Strength Over Struggle | Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. let's go right into the service recorded at Free Chapel I believe it's going to bless you today I'm reading this morning from the book of Psalms chapter 92. A very special verse to me. It impacted my life in a different way probably than it would affect you. I'll tell you about it in just a moment. But I'm reading from Psalms 92 and verse 10. Thank you so much.

0:54 But my horn you have exalted like a wild ox. I have been anointed with fresh oil. Everybody say my horn. But my horn you have exalted like a wild ox. I want to preach on that this morning. And I love the last part of that verse. I have been anointed with fresh oil. There are moments in your life that you remember forever that are kind of breakthrough moments, moments that you know are special little confirmations God gives you about the direction of your life. Such was this text, Psalms 92 and verse 10 for me. I was invited to be on a national Christian network many 30 years ago plus, I guess, something like that.

2:01 And it was the first time that I had ever appeared and I was asked to be a musical guest. I play the saxophone. And I, for those of you who don't know, And I went to Dallas, Texas to be on the largest Christian network in the world called TBN. And the founders were Paul and Jan, and they were the hosts that night. And I was extremely nervous about it. It's funny how these things stick with you and never leave you. I was nervous about it. There's so many factors you can't control. I was playing to a soundtrack, which means that you may be able to hear the music. You may not. it's very nerve wracking to play live on national TV. And back then, Christian TV was a big deal. It was millions of people watching that show. And I was nervous because most of all, I just wanted to glorify the Lord.

2:58 I really did. But on a saxophone, a reed can mess up, a pad can fall out, anything can happen. And I just had the nervous jitters. And I said, Lord, I just need you to speak to me. I know you opened this door. I didn't ask to be here. I don't know how I got here. That night, T.D. Jakes would preach the sermon in the same time for the first time he was ever on national TV. It was very strange. And I was the musical guest. I had to do about four songs. So I opened my Bible just like one of those, I need a word and I don't have time to search for it. Speak to me. I was about to walk out of the room, my hotel room, to go get in a car and go live to the world. And I opened my Bible and my eyes fell right on Psalms 92 and verse 10 in that hotel room in Dallas, Texas.

3:57 And the Lord said, but my horn you have exalted like a wild ox, and I shall be anointed with fresh oil. And to me, the horn represented my saxophone. And they didn't ask me to preach. They didn't care if I preach. They didn't want me to preach. They wanted me to play my horn. But the Lord let me know in a simple moment like that that some of you college students will have these moments where everything changes. And I walked out with a confidence and a strength of knowing I didn't put myself here. This is part of my destiny. And God, I didn't know that one day that horn that I played that night when I got back to the hotel, the phone rung. And it was a woman named Laura Massey who was the executive producer of that show. And she said, the founders of the network would like for you to stay another night and be on Tomorrow Night Live and play your horn again.

4:58 Would you do that? And I said, well, let me check my... No, I said, yes. Yes, I would do that. And then I thought, I don't have nothing to wear. No, I didn't. I didn't. But my point is this. there are moments when God can really, really speak to you. And in that moment, every time I've ever heard this, I've never preached on this verse, but every time I've heard this verse, it moved me powerful because it takes me back to that moment that God would ultimately have us on that network preaching the gospel all over the world. But it started with the horn being exalted, Exalted, meaning the word exalted means strengthened. I'll strengthen your horn. I'm preaching today on strength over struggle. God has the ability to strengthen you.

5:56 This is not just a normal saying. There are many, many times that horns are mentioned in the Bible. Over 50 times horns are mentioned in the Bible. and it's talking about animals that have horns most of the time, but it's also symbolic in the Bible of aggressive power. The Bible talks about the Antichrist in the book of Daniel and also in the book of Revelation, and it talks about that the Antichrist will have ten horns and seven heads in the thing that's called the beast. And there's no way you can go into all of that, But the point is, it's not just horns on the head of this beast. It's aggressive power to take over the world. So when you read the word horn, it has a different meaning in the Bible than it does just what we think of. It represents aggressive strength, concentrated power.

