Living in Greater Victory

Hi, this is Pastor Daniel Bracken. You're listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. I hope the Word encourages you and you get a touch from God that brings transformation and equips you to experience life with people, power, and purpose. Thank you for joining us. Enjoy the word.

2nd Samuel, chapter 5, verse 6. Will you stand with me for the reading of the Word? As you're looking that up tonight, I do want to encourage you to be at the power conference next weekend. I'm telling you what, it will just be explosive. I'm sure in the Holy Spirit.

And so many times over the years, God gave me words, my family, my kids, that literally propelled them into their future. I could share, you know, wild stories of seeing words come to pass. And so I encourage you to be there. God always has a good word for you because he always has good for your life. So I encourage you to be there.

2nd Samuel, chapter 5, verse 6. It says, the king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, you will not get in here. Even the blind and the lame can ward you off. They thought, david cannot get in here.

Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, which is the city of David. On that day, David had said, anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those lame and blind who are David's enemies. That is why they say the blind and lame will not enter the palace. David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it from the terraces inward.

And he became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty was with him. Come on, let's pray. Father, we ask you to speak to us tonight. In this time, we have to hear from your word. God help me to share it, Lord God, the way you desire for me to.

And let each of us open our hearts to the seed of your word. Come on, just begin to pray for God to speak to you tonight. God, speak to us. Let our hearts be good ground, Lord God, for your word, Lord God, to produce fruit and a harvest in us, Lord God, each and every one. And we thank you for it.

In Jesus name we all said, amen. You can be seated. This past fall in October, I had the opportunity to go to Poland and Israel with Christians United for Israel. Have you ever heard of that organization? And it was actually, you know, partially because of Pastor Daniel and Pastor Gilbert Gill.

They sort of opened the door. They've been there before, and it was just an amazing trip. And One thing that I really enjoyed, it was a highlight for me because I'm a musician and a songwriter, was going to the City of David, and I have a couple of pictures I was going to show you. Hopefully they have those. And so that was sort of the gateway into the City of David, you know, of course, like the golden harp and then the next picture.

So this is standing on a rooftop, kind of at the top of the hill or the mountain, and looking down, all right there below that is actually where the original city of David was. That was the original Jerusalem, and it was called Mount Zion. And in the verses before the ones we read tonight, King David had just been made king of the entire nation. And so he marched out to take that place. We're just seeing in that picture, he marched out to take Jerusalem.

And you say, what was it at that time when he took it? Well, it was a fortress, and it was a stronghold of some people called the Jebusites. And you say, well, big deal. Who were the Jebusites? They were a Canaanite tribe who controlled that area.

Now, listen, 400 years after God told Joshua and Israel to conquer the Promised Land, Israel had still not conquered this people. 400 years, they still had not conquered the Jebusites or taken Jerusalem. In fact, Judges 1:21 says the tribe of Benjamin failed to drive them out, so they lived by one another. It's a very important verse tonight. And why.

Why had Israel not driven them out in 400 years? And why did David want it so bad? Why did he want that spot that we just saw? Well, Jerusalem is in the center of Israel, so that's strategic. Two, this, it didn't belong to any other tribe.

So it was kind of a generic spot from which to rule. Three, very important tonight, it had an ongoing water supply in this spring, the Gihon spring, it was right outside the city. And it seems that the Jebusites had, like this water shaft down to that spring that they didn't have to leave the fortress. They could get water out of that spring. It was an incredible situation.

And fourthly, this, it was on a hill, Mount Zion. It was a hill. It was a great place for defense. In fact, we read it was so greatly defendable that the Jebusites bragged, our blind and lame can defend this city against you. In other words, we don't need to send our soldiers against you, mighty David.

We don't need to have our soldiers defend this city. They were basically saying, our weakest, lowest citizens can literally defend this city against you. And they were mocking King David. And they were mocking his mighty men and they were convinced he couldn't get in. Well, David called them the blind and lame, Right.

Probably because of their pride and overconfidence. And what did it say he did? Since a water shaft is mentioned, it's likely that he and his men snuck up that water shaft that they thought was so great, the Jebu that thought it was so incredible, and they snuck in and it was a surprise attack. They took the city. David did what nobody else did in 400 years.

