What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do

0:20 2 Chronicles chapter 20. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And I'm going to read a portion of one verse, even though I'm going to be preaching from verses 1 through 21. 21 verses I'm going to be preaching, mentioning, reading through. But I just want, for the sake of our introduction, I just want to read a portion of verse 12. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 12. this is a part of the prayer that King Jehoshaphat prayed. He's king of Israel.

1:16 Jehoshaphat is king. And this is a portion of that prayer. He took over his king at the young age of 25, and he will reign for 35 years. And he was a good king.

1:38 He followed in the steps of his father. His father was a good king. How many of you know your father makes a difference in the layout of your life? Amen. And it says he's praying, and I'm going to come back to this in a minute, and he's praying. And in verse 12, he says, oh, our God, will you not judge them? Back up. Let me stop for a second. Let me give you, I need to give you a little bit more background.

2:05 Some surrounding nations have decided to attack Israel. It is the Ammonites, the Moabites. I'm not going to I'm going to resist the temptation of saying what I normally say and the Mount Seir these three nations have gotten together you know when people who don't like who don't like each other get together to come against you you know it's a major deal so these three nations didn't like each other but they came together to fight against Israel and And King Jehoshaphat is praying, and in verse 12 he says, Oh, our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us. Nor do we know what to do.

2:59 But our eyes are upon you. Yes, yes. Jehoshaphat is in a state of fear. And he's got anxiety and trouble and problem because all these nations have gotten together and decided to come against Israel. And he's in a situation like many of you where you don't know what to do about your circumstances. yeah there's there's stress throughout our community everybody's stressed out especially federal government employees and contractors are stressed out and I want to speak to that today amen I spoke to it last week I'm hoping that today will be the last time I speak to it because we are not people of fear and as I told you last week and I will say again today God has not stopped being God Just because somebody else took over the White House don't mean that God has abandoned his role as God.

4:21 And this situation did not catch God by surprise. He knew long before. the election. He knew what was going to happen.

4:42 And he already, here's what I know about God. He already has orchestrated the events for your benefit. Romans 8.28 says this don't turn there I'm just going to say here's what Romans 8.28 says and we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord to those who are the called according to his purpose and we all live and are functioning under the purposes and the assignment that God has given to us and so it says right here in verse 12 Jehoshaphat says we do not know what to do but our eyes are upon you and so the title of my message is what to do when you don't know what to do Can y'all say amen to that?

5:50 Yeah. What do I do? What do we do when our circumstances look grim? If I just go by what I see in the natural, what do I do? When I look at it from a natural standpoint, that's part of the problem that some of you are still looking at life from a natural standpoint. in reality yes we live in a natural world but we don't dictate our future by the natural circumstances Amen. You have to learn to look by faith and look based on what God has spoken. And so Nehemiah, I'm sorry, Jehoshaphat.

6:45 I'm going to probably call some wrong names here today, so y'all pray for me here today. Jehoshaphat is in a troubled situation. And so here, verse 1 and 2 says of chapter 20, it happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon and others with them besides the Ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat saying, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria, and they are in Hazazon, Tamar, which is in Gedi. So these surrounding nations have decided to come and do battle against the children of God, the nation of Israel. They've come to fight and do battle and try to destroy. And verse 3 says, Jehoshaphat feared. And that's what I'm after today.

7:37 I'm after trying to kill that spirit of fear from off of you. God has not given us a spirit of fear. but of love, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Amen. We don't govern ourselves because of fear, and fear will cause you to get sick. It'll cause you to be embarrassed. It'll cause you to be defeated. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and mind. So what do we do? What do we do when we find ourselves when we don't know what to do? What do you do when you don't know what to do? Jehoshaphat gives us an example and in verses 6 through 12 here's what he does he prays thank all 15 of y'all for that rousing affirmation we are people of prayer prayer is a weapon yeah prayer is a weapon we have the privilege God has given us the privilege to be able to commune directly with him we don't have to go through nobody we ain't Catholics we ain't got to go through no priests We serve a God who will hear your personal prayer when you talk to God about your personal situation.

9:22 and y'all got to know that you just got to know that we serve a God that hears our prayer amen he hears our prayer and and Jehoshaphat prays he prays and he says verse 6 through 12 can I just read this read his can I read his prayer to y'all verse beginning of verse 6 and and here's what it says. Oh Lord, our God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? And do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations?

9:59 And in your hand is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you? Y'all missed a great spot. Some of y'all need to pray this prayer right here. Hear what he's saying. ain't you God? Are you not, verse 7, are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people, Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend, forever, and they dwell in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, verse 9, if disaster comes upon us, sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, I like this, we will stand before this temple and in your presence. somebody ought to say amen somebody say I came to church today to stand in the presence of the God that I love and I serve for your name is in this temple and cry out to you in our affliction and you will hear and say look there's a shot look and somebody say he will hear and say say it again he will hear and say anybody here believes that when we call out to the God that we serve he hears us how do you know that Pastor Jenkins I know it because I've called on him in the past and he's answered my prayer.

