Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, Go, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to Go Teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Pastor David Price. Well, I'd like to now pray. In the name, power, and authority of Jesus Christ, we come before you this morning with praise and thanksgiving. Father, we need a word from heaven right now to encourage our hearts. We live in dark days and desperate times, and if we receive a word from heaven, From the Holy Spirit in our hearts today, we will feel uplifted to the throne room of heaven. We will feel connected to our loving God and Savior, the Father and also the Son, Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. I pray this for my church and all who hear this message in Jesus Christ's powerful name. Amen. I want to share with you this morning a message that has really, really encouraged my heart like nothing else, and that message is to be focusing on and memorizing God's promises. And so this morning we are going to go through pressure testing God's promises, and I'm going to share with you at least 10 promises, probably a few more, that give you power to overcome. Friends, I wanna take you back to around the year 1980 at Avondale College. And when you go to Avondale College, you have to be very careful that you don't meet a pretty girl. Um, but I was lucky, I met the right pretty girl and her name was Lynette Jean Trude and, uh, it was a good outcome and it's still going well. But when I was at Avondale College, I went into the bookshop and in the bookshop for 10 cents I bought a brown piece of paper because they weren't proper photocopies back then and I think 5 or 10 cents and I found these promises and I put them up on the concrete wall in front of me in my study desk and as I was sitting there sometimes at 3 or 4 AM in the morning trying to stay awake, um, I would be reading these promises because you would just hear the noise of the factory making all the Weet-Bix and, uh, it's just like this stillness but there's the noise of the factory and you can feel very much alone and you can feel very much down. I love these promises. Ellen White wrote in Prophets and Kings 5:7-6, the way of the Lord's helping we may not know, but this we do know: He will never fail those who put their what? Their trust in Him. In Gospel Workers 66: God has provided divine assistance for all the emergencies to which our human resources are unequal. Christ Object Lessons 173: Lynn's reading this at the moment: Whatever may be our situation, we have a guide to direct our way. Whatever our perplexities, we have a sure counselor. Whatever our sorrow, bereavement, or loneliness, we have a what? A sympathizing friend. But it's the last one, I think, that had the greatest impact on me. When we have asked for God's blessing, we should believe that we what? Receive it, and then do what? Thank Him that we have received it. Then we're to go about our duties assured that the blessing will be realized when we need it most. That promise has had so much impact on my life that you may have heard in my prayers me say, "Thank you, God, for hearing and answering this prayer." That prayer line that I have comes from that promise, which is a promise about faith that we ask God in prayer for something, we believe we receive it, we thank Him that we have received it, and we go about our duties. Friends, if I asked you this morning, "What's the difference between faith and fear?" I reckon we'd get a whole gamut of very, very highly intelligent and interesting answers. I hope you won't mind this morning, but I'm going to ask and answer my own question. My definition for fear is very, very simple if we use it as an acronym, and I've found this definition to be quite satisfying. Fear, I believe, is false evidence that appears like it's real. Would anyone agree with that? Friends, often the greatest fears that we have never come true, and the one that takes us out is the one that we never saw coming. We didn't have a moment to worry about it. I don't want to focus on fears this morning, but I will raise 10 fears. I want to focus this morning on faith. What do you say? What about an acronym for faith? You might like to photograph this or take it down or watch it again online. How about this one: Forsaking All, I Trust Him. How good's that? Another one, this is one for the Cholerics: Forwarding All Issues to Heaven. I prayed about it, I've given it to God. But remember, Cholerics, we still need to take those requests to God every day and through the day because remember the importunate widow, bothering the judge and she got him out of bed and finally said, "You know, I'm gonna answer your prayer." That was not showing that God's reluctant to answer our prayers, that's showing that God loves us and He loves us to continue to bring it before Him because you know what? By doing that we build up our faith. How about this one? Faith is Forever Always I Trust Him. Friends, these acronyms are based on God's Word. Now faith is what? Confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see, in Hebrews 11:1. I want to now give you one more that I think is really, really powerful, and I hope you can remember this. This is the one that I am using: fully anticipating it to happen. So I've been praying, for God to answer certain prayers, and I say I'm going to claim it by faith, and Father, that's going to happen if it's prayed according to Your will. Let's go to two common fears that Christians might struggle with today. Do you think that sometimes we find it very hard to trust God? Sometimes we're really good at it, we're up on the mountain, but if you're down in the valley and things are not going right and everything seems to be going wrong, it's very, very challenging. What do we do when we find it very hard to trust God because there's a backlog of prayers that haven't been answered. Coupled with that, you can then feel a failure and feel that you cannot overcome the temptations in your life. So friends, don't go to God's Word just yet. We're going to go in a minute. I just want to share this with you in the King James Version, 2 Peter 1:4. What is the point of having promises in our life? Whereby are given unto us— some of you should know this— What are they? Exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. If we go to the New Century Version, it says, through these, going back to verse 3, God's glory and goodness, God's character and God's mercy, 'Through these two things He gave us the very great and precious promises.' Friends, I've talked to people about promises today and people go, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' And I ask them, 'Well, what are your promises?' 