F4F | Jentezen Franklin: The Cave of Discouragement

Fighting for the Faith

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:15

Welcome to another installment of fighting for the faith. My name is Chris Rosebro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

00:21

This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. Now if you haven't already watched our series on a

00:31

Pirate Christian's Guide to the Old Testament, it's gonna be vital that you take a look at installment number five prior to watching this episode of fighting for the faith, because we're gonna demonstrate to you what happens when you don't recognize that the

00:49

Bible is about Jesus. It's not about you. It's about what Jesus has done for you.

00:56

And when you miss that fact, then what ends up happening is that you really can't make sense of the

01:02

Scripture. Case in point, we're gonna be heading over to Free Chapel as we listen to Jensen Franklin preach a message titled,

01:10

That Time, This Time, and Every Time, and it's supposedly about the account from Numbers 21 of the

01:18

Bronze Serpent. But the problem is, is that Jensen is one of these guys, he doesn't really truly believe that the

01:27

Bible is about Christ. Although later in this segment, you'll hear him recognize that that Bronze Serpent, it points to Jesus, he doesn't really know what to do with it.

01:39

As a result of it, he zeroes in on one particular word, which shows he doesn't really know

01:44

Hebrew, and hasn't at least studied it out from a good commentary, and just runs with that, and misses the whole point entirely of what that is about.

01:54

So, oh, but there we go, over, no, no, this way, yeah, there we go, over there, yeah, up here.

02:02

We're gonna put a link to a Pirate Christian's Guide to the Old Testament, part 5, part 5, so that you can, so that you can watch that, and note that, pull together

02:15

Numbers 21 and John chapter 3, verses 14 and 15.

02:24

Well, we'll cover that a little bit here, but I do more in -depth teaching on the Pirate Christian's Guide, but all that being said, let's head over to Freight Chapel, and Jensen Franklin's gonna read out from Numbers 21, the account of the

02:38

Bronze Serpent, and, and zoom in on one thing, and really mess it up, and then just run with the wrong thing that he zoomed in on.

02:49

Yeah, I wish I was making that up, but here's Jensen Franklin. Your Bibles, I'd love for you to open them with me to the

02:56

Old Testament book of Numbers. I'm going to Numbers, the 20, the 22nd, 21st chapter,

03:06

Numbers chapter 21, and I'm going to begin reading with verse 4 of Numbers chapter 21.

03:16

Now, they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, listen to this now, and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.

03:32

One translation said, because of the way. Now, a little bit of a note here, he's reading from the

03:39

New King James Version, and I want to kind of plug this in here, because you're gonna see that he makes some really just awful mistakes, which shows that he doesn't know how to research and look for how to rightly understand a text, and I'll explain that in a second here, but let's do it this way, shall we?

04:02

So, the text, this is from the English Standard Version, Hebrew here, over here, on this side.

04:09

From Mount Hor, they set out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, and the people became impatient on the way, and the

04:20

Hebrew word here, katsar, katsar, it means to be impatient, that's literally what it means.

04:29

So, take a look at Logos here, just do a quick word study on katsar, and you come up with, to be short, too short, shortened, shortened to be brief, and so you can look at the different ways in which it's translated, short, became patient, impatient, vexed, shortened, impatient, you kind of get the idea, but here's the important bit, and that is, if I were to pull up the

04:53

New King James Version, and that's the the text that's in front of me right now, that they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the

05:00

Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people became very discouraged, you'll note that even in the

05:06

New King James, it has a footnote that says impatient.

05:14

So, what he's doing is he's found that in the

05:19

New King James, they translate katsar as discouraged, but the translators recognize that really what we're getting at here by way of discouragement is an impatience discouragement there.

05:37

That's what we're talking about here, and so they put the note there so that you can find this out.

05:43

Now, if you just look at other translations, let's take a look at the Net Bible real quick.

05:50

The Net Bible translates katsar as impatient. I'll highlight it over here, they became impatient.

05:57

So, you'll note that as part of sermon preparation, if you're going to make a point, it's good to check commentaries, it's good to translate a text.

06:09

If you don't have the tools to translate, look at the footnotes, and look at the way other translations are working together, and note the differences, and pay attention when there's serious differences like that.

06:22

You have to have confidence that the point that you're going to make is the actual point of the text, and unfortunately,

06:30

Jenson Franklin isn't going to be making the point of this text at all, because the purpose of it is to point us to Christ, but we'll talk about that as we get there.

06:39

So, instead, he's going to drill in on the word discouraged, which is not a wise idea, because that's not why

06:48

Numbers 21 was penned. And the people spoke against God and against Moses.

