Joseph Prince - Depend On The Lord, Not On Yourself
This is an excerpt from: Much More Restoration Is Coming!
You see, we are so proud that we refuse to admit that we have weakness even. And yet, we saw the last time I preached, we talked about how God uses the weak things. You know, it's not that after my weakness, then am I strong. I grow out of my weakness. There is a truth there out of that, but that's not what Paul was saying when Paul says, "When I am weak, then I am strong". But we don't like that, you see? What we wanna show in the front and exhibit to all the world is strength, you know? We wanna show ourselves as being capable to do it all. I'm invincible, you know?
You know, that's how we sing and that's how we believe. And then all of a sudden, bang, something happens to us and, you know, we are no longer as invincible as we thought. We forget. Our hope is actually in our weakness. Our weakness entitles us. It's our title to God's strength, God's power. "My grace," God told Paul, "My grace is made complete in your weakness". But you say, "I got no weakness," right? Then you are left to yourself. So God uses the jawbone of a donkey in the hands of Samson to kill 1,000 men, amen? God used the ox goad, where you prod the goat to move, it's a long piece, but it's meant not for war. It's meant to prod the buffalo on, right? And He used that in the hands of Shamgar to destroy 600 Philistines, amen.
An earthen vessel in the hands of 300 men, 301 plus Gideon, all right? When Gideon shouts, "The trumpet of the Lord, the sword of the Lord," and Gideon and they all shouted the same, and they smashed the earthen vessel, all the enemies fled. Earthen vessel and just a trumpet, and the enemies fled? Amen, a piece of bread and juice partaken, amen, and the tumor disappears. It's because we despise weak things, small things. We forget the Bible says that God uses weak, foolish things, ignoble things to confound the mighty and the wise, amen. So the lesson of Job is very simple. Even though he was a righteous man in God's eyes, upright in God's eyes, there was self-righteousness in him, which at the end of his dealings, God allowed him to be tested. He says, "I used to hear about You, Lord, but now I see You with my eyes and I abhor myself," amen?
Straight away, God restored everything he lost. Everything he lost, amen. Amen? Everything exactly. You count the number that he lost, the number is given, it's exactly double. The Bible says the Lord restored double. And that's the thing that James tells us to consider the end of the Lord in the case of Job. The end...what did the Lord do for him? He restored everything. But you say that, "But the children that he lost, they're the same number". All right, no, because you know why? It's double. Now he has all these children, and exactly the same number are in heaven. So in other words, God is showing, you see, if God doubled the children, that means they are lost, the previous ones were lost. When he goes to heaven, they are there. Everything was doubled. Can I have a good amen, people?
So he had to go through a lot. God had to challenge him about his self-righteousness, just like all of us. You know, we point fingers at others. You know, every time I think about criticizing someone, I have to stop and judge myself. Joseph Prince, are you guilty of the same thing? Maybe not to the extent, but the potential is there, or I've done it to a certain extent. It's good to be like that. You know why? Because it keeps you humble, all right? It keeps you humble.
So the lesson that God is teaching us is always, right, to be conscious of weakness, but not to stay there, and be conscious of Christ and His power, amen, in our life, amen? All the sins that you all, you know, find that makes you fall on your face all the time, and you don't wanna do it, but when the temptation comes, you find it so strong. Do you know why? Because you are still somehow trusting in yourself. You need to come to a place where you tell the Lord, "I have this weakness. This is my problem".
You know, people who smoke and all that, they tell you, right, "I can stop anytime I want". Have you heard that? Come on, have you heard that? All right, people who drink can say, "I can stop anytime I want". Am I right? Am I right or not? Okay, and you all know the truth. You must come to a place you say, "I cannot. I need help," amen? To the Lord especially. To the Lord. When you say, "I can't," He can. Amen? So God uses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. A little boy, not with a sword in his hand but a slingstone, to knock down the champion, the best solider there is in the army of the Philistines, amen. So God's ways are humility, even though He is the awesome God, amen. His ways are all lowly. Stay low and the dew will fall on you. Stay low and grace will come on you. Can I have a good amen, church? Praise the Lord.
All right, hallelujah. You can go home now, all right? So what's your weakness? What's my weakness, amen? Maybe your weakness is that you say, "Oh Pastor Prince, you talk about on the road and all that, you and Pastor Mark always the same". Actually, Pastor Mark always get the same weakness I get. I don't know why because he preach after me, so maybe it's the same illustration, I don't know. But maybe you ask, "Pastor Prince, I'm really cool on the road, you know? I'm very courteous on the road". That can be true, but you have a weakness in other areas. So it's not confined within the illustrations I use, okay? Are you with me so far?
All right, so during this time of kairos moment, this is gonna be kairos year for all of us, amen? What's "kairos" again? In Hebrew, Old Testament, it is the word "eth," "eth". In Greek, it is "kairos," all right? So now is the kairos moment. So God is saying to us today, this year especially, He's gonna do great things for us. Yes, the world will get darker and darker. I always have to remind people Pastor Prince is not talking about the world. The world will get darker and darker. The church will get more and more glorious, amen? Brighter and brighter. Praise the Lord. Thank You, Jesus, amen?
Are you part of the church? And all the more we get together, church, during this time, and you find that we have... do you know when you come together and you worship the Lord, that's a snapshot of what will happen throughout eternity? You're actually tasting heaven. You're tasting eternity already, amen? And the presence of the Lord will be so much more than what you experience here, okay? Praise the Lord.