LANDING ON ST. JAMES, TENNESSEE, AND
NEW YORK AVENUES

I have a few gospel words today to say to the Monopoly players in our radio audience. I can't remember the last time Jeannie and I had time to sit down and play a game of Monopoly, but maybe you can identify with this little illustration.

Have you ever noticed what a good property the orange cards are? You know: St. James, Tennessee, and New York? And the reason is obvious. If you're in Jail, or even just visiting, those three orange properties are right down the street within throwing distance. If you roll a six, OR an eight, OR a nine, you're going to be paying the owner of the Oranges. With a hotel, it can set you back 950 bucks, or a cool one grand on New York Avenue.

But something very interesting happens SO OFTEN — which I'm sure you've noticed if you've ever OWNED those Oranges. SO OFTEN a person coming out of Jail will roll a SEVEN — and land right IN BETWEEN the Oranges on Community Chest. Not a six, not an eight, not a nine . . . he rolls a seven. And you don't collect a single dime.

It took me years of frustration before I realized that when you have two dice, which means 36 possible number combinations, rolling a seven is the most common number on there. Six out of the 36 combinations are a seven. Maybe you never thought about that either, but if you own those Orange properties and are hoping someone comes to stay in your $950 hotel, you begin to notice it in a hurry. The odds are pretty good for rolling a seven. Now, 39% of the time, you WILL roll a six, eight, or nine, but SEVEN is still the most common number.

All through history, we're very interested in stories where someone wins AGAINST all the odds. Some of the great war sagas happen when a tiny army of 1,000 goes up against TEN thousand . . . and WINS! A person with a handicap works and struggles and battles AGAINST THE ODDS, and ends up winning an Olympic gold medal. A Helen Keller — blind, deaf, and mute — beats the unbelievable odds stacked up against her, and becomes an articulate and effective communicator.

We've been talking all this week about the plain fact that the Christian faith is facing some very long odds today. An exploding world population is dwarfing our miniscule achievements. Let's face it; more people are listening to Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh than are listening to me. Every year, every DAY, we're falling farther and farther behind. Whole vast regions of the world simply will not allow the gospel in — and where they DO let you in, society is rigidly entrenched against your message.

Listen, friend . . . I've personally felt the whirlwind of opposition blowing in my own face. I've been over in the former Soviet Union and gotten snarled up in the red tape. I've had editorials written against ME and my dad and my little evangelistic team. I've had billboards burned and posters torn down. I know what it feels like to look at an upcoming series of meetings and know the ODDS were piled up against us. We faced a stacked deck. On the global battlefield, the devil's ODDS can be a frightful thing.

But you know, most people don't care a whole lot about that. How the Christian Church is doing. What kind of odds organized religion faces. How fast the gospel is spreading or not spreading. Who cares? We don't care about that.

What WE care about is the battle in our OWN life. We care about the attacks coming into our own living rooms. We care about the assault the devil is making on our marriages.

And I know full well that some of you are facing incredible, insurmountable odds. Today. Right now. Some of you listening today . . . the enemy of this world has unfairly singled you out and he's attacking YOU.

How do I know? Friend, I get your letters. We get mail from our Voice of Prophecy listeners . . . and the stories we read make us break down and just sob some Thursday mornings.

Listen to this:

"Dear Voice of Prophecy, I'm in a detention center and I need a friend. I had my birthday on the 26th and my mom forgot. She hasn't written me in two months. There's a warrant out for her arrest. She left the baby with my aunt without my aunt knowing. She's on drugs and can't find a vein to shoot up any longer." Then the last line: "I'm 16 years old. I wish my mom was here."

Isn't that unbelievable, the heartache being unleashed on some of you?

And in the area of sin and temptation, too, we all face this stacked deck. We feel like it's a thousand-to-one against us. There's NO WAY to win. We're looking at odds that we can never beat. Not a chance in this world.

But today's good news is something very, very special. Friend, here it is. GOD DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ODDS!

To God the concept of heavy-odds-against-you doesn't matter. A thousand to one — doesn't matter! A million to one — doesn't matter! ODDS simply ARE NOT a factor to God.

And we find some great, down-to-earth Bible stories about this very simple truth.

