Joseph Prince - Present Help In Times Of Trouble
Greetings in Jesus's name to all of you. Pick at least two persons around you and attack them with, "Something good is going to happen". Come on, tell them that. Something good is going to happen to you in this service, hallelujah. You know, we, we have been receiving all kinds of testimonies of people being healed, even as they're listening to the Word. God is not waiting just for, you know, you to find time for people to lay hands on you. As the Word goes forth, the healing takes place, amen, the deliverance is effective. We thank God that that's happening.
And for the past week, for the past two months or maybe three months even, I've noticed that God is really increasing healings dramatically in our church, even chronic conditions are being healed and we are finding amazing testimonies come out of it. We have one such testimony that I just received, read about it only yesterday, and I want to share with you this fresh-off-the-press testimony, and it's from a brother in our church. His name is Lorenzo.
"In 2015, my dad in Sri Lanka was diagnosed with an enlarged prostate. Doctor suspected cancer, but thankfully the biopsy came back negative. However, he was put on a treatment to manage his prostate condition and had to go for regular checkups, as my grandfather had died of cancer. About four years later, the doctors found further enlargement of my dad's prostate gland and in addition, multiple tumors were found in his femur, his thigh bone. Being a degree holder and bioengineering, I knew that this was not a good sign as it could mean that cancerous cells had spread through to bone marrow. The doctors also suspected the same and wanted to do a full body scan for my dad. We also shared my dad's reports with my cousin who is a renowned cancer consultant. She too concurred with the doctors. Fear gripped our hearts. I've been attending New Creation Church for over five years, and I listen to Pastor Prince's sermons repeatedly. I've also read Pastor Prince's books and I've been sharing his teachings with my family, who also watch his sermons on YouTube".
It's very important that when you're going through a night season, when you're going through a trial, when you receive a bad report, that you are listening to the Word of God, amen? And not just, you know, any part of the Word, especially the Word talking about what the Lord can do for us today, amen. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. For faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God, amen. "After we received the doctor's report, I video called my parents and we partook of the Holy Communion together". Definitely from our church, amen. "We also held firm to God's healing promises. For the next few weeks, we continued to partake of the Holy Communion every night and we could feel a sense of peace and joy".
You know, the Lord spoke to me even before I read this testimony last night, I, the Lord spoke to me to tell you all that many times, and I think I've shared this before, but the Lord wants you to be reminded that many a times you take the Lord's Supper, yes, we thank God for those who receive instantaneous manifestation of their healing many a times immediately after they take the Lord's Supper. We still have those kind of manifestations happening. We thank God for that, but most of the people, when they take, they take every night or every morning, usually the Lord is dealing with their fears, and their worries, and the anxieties, and that's why this man was saying that every night when they partook, they came to a place where they began to feel a sense of peace and joy, amen. God heals your inside and then he heals your outside, amen? Prosper even as your soul inside prospers.
"My dad also stopped having fearful thoughts and we anticipated that when the scan is done". You see, the thing is that you can partake and have fearful thoughts, that means you are you're partaking with fearful thoughts. What the Lord does there when you're partaking ask him. It's okay partake afraid if you need if you, you know, you have to go through that. But as you keep on partaking, you'll find that it deals with your fears as well. That's the good news because many a times it's the fear that torments, all right? You might not even be experiencing that pain at that time, but it's the fear that torments, so the Lord deals with the fear. "My dad also stopped having fearful thoughts and we anticipated that when the scan is done, the doctors would not be able to find any tumors. This was exactly what happened. The doctors and my cousin were baffled by the results. The doctors then asked my dad to do another scan and biopsy to confirm that he was in the clear. Praise God, once again, everything short that my dad was in perfect health, even his prostate gland had reduced in size. All this happened without any treatments or medical intervention. Praise be to God". Hallelujah, amen.
Now, we thank God, we thank God for medical treatments. We thank God for doctors, you know, they are in the same business as God, healing people, but our trust is in the Lord, amen. He can work through doctors, he can work through medicine, of course, but we thank God also for testimonies like this without any treatment and all that. We give God all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor, and what God did for them, or for him, God can do for you, amen. You know, God's picture is for all of you to experience this. Zechariah 9:11 for the 9/11 generation. It says this, 9:12. We'll come to 9:11 in a while. "Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today", this is God declaration, "I declare that I will restore double to you".
"You prisoners of hope", what a wonderful expression that once upon a time, we were all prisoners of hopeless, hopelessness, helplessness. Remember I told you the world says to you, "Don't raise your hopes". But I say to you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, do not raise your hopelessness because your God is called the God of hope, amen. And when you have hope for the future, whether you receive a bad diagnosis from the doctor, whether you are challenged mentally, you know, in worry and fear for your child that's going astray, or for your son, or for your marriage that is breaking down, or for any concern that you have in your workplace, whatever it is, you're gotta see yourself with the answer already. You gotta see that there's a bright future for you that because this is not just based on wishful thinking, you have a God of hope.
And for the world without God, they hope and many times their hopes are dashed. But with the Lord, the Bible tells us because he shed his blood for us, our faith, the Bible says, is the substance of things hoped for, amen. We have faith for it because we hope for it. We hope for it because our hope is based on a solid foundation. The blood of Jesus has been shed and because the blood of Jesus, for example, you're hoping to have a healthy life, healthy body. You look forward in the future, you see a healthy body, you see a person strong, you see a person being able to do the things that he wants to do. That's your vision, that's who you are, amen. But right now you're experiencing pain. Now you're on medication, now you are, but then there's still hope. Praise the Lord. Don't stop your medication. Keep on doing, most of all, partake of the Lord's Supper, amen, and start looking at the future and thanking God that's where you're gonna be, amen. That is hope. That is hope.
Now, the world says don't do that, amen. Don't raise people's hopes. They'll tell people like me, "Don't raise people's hopes", but they have no idea that our hope is based on a solid foundation, the blood of Jesus because Jesus took the stripes on his back. My Bible says, "Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases". Can have a good amen? And because he bore our sicknesses and diseases, we don't have to bear it. There's no point in both of us bearing it. He did because he loved me. He did it because he loved you, amen. He bore your sicknesses, he bore your diseases because he loved you. Just like a parent who see the child suffering and the parent in his love, if he care, he will carry that disease for the child. That child might be, might be comforted, be at ease, enjoy the peace, amen.
Nothing hurts the parents' heart more than see a child cry through the night in pain, in tears, and there's nothing you can do. So, God who can do something about it, but he cannot just remove it away and still be a just God because sickness came in as a result of sin, not necessarily your sin, but Adam's sin. All evil, all sickness, all disease came in because of sin, Adam's sin. This is not God's dream for man. God never even meant for man to have one pimple. God never even want man to die. God hates sin, and God hates disease. Therefore God hates death, that's why Jesus conquered death. Can I haven't good amen, church, amen?
So, for the world when they say things like, "Oh, they're a bunch of prosperity people, health and wealth people", and do you know how to define a cult? Would you like to know how to define a cult? A cult is not defined just because he's different from you, all right, a cult group. You know, when our Christian life is so abnormal that finally we become normal, the abnormal ones will call us cult. How many understand what I'm saying, huh?
