The Enlargement of the Saint, Pt. 1 (10/21/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Dear Father, we come before you today only by the blood of Jesus Christ, your precious

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Son. We thank you for that blood. We thank you for that name that we were allowed to discuss together last

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Sunday and how different it is and how much higher it is and how it's on a different plane than any other name and it is the only name under heaven whereby men might be saved.

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We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. May he be lifted up in all that we do today. May our thoughts and hearts and minds be lifted into the very heavenlies where we are one in Christ seated there in the heavenlies today.

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May you teach us. May you mold us. May you enlarge us.

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We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to speak to you this morning about the enlargement of the saint and it's really a two part message so we'll just talk about the first part today and the

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Lord willing we'll finish it at a later date. The enlargement of the saint.

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Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 just to get kind of the text for the entire message although we won't be in this passage this morning it'll come the second half of the message.

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2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11, O ye

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Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you. Our heart is enlarged the apostle

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Paul said. Our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened in us but ye are straightened in your own bowels.

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Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children. Be ye also enlarged.

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So whatever Paul meant about this about his own life he exhorted them to have the same.

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This enlargement. Be ye enlarged he said. So I want to speak to you about this topic for a while.

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There was a, this is a famous story so you've probably heard it before but there was a mule who was always getting into trouble.

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He'd kick over flower pots and mama would get upset about it and so they named him

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Dudley Do -Wrong. And he was kind of clumsy and one day he was out in the field and he stumbled off into the water well and he fell down into the bottom of it.

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And the farmer got together and he did an analysis with some of his buddies and they figured it'd cost about $10 ,000 to excavate that well and get the mule out.

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So guess what the decision was? Unfortunately even though they loved Dudley it wasn't worth the cost.

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So he called his friends in and they brought shovels and they began to toss sand down into the well to make that Dudley's grave.

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And the old mule, that sand started hitting his back, he'd shake his back, shake that dust off because he didn't like it.

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Now I don't want you to get ahead of me in this story. I hate it when people get ahead of me. So you just listen and just go slow like in Sunday school.

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Don't run, just walk, okay? So he shook his back and the farmers would throw some more dirt down, he'd shake his back and step up.

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They'd throw some more dirt down there and he hated that dirt on his back and it was a tribulation to him. He'd shake his back, shake the dust off and step up.

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And this went on for several hours until Dudley was able to step up and step out of the well. Sometimes the very trouble that we think is destroying us saves us.

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So I want you to remember Dudley Durong because he had it right. He shook it off, stepped up.

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And if we'll do that in life then God's design in the tribulations will be much more effective in our own hearts and minds as we see what

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God is bringing in our lives. There are several characters in the Bible who experience this enlargement and I'd like to study them and we just have three that we'll get to this morning.

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The first one is Jabez. Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 4 and verse 9.

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Many of you have seen the little book that's out, very popular book in our country today, The Prayer of Jabez.

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It's interesting because there's not a lot of information given in the scriptures about this man at all.

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In fact, we're going to read just about everything that's said about him right here in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 starting with verse 9.

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We could start with verse 8 but we can't pronounce the name of his family so we'll start with verse 9.

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But the point is they're mentioned because he's going to be compared to the rest of his family here in a moment.

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And he comes out larger than they are in life. It says in Jabez was more honorable than his brethren.

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And his mother called his name Jabez saying because I bear him with sorrow.

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Now let's stop there a moment. His name certainly didn't indicate that he was more honorable than his brother.

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His mother named him son of pain. It's kind of interesting to realize the

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Hebrew people would name their children things that mean something. We do that too.

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We just don't always know what the name means but they knew what it meant and she named him this on purpose, poor lad.

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Son of sorrow, son of pain was his name. And it goes on and says in Jabez called on the

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God of Israel. You suppose that maybe this young man was not the most popular in the family among the siblings.

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You get that gist from the name that he got and perhaps he had more tribulation. Perhaps the siblings picked on him more than the others.

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And whatever happened in his life through tribulation it caused him to realize his need for a strong relationship with God.

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And so he calls upon the Lord, the God of Israel saying oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed.

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Now look carefully at his prayer because there's not a lot in the word about this man except this prayer. Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed.

