Jesus, just use it. Healing belongs to you. You
Speaker 1: have to ask for you, just receive it. Protection belongs
Speaker 1: to you. You receive it by faith.
Speaker 2: All these things.
Speaker 1: Receive what belongs to you. The Bible says sins shall
Speaker 1: not have dominion over you. You can paraphrase it this way.
Speaker 1: Satans shall not have dominion over you. So these seven
Speaker 1: things are a great way to go from strength to strength.
Speaker 1: Be truly converted, born again, receive the Holy Spirit, baptism,
Speaker 1: hunger after truth, be a person of prayer, be consistently
Speaker 1: in church and fellowship, live for God and from God,
Speaker 1: and receive what belongs to you. You got to find out
Speaker 1: what belongs to you to do that and act on it.
Speaker 1: Phesians one to three says God has blessed us with
Speaker 1: all spiritual blessings in hivenly places one Peter two first
Speaker 1: Peter Tewod. Peter one two to four says God's given
Speaker 1: us all things that pertain to life and Godliness through
Speaker 1: the knowledge of Him. Through the knowledge of Him, He's
Speaker 1: given us everything would pertain to the life and God, that
Speaker 1: we might be made part takers of the divine nature. Whew,
Speaker 1: find out what belongs to you? Receive it? How do
Speaker 1: you find it out? Faith comes by hearing the word
Speaker 1: of God Romans ten seventeen Hoseah four to six. My people,
Speaker 1: God says, are destroyed for lack of knowledge. A lack
Speaker 1: of knowledge is how they are destroyed.
Speaker 2: I'll close with this. Listen to this.
Speaker 1: Our entire path of life is determined by listening to
Speaker 1: God and following him, believing what he said, and saying
Speaker 1: what he said, and acting on what he said. Your
Speaker 1: entire path of life, whether it be good or bad,
Speaker 1: up or down, Your entire path of life is determined
Speaker 1: by listening to God and following him, believing what he said,
Speaker 1: saying what he said, and acting on what he said.
Speaker 1: That will determine your course. Father, we thank you that
Speaker 1: we in Christ can go from strength to strength, not
Speaker 1: from weakness to weakness, but from strength to strengths.
Speaker 2: We receive these.
Speaker 1: Principles today, Lord, and we think you that we can
Speaker 1: act on them and be doers of the word and
Speaker 1: not hearers only. Hallelujah, Halleandia, praise you, Lord God. How
Speaker 1: many with heads bowed, eyes closed, how many would say
Speaker 1: with an uprais head, I want to believe to go
Speaker 1: from strength to strength, more strength in my life, Holy Goo, strength,
Speaker 1: go from strength to strainth not weakness to weakness, strength
Speaker 1: to strengths. Holle, do you Father, you see all these hands.
Speaker 1: We believe, Lord God. Well, we don't even have to believe.
Speaker 1: We know as we apply these principles that we will
Speaker 1: go from strength to strength. We will pass through Baka.
Speaker 1: We'll make it a well. The rains will come, fill
Speaker 1: it with pools, and we will go from strength to
Speaker 1: strength and increase in victorious power. Now, Lord, as we
Speaker 1: worship you with our tithes and offerings, we thank you,
Speaker 1: Lord God, for the privilege the opportunity to give once
Speaker 1: again into the Kingdom and into the Gospel. In Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 1: we are singing a song as we receive the offering.
Speaker 1: If you need no envelope, raise your hand. I want
Speaker 1: to say that our missions project this month is Tim
Speaker 1: and Ronda Taylor in India. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know it or not, but India is under tremendous,
Speaker 1: tremendous opposition to the Gospel right now. In fact, I
Speaker 1: just received this as king yesterday from Open Doors and
Speaker 1: it's got a quote here on the envelope. We will
Speaker 1: wipe out Christianity in India the next three years. That's
Speaker 1: what the Hindus are vowing to wipe it out, and
Speaker 1: that's what Hindu extremists are vowing. It's become one of
Speaker 1: the most heavily persecuted nations on the face of the earth.
Speaker 1: Hindu nationalists have vow to eradicate Christianity in India by
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. They've got a new president or leader
Speaker 1: there in India who's a devout Hindu and he doesn't
Speaker 1: want Up until recently, India is fairly open to Christianity,
Speaker 1: but now they're trying to drive out all missionaries, all
Speaker 1: christian In fact, Tim and Ronda Taylor, who we support
Speaker 1: her over there right now in Indian they're spreading video
Speaker 1: Bible schools like wildfire, and it's going to have they
Speaker 1: can when they got to leave, they can leave all
Speaker 1: that behind.
Speaker 2: And I shared that with you last week.
Speaker 1: They got it on little thumb drives, entire schools, on
Speaker 1: iPads and iPods and all kinds of MP three and everything,
Speaker 1: and it's spread like wildfire. But we got an email
Speaker 1: from Tim Taylor saying, hey, He said, we've got to
Speaker 1: be super careful about our operation what we're doing. And
Speaker 1: we were doing some search on the internet, trying to
Speaker 1: cleanse our name from any mention of what we're doing
Speaker 1: over here. We came across and a news release from
Speaker 1: that you guys had put in the newspaper that's still
Speaker 1: showing up on the Warsaw what's the Warsaw.
Speaker 2: People Times Union?
Speaker 1: Can you get that off of their We had to
Speaker 1: call up there and say, could you get this off
Speaker 1: of your web page? For their safety and their protection,
Speaker 1: that's how bad it is. But praise God, they're over
Speaker 1: there right now spreading the Gospel with this. So anything
Speaker 1: you give over and above your tide the missions this
Speaker 1: month market for India for the Taters, and we'll be
Speaker 1: able to bless them. So Father, we thank you for
Speaker 1: this privilege to give to the local church and give
Speaker 1: to the spread of the gospel and a nation that's
Speaker 1: suddenly become hostile we pray for India, Lord God, for
Speaker 1: a great, great harvest of souls there. Lord God, we
Speaker 1: pray that what the devil meant for harm gets turned
Speaker 1: around for your good and for your glory. We bind
Speaker 1: the devil, We bind this spirit of Hinduism that's trying
Speaker 1: to come against the Gospel there. We pray for Tim
Speaker 1: and Ronda Taylor's protection as they are over there now
Speaker 1: that they're able to operate under the radar, so to speak,
Speaker 1: and they're not found out, they're not captured or anything.
Speaker 1: We just pray supernatural Psalm ninety one.
Speaker 2: Protection for them. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: We hope that you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget to.
Speaker 2: Share and subscribe to this podcast for more. God bless
Speaker 2: you all.