Where is God? | Jentezen Franklin

the following program is sponsored in part by friends and partners of jensen franklin media ministries thank you for joining us today it's our prayer and our deep desire that we speak a message that touches your life today as you view this program and i agree with you that you're going to find god's will and god's next step for your life listen to this message and let it speak to you today [Music] if you have your bibles i'd love for you to open them with me please to the book of job the 23rd chapter and verse 8. job says i look and i go forward but he speaking of god he is not there and backward but i cannot perceive him when he works on the left hand i cannot behold him and when he turns and i turn and go right i can't i can't see him then verse 10 but he knows the way that i take and when he has tested me i shall come forth as gold powerful powerful words it's obvious that job is in a time in his life where he's saying god where are you that's what i'm preaching on where's god he's saying god where are you he's saying i'm searching i'm looking i'm going forward backwards left and right and i cannot find perceive or see you at all you seem unconcerned absent and silent when i need you the most he had lost his family his children he had lost his wealth he had lost his health he had lost his friends he had lost everything good in his life and now in chapter 23 he's lost his god he's lost his god i mean that's when you really hit the place about as low as you can go when you can't find you you feel like you're god abandoned the absence of god it's unexplained he's not there god where are you listen to his description he said behold i go forward but he is not there in other words he's saying you know i didn't turn back when i got in hard times i didn't quit i kept going forward i'm hurting i don't understand i don't know what's going on but i'm not a quitter i didn't abandon my faith i i haven't given up i'm moving forward but he's being honest and he's saying i went forward i'm waiting everybody told me you know hold on god's coming and he said i'm going forward and i don't see him anywhere out there and i haven't quit i haven't given up i'm still moving in the right direction but he said i don't see god he said i i just don't see him i i just keep going through it and then the second point thing he says is i went backward i thought that was an interesting way to describe it he kind of thought well maybe there's something in my past that can explain why i'm here maybe there's something in my almost like job lays down on the psychiatrist's couch and he says take me back to my childhood take me back to my teenage years what happened how did i end up here what series of events what did i do that that made me end up in this place he's going backwards he's saying is there anything in my past is there anything back there is there anything in my birth or my uh heredity you know is there anything in my genes or what how in the world he goes back and he can't find any peace and any answers he goes forward he doesn't see much hope he doesn't see any change i'm still trying then he then he really takes a turn he said i went left did you see that he said i turned left in other words i'm going way out in left field he got aggravated now and he's saying you know like some people do i'm going out in left field i'm just it ain't working that ain't working prayer is not working god's not working church is not working anymore for me faith isn't working i'm going in left field i'm going to try eastern i'm i'm preaching it my way it's my sermon i'm preaching i'm going to try eastern religion i'm going to try buddha buddha i'm going to try i'm going to try mohammed i'm going to try this i'm going to try spiritualism i'm going to try nature i'm going to try i'm not going to church i'm going in left field i'm going to try something new i'm going to try something my friend did yoga and and that's their new religion and they're getting into this and they're getting into that or it may have even been i i'm going to get way out in left field i'm going to try i'm going to try witchcraft or i'm going to try spiritual the spiritual world of chanting and burning incense to gods and all kinds of religions but you know what he didn't find anything out there and then he said lastly i turned back right i turned back right he said i went i went on the left hand and he wasn't there went before me behind me and then i turned right on the right hand you know you can't ever go wrong if you go right you keep you know you keep doing the right thing and nothing right is happening you keep saying the right thing and you still aren't getting the breakthrough you keep going to church and doing everything you're supposed to do and trying to read the bible but it's like it don't really it's not i'm doing the right i went right but right ain't right it's wrong nothing's right y'all act like y'all don't know what i'm preaching about but i know what i'm preaching about this is right in the bible but i love what he said at the end of the conclusion of it all his conclusion is i don't know where i am anymore i don't know what's going on anymore he said i don't know where he is but he knows where i am for he knows the path that i take did you hear that verse he knows where i am even when i don't know where he is and i can't perceive him and i he knows my name he knows my the number of hairs on my head he knows my fingerprint he knows everything about the path that i am on and then he ends with a powerful faith confession and when he has tried me i will come forth as gold wow that's powerful that's powerful i want to tell you about a man in the new testament and a family that went through what i just described job went through in the old testament it's in the bible in the book of john the 11th chapter this family really loved the lord i mean really they knew him meaning the lord jesus christ they knew him intimately so much so that when he had time off he went to their home he ate at their table you don't get as close i mean you talk about the inside track you talk about his clique you talk about people on the inside of the circle it was martha and her servitude it was mary and her amazing love and devotion and then there was lazarus lazarus and jesus were just good friends it clicked you know how it is with a real friend an old friend you don't even have to work at it you don't care if they call you and you call them it's when you see each other it's just it's