'Well, I've got a few, but I just can't remember them offhand.' Friends, some of you have started memorizing God's Word and using it as spiritual warfare, that when the devil comes, you send him away. You say, 'Get behind me, Satan.' I am claiming God's Word, for every word comes by the Word of God and the mouth of God and is powerful. So God has given you and I precious promises, but a lot of us don't know what they are and we're not using them. With these gifts— His glory, goodness, and precious promises— you can share in God's nature and the world will not ruin you with its evil desires. Do you understand what that's saying? That is a huge claim! Does Peter know what he's offered us? That through claiming the promises we can connect with the Divine and have the power of God in us and through us. Do you think the devil wants you to discover the promises, start memorizing them and using them? Do you think he wants you to do that? No, because he'll start losing battles. He wants to keep you well away. From those very great and precious promises. Why are God's promises so important? We've just spoken about two fears: I'm having trouble trusting God, I've got all these prayers that are backed up, they're not being answered, and then I feel I'm a failure, I'm just, I'm just full of doubt and unbelief, and I say God's not hearing, He's not answering my prayers, am I going to pray anymore? So I'm not interested in what our fears are, what does faith say when we're in that position? Through claiming the great and precious promises, I can have access to the divine nature. I can access to God's mind. And if you think that's a big call, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." We can have the mind of Christ and the power of Christ. And when Jesus Christ lives in your mind and heart, you are not going to fall or fail. Oh, we have some true believers here. I'm encouraged. Friends, I want to tell you that I love preaching this sermon. This is a new sermon and this sermon encourages my heart more than many. Through claiming the great and precious promises, I can have access to the divine nature, God's mind and power to overcome all things. Friends, if I was to preach this in some of our churches, in some places in Australia, I'd be run out of town because they do not believe that we can overcome sin. They're going to get very nervous about that. This does not detract from the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is Christ in me, the hope of glory, Colossians 1:27. So am I telling you something biblical or am I telling you something that's rubbish? What did David wrote in Psalm 119:11, your what? Your word, the word of God, I have hidden in my heart. I've memorized it. I've valued the great and precious promises, and I've done it that I might not do what? I've done it, God, so I won't withdraw my hand and break the relationship with you, which of course is sin. Because Isaiah 59:2 says, "For your sins have separated you between yourself and your God." God loves you and wants to draw near, but when we're rebelling and we're sinning and we're drawing and running away from Him, it is a task and He sends the Holy Spirit out the hand of heaven to round us up. I want to share with you 10 promises that give you power to overcome. Let's go to fear number 1: I'm afraid that someone criticized me and I'm not feeling the love of God right now. Now there's probably no one in this church who's ever been through that. What's our attitude to that fear? I've been criticized, I feel a long way away from God. Have you got your swords? Let's open God's Word. For those who've joined us online, thank you, the Scriptures will be on the screen. We're turning up 2 Samuel 16 and we have an answer to this question of criticism. And, uh, actually criticism with violence. 2 Samuel 16. Open your swords to verses 5 to 13. Um, I will be using the New King James Version on the screen. Let's go to God's Word and let's understand it. 2 Samuel 16:5-13. Now when King David came to Bahurim, 'There was a man from the family of the house of Saul.' Note that. What family was he from? The house of Saul. Did the house of Saul get on with the house of David? That'd be a no. 'Whose name was—' I don't know if it's Shimei or Shimei, 'the son of Gera. Coming from there, he came out cursing continuously as he came.' He's an angry man. Verse 6: 'And he threw stones at David and all the servants of King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. So he didn't care that David had a bodyguard. He's going to stone the king and he's yelling out and he's cursing and he's angry. We're in 2 Samuel 16:7. Also Shimei said thus when he cursed, "Come out! Come out, you bloodthirsty man, you rogue!" Verse 8: "The Lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you reigned, and the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son." Friends, I don't know about you, but there's not a lot of affirmation or positivity in that message, is there? Shimei believes that King David has led to the downfall of the house of Saul. He's taken over too early. Saul has been killed up on the hill, either by himself or the Philistines. We believe by himself. He asked his armor bearer to run him through with the sword or fell on his sword. But this guy is absolutely furious. He's going to blame David for the death of King Saul. Friends, is that accurate? Did King David kill King Saul? He was in the cave with him. Let's not go into that story. He's in the cave with him and he doesn't kill him because there was an old mantra that used to have respect within the Christian church, and that was, "Touch not the," what? "The Lord's anointed," if they're on track with God. "Now you are caught