SUNDAY GOSPEL MESSAGE: Are You Digging Your Trenches?

Happy Sunday everyone!

As we usually like to do on Sundays around here, I have a wonderful Gospel message for you.

This week our good friend Pastor Robb Goodman is back:

Today’s Sunday message is titled, “Are You Digging Your Trenches?”

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Digging trenches is something that soldiers do on a battlefield.
They are dug for the soldiers’ protection from incoming fire from the enemy’s weapons.
We as followers of Jesus are like soldiers in the Lord’s army.

Today we are going to study how the Lord saved 3 kings in the Old Covenant,
and how their faith in obeying the Word from one of the greatest prophets
brought forth miracles, provision, and victory from heaven.

Yes, even today, prophets are very real and needed in the church.
May this message boost your faith in God’s promises for your life.

In Grace and Peace,
Pastor Robb Goodman
Sr. Pastor of Zion Freedom Fellowship USA

Please enjoy:

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Pastor Robb Goodman

Hey everybody, happy Sunday morning to you. My name is Pastor Rob Goodman and I am the senior pastor here at Zion Freedom Fellowship in Maryland in the beautiful United States of America.

Well, we are blessed, are we not? We are blessed because we know and we follow the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He told his disciples, “Come and follow me.” Are you following the Lord today?

Well, I’ve got a very powerful, dynamic message for you, and I will share the title with you in just a moment. This message is a powerful one. I ask that the Lord would open up your spiritual eyes and understanding, that he would touch you and grip your heart today, because he wants to be in full possession of your spirit, soul, and body.

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Praise be to God.

Let’s pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we give you honor and glory. We give you thanks and we give you praise because you are the mighty one of Israel. You, oh Lord, will never change. You’re the same yesterday, today, and forever.

You will never change. And I thank you, Lord, that we can submit ourselves to you. I ask for the anointing to rest upon me today, the anointing for service, Lord, that I would speak nothing out of line with your perfect will.

That everything I speak today would be directly coming from your throne room, directly from your lips to my heart and out of my mouth to the many nations of the world of people that are listening to this message.

Lord, I speak peace to every person that’s listening right now, whatever situation they find themselves in. Lord, you, oh God, will make a way when there seems to be no way.

I ask you, Lord, to touch each and every person, to cause them to draw near and close to your heart, Lord, that they will hear the voice of Jesus. Because Jesus, you said, “My sheep hear my voice and they know me,” and the voice of a stranger they will not follow.

Jesus, we know that you’re not a strange voice, but we are your sheep and we hear your voice. Lord, speak to your people. I ask, no matter what country they’re in today, speak to your people.

Lord, I ask you right now to speak to the people in the UK, in Scotland. Lord, cause your name to be honored and glorified.

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Lord, I thank you in the name of Jesus. Father, for every single believer that’s listening to this message, no matter where they live, whether it’s here in the United States, Pakistan, India, China, Russia, it doesn’t matter.

Lord, they are your people and we are all children of God. And if children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus according to Romans chapter 8.

Lord, bless your children. Manifest your name in their lives. Manifest the miraculous, Lord, through this message today.

Change them. Do a mighty work in their lives. Lord, I ask you to meet every need, to heal every sickness, to heal every disease.

And Lord, we bind the power of darkness right now. We bind you in the name of Jesus. Satan, I command you in the mighty name of Jesus, take your hands off of the precious saints of God.

You have no authority over them, but they’ve been made to sit in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, power, might, and dominion and every name that is named with you, Jesus, at your right hand, Father God, we’ve been made to sit.

And that word “made to sit” is literally past tense. It’s already happened. We are there right now. And the enemy is under our feet. Hallelujah.

That’s good, isn’t it? Amen.

Jesus, I ask you to speak directly to the minds and the hearts of your children. They need to hear your voice, Lord. They need wisdom. They need understanding, Lord. They need nurturing.

They need comfort. They need to be fed. And Lord, I thank you that this message today is going to change many lives.

As I speak today, Holy Spirit, I ask you to take these words that are according to your word and that they would go right into the hearts of your people and bless them in Jesus’ name.

We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And amen.

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Well, I’m going to share with you the title of today’s message: Are You Digging Your Trenches?

I’ll say it again. Are you digging your trenches?

Well, the concept of trenches also appears metaphorically in the Bible. It represents areas of conflict, temptation, or spiritual struggle.

For example, some Bible commentators say Ephesians 6 uses the imagery of spiritual warfare to describe the Christian’s fight against evil, with believers urged to stand firm in their faith and to use the armor of God.

The Lord tells us, “Put on the full armor of God.” For we know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.

But praise be to God, the devil has already been defeated. And today, we’re going to talk about trenches and what they were used for in the Bible.

And actually, in scripture, they were actually called ditches, but in Hebrew, it means the same thing.

Got a lot of good things to share with you. So buckle up your seat belts and hang in there for a ride.

This message might be a little long today, but it’s going to truly bless you. It’s going to bring about great change in your lives, and it’s going to draw you closer to the heart of God.

Trenches were used in ancient warfare as defensive positions, providing protection for soldiers and often forming part of a larger fortification.

