Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 802 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: Praise God! I appreciate the Lord's presence this morning, don't you? I came in this morning without anything in my mind, which is not unusual.

( laughing ).

I often go without much in my mind. But the Lord knows what He has this morning and I just am gonna try to speak out of my heart because the scripture that came to my mind, just a phrase out of a scripture, I couldn't even find it. I know it's somewhere in the Minor Prophets. But there's a scripture that uses phraseology like a time coming when God's people possess their possessions. At least, that's the way it expresses it in the King James. That's kind of what I remember from so many years.

That's an odd expression when you think about it because if it's your possession, what's the deal? Don't you possess what you possess? But there's a spiritual truth there that I believe that we need to grasp. We need to understand. It needs to make us hungry. It needs to make us cry out to God because the choir just sang the song. "Jesus Won it All," didn't He?

There's an awful lot Jesus won for us that God has given to us because of what His Son did, not because we earned it or deserved it in any way. And that's the glorious thing. It's not based upon what we are and how we perform. It's based upon the gift of the grace of God to us in Christ Jesus. The merit, the worthiness, every aspect of what God would give us in this hour has been already given to us, not because of who and what we are, but because of Jesus and the fact that He won everything for us on the Cross.

I don't know, I just have a sense in my spirit of a hunger and a desire to see, to experience more of what God has given to us in Christ because that's what that phrase means, possessing our possessions. It's one thing to have something...for it to be legally yours. For example, you could have somebody deposit a million dollars in the bank and you could jump up and down and say, oh wow! It's so wonderful. I've been given a million dollars. I'm rich, I'm rich, I'm rich! But if you never went to the bank, if you never actually reckoned on that money being there and actually took some of out and used it, you would never actually possess what you possessed.

And that's the position that the church of Jesus Christ occupies in this hour, and I believe it's generally been the position of God's people down through the ages that Jesus has truly won it all, but we have possessed very little of what He has given to us. My heart gets hungry when I read about the things that God, the reality of God among His people here and there in some other time and some other place, and it's just like the Lord's saying, well, why not you, why not here, why not now?

And we're very good...I am very good at making excuses for why I'm not where the Lord would have me to be. And I know there's no springboard where we can get on and, as Brother Thomas used to say, and jump all the way there. When the Israelites left Egypt, they didn't get on a springboard and go to Canaan. They had a lot of things to go through on the way, and they learned by the things they were supposed to learn...some of them did...learned by the way that they went and the things they experienced.

But you know that's a pretty good illustration. The land of Canaan is a very good illustration, and we've talked about this before, of something that God gave to His people. And even when they were on the east side of the Jordan River and had not even set foot in the land of Canaan, the Lord said, I have given you this as your possession. I have given it to you. It's already yours.

So what was lacking there was their being willing in God's time and in God's way to cross that river, to put their foot in the Jordan River at a time when it was overflowing its banks, when every circumstance was contrary to being willing to say, God told me to go this way. And so I am going to put my foot in the water, and as soon as the priests put their feet in the water, what did God do?

( congregational response ).

He moved the water, didn't He? I said before, how many times are we waiting for God to part the waters, and God's saying you put your foot forward when I tell you to, and I'll part the waters.

( congregational amens ).

There's a principal of faith that God is looking to us to exercise, to lay hold of things that are ours. We are very good, I am very good at allowing the devil to talk me out of things that God has given to me in Christ, of hearing about something that God desires me to have and to experience in my life and saying, yes, but.... I'm this way. I've always been this way and 1001 excuses as to why I cannot experience what Jesus Christ purchased for me at the cross.

Anybody here know what I'm talking about? Yeah. We're good at that, aren't we? We're good at a 'settle for' Christianity. And our 'settle for' Christianity is responsible for the condition of the church in America. Not all the churches you look at around were always dead. Some of them, I praise God, still have a measure of life. There's a sprinkling of God's remnant in the land.

But I'll tell you, Satan has succeeded with the passing of generations of just watering down and just over running God's church in the earth. And I don't know, I have a burden for this country, I have a burden for what God desires to do in this hour...that we're gonna need to enter in by faith to the things that Christ have given to us and not back down and not be afraid.

( congregational amens ).

You remember the instructions that God gave to Joshua as they were ready to enter into the land. How many times did He say, don't be afraid? I wonder why He said that. Because there was going to be a lot of stuff that was gonna come against them, that if he had reacted as any natural man would react, it would have caused him to experience a fear...not just a fear, but a paralyzing fear.

It's one thing to experience fear, and to battle it, and to stand up against it and to say, I will not give into this. There's nothing wrong...that's normal...that's natural. Everybody, at best, experiences that. The devil will attack your mind and mine through fear constantly. But there comes a time when we become paralyzed by fear and fear takes over in our lives. And that's what I believe God desires to deliver His people from.

