1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:09,560 And turn to 1st Kings Chapter 18, First Kings Chapter 18, and 2 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:22,000 also Job Chapter 19, First Kings Chapter 18 and Job Chapter 19. 3 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,080 And I'm going to start right off this morning in prayer and then 4 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:37,320 we'll get into the message and ask, ask God to calm my mind, 5 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:47,700 calm my heart. Father, I thank you for this day 6 00:00:47,700 --> 00:00:50,140 you've given us. God, I thank you for another 7 00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:52,540 opportunity we have to meet in your house today. 8 00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:59,560 And God, I just, I pray that you'd be with thee, with the 9 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,360 Hamptons, with Tywana, with Trey, with Ryan and with Barbara 10 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:04,720 and, and all the rest of the family. 11 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,720 And I know it's a tough time. I know, I, I know the feeling. 12 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,960 God, we, we are able to suffer with them because of losses that 13 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:15,360 we've had. And I believe that's why you let 14 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,280 us go through some of these so that we can be a help and a 15 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,320 comfort to others. But God, it's, it's not easy. 16 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:23,080 It never is. And so God, I just pray that 17 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,520 you'd help them now that you again, that you lift them up 18 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,240 and, and, and just cover them. And I pray that you beat the 19 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,200 message this morning. And I believe this is the 20 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,600 message that you've given me. And I just pray that you'd, you 21 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,040 would calm my, my mind. And I just pray that you would 22 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:41,960 meet with your people this morning. 23 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,760 We've got so many people that are in the hospital that are 24 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,800 dealing with, with sicknesses and different things. 25 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,240 So God, I pray many of them I, I believe will be watching online. 26 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,640 I pray that you give them some comfort and and also some some 27 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,440 healing as well. I pray that you be with the 28 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,720 doctors in each one of those situations that you'd give them 29 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:03,080 the understanding that they need. 30 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:08,280 Yet I believe that most doctors would would say that in a lot of 31 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,240 cases, they have no idea what the body is doing and and they 32 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,480 need that wisdom from you. So I pray you'd give that to 33 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,680 them and give them the hands they need to to help your people 34 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,800 recover and, and come home. And I pray that you'd meet with 35 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,960 us again this morning as we gather around your word in Jesus 36 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,840 name, I pray, Amen. In First Kings chapter 18, we 37 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,280 have the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. 38 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,840 And I think we're all familiar with that story, but I want to 39 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,560 just look at a couple of verses, verses 36 through 39. 40 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:42,360 And then we won't come back here again in the message. 41 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,880 But first Kings chapter 18 and verse 36, Bible says, and it 42 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,480 came to pass at the at the time of the offering of the evening 43 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:55,440 sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, now 44 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,240 to back up what we're talking about here is this the whole 45 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,440 story is completely played out. Now he has taken these prophets 46 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,560 of Baal, 450 of them to be exact. 47 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:07,000 And I always think it's funny in there. 48 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,440 I don't have these verses picked out, but I read it in reading 49 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,560 it, you'll see Elijah tells the prophets of Baal, I'm the last 50 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,120 one, the only one left. And we know that's not true 51 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,160 because we see him later when he goes and tells God I'm the last 52 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:24,640 one. God says I have 7000 of them 53 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:27,000 that have prophets that have not bent the knee to Baal. 54 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,920 You're not the last one, but you are an important one. 55 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,840 And here he is on on Mount Carmel and he's fighting the 56 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:36,600 prophets of Baal. And I would not, not in a 57 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:43,080 physical sense, but he has come, come to them with a, with a, a 58 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,560 debate, so to speak. And he says, look, we're at 59 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:47,960 odds. The children of Israel are 60 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,800 following Baal and they believe Baal is their God. 61 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:57,320 We need to settle once and for all who the true God of heaven 62 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:58,640 is. And so they have that. 63 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,120 And hopefully you're very familiar with this story. 64 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,880 They, they cry to their God and they cut themselves and Elijah's 65 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,960 making fun of them for hey, maybe he's asleep and all those 66 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,640 things. And now we come to verse 36 and 67 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,400 Elijah times it right at the time of evening sacrifice. 68 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,720 Now it's his turn and he calls on his God that Elijah the 69 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,040 prophet came near in verse 36 and said, Lord God of Abraham, 70 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,280 Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God 71 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:28,080 in Israel, and that I am thy servant. 72 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,840 And then I have done all these things at thy word. 73 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,320 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou 74 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,560 art the Lord God, and that thou has turned their heart back 75 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,040 again. Then the fire of the Lord fell 76 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,640 and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and 77 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,040 the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. 78 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,520 And verse 39. And when all the people saw it, 79 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,000 they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is the 80 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,960 God, the Lord he is the God. And I always thought when in in 81 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:03,680 reading that growing up that it was almost like, you know, 82 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,960 you'll hear people that English isn't their first language and 83 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:08,800 they'll throw extra words in there and think that's what it 84 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:10,160 sounds like. The Lord, he is the God. 85 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,560 That's not what that is. He is the God is what they're 86 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,000 saying, the Lord he is the God not, not Baal. 87 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,800 And then you see, you have the rest of the story, verse 40. 88 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,440 Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal, let not one of 89 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,040 them escape. They took them and Elijah 90 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,720 brought them down to the brook Keyshon and slew them there. 91 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:34,360 But the point here is that Elijah prays to God and God 92 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,760 shows himself real to the people there on Mount Carmel. 93 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:44,440 Now go back to Job chapter 19. If you moved from there, Job 94 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,560 chapter 19. And before we read this verse 95 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,280 several months ago, Brother Nitin, we talk fairly often. 96 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:55,440 I'd I'd love to talk a lot more often than we do. 97 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:56,800 And it's not his fault. It's mine. 98 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,920 I get busy and with the time change by the time I'm like, oh, 99 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,400 hey, Nitin, can you, can you talk? 100 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,920 It's 4:00 in the morning. So oh, yeah, my bad, you know, 101 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:09,560 but anyways, we talk fairly often. 