He utterly defeats Jebusites, he takes Jerusalem, he makes it his own city, and he ushers in an era of victory for Israel. And it said God's presence and power came upon him more and more and more and gave him success. Who. Who wants success? Who wants blessing?

Who wants victory? Well, I feel like there are a few things in here I'm actually going to share. Three that we see in this story that are keys to us as believers in Christ, God's people living in gr. You lifted your hand. Lifted again.

I want to live in victory, greater victory. Right. So here's a few things. You might want to write some of these down. One, we must not allow ourselves seriously to be hindered or stopped by the accusation or mockery of the enemy.

You know, they were trying to intimidate David. Ah, our blind and lame can defend this against you. It's. It's that sort of thing. Plus it's 400 years of no victory.

It's been a long time. And it's that mountainous location. And they're trying to hinder him from moving forward into doing what God had commanded hundreds of years ago. But David had an attitude of faith. He had a it can happen attitude.

And it didn't matter how much they mocked him. It didn't matter how much they slung accusations at him and church as believers today. It's the enemy's M.O. always to accuse you, to mock you, to belittle you, to try to keep you from doing what God has told you to do, and to try to keep you from living in victory, to put you down just like they did to David. And as God's people, we pretty much got to stand there and say, am I going to listen to that voice or am I going to listen to God's voice?

Am I going to live by what other people say? Or what the enemy whispers in my ear, what even what circumstances seem like? Or am I going to live by the word of God and what God says? And am I going to live by what other people say I am, or their interpretation of me, or how they've seen me since I was, you know, a little kid till now? Or am I going to live by what God says about me?

And we have to make that determination because the enemy will always try to throw at you. You're not enough, always. You're incapable. In other words, the lame and the blind could defeat you. And we have to determine.

We're going to be like David and we're going to move forward in faith no matter what. That's why Philippians 1:28 says, don't be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God Himself, yourself. Don't be intimidated in any way, it says, by your enemy, no matter what they say. Revelation 12:10 says, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before God day and night, has been hurled down.

Has what has been hurled down? What is that saying? Just know, the one who accuses you, puts you down, belittles you. Actually, he will come to his end, but you will live and be victorious. That's what the word of God's saying.

Secondly this we must continue to allow the King Jesus to conquer any unconquered areas in our lives. Israel, as I said, had allowed those enemies to live among them. You know, well, it was just too hard to get them out. It was just too hard to handle it the way God said. So we're just going to coexist here in this situation.

We're just going to compromise bum, bum, bum on what God says and not live in the full victory that God intended for us. That's what Israel was saying. And sometimes, guys, as believers, whether we like it or not, we can be God's people. We, we're in church, but we can have territory inside of us that we're compromising in.

And even though there's other areas of our lives that we're walking in, victory, perhaps, or we're conquering, there can be unconquered areas. Maybe it's habits, secret sin, looking at stuff we shouldn't be looking at online or apps, areas of our thought life, anger, hatred, unforgiveness, offenses, we could keep going, et cetera, et cetera. And sometimes we can just be. I'm tired of fighting. It's just too hard.

That's what the Benjamin said. And yes, man, sometimes it is so difficult and the enemy will convince you that it's just too hard. But church as God's people, just like David, we in strength and courage and hope must rise up against those areas of our lives. We must take a step, stand against those areas where the enemy has had a stronghold. We must have faith that they can be conquered by the spirit, by the word.

And we could say this too, with the help of our brothers and sisters, an army, if you will. Because David did not sneak into that city all by himself with a sword or a spear. No, he had an army with him that said, we are going to take down this thing. And sometimes you need an army with you. That's why you need to be a prayer.

That's why you need to come up and have people lay hands and pray for you at 6am or 7am or whenever it is here. I can't keep up. That's why in church, when you've got an issue, you need to get down here to the altar, get hands laid on you. Sometimes it's just the anointing bam. That will break the yoke of bondage off of your life.

You can't do it alone. That's why you need to be in a life group. That's why you need to build community. Don't just come to the church and hang out and not meet anybody. I mean, that's cool.

