Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 671 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: A season isn't forever, is it? Praise God! Whatever season you're going through right now...if things are going great, Praise God, it isn't always gonna be that way.

( laughter ).

That's not the way we think about it, is it? But you know, if you're going through a tough time right now, it isn't always--it is not always going to be that way. This whole life that we live in is so short--it's so short. Now, I'm not anywhere near as old as some of you, but I'm a lot older than most of you, I think. And I've lived long enough to know that it goes by awful quick--it goes by awful quick. Oh, you're young and you've got ideas about how you're gonna lick the world and do this and do that and do the other and the years whiz by and you look back...my God, I haven't done anything. What's going on?

( laughing ).

Life is almost over. Hey, wait a minute! Stop the world! I want to get off here. That's the way...I know you all feel that way at times, don't you? Does life kind of come at you a little too fast? Well, I'll tell you what, God knows how to change our seasons, because we need them to be changed. We need the opportunities to fight battles that we would never want to face.

I'll just use a scripture real briefly. Let someone carry this forward as the Lord desires. I know in chapter 42 or Psalm 42, I don't want to go through this whole thing, but I know David was in a deep place as he often was. There was a hunger, there was a thirst for God. Things weren't going very good. He was...tears were his food day and night. Men were saying, where is your God?

That's a tough place to be. Here you are in a place of leadership and everybody's saying, where's your God? Things are going terrible and nothing's happening, and they still look terrible. And he's having to stand there and take it and trust God. He's pouring out his soul. He's remembering how things used to be so great. You see how the season's changed.

Verse 5, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?" (NIV). Oh my, anybody here not experience that? That's how we react when the wind changes and the sun goes behind the clouds and the rain comes out and the wind begins to blow. We get downcast. Oh, we're distressed. We're...something's wrong, oh, God, something's wrong! "Why are you downcast...?" But David had enough presence of mind to notice that. He said, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?" Then he gives himself some mighty good advice, He says, "Put your hope in God...."

( congregational amens ).

"Put your hope in God...." He didn't say, I feel the power! I'm putting my hope in...no, he didn't say anything. He didn't feel anything. He was just exhorting his spirit to stand. You know 99 percent of the time that's what we need to learn to do, is just to stand in faith and trust God and wait for the season to change, wait for His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives. That's what we need to do--put your hope in God! Get your eyes off of self and quit the pity-party and say, oh, God, give me strength. Lord, if something comes that I don't feel like I can handle and I'm not ready for it, help me to handle it.

"Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." He goes back into the downcast side of things, but he talks over here about all your waves and breakers in the last part of verse 7. "...All your waves and breakers have swept over me." I mean this is a guy who'd been tossed into the deep end of the pool. He's in over his head and he knows it. And he realizes that things are not in his control. It's just washing over him and there's nothing he can do about it.

Of course, you never feel that way, do you? I don't either. I'll tell you what, we do all the time. But you know something, there are certain kinds of growth, certain kinds of victory that we will never experience until God tosses us into water that's over our heads.

( congregational amens ).

But he will never toss you into water over your head without being right there with you. You will never be in a place where you cannot call on God and find the strength and the grace to stand, to do whatever it is that you didn't think you could do...to stand up to something you didn't think you could stand up to, to be able to look the devil in the eye and make him leave. To stand up to a spirit of fear, for example, and just stand on the Word of God and see God be faithful.

God is going to put us through every circumstance that's necessary to teach his people how to be victorious. You know I was thinking about the boxer who wants to train to be a great boxer. But oh, it's one thing to punch the bag, it's something else to punch something that punches back.

( laughter ).

And God is going to give us real fights. Some of you know what I'm talking about. I think many of you do. Many of you have had some real knockdowns this week. All of a sudden the devil blind-sided you and hit you real good and you said, wait a minute, what's going on? Lord, what's wrong? The Lord's trying to say, I let him through the hedge. You were too comfortable. There's something I wanted to do in you that was necessary in your life.

But don't you be afraid for one second. I'm right here with you and if you will take hold of my Word, you've got weapons that the enemy doesn't have any power against. If you will just stand your ground and use them and you will get strong. You will acquire the faith and the strength that you need to go forward in me and to become what I want you to be. I'm answering your prayer. Quit bellyaching. I'm taking you forward. I'm doing the thing that's necessary.

Oh, if all it took was learning how to stand in a ring or how to box a punching bag, we'd all be champions. But I'll tell you, you'll never be a champion without getting in the ring with a real opponent that punches back. And that's what I believe God is doing in many of our lives right now. It's a time for war--it's a time for war. You know, there'll be a time of peace coming too. Praise God! Its seasons come and seasons go.

