Nothing is Everything (Part 2)

Introduction

Good afternoon. Anyone think about Jehoshaphat this afternoon, maybe a little bit? The idea to have nothing but in reality have everything. If you weren’t with us this morning, we started the first part of this two-part lesson looking at amazing, an amazing story in the Old Testament. The story of a king who found himself and his kingdom surrounded by a great number of enemies. In fact, multiple nations had rallied together to fight against Judah. We don’t know why, but they were there. And they decided that they would kind of come in from the south, kind of a sneaky way. It’s the Moabites and the Ammites and the men from Mount Zir, wherever that may be, obviously, east of the Dead Sea. But instead of coming from the north, which might be really the easier passage, they came from the south.

They were coming in to maybe sneak up on the Israelites in an unconventional way. But they were spotted, and they were seen. Not just by the Israelites, but by God. And so we read this as Jehoshaphat brings all the people together. As he brings them into the courtyard in front of the temple, and he prays this incredible prayer to the Lord, and he concludes it with this thought. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 12. Oh our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do. But our eyes are on you. What Jehoshaphat admitted is something that all of us truly need to admit in every moment of our lives.

That without the Lord, we really have nothing. And what Jehoshaphat is saying is that in a very honest way, he’s confessing what a lot of us experience in life when trials and challenges come upon us. I don’t know what to do. And he was honest enough to say it. Not just to the people, but more importantly to his Lord. And you know how the story ends. If you were here with us this morning, that the Lord sent a messenger, and that messenger spoke to all the people after Jehoshaphat shared this prayer, and they went out and they faced their enemies in a very unconventional way. And they went out with the singers first. And I found out this afternoon we got a lot of kids in the band here.

Yeah. Boy, how many am I glad I qualified that statement. Nothing wrong with you band punks, alright? That’s what this story’s about. It’s about those who were willing to sing the great song. The song of the musician and chief musician of David Asa. Give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever. And what’s interesting about their song is they sang it before the battle. But because they sang that song, the enemies, the enemies were immediately set into a fury and an ambush, and they attacked one another so that truly, by the time that the Israelites came to the valley of Baraka, this valley that eventually was renamed to be a valley of blessing. They saw that not only had the enemy been destroyed, but all the spoils were left behind.

1. The Admission of Fear

What I want us to do tonight is to make a few applications from this amazing story. And just like we did this morning in an expository kind of way, just sharing the story, I want you to see that the application comes straight from the text. And you might say to some degree, well, this is your take home. What does it mean? What does it mean to me? What does it mean to my life and my family when I have the faith to say, I am nothing? What does that mean? What does that look like? How does that express itself? How can I really come to my Lord truly empty-handed so that he can fill me like never before with everything from his goodness? Well, the first thing I want you to notice is something that Jehoshaphat will share a couple of times, and we notice in the story is that there’s that admission of fear.

And not fear of the enemy. Now I want you to see this. Notice in verse 3. In verse 3, when you go back to the story, then Jehoshaphat was afraid. And he set his face to seek the Lord. And he said, let’s have a fast. Let’s pray to our God. Notice again in verse 6, we’re getting down now into his prayer. And he begins his prayer with this admonition, but also this truth. You, O God, you, O God, rule over all the kingdoms. In fact, you rule over heaven, and your hand is powerful, so powerful. Notice this. No one, no one is able to withstand you. Did you catch what he said.

He said, I’m scared of all these enemies. I mean, this is a ruthless and vicious crowd coming up against us. But I fear you more, God. I fear you a lot more. Have you ever considered the value of fear? Generally, fear is one of those things we always run from. I have a niece and nephew that they actually came through town this week. When you live in Central Florida, you are the hotel stay for everybody in the world going to Disney. Alright? And I’m not going to tell you exactly where I live, because you’re not welcome all the time. All of you are not coming. Alright? Not all the time. But so here comes family. Every time they’re coming down, hey, we’re going to stay at your house.