06:55

Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no food, there's no water, our soul loathes this worthless bread.

07:06

So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died.

07:15

Therefore came Moses and said, We have sinned, we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the

07:21

Lord that he will take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people.

07:27

Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, take it on a pole, and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.

07:39

So Moses made a bronze serpent, put it on a pole, and so it was, if the serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

07:53

I want to talk to you today about a subject that I think is very much in the heart of needed in the hour that we're living in.

08:04

I have a different title, and I'll give you that later, but I'm really going to talk today about discouragement, the destructive power of discouragement.

08:16

The destructive power of discouragement. Really. That's not what this text is about.

08:23

Now, real quick, I'll just show this to you. The Gospel of John, Chapter 3. Everybody knows

08:29

John 3, 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

08:36

This is a text that everybody, even if you're not a Christian, you you're somewhat familiar with.

08:43

But that being said, you're going to note here that Jesus makes reference to the bronze serpent in Chapter 3, verses 14 and 15.

08:53

And here's what he says. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

09:03

So the bronze serpent itself is a type and shadow of Christ's crucifixion.

09:09

Remember, in the second Corinthians five, it says God made him Christ to be sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.

09:19

And and so Jesus, you know, God lays on him the iniquity of us all and he bleeds and dies for our sins.

09:26

So that bronze serpent is is is a type and shadow picture that points us to the crucifixion of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.

09:37

So we all being snake bit by the devil. Yeah, I think Garden of Eden here, we now can look to Christ and we will live rather than die.

09:49

That's the whole point of what's going on with this text. And this is why the cross references are vital.

09:54

You preach Jesus from this. But what Jensen Franklin has done is key in on the word

10:01

Katsar, although he's not going to give the word itself, the focus on the

10:07

New King James version of translation of it is discouraged. Ignore the footnote that says impatient and just now going to go whole hog preaching about the power of discouragement, which, again, is not the point of Numbers chapter 21.

10:28

It's not. So now we're going to lose Jesus and let's let him spin out this concept a little bit.

10:34

And you can see where he's going to go with this. Seems like I've noticed, I've noticed that more and more people are becoming so discouraged to the point that they give up and are wanting to take their life.

10:49

And I don't think we need to ignore it. I want to talk about the destructive power of discouragement and the remedy to discouragement.

10:56

In the Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life, how many of you have ever watched it? If you haven't, shame on you.

11:03

You're not going to heaven. It's one of the greatest. You know, I just got to ask you, how is the story of George Bailey from It's a

11:13

Wonderful Life at all an illustration that will help us to rightly understand the text that he just read out from Numbers 21?

11:24

It won't. He's missed the whole point. He doesn't really know what this text is about.

11:30

Movies ever put out on earth, and if you're just down, you ought to watch it. It'll cheer you up and make you feel good.

11:37

But in that classic, It's a Wonderful Life, the main character is a guy by the name of George Bailey.

11:44

And George Bailey is a good man, but he gets extremely, goes into great difficulty in his life and as a result becomes tremendously discouraged and even suicidal.

11:56

And he has some wonderful friends who pray for him in his lowest moments.

12:01

And when they prayed for him, they activate in the movie, the spirit world, particularly angels. And there's a superior angel who has an inferior, lesser angel who has not earned his wings yet.

12:14

And so he says, would you like to earn your wings, this strong angel? Would you like to earn your wings?

12:20

He says it to the inferior angel and the angel says, yes, just give me a chance. And so he says, here's your assignment.

12:27

You have to go down and help George Bailey. And then the angel says, well, what's wrong with George Bailey?

12:34

I've got this assignment. What's his problem? What's his issue? Is he sick? And then the superior angel makes this statement, worse than that, he is discouraged.

12:48

Worse than some horrible, awful sickness, he is discouraged.

12:56

The soul of the people in my text was much discouraged because of the way

13:03

God was leading them. They were much discouraged. And then the very next verse says that serpents were released because of discouragement and murmuring and complaining.

13:17

Anytime a person creates an atmosphere of discouragement in their life and stays there and does not take it serious, how serious it is to live in continual discouragement, it's a matter of time before serpents or demonic powers get released into that atmosphere.

13:44

No, this is not a text that's teaching us that if we are discouraged, we release demonic entities into the atmosphere.

13:54

You'll note that the serpents were sent as a judgment from God because they had sinned against God and Moses.

14:04

Let me read out more of the text. So they became impatient on the way. So the people spoke against God and they spoke against Moses.

