Joseph Prince - Victory In Your Day Of Trouble
Praise the Lord. Today I have something from the Lord that I think is gonna bless you. It's gonna richly bless you. Whatever challenges you are faced with, the Lord has a word for you in this message and we are looking back in the Old Testament to a story that happened in the land of Israel at a time when the people of God were dominated, were subjugated, by the enemies. Sometimes, the church today, they feel like they can't handle the tide of the world that has swept into the church. They feel like they're losing their teenagers, their children, to the world. They feel like the values and the philosophy of the world has come in and come in strong. And we feel besieged. We feel like we are surrounded, we feel like we are hemmed in by the world.
Well, that's how Israel feels in this story. At this point in time, the Philistines have oppressed Israel and their numbers keep on growing and they are taking more and more lands and this was just before the story of David and Goliath. We find this story in 1 Samuel 14 and during this time there were no blacksmiths in Israel. And the reason given is: "There was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, 'Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears'".
You see, the devil is afraid that we would use the Word of God on him, amen. The Word of God, the Bible says in Ephesians 6, "Take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God", amen. God's Word is a sword, is a sword that cuts away that bondage in your life. It cuts away the addictions in your life. Even the Son of God when he was tempted in the wilderness, our Lord Jesus gave us a pattern, an example, of how to respond to the temptations of the devil. The devil says, "Turn the stones to bread". He answered, "It is written". The devil says, "Jump down". He said, "It is written". In all his responses, he said, "It is written". He didn't even say, "It is spoken", all right?
I know there are Christians who say, "Well, God speaks to me, God spoke to me, God spoke to me, God says this to me". God is talking to them all the time, but actually Jesus is going by the book. He's going by the Bible. He's going by the Word, the written Word. He didn't say, "It is spoken". He say, "It is written", amen. So a devil puts fear in your mind, you say, "It is written for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind". When devil says, "You feel that symptom in your body? It's gonna get worse". You say, "By his stripes we are healed". That's written in the Word as well, amen? Praise God.
So when a devil says, "Your child's gonna grow up bad and wayward, look at the friends that he's keeping", and all that, you will say, "Train up a child in the way he should go, it is written, and when he is old he will not depart from it", amen. You can say, "It is written, 'The seat of the righteous is delivered'". Praise the Lord. So the devil is trying to take the sword away from the church and notice the enemies, they don't want Israel to make swords or spears and we are living in a world when, you know, they say white is black, black is white. They're trying to bring in a new set of values into the church, and the church is really at a loss in the natural in terms of how to respond.
Well, when God hides things in the Bible, you know, I say "hide" because the Old Testament, there are many stories there but they hide truths and revelations that will serve us today, amen. So you might feel that you are besieged by symptoms in your body or you are besieged by financial pressures or you are besieged by family troubles, marital problems. Let me tell you this. The answer is found in the Word of God. And God has an answer and a now word for you. Can I have a good "Amen"?
You know, someone said this once: "If you compile all the conclusions of the most excellent studies in psychiatry and mental health, you'll come to this principle: live in the present, like what Jesus says. Don't worry about tomorrow". Now, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, "Don't worry about what you shall eat, what you shall drink, or for your body, what you shall put on", he says. Then he says this: "Do not worry for tomorrow. Take no thought for the morrow. Today has enough trouble of its own". You see, now, our Lord's Prayer, we don't pray, "Give us this day our monthly bread". We pray, "Give us this day our daily bread".
So God gives you manna only for the day, amen? You're not supposed to use today's manna for tomorrow. Worrying about tomorrow, worrying about next week, worrying about the deadline, worrying about that trip, worrying about that appointment, worried about tomorrow today. There's no grace for that. God wants you to live day to day. Now, plan. By all means plan for tomorrow but don't worry about tomorrow. Don't use the grace today to worry about tomorrow. There's no grace for that event, for that particular deadline or whatever you're faced with, today, amen? You can only have grace for today to overcome the challenges today.
So all the conclusions of psychiatry and mental health comes to this: that if we can learn to live in the present, when you're with someone, focus on the present. Right now, you are in church listening to the Word of God. What a blessed place to be, amen? Be present. You can hear voices, like around, you know, like, people coughing and you know, sneezing. But above everything else, watch for your own thoughts, that you don't get distracted, worried about tomorrow, worried about next week or even worry about what to eat next, amen? And you missed out what God is saying to you today, amen?
So the best way is to live in the moment and psychiatrists tells us that if people learn to live in the present they don't live in fear and worry. Why? Because worry has got to do with the future, right? Regret, fear, or condemnation has got to do with the past, something that you did or something that you wish you can turn back the clock and undo it. But you're living in the past, so either people are living in worry and fear in the future or they're living in regret in the past. But live in the present. That's how you become sound in your mind. But long before psychiatry came to that, the Lord Jesus said this 2000 years ago on the mountain. Jesus said, "Don't worry about tomorrow", all right? "Today has enough trouble of its own", and the Lord has given us manna for each day.
Manna would come to the children of Israel in the wilderness, their food would come every day, and if any of them start worrying that tomorrow they won't have enough manna and they start storing up manna, well, the next day that manna they stored becomes bad. Becomes bad manna, amen? It will breed worms and it will stink. So the manna, the fresh manna, the champions' food, angels' food, the Bible tells us, comes one day at a time.
So all the grace that you need for the challenges you face today will come every day. And tomorrow, when that event faces you, all right, don't worry about it. When you are in it, the grace will be there, all right? You don't know how it's gonna happen but when you are there, the grace will be there. You say, "What, this is the event I worried about, all right, since last month, since last two months"? No, you'll find that grace is there, it becomes easy. "His yoke is easy, his burden is light". And all the people said, "Amen".
So it was a time of oppression, a time of great difficulty for Israel. It's not as if Israel don't have a king. Israel had a king. His name was Saul. He was head and shoulders above all the people of the land of Israel. He wasn't God's choice. He was the people's choice, okay? And King Saul at this time is backslidden. King Saul at this time is not a man of faith anymore. He has the High Priest with him, he has ephod by which he can seek guidance, all right? But all this are just forms of religion. He didn't have the reality, he didn't have the living dynamic reality of faith in the living God, amen?
Actually, his son, Jonathan, was the one that walked with God at this time. And God can bypass every form of religious practice to look for the one that has living dynamic faith. And that's why, when God's Spirit's moving, many a time, God zeroes in on someone who has living faith, amen? And that person gets healed. That person gets the blessing. Without faith it's impossible to please God, all right? Some people think they come to church and they feel religious. Okay, God will bless me. That's not true, all right? You can actually have a form of religious practice but God is looking for reality. Can I have a good "Amen"?
So we look at Jonathan, the son of King Saul in 1 Samuel 14: "Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, 'Come, let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side.' But he did not tell his father". Now why didn't he tell his father? Well, because his father didn't have faith anymore. If his father had faith they would attack the enemy. But you say, "Pastor, how do I attack without any weapons", amen? The blacksmith didn't allow them or rather, there was no blacksmith, and the Philistines didn't allow them to have any swords or spears so how are they gonna fight? But don't forget, all the battles fought, all right, in Israel, many a times was without weapons. When the slaves came out of Egypt, they had no weapons but God opened up the Red Sea. Can I have a good "Amen"?
Gideon and his 300, well, God told them to go into battle equipped with a pitcher, all right, a flame, a candle, all right, and a... what is it? A sword? No, a trumpet. That's all they had. And the enemies numbered, the Bible says, as many as the sand is on the seashore. Not only one enemy. Different enemies were united, allied together against the tiny nation of Israel and yet God said, all right, God says, "Your men are too many". And God made him dwindle his army to 300 men and that's all he had. Think about it. God can save without sword or spear. Can I have a good "Amen", people?
