Transcript
Derek Greer (0:00)
Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's Word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.
Unknown Speaker (0:10)
Today we're gonna learn five keys, and the goal is to move you from the back to the front, to put you above and not beneath. Make you the head and not the tail. Take you from behind and put you ahead. So we're going to be in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 20, and verse 1. It says, it happened after this. King Jehoshaphat was 35 years when he started his reign, and he started it really, really strong. When he came into power, he removed all the idols from the land. Unlike his predecessors, he refused to worship baal. And under his leadership, revival broke out in the land for roughly 25 years. And revival is not as elusive as many people try to make it. It usually begins with people simply finding the courage to address the obvious. Anyone could have looked at the nation and saw the idolatry and saw the worship of the false gods and knew that that was the place to start. But, you know, most of us really don't need a prophet to tell us what's in our way. If we would just listen to our nagging conscience, if we would just listen to that witness of the Holy Spirit and not a thousand different, just two or three areas, everything in our lives would shift. You see, the only thing between where you are and where you need to be is air and opportunity. In this upcoming year. It said, it happened after this. Jehoshaphat was one of the rare good kings in Judah, but he had a problem. He didn't pay attention to who he hung out with, and he aligned himself with wicked King Ahab from the North. In fact, just two chapters earlier, his rendezvous with this king almost got him killed. You know, a pastor said this. He said, it's really hard to live a right life when you constantly surround yourself with the wrong people. He said it happened after this, that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. In this life, we are either in a battle, coming out of a battle, or going into a battle in our fallen world. We don't really get what we want. We get what we're willing to fight for. How many don't know that's true? Second Timothy, chapter two and verse three. Paul encourages the young pastor that's struggling at this point in his ministry. He says, endure hardness, meaning you don't avoid hardness. It's going to come on every Timothy was a godly man. Endure hardness. Watch this as a good soldier. How many of y'all heard about General Patton in your history books? All right, well, he said this. A good soldier must fight where he's told and win where he fights. So you may be positioned in a hard marriage, but that's the place you must fight. You may be positioned in a hard school system, but that's the place you must fight. You may be positioned in a hard health situation, but that's where you must fight. Fight. God has called us to fight the good fight. And you know, we just kind of want to battle in the heavenlies. I've heard of people flying in airplanes, trying to pull down demons and all the rest. But let me tell you where the real fight is. The real fight is in your bedroom. The real fight. Yep. Is when those children come home from school. The real fight is when your family gets around the dinner table. The real fight is forgiving your neighbor. Your real fight is letting go of the past. You hear what I'm saying? But we have a fight that we must fight. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat saying, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, even from Syria. So we see here that at least four nations had allied themselves against Jehoshaphat. He's facing overwhelming odds and overwhelming numbers. And then the messenger goes on to say, and they're not very far away. They're in Hazazan Tamar, which is in Engedi, which is about a two or three day march away from there. Actually, if they were really serious, they could have gotten there in the day. I don't know about everyone in this room, but I'm just curious, you know, am I the only one that has ever had a bill, maybe a hostile meeting, maybe an uncertain surgery, maybe an impossible court case that was only days away. And fear tried to grip you like an ice cube. I mean. I mean, you felt immobilized by what you were about to face and deal with. Well, this is the situation of Jehoshaphat. And I don't think I'd be preaching this today if it wasn't the situation of somebody in this room. And it says in verse three, and Jehoshaphat feared. You see, it's one thing to read about Moses at the Red Sea, you know, it's another thing to read about Gideon and his 300. It's another thing to read about, you know, Joshua at the walls of Jericho, but when it's about your own survival it quickly gets deep and personal. It gets real. And, you know, he had the narratives of what God did in the past, but Jehoshaphat had to answer the question, would God do that for me? And I'm grateful for what God has done for others and what he's done in the past. But the $6 million question is, what will I believe that God will do for me? And Jehoshaphat was in his zero hour. The clock had struck midnight. And this was not a story. I mean, when you got defeated in battle, your kids were taken as slaves, you were often. The king himself was killed. Your people went into slavery.