14:14

Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There's no food, no water. We loathe this worthless food for.

14:21

Then Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people. They bit the people so that many of the people of Israel died.

14:28

Why? Because they were speaking against God. They were speaking against Moses. So the people came to Moses and said, now they confess their sin.

14:36

We have sinned for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh that he may take away the serpents from us.

14:44

So, you know, I wow, this is bad. I mean, this is a sermon that has gaff after gaff after gaff in it.

14:57

And I'll fast forward to just another example of just a mind numbing gap gaff here as it relates to Psalm 73 and a point that he's going to make that's made in Psalm 72.

15:13

But watch what he does here. I'll let him kind of set the stage. He's going to talk about apparently

15:19

John the Baptist was discouraged and he sent to Jesus and he said, you know, are you the

15:25

Christ or should we wait for another? He saw this as a sign of discouragement. And so he tries to weave that in and then he'll build in here on Psalm 73.

15:38

And we'll point something out. I'm trying to figure out when do I make the point?

15:43

I might have to make it immediately because you'll see what he does here. It's just it's like this is like a student who shows up for a test and didn't study and just tries to wing it.

15:59

And sadly, to everybody there in the audience at Free Chapel, he lands on his feet when he shouldn't have been.

16:07

Discouragement, listen, will cause you to question what you previously affirmed.

16:14

When you get discouragement, you'll question your spirit visitation. You'll question your divine manifestations.

16:22

When I'm discouraged, I'll question my my spirit visitation.

16:28

What? What divine manifestations are you talking about here? You'll question your personal revelation.

16:36

There are things that can come into your life that will make you wonder about that bird. Did I really see it or was

16:42

I just emotional? Bird like like you saw an omen. Your scripture tells us not to read omens.

16:50

It make you wonder, did I really hear that voice? It'll make you wonder about your personal. Did I really get saved?

16:56

Is there really a heaven? Is there really a God? That's when you're really discouraged. There are things that in life will come that will make you question the will of God, the love of God.

17:10

How can a loving God let this happen? The the call of God. Did I call myself or did

17:15

God call me? The doctrine of God. These are some symbols of a discouraged heart when you begin to doubt what you previously affirmed and believe with all of your heart.

17:29

Again, this isn't the point of numbers 21 at all. John would have never entertained the thought of looking somewhere else until he became discouraged.

17:42

And when he became discouraged, that's when you have you have a tendency to start looking somewhere else.

17:50

Going back to alcoholism, going back to drugs, going back, just leaving the church because it again, this has nothing to do with numbers 21 at all.

18:01

Didn't happen because you didn't think that God performed like you wanted him to perform and did what you wanted him to do when you wanted him to do it.

18:10

So you start looking for other answers because you don't believe in him anymore.

18:16

That's the destructive power. If it could happen to John the Baptist, it could happen to you.

18:25

John the Baptist died in the faith. What are you talking about? I still want to proclaim in the middle of the jail cell, no birds flying, no talking voices with reverb, no manifestations, no chill bumps.

18:41

I believe no chill bumps. I don't know.

18:48

John got the revelation. I know he did because the Bible said he did, where he ends up saying there basically there's no

18:55

God like Jehovah. I still believe the birds not flying, the voice isn't speaking, but I still believe there's no

19:03

God like Jehovah. Hallelujah. I want to show you something.

19:10

I don't want you to ever forget this. I want to give you the door to discouragement.

19:17

All right, so here's the door to discouragement. Don't ever forget this. And what he's going to say is a complete gaffe, and I mean it.

19:29

It's jaw -droppingly bad as far as sermon gaffes go.

19:38

So that you won't walk through it. In Psalm 73 in verse 1,

19:44

David says, truly God is good to Israel. I got to point this out. I'm going to point it out here.

19:50

Okay, I'm going to use Lagos for this, and we're going to go to Psalm 72.

20:01

You'll note that the Psalms themselves are broken up into five collections.

20:08

We call them books. And that book two of the Psalms, it says this, at the very end of it, the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

20:24

And when you read biblical scholars and commentaries on this, there's some debate as to at an earlier date, if the

20:34

Psalms ended here, and then were later added to. But we know then that what follows, unless it says so, these are not

20:43

Psalms of David. So book three of the Psalms, Psalm 73, it says this, a

20:49

Psalm of Asaph. Okay, so what we do know is that this is not a

20:56

Psalm of David. It's not. So Psalm 73 is not one of David's Psalms.

21:03

I think if I'm doing this, if I'm remembering correctly, yeah, here we go. Psalm 86 is a prayer of David, which is thrown in here.

