Never before have we been bombarded with so much information. Information on Facebook, WhatsApp, Email, Voice notes & Videos. Everybody has something to say about the Pandemic the World is facing right now. There are very valuable info that we receive on a daily basis, but still we need to filter through it all and make sure we are listening to what God is saying rather than the ideas and opinions of the world. Before we start with my sermon today I would like to take you to Scripture and read carefully what it says.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
Here it clearly states that our comfort comes from God alone. He is the God of ALL comfort and He is the Father of compassion. God is the one that will comfort us in the time of trouble. Now I do believe that we are faced with one of the most troubling times in the History of man; definitely our lifetime. But I also believe that God is the one that comforts us in this time. Even in our lockdown we still need to fight for the space where we hear God’s voice instead what man is shouting & proclaiming.
He is saying that He is the one who comforts in the midst of your storm and not just does He comforts us; He does it so that we can be hope & comfort to other people, in their times of trouble. What a great encouragement to you and to me that He is the one who guides us through our storm, in order to comfort others in their storms.
I want to declare this over your life: If you are a child of God, a true believer you are not in trouble today, because God is on your side, you have a comforter and you have eternity in your heart, God has set eternity in your heart. (Eccl 3:11) Let me clarify; Your business, your finances, your steady stream of income and even your physical health might be in trouble, but you (your Spirit being) cannot be in trouble if you are in Christ, because ALL things work for the good of those who love Him & is called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). Sickness, death and even bankruptcy works for the good of God’s glory. There are many uncertainties today: Economical, political and health uncertainties; How will my life look after this lockdown? How will life as we know it look after this lockdown? On the one hand we want it to go back to exactly the way it was before and on the other hand I’m thinking, maybe it shouldn’t. Even though this Pandemic came as a thief in the night and turned our worlds upside down in a bad way, it also brought with it more time to spend with our families, more time to read the Word of God, more time to pray. It also brought about a push to detox from the self generated ratrace our lives has become in todays society.
Let’s face it: This Situation has caught everybody off guard – We did not expect this to happen at all. When our president made his first address to the nation, we, New Life Montagu, made this plan to divide into homes and have church in small groups. One week later we were thrusted into isolation and forced to communicate online; definitely not what we have planned. As a society, the one moment we were doing what we wanted to do, planning our lives like we always did, and suddenly everything stopped. To be honest; It is daunting and scary
It’s as if God is saying: Stop. Just stop. Stop with what you are doing and just listen to ME.
In the confusion of this day God is talking very clearly and very direct to his Church. So as we continue in His Word today I want to encourage you to stay in the Word of God and listen to what He is saying. We need more discernment than ever before.
Turn to 2 Chronicles 20
Let’s look at the story of Jehoshaphat: He was a king of Judah, a powerful man who pleased God, he had a perfect life, a strong army, a successful country and all the nations of the world feared them. Things were going absolutely great. His story starts in 2 Chronicles 17 but In chapter 20 his perfect life came to an immediate halt.
“Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” (verse 2 and 3)
Here we see that when Jehoshaphat got the news that nations wanted to attack his country, the first thing that happened within him is that he was overwhelmed with fear. So many times when we get bad news, our first natural reaction is fear. When everything suddenly works to the contrary of what we have planned, we habitually fear the worst. Since the virus broke out, slowly but surely, we might have allowed fear to creep into our hearts. Now even thou for Jehoshaphat this was the same; I do believe that we can learn from Jehoshaphat’s life; how he responded to this fear and what he did to overcome the situation.
How should we respond to fear?
1.Fear pushed Jehoshaphat towards seeking God.
If you continue reading you can see that fear pushed Jehoshaphat towards seeking God.
Does fear push you to seek God or does fear push you deeper into dispair?
Currently we see a lot of people who are calling on God to come and sort this problem out; Save my business, safe the economy etc. But few are seeking Him for who He is, and what He wants. The reason for this is because unbeknownst to us, we have replaced our hope in the Lord with hope in our country, worldly wealth & earthly securities etc.
In a moment of fear we need to know that God is our only comfort. We won’t find comfort in anything or with anyone else. Therefor we need to seek Him and Him alone.
My question to you today is; In what or in whom are you seeking help in this time? What are you doing daily to find help, solace or peace? Are your reading more about the virus than God, are your hearing more from others hoping to find hope in their report or are you truly seeking Him? We need to quiet ourselves and seek God, pray, get into His word and spend time with Him. Jehoshaphat seeked God and called out a fast. That speaks of a deliberate seeking. When fear comes knocking at your door what is your first response?
I read in book the other day.
When you read about Jesus in the Gospels, there were three responses to Him: The people either ran from Him, they wanted to kill Him or they worshiped Him.
anonymous
I trust that I am speaking to people who want to worship Him. When fear comes knocking we run to Jesus, we seek Him even more than before. He is our rock.
2. He placed his hope in God.
In 2 Chronicles 19, Jehoshaphat was coming back from a battle that he wasn’t suppose to be fighting. He was fighting with a partner that he shouldn’t have been in partnership with. The reason why Jehoshaphat found himself and his nation in this position of vulnerability, was because he made a covenant with some ungodly people. Jehoshaphat had for a moment, placed his hope in others. In chapter 18 &1 9 you can read the full account of Jehoshaphat’s covenant with Ahab. So in actual fact it was almost necessary for God to bring Jehoshaphat to a standstill for Jehoshaphat’s own best interest.
