Jentezen Franklin - No More Flies - Part 1
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 you 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. 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 would God allow His people to suffer? Why does God let things happen to us that happens to everybody else? Just because you have faith and just because you pray and just because you believe God does not mean that you will not find yourself in a faith fog where you don't understand.
And you're saying, "God, I understand why that person's going through that. But I don't understand why good people suffer and good people go through tragedies and good people have heart breaks. And good people have things go bad and go south in their life. I don't understand that". But here is the great lesson in this, God allow the Israelites to suffer just like Egyptians and here's the reason why. In Exodus 12:38, the bible said that when they came out of Egypt, they came out a mixed multitude. It wasn't just, please understand what that means, you read right over that, and you don't see it. But when the plague started breaking out, the first three. Those Egyptians watched those Israelites and noticed how suffering affected them. It did not turn them off to God, it turned them more on to God. It made them worship more; it made them praise more. It made them believe even greater. And while they were suffering, they were suffering the same hardships, but their Gods didn't give them the peace that they had.
Their Gods didn't give them the assurance that they had. Their Gods did not comfort them like their God comforted them. And there was something about suffering that caused a line to be drawn and God allows us to suffer just like other people to suffer. To show the contrast between how Egyptians or unbelievers in this case, how they suffer. And the contrast between when they go through hard times and we go through hard times, how Egyptians suffer and how Israelites suffer. I wanna ask you a question, has how you suffered cause an Egyptian to want to convert? Because when it said they were a mixed multitude, it meant that some of the Egyptians when they saw the Israelites suffering and how they still maintained their faith and their joy and their confidence in their God, they said, "I'm leaving the gods of Egypt and I'm joining with their God and with that people".
And the question that we need to ask ourselves when we go through suffering, is, "Am I suffering in such a way that my suffering turns people to God? Has what I been through caused an Egyptian or an unbeliever to want my God"? You see, the world suffers differently from the Israelites or the believers. The world, when it suffers, it goes and it gets lit up, it gets wasted. People get wasted, people have affairs, people lose their minds, they get hopeless and helpless. But when the real Christians suffers, he does not get him bitter, he does not turn his back on God, but he actually turns that suffering into an opportunity to even glory in my infirmities as Paul said. And draw nearer to Christ and turn the pain into praise. And even more confident that God will do it.
Job was a prime example, Job lost his family, Job lost his health, Job lost his business, Job lost everything, but he did not lose his confidence in God, and he did not stop worshipping God. He simply raised his hands when he was suffering, and everybody was looking at him suffering. And he said, "I'm gonna suffer in a way that shows people my God's not just a God of the mountains but He's God of the valley". And He said, "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord". And when you can worship even when you're suffering, even when you've lost a loved one. When a tragedy hits, when you're standing at the grave of somebody, a child, a son. I've watched Christians learn how to suffer in such a way that it begins to convert those who do not know Christ. That's a powerful, powerful thing.
You see, a child of God suffers differently than an Egyptian. In Acts 16, there were a bunch of prisoners in the jail house but two of them were Israelites and they were different. And they were suffering, their backs were lacerated, they were in chains, they were being tortured. But the Bible said, "At midnight, in the darkest hour, they did not complain, they did not have pity on themselves. They threw up their hands and they sang praises unto God in a prison of pain". Sometimes when you're in a prison of pain, and you can't get out, what do you do when you have cancer? What do you do when you don't know where to turn? What do you do when something's wrong with you and you can't get relief from the suffering? In a prison of pain, they said, it's dark in here but this is what Christians do. This is how we fight our battles, we don't quit, we don't give up, we start praising the Lord in the midnight hours of our life. Hallelujah.
And you know what? The prison of pain didn't hold 'em. Glory, glory, glory, I don't know what joy they have, I could hear the other prisoners in my mind writing this. I could hear the other prisoners down the block there saying, "I don't know what they've got but I wish I had it. I don't know how they praise the Lord after how they've been treated, they're not bitter, they're not unforgiving". And even the jailer said, "My god, I need what you've got. Will you please come to my house"? And they said, "Not only you gon' get it, but your whole house is gonna get it". Because that's what happens when Christians suffer, and they don't quit believing God.
I'm preaching to somebody. I can't promise you, you won't go through tribulation. I can't promise you, you won't cry tears. I can't promise you hell won't attack your family. But I can promise you, great is thy faithfulness. I can promise you there's power, power, wonder working power and you're gonna get that phone call. And God is going to turn it around because that's the kinda God He is. Give Him a praise and I'll calm down. Come on and praise Him at every campus. Give Him a mighty shout of victory if you believe it. Maybe you're suffering today in some area of your life, you can't believe how life has turned out. But we don't quit, we throw our hands up and we declare He's still good. He's still God. He's still on the throne and He will still bring this to pass. 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".