21:13

But from basically 72 on, we've got multiple authors of Psalms.

21:20

And so they tell us the different names. So Psalm 74 is a mask of Asaph.

21:28

To the choir master, according to do not destroy a Psalm of Asaph, a song.

21:35

Yeah, so you get the idea here. And that really in the corpus of the

21:41

Psalms, Psalm 72 is the end of the Psalms as David really wrote them.

21:47

With an exception, you get Psalm 86, which is also a Psalm of David. But the so the note here that the the prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended.

21:59

It kind of lets you know what's going on here. David's no longer the author of the

22:04

Psalms moving forward. At least you shouldn't assume that unless it says so. So when we get to Psalm 73, this is not a

22:13

Psalm of David. David didn't pen it. OK, truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

22:21

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when

22:29

I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for they have no pangs until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek.

22:34

They are not in trouble as others are. They are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore, pride is in their necklace.

22:42

Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies.

22:49

They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens.

22:56

Their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in them.

23:03

And they say, how can God know is their knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked always at ease.

23:10

They increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence for all the day long.

23:17

I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said I will speak thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

23:25

But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God and there

23:32

I discerned their end. Truly, you set them in slippery places. You make them fall to ruin.

23:38

How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors like a dream.

23:43

When one awakes, oh Lord, when you roused yourself and despised them as phantoms, when my soul was embittered, when

23:51

I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast towards you.

23:56

Nevertheless, I'm continually with you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel and afterwards you will receive me to glory whom

24:04

I have. Have I in heaven but you and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

24:11

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

24:17

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish and you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

24:24

But for me, it is good to be near God. I have made Yahweh God my refuge that I may tell of all of your works.

24:33

So you know what the text is about. OK, a guy who is lamenting the fact that the wealthy, though the wicked seem to be wealthy and prosperous for a season, but then he realizes that the word of God reveals that their end is destruction and it'll come on them swiftly.

24:48

And so he affirms his faith and trust in God for his salvation and his strength.

24:54

And again, Psalm 73 is not penned by David.

25:00

It's not. So all of that being said, let's come back then to what

25:08

Jensen Franklin is saying here. And we're going to note that as far as gaps go, this is this is way out there.

25:15

So let me let me back this up just a smidge and listen again. Discouragement so that you won't walk through it.

25:23

Yes, it's going to reveal to you the door of discouragement so that you don't walk through it. In Psalm 73, in verse one,

25:30

David says true. No, David does not say the Psalms of David are end

25:35

Psalm 72. So Psalm 73 is a psalm of Asaph.

25:43

God is good to Israel, even to as many who have a clean heart.

25:48

And look at the next verse. Watch this. But as for me, what now?

25:54

And then he starts listing. I'm slipping. I'm falling. My life is falling to pieces. He says over in verse 13,

26:00

I've been living clean and right, and I'm envious of the foolish because they're wicked.

26:07

And the more that they become wicked, the more God prospers them. And you know what he's saying?

26:12

This ain't working for me. He said, I know God. But look at verse one. He said, I know God blesses

26:18

Israel. But as for me, but as for me. Yeah, that's not the point of this psalm at all.

26:23

So basically, he thinks that Psalm 73 is a psalm that David wrote in depression and discouragement.

26:31

Why? Well, you're going to find out why he thinks that in just a minute. It's a different story. I'm the exception.

26:37

This is a discouraged guy. He said, my feet almost slipped. I almost quit, almost gave up, almost just walked away.

26:45

He said, I was envious of how God was prospering wicked people. And here

26:50

I am living, right, living, clean, doing the best I can. And it's just not working for me.

26:57

It's just not working for me. How did he get there? You got to back up one verse into the next chapter.

27:04

He's in discouragement, but if you go back to, uh, to, to Psalm 72 and the last verse, verse 20, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended.

27:22

The door to discouragement is prayerlessness. Wow. Wow.

27:34

No, no, no, no, no, no.

27:40

So I did this. Oh, this is bad. So the way he's reading

27:46

Psalm 72 verse 20 is, is that, oh,

27:51

David stopped praying and he became prayerless. And so that's the reason why in Psalm 73, he's all discouraged and stuff.

28:02

No, it, it doesn't mean that David stopped praying.

28:11

It means that the Psalms, which are prayers that the, that David is no longer the author of what's coming next, the body of his

28:22

Psalms with one exception, Psalm 86, it's done. So, oh man, that that's, that's just a bad gap.

