Beeson Podcast, Episode #246 Name Date >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Now your host, Timothy George. >>Timothy George: Welcome to today’s Beeson podcast. Well, we have a preacher for you today on this sermon addition of the Beeson podcast, Dr Ervin Kensley Bailey, better known as E.K. E.K. Bailey, one of the premier expository preachers of the 20th century from the African American tradition, pastor of the great Concord Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, a friend of this school, Dr Smith. He was actually a preacher here in our pastor’s school on several occasions. His wonderful daughter, Cokeisha, and his son in law, Timothy Robinson, both are graduates of Beeson Divinity School. So, we feel deeply connected to the Bailey family. And we’re going to get to hear now from Dr Bailey himself. Tell us what’s really unique about this sermon. >>Smith: It’s important to hear the response, the vocal response of the congregation. They are not responding to him because this is his first Sunday back to church to preach as their pastor out of sentiment. It’s really out of truth and they have an appetite for real truth. So, you’ll see this. The title of this sermon is “Facing an Uncertain Future.” He’s just come out of cancer treatment, going back into it. So, he’s preaching this sermon out of physical weakness. You can hear it in his voice. It is, as Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “When I’m weak, then I’m strong.” This is a demonstration of that. Here is an individual who compares what God did for Hezekiah as he sees Hezekiah being in Psalm 46, doing the same thing for E.K. and doing the same thing for us. So, it’s a matter of hoping in God in the midst of uncertainty. It’s a typical, expositional, alliterated, outlined sermon. That’s E.K. Bailey. Going into the historical background, even dealing with God here as antitrinitarian presence. The river, metaphorically, is the river of God the Father, the river of God the Son, the river of God the Holy Spirit, which I thought was very powerful in that he is not dichotomizing or trichotomizing trinity. He sees trinity there and preaches it, dissecting it in a marvelous way, defines the terms, and then tags onto the terms graphic images so that we can see. And closes in his usual way, climactically, though weak in voice and weak in body, his heart is strong, and the congregation is blessed after listening to a solid biblical sermon. >>Timothy George: There are so many things about Dr E.K. Bailey that I appreciated and loved him very much. And one of the things was he was deeply committed to the struggles of civil rights, racial reconciliation. He wrote a book with our friend Warren Wiersbe called “Preaching in Black and White.” >>Smith: That’s correct. >>Timothy George: He also took a courageous stand on behalf of the sanctity of human life. >>Smith: Yes, he did. >>Timothy George: He was a remarkable, courageous, leader that we will always remember him as a magnificent expository preacher of God’s word. We’re going to hear him today preach a sermon, I think it was preached just a few months before he passed away. >>Smith: Yes, yes. >>Timothy George: But again, his legacy lives on. Let’s listen to Dr E.K. Bailey. >>Bailey: Well, good morning. Reclaiming the village. What a joy it is today. I said what a joy it is today. Amen. Amen. Are you all holy in those seats there? I’m sorry. Family reunion. Okay. Well, we’re glad to introduce this family reunion. There’s somebody right there noting. Tell me what family is reuning. I’d like to recognize it. Alright. Lacey family. Alright, would you stand please, Lacey family? Would you stand? Alright. Give them a great hand. Thank you so much. We had two families at eight o’clock this morning worshipping with us. You may be seated. Thank you. Alright. Now, the others haven’t made it yet so let’s release those seats right there now. Anyone who wants to move forward, you’re certainly welcome to. Alright. Praise the Lord. Well, it’s good to be home. It’s too hot right now. I want to thank all of you today for coming to be here today. Aaron announced that it’s only the second time in a year that I would be preaching. I thought maybe you’d forgotten, you know, who the pastor happens to be. But you ought to put your hands together for those other preachers who’ve been preaching this year. Bring me that regular water. I got hot on my right. I need the cold on my left. Alright. Thank you so much. Thank you. I had a great time in Georgia this past week. Ushers, you may be seated. I’m going to take my time today. Had a great time in Georgia this past week for so many reasons. God has just put so many angels to minister to us at different points. I got to the airport, you know, I haven’t driven in over a year, got to the airport, flipped out my license. They wanted to see ID. And my license had expired. Well, I don’t know. I hadn’t looked at them in a year. I haven’t been driving a thing. But the Lord had a lady from Beth Eden Church in Fort Worth. She said, “Reverand Bailey, we missed you in revival” because I had conducted revival year before last, but I couldn’t go last year because I was sick. She said, “We missed you in revival.” I said, “I missed being there.” She said, “You having a problem?” I said, “Yeah. My license is expired. She said, “Well, let me see it.” And she whipped two or three things together. She