The Valley of Blessing (Berachah) — Keith Malcomson

The God of the Valleys

I want you to go in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 20 here this morning, 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and we are part nine of this series of the God of the valleys. We have looked now at several significant valleys in the Bible, and we see that God is indeed the God of the valleys, not just of the mountains.

We know that God is the God of the mountaintops, we know that, extraordinary, miraculous, supernatural intervention to God. We know that God is there, but what about the valleys where you cannot see, where it can be dark, where enemies gather?

Have you proved that God is your God in the valley? Because anyone can prove that God is the God of the mountaintop when everything is going good and God is answering all the prayers and everything is happening.

But can you prove, have you proved that your God is the God of your valleys? At your worst point, your lowest point, your most direst point, when you are all alone, isolated, is your God still alive at that point?

And that is what we have dealt with in these. I hope you have seen something about these valleys, that you will never look at a valley quite the same again after these weeks. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, I want to simply read one verse here this morning, and then I want to do something that I normally do not do.

I usually pray, but I want to read a prayer, and I never do that. You know that, I never read a prayer. But I want to read a biblical prayer. I want to read the prayer in this chapter, and we are going to bow our heads and I am going to read this prayer as my prayer for this meeting this morning.

The Valley of Blessing in 2 Chronicles 20

But first of all, let's read this one verse, 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 26, and this is my message this morning. Two weeks ago, we dealt with the valley of weeping. Last week, the valley of trouble.

This week, my message is different. The valley of blessing, 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 26. And when Jehoshaphat and the people, sorry, that's the wrong scripture, verse 26, and on the fourth day, they assembled themselves together in the valley of Berekeh.

For there they blessed the Lord, therefore the name of the same place was called the valley of Berekeh unto this day. Let's pray. O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?

And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who dost drive out the inhabitants of the land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever?

And they dwell therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If when evil cometh upon us as a sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

And now behold the children of Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not. Behold I say how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.

O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Amen. I'm going to preach here this morning, in part nine of this series, the valley of blessing.

The valley of blessing. Here in verse 26, we read about this valley, called the valley of Berika, or the valley of blessing. It was actually after a set of events, that God's people changed the name of this valley, or named this valley, the valley of blessing, because it was right there that they blessed God.

This was not a valley in which they're asking to be blessed. This is not a valley in which they were merely blessed by God, although they were. That is not what is notable about this valley. This valley gained a name, and remember what a valley is.

It is a low place. It is a dangerous place. It is a place of real enemies, and yet this place was named the valley of blessing. Why? Because it was right there that they blessed God. They gathered together.

I mean, everyone in the people of God gathered together, and it was right there that they so blessed God, that they renamed the entire name of the valley. Now, what does this word, to bless, mean? This word is used some 330 times in the Old Testament, to bless, and 302 of those times, it is translated by the word bless.

It's the Hebrew word barak, and it's usually interpreted blessed, but this is what it means, to kneel down, to bless God as an act of adoration. You are blessing God. You open up your mouth. You begin to praise Him, and bless Him, and worship Him, and adore Him.

You're a vocal in your adoration, but built into it two or three times, I think it is, this word barak is actually used for kneeling down. So part of this is that you kneel down. You bow the knee. Isn't it a tragedy that so many bowed the knee two years ago?

What an agenda. But I'm telling you, we are caught up in something here. I want to bow the knee and to bless our God. This is truly bowing the knee. This is truly taking the knee, that we would bow and bless the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, this was an entire valley filled with the people of God, and they are bowing the knee to the Lord Jesus, or to the Lord God Almighty. They are blessing Him. You actually can't bless God unless you bow the knee.

And you know what it means to actually bless God, or to bow the knee? It means to be in submission, to be in obedience, or to acknowledge God in all of His fullness, His rights over your life, His authority over your life, His power and sovereignty in the world.

And so to truly bless God, you're in a place of submission. Do you know you cannot bless God if you're not submitted to God? He's not interested in mere words, or nice songs, or good singing, or good worship.

He's not interested in that. He's looking for an individual who really blesses Him. Where your heart is utterly submitted, then you can bless God. Not everyone blesses God. You ever have anyone around you, they don't necessarily bless you.

They really don't bless you. They're a burden to you. They're a curse to you. They're an annoyance to you. But when someone blesses you, they delight you. They encourage you. They adore you. Can you imagine God's people?

