Jentezen Franklin - No More Flies - Part 1 (06/04/2023)
Pastor Jentezen Franklin preaches powerfully from Exodus 8 on "God's No Fly Zone," showing how God drew a clear line of protection during the fourth plague of flies—sparing His people in Goshen completely while tormenting Egypt, symbolizing a divine separation from death, decay, and destruction. The first three plagues affected everyone to reveal how believers suffer differently, with faith and praise that draws others to God. True protection and blessing come when we live in forgiveness, refuse bitterness, and allow God to heal wounds—declaring a no-fly zone over our families, dreams, and futures where no more rot or devastation can enter.
God's No Fly Zone – A Line in the Sand
I wanna go to the book of Exodus, I'm going to the book of Exodus 8, Exodus 8:20. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the water. Then say to him, 'Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you on your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. And in that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that they may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this will be a sign and you shall see.'"
In verse 24, "And the Lord did so. Thick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, and his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarm of flies". One more verse of the scripture, verse 31, "The Lord did according to the word of Moses and He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh," I love this next part, "From his servants and from the people not one fly remained". I love that. God knows how to get it done, not one. And I'm preaching today on, "God's No Fly Zone". Hallelujah. Sometimes when I preach out in California, I'll go run on the beach. And there're deserted parts of the beach and the sea moss and seaweed will come up on the beach and it's horrible when you're running along and you forget, you don't look down. And they're swarms of flies, swarms, they just engulf you and I think about that.
How horrible that would be for day after day after day, flies everywhere. And all of the Egyptians will have it in their homes, in their families, on their children, on their babies, on their young toddlers, flies on everything. But then He said, "But in that day, I will sever and draw a line in the sand. And my people will dwell in Goshen and there will be no flies there". In other words, in Egypt, you gotta understand the Israelites were in Egypt and there was the Egyptian's neighborhoods and they were beautiful homes and beautiful but they ran right up on Goshen. Which was where the slum area was where the Jews, the Israelites had to live, they were slaves. And their homes look like it and they were full of flies in Egypt, but God said, I'm gonna draw a line and there will be no more flies in Goshen.
My people will be sitting out in the back yard, in the shade of a tree enjoying the weather, sipping lemonade, kick back, watching you Egyptians being tormented, trying to shoo the flies away. But you can't, they're everywhere and will be right next to you but there will be a no-fly zone that God will decree that those flies that love death and dying and deterioration and going down and rotting and putrefaction. They will not come into that land called Goshen, even though you'll watch them and see them on the Egyptians. I sovereignly, I'm gonna draw a line of separation. I believe that we are in a time now after coming out of the pandemic, where God is drawing some lines in the sand.
Why the First Three Plagues Affected Everyone
This is important, the first three plagues that Moses released, the Israelites went through the same horror and plague and suffering that the Egyptians went through. God did not exempt His people from the first three plagues. The first three plagues was He turned the water to blood, the second one is the frogs, frogs were everywhere. Frogs were in the bed, they were on the table, they were everywhere. And you could not move all night long, they were on you. We can't even imagine this torment. And then if that wasn't bad enough, He released the third plague which was lice. And the lice was there as swarms and swarms of it on the people. And it wasn't just on the Egyptians, these tormenting plagues and suffering came to the Israelites, God's people.
Why did He wait until the fourth plague to draw the line? Why flies? Why didn't He do it with lice? Why didn't He do it with frogs? Why didn't He do it with blood in the water and dead fish everywhere? Why did He only draw the line on the fourth plague and from then on the plagues were not a part of the Israelite's suffering. I believe it's because flies signify death, flies signify decomposition, deterioration, decay. And when God drew a hard line the text said and said, "No flies. They'll come right up to the line, but they cannot cross over. No not". The text said, "Not even one. Not even one". What am I talking about? I'm talking about the things that God Has spoken to you. And the flies which represent death and deterioration and decay that have whispered, just buzzed, "Just give up. Just forget it. It's not getting better, it's getting worse". Because all of us know what it's like to walk through the woods and see an animal that's dead and decaying.
