Where Is God When I Need Him by Jerry Jones

Baptism is baptism is done for the forgiveness of sins. Acts 2:38. Baptism is done to save us. First Peter 3:21; Acts 2:40; Mark 16:16. Baptism is done to wash away our sins. Acts 22:16. Baptism is done to be reborn to new life. John 3:5; Romans 6:3-6. Baptism is done to clothe ourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26 and 27.

Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. Well, I'm glad I'm not the one batting here tonight. Then a pinch hitter makes Mark McGwire look small. Jesus has stepped to the plate in this service tonight. He's batting a thousand, all home runs, and He's going to take care of your need in this service tonight.

Job chapter 23. I'm going to read verses 8 and 9, and then back up to verse 3. Job chapter 23, verse 8: "Don't you ever give up. Hang in there." Brother Mullins put me in a nostalgic mood. I am emotional this year when I discovered this might be the last year the convention will be held in this room, because it was 35 years ago that I walked in here for the very first time in any Pentecostal meeting of this size. Eighteen months before my mother had died, eight months before we had moved from the only place I ever remembered living. All my friends had a new stepmother, new home, new school, new church. Been baptized only weeks before. I didn't have the Holy Ghost yet. I will never forget the awesome move of God that I felt in this room on meditation. And I trust and believe that this youth convention will continue to touch the lives of young people as long as Jesus tarries. Amen.

I am, I want to thank this district and its ministers because the same Pentecost that I felt in this room 35 years ago as a 12-year-old boy, I feel here tonight. Same power, same presence, same love of God. And I appreciate that very, very much.

The words of a man in despair, a man who has no answers, a man who has no direction. "Behold, he says, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." The third verse captures what Job is trying to say: "Oh, that I knew where I might find him."

I want to preach a little while tonight on this thing: Where is God when I need Him? Where is God when I need Him? Oh, I feel Him here right now. Don't you? Let's worship Him one more time. Let's praise His name. I love You, Jesus. I praise Your Savior. I glorify You, Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus! Thank You Jesus! In the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, speak to us tonight in Jesus' name. God bless you. Thank you. Please be seated.

The story of Job is, of course, one of the Bible's most familiar stories. A wealthy man of success and acclaim who lost everything with the sweep of the hand. Tragedy. A man who loved God, there's no question about that. He lived for God, who eschewed evil and chose righteousness and worshipped with all of his heart. And yet, he lost everything. He lost all of his wealth, he lost his family's respect, he lost all of his children, he lost his reputation, he lost everything. So we can understand why Job hungers to discover where God has hidden Himself, because during this time of tragedy and trouble, when he needed God, he felt he could not find Him.

Well, none of us here, I pray, have never suffered such utter devastation and tragedy as that which rocked the life of Job. There's none of us here that have not at some time or other felt the same feelings that he feels. "I've tried it all. I've gone forward and backward and to the left and to the right, and I cannot find Him. Others are rejoicing, and I can't feel it. Others are shouting, and I can't get in it. Others have something burning in their heart, and I cannot find God." Where is God when I need Him? Why is it that it's when things are good and we're on the mountain that the shout comes easy and the joy flows and the Holy Ghost seems right at the tips of our fingers? But when the valley has come and the darkness has settled and everything's going wrong, that we find ourselves unable to find Him, unable to feel Him, unable to touch Him? Where is God when I need Him? Like the young mother who looked in the eyes of her minister and said, "Pastor, where was God when my baby died?" The husband and father with haunted eyes who asked, "Where was God when I lost my job? Where was God when my husband walked out? Where was God when cancer took my father? Where was God when my house caught fire? Where was God when everything went wrong?" I've served Him, I've prayed to Him, I've sought Him, I've lived for Him. I can't find Him when I need Him.

I'm trying to be honest with you here tonight. Every one of us have walked through that valley of the shadow when we reach for Him and He's not there. When we long to hear His voice and cannot hear Him. Where is God when I can't find Him? And though we have been taught not to question God, I cannot help but notice that God does not seem embarrassed or insulted or threatened or even angered by the cry of Job's heart. In fact, it seems to me that it was this heartfelt cry that began to spur God into action, that caused Him to step from His throne and harness a whirlwind and ride down to the earth and appear before Job and his accusers and say, "All right, Job, here I am."