So this is again the God of Israel that we are talking about and he says, all right, "Come, let's go over", he's talk to his young man who bore his armor, his armor bearer. The name of the young man is not given but I tell you this. In today's day and age, I'd rather spend time with somebody who is not recognized by the church. There's no titles to his name but he has living dynamic faith, amen, than someone who has a form, who has a title, who has the accolades to his name, but he's lost the dynamic faith. How about you, amen?
So by the way, Jonathan is a young man at this time and so he said to the young man with him, so they're both very young. It's amazing that God uses so many young people in the Bible and we think of the Bible as stories of elderly people, prophets with long beards and all that. Do you know that many of the prophets were young prophets? When God called Jeremiah, he was probably a teenager. He says, "I'm a youth. I cannot do it". And God says, "I'll be with you and I'll make you an iron pillar against all the people. Don't be afraid". He was a youth, he was afraid, amen. The Bible says that Daniel and his three friends, when they were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, they were young men. They were probably teenagers at the time, amen. And yet, God could use them.
We have this idea that when you're young, you know, you don't have enough experience to walk with God. This is not like the learning of the world. The learning of the world takes time, takes years and years and years, but God can raise a young person and use him for his glory, amen. Where are the young men, hallelujah. Where are the young women, amen? You know, I started preaching when I was 16 and I was very young and people say I don't have experience, I don't have this, I don't have that, and all that, but I have the Lord, amen.
And the Lord is... look at all the... I was saying Daniel and his three men. They went into Babylon in a different culture, different worldly system, and yet they make their stand for God. When they were told to eat the food that was offered to the Babylonian deity, they refused, amen. And the eunuch that was taking care of them says, "Look, guys, all right, if you don't eat and later on you all look skinny and all that, I'll lose my head to the king, all right"? So Daniel understood his predicament and Daniel said this: "I tell you what. I understand your situation. Let's make this a test, okay? For ten days don't give us any of the food, all right, that's been offered. Give us just vegetables and water. At the end of ten days, you can come back and look at us". Well, the Bible says: "At the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies", amen.
Hey, listen, when you follow God you will never lose out. And by the way, it's not eating vegetables and water for ten days, all right? By the word here "fatter in flesh" is not fat. It's the word "firm" in Hebrew, amen. All the collagen came back, hallelujah, amen. And when people look at you, you look better, hallelujah, when you follow the Lord. Can I have a good "Amen"? You know, people have this idea when you follow the Lord, you must look mean and miserable and look like you've not washed your face for ten years, okay? No, all the accounts in the Bible is so beautiful that God is on the side... you know, God could have made Goliath a very tall, dark, and very handsome. He was tall, all right? I don't know how dark he was but I don't know how handsome.
For sure, he wasn't. He was ugly, the Bible says. But David, on the other hand, who fought him, the Bible says he was ruddy and good-looking. So why not the Bible comfort most of us by saying, all right, Goliath was handsome, the enemy was handsome, but God's people was ugly but God was with him. At least that would comfort all of us, most of us, okay? I know some of you are thinking, "Well, it won't comfort me". Anyway, the thing is this. Even the women, the wives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Bible says they were beautiful. Why don't the Bible encourage most of us by saying that, you know, Abraham's wife was ugly but she had the glory of God, and Isaac's wife was someone whose face when he woke up in the morning he wanted to go to bed again, all right? But the Lord was with her, amen?
You know, and so, but no, the Bible says Abraham's wife, Sarah, was beautiful. In fact, when she was in her 60s, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, wanted her for his harem. Why does the Bible do that and discourage most of us? Now I don't think the Bible wants to discourage us. I think the Bible wants to encourage us by saying when you follow God you will never lose out, amen. So even the Hebrew children, so they were young. They were young and God made sure that they don't lose out. This has got nothing to do with cosmetics, they got nothing to do with eating vegetables or water.
Like I said, you can go for ten days without any other food but vegetables and water, I tell you at the end you'll be skinny and you have to run around in the shower to get wet, all right? Doesn't work this way. It works because of your faith in God, amen. Jesus's disciples, all of them, with the exception maybe of Peter, slightly older maybe, but the oldest was 33, 30 years old when he started, Jesus. And Peter was probably late 20s, all right, early 30s, but the rest of them were in their 20s except for John. John was probably a teenager. So think about it. When the Lord called them, they were all young men. Where are the young men? Where are the young men?
You know, Job had three friends, okay? I have a message called "The Story of Job Through the Lens of Grace". Job was attacked by the enemy, okay, and the whole story... I preached about it. I'm not gonna go through the story again but he had three I can't call them friends. They are friends but they are more like persecutors, all right? Three comforters, Job's comforters, telling him, "Do you know why this thing happened to you? Because you have sinned against God. Do you know why this thing happened to you? Because you have done that, you have done this". I mean, they were not comforting him at all, okay?
And there was another third party there. His name was Elihu. Elihu was quiet. All the while he was quiet when he heard these accusations from all these people. Then finally, he spoke up. He says that the reason I kept my silence was because I felt that days should speak and experience should be the one to open the mouth. But when I listen to these three who was much older than I am, Elihu says, I realize there's no wisdom coming out their mouths. Then he says this: "But there's a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty gives him inspiration".
So even though young as he was, he spoke for God and he truly comforted Job but he didn't spare Job either. Where Job was in need of correction, he corrected Job. By the end, Job had everything restored back, hallelujah. And Elihu represents Jesus, our Lord. Our Lord Jesus was a young man when he died on the cross, amen, 33½ years old, and he'd accomplished so much more than any man ever did in 33, in 3½ years, amen. Praise the Lord.
So, friends, I'm here to tell you that God can use you and God will use you even though you're young. In the Old Testament, there are many men, when, no, I shouldn't say "many" because you can count them probably, ten people, all right, around there. If you number the people called men of God. In the Bible, we say that everyone who is a Christian, all right, he's a man of God, he's a man of God. Actually, the Bible is very careful about using the phrase "man of God". Not everyone is a man of God. In the Old Testament, you can count with your hands the number of times the phrase "man of God" appears. It's more frequently used of Moses, the man of God. Moses the man of God.
Is used of Elijah, is used of Elisha, it is used of David, it is used of a guy called Shemaiah and very few people have this title, this distinctive title, man of God. But you know, in the New Testament only one person is called the man of God. You know who is that? Timothy. And Timothy was a young pastor. And Paul wrote to him, Paul said to him, "You, O man of God". You, O man of God. He calls Timothy a man of God. Another place he told Timothy, "Let no man despise your youth". Timothy was a young man. Where are the young men, hallelujah.
God is calling you. God is calling you to be a weapon of righteousness in his hands, hallelujah. God is calling you to have dynamic faith when the church has become complacent, passive, and sort of like sit back and expect everything to just fold up one day and waiting for Jesus to come back. And he is coming back, no doubt, but these dynamic young people that God is raising in these last days, they were dynamic faith, amen, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to cause people to fall in love with Jesus, amen, and to cause the name of Jesus to be highly exalted, hallelujah, while waiting for him to return, amen. I don't wanna live a life, you know, of passivity. The Lord Jesus said like this.
Now, this may shock some of you but it's in the Bible. Jesus says, "Anyone who does not hate his father, mother, children, all right, sisters, brothers, and all that, more, for me", all right, in other words, "he that loves father, mother, and all that, more than me is not worthy of me". Jesus said that. Now, he's not saying we hate our loved ones. The Bible says: "Love your wives. Husband, love your wives", and all that, all right? "And bring up your children the way". So God gave us family. He wants us to love our family but he's saying, listen carefully, do not let your loved one take precedence. Put our Lord first. Are you listening, amen.