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He didn't want a fake blessing. We discussed that a minute ago. He didn't want people clapping hands just because it's the thing you do when you see one of these big services on television.

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Followed by some good old faith healing and slapping people down and all that. You don't do it just because you've seen it associated with that.

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But if it is indeed a blessing that's altogether different and that's what this man wanted, he wanted a true blessing.

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The word indeed carries a load of meaning because it means from God. A blessing that is in fact, a blessing that is real, a blessing that is spiritual which is what all true blessings are as Brother Otis taught in Sunday School this morning.

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It's a spiritual thing. It's indeed. And then he goes on and says and enlarge my coast.

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Now that's an interesting request because you've been taught in recent years through all the preaching that you've heard from the time you were children up until this time that God would never bless you with any physical blessings.

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And that none of the blessings are, have anything to do with that. That they're all spiritual. And I think that some of that teaching has been the swing of the pendulum.

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It's to try to counter some of this success preaching that's going on that says if God's with you, you'll always be wealthy.

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You'll never be sick and all of that. So it's to counter that. But the truth is somewhere in the middle.

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The fact is he asked God to enlarge his coasts which is something that would show to others and there's a reason for it.

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We'll get on to that as we get into this, what this means to be enlarged by God. But he asked him to enlarge his coasts, his boundaries, his place, perhaps his family, his own clan.

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And then he goes on and says, and that thine hand might be with me. In other words, he says, when my hand is about work, may it be because your hand has guided me in this direction.

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And then he says, and that thou would keep me from evil or from the evil one that it may not grieve me.

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He had such a heart that when he was in the flesh and did wrongly, it did not bring happiness to his life.

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It brought grief. And if you're born again, you're there. You're there.

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The sins of this world that this world can throw out there and offer, it would only bring grief to you if you got involved with it.

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And he asked the Lord, keep me from it. This word keep is a powerful word we'll get to later on in the message.

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And he says that it may not grieve me and God granted him that which he requested it.

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Now that brings it down to the human viewpoint. In time, as J Bez viewed this, it was as if he had requested something.

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God had then heard it and decided to answer it and did so.

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Now we know that that's not exactly how God operates, but to J Bez, that's how it appeared.

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And that's why it's written this way. We know because of the light that we have from the new

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Testament, that when we pray, if it's real prayer, it's because it originated in heaven and the

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Holy spirit brings it to our hearts and moves us to pray. And then it goes back up as incense before God, because it was done

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God's way. I had an interesting experience this week. I don't remember the day.

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I won't say what happened, but something happened to my two of my children this week. It was a little bit frightening. And it was that Friday.

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When was that? Which day was it? Thursday. Brother Russell knows that he was involved with it and appreciate that so much.

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It was very helpful to both dad and everyone concerned. But there was a little mishap in the car.

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Nothing major, but it could have been catastrophic. And that happened,

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I don't know what time of day exactly, but the point is earlier in the day,

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I was just having a normal day at work. And as I walked out the door,

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I left a little early. I think it was probably about five o 'clock or so when we left on Thursday to come home.

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As I was walking out the door, it was a beautiful day and I was thinking about business.

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I was not thinking about the Lord, not that he's out of my mind, but he's in the back of my mind.

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But I was thinking about business things and things going on. And I was arrested on the sidewalk and just stopped.

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And it's as if God moved me in my heart immediately to begin to pray for my children and specifically the two that this happened to or almost happened to.

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And so I stopped in the middle of the drive, which could be dangerous,

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I suppose. They go kind of fast through there, don't they? And prayed to the

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Lord and said, Lord, protect these certain children of mine. And I went on. I didn't think much about it.

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Got in the car, went home. Then when I got home, I started working again, which is what I do.

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And I was busy working. And then we got a phone call of distress from two of our children.

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And then later, Brother Russell came to their rescue, fortunately. But later

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I found out the things that could have happened and it could have been just devastating to our whole family. And I believe with all my heart that the

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Holy Spirit brought that prayer to my heart, knowing what he knows. He knows all things.

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He's omniscient. And he allowed me or caused me to participate in his work of protection of my children through his angels or whatever he used.