6:57 Let me give you a practical example of what I'm talking about. If you ever get to go on a safari in Africa, they want you to see the top five. They call them the top five, like lions and rhinoceros or elephant. But in that top five is the Cape Buffalo. The Cape Buffalo has two horns and he's mighty. He's known as Black Death because the Cape Buffalo kill more people than any of the other top predator animals. It's because they're grumpy and they're unpredictable. They're aggressive and they're killers. They can run 37 miles per hour and their horns are their strength. They can flip cards. They can take a lion and hook him in one of those horns. And there's so much muscle. There's solid muscle.

7:49 They can throw a 600 pound line up in the air like it's a paper clip or an ink pen. It's just amazing the strength, the concentrated, aggressive strength. They said that they can even, when they use and shift and throw their head with one of those horns and catch something, that they can put half their body weight and muscle behind it. So they can weigh up to 6,000 pounds, the biggest ones. So that's 3,000 pounds of power in a horn that is so hard it cannot be broken. And it can gore to death anything. So the horn speaks of strength. And it speaks of this strong animal and how it centers its power in its horn. Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 4, the prophet saw God approaching him in a vision.

8:51 And he said his radiance was like a setting sun in my eyes when he came. And then he says this, and he had horns coming out of his hand. There's power. There's aggressive power in his hands is what he was saying. So I want to mention to you some things that are aggressively power that give you strength over every struggle if you receive that power. Some of you came in here and you're weak and you need a touch and you are struggling and you're struggling mentally. You're struggling physically. You're struggling spiritually. You're really, really struggling. And I felt this week that God really wanted to give an infusion of strength over that struggle. And here it is. In 2 Samuel 22 and verse 3, he said, He is my shield and the horn of my salvation.

9:53 The first thing I want you to understand that is aggressively strong and powerful is your salvation is a horn of salvation. Isn't that interesting wording? Why would you call it the horn of my salvation? Salvation is a strong, aggressive thing. When you really get born again and saved, that horn of aggressive power will come to fight the old nature and the things that want to kill, steal, and destroy in your life. Salvation is not weak. Salvation is a horn of aggressive power. If you're saved, you have something strong. It's stronger than you are. It's stronger than what you think you're capable of. It's strong.

10:45 He's my rock. He's my shield. He's my fortress. And here it is. He's my horn of salvation. If the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy, Boy, you are not some victim that he just gets the gore and tear to pieces. I have a horn of salvation. My salvation is aggressively strong. All it has to do is just flip its head and hook a demon, and it flips, and it goes. He can send the enemy airborne. The Holy Ghost is aggressively strong. The Holy Spirit and praying in the Spirit is aggressively strong. It's the horn of salvation. Water baptism is aggressively. It's more than a religious ritual. It's aggressively strong when you get baptized in Jesus' name and come up because you put your faith in what Jesus said about it.

11:47 The horn of our salvation. We're not just holding on. Amen. Man, I'm tired of beat up, defeated people calling themselves Christians. I know we all go through war and go through warfare and go through spiritual battles and valleys. And you've watched me walk through them too. But I tell you, I've learned that I've got a horn of salvation. It won't let me quit when I want to quit. It won't let me stop when I want to stop. If he has to, he'll hit me with that horn a little bit and say, get with it. You're not stopping here. You're not quitting here. I've got a plan for you. I'm working my will in your life. The horn of salvation. Your feelings don't save you. Your emotions don't save you. I have a horn of salvation. Doesn't matter how I feel. Doesn't matter what I feel like. I know I'm saved and I have a horn that is aggressive strength.

12:46 You need to understand that when you got saved, you got a hold of something powerful. Your salvation can conquer depression. Your salvation can conquer fear. Your salvation can conquer alcohol. Your salvation can conquer drug addiction. Your salvation can conquer cancer. Hallelujah. Your salvation. I've got something aggressive and I've got something strong. and strength is coming back to you. If you've been in a battle and you feel weak, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And I know today that there is strength in your horn of salvation. Secondly, the Bible talks about another horn. In Ezekiel chapter 9, he said, I saw an ink horn. An ink horn.