If you're saying, "Well, I can't go for the Cambodia trip and all that, you know, I got so many responsibilities and I don't wanna leave my family and my wife, you know, doesn't feel happy about me spending time in church, my husband doesn't like the", let me just tell you this. They will never suffer for putting Jesus first. When you put Jesus first, all that you have lost for his name's sake, you'll receive a hundredfold now in this life. The Lord says that. Can I have a good "Amen"?
So let's go back to the story. It happened one day, so that Jonathan, a young man, son of Saul spoke to his armor-bearer, a young man. God is speaking to us and we hardly got start the story already, you know. I gotta come to the end of a story by the end, all right? Now, this story happened at a place called Michmash. Say Michmash. I love this place. Now, usually, you don't get to go to this place when you go to Israel because it is far out. It's quite a distance away and for you to go to where the battle took place, there are two large mountains, okay? The mountain is higher than the Star Building, for sure, and the gorge, the ravine below, is so deep down, it all depends on which angle you come. Let's say you come from this mountain to see the other mountain, both sides are so steep and the gorge so deep, the first time I was there with my pastors, we actually went down by the gorge way, okay?
The next time when I did a filming, "Live in Israel", there's a 20-minute sermon on Michmash, I preached from the top, okay? Now, the place is amazing. It's breathtaking. The view there is just superb, all right? If you wanna take pictures and all that, one of the best places to go. I'm gonna show you a picture of Michmash and this is me back then, okay, praise God. And, okay, let's look at Michmash. Okay, zero in please. Thank you, Jesus, hallelujah.
Now, the problem with photos and pictures is that they don't have the depth, you know, and there's no perspective. Actually, it's very far away and it's very steep. And you see in the forefront of the picture here is actually another mountain, where I'm standing. So one is called Bozez which is the far side. This place is called Seneh and this the passage of Michmash where the battle that you're about to read took place, okay? Now, because of perspective, I'm gonna show you the video we took of this place here. You'll see some goats and sheep far, far away. You will see how large the mountain is, okay? Now, you have a perspective. This is where Jonathan and his armor-bearer climb up this wall with their hands and foot, the Bible, they climb up this steep wall.
Can you imagine they're climbing this steep wall? Okay, and that's where the battle took place on top there. Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed 20 men up there, okay? So the forefront here is another mountain and it looks like a short, I mean, low valley but it goes a drop, all right? It's dropping down very deep and they were there. They climb up all the way to fight the enemies. So let's follow the story right now, okay? Let's go back to the account, the narration. "Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. The name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh". Show them a picture of that.
All right, one side, one side, okay? The far side, Bozez, and this side here, Seneh, okay? Now, we took this picture and we were there. It's a very deep valley and then, back to the account. "The front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward opposite Gibeah". Gibeah is where the tribe of Benjamin, King Saul is reigning from Gibeah. Gibeah is not too far away from Michmash, okay? And the two mountains are facing each other. Show them the last picture of the... Okay, that's a picture far away. We can see the account. Over here is Gibeah, okay? So we are talking about going down there and climbing all the way up and the battle took place right on top there.
Now, church, listen, when Jonathan and his armor-bearer went over to the garrison of the Philistines, don't forget, the Philistines at this time were dominating Israel. Israel was subjugated by the Philistines. Israel had no sword in their hands. The only one who had a sword was Saul and Jonathan. They both had a sword. So Jonathan had a sword with him and, obviously, I think he took his father's sword to give to the armor-bearer, okay? So both of them went up the mountain. And that's when the battle took place. But before that, see what they said. Okay, drop down. "Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, 'Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised'".
You know how many, at that time, it was said there were 30,000 Philistines and came round about not just Michmash, around that area. Thirty thousand of them in that area, okay? And it says, "Let's go over to the garrison of this uncircumcised. It may be the Lord will work for us". Look at the word "uncircumcised". That is covenant language. You know what that means? That means God is not with them, God is with us. They are uncircumcised. They don't have a covenant. They don't have God with them. We are God's people. In those days, the sign is circumcision. Today, it's no more circumcision of the flesh; it's circumcision of the heart. Can I have a good "Amen"?
So, Jonathan is saying, literally, when you are at work, when you are parenting, when you do life, all right, your marriage and all that, why should you be like the people of the world? They have divorce on every hand, they have challenges and all that. You must have this mentality, amen? We are God's people. They may suffer it, but we are God's people. The Lord is not with them. The Lord is with us. So when they say things like, "Well, you can expect this to happen to you. You can expect to grow old and forgetful and all that by the time you reach 50, by the time you reach". You must reject that, in Jesus's name. You must say, "I understand, all right, when the uncircumcised says that, but I am the people of the Lord".
Now, you understand, when I say, "uncircumcised", again, I'm using a figurative language which means what? People that God is not with them. God is with us. And don't let them teach your children. Don't let them teach the values that they hold on your children, amen? Don't allow Hollywood to influence your children instead of Holy Word. Eh, cool, eh? Yeah, okay.
Now, be careful because you will not allow a man to knock on the door, all right, a stranger, okay, to come in and he reeks of alcohol or tobacco or whatever, all right? You don't allow him to come to your house and teach your children but then what about that one-eye monster and what about the iPad? Whatever you allow, you need to monitor what they're watching. It's as good as having someone come to the house with different values, teaching your children. These are your children, not theirs. This is our children. These are people of the Lord. God has entrusted these children to us. We are stewards over them, amen. Praise God.
"Pastor Prince, if I do that, now they will cry". Yeah, cry now, laugh tomorrow. Or else laugh now, cry tomorrow. Maybe in some prison somewhere, in some broken heart somewhere, in some bondage of addiction, crying, "How do I get set free from this addiction"? I'm telling you, parents, you have a responsibility, amen. But we are people of God. We're not left without power. We have the Lord with us. The enemies don't have the Lord with them. I'm speaking of spiritual enemies, you understand. In all this, I'm talking about spiritual enemies. Hollywood, as a whole, is not evil or good, all right? But the values coming out of Hollywood in terms of the values that they propagate and all that, it's not from God, amen.
Do I watch movies? Yes, sometimes I just rest, I just watch movies with my friends, with my family or whatever. I got no problem, all right? But we've got to be very careful that we don't allow the values of the world become our values. They're uncircumcised. They're not God's people. We are God's people. Can I have a good "Amen"?
All right, not only that, he says, "It may be the Lord will work for us". The Lord here is Yahweh. Yahweh is the covenant-keeping God. Yahweh means the God who has a relationship with you, amen. Now, God is known as Elohim as well, right? Elohim is God, God Almighty. Now, when he says "Elohim", God, when you read, G-O-D, capital "G" then O-D in your English Bible, usually is the word "Elohim". When you read capital "L-O-R-D" in your English Bible, it is the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh. When it's Yahweh, it's the covenant-keeping God. And Jonathan said, "For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few". Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.
Notice, the term he use is, "The Lord, the Lord". God, Elohim, is the Creator, the God of power and might, the God who creates everything. That's why in Genesis 1, the beginning of the Bible, the first chapter of the entire Bible says: "In the beginning". The very first verse, "In the beginning God". Not Lord, but God. Same person, same divine person, but God created the heavens and the earth. When it comes to creation, it is Elohim. The entire chapter 1, Elohim created, Elohim saw, Elohim spoke, Elohim spoke, Elohim saw, Elohim said, Elohim, Elohim, Elohim, God. Then chapter 2 says: "Lord God. And the Lord God said to the man, and the Lord God", Lord God is Yahweh Elohim. Why? Because man has come on the scene and the Lord now has a relationship with man and it's a grace relationship. Lord speaks of grace, speaks of covenant grace. Can I have a good "Amen", people? Hallelujah. Are you all learning?