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I don't know all how he did it. But that's how God works. Now, we look at that from our view and we say, well,

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I'm sure glad I reminded God to protect my children. That's how

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Jabez is feeling here. But we know that's not how it works exactly. But it's enough. As long as we know it comes from God's hand, we can grow into the area of knowing more how that works.

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But Jabez here had his prayer answered. Now, his name means son of pain.

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Yabetz, which means grief or sorrow. It was his name. And it's interesting, this part of his prayer that I want you to notice here about the enlarging.

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Look at it just a moment. He says, enlarge my coast. I just want to make this point before we move on. He asked for something that would be a thing of victory that the enemy would have to observe.

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A thing of victory in his life that he asked from the Lord's hand so that the enemy would have to observe the victory because of the effect it would have not only on Jabez, but also on the enemy.

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I just want to put that thought in your mind before we move on. Bless me, he says, enlarge my coast could be viewed as physical blessings, but certainly they are blessings that can be seen by the enemy.

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And then the second to seem more spiritual, where he says, may your hand be with me and keep me from the evil one that it grieved me not.

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And God granted him that which he requested. Now, it's interesting. I told you

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I'd say a word about this word keep. He says that thou would keep me from evil.

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This word is an amazing word in the Hebrew. It means to keep in the broadest, widest possible application of that word.

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Let me just give you some other words in English that this word has been translated into from the

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Hebrew word in the Bible. He says, oh, that thou would keep me from evil.

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You could say it this way. Oh, that thou would accomplish a work in my life that will keep me from evil.

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Oh, that thou would appoint a path in my life that would keep me from evil.

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Oh, that thou would bear me up in thy hand that I might be kept from evil. Oh, that thou would bring forth the absence of evil in my life.

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Oh, that thou would have charge of me, God, that it might keep me from the evil one.

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Oh, that thou would exercise me, God, bring things into my life that would exercise me and keep me from evil.

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Oh, that thou would finish me in the sense of maturing me and completing me and making me a finished product.

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Oh, that thou would furnish me. This is a big word, isn't it? Keep. Keep me.

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Furnish me with the things that I need, the gifts and spiritual strength in my life to keep me from evil.

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Oh, that thou would govern me. Sovereignty of God is seen throughout this message.

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Govern me, Father, that I might be kept from evil. Oh, that thou would maintain me.

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Keep me running right. Oh, that thou would observe me. Don't ever let me leave your eye, that eye of the watchful, loving parent.

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Oh, that thou would prepare me for what might come that I might avoid evil.

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Oh, that thou would provide that which I need to keep me from evil.

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Oh, that thou would requite me. You know what that means?

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Avenge me from the evil one. All of that is together in this word.

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Oh, that thou would keep me from evil, that it might not grieve me. The Bible says

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God granted this man's request and that because of it, he was more honorable than all of his family.

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Now, let's go to another place in the Bible, another character. Let's go to First Samuel chapter one, verse ten.

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We're all always in this message working our way back to second Corinthians chapter six, which is where the conclusion will be in a week or two.

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But we want to see this work of enlargement done in different people's lives.

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Let's look at Hannah here in First Samuel chapter one, verse ten.

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Now, do you know what Hannah's name is? What does Jabez mean?

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Tell me again. Son of Sorrow. You know what Hannah's mother named her?

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Stoopy. It means sorrowful or it can mean stoopy.

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The Hebrew word literally means to stoop as if to stoop in a bow of humility.

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So she was called Sorrowful or Stoopy. Not Snoopy, but Stoopy. What a lovely name.

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Boy, I'd like to have been her big brother, wouldn't you? Hey, Stoopy, bring me some coffee.

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Let's look at verse ten here, First Samuel chapter one, and she was in bitterness of soul.

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Why? Because she's named Stoopy. I want you to get the idea that these characters, these characters that we see are enlarged.

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They're people that have trouble in their life. They're not the most popular child in the family. They're probably not the most beautiful child in the family.

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They're the one that came along unexpected, and even the mother said, oh, son of my pain.

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I thought I was through having kids. That's what she was saying with Jabez. And this one, you know, little beautiful, brown -eyed, dark -haired, probably baby

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Jewish girl, Stoopy. Well, she had the kind of life that would go with that kind of name probably as she grew up.

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And as you know, a lot of our childhood, we carry on into adult life, don't we?