And then they go, oh, we’re going to Disney. Go to Disney. Can you go? No, we sure will, but we can’t go. But they say that anyhow. And so they were going down there. And so, being the uncle that I am, I say, where are you going? Oh, we’re going to hit all the parts. I said, You’ve got to ride Mount Everest? Oh no, Uncle Phil. That’s scary. Well, are you going to ride Space Mountain? Oh, no. Rock and roller coaster. No. What are you going to do there? You got to ride it. You’ve got to ride it. Well, one of the things that I did with my kids is I made them ride wise. Am I not a great dad? You’re going to ride this and you’re going to enjoy it.

You know, oh no, daddy, oh no, daddy. No, come on. Trust me. Most of the people lived through it. I think the altar in your favor, you will make it. I finally got my daughter on Space Mountain. She was probably close to 11 years old. And I finally got her on it. And then she was all nervous in line. And I said, Trust me, just trust me, just trust me, just trust me. You won’t die. You won’t die. Just remember, you won’t die. We got on the ride, and y’all ever ridden Space Mountain? I forgot how dark it was. And I was a little nervous myself. You know, we were yanking back and forth, thinking you can’t see where the church is. And so I thought, oh, I have messed up as a father.

What have I done? We got to that part in the tunnel where it’s all flashing at the end. And I hear my little girl go, hey Daddy, what? She goes, I’m not dead. But no. We got all of us. Oh, I’m so proud of you. She goes, yes. I think you want to write it again. She goes, no, I’m done. But the thing is, the thing is, we have been given fear by our God to help us in my life. Fear, more often than not, is our friend. It teaches us limits. It keeps us from the edge. It teaches us boundaries. But sometimes fear can also be a capture. And sometimes a fear that is unhealthy can keep us from becoming what we need to be.

In this situation, Jehoshaphat realized that fearing the enemies, fearing all those armies, was not the best fear to have.

And it’s not that he’s intrepidation of God. He said God is some evil magician that’s kind of manipulating our life. No. He recognized God was in control. And what you hear is this. No one, I believe no one is able to withstand you. And you know what that meant? It meant that even I can’t withstand you. I may be a king. I may be the leader over all these people. I may have a lot of authority. And even I can’t withstand you. I want to just shoot through some passages here. I know I tell a lot of you are note takers, so I don’t want to just drive you crazy by going to passages real quickly, but I will give you these passages because I want you to hear how many times in Scripture, just real quickly, and we’re only going to hit a few of them, that Scripture reminds us of the value of fear.

Psalms 111, verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever. Psalms 112, verse 1. Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. Psalms 145, verse 19. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He will also hear their cry and save them. Proverbs 14, verse 26. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have a place of refuge. Proverbs 29, 25, listen to this one especially. The fear of man brings a snare. But whoever trust in the Lord shall be safe. Again, that’s Proverbs 29, verse 25. And then listen to what Jesus said to his disciples.

Matthew 8, verse 26. Why are you so fearful? Oh you of little faith. And he arose and he rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And what else did Jesus tell us? He says, do not fear him who can destroy the body, but fear him who can destroy the body and the soul. What you find with Jehoshaphat was a good use of fear. He used fear wisely when he recognized that the enemy was there, that the challenge had been laid upon them, that there was no way out. He didn’t run to the hills. He fell on his knees. And he put his fear where it should be. In the Lord. And he gathered all the families together to the temple to pray.

He used fear. And he used it well. Can I just make one quick point about this before we move on to the second application? I grew up. And maybe it was just what I remembered. But I grew up hearing a lot of sermons, and I felt like all the time the fire and brimstone sermons. Anyone else kind of grow up like that? Yeah. D. Bowman was the first preacher I remember. He was loud. And he could preach. And he would slap his hand. And when I was a little kid, and me and my brother and sister were playing church, and I would play D, I just screamed the whole time, you know. You know. But I remember those sermons. And maybe it’s like it is with many generations, whatever we kind of grew up with, we kind of get away from, and our pendulum will kind of swing, and maybe sometimes we swing so far that maybe we’ve got away from some of that.