Okay, Lord is a very beautiful term but this Lord Yahweh, the name Yahweh, Yahweh will come one day in the flesh, amen. And when he came in the flesh, he came unto his own, the Jewish people, and they knew him not. But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. And when Israel rejected him, he left Judea. He needs to go to Samaria and he went to the non-Jew and he went to a Samaritan woman, amen. And while sitting at the well, the Bible says, he was fruitful. While sitting at the well, he was successful. While sitting at the well, he was bearing fruit. While sitting at the well, he was able to save, to heal, to deliver. And a woman came and the woman was drawing water and Jesus asked her for water.
I love that, the little sequence there. At first she called him, "How come you're a Jew. You ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water". Because Jews and Samaritans have no dealings. So she called him a Jew at first and then he started telling her, "If you knew who was talking to you, you would ask him. He'll give you living water". "Sir, you have no pail to draw the water from". She called him "Sir", now, a respectful term. And then he says to her, "Go call your husband here". She says, "I have no husband". And he says to her, "You are right. You had five husbands and the one that you're living with now is not your husband". It's somebody else's husband, I think. So she's living in adultery, right? And he knew it.
Now, she says, "Sir, I perceive you are a prophet". That's improvement. Her revelation of Jesus is growing, all right? And finally, she said, "When the Messiah comes, he will tell us all things. And Yahweh in the flesh". By the way, Jesus's name is Yeshua. Ye, there is Yahweh, Shua is save. His name means Jesus, Yeshua means Yahweh saves. And he look at her and says, "I who speak unto you, I am the Messiah, the Christ". So she went to the village and she told all the people, "Come see a man. Is this not the Messiah"?
So from Jew, sir, prophet, to Messiah, wow. She didn't have to go to Bible school for three years. She learned all that in one afternoon. Think about that. When the Lord deals with us, it's amazing and this is Yahweh in the flesh. And what did Jonathan say? By the way, when Jonathan spoke to his friend, there was no one there. He wasn't preaching a sermon to a multitude and yet there was, just look at the way I'm expounding on just his statement alone. There's so much there, amen? And he says, "Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few".
You know, the Lord can save by many or by few but most of the time he will not choose the many, he will choose the few. Look at the, I just told you about Gideon and his mighty men, all right? They were outnumbered by enemies like the sand on the seashore. More than one nation came against Israel at that time and yet, God told Gideon his army is too big. So he dwindled down all the way to 300 and, by the way, that's the original 300. Not the movies. And did God equip them with sword? No, they had a trumpet, a pitcher, a earthen vessel, and a lamp inside the vessel. Beautiful story, and with that, they defeated all the enemies. When the Lord is in it, you're a majority.
You know what they said of Paul and Silas when Paul and Silas came into the city of Thessalonica to preach? You know what they said to Paul and Silas? Two of them. Say "two". You know what they said? "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also". Two men, but they turned the world upside down. Or more like right side up, amen? So here, his armor-bearer was told, the Lord says, ah, now the beautiful revelation: "The Lord, nothing restrains the Lord from saving".
Another revelation we need to know is that the Lord saves. Many of us say, "Yeah, I know that, Pastor Prince. He saved me in 1974. I was a young man back then, Pastor Prince. He saved me many, many, many years ago". But let me tell you this, friend. He not only saves you from hell, hey, he saves you every day. One thing you need to know about Yahweh: the Lord saves. He saves us from our addictions, from our bad habits, he saves us from sin. He saves us from getting into further trouble. Hey, he even saves lost situations. And, yes, he saves our face. We are always so concerned about losing face. The Lord help you save face, amen?
David says he's the help of my countenance. The Lord save, and you know what? One of the biggest salvation is this. The Lord saves us from ourselves. We are our biggest problem many a times and the Lord saves you from yourself. But every day, you need to know the Lord saves. That's the name of Jesus, Ya'hashua, Yeshua, the Lord saves. Say it. Say it again. Shout it out. The Lord saves. What area in your life needs saving right now? You say, "I don't need saving, I got it under control". Well, you're left to yourself. You be your own savior, all right? But if you say, "I need help", the Lord will save, amen?
And he loves to save. Saving is what he does best. You say, Tiger Woods, what he does best, golf, amen? Michael Jordan, what he does best, okay, basketball. Jesus, saving. Not judging, saving. Saving, saving, he can save a lost situation. He's called Redeemer. He buy back the lost wasted years. Buy back all the wasted time. The Lord can buy back and restore to you all the years the locust has eaten, amen? The Lord saves, praise God.
Let's follow the story now. "So his armor bearer said to him, 'Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart'". What a armor bearer. Says, "Jonathan, I'm with you. Go for it", okay? And then Jonathan turned to him and said, I just wanna tell you this again, the name of the Lord. I just have to stop here for a while because I don't feel the need to rush through. Listen to what I'm saying. The Lord loves you very much. There was an astronomer who was looking through the telescope to look at all the stars at night and then he started tearing and started feeling... He said that if there's a God, look at all the number of stars out there.
How many know that with your naked eye at night you can still count the number of stars, you can still count a lot, all right? But with a telescope you can count even so much more, stars. And then, with a Hubble telescope, they can see so many more stars, beautiful stars out there at night. And, by the way, many of those stars are larger than our sun. And here is an analogy of law and grace, between the servant and the Son, between the covenant that is fading away and an ever-increasing splendor of a new covenant that comes through Jesus Christ.
Look at this. At night you see all the stars and the glory of the stars, right? That's like the old covenant. There's glory there but it's glory in the dark. It's glory that's fading away. But when the sun comes up, only one sun, the rest all fades. It's not that the stars disappear. The stars are still there, out there, in the daytime but you can't see the stars. Why? Because the glory of the sun that excels. The new covenant is like that, amen. It excels between the law and grace. Law demands, grace supplies. Grace excels the law, hallelujah. Are you today more demand-minded or are you supply-oriented? You think of God demanding from you or God supplying you? Whatever you lack, God is not demanding from you. God is supplying you the very thing you lack. And that's why even right now you don't have to wait for someone to pray for you. Even right now where you're seated, you can be healed, you can receive, because God is always supplying, amen, amen. Praise the Lord, c'mon.
Oh, I feel the Lord is healing people. God is touching people. God is restoring, God is adjusting. The divine carpenter is mending and people are getting well, amen. Check your bodies right now. Check your bodies, amen. You came here with some symptom and some condition. Move that area of body. If you know you are healed, do a big wave one more time. C'mon, do a big wave to Jesus. Look around, look at all these people. Do a big wave, all those out there, look at those... oh, precious Jesus, thank you, Lord. C'mon, wave. Wave real big. Almost like slapping the guy's head next to you, all right? Do a big wave, look at all these, look around. Look at all these people in the second tier, c'mon. Praise God. Look at all these people. Look at all those people down there. Where are the young men, hallelujah. There they are. All right, up there. Look at that. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.
Now, let me tell you this. No hands were laid. As the word goes forth, they are being healed. And people are still being healed. The tumor is dissolving as you're listening to the word, "The Lord saves, the Lord saves, the Lord saves, the Lord saves". He loves you. So, the astronomer was looking at the stars at night and he was tearing, he was overwhelmed. He was thinking, "My goodness, if there is a God, why would he wanna pay attention on me? I'm just a puny speck of dust in the Milky Way and the Milky Way is only a portion of the universe. Who am I"? And then the Bible says this. Look at Psalms, what David says in Psalm. "God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars, he calls them all by name".
What a contrast. One is so big, one is so earthly confined. God who can tell all the number of the stars, men, science, they cannot. They say there are too many stars for us to count. God numbers the stars. He calls them all by names. We call Orion, we call the Southern Cross, we call the, but we are limited. God calls them all by names and yet, big as God is, all right, he focuses on the big things but his heart is such that he cares for the brokenhearted. He binds up the brokenhearted, amen. He binds up their wounds. How could someone be involved in such a big thing and still care for men? Actually in God's economy and God's thinking, is the opposite. The stars are nothing to him; you are.
