Matt Hagee - Come And Take It
We begin a topic entitled "Come and Take It". How many of you were born and raised in the great state of Texas? How many of you got here just as soon as you could, by God's grace? Here in Texas, the word "Come and take it" is something that we see as a state motto and speaks of our history, in which we were challenged at a time when we felt that we had freedoms that others were trying to take away from us. And in spite of the struggle that was going to take place, in spite of all that was at stake, the mindset of the individuals who settled this state was, "Come and take it. It's ours. If you think you can have it, come get it".
And the other day I was considering this, as I saw it on bumper stickers, and flags, and coffee cups, and t-shirts: and I thought to myself: what would happen if God's children recognized the things that God has done in their lives, as liberties and freedoms that he paid a high price in his precious blood for, and when the adverse situations of this life came towards them, rather then get a big-ole, bad case of the "Why me, Lord's," as his anointed children here on this earth, we took the mindset that requires you to look at your adversary, at your trial, at your trouble, and declare, "Come and take it"? If you think you can take from me what God has given to me, then you do not know the power that is anointing me and giving me the opportunity to demonstrate his grace, his mercy, his might in this situation.
The problem is, is that most of the time, rather than stand upon God's promises that say, "No weapon formed against you would prosper:" rather than walk in his truth that says, "If God is for you, then who can be against you:" rather than believe his word that says, "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world:" we often get into difficult situations and we don't raise our hands and worship: we raise our hands and whine. "Why me, God? I went to 6:30 church". Here's what you have to understand: God is no respecter of persons. He's a respecter of principles.
And the thing that gives us hope in that conversation is that whenever you think God respects people, then you'll see blessings in somebody's life, and you'll feel like God gave that to them because he likes them better than he does you. That's not true. What God has done for one, he'll do for all if you adhere to the principle. The principle of seedtime and harvest is available to anyone. Sow a seed: you reap a harvest. That's natural. That's supernatural. The spiritual principle of asking and receiving is available to anyone. If you ask, you will receive. The spiritual principle of victory through the blood of Jesus Christ, through the power of his word, through the authority of his name, is available to anyone, because Jesus said, "What you bind on earth, I'll bind in heaven. What you loose on earth, I'll loose in heaven".
So today, through the Holy Spirit and by the Word of God, my purpose in this message is not to give you permission to look for a fight to get in, but to give you understanding about when the fight comes, you don't have a mindset that you're victimized or defeated: you have a mindset that declares, "If God is for me, who can be against me"? "If you want what he's promised me, come and take it". So let's read together John 16:33. If you're there, say, amen. "These things I have spoken to you that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer: I have overcome the world".
Heavenly Father, let your truth ring in our hearts today. Help us to understand how you use adversity to increase the strength of your children here on this earth: that we may be more than conquerors through Christ. In Jesus' name, we pray and ask. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
You may be seated. I choose this text today from John 16:33, because as we're talking about principles, you ought to be able to look at a principle. And everywhere you find it in the Word of God, the same truth applies. Here in this text, we have a conversation that's being had between Jesus Christ and his disciples. And before we get into the details of the conversation, the thing that I love about the conversation is that Jesus was communicating. As a matter of fact, he says, "These things I have spoken to you".
How many of you are thankful we have a God who speaks? What did he do whenever Adam and Eve fell in the garden? It was the worst day of mankind. They had thrown away perfection. They had thrown away God's blessings. What did he do? The Bible says, in Genesis 3, that the voice of the Lord came walking into the garden. Think of the beauty of that: that even on their worst day, God was wanting to communicate with man. He wasn't cutting them off. He was reaching out! "Where are you, Adam"? "Where are you, Eve"? "Come speak with me". Every time we get together, God's promise is that when two or three are gathered, I will be in the midst. Why is he there? He wants to talk to us and he wants us to talk to him. What a privilege for you and I to be here in this moment: that we could spend some time having a conversation with God above.