just there and now lazarus gets sick something is wrong his fever is burning his breathing is erratic he's even losing all of his strength he's dying and they knew he was dying and they sent for jesus a runner goes and finds jesus and says your friend whom you love is sick even unto death and they need you and mary and martha you know your friends the ones that you're really close with want you to hurry up and come heal him and the bible said that jesus affirmed that that he was aware and that he would be there and the servant goes back and all the neighborhood all the community knew that family has a real relationship with jesus right there and so we know jesus is going to come and deliver them and we're about to have a praise party in this city and in this community and this neighborhood because when jesus comes lazarus is going to be healed and so they're waiting and they're waiting in one hour and they start asking that that runner you know did when did he say he was coming yes he's coming where is he he's on the way he's coming any minute now a whole day goes by and he's sicker and sicker he's breathing he's got the death rattle in his throat he's sick where is he where is he he promised he would come where is he why is he not here they start asking what did he say did he say he was coming he said he was coming but jesus did not show up for days i want you to understand something sure he's coming you sure he told you i'm sure he told me you know what we smirk because we know the rest of the story we know that he showed up and raised lasers from the dead no big deal to us but that family felt like god had failed them felt like god was not there that god did not care but then john 11 and verse 15 when jesus arrives they kind of are upset with him and he says these words and i am glad for your sake i was not there when he was sick and dying well wow isn't that beautiful thank you jesus i was glad for your sake that i was not there the brother's sick he stayed away deliberately for 48 hours until he dies and when he gets there in the yard he says i'm glad i did what didn't come and give you the miracle that you were asking for i want to give you a quick three lessons from this story that you don't need to ever forget he's dead and i'm glad for your sake that i wasn't there number one this story teaches us that god is still working when you think your situation is at its last sickening conclusion they thought it was over he's dead he's buried the funeral is over there's nothing good to come of this it's finished it didn't happen god didn't hear us god didn't do what we expected him to do i i held on i came to the end of my rope i tied a knot on the end of the rope and the knot gave way and i fail and it's finished this story tells me that when you think it's over god is still working number two god's delays are always deliberate john 11 verse 5 and 6 and when jesus knew mary and martha and lazarus and when he heard therefore that that that he was sick he abode two days in the same place it says clearly number one he loved them it says clearly number two to prove it he stayed away and let them go through pain and sorrow and heartbreak and mental anguish like you could not believe weeping grieving crying breakdown grief and jesus did not get there and let them not go through that and he loved them why was he late because all they could believe could come good of that was a healing but he knew and saw beyond the healing if lazarus suffering had been averted then the tremendous miracle of the resurrection of lazarus he would have been just another healing that jesus did but i'm standing in a pulpit thousands of years later and i'm preaching and telling the testimony of the of the lord who raised lazarus from the dead and the only reason is because if jesus would have spared that family from mental anguish they would have missed the greater joy of a resurrection that would touch the community that would touch the nation and that would touch the world and outlive their family with that testimony of all things that god was doing that they could not perceive or understand god's delays are always deliberate because he's going to work a greater miracle than what you think you need and you know what if that's what we have to go through to get every one of us in heaven if it absolutely requires us going through tears and suffering and yet not missing the thing that matters which is our soul's name written in the lamb's book of life it's worth any and everything you don't know the mind of god clap your hands and say amen but oh this is what touched me i wish you'd just turn to somebody and say he's working something greater for you i know you've been a little discouraged i know you've been a little down i know you've turned backwards and forwards and tried to figure it out but he's working something greater third point jesus dwelt he gets there think about it he knows that what he's doing is greater it's going to be bigger than what they're even at ask him to do he allows them to go through mental anguish and they're screaming and they're crying and god failed us god wasn't there where was god why didn't he do something how could a good god allow the where are you i'm not making fun of you the reason i don't preach that's because that's me yeah even preachers struggle even preachers go through times where you question everything oh you you you want a perfect preacher this one ain't one look at him my goodness but you want a preacher who has a perfect savior and whose way and that savior's ways are right and that savior's ways are working for the good and that savior is faithful and that savior loves us [Applause] i got to keep preaching but i just feel like shouting i just feel like shouting i'm not trying to work you up i'm not trying to pump you up i'm just here to tell you today that god knows the path that you take and jesus wept he knows that he's going to end up doing good but he weeps because the present plan for their lives this family the present plan for their lives is causing mary and martha heartache and sorrow and even though he knows it's a setup guys you're acting crazy i'm about to bless your sock i'm about to do something that you cannot imagine but he's so caring that he weeps and he hurts when we hurt he knows it's going to all work out according to his eternal plan read ephesians 3 sometime my goodness all things are working toward the manifold wisdom of god that will cause even principalities and powers to marvel the bible says