11:31 He's worked miracles in my past. He's delivered me in my past. He's responded to me in my past and he is still God today. And now, verse 10, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them. Here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. our God you will not will you not judge them for we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us nor do we know what to do but our eyes are upon him and so we're going to take a lesson from Jehoshaphat and we're going to do he said he didn't know what to do but here's what he did do he prayed You lean over to your name and say, we are people of prayer.

12:42 Look on the other side. Prayer answers things. We serve a God that will incline his ear to our faintest cry. And he will answer. Y'all know what it's saying. By and back. He might not come when I want him, but when he comes, he will be on time. Can I get an amen right there? Somebody say, he will answer by and by. God will answer our prayers. He prayed. I love that right there that he prayed. He's praying. He's talking to God. That's the first thing he did. I want to remind us, we're going to be people of prayer. We're going to set up. We have set. We do set up seasons to quarterly come together corporately as a body, and we pray. I hope that you put it on your calendar. When we announce today that we're going to be having prayer time, I hope that you put it on your calendar.

13:39 You know the thing I learned about people? I almost said something else. When challenges come, then we all pray. We come to prayer meeting when there's war about to break out, when we're about to lose our job, then we come to pray. But that ain't the only time we should pray. We should be people of prayer all the time. Yeah. And I think I told y'all a couple of weeks ago that you don't have to, thank be to God that we serve a God that I don't have to be in a certain position to pray. I don't have to be pointed in a certain direction to pray. While your boss is cussing you out, you can be praying. When you got stress all around you, we can pray while you're driving.

14:33 You can pray while you, whatever you're doing, you can pray. Somebody say, I can pray all the time. We are people of prayer. We commune with God. We talk with God. We communicate with God. And the thing I love about the God we serve, he hears our faintest cry. So that's the first thing we want to know is to pray. Somebody say that's number one, pray.

14:56 Then in verse 14, here's my second point. I only got four points today, four simple points. Then I'll be finished. verse 14 says then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel this is a priest son of Zechariah the son of Benaiah the son of Jehiel the son of Mattaniah a Levite of the sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly and he said verse 15 listen all of you in Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you King Jehoshaphat thus says the Lord to you stick a pen right there stop for a second. Are y'all following me? Y'all with me? The Lord spoke to the priest who in turn speaks to the people and to Jehoshaphat. He says, let me read verse 15. Listen all you of Judah. Let me reword it for you. And listen all you of Glen Arden, First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, and inhabitants of Bowie and wherever y'all live, Upper Marlboro and you, Pastor Jenkins, thus says the Lord to you do not be afraid nor dismayed because of the great multitude for the battle is not yours Come on, give God a shout right there.

16:24 This ain't my battle to fight. It's not my battle to war. The battle is not yours, but God's. Somebody high five your neighbor and say, this is God's battle. High five them on both sides. Tell them I believe, I know, I am persuaded, I am convinced that it's not mine to carry. It's not mine to worry about. The battle is not yours but the Lord's. Somebody say, it's God's battle. Hallelujah. I feel a shout on that point right there. That's my second point right there. The battle ain't yours. You got stressed out and worried. It ain't yours to be wrestling with. It's not your issue. Amen. This is a battle. God got this battle. I feel a shout.

17:18 I feel like running around this building that I know. So, as a matter of fact, I don't have, listen, here's where I am. I don't have to wait until I see God do it. God's track record is good enough for me that I can go ahead and praise him because I know he has all power and might in his hands. You will not need to fight, it says. Matter of fact, he says, tomorrow, verse 16, go down against them for they will surely come up by the ascent of Ziz and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jurel. You will not need to fight in this battle.

18:11 Let me tell you all that. You won't, tell your neighbor, you won't need to fight. You won't need to pull out a sword. You won't need to do anything. The battle is not yours, but it's God's. Say that to yourself. It's not my battle. It's God's battle. I'm after killing a spirit of fear from off of you today. Where are the federal government employees? Let me see where you is. Raise your hand. I bind that spirit off of you in Jesus' name. Somebody tell your neighbor, if I get laid off, it just means God got a better job for me somewhere. He's been God all my life.

19:07 I want you to say this to your neighbor. He's been God my whole life. My whole, how many years? Say it right there. My whole 66 years. All of my life from the time I was a child to now. He has always been God. He's always fought my battles. He's always, I didn't get this far by myself. He brought me this far. Thank you, Lord!

19:42 Hallelujah. Let's just give him a praise shout right there for what he's already done. Hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory, glory. Glory to the name of the Lord. Bless his name. Glory to his name. Hallelujah. I'm giving God the glory because number two, I know now, maybe I didn't know it before, but I know now that the battle is not mine, but it's God's. Ain't nothing you can do about the situation anyway. Why are you worried about it? Stressed out. Ain't nothing you can do about it. So what do I do? Verse 17. Here's my third point. Y'all got my first point, right? What was it?

20:35 What's number two? Let me help you out. Reword it. It's not yours. It's God's. You got to put a little bit of rumble in there. It's God's battle. It's God. Go ahead. Try that. You got to say it's God's. Yeah, don't you feel it when you say, it's God. It's God. You got to put some bass in there. It's God's battle. Verse 17, you will not need to fight in this battle.