It makes you think about the Psalm that says, "Who is man that you are mindful of him? And who am I that you would know me"? Have you ever been having a conversation with the Lord, and it's just as if you're not hearing him clearly or he's not hearing you? We often do this in January. Lord, here are the things that I want you to do for me in 2020. Boy, did that list get hijacked. I want a promotion at work. Huh? I want increase. Cool. Poof. Jesus doesn't say what he says to us so that we'll feel better about us. Jesus says what he says to us so that we'll have peace no matter what happens to us. It's a principle. He said, "These words I've spoken to you that you may have peace". And you can almost hear the promise in his voice. And in our natural lives, we would want to say, "Yes, Lord. What is it that you have to say to me"?
Well just read the next line. Tell him what he's won, bob. "In this world, you will have tribulation". Huh? I mean that verse is not on the magnet on your refrigerator. "In this world, you will have tribulation". Jesus, you've got something to say to me. What is it? Trouble is coming. Huh? "In this world, you will have... tribulation". You can't deny that! Why? Because the source of truth said that. If Jesus Christ said you're going to have tribulation, guess what, church? You're going to have... tribulation. Don't look at your spouse. Just use the word "Tribulation". You can't get away from it.
And the reason that you have tribulation is because everything that God gives you, the enemy wants to take it from you. It's a principle. God gives you peace. He wants to give you worry. God gives you health. He wants to give you sickness. God gives you more than enough. He wants to take your more than enough so that you have insufficiency. Why? Because he wants you to doubt every promise that God ever made. Everything that God has given you in your life: you have to realize there is an enemy who is very real, and he wants to take it. So what do you do? Keep reading the promise here. "These things I've spoken to you that you may have peace". Okay. Lord, give me some peace. "In this world, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer", what a paradox!
The Prince of Peace says we're going to have trouble. Oh. "But be of good cheer". Yay! Why? "Because I have overcome the world". Be of good cheer, because the battle is not yours: it belongs to the Lord. Be of good cheer, because the enemy that you're facing, even though he's trying to cause you to doubt, even though he's trying to create worry, even though he's trying to build up your concerns, be of good cheer, because I've already made a public spectacle of him at a place called Calvary. I have already humiliated him. All you have to do is remind him of my name. All you have to do is remind him of the power of my blood. All you have to do is remind him that whom the son sets free is free indeed. And be of good cheer, child of God. The battle is the Lord's and the victory is yours through the power of his mighty name!
Whenever you read the book of Exodus, you see the children of Israel. And you can walk through their experience as a type and shadow of your experience. The first thing that we learn in the book of Exodus concerning the children of Israel is this: that affliction leads to increase. Most of the time, we hate affliction, because we feel like it's unjust and it's unfair. But whenever you realize that affliction leads to increase, you can apply what the Bible says when it says, "Count it all joy whenever you walk into various trials". King David said it this way in Psalm 119:71, "It was good for me that I had been afflicted". Make a shirt with that on it. Why was he saying it was good? Because he finishes the verse by saying, "So I could learn your statutes".
If I never hungered and thirsted for anything, I would never know that you are the bread of life and the living water. If I never needed anything, I wouldn't know that you are a provider. If I wasn't in search of healing from sickness, I wouldn't know that you are the great physician, who has sent his word and healed them. You see when affliction comes, it leads to increase in your life, because not only does it increase you physically, personally, spiritually, emotionally: it builds your faith.
So affliction leads to increase. We see this in the children of Israel, because whenever they walked into Egypt, they were 80 in number. The sons of Jacob and their descendants numbered a total of 80. In the book of Exodus, there arose a Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph. There was a Pharaoh in Egypt, who afflicted the children of Jacob. He made them slaves. He is a type and a shadow of Satan in our lives. But the more he afflicted them, the more they increased. He increased their labor. They kept multiplying. He passed a law that said that they needed to kill their male children. They kept multiplying. Under affliction, they went from 80 to two million. There's two things that you can do with trouble. You can let trouble make you better or you can let trouble make you bitter. And that's your choice.