said, “Go on, get on the plane Reverand.” God just had another angel there. Got down to Georgia and one of the pastors there in Georgia, Atlanta called me and said, “Hey Bailey, I heard you was coming to my town for treatment. I said, “Yeah, that’s right.” “Man, we sorry about your treatment but we’re glad that you’re here. Anything I can do for you?” I said, “Well, just pray for me.” He said, “Well, God just dropped it in my spirit. How long you going to be here?” I said, “Three weeks.” He said, “Well, I’m going to pay your hotel bill for three weeks.” I said, “Well, I ain’t mad at you.” Praise God. And I mean just time after time. And I’m going to say this last thing and get on with preaching. But I walked in the doctor’s office, I told eight o’clock. You know when you’re getting old because when the doctor looks too young to know what he’s talking about. Now, I was able to hold it the first day. But that second day, I had to ask, “How old are you? You look like you’re just a year or two older than my children.” He said, “I’m 38.” I said, “Oh, Jesus.” I wanted to ask him, do you know what you’re doing? And he talked with us for two hours. First of all, most doctors, you can’t get to talk to you 15 minutes. And he talked with us two hours, consulting with us, answering all my questions, and some I didn’t even ask. Then I discovered that the man’s a Christian. Now, I’d rather have an atheist doctor who knows what he’s doing than to have a Christian doctor who doesn’t know what he’s doing. But when you have the blessing of having both, you got a real blessing on your hands. And the man knows what he’s doing from a medical point of view and even more than that, but then somebody who loves the Lord. He said, “I was at church last night.” I said, “Hold on. You go to church on Sunday night? I know a whole lot of preachers don’t go to church Sunday night.” He said, “Yeah, and I drive an hour to church to get there.” I said, “I got a whole lot of members that don’t drive 10 minutes to get here and they don’t come back on Sunday night.” And here’s a doctor who loves the Lord enough not only to go to church on Sunday morning, but Sunday night. And then later on in the week he says, “Now, Reverand, the reason I do this is because of what it says it 2 Timothy.” I said, “Now wait a minute. It’s alright for you to go to church but quoting the Bible and you know where it is.” Then he says, “In Proverbs so and so.” I said, “Now listen, this is too good to be true.” And then lastly, I was in there having treatment and I heard something going on. [singing 00:12:04]. I said, “What is that?” The doctor was in the front part playing the piano. I said, “Wait a minute. I’ve died and gone to heaven. I don’t know.” Playing “Rock of Ages.” It’s a marvelous, marvelous blessing. I just want you to know that when you’re a child of God and you’re serious about it, God will send you to His other children to help you because he’s got some other children out there in strategic places and He’ll lead you to them. Amen. So, get serious about the Lord. Now, as you can see, we’ve made some changes for this service. We’ve always wanted to let this be our contemporary service. It’s going to drive some of y’all to eight o’clock. That’s alright. You just going to make room for other people who like this kind of service. That’s alright. You come on at eight. If this is not your cup of tea, you come on at eight and we are going to get some more folk. You see, church is not only for the church, but you’ve got to reach the unchurched. Amen. Amen. So, we want to reach that younger contemporary crowd and yet some of you folk my age, you kind of like this church too. And that’s alright if you do. Praise God. We want to tell these leaders, continue to go forward. Last but not least, Brother Cunningham, give God a hand of praise for him. He flew with us down to Georgia, stayed the week, helped meet the pastor’s wife, lead all week long. I’m going to leave him here this week, so his wife won’t divorce him. And Brother Spencer, sitting next to Brother Cunningham, he’s going with us this week to help us out. Give God a hand for Brother Spencer. Now, today. Lord, we thank you for this day. Bless our time together. Use it to your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. I want to thank pastor Carter for reading Psalm number 46 where we will draw the message from today. I want to talk today about facing an uncertain future. Would you repeat it after me? Facing an uncertain future. Amen. Facing an uncertain future. The historical background that gave birth to this Psalm describes one of the most miraculous interventions of the supernatural power of God to protect, preserve, and rescue His people from an impossible situation. The dreaded Assyrian Army had marched down from the north down through Syria, Israel, Judah, and now this mighty army had deployed themselves around the city of Jerusalem. The watchers on the Jerusalem wall could see the flag of the Assyrian empire blowing in the wind. They could see the battering rams, the slings, the boulders, even the scaling ladders that would be used in the onslaught whenever the engines of war were cranked up. Hezakiah, the king of Jerusalem, sought at first to appease Sennacherib, the leader of the Assyrian Army by offering to pay an enormous tribute in order to pay off the invading army. Sennacherib, however, quickly rejected Hezakiah’s offer