You know the most consistent Analogy of the Christian life. In the New Testament. Is soldier. This is a battle. You're a soldier.
You're a warrior. And sometimes ladies will hear me say that. And say, well, why does he use this masculine analogy of soldier or warrior? Ladies, this week, I want you to jot this down. I want you to read this chapter, Judges chapter 4.
Because in Judges 4 You have two women warriors. I think God put that in the Old Testament to tell ladies, you can have that warrior fighting spirit just like. Men have that warrior fighting spirit when it comes to the things of God. And there are two ladies mentioned in Judges 4: Deborah. And J L.
And fellas, after you read Judges 4. From now on, you will always sleep with one eye open. And I'll let you kind of figure that out yourself here. But women can be warriors. We're warriors.
There's a war going on. We got demons to fight. And so, over and over again, we're called warriors in the New Testament. That's insinuated, and that's implied. Every soldier He's got to go through boot camp.
And I don't care if you're Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, basically, you will have the same elements in every boot camp. You have a haircut, everybody cuts their hair the same. You have the same clothes. Everybody's got to wear the same clothes. And then you have the same physical training.
Everybody's got to do it. cafeteria style boot camp. You can't say, well, I'll take the haircut. And I'll take the physical training. But that uniform, you know, I'm more of a spring color and that's kind of a fall color.
You can't do that. You can't say I'll take the uniform. I'll take the haircut. But I won't go through the physical stuff. I choose two.
But I reject one. No. If you're gonna be a warrior. You're going to go through basic training. And there's going to be the same.
Elements for everybody. The passage today God is putting Elijah. through boot camp. And it's not easy. It's challenging.
And I'm going to tell you something. I've studied. Christian history, I've pastored for years. If God is ever going to use you, You will have to go through God's boot camp, and they're the same elements that I see. Person after person, time after time.
If you're gonna be a warrior, you will have to go through boot camp. And there will be some elements that you and I will have to experience. You can't say, I like one and three, but I don't like two. If you're going to be a warrior for Jesus, you'll have to go through all these same elements. And in fact, it's kind of interesting.
Even, look, why don't you see this? Even Jesus had to go through God's boot camp. Did you know that? He is the second person of the Trinity. He's God in flesh, 100% God, 100% man, but in his flesh, as a human being, Even Jesus.
Had to go through God's boot camp. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 8 says this: Although he was a son, He's the Son of the living God. He, look at this, learned obedience from the things which he suffered.
Now if you look at 1 Kings 17 Once God puts Elijah Through his boot camp. Elijah is never the same again. Chapter 17, verse 1, he's called Elijah. The Tishbite. Just a normal man.
from a no-name town called Tishba. Verse 1, he's Elijah the Tishbite. But after God's boot camp in verse 24, here's what he's called. The man of God. God loves you just like you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay just like you are.
And he will do the same thing with you. Verse 1, he will take a normal person like you, and verse 24, make you a man or a woman of the most high God. I'm going to tell you this as well.
Now, I mean, you can push every analogy to the breaking point, but let me say this. There is another level of boot camp, if you will. that special forces have to go through. Navy SEAL hell week. Is different in intensity than a regular boot camp from an Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, enlisted person.
Their hell week is more intense. Why? Because they have a more intense calling. Again, maybe I could be wrong on this. It has happened.
I remember one time I was wrong.
So It could be the reason some of you are going through some intense training right now. What you're going through is a little bit more intense. Is God has a more intense calling for you. God has something for you, a level of influence that He may not have for the person next to you.
Now here's my point. You're gonna be a warrior for the Lord Jesus Christ. You will have to go through God's boot camp. And we see this in 1 Kings 17.
So turn there if you would. God says to Elijah. Go away from here. And turn eastward. And hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan River.
And it shall be that you will drink of the brook. And I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.
So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. For he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning. And bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.
You're gonna go through God's boot camp. There are three elements you will have to go. You can't skip these. Number one, The first element in God's boot camp is solitude. God works in solitude.
Look at verse 3. God says to Elijah: Hide yourself by the brook Cherith. Every great man of the Bible, before God, used Batman. God put them in a season where they were by themselves. They were in solitude.