What happened when the devil came to tempt Jesus? He went through a period, a specified period that the Father had designed when He went into the wilderness for forty days. The Lord allowed him to get very weak. He didn't eat for forty days. You and I'd be slightly ready for something other than that experience. And there He was at the end of forty days.

The devil came. And boy, he laid it on. He thought of every appeal; every kind of attack that he could muster against our Lord, he mustered. And the Lord stood His ground. Didn't get excited, didn't get dismayed and say, oh my God, what have You gotten Me into. He just stood there with the Word and told him what was what. He took His stand on the Word and what happened at the end of that? The devil left Him.

And it also says in the King James, left "...him for a season." It means he was coming back later. Seasons come and seasons go. And Jesus had many other seasons when the devil came back, but there was a time. All right, that's over. The devil's gonna have to leave and angels came and ministered to Him. Do you know, He can do that for you and He can do that for me?

( congregational praise ).

Oh, the Lord knows how to orchestrate our pathway. He knows how to lead us. You know that song that--great song, I used to sing it when I was in college and Christine has sung it some, "Jesus Led Me All The Way." That's what we're gonna be able to sing when we get to the other side and we look back and we're gonna understand a lot of things that we don't want to understand right now, because we don't like how it goes.

But we're gonna say, Jesus led me all the way. He took me in places I did not want to go. He gave me seasons of life that I did not want to face. And I was afraid to death, but I had no choice but to cry out to God, to trust in Him and He was faithful. He never, ever left me to myself and He's brought me through. Oh, praise God!

( congregational praise ).

Praise God! I believe David's testimony of faith here was honored by God. God didn't change the season just because he called out to God. You know that's--that experience that Paul had and Silas had, that was wonderful. That's the way God planned it. But I tell you, there were many times in Paul's life that he was in terrible places and he worshipped God and he cried out and God didn't send the earthquake. God didn't just do away with the circumstances.

That's not always what it's about. What it's about is what happens in here. It's not what happens out here that matters so much as what happens in here. Because if we are willing to trust God and praise Him and look to Him in every circumstance, God is gonna do something in here that is eternal.

( congregational amens ).

There's a faith that's gonna grow in your heart and in my life that is more precious than gold--more precious than gold. I appreciate the Lord's faithfulness tonight, today, whatever this is...lost track, here. But I praise God for the seasons of life. I praise Him that, yes, there are difficult seasons, there are times of war. But, I praise Him there's times of peace. Yes, there's joy, I mean, "...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (KJV).

See, God knows how to balance everything out perfectly and to get us through and to do in us what He needs to do. All we need to do is come to a greater place of rest and a greater place of trust. It's something that does not come naturally to a single person in this place. We all want to have control of things--some of us more than others. We just need to say, Lord, I surrender into Your hands. Take me through what seasons You will but just be with me and show me what to do and help me to stand my ground and to do the growing that I need to do. Praise God!

-- Brother Ron Peters: Praise the Lord! Phil, you're not alone.

( laughing ).

I don't think you thought you were. I just had a couple of quick thoughts. You know before coming to church today, I was really feeling pretty bad and I was considering just not coming this morning. But you know I was sitting and praying and just talking to the Lord. And it seems like lately I've come to the place where I stopped asking God to remove the problem and what I do is ask God for grace to do what He would like for me to do. You know, if it's to be here or not, give me grace, God. Give me grace to do it.

And it's like that for every trial that we go through. It's not that I ask God to remove the problems any more. It's God, give me grace to go through this and to honor You and to bless You. And I don't always do it. I'm not standing up here trying to exalt myself because I...trust me, I don't always do it. But God's faithful. God is faithful and if I didn't believe that God had absolute control of everything, including Satan, including the enemy, including all the circumstances, including all the potentates and the rulers of this world, all the problems, all the things that are going on in this earth, God has everything in control--absolute control. And nothing is happening that He hasn't allowed.

And that gives you a great peace and a great rest. Even though sometimes you're blind-sided and you're kind of knocked back and you wonder what in the world is going on. You know that's our first...that's the carnal mind's first recourse, because we want to figure everything out. We want to have it all laid out there in front of us so that we can understand it. But that's not what God wants.

-- Brother Chip King: No sir, it's faith.

-- Brother Ron Peters: God wants...That's right, Chip. It's faith. God wants us to trust Him--just trust Him, very simple and yet so hard for us because of our carnal nature. Just to lay down and say, well, Lord, I know You've got this in control. Give me grace. Give me the strength. Give me what I need to go through this.