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We carry that baggage sometimes. Now, she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the

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Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow to the

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Lord, and down at the bottom of verse 11, I'll give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head if you'll give me a son.

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And it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli the priest marked her mouth because she was praying silently, but her lips were moving and he thought she was drunk.

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Now, how could she do that with that Baptist grape juice? But anyway, that's what happened. Now, verse 13, now

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Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.

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Therefore, Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, how long wilt thou be drunken?

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Put away the wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.

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I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the

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Lord. This prayer is a prayer of yearning, a prayer of need, a prayer of deep felt anguish caused by her enemies who mocked her because she couldn't have children, other enemies who did who knows what in her life and towards her family, that she was at a place in her life where she was just barely even speaking and able to speak any words as she prayed.

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She just like, the Holy Spirit just moaned her prayers to God so much that the man of God thought she was drunk.

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Well, maybe because he hadn't raised any children of his own that would pray this way as we know from his story.

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But look at verse 16, count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial. I'm not a drunkard for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have

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I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, go in peace. Now look at the man of God here.

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This is amazing because he doesn't come forth as one of the most striking men of God in the Bible, but he is a man of God and he does recognize the things of God.

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And look at this. This woman has convinced him that her prayers were prayers indeed.

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And then Eli answered and said, go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.

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Now I want you to look at her response and we can learn so much from this folks. We go around in our life, we have seasons of worry, don't we?

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We have seasons of just rank fear. It's all going to fall apart. It's not going to work.

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There's no way out. Those are the times that bring us to prayer, aren't they? But the mistake we make is we don't have the faith of this woman.

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Perhaps we haven't been enlarged yet. Like she is being enlarged in this passage, but she has such complete faith that after she has prayed a true prayer to the father and the man of God comes and recognizes that she's not a drunkard, but she is praying with a sincere heart.

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And he says, go your way. God's answered your prayer already. Now look at her response in verse 18. And she said, let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight, which was just a human proper response to the man of God, her being a woman.

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And then, so the woman went her way and look at this, she did eat and her countenance was no more sad.

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Why? Prayer was answered. In her heart, it was good as done.

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The worry was gone. The grief was gone. The bitter feelings of the fiery darts that the enemy was casting into her heart were all gone because she had prayed this prayer and she had a sense in her very soul that God had answered it already.

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And even the man of God concurred. That should be the response when we go to the Lord in sincere prayer.

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Now maybe sometimes the problem is it's not sincere prayer when we pray. I don't know. But if we pray in the

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Holy Spirit and we pray what the Lord's placed on our hearts, we should get up from there, go and eat and be joyful and move on.

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And they rose up in the morning early and worship before the Lord and returned and came to their home house in Ramah.

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And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Had he forgotten her?

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This is human speech. This is the way she thought about it. She thought all this time

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God had forgotten her. David prayed prayers like that, didn't he, from time to time? Lord, hear me.

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Lord, you're deaf. You haven't heard me lately. Hear my prayer,

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O God. She's saying, you've forgotten me, God. Well, now her prayer's answered. Now she thinks

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God's remembered her. Had God ever forgotten her? Had she ever for one moment been out of his sight?

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Had he not been keeping her with all the meanings of that word keep, one of which means to observe?

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Had she not been under the observation of God the entire time? Yes. She's now learning this.

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And her heart is going to be enlarged because of what she is learning through this experience.

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So she rejoiced and she was not ashamed in the Lord. Now go down to chapter 2. Skip all the way down to chapter 2 and look at verse 1.

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And Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the

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Lord. Now here's our word that we're studying this morning. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies.

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Notice how this enlargement is nearly always when we find it tied in directly with the enemy as well.

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Not only the blessings that have come from God, but the effect it has both on the saint, but also on the enemy.

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It's amazing. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in God's salvation.

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Had she never seen a need for deliverance, she could never have rejoiced over the deliverance.

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But she saw such a deep need. She was groaning in prayer. And when the prayer was answered, she rejoiced because of God's deliverance.

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That's what the word salvation means all throughout the Old Testament. Really means that throughout the Bible, I think.

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There is none holy as the Lord, she says, for there is none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like our

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God. Talk no more. So exceedingly proudly, she says to the enemy, let not arrogancy come out of your mouth.