in your own evil," Shimei says, "because you are a bloodthirsty man." Verse 9: Then Abishai the son of Zeruah said to the king— by the way, I'm asking you today, who— don't Google it— who is Zeruah? Zeruah is David's sister. Who tells us that? Josephus. I'll let you off. Zeruah, his sister, had 3 boys. Do those names look familiar? Joab was the general of David's army. His brother was Abishai. We're about to hear about Abishai. And the other brother is Asahel. That's a whole story there. I'm going to keep moving. Then Abishai the son of Zeruah said to the king, 'Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.' So there's the bodyguard. He's like, mate, I'm going to take this guy out. Verse 10: But the king said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruah? Friends, this meant that those three boys were warriors, and they were fierce warriors, and they were fearless, and they won many, many battles for God and for David. But right now he's saying, oh, my sister's family, they're going off again. You're embarrassing me. 'What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruah? So let him, let Shimei curse, because the Lord has said to him, curse David.' Who then shall say, 'Why have you done so?'" Friends, is that what you say when somebody gives you a serve? Go ahead. The Lord could be in this. I found that a new thought. Verse 11: And David said to Abishai and all the servants, 'See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life! How much more now may this Benjamite—' Let me ask you a question, you can answer back. Was King David a good father? And the answer is? No, he wasn't. He let his boys go. Let me tell any of your parents here today who are permissive parents, you let the kids run the, run the race and do whatever they want, later on they will have no respect for you and you will have no control over them. David is grieving that he never intervened in the sins of his sons and get involved and sit down, talk with them, pray with them, encourage them. And now things with Absalom have become so bad, David is walking out of the city. Surely you know the story. He's walking out of the city. Absalom's taken over. They're harem on the roof. Let's not go there. Let him alone, David says to Abishai the bodyguard, and let him curse me, for so the Lord has ordered him. Verse 12: That it may be that the Lord will look upon my affliction. And that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing that day. Friends, that is only true if the cursing is unjust. Let's go to the NLT on that verse 12: And perhaps the Lord will see that I'm being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today. I'm afraid someone's criticized me. I'm not feeling the love of God right now. That's my fear. I don't therefore feel any self-worth, 'cause if I had any self-worth, I wouldn't be treated like this. Friends, we have a society now that's sucking us into the model of victimhood. Everybody's a victim. Everybody in society is owed something by somebody else or the government. And we sit down and do our sorry business and everybody has to come to us because we're a victim. Friends, I believe that when I signed up with Jesus that I was not to be a victim but to be a victor overcoming in His power, Christ living in me, the only hope of my glory. Friends, where do I get my self-esteem from? Well, when I was a young minister, I used to base it on what the saints said to me. But one day my wife said to me, "Honey, when they come out the door and say it was a great sermon, they're really just being polite." I'm like, "Then that's not helpful." When I found this text, I found the Word of God that could buoy up my heart. Some of you today have a love language called words of affirmation. If you have that love language in your heart here in Australia, you need another love language because you're not going to get many words of affirmation. God says to you and to me, "Yet I will not forget you." He doesn't what? He knows you and loves you. See how much I love you? I've inscribed you where? On the palms of my hands. Friends, that is a love beyond anything we know. That is sacrificial love. He didn't just talk about it. He did it. He took our place on the cross, and that's where I get my self-esteem from. And so what does Jesus in heaven think of you versus the criticism that you're getting? But you must ask God if that criticism is just, and you pray for the Holy Spirit, then you need to deal with that, and you need to confess and forsake and overcome and make things right. What does Jesus in heaven think of you? But friends, shouldn't we be worried about what other people say about us? David said no. Psalm 146:3, "Don't put your confidence," the King James says, "in princes." We're not always sure what princes are, and we're still dealing with Prince Charles. Do not put your confidence in powerful people. There's no help for you there. Don't go to power brokers, don't go to influencers, don't go to social media trying to find whether you have any value, because guess what? People who are always down on what they're not up on will never praise you. They are jealous of you. They will always try and trump you. Sorry about that word, used to be okay. Fear number 1: I've been hurt through unjust criticism and feel cursed by God and man. That's fear. What does faith say? God may allow us to be what? Cursed out. Is that a new thought? But His unconditional love remains constant and He never values us based on our behavior. He wants you to obey. He wants you to love Him. He wants you to keep His Commandments because you love Him and do it out of love and not fear. But His unconditional love remains because He went to the cross while we were yet sinners. Christ died for me and you. Fear number 2: I'm sure many of you will lock into this one. I'm afraid of some future event going wrong and it's going to be a disaster. Now let me talk to all you pessimists. Anyone a pessimist and happy to own up? Okay, thank you for your honesty. Okay, I'm not alone here. Now the pessimists, we have to watch ourselves because we can be proud of being pessimists because we always say it's going to be disaster and no matter what happens we can turn it