Moses is in the wilderness for 40 years. Before God uses him. David spends years in the wilderness tending sheep before God used him. Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness before God used him. Paul spent three years in the Arabian desert before God used him.
Are you starting to see a pattern here? Listen to me. God will not develop you with all the cacophonous sounds and stuff going on around you. There has to be solitude. And let me tell you what I mean by solitude.
Number one, I mean daily solitude. I just believe this. There needs to be at least 5, 10, 15 minutes, at least minimum, where you spend just with Jesus Christ every single day. In fact, Jesus himself said that. Jesus makes it clear: if I'm going to work on you, I've got to get alone with you.
And he says that in Matthew 6, verse 5. Here's what he says. Hey, when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites because they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. Do you see this?
These hypocrites, he says, love to do their devotions surrounded by people. They love. to do videos of them praying. Videos of their quiet time. and post it on social media for everybody to see.
Jesus says, that's not the way I develop you. How do I develop you? Verse 6. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Y'all with me on that?
I mean God's going to use you. You've got to get along with him every single day. Again, do we skip quiet times? I push quiet times so much, some of y'all feel guilty when you miss your quiet time. Look, I don't feel guilty when I miss my quiet time.
When I miss supper, I don't feel guilty. I feel hungry. When I miss my quiet time, I don't feel guilty. I feel hungry, okay? And so Jesus makes it clear there has to be this pulling away if God's going to work on you.
That's what I mean by solitude. Secondly, I think sometimes you need to have maybe seasons or retreats of solitude. If a young person asks me, Chad, I got to make a major decision. Do I go to this college, this college, this college? Do I marry this person?
Do I not? I always say the same thing before you do anything else. Don't ask me, don't ask mom and dad. Here's what you need to do: you need to go by yourself for about a day or two and just seek God's face. You can hear the voice of God so much better when you're off by yourself and you don't have this loud voice.
Is this making you with me? I'm gonna tell you another. I'm in a little season of solitude right now. This sounds silly, but I am engaging in electronic solitude. For a season, I'm staying offline.
I don't do the electronic stuff. And what I'm finding is, I'm hearing the clarion voice of God now more than I've had in a long time. I did not realize. How much the internet Facebook.
Social media. Emails, texts were shouting at me until I said, I've got to take a season and just get away from this. And my wife is like, Jeff, you seem.
Okay, it's going to sound ridiculous the way I'm preaching. You seem so much more calm and laid back. I mean, in my daily life, I am because I'm engaging in solitude. Hey!
Some of you have experienced this before. You get saved. And you lose this pagan friend base. They turn their back on you. And you think it's because you've done something wrong.
What if you've not done something wrong? What if God says, before I give you a new friend base, I've got to pull you away in solitude from this old friend base? God works in solitude. You with me on that? That's part of God's boot kit.
Second element in God's boot camp. Is this? Crushed.
Now here's what I mean. If God is ever going to use you, At least once in your life. Probably multiple times, but at least once. He will put you in a situation. Where you have to trust him, not your 401k.
Not your job. Not your doctor. If God is ever going to use you at least once in your life, you're going to be put in a situation where God is going to be your only provision. For most people, it's the loss of a job. You lose your job and you say, Who's going to provide for me?
God is going to provide for you. That boss does not give you your provision, God gives you your provision. If God's ever going to use you.
Well say it again. At least once in your life. You will be put in a situation where God is the only thing you can rely on. Everything else will be stripped away.
Some of us. I say y'all, but I'm gonna put myself this guy. We're holding on, your security is in your marriage. I'm holding on to that. Your security is in your bank account.
I'm holding on to that. Your security is in your looks and your charisma and your health, and you're holding on to that. And every now and then, you're like a little baby. God's got to turn that hand over. and pop you so you can let it go.
And that's exactly what happened to Elijah. I want you to see here in verse 6: the ravens. The ravens during this drought season, there's no rain for three and a half years. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. Elijah is provided for by God through ravens.