And one thing you'll find is flies or fruit that is spoiling, one thing that you will see as it's decaying and deteriorating, and decomposition has set in, and decay has set in. One thing that you will see decomposing, tearing down, going down more and more and more is flies, flies, flies come to the rotten fruit and the dead animal. God declares a no-fly zone over our prophetic words that we have been given. God declares a no-fly zone over the dreams that He's placed in our hearts and the vision that He's given us for household salvation. God declares a no-fly zone, it's a no-fly zone to death, and to ruin, and to devastation, and to ultimate destruction. I believe with all of my heart that today we can see God begin to move in our lives again. And have over this church and over your family a no-fly zone. It's not gonna get worse and worse and worse and worse.
Any voice that's telling you to accept decay and death and devastation and more and more and more is not the voice of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Holy Spirit says, "There's life here. There's miracles here. There is light here. There's victory here". I feel that, I feel that. I don't have to have it yet; I feel that line being drawn, and Beelzebub and the flies are limited. We forgot "Greater is He that is in us". We forgot that the weapon may be formed but God said, it will not prosper. We forgot that they meant it for our evil, but God meant it for our good. And when you release forgiveness God says, "It's a no-fly zone". No flies are allowed in this situation, and you ought to act like you're alive. When Jesus rose from the dead, the Bible said. I love this scripture, I preached a whole sermon on it. The scripture said, "He showed himself alive".
I'm not dead, I'm alive and it's time to declare, to lift your voice in faith. And declare God's promise over your family, over your finances, over your business, no flies. No, my business isn't going poorer and poorer and deeper and deeper in debt and in pain and in brokenness and in failure. No, this is a no-fly zone, I've given this business to God, and I know He knows how to heal. Say that over your marriage, say it over your children, say it over that child that's a drug addict or an alcoholic. No fly zone. No more devastation. No more decay. No more rot in Jesus' name. I can't preach it like I preached it in earlier service or even to myself. 'Cause my greatest sermons I didn't preach in here, I can preach to myself when I'm in somewhere, just preaching.
Suffering Differently – Turning Pain into Praise
"How do you do that"? "I just preach like I'm preaching right now". But I wrote this down, no flies here. We're taking back our sons and our daughters. We're taking back our prophetic promises. We're taking back our dreams and our visions. We're taking back the promise of God that He made us concerning greater works than these shall you do. So, throw up your hands and declare in Jesus's name a no-fly zone over your family, over your marriage, over your children, over your grandchildren. Boy, it takes faith sometimes when you looking in the natural and you see hell doing everything it can to destroy the generations in your family. But you need to stand right there and say, "Wait a minute, Mr. Devil, there's a line drawn. It's called, the bloodline and I'm here to decree today that no weapon formed will prosper. This family belongs to God. These children and grandchildren and great grandchildren belong to God".
Lift your voice if you're not ashamed to praise Him. Stand up on your feet and give Him a shout. Somebody lift your voice and praise Him. Shoo the fly away, shoo it away. That fly of death off of your body. The enemy will tell you when you get sick, "You might as well accept it, you not gon' get any better. You getting old, you getting weak, you getting feeble". No fly zone. I know I'm getting older, but I tell you, I believe that the path of the righteous groweth brighter and brighter. Hallelujah.
Raise your hands and give Him a shout if you believe. Oh, come on here and give Him a shout from your heart if you believe. Lord, I believe your word today. This is a no-fly zone. There's family members of thousands of people at every campus in the altar. You can't see 'em, but if you come here, there's a grid and up under the grid there are thousands of pictures of family members. And I'm just walking over 'em right now. And I'm saying, this is a no-fly zone, Devil. This is a no-fly zone. Revival's gonna win in our families, not hell. I said, the Holy Ghost out pouring of Joel 2, "I will pour out my spirit on your sons and your daughters". And it's gonna require forgiveness. Forgiveness, get over the pity and get ready for power. Every relationship is only sustained by forgiveness.