When the world is so used to being defeated, and then you live a victorious life, they will say that you are a cult, but the test, the acid test, the one single test you can test any organization, any church, any ministry, anyone to see whether is a cult or not, is this, does the person pointed a lot Jesus Christ or the person point to himself? Is the obsessed about himself? Does he tell you, "Come, put your head on my hand for $50, for $500, for $5,000"? Does he do that? Does he make himself to be the healer or does he make Jesus be the one who is the healer? Does he give all the praise and all the glory to Jesus or does he take the praise to himself? Does he point man to himself, or does he point man to Jesus, amen?
"But pastor, how about people that look up to you or you're up there and you are preaching the Word and all that". God uses people. It's important that the person that got used Moses. When Moses stood on the mountain, he stood there alone, but he was pointing to God, amen. So, Moses was raised by God. Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and called fire down from heaven but so that all Israel would turn to God, not turn to Elijah. And then God uses people. The devil uses people, amen. The devil raised a Hitler, one Hitler because he's following God's method. If Israel was a committee, the children of Israel would still be in Egypt. When God wants to bless you, God sends a person. If the devil wants to curse you, he also send a person.
Many men have fallen because of a woman that came into their life that was sent by the devil, amen. So, the devil, just because the devil imitates God's way doesn't make it wrong. It's all important to see whether the person point to himself or to Jesus. Can have a good amen? When chickens are gathering together, and they don't fly, even though they have wings, finally they see an eagle in the sky, and they look at another eaglet who happened to be among them who thinks he's a chicken. And the eaglet says, "I feel like one day I can do that". That's hope. But you know what they say to the eaglet? Forget it, don't raise your hopes so high, amen. That's a cult. Number two, you always test with the Word of God. Is it in context? Is it preached from the Bible?
All right, for so long churches, for example, forget the reason for gathering together. The Bible says in Acts 20, "Upon the first day of the week", that's a Sunday, they came together in Troas to break bread. There's this place in Troas, which is Troy, Helen of Troy, Troas. All right, there's this place there, and they had a guest speaker that's been with them for seven days. His name is Paul, the Apostle Paul. Yet the Bible doesn't say in Acts 20 upon the first day of the week on Sunday, they came together to hear Paul. No, they came together to break bread.
What has happened to us? Today, we seldom break bread, communion. We seldom break bread in churches. Some churches do it once a year, some do it once every six months. Some do it once a month. What has happened to us? I believe it should be done every Sunday. Is it for no reason that Jesus appeared in his resurrection after he was resurrected, he appeared from Sunday to Sunday to Sunday? We don't find him appearing on a Tuesday on a Wednesday to the disciples, amen? But he appeared from a Sunday to a Sunday to a Sunday. One Sunday Thomas wasn't there and the next Sunday he appeared and Thomas touched him.
Why did he appear Sunday to Sunday to Sunday? For the Jewish people, their last day, the seventh day is the day of rest. For us, the first day of the week is our day of rest, amen. For them, they work and then the rest, that's the Old Covenant. New Covenant is, you enter into rest, then you have the power to work, amen. Your week is blessed because you have entered into his rest, amen? So likewise, we, God wants us to be people of hope. Can I have a good amen? And that's amazing terminology to use the word, "prisoners of hope", because we are so used to lying still in the middle of the night, tossing and turning, not being able to sleep because we are worried.
We have pictures of hopelessness, helplessness. We see dark, we see dark images. We see dark thoughts, and we don't know what, it's like we try our best to be optimistic. We try our best to look on the bright side. But invariably we do it for a few seconds, or five minutes, or whatever, we come back again to those dark thoughts. It's as if we are prisoners of hopelessness. But now God says, "Listen, you prisoners of hope", where you were once a prisoner of hopelessness, "I'm gonna make you a prisoner of hope". You lie down there, I'm trying my best thing bad but I can't.
You know, I only see good in my future. I don't know why. But, you know, I see a great future. Praise the Lord. I see myself well, amen, completely healed from this condition, amen. I see myself young again, in fact, I can do more things than I did when I was half my age. Come on, people, amen? And I see myself with wonderful friends around me. I see myself married, if you're not married. I see myself, amen, walking down the aisle. Come on, hallelujah. Praise God. Come on preach it, Pastor Prince, amen, amen. Ladies, if you're believing God for a partner say, "Amen, 'a man'". And 'a' is all you need, amen, praise God.
So, God says, "Today I declare to you, I'll restore double to you". Wait, amen, double wrong context, okay? Double the whatever you're, you know, you had a previous relationship, you were hurt whatever it is, forget it that person, the next person will be double one person that you had before, amen? Where it cannot be a quantity, it will be a quality, praise God, hallelujah. God promised, "I'll restore double to you", which means if you... now you have bad prognosis about your health, double health is coming, amen, twofold health, hallelujah. God says, "I declare to you today and I believe this day is prophetic for all of you that's listening right now".
It's a Word from the Lord. God is talking to you right now, see him talking to you. "Today I declare to you, I will restore double to you, double", amen? And once upon a time we were prisoners of sin. We were all born in sin. The moment we are born, we're born in sin. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. We are sinners going to the Bible because of Adam's sin. Adam's sin caused his blood to cross through our veins, amen, down through history. We are all a product of Adam's blood, amen, and sin is in the blood, therefore we're all sinners.
So, once upon a time when you were slave of sin, this is Romans 6 terminology, you were a servant of sin, no matter what good you do, God still see you as a sinner. You must be born again. Now that you're born again, Romans 6 again, you are now a servant of righteousness. In other words, no matter what you do, you are righteous in God's eyes. You are now a servant of righteousness. Sometimes after you're born again, you do lose your temper a bit, right, here and there, amen? You do something wrong, anyone ever did anything wrong after you are saved? Y'all look so sanctimonious, all of you, amen, y'all look so holy.
All right, we have all done wrong. We have all sinned. Am I right? But you know something? Doesn't change your status before God, your identity before God. You're still righteous in God's eyes. As once upon a time when you were a servant to sin, you did something right but what you did right cannot change the fact you're a sinner. But once in a while you did something right when you're a sinner, but doesn't change who you are. Now you're a servant of righteousness. And once in a while you sin, but you know what? You're still the righteousness of God in Christ. And all the people said, amen. So, God promised that. Now, the promise is built on a solid foundation.
Look at the the verse before this, this is 9:11. "As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit". Remember I told you just now, it's all based on the blood of Jesus, amen? Has the blood been shed. God is restoring double to you, not because you are good, but because the blood of Jesus has been shed at the cross and all of us qualify, amen. If we have no sin, there's no need for us to need to require the blood, amen. Blood is shed, holy blood, righteous blood, divine blood, is shed to wash away our sins, to give us a solid foundation because blood has been shed. We have a solid foundation to believe for the abundant life, for a life that is victorious, for a life that's an overcoming life, a life that brings glory to God. Can I have a good amen, people? What a wonderful testimony.