realizing that he could not leave an uncovered Jerusalem in his wake. Knowing that he could not leave the kind of fortress that Jerusalem represented without being conquered, knowing that the disloyalty represented in the inhabitance of Jerusalem and Hezekiah would eventually become a source of trouble. Hezekiah, encouraged by the prophetic preaching of Isiah, refused to give in to the mocking and taunting of Sennacherib. Sennacherib had sent a servant to Hezakiah saying surrender or accept the consequences. Hezekiah held onto his faith knowing that he would have an uncertain future. The time of talking, parlaying, and propaganda was not over. They had said all that needed to be said. All negotiations now were off. And even the attempt to promise that they would be resettled somewhere in Assyria had not gone well. And so now they were ready to do battle. This Assyrian Army, according to the Old Testament, decided to bed down, get a good night’s rest before cranking up the engines of war the next day for they believed that all tomorrow, they would have success once the onslaught of Jerusalem had started. So, they went to bed. The guards were on their post. The generals were in their tents. The officers were pouring over their last-minute strategies. The soldiers had bedded down. And while they were getting ready for tomorrow, knowing that they were going to run this little outpost over. The Bible says that it was that night, that night, that God dismissed an angel. And as an old preacher using his sanctified imagination would say, he dismissed a six-winged angel. Two wings that covered his face. Two wings that covered his feet. And with two wings, he did fly. And he went on to say that he left the coast of glory quicker than right now and sooner than at once. He left heavens coves and like the night east wind, he blew through the Assyrian camp. And by the time he got back to heaven at the break of dawn, he left 185 thousand soldiers dead around the walls of Jerusalem. That’s the way it was. And you can only imagine the delirious delight that occurred in the streets of Jerusalem for the watchers on the wall recognized at daybreak that something drastic had taken place over night. For at daybreak, there was no blowing of the bugles. At daybreak, there was no sounding of trumpets. At daybreak, there was no rallying of the troops. At daybreak, there was only silence coming from the enemy camp. At daybreak, they saw the buzzards swirling over the Assyrian camp. At daybreak, there was no movement and call to war. The engines of war had been shut down. Surely, with 185 thousand men, you would hear some kind of noise. But there was only silence at daybreak. And then the spies came back with the word that all of the soldiers in the enemy camp were dead. Nothing but corpses now lie around the walls of Jerusalem. And the people of God began to sing hymns. The people of God began to shout hallelujah. The people of God began to rejoice because their dreaded enemy, Sennacherib, had been soundly defeated. He suffered such a bad defeat that history tells us that her never recovered again, all because God sent an angel to destroy the enemy camp. Now, what started out as an uncertain future now became a certain future. And that’s the way it is with God. God can take an uncertain situation, and He can straighten it out and make it a definite situation. Somebody ought to help me preach today. The old folks used to say he can hit a straight lick with a crooked stick. That is what God is able to do. God got in that situation that was uncertain and when God got through with it, then the Assyrians who expected to have victory had experienced defeat. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem that expected to experience defeat had now experienced victory. But now let me bring it all the way from ancient history to today. What does that have to do with us? Well, all of us face an uncertain future. Economically today, we are facing an uncertain future. With the collapse of Enron and WorldCom and it having a domino effect throughout our community, many are saying we are facing an uncertain future. When we look at our political climate and how the president of our country keeps banging on the drums of war to dismiss Saddam Hussein from Iraq, we are facing an uncertain future. When you look at the inadequacies of our educational system, our children are facing an uncertain future. When you look at the hospitals and when you look at the sicknesses and the diseases that are running rampant throughout our bodies in this community, we are facing an uncertain future. And I know because I can testify for myself that because of what I’m going through, I’ve been facing an uncertain future. But listen, don’t cry for me. Pray for me because the God I serve is a God who can take an uncertain situation and turn it into a triumphant situation. And I’m here today to tell you what God did for Hezekiah and Jerusalem and what God is doing in my life right now, He’s able to do in your life. Say God is able. Look at your neighbor and say, sure enough now, God is able. Somebody needs to know that our God is able. Now, I want you to look at this text because that’s the background. And they came to the point where somebody penned this hymn. We don’t know if it was Hezakiah. It could have been Isaiah. It could have been one of the ports of Judah. But when they began to rejoice in the