Jesus said it like this: "He says that, you know, two sparrows are sold for one copper coin, a farthing in your King James Bible, copper coin. One copper coin buy two sparrows". Jesus says, "Five sparrows, you'll get five sparrows for two copper coins". What does that mean? One thrown in free, right? Two sparrows for one copper coin, Jesus says, and then he says five sparrows for two copper coins. That means one is thrown in free. Why? In Israel, sparrows are dime a dozen. They're very easily gotten, amen. No one thinks much about them so they can throw in free, one for you. And yet, the Bible says: "Not one of them fall to the ground without your Father knowing".
And then Jesus look at his disciples and look at all of us and says, "You are of more value than many sparrows". You are of more value than many sparrows. It's so easy for us to look at people who have failed and people who lifestyle is such that you see people begging for money in the food court and it's so easy when they're near you to smell the stench of whatever it is and you, you know, despise them and all that, but once upon a time they were someone's little boy. They lost their way. If we can just stop and think for a while, just like your child is privileged to grow in your house, many of them, God doesn't see them where they are right now. God saw when the wound came in. He binds up the brokenhearted.
We are big picture people. God is both big and small. And yet, when God make everything in our English Bible, the King James Bible, chapter 1 of Genesis, the book of Creation, it says when God made everything, this is how it says, five words only: "He made the stars also". And he made the stars also. Only five words. In the Hebrew, better still. Only two words: "Stars also". And we are overwhelmed at this. Wow, you know, but with God, stars are nothing. But when it came to one man, one man in Genesis, Abraham, 13 chapters were devoted to Abraham alone. So God's priority, all right, is you. You are the reason the Bible is written.
Now, we are concerned about the stars. We think God is more concerned about the stars and the Creation out there and, you know, we say, "Save the planet". God says, "No, save the planet's people". Save the people and the planet will be saved. The morals will be excellent. Don't put the cart before the horse, amen? We need to know God, wow. I love it. David looked at Goliath and David says, "Today the Lord", not God. "Today the Lord will deliver you". Look at this verse. When David met Goliath, "This day the Lord, Yahweh, will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a Elohim in Israel".
The world does not know Yahweh; they know Elohim. They use other terms. They'll say, "God", or they use some terms I don't care to mention, all right, but they will know that there is a God. But for them, he's God. God far away. With us, he's Lord. He is the Lord, amen? Today's so beautiful. Young man, full of the Holy Spirit, he says, "The Lord will deliver you". Who gives the victory to David? Who saves David? The Lord. What's the reason? That the earth may know there is a God, an Elohim in Israel. Noah's ark, it says this: "Those that entered, male and female of all flesh", all kinds of animals, male and female, came into the ark but look at this, "went in as God commanded him".
Elohim, the Creator of the animals, and.. but who shut in, who shut, who saved them in the ark? Who made sure that they wouldn't be lost outside where the judgment is? The Lord Yahweh shut him in. See, the Bible doesn't... What do you call that? Doesn't use words loosely. The Bible is precise, is the most exact precise book that there is. God, the Elohim, brought the animals in. The Lord shut him in, amen? Okay, go back to the narration of the story. So they say, "Let's go up there, go up there. I'm with you, all right? Let's go. Let's go for it".
Now, Jonathan to his armorbearer, "Tell you what, when we go up the mountain, this is what's gonna happen. We're gonna shout to them, show ourself to them, and if the enemy says, 'Wait there, we'll come down to you,' okay, that means the Lord is not with us to give us the victory, okay? But if the enemy say, 'Come up here, we're gonna show you something. Come up here,' all right? It's a sign that the Lord's with us", okay? So that was the way they got it done. "So both of them showed themself to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, 'Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden'".
Can you trace the contempt in their voice? "Look, look, look, they're coming out their holes". They despised them for hiding, you know, "They're coming out, they're coming out". And then, drop down. "Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan, his armorbearer, and said, 'Come up to us, we'll show you something'". Isn't that what they're looking for? The language of "Come up" is a language of complacency, trusting your own efforts. "Only two of them. There's so many of us here. Beyond us, 30,000, all right? Twenty of us up here. 'Come up here. We're gonna show you something'". The language of trust in self. Whereas, Jonathan and his armorbearer trusted in the Lord. Music please. All right, Jonathan said to his armorbearer, "Come up after me, the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel".
Notice that the hand of Israel, even though the faith is individual, the faith is personal, but he was conscious of the greater good. He was conscious of the nation of Israel. He didn't say, "The Lord has delivered them into the hands of Jonathan". No, into the hand of Israel.
And, church, can I say this to you, that whatever victory you have, whatever blessing God has given you, is always for the good of his church, the greater body of Christ. I've done my best to try to express the exact word but yet, the word comes short. The church is not an organization but the lack of a better expression, let me just say this. The church of Jesus Christ is not this building. It's not any other building. It's the coming of God's people together, amen? And even when we are apart, we are still the church, united by the same Holy Spirit. And we are the most successful and this is the word that I don't wanna use, but lack of better expression, organization in the entire universe. Not only for this life, but for the life to come. There'll be a kingdom rule where we will rule with him in the life to come. Are you listening, people? It's the greatest body ever known to the universe. The calling of the church is higher than the calling of Israel. The calling of Israel is just earthly; the church is heavenly. Are you listening, people?
And that's why you cannot be like the world. You cannot have the philosophy of the world. You cannot have the thinking of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Whatever you compromise, remember this. You don't want people to know you are a believer. Whatever you compromise, you will ultimately lose. You can go to the bank with that. Whatever you compromise, you will lose. People who try to become worldly to win the world ultimately go down lower than the world. It's like the story of Samson and Delilah. Delilah represents the world, all right? Samson took her in his arms. What happened? He got burned. His life was that of binding, blinding, grinding at the millstone. Sad end. Although he killed more in his death than in his life, I don't believe that was God's best for him, amen.
Always remember, whenever you compromise, you fall lower than the world, and the world will never appreciate you, okay, for changing your convictions. Now, you don't go around saying, "Hey, I'm a believer, look at me, I'm a believer. I'm a"... No, let your light shine. Let your light shine. But never allow the thinking of the world, the values of the world, the philosophy of the world, come into your family, come into your mind. Can I have a good "Amen"? Amen? Yeah, hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
So it's not just about us. Even David, he was conscious of the greater body of Christ. David alone met Goliath. I don't know why King Saul told him. By the way, when this story happened, David was around already but he was not with the army. He was taking care of the sheep somewhere. Did I tell you that David wrote most of his Psalms before he was 30 years old? David wrote majority of his Psalms when he was a shepherd boy, as a young man. Young men, songwriters, where are you, amen? David wrote most of his Psalms before he was a king, before he was 30 years old. And David at this time, it was not David's moment yet. His time will come. It was Jonathan's moment. God always has a man for the hour of darkness that is pervading the earth at any time or even Israel at that time. God has someone. So don't despair.
You say, "Well, church, you know, the church is so compromised now. The church is so different now. The, you know, we are living in difficult times and all that". God says, "I'm still with you", but the church state is so fallen, you know. Hey, listen, 1 Corinthians 3 says what? "Know you not that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you"? Is God in you? You're a majority, amen? God is with you. I don't care how fallen the state is, the church state position is, not position but state. Their outward form and all that. Let me tell you this. God is still with the church. Just like Israel is fallen. Morally, it's fallen, it's become weak and all that. But God raised a Jonathan. There's always a Jonathan. There's always a man of God, there's always a woman of God. Where are you? Amen, amen?