So I'm not here to tell you not to question, but I want to try to answer that question. And I know I'm struggling with one of life's most puzzling queries. I know this is a question that many smarter and wiser than I have attempted to answer. But because I believe it is a legitimate question, I believe the word of God has the answer. Where is God when I need Him?

First of all, I believe He's there. I believe we are never abandoned. We are never alone. If it seems that way, it just seems that way. If I cannot reach Him, it doesn't mean He is not there. If I cannot hear Him, it does not mean that He is not calling my name. If I cannot feel Him, it doesn't mean His arm is not around my shoulder. Because I am flesh, because I am human, because my emotions ride the roller coaster of life, I may not always know it. But the old book says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." I may not feel Him, hear Him, or find Him, but He is aware. He cares. He never leaves us alone. Job said, "I don't know where He is, but He knows where I am. He's got my address." And when it's all over, in my flesh, I'm gonna see Him. "Be content with such things as you have, for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." God is a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

Where does He go? Where does He go when I can't find Him? When I knock on His door and He does not answer? When I ring the phone and I get the answering machine? Where is God when I long for His presence and I cannot feel Him? Where is God when I need Him the most?

Well, I don't want to be just beating the air up here tonight, just speaking words tonight. But I believe there is a truth that each of us must grasp for us to hold on to, hang in there, and to never give up. I believe this truth is found, at least in part, in Isaiah chapter 63. Nestled in the very first verse of that chapter, we find this question: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with thy garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?" And then the answer comes from He that approaches. "I," He says, "that speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

I want to give you the picture of Isaiah 63:1. It's a sorry story of warfare and struggle and loss and hatred that spans generations of two peoples who can never lay down the sword and can never give each other a chance or opportunity for peace. It's the story of Israel and Edom. Some have said of Edom, "No other nation blessed the children of God so consistently." Just across the narrow Jordan Valley, the moment a Jew stepped across, they were on him. No rest, no safety. They had tried to keep Israel out of the promised land, and now they were dedicated to forever harassing them. No terms, no compromise possible. An endless fight with an undying enemy. Sound familiar? He tried his best to keep you out of the church. He did everything to keep you from repenting, from being baptized. And He did all He could to keep you from being filled with the Holy Ghost. He tried to discourage you and tell you you couldn't get it. That was a lie. He tried to discourage you and tell you that God didn't love you. That was a lie. He tried to discourage you and tell you the church wasn't for you. That's a lie. He tried to tell you you couldn't live it, you couldn't fit in, you couldn't be part. That's all a lie. Because that night, that Holy Ghost fell on you, and you talked in tongues like everybody else that has ever received that great gift of God. You're here. You're part of us. You're in the church. You're worshiping God. You're loving His name. The devil lies, but he doesn't give up. He's still there waiting for you to slip. He's still there waiting in that moment of trouble and discouragement to keep on lying to you. And on an endless fight with an undying enemy.

And so here they are, hunkered down in the trenches, a couple of Israelite soldiers. It's late at night. It seems it's still and quiet, except for some distant thunder of battle. Their eyes are straining into the darkness to see what danger awaits them. Gazing into the gloom, they hunger to catch a glimpse of some impending trouble that is surely coming their way. The distant cries of dying soldiers, the din of battle that has kept them awake, has struck terror in their hearts. What is going on over there? And then they hear Him coming. Some gigantic, titanic warrior that comes striding toward them from the distant darkness. Fear strikes their hearts. "Look," one of them says, and every eye pierces the darkness to see Him coming. "Look at the size of Him. Who can that be? Look how He walks." The Bible says He is tipping over as He walks. In other words, He is swaying from side to side. Someone says, "He is strutting in His victory and in His triumph." "Who is this? Look where He's coming from. He's coming from Edom. His garments dyed in Bozrah." Edom is the enemy's camp. Bozrah is the capital of Edom. Whoever this is, He's coming from the enemy's. "I've been treading the winepress," He said. "I've been stopping them in my fury. Look at thy garments, they are stained with blood." And some timorous Israelite soldier calls out from the trenches, "Well, then, who are you?" And this titanic creature of triumph answers them, "I am He that speaks in righteousness. I am mighty to save." In other words, "I am your Savior."