And there's two reasons this is miraculous. Number one, ravens are restless. I read this. They're kind of vagabond birds. They go from here, here, here, here, here.
You know, I think doves are creatures of habit, they go back to the same place. Ravens don't, they just kind of bounce around all over the place. And yet, these same ravens come back to the very same place twice a day. Ravens don't do that. Second reason that this is miraculous is that ravens have a voracious appetite.
In fact, somebody called them flying garbage disposals. They eat everything. In fact, we get our English word ravenous. It has the root raven in that, because ravens eat so much.
So these ravens Should be picking up a scrap of bread. And eat it. Instead, God overrides their natural instinct and they pick up this scrap of bread. And they bring it and drop it. in the feet of Elijah.
They should be eating this piece of meat. That's what ravens do, but they don't do that. They fly and they drop it. and Elijah's feet. God Ravens did not provide for Elisha.
Did you know that? God provided for Elijah. He does it through ravens. I think God's also trying to break.
some pride in Elijah. Because Elijah is a Jew. And according to Leviticus 11, Ravens are dirty, filthy, unclean animals. You don't mess with ravens in Judaism. You don't eat ravens in Judaism.
And yet, God uses these unclean animals to bring the food. And I'm sure it wasn't bacon-wrapped filet that's nice and pretty. It's a scrap of bread here, it's a scrap of meat there. God is having to break some pride from Elijah by using unclean animals. And listen to me.
Those who God uses greatly, he must break greatly. And somebody right now. in this place. You are going through a breaking from the Most High God, and He's breaking some pride. in your life.
And so Um I don't know. Christians and I'm non-Christians like this. They never have to worry about the money. They never have to worry about anything. Let me tell you something, that is not a spiritual giant.
You will not take down demons. You will not come up against the forces of darkness and be bold and strong if you've never had to go through a season where you rely on God. Listen to me. If you rely on God, if your trust is in God, that builds faith. It is demon-destroying faith that is built up when God puts you into a place in your life.
We've got to trust in him. Y'all, look again.
Some of y'all right now are thinking, I'm going through this season, God must be mad at me. I've lost my job. He must be mad at me. I've lost my health. He must be mad at me.
No, what if God is saying, I see in you a warrior in the making, and I'm taking these things from you so you'll trust in me, not the doctor or the bank account? You'll be put in that place in your life where you have to trust in God. I was a. Was reading about this Christian writer. She said, my husband lost his job back in 2021.
And she said, that's where I'd found my, I didn't realize. I found my security. And my husband's job. He made really good money. And that's my security.
She said, I realized afterward I had more security in my husband's job than in God. And my husband lost his job. And she said, um One day as I'm walking to the mailbox. This panic just hits me from out of the blue. And I just start to lose it.
I get very anxious. I begin to sweat. I get like a panic attack. How are we going to make it? And she says, I'm walking to this mailbox panicking.
I look on the ground and there's a bright, black feather at my foot. And she said, I don't know why I did this, but I. picked up that feather. And suddenly, 1 Kings 17 came to my mind, the ravens being fed by Elijah. And it was as if God was saying, I got to remind you something.
Your provision does not come from your husband's job, your provision comes from me. I sent the ravens to provide for Elijah. I'll send some sustenance to you, I'll help you. And she's very interesting. During that period of unemployment, He said, seven days.
Different kinds. I'd find myself starting to panic. How are we going to feed the kids? How are we going to make the mortgage? She said, every time I start to panic, she said, I would look down and there'd be a black feather on the ground to remind me that God, who provided for Elijah through the ravens, he'll provide for you.
And there's a reason why, verse 6, it says, the ravens provided. Do you see this? Day by day. Not they dumped a bunch of food at Elijah's feet and he kind of put it in the refrigerator and no, no, no. He had to trust in God day by day.
Give us this. They are daily bread. Jesus says this in Matthew 6:34. Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
And I'm telling you. When you come through this. And again, some of y'all are in basic training, some of y'all right now.
Some of you right now are going through God's boot camp. I'm going to tell you something on the authority of the Word of God and personal experience. when you finally come to that point in your life. Where you realize Your liberation. and your freedom.