Now, this word, "You prisoners of hope", God said, "Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free". By the way, you are free from one prison into another prison. You're free from the prison of hopelessness to a prison of hope, which means right now. I'm doing my best to think pessimistic, but you know what? I'm helplessly saved, hopelessly beyond help. I think positive. I just cannot believe that this trial in your life is here to stay. I believe you're going through and that's what the psalmist says, "Yea though I walk through the valley". He's not going into the valley to stay. He's going through, through.
My friend, this valley you're in, I know it's dark like a shadow of death, but you're not walking in it to stay and build a basha or a tent, okay? You're not there to stay there permanently. You are walking, nonetheless you are in it, but you're walking through, through. And you know who is gonna walk with you? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Many years ago, you know, all of us, many of us have memorized Psalms 23. You ask anyone, even my son has memorized Psalms 23. You've heard Justin from up here before when he was about three to four years old quoting psalms 23.
Now, it's a favorite psalm, but the familiarity might rob us sometimes of the revelation of it. You know, we need to meditate on God's Word. Memorize is one thing, but meditate on God's Word. An old English word for meditate is called muse. While I was musing, the fire burned. Now, the word "amuse", amusement, amuse is the word "a" put to the word "muse". Muse is meditate. Anything that's A in front negates whatever the word is. So, when you put "amuse" that means no meditation. We have a generation of people that is all into amusement, and they have no time to meditate. I think once a while it is good for us not to bring our phone to the toilet, it might drop in the toilet bowl, speaking from experience, amen.
And I'll tell you this, once in a while it's good to go down there, sit down and meditate. "What did I learn today"? Okay, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord is my, who is my shepherd? The Lord, the Lord. That is musing, that is meditating. "Who is my shepherd"? The Lord, wow. The Lord. Hey, he's not the richest man in the world that is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, hallelujah. The Lord. Is, is, is what? Is, is future tense, present tense, past tense? Is, is, is, is my shepherd. Hey, my, my personal, my own possession, my own personal shepherd. Shepherd denotes caring, feeding, taking care, protecting, defending, leading, guiding. I feel love.
I'm telling you, your toilet experience is wonderful musing time, amen. And amuse is negating that. "A" negates whatever follows, amuse. That's why it's a generation of amusement and into amusement there's not amusing, my friend. We need time to muse and meditate on God's Word. So, many years ago, I was meditating on Psalms 23 and then I came to this part. I never heard anyone preach this, but it was a revelation to me that whenever, at first when he's going through a normal, like his normal pace of life and his daily walk, he's talking about the Lord in the second person as if he's talking to somebody.
Watch this, the Lord is my shepherd, I'm talking to you. I'm not talking to the Lord. I'm talking to you, right? The Lord is my shepherd in the second person. The Lord is my shepherd, or the third person you should say. The Lord is my shepherd, I'm talking to you. The Lord is my shepherd, am I right? Am I right? The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down. He leads me by the still waters. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you about him. Notice that, that's where most of our conversations are.
Many of us, we talked, our relationship with God is like this, we talk to people about the Lord, we talk to our spouse about the Lord, we talk to our children about the Lord, we talk to each other about the Lord, what the Lord did, what the Lord has done, what the Lord is doing, and that's fine. That's part of our relationship. But when you're going through a valley, today I'm preaching on what to do in the valley. When you're in the valley, what to do in the valley. When you're going through your valley experience, listen, the Bible says, notice, he makes me lie down. He leads me.
When we come to the valley, "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me". Now, he's talking to him directly. "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies". Isn't it the Lord's table? And he prepares the table, not in the absence of your symptoms, but in the presence of your symptoms, he prepares the table, in the presence of your enemies. Whether it's called cancer, whether it's called depression, whether it's called addiction, whatever it is, he prepares a table.
And notice, you didn't prepare. You might bring out the elements but it's the Lord preparing it. Always see the Lord preparing it for you and you won't see it as something legalistic anymore. But notice when you're going through the trial, it's no more enough. It's not enough just to tell someone about the Lord. You need to talk to him yourself. "Your rod, your staff, you are with me. I'll fear no evil, for you are with me. You prepare a table before me. You anoint my head with oil".
What's the result? Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow you and the Hebrew word is hunt you down like an animal, hunt you down. God's goodness and mercy will hunt you down all the days of your life. Surely, God's goodness and mercy will hunt you down. You can't run fast enough, it's gonna hunt you down. What a perspective to wake up every day to realize God's goodness, God's mercy on one side, God's goodness is hunting you down all the days of your life until you dwell in the house of the Lord forever, hallelujah, amen. Praise God.
Now, this word "prisoners of hope", is the... Last week we saw the Greek word in the New Testament for hope, what is it? Elpis, right. Elpis is a positive or confident expectation of good in your future. Now, in the Hebrew, the word is tikvah, prisoners of tikvah. Tikvah is hope, hope, amen, hope. You know, Israel's our national anthem. Ours is "Majulah". Theirs is Hatikvah. "Ha" is the, definite article. "Tikvah" is the hope. You have heard it before, something like this. Very, very haunting, very beautiful. It's called "The Hope". What a beautiful title to a national song, right or not, amen? Tikvah, hope. It's from the idea of a rope.
In fact, the noun is Tikvah, but the verb is the word "qavah". Qavah is used when it says they that wait upon the Lord, the word wait there is qavah, bind yourself with the Lord like a rope, amen, and find hope in Lord. Find your hope, hope in the Lord. Because of him, you can see a bright future. You can see a future where your dreams are being fulfilled, amen? The world can only hope so, but deep down they think that it might not be so, but you can hope so and know it will be so, amen?
Tikvah, you'll rise like wings of eagles, amen? You will run and not be weary. You will walk and you will not faint. Even a young man shall fall and utterly faint, the Bible says, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, amen, they will run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Nothing about the passage talks about age except for young men shall fall, even the youth shall faint and fall. But those that wait upon the Lord, ageless, amen. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.
So, prisoners of hope. God promised there is a story, a very sad story that happened to a man called Achan where he was stoned in this valley called the valley of Achan or Achor in Hebrew. But God promised many years after, God sent a prophet called Hosea. Let's follow the story here. Chapter 2, verse 15 God says, "I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, Like when she came up out of Egypt", says the Lord. God promised to Israel and God promised to all of us that in your valley of Achor, and Achor means trouble in Hebrew. In your valley of Achor, God has put a door of hope, a door of tikvah, a door of tikvah. God has put a door of hope, literally a door of tikvah.
By the way, your door is not found in the mountain, it's found right there in your valley. Mountain always speaks of good experiences, blessings, you know, I'm on the top of the? You don't say, "I'm below the valley, you know, why does the sun go on shining? Why the sea rush to shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world, right"? Why does the sun go on shining? Definitely don't have the helmet on. Right, but, "I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation and Is the love that I found ever since he's been around". Beautiful, beautiful. Y'all sing better than Pastor Mark.