walls of Jerusalem, somebody began to sing, “God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.” Now the first thing I want to talk to you about today is we will not fear for God is our refuge. Will you say it after me? We will not fear for God is our refuge. Amen. God is our refuge. This word, refuge, means a hiding place, that God is a hiding place. Whenever you are in trouble, remember that the God we serve, He is with His immutable self a hiding place for you. Now, why do we need a hiding place is in the text. You see where it says, “He’s a very present help in trouble.” The word there translated, in trouble, comes from a Hebrew verb that means a tight place. Can you say tight place? It means trouble means a tight place. It means a restricted, narrow area. It kind of reminds me of the expressions that we use sometimes to explain I’m in a jam, or I’m in a fix, or my back is up against the wall, or I’m up a tree. Am I reaching you yet? Well, I got to keep going. When we say we’re between a rock, ah yeah, come on with it, and a hard place. Or between the devil and, oh that’s the older crowd. Y’all don’t know about, let me teach you something. Between the devil and the deep blue sea. It’s all describing being in place or squeezed into a tight place. And that’s what happens very often in life. You can get in a situation where you find yourself in a jam, up a tree, back against the wall, between the devil and the deep blue sea, you are in a tight place. The text says God is an instant help when you get in your tight place. Somebody ought to help me. Have I got a witness? And then look what else he says here. Not only are you in a tight place, “therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the say, and though its waters roll and foam, though the mountains quake and it swelled in pride.” You see all of that? What he’s describing in those four lines is how crazy life can get. He says that there are times in life that everything that’s upright can be upset. He’s saying that there’s times in life when everything turns topsy- turvy. He’s saying that there’s times in life when life just falls apart and you really don’t know what else to do. He’s saying, in this text, there comes a time, there will come a time in your life when life as you know it will change. It’ll be like an earthquake where everything underneath your feet begins to shift and everything that was stable now is in upheaval. He’s saying that life as you know it will no longer be the same. He’s saying that everything that was reliable has now disappeared. Momma was reliable, but she’s gone. Daddy was reliable, but he’s gone. My schooling was reliable, but now it’s gone. My friends were reliable, but now they are gone. My job was reliable, but now it’s gone. Everything you know will one day change. But God remains the same. Somebody in the Old Testament in Hebrews says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever more.” I kind of like this because it had this word, though. All of these traumatic situations, they are predicated, they have this “though” in front of them. You know, last time I preached about a month ago, we talked about “yet.” Well, there’s no “yet” in this text but there is a “though.” I told you then that you need some “though” in your theology. See all that bad stuff but it says in front of it, “though.” And if you flip back through the Bible, you’ll find some other “thoughs.” Over there in Isaiah 1:18, “though your sins be scarlet, they shall be washed white as snow. Though they be red like crimson.” Oh, yeah. Over there in Job 13:15, it says, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him.” That’s where I am today. Are you there? Do you have the faith to say, God, I don’t understand it and God, I don’t even agree with it but “though you slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” You ought to have some glow in your belief system that though I go through the waters, I know that my God is my refuge. Have I got a witness here? I think it was Harry Emerson Fosdick who said that “Fear imprisons, but faith liberates; fear paralyzes, but faith empowers; fear disheartens, but faith encourages; fear sickens, but faith heals.” And most of all, “fear places hopelessness at the center of your heart, but faith places God at the center of your life.” That’s whatever you do, learn how to overcome your fear by depending upon God as your refuge. I’ve learned something in my almost 40 years of preaching and that is that whenever you are about to preach on something, brother preachers, God will give you an experience so that you can preach to people not from the head but from the heart and from experience because if you’re just talking theory, it’s not going to communicate with the people. You have to have experience so you can speak experientially so that the people will feel the power of what you’re talking about and not just hear what you’re talking about. Somebody ought to help me. I’ve lived so long and preached so long that whenever I come across one of these subjects about fear, I get a little nervous because I know God’s going to give me an experience so that I can preach from experience. I said, oh Lord, when I read this text. I’ve been knowing for three weeks that I was going to preach this text today and oh, I planned to wax on this idea of fear. I had planned to preach to you about fear. And last week, I was in Atlanta. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday went well. And then Wednesday, did everything that He did Monday and Tuesday, but He added something to my regimen. Speaking of the doctor, most of you know I was in Atlanta receiving cancer treatment. And the doctor got ready to put me in this hyperbaric oxygen therapy tank. I mean the name alone would scare you. But then, it was a kind of plastic tube that was about six to seven feet long on the floor and you had to get in this thing. But not just get in it, you had to lay down. And not only did you lay down, but then they zipped you up, up over your head. And they zipped you up from the outside. And then over the zipper they kind of folded over some flaps and then they zipped you up a second time. Now, I’m claustrophobic and proud of it. Don’t come up to me after church talking about you know, nah, I’m claustrophobic. If that ain’t your problem, God blessed you. But that’s my problem. And so, the first day, I sat in it. You know, they couldn’t close it up because I was sitting upright. I sat in it a while. I sat in it a while. Time went by and I sat in it a while. So, I kind of laid down but I said, “Don’t y’all zip this thing up. I’m just laying down here.” I laid off in there and they said, “You ready for us to close?” Oh, no. I’m coming out of here. I got up out of that thing. So, Brother Cunningham said, “Well, Pastor, let me get in a try. It should be alright.” HE got in it. They zipped it up once. They zipped it up twice. They turned the air on. He went through the process. He got out. Said, “See there.” I said, “See there.” Now, he’s sitting right there so you think I’m lying, ask him. He said, “Pastor, you can do that.” I said, “No, you did that but that ain’t me.” I said, “Nah, in time, I’ll get around to it, but in time. I can’t do it today.” I went back and started praying and the Lord brought it back to me. “Aren’t you preaching Psalm 46 Sunday?” “Yeah, but Lord, that’s preaching. This is a tube. I mean, I’m going to be in this pretty church on Sunday and I’m going to be waxing about fear not.” Yeah. “Let not your heart be troubled.” I said, “Yeah, I’m going to be preaching that.” He said, “Well how you gone do that and you scared to get in this tube and trust me?” “You know I’m claustrophobic.” The next day, Thursday, I went and looked at it. He’ll tell you. I didn’t even go sit in it Thursday. Instead of making progress, I went backwards. I just looked at. He said, “You going to try it?” I said, “No.” We went back to the hotel. I said, “Lord, I got to do this before Sunday because I’ll be a hypocrite getting up there telling those folk face your fears and I haven’t spent one minute in this tube. So, God, you’ve got to help me.” I sung every praise song that I heard the choir sing. I prayed every prayer. Then I started quoting scripture. And I finally got over there to Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ.” Friday, we went back. I climbed off in there. “I can do all things through Christ.” God, I can’t do this. You gone have to do it. I can’t even do it. You got to do it God. I leaned off and laid down. They zipped up the first one. “I can do all things through Christ.” They zipped it up again. “I can do all things through Christ.” Thank God, I made it with about 700 “I can do all things through Christ.” I didn’t stay in there the whole time, but I stayed in there a little while. When I go back next week, I’ll stay a little longer and I’m going to stay a little longer. I’m going to keep on quoting scripture till I stay in there to the whole time. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing that you fear, and the death of fear is certain.” Psalm 27 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?” The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And maybe you can do like me. Maybe you can only do it to start with a little while but keep working at it. And then the text says, “We will not faint for God is our resource.” Not only is He our refuge, but he’s our resource. Look at verse four. It says, “And there is a river that make glad the city of God.” And also, on down there, it says that “the most-high God dwelleth therein.” Now there are two, look at me, there are two things that this text says that cause the inhabitants of Jerusalem not to faint. Two sources. The first was the miraculous river and the second was, I’m sorry. The first was the marvelous river and the second was the miraculous resident. Look, first of all, at the marvelous river. “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” Hezakiah knew that one day, Sennacherib would come and attack Jerusalem. Therefore, he got started on a shrewd maneuver years early. He diverted the springs of Gihon which flowed under the steep hill of Ophel from where it was down through a conduit 1777 feet long into where they hewn out a solid rock and made it into a reservoir inside the walls of Jerusalem. Then he was wise enough to cover it up so it would not be detected by an invading army. Nobody knew that they had this unending water supply. Otherwise, the enemy would have cut it off. So, he was shrewd enough to get a water supply and then cover it up so no matter how long the attack lasted, they would have a deep-water supply to support the city. Otherwise, the city would have fallen from within, let alone the attack from without. Now listen, bring that all the way from Jerusalem