2. He Brings All the People Together

And don’t misunderstand my point. Things need to be balanced. But if we’re not teaching our children to fear the Lord. And we don’t live with a good fear in our hearts of the Lord. We’ve missed it. In fact, what does the Ecclesiastic writer tell us? What is the whole duty of man? The wife? Fear God. Keep his commandments. Ammites, Moabites, Menuites, those from Alzheir. Don’t worry about them. Put your eyes on the Lord. That’s what Jehoshaphat does. The second thing that he does, and this is so remarkable, is you’ll notice it in verses 4 and 5, is that he brings all the people together. And what he shows when he brings all the people together is he shows his own humility. Instead of dividing the nation, he has united the nation.

This is what’s amazing about his leadership. And this is what is so uncommon today. When there’s a great, big, huge crisis today, what’s the very first thing our leaders do? What’s the very first thing that’s almost instinctive with us? We look for what? Whose fault is it? Who did it? Well, this is their fault. Well, this never would have happened if they’d voted for my bill and done what I told them to do. No, but they followed that. This is all their fault. And we get divided. Isn’t it interesting that Jehoshaphat, when the news came to the castle, didn’t go, all right, generals, do something. I made you generals, do something. All right, all right, where’s the rest of the military? Where’s my? Do something.

All right, where’s all our politicians to negotiate with these people? Do something. No, he doesn’t do all that. In fact, what he recognizes is that this is a national challenge. And what I want you to grasp and understand is that he doesn’t blame anyone. He doesn’t make excuses. Instead, he unifies the kingdom by having the humility to say to everybody, oh, I got nothing. I got nothing. So we’re going to have to get together and pray. Isn’t it interesting that his attitude is a lot a lot like what you see in David? Y’all remember David? We talked about this morning when he was fighting Goliath. When he got to the battle, have you ever considered everything he didn’t say? I mean, he should have been going, all right, Saul!

God made you king, man. He made you head and shoulders taller than everybody else. Go get him, you big chicken. No. He didn’t go up to his brothers and go, oh, come on! Come on, God, come on. No. He doesn’t point to the people that weren’t willing to fight and say, oh, sure, yeah, single little guy out there. Oh, that’s what we’re going to do. Sure, is it? No. He doesn’t do any of that. He doesn’t point. Even when he goes and he defeats the giant. He doesn’t come back, throw the head down in front of everybody else and go, Yeah.

You don’t see any of that.

Because he was a man of humility. Let me put this in practical terms so that you can understand how this works. This isn’t easy. Some of you have experienced this. Or some of you have watched others who have.

And what happens when that child turns on his parents or turns on their upbringing or even turns on the Lord? Pretty soon, not only is there friction between the child and the parents, and then very often, as is the case, the parents will turn on one another. Well, it’s all started when you. You let them do. You did the No, it was you, and then you can see a divide there. And you know what? You know what? It was the church. I tell you what, they grew up in that church with so many, and oh, and that was the church. And you know what? That preacher and he never would, and they were never, oh, brother so-and-so was friendly to everybody, but our child. And do you see what happens after a while?

How Satan gets his tentacles and his deception into our hearts. And not only now do we have one problem, now we’ve made it multiple problems. And now it’s not just one person, now it’s every person. And then pretty soon everybody’s against us. Nobody’s with us, and it’s everybody’s fault. You ever seen that? Two guys get together and have a business, and the business is going great until there’s a big financial issue or a crisis, and then when things start going down, then the fingers start pointing. The excuses start coming. Everything with the church is going great until there’s a challenging spiritual issue, or there’s a challenging issue facing a few people in the congregation, and then the friction starts and the accusations fly, and the divide begins.

