Joseph Prince - Unleash The Sound Of Victory
Praise God. We are continuing our teaching on the ark of the covenant, so let's invite the people with the ark to carry the ark on their shoulders. All the priests carry on their shoulders, as is negatively demonstrated right now by the priests. And all the priests wear white, as you all know, white linen. And as demonstrated negatively by. Let's give them a hand. They've been helping. They've been here early in the morning. Really appreciate them. I really appreciate them. And this is the ark of the covenant. This time, it's really too close up here in the center, huh, okay? So we have been talking about the ark of the covenant. Let me just dive into it.
Now, let's go straight to the story of Jericho, because there are secrets there of how the ark and how the priests and the trumpets. We're looking at the trumpets today, how they bring victory to God's people. Let's go right into it. Joshua chapter 6, "Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.'" Mighty men of valor.
Now, notice I have given is past tense or future tense? Past. I have given you your healing. I have given you your Jericho. I have given you your relationship with your son. It's restored. I have given you. But Joshua is saying, "Oh, but where is it, Lord? I don't see it". Got to see. There's a see down there, right? See, I have given you. Jericho. And he's thinking, but Jericho is securely shut up. It looks like no one can conquer it. It looks like no one can go in. By all natural appearances, by sight, it looks like you cannot do it. The doctor's diagnosis, whatever it is, doctors do their best naturally. God does supernaturally, amen? God is a God of miracles. All right, let's see God's way. "So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people". God gave him instructions.
Now, Joshua, the leader that told the people this, "Had spoken to the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns". I just carried in my hand the ram's horn. This is the ram's horn. How do you get a ram's horn? Well, you have to kill the male sheep. Females don't have this horn. Right? That's how you can tell a male from a female. And you have to kill the male to get the ram's horn. So that tells us that Jesus Christ had to die. He is the male sheep, amen? And then, when we blew through this, we blow to proclaim his death. Why is there such victory when God's people blow this? Because it proclaims his death. Every time you take the Lord's supper, you are blowing the ram's horn, so to speak.
Now today, you can buy this, you can blow it all you want to and all that. They are people who teach. They can blow, and you know, it's great things will happen. I'm not going to dispute all that. I'm just telling you be careful about going back to natural things when they actually point us. We are not called to go back to shadows when we have the substance, all right? And you know what's the substance of this? We'll come to that. Okay, anyway, seven priests were holding this. And where were they? They were before the Lord. They advanced and blew the trumpets, "and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets", they blew these trumpets, "and the rear guard came after the ark". So there was a rear guard, "while the priests".
So, in other words, the ark was right in the center as it did its march. If Jesus is in the center of your marriage life, all right, your marriage, center of your relationships, center of your parenting, the center of your life, you're about to experience victory. Not always in the way that you think, but if it doesn't happen the way that you think, God has something better. You understand? But it's always victory. He always cause us to triumph, amen? All right, so he's in the center. There are seven priests over here blowing the trumpets. And the word trumpets here, in this entire chapter, is the word shofar. This is a shofar. In Hebrew, it's known as shofar. Say shofar. Good. Shofar so good. Y'all got it. All right, so it's a shofar. I'm laying the foundation for first, okay?
Now, there are two words, there's another trumpet they used during that time. It's called the silver trumpet. And also, trumpets for dancing, for praise and worship, even during that time they use it, but it's never called shofar. Only the ram's horn is called shofar. Those other trumpets it's called Chatzo'tzerah. It's a long word, chatzo'tzerah. So you can tell. It's not shofar. Shofar is always the ram's horn. Got it? But this entire chapter, when you see the word trumpet, it's always the ram's horn. Got it? And by the way, when Israel experienced every 50th year, it's a great year because it's the year of jubilee, where everyone returns to their possession. Every debt is canceled. Are you listening?
I'm going to show you from Leviticus. Leviticus, "And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. You shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day," all right? Now when this trumpet sounds, look at verse 10, "And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his possession". Got that? Whatever you have lost, whatever you have lost because you lost, you know, you mortgaged your land, you get it back. That's why the mortgage, you know the word mortgage come from the root word in the Greek is the same. The root word there is mortgage. Mortuary, mortify, is all the same. That means there's a death, it's a death for your house, your property, but you get it back. Resurrection. When every 50th year, everyone gets back their possession. Restoration, amen?
When Jesus came and preached the acceptable year of the Lord, that was a jubilee year. I believe that was a jubilee year, amen? So you use this to proclaim. Watch this, look at verse 9, "You shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day". The 10th day is the day that they proclaimed liberty. So this a sound they hear. They didn't go around saying jubilee is here, 50th year is here. We are here, we are now, they just sound this, okay? Watch this now, "You shall cause the trumpet", that's the word shofar, "of the jubilee," teruah. Now the word teruah is very interesting, because the Bible is going to use that in many, many ways. When Joshua says shout, the word there is rua. That's the verb, where you get teruah. It's used for shouting. It's used for proclaiming a loud blast. I'm going to ask Jen to come right now and blow this trumpet. Let you hear the sound of jubilee.