28:33

So, I mean, folks, I've been covering Jensen Franklin for years now, and I have yet to hear him rightly handle a biblical text.

28:43

He just seems like the nicest guy, but he is not properly shown that he is capable of rightly handling a biblical text.

28:53

This is a huge gap on his part. Again, numbers 21 has nothing to do with the door of discouragement or anything like that.

29:00

And Psalm 73 is not David being discouraged because he stopped praying.

29:07

That's not what is going on here. The moment he quit praying, he said,

29:16

I'm done praying. He said, no, he didn't step right through the door to discouragement, despair, backsliding.

29:24

My feet are slipping. I'm experiencing discouragement and despair as I'm listening to this nonsense.

29:32

I'm looking elsewhere cause this ain't working for me. All that talk, but notice that the door to discouragement is prayerlessness.

29:42

That's how you get discouraged when you stop praying. Now, I agree not praying is a dangerous and terrible thing.

29:50

You shouldn't do that, but that's not what numbers 21 is about, nor is

29:56

Psalm 73. Just little Lord bless us today and keep us, help us in the name of Jesus.

30:02

Amen. And praying over your food and that's pretty much your prayer line. But when you, when you pray like Elijah prayed, he prayed until the fire came on that mountain of his, where he was in the cave of discouragement, the fire, you remember?

30:15

And God was not in the fire and the wind. He prayed until the whirlwind came.

30:20

He prayed until the still small voice came into his cave of discouragement.

30:26

And the Elijah's cage of discouragement, again, not a cross reference to numbers 21 here.

30:37

Voice said, listen to what the voice told him to go anoint some other people.

30:44

I'm in my cave of discouragement. I want to die. Elijah said, just let me live and die in this cave.

30:51

He's isolated. He's discouragement. And when he prays, the Bible said that God said to him, start sharing your anointing.

31:06

This is so bad. Oh man.

31:15

No, God did not say to Elijah, start sharing your anointing. He went and had him anoint a life

31:24

Shaw because he's, he's done. He's about to be taken up to heaven.

31:31

Unbelievable. This is just wow. Does this guy rightly handle any biblical text?

31:40

How do you get out of the cave of discouragement? Start sharing your anointing.

31:50

Oh man. This, this, wow. This is like the blind leading the blind.

31:55

Let me see if I could find this real quick. First Kings. I think I want to go to 20, but hang on a second here.

32:02

I'm wrong. Uh, no, it's probably 19. Yeah. Okay. So, so it's, it's first Kings 19.

32:10

And after the showdown on Mount Carmel, right. You know, and, and, and anyway, and it starts to rain because Elijah prayed and it rained then.

32:20

So Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he'd kill all the prophets with the sword. Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods, she's an idolatress, uh, do to me and more.

32:34

Also, if I don't make your life as a life of one of them by this time tomorrow. So then he was afraid.

32:39

He rose and ran for his life and came to bet a Sheba, which belongs to Judah and left his servant there.

32:46

He himself, one a day's journey into the wilderness came and sat under a broom tree. He asked that he might die saying it's enough now.

32:53

Oh Lord, take away my life for I am no better than my father's. And so no, he, he wants to die.

32:59

He's terrified. He was on a run for his life is all basically take away my life, kill me

33:05

God. So he laid down and slept under the broom tree, behold, an angel touched him and said, arise and eat.

33:10

He looked and behold, there was at his head, a cake of a cake baked on hot stones in a jar of water.

33:16

He ate and drank and laid down again. And the angel of the Yahweh came again a second time, touched him and said, arise and eat for the journey is too great for you.

33:26

So he rose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food for 40 days, 40 nights to horror. This is

33:31

Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There he came to a cave lodged in it. Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him and said to him, what are you doing here?

33:40

Elijah said, I've been here. I've been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of, of hosts, the God of army

33:45

Saba and for the people of Israel. I have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets.

33:52

They've, they've done all these things to them with the sword. And even I, I'm only left and they seek my life to take it away.

33:58

So he said, you go out and stand on the Mount before Yahweh and behold, Yahweh passed by a great and strong wind tore the mountains, broken pieces, the rocks before the

34:07

Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind and after wind and earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake, a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire.

34:16

And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper and Elijah heard it and he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave and behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here?

34:29

Elijah said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of armies hosts for the people of Israel forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars.

34:37

They've killed your prophets with a sword. And I, even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away.

34:42

So Yahweh said to him, you go and return your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint

34:49

Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel and Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel, Mahaloah, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.