102 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,520 And he he texted one day and asked asked this question. 103 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,320 He's taking a a bunch of so he didn't go to Bible college. 104 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:22,520 He was saved here, got to stay here for about three 3 1/2 years 105 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,240 during COVID got worked all that out. 106 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,480 And so he was very much sitting under Pastor's discipleship, 107 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,040 really teaching him as much as he could teach him, but also 108 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:31,760 taking some classes online and things like that. 109 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,800 Well, he still takes classes online and one of his classes in 110 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,200 one of his quiz quizzes, it said it was, it was the question, is 111 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,040 the goal of the Bible or one of the goals of the Bible to prove 112 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,960 the existence of God? So he asked me and, and, and 113 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,320 pastor that, what do you think? Do you think the goal of the 114 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,360 Bible is to prove the existence of God? 115 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,720 I think it's a good question, but I think the answer is 116 00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:00,280 absolutely no, because in Genesis 11, in the beginning 117 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:03,320 God, he doesn't try to explain where God came from, who he is, 118 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:05,800 what he just says this is a matter of fact. 119 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:07,400 God created the heavens and the earth. 120 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:11,520 So it's not trying to prove that there is a God, although it 121 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,360 backs it up everywhere all the way through the Bible. 122 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:20,680 And so in in Job chapter 19, we see in verse 25, Job is just 123 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:22,520 going through it. If you haven't read the book of 124 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,800 Job, I encourage you to read it from start to finish because it 125 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,680 is just, it's, it's not a long book. 126 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,560 It's longer than some, but it's not a terribly long book. 127 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,720 But you see, you, you understand what Job is going through. 128 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:42,240 And by the time you get to Job chapter 19 and verse 2025, well, 129 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:45,760 let's go to let's go to just go to 23. 130 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,120 Oh, that my words were now written. 131 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,040 Oh, that they were printed in a book. 132 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,400 Imagine that his prayer was answered right? 133 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:54,440 His words got written and printed in a book. 134 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,240 That they were graven with an iron pen and LED and LED in the 135 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,000 rock forever. This is what he says in verse 136 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,200 25. For I know that my Redeemer 137 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,120 liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 138 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,040 earth. How did? 139 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,160 And this is what I want to talk about today. 140 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:17,040 It's not a question. My the title of my message. 141 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,360 The title of my message is my God is real. 142 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:25,480 But how did these guys know? How did Elijah know that his God 143 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:27,640 was real? That's a lot of confidence to 144 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:32,000 stand in front of 450 prophets of Baal and ask God to bring 145 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,480 fire down to not only consume the sacrifice, but remember, he 146 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,640 had them pour buckets and buckets of water all around it 147 00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:44,240 to prove it's not because it's dry out here because it hasn't 148 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,720 rained, right? That was at the end of that, 149 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:50,640 that famine and that that drought that's he wanted to make 150 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:53,080 sure there was no excuse for what happened. 151 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,520 There was no scientific reason for what was about to happen. 152 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,280 And then he prays to God in front of all of them and says, 153 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:04,880 according to what you told me to do, will you send fire and show 154 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,320 them that you're real? And then any and he shows up. 155 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,840 Now God shows up and shows all those people. 156 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,960 He's real. But where did Elijah understand 157 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,480 that from? How did he know that? 158 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,760 Same thing with Job. Job is here. 159 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,920 I know that my Redeemer Liveth if you if you can. 160 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:21,560 We're not going to be back in in Job either. 161 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:27,160 Go to Psalm chapter 115. Psalm chapter 115 and I was 162 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,840 going to preach my whole message out of Psalm 115. 163 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,840 Instead, I'm just going to take one verse, but Psalm chapter 115 164 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,080 and verse. Well, we'll start in verse one 165 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:43,400 now not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give 166 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,360 glory for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. 167 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,720 And verse 2. Wherefore should the heathen 168 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:53,760 say, where is now their God? Verse three, he says, But our 169 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,040 God is in heaven. He hath done whatsoever he hath 170 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,240 pleased, and he goes through in the next several verses. 171 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:02,200 Their idols are silver and gold, their work the work of men's 172 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,120 hands. They have mouths, but they speak 173 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,480 not eyes, have they? But they see not, They have 174 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:09,760 ears, but they hear not noses, have they? 175 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:12,080 But they smell not talking about all these idols. 176 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,080 And then verse 9, he says, O Israel, trust thou in the Lord, 177 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,040 He is their help in their shield. 178 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,480 O House of Aaron, trust in the Lord. 179 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:23,040 He is their help in their shield. 180 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:25,000 Ye that fear the Lord, that's us. 181 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:27,520 Trust in the Lord. He is their help in their 182 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:29,880 shield. The Lord hath been mindful of 183 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:31,280 us. He will bless us. 184 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:33,040 He will bless the House of Israel. 185 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:34,240 He will bless the House of Aaron. 186 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:36,840 Here's our promise. He will bless them that fear the 187 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,080 Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more 188 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,160 and more, you and your children. You are blessed of the Lord 189 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,600 which made heaven and earth. So the title of my message this 190 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:54,320 morning is my God is real. And in a in a world full of 191 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,440 doubt and distraction and deception, there's a lot of 192 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,440 people that are asking that question, is God real? 193 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,760 I had a guy at work asked me that several months ago. 194 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:06,800 He didn't actually ask that question and come up and ask, is 195 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:08,920 God real? But we started talking a little 196 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,960 bit about some different things. And he said it actually was 197 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:13,640 about the Bible. He said, I don't believe the 198 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:15,040 Bible, That's a book of fairy tales. 