So, God promised that in the valley, so when we feel good, it's all the blessings and the mountaintop experience that is mountain experience, amen? And when you come down to the valley, valley speaks of trial. So, today my message is about what to do in your trial, what to expect in your trial, amen. So, the devil says you're down there, you remain there, you will stay in the valley. No, you might be going through a valley, but you're walking through. Through means you're coming down the other side, amen? So, you're in the valley. God promised in your valley of trouble, look for the door of hope.
There's a door of hope, amen. Open the door by hoping for the best. Open the door because of your God, hope for the best. Don't allow the pessimistic thoughts of the situation and the circumstance to wear you down. Don't listen to all the naysayers, amen. "Don't bother the master anymore. Your daughter is dead. The situation is dead. The marriage is dead. Your son's rebellion is beyond hope". Listen to what Jesus says, "Don't be afraid, al-tirah, in Hebrew, don't be afraid, al-tirah, believe only and she shall be well, the marriage will be well, the situation will work out all right. Your son will be well, amen. Your daughter will turn out all right, praise the Lord. Your future is bright, amen. Do not be afraid, only believe".
Listen to the Word of Jesus. Don't allow the pessimistic words of people, okay, all the the prisoners of hopelessness to weigh you down, amen, their words. Praise the Lord. So, here, God promised us this, and praise God, remember Jesus paid the price, what a heavy price. He was in the valley that this happened, in a valley where... the mountain there is called Mount of Olives in a little garden because man sinned against God in a garden, the Garden of Eden, and all his suffering all started in the garden.
Remember the movie "The Passion of Christ", it started in the garden because that's where it's all start. And the Bible says Jesus prayed in the garden and this is what happened, "And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly". And the word "agony", here is from the Greek work "agonia", which means intense, emotional and mental exercises like, you know, you are being torn, like you are being pulled apart like exercise. Even the word "gymnastics" is there in the Greek for this word agonia, like agonizing. Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Every word has meaning. The Holy Spirit chose the word "falling down". The blood fall down to the ground because in a previous garden, the original garden, the place where everything was provided for man, man only have to pick and eat. He didn't have to work for it. Everything was prepared for him. All things are now ready. God made man last so that man can enjoy everything that he has created, but man sinned against God and as a result, the fruit and the food of Egypt, the picture of the world, is laborious and backbreaking.
Notice, the food of Egypt, melons, leeks, garlics, onions, it's backbreaking, it's all food of the ground. You have to bend to take it. But the food of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, God's land for the people, it's food like grapes, vine, olive oil, amen, pomegranate, amen, figs. All these are just for your plucking. You don't have to bend to collect them. It's a picture to all of us that the life in Canaan land, the land of promise that God has for you is a land of true rest, a land where you are provided for and it's not laborious pain involved in it. But when Adam sinned against God, three things God said to Adam I want you to pay attention to. Number one, cursed is the ground for your sake. The ground is cursed. Number two, thorns and thistles it will bring forth. There were no thorns prior to this but now thorns will come out, and that's why Jesus wore the crown of thorns.
Every time you have a thought that hurts you, that makes you agonize, every time you have a painful thought, every time you are fearful, a fearful thought makes you afraid when you're lying down in the middle of the night, when you wake up with fearful thoughts and that thorn pricks your mind, and another fearful thought pricks your mind. And that's the time to remember Jesus bore your crown of thorns so that you don't have to. He freed you from it. So God said, The ground is cursed, thorns you'll bring forth and then God said to man, "From now on by the sweat of your face, you will eat bread. It won't come easy anymore".
All of this is the result of man's sin. And here it says Jesus sweat in the garden until his sweat became like drops of blood. It's a condition that medical field they call it, hematohidrosis, which means under extreme pressure, it's happened before, there are people under extreme pressure, their capillaries, especially around their brow, the capillaries break and blood comes out as sweat, sweat and blood is mingled. But there's something about the blood of Jesus that's unique.
Number one, there's no sin in his blood. Number two, he's fully God and fully man, therefore his divine blood. Number three, the blood of Jesus always cleanses, always restores, always redeems. And the moment he sweat, he agonized, it's as if he took your agony upon himself in the garden, that's where it started. He took your agony and then it was so terrible, the very thought of becoming sin on the cross, he's not there yet. He's not even sin yet at the cross, but the very thought of becoming sin shatters him so much. For you and I, we are used to sin, you know, but we can't imagine a God, the Son of God who love the Father so, whose nature is sinless, who has never even tasted sin, who never wants to be near sin even, and to have a holy nature like Jesus.
How much he suffered when he thought about even becoming sin, and how much more when he became sin on the cross? The very thought of becoming sin in anticipation caused him to sweat blood. He was bearing your depression, he was bearing your agony upon himself, and he sweat blood. But the moment his blood and his blood that redeems met the sweat, he redeemed and bought us out of human depression, sweat, human sweat, human obsession, human darkness of pessimism. He set us free because he sweat blood. And notice the Holy Spirit says he fell to the blood that saves, the blood that restores, the blood that redeems, fell to the ground. The ground was cursed, now everywhere you walk is blessed.
That explains, ladies, sometimes you walk into a boutique, no one's there, people start coming in. You're a blessing everywhere you go. Guys, you're hungry, amen, it's not led by the Lord. Many of you, you're not led by the Lord, you're just hungry. You go to Hawker centre, no one is there or that particular area, no one is there, you sit down there, people start coming in, amen. You gotta know you're a blessing going somewhere to happen. Smile at your neighbor and say, "You're seated by one". Hey, all right. Yeah, amen. Praise the Lord.
Now, I'm gonna tell you a story, a very interesting story. It's a seldom known battle in the Bible but it tells you what you can expect in your battle. It's a battle where right after this, y'all know the story of Elijah called fire down from heaven to turn a whole nation back to God. And God who answers by fire was the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a wonderful name, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He answered by fire and all the people, the whole nation turned to God saying, "Yahweh, he is God. Yahweh, he is God". The whole nation converted in one day.
Elijah was a prophet, but many people are not familiar with the battle that followed in the next chapter, it's a battle from the king of Syria. His name is Ben-Hadad and Ben-Hadad was, he's a picture of the devil and what the devil does when he comes to you. You know, this Ben-Hadad is the king of Syria in the north, he came against the king of Israel. At this point in time, the king of Israel was Ahab and he was a bad king, but the whole nation has repented. The whole nation has turned to God, amen, and made the Lord their God again, hallelujah.
So, the favor of God is on them, even though the leader is not good, amen. But nonetheless, they were under attack. And Ben-Hadad came and laid a siege around them. Let's follow the story here. "Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram", or king of Syria, "gathered all his army, and there were thirty-two kings with him". Hey, he didn't just come alone. There were 32 kings with him. Just imagine, Israel was out-supplied, outnumbered, outgunned, outmanned. "And horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria and fought against it".
Remember, Gabriel, we were there in March in Samaria? Samaria is on a mountain. We were there. We saw the ruins of Samaria, Ahab Samaria. We were there, okay? So, can you just imagine the whole place under siege, surrounded by 32 kings, led by the king of Syria, Ben-Hadad. And you know what it says? You know what Ben-Hadad says? Look at verse 3, "Your silver and your gold, they are mine. Your most beautiful wives and children, they are mine".