While you're hunkered down in the foxhole, afraid of the dark, looking around, wondering what other trouble is coming, hoping that God will show up, I've come to tell you He isn't sitting at home waiting for you to call. He isn't at home waiting for you to knock on the door. He isn't at home unconcerned about your trouble. He's already going over the top. He has already strode across no man's land. He has already fallen upon your enemies. Because He said, "I'll never allow you to be tested above your abilities. I'll already have cut a door, and when you've had all you can take, I'll open the door, and you can walk out." My God has not abandoned us. He is fighting for us. My God has not left us. He has attacked our enemy. I'll tell you where God is when you need Him. He's on the battlefield. He's already gone to war. He has already destroyed your enemies. His sword is in His hand. His vesture is covered with the blood of your fear, of your depression, of your despair. Your sickness has already fallen before Him. Your trouble lies slain at His feet. Your failures are already cut to pieces by His mighty sword. He has already won your victory. He has already triumphed over your enemies. That's where God is. Look, can't you see Him tonight? He's not walking with his head down and shoulders rounded. He's not timidly dragging his feet across the dust in no man's land. Oh no, the Bible says He's struck. He's already with them. It's already over. Don't you realize it? He already defeated them. His sword is already back in the sheath. He's coming home saying, "Look what I've done. Look what I've accomplished. You're free. You're free. I did it. I already did it. I want all the victory you'll ever need."

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but John saw Him. His hair like white wool. He had a golden girdle. His voice like many waters. He said, "I am Alpha and Omega. I am the beginning and the end. I am the first and the last. I am He which was and is." I am the all. My dad, why? Because we already won. If you've left the lines and run back to God's house and pounded on the door in your panic and you don't get an answer, don't give up. You're just looking in the wrong place. Turn around. Come on back to the battlefield and start looking out where the enemy is. You're going to hear their cries. You're going to hear their screams. Because God said, "I stoked them in my fury. I destroyed them in my anger. They were hurting my children. They were against my kids, and I got sick of it. So I pulled out my sword and I went to battle, and I have prevailed." He's hacking drugs out of somebody's life. He's cutting tobacco out of somebody's heart. He's cutting alcohol out of somebody's heart. He's delivering somebody from filth, pornography, ungodliness, immorality. He's delivering. Our God is on your battlefield. That's where God is when I need Him. When I'm feeling sorry for myself, sitting on the back row, sucking my thumb, thinking everybody's against me, nobody loves me. I'm telling you what, you don't know what's going on. Job, the reason you can't find it is He's a little busy right now. The reason He's not answering the door is He's not at home right now. Because you have a need, and this God loves you so much that He's already over there taking care of your needs. This is, this is God's thing. I mean, this is what He does. He's a warrior God. He's a, He's a fighting God. This picture of Jesus is a wimp. That's not it. I'm sorry.

Now, now, don't get me wrong. He is loving and kind, and He'll go a long way with those He loves, and, and He'll be there for you, and He'll pick you up, and He'll get you going again, and all that's true, and thank God for it. But you know, if you're on the other side, if you're in league with the enemy, you're going to see a whole different Jesus. God, I'm not going to tell, but when He's kind and loving and caring and compassionate and forgiving, He also packs a wicked left hook. And probably, if He ever lays that right on the end of your nose, it's lights out and kitty barred the door. Because my Jesus only knows victory. He only knows triumph. He always wins. When He goes to war, and He goes to war for you, He's out there fighting for you. If you can't do it, He can do it. When you can't make it, He'll help you make it. He'll defeat every devil. He'll overcome every enemy. That's where God is. This is His thing. He's always been like that.