199 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,360 And I said, is it? And we got to talking and in 200 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:24,240 about 30 minutes, we have an atheist who's everybody knows 201 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:29,840 he's an atheist saying, I have to rethink this because not 202 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,960 because the Bible's proves the existence of God, but that it 203 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,760 makes such a case for what we already know what we are told 204 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,800 God is real. And so I'm going to skip through 205 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:43,760 a little bit here. I've got tons of notes. 206 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:46,760 I always over, over prepare and then I can't get through my 207 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,840 message. But in, in Exodus chapter 6, you 208 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,160 can go over there if you want, or, or I'll just go over there 209 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,480 and read it. But Exodus chapter 6 and we, we 210 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,440 talked about this with the names of God. 211 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,480 I don't know if you remember this in our Sunday School 212 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:05,320 series, but in Exodus chapter 6 he's talking to Moses. 213 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:10,640 This is right after the burning Bush and verse verses one 214 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,560 through 3. So it says Exodus 61. 215 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:16,680 Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will 216 00:12:16,680 --> 00:12:19,360 do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand shall he 217 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,040 let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of 218 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,400 his land. And God spake unto Moses, and 219 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:29,760 said unto him, I am the Lord. And verse 3 I appeared unto 220 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,800 Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, Jacob by the name of God 221 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,520 Almighty, but by my name, Jehovah was I not yet known to 222 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,120 them. So how did, how did you know 223 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:41,560 everything that Moses went through? 224 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:46,200 How was he so confident that that God was real? 225 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,080 How was how did these fathers of Israel, these Isaac, Abraham, 226 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,160 Isaac, Jacob, how did they know? Because they saw God work in 227 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:59,040 their lives. And so I am here in my message 228 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,720 this morning to tell you that I know God is real because of the 229 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,160 work He's done in my life. And we're just going to look at 230 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,040 4 things. There's so, so many more that we 231 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:12,520 could look at, but four points about how I know that my God is 232 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:14,480 real. And I hope that you do. 233 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,640 And if you don't know he's real, maybe you are still skeptical. 234 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:23,600 Maybe you have not seen him work in your life in in a mighty way. 235 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:27,120 I hope by the end of this that maybe you won't have seen him 236 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,120 work just in this service, but you'll be hungry for him to work 237 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,880 in your life. And so Psalm chapter 34 and 238 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:34,400 verse 19 is where I'm going to start. 239 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,440 My first point is I know my God is real because He's my 240 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:42,080 deliverer. Psalm 3419. 241 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,560 He says many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord 242 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:50,680 delivereth them out. Delivereth him out of them all. 243 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:53,000 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord 244 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,560 delivereth him out of them all. He's our deliverer. 245 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:58,440 Psalm chapter 116. I have it written down, so you 246 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,200 don't need to turn there, but Psalm chapter 116 verses 7 and 247 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:03,720 8. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, 248 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,200 for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee and get 249 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,520 and this is a Psalm of David where he is just agonizing in 250 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,480 his heart of of where is God? I'm not seeing him. 251 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:20,640 And verse 7 he tells himself, Return to thy rest my soul, for 252 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,120 the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee, for that has 253 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,000 delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my 254 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,720 feet from falling. And we see this all the way 255 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,480 through the Bible. But think about how God 256 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,680 delivered Israel out of Egypt. And I'm not going to go through 257 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:39,320 these stories. You were very familiar with 258 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,800 these stories. How about 1 even more familiar, 259 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,680 how about Daniel being delivered from the from the lion's den? 260 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,240 How about Paul and Silas being delivered from prison? 261 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,040 And those are Bible stories that sometimes we look at and go, 262 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,080 yeah, but he doesn't do that today. 263 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:59,160 But yes, he does. He still delivers today. 264 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,360 And I would say that we have a taskmaster like the the children 265 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,040 of Israel had, but we have a taskmaster more cruel than any 266 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:09,160 Egyptian. And we have a a beast more 267 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,560 destructive than any lion in a lion's den. 268 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,680 And we have a chains that bind tighter than any prison chains. 269 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:20,040 And that's sin. We, we are under the weight of 270 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:21,320 sin. And so were they. 271 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,280 But they saw these specific times where God moved and 272 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,600 delivered them in their lives. And but we have a sin that binds 273 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:34,040 us that we must be delivered from we and I, you know, you 274 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,080 think about it in the Bible when Jesus was in the Garden of 275 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,160 Gethsemane praying, let this cup pass from me. 276 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:43,520 I don't believe that he was afraid of the pain. 277 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,640 I don't believe that he knew he was going to resurrect in three 278 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,360 days. He wasn't afraid of the pain. 279 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,560 I don't believe he was afraid of the of the humiliation that he 280 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,400 was going to get. I believe that what he wanted to 281 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,440 pass from him was having to have that separation from his father 282 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:05,800 because of sin. And and his father said this has 283 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:07,520 to be done. And he said not my will but 284 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,120 thine be done. But that was the that was the 285 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:14,600 pain that Christ was suffering. And so we are under that. 286 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,880 We have that same sin. Christ delivers us from it. 287 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,840 But if we don't accept him as our Savior, we are under the 288 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:27,200 weight of that sin ourselves. And Christ delivered us from sin 289 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,280 and Satan the moment that we got saved. 290 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,280 Bible tells us that we're out of the family of Satan and into the 291 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,960 family of God. John 844 says that at the end of 292 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,080 the verse, ye are of your father, the devil, the lust of 293 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,760 your father, you will do. He was a murderer from the 294 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,080 beginning and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth 295 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,040 in him. But then we are placed into the 296 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:52,200 family of God, adopted into his family, and that covers our sin. 297 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,520 But then in our fallen state, we still deal with addiction, we 298 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,640 still deal with depression, we still deal with anxiety, we 299 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,760 still deal with fears, we still deal with all kinds of problems. 