35:04

You see, Elisha is going to become the prophet in Elisha's place.

35:11

And so the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall

35:18

Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel, all knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.

35:27

So there you go. God didn't say, you know, listen, you're in the cage of discouragement, Elijah.

35:33

You need to go and just share your anointing and then you'll be happy.

35:40

It's not the point at all. And so this is mind numbing because you sit there and go, how is it that he's the pastor of multi -site mega churches and he can't even begin to rightly handle a text properly at all?

36:02

I mean, this is just one big guffaw gaff after another, after another.

36:11

So, yeah, let me back this up just a smidge. And again, listen to this. This is nonsense.

36:17

Isolated his discouragement. And when he prays, the Bible said that God said to him, start sharing your anointing.

36:24

No. How do you get out of a cave of discouragement? Start sharing your anointing.

36:32

I'm anointed to preach. No, no, no, you're not.

36:41

I mean, how do you make so many gaps in the same sermon and then say,

36:46

I'm anointed to preach. You're anointed to twist God's word clearly, but you're not anointed to preach it and rightly handle it.

36:55

That's for sure. Thank you. I appreciate your confidence in me. I'm anointed to play music.

37:03

And I've learned that when I'm discouraged the most, that's when I need a microphone and a

37:09

Bible in my sacks nearby. Because what you don't know is when I'm playing my best and preaching my best,

37:16

I'm usually sharing my anointing the best because there's something about when you're discouraged that you have an anointing.

37:24

It may be the hug and love on people that may be in the rest. Do you have the hug and love on people anointing?

37:34

I don't even know what that is. It may be in the prison, but the thing the enemy wants to do is send discouragement to get you to quit.

37:40

But when you turn around and start sharing your anointing, it always brings you out of the cave.

37:51

I don't have a cave. All right. Well, actually, I will say this, that we do call this space here where we recorded, we do call it the pirate cave.

38:04

But still, the point stands. The cave

38:13

Elijah was in was not some malagorical cave of discouragement. And the way to get out of it is to share your anointing.

38:19

That's not what the Bible's saying. I'm so discouraged even having to point this out.

38:25

If you want to be encouraged, start encouraging somebody else today.

38:32

Call somebody today. Check up on somebody. But I want somebody for me.

38:37

Call somebody today. Reach out. Reach out and touch someone, you know.

38:45

You forget. You get so busy. You forget that you're discouraged and have to remind yourself.

38:54

Let me close with this. Please get on with it. So the remedy is also given in numbers.

39:03

When he said, here's what you are to do, Moses, about all these discouraged people. All right. So he's to the remedy phase.

39:09

Now he will connect that bronze serpent with Jesus. But that's the point of the text.

39:16

Like the main point. But watch how quickly he just glosses right over it, moves on back to the discouragement point he's been making.

39:28

He said, you take a brazen serpent. Yeah. And you mold and form it on a pole.

39:35

And you lift it up. And you tell the people to... Did you notice that?

39:42

Cue sappy music. This is an emotional manipulation technique.

39:48

And the purpose of cueing that sappy music and having it now playing softly in the background, this is all in order to give that false impression that God the

39:59

Holy Spirit is now descending on the audience, you know, to help them make a decision of one kind or another.

40:06

Apparently, God the Holy Spirit is now descending. And it's time for you to deal with your discouragement.

40:13

Which represented Jesus taking our sin. Why a serpent? On a pole.

40:19

And you lift it up. And you tell the people to... Which represented

40:25

Jesus taking our sin. Why a serpent? Because he took our sin. He took our sickness.

40:30

He took our discouragement. He took our sin.

40:36

Yes. God laid on him the iniquity of us all. God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that we might be the righteousness of God.

40:44

Right. Okay. Yeah. He took the curse. The snake represents the curse and sin.

40:50

He took it. And when they raised the cross, when he said, raise it up.

40:55

In other words, lift him up. Lift him up. Jesus said, lift me up.

41:02

That's not in any of the crucifixion accounts in the Gospels. Tell the people to look up and live.

41:07

Oh, yeah. Lift up the serpent. Got it. If you're discouraged, two things I want to say to you.

41:13

Number one, look up. And lift him up.

41:23

No. Look up and lift him up. Focus on the cross, would you?

41:30

What Jesus actually did for us. That's the point of the text. Look up and lift him up.

41:41

You got to look for help in the right places. The problem is a lot of people get discouraged and they don't look for help in the right place.

41:50

They look for help in the wrong places. Somebody without God can't help you much.

41:56

Somebody who's not giving you biblical advice can't help you much. Like Jensen Franklin.