The bad time in Israel, the old prophet had lost his way. He was detached, unconnected, unconcerned. His sons were carnal and whirling, doing horrible things in the house of God itself. They went out to battle and met defeat. Four thousand men died. They came in with their heads down, their weapons trailing in the dust. They knew they had to go back out the next day, but they were afraid of what might happen. So somebody, perhaps one of those backslidden children of Eli, said, "What we need is the presence of God." So they went to the tattered tent that nobody cared about over in Shiloh, and they got that box, that two-by-four box of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with the cherubim on the top and the mercy seat where the Shekinah had not been seen in years. And when they brought that box into the camp of the soldiers, they began to shout and praise and glorify God. "Now we've got it! Now we're gonna win! Now we're gonna triumph! We've got God on our side now!" They shouted so loud, they were so excited that the Philistines, the enemy, heard their shouting. Somebody said, "What are they shouting about? We just whipped them today. What are they excited about?" And somebody said, "Oh no, they got that box. They got the Ark of the Covenant. They got the mercy seat. They got the cherubim. The Ten Commandments are in there. The pot of manna is in there. The rod of Aaron is in there. We're in trouble now." It so scared the Philistines that their officers had to go through the troops and calm them down. "Come on," they didn't say, "we're gonna win." They said, "Just, just die like men. Let's go run, boys. It'll look bad. Let's hang in there. I know it's bad. They've got the Ark with them now. They've got God with them now, and we're in trouble. But hang in there, guys. Don't give up. Let's go run. Let's not die cowards. If we gotta die, let's die like men." That tells me everybody on the battlefield thought that now that God was among His children, that victory belonged to them. But it takes more than a box. It takes more than a memory of yesterday's commitments. It takes more than an awareness of your father's traditions. And they carried that box into battle, and they lost. They were defeated miserably. Four thousand men died. Struck them with terror. Well, imagine what happened on that day. Thirty thousand men died, including Hophni and Phinehas, the sons, including Eli himself, when he fell backward and broke his neck, and the Philistines captured the Ark. They were streaming back from the battlefield, and one of the dead priest's wives bore a son, called his name Ichabod, for the glory has departed. They've got the Ark. They've got God's presence. Those heathens, those Philistines, they took it. They couldn't believe it. "How can that be? I know we're not doing right, but my Lord, it doesn't make any sense. Will they melt it down? Will they chop it up? What are they going to do with it?" I'll tell you what they did with it. They did what anybody in that day would have done with it. This symbolized the God of the Israelites, and for that to fall into their hands, why, no self-respecting God will allow himself to be captured by a heathen enemy that can only mean one thing: Jehovah hasn't got as much power as we thought he did. So they took the Ark down to the temple of their fish god, his name was Dagon. He was half man and half fish and all rock. And they took that little two-by-four box and they set it at the feet of Dagon, the mighty god who defeated Jehovah. After all, why would any god who had the power to deliver himself allow himself to be taken by the enemy and carried to their home? It was because God was going to win the victory they could not win for themselves. Here He is. He's in the temple of Dagon, behind enemy lines, right where God likes to be, right in smack dab the middle of the enemy's greatest power, right in the middle of the enemy's sacred place, right where all of His power is concentrated, right where His hope resides. You think you defeated Him? You're wrong. You carried Him into your own temple. You put Him into your own capital. You placed Him right where He wanted to be. And all is quiet in the temple of Dagon, in the, in the capital of Philistia, there at Ashdod. The sun sets. The temple activities are over. The priests lock up that house of an idol god where the vanquished Jehovah is now sitting. The morning comes. They come back and open the locked doors and they step inside their temple. Ladies and gentlemen, Dagon has had a problem in the night. That little two-by-four box is sitting there rather innocently, right in the middle of the floor. It looks just like it did yesterday, but there's a big difference. Ol' Dagon is laying, Dagon is laying flat on his face as if he is worshiping that two-by-four box. No, no, no, wait a minute. Dagon, you won. Jehovah, you lost. So they have to get a pulley, a block and tackle to get their poor god back up on his pedestal. "We can't have Dagon like this. We got to put him back up." And so the priest won't let anybody in. Church close today, folks. We've had a little problem, but it'll be all right tomorrow. We'll have our god propped back up. We'll have our god back on his pedestal. So they finally got in there after a lot of time and sweat, and they get that little two-by-four box and they place it back at his feet. And by that time, it's evening again. So they lock it up tight. "Can't nobody get in here. I don't know what happened last night, but it's not going to happen tonight." They lock it up good and tight. They go home exhausted. The sun comes up the next morning. They hold their breath, slip the key in the lock, unlock the door, and swing it open. There's that innocent looking box sitting in the middle of the floor. Poor old Dagon, he's got another problem. He's back on his face in front of the box. Problem is, his face is over here, his body's over there, one hand's over here, the other hand's over there, and Jehovah's just sitting there. I'm telling you something, devil, when He gets behind the enemy lines, He's going to tear something up. He's going to destroy something. New treasure, He's going to rip something apart. When my Jesus slips behind enemy lines, somebody's gonna pay. Come on, devil, mess with me. Come on, devil, get me discouraged. Come on, devil, get me down. I want to sit here. Five, four, three, two, one second. Jesus! And there comes my Savior. God got His fist cupped. He's in battle gear. He's ready for another fight. That's my child. That's my star. That's my children. You're messing with the role of God. When God got through in the temple at Ashdod, in Dagon's house, the Bible says they wouldn't even go in there. "You go. Not me. You." I threw behind enemy lines. They shut the temple down. The book says, "Nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold unto this very day." God put him out of business. Did you hear that, devil? He'll put you out of business too.

