Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 791 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: You know Jesus heals the brokenhearted? He doesn't want to just cover it up and give you a better defense. He wants to heal it completely. He can take the wounded heart and He can fill you with trust in Him, not just trust in circumstances and people.

You'll never find any hope down here. But I don't care what relationships you're in, I don't care what your circumstances are, you can trust Him to look out for you and to keep you in the center of His will, and to make you the kind of person He wants you to be, and He'll take care of these other things His way, and accomplish His purpose. This is all part of trust.

But oh, the Lord would say to many today, there's areas of your life, there's areas of your heart that have been wounded, and you need to not be afraid to bring those areas to Him and to trust Him with all of your heart, and say, oh God, heal...don't just cover it up, but Lord, fill my heart with such a peace, with forgiveness, where that's appropriate, with freedom to where that thing just doesn't have a hold on me that it did.

I can be completely free. I could even talk about the thing that used to...I couldn't even talk about it...don't talk about that! And yet to be able to say, the Lord has set me free because I was willing to trust Him with all my heart. I'll tell you, this is a simple verse and we tend to gloss right over it.

Oh, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding...." (NIV). That means take your plans to Him...it's a very superficial thing. But there's a depth to this verse that we need to see. We need to see the greatness of our God and what He's seeking to do for us.

Let's think about the One in whom we're called to trust. This is our Creator, folks. This is the One who created us in the beginning. And because of His love and the love of His Father for us poor creatures who are sin-bound and hell-bound, He was willing to come to this cursed earth and to live among us.

"Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men...."

Have people said bad things about you and you're all bent out of shape about it, or hurt. My God, you look at the rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ and what He endured. I'll tell you what. You've got somebody that understands! Like I say, we're not talking about some far off deity who's just looking down on us with disgust because we're so weak. We're looking...we're talking about trusting in somebody who's been here, who's experienced more than you will ever experience in this life! He knows a lot more about hurt than anybody else in the universe because He's been here and experienced it. But He trusted His Father in every circumstance.

"...Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows...." You got sorrows buried someplace in your heart today? I'll tell you, there's a Savior that we have who bore those sorrows. He knows everything about it. You think you're covering those areas up so carefully. He knows everything! That's why He says, bring it to me, give me your heart.

That's the problem in your life. Your heart is driving you, it's poisoning you. There's still stuff in there I want to set you free from. Oh, God help us to understand and to be willing to trust Him.

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God...." You know we figured He was getting what was coming to Him. That was the reason it was all happening. God was against Him. He was a bad fellow and God was punishing Him. That's how people around Him looked at it.

"...But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities...." I'll tell you what, you picture some kind of a crushing machine...and the Lord says, if you'll just step under there, I'll save the one You love. And He stepped under and He let Himself be crushed. I'll tell you what, that's love. I can trust somebody like that.

"...The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." That's what God is wanting to do for us. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way...." That's what the writer of the Proverbs, Solomon, was trying to get at. Don't lean on your own understanding. Don't go your own way. Don't fight your own battles. Don't do it your way. Don't say, Lord, I'm willing to trust you with all these other issues of my life, but here's an area I'm gonna hang on to. I'm afraid.

That's the thing that binds us and holds us, is fear. Sometimes we get so wounded down here. We're afraid to let go, afraid that...there's nobody else that can handle it. But I'll tell you, there's One in heaven who knows everything about it and more, and He can handle it. Praise God! Oh, wouldn't it be nice to be free? Wouldn't it be nice to have all those areas just gone, and healed, and filled with forgiveness and love? God could do that for us! But, oh He needs our hearts just turned over to Him. You say, but I can't, I'm afraid! Oh God...that's what we need, we need grace just to overcome that fear.

I'll read another scripture in just a minute, but "...we all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth...." Boy, we're pretty good to open our mouths, aren't we? Somebody looks at us cross-eyed, we're quick to lash out and defend and all that.

He didn't do that. He said, I see beyond these outward things that are happening to me. I see past it. I see a God who's on a throne who has a purpose that lasts for eternity. That's what I care about. It doesn't matter if somebody looks at me cross-eyed, says something nasty to me, or even does something nasty to me. I trust in God! I'm gonna let my heart be free from all of the bitterness and all of the fighting for myself.

"...He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer...."

Think about that. God's will encompasses a lot of things, doesn't it? Does it turn out all right? Does God ever crush something and not bring something even greater out of it in the end? I'll tell you, we've got a God who is above and over all. Romans 8:28 is still true.

If Jesus had not submitted Himself to the Father's will in this, we would have no hope and no reason to be here this morning. Anybody here trusting in you and...your righteousness before a holy God? It's Jesus, period. Jesus is 100 percent of my hope. I cannot look in the mirror and find one reason why He should ever receive me, but I can look at Jesus and see all that I need. Praise God!

( congregational praise ).

It was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer! "...And though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days...." See, even though the Lord took Him that way, there was a resurrection that followed all of that! There was a victory, there was a triumph over all the power of darkness that came from what He did.

