Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Welcome to the Chroma Charge podcast.
[00:00:06] Okay, so a couple of weeks ago, I got to go in to a meeting that was being led by one of my heroes, and he's a man called Benny Hinn.
[00:00:21] And some of you may have heard of him, he's been around doing crusades, TV evangelism, all sorts of things.
[00:00:28] He's doing a lot in Africa at the moment, and literally, I think hundreds of thousands are turned into Jesus as they're doing some of the crusades out there. But I grew up on Benny Hinn. So I remember as a teenager reading his book, and I've talked about it, Good morning, Holy Spirit, where he talked about every morning you should wake up, say, good morning, Holy Spirit. What are we going to do today?
[00:00:57] And he was in Bedford, so I got an invite. So I got to sit in the front row, which was very exciting. And he was ministering, and it was in the tent revival there they were doing a few weeks ago. And the worship was lovely.
[00:01:15] The tent was packed with a few thousand people, and the worship was lovely.
[00:01:20] But the thing that really stood out to me was when he stood up and he started singing, and it was just. I don't know how old he is now. He must be heading towards 80.
[00:01:36] How many?
[00:01:38] Seven. Yeah, yeah. And he just picked the microphone up and started singing. And there was an old geezer on the keys.
[00:01:45] And I hope Dan looks like this old guy, okay. When he's that age, the presence of God just came like this sweet presence all through the tent.
[00:02:02] And what I think I would say to you is, honor the people that God loves.
[00:02:08] Now, look, I know he loves everyone, okay? But he has favorites.
[00:02:14] There's no doubt about it. Read the Bible. And the Bible is a book telling you how you can become his favorite.
[00:02:20] Okay? But so he loves.
[00:02:23] Excuse me.
[00:02:24] He loves us all. But there's no doubt about it.
[00:02:28] There are people he chooses and calls to himself, and people who the Lord loves to be around normally, because they love to be around the. The Lord.
[00:02:41] And David was the king. David was one of. One of those people. I'm. We're going to do a little look at one of the Psalms. I didn't know Juliet was going to do Psalm 23. But one of the things Benny was talking about at the tent revival, and he must have talked for an hour and a half, if not two hours. Okay? I'm not going to do that this morning.
[00:03:03] But he was talking about the Bible, and he was asking the question. He was saying, you know, how much do you read Your Bible. And he said, I, I was, you know, I used to read my Bible once a year, you know, cover to cover, once a year. And he said, I had this lady on my, on my TV show and live on air, she said, well, Benny, how much do you read your Bible? And he, you know, he said, he said, well, you know, I try to get through about once a year. And she said, I read it four times a year, three or four times a year. And that's what you need to do.
[00:03:34] And so he started over the last 10 years to read his Bible. I think he said three, it might not have been four, it been three, three times a year. And he said, when you start reading the Bible that much, there's not much time for anything else.
[00:03:51] You know, you have to, you know, you have to let the social media go, you have to let some of the TV go, because there's a lot in here to read. And he was talking about how the, with the coming of Jesus, Jesus is the Word and the Word became flesh.
[00:04:12] And when we read the Bible, the Word becomes flesh in us, okay? So when we read this book, when we study this book, when we live our lives by this book, the word Jesus, Jesus is the Word becomes flesh when we read it and do it. That's why James says, don't just be hearers of the Word, be doers.
[00:04:45] And so I want to throw a challenge out to us all in, in this season to. Well, first I want to ask a question that you don't have to answer. You don't answer, okay? This is just a rhetorical question, so I want to take that.
[00:05:03] How many of you have read the Bible cover to cover?
[00:05:09] Or more importantly, how many haven't read the Bible cover to cover yet? The stories of the patriarchs, the prophets, the kings, and you're giving your life to something you don't yet fully know, the story of the God of the Bible. And I want to really encourage you that this year to read this book cover to cover all the difficult bits.
[00:05:49] And I know that some of the books have got long lists of names.
[00:05:53] They're just like, they're people just like you.
[00:05:56] That's why they're in there. People, just ordinary people like you that did something for God and they got their name in the Bible and there's going to be, there's another book that all your names are in. And trust me, you won't get tired of reading that book. It's called the Book of Life, okay? And so when we read it and you read it and you think, I don't know who that person is. And I don't know who that person is. We'll find out.
[00:06:20] Find out. I mean, there's this incredible thing called Google, you know, so you're reading about someone and you put their name in and it brings up all of the story about them. You go, I had no idea they did that. I had no idea that they were so important in that story.
[00:06:37] And so as we keep reading the Bible, cover to cover, the Word gets into us and becomes flesh.