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She says to the enemy for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed.

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The bows of the mighty men are broken, but look at this. Look at the end of verse four. And they, that stumbled past tense are girded with strength.

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This is what it means to be enlarged. Her enlarging was that God had answered her prayers and shown his hand obviously before her enemies and to her.

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Now let's go down to verse nine. And this is going to lead us to another point.

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Verse nine, it simply says he will keep the feet of his saints. Now remember the feet.

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Okay. He will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness.

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That's the devil. That's the world. That's the flesh, but it's specifically the enemy himself, the devil and his demons.

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Because of this act of God in your life, this enlargement of you as a child of God, the wicked shall be silent in darkness for by strength shall no man prevail.

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The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. I like what that says.

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It sounds like we win to me. Now turn to Psalm four and let's look at the enlargement of David.

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Psalm four one. We learn that this enlargement always happens in times of distress.

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We've learned that from verse four where we just noticed how those who stumbled are now girded with strength.

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We noticed in Hannah's life, Stupi's life, that though she lived a life of sorrow and grief, because of this distress, this enlargement came about and she was able to see it.

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Same thing with Jabez. Same thing with David. So it says to the chief musician,

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Psalm of David, hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when

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I was in distress, David says. Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

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O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? You notice he has enemies.

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These enemies picture our enemy. David at one point said, my enemies are many and they hate me with cruel hatred.

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Beautiful picture, vivid picture, I should say, of the devil and his demons. They are many and they hate me and they hate you and they hate your spouse and they hate your children with a slaughterous, that's a word

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I just invented, hatred, with a cruel hatred.

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And yet the enemy is addressed in these passages where God enlarges his people. I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me.

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Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?

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How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing, say law, but know that the

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Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.

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The Lord will hear when I call unto him, David says. You notice this separation, this setting apart?

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Who does it? God does it. God will set them apart for himself and God will hear when

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I call unto them. Part of this enlarging of the life, of the spiritual life of a person has to do from a separation that God does in your life, a work of separation, pulling you more and more out of the world, setting you more and more in the place where his people are and putting you where you are living in the heavenlies, even while your feet are still touching this earth.

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Now back to second Samuel and now we're going to be in an area that talks about David. Look at second

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Samuel 22 and verse 33. And while you're turning there, this word enlarged where he says thou hast enlarged me is raqeb, raqeb, which means to broaden, to make wide.

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Now it's interesting because the word distress, you remember how David said thou hast enlarged me when

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I was in distress? The word distress literally in the Hebrew means to narrow. Isn't that something?

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To narrow, a tight place. So sometimes the

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Lord places us in a tight place of distress so that he may broaden us and enlarge us.

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Now let's look at this in David's life in second Samuel 22, 33. God is my strength and power and he maketh my way perfect.

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He maketh my feet like hinds feet and setteth me upon my high places.

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He teaches my hands to war. Don't ever think you can battle the world, the flesh, and the devil unless your hands have been taught to do it by God.

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Now there's an awful lot of teaching being done for us to think that the war is not taking place.

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Never think for a moment there is not spiritual warfare on the life of a born -again child of God.

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There are some who believe that that can only happen to the lost. Study further. Anybody ever read

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Merileth Unger's Bible dictionary or part? Nobody's ever read it. You ever read part of it? It's about that thick.

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That's an awesome work, isn't it? You're familiar with it. How many of you have seen the book and read portions of it?

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Awesome book. Dr. Rocky, my beloved brother

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Rocky, preached with Merileth Unger, walked with him, and talked with him at dinner between times.

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Merileth Unger, who wrote probably the definitive encyclopedia about the Bible. I don't know why they call it a

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Bible dictionary. It's an encyclopedia of biblical knowledge. This man, when he was young, wrote a book on demonology.

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And I've read that book. All he discussed in it is how demons, Satan and demons, will actually take over entire nations.

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And he documents it. But at that time in his life, he did not believe that demons could affect

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Christians. But as an older man, at the end of his life, he wrote a book.

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And the title is something like this, What Demons Can Do to Believers. Is that amazing?

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And he took an about face on his belief, not only because of better understanding of the scriptures, but because of experiences in life that he had gone through.