All right, what Israel would hear every year, okay. He told me he would try his best. This is very, very important, because it will determine whether he will continue in the music ministry or not, whether he has the breath, the sustenance. Wah, now who want to sprinkle the blood? He wants to take the place of the high priest. We just talked about it just now, right? Okay, okay. Now, the sound of teruah. Good. Your position is safe. Now, the last one that you hear, right, the last one is the long blast. That's what Jericho is about to hear. On the seventh day, they will hear that. Now, all the rest that you hear, he's not playing around now. It's exactly how the rabbis would do it today. The first one is like there's a cut, you know. Give the first one again, the yeah... Okay, it's cut off. It's like a long blast and then cut off. You may think he lost his breath. It's meant to be like that, okay?
So there is a picture of Jesus on the cross. He was cut off, all right? Jesus comes first. It proclaims Jesus's death. Then the second one, you have nine staccatos. Da-da-da-da-da, nine. Nine, the number of the Holy Spirit. There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. So you pray in tongues, you release the gifts of the spirit. Listen to the nine. Okay, nine. And the long blast. So one is like Jesus, the first one. Second one is the Holy Spirit. The last long one is God, the Father. All right, for God the Father. It's a long blast that proclaims jubilee. Long one. Okay, shout, for the Lord has given you the city, amen? That's what happens at the end. Joshua shouted, "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city," amen? So, in other words, to possess your possessions, you need to proclaim and proclaim and proclaim and proclaim the Lord's death.
Now, communion is a nonverbal way of proclaiming the Lord's death because as often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes, amen? Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Give him a hand. All right, now go back to Joshua 6. All right, "The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets". Do you have the verse 10? "Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, 'You shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, "Shout"! Then you shall shout.' So he had the ark of the Lord circle," Jesus, in the picture of Jesus, "circle the city, going around it once. Then they came to the camp and lodged in the camp," first day. Now, look up here, people. Secrets of victory.
All right, God could have destroyed the whole thing just by an earthquake. Just like you say, "Well, God, can just flash his hand one instant, and this tumor is gone". All right, that condition in my body is gone. Yes, God can, but you'll miss out on something. God wants you to learn his ways. And that's why we come to church, amen? So God has a way that his people will see that they cannot, but he can, but he works with them. God doesn't work independently of people. Okay, put it this way. It's a well-known saying, "With God, I can," all right. "Without God, I cannot". Not that I will not, I cannot. All right, Jesus said, you know, Jesus said it like this, "Without me, you can do nothing". You better believe it. You can do nothing. I'm going to show you something right now that's very interesting.
All right, they went around the wall one day, all right. It was a long walk. Can you imagine? But the thing that Joshua told them, "Don't say anything. Just listen to the sound of the trumpet and carry the ark". Lift up Jesus and proclaim the Lord's death. So when you take the Lord's Supper, and you don't say anything, all right... no, when taking, you can talk to the Lord, but after that, you don't say anything. Don't say, "All the pain is getting stronger, leh". Or you tell your wife, "It's not working, leh". In Singapore, there's a leh. You know what? It's like they are destroying what God is doing for them. And things are happening in the spiritual world. You see, when you go around the problem one time, you don't see the outside, but the foundation; the roots are being shaken. When Jesus curse the fig tree, it looks the same. The next day he came back, it was dried up. Remember that?
So your cancer, your high cholesterol, your tumor, your high blood pressure, whatever it is, when you take communion, the moment you take, something has happened to its foundations. This is for your personal life going around your problem, proclaiming the Lord death, taking communion. But more than that, it's also preaching, listening to preaching. Let me prove that to you, okay? 1 Corinthians 14, please. 1 Corinthians 14, "Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching"? Now, speaking in tongues, you should do it a lot on your own. When you are standing at the pulpit, or you have a group of people you're sharing, what's the point of speaking in tongues to them? They don't understand. It cannot profit them. The only thing that will profit them is, what shall I profit you unless I speak what? By revelation, one; by knowledge, two; by prophesying, three; and by teaching, four.
So there are four ways to preach and teach the people. Sometimes when I'm teaching, I'm prophesying. That has happened a number of times. All right, sometimes when I'm teaching, I'm actually getting what? Revelation, amen? And that happens a lot also. So there are four ways you can speak in ways to help people. Now, this is actually the trumpet, shofar. "How do you see that, Pastor Prince"? Okay, let's go on. "Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle"? Talking about preaching. Instead of just speaking in tongues or language hard to understand, okay, for the general public, he's saying who will prepare for battle if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound? In those days, they rallied their soldiers with the trumpet. A certain sound means charge. A certain sound, we get together, amen?