And your sustenance and your confidence do not come from stuff, it comes from God. That is the most liberating insight in the world. Yeah. If you're going to go through God's boot camp. Number one, he will put you through some solitude.
Number two. God is going to put you into that place in your life where you have to trust in Him. And then, number three, the third part of God's basic training, now watch this, is disappointment. Look at verse 7. It happened after a while.
That the brook dried up. Because there was no rain in the land. I can imagine lines who said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You told me God To hide myself in this middle of a drought where everybody else is thirsty, you told me to go to this brook. I've gone to the brook, I drank water day after day.
And could you imagine every day that stream gets more and more narrow and becomes a trickle, and then one day the brook dries up. The brick ever dried up in your life? I just knew this kid was going to come home to Jesus. I just knew she was going to get on fire for the Lord. And she never came home.
And the brook is dried up. I thought I had. The perfect Christian marriage. Everybody looked at us and they would see our pictures on Facebook and comment how beautiful our kids were. We had the ideal marriage.
And then one day he comes home and says. I don't think I love you anymore. And I don't know that I want to stay in this marriage. And the brook dries up. You have so much joy, and everything's fire gone off cylinders, and there's this excitement in the Holy Spirit, and then.
Those of y'all who've suffered from depression, you say, out of the blue, I didn't see it coming. This depression hits me. And suddenly I can't get out of bed. And I don't even know that I want to live. and the brook has dried up.
I have pastors listen to me online, and pastors, I know what it's like. To have a church that's growing and things are happening, and you have a budget, and you're meeting budget, and everything's great. And then you haven't changed. You're still walking close and clean. You're still preaching the Bible.
You're still doing what God's called you to do. And then out of the blue, one day, the brook dries up. And more people are leaving your church than coming to your church. And you don't have enough money to make ends meet, and the brook has dried up.
Now, I've told y'all before my spiritual gift is not encouragement, so I know I'm depressing you. But you need to understand. If God's ever going to use you, If God's going to make a Warrior out of you. At least once in your life. The brook has got to dry up.
And ironically, the brook dried up as a result of Elijah's own prayer. James 5, 17 says, Elijah prayed, and it didn't rain for three and a half years. It's Elijah's prayer that makes the brook dry up. Elijah says, God prevented it from raining for three and a half years. And God says, You sure about that?
And Elijah says, Yes. And God says, Okay. And the brook dries up. Have you ever prayed this before? God made me more patient.
And God's like, you sure about that? Absolutely.
Okay. And he makes you go through a season where you have to be patient.
Sometimes the brook dries up as an answer to our prayer. You ever pray this? God, make me a great man of God. I want to be a great woman of God. And God's like, you sure about that?
Absolutely.
Okay, sometimes our brook dries up as a result of our own prayers like Elijah's. And um And R.T. Kendall, I don't know if you're familiar with him. I love R.T. Kendall, K-E-N-D-A-L-L.
He, a brilliant man. He's from America, got his PhD, I think, at. In Louisville, and then went to England and pastored in England. He's a charismatic Calvinist pastor. But R.T.
Kendall says something very interesting, and I can vouch for this. He said, as a pastor, looking at the congregations I've pastored. He says this. He calls this brook drying up. He calls it the betrayal barrier.
Betrayal barrier. Here's what he means by that. He says, nine. Out of ten Christians. Will at some point in their lives feel like God.
betrayed them. God let them down. Nine out of ten Christians, he calls this brook drying up the betrayal barrier. You ever been there before? That's gonna be open with you.
I don't know what young people. I'm going to be vulnerable. Can I get vulnerable for a second? What do I say? Look, I'm going to get vulnerable for a second.
I've been there. God, I pray this. I named it, I claimed it, I bound it, I did everything. I poured oil all over it. Had charismatics come in and lay hands.
I did everything. And God, you didn't answer. And it hurts. And you feel like God has betrayed you. That's the betrayal barrier.