And what was the problem? That was one is now many. And the people that were on your side, that were your confidants, are now the enemy as much as the initial enemy.

Because when that one enemy came up against him, even he realized that really wasn’t the enemy.

What does Paul tell us in Ephesians 6 and in verse 12? We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. That’s kind of an interesting phrase. No. Your challenge today isn’t really about flesh and blood. No. Our challenge is against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of darkness in the age, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. It’s a thing that Jesus would say in John chapter 10, as he reminds all of us, especially those of us that are brethren, your enemy is not your brother. Your enemy is not your sister. Your enemy is not your mate or your spouse or your abuser or your coworker. The enemy is the one who’s controlling them. That’s the enemy. And Jesus says, He is the one.

He is the thief that has no ambition but to steal and to kill and to destroy. You need to recognize and understand there is one enemy. That enemy is Satan. And even in the heart of that person who has turned against you, who is shouting vile things against you, and maybe trying to discredit you and to burn your reputation, they have been manipulated by the enemy.

Is that we even love our enemies? Why? Because they’re not the real enemy. Satan is. And don’t let his tentacles get into any other aspect of your life. Jehoshaphat shut it down right there. Everybody was scared. Everybody was frightened. Everybody had come to the courtyard. And Jehoshaphat made sure the fear stopped there. And instead of dividing, he unites with his humility. For the weapons of our warfare, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. And this is what Jesus said in John chapter 17 in the upper room. Wasn’t this his prayer? Wasn’t this his paradise? And I want you to go back to that to that image of our Lord in a very physical way, as we talked about this morning in Bible class, of our Lord in human flesh, the word that it became flesh, and we saw his glory for God.

And when you go back to the upper room, I want you to listen to his prayer in John 17 as he prays to the Father for the disciples. And what does he pray? Unify them. Unify them. May they be instruments of unification, not division, because in their unity together, they will become an extremely powerful evangelistic tool that will influence not only the brotherhood, but more importantly, the world.

3. He Highly Values God's Messengers

It’s their unity. So what Jehoshaphat brought was a synergy to unite people to seek the Lord. Isn’t that amazing? He got everybody on their knees seeking the Lord instead of looking out at the enemy. Because we’re in this together. We’re in this together. The third thing that he does, and this is real neat because if you remember in the previous chapter, it’s not something that he did really, maybe early on in his kingship. You’ll notice that the third thing that he does is he highly values God’s messengers. If you go back to the little debacle with Ahab, when the messenger and God came out and spoke, you know, Jehoshaphat was like, hey, I think we ought to listen to this guy. And Ahab goes, ah, no.

He goes, oh no, he relates to God. Nah. And so he ignored him. He allowed Ahab to get into his head. Not anymore. Not anymore. If you look at 2 Chronicles chapter 20, when Jehaziel, when he stands up and cheers his declaration, Jehoshaphat takes it as law. Why? Because it was. It was. And he took it and he valued it. And what you find him doing is it is that he listened to the preacher. This is one of my favorite points in the whole sermon. You ready?

But seriously.

That’s the point. Listen. Listen. Listen to those that you know have your spiritual well-being at heart. Listen to those who don’t want anything monetarily or physically from you. They just want you to serve the Lord. Listen to those who’ve been spent their life in the word. Listen to your elders. Listen to your ministers. Listen to those who are spiritually strong and sound. Listen to them. And their wisdom. There’s something I could, if I could really change. I would love to change perception. And here’s what I mean by that. I gotta confess, I’d never really wanted to be a preacher. You’re asking now to go and be a preacher. No, not really. It’s just, you know, can I can I be a news guy all the time and then be a preacher on the weekend, you know?

Can I can I go be a business man, make a little money in the preaching thing on the weekend? Can I go back, you know, like in the early days where they had their arms and you know, can I see it? There’s just something about it. When some of you come to somebody on the street and they say, What do you do? And you go, well, I’m a preacher. Oh. Most of the time people go.