We are meant to be a people who adore God. We worship God. We magnify God. You know, here this morning in this service, I don't care how well you sing. I don't care how pristine our worship is. We try our best.

We don't always manage the note. I don't always. But I want to tell you, what does matter is the heart. That is the essential thing. That is the essential thing. We are experts in worship in this generation, but we are not experts in blessing God.

Because to bless God, you've got to bow the knee. You've got to be in utter submission. And so we have here in 2 Chronicles 20, we have a valley, a low valley, a large valley, a valley that has a wilderness either end of it.

And you know what? All of God's people gather deliberately in that valley. They choose to gather in this valley to bless God. It's not about them. This valley has everything to do with blessing God. We live in a generation of bless me, give to me.

If I don't get a good feel factor out of church, I'm not coming. I come here to get, to receive, to be ministered onto. And yet, you know what? The gospel turns that radically around. The real gospel makes you someone who says, it's not about me.

It's about blessing God. It's not about me getting blessings. It's about me wanting to give. What can I do in serving you, God? I want to be submitted. I want to yield to you. I want to give to you. They deliberately go to this valley to bless God.

I've got about six points here. Might add a few as I go along. But I've certainly got six. Listen, let me take you into this. And I'm going to take you to the pathway to this valley. How God's people get there.

What is it about this? What made this people to go to a valley where they are selfless? They weren't considerate of themselves. And everything was about God. And they went to a low place, an isolated place, a wilderness place, a dangerous place.

And when they went there, all that was their focus was we go there deliberately as an act to bless God. What would motivate a people to do that? To go to a low, isolated, dark, hard place and say we're going there deliberately.

It's planned. And we're going there to bless God, to magnify Him, to exalt Him. Listen here to these six points. Number one, overwhelming opposition. I want to take you on the steps that take you to the valley of blessing.

Overwhelming Opposition

And number one on this, if you want to go to the valley of blessing, do you want to get to a place where in the valley, all you do, you're consumed with blessing God, living for God, worshiping God, submitting to God.

You're consumed with this. I mean an entire people, not an individual, the entire church, the entire gathering of God's people. They are united in this. How do you get there? Well, this is number one, overwhelming opposition.

Without overwhelming opposition, you'll probably never get to the valley of blessing. Look at verse 1 here with me. It says, it came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them other besides the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

This is King Jehoshaphat. There are 10 tribes in the north. That's called Israel. There are two tribes in the south. That's called Judah with their capital in Jerusalem. And the king in this small southern region is called King Jehoshaphat, a remarkable man of God, but a man who made mistakes along the way, a man who took wrong directions at times, but he's in the right place at this time, I want to tell you.

And so here is King Jehoshaphat. And it came to pass that all of these enemies began to gather, Moab, Ammon, and the children of Mount Seir all gathered together to do battle against Jehoshaphat. They're coming to Jerusalem.

You see, there's my point here, overwhelming opposition. You want to get to the valley of blessing. You want to be in that place where you're consumed with magnifying and worshiping the Lord. I want to tell you the first way to get there is overwhelming opposition.

You want to be a selfless Christian who adores God, who really lives for God? Then it's going to mean overwhelming opposition. Are you still on board in this journey to this valley of blessing here this morning?

You see, Jehoshaphat is going to be known as a king who leads the entire children of Israel, all of Judah, into this valley of blessing. But you know what, he didn't get there easily. He is driven there.

He doesn't know he's going there at this point. There's overwhelming opposition. But these enemies are going to force him into a valley to bless God. You see, you could see your enemies as enemies. What good can come out of enemies?

I want to tell you, they can start you on a journey where you're going to be driven to a place of blessing the Lord in a valley. And so we see here, who are these enemies? The people of Moab and the people of Ammon come up as entire peoples to attack Judah.

Do you know who Moab and Ammon were? They were the children of Lot by his own daughters. Do you remember who Lot is? That's the nephew of Abraham, the friend of God. Lot is the one with his wife and two daughters who gets dragged out of Sodom and Gomorrah before judgment falls by two angels.

Two angels are sent to drag them. Righteous Lot, he's so righteous, he can't die in Sodom and Gomorrah. Two angels drag him out when he lingers because they don't want to leave. They don't want to leave Sodom, a wicked city filled with iniquity.

But he is a righteous man. He's not a drinker. He's not immoral. He's not a homosexual. He actually rebukes the sin. But do you know what? He's saved as by fire. He is barely saved. That's who Lot is.