I really thought God was going to do this. And he didn't do it, and he left me high and dry, and I feel like I've been betrayed by God. Kendall says nine out of ten Christians will experience the betrayal barrier, and he says this: only about one out of ten Christians will really ever break through the betrayal barrier. They're still going to heaven. They're still born again.
But only one out of ten Christians will really break through this barrier. The rest will hold this, and some of y'all hold this right now: this internal barrier. Grudge against God. You don't talk about it. You don't even admit it.
But deep down inside, he did not come through for me the way I thought he should come through. And you hold on to that for the rest of your life. And I've seen it in this church. I've seen the The husband Or the wife. Say, God, I love you.
God, you're my king. God, you're the most important thing in my life. And the marriage falls apart and they leave and they walk away from God. I've seen others in this church. You want to lift your hands and praise God.
You want to feel that love toward God. But there's something there. Because 15 years ago, you prayed for that child to be healed, and that child wasn't healed, and it did something to you, and you hold on to that for the rest of your life. That betrayal barrier is a real thing. I think.
That's what happened to Elijah. Elijah does what God tells him to do, goes where God tells him to go.
Okay. and the brook dries up.
So here's my question. What do you do when the brook dries up? What do you do when you're going through God's basic training and you've gone through that season of solitude? You've gone through that season where God has forced you to learn to trust in him for your provision. And now You've hit that betrayal barrier.
And things have not worked out the way you thought they ought to work out. You feel like God has abandoned you. You feel like He's let you go. I'm just telling you, I wish there was another way around this. I wish God could make you into a warrior some other way.
But, beloved, there's no shortcut to this. There's no shortcuts to being a giant spiritually.
So what do you do? Uh Let me give you two things. Maybe this will help. This has helped in my life. Number one.
Remember, God does have a plan. God knows what he's doing.
Now look. Do you know that cognitively we say that? It's got to make that million mile distance from here. to hear. When the brook dries up, you've got to tell yourself, this makes no sense.
If I were God, I'd do something else, but I ain't God. I don't know what's going on. But God is God, and He knows what He's doing. And we see that there in In verse 7. You know, the New American Standard says: after a while, the brook dried up.
I don't know what your translation says. Mine says, after a while the brook dried up. Literally, here's what it says in Hebrew: it says, at the end of the days. The brook dried up. At the end of the days, which means, listen to me.
At the end of the appointed days, God had appointed the brook drying up will last this many days. Not one moment sooner. And not one moment later, God says, I know how long I'm going to let the brook dry up. This is not happenstance. This isn't just random coincidence.
I am God, and I have determined the brook will be dried up for this many days. I just had this conversation with somebody a second ago. This person, I can't remember what you were talking about, out in the lobby a second ago. And this person talked about how he had to go through this season. And we decided this: we said, you know, it all boils down to this: is God in charge or is he not?
And if he's in charge. Then he knows what he's doing. And he knows how much you can take. When you go through the fire, God always has his eye on the thermometer, his hand on the thermostat. He knows how much you can take.
He knows how many days the brook is going to dry up. If you lose sight of that, you lose everything. And so when you're going through that season. Where the brick dries up, I would say, number one, remember, he is in charge, he is in control. The second thing I would tell you: if you're in a season where the brook is dried up.
I don't know if this sounds shallow. I know the sounds. Uh whatever. You got to praise your way through that brook drying up. You got to just lift your hands and lift your voice and say, I don't know what's going on, but God is good, He is in control, and you just start praising God.
And you will tell me, I don't feel like praising God when my brook dries up. How many times have I told you this? Actions don't follow feelings, feelings follow action. When you don't feel like praising, but you start to praise, suddenly something wells up inside of you, and you start feeling this love for the Lord. When the brook dries up and you force yourself to lift your hands and lift your voice and say, Blessed be the name of the Lord, something happens.
And we see this all throughout Scripture. Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 5. Blessed are you. When people insult you, And persecute you? And falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Stop. Here's what he said. Blessed are you. When you've been befriended by everybody on Facebook. Because of me.
Blessed are you. When you get that call from your mom and dad and say, We're a Muslim family, we're not a Christian family, you're not welcome back. For holiday. When your friends say, You're so much more fun when you get drunk and go down to the strip club. You're not fun anymore.