I used to go to a barber shop in Heretown, and invariably, every single time, I kid you not, this is no lie. When I would walk in the door, there would be this code mark. Somebody’d say, Hey, preacher! And the place went quiet. And you know, whatever was fun going on just ended. Everybody’s like, ah, great. I’ll tell you later. I’d love to change perceptions. But you know where that perception begins? Begins in here. It begins in here.

When’s the last time you met some parents or a father who was rearing his son? And hey, where are you hoping he’ll be? I’d like to be a preacher. And I hope one day he’s an elder in the church. Oh. Maybe it would be great if she becomes this incredible Bible class teacher making curriculum. Oh yes, that would be great. Don’t hear like that, do you? Yeah, I’m not saying it’s wrong if you don’t. But people value what they’re taught to value. I live in Gainesville. Anybody want to guess? Anybody want to guess how everybody feels about the University of Florida in Gainesville? Anybody want to guess? They like it. Oh, they like it a lot. If that was the I’ll just read and go, ah, okay.

No, come to Gainesville. It’s great. I grew up and love it. Guess what everybody’s here for there? Texas Tech. I’m now in Gainesville and my team wins. It’s so cool! I can’t actually win now. Yes! But here’s what I find. Somebody in Gainesville doesn’t really care for anybody in Tallahassee if they like Florida State, and somebody here probably didn’t care for somebody if they like Oh, can I say it?

Oh, I just sinned in front of the Brotherhood around here, didn’t I? Yes? Does that make you feel better? Isn’t it? Here’s the deal.

Why do kids value these things so much? Because we’ve taught them to value those things. It’s their community, it’s their environment. And you know what? It’s not necessarily wrong. Don’t misunderstand the point. But how many times have you seen parents make this more important than this?

And when it comes to where they go to school or what they may become in life, they all sinners around whatever is the family love with the family school or the family passions or the family desires or the family hobbies, and then when the children are no longer walking with the Lord, we go, I don’t know what happened.

Isn’t it interesting that when you go back to this story? You find in verse 17 one of the greatest passages in all of Scripture. And it came from the mouth of a man who was merely a messenger of the Lord. If you were to play a Bible trivia game and ask somebody who is Jehaziel, they would probably stare at you. It sounds like Old Testament. But you talk about something to write on the doorpost of your home. Verse 17. You’re exiting your house. And this is written over the doorpost of your home. You will not need to fight this battle. Stand firm. Hold your position. And see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed.

Tomorrow, go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.

Isn’t that a great quote? And you know what Jehoshaphat does? He goes, okay. Absolutely. In fact, he doubles down on the statement, if you will, and he says, We’re not only going to go out, we’re going to put the singers out there first. And we’re going to sing that song as we all go out against those enemies. Remember the man who said, I got nothing. Now he not only has something, but he has a plan.

Oh man, what kind of church is he going to? No, I’ve got a board of directors. And a lot of the individuals on my board know they’re on my board, but many of them do not. Who are they? They’re men and women of great faith who I greatly value their opinion and their guidance on numerous matters. Whether it’s child rearing, finances, Bible study, mentoring, counseling, or just being a godly soldier. And what they say to me and how they guide me and the advice they give me matters. And I seek their counsel. Been laughing with Tony.

I look like 25, right?

And I’m getting to a point in my life where some of my mentors are passing away, and it’s like losing a security blanket. But even when I lose them, they’re still there because I know that they would tell me to do.

4. He Accepts the Mission and Makes Peace with the Plan

I don’t know if you caught on, but the plan was simply this. Go out. Go out and meet them. You’re not going to have to fight, but I’m telling you just to go. And what you find here, you find here that he accepts your mission. And he goes. And what you find in him is the spirit of the redeemed. In Psalms 107. In Psalms 107, you find a very powerful Psalm with a very powerful theme. And the theme is this let the redeemed say so. Well, what are they saying? They’re saying, give thanks to the Lord. Why? Because he is good. Why? Because his steadfast love endures forever. And so let the redeemed say so. And at the very end of Psalm 107, you find this.