Angels have to drag him out. You know what Lot was? He lived far too close to this world. And you know what Christians do? There's far too many live far too close to this world. I want to tell you, it'll cost your children.

It'll cost the life of your wife. That's what living close to the world does. You say it doesn't matter. Oh, I love Jesus. I'm righteous. I'm born again. Doesn't matter. The decisions are where I live or what I do.

It could cost you your entire family. It is such a serious thing. We know that Lot fled. His wife is turned to a pillar of salt because she looks back at Sodom. You know why she had her house there? It's not the homosexuality she's interested in.

She had her home, her possessions, her friends, all those natural carnal things. It was her life. All that money. That's where she lived. And she looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. You better be careful about being rooted in this world.

And so they fled. And Lot with his two daughters escaped to a mountain. I want you to notice that here this morning. These enemies of Moab and Ammon, you know where they had their beginning? In a mountaintop experience.

So Lot flees for safety to the mountain. It's safe to go to the mountain. I don't want to stay in the valley. That's dangerous. Sodom's in a valley. I don't want to go there. So let's go to the mountain.

And they find a cave. You know what his two daughters done? They made him drunk, slept with him, and he had two children. One called Moab, one called Ammon, who in later generations grew to be two entire people on the outside of the land of inheritance.

This is the two armies that are marching against Jehoshaphat. This is where they had the beginning. What does Moab and Ammon represent? Do you know they're related to Abraham, the friend of God? Do you realize they're related blood relatives to God's people?

That's who they are. But Moab and Ammon, although they have Abrahamic blood flowing in their veins, look at them. They're those who live close to this world. Do you know what else? Lot slept with his two daughters.

Do you know what it represents? Those churches, preachers, leaders, Christians who don't evangelize. They're incestuous. They never evangelize out into this world. So Moab and Ammon are a religious people very close to the land of promise, very spiritual in their heritage and background.

They are descended from this family of Abraham through Lot. But do you know what? They have their origin in the mountaintop experiences. You know what I believe? They represent movements in today's church, actual entire worldwide movements.

And you know what? They're on the march against God's people, the Moabites, the Ammonites, relatives of the real church of God. But they're incestuous, worldly, carnal, and they're on the march against the real church of God.

You know who else is here? You see in verse 22, it's the children of Mount Seir. Again, you've got mountains. Who are these children of Mount Seir? They're actually the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob.

Again, blood relatives. A brother of Esau gave birth to these children who now inhabit an entire mountainous region called Mount Seir, just outside the land of promise. It's an entire barrier against the land of promise.

They are also marching. Remember Esau, he sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge. He was carnal. Oh, Jacob had his problems, I want to tell you, as a conniver, but he was spiritually minded. You know, Esau would sell what is spiritual.

But again, he's in this Abrahamic line. It's remarkable that now you have Moab, Ammon, Mount Seir, all these with their mountaintop experiences. You see, I believe there's a church movement in our world.

There's a wide movement in today's church, and they come from mountaintop experiences. They love dwelling in the mountain. They don't believe in the valleys. They don't want to stay in the valleys. You see, I'm not talking about giants here.

I'm not talking about Philistines here, am I? I'm now talking about movements that are very close to the real, and yet they're utterly different than us. They are dominated by mountaintop experiences, but they're worldly, they're carnal, they're fleshly, they're of this world.

And you know what? They're on the march. They're organized, they're strategic, they're making a movement. These enemies are related and all connected to mountains. They see no blessing in the valleys, and they cannot bless God in the valleys.

They don't want to. The valley is a means to an end for them. And you know what? In this chapter, they come marching up this valley. This valley that's later called Blessing, that has no name in this chapter, they use that valley.

But you know what? They don't get anything out of it. They use it as a means to an end, as a means to advance themselves, as a means to get to where they want to go. They are actually approaching Jerusalem through this valley.

They use this valley to disguise themselves, hide themselves, and approach unto Jehoshaphat and to his people. It says in verse two, then there came out some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, there cometh a great multitude against thee.

There's a great multitude of this carnality Christianity today. You know what? They are marching against the real church in great numbers, vast multitudes from all sides, all different kinds of movements.

And they're all on the march against you from beyond the sea on this side of Syria. And behold, they be in Hazen Tomar, which is in Gedi. Now I want you to notice that. As soon as Jehoshaphat first hears about them, the news he hears is they're in Gedi.