We're not going to invite you. Jesus Christ says, Blessed are you when that happens. And what is your reaction to be? Verse 12: rejoice and be glad. Lift your voice, lift your hands and say, God is so good.
Thank you, Father, for the privilege of losing everything for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. You rejoice. Acts 16. Pain And Silas Have had the brook dry up. They stand for Jesus.
I give it. Fire beat out of them. They're thrown in prison And at midnight, what are they doing? As the brook dries up, it says they're singing hymns so loud, all the other prisoners can hear them praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They praise their way through that brook drying up.
I go on and on, it's all over scripture. I love this. Exodus 14, here's what's happening. You got an ocean right there. A mountain right there, a mountain right there, God's people right here, and the Egyptian army riding up on them, and they're going to slaughter every man, woman, and child.
And in Exodus 14, here's what God's people say: God, you're so mean. Why did you do this? Was it because there wasn't enough room to bury us in Egypt? Did you let us out here to die? What kind of God would do this?
They're just bellyaching and complaining. You know what God does? He splits that ocean in two. They walk right through it. When the Egyptian army tries to follow, God drowns the Egyptian army.
And in chapter 15, do you know what they say? Wow, God is so good. He's so good all the time. God is good. And we love you, God.
You're so wonderful. I love you. I love you. I love you. They sang the right song.
They just sang it on the wrong side. Look, you need to sing the right song on the right side. Don't wait until the brook opens back up again before you start praising God. You praise God when you don't see how you're going to make it through it. You praise God when everything is coming against you.
You praise God in the midst of that depression. You lift hands, lift voices, and you say, Blessed be the name of the Lord. And somehow the brook opens back up again. But but you need to understand. You follow Jesus long enough.
You will go through that. I uh We've got great Christian counselors here at Crosses, great Christian counselors. And um I thought when I first came here, well, I'm a pastor, so I got a council. How many of them? You've heard me say this.
I'm not a Christian counselor. And I remember when it finally dawned on me that I need to leave it to the experts. When I was sitting behind a desk at our last location. And a guy walks in. And I said, what's going on?
He said across from me. And for 15, 20 minutes. This is bad, that's bad. It was bad stuff. Life's hard, it's bad, family this, finances that, don't know how I'm gonna make it, da-da-da-da-da-da for 15, 20 minutes.
And when he finally paused, I just stared at him. He said, what do you think? I said, well. What I think is, life's hard, God's good, suck it up, you'd be all right, let's pray. And that was it, and that's when I realized I'm not a Christian counselor.
But looking back now. Maybe there's some wisdom to that. Life's hard, God's good, suck it up, lift your hands, praise the name of the Lord, and somehow, someway, you're going to get through this thing. I want us to be like Job. Where the brook dries up.
Job loses his wealth. In one day, he loses all of his kids. Seven sons, three daughters, dead in one day. Loses wealth, loses kids, loses his health. He's got these oozy...
Boy's filled with cuss all over his body. What does he do? In the midst of this brook drying up, Job 121. I don't know what God's doing. But the Lord gives The Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Arthur Blessed was an American evangelist. who felt like the Lord was telling him to carry a cross all around the world.
So, I don't know if you all saw it, but he would carry this big cross all over the world. In fact, by the time he died, he logged over 38,000 miles globally carrying this cross from nation to nation. At the very beginning of this, He knew what God had told him to do. He was in northern Israel. During the rainy season, I've been there during the rainy season.
You think Israel's warm, it's cold during that rainy season. And he's depressed. He's sitting at a bus stop Open skies. And then it starts to rain. He's like, this is great.
I'm cold. I'm wet. I'm doing what Jesus has called me to do. And I'm miserable. And he said that rain just kept falling.
And he said, dumb. He said something broke inside of me. He said, faith welled up. And I stood up. And I spoke to the clouds and I said, clouds, in the name of Jesus, Stop raining.
And do you know what happened? There's lightning and thunder and it started raining twice as hard. And he said, I sat back down. And I just smiled and shook my head. I just said this.