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things. Let him consider the steadfast love of the Lord. When you look at Jehoshaphat and you look at him in this story, he acknowledges he’s got nothing. I got nothing. So the prophet says, Go. And some of us will look at that and go, dude, you still got nothing. How are you going to go? What are you going to do? How’s it going to play out? How’s he going to find? Blah. No! God gave me his answer. And I’m gonna go with it. And what he does is he makes peace with the plan. He didn’t have to have all the answers that we sometimes think we gotta have, that we gotta have to move. He simply heard what God said, and he didn’t argue it.

I tell you, that’s what faith is, isn’t it, folks? That faith is not a perfect knowledge which comes with a perfect understanding, with a perfect reasoning of why God said, do this. You ever found yourself doing that? Okay, what if God told him to do this unless it’s to get the courage? Why didn’t you say to have it like this way, this way, this way? Well, we can look like this passage, it shows it right here, and they’re doing it. We do it like a mathematical form, so we’ll go this. So it all made sense. Yes. Now I’ll do it. No. No. Sometimes to really have faith in God is to do it just because God said so. Alright. How many parents have ever used that on your kids?

Y’all ever heard that one? It’s a cop out. Trust me, it’s the biggest we’ve got nothing to say to you, and we just really want to rip your head off, and it’s a way to get you out of our face at that moment. Because I said so, or I’m going to kill you. That’s just. No, but really. Really? When you say, because I said so, more often than not is I could explain this to you, and you probably still wouldn’t get it. But it doesn’t matter. You’re going to do it not because you understand, not because it makes sense, but because you trust me. Isn’t that what faith is? To trust. Would it concern you if I shared with you there’s some things in Scripture I still don’t understand?

But I do it anyhow. Why? Because I trust the one who said it. And what you hear from Joe Hosaphat is a desire to trust the Lord. And what you see is that when they leave that courtyard, they don’t leave the courtyard in fear, intrepidation. No. They leave the courtyard with confidence and they go out to the valley and they go out through the plains of Decoa and they go out to face the enemy because their confidence was in God. And what a great scene. Verse 20. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 20. And they rose early in the morning. And they went out into the wilderness of Dakoah. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Can’t you see him just going and standing up on a rock as everybody went by?

Hear me. Hear me. Hear me, all you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Jerusalem. Listen to what I’m saying. Believe in the Lord. Believe in the Lord your God, and he will establish you. Believe his prophets, and you will succeed. Go. And they all went. They all went. Nobody knew there was going to be an ambush. Nobody knew the enemy was going to turn on themselves. Nobody knew it was going to end like it did. But they went simply because God said, I got this. Trust me. And they were at peace with it. I mean, one moment they’re huddled up crying and scared. And the next moment they’re going, let’s go. And they went.

5. Gather the Spoils of Grace

And then the last thing that’s so crucial to the story is they took the time to gather the spoils of grace.

Would God have saved them if they didn’t go? God says, all right, what’d you go? We’re good. We believe you. We’re going to stay right here. Probably not. Probably not.

Because faith without works is dead. But what safe is the spoils of grace. And after admitting his own inadequacy, Jehoshaphat put his trust in the Lord, and he received the deliverance of the Lord. But God does more than just conquer the enemy. He gives the faithful the spoils of grace. And when he says, here is my grace. Here is my mercy to you. You can’t save yourself, but I’m going to give you all the joy and all the victories that come with this great victory. What he gave them was what was unexpected. Sometimes as parents, we labor and we work and we toil and do all the things that come with just simply living life, and then we’re trying to mentor our kids, teach our kids, and instruct our kids, and we’re going above and beyond what the world would say do because we’re trying to instill in them a heart for God.