Glad you're here. But get to the next level where there's people in this church, at Transformations or whatever it is that are going to help you win the victory in your life. You know what's very interesting is God gave David a strategy that no one else had ever thought of. Come on, how long has that water shaft been there? And in 400 years, nobody thinks we should just sneak in that way.

And they were probably saying to other people, our blind and the lame can ward you off. Like, oh, they're right. But what happened? God gave David a revelation. He gave him a strategy that brought victory after years and years and years and brought down a stronghold and church.

You may have a stronghold in your life. And I tell you what, God can release a revelation to you. He can release a strategy to you that in a moment, clicks something in your brain and you're like, wow, I never thought of that. I never thought about that water shaft. I never thought about these brothers or sisters that could help me.

Now I see that God could release a way. Listen, it's true. It's happened in my own life. Something that I couldn't see. It seemed like brain fog.

And God released a word bam. That could happen to you next weekend. Also, by the way. Let me just say that God could release a word to you, a strategy that allows you to see the stronghold defeated and you walk in greater victory. That's why Romans 8:37 says no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors.

Intention is not that you live conquered, but that you live as more than a conqueror. Amen. Finally, this. And for me, this is really the crux of the most important thing tonight. We must trust that Jesus always sees where we're at, always knows what we're going through, and always has a plan to heal and redeem us, you might say.

What do you mean? Well, while I was in Jerusalem last fall, we were sitting at the pool of Siloam. I have a picture. I just thought you might enjoy seeing that. We're sitting in those steps, under those tent like things is where they're excavating the actual pool of Siloam.

And then there's another picture. I think we were sitting there and someone was sharing. And as they were sharing there, it was brought to my attention and it really struck me and ministered to me that there were only two recorded miracles of Jesus in Jerusalem in the Gospels. There's only two times in the Gospels that it says Jesus did a miracle in Jerusalem. And both of them were by pools of water.

John 9. It was the blind man, Jesus spit and made mud and put on his eyes. And he said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. I just wanted to almost say it like Rodney Howard Brown, because I've heard him say it so many times right in that accent. No, I don't.

I don't want to do it. It's not going to be good, I don't think. Go wash in the pool of Siloam. If I had more echo. That was terrible.

All right. That was the place. I just showed it to you. This blind man, Jesus told him, he spit the mud, go wash. Now listen with me for a minute. The water source for the Pool of Siloam is the Gaihon Spring, where Jesus likely came up through the shaft and surprised the Jebusites.

Now can we have a little history lesson? Please say yes, because we're going to do it anyways. Stick with me. A little history lesson. In Second Kings 18, around 300 years after King David, the Assyrians were coming to take Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah from King Hezekiah.

Anybody ever heard of King Hezekiah? And Hezekiah was a man who served God wholeheartedly, just like King David, much like him. And he knew the Assyrians were going to be successful. They were going to take the city. If they blocked the Gihan spring, he knew they wouldn't have a source of water, they wouldn't survive, and the Assyrians would win.

He was ingenious. God gave him a strategy, and he built a different shaft of water from the Gihon spring. It's like an engineering marvel that took the water to a pool inside Jerusalem known as the Pool of Siloam.

The Assyrians showed up, they surrounded the city. Same old, same old from the enemy, calling out accusations and mockery so that everybody can hear it. And Isaiah the prophet. Not a bad man to have on your side at that moment. Nice to have Isaiah around, you know.

Good to have Isaiah. He prophesied that the Assyrians would be destroyed. And one angel shows up, just one, and kills, annihilates. 185,000 men, annihilates the army. That whole story is why the Pool of Siloam even exists.

And 700 years after Hezekiah. Are you still with me? That was our history lesson. 700 years after Hezekiah, 1000 years after King David, Jesus, God himself, is sitting at that pool, and he sends that blind man to go wash the mud off his eyes. And he's completely healed, no longer blind.

Second miracle in Jerusalem, John 5. It's the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. It's not that far from the pool of Siloam. Nothing's really that far there in old Jerusalem. And people had this superstition that the water would get stirred up, like by an angel or something.

And then when it was stirred up, if you could get in that water, you would be healed. They think it was just because there was two levels of pools and one would be pouring into the other. And then it just, you know, it's like a superstition. And here's this lame man, and being lame, he's never been able to get in. And somebody always beat him there.