into, "That was rubbish, that didn't happen, that was—" You know, you can turn it into a disaster. So let's stay away from catastrophization because that is the opposite to faith and belief. That is doubt and unbelief. Devil talks doubt, devil talks discouragement, despair, and depression. That's what the devil's on about. So when you go down that track, you are not claiming promises and asking God to rescue you. You've lost your faith. Are you afraid of some future event going wrong? And then this second thing we say to people, "This is going to happen and I've prayed about it, but it's really complicated." What are you saying to Beth? What, what does that mean? Tell me, what does that mean? I don't think God can? Handle that? I don't think God can handle it. It's too precise, the timing. I've worked out how this can all work. It's not going to happen. My favorite verse these days, Exodus 34:7: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them." There's a lady in this church named Michelle and she said, "Now you live out up bush with me, you are going to get fur on the bonnet. You are going to get accident damage." I said, "Oh, kangaroos pretty bad?" "And wallabies!" I said, "Oh, great!" Friends, Lynne and I claim this promise every time we get in the car. I've asked people who had car accidents, "Did you claim the promise? Did you pray?" "Uh, what promise? Um, uh, I think we had a prayer in the morning but this was the afternoon." Friends, "The angel of the Lord encamps around about them that fear Him and delivers them." What does the Message say? God's angel sets up a circle of protection around us while pray. I preached on this a few weeks ago. Do you actually know who that is? The Angel of the Lord is not an angel. He's the Messenger of Jehovah. Do you know who that is? Joshua 5, he's the Captain of the Lord's Host. You have the Captain of the Lord's Host who is willing to look after you. And so you'll say at the door, "Pastor, did you hit any?" The answer is yes. But they hit me. Stony Creek Road, they hit and the poor kangaroo wallaby, he bashed his brain into my mag wheel. No damage! No damage. Is God good? Good ead anyway. Sorry? Okay, and my greenie friend, my wife said the animal. No animals were hurt in the filming of this program. The Messenger of the Eternal God surrounds everyone who walks with Him and is always there to protect and rescue us. He's always what? He's always there to protect and rescue us. Friends, do you actually believe that? Do you claim that when you go on a long trip? Because I want to tell you, if you claim it, God is faithful. The Lord Himself goes before you and He will be with you. 'He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be,' what? 'Afraid. Do not be discouraged.' Friends, this text is preaching against fear. It's preaching about faith. Let's go to the words of the Spirit of Prophecy: 'Many who profess to be Christ followers have an anxious, troubled heart.' Well, that can't be right. We're all people of faith. 'Because they're afraid to trust themselves with God. They do not make a complete surrender to Him, for they shrink from the consequences that such a surrender may involve.' Friends, this surrender to God is someone friendly. He's not an enemy. Someone to run to, not run away from. But unless we make this surrender, we cannot find what? Peace. Does the world today have much peace? When you watch the news, do you have a lot of peace? There are many whose hearts are aching under a load of care because they seek to reach the world's standards. Keeping up with the Joneses, they have chosen its service, accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. I love Ellen White, she just cuts loose. Thus their character is— what's the word?— marred. What are we trying to develop? Characters after Jesus' character. When the character of Christ is perfectly reproduced in His people, do you know the rest of the quote? Then Jesus will come. Their character's marred and their life is made a weariness. Continual worry is wearing out their life forces. Our Lord desires them to lay aside this yoke of bondage and He invites them to accept His yoke. Throw away the worldly yoke, accept Jesus' yoke. He says, 'My yoke is easy and My burden is light.' I love this statement: "Worry is blind and cannot discern the future." Friends, are you prayer worriers or are you prayer warriors? Because I found my prayers are stronger as I'm claiming the great and precious promises. But Jesus sees the end from the beginning, and you know what? He's seen the end from the beginning. He's never made a mistake. In every difficulty, He has His way prepared to bring relief. Psalm 84:11. What a promise! No good thing— how many good things? Not one will He withhold from those who walk uprightly in His Word and following His love. Friends, worry is blind and cannot discern the future. Our Heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide with, with us or for us of which we know nothing. You know, I think God's up there on His throne and He's got a sense of humor. 'Cause there's me down the bottom. So God, I've got this problem and my problem is that I think my property is going to be burnt out soon by bushfires. So I need you to do this and if you do this then I'll be okay. Don't let any bushfires come near my house. And God's up there going, "Well, wait a minute. I've told him one way. How many ways has he got?" That's probably a modest claim, it's probably a million ways. Lynne, we have friends in Queensland, Carla and Candice, don't we? The fire came into the village, it went up to the back of the house, I think it went through the gate, back of the house, around the house and kept going. And the people in the village came and asked them what the story was and some were cranky and said, "How dare your house still be standing and our houses are just all burnt out?" all burnt to the ground. It's hard to win these days, isn't it? Our Heavenly Father has how many ways? Are you claiming that promise? When it looks dark and dangerous and it's so complicated, God, I don't think you can handle it. God says, I have 990 ways left to sort out your problem, and if I actually answer your problem the way you ask me, it'll