[00:06:47] So what we're going to do this morning is we're going to do a psalm. So if you've got your Bible, find Psalm 20. You've already found Psalm 23, so you know where it is. Just a few pages before, why don't you stand up? And we're going to read. So we'll stand as we read.
[00:07:11] This is one of my favorite psalms, but I love all the Psalms.
[00:07:17] May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble.
[00:07:22] May the name of the God of Jacob defend you.
[00:07:27] May he send you help from the sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion.
[00:07:33] May he remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah. Selah means pause. Just think.
[00:07:44] Meditate on what you just read.
[00:07:48] And then he says, may he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose.
[00:07:57] We will rejoice in your salvation.
[00:08:00] And in the name of our God, we will set up our banners.
[00:08:05] May the Lord fulfill all of your petitions.
[00:08:09] Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.
[00:08:21] Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
[00:08:29] They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright.
[00:08:35] Save Lord.
[00:08:37] May the King answer us when we call.
[00:08:41] Amen. Take a seat.
[00:08:46] So what the psalmist and what David is writing is, he's saying that the Lord will speak and rescue and save you in the day of trouble.
[00:08:57] And the interesting thing is when we're in trouble, that's normally when we're listening, when everything's going well, when everything's, you know, hunky dory, you know, we tend to not listen that well. But when you're in a day of trouble, when things are not going quite how you'd hoped, then suddenly God has your attention and he says this. He says, may the name of the God of Jacob defend you.
[00:09:24] And I guess what I want to ask you the question. So this is just right at the start of the psalm. May the name of the God of Jacob defend you. Who is the God of Jacob?
[00:09:33] Who is this God of Jacob? You know, David wrote this psalm. He's saying that before God is your God, you must understand that he was the God of Jacob.
[00:09:44] David isn't saying my God at this point. He will. In a few verses, he's talking about the God of. Of Jacob. And so I just happened to be reading Genesis while we're away, and I love Jacob.
[00:10:00] Jacob had more encounters with God than most people. If you read his story and you start adding up all the times that the Lord appears to him, angels appear to him, he has dreams.
[00:10:14] And Jacob's story starts when he gets Esau's birthright, and Esau sells his birthright for a snack.
[00:10:25] And if you want to learn a lesson from Jacob or Esau, depending on which way you look at it, don't sell your birthright.
[00:10:36] The things that God has spoken over you, the things he's given to you, are precious, and it's easy to give them away.
[00:10:44] Hold on to the things that God has given you.
[00:10:48] And then skip a few years. Isaac blesses Jacob. And if you know the story, you know, Jacob deceives Isaac and, you know, puts fur and smells like Esau so that he will get the blessing and he becomes the anointed and the other thing. So the next thing I would say to you is, get all the blessings you can.
[00:11:16] You know, sometimes we're a bit shy on getting people to bless. You know, the, you know, the, you know, I'm sitting in the front row with Benny Hinn, and, you know, he's walking around and people are falling everywhere and he's praying everywhere. You know, I'm just, you know, moving my head, you know, do that. Not, not because there's anything particularly special about Benny Hinn, but there is something special about Benny Hinn. God likes him, okay? And the. The Spirit of God. So, you know, I. I wanna. I want to receive the blessings, you know, and sometimes, you know, is there anyone English here?
[00:11:53] You know, oh, well, you know, I'm just going to stay in my seat. If God wants to bless me, he'll bless me. I mean, he'll find me. I don't want to. I don't want to trouble anyone.
[00:12:01] That's not Jacob.
[00:12:04] Jacob's like, I'm going to get this blessing no matter what. Even if Esau almost kills me, I'm going to go for the blessing of God.
[00:12:13] And then Jacob dreams. Often we think of Joseph as the dreamer, but it's interesting that Jacob, his father is the dreams and he sees the ladder from heaven and angels ascending and descending. And Jacob is learning that heaven and earth are connected and that there is an interaction between heaven and earth and that the blessing of God comes from, comes from heaven.
[00:12:39] And at this point, Jacob makes a statement. This is what he says.
[00:12:44] If God will be with me, he says, I'll give a tenth.
[00:12:48] Yeah, we talked about it in the, in the giving. I didn't know Juliet was going to do that. And you want a lesson from Jacob, Never forget your tithe. If you're going to shortchange anyone, don't shortchange God.
[00:13:05] That's what Jacob says. And then Jacob is looking, so he, he's looking for a wife and he asks the Lord to guide him to a wife. And he meets Rachel, falls into, falls in love with Rachel. If you know, the story ends up with Leah. What you learn from that, Relationships are tricky, okay? You wake up on your, on your, you know, wedding morning, wrong wife.