to our day. And what I want to say to you today is that like Jerusalem, you too have a never-ending water supply because in you, if you are a child of God, you have a river that’s made with eternal resources and an eternal supply. If you’re not a Christian, God offers to you today, through His son, an eternal river. He wants to take up residence in your life and be a river that flows through you to meet every need that you have. First of all, He tells us that God the Father is a river of life. He calls himself, in Jeremiah 2:13, a living fountain. He said, “My people have committed two sins. One, they have forsaken me. And two, they have hewn systems out for themselves, broken systems that can hold no water.” But not only God the Father looked upon as a fountain or river, but God the Son is also called a fountain of water over there in John, chapter four, He talks to that Samaritan woman and that Samaritan woman, He said, “Whoever drinketh of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinketh of the water that I giveth unto him shall never thirst.” And then the Holy Spirit looks upon himself also as a river of water. It says the Holy Spirit says, “up out of the man shall flow rivers of water.” God says that if you’re a child of God, you have an unending river of water that will support you every time you are attacked by the enemy. All you have to do is call on the river that flows within you. That river can bring you wisdom on how to deal with your enemy. That river can bring you healing when you are sick. That river can give you understanding to what you don’t understand. That river can give you courage when you are faced with your fears. That river will provide whatever you need. But not only do you have a river, a marvelous river, there is a magnificent, the marvelous, I’m sorry. Not only do you have the marvelous river, but you also have this mysterious resident. Look what he says here, “the holy dwelling place of the most high. God is in the midst of her. She will not be moved.” God dwells in this city. You know why Sennacherib could not defeat Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem was the holy city. Jerusalem was where God dwelled. Now, had he known that, Sennacherib would have kept his army at home because he didn’t just jump on Hezakiah. He didn’t just jump on the people of Jerusalem. He jumped on God. And listen, whenever you belong to God, you have God’s protection and will and God’s promises. And when the enemy comes against you, he don’t just jump on you, he jumps on God. The reason why I can rejoice, even in my uncertain situation, is because I know that God is on my side because I belong to Him. It says here that in this city, God was in the midst. Well, when you think about it, He is always in the midst. At 12 years old, with the scholars in the temple, He was in the midst. After His resurrection, up there in the upper room, He was in the midst. There the Bible says in Revelations, He was walking around in the midst of the candlesticks among His churches. The Bible says He was in the midst around the throne. The Bible says He was in the midst among the cherubim. The Bible says wherever two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst. Anybody here know their Bible? I’m in the word here. He says He’ll be in the midst. And now pray it to your situation. What are you dealing with? What uncertain future are you facing? I want you to know that if you belong to God, He’s in the midst of that situation now. All you have to do is just let Him be God because He is in the midst. All you have to do is just don’t faint. Luke 18:1 says that “men ought to always pray and not faint.” That’s how if you take it backwards, if you don’t, if you’re fainting, it’s because you’re not praying. If you pray, you won’t faint. If you’re fainting, you’re not praying. Now, pray is different from saying your prayers. If you’ve known the Lord any length of time, you ought to be beyond “now I lay me down to sleep.” You ought to know a little bit more about prayer by now. And if you learn how to pray according to scripture, then you can be strong enough that when the weight of the world comes at you, you don’t have to faint. According to Galatians 6:9, it says “be not weary in well doing but in due season.” When you gone come Lord? In due season. Well, I don’t know when due season is but it's whenever God gets ready. “For in due season, ye shall reap if you faint not.” Somebody ought to help me here. Have I got a witness? The Bible tells us if you hold on, He’ll help you carry on. Well, I’ve been here long enough. Let me see if I can turn a third, turn past third to head toward home. We’ve looked at the fact that we will not fear for God is our refuge. And then we looked at the fact that we will not faint because God is our resource. And the last thing I want to tell you is that we will not fret for God is our relaxation. Look at verse 10. It says, “cease striving.” King James says, “be still and know that I am God.” Don’t run past that one. “Be still and know that I am God.” Now, when you go up just one or two verses, you discover that this is talking about a battlefield. Now, he talked these thoughts, I’m talking about your personal uncertainty. And then in verse four and five, he talks about the uncertainty of the city. And then starting up there in verse eight, he’s talking about the uncertainty of the nation because he’s