God Almighty uses the life of Moses to deliver the children of Israel just like he sent his son to deliver us. In just a matter of moments, God used Moses and the rod of God to deliver the children of Israel out of Pharaoh's bondage. In one day, the place called Calvary, God used Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for you and i. And in one day, when he said, "It is finished," he erased everything that the enemy has against you. But just as it only took moments to get the children of Israel out of Egypt, and it took an absolute generation to get the bitterness out of them: there are some of you in this room that in spite of what Jesus Christ has done for you, you remember and you rehearse more about your life before him than you rejoice in your life after him.
"Whom the son sets free is free indeed". And what happens is you hear the voice of the Lord. You hear his word, "These things I've spoken to you". What did he speak to you? He said, "Old things have passed away. And behold, all things become new". You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. That's what he spoke to you. But then the voice of the enemy comes in and says you haven't changed. You're just like you used to be. You still have the same temptations. You still have the same struggles. You still deal with the same old stuff. The power of God isn't strong enough to set you free. It set everybody else free, but it didn't set you free.
You see whenever you start listening to the voice of the enemy, you start casting doubts on what God said is done. And it was just this way for the children of Israel. In just a few days, God, through the rod that he gave Moses and through the power of the man of God, he walked the children of Israel right out of Egypt and right through the Red Sea. But it took him 40 years to get the slave mentality out of them. You and i, in the same manner, when Jesus Christ went to the cross of Calvary, just as God sent Moses from the backside of the desert, he sent his only begotten son from heaven above down to earth. And just as Moses declared that God's people should be let go, Jesus Christ went into the bowels of hell at Calvary and he told every power and every principality that every claim that they had, every yoke, every chain, every burden, every, any, everything that they could use against us: that it was broken in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. It did not take God but a day to get sin out of us. But the mindset of sin is something we still struggle with. Why? Because we don't want to believe his promises.
Whenever we see something that comes at us as affliction, rather than recognize he said we would have trouble, but he said we would have victory, we go, "Why me, God"? And he says, I'm going to show you why. Because if you didn't have trouble, you wouldn't trust me. How many of you find it easy to talk to God in hard days? But good days, it's just kind of like, hey, thanks. How often in our lives, when something doesn't go the way we want it, we want to look to somebody else and blame them, taking all authority, and all sovereignty, and all of God's power out of his hand? Wake up and recognize that if you've been through some stuff, God was with you while you were walking through it and he's with you now. He's still on the throne. He still has a plan for you. He's still working it out in your life. He is not going to leave you. He is not going to forsake you. He has the way through the wilderness. And if you'll look to him, he'll lead you, and guide you, and give you a blessing that you cannot contain! So they looked to Moses. And Moses goes to God. He says, "These people want to stone me". And God says to Moses: he says, "Take my rod". I love the fact that he reminded Moses: in your hand, it's just a stick, but with me, it's a rod. "Take my rod and go strike the rock".
Now Paul tells us in the book of Corinthians that the rock was Jesus Christ. It says, "The rock that Moses struck was Jesus Christ". It also says in the book of 1 Corinthians that the rock followed them. Now I know that some people believe they have pet rocks. But if you have a rock that's following you, that's a supernatural rock. It's a principle. God told Moses: he said, "Take my rod and go strike the rock". And Moses did. He took the rod and he struck the rock. And out of the rock flowed enough water for two million people to drink and have their fill. Think about that. You're talking about clean energy? Poof. You want to know an efficient way to dig a well? Is take the rod. Hit the rock. Watch it flow. You say, "Well pastor, I don't understand". You have the rod. You have the authority of God's word. And if that rock is Jesus Christ, and he's still the same yesterday, today and forever: then in a day when his children needed living water and it gushed out of him, what you do when you go into heavenly places is you say:
Heavenly Father, in the authority of Jesus' name, and by the power of his word, I am asking you to pour out strength in my life. I'm asking you to pour out healing in my life. I'm asking you to pour out provision in my life. I'm asking you to pour out wisdom in my life. I'm asking you to pour out understanding in my life. I'm asking you, Heavenly Father, to pour out blessings that I cannot contain. Because I have the Word of God, I have the authority of his name. I have a promise that endures.