[00:13:30] Okay? I mean, life is not straightforward. But we're talking about the God of Jacob. That's what David's talking about.
[00:13:39] The God of Jacob will defend you. And you're going, wow. I mean, it's not going too well for Jacob at the moment, is it? He's got the wrong wife. A week later, he gets. And gets Rachel as well. This is not a good model.
[00:13:52] Okay, but, but this is. This is God working through the mess of people. And he's blessed with 12 sons. But the interesting thing is Rachel, his love is barren.
[00:14:09] Have you ever wondered why Abraham's wife Sarah was barren? Isaac's wife Rachel was barren, Jacob's wife is barren.
[00:14:21] Why?
[00:14:24] I'm not a theologian, I'm just me. But I've got a theory.
[00:14:30] You know, God is showing, if you want covenant, he's showing that covenant people are not born by human strength, but by the promise and intervention of God.
[00:14:42] You want to see miracles?
[00:14:44] They don't come by our strength.
[00:14:47] You want to see promises fulfilled, they come by the intervention and the promises of heaven.
[00:14:53] That's what Jacob saw.
[00:14:56] And that's why when God makes a promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, that you will be the blessings to the earth, his miraculous power doesn't come from, from their efforts.
[00:15:14] It comes from the intervention of heaven. And then God blesses him under Laban. So he's got two wives now.
[00:15:26] He's working for a bad boss and he keeps changing his wages and then doing it.
[00:15:32] But God is still fine. This is the God of Jacob, sometimes you're going to have relationship problems. Sometimes you're going to have trouble with a boss.
[00:15:41] But God still wants to bless him. And, you know, sometimes we forget who our God is and we oh, it's just too hard. I just need to quit.
[00:15:51] I can't do this anymore. This isn't working.
[00:15:54] It's not happening. But all the time that Laban is changing his wages, God is working a plan to bless Jacob. And you know the story of the if you've read it, and if you haven't, you can read it in Genesis that he gets all the speckled animals.
[00:16:14] And then he leaves Laban blessed with his two wives.
[00:16:20] And then God reunites him with Esau.
[00:16:26] Now, remember, he's stolen the blessing from Esau. And the last time they were together, they were going to kill each other. Actually, Esau was going to kill Jacob, all right? So he's now going to be reunited.
[00:16:43] Why is this important? Family is important.
[00:16:48] God puts us in families.
[00:16:50] You can choose your friends. You don't get to choose your family. But family is important to God and his purposes, and he's going to reunite these two. But before he does that, Jacob has another vision.
[00:17:07] And he wrestles with God in this. And he says, this is what he says to God, I will not let you go until you bless me.
[00:17:19] I am not letting go. And the angel pushes his hip and puts it out, but he won't let let go.
[00:17:29] Now, this is what God says to him. Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and men and have prevailed.
[00:17:41] So he struggled with God, he struggled with people.
[00:17:46] Life has not been easy, but he has prevailed and walked with the Lord, who is the God of Jacob, the God who walks with us as we prevail through life, as we struggle with people, as we struggle with life situations, and then as we struggle even with God. And we say, lord, I am not going to give up until you bless me.
[00:18:12] That's how you can become one of God's favorites.
[00:18:16] You know, sometimes you look around and go, it's just not fair. I don't know why that happens to them, and that doesn't happen to me. And this happens to them, and that happens to them.
[00:18:25] Prevail with God, and he changes his name to Israel. From Jacob, who grasps the heel to Israel, God prevails.
[00:18:43] And you see, Psalm 20 tells us that, may the God of Jacob defend you. Some of you are just giving your lives to Jesus.
[00:18:53] Okay?
[00:18:54] He may be, you know, if I said the prayer or Someone said the prayer, you believed what I said. And you've given your life to Jesus and you've seen what he's done in my life or you've heard the stories of what he's done in my life. But what God wants to do is to move you from the God of Steve or the God of Juliet or the God of Jacob to your God, to the God that you know.
[00:19:18] He says, may he send help from heaven for every area of your life. He says, may he remember your offerings.
[00:19:28] Do you know that was the start of Jacob's journey? Do you remember?
[00:19:32] And he got that from Abraham. Abraham is the one that gives the first tithe.
[00:19:38] He gives it to Melchizedek.
[00:19:41] There was something in this family that was, was attracting the presence of God. And that God would remember what we do.
[00:19:53] You see, God looks back at how we've lived and how we've honoured him. And it's not just your money, it's your worship, it's your devotion to him.
[00:20:07] It's the people that open up their homes and disciple people.
[00:20:12] That's our offerings. It's the people that prefer others over themselves. And the Lord remembers their offerings.