You don't learn that you're single, you get married, you gon' learn that real quick. You cannot have a relationship with anybody without forgiveness. You believe that? I said, do you believe that? Who am I preaching to this morning? I just feel like we need to gather down here, down front as families and just decree a no-fly zone and then say, "God, help me to shoo the flies away with praise". So, if I'm preaching to you and you know this is the word from the Lord for you and your family. Get out of your seat and come stand down here in absolute confidence that God is drawing a hard line as my text said. A hard line between your house and hell's house. Come on and seek the Lord, come on and say, "God, I'm giving you my situation again. I'm giving you my business".
Get in as close as you can, 'cause there is a lot of people coming. Get in as close as you can, that's it. Now, as you come, lift your hands in praise and lift your voice in praise. And begin to say, "I'm not gonna see anymore flies and death, and devastation and destruction, I'm gonna see victory. I'm gonna see victory in my home. I'm gonna see victory in my business. I'm gonna see victory about the dreams and prophetic promises. No flies, no deterioration, no more, no more, no more". Worship Him all over this house. Yes, it does. "I'm gonna see the victory". Speak it over your calling. Speak it over your ministry. Speak it over opportunities.
The enemy loves to tell us that it's getting smaller and smaller instead of bigger and bigger. The voice God is bigger. The voice of God is bigger and greater. Hallelujah. No more flies. No more destruction. No more decay. No more death. No more decomposition. In the name of Jesus. He's saying unto the enemy, "Enough is enough. Enough is enough". "All I need is You Lord, Is You Lord" Come on, decree it. I need you, Lord. With every head bowed and every eye closed. If you're in this place and you don't know that you're right with God, you came to the right church today. The Lord brought you here. You're gonna find forgiveness because you're gonna release forgiveness. And Jesus is gonna wash you and cleanse you and you're moving into Goshen. No more flies, no more destruction. No more death. No more giving up. No more, "It's over, it's finished, what's the use"?
That's not where you belong. You have a hope, and you have a future, and His name is Jesus and He has plans for you. Steps for you, a journey for you. "Pastor, pray for me, I'm not right with God, I need to get back to God. Or I'm not saved, I need to get saved. I'm back slid, I'm far from Him. I messed up. I've fallen, pray for me. I wanna get right today, pray for me". That you boldly lift your hand as high as you can get it right where you're standing. That's it, that's it, that's it. Raise it high and unashamed. There's no shame in this, there's victory in it. Powerful, powerful, powerful. Keep your hand raised just another moment. If you're standing around someone with their hand raised. Look all around you and if you're standing around someone with their hand raised, gently lay your hand on their shoulder, as an act of support, as an act of faith, as an act of agreement. And pray this prayer out loud, everybody say these words. A miracle's gonna happen here this morning. Say:
Jesus, I believe in you, and I believe that the word of God has declared victory for me. Victory for my family. Victory for my future. The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all unrighteousness. And you said in your word, 'You would not remember my past and hold it against me anymore.' I can't be held captive by my past. You set me free. I'm in Goshen now and the flies of death and the old life cannot come here. It's a no-fly zone. I'm free, I'm forgiven, I am a child of God.
Now, just praise Him a minute, don't rush through that moment. This is the moment you'll point hell back to. This is the moment where you will say five years from now, "The battle was won right there. That was a defining moment in my life". I wanna thank you for giving. When you give to a ministry like this, we're building a hospital in Israel even as I speak. We're building the emergency wing.
So, as the missiles are falling, the greatest need in Northern Israel was a hospital on the Sea of Galilee that overlooks Capernaum, the headquarter city where Jesus performed more miracles than anywhere else of healing. And that's it, right there, partnering with our friends. The Jewish National Fund and we're taking that whole wing. And the hospital, going out, this is gonna be beautiful and powerful. They don't have one in that whole area. And He said, "As you do it unto my brothers, the Jewish people, you do it unto me".
Suffering That Wins Souls – The Power of Praise in Pain
Suffer in such a way that the world wants your God.
If you gon' go through it, don't go through it moping. Don't go through it whining, having a pity party and feeling sorry for yourself. Stand up. Through the pandemic I watched hell attack my family, my home. But I'm here today to declare that I believe the line has been drawn now. I believe we're through the worst of it. Tell somebody, "I'm not dead, I'm still alive". It killed a lot of people that we loved. It killed a lot of people in this church. And the plague was real, and we all went through it emotionally and physically and spiritually. But a line is being drawn and God is decreeing the death and the destruction and the flies that are drawn to it and Beelzebub, the Lord of flies.