Trenches can also be looked at as symbolizing a state of preparation, protection, or even divine provision.

Prayer will cause these things to manifest. And the example that I’m going to share right here — prayer will cause these things to manifest.

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Whizzco

Let’s go to Acts chapter 16 and look at verse 25.

[Continues in next response…]

Pastor Robb Goodman (continued)

Acts chapter 16 and verse 25. Very familiar story.

But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.
They were praying — and prayer when it’s mixed with worship will bring God on the scene,
which is exactly what happened in this situation.

They were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them.
So even though these other prisoners were not followers of Jesus —
they were there for criminal reasons — but there was something to happen.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken,
and immediately all the doors were opened
and every single prisoner’s chains were loosened.

So when we pray and worship God in spiritual warfare,
prison chains will be broken.
No matter what people are going through,
no matter what you’re facing in your family,
no matter what your family’s going through — your sons, your daughters, whoever it might be —
prayer will manifest miraculous change.

Please remember that.
But you’ve got to step out in faith and seek God for his counsel and his direction about what to do.

And the keeper of the prison, awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
supposing that the prisoners had left, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
Well, we know that Paul and Silas stopped him
and they led him and his whole family to Christ.

And praise be to God — that was a great miracle.
That was a perfect example of what had happened.

Let me go back to my next Bible verse, please.
Thank you, Lord.

Oh, I got other— I’m sorry.
In a spiritual context, the concept of trench warfare is used to describe the ongoing battle against temptation and sin,
with prayer and reliance on God’s Word being likened to the weapons and strategies used in a physical trench.

You’ve heard of trench warfare.
I know I have.

All right, let’s look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
2 Corinthians chapter 3.
And we’re going to look at verse 3.

Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us,
written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God,
not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being from ourselves,
or because of what we’ve done,
but our sufficiency — our strength — the power that we receive comes from God.

Who also made us sufficient ministers of the new covenant,
not of the letter, but of the Spirit.
For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Amen. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
That is such truth.

Now let’s go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
Now let’s look at verse 4.

This is Paul speaking again to the Corinthian church:
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly,
but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments — and I like what King James says — imaginations.

You know, imaginations come into our mind,
and they’re often from the enemy.
The enemy plants something in us and it’s diabolically against faith
and what God wants to do in your life.

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You know these imaginations like,
“You’re failing.”
“You’ll never get it right.”
“You’ll never be the person that God wants you to be.”

Cast that stuff down.
That is a lie from hell and it has no place in you.

Casting down arguments, imaginations,
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Jesus didn’t let anything come into his mind that was not of God.
He cast it down.

Now, I don’t know how many of you have seen The Chosen, Season 5,
where Jesus was arrested in the garden — the very last episode —
but oh my goodness, oh boy.

Oh boy, did they do a humdinger of a job on that.
That was extremely powerful and very emotional —
what Jesus went through when he wrestled and said,
“Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.”

And that’s what we have to do in the midst of terrible thoughts and battles.
We’ve got to do that.

And being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Now, I was talking to the Lord about that verse even earlier today,
but it doesn’t have anything to do with now. Some other time I’ll share it with you.

All right, let’s go to 2 Kings chapter 3.
Second Kings chapter 3 — right back to the old covenant.

We’re going to read this whole entire chapter because this is mighty, mighty powerful.

All right, let’s go ahead and read.

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Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria
in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.
Remember now that Israel went through kind of like a civil war-type thing
where the north and the south were separated.

And many of the northern kings were evil.
They did not know or follow the Lord.
But the kings of Judah were very good kings, and they knew the Lord — except for a few.

And he did evil — Jehoram did evil — in the sight of the Lord,
but not like his father and mother — Jezebel.
For he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.

Nevertheless, he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,
who had made Israel sin. He did not depart from them.

Now Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheepbreeder,
and he regularly paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs
and the wool of one hundred thousand rams.

But it happened when Ahab died
that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
The Moabites were not good people.

So King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all of Israel.
So “mustered” means that they formed people into battle lines and companies and all that type of thing.

Then he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying,
“The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”

And he said, “I will go up. I am as you are,
my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”
Then he said, “Which way shall we go up?”
And he answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom,
and they marched on that roundabout route seven days,
and there was no water for the army,
nor for the animals that followed them.

Now we’re going to start talking about this great miracle —
that by hearing the voice of the prophet of God — brought forth.
There was no water for the army nor animals that followed them.

And the king of Israel said — this is Jehoram —
“Alas! For the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

Now isn’t that just like the enemy?
He’ll want to speak to you and say,
“Oh, this is all a bunch of bunk. This is never going to happen.”

That’s how he speaks to us.
And he robs us of hearing God’s voice.
And you and I need to press in more and more to hearing the voice of the Lord
so that we can be diligent to seek the Lord and to follow and obey what he tells us to do —
which we’re going to see happens in just a little bit.

Thank you, Lord. Some good coffee.

But Jehoshaphat said,
“Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?”

So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said,
“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.”
In other words, Elisha was the servant of Elijah.

And we all know the story — that because Elisha saw him go up into heaven,
a double prophetic anointing came on Elisha.
So Elisha had twice as many miracles as Elijah did.
It’s really cool to understand this.