that according to the purpose of god he's preordained everything it's like the parts of a puzzle some some months ago charisse got into puzzles and she started laying this big massive puzzle puzzle out on the table and she would put it together piece piece piece it would take her weeks to do these she'd just do it when she had some time and and i got in right at the end when there were just maybe 40 pieces left and i sat down she said do it with me one day and so i sit down and and and i found a piece and she couldn't find it and i was so proud of myself and and i put it she said that's not the one and and i said buddy it fit she said look and and i said they make mistakes you know it doesn't have to be just it really fits and it like kind of lines up and it's the same color and stuff it's got to be the one we've looked at all these it's not here that's what we do we pick up a piece of the puzzle and we isolate it and we say this doesn't fit this doesn't fit in our family this doesn't fit in my life how could god let this doesn't fit when it does fit we pick up one isolated piece and we say god's not in it god's not in it there was a mistake here all these other pieces they fit but this doesn't see it all things the reason that it doesn't see it is because it's not all together but when you take that one piece that doesn't fit and you build everything else you know what you're going to find if it's the last piece i couldn't find it anywhere else but now that it's there it fits it's not all together yet that's why it doesn't fit when we all get to heaven on streets of gold and our families are there then we'll be able to say it all fit he used it for if that had happened somehow the enemy thought but god used it for our good [Applause] you can stand up at every campus every head bowed every eye closed at every campus there are young people listening to me and you i apologize for my generation of preachers that has not preached enough truth to you you cannot go to heaven and live like hell you cannot die in your sin and expect to end up in heaven somewhere you're gonna have to walk through a sword and say lord i know you don't require perfection but i'm not playing god games i want to serve you i want to live for you i want to give my life up so that i can gain my life has to pray for me i need god today i'm going through what you're preaching i need that savior that'll eat with me i need that savior that will take all things and make it good i need to know that i'm connected to his purpose and not far from him pray for me i want to get right with god today pastor pray for me if that's you in this house or any of the campuses i want you to raise your hand high right where you're standing no shame in it it's only victory in it oh there's so many hands every one of you that got lifted your hand get out of your seat please don't try to compromise walk into the swinging sword as you get out of that pew as you get out of that section and you begin to walk down that aisle you're walking into the swinging sword and the lord says i can set you free i can cut you loose i can sever you from your past i can heal you i can help you i can deliver you come on come on lift your hands all over this building come on as they come come come come come he loves you he loves you he loves you come on right there where you're watching this in your homes just surrender just throw your hands up and say lord jesus oh god i give you my life oh god i'll lay my life down for you you know he doesn't want you to die he wants you to live he wants you to know hope no peace no jesus he's available call on him come on anyone else anyone else this is your auto call this is your order service [Music] now all of you who came forward this morning say these words jesus save me write my name in the book of life set me free sever with your holy sword everything that's not like you that's hindering me set me free i receive it because you love me i don't earn it i don't have to deserve it you love me you know the path i take and you know my name thank you thank you for forgiving me welcome to the family of god i can't tell you how excited we are that you just made the major decision the most important decision in your life to follow jesus christ and accept him as your lord and savior fill out our salvation form you can go there and we'll send you free a 21-day devotional to help you in your new relationship with jesus you don't have to walk alone and we've got online church and online campus all of that and it'll feed your soul and as many of you know god has led us to work closely with the nation and the people of israel that border the gaza strip in an area called eshkel they're constantly under attack that's why this ministry has been building fortified buildings for the families of this region of israel in fact during a recent escalation on the border of israel these bomb shelters were used to keep families women and children safe will you help me today bring comfort to the people of israel when you give to this ministry our pledge to you is we do three things with the resources we unashamedly preach the gospel of jesus christ to 200 nations just like you've heard on this telecast today secondly we produce inspirational resources we put out all kinds of material that encourage people in their walk with god and thirdly we go above and beyond to support projects just like this one in the nations of the world that need it the most so today do your part and i know god will bless you thank you and we'll see you next time right here this program has been sponsored by friends and partners of jensen franklin media ministries we hope you've enjoyed this teaching by jensen franklin and thank you for your continued support of this ministry your prayers and financial support make these programs possible for more information about this message and other ministry resources visit us online at jensenfranklin.tv you

Channel: Jentezen Franklin

Views: 18,901

Rating: 4.9349594 out of 5

Keywords: Jentezen Franklin, Free Chapel, Sermons, jensen franklin, jentezen franklin sermons, christianity, franklin jentezen sermons, church online, sermons by great preachers, sermons of the sinner, sermons by great preachers christian, kingdom connection jentezen franklin, kingdom connection gainesville ga, jentezen franklin 2021, kingdom connection live, where is god, trust in god, free chapel jentezen franklin

Id: h8az7KNF5d4

Length: 27min 5sec (1625 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 10 2021