So the next verse says, verse 9, all right, "For if the trumpet"... Yeah, "So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air". It's as good as speaking to the air, okay? So notice the trumpet and speaking words as you understand preaching by revelation, prophesying, all that, all that is found in the trumpet. Are you listening? It's important if you want your Jericho to fall, if you want that disease to be smitten, amen, by the spirit of God, God's way of working is by preaching. It has pleased God. Don't ask me why. It has pleased God. Like why did God ask the seven priests to have seven rams blowing the ram's horn? Because ram's horn proclaim what? That death of the male sheep, amen? Our Lord Jesus, okay? So now you see what is the meaning for us today? All right, proclaim. Listen to preaching. Listen to preaching. Listen to preaching.
Say "Pastor Prince, I've been listening to it for two days. Yeah, they surrounded the wall, seven days. Does that mean that I'll get my manifestation on the seventh day"? You missed the point. You cannot play with God that kind of legalism, you know, legalistic games. Seven is number of perfection. God is saying, "Keep on hearing, keep on hearing, keep on hearing. Perfectly. Keep on hearing, keep on hearing, keep on hearing". And on the seventh day, when they shouted, the walls fell, and the walls fell flat, hallelujah, and Joshua and his men went in, amen? That's the only time they shouted out of their mouth, their mouth opened, and they shouted on the seventh day. And the seventh day, by the way, didn't circle one time. They circled the wall of Jericho seven times. Seven times on the day itself, amen? And when they shouted, and they blew the trumpet. They blew the shofars.
So what is God saying? God is saying, "Listen, listen to sermons that talk about Jesus and his death". And every time you do that, your wall is crumbling. So the thing is that you need to keep on hearing, why? Because of Galatians chapter 3. Look here, "Therefore, God who supplies," and the word supplies in the Greek is constantly supplying, "the Spirit to you and works miracles," also the same Greek tense used, "constantly working miracles among you". The word among you, Greek word en, can also be in you, in your body, in your family. Among you and in you. Among is also among as well. God is going to work miracles around you, for you, in you, outside you, in your family fold, and together with you, amen, constantly working miracles. So even as I preach right now, God is constantly working miracles. Can I have a good amen?
So here it says, does God do it? All these things that God's doing. "Does God do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith"? God supplies the Spirit. God works miracles among you, how? By the hearing of faith. There is a condition. It's by the hearing of faith. And hearing is present tense, past or future? Present tense. It's a constant hearing. Some people say, "Well, you know, Pastor Prince, I heard all this before. Heard, that's where your mistake is". Faith didn't come by having heard. Faith comes by hearing. It's a hearing of faith. Notice a hearing of faith. I don't know why it pleased God.
And 1 Corinthians 1, real quick. We're bringing this to a close. 1 Corinthians 1, "After that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God". You know what it's saying or not? God is so wise that God purposely shows up, that the man's wisdom... by man's wisdom, they will not know God. And there's the wisdom of God. You understand? And then, "The world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God". Say "Pleased God". Whatever I'm about to share, it pleases God. It's God's system. It pleases him. "It pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them who believe". "By the foolishness of preaching to save them who believe".
Say "Pastor Prince, how can someone stand down there and talk and people's lives are changed"? Sounds so foolish, isn't it? Sounds so foolish, isn't it? "And God used you some more". Yeah, that's even more foolish, isn't it? Yeah, everything that confirms God's Word, I'm for it, man. I mean by the foolishness of preaching to save. The word save is sozo. And sozo is not just save. It's the word heal, deliver, and on and on, protect. It all comes by hearing preaching. Today, people are saying, "Well, I just hear God. I just go in a corner and hear God".
You know, sometimes people will say that kind of thing, they end up quite weird. They come out of the closet, and there are all kind of funny revelations, you know. No, just hear good preaching. Preaching, listen, good preaching is... ram's horn is what? Proclaiming the Lord's death. It's not just a blasting sound. It is not just a silver trumpet blasting, all right, calling for songs and praise and dance. It's a sound that proclaimed the Lord's death. Amen, are you listening? And that must go before the ark. So whatever it is, you proclaim the Lord's death, and the Bible says, I didn't show just now, but he says, "The ark followed them". It's one thing to follow Jesus, but it seems like the Lord is attracted to ministries that proclaim the Lord's death, amen? Aren't you glad to hear this? Everything you need is in the Lord's death.
Okay, I'll bring this to a close, the last part. So save is sozo. It can be healed, delivered by the foolishness of preaching to heal. If you are sick and that disease is attacking your body 24/7, you should be listening constantly. You should have a earphone, whether you're driving, whether you are, you know, put on the Bluetooth if you are driving, but it's whether you are eating, whatever it is, redeem the time. That disease don't have an off day. That disease will not say, "I'm taking a break today. I'm tired of attacking your body".
So if you have been diagnosed with such, listen to the Word. Listen to the Word. Listen to the Word. Something that'll be happening the first day, second day, third day you're listening. Fourth day, nothing is happening. Five day, nothing is happening. Sixth day, I think I'll give up. Your seventh day is coming. You give up too soon, amen? So, again, it's not seven days, seven days literal, all right. The Bible used seven days as a protracted time, and yet it's number seven, a number of rest, a number of completion, amen?