So, back to the story again, hallelujah. "Come after me. The Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel". I can't get away from this. Every blessing you get is for the good of the church. God raised you for such a time as this. God put you where you are for his church. It might not be clear now, all right, but that's the reason. Every blessing you get is for the great, it's not just for me and my and my family. So Jonathan could have said, "All right, okay, it's a sign. It's a sign. Hey, armorbearer. And God has delivered them into our hands", or into the hand of Jonathan, but he didn't. He realized that his faith was personal but the victory was for the benefit of Israel.
David was the same at 17 years old. Young man, listen, 17 years old, he met Goliath and this is what he said: "Goliath, you come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts but God of the Armies of Israel who have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I'll give the carcasses of the camp of Philistines to the birds of the air", and all that. "That all the earth may know there is a God", where? With David? No, in Israel. You see, his jealousy is for God to be known in the church back then in Israel. So whatever blessing, whatever favor, whatever importance, whatever prosperity, whatever God has given us, the health and all that, is to serve the body of Christ, is for the greater good, amen? Praise God.
Okay, back to 1 Samuel 14. Drop down. "Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan". So you need to understand, we read very fast but they climbed really slow. How many know that? Just a boulder roll on them would finish them, isn't it? But that's the thing about mockery and contempt. Sometimes, you just wait for them to come up. There are so many of us here, all right? Let's not roll the stones. It's all God's plan. God uses the weak things to confound the mighty, amen? So two of them. It's broad daylight. The enemy saw them climbing and yet the enemy waited. When they came up there, the Bible says: "They fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about 20 men within about half an acre land".
You thought your Chinese period film and all that where they fly backwards and all that onto the rooftop and all that, you think it was great. This is real. This is no cable, nothing, all right? This is real, amen. Twenty men fell before two men and then the Bible says not only that, not only they kill 20 men. Listen to what I'm saying. After the 20 are killed, what happened to the 30,000 up on the mountain in the garrison and as far as your eyes can see. They would definitely hear about the commotion, right? It was daytime, right? What happened?
This is where you see God helping Israel and the Bible says: "There was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and they went there". There was confusion. In fact, you keep on reading, the Bible says they start killing one another. They were very confused. And there was an earthquake. Who made the earthquake? So you find I'm very intrigued by this, all these so-called intelligent people on documentary channels, "Oh, we know at that time there was an earthquake". Oh, so Jonathan knew there's an earthquake?
"Let's time it in such a way, right, by the time we reach the top, you must fight within this time because there's gonna be earthquake. If the earthquake happen too fast, we cannot hold on. We'll fall down. We must climb all the way there, time, must fight within this time, okay? Kill all 20, understand now, within this time, and then the earthquake will stop the rest from coming. Understand"? Like Israel, they said that, "oh, we know the area where they cross the Red Sea is a very shallow area. It's only about 2 feet, 3 feet of water. Israel could have crossed it. Isn't a poetic expression that Israel crossed the Red Sea with only 3, 4 feet of water". Oh, that's amazing. Even greater miracle because the Bible says that God drowned Pharaoh and all his army in the 3 feet of water. Men professing themself to be wise became fools, amen?
Why don't you just go by the Scripture account? When you put God out of the picture, nothing fits anymore. You are left to your own devices. And the greatest efforts of the puny brain can only go so far. Enough with the doings of men. Enough with the wisdom of men. Let's go with God, amen? It's so good when you read the Bible, you see this person fail, this prophet fail, this king fail. To go back and see Jesus, the Prophet, Priest, King, who never fails. What a feast for the heart, amen. Everything of men, God gave man the Garden of Eden. Everything that man touches fails. God gave the new world to Noah: failed. Noah became drunk. God gave the, you know, everything that God gives, man has defiled. But in the hands of Jesus, it is all restored, amen? And finally, the Man came, hallelujah. I love talking about him. Praise the Lord.
Okay, now, the people ran off here and there, and drop down. "And Saul said to the people who were with him", now this is very absurd. "'Now call the roll and see who has gone from us'. And when they called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there". Duh, the enemies are running. Chase them down. They say, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, find out who is not with us". That's what happens, you know? This Saul is a... Not only that, you know what he did? You know what he did? He said this: "Okay, as we chase the enemy", all right, the Philistines are running. He didn't initiate the victory. He didn't initiate the routing. God did. Okay, through Jonathan, right? It wasn't him and all of a sudden he says, "All right, guys, listen. We'll chase them down".
I don't have time to read everything, okay, so I'm telling you right now. "We'll chase them down, okay? None of you must eat anything until evening time". Nobody eat anything until evening time, until we are finished with the Philistines. Don't you know that an army marches on its stomach? How to fight with no food? It's like people saying, "Don't come to Jesus in pretense. You better repent before you come to God". What does that mean? It's like saying, all right, "You don't play water until you learn how to swim".
So if I see you trembling, let's say, you know, many of you have been to cold countries in wintertime and all that. It's so wonderful to have a fireplace, isn't it? Warm and all that, right? Let's say I open the door and I see you trembling in the cold outside. All right, you are trembling, you are cold. I say, "Come on in, come on in. Warm yourself at the fire, all right"? But the people are saying, "Repent first, and then you can come to God". That's like saying, "You better be warm before you come to the fire". Some of you are getting it. Some of you are just getting it. It's like saying that. No, you come to the fire. The fire will produce the warm, you understand? You come to Jesus, experience his goodness, and the goodness of God will lead you to repentance, amen? I believe in repentance.
"Oh, Pastor Prince believe in repentance but I believe in true repentance, produced by a revelation of who God is". Not you trying to manufacture your own repentance and is it a "Well, if you're sorry enough, God will forgive you". Well, how is sorry enough, enough? To what extent is sorry enough, enough? "If your repentance is deep". How deep is deep and who decides what is deep? "You decide". It's amazing. No wonder people don't come to Jesus. That woman at the well, Jesus never used the word, "Repent, or"... He never used this word "repent". He told her her, he read her mail. "The man you're living with now is not your husband". "Ah, I perceive you're a prophet". He didn't say, "...". He didn't even say that.
Okay, I'm sorry. I'm too Singaporean right now. I must not forget my international audience. He was kind. It's amazing, the chapter before that, this is John 4, right, the woman at the well and Jesus? In John 3, a religious man came to Jesus at night. Jesus came to the woman by daytime, broad daylight, noontime. Nicodemus, the Pharisee, came to Jesus at night. The Nicodemus with all his collective intellectual achievements and to be a Pharisee you've got to be very intelligent in the studies of that day and all that, but with all that, Jesus looked at him, "You must be born again". But he never told that woman who had five husbands, living in adultery, "You must be born again". To Nicodemus, he never says, "I am the Messiah". To that woman, he say the Messiah.
Church, I think we need to wake up and realize the way we approach people, there must be something different. People who are proud, we may have to say, "You need to be born again. Everything about you need go". People who are really broken inside, they shun God's presence, we need to know how to approach them as well. And she sensed the warm of the fire without even knowing that she's repenting. I love Jesus, don't you, amen? And she became an instant evangelist. She went out to a town and says, "Come, see a man who told me everything about myself, hallelujah". Didn't follow the seven steps of becoming an evangelist. She became instantly evangelist. Just a moment of Jesus, hallelujah.
You know, sometimes, in your daily walk or your weekly walk or your monthly walk, if you do walk for exercise, talk to the Lord and sometimes what you do is tell it to Jesus. I read in the Bible that John the Baptist was killed. The disciples came and told Jesus. Sad times, sorrowful time, tell Jesus. As you walk, tell him. Tell him about the sorrows in your heart. Tell him about what is heavy on your heart. Tell him about your worry, your fears, about your child. Just tell him. Don't have to pray perfect prayers. Don't have to pray intelligent prayers. Don't have to say clever words. Just talk to the Lord. Just talk to the Lord, talk to the Lord. And then tell him if you're happy about something; what thrills you, tell him.