And in Psalm 139, I just wanted to read a scripture because Phil was talking about something and this kind of came to my attention. You know, no matter where we're at, no matter...it doesn't matter. God's there. He said He'd never leave us or forsake us. And it doesn't matter if you're in the belly of a whale at the bottom of the ocean. God is with you.

And God has designed that to work together for good for you. And He will work and He does and He has. I mean if each one of us in here this morning could just think. We went through...maybe we went through a lot of things this week, but you're here this morning. God was faithful to you. God brought you through it, and you're here. You say, well I'm still in it. Well, that's okay. God's gonna bring you through it and He's gonna bless you. But I thought of this Psalm over here because...David's my favorite person because he wasn't perfect.

( laughing ).

And so I can relate. But anyway in verse 1, and I'll just start here. It says, "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me." You know God's...you know David's saying, God, You've search me. God knows us. He's known us from the beginning. He's known us before the beginning--before our beginning.

God knows all of this thing and you think of the scripture over in Deuteronomy which said that He led us this way through the wilderness to be tempted, to be tried, to...let's turn over there for just a second, Deuteronomy, chapter 8. It says in verse 2, it says, "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness..." And it was to do things. It was to do things for us.

He didn't lead Jesus out into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil just to have something to do. There was something that was taking place there. God was doing something and God's doing something for us. "...To humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no." This is where we need to start. We need to...God already knows our heart. He wants us to see our heart. He wants us to know. You know, are we going to serve him or no?

And if you look on down into verse 18, it says, "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God..." Well let's move up a just a little bit, verse 15. "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint." God's able to bring water out of just a rock if you need it. God'll provide for you is what He's saying.

"Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end." It's all designed for good. But He's searched us, He's known us. "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off." He knows our thought process. He knows the way we think. "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways."

( laughing ).

Here's a God--He's a great God. "For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou has beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." In other words, he's saying, I can't fathom Your greatness. I can't fathom how great You are to me.

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." He's never gonna let us go. He has got us forever. I mean that's a done deal.

"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me..." You think about being in darkness like Phil was talking about. Some of us have been through some dark times. But David said, "...Even the night shall be light about me." God doesn't forsake us. He'll give us light. He'll help us to understand.

You know I was talking last night, I said, this has been the week from hell for me. But I said, God allowed it. You know God allowed it, and I told Chip, I said, you know David said this, he said...he was talking about all the things, how the world was prospering and all this stuff was happening and he said, I didn't understand until I came into the sanctuary of the Lord. And when he came in there, then he understood.

And that's the way we are. We don't understand a lot of things. I mean there's just like a whirlwind out here that we're in. That whirlwind that took Job's things away. It's a whirlwind that we go through. But we come in here, and we're lifting our hearts to the Lord, and we want to worship Him. We want to trust Him. And God'll come and He'll help you understand.

( congregational amens ).

And he'll give you--minister to you peace and rest. He says, "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works..." All Your works...even these things that we're going through. We need to learn to rejoice in these things. Count it all joy, like David, or like Paul said, or James said.

"...And that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!"

( laughing ).

You think when you're in the belly of the fish at the bottom of the ocean, you think when things are all caving in around you, think how wonderful His thoughts are to us. That changes the way you think about what you're going through. That enables you to see beyond that. And it gives...the joy of the Lord can come. The peace that passes all understanding can come. The anxiety leaves. There's no place for it, because you know God's there with you.

Then it says, "If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

That's David's prayer and that should be our prayer. Because, it's like Phil said, the seasons are changing. They're always changing. But God is always in the season that we're in. I mean He is there with us. And I thought of this hymn. It's an old hymn. Don used to sing it. But I want to read it. It's in 474. It's "What God hath Promised."

It says, "God hath not promised skies always blue, flower strewn pathways all our lives through; God hath not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the labor, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing mercy, undying love.

"God hath not promised we shall not know toil and temptation, trouble and woe; He hath not told us we shall not bear many a burden, many a care. But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the labor, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing mercy, undying love.

"God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, swift, easy travel, needing no guide; never a mountain rocky and steep, never a river turbid and deep." God didn't promise that we weren't gonna go through any of this. But I'll tell you what He has promised. That He's gonna be with us. That He will never leave us or forsake us. And He's with us too, beloved.

( congregational amens ).

We've got a lot to be thankful for. We've got a lot to praise our God for.

( congregational amens ).

And no matter what the season is that we're going through, God is there with us. Nothing happens outside of God's will.

( congregational amens ).

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