I don't know who did it, but somebody ran in there and got a hold of the Ark and drug it out, and Ashdod said, "We don't want it." So they sent it to Gath, and the book says God smote them in death. So they sent it to Ekron, and God smote them in Ekron. So somebody said, "We got to get this out of here. We don't want it no more. We took it in battle, but it done whooped us." So let's put it on a cart and let's see where it goes. So they got a couple of milk cows and they put it on a cart. And here's a couple of discouraged Israelites at Beth-shemesh. They're in a wheat field, and they hear something that's coming from Philistia, that's coming from the enemy's camp, that's coming. Looks like it's been down to Ekron, headed up the road. The cows are low, and the wheels are creaking. The old, the old cart is popping as they're coming up the road. They're standing there looking in the evening sun, and one of them says, "Ezekiel, I think I know what that is." "What is it?" "I believe that's the Savior. I believe that's the God of Israel. I believe the Ark is coming home. The Ark is coming home."

You can't find Him? I'll tell you where He is. He's out there whipping up on our enemies. He's out there winning our battles. He's out there destroying those who would harm us. He's winning victories that we could never win for ourselves. He is doing what we could never do. For He came among us not as a box, but as a man. And in the garden, He pushed Peter's sword away and said, "We're not going to live by that, and we're not going to die by that." And they took Him captive. Puny little men with perch and swords and spears, and they took my Jesus. Judas kissed Him on the cheek, and they drug Him away. They slapped His face, they, they beat Him with rods, they beat His back with a whip, they mocked Him, they spit on Him, they made fun of Him, and they nailed Him to a cross. And they said, "If you are the Son of God, why would you let us do this to you?" What self-respecting God who could speak a word and call 10 legions of angels to deliver Him would allow them to do what they did? A God who came to win a battle we could never win for ourselves. "It is finished." And He bowed His head and He died. And the rejoicing started in hell. "We won! We won! He's dead! He's in our place now! The devil says, He's in my house now! He's in my temple now! He's in my kingdom now!" You're right. He's always most comfortable behind enemy lines, in the midst of their rejoicing, in the middle of their party. Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. A pounding came at the door. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. That's not supposed to be happening. Nobody out there is supposed to have any power." That's the grave. That is hell. That is Hades. That is Sheol. But somebody is a knocking at the door. The butler goes to open the door, and too late, the devil says, "No!" So He kicks in the door, and He walks right on in there. The clapping dies, the music stops, the joyousness is gone, and He walks right up to the throne and He looks the devil in the eye and says, "I'll take the keys. Thank you." And the Son of God goes on a rampage, and He starts ripping hell to shreds. He tears it down. He destroys its walls. He rips its gates off their hinges. He kicks in the bars. Let me tell you, He made such a mockery, He made such a shambles of the grave that the Bible says when He walked out, some of the folks that had been held in prison there for years, they slipped out through the holes that Jesus ripped in hell itself, and they saw them walking in Jerusalem alive again because Jesus was out there winning our battle. "I am He which was dead, and am alive forevermore; and have the keys of death, hell, and the grave." Let's stand.

So He's swaggering from Bozrah. They're still moaning, they're still lying in their pools of blood, and He's swaggering back. And He puzzles, He wonders. He said, "You know, while I was over there stomping them, lopping off ears, head, and doubt's head, and carnality's head, when I took heart disease and I just cut it in half, when I ran discouragement, I wonder, is there none to help?" And I looked around, and I was by myself. I was right there in the middle of the enemy's camp, and nobody was there to help me. So my right arm, my right arm, I didn't even use my left arm, just my right arm. But I still wonder, why don't they help me? I'm doing this for them. Why are they still back there in the trenches with their heads down, feeling sorry for themselves, and being afraid of their own shadows? Why are they back there? I'm whooping everybody out here. They don't have anything to be afraid of. Why aren't they helping me? You mean we can help You? You mean there's something we can do?

