Sermon Cloud

SAM 1/20/08 CLC

I’ve got the victory

Many are facing challenges, sometimes from multiple enemies.  We already have the victory.  We need to follow the steps of Jehoshaphat to see the Lord work out this victory for us.  We need to praise God now, before we see the victory.  When our enemies are defeated, we’ll come out with so much spoil, it will take 3 days to gather it all.

No foe can defeat us.

De 7:24

"He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.

De 11:25

"No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.

Jos 1:5

"No man will [be able to] stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.

Jos 10:8

The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you."

Jehoshaphat was a 6^th generation descendant from David.

3 different enemies decided to gang up on Jehoshaphat.

2 Chronicles 20:1-2

1 ¶  Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. 2  Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi)."

Jehoshaphat immediately sought the Lord when he found out about the problem.

2Ch 20:3-4

3 Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4  So Judah gathered together to seek help from the LORD; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD.

Jehoshaphat rehearsed the past victories of God.

2Ch 20:4-7

4 So Judah gathered together to seek help from the LORD; they even came from all the cities of Judah 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 he said, "O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You. 7  "Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?

Jehoshaphat reminded God of his promise to the children of Israel

2Ch 20:8-9

8 "They have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying, 9  ‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’

When Solomon dedicated the temple, he made this agreement with God.

2Ch 6:28-30, 7:15

28 "If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness [there is,] 29  whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, 30  then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men,

2Ch 7:15 Here is where the Lord promised to hear the prayers made in the temple

 "Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer [offered] in this place.

Jehoshaphat told God about the need.  He didn’t deny the existence of the problem.  He faced it. 

2Ch 20:10-11

10 "Now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them), 11  see how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance.

Jehoshaphat prayed to God, gave Him permission to get involved in the situation.  He admitted that he didn’t know how to handle this situation.  He affirmed his trust in God. 

2Ch 20:12

"O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You."

He and the rest of the people set themselves to wait on the Lord.  Sometimes you have to wait on the Lord for the answer.

2Ch 20:13

All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives and their children.

God sent the Word to the people through the prophet.  The answer to our prayer will always come in the form of the Word, whether it’s in the written (Logos) or spoken form (Rhema).  He sent his Word to show them the way out of the situation.

2Ch 20:13-19

13 All Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives and their children.  15  and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. 16  ‘Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 17  ‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you." 18  Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. 19  The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Notice, verse 17, they were to face their enemies, not run from them.  Not stick their head in the sand, but face them.

Trust the prophets and we’ll succeed.  Obey the voice of the Lord and we’ll have the victory.

2Ch 20:20

¶ They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed."

Jehoshaphat trusted the Word of God.  He praised God.  Praising is one of the highest forms of displaying your faith.  It wasn’t until they had started praising God that the ambushing took place.  If they had just done all the other steps, the victory would not have come.  Praising may be the very thing you need to do to see the victory in your life.

2Ch 20:21-22

21 When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised [Him] in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, "Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting." 22  When they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed.

The Lord defeated the enemy for them.  He won the battle, and they got the spoils.

2Ch 20:23-25

23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying [them] completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.  24  When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped. 25  When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them, including goods, garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much.

They gave the Lord all the honor for the victory.

2Ch 20:26-30

26 Then on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Beracah [blessing], for there they blessed the LORD. Therefore they have named that place "The Valley of Beracah [blessing]" until today.  27  Every man of Judah and Jerusalem returned with Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28  They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres and trumpets to the house of the LORD. 29  And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30  So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides.

In verses 2, 12, and 15 them enemies are referred to as a great multitude.  In verse 24, once they were dead, they were just referred to as a multitude, no longer great.  Once you’ve got the victory, those enemies won’t seem near as great.

Prophecy from Bro. Hagin, WBS 2003 excerpt

So rejoice and be glad. The enemy is a defeated foe! Jesus has triumphed. Victory belongs to everyone. No one should come up empty–handed, but everyone should walk in full victory, commanding and demanding their rights and privileges in Christ Jesus . . . demanding nothing of the Father–He’s the One who made the provision. But demanding of the devil, who is endeavoring to thwart the plan of God, who is endeavoring to keep it from coming to pass.

But it will all come to pass. It will all come to pass at last.

Prophecy given by Kenneth Copeland July 9, 2007.  2007 West Coast Believers’ Convention

“And I Will Bless You Beyond Your Means.”

“The manifestation of THE BLESSING,” saith the Lord, “is at an all time high.  You are approaching a blessing manifestation of Glory that is an explosion in ways and in intensity that the human race has never seen before. It will look in the spirit the way terrorism looks in the natural, as if it is absolutely everywhere and unstoppable.

“Don’t ever get the idea that terrorism is unstoppable. No, no, no. I said in the 54 th Chapter of Isaiah that terror will arise but not by Me, and it will not come nigh you.  That’s my promise,” saith the Lord, “and if you will take it, THE BLESSING will surround you. THE BLESSING will encase you and you will learn to walk in the secret place of the Most High God. Blessed in His blessing, blessed in His Glory, blessed in your comings, blessed in your goings. Blessed in your pocket book. All debt will have to get up and leave you the way leprosy left the lepers of old.

“Debt,” saith the Lord. “Oh my, my lord, oh my, say that again. I’ve never heard that before. Oooweee, “debt is financial sickness, it is financial leprosy. It’s an attempt to do with the natural world’s monies and abilities what I created THE BLESSING to do for you. Only it is a burden and not a blessing.  “Debt is part of the curse. And if you will begin to confess it, you will be shocked and thrilled at how quickly you will have the Glory arise and drive the debt out of your life. And if you’ll bring your tithe to Me and spend time with Me, spend time with Me, spend time with Me tithing that tithe to Me, then I will teach you, and I will train you, and I will show you how to be debtfree, just like I have others around you.

“And I will bless you beyond your means. I will bless you beyond your income. I will bless you beyond your salaries. I will bless you beyond anything you’ve ever known before. I will show you things to come. I will show you things that you’ve never heard of before, and you will take advantage of those things and be financially blessed in all of that. But I’ll tell you, I’ll bring financial blessing on you that you ain’t got any idea where it came from.

“It has come to an explosive place. It’s ready. I’m ready,” saith the Lord, “if you’ll begin to confess it. And if you will begin to walk in it, and if you will make it a priority in your life, then the Glory will manifest in your midst. And you will give Me praise and I will come and visit you and together we will have a grand time,” saith the Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

“Pastors, ministers of churches, it’s time for the Glory to manifest in and among your congregation. If you will begin to teach it. If you will begin to preach it. If you will begin to reveal it from My Word, I will manifest myself,” saith the Lord, “if you’ll preach and teach on the love of God, and if you will preach and teach on My Glory, I will begin to manifest it in your midst. And you will have glorification manifestation and there’ll be things that will happen that will take you six months to figure out what it was. It will get so heavy in your congregation from time to time that people in there will not be able to see one another, because of the thickness of the manifestation of the Glory. Some of you are going to have it manifest in your cars, manifest as you travel.” Praise God! Amen.

1Co 15:57

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Co 2:14

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

Ro 8:31-39

31 ¶  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33  Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34  who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36  Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." 37  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1Jo 5:1-5

1 ¶ Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the [child] born of Him.  2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 3  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5  Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We’ve got the victory!

The devil’s defeated!

Everything’s gonna be alright!