300 00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:06,280 But God can deliver us from this. 301 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,200 And that's how we know that our God is real. 302 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,240 And I hope that you have times in your life where he does that 303 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:19,599 for you, times where you've you've fought a certain, maybe a 304 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:21,480 besetting sin. We hear about that often, a 305 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,599 besetting sin. And you go back to him and back 306 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,359 to him and back to him every time it happens and you and you 307 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:31,040 confess it and forsake it and he forgives you and here you are 308 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:33,680 again. He can deliver us from that. 309 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,720 And I, no, no 12 step program can deliver us from that. 310 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,440 It can help, but no 12 step program can deliver us from 311 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,120 that. Christ is the one that delivers 312 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:46,520 us. Now are we automatically 313 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:50,560 delivered from sin because we're saved now we're delivered from 314 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,560 the payment, the penalty of sin, but we're not delivered from sin 315 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,800 itself. We are, we are have a fallen 316 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:57,560 nature. And so we fight that. 317 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,840 We fight it daily. If you don't fight it daily, it 318 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,360 means you're giving into it because it's there and we fight 319 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:05,520 it. But He can deliver us. 320 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,320 And I think the best thing that he delivers is we already 321 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,360 mentioned this, but he delivers us from the second death and 322 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:15,240 eternal separation from God. And David says that in the 323 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:17,920 Psalms, the Lord is my light and my salvation. 324 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:22,080 Whom then shall I fear? Nothing because of that 325 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:24,960 deliverance that he gives us. I read a story about a little 326 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,680 boy that fell into an old dry, deep well that was in the back 327 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,600 of their farm. It wasn't used anymore, but it 328 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,880 was still a big hole. And he fell into it and he cried 329 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:36,960 and, And the father heard it. His dad heard it, but he 330 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:38,080 couldn't tell where it was coming from. 331 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,960 He finally pinpointed it, rushed over there and found his son in 332 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:45,640 this well. And the father hooked a rope 333 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,840 around himself, tied it to his tractor, lowered himself down in 334 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,520 there, grabbed up his son and pulled him out. 335 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,600 And I got to thinking about that story. 336 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,240 The father didn't yell to him, hey, do this and do that and 337 00:18:56,360 --> 00:18:57,800 give him all kinds of instructions. 338 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,920 He went down in that hole and grabbed his son. 339 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,120 And that's what Jesus Christ did for us. 340 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,160 Bible says that in Psalm 40, verse 2, and you may be still in 341 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,880 Psalm 34. If you are, go to Psalm 40 and 342 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:11,520 verse 2. Very familiar verse, but He 343 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,720 brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the myri 344 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,600 clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. 345 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,960 That's how my God delivers us. He doesn't give us a program to 346 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,720 follow. He comes down in there after us. 347 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,680 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit. 348 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,120 I think that gives us the picture that He didn't just, you 349 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:35,640 know, He didn't just throw us a rope. 350 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,880 He went down in there and grabbed us and brought us up out 351 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:44,080 of that horrible pit and out of the miry clay and set my feet 352 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,480 upon a rock and establish my goings. 353 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:50,480 He delivers us and that's how I know that my God is real. 354 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:55,280 Second point is that God is my director and go to Proverbs 355 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,400 chapter 3, another familiar verse. 356 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,760 Proverbs, chapter 3 He directs us. 357 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,320 And because of that direction, we, that's how we can know that 358 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:10,640 he's real. You can tell me all day long 359 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,640 that something's real until I experience it for myself. 360 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:18,920 It's just faith at that point. But we can know that God is 361 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,840 real. Job said that I know that my 362 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,960 Redeemer liveth. It's not a, it's not a hope, 363 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:30,120 even though we have that hope. It's a it's a knowing that God 364 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:32,080 is real. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 365 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,200 says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto 366 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,520 thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he 367 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,800 shall direct thy paths. I hope that you go to God for 368 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,800 direction. I hope that you don't just well, 369 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,040 this seems like a good move. I'm going to do that. 370 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,360 I'm going to go talk to all my friends and see what they think 371 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:54,560 I'm going to go talk to my parents and see what they think. 372 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,520 Those are all good things in the multitude of counselors. 373 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,160 There is safety, but God is the one that directs our paths and I 374 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,200 hope you go to him for that direction. 375 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,240 I won't tell you the whole story, but when we came down 376 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,320 here to help with this brand new church plant in Virginia, God 377 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,600 directed us here. It was not a well, he's asking 378 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,080 for help and they need help. They they didn't need help. 379 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,800 They got there's plenty of people to to come help start a 380 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,520 church. You can, you could find, you 381 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,200 know, anybody in a, in a Bible college to come help start a 382 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,520 church. God directed our paths and it 383 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,840 was very, very clear. And I hope that he has directed 384 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:31,520 each one of you here to this church. 385 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:38,200 And when he does that, when he makes it known to you that he's 386 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,120 the one leading you, that's how we know that God is real. 387 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:47,160 It is a it is a peace in knowing that he's directing our our 388 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,480 lives. You know, sometimes we chalk it 389 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,160 up to coincidence. You know, I cannot believe that 390 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,760 happened, that this happened to happen at the exact same time. 391 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:56,720 That's not that's God directing our paths. 392 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:00,840 And when we take that glory from him and chalk it up to 393 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,200 coincidence, I believe it hurts his heart. 394 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,040 You know, it'll be almost like you setting something in place 395 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,320 for your kids for them to find. They find it and they go, wow, 396 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,680 who knows where this came from? This must have a bird must have 397 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,120 dropped this though. I'll put that there. 