Do you remember the Old Testament story of Gideon? After we're done here today, get out your Bible and read through Judges chapters six and seven. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us how big an army the Midianites had. But we know that Gideon had 32,000 men . . . and he was nervous. So already they must have been facing bad odds.

But then God says: "Send some of these men home."

"What?!"

"You heard Me. Send some of them home." All the scared GIs, 22,000 of them, pick up their canteens and their M-16s and they head back home to their families and girlfriends. So now Gideon's only got 10,000 men. And the odds go from bad to TERRIBLE.

God: "You've got too many men, Gideon."

"Oh, no! Lord, You're kidding."

"Too many men. Send some more home." And the dust doesn't settle for quite a while, as nine thousand seven hundred MORE men starting packing up their pup tents and they leave too. Now Gideon's down to 300 men. Three hundred versus however many tens of thousands the Midianites have recruited. Now these aren't terrible odds, they're astronomical odds. There's NO WAY to win.

But let me say again, friend: God doesn't care about odds. Three hundred against a million is no problem as long as God is with the 300. Would you agree with that? And now when Israel wins, which they do, GOD gets the credit . . . which was the whole point of the story.

Turn over just a few pages to First Samuel chapter 14. Jonathan and his armor-bearer meet up with some Philistines. Twenty of them, to be exact. TWO against TWENTY. And Jonathan says to his fellow soldier in verse six:

"Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few."

And these two warriors agree on a sign between them. If the Philistines say to them, "Come on up," they'd know God was signaling them to go for it. So here comes the sign: "Come on up." And Jonathan and his armor-bearer, facing ten-to-one odds, climb up to the top of the hill, engage the enemy . . . and they win. They overcome ten-to-one odds — and notice that it's God Himself who gives them the go-ahead signal. To God, ten-to-one is nothing. A million-to-one is nothing. Friend, God doesn't care about odds!

Flip through a few more pages to First Kings chapter 18. Elijah is on top of Mount Carmel, facing down 450 false prophets of Baal and 400 more prophets of the pagan god Asherah. That's 850-to-one odds right there. Plus the king and queen of Israel, Ahab and a certain power-hungry lady named Jezebel, are in the opposition camp. That makes it eight hundred fifty-TWO to one. Now those are pretty bad odds. But even when you add 12 big tubs of water to the mix, Elijah's offering still gets consumed by the fire from the Lord. He still triumphs! With God on his side, odds of 852-to-one are absolutely no problem.

Friend, that's why I look at the exploding world population and the oppression experienced by Christians in foreign lands and the secularization of our own society here at home . . . and I determine in my heart not to worry! The Christian Church faces heavy odds . . . but odds are not a problem with God. He has promised that the work will be finished; He's promised in Matthew 24 to cut the time short for the sake of His people; He's promised to come again.

But of course, you and I are even more concerned about the odds in our own life. Maybe you have a problem with anger, friend. And it's hereditary; you've always struggled with it. Thoughts of rage and resentment seem to simply seize your mind; they won't leave you alone. Every aspect of your life, your job, your marriage, your family . . . FEEDS that frustration, that boiling over.

And you want to write to me and say, "Lonnie, this is a hopeless problem. God Himself couldn't fix what I struggle with. This is insurmountable; it's a million-to-one long shot."

Friend, listen to me again: God doesn't care about odds! Whether it's alcoholism or jealousy or smoking or a homosexual lifestyle or some other quiet, agonizing addiction — God can beat the odds on your behalf.

That doesn't mean victory will be quick. It might be — and it might NOT be. I've known believers who reached out and took God's hand . . . and a 40-year smoking habit was snuffed out just like that. Other people have had to battle cravings for years — BUT THEY KEPT . . . HOLDING . . . GOD'S . . . HAND. And with God, victory isn't just possible, it's PROMISED. It's assured.

You know, when you're in that Monopoly game and your little token is on the "Just Visiting" jail square, and you look down at those terrifying Orange properties, ENEMY properties, with their hotels — it's a scary thing, isn't it? You might roll a seven — Community Chest — or roll a ten — Free Parking — or you might get wiped out right here. Maybe you'll beat the odds and maybe you won't. Your confidence has evaporated; this is a nerve-racking moment.

Isn't it wonderful that WITH GOD, we never have to feel that way again?