talking about the fact that the battle is over. When you look at those verses, he describes what was a battlefield. Look at it, he says, “Come behold the works of the Lord who has wrought desolation in the earth. He makes war to cease.” You see that? “Till the end of the earth. He breaks the bowl and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire.” He is showing you the remains of warfare. Now the war is not going on but it’s the instruments of war. But those instruments of war, like the chariot, is turned over. And it’s like all of the arrows and the spears are rusty. What he’s showing you is the aftermath of war. In other words, what he’s describing is the battle is over. I said the battle is over. Now, what he’s saying is in your life, what he wants you to understand, is that when you put God in charge, the battle is over. He’s saying you don’t have to fight no more because nobody can fight like Him. The battle is over. Let Him turn over the chariots that’s coming against you. Let Him break the bowl and the spears that’s coming against you. Let Him destroy the enemy like He did Sennacherib that’s coming against you because the battle is not yours anyway. The battle is the Lords. So, let the Lord handle it. So, what he says is relax. Look up here. Let your hand hang down. You see, when you’re in charge, you’ve got to have your hands ready for battle. But he said relax. That “be still” from the Hebrew means be quiet, relax yourself. I’m in charge. You don’t have to worry, and you don’t even have to fight now because I’m able. Yes, I am. The Lord says, I’m able to handle the situation. And I don’t know how you feel about it, but I’m glad today to know that my God is able. I’m glad here, right now. And although I’m in the battle of my life, I’m not trying to fight this battle by myself. I’ve learned now how to let my hands hang down. And I tell the Lord, it’s your fight. Send me where you want me to go. Introduce to me the people you want me to know because this is your battle now because I am your child. But I kept on reading. It says the God of hosts is with us. I started shouting then because He says the God who created the world, He’s now with me. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are now with me. He’s now standing by my side. I can sing no, “He walks with me, and he talks with me. He tells me I am His very own. The voice I hear falling on my ear, none other has ever known.” Have I got a witness here? The God of hosts, He is walking with me. Not only is He walking with me, He’s walking with you. Yeah. I feel my help here now. I believe I’ll go on and preach a while. Have I got a witness? Now it would be alright if he sent an angel to be by my side because if an angel could do this, surely, he can handle my situation. Just what angel on one night to kill 185 thousand, surely, he can handle my problem if the Lord told him to. If He gone send me an angel, how about the Rayfield. How about Michael. How about Gabriel. Any of those angels ought to be able to handle my situation. But I heard, I heard the Lord say they’re not good enough for you. I’m coming myself. The God of hosts, I said the God of host. The God of hosts, He’s walking with me and He’s talking with me, yeah. Have I got a witness? You ought to be able to shout now because I know He is because He said the God of Jacob. Have I got a witness? I heard if He can be Jacob’s God, surely, He can be my God. If He can be Jacob’s God, surely, He can wrap His arms around me. Jacob was a rascal. Jacob was a thief. Jacob was a liar. Surely, surely, surely, if He can be Jacob’s God, He can be my God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In the Lord, alright. I’m so glad that He caught me by the hand and He’s walking with me right now. I’m not able to walk like I used to walk but He’s still walking with me. I’m not able to preach like I used to preach, but He’s preaching with me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Say yeah. Say yeah. Say yeah. In the Lord, alright. Won’t He make a way for you? Won’t He provide for you? Won’t He deliver you? Won’t He give you a second chance? Yeah. Yeah. Touch somebody. Tell them He’s alright. He’s alright. He’s alright. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. You brought me a might long way. Thank you, Jesus, for saving my soul. Thank you, Jesus. If you don’t do anything else, you’ve already done enough. Yeah. I’m through. I’m just trying to quit because he’s been so good. Hadn’t He been good to you? He’s been good to me. Yeah. I just have to praise Him. I’m through preaching. I’m shouting now because of what God has done for me. Yeah. He may not have done for me what He’s done for you, but every time I think about it, what the Lord has done for me, I have to shout about it. I have to shout about it. Every time I think about where He brought me from, I have to shout about it. I have to say yeah. I have to say yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Announcer: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast with host, Timothy George. You can subscribe to the Beeson podcast at our website, Beesondivinity.com. Beeson Divinity School is an interdenominational evangelical divinity school training men and women in the service of Jesus Christ. We pray that this podcast will aid and encourage your work, and we hope you will listen to each upcoming edition of the Beeson podcast.