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Now listen, David says very clearly that God teaches my hands to war.

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Our war is not with flesh and blood, ladies and gentlemen. You may have even a brother or sister that says something a little unkind to you, bothers you for two, three days, the enemy will come into your mind and blow that up and truly turn a little molehill into a mountain in your mind and bother your thinking and try to get your thinking to dwell on this and create bitterness and so forth.

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And yet, God says he can teach your hand to war against the enemy.

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There are wonderful scriptures given in the New Testament, specifically for these kinds of battles. The scripture that I like the best on this issue says to bring every thought into captivity of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Every thought that would raise itself up to high places, even above God, just like Satan does.

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Bring them into captivity. Cast them away. Fight the fight, in other words.

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Does not the scripture say to resist Satan and he will flee? Did you know that to do nothing is not to resist?

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Resist Satan and he will flee from you. He teaches us to war with our hands so that, now look at this, a bow of steel is broken in my arms.

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Can you imagine a man of that ability in warfare? That when he takes the bow and pulls it back to aiming at the enemy, the bow breaks because he pulled it so strongly.

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He says, God taught me to do that. And that may be a beautiful physical picture of might, but it's for spiritual reasons in our lives that God taught it.

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When David had this happen, and I know this is as literal as it can be, he said, there was a time when I pulled back a bow of steel and it broke in my arms because God made me so strong.

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God didn't do that so David could brag about it. God did that so we could learn about spiritual strength from David.

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We should be that strong spiritually. Now he goes on and he says, this bow of steel is broken in my arms by my arms.

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Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. That's spoken of right there in Ephesians chapter six.

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And thy gentleness hath made me great. What an odd phrase. Think about that one.

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God's gentleness has made David powerful. That's an odd phrase.

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Thou hast enlarged my steps. Here's our word. Through all of this,

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God is doing a work of enlarging in David's life. He here says he has enlarged my steps under me so that my feet did not slip.

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I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them and turned not again until I had consumed them.

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But that is impossible if you have small feet. He has to enlarge our feet.

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Now, next time we're going to talk about how a passage where David said that God enlarged his heart.

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That's even more powerful than having big feet. But the big feet are talked about first.

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And so they're important. Now, let me show you what these feet are talking about. Did you know that if you have big feet, you don't have to take it, you don't have to put them on the earth as often because you can take bigger steps.

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You don't have to get involved in the world. Now I got that from me. That didn't come out of the Bible. Did you figure that out?

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I've been down in there in that well with, oh, uh, the mule and I learned something from that dirt.

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But you know, these feet, uh, this word literally means a pace when it says his feet have been enlarged, enlarge my steps.

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The pace of my steps gives me large steps in this world.

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This picture is protection against sin and backsliding. He says, enlarge my steps under me so that my feet do not slip back the wrong direction.

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Let the steps that I take in the direction that God is moving me be nothing but gain.

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Don't let me step back and lose a step every time I take two forward. And worse than that, don't let me take a step back every time

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I take a step forward. Don't, you know, backsliding, it puts a picture in our mind.

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It's not always the case. We're not always moving backwards. Sometimes we're just staying where we are, but that's just as bad because in reality that's moving backwards.

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We ought to be moving forward towards the heavenlies every step of the way. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me so that my feet did not slip.

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I've pursued mine enemies and destroyed them. Turn not again until I had consumed them.

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Now, in this passage, I want you to notice something.

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Let me turn to it here instead of looking at my computerized notes for a minute. 2

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Samuel 22. I've got this marked in my

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Bible. I want you to think about this. Look at verse 37. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me so that my feet did not slip.

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I want you to notice the eyes in the next two verses. Encircle them where you see the word eye.

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Notice the eyes. And why are these eyes possible? Read it with me in verse 38.

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And I have pursued mine enemies and destroyed them. Do you really think for a moment

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David could have destroyed his enemies on his own? Now, if all you pulled out were these two verses, you'd be a fine

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Arminian. But David was not such. And yet there is the role that is played by David in this physical world where God works together with David.

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Is that not true? And isn't it true of us? God works together with us and in us to accomplish his work in this physical realm.

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He says, I have pursued circle the word I pursued mine enemies and destroyed them and turn not again until I have consumed them.