God, I love you. God, I love you. You don't make any sense, God, but I love you.
Now I have a pastor's heart right now. There are some of you in this place, the brook. seems to be drying up. And you're saying to me, Chad, what do I do? I don't know what to tell you.
But just know he's in charge. He knows what he's doing. This does not catch God by surprise. This is part of that basic training. that boot camp.
The second thing I would tell you is Just shake your head. Say God, I don't know what you're doing, but God, I love you. I trace you. and on the authority of the Word of God. He ain't gonna let you go.
This is going to work out. This is not going to sink your ship. You're gonna be all right. Do you hear me?
Some of y'all need, I want a prophetic word today.
Okay, you want a prophetic word? You don't listen to me and say, unless I say, thus saith the Lord.
So you got thus saith the Lord. You're gonna be all right. Just calm down. You're gonna be okay. Lift your hands and Lift your voice.
And praise the Lord. And this works. Stand with me right now. I'm telling you, this works. If a brook is drying up in your life, You can sit wherever you're at.
Or you can come down front. And lift your hands. Actually, I'm gonna do it right now. Is there anybody in this place the brook is drying up? And you're just tired.
And you want God to renew your strength and to mount up with wings as eagles and to run and not be weary and walk and not faint. You need that second win. Just come right now and let's lift our hands and lift our voice and let's forget about our problems for just a second and let's just praise the name of the Lord in this place. Can we do that right now? Gang, lead us in this thing.
I trust in God. My Savior the One. Who will never fail He will never fail Come on, sing it with me I trust in God my Savior for the one who will never fail He will never fail the one who will never fail He will never fail I sought the Lord say I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered I sought the Lord And he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and he answered. That's why I trust Him.
That's why I trust Him. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered. That's why I trust Him.
That's why I answer. I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered God. He is my Savior. You will never Who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God my Savior will never fail He will never fail Church I don't want to belabor this but I can't stop right yet We're not done. We're not done.
As I stand back there, the Lord reminded me of that story. In the Bible. Where the disciples are where I'm gonna be in about a week and a half.
Some of us are gonna be there in a week and a half. On the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and it says this: a great. storm arose. And Peter starts to walk on the water. Have you read this before?
And when he was looking at the great Jesus. He walked on water. But then it says this, he started to look at the great storm. The Great Wind. The Great Ways.
the great lightning, and it began to sing. And I just believe there's somebody in this place today, you need to hear me. You're looking at the great storm, not the great Jesus. I think it's time, I'm going to say it again, to get your eyes off the mess and put your eyes on Jesus and bless the name of Jesus. Ron, y'all know that song, Great Are You, Lord?
You know that song? Yes. Let's see that so great are you, Lord? Lift your hands and lift your voices and let's sing this to the Lord right now. All the earth will shout your Praise our hearts will cry, these bones will sing great I want church, let's declare that this morning all the earth will shout your praise Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing great I youth will shout your praise Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing great I you Lord is your brain in our house So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise in your brain in our loves, so we pour out our praise to you all.
Your mercy, our praise in our love.
So we pour out our praise, pour out our praise is your brain in our love.
So we pour out our praise in you all. Your mercy is your praise in our loves.
So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise in your brain in our love.
So we pour out our praise to you all, church. Got to come clean with you. Maybe some of your problems that you're going through. Maybe my fault. Because I've been praying, God, raise up an army in this church, a bold, Strong.
uncompromising men and women of God. God's saying, okay. Might have to put them through hell week. Might have to put them through some intense basic training. If you want some warriors, Chad, I'll give you some warriors.
And I'm going to say to you today. I'm saying this every single week because you need to be reminded of this every single week. Greater is he who's in you. And that old devil who's out in that world. No weapon formed against you.
How many weapons? No weapons formed against you. Yeah. So I say to you, giants of the faith, warriors of God, men and women of the most high God. Kazakh Behamatz.
Out I rode the older kid. Which means be bold. Be strong, don't be afraid, don't be terrified of anything. Why? Because the Lord your God is going to be with you everywhere you go, in the name of the Father and the Son.
The Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