Another verse says that, "and they came back and told Jesus all the things that they even saw: the blind see, the deaf hear". They came and tell Jesus, right? Tell him about what you like to see. You like to see him in the Bible, say, "I love it, I love it when I see you in the Scriptures, Lord. I love it. It thrills me, Lord, like no other thrill, Lord. I just love being with you, Lord. I love walking with you, I love having you listening to me". I'm telling you, church, just talking to Jesus, all of a sudden there's an impartation I can't explain. You haven't even come to the place, "Give me peace. Give me", you don't even come to that. Just talking to him, the peace is there, amen? That's what the woman experienced, just talking to Jesus.
There's a prophecy in Genesis 49. When old Jacob was about to pass on, he called his 12 sons together and he prophesied over them and of Joseph he said this: "Joseph is a fruitful branch, sitting by the well whose branches run over the wall", all right? He's a fruitful bough. Very interesting in John 4 when Jesus met the woman, the Bible says he sat at the well that Jacob gave his son. And he was not too far away from the parcel of land where Jacob gave Joseph, the same Joseph of the story of Egypt, the only time he's mentioned in the Gospels is in this place, and Jesus was sitting on the well and the prophecy is actually about Jesus. He is a fruitful branch, even though tired, he saves. Even though tired, he delivers. Even though tired, he blesses. He's still fruitful. Joseph is a fruitful branch by the well whose branches run over the wall, the wall of partition between Jew and Samaritan. His branches run over the wall. Jesus's blessing goes beyond human prejudices. Amen.
Okay, let's bring this to a close. Pshoo. I'll tell you a story, a very sad ending to this, all right? And it came from Saul. I don't know why he did this. "No one eats until all my enemies are defeated". And, by the way, when it come to David, David says that "all the earth may know there's a God in Israel". Jonathan said that "this victory is a victory for Israel". But Saul said "my enemies", not enemies of Israel. You see, this is what he said, actually. Benjie, show them the entire verse, verse 24. "And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, 'Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I've taken vengeance on my enemies.' So none of the people tasted food. Now all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was honey on the ground".
Look up here. I'm bringing this to a close. One story, and then I'm gonna close. Listen, people say that revival stops because of sin. Well, if revival stops because there is sin, it would never have begun, because revivals happen where there's sin. There's a need for revival. Revival stop because men like this put in rules and regulations. Saul's religious flesh is legalistic. If he is so smart with all these laws, no one eats until, "Everyone fast until our enemy is defeated", why didn't he do it earlier to defeat the enemies?
And, by the way, when David was about to, David says, "I'll fight this Philistine", right? They brought him to King Saul. King Saul was the tallest of any man in Israel. And if Goliath is tall, the nearest one to Goliath will be him. He should be the one out there fighting, isn't it? But he didn't fight. He didn't have the faith, but David had the faith, and God had to bring someone outside Israel because the spirit of unbelief was so prevalent. God had to bring a boy fresh, fresh from the fields of singing, "The Lord is my shepherd", amen? "Surely goodness and mercy of", a man who believes in God, a young man who believes in God. Where are the young men? A young man who believes in God. God had to bring him in into the camp of Israel.
And if Saul is so great, "Okay, you're going out. Tell you what, wear my armor. Wear my armor". Your armor is so wonderful. Why don't you wear it? Why don't you wear it and fight Goliath? He wanna have some glory, you see? So that if David does win, he's wearing Saul's armor. And David tried, David disappeared in the armor, and then he came out and says, "I can't", all right? He has to go based on the truth to his anointing as a shepherd. He went as a shepherd boy, a sling and a stone. He had four stones and just one stone knocked down Goliath. He had four stones.
You know why four stones? The Bible says he collected five stones and put in his pocket back. Do you know why they're five stones? Because Goliath had four brothers. David, on that day, planned to kill all four. All five, I mean, but they tucked tail and ran. Later on, they were killed by David's mighty men. David's mighty men says, "David, you had your time, okay? This is our time". Amen. That's the faith he had, right? And Saul made a curse on any man, and Jonathan wasn't there, right? Jonathan didn't hear the curse, so Jonathan went to the forest, and there were honey, honey falling from the tree everywhere, the honey combs and all that. And Jonathan took some and ate it.
The story ends like this: instead of killing the enemies, the momentum was lost, because the enemies were defeated, but not completely defeated. That's why they came around in chapter 17, and this time God used David. But he could have routed the enemy, but instead he got lost with this idea of, "Better follow my law. Later on, it will be said that the enemies ran because of you all kept my law". Flesh can become very legalistic. And then, when he found out that Jonathan ate, you know what he said? This is what he said. "Tell me what you have done", he asked Jonathan his own son.
Jonathan says, "'I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!' Saul answered, 'God do so more and also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.' But the people said to Saul, 'Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day'".
It's one thing to work for God. It's another thing to work with God. You can work for God with your own ideas. Whether God appreciate it or not is another thing. But when you work with God, God says, "Move here", you move here. "Stop here". Stop here. You're working with God. He's working with God. I love the expression, "So the people rescued Jonathan. He did not die. Then Saul returned from pursuing"... You see, he returned from-, so, it wasn't a complete route.
Now, I'll close with this story that, oh, you know, and I'm gonna close. In 1917, General Allenby of the British forces stepped into Jerusalem. He was a strong believer, by the way, and he believe in Bible prophecy, so he knew that Israel will come back to the land of Israel as a nation. But he rode his horse. You can see this on YouTube in black and white. He refused to go into the city with his horse. He got off the horse, and he said this, "My Lord rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. How can I ride in with a horse"?
So, he walked all the way in. His men followed him, General Allenby, and he liberated Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turkish rule at that time, and without firing one shot. Not one shot, okay? Now, that was in December 1917. Two months after that, in February, they found out that there was, in fact, they knew then that the strongest opposition was actually in a place called Michmash, okay? At that point, no one was familiar with the name Michmash and... by the way, Michmash is the place where not only the Philistines fell, Pastor Mark fell.
The first time the pastors and I went to Michmash, I wanted to go to Michmash. Most of you don't go there because your bus cannot go there. It's very rocky and the ravines and all that, so you have to stop way somewhere else, and you have to walk like nearly an hour. It's like an hour-plus to reach the gorge, okay? But I love the Old Testament. I love the story of the Bible. I wanted to see Michmash, so I told my pastors, not the pictures you saw. That was another trip, but this is a older trip. So, I said, "Let's go", and Pastor Mark was there, Pastor Daniel, Pastor Laurence, Pastor Darren. We all went there, okay?
We stopped, and we took a long walk, and all the way down I saw the place where Jonathan climb and all that. And we're very happy. Pastor Mark was the happiest. "Oh, nice. The weather very nice". The weather was cool, but the sun was quite bright, but it was cool and dry. Not good. Can deceive you. You need to drink plenty of water, all right? So, Pastor Mark, you know what he did? Well, he was dancing, and he took off his jersey, all right? Now, the thing is this, when the sun is shining and the air is dry, you don't take off your jersey. Number one, it freaks all of us out, number one, all right, because in those days Pastor Mark was quite... never mind. Today, I can't say any more, right? Today's world is so polite, okay?
So, okay, he was dancing, all right? He was very happy, and after a while we were talking among our self and looking at the mountain, taking pictures and all that. There was no more sound from him. We turn around. He fainted. You can ask Pastor Lawrence about this story, you know, from their perspective. And he fainted. We went to him. We tried resuscitating him. He go, "Ah, ah, ah, ah". I'll never forget that. We pick him up. We pick him up, all right, and put him, Pastor Daniel was on one side, and Pastor Darren on the other side, and he was, I still remember him, "Aaaaah". And we had to walk nearly an hour back. We pour water on him, let him drink, and I was concerned about heat exhaustion and all that. And finally, we reach our bus, and one of our guides started running towards Pastor Mark. We thought he's gonna give him some medicine or something like that, and when he stopped in front of Pastor Mark, he took pictures. And he was like, "Aaaaah". That was very funny.