You know He's called that seven times in the bible, Satan "Beelzebub," Lord of the flies. God can decree a no-fly zone. People watch you more when you're going through hell. People watch you more when your marriage is in trouble and you feel like quitting, but you don't. And you grab each other's hands and you fall to your knees and you plead the blood. And when the world says, "Give up and quit," you say, "I can't quit 'cause I've got a promise". And God says, "I see that kinda faith". And the world says, "Whatever they've got is real". It's not a show either, it's real. Here's how you move into Goshen. How many of you would like for God to draw a line now after all we've been through? After all that we've gone through.
How many of you would like to see God declare over our houses, 'cause the flies were in the houses according to the text. But He said, "This is a no-fly zone". I believe today that we're in a time that we can step into Goshen. How do you do that? You have to live in the freedom of forgiveness. In other words, there's gotta be an attitude shift that has to happen in our heart and in our spirit before we move into Goshen. We have to forgive. Forgiveness needs to gush out of us right now. We need to get as much conflict resolved with any and everybody right now. Forgiveness needs to ooze out of us. Because God's ready to move us into Goshen but you can't go into Goshen until you're walking in the freedom of forgiveness.
What converts an Egyptian? It's when they see how God's people respond to being done wrong. They don't get bitter. They don't get angry. They don't get hateful. They don't get mean. They don't get unforgiving. They begin to gush with the freedom of forgiveness. Have you suffered in such a way that your suffering wins souls or does embitter people? You don't fall out of love if you're married. You don't fall out of love; you fall out of forgiveness. Relationships are sustained by forgiveness and if you don't have relationship with people it's because it's not being sustained by forgiveness. The only thing that sustains any human relationship is forgiveness and the day you stop giving it then suddenly the flies come. Because there's decay, there's deterioration, there is that rotting there is that dying of that. But the moment that you say, "I forgive," not in word but in heart and in spirit.
Look out, God says, "I declare a fly free, A shoo fly". Oh, y'all ain't gone preach with me, but I don't need your help, I'll preach to my own self. Glory to God, preach. Hallelujah. Suffer differently. I'm not a victim. Yeah, we went through stuff, our family went through stuff. But I'm not defeated this morning, I'm not beat up this morning. I've been through it, but you're not gon' know it by the look on my face. And you're not gon' hear it in my words, glory to God. And by the way, you're not gon' smell it on me, I'mma be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The bible said, "They went through the fire but there was no smell of smoke in their clothes". They didn't smell like and look like and sound like the hard thing they had been through. Stop whining, stop whining.
Turn to somebody and say, "Are you still pitiful"? Are you still plugged into pity? "You don't know what they did to me". You can't have pity and power at the same time. So just live in the past, just live in it. Let the grudge go. Let the bitterness go. Let the unforgiveness go. And you know what, you won't just free them, you'll free yourself. Welcome to Goshen, there's life here, there's light here, there's favor here, there's provision here. You'll be sitting in the shade sipping lemonade, saying, "Look what the Lord has done". When you let go of bitterness. A scab is something that tries to heal a wound. And there are things that happened years ago, some five years ago. and just about the time that it heals, you take your dirty little fingernails, and you scrape it off, and then the healing has to start all over again. And wounds that had been there for year after year and after year.
Turn to somebody beside you and say, "Take your dirty fingernails out of that and let it heal". A scar is proof that you left something alone long enough to let it heal. Zip your mouth, throw up your hands and pray to God and release forgiveness and watch God begin to heal relationships and broken places in your life. God said, "I am decreeing for my people only. The ones who truly forgive. The ones who truly refuse to be embittered. The ones who love me even when they don't understand what I let them go through". Boy, there's some in this church. They've lost sons, they've lost daughters, they've gone through hell, and they still are here with a smile on their face. That's a Christian. And He said, "I'm decreeing the no-fly zone".