And he's been there for years, forever. And Jesus walks up to him in John 5 and he says, hey, pick up your mat and go home. Just pick up your mat and go home. And the man is instantly healed. And it wasn't in that water.

It wasn't in the superstition. It was in the one and only one who gives the living water. Amen. And what I love is Jesus doesn't just heal him, and that's it, be healed. In fact, he didn't even say be healed at all.

He gives a command which gives this lame man purpose. And sends him into his future. Rise. Pick up your mat and go home. He's saying, rise up.

Go do what you couldn't do before, what you haven't been able to do in years. Rise up and walk. And, oh, by the way, pick up that thing that you've been sitting on for the last so many years and lift it up, like in victory. Isn't that what we do? We lift up a flag, we're like, yes, we won our trophy.

Lift that thing up and go home and live a life you've never been able to live before. He propels him into his victory with just a word.

But here is the interesting part.

That in Jerusalem, in the city where the Jebusites told David, our blind and lame could defend this city against you, who does Jesus heal? The blind and the lame.

The only recorded miracles we know of. Perhaps there were others, but the only ones that made the word of God were the blind and the lame. And let's just say Jesus never does anything by accident. And what was he saying by doing that? I just want to share a couple of things before I close.

I mean, let's think about this. Jesus is making a personal reference to something that happened a thousand years before. He's subtly, or perhaps not so subtly, insinuating that no matter how long you've been dealing with something, no matter how old the situation, the sickness, the shame, the situation in your family, he's saying that he hasn't forgotten. He's mindful of it. He's mindful of you, and he has the power and will deliver and heal.

Secondly, I really believe he's saying this. He doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're someone who's been referred to as the weakest of society, as someone who's been cast aside, put down, used as a byword for weakness, seen as the lowest. Jesus is here to heal you, redeem you, and turn your life around. That's why Matthew 12:20 says he will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.

Finally, he will cause justice to be victorious and church if you will cry out to him in faith, in his right timing, he will allow you to lift and carry off in victory the things that have held you down. The very thing you used to depend on, you will no longer depend on insecurities held you down. He'll allow you to carry off that crippling thing and live in victory and confidence. Fear. Has fear held you down?

Maybe he'll allow you, he will, to lift it up and carry that thing off and live in victory and faith. And not just that, like the one man, he will allow you to go into your greater purpose, if you will, to send you forward into your greater purpose. Purpose to take that which has held you down and messed you up and then be able to minister to others who are in the same situation and allow you truly to live a way that you've never lived before. Jesus said, I have come that you might have life and have it to the full more abundantly. That's his intention for each of us.

And I've seen it over and over again. People who were like the blind and lame, we could say, I've seen them walk free. I've seen them walk healed. I've seen them walk into purpose. I've seen them walk into victory.

There was this young man who had come to church with his mom.

I just remember him coming to Kula Extension on Saturday nights. And I was leading worship. And he was sitting on the back row. And I told somebody, my wife or somebody else, man, that guy is messed up.

Or this girl, lady, young lady who had been so messed up in false religions and came to our choir and joined our choir.

Can't even see. I don't know that. I didn't say that. You said that. Talking about these people right here.

Come on, Miracle. God broke the chains off their life before our eyes. It was a sign and a wonder. And now look at what the Lord has done. Come on, come on, come on.

Give the Lord praise. He did it for them. Whatever you're dealing with, he can do it for you. He has all power.

And if Jesus cares enough to reference something that was said a thousand years before in his word, how much more. How much more does he care about your situation? I'm a living testimony of that. I know I've shared this here before. It was probably a long time ago.

We were pastoring Kings Dallas. We planted that church there with the Frigoles in 2009.

And one day I was driving down South Lake Boulevard in South Lake, Texas. I was going to go make music, work on some music with. With Yuri, a buddy of mine that lived up there. And. And I was on my way to work on some music.

And as I was driving to his house, just down in normal kind of street, as if you were driving. This is Parks highway, right? As if you were driving down that road in the middle of town. Suddenly all these thoughts start coming to me of a moment when I was younger, much younger, when I was molested. And I'm like, wow, this Is weird.