end in disaster. That won't work. Those who accept the one principle of making the service of God supreme will find what? All your fears and dramas vanish and a plain path before their feet. Does anyone remember my brother Dino? Uh, came and preached here a little while ago. I think it was in March. The other morning he sent me a text. He's, he's a layman. Um, he works up in Queensland, he said, "Davo," because the car reads the messages out. Lynne said the car's now smarter than the driver. I'd have to agree. So the car ran out, running out the SMSs that came into my phone, and he said, "Brother Davo, do you know that today you are preaching, our sister Kim Marie is preaching at Innisfail, and Dean and Trish and I and the girls are going down to preach somewhere near Townsville." a 6 or 8 hour drive. Dean and Trish have been trying to get a house up there for the last 4 and a half years. They found a house, they made an offer, um, and the owner dropped the price but didn't come down to their price, and it's just a few dollars. I said, Dean, come on, throw it in. He said, no, you don't understand. I don't know if God wants me to come up $5,000 to secure a house that doesn't have His blessing because that house is going to take so much renovation that it's going to take me from my preaching and teaching ministry that I do Friday nights. He's running Friday night prophecy seminars and Sabbath morning and Sabbath afternoon and people are being blessed. They're saying, "It's the old message. We haven't heard the old Adventist message for so long." They're excited. They're bringing their friends. Friends, there's conversions. People are coming back to at church. Getting a bit emotional because Dean was called by God 20 years ago to preach. He only told us this recently. And he said no. And when my dad comes up in the resurrection morning, I'll be able to tell him that Dean preaches. That might put him back in the grave. He won't believe it. Dean's preaching. He knows I'm preaching. Kimmy's preaching and Craig preaches at Wurrunga Church. So friends, They went down to Townsville to preach and I said, "Stay and make a better offer." They said, "No, if this is God's house, He'll make the guy drop it another 5." I said, "But you could miss a house." And he said, "David, you don't understand. We surrendered this house to God. If it's God's house, it'll happen. If it's a devil house, I don't have to paint it." I said, "Oh bro." I can't fault your logic. Friends, when he told me that story and I was putting the sermon together a week ago, I said to him, because he rang me, I said, "I've actually got a quote that says you're doing the right thing." He said, "Oh, my brother's actually agreeing with something I said." I said, "Yeah, put it on audio and video." Those who accept the one principle of making the service of God supreme will find perplexities vanish and the plain path open up before their feet. Friends, if you Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, all these things will be opened up unto you. The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you. Friends, if you know Him, you'll love Him and you'll trust Him. I know some of you have got some big unanswered prayers here. I know that. And what's the answer to that? Job 13:15, though He slay me, 'Yet will I want.' Is that a faith that beyond pretty much what we have? And God wants to take us to that. 'Those who know your name, Lord, trust in you, for you, Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.' Friends, he's still with you, but he's allowing the trials. Philippians 4:13, look at this lady, she says, 'I can do' how many things? 'All things because Jesus Christ strengthens me.' On our own we are lost, and we can do nothing. Fear number 2: I'm afraid some future event going wrong, it's a disaster, it's too complicated for God. What does faith say? When Jesus is the Lord of my life, we naturally trust Him as Jehovah Jireh, the God who provided the ram, for God provided Himself a ram for the sacrifice, and eventually that was the Lamb, Jesus Christ. He's our provider and protector. Fear number 3: I'm afraid of some diagnosis or health condition that's out of my control. I'm thinking maybe today someone has a secret health diagnosis that they're too afraid to tell people about because friends and family and, and us will panic, will panic. Friends, I've memorized Jeremiah 17:14. The New Living does it beautifully. 'Oh Lord,' would you read this with me please? 'Oh Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed. If you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you,' what? 'For you alone.' Friends, what goes with healing that we don't often think about it? If you concentrate on being saved, the healing is a bonus. Because if God chooses not to answer the healing prayer, we are saved for the Kingdom of God. I'm being positive this morning. You're all in shock and got your seat belts on. Friends, if God doesn't answer your prayer, you're not going through the time of trouble. Happy about that? Yeah, Margaret's already booked in. But friends, there are powerful promises that you are too scared to claim. I'm going to challenge you right now. Ready? "Is anyone among you sick?" James writes, "Let him call for the elders of the church and let them," what? "Pray over him or her, anointing them with oil in the," what? "The name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up, and if he's committed sins, he'll be forgiven." I have offered anointings to so many people in this church and my other church and throughout history and it's, uh, yeah, no deal. And I've asked Lynn, I said, "What, what is going wrong?" And then I realize that I've misunderstood what they're reading in that text. So let's go back. This is what I think they're reading and if I'm wrong you tell me. I know you'll tell me. Is anyone among you dying? Let him call for the elders of the church and pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of the dead people will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up, and if he's committed sins he will be forgiven. Friends, that is a powerful prayer that we come together and we pray for you. It's not just physical healing, it's