Likewise, there is a reason for everything that we suffer in this world, every negative thing, everything that touches those places in our hearts. But it's only as we bring our hearts to Him in trust, and say, oh Lord, heal, deliver me from this thing. I don't want to be this way anymore. I need You. I'm willing to trust You with the issues of my life...then we see those purposes of God worked out and we begin to see our paths straighten out.

"...He will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied...." Oh, praise God. What a wonderful promise! After God's done what He needs to do in my life, it sounds like there's gonna be some pretty good satisfaction, isn't there, doesn't it?

( congregational response ).

We have Him for an example. "...By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

See, that's a reference to what Jesus did at the cross. Father, forgive 'em. No one has ever...ever in the history of the world suffered a greater hurt than our Savior. And in His darkest hour, He prayed, "Father, forgive them." I'll tell you, His heart was free. His heart was untainted by all the evil and all the hurt that was around Him. I'll tell you, I desire today to see us enjoy a greater freedom in our lives.

( congregational amens ).

There's relationships that are poisoned and hurt because of the way we react on the inside and...what we've been through and how we learned how to handle certain types of things in our lives. My God, we need to turn loose and say, Lord, help me to do it Your way. Help me to first be the kind of person You want me to be and I'm just gonna trust You.

I'm gonna trust you with husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, friend...all these other relationships. I'll tell you, you've got wayward children? We're gonna have to come to the place where we say, Lord, you're great enough to save them. I don't have to run, I don't have to strive in my own self. You have the ability to touch their hearts!

( congregational amens ).

We can go to God for them, but I'll tell you, we don't have to lean on our own understanding and try to figure it all out. We can trust God.

( congregational amens ).

You see how this touches our lives every day? What are the things that cause you to fall and stumble and get off the path? That's portions of your heart He wants you to say...wait a minute, this is not right. I'm going my own way and doing my own thing in this area. I need to back up and say, Lord, I trust you, I surrender "this" area.

Oh, we're good at justifying ourselves when we react these ways that we've learned to react. And I'll tell you, it's got to come to a point sometimes where we're willing to let that go, because we like the way we react. We feel justified! We've been hurt, we've been this, that, and the other. Oh...God help us.

Say, Lord, there's no excuse. We're not being what you want me to be. And yet I can't do it in my own strength, Lord. But I present myself to You. Take my heart. Change it. Fill it with You. Heal it. I'm gonna take the covering off of that area. It's pretty ugly, Lord. All of it's pride, isn't it? It's just pride. We don't want to admit even to ourselves what's really down here.

The Lord knows. He loves you anyway. That's why He sent Jesus to die for all those ugly things in our lives. He want us to be willing to say, Lord, take this ugly thing...here it is. I can't sugar-coat it. I can't cover it up anymore. But I bring it to You to heal and to fill. Oh, I'll tell you what. Isn't that the way to live in this life? Has the Lord not made provision that we can be free from these things? Now I can't preach this morning, there's some kind of experience you can come down here and get and...

( snapping fingers ).

...everything will be great and you'll just be fixed up and ready for heaven. But I'll tell you, we can learn the ways of the Kingdom of God, and then begin to apply them. God's gonna put you into situations, He's gonna deliberately put you in situations that touch the areas of your heart He's concerned about. He does it pretty well with me. I can tell you from experience. You know, like yesterday, and today, and this morning!

He knows exactly how to put His finger on things so that I...but what is my reaction? Am I gonna draw back, justify, excuse? Or am I gonna say, You're right, Lord. I need You. But Lord, I'm trusting You. You're the only hope I have for this to change. I can't change it, but I'm willing. Oh God, change me. Do what I need...do what needs to be done in my heart. Help me, Lord, to trust You with all of my heart and not just part of it, and never Lord, to lean upon my own ideas, my own opinions, my...the opinions of my friends.

I'll tell you, you apply this to your life...if we'd become conscious of this, you and I both will be amazed at just how desperately we need this scripture right here. Just how much we lean on our own understanding and our own opinions.

Oh, may God give us a sensitivity to His workings in our lives so that we're willing to turn loose and say, Lord, I'm not afraid for You to deal with me. I want You to deal with me, Lord. I know I have needs. Oh God, I trust You so much that I'm asking You to do whatever it takes to set me free, because I'm tired of this. I'm tired of being in bondage to myself, and to the hurts and the problems of life. Oh God, show me how to live as a Christian.

You think He'll answer a prayer like that? Yeah, He will. And just get ready. Praise God! But you know something? You know, you can approach something like this and just sit around and wait for a feeling. You imagine trust is some kind of an emotion where you have a warm gooey feeling settle over you and...oh, I'm trusting you, Lord. Isn't this great? Ahhhh! It's not an emotion, folks. It's not an emotion. Listen to the scripture that was read in...several weeks ago, I believe, Chip Clippard read it and then we followed up in Isaiah 12. Verse 2.

( pages turning ).

Isaiah 12:2. "Surely..."--Surely--"...God is my salvation...." That's the reason that we can trust Him, because His salvation is sure! Now if you put your trust in a bridge and it's got a sufficient weakness to fall, you're gonna be in trouble because...not because of your trust, but because the thing you trusted in is not good. But if we trust the Lord, is He...is there any lack in Him? Can the devil come and say, God, I know You've got these plans, but I'm sorry, You just can't carry them out. I've got the power here and You just...get out of here. Can He do that?