Why am I thinking about this? About two months before, God had told me, I'm going to knock the reproach off of you. And I saw these two humps on my shoulders and I saw like the finger of God just doop. How many of you know God? And just a little doop can knock something off of you that you've been carrying around your whole life that you can't solve.

I didn't even know I needed it. Reproach. Knock the reproach. I'm at the prayer meeting when God spoke to me, Googling it. I mean, reproach.

Yeah, we know that word. What does it mean? It means the shame.

I didn't know what God was talking about. And nothing happened right then. It didn't happen until I'm driving down South Lake Boulevard and suddenly all these thoughts start coming to me. And I'm driving and I'm thinking, yeah, I've forgiven all that. Yeah, I'm not thinking about that.

But it wouldn't quit pounding in my mind. And suddenly the Lord spoke to me and said, I want you to say, I refuse the actions of that person against me. And say their name. Weird. Okay, that's what I'm thinking.

I know I didn't come up with that. I said about like this. I refuse the actions of. I said that person's name against me. The minute, the second it came out of my mouth, the power of God came into my car.

God hit me and the Lord said, say it again. I refuse. Louder. I refuse the actions of that person against me. More power of God.

I'm starting to shake. Say it again. I refuse the actions of that person. By now I'm shaking so hard, I'm scared that I'm gonna have a wreck. Literally, like I can't and I'm like trying to get over.

And then I'm sitting in the parking lot of like a grocery store. Say it again. God kept saying it to me and I kept saying it. And I'm crying like a baby in that car. And the power of God is in that place for the name next half hour I sat in that parking lot while God showed up and did something I didn't even know I needed.

And I drove away from that parking lot that day completely changed in one half hour session with God at the grocery store parking lot.

I tell that story. To say this, I was like 48 years old. You thought I was 48 right now, didn't you? I'm just kidding. Just kidding.

Just kidding. Yeah, I was like 48 years old. God, why couldn't we have done that a long time ago? Why couldn't we have solved that 12 years ago, 20 years ago? I don't know the answer to that.

But what I do know is this. God knows everything you've been through. And it doesn't matter how long it's been, it doesn't matter how long you've prayed, how long you've waited, how, how long you've wondered. Or maybe it's something you didn't even know you need anymore. It's been so long.

God is mindful of it and he can heal you and he can redeem you. And he's here to set you free. Come on and give the Lord a hand clap of praise. Come on, church.

He did it for me in that moment. And Church, he hasn't forgotten you.

And tonight God wants to release faith in you, hope in you and victory. You might need victory over mocking or accusation or put downs you're dealing with. It's real, it's painful at times, it's debilitating at times. You may need victory over some area of your life that's not fully conquered. You're struggling there.

Or maybe you just need victory over some long term thing that you've been believing for and sometimes you've just felt like giving up. And God is here tonight to say to you, don't give up, up. I have victory for you. I'm going to ask you to bow your heads with me. And if you're here tonight and you say, pastor, yes, I'm dealing with one of those areas tonight, I'm going to ask you just lift your hand with me because I want to say a word of prayer for you.

Come on, lift your hand. One of those things that you mentioned, I'm needing victory in my life. Don't be ashamed. God wants to knock all shame off of you. He wants to bring peace and healing and redemption to you.

So Father, you see hands lifted all across this room. Father, I pray for a fresh release of your anointing and your power and faith to rise up in their hearts. I pray for those that need a fresh strategy and revelation for you of how to win Lord God and see strongholds come down. I pray that you would begin to release that to them even tonight, even in the night times. Lord God, in their dreams and visions, you release revelation to them in the same way that you released that water shaft idea to David.

Release fresh strategy to them for victory. Those who have been dealing with long term pain, long term needing answers. God, if you cared enough to make a statement to redeem the blind and the lame. You care about them. So I ask you, Lord God, to give them, in a sense, Lord, in your way, their grocery store parking lot moment.

Their moment where you redeem a situation that's been held for a long time. I truly believe God's wanting to do that in some lives in this room tonight. Well, I hope you were encouraged by God's word. Thank you again for listening to Kings Alaska Podcast. God bless you.

For more great content, go to kcalaska.com and may God's face shine upon you and give you peace.