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Look at the next verse. And I have consumed them and wounded them that they could not arise.

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Yea, they are fallen under my feet. Do you realize, ladies and gentlemen, that there can be sin in your life that has a stronghold?

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That's why the Bible talks about to the pulling down of strongholds.

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In fact, you'll find that passage in the same passage with bringing every thought into captivity of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Satan gained strongholds in the life of a believer.

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Now, when that happens, it needs to be pulled down and a true believer in his life.

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This work will begin. We talked about it right after Sunday school. There are some churches in our city today that put up with all manner of sin because they don't want to discuss it and they don't think it needs to be done.

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God loves everybody and we just look over it. Well, Paul rebuked a certain church called the Church of Corinth for that same problem.

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They had known sin in their midst and they never said anything about it. And there are churches around that would do this.

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But you know, when God begins to do a work in our hearts, we find that there can be victory over a sin.

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Victory over, now let's think of it this way, a stronghold in our life where Satan has come in and gained a stronghold.

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Yes, perhaps it's because we wanted this sin. We liked it. The flesh liked it.

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And so we invited it in. We opened the door. That seems to be the rules of the game, by the way. Satan, by the way, let me say this.

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Satan cannot have right to the life of a believer so long as that believer is walking with the Lord and doesn't want it. Do you understand the subtle difference?

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The problem is, those, I remember Rocky saying this once, somebody said, that can't be true,

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Brother Rocky. Demons can't have anything to do with Christians because he that's in me is greater than he that's in the Lord. And what was that other verse,

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Russell, that they quoted? Do you remember? You were telling me about Rocky answering that one time. Okay, they quoted this verse to Rocky and his answer was this.

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He said, the problem is, which one's controlling you right now? He that's in the world or he that's in you?

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He said, that's the problem with so many Christians is they're walking in the flesh. Well, that flesh is susceptible to all the enemies, to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

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Your flesh is still susceptible. And that is the problem. But you know what this is saying to us right here?

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David is saying here in this last part of verse 39, he says,

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I have consumed the enemy and wounded them that they could not arise again. Do you know you can have victory over sin where it never arises in your life again?

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It does not have a stronghold anymore because you cast it out. You cast the sin out.

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You cast the desire out. And it says, I, you see where David says, I, you are the one that has to make the decision to cast it out.

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And you cast it out. And you say, I will not have that stronghold in my life because my life is clean.

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It is the Lord's. I belong to him. I do not belong to any other Lord than the Lord Jesus Christ.

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This is not of him. Therefore, I reject it. And Lord, give me the mind of Jesus on this and cast it away from me.

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I do not want anything to do with it. And David comes in and he says, I have consumed them, wounded them that they could not arise.

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Yea, they are fallen under my feet. Do you realize that God enlarged his feet so that he could stand on the very sins that were bothering him in victory?

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He could stand on the very neck of the enemy who had caused him such grief in his previous life.

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And God enlarged him to the place where his feet, his steps were enlarged. And he was able to have very real and permanent victory over specific sins in his life.

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Now, why was the I possible? We know we can't do these things in the flesh.

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Usually when we say I, we're talking about what we can do in our own strength. But, but that's not what this is. This is talking about the new man would be the best correlation in our, this side of the cross.

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The new man has the ability to say I, in fact, you'd better, because if you don't, then the flesh will.

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Are you with me? You're the new, the real you is the new man if you're born again. If that new man does not say that I'm taking control of this body,

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I'm taking control of this temple of God, that's whose it is. I will run this place.

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You, the lower man, the dead man, the old carnal man will not resurrect yourself and run this place.

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It's mine because it's the Lord's and I belong to him. That's where the I comes in and it's biblical. Now you got to have some of that.

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You can't just sit back and say, Lord, deliver me from this sin. And then go right on out doing the same stuff you always did.

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You pray and you say, Lord, deliver me from this, and then you stop it. You take over and you say, because I'm not having that here in this place.

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Now that is not Arminianism. That's truth. You see, the person who believes in the sovereignty of God, if he's biblical, understands that it includes both the means and the end.

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It includes both God's viewpoint and our work in life and the choices that we make as well. And we are responsible for those choices.