398 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,240 I put that there for you. God does that and he directs our 399 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,920 paths. I, I read a story and this is a 400 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:25,160 true story, but Jim O'Neill, a man named Jim O'Neill was a, a 401 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,320 British, a British man and he was flying a little Cessna, a 402 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,440 little 4 seater Cessna. He's about 15,000 feet in the 403 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,120 air. And he started getting a blur in 404 00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:37,120 his eyes and he thought he was going into clouds or something 405 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:39,520 like that. And he said, so he radioed into 406 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:40,920 the tower. He said, Hey, Tower. 407 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,640 I'm, I'm, I'm going blind up here. 408 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,800 Well, I, I'm not a pilot, but I believe that is lingo for I, I 409 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,360 can't see what's going on. I can't, I'm, I'm, I'm whited 410 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:54,080 out from clouds or my, my controls aren't working or 411 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:55,960 something like that. So they said, all right, well, 412 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,080 where you at? He said, I don't know. 413 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,560 Not exactly sure. Last I checked, I was 15,000 414 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:02,960 feet and they said, well, what are you now? 415 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,640 I don't, I don't know what I'm, I don't know where I'm at. 416 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,840 And they said, all right, well, we're going to guide you to the 417 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,320 nearest airport. We can see where you're at. 418 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,440 All right, can you, can you come down out of the clouds and see 419 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:18,720 if you can? He said, no, I'm, I'm literally 420 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,800 blind. So this man, Jim O'Neill had had 421 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,440 a, they call it a ocular stroke, I believe. 422 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,400 And it was where the pressure was put on the glands on the 423 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:30,680 blood vessels going to his eyes. And it actually cut the blood 424 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,560 off and blinded him. And so when they actually 425 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:39,240 realized he was truly blind, they scrambled a, a fighter jet 426 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,200 that was in the area. He was already up in the air 427 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,840 doing a practice run. The guy's name was Paul Gerard, 428 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,320 and he was a Royal Air Force Wing Commander. 429 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:49,640 They told him where he was at. He came over there, got real 430 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,360 close to that pilot, and he said started radioing him. 431 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:54,920 He said, can you see me? He said, I can't see anything. 432 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:56,560 I'm complete. It's completely black. 433 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,200 He said, all right, and you're going to have to do exactly what 434 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:00,720 I tell you. I'll get you on the ground, but 435 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,680 you're going to have to follow what I tell you to do. 436 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,800 And so he did. He guided them all the way down. 437 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,520 They got feet from the runway. And he said, you're going way 438 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:08,640 too fast. You're going to have to do a 439 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,720 family around and so that he did it did another round came back 440 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,880 in ended up doing that three times completely blind. 441 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,480 This other pilot guided him down, landed his plane safely. 442 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,880 No injuries, no harm to the to the to the airplane. 443 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:29,360 And I, I tell you that story to say that I think sometimes we, 444 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:33,720 we sing that song that God sees our story from the other side. 445 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,280 We're looking up from the bottom, seeing, you know, maybe 446 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:38,800 a tapestry and there's strings hanging out everywhere. 447 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:40,920 I don't know if anybody's ever done any cross stitching. 448 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,120 If you look at the backside, what in the world, you can kind 449 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:46,640 of sort of maybe see the picture, but it's ugly. 450 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,160 But you flip it around. That's what God sees. 451 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,440 And so when he's directing us, we've got to let him. 452 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,480 We've got to let him lead us in our lives. 453 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,320 You know, if that if that pilot would have said, I feel like I'm 454 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,320 way too low right now. Well, you're not going by 455 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:03,800 feelings. You're going by the direction of 456 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,360 somebody who sees what's going on and is telling you what to do 457 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,600 for your safety. God never leads us in a 458 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:15,120 direction where he's putting us through harm. 459 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:18,360 He might put us through trials, but he doesn't mess with our 460 00:25:18,360 --> 00:25:21,360 lives. And I hope we know that God's 461 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:23,640 not up there going watch this one. 462 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,520 That's not God. We may do that as practical 463 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,160 jokes. God doesn't do that. 464 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,400 He knows exactly what he's what he's doing. 465 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:34,440 He knows exactly what He's, and he has our best intentions in 466 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,880 mind always. God directs our lives. 467 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,960 He directed Abraham to a promise. 468 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,040 We talked about this in Sunday school a few months back. 469 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,080 Abraham several times tried to make that promise happen without 470 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,200 God. He went and went to his 471 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,240 concubine and had a baby. That's not what God wanted. 472 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:59,520 And 90 years old, 90 and 99 years old, he's known something 473 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,080 was missed here in translation. Not something happened. 474 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,520 I must have heard God wrong. And God said, no, you didn't. 475 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,360 I've got that promise for you still. 476 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,000 And then he follows through and he directs Abraham to that 477 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,120 promise. He directed Moses to the 478 00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,120 mountain. He, he, he directed the wise men 479 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,840 to the Manger. And he directs us in our lives. 480 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:23,520 Now we've our story may not be written in a in a book for 481 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:27,200 people to tell, but it's just as important as any of these 482 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,880 stories in the Bible that he directed these men. 483 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,680 I hope that's not my phone probably is Yep, it is sorry. 484 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:39,160 So God is my director. And thirdly, God is my defender. 485 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,000 Go to Psalm chapter 91. I'd like you to I'd like you to 486 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,000 see this and we're going to read a few verses here. 487 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,360 But God is my defender. And the point I'm making here is 488 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:52,160 that the Bible, I am not trying to prove to you that God exists. 489 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,040 There's whole other platforms for that. 490 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,320 Guys will debate with atheists and and science and history and 491 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,880 all kinds of things and they will debate that God is real. 492 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,080 I'm not trying to prove to you that God is real. 493 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,880 I'm trying to tell you that I know God is real in my life and 494 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:11,000 that he wants to show himself real in your life. 495 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,560 Also, Isaiah chapter 54 verse 17 says no weapon formed against 496 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:19,920 thee shall prosper. He's our defender. 