13:40 That's a container of ink that you take a feather back in that day or something sharp and you write with it when you dip into the ink. And the prophet said, I will write prophecy with the ink horn. The ink horn. In other words, it's a type. There's power in the written word of God. I want to tell you that this Bible is aggressively strong. The words in this book, when spoken and read and believed and clung to, the power of this book can change your life. It's a shame it's not written. It's not written. It's a shame that it's not read.

14:34 There it is. Good edit right there. It's a shame it's not read. More. How much time do we waste on other things? We must read this book because it's aggressively strong against discouragement and fear and worry and torment. Oh God, I'm worried about my babies. Just read the word and the word is aggressively strong on your behalf. I'm not worried about the Bible surviving. I'm not worried about the Bible surviving socialism. I'm not worried about the Bible surviving communism. I'm not worried about the Bible surviving wokeism. I'm not worried about any of the isms. Because when they are all dead and gone and when all those people who said the Bible's not the way, one day they'll have to bow their knee. This is aggressively strong. In the 21st century, it's strong.

15:30 It has not lost a bit of its power to save, to heal, to deliver, to set free. Turn to somebody and say, the Bible's going to be all right. It doesn't matter what Professor Smarty Pants says. The Bible's going to be all right. I believe this old book. I believe it just like it said. I love that little story. The guy goes off to school and the professor's an atheist and he finds out the boy's a Christian and makes fun of him in front of the whole class. He says, you actually believe that Jonah was in the belly of the whale? And he said, yes, I believe it. And he said, well, that's not true. And how do you know it's true? He said, well, when I get to heaven, I'll ask him. He said, well, what if he's not there? He said, then you can ask him.

16:25 Hallelujah. I love the fact that what I've got, it's going to be just fine. The Bible's going to be fine. It can handle mockery. It can handle new philosophies. It can handle rebellious children. It can handle same-sex marriage. It can handle transgenderism. It can handle any of them. We ain't mad at nobody. I'm just telling you when it's all said and done, this is right and everything else is wrong. and we better get in line with it because it's the word of God and he loves you and he loves you The Bible is not weak. The Bible is not old-fashioned and out of date. The Bible is not on its last leg. About to be overcome by a godless society. No, my word will last forever.

17:22 It'll never fail and it'll never die. You can raise your teenagers on this. This book is real. There is concentrated power. It's a horn. It's a horn against the enemy like Jesus used when he was in the wilderness and Satan came to kill him and get him to commit suicide. He said, it is written, Satan, and Satan backed up.

17:49 It's aggressive power. I'll tell you another place that you find a horn in the Bible is that there was furniture in the Old Testament wilderness tabernacle, and one of them was called the brazing altar, and it had four horns on the corners, four different animal horns on the corners of that altar. And they would tie down the sacrifice and hold it down to be sacrificed. And so there is power in prayer. There is concentrated, aggressive power when you grab hold and tie yourself down. And you say, Lord, I will not let go. I'm going to keep praying about this and I'm grabbing the horns of the altar.

18:45 There was a man in the Old Testament that was running from someone who was going to kill him. And he ran into the tabernacle and the Bible said he grabbed the horns of the altar. Listen, when the enemy's coming against you, that's the time the old timers used to say it like this. I got a hold of the horns of the altar. And when you get a hold of the horns of the altar, it means I'm going to pray today and I'll be praying tomorrow. And I'll be praying the next day and I'll be praying 30 years from now if I have to. But I will not let go. I'm tied down to this altar because this thing is powerful. It's a horn of aggressive strength against anything that's coming to destroy. your life. Pray about it. Pray in Jesus. Pray in faith. It's an aggressive strength of not getting up and being tied down to it. And by the way, that when the sacrifice was made, they would take blood and put it on the horns of the altar because there's power in the blood. Hallelujah. It can break every chain. There's power in the blood. I need the horn of salvation. Aren't you thankful your salvation is aggressive.

19:56 I mean, it's aggressive. Aren't you thankful that the word of God, the ink horn, is aggressive? Thy word have I hid in my heart that I wouldn't sin against God. That when you try to go off and do crazy, that horn will follow you around and separate you from some people and sometimes it'll stick you real good and say, get on out of here. You don't belong in here. That's the aggressive power of your salvation, the aggressive power of the Word of God and the prayer altar. Something else that horns were on was the altar of incense, a separate altar. The altar of incense is where after the sacrifice was made, it was a lot of blood. You would smell it, and it was a smelly thing. So God said burn incense and incense represents, it says in the Bible, prayers and worship and praise. So praise and prayer is a sweet smell to God.