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And there'd better be an I there. There'd better be some determination on our part to defeat the enemy in the power of God.

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And look how God encapsulates this responsibility passage with the sovereign

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God at the first and a sovereign God at the end of it. Because look how verse 37 starts right before the

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I's. Look at it. We're almost finished here. Thou hast enlarged my steps. Who did that? God did.

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And then you have, I have defeated the enemy. I have pursued the enemy. I have placed him under my feet never to arise again.

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And then it jumps back into verse 40. Look what it says. For thou, you know what the word for means?

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The I came from this. The power of this arm to break this bow came from this.

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For thou hast girded me with strength to battle. Them that rose up against me, the world, the flesh, the devil, his demons.

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Yes, it's God's child they're attacking. Why would they attack any other? They do.

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I don't know why. I guess to have a body to live in is why they attack lost people. But their interest is in making you fall, making you stumble, make you treat your brother badly.

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You're not going to do that by the way in the new man. Did you know that? You'll never say a cross word to your brother and sister in the new man.

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Now you may say a correcting word and he may take it as if it's cross, but it'll be from a heart of love. I had that done to me this week by somebody.

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I did not confuse it one moment for a wrong spirited critical thing because it came from love.

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But the enemy can make us do that to each other in a wrong way. That's why he's there.

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Never think for a minute he can't affect you as a Christian because if you think that he's already defeated you. It's like you're fighting the invisible man.

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You don't even think he's there. You can't see him. So how can you fight him? You better know he's there and you better know him.

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And I'll tell you this, it's a different battle if you're battling the flesh and it's a different battle if you're battling the world and it's a different battle if you're battling

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Satan or demons. You don't fight the three the same way and you better know their ways of fighting and you better know how to handle each of the three.

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If you don't, I'll preach a sermon on that sometime soon. But look at this, thou hast girded me with strength to battle them that rose up against me, hast thou subdued under me.

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Now I thought it was David's big old foot on that devil's neck. He said

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I did it. But you know what? David always knows how he can do anything.

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That's the problem with modern religion is we take this where we don't believe God has to even be there. That's our minionism. We just we're gonna go out and have a bunch of programs.

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We're gonna have a bunch of stuff, a bunch of money running around. We're just gonna stamp out the devil boy.

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And you know what? You get a lot of I without the thou and you're in trouble. For thou hast girded me with strength to battle them that rose up against me, hast thou subdued under me.

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Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me and in parentheses you.

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What a message. Do we not need to be enlarged? We're going to talk about the enlargement of the heart next week but don't we need our feet, our steps enlarged?

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We need our steps enlarged. Do you know what happens when our steps are enlarged? The same thing that happened with Hannah.

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The same thing that happened throughout the scripture with the enlargement of saints of God is that it not only benefited the saint.

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It not only brought glory to God but it caused the enemy to look back and realize he had been defeated. That is important ladies and gentlemen.

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Don't ever think it's not important for him to see you have victory. Would he rather mess with you if you're strong and have victory or somebody that doesn't even know this stuff yet where he has no battle?

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Do you think the battle's not real? Who would he rather deal with? Someone who is strong and can break a bow in their arm or someone doesn't even carry a slingshot?

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David did both. Well we have to realize that we must learn to battle.

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The strength comes from the Lord but the design of it is that the enemy might see defeat under our steps.

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Let's stand and have prayer together. Why don't you come to the piano?

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I feel like having an altar call this morning. Father we thank you for your word.

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We thank you for the power that you show us in the arm of David which is a picture of spiritual might that you give us.

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You give us access to it. Many times you bring us through times of trial and struggle and that very thing causes us to rely upon you.

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It causes us to want to cast down any stronghold that any unclean thing might have in the life that you have bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and we want to cast it down and place it under our feet and you give us that right and that strength by the power that you have granted us and placed in our hearts and lives is truly the power from your strong arm.

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Father help us not to get into the area of I without coming to thee first and realizing that all power comes from you but father may the enemy be shown defeat.

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May he be shown victory in the lives of your children especially those in this room this morning and we ask it in Jesus name amen.

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With your heads bowed and your eyes closed I just want to offer a time we don't do this every time but if you just like to spend some time at this altar this morning you come and do so.