21:17 Position yourselves. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. Let me stick a pen right here. Somebody say, he's with you. the thing I said this this morning at 8 o'clock the male chorus sung a song I told him don't sing it no more it's an old hymn pass me not oh gentle Savior pass me not oh gentle Savior hear my don't play it humble cry while on others thou are calling.

22:06 Do not pass me by. They sang it this morning. It was great. Sounded good, but it's not scriptural. I told them, don't sing that. Take that song out of y'all's repertoire because that implies that we got to catch God while he's passing by. You got a grant. And what I'm trying to teach you all is you don't have to catch God. He's with you. He lives in you. When you accept Jesus, he comes and takes residency. He abides in you. You don't have to catch him. You don't have to ask him to stop by. He walks with me and talks with me. As a matter of fact, Jesus said, Lord, I am with you always.

23:04 I'm just trying to get y'all to understand God is with you all the time. I'm not to catch God nowhere and get him to stop by. No. That's a part of our problem. We think that God come and go. He don't come and go. Go ahead, lean over, tell your neighbor while you was cussing somebody out, he was right there. Go ahead, lean over, tell them. While you was drinking last night, he was right there. Come on, tell them, tell them. While you was at the club, he was right there at the table. I feel tension over in this section back over here. He abides in us, you all.

24:08 And that's why you can't get stressed out and fearful. God got your back. Somebody say amen. And so because of that, my third point is this. He says, you won't need to fight in this battle. He says, position yourself. Don't fear. Verse 18, Jehoshaphat, verse 18, bowed his head. with his face to the ground and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Here's my third point, that we are people who worship God. When you don't know what to do, what to do? When you don't know what to do, worship God. What do you do when you don't know what the future holds and what the circumstances might be or where things might turn out? Worship God. We are the kind of people who don't have to wait until we see what God is going to do, we know that we serve a God who will do what is necessary that needs to be done. Can I get an amen right here from anybody? He's still God. He's still God. He's still in, he has all power and all might. And so we worship him. We don't wait until we see what's happening.

25:23 His credit, oh, excuse me. His credit is good with us that we can go ahead and worship the Lord, Worship him. Give him the glory. Give him the praise. Give him the shout. I'm just trying to tell y'all, get in a position to worship God. Give him praise. Give him thanks. Trust to know that he got my back. He got me covered. He will fight my battles. He will answer my prayers. And he's worthy of all of my praise. I wish I had a praying crowd at 10 o'clock here. The people were in the midst of being attacked. King Jehoshaphat and Israel were in the midst of being attacked by all these foreign nations. And it says, here's what they did. They bowed before the Lord and they worshipped the Lord.

26:14 And that's what you got. You got to be a person of worship. Worship God. Tell your neighbor, worship God. worship him, give him praise, give him thanks, position yourself, stand still, and worship God, somebody say, he's worthy to be praised, look on the other side, tell the person, worship the Lord, he's worthy to be praised, it says in verse 21, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, verse 21, and who should praise the beauty of holiness. Then it says, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. Here's what I'm telling y'all today. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Worship the Lord. Give him praise. Give him thanks. That's the secret. Look, anybody can worship God when the battle is over.

27:05 It's easy to worship God when the prayer is answered. Anybody can do that. It's hard. It's easy to shout. it's easy for the Eagles to shout when they the game is over The whistle blows and the game is over. But can you shout before the whistle has blown? And the reason we're able to shout and praise the Lord because we know who is in control of the game. Y'all, the claps are getting lower and lower. That makes me think that you are doubting and you're questioning whether God can fight the battle. Let me tell you, you can trust God that he got it.

27:59 go ahead and tell him let me worship God let me practice let me go ahead and give him thanks let me go ahead and open my mouth let me go ahead and give him praise he got good record his history is good with me his track record is good with me his power is good with me his healing virtue is good with me he's a God that's got my back Bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Oh, magnify the Lord with me.

28:41 Let us exalt his name together. I know that some of y'all ain't opened your mouth, ain't clapped your hands. It's okay. It's all right. I can't make you. I'm not going to try to make you do nothing. But to the people who hear the word of the Lord. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me close with verse 20. Verse 20 makes my point. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established.

29:41 believe his prophets and you shall prosper I'm just coming as a mouthpiece to tell you believe God I'm just coming to tell you lift up your heads all ye gates and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors the king of glory is coming in the king of glory is worthy of your praise the king of glory is worthy for you to give him thanks. I believe God. Somebody say, believe God. Believe God. Tell somebody, believe God. Say, I believe God. He's a miracle working God. He's a prayer answering God. He's a delivering God.

30:35 He's a healing God. He's worthy of my praise. Hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory. Glory, glory, hey! Hallelujah!

31:07 Hallelujah! Pastor, why you got so much confidence in God? First of all, he was wounded for my transgressions and bruised for my iniquity. He died on the cross for me, and I'm worshiping him because he did something for me that nobody else has done for me.

31:39 Muhammad died, and him is still dead. Buddha died but him is still dead Confucius died but him is still dead Jesus died but