497 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,280 He defended David against Goliath and that's how David 498 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,280 knew God was real. Remember when David went to 499 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:29,680 fight Goliath, he said that you have you have blasphemed my God 500 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,160 and he's going to take you down, not me. 501 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,760 He's going to take you down. He defended Shadrach, Meshach 502 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,200 and Abednego in the fire. He actually stood in the fire 503 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,080 with them and we remember that story go to. 504 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,240 So hopefully you're in Psalm chapter 91. 505 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,040 I want to do, I wanted to preach a message on this, but just 506 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,560 didn't have a piece about it. But I do want to look at it just 507 00:27:53,560 --> 00:28:00,000 for a few minutes because if you look at Psalm chapter 91 and 508 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:10,000 verse, let's see verse 11, Psalm 9111. 509 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:14,280 For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in 510 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,520 all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their 511 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,120 hand, lest thy this thou dash thy foot against a stone. 512 00:28:19,120 --> 00:28:22,120 Now hopefully you recognize that passage Satan used that passage 513 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:25,200 with Jesus when he said here, jump off the temple. 514 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,640 Your angels will catch you that he's he's quoting. 515 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,280 So the Satan knows the Bible, but he's quoting verse 12. 516 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,320 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 517 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,040 against the stone. He even told Jesus that is it 518 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:44,800 not said and he quotes that verse but look at verse we'll go 519 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,960 to verse 2. I will say of the Lord. 520 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:51,840 He is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust 521 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,840 surely he shall deliver me deliver thee from the snare of 522 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:56,800 the Fowler. There's, there's our He's our 523 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,080 deliverer and our director. But from the snare of the Fowler 524 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,440 in front of noise and pestilence, He shall cover thee 525 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,640 with his feathers, and under his wing shalt thou trust his truth 526 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,760 shall be thy shield and buckler, which his shield is our defense. 527 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,560 Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the 528 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,840 arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh 529 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,080 in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth that 530 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:19,600 noonday. And you'll hear a lot of 531 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:23,040 soldiers quote this verse. 1000 shall fall at thy side, and 532 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,640 10,000 at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. 533 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,240 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the 534 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,800 wicked, because thou has made thou hast made the Lord, which 535 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,160 is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation. 536 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,480 All of Psalm 91 and I and you can go back and read it on your 537 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:47,320 own is hinges on 2 verses the first verse, and this is where 538 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,120 kind of guardian angels come from in verse 11. 539 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,600 He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all 540 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,480 thy ways. But it hinges on the first 541 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,200 verse. I don't, never mind. 542 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,520 I was going to say something about angels, but never mind. 543 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,680 Psalm 91 verse one says He that dwelleth in the secret place of 544 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:07,120 the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 545 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,600 And then all these promises are for those people, the ones that 546 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,720 are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. 547 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:18,320 They will abide under the shadow of the Almighty in verse 9, 548 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,760 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the 549 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,480 Most High, thy habitation. Then verse 10 and following 550 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,240 there shall no evil thing befall thee, neither shall any plague 551 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,080 come nigh thee. And my point in going to Psalm 552 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,680 91 is if, if you're sitting here today and you say, I've never 553 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:38,600 seen God defend me from anything. 554 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,520 Yeah, he might protect me from a few things, but I don't think 555 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,760 God defends me. My challenge to you would be 556 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,800 maybe you're not making him the Most High in your life. 557 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,320 Maybe you are not dwelling in the secret place of the Most 558 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,720 High so that you can abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 559 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,160 Those are the ones that have this defense and this protection 560 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,320 from God. I'm going to give you a really, 561 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,680 really brief story. The church I grew up in in 562 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:11,760 Indiana, Fair Haven Baptist Church, the pastor that started 563 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:15,800 it was there for 40-5 years. And anyways, way back in the 564 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,880 70s, and probably Doc would know this story better than me, there 565 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,600 was a woman named Hillary Rodham that was just out of law school. 566 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,800 And she went, she was from Illinois, went to Yale, and then 567 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,760 she came back to Illinois and was working for the Child 568 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,640 Defense League. And what that was, was the, the, 569 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:41,520 the pilot program sort of for child abuse, but not, not, you 570 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,320 know, not, not any kind of sexual thing. 571 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,920 It was child abuse where they were getting spanked, spankings, 572 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,400 corporal corporal punishment. And so she, it was her job to to 573 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,640 get into these schools and to and to give these kids a way to 574 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,240 reach out, to rat their parents out if they were, if they 575 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,040 thought their parents punishment was too much, things like that. 576 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,880 And so she went to a school or her people went to a school 577 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,000 right there 10 minutes from the church, Portage High School. 578 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,800 And they put up these signs and one of the women in the church 579 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,560 that had just started coming on the buses. 580 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,840 I'm not sure if her husband was dead or, or in prison, I don't 581 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:24,480 remember, but she started bringing her kids to the church 582 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,000 there. And anyway, she got saved and, 583 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,760 and her kids were in the school and everything else. 584 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:33,360 And Long story short, that young man, one of her, her oldest son 585 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,760 was 16 years old. I believe this is in the 70s, 586 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,120 got a spanking and he didn't like it. 587 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:42,920 So he called this number that was being put in the in the 588 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,080 schools. And, and anyways, he got his, he 589 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:51,400 got the, the police involved. They came, arrested the pastor 590 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,200 and the principal of the school for writing the handbook that 591 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:55,600 allowed for spanking in the school. 592 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,840 That's how they got involved. And anyway, long story very 593 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,080 short, they ended up putting our pastor in prison. 