spiritual healing, it's emotional healing, it's healing in every possible way, spiritual, emotional, um, and intellectual. So friends, you're worried about a health condition. What does faith say? God can and does heal. What do you say? But often He waits until we have totally surrendered or we've learned some vital spiritual lesson, which we as sta— hard-hearted, stubborn, rebellious people leave to 11:59:59. I've told you God waits to the last minute. Many of us wait to the last minute. Okay, I've done that treatment with the doctor, I've done those pills, I've done the natural stuff. Pastor, I've got to be anointed, I'm dying. So well, okay, happy to do it, but it's not the parachute when the plane's crashing. My health may fail and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the what? The strength of my heart. Have you memorized that? May I ask you a question? Is anyone wanting a strong heart at the moment? Not just spiritually but physically. Do we all want strong hearts? Anybody here wanting a heart attack? But if God doesn't answer the prayer, what's the promise for that? My grace is what? My grace will cover you. Don't panic, for it's My power in you that will be made perfect in where you're failing. Because as you go through this, you will have to lean harder on Jesus. Every moment of every day you'll need to be praying because you're praying to survive. I've got a lady at my Lawrerton church who is on oxygen 24/7. Every breath is a struggle. When she's talking, she can barely breathe. She's the happiest, funniest lady. Lynne and I visited her last week and all the girls were coming in. We could barely talk to June because the girls were coming in and, "How are you, lovey?" and gave her a hug. And she's positive. She praises God. She's claiming the promises. She's telling everyone she's Blessed. She's dying. I suffer panic attacks and general anxiety so bad I can't function. So often I don't go to church. David, when anxiety was what? Great within me. Your what? Your comfort, your love, your grace, your Holy Spirit brought me what? Friends, is there a lot of joy around today in society? Is there a lot of joy and happiness? A lot of laughs? You know, people laughing? Films where you go and have a stupid laugh at some, you know, crazy slapstick comedy? There's nothing to laugh at. When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought me joy. Friends, if you're a coffee drinker here today and you're suffering anxiety, I already told you a few weeks ago that you need to knock it off. And you'll find your panic attacks and your panic and anxiety may go away. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. Friends, if God hasn't given you a spirit of fear, who's given you a spirit of fear? Is that from the light side or is that from the dark side? It's from the dark side, and so we're locking into Satan's plan. What is God giving us? He's giving you power, the power of God the mind of Christ and love, and He's giving us a sound mind. Friends, I spoke about this a few weeks ago when we did the 'Are You OK?' mental health sermon. Friends, don't we all need a sound mind just to survive what's going on at the moment? Are we memorizing those texts? Why wouldn't we be doing that? I suffer panic attacks and so bad I can't function. What does faith say? Fear doesn't come from God, but power, love, and a sound mind. Or good mental health sure does. Lock into it, claim it, claim it by faith even when it isn't happening. I remember a few months ago I had to come here when I couldn't stand up straight. I think I told you the story and I had to pray and come here and people told me, "Stay home, you're sick, don't come." And no, no, I've got to come. It's too late. It's Friday night. You can't get anyone else to preach. And I came and God straightened me up and He gave me grace. And then as soon as I finished preaching, I was, I was back like that. You know, look, God needed me to go through a process of trust, and it's not always instant healing. Do you remember what Paul said? He left behind Trophimus. What? I left behind Trophimus sick. The great Apostle Paul, the great healer, left Trophimus behind sick. Friends, God doesn't always answer as we think He should answer. This is one of my favorite texts, Romans 15:13: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. God offers us hope and joy and peace and abundant hope via the power of the Holy Spirit if you're in the Word and claiming the promises. If you're disconnected, you're not going to have any of that. I fear being unable to witness for my faith. I, I I talk to someone in the supermarket and they bring up last day events and I just freeze. 1 Peter 3:15, "Instead you must worship Christ as—" what? So friends, if I'm connected in the morning and I'm in the Word, am I already in a situation where I can witness? I am! And if someone asks you about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it because as you worship Christ, and connected with Him, the Holy Spirit takes over and says the things that you need to say. Are you afraid to witness? You don't know what to say? Fear says that. What does faith say? When Jesus is the Lord of your life— Lord of your life means He's the boss and you check in with Him every morning and surrender again and again and again. It's so easy to witness and share the hope and joy inside us as it just will flow out naturally via the Holy Spirit. What are For You have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I've relied on You; You brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise You. As for me, I will always have hope; I'll praise You more and more. Friends, does hope come first and then praise? I'm finding I have to praise first and then the hope comes. Fear number 6: I fear not being ready when Jesus comes back. Often people tell me, I visit, I pray with them, like, 'I don't think I'm ready.' Friends, does that come from the devil? Or does that come from the Lord? Both? But the Holy Spirit could be telling you, you are in no fit state. I love this text, a word of encouragement to those going through this. Philippians 1:6, 'And I'm certain that God who began the good work within you' the beginning of it, will continue His work until it's finally finished on the day when Jesus Christ returns. Friends, it's the action of sanctification. I'm working on you from the start, in the middle, and right till the end. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Are you fearing not being ready for Jesus? When Jesus is Lord of my life, He works within us every day that we ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Friends, I'm asking you to beg God every morning for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is the Holy Spirit coming in and energizing you and strengthening you and uplifting you for heaven. I fear not getting a partner or the right Christian partner. Friends, this church is absolutely fantastic. Do you know why? We have a class of young adults in this class, and that demographic of the 20 or 35s are missing from most churches. They're gone. We have that, we have that here, and yet we have beautiful people here who are trying to find Christian partners. Some have gone in clubs and pubs looking for these partners and are losing hope that the right person is there. Did you ever see this text if you're in that situation? For your Creator, Who's going to be your husband, men and women? Who's going to be your husband? Your Creator, the Lord of Heaven's Armies. He's your Redeemer. He's the Holy One of Israel, the Lord of all the earth. For the Lord has called you back from your grief as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you because of your sin, but with great compassion I will take you back. In a burst of anger I turned my face away from you for a little while, but with everlasting 'Because of my everlasting love, I'll have compassion on you,' says the Lord your Redeemer. Friends, if you are in a single situation, make Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord, your husband and your Redeemer, your partner. What's the point of that if you're afraid? What does faith say? When Jesus is Lord of your life, you stop worrying about yourself, and by serving him 100%, he will make you into a a partner for the one He may bring to you. Friends, often we're not ready for that partner because they're going to be more righteous and holy and sanctified than you are, and God's trying to bring you up to the standard so they can be brought to you. I fear not being able to control my food intake, my diets and drinks. Now I'm sure this doesn't apply to any of you. I'm trying to see if anyone's salivating. Hard to see. Friends, that is the sad diet. That's the sad diet. Tastes good, but I find that that diet that I used to live on, or some of that, does not connect me very well with heaven. And when my Starlink failed recently, I found out if I'm not connected, I'm in a world of trouble. I can't find out even how to connect because I haven't got a reception. It's kind of funny, when you need it, you can't get on to find out how to fix it because you haven't, you're not connected. Thank you, Phil, for this beautiful illustration. 1 Corinthians 10:31. Are we listening? So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the what? What's God's glory? It's His what? Starts with C. His character. Friends, if you and I are living a lifestyle outside of the character of God, there's no way you're going to be able to witness to God because you're full of junk food. And what we eat and drink today walks and talks tomorrow. We are so lucky to have a family in this church who actually have an organic garden, and we need to take advantage of that because we know The food that they provide is actually healthy and nutritious. I fear not being able to control my appetite. When Jesus is Lord of our life, we surrender our fleshly desires over to Him and He will take the cravings away. Is there any brave person who can say they've tried it and done it? Okay, 2 people. Lyn and I can put our hands up. Friends, just before we go on, in the last days, what's the MMW? Ellen White says that we will go door to door with our faces lighted up explaining the Gospel to people, but in the future there will be very few doctors or hospitals available. You do your homework. Be very few doctors and hospitals available. So you will need to know the MMW. I'll give you a hint, see if anyone can finish. It's the Medical— you know, it's the Medical Missionary Work. So as we go door to door and start talking to people who aren't able to access medical care or hospitals or whatever, and you speak about natural remedies and you talk with them, Ellen White tells us that by having that bond and you can go to Great Controversy 611 and read it for yourself. By having that bond with people, their hearts now open to the Gospel because there's been healing and restoration and, and hot and cold compresses. And my sister gets me to snuff that hot water with the clove, cloves, and what else is in it, Lynne? Clove oil and, um, uh, you know, something, eucalyptus, all that stuff. And I'll tell you, it blows your brain out, but it stops the nose running. Finally, I fear not being able to pay the bills, the mortgage loans, or taxes. Anyone finding the money is not working out too well. Haggai 2:8, what does the Lord say? He says, "The silver is mine and the gold is mine." Friends, has anyone noticed what happened to silver and gold recently? Wasn't it 6,500 ounces $1,000 for gold in Australia just a little while ago. I know there's a correction. I haven't caught up with what it is now. But friends, you are praying to the God of Heaven who says, "I own the silver and the gold." And that's way ahead of most of our, our governments who no longer are backed by the gold standard. It's fiat currency. Fiat currency is when we print and we print and we print and then we get inflation and then everything costs more. And we're wondering, well, why is my shopping bill going up and up and up? Do you remember in Zimbabwe? To buy a loaf of bread, you had to take a wheelbarrow load of cash down to the local shop. So friends, the God of Heaven has resources. He has money and He's willing to share it. If you feel you can't pay the bills, fear says you're not going to make it, you're going to go to jail, you'll be bankrupt. But when Jesus is Lord of your life, you surrender your finances, all of them to Him, and He takes care of the rest because He's Jehovah Jireh, my provider. Number 10 out of 10: I fear not having my family with me in heaven. Don't we all have family that are outside of a relationship with Jesus? Jesus said, "I assure you that everyone who's given up houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, father, or children, or property for my sake and for the Good News will receive now 'in return 100 times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property in the world to come.' That person will get a bonus. They'll also get what? Eternal life. For those of you who have children outside the church, I love Isaiah 49:25. God says, 'I'll fight those who fight you, and I will save your,' what? 