That's about 50 miles from Jerusalem. That means they're very close, one or two days max away from Jerusalem. They're in Gedi. Do you know what in Gedi was? It was on the left side of the Dead Sea, inside the land.

And in Gedi is right on the Dead Sea. It's an oasis and it's the largest one along the Dead Sea. It's filled with palm trees and vineyards and beautiful waterfalls. Look it up for yourself. It's a beautiful place.

It is a remarkable place. It's like a holiday resort. And here are these enemies. Here they are in Gedi. Do you know what the name in Gedi means? And there's a direct translation, fountain of a kid or a baby goat.

These are goats. And they're in a holiday paradise. They're mountain top believers. And they're on the march. They are carnal, they are worldly. They are numerous beyond imagination. And you know what it says in verse three?

And Jehoshaphat feared, wouldn't you? You see, this man was wise. He is a godly man. Do you know two chapters before, he failed God in a similar situation. He compromised, joined himself with people he never should have, but he made it right.

And in the chapter before, he puts God's order back in the nation, puts spiritual order back in, brings the people back to God again, begins to teach the word of God. And it's right at this point, the enemy begins to march.

Overwhelming opposition. You may be in fear this morning, going, how are we gonna stand? We're only a small remnant. How do we stand against these mass movements of carnality in worship, in preaching, in mega churches, in television, on the internet?

How do you stand against it? And it says, Jehoshaphat, he feared. What are you gonna do with your fear this morning? See, that's the secret. It's good to fear. It's natural to fear. It's normal to fear.

A Call to Prayer and Fasting

But then what are you gonna do? Number two, a call to prayer. What would you do under that situation? What are you doing? Because I wanna tell you, they're marching for your children. They're marching for your neighbors, your family, those around you, our young people, our older people.

There is a movement. What are you gonna do? You know what Jehoshaphat done? He called them to prayer. Look at verse three. And Jehoshaphat feared. And he set himself to seek the Lord. It began with him in his own heart.

This was Jehoshaphat's answer. What are you gonna do? Train your army? Call the soldiers out? Begin to send your fighting men out? Lead your best generals out onto the battlefield? Get your sword out?

Absolutely not. The first thing Jehoshaphat done was to set himself to seek the Lord. That's a very real thing. Can I tell you this morning, it's time for you as a church to set your heart, to set yourself to seek the Lord.

You see, if you don't set your heart, you don't seek God. Prayer becomes a casual thing. You let go of prayer. You have no set time. You have no set order. You lose all of your time. You walk in circles.

You go through a day and you haven't prayed. You go through two days. A week, you have no regular order. If you don't set yourself to seek the Lord, I mean, if you don't get away from everyone, into a room, into a cupboard, under the stairs, or like Susanna, what's they done?

Oh, but you don't understand, Brother Keith, all my children. What did she do? She threw her big, large dress over her head and said, don't you dare disturb me when this dress is over my head. Woe betide the child that disturbed Susanna Wesley in her prayer time.

See, we've got all excuses. You don't understand. Oh yes, I understand very well. You've got to set your heart. You've got to choose a time. You've got to turn off the phone. You've got to stop looking at Facebook.

You've got to shut the door. You've got to say, for the next 30 minutes, I'm seeking the Lord. For the next hour, I'm seeking the Lord. After two minutes, you look at your watch. Throw your watch out the door as well.

We always say in school of Christ, I challenged them in Germany, first morning. I said, some of you are addicted to your watch or the time on your mobile phone or whatever. I said, it's gonna kill you.

It'll be worse than a drug addict or alcoholic. Just put time. I challenge you, don't once. In the first hour of prayer tomorrow morning, I said, don't look at your watch once. You don't need to. You're here all day.

You're here. Do you realize that that's like an addiction? Not to look at the watch. You don't need a new time. Just throw it away for a time. You know here, he set himself to seek the Lord and he proclaimed the fast throughout all of Judah.

This is the first time in our Bible, a general call to fasting is actually given in our Bible. And it was this man Jehoshaphat. He had set himself to seek the Lord. I'm gonna seek the Lord. And he calls the nation to fast.

The New Testament calls us to pray and to fast. Jesus said, there's some things aren't gonna happen. Some demons aren't gonna be broken unless you add fasting to prayer. You know all the new versions of the Bible remove the word fasting or in the margin, they put a question.

This isn't in the original, the oldest manuscripts. You actually can't teach the doctrine of fasting from any one of the new versions of the Bible. That's quite a challenge. That's why in England, some of the movements, they actually say fasting's Old Testament.