594 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:08,960 He was there for several days. It went to, it went to, to, to, 595 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:14,800 to a trial and everything else. And the judge in that case told 596 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,800 the pastor and his lawyer, I may not win this case, but I'm going 597 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,720 to bleed your church to death. You will not be a church when I 598 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,600 finish with you. And as I as I know the story, as 599 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:32,560 I've heard it, he went on 60 minutes and interviewed with 600 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:33,520 them. The judge did. 601 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,480 And he interviewed with them and he talked about this whole case. 602 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,880 And he said, yeah, you know, they're, they're in the wrong. 603 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:40,720 We're going to bleed, bleed that church to death. 604 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,440 And I don't think he said that on 60 minutes, but after he went 605 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,120 on 60 minutes, he told our pastor that. 606 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,560 And they said, I believe within 24 hours that law, that judge 607 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,080 was dead. Nobody killed. 608 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,000 God killed him. And then the new judge was put 609 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,040 on the case and he came, he called our pastor and his lawyer 610 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:00,320 in there to meet with him. And he he got on his knees in 611 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:03,320 front of our pastor and said, pray for me so I don't hurt the 612 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:07,840 cause of God. That's God defending his people. 613 00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:12,080 And I promise you, you know, that was early in our pastors 614 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:13,760 ministry. I don't know, maybe the church 615 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,440 was maybe 5 or 10 years old, little church, probably no 616 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,840 bigger than ours, probably smaller than ours actually, when 617 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:23,520 that happened and Satan turned his guns on that church and God 618 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,440 defended them. And from then on, not that he 619 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:30,239 didn't know before, but that pastor never questioned that his 620 00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:34,920 God is real in his life when God would would move him to hey, 621 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,560 let's go start, you know, build this building, Let's go start 622 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:38,639 the college. Let's do this. 623 00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:42,159 He'd move God. I know God is real and he would 624 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:47,199 preach, preach messages about that often, how he knew God was 625 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:49,800 real in his life. God is our defender. 626 00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:54,080 And then fourthly and lastly, God is my desire. 627 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,840 You're not far from there. Go to Psalm chapter 42 and verse 628 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,560 one very familiar verse, but I want to look at it just for a 629 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:07,920 second. Psalm chapter 42 and verse 1 and 630 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,040 I have a story here but I'm not going to read it for sake of 631 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:11,920 time or tell it for sake of time. 632 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,280 But I will make the points that we have here. 633 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:19,960 Psalm 42 verse one as the as the heart panteth after the water 634 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:25,360 brooks, so panteth my soul after the O God, my soul thirsteth for 635 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,760 God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear 636 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,040 before God? My tears have been my meat day 637 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,520 and night, while they continually say unto me, Where 638 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,360 is thy God? When I remember these things, I 639 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,120 pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude. 640 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,200 I went with them to the House of God, with the voice of joy and 641 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,480 praise, with the multitude that kept holy day. 642 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:47,040 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? 643 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:51,040 Why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall 644 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,880 yet praise Him for the help of his countenance and countenance. 645 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,640 And Psalm 42 continues on. But that's the verse, those 646 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,240 first 2 verses. As the as the heart paneth after 647 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,480 the water brook, so panteth my soul after the O God, my soul 648 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:06,880 thirsteth for God, for the living God. 649 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,480 When shall I come and appear before God? 650 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,880 If if God is your defender and your deliverer and your 651 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:22,920 director, I hope that your prayer is that he will be your 652 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:27,520 desire as well, because he's not always we, we get distracted, we 653 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:34,320 get busy and we lose, we lose that desire to just know God. 654 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:38,560 And the story I was going to tell you give you was about a, 655 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,920 you know, you could ask somebody about something maybe in history 656 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:48,840 or maybe about a maybe about a car and they could give you all 657 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,680 the stats on this car. Yeah, it does this zero to 60 in 658 00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,480 this many seconds. It's got this many horsepowers. 659 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:57,600 But you talked to the to the guy who designed that car, you're 660 00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,800 going to get a lot different story, right? 661 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:01,560 He's not going to tell you all about the horsepower. 662 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:04,120 He's going to tell you about some of the details that he put 663 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,040 into that maybe nobody else knows about. 664 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:09,600 But this is a really cool feature that, you know, this is 665 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,680 how it happens. That's how we need to know God, 666 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:18,640 not just know him, but be known by him more than blessings. 667 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:20,600 And we all want blessings in our lives, right? 668 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,920 We want blessings, but more than blessings, we need to want him. 669 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,080 We pray for healing often for, for we even prayed for that this 670 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:29,880 morning for people that are in the hospital and things like 671 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:32,840 that. But more than healing, we need 672 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:37,440 to pray that we can know the healer because God doesn't 673 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,520 always heal. But in those trials that we're 674 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:44,760 going through, the prayer should not be heal me, heal me, heal me 675 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:48,480 God, heal me, I can't die. The prayer should be, what are 676 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,320 you trying to show me in my life? 677 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,000 And if it's nothing but just getting closer to you, that's 678 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,040 what you're after, then let me do that. 679 00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:00,240 But more than healing, to know that one that heals more than 680 00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:04,480 miracles, to know the Master, the one that does those 681 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:06,240 miracles, that's what our prayer should be. 682 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:12,800 Is he your desire and I'm done. You know, I wonder though, 683 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:18,600 Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10 says that I may know him and 684 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,000 the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his 685 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,000 suffering. You know, that's Paul, Paul 686 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:30,400 talking. He wanted to know his Savior and 687 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,320 I'm sure he could have done without the suffering and he 688 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,480 could have done without a lot of the things that he went through. 689 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,440 But he said, if that's what draws me close to you till I 690 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:42,400 actually know who you are and what you're trying to do, let me 691 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,760 go through that, that I may know him and the power of his 692 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:47,640 resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. 