'Your children.' Friends, are you getting serious about praying down a storm? Are you Serious about praying for your family? In Matthew 19:26, Jesus said this to the disciples: "Humanly speaking," He said, "it's impossible." What was the context? It's the camel. It's about the rich young ruler. And so He's saying rich men mostly can't make it into heaven. Humanly speaking, it's impossible, but with God, there's something you should claim every day. How much is possible with God? Not in your timeframe, not in your do it this way, not in your arrogance, pride, and doubt and unbelief. But if you surrender to Jesus, He comes through. The blockage is cleared and the power comes through and you will be lifted up to heaven. And so what about our families? When Jesus is Lord of our life, we surrender our fears over to Him. And we claim the miracle via faith that God is going to rescue our kids, our loved ones, and our families. I pray for a whole stack of my family who live on the other side of this great country. They don't know their heritage. They were raised in this faith. They don't know their heritage. It's lost to them, and I know when I get up there, My dad and Uncle Howard are going to ask me, "Did you round them up?" We're going to end where we started. We were also given absolutely what sort of promises? Terrific promises to pass on to you, your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust because you have God's power in your heart. I've hidden 'in my heart your word that I might not'— what? 'Sin against you.' Friends, claim God's promises. Connect into God's divine nature and access divine power to turn your back on sin. This afternoon I will send out an email showing how you can access promises. I will send promises out that you can cut out and print out and make your own promise boxes. But some of you don't have the time, so I've got my sister making these as a love job, and those are 60 promises. Friends, before I go online every Wednesday night on YouTube, I go through 60 promises claiming them, because if you're going to speak about controversial topics online, you better know what you're talking about. You better be quoting God's Word correctly, and you better have power and confidence and be in the Holy Spirit. And so I claim all those promises including: "Set a watch on my lips that I might not sin against thee." I close with this: We should study the Bible more that we may become familiar with the promises of God and then when Satan comes in flooding the soul with these temptations, as he surely will, we may meet them with what Jesus met Satan with. What is it? It is written. Lynne gave me this promise. We may be shut in by the promises of God, which will be as a wall of fire about us. And when I clarified, was that a bushfire? She said no. So I was okay with it then. I'm like, okay, and this is a spiritual wall of fire. Would you like a spiritual wall of fire around you that the devil can't touch you? He cannot even put a finger on you because you have God's angels and Holy Spirit power and you're powered up in the Word and you've started to memorize the promises. Friends, I believe that the devil has kept us away from the promises of God because this Word of God is powerful and when you use it, things change. Are you on your knees for hours begging God for your family? Are you begging Him, God, take my son and put him on his back, put him in hospital, get him looking up, whatever it whatever it takes, give him cancer, whatever it takes, give him the ability to reach out to Jesus. This life is temporary. The life to come is what it's all about. Friends, where's your faith? The devil's saying, "Ah, I've got your kids. You don't even have belief that you can get them back. You don't even believe in your God that you can get them back from me." Pray down promises. God, Lord, break, smash, and destroy the legal rights the devil has around my family because they don't follow You, they don't know You. Break, smash, and destroy it, and I'm going to keep on praying. I'm going to pray for them till I see Jesus coming in the clouds, and I'm going to claim by faith that on that great resurrection morning, they're going to be there! Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ our Savior, The mighty power of the Holy Spirit. We come before you with praise and thanksgiving and thank you for challenging us for how slack and how casual and how rebellious and arrogant and ignorant we've been about the power contained in the Word of God. Jesus said 3 times to Lucifer, Father, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Thank you for showing us your power, and thank you for helping Lynne and I to be memorizing the promises. Father, I want these people to have victory. I want them to have joy. I want to have them overcoming. I want them to see family members coming back, and I believe that that has already started to happen. But without the power of God, it's not going to happen. And on that great resurrection morning, may we all be there. With nobody missing. That's the whole point of this sermon, and I pray it in Jesus' powerful name. This message was made available by the Wauchope Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit their YouTube page, Wauchope SDA Church. This program has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio. Missed part of an Australian program? Listen anytime on demand at 3abnaustralia.org.au. Au, and click on the listen button.