It's not for the New Testament church, entire movements. One of the biggest church plant movements in England, the leaders actually teach that because of the translation that they actually use. I'm telling you something is going on in our generation.

And it says, and Judah gathered themselves together. Thank God God's people responded to ask help of the Lord. They're praying, they're fasting. The leadership has set their heart. Prayer is a violent thing.

Unless you mean business, you'll never pray. I wanna tell you, you've gotta get violent. The violent take the kingdom by storm. You've gotta get violent. Not violent with God. Not violent with people around you.

You're getting violent against things that hinder you from praying and seeking the face of God. Why would they pray and fasting? To seek help of the Lord. Do you know there's a place of utter weakness?

The armies are against us. Compromise Christianity is everywhere in this hour. How are you gonna get the victory? You've gotta go to prayer and fasting. Compromise is in this church. Compromise is in your home.

I don't need to be a prophet. You know, that is natural to all of us. You need to get back to fasting and praying. When's the last time you called a fast for yourself? When's the last time you set yourself to seek the Lord?

When's the last time you determinedly said I'm gonna pray through and touch the Lord? Well, they've done it as an entire people. You know what? They got so desperate. They said, we need the help of the Lord to seek the Lord.

Fasting is a means to seek the Lord. Setting your heart helps you to seek the Lord. Again, it says, previous this about Jehoshaphat in the previous chapter, chapter 19, verse three, concerning this man, this king.

It says, one of the good things found in him, that God found in him, that he had prepared his heart to seek God. That's the sort of man he was. Jehoshaphat was a man who sought the Lord. I'm telling you how to get to the valley of blessing.

Overwhelming opposition. Second of all, a call to prayer, to fast, to seek the Lord. This prayer that we read out this morning is a remarkable prayer, a dynamic prayer. We cry unto you in our affliction.

You are our God. We seek for your help. Listen to this part of the prayer in verse 11. Behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou has given to us. Verse 12, for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us.

Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon you. This is real prayer. I've got no strength. I need the help of God. I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. I'm seeking you in prayer and fasting.

Prophetic Voice and Guidance

Do you realize that's the sort of person God helps? You want to draw the attention of God to you? Then call a prayer. Third of all, a prophetic voice and guidance. It says there in verse 14, then upon Jehazaziel, the son of Zechariah.

Now we'll go through all of his family. All of the family are mentioned there. His genealogy. Do you know genealogy is important? Why does he give all his family members? I want to know what preacher you've been listening to.

I want to know where you were birthed. I want to know what teaching you sat under. Oh, that doesn't matter. Yes, it does. Who gave birth to you? Who molded your views on the atonement, on the cross and holiness?

Is it heretics? Is it user-friendly preachers in a mega church? You know one of those top mega church pastors in America? They always seem to come from America, don't they? There's one of them just two weeks ago.

I turned them on, caught a bit of it. One of the top in America right now today. Famous, revered, respected. Do you know what he said? He said, no, I grew up, I used to teach that it ought to be in this order.

First God, then family, then ministry. Says, you know what? I got it wrong. You put your wife first. That's what that great mega preacher Bible teacher said. I went, man, you're heading for disaster. That's right.

Amen. To actually teach a mega preacher, influential, born again, influencing Christians all around the world. And yet he says, actually now I've got new revelation. You put your wife first. You're a blasphemer.

You're a liar. You don't even know your Bible. What a dangerous thing. Do you know here? Anyway, genealogy. You've got the genealogy of this man, Jehazazel. You know what it says here in verse 14? Right in the midst of all this seeking of God, God's people are seeking him in this overwhelming opposition.

And it says, then came the spirit of the Lord upon him in the midst of the congregation. This man isn't mentioned anywhere else. We don't know who he is. We know who influenced him or gave birth to him.

We know his own family, but he's a nobody in the house of God. You know what happened? The spirit of God came on him and he began to prophesy. We don't know if this man was a prophet before, but he is a prophet here.

Listen to what his name means in the Hebrew. Beheld of God, or God gazes and keeps his eye upon him. What a man. We don't know anything else about him apart from what we read in this chapter. But God's eye was upon him.

He drew God's attention. And you know what? God's spirit came upon him. I'm tired of all the false prophecy in the church. We need real Holy Ghost prophecy again. We need a thus saith the Lord again. We need prophets in the church again.