[00:20:21] That's what David is saying.
[00:20:24] And you see, if you don't know the story of Jacob, how will you know how God will deliver you? And that's why it's so important, not just to have the Spirit in us, but to read the Bible and to read the stories of the Bible. He goes on, you know, he wants to work in your life. He wants to give your heart's desires. And some of you are going, I'm not sure if my heart's desires are that good, you know, I mean, they might be up the wall.
[00:20:51] Well, my Bible said he's given you a new heart. If you've got a new heart, your desires should be in line with his. And if your desires aren't in line with his, give yourself a slap and get them in line with his.
[00:21:03] But he's given you a new heart, therefore your heart's desires are in line with his. He wants to fulfill your purpose. Everything he's called you to do. But sometimes you just can't see it yet because you're mid life.
[00:21:19] Jacob only became Israel later on in his life. He had to go through the relationship problems, he had to go through the bad boss problems, he had to go through the making, making it right with Esau to become Israel.
[00:21:39] And what happens is as we go through these, these life hurdles with God, we see his salvation again and again. And Again, the psalmist says he, you set. He. We set his banner over us.
[00:21:57] Yeah, we approached praying earlier.
[00:22:01] It's a lot about flags in the news at the moment, right? What flag you fly?
[00:22:07] There is only one flag, and it belongs to the line of Judah.
[00:22:12] And the flag we want to fly over this nation is the Lord our God. We fly his flag, we raise his banner over our lives for all to see.
[00:22:28] That is the God of Jacob.
[00:22:32] He says, may He. I'm moving really fast now. May he fulfill your petitions, everything you ask for.
[00:22:38] You know, again, sometimes we don't ask for enough.
[00:22:41] We worry that somehow God will run out, that somehow the desires in our hearts are wrong. But he's saying he'll fulfill all of your petitions, all of the things you ask him for, and then you will look back and understand that no one can bring down his anointed.
[00:23:00] Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name of our God. Do you notice the difference now?
[00:23:09] It's not the God of Jacob anymore. David isn't talking about the God of Jacob. He's talking about our God because he's been through the same journey that Jacob went through to become Israel. And we go through that journey and God wants to become our God. It cannot be the God of your parents. It cannot be the God of Juliet and I. It cannot be the God of Benny Hinn.
[00:23:31] It's him becoming our God because we've walked with him.
[00:23:37] You see, the psalm starts the God of Jacob, but it finishes the name of the Lord, our God.
[00:23:46] He becomes our treasure. That's what happens in the journey of life, because you walk with him through life. You start with the God of Steve or the God of Jacob. And you start to read the stories in here of the God of Jacob. At the moment, you're just trusting him with a little bit of your life. But as you read the stories and the stories, the Word of God becomes flesh in your life. The stories start to become your stories. And you, he becomes your God because he's walked with you. Am I making sense?
[00:24:26] Good. I've got five rows back. We're good. We're going to. In a few minutes. We'll be right the way to the back. You see, my career, my money, people, I put my trust in the Lord, not horses or chariots. And he is the one that delivers me.
[00:24:44] And the God of Jacob became my God.
[00:24:49] And that's why at the end of the psalm, he says, save Lord. May the King answer us when we call. You see, when I was young, I fell in love with Jesus.
[00:25:00] He was the king. He was the God of Jacob, but he was also the God of the people that led me to him.
[00:25:07] But as I've walked with him over the years, as I've walked in his ways, as I've experienced his deliverance, his provision, as I've placed his banner over my life, I can now talk about the God of Stephen Juliet to you because he is faithful and he has rescued us by his right arm.
[00:25:29] And now for Joel and Emma. He started off as Mum and Dad's God, all right, you know.
[00:25:38] And as they learn to walk with him and go through all of the same things in life that Juliet and I have been through, he will become their God, because the Word will become flesh in their lives.
[00:25:57] And then he will become the God of their children and their children's children.
[00:26:04] But it comes by being filled with the Spirit and immersing ourselves in his story, the story of God.
[00:26:14] My one desire for all of you is that the God of Jacob, my God, would become your God, that you would receive his Spirit into your life, that you would meditate upon His Word, and that his word, Jesus, would become flesh and blood in you in your life.
[00:26:49] Get it?
[00:26:50] Psalm 20.
[00:26:52] So let me ask you a question once again.
[00:26:57] Who's up for reading the Bible in a year?
[00:27:05] Looking around? It's a trick question.
[00:27:07] The Lord is setting. I tell you, the Lord is setting a challenge before us.
[00:27:16] Thanks for listening to the Chroma Charge podcast.
[00:27:19] If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship, and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