693 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,440 And here's my challenge to us this morning. 694 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:55,200 You know, if you've seen God in your life direct you and you so 695 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:58,000 you know he's real. I know He's real. 696 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,560 This is not just a church thing that I've had since I was a 697 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,440 little kid. I know God's real and you've 698 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,160 seen him deliver you maybe from maybe from sin or maybe from 699 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:09,360 temptation, and you've seen him direct your life. 700 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,520 My challenge then to you is make him the desire of your heart. 701 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:20,320 God wants more than we do to, to walk with us. 702 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:24,080 We talked about that a little bit last week with Adam and Eve. 703 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:28,120 They wanted that fellowship, but God wanted it even more than 704 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,080 they did. And, and here's my challenge. 705 00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:31,400 I wrote a couple things down here. 706 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,080 Has your heart grown cold toward Him? 707 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,040 Has something else taken His rightful place? 708 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,800 Have you grown bitter and stagnant and you've lost Him as 709 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:46,960 the desire of your heart? Then, then we need to come up 710 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,760 here and I say come up here. You need to. 711 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,560 You need to go home and spend some time with God and do 712 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,120 business with Him getting that taken care of. 713 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,000 You've gone cold toward Him. And I'll tell you what growing 714 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,480 cold toward Him looks like you do get bitter. 715 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:06,240 You get stagnant stale just you know not really of any use to 716 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:08,680 him. You get you get mad at others. 717 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:14,200 You lose your desire to to live for him, your desire to work for 718 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:21,160 him, your desire to love the the the body of Christ that he's put 719 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,960 you in Bible says great peace. Have they that love thy law and 720 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,320 nothing shall offend them. Nothing means nothing. 721 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:32,960 I, I don't, I don't know how else you can take that other 722 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:37,920 than if you love the Lord and his law, you're not going to 723 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:40,080 have little problems with people in the church. 724 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,360 You know, you're not going to have little problems with the 725 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,880 pastor. He's not perfect. 726 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,800 Great peace of they that love thy law and nothing shall offend 727 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:53,240 them. The idol of bitterness takes 728 00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:55,320 over. The idol of pride takes over in 729 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:59,600 our life and and my challenge to us is do like David there in 730 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:04,960 Psalm chapter 42. Let our soul long after Christ 731 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:10,560 and you make him the desire of your heart and he will show 732 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,480 himself real in your life. He will be your director, the 733 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:15,520 director of your paths. He will be your delivery. 734 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,720 He will be your defender. He wants to be He's not going to 735 00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:22,560 do that for people who's, you know, only call on God when 736 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,440 they're in a in a situation. Oh yeah, where's that 737 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,760 abracadabra stick? I have God, please help me. 738 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:34,000 He's not coming to help those. Remember Psalm 91, the ones that 739 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,280 dwell in the secret place of the Most High, Those are the ones 740 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,320 that get to abide under the shadow of the Almighty and see 741 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,960 all these things that prove or shore up that our God is real. 742 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:46,920 So I hope that was a help to you this morning. 743 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,200 I'm going to close with a story real quick. 744 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:53,960 This old lady, older, older widow lady was, was at her house 745 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,280 and every morning she had an atheist neighbor. 746 00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:00,440 And every morning she would go out on her porch and she would 747 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:02,680 pray aloud. She would say, thank you, Lord, 748 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,000 you're real and you've never failed me. 749 00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:09,120 And this atheist, he hated it. It would drive him crazy. 750 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:11,720 So one day he said, I'm, I'm, I'm going to get her. 751 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:14,120 I'm going to play a joke on her and she's I'm going to show her 752 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:17,160 that God's not real. So he bought a bag of groceries 753 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:19,920 and he put them on her porch. And the woman came outside her 754 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:23,120 house and she shouted, thank you, Jesus, you did it again. 755 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,760 You're real and you never failed me. 756 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:27,280 And the man jumped out of the bushes. 757 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,840 He said, ha, that wasn't God. I put those groceries there. 758 00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:33,240 She said, thank you, Lord. You even made the devil pay for 759 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:38,720 it this time. But I tell you that to say, even 760 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:41,960 when the enemy thinks he's winning in our life, God gets 761 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:45,600 the glory. If He's real and he's the desire 762 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:49,040 of your heart and you're letting Him lead you and deliver you and 763 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:51,320 defend you, He gets the glory in your life. 764 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:53,720 Let's stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. 765 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:58,600 We are going to have a couple stanzas of invitation because I 766 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:01,240 think we can always do better at this, and I'm not. 767 00:43:01,240 --> 00:43:03,360 I'm not asking you, begging you to come forward. 768 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:07,280 That doesn't matter to me. But I hope that you will. 769 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,080 If you think you have these things shored up in your life, 770 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:12,600 talk with God and make sure you do. 771 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:17,240 If you know you don't, today's the day, it's time and I would 772 00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:19,600 go back to that first point that I had. 773 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,480 He is our deliverer. If we've, if you've never been 774 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:28,600 delivered from the bondage of sin by accepting Christ as the 775 00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:34,240 Savior for your sin, you know, heaven is great, but heavens not 776 00:43:34,240 --> 00:43:37,360 the goal. Having our sin taken care of 777 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:39,280 between US and Christ, that's the goal. 778 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,080 That's what salvation is. We're being saved from the 779 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:46,720 penalty and the death that sin causes and we get heaven with 780 00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:50,000 it, but we're being saved. He is our salvation from that 781 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,560 sin. And I would encourage you today, 782 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:55,560 if you don't know for sure that you are on your way to heaven 783 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:58,120 because Christ has paid that penalty for your sin, come 784 00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:00,600 forward and we'll have somebody take a Bible and show you. 785 00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:03,480 I can know that for sure. That is the most important 786 00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:06,600 thing, the most important decision that we can ever make. 787 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:09,680 And I would encourage you not to leave here without making sure 788 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:11,840 that that's taken care of. She's going to play the piano. 789 00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,200 You come forward if God has worked on your heart.