And sometimes we find ourselves going, oh, this is driving me crazy. When will I ever reap the benefits of it? And I’m still waiting. When’s it gonna come? But then I slow down and realize, wait, it’s already here. It’s already here. God’s given me blessings that I just can’t fathom. He’s given me peace that I just can’t even understand. He’s given me joy that goes beyond, far beyond comprehension, and he’s given me a family that I don’t deserve. And he’s given me a family that comes with a spiritual family. And he’s given me this great gift that comes with his word. And he’s given me salvation. He’s given me hope. He’s given me love. He’s given me mercy. I’ve got spoils, galore. The problem is sometimes I haven’t taken the time to gather above.

Because sometimes I’m not looking into the valley of Baraka. I’m looking over on the other hillside to see what’s there, and I’m missing what God has given me here. I want you to think about it. You go back to this story, and it took them three days to get all the spoil that was in that valley left behind by the enemies. What did these guys bring with them?

They have an arm wall with all their clothes. Yeah, walking through with this, you know. Were they pulling a travel trailer with them? Oh, disgrace. Holy God. What’d they have?

Well, they had probably what any army that was fortified would have.

They had the tools to not only outfit an army, but defeat an army. They had tents. They had belongings. They had things that you need to sustain life. And it was valuable.

Because it pertained to life.

And there was so much of it there. And Jehoshaphat didn’t want to miss it. And so what should have been a valley of death now became a valley of blessing. And they took the time to gather the spoils. Can I give you just a little bit of advice as an older preacher speaking to all of you here?

Don’t forget to gather the spoils of the victories of God.

And this has always been one of my greatest issues. Is that every single time when Sunday comes around and I get in the car to head home with my wife? You want to guess what immediately we start talking about? You want to guess what immediately comes up, and it just it just comes to the straight up front of my mind. I start with a list of everybody who wasn’t there. Oh, where was that guy? Oh, where was the oh, I just talked to them, and where were they? Oh, I were there. Oh, I gotta follow up with them, and that’s almost home and I’m and she’ll go, what is it a great day? No!

And I failed to remember that there were 350 faithful souls who came to sing praises to God, who shared hugs, who shared scripture, who shared affection, who shared their blessings.

And he hit me. I’m not gathering the spoils. I’m not gathering the spoils. Take the time to see the victories of God and celebrate them. Gather them in. Show your gratitude to the Lord. Because here’s what’s interesting. God didn’t just stop there. Go to verse 30. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, and God gave him rest all around. You know why that happened? Because all the other nations heard how God fights for Jehoshaphat. And they didn’t want to mess with him. What a blessing. And you have a God who fights for you. Who loves you? Who rejoices in you. Don’t forget to get the spoils.

Conclusion

I want to conclude with verses 27 and following. It says, Then they returned. And every man of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat at their head, returning to Jerusalem with joy. For the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with harps and with leers and with trumpets to the house of the Lord. In the fear of God. There’s that healthy fear of. Then the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Did you see what had happened? The news went out. And now not only are the Israelites fearing God, but the other nations are fearing God. How powerful is that?

And the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet. For God gave him rest all around. You see this story? Just like we said this morning, this story isn’t about Jehoshaphat. Story is about your God. Your father.

Unmerited favor comes to the humble. So the question for us tonight is this. Are we humble? Are we humble? Are we truly willing to profess this truth? I got nothing. So I’m going to put all my trust in the Lord. And whatever he says to do, I’ll do it. Because I trust him. Tonight. Hear me. Just like the prophet standing in the courtyard, hear on his room. Hear me. If you haven’t been baptized into Christ and put on Christ and been clothed by his salvation garment, why are you waiting?

Empty yourself. Set aside all the pride. Set aside all the vain glory of this world. Come to him because he wants to offer you everything.

And folks, that’s what life in Jesus is. That’s everything. And heaven is everything. Everything. And the Lord gives it to those who would simply say, I got nothing. But that’s you tonight, and we can help you in any way in your walk with the Lord, once you come while we stay in the same