( congregational response ).

No! We've got a God who sits on a throne who has placed all authority in heaven and earth in the hands of His Son! He earned it! He earned it by what He did. I'll tell you, that's a safe place. That's the only safe place there is to put your trust.

But listen to what it says after this statement. Surely God is my salvation. It says, "I will trust...." Not just, I trust, as though it's some sort of mysterious something that comes upon us. This is a choice that we have to be willing to make and that tells me that we're gonna have to learn to make it even when it doesn't feel right, even when it doesn't look right, even when all the circumstances are contrary, every wind is blowing the wrong way and it looks like the devil has won.

What do we have left at a moment like that except to say, I will trust...I know my God? If I'm in this circumstance, it's because He is absolutely in charge, He's ordered my steps in this. I'm not here because He forgot about me. I'm not here because He's mad at me. I'm not here because He doesn't care. I'm here to learn something and to grow and to be set free in areas I've never experienced before.

And in this hour...this is the moment I must sing. Remember the song that we sing? This is the hour I must sing. It's not when the sun is shining. It's when everything is black and we're able to turn to God and say, I know You're my salvation. I will trust. But listen to what he follows that up with. He says, I will trust and what?

( congregational response ).

"...Not be afraid." If there's one thing that keeps us in bondage, it's fear! Once you get some area of your heart wounded, you're afraid. You don't want to feel that again. You don't want to deal with that. You want to cover it up and hope it goes away. It'll never go away like that.

There's only one way to bring a wounded heart and have it be healed...that's to bring it to Jesus. Bring it out in the light. Say, I "will" trust and I "won't" be afraid. I will not give into fear! There's no promise in the Scripture that doesn't say...I mean that says fear will never come upon you, you'll never experience fear. We're gonna go through all of our lives with the devil attempting to jump on us and make us afraid.

What are we gonna do? Is that an hour for us just to say, oh well, there's nothing I can do. This fear has come upon me. I guess I'll just have to submit to it. No! Just exactly what the song we just sang, "We'll not submit to earthly fears." There's no law in God's kingdom that says we are subject to all that the devil brings our way. We are told to rise up in faith and say, no, my trust is in God, I will not be afraid! I will not give in to fear!

( congregational praise ).

And that's what we've got to have when it comes to opening these areas of our hearts. Lord, I'm afraid. I was hurt so bad, or this happened that was so bad, or this condition is so strong and so terrible, what will You think of me?

We're gonna have to stop listening to such voices and say, oh God, You're the One who's told me to trust You with all my heart. There's another Scripture somewhere that says, "Give me your heart." Oh, I'll tell you what, is He worthy of our heart? Is He able to handle it if we do?

( congregational response ).

Then why do we wait? Because we're afraid and we give into it...it's unbelief. God help us. God is helping us. I say it in a positive way. God is helping. How many know God's working in hearts and lives.

( congregational amens ).

Yeah, He is. Let's give Him the glory, though.

( congregational praise ).

I'll tell you, we can't look...we can't pin any bouquets on ourselves and think we're something. We're nothing. But we have a Savior and the more we lift Him up as the hope of mankind...but you know, the thing is, if we're gonna lift Him up, we're gonna have to learn to trust Him ourselves, aren't we, in greater ways?

Isn't there gonna be more life in us and more freedom if we'll give Him all these areas of our hearts? I don't where you're at this morning and what's going on in your life, but the Lord does--the Lord does. I mean, I can't see into all these people...into all your hearts, but the Lord is fully aware. He knows how you feel.

He knows...He's been there. He's acquainted with grief. He knows what it is to be grieving. He knows what it is to be sorrowful. He knows everything that you could possibly think of that you've experienced, He experienced it a lot more. He knows. He doesn't regard you with condemnation, but with compassion.

He knows what He can do, and all He says is...His arm is stretched out. You're gonna have to trust in me. You're gonna have to bring me your heart. I have the power to heal the broken-hearted.

So, praise God! I desire to do that in my own heart today. I see, as I said, I see so many needs. But it's a day-to-day thing. That means tomorrow, in all my ways...everything that happens to me, I need, instead of just charging ahead and doing things my way, I need to say, Lord, I'm acknowledging You. I need You every hour. I need You, Lord. I can't make it without You. I need Your wisdom. I need Your character, Your strength. I need a spirit of forgiveness.

I need a spirit of love toward other people. I need a spirit that's not gonna get so self-absorbed that I can't even see around me. Oh God, turn my vision outward. Help me to trust all this stuff to You, and look at others and...God, I'm so selfish. God help me in all my ways to acknowledge You and what a glorious promise. Whew! Straight path.

You wandering off the path today? Maybe this is...maybe there's something in here that's the reason. God loves you today. He wants to help you. He wants to strengthen you. He wants to do in you what's needed, and He'll do it if you'll trust Him. Praise God! Praise God!

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