But you know what? We need the spirit of God to come back on men who are gonna speak by the power of the Holy Spirit. This man prophesies. And you know what? He gives exact detail. The prophecy was not according to the will of man or the mind of man.

It was the spirit of God speaking. He gives strong encouragement, clear direction, accurate timing. That's prophecy. I believe in prophecy. I believe in the gifted ministry of a prophet. I believe it's for today.

The gifts were never removed from the church, but we need the real Holy Spirit. The church is filled with prophecy and prophets and it's false. It's a laughing stock. It's a mockery. It's ridiculous. But real prophecy isn't.

But if we get back to prayer and fasting and seeking God again, you're gonna find the spirit of God coming individuals that you never expected. People who never prophesied before. People who never had a supernatural encounter.

People who never had a revelation from God are gonna have it in the house of God. And they'll stand up and begin to prophesy accurately. Who was he? He's a nobody. Do you think Jehoshaziel can actually know how to defeat the enemy?

Do you think he knows what the enemy is gonna do and where the enemy is gonna be? Utterly impossible. The spirit of God revealed that. Do you realize you can't know the future. The Holy Spirit does. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit can come in this church.

Saints of God, we ought to pray for it and believe for it. I still believe in dreams and visions and prophecy. And it's gonna continue like Peter preached until the great blackout, the cosmic blackout at the end of the age.

It hasn't happened yet. The gifts are still here. Even with all the foolish, I still believe in the real. Never give up on the real. And so we see from verse 15 to 17, two verses, three verses, he begins to prophesy.

Listen to what he says. Thus saith the Lord unto you. Speaking to the king, this nobody. This nobody in the house of God. God's spirit gave him authority. Thus saith the Lord. And he begins to prophesy to the king and to the people.

Be not afraid nor dismayed. Encouragement by reason of this great multitude. There's real truth. There's a multitude of enemies you've got against you. For the battle is not yours, but God's. The battle is not yours.

This overwhelming battle. You know what? You're not gonna have to fight against it. God is prophesying here, saying the battle is not gonna be yours. God is doing something here and he himself is gonna fight in this battle.

Then he goes further. Tomorrow, now he's giving clear instruction. Tomorrow, go you down against them. Oh, they're coming to attack you. You're scared. I'm telling you, tomorrow morning, get up early and you go against the enemy.

I'm in charge. This boy better have the real Holy Spirit. This better be a real prophecy. Or they're in serious trouble. I wanna see again, the real gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church that gives clear information.

I'm tired of the shout. Oh, the Lord's gonna bless you. The Lord's gonna use you. Man, it could be for everyone and anyone. There's no accuracy anymore. And listen, he actually goes on to prophesy where the enemy is coming.

They're gonna find their entire route. Behold, they come up by the cliff, zis, that's straight up from En-Gedi, and you shall find them, notice this carefully, at the end of the brook. Remember the word brook is the word for valley.

Do you know where you're gonna find them? At the end of the valley. The Holy Spirit is telling you where you're gonna find the entire enemy. I want you to go down and I'm telling you the route they're taking, where are you gonna find them?

At the end of the valley. They're gonna come in through that valley. It says before the wilderness of Jewel. He shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, just set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you.

Spirit-Led Strategy and Worship

Judah and Jerusalem, fear not, nor be dismayed, tomorrow go up against them for the Lord will be with you. Number four, spirit-led strategy. You're marching down towards this valley, the valley of no name with a remarkable enemy and right at the end of that valley, you're marching down to that valley.

Go down to the valley tomorrow, you're not gonna have to fight. Can you imagine your small army marching them against this great large army and you're relying on an unknown prophet, untested prophet who said, God's gonna fight for you, you won't even have to lift your sword.

Just march down to the valley. Are you sure? Will you check that man's genealogy? Will you check his history? Will you check his character? Why do we listen to pastors, preachers and prophets who have no character?

They can't even be faithful to their wives. Their home's not in order, their children aren't in order, but we're gonna stake the future of the church on them. Disaster. Worship leaders who, they divorce their wife and they marry their floozy and two years later, they're back leading the worship all over the church.

Revivalists who can, in the midst of revival, go be drinking and marry their secretary, sleep with their secretary. You call that revival? You've been fooled. That's a false revival, that's false worship.

You think God accepts that worship? Not a chance. Fourth, spirit-led strategy. Let me say a word. I'm allergic to the word strategy. I hate it in the church. I grew up in decades of this. What's your strategy for evangelism?