42:03

He ain't giving us much biblical anything here. Peel that numbs your mind. It may get you through a tough time, but ultimately, you're going to have to look higher than these things.

42:13

You got to look up and begin to lift him up. Begin to praise him. Begin to magnify.

42:19

He was lifted up on the cross. Suspended between heaven and earth on a

42:25

Friday afternoon. Magnify Jesus in your life. Don't get shook up.

42:33

Look up. Lift him up. The way out of discouragement is to lift him up.

42:43

And don't do it with a sad face. Put on a happy face and start lifting up Jesus.

42:52

Yeah, that'll get you right out of depression. I mean, sure fire away. That's not the point that Jesus was making in John 3, 14, and 15 either.

43:03

Let me kind of make the point by actually showing it to you from the text. This is so messed up.

43:09

So, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up. How?

43:15

By being nailed to the cross so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

43:21

You see, it's not our job to lift up Jesus. Jesus was lifted up on the cross.

43:28

We're to look to him because he's bled and died for our sins. You see, now he's turning.

43:34

Are you discouraged? Are you experiencing discouragement? Well, the way you got to get out of that discouragement is you need to lift up Jesus.

43:41

Put a smile on your face and start lifting him up. The lifting up that Jesus was talking about was the lifting up when he was nailed to the cross.

43:51

It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. That's a fact.

43:58

Did you know that? I'm getting a workout during this sermon review. Some of you need to get lazy and smile.

44:10

This is going to throw somebody in further into depression. I'm burning more calories when

44:22

I'm frowning. Look to him. Pray.

44:28

Worship your way out of discouragement. Worship your way out of discouragement. That's not what

44:36

Numbers 21 or John 3, 14, and 15 is pointing out. End of my sermon and my title.

44:43

This is the bottom line, the secret to getting out of discouragement. Here it is. You ready? This is good news.

44:49

I got some good. No, no. Good news is that Jesus died for my sins and he died for yours.

44:54

That's the good news. And they rose again bodily from the grave on the third day. That's the good news.

45:01

What you're preaching, this ain't good news. And this is this isn't going to help anybody who's actually discouraged and depressed.

45:08

To give you right now. Here it is. The devil doesn't mind you celebrating and remembering that time.

45:19

What time? Talking about that time how God made a way and blessed you.

45:26

He doesn't mind you remembering and celebrating that time. He doesn't mind you saying sometime

45:33

God's gonna do something in heaven. He doesn't mind. How do you know this about the devil?

45:39

Never cry again. Did you talk to him? Did you interview him on this? One day, someday.

45:46

But I tell you what makes the devil be terrorized. He wants to convince you that that time and sometime

46:00

God will do it. But he wants to convince you that this time you're not gonna make it.

46:10

This time you're not coming out. This time

46:17

God's gonna fail you. This time you're going under. This time it's gonna end with disaster.

46:27

So I got a message for the devil. You do. You're gonna talk to the devil during your sermon.

46:33

Really? Why are you doing that? Here's my, here's the message for the devil.

46:42

That time, this time, and every time

46:48

God will not fail. God doesn't fail.

46:57

It's just a mess. Everybody shout that time, this time. Everyone's on their feet man.

47:04

It's a applause line. Yeah wow. And every time God will not forget about me.

47:12

God will not fail me. God will not forsake me.

47:18

Yeah that's true. Again not the point of any of these texts. This time get up on your feet now.

47:26

Get something in you. Get something in you that fights back and say that time, this time, and every time

47:35

God will not fail. God's gonna do it again. What's he gonna do again?

47:43

Now clap your hands and praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the

47:49

Lord. Praise the Lord. I'm not up here playing games.

48:02

Be encouraged because that time, this time, and every time.

48:12

If you don't get nothing else out of this sermon, I want you to put it on a sticker. I got nothing out of this sermon. I'm putting nothing from the sermon on any stickers or anywhere

48:20

I can see it. Your car and on your refrigerator. That time, this time, every time

48:25

God will not fail. God will not fail. God will not, he won't forget me. Again that's not the point of numbers 21,

48:33

John 3, 14, and 15. He won't fail me. He won't forsake me. Shout it that time.

48:42

Now shout over that time. You gotta. A lot of manipulation going on. You better be shouting. Come on.

48:47

I know you're on your feet already because you know we've been manipulating you emotionally with the music and stuff. But now you gotta shout and stuff and you just do that.

48:55

Yeah. That time in your life when they said you wouldn't make it, but look at you standing in church on Sunday morning.