But the principal of what God did in the land is a very good picture of what I believe He desires for us, because He gave them the land, as I said. But what was required for them to possess the thing that God had given them as a possession? They had to be willing to put their foot on that land and the promise of God was, every place where you put your foot, I have given you.

Now that's an interesting way to put it, isn't it? Every place you put your foot, I've already given it to you. It doesn't say well, I'll give it to you...you do all this and I'll give it to you. It says, I've already given it to you. That's the glorious message of the Gospel. It's not that we've somehow got to go out in our zeal and all the strength that we can muster and somehow defeat the devil and bring down all his power against ourselves and others. It's that we are entering into something that has been completed. Did Jesus say, or did He not, "It is finished." (NIV). Praise God! What was finished?

( congregational response ).

Everything...necessary to bring you to and me completely from the slave market of sin and set our feet in a brand new world, free, grown up in the image of Jesus Christ, free to love Him and to serve Him and to enjoy Him forever! Everything was done!

( congregational praise ).

Everything was done. Praise God! But you know, they had to be willing, didn't they to trust Christ...to trust the God who was with them? I believe it was actually the Son of God who led them into that land before He became Jesus of Nazareth. He was the One...He was the Shepherd of Israel.

He was the one who met Joshua. You remember when Joshua was...I believe they had already crossed the river. I can't remember if they had already crossed, or were about to. I think they had already crossed. And he was standing out there and thinking about all that was coming. All of a sudden there was a figure standing there with a sword.

And Joshua said, are you for us or are you against us? He knew there was something special about this figure here. This was something supernatural. This wasn't just a man standing there with a sword. This was a supernatural being. He said, are you for us, or are you against us? He said, put off your shoes, you're standing on Holy ground. As Captain of the Lord's host am I come.

( congregational amens ).

The Lord God wanted him to know...in what you're about to do, you're not alone. I've brought the armies of Heaven with me. Your job is to believe my promises, to be willing to put forth the faith effort. It's an effort of faith...the root of it is faith. We do what we do because we believe God, not because we're striving in ourselves to make something happen. We're believing the promise of God, and we're gonna find out that God, who has made that promise, is going to back us up in driving the enemy off of the territory that God has given to us.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! And so that Captain of the Lord's hosts gave them the strange instructions on how to conquer Jericho. Praise God! You know they had all kinds of other things where they just had to do it almost the conventional way and trust God. But that time, He wanted them to know without a shadow of a doubt that the God who had given them the land was going to fulfill His promise to them. And so He told them to just march around the city. March around it, just march around it, not say anything.

( laughter ).

Boy, would that be a nerve-racking thing for the people of Jericho.

( laughing ).

They're scared to death of these Israelites anyway. They don't teach that kind of military strategy, do they, RJ? You don't see that too often.

( laughter ).

But the Lord has His own strategy. Praise God! He wanted to prove that they weren't winning battles because they were a great army. They weren't winning battles because of their great strength and might, their great zeal. They were winning battles because they were the Lord's battles that were being fought, that He had already given them the victory. All they had to do was go through the process by faith of opposing the enemies of the Lord. And they did. But oh, it was important that they fight in the Lord's way, in the Lord's time, wasn't it?

( congregational amens ).

And God said, go. You march around that city. Six days they went around and marched one time around each time, each day. And the seventh day I guess they got their strength built up and they went around seven times! They still had a battle to fight but you know God was with them.

And when they finished the seventh circuit around the city on that last day, the Lord said, shout. Praise God! There's a wall standing there. There's enemies on the inside, and your plan of attack is to shout! Well, that'll make you feel better, I guess, but what's that gonna do? What good's that gonna do? Well, I tell you what good it's gonna do. If God says shout, God is gonna bring the walls down.

( congregational amens ).

There's a God who is able to fight the battles that we face if we're willing to do it God's way in faith, and trust in the promises of God.

( congregational amens ).

And so they stood there at the end of that. They blew the trumpets and they shouted. God brought the walls down and the battle was...I mean, it was a done deal. All they had to do was in and mop it up. And you know the Lord saved the one family out, the family of Rahab, the harlot, who had believed God. God was faithful to reach her and save her and you know from there on they went forward and they fought the battles the Lord had set before them.

They didn't do it perfectly if you read the historical record, but most of the ministry of Joshua in leading the people was the process of possessing their possessions. And you know there's a lot of principles that you can see in that.

But there's one I'm thinking of right now. There were two and a half of the tribes that had taken their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, so when the time came to go across the Jordan, they were already settled in their homes and just living there and...well, this is far as we go. We've gotten what God has given to us. This is our inheritance.

The time came to go across and it became a really big deal in Joshua's heart and mind that they were doing wrong...they would be doing wrong if they just simply sat on the east side of the Jordan and didn't go with their brethren. And so the men of those tribes made a covenant before God and before Joshua and the people...said, we are not going to come back and enjoy our inheritance until we have helped our brothers to win their battles. That sounds like the ways of God, doesn't' it?

( congregational amens ).