20:58 It's perfume. It's aggressive, aggressive when you begin to praise the Lord. It becomes incense and you smell good to God. God says, ooh, that smells good. See that born again child of God praising me? It smells good. It's like incense rising to God when you lift your hands in praise. You don't smell like garlic to God. You don't have halitosis to God. You have hallelujah to God. Some of you have been sitting here the whole service and you haven't praised the Lord yet. Hallelujah. I'm going to give you one last chance. I don't care if you're a Baptist, praise him. I don't care if you're a Methodist, praise him. I don't care if you're a Pentecostal, praise him. That's all dried up. Praise him.

21:52 God enjoys it. It's not for you. God enjoys it. He said, I love for my people. I inhabit the praises. It's like perfume. Turn to somebody and say, your perfume is strong this morning. And amen. You smell like Chanel number five.

22:15 Hallelujah. I don't want to just preach a sermon. I don't want you to just sit there neutral. I don't want to go through an outline. I believe what I'm preaching. I believe this book is just as powerful and aggressive as it's ever been. God just needs a church that will say, I believe that. Prayer is aggressive. It gives strength to the weak. I'll tell you about another horn. In 1 Samuel 16, God told Samuel to stop weeping over King Saul. And take your horn again and fill it with oil. And go anoint the son of Jesse. And he went and he poured the oil.

23:09 on David, and a strong anointing came on David. So the horn speaks of the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and it is aggressively strong. The anointing of God can make a miracle happen when you sit under it. That's where miracles happen, and when the anointing came on David, he became aggressively strong and he ran out to fight Goliath and he defeated a giant that was much bigger than him. That only happened because he had the horn of the anointing on his life and he could defeat the giant that he was facing. Are you facing a giant? You know what the Bible says about the anointing in Isaiah 10? It said, because of the anointing, the yoke shall be destroyed and the burden shall be lifted. The anointing will destroy the yoke.

24:13 There's power and aggression in that anointing. In Rome, there's a statue by Michelangelo of Moses, and he has horns coming out of his head. And the reason is because he read the Latin translation, and it translates different from Hebrew into Latin. We read it in our Bibles as when he came off of the mountain, Moses, his face was shining, and he had to put a veil over his face because he was so bright under the anointing that God had given him the Ten Commandments and they had to cover his face. But in the Latin translation, it translates horns. So he put horns on Moses on his statue. But I really think God was letting us know the anointing is strong and powerful.

25:07 The anointing does flip demons and devils around. We're not a bunch of defeated people. Don't cover up the anointing. We need an aggressive, aggressive anointing that says I shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover and I shall anoint with oil and they shall recover from the attack of the enemy in Jesus' name.

25:38 Too many fake anointings In the Old Testament, in the book of Kings, the 22nd chapter, the Bible said there was a false prophet who made himself some metal horns. He made horns of iron and he gave false prophecy to the king. And the Bible said that Micah showed up and said he's a false prophet. He made his own horns. He's a fake anointing. He's got horn props. Is that what most church has become now? Just horn props? Where's the anointing? Where's the anointing in the pews? Where's the anointing in our worship? Where's the anointing in our prayers? We need the anointing.

26:31 I want the anointing in this church. I want it in this service. And I feel it. I feel his anointing. Somebody say, Lord, I don't want fake horns. I want the power of the Holy Ghost in my life. Everybody take a praise break, would you? If you believe you've got a strong horn of salvation, you ought to shout about it just a minute.

26:57 It'll fight that temptation. It'll fight. It'll set you free from that vape. It'll set you free from whatever it is that wants to shorten your life. We act like God can't deliver anybody, that everybody's got to go through 12 steps. And I'm not against 12 steps or whatever, but there's one step called the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the anointing, and it can still set you free too. As a matter of fact, you can use that stuff, but it's going to take the anointing. It's going to take the anointing. Hallelujah.