2 Chronicles 19:2
“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you.”
When the Lord woke me up at four in the morning He told me this: In this time God will remove partnerships that we have made, that wasn’t from Him. He will cause the tearing away form worldly covenants in order to draw us back to him.
Jehoshaphat was in a covenant with another ungodly king, Ahab, through marriage relationships Ahab was removed from Jehoshaphat’s life in a moment.
This removing will cause us to trust more on God than ever before. This will be new to us, a place of vulnerable trust; we will not know how to navigate the waters we are facing, but if we trust in God, we will find peace and He will bring us to safety.
Many people today sit in the pews, “serving” God on a Sundays, but during the week they are in partnerships and covenant with people who do not serve God, especially in business.
In the book of Corinthians we clearly read that light and darkness should not be in partnership with one another. Paul tells us not to be unequally yoked. (2 Corinthians 6:14) We tend to brush off this warning, for the gain of funds (God wants us to prosper, must be His will) or even the gain of love (unequally yoked marriages/ God knows my heart and wants me to be happy)
Listen, I am not saying that the virus is directly a result of something we did, but I’m saying that God is using this crisis to help us to direct our hope back towards Him. I actually believe this virus is the work of darkness, but what the enemy has intended for destruction, God will use for His glory. It could very well be that the Lord has put the whole earth on hold, through this crisis, just to check in with you and me to ask us; “Is your hope still in ME?”
Jehoshaphat realised that he made a mistake by being in the wrong covenant and therefor He ran after God, But not just that, He also placed his hope firmly back on God. You can see this through the prayer he prayed in the midst of his nations storm.
2 Chron 20:4-12
4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? 7 Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? 8 And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, 9 ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ 10 And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— 11 here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. 12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
Now family, I want to tell you that we believe that Christ is our hope and we do not hope like the world hopes. Listen to how Jehoshaphat put it in verse 9. If anything including famine or pestilence comes upon us we will still call on You in our affliction.
If you are hoping that things will go back to normal and your reason for seeking him is so that would go back to normal, then your hope is not in the Lord, your hope is in your comfort and your lifestyle. Let me explain; In this time of difficulty; what we have truly placed our hope on, is being exposed. God is showing us the hidden treasures of our hearts by shaking the foundations of our lives (Heb 12:25-29). If you can get to a place in your life that you can say whether I die or live I will still hope in you, or wether I lose everything or not I will still trust in You Lord! When you have peace in that, then you have placed your hope on God. Stop and listen to what God is saying. He is definitely saying to the church: “Come back to ME.”
There are Christians praying, “Lord, please don’t let me die of this virus; Lord don’t let this virus take my business” Now I personally don’t want to die of this virus nor do I want to suffer financially either, but I am not afraid of death nor bankruptcy. My hope is in Jesus. We don’t hope in physical life, stock markets or health systems etc. Our hope is in Jesus.
Hebrews 6:19
Explains the hope that we have:
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,”
The hope that I have in Jesus, and in His complete work becomes an anchor to my soul. My thoughts become steadfast and sure in this hope; His name is Jesus. No matter what virus, no matter what war or pestilence, as children of God our eyes should be on Jesus. He is the anchor of our souls.
3. Praising God Brought the Victory
2 Chronicles 20:4 reads:
“Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.”
2 Chron 20:15 - 21
“And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the [d]brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”
18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. 19 Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.
20 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”
Listen To what God is saying today, church may we wake up and hear this today. Now is not the time to promote fear, nor is it the time to listen to the world, BUT it is time to praise the living King and shout with a voice of triumph!
The nation of Judah under the leadership of Jehoshaphat did not just pray, “Oh Lord help us, we don’t know what to do” and left it at that. No, they moved from seeking God in the midst of their storm, to placing their hope firmly in God and because they had hope in God ,this hope turned into praising God. Yes, praising God brought about the Victory.
2 Chronicles 20:22
“Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.”
Just a reminder; they were singing of God’s goodness and fixed their eyes on the Lord. What we sing also expose what we hope in. They sang about God and His goodness, even though they still felt the effects of this storm. They sang in faith, they worshiped Him in Spirit and in truth. They turned their eyes from their situation and put it firmly on the Lord.
I was speaking to my friend Jeremy Laborde during the week about some challenges that I am facing and he reminded me of the following: “You know that we win, right? Christ is a much better strategist than the enemy.”
We need to remember that God is not caught unawares. He knows what’s going on and He is a much better strategist than the enemy. He knows exactly what is going to happen. He is off a higher authority than this virus. He is the HIGEST AUTHORITY!
Prayer and Praise are our weapons of warfare. As we praise He is fighting on our behalf. What a good God we serve. Praise Him for He is a good God.
Even if you feel like you can’t do something. Start praising Him and you will see Him move. Do not be afraid, the battle is not yours it is the Lords. Jehoshaphat and the nation saw a victory that day that blessed the nation in all aspect of living. When God fights for you, He will also provide for you; in all you need. He knows what you need.
My last encouragement for you is to put down your phone, stop with what you are busy with and start seeking God. No matter what happens, my hope is in Him. May this be the same for you.
I want to ask the body of Christ to love and reach out to one another. Check in on each other and when you check in don’t just check if they are OK with food but also ask them if they are OK with Jesus.
Seek Jesus. Hope in Jesus. Praise Jesus.
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