Again, when you go through a trial, thoughts like this come. The devil comes to you and say, "Your health is mine. Your children, your family, they are mine. You see what's happening in the world? All the values, I'm turning the values of the world where white become black, right become wrong, evil is right. Those who are good are seen as evil and people who hold back society's progress. I have done that. I'll do the same for your children. Your children are mine. Your wives are mine. Your husbands are mine. Your silver is mine. Your prosperity is mine. What do you do? What do you do"? Come back next week. I don't feel like preaching already.
So, what happened was this, God said, you know how God speaks? He speaks to you like, I told you just now, whether it's a prophet or a servant of God, it's a mouthpiece, someone sent by God. A prophet came, we do not know whether it's Elijah because Elijah just had a victory, don't forget that. But there are other prophets, and I think it's another prophet. The prophet came to him and the prophet said to this king of Israel, drop down. "Now behold, a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, 'Thus says the Lord, "Have you seen all this great multitude"'"? The king of Syria and 32 other kings. "Behold, I will deliver them into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord".
You know how many people Israel had? Very interesting, they had 7,232 and the enemies outgunned them, out-manned them, amen. Drop down. "Ahab said", the king says, "By whom"? How will God give the supply? How will God give the deliverance? "By whom"? "Thus says the Lord, By the young men", by the young men, by the young men, by the young men, by the young men, by the young men, by the young men, amen. And hopefully includes Pastor Mark as well. Okay, "By the young men of the provinces".
And these are not just any ordinary young men, they are princes, they are rulers. The Old King James says princes of the provinces. Then it says, "Who will begin the battle"? The prophet says, "You, lor"? Okay, lor is added. Okay, "Then he mustered the young men of the rulers of the provinces, and there were", how many young men? Two hundred and thirty-two. "And after that, he mustered all the people, even all the sons of Israel", how many? Seven thousand, seven thousand. So, they only had what? Who are the leaders? Young men as the leaders. This is trusting God. Usually you send older people with experience, like a Goliath, amen?
But here, Israel is saying God uses the jawbone of a donkey to kill 1,000. God uses a earthen vessel and a light to destroy thousands with 300 men. God uses the weak to confound the mighty. So, you know who's going to lead them? Young men in front. Guess what? The young men went out, led all the, you know, Israel, they fought on the mountains. And the Bible says there was a great slaughter among the armies of Syria and all the 32 kings. The word, "great slaughter", is used. They were defeated. Then the king of Syria went back to his camp, licked his wounds, and asked, "What happened? We outnumber them". And the servant of the king says, "Their gods are gods of the mountains, therefore they are stronger than us. Let's fight them in the plain, in the valley, and surely we'll be stronger than they".
So, in other words, the enemy is saying, "The reason we lost is because we fought them on the mountains, and their god is the god of the mountains. But if we fight them in the valley, they will lose because their god is not the god of the valley". What he's saying is that when we go through valley experiences, and some Christians unfortunately believe this, they think that God leave you alone. God will only deal with you when your life is right. You are impeccably holy, you have it all together, then God says, "Hmm, you've been doing well, come up here with me. All right, now I can deal with you, okay? But I can't deal with you when you are dirty, you know, when you have done wrong and you have messed up and the trouble you are in now is the trouble of your own making. And now you got lung problems and all that, doctors diagnosed the disease and all that, but you are still smoking. What's the problem? You know what? Until you change all that and come up to where I am, where there's fresh air and all that, I cannot do anything for you".
That's how the world sees God. They see a God that's based on merit. Last night, the Lord spoke to me and says, "Satan understands the judicial attribute of God. He absolutely has no understanding of grace". That's why the devil comes to you, even when you talk about God's love, he doesn't understand God's love. He comes to you like this, "God only loves you when you do right". It's back to this judicial understanding. He was part of the cherub that guards the righteousness of the throne. Don't forget he's one of the cherub. His understanding is on the judicial side. He has no understanding of grace. But I'll tuck that sermon somewhere, I'm going to preach on that one day, praise God.
But let me tell you this, friend. Guess what the devil is saying? "He's the God of the mountain, he's not the God of the valley". Are you listening? And then, in Israel's camp, a prophet came. A man of God came to the king and says, "Be warned, the enemy will be back next year. At the turn of the year, he'll be back. In spring, he'll be back. And this time, there'll be a 100,000 armies, just let you know that. Outnumber them, okay? Not only that". He says, "They're going to fight you, and this is what they'll say". The prophet says, and by the way, look at this, "The sons of Israel camped like two little flocks of goats".
And this is what the man of God says, "Because the Arameans have said, 'The Lord is a god of the mountains, but he's not a god of the valley.' Therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord". God said, "Because they say I'm only the God of the mountain and not the God of the valley, I'll give them all into your hand to demonstrate that I'm the God of the valley". Notice the way Israel camped themselves. Verse 27, "They camped like two little flocks of goats, whereas Arameans filled the country". Hmm?
Let's look at the result, drop down. "So they camped over one against the other seven days. On the seventh day, the battle was joined, and the sons of Israel killed the Arameans 100,000 foot soldiers in one day". He's not just... this time, they fought in the valley. Undisputedly, God showed himself as the God of the valley. You know, it's true that we have some of the best experiences with the Lord on the mountaintop. It is true that in the Bible, for example, in the Gospel of Matthew alone, there are seven mountains mentioned, and each one has a significance. Jesus preached one of his best sermons that the world knows about even called the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was transfigured on a mount. We see his glory on the mount.
And when we come to church, it's almost like we are at Mount Zion, worshipping the Lord. It's true, the mountain is the place where we commune with God, a place of victory, we see his glory. But you know something? Even David defeated Goliath in the valley, the valley of Elah. God gives the victory where? In the valley. Even Jesus transfigured on the mountain. The next day, he came down the mountain. He came down the mountain, you know why? Because there was a demon possessed boy. And the father says... it's a very sad, sad, heartrending case. The boy is so possessed that whatever sanity is left, he will throw himself into the fire to kill himself. Not successful, he gets burned. He will throw himself into the water to get drowned, somebody would save him. Such a young boy and so suicidal, full of demons.
I'm telling you, demon possession is real. Pastor Henry and I have handled a case many years ago where a woman, a woman, she looks normal and all that, but then all of a sudden, a man's voice would speak through her throat. And I'm telling you, there was plenty of room, all of a sudden my helpers all disappeared. They all disappeared, all of them disappeared. And actually, initially I disappeared also. Pastor Henry said, "Where did you go"? I said, "I went to pray. Somebody needs to pray, pastor. You know, you are down here, someone needs to pray". You can pray down there, right? But I prayed down there far away.
Anyway, I came back, joined Pastor Henry. Those were the days when I was like just my early 20s. And we spoke to the demon. The first word the demon spoke, I remember, female. When she speaks normally to you, it's a female voice. But then, all of a sudden, this male voice like a Darth Vader spoke through her throat. You can hear it. It's anyone down there can hear it. And these are the words, listen, "I want her mind". I want her mind. That's what the devil wants, he wants your mind. He wants your mind. He wants your mind. Friend, don't just let your mind slide. Don't just amuse. Fill your mind with God's Word, muse on God's Word.