If you're sick, I am a healer. If you're looking for a mountain to move, I'm a mountain-moving way maker. Child of God, it doesn't matter what you need today. It doesn't matter what you're walking through today. It doesn't matter the problem that you face today. Take the rod! Go to the rock! Strike it, in Jesus' name, and living water will flow! And the principle continues. They drink from living water. And while they're drying their mouth, Exodus 17:8, it says, "Now Amilech came".
Can you imagine this? I've been enslaved for 400 years, watched God do all of this stuff. I mean, huh, don't I get a break? Do I constantly have to be in a struggle? Have you ever felt that way? I mean, Lord, I was ready to get rid of my mask eight weeks ago. But here's the thing: Amilech is always coming. Why? Because if God gave it, the enemy wants to take it. By now, the children of Israel have seen God do enough through Moses: that they're telling Moses, hey dude, here comes Amilech. And we want you to take that magic wand you've got and just zorro them people out of here. Just wave the stick. If it's good enough to get us across the water, you can fix this.
And Moses tells them something they've never heard before. Moses tells Joshua, "No. You pick some young men and you go fight. I'm going up on the mountain". Huh? Moises, oye. Soy no soldado. Hago bricks. Moses tells Joshua, "You go fight. You be a soldier". And Joshua tells Moses, dude, I make bricks. I'm the guy that was in the mud pit just a few weeks ago. What makes you think I've converted into Rambo all of a sudden? I don't swing swords: I lay cement.
But sooner or later, you're going to have to learn in your walk of faith that you are in the army of the living God, and you do have to defend what God has provided with you. Moses goes up on the mountain. He takes the rod with him. Joshua and Israel are fighting down in the valley. And as Moses is up on the mountain, he's interceding. He's got his hands raised before heaven. And he lifts his hands, and Israel and Joshua are victorious over the Amalekites. But then he gets tired. And his hands go down. The Amalekites start to win. He gets his strength back and he puts his hands up, and the Israelites start to win. And he gets tired: they go down. Amalekites start to win. Aaron, the high priest, and Hur, a comforter and a friend, they're too old to go into the battle. But they're standing on the base of the mountain, and they recognize that there's something connected between what's going on up there and what's happening down here.
They recognize that when Moses is interceding before God, the people of God are victorious in the fight that they have. But when he's too weak to intercede, the enemy starts to take over. One message, don't ever stop interceding. But two, if you need help, find someone to intercede with you. Aaron and Hur, they run up the mountain. And one gets on one side of Moses and the other gets on the other side of Moses, and they lift up his hands. But the problem is is they start getting tired. So what do they do? They go to the rock. The Bible says they took that rock that Moses struck and they rolled it over, and Moses sat on it. And with Moses seated on the rock, Aaron and Hur could hold up his hands. And the children of Israel recognized a principle.
In this world, you will have trouble, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world. This is how Hebrews said it: it said that we have such a great high priest. His name is Jesus Christ. And he is interceding for us at the right hand of God the Father, so that now you and I can go boldly into the throne room and we can receive grace in our hour of need. The rock that Moses was sitting on is the rock that our life is built upon. And that rock today, his name is above every name. His power is greater than the greatest. He is higher than the highest. He is king above kings. He is Lord above Lords.
So no matter where you have tribulation in your life, you can go from the valley where you're fighting into the very throne room of God. And God can send back to you, in the valley, the victory that you're looking for! If it's a valley of sickness, he'll send healing. If it's a valley of sorrow, he'll send joy. If it's a valley of poverty, he'll send provision. If it's a valley where the enemy is outnumbering you, he'll let God arise and his enemies be scattered. But child of God, victory is yours through Christ the Lord! Give the Lord a handclap of praise!