So the armies of the enemy surrounded Jerusalem, swollen with refugees from every village and town in the countryside. They had no army, they had no deliverer, they had none to help. So Jehoshaphat gathered them on the steps of the temple, and they prayed. And he said, "God, I remember being taught in some discovery that when the enemy came in, when there was pestilence and famine and trouble in Israel, if we would come to this house and we would pray, that You would hear our prayer and You would come to our rescue." And the Bible says they stood, all of all of Judah, with their wives and their little ones. And the voice of a man, a prophet from the back of the crowd, called out and said, "Don't worry. You're not gonna even need to fight this battle. I'm going over there in the morning. I'm gonna whip the whole bunch of them." See, I'm never surrounded. I'm never outmaneuvered. I'm never outmanned. I'm never outgunned. I'll take care of them in the morning. So tomorrow, when you go out against them, be not dismayed, for the Lord will be with you.

So they're sitting around the table later that night, and one of Josh of that's, uh, uh, advisors, he says, "You know what? Since we ain't gonna have to fight, wouldn't it be cool if we got the temple choir?" You know, usually the cavalry or the infantry or somebody like that would go first. But what if we sent the choir out first? And everybody, with the possible exception of the choir, thought that was an awesome idea. And so it was. The next morning, surrounded by an impeccable enemy, without a hope, without a prayer, without anything except the word of God that said, "I'll do the fighting." The old gates of Jerusalem creaked back, and the strangest sounding army that ever marched, marched out in the dawning of a new day. Not the ring of hot nail boots on the cobbles, not the creak of chariot wheels, nor the neighing of their war horses, but instead, the sounds of a choir: "Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever." Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever. The sound of their worship began to echo from the hills, and the old rough voice soldiers began to join in: "Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever." Praise the beauty of a whole in us. Ladies and gentlemen, it was while they sang and they praised that the Lord fell on their enemies and set ambushments against them, and when the army got to the battlefield, the battle was already over. How can I help Him when He's over in Bozrah scooping my enemies to death? How can I help Him when He's over in Edom defeating my worst enemies? I don't want to sit in fear in a dark trench and worry. I want to be up on my feet cheering Him on. Sick of God, get Him! God, cut his head off! God, stop him again! God, get Him! God, You're wonderful! You're awesome! You're mighty! You're great! Go, God, go, God! You need to get off the seat of despair. You need to get off the back row of discouragement, and you need to start letting Him know, "I'm on Your side. I'm for You. I'm with You."

I don't have time to preach about it, but I see four lepers sitting in the gate of a dying city. No hope. They're eating their children, their dove's dung, donkey's heads. They're dying. One of them says, "Why are we going to sit here and die? We've been here long enough. I've been feeling sorry for myself long enough. My belly's been empty long enough. I've been on the back row clipping my fingernails and writing notes long enough." We go back, we're going to die. If we stay here, we're going to die. So I propose we get up and go. So four crippled lepers arise in the twilight and start marching toward the enemy camp, and God leaps from His throne and says, "There it is! There it is! That's what I've been waiting for! Just a little help! Just somebody that'll get up and go! Somebody that'll start marching! Somebody that'll say, 'Enough is enough!' Somebody that'll say, 'I'm not gonna sit here and die!'" So while they're staggering and stumbling in their crippled case, while they're there with no hope, marching toward my what might be death, God gets up and goes over the top and walks right past them and falls on the Syrian camp and wins the battle. And when they get there, nobody's home, but there's food there, and there's gold there, and there's raiment there, and there's hope there, and there's joy there, and there's deliverance there. God is waiting for somebody to get up from where you are and get with the program.

Where is God when I need Him? He's punching your enemy in the nose. He's bringing your enemy to defeat. He's winning your battle. You ought to thank Him for it. Come on, let's praise Him. Come on, you need to praise Him. We need to cheer Him all the way here where you are. I know the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world."

Trust in the Lord with all your hearts and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.

Baptism then, what? Baptism is a burial in water for accountable beings until the remission of sins, for salvation, to get into Christ, to become a new creature, to get into the one body, then walk in the new life, study and grow, become a servant of righteousness, keep self pure, be an example, have faith in God, follow Jesus, put first things first, resist temptation, be faithful and be fruitful.