"While I was musing", David said, "the fire burned". Amen. Meditate on God's Word. You wake up in the middle of the night, you say, "Okay, good. The devil wakes me up, I'm going to meditate on God's Word". Amen, meditate on God's Word, focus on God's Word. Amen, are you listening, people? And by the way, when we cast the demon out in the name of Jesus, "Come out", when it came out, I'm telling you the whole room, God is my witness, the whole room, you can ask Pastor Henry about this, smelled as if a dump truck just dumped all the garbage into the living room. That's how bad it smelled. Sometimes, under a sweet anointing of the Holy Spirit, I smell the fragrance of frankincense, fragrance of the presence of the Lord, amen? But demons, oh, it's terrible.
Anyway, back to this. Jesus, even though he was transfigured, he came down to the valley where the boy was, and he set the boy free. Remember that? Yes, he preached the best sermon, Sermon on the Mount, that even the world knows about. But guess what? Right after the sermon, the Bible says, he came down the mountain and he cleansed the leper. Hallelujah. Our God is not just the God of the mountain, he's the God of the valley as well. Can I have a good amen
Many years after... and this is a fresh revelation. How many of you like fresh revelation? As I was preparing this, the Lord spoke to me. And I've studied this passage so many times, but I didn't see it, and the Lord just let the scales fall off my eyes. Look at this, Genesis, it says, "Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High". Did I show you the victory, 100,000 men killed? I did, right?
Okay, now Melchizedek is a picture of Jesus, you all know that. He's the king of Salem, the old name for Jerusalem. And he brought out what? Bread and wine to Abraham after the battle of the kings. Abraham defeated four kings at once, and God gave him the victory. And King Melchizedek, king of Jerusalem, brought out bread and wine. He know he's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of a sudden, the scales fell off my eyes. I read this so many times. Do you know Jerusalem is on a mountain, Mount Moriah? And it says, as you will see, he came down to the King's Valley. King's Valley is the valley of Kidron right below.
In other words, he came down the mountain to the valley, where Abraham was, with the communion. When you're going through your valley experience, partake of the Lord's Supper. And don't see yourself bringing to him the bread and the wine. See yourself receiving from him. He's waiting for you, not you waiting for him. He's waiting for you to receive his love, amen? Oh, when I saw that, by the way, just to show you the context, he came bringing, look at the verse before this. The king of Sodom was there. What an issue. The king of Sodom represents the devil. "He went out to meet Abraham at the valley of Shaveh, that is the King's Valley".
The Holy Spirit mentioned the valley as the King's Valley. And the Lord said to me, "It became the King's Valley, that valley of darkness became the King's Valley because I came down there". Now, why is this important? In other words, Melchizedek, Jesus brought bread and wine down the mountain of Jerusalem, Mount Moriah. Came down and gave the bread and wine to Abraham, who was in the valley of darkness. Kidron is darkness, the valley of Kidron, which is King's Valley. Many years after, another son of David would betray his own father. And then he would erect a monument, a pillar in this valley. And here it says King's Valley as well. "Absalom in his lifetime set up a pillar, which is in the King's Valley".
Now, if you go to Israel today, you go to the King's Valley, you'll see this picture, I'm going to show you that right now. That's the mountain where city of Salem is there, Jerusalem. Now, Melchizedek came down the mountain to the valley on the left. Can you see the pillar of Absalom? Now, mostly likely, this is a later creation. They built over most likely the original site of the pillar. But it's still known as Absalom's Pillar until today. It's in the King's Valley. So, we know that the King's Valley is the Kidron Valley. And the Kidron Valley, meaning Kidron is darkness. The valley of darkness, the valley of the shadow of death has become the King's Valley because the bread and wine. Receive the bread and wine.
I used to think, "Lord", you know, God always mention these three together, bread, wine, oil. Bread, wine, oil, right? The grain, the vine, the wine, and the oil. Where is the oil here? On the same vicinity of the valley, there is a garden nearby. And many years after, greater son of David will be sweating blood in that garden. His blood will drop to the ground, it was in the valley, at the foot of a mountain called Mount of Olives. And he will shed his blood in a place called Oil Press, Gethsemane. Gethsemane, a place of oil press. So, now you have the oil, you have the bread, you have the wine. Of course, my study became, ♪ Heaven came down "and glory filled my soul. Went on the cross my Jesus made me whole".
And I'm telling you, I love it when I feed you all, I get fed myself. I get fed myself, amen. What a beautiful, beautiful picture. In closing, let me just share with you this. I just want to, by the way, I showed you just now, right? What is the verse after, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death", what's the next verse? "You prepare a table before me". Right in the valley, look for the table. It's a door of hope. The table is a door of hope, amen? That your future does not have to be like what it is today. God can change it, God is a God of hope. Amen, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus.
And I close with the first occurrence of the Hebrew word, "hope", tikvah. The first occurrence is always significant. There's something for us to learn, and the first will be the closing of our sermon today. And let me just share with you the first occurrence, it's a story of a prostitute. Her name is Rahab, and Rahab lived in Jericho. The first city that Joshua and his men, after they crossed the river Jordan supernaturally, amen? God smacked the river Jordan all the way back like a pillar, like a heap of water, it stood up to the city of Adam. It's a picture of God will destroy death, all the death that came in as a result all the way from Adam. And they crossed the river Jordan, and they came, and the first city they had to conquer is Jericho. And on the city wall, they built houses on the city wall.
The walls are so thick that they have chariot races on the wall. It's most likely as thick as this hall here, amen, slightly larger maybe, all right? But it's so thick that they have chariot races. And it's well-fortified, okay, this wall of Jericho. It was the first city that Joshua and his men were to conquer. And this was squatters in the land. The land belongs to God. The land belongs to God's people, and they are squatters, and they refused to budge. But look at this, look at this. On the city wall, there was an apartment. Her house is built into the wall, her window looks out of the wall and her name is Rahab, and she was a prostitute the Bible says.
And what happened is that Israel, learning the lesson of 40 years ago, instead of sending 12 spies, they send 2 spies because only 2 came back with the right news. So, now they send two. Their names are not given to us, but I'll tell you who I suspect is one of them in a while's time. So two of them came in. And unfortunately, they were spotted by the soldiers, and the soldiers were chasing them down, all right? Trying to find them in that large city of Jericho, couldn't find them. And they went to one place the soldiers wouldn't expect because no one expects a believer to be in a brothel, right?
So, they went to the brothel, which is Rahab's house, and Rahab saw them. And the first thing she said to them is that, "I have heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea". That was like 40 years ago. So, probably she heard the news from someone who told her, her grandmother, her mother, whatever told her the news. It's almost as if today, "What took you all so long, 40 years"? Of course it's Israel's sin of unbelief, right? And it's almost like she said, "I believed back then", or something like that. Her heart was inclined towards the God of Israel. And the men says, "Hide us". "You promise me first, if I hide both of you, when you come into the land".