49:01

Shout over that time. Because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

49:10

That time, this time, can anybody shout over the fact that there's no

49:17

God like Jehovah right now in your present circumstances? And now really get a big shout.

49:25

And every time God will not fail. I feel the

49:30

Lord in that. You do. I don't feel nothing. Lift up your hands. Look up.

49:36

Look up and lift him up. Look up and lift him up.

49:42

So no, nobody here is convicted of their sins. They haven't actually had

49:47

Christ and him crucified for their sins, placarded for them, called to repent of their sin and to trust in Jesus.

49:56

No, they've been told they've got to lift him up, which is like the exact opposite of what the text is referring to.

50:02

And now they've got to just shout this time, every time, every time, you know, and a lot of times.

50:07

And he's about to do, I'm not making this up, an altar call.

50:14

Yeah. But this ain't like any altar call I remember when I was a kid, because during altar calls when

50:20

I was a kid, the preacher would actually preach the law and actually talk about sin and the need to repent and the purpose of the altar call was to come down and to pray and to be forgiven and stuff.

50:34

That's not what he's going to do here. That time, this time, every time God cannot fail.

50:40

God will not fail. Every head bound, every eye closed at every campus.

50:50

Here it comes. There's the altar call. If the enemies had you in a grip of discouragement and you've heard thoughts of quitting and giving up and walking away, even like John, are you the one or should

51:07

I look somewhere else at some other source than God? Cause this isn't working for me.

51:15

God brought you to church today to hear this sermon. No, God wouldn't have brought any of you there to hear that message at all.

51:22

Cause that message totally twisted God's word. And we're going to pray for you.

51:27

Now let's not forget what we are. We're not a little teaching club here. This is where the power of God can manifest.

51:34

This is where people can leave with a new hope, a new vision, a new come on up and get a new hope and get a new vision and stuff and think

51:42

God's apparently handing them out there. Yeah. Purpose, a new faith, a new purpose. You come get a new faith too while you're at it.

51:49

A new believing, a new enthusiasm can grip your life today and you can walk out knowing that there is no

51:57

God like Jehovah. You can walk out knowing that time, this time and every time

52:02

I belong to the Lord and the battle is not mine. He's going to take care of me.

52:09

So no sin, no repentance of sin, no forgiveness of sins and Christ in him crucified for our sins.

52:17

None of that. And if you know you've been battling discouragement and you need

52:22

God to touch you this morning with a fresh new touch from heaven.

52:28

You need a touch. You need God to touch you with a fresh new touch. What's that?

52:35

Get out of your seat and come stand down here. I believe today is that day of great victory.

52:43

Day is a day of great victory. Apparently just come on down. Great victory is being handed out like Halloween candy or something in your life.

52:50

That's it. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.

52:57

Lots of emotional manipulation, not rightly handling any biblical text at all.

53:05

And major gaps that show you don't know what you're doing here. And this is par for Jensen Franklin's course.

53:14

I would argue this is par for like so much of what passes for preaching today in so many places that call themselves churches.

53:23

Their pastors clearly do not know how to rightly handle biblical text. They preach nonsense. They twist

53:28

God's word. And with everything they say, they show that they have never actually studied, showed themselves approved.

53:35

They didn't apply themselves at all to rightly understand the text that they are preaching. And instead they just use the text as a pretext to talk about what they wanted to talk about.

53:46

And at the end of it, they put a healthy slathering of emotional manipulation on top of it.

53:52

And who gets lost in the mix? Jesus, because the Bible's about him. Jesus gets lost in the mix.

54:00

And instead you get all of this weird pablum that is designed to basically harp on your feelings.

54:08

And people will leave there going, oh, that was the best thing ever. I felt so amazing. And if they go back and use their brain, they'll realize, wait a second,

54:17

I wasn't taught nothing. In fact, what I was taught was like not even what the Bible says at all.

54:23

Right. Because it seems like the mega churches, everything is just geared towards emotional manipulation and the manipulation of human feelings, not making disciples and not rightly handling biblical texts and teaching what is actually revealed and said in the

54:42

Word of God and pointing it back to Jesus, calling sinners to repent and to be forgiven and bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

54:50

No, it's just all this other nonsense. So what'd you think? Love to get your feedback. You can leave a comment down below.

54:57

If you found this helpful, all the information on how you can share the video is also down below in the description.

55:03

And of course, a reminder that we can't do what we're doing here without your financial support. So if you're not already a crew member, haven't supported us, all the information on how you can do that is also in the description.

55:14

So until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.