We are so self-absorbed with our little lives and our little battles we forget to do, to fight for our brothers and our sisters, and God has made us one in Christ.

( congregational amens ).

I believe there were many occasions when a certain family would say this is my inheritance but there's a giant here. Come on. Let's go together and let's fight these giants because then I can be able to settle here. I believe God would teach us lessons by these simple records of real history that happened in the life of Israel...that we are responsible to fight one for another and not just live self-centered lives. God would bring every one of us into the inheritance in Christ that He has won for us. Praise God! Praise the Lord.

( congregational amens ).

I was thinking of the church right after Pentecost. I'm just gonna turn here. Like I say, this is just kind of out of my heart, I haven't really spent a lot of time...I haven't had time really to look. The Lord just fixed it to where I'm waiting on the Lord. He doesn't always work the same way every time. There's times I've had Him give me a message a long time ahead. There's times like this morning when you come in...Okay, Lord, I know you're here. I'm just waiting on You. Praise God! We need to be willing to trust God, though, in every circumstance and to know that He's with us! Praise the Lord, and not get settled into a routine.

But listen to what the Lord did in that early church. Peter, of course, preached his sermon and the Lord came upon him. You know he told them...I've called you to be my witnesses. Your job is going to be to take the gospel to Jerusalem, and Judaea, and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world. But, I don't want you to go anywhere until I endue you with power. I'm going to anoint you. I'm going to pour out My Spirit upon you. That's what's going to make you able to do what I have called you to do.

And so obediently, they waited on God in Jerusalem. They just simply waited. It wasn't until God's time. They weren't to do a thing. And how many times do we struggle in ourselves to get something to happen, and God's not in it and it doesn't work? But I'll tell you what. They waited on God and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were...I believe you can prove from the scriptures, they were in the temple worshipping God along with the rest of the Jews who were there for the feast day of Pentecost, which was the regular Jewish feast.

And right there before all of Israel, God poured out His Spirit and shook the house. There was a reality of God's presence and God's power and God's Spirit that was meant to get the attention of the people [that] day, and it did. And of course, we know the miracle of their being able to speak in such a way that seventeen different nationalities could understand in their own native languages what they were saying and they were glorifying God for what He had done, for the salvation that He'd brought.

And of course, that got the people's attention. They all ran together and Peter stood up and began to preach. And his message was, "...Repent and be baptized, every one of you..." in verse 38 "...in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." (NIV).

Boy, if there isn't a...that's the message that needs to be preached in our hour. This is a generation that is heading for the judgment of God. There is a judgment that is surely coming upon this world and it's gonna come suddenly, it's gonna come unexpectedly. And the message of the gospel is by receiving Christ, by bowing to the authority of Jesus Christ here and now.... Don't wait until then, it'll be too late. The scripture says every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess. This would be a good place to do it...right here, right now that He is Lord.

( congregational amens ).

But in so doing, you're saving yourself from what is coming upon on the earth even as people in that day who heard the message of the gospel, who responded to the words of Peter on that day...they saved themselves from the great destruction that fell on that city a few decades later, as the judgment of God fell upon the unbelieving people of that nation.

But God was saving His remnant. Praise God! So it says, "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day." So what happened? "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching...." There's a need for instruction. There's a need for knowledge. "...And to the fellowship...." They didn't just run off and say, well isn't this wonderful. Jesus, you and I are going to be walking together. No, they were brought together, weren't they. The Lord was forming a community of people who were filled with God, filled with His reality, filled with His power.

"...And to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Praise God!

Now I'm aware, and I believe that there was a unique demonstration of the reality of God's kingdom that was taking place at this time. But there's something in my heart that does not want to make that an excuse for me to have so little of the reality that you can see in these pages. I do not believe that God did what He did, so that He could say all right, there was a special time, a special people different than you. Their circumstances were totally different. You can't go by this. And so it's perfectly all right for you just to live a quiet little powerless existence. Anybody here believe that's the way it's supposed to be?

( congregational response ).

I pray that God will give me and everyone in here a holy dissatisfaction until we possess those wonderful things that we were singing about when we sung the song, "Jesus Won It All." I'm tired in my own spirit of having so much "fine print." I hear the promises of God or I hear about something that's happened somewhere, and God has powerfully moved by His spirit, and I hear about it and I say, well that's wonderful but...God get rid of our "buts"...or get our butts off of our buts and...something, anyway.

( laughter ).

God help us.

( congregational amens ).

We are so easily talked out of what the Lord would have for us. We look around and say, well everybody else is content...everybody else is satisfied. Yeah, everybody else is in the same shape you're in. We need God.

( congregational amens ).

This church has in the past experienced some amazing things, and it's not that we want to just try to conjure up miraculous things, that's not the point. But we need the reality that Livera was talking about that was in that service. I believe we had a measure of it this morning! Thank God! God is moving! God is awakening our freedom to praise Him...our freedom from things that have bound us and hindered us.

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