You see, she knew they're going to conquer the land. She knew that God is on their side, not on her people's side. She knew that the God of Israel is the true God, okay? That's why the Bible says, "By faith Rahab, she believed". "Promise me that when you come in into Jericho, you will spare me and my family, my brothers, sisters, my father, mother, grandparents, you'll spare them". And they said this to her. Now, this is the first occurrence of tikvah, hope. They said that, "We will, but unless you do this. Unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, unless you bring your father, your mother".
So, she let them down the wall through this rope. And what's the color of the rope? Scarlet. What is scarlet? Red. It's a picture of the blood of Jesus. And the word "line" is tikvah. Tikvah is hope. You ask any Israeli today, impress them a bit, say that, "You know the word 'tikvah' is rope, right? But it's also hope". You know, if you're in the pit and it's very dark in the pit, all of a sudden you feel something fall on you and it's a rope, you have hope, hallelujah. And that rope gives you hope because the color of the rope is red. And red is a picture of, and I told you our hope is based on the blood of Jesus. By the blood, I'll set your prisoners free, you prisoners of hope. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, amen.
"So leave, when you let us down the rope, Rahab, leave the red rope at your window so our people will know to spare your house. Make sure that you bring in your father, mother, this evangelism. Bring them in, bring them in, because we'll not be responsible if they get killed outside your apartment, okay? Bring them in".
Now, for years, she looked out the window expecting to see Israel come in time. And she didn't see. She's afraid. She has a fearful expectation of evil, of bad, in her future. The opposite of hope. And the moment she saw Israel come in by their 12 tribes, and she looked out. It's like a TV, right, your window. You look outside and you see the tribes of Israel, you see the pillar of cloud, the pillar of glory. You see the 12 tribes all came down there. You know God is with them. You know God is in the tent over there. You know that you are on the losing side. You know you are on the cursed side. You know that you're near the blessing side. You've got nothing to look at but destruction is coming. Destruction is here already.
Put yourself in her shoes. Destruction is here. Nothing to look at in the future. Imagine, there's a perspective a lot of people have. Just like Jacob, good old Jacob. Remember the story of Jacob? He thought his son, Joseph, his favorite son, was dead and all the while Joseph is now ruling in Egypt. So finally, Joseph says to his brothers who didn't recognize him, "Get your youngest brother here, then I'll give you bread. No more bread until your brother is here". So they came back and told the father, "The governor says he wants to see Benjamin". "What"? And this is what he said: "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon also no more, and you wanna take Benjamin? All these things are against me".
And if he's Chinese he will say... Tian is like heaven in Chinese so it's an expression like, "All these things are against me". Really, Jacob? Jacob, the one that wants Benjamin, he wants Benjamin because he misses Benjamin. Benjamin is his full brother from the same mother. And the one that wants you to go over as well, he's your favorite son. You know what's his first word to the brothers? "Is your father well? Is your father well"? That's his first word. No, these things are not against you, Jacob. These things are for you. God's promise to you, child of God, things might not be good right now but you gotta know this in your heart, it starts with, "And we know. We know that all things work together".
And the word "work together" in the Greek is sunergeó, synergy. It all is working, synergy, working together, for your good. Trust me, don't be impatient with a red light. God sees the devil plan for an accident, or something like that, amen? When red light is on, muse, don't just amuse, amen. Meditate, reverse, I mean, bring up that verse, re-verse, not reverse, amen. Bring out the verse, rehearse the verse, amen. I believe, I really believe, child of God, because of your inheritance all things work together for you, child of God. But sometime, it looks like what Jacob saw. His perspective: "All these things are against me". If only you saw, Jacob.
As the pain seized the heart of Abraham, the anguish in Abraham's heart, the emotions, the pangs that he went through as he carried his son by the hand, Isaac, up the mountain. Just blind faith, if you wanna call it that. Just in faith in the Lord. "God is good, God is good. I don't understand what's happening but God is good. God is good". And all the while, when he came up this mountain on the other side, a ram was also going up, amen. He didn't see the provision but you gotta trust God. Can I have a good "Amen"? And back to Rahab. Rahab and her reality TV. Every time she looked outside, is destruction. And now, she let them down and all she have is the word.
We're all people, "Is it, Pastor Prince, gimme more solid, tangible evidence my future will be bright, things will turn around". Nothing but God's Word that says today I promise you God says I'll restore double to you. Even Rahab had nothing but the word and the blood. The blood has been shed, we know that. And the Word of God, that's all we depend on, amen. And then, she start looking outside. All the while there's been destruction, right? Doom, doom, doom. Destruction. Doom is coming, destruction is coming. Destruction is coming.
Imagine if an angel would appear in her room, Gabriel or someone. Pastor Gib is very happy. I think Gabriel and he's smiling. An angel appears and look at Rahab. "Rahab, why are you so afraid"? "I don't think, I'm torn because I'm a prostitute. There's no place for me among the nation of Israel". And Gabriel smiles at her. "Would you believe it if I tell you that you'll be the great-grandmother of the beloved King of Israel"? And you know that one of the young men that came up as spies, he's the son of the prince of Judah. He's the son of Nahshon. His name is Salmon. I believe that one of the spies is Salmon. You know why? Because Judah always takes the lead. The tribe of Judah always takes the lead. Whenever there's a battle, Judah goes first. Praise always goes first.
And there's a oral tradition given by the rabbis that says that when Moses raised his hand to open up the Red Sea... God opened up the Red Sea, of course, but the first one into the Red Sea was the prince of Judah. His name is Nahshon. He's the father of Salmon and he rode into the water. The water came up to the horse's legs. Came up to the horse's body, came up to the horse's neck. When it came up to the horse's mouth, bang, the whole sea opened up. It's very much like the River Jordan which is recorded. At the moment the priest stepped, only when the priest stepped, then when he stepped, God opens up. God waits for faith. Can I have a good "Amen"?
It was Nahshon, the prince of Judah. In the lists of giving of 12 leaders, the princes of the 12 leaders in their giving in numbers, Judah again led. Nahshon led in the giving. So always he's leading. So I believe the two spies, Israel's army is like that. Their officers go first. It's always in front. There's a lot more, among all the armies of the world, more officers are killed among the Israeli army than any other armies combined, because they lead by example. They go first. So I believe one of them is the son of the man who went the Red Sea first, Nahshon, and his name is Salmon. He married, and what did the angel says? "Rahab, your future is bright".
You look out there, you see destruction. I look out there and I see the great-grandmother of David. And not only that, you'll be the great-grandmother of the Messiah of the world. Not just Israel. The Savior of the world. Her name is mentioned in the genealogy of Matthew. Jesus's genealogy. Not bad for a prostitute. And she hears all this, all this good news of hope and she look at the angel. "Are you a cult? It's too good to be true", amen? "You'll marry Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the prince of Judah, and you will bring forth a son. His name is Boaz. Boaz will marry Ruth. They'll bring forth a son called Obed. Obed bring forth Jesse. Jesse's the father of David, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus". And in that line came our Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest Son of David, amen.