27:38 You know, the Bible said that if, listen to this, this is a strange verse, but in the book of Exodus, it talks about if the anointing, this is a type of the anointing being misused, the horn being misused. If the anointing was carried in a horn, it represents the anointing and the aggressive power of God. But preachers can misuse it. Be careful who you follow. Make sure they don't have man-made horns.

28:11 Make sure they're praying and fasting and seeking God and living right. Amen. Not perfect. They won't be perfect. Nobody's perfect. I'm not and you're not. I'm certainly not. Here they come. Hallelujah. I don't want any more. That's all I want right there.

28:38 But watch this. Watch this. He said in Exodus 21, verses 28 through 30, if an ox gores somebody, kill the ox. If you're out in the field, they had big oxes with horns, And he said, if the ox, this is Exodus 21, verse 28 through 30. If the ox gores a man or a woman that they die, then the ox shall be stoned. And you can't eat the meat, but the owner of the ox shall be left alone. Hold on just one moment. Let me preach this a minute. And, and, uh, hold on. and I have whatever it is, and I have to stay focused for a minute.

29:33 That's why it bugs me when you're up and down all the time. Use the bathroom before I get up to preach. Amen. Hallelujah. All right, now, see, I'm being distracted right now. I hope an ox gores you if you leave in the next five minutes. Out in the lobby, there's one.

29:54 Watch this. He said if the animal, he's just a dumb ox, and he killed somebody, and he should die. But watch the next part of the verse. It says, but if, give me the next verse. But if the ox went forth with his horn in the past and has not, that's making it real complicated. Let me tell you what he's saying. He's saying if the owner knows that this horn has gored somebody before and he's aggressive and he didn't warn people and he just let that ox kill somebody else, he's misusing the anointing. He's misusing the horn to hurt people. and he shall die. If you misuse the anointing, he shall die. His ministry shall die.

30:48 That's why we better be careful when God anoints us not to misuse the influence and misuse what God has given us as somehow to hurt people. I want to close with this. But I just need to tell you that's what David did when he killed Uriah. He used his anointing to do something to kill Uriah so he could take his wife, whose name was Bathsheba, for his own wife. That's misusing the anointing. I want to close with this. my horn, thank you, Lord, shall be exalted like the horn, King James says, of the unicorn.

31:46 I wanted to use that title, and they said, you can't do that. And I said, why? And they said, nobody will understand what unicorn has been kidnapped. Amen. But he said, but I'm going to say it anyhow, Now, my horn shall be exalted like a unicorn. Well, what's a unicorn? A unicorn in the sports world is somebody that can handle any situation you put them in.

32:15 Okay. That was worth a better amen than that. Aaron, you know I'm preaching the truth. Isn't a unicorn in sports somebody that they can be defensive in? They can be wide receiver. We'll make them quarterback too if they need to. And then put them on the basketball team. Because they're good anywhere you put them. I'm a unicorn, praise God. Hallelujah. Whatever situation hell puts me in, I've got the power of God that says, I have, man, I've got a horn of salvation that's on my side. And I can pray and God will flip the enemy. You know, during the pandemic, play now to give them hope. Play now. Because somebody's like, God, I would have been gone by now, but he said that. I'm going to teach you how to reverence the Lord.

33:14 Voluntarily. But have you ever watched on the Internet, there's these people who go to Yellowstone. Y'all know what I'm talking about? and they have cameras. And I guess they're usually foreigners and they like to get closer and closer to the buffalo.

33:39 And I don't know why I like it. There is a bad side. But I will watch that. I watched one not too long ago and this guy just kept pushing it He kept getting close. Wild buffalo. Big old, big old wild buffalo with horns on both sides. And the thing looked at him, and he still kept coming. And she had a little one around somewhere, too. And he just kept, and he's trying to get his Instagram picture. And finally, he just tries to reach over, and it's kind enough to just, it was chomping on grass, and it's looking at him. All of a sudden, it grabs him with just one, it just is like this. And that man, that man was airborne. He should have been a gold Olympic.