Anyway, that happened. That came to my mind. Anyway, back to the story. Let me finish the story. General Allenby realized there was a garrison of the Ottoman Turks on Michmash, and they might pose to be a problem, because this one: Jerusalem was liberated without firing a shot. But down there they are ready to fight, okay? So, he had a major he sent down there. His name was Vivian Gilbert, Major Vivian Gilbert. Major Vivian Gilbert. Most of this came from his handwritten historical notes and all that, and Major Vivian Gilbert, also a believer, he said he remember hearing Michmash somewhere in his Bible, so he went to his Bible.
In those days they don't have PC Study Bible they can search. He has to search by hand, and he found the story, the story we read just now, 1 Samuel 14, and he realized that the enemies will never expect the British forces to come by way of the mountain, because they're already, all their defense is all facing the gradual slope on the other side. And General Allenby had already prepared his army, all right, in the days to come to attack from the side, but that would mean a lot of casualties even on the British forces, okay?
But then, Major Vivian Gilbert said, when he read the Bible he said, he actually went to General Allenby and says, "I think we can find a way up the mountain. They will never expect us to come from there". So, one night he took a few of his men. He went up there. He realized there's a passageway. Now, they didn't go by the same way as Jonathan. Jonathan actually scaled with their hands in broad daylight, in front of the enemies. They went by night. They found another way up, all right, and all the forces went by the way. The next day, the Turks were routed, all right? This is history, okay?
So, God repeated the miracle of Michmash, amen, in 1918. That happened in February 18, 1918. Michmash was liberated, so here we go, all right? The God of Michmash, the God of Jonathan is our Father in heaven. Jonathan was a servant. We are family. You understand that? But what he's trying to tell you, what he's saying to you is not so much of physical enemies, amen? Today, we don't kill our physical enemies. Today, we bless our physical enemies, amen? Amen. But your spiritual enemies, the stress, the forces, the lying symptoms, the one that's trying to take your child away from you, your boy away from you, that bondage, that drug that you are addicted to that you say, "I can let go any time. I can stop any time", but you know you're in bondage to it, those are your Philistines. And the answer is the same: the Lord saves.
The Lord loves you, and the Lord saves. The God who flung the stars is the same God who binds your broken heart, and he loves you. This God sent his son, amen? The cross did not make God love us. For God so loved the world that he gave his son. Long before the cross God loved us already. The cross is the expression of God's love. The cross gave God a righteous foundation. When Jesus died at the cross, God tore the veil, which means all the goodness of God, all the love and the blessings of God rush out to meet sinful men righteously, judiciously, amen?
Today, we can receive everything from God, but, see, let me tell you this: you can have as much of Christ as you want. No more, no less. You're hungry you can have much more of him. You're hungry for the Word, you can have much more of the Word. And I think it's important that we feed our children with stories like this. Parents, it's not hard to share this story. Don't go into the deep stuff, all right? You can talk about Pastor Mark to get them laughing.
I shared the Michmash story with my son, all right, and he laugh and laughed. We ended up with me as Pastor Mark, and he's holding me like this. "I bring you to the bus, bring you to the bus", and he dropped me there. Then, he laugh and laugh, and cackle and cackle. "Let's do it again, leh. Come. I carry you, Pastor Mark, to the bus", all right? But put stories. Put seeds of God's Word in your heart. Pastor Mark is not a Bible story, but it helps us when we talk to our children, amen? Tell them the Lord saves. The Lord saves. Your worry in school, the Lord saves, amen?
Your concern about your heart, full of butterflies in your stomach, the Lord saves. Look to him, all right? Victory is not there's no butterflies. Victory is even with the butterflies, all right, you still step out there. God loves it when his people, with butterflies in their stomach, says, "Let's go up. God is with us". He loves it. And there are many young men here today and many young men watching this that's gonna respond. There's a Jonathan out there. There's an armor bearer out there. Praise the Lord.
Every head bowed. Every eye closed all across this place. Give praise to Jesus, amen? Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Every head bowed. Every eye closed all across this place. Friends, I'm gonna pray a blessing over you for this coming week. I believe that the Lord will save you this week. I believe the Lord will save any situation that needs saving this week. I believe the Lord will save those areas of your life that needs his saving. The Lord saves. His name Yeshua, Yeshua. Yahweh saves. Yahweh saves. That's the name Jesus in Hebrew. Yahweh saves. The Lord saves. David says to Goliath, "The Lord will deliver you". The Lord saves. The Lord delivers. He's not a Lord who just stand still. In fact, he tells us, "You stand still. You rest. Let me do the saving. You rest. Let me do the delivering".
And, friend, salvation happens when you are still. God doesn't want you to put in effort to try to save yourself. Any effort is saying that "God, I'm not a sinner. I can save myself". So God say, "Stop all your efforts". Like a drowning person, as long as he's still strong, you cannot save him from drowning. He must be totally helpless. Then, he can be saved, so you must come to a place you say, "God, I'm a sinner". Then, God will say to you, "No problem. I am a Savior". You come to God as the Savior, and say this from your heart after me, say this from your heart, say:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for what I've just heard. Thank you for your Word and thank you that you send your son Jesus Christ, Yahweh in the flesh, to die on the cross for all my sins. And on the third day, you raised him from the dead without my sins. I thank you that today I'm raised with Christ before your eyes without my sins. I'm accepted, highly favored in the beloved Christ, and that's how you see me forever. Jesus Christ is my Lord. Thank you, Father, in Jesus's name.
And all the people said amen. Stand to your feet. Praise the Lord. Lift your hands all across this place.
Father, in Jesus's name I pray, Father, that everyone under the sound of my voice will experience your wonderful goodness, that goodness, Lord, that caused you to, must need to go to Samaria, sit on that well just for one precious soul that has lost her way. Lord, I thank you for your love, and I pray, Father, in Jesus's name that you will cause all these young men and women here, Lord. And everyone said amen. That they'll go forth, Father, with that message, that gospel, that good news, Lord. Not to shove religion down people's throats, Lord, but to shine for your glory and to share the good news that, God, you're not mad at the world, that you're not angry with them. That you send your Son to die for their sins. That you're saying, "Welcome home. Welcome home. Come home to abundance. You lost your way. I see your heart. The world judges you by your action, but I see you lost your way. Come home. Come home". The Good Shepherd is calling for them. Will you be the voice to call them back home? Amen.
Let the Lord lead you. Let the Lord open up. Never shove. Never force. Never be legalistic. Legalism is of the flesh. Never be like Saul, but let the Lord lead you, will you? Praise the Lord in Jesus's name. And may your faces be firmer and fatter in flesh than all the children of the world. May you always shine brighter and brighter than all the children of the world, amen? In the time of darkness may the Lord be seen in your life. May you cause that momentum of victory happen in your life and let all Israel, all the church, enjoy what you started with God. Amen.
Father, in Jesus's name I thank you for this week, for all these precious people under the sound of my voice, all those that watching by way of television. Father, I thank you, Lord, that this coming week the Lord bless you and the Lord keep, preserve, and protect you and your families from all evil, from all dangers, from all harm. The Lord preserve your life, and the Lord shine on you, make his face to be radiant upon you throughout this week, and the Lord blesses you with the blessings of Father Abraham, and the Lord favors you. And the Lord lift up his countenance on you and your families and cause you and your loved ones to enjoy his health, wholeness, and peace in Jesus's name.