She made it into the genealogy of Jesus Christ, hallelujah. You know, you can look out the same window, same window, previous days: destruction. Now, deliverance. Previous days: no future, hopelessness. Now, what a future for a prostitute to be a mother of Israel, wow. And then for another seven days, she saw Israel march around the wall of Jericho, around the wall, around the wall, around the wall. They didn't say anything. Just carried the ark, lifting up Jesus, lifting up Jesus, lifting up Jesus. On the seventh day, they blew the trumpet, they shouted, and the Bible says this, friends: "The walls of the city", uh-oh. It says, "The walls fell down". Her house is on the... So how? No, friend, even archeology has found that there's a part of the wall that never fell. All the walls fell.
Now, this is not man's doing. This is God's doing because of the blood. There's one part of the wall that did not fall and it has the window on it, hallelujah, amen. When the walls fell flat, her house was on the wall. Her house did not fall. She and her family were safe, hallelujah. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be safe, and your house, amen. C'mon, church. Give him praise, c'mon. Hallelujah, thank you, Lord Jesus. Perhaps you look outside there and you see nothing but hopelessness, helplessness, things are dark. Well, God's gonna transform you into a prisoner of hope, a prisoner of tikvah, amen, to the point that you look outside.
When she heard the ram's horn last time, it's a declaration of destruction is coming. Now when she hear the ram's horn, the sound of jubilee, her deliverance. She even found her husband. At least some of you sitting down here and say, "Pastor Prince, it's been so long. I give up getting married, really". Friend, have hope, amen. Don't give up. Don't give up. If you don't wanna get married, it's one thing but if you wanna get married, amen, God has someone for you. Say, "Amen", ladies, amen. I'm talking ladies, I have more ladies. Yeah, a man is all you need, a man. All though he states are rendered double, that means double quality men, one man, amen? I love the language of the Bible.
Now, you know where's the location now, right? So if you also looking for someone, coming from there. But don't be choosy, all right? Many of them, the first time you see them, right, their hair is like that, their jacket is all funny and no jacket or, you know, they walk like that or whatever. It's okay. Usually, the wife will transform them. I'm a result of transformation, amen? The way you saw me last time, you know, you would think, "Oh, my goodness, my goodness. Amuse me, somebody, you know"? So sometimes it's the other side as well but above all have hope God has someone for you, amen? Someone who won't just be so, you know, rough with your words, amen. Believe God for someone who'll be kind, like someone from our church who speak Bible language.
Bible language is so beautiful, you know, like Lysander said to Hermia in, "Midsummer Night's Dream", and the language of Shakespeare is the language of King James Bible. You know, we are so rough, we say things like, "What, your face so pale, like ghost", you know? But Lysander said to Hermia, "How now, thy cheeks, how chance the roses there do fade so fast", amen? God will give you someone like that, amen? I think it will elevate the way we talk. The language of the world has gone down, honestly. Not holier than thou, arrogance, pride, you know, that kind of thing. I'm talking about a wonderful glory to the way we talk, you know?
I think that that has been lost. People are just profane and vain and, you know, and rough. It's very empty kind of roughness. But I think it's all coming back. A sense of glory, that's what God is restoring, amen? I don't know why I'm saying this in closing. You are believing God for someone, don't give up hope. He could be right under your nose, amen, in the church, amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Have you been blessed, church? Give him praise. Glory and honor, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. Friend, if you have never made this wonderful Jesus your own personal Savior and Lord, I wanna give you this opportunity right now. Friend, God so loved you. God did not love us, now, listen, listen. The devil says God will only love you when you're on the mountain, when you have your behavior all together, when you have a mountaintop experience with God. No, no, no, even when you fail, God will come down to your valley and love you. In the highest mountain in Israel, Mount Herman, about 10,000 feet, the Son heard the Father say, "You are my beloved Son. This is my beloved Son". In the lowest valley in the entire world, the Jordan Valley, Jesus was baptized. When he came up, the Father says, "You are my beloved Son. In you I'm well pleased".
In the lowest valley in the world, the Jordan Valley. Friend, God is not just the God of the mountain. When you do right, yes, he's with you. But when you fail, all the more, a child in tears belongs in the Father's arms. He will never leave you, he will never forsake you. He's there in the valley with you. It might be dark like the Kidron Valley. It might seem hopeless like the Valley of Achor, full of trouble, one trouble after another. You are retrenched. Can't imagine a job that can give you the same kind of pay but God is saying, "Yes, yes, it may seem these things are against you but I have a hope and a positive expectation for you, my child. Put your trust in me because your future is secure, bought by the blood of Jesus".
So if that is you, wherever you are right now, just put on the helmet of salvation. From now on, I choose not to be hopeless or helpless, even in my emotions. I renounce it all, in Jesus's name. Say that right now before the Lord. And I put on, Lord, the helmet of hope, a positive expectation of good. Make me, Father, a prisoner of hope where it becomes a default mode. It becomes a default mode. I'm a hopeful person because I know it is not based on something of my whim and fancy but it's based on the eternal and sure foundation of the Word of God and the blood of Jesus. And for those of you without Christ, you've never made Jesus your Savior and Lord, pray this prayer with me right now.
Heavenly Father, I thank you Christ died for my sins. He was raised from the dead when I was declared righteous in him. All my sins have been cleansed, washed by the blood of Jesus. In your eyes, I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Thank you, Father, my future is certain. It's full of good days, full of your promises, full of hope. Jesus Christ is my Lord in Jesus's name, amen.
Stand to your feet. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, hallelujah. Are you blessed? Are you glad to be in the house of God, amen. Lift your hands all across this place. This coming week, regardless of the news you hear and what is going on in the world and all that, you can't handle it, switch it off, all right? It's weighing you down, causing you to be depressed. Sometimes you cannot because your work involves being kept abreast. I understand that but make sure you put on the helmet of salvation, amen? As far as you personally are concerned, you're not the world. You're not in Egypt. You are in the land flowing with milk and honey. You are in the world but not of the world.
This coming week, the Lord bless you, the Lord bless your families, because it's the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich. It is the blessing of the Lord that adds no sorrow. When it comes, the blessing has nothing attached to it that brings sorrow or pain. The Lord bless you and your families this week. The Lord make his face shine upon you, be favorable to you. The favor of God. Favor, favor, favor. He'll give you double favor this week. Amen. Double favor to confirm his word throughout this week. Double favor coming your way. Double favor. And the Lord opens the door of hope for all those of you who are bound in a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. God open the door of hope. And what God opens, no man can shut. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and your families and grant this wonderful gift.
Until today, in Israel, they pronounce this gift on each other. The Lord bless you and your families with shalom peace, well-being, wholeness, and health in every part of your spirit, soul, and body throughout this week. In the name of Jesus, and the Lord deliver you, keep you, protect you throughout this week from every danger, from every infection, from Dengue, from all the power of the evil one, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, put you at the right place at the right time, In Jesus's name. God make all of you slaves of hope. In Jesus's name, amen. God bless you. See you again.