34:40 He was flippings. He was doing somersaults. He was going across the green pastures, probably went to heaven. And I was cheering the buffalo on. Good. Good. Listen to this. I won't see the devil done that way. Psalms 89 says the favor of God, the God's favor, in God's favor, our horn shall be exalted. In God's favor, everybody say the favor of God. Strengthens my horn, exalts my horn. God is able to increase your strength this morning.

35:38 God's able to make you strong against temptation, strong against the battle that you're fighting, strong against the voices of the enemy that discourage you and tell you not to dream and you don't have a future. God is able to make you stronger than that. You're not to be weak-minded. You're to have a renewed mind that says, I believe that the best is yet to come and greatness is ahead of me. Watch this. 1 Samuel 2 and verse 10. He said, thou shalt, I can't read my own writing. He shall exalt the horn of his anointing.

36:18 Everybody say he's going to exalt, which means strengthen, raise up the horn of his anointing in my life. But this is where I want to end right here. Psalms 132 and verse 17. Therefore, will I make the horn of my anointed to bud. God said, David's horn is about to bud. I didn't know what would happen beyond that night in Dallas. But that was when some things started to bud. My daughter Connor's sitting down here, and she planted some flowers with her friend Rachel, and it's been dead as a doornail. Nothing.

37:13 There's flowers all around it, everywhere else, but where they planted, nothing. But I did ride out there, and I did look, and you've got some little buds starting to come through. Now, not bad buds, good buds. Amen. I don't know. Why do I have to cover everything with this group? You're a bunch of shady people. That's the problem. I can't go nowhere without knowing I'm bumping into something. Somebody's saying, I got a word from the Lord. I can go plant some buds. So I have to straighten everything out. But I love that, that in one moment, in one service, under one anointing.

38:07 Brian, who runs our media department, Cheryl, sitting down here, sent me the sweetest text this week. Watched his daughter walk across the stage, graduate highest of honors. something cum laude or something another, all of it. And the devil did everything he could during the pandemic to wipe that girl out. But look at God. Look at God. Her bud is starting to blossom. The flower's coming out of the ground. I don't know what hell's done to you, but the horn will begin to bud again. Like Samson's hair begin to grow. Let's not take it too far. But the hair will begin.

39:01 You know what I mean, spiritually. Hallelujah. I keep messing my sermon up. I'm distracted. I'm all over the place. Do you hear me? when the anointing comes, when God's presence comes, the horn of your dreams will bud again. Oh, I feel that in this house. Throw your hands up and praise Him. Stand up on your feet. Throw your hands up and open your mouth and say, Lord, I receive today strength over my struggles. I receive today the power of the horn.

39:44 I receive today all that I need. There is the horn of my salvation. Say, Jesus, you are the horn, the power, the aggressive power that's coming against the attempts of the enemy. to stop me. You are the horn of my salvation. Say this, my salvation is not weak. It's very aggressively strong. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're in this room and you would say, Pastor Jensen, you're preaching to me.

40:37 I'm tired of just struggling. I want the strength of God, an infusion of the strength of God to hit me this morning. I need, and then the last part of that verse, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. the most important part of any church service is not the singing or the preaching, it's your response. It means nothing, only compared to your response.

41:14 That's on you now. If you know this message is for you and you're in a struggle and you need strength over that struggle, get out of your seat and come stand down here this morning and say, in the name of Jesus, I receive the strength of the Lord. I believe, I believe what you're preaching was for me. Come on, at every campus, do it. The pastors are coming, the teams are coming, but every person at every campus that is going through the struggle, it's just a struggle. You're in a struggle. Now, again, the most important part is not what I say or what they say, It's what you do with what has been said. And if you don't mix it with faith, it does not work. It's just another sermon. It's a TED Talk. It's when you, this is why I believe in altar calls. This is why I go on, because I believe that we have the opportunity when we hear a sermon like this to mix it with faith.

42:16 And then we draw strength from the horn of our salvation. I really want to say thank you for joining us this week. If you haven't already, make sure you click on the subscription button and leave us a review. It helps this podcast reach even more people when you comment, when you give us your feedback. For more messages and inspirational materials, download the Jensen Franklin app. Or you can head over to jensenfranklin.org. I want to thank all of you who give generously to help us produce weekly content like this to reach the world with the message of Jesus. God bless you and we'll see you next time.