20210515 | The Secret Place | Pastor John Lomacang (tvsdac)

thank you for that song in a long time since i've heard that a young lady in heritage tammy sang that song and it's true a lot of times the people that have our need are not far from here and thank you for reminding us that jesus is waiting not too far from here it fits it's a beautiful segue into the message entitled the secret place the secret place and i want to encourage you today to be in a mind and attitude of prayer because this sermon is not about secret service or secret agents but it's about how to find the most energizing thriving consistent relationship with jesus that is going to prepare us for a time that is not too far from here a time of challenge and strength a time where we will see that the seeds we have planted in our daily walk with christ has made all the difference in where we stand in eternity so let's bow our heads and ask for the lord's leading and guiding gracious father in heaven you are our god and we have been reminded that not too far from here someone needs to know that come near to us this morning we pray give us ears to hear hearts to be receptive a mind to be open and as you guide us may we have willing hearts to walk in the path and allow you to develop us to become what you have envisioned us to be this we ask in jesus name amen the scripture reading comes from psalm 91 psalm 91. this chapter has been one of the favorite chapters in our family in my wife's family i think it has something to do with culture because many people from the west indies or have connections to roots in the west indian culture often can quote psalm 91 verbatim the king james version it is kind of like the ten commandments for many of them when they look at the beauty of this passage and this is the foundation from which our message is going to be developed today the secret place i'd like to encourage you to read that with me and if you're home you can read it i know the lord will hear you but let us read this together psalm 91 verse 1 he who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty according to realtor.com in 2015 this property that you see in the background sold for 1.5 million dollars the two gentlemen you see in the foreground were doing a video tour of a property that in 2015 was 1.5 million dollars it was sold for but in 2021 it is now being sold for 18 million dollars and you might ask yourself the question how in just six years can a piece of land go from 1.5 million to 18 million here is an aerial aerial view of that property it sits on about five acres very unassuming nothing really spectacular about it looks like a basic basic house but realtor.com listed this as and the under the advertisement caption digging deeper into the 18 million dollar underground house in las vegas in 1979 a man by the name of jerry henderson a businessman and a philanthropist who was a who was the director of avon products he built this house in 1979 during a time when that very same spot was formerly a place that had a military underground bunker jerry having the pocket to do that he called it his secret place jerry henderson built what he called a doomsday bunker and he said that if a nuclear strike occurs at least i have everything i'm going to need under my house here are some pictures of what this looks like when you first enter the 15 thousand square foot house just twenty six feet below ground fifteen thousand square feet five bedrooms six bathrooms two kitchens fireplace two swimming pools and all the amenities to host a convention including a small four-hole putting golf course it was built and when it was built in the time in 1979 they said that the bathroom cost more back then than most houses did here are some pictures of what it looks like here's a kitchen ladies if you were 26 feet underground during a nuclear strike jerry henderson was hoping that his wife was satisfied with that pink kitchen and then you find the bedroom they love the color pink and pink accents throughout the house that his that's his wife's bedroom he had his own particular bedroom and that was one of the very many bedrooms in that here is some of the areas and they had murals painted on the wall so that during the day the wall was lighted up but when the nighttime came the walls would automatically dim making you think that it was now nighttime and these things were built back in 1979 it didn't cost 18 million dollars but the reason why realtor.com listed at that price they said this is how much it would cost today to build something of that magnitude going on the trees by the way that you see underground you saw in that last picture it's not just a tree but the hollow of the tree is a steel beam this underground bunker was built with steel beams on the roof the walls and also buttressed by concrete and steel beams on the floor but if you walk through it has green grass the two favorite colors were pink and green designed to make you feel that you're still outside on the green palatial grass that really does not exist in las vegas because of the heat you go on to see that they have many many rooms and still to this day conventions are often held there people can rent this for their own personal use what an imagination there's one of the two swimming pools one of the commentators said this is a teenager's dream if you were the teenager of jerry and his wife you would love living down here and here's another tree in the background next to another room or another portion of this amazing structure that tree once again they said the bark is alive but the tree itself on the inside is another steel beam supporting the ceiling now i'm going to go back to this picture for a moment to finish my commentary not only did it have five bedrooms six bathrooms and all the things that i'm showing you plus a whole lot more it had eight air conditioning units a thousand gallon water supply and jerry said if that nuclear strike happens we've got all that we need on the surface you'll see trees but what they really were were not real trees but fake trees that had chimney stacks to allow the underground bunker to breathe what an amazing imagination the sad reality is he built it in 1979 he died in 1983. didn't get a chance to even enjoy his secret place after jerry died his wife built a townhouse on the surface which is what you saw above it and she died in 1989 but to this very day it is still there in las vegas you can go ahead and rent this house for your convention or you can organize a special tour to see this 18 million dollar underground secret place how futile that we try to provide our own needs when the time comes when i heard the story i thought to myself i can use that mike i can i can use this story to be the the sliding in or the the runway to land the sermon about god's secret place you know the patriarch david gives us a glimpse into another secret place and i would guarantee you that it probably cost a lot more than 18 million dollars but the lord doesn't charge us anything to come into his secret place the good thing about the lord's secret place is the builder of that secret place is still alive today amen and psalms brings us this unfolding picture of how beautiful that secret place is and the promise that god has reserved for those who meet him in his secret place look at psalm 27 and verse 5 we read the words from the patriarch david he said for in the time of what trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me he shall set me high upon a rock now think about that for a moment god has a secret place and that secret place is not just for the time of trouble because i can guarantee as we're sitting here and the sermon is unfolding i can guarantee that many of us have had troubles in our lives already that if that secret place did not exist we would have no place to run praise the lord we can run to god's secret place in our present times of trouble what do you say that is not just reserved and when you think about it you might say you know jerry henderson wasted his money but i learned something from him at least he had the foresight to prepare for the crisis that could happen and i thought to myself how many of us as christians have enough foresight to prepare for the crisis that can happen and i said lord what lesson can i learn from jerry henderson and the lesson the lord conveyed to me was his works was evidence of the depth of his faith i'm going to say that again the building of that underground bunker was the evidence of how deep jerry's faith went he had no information confirming that a nucleus strike was going to come but he built that secret place just in case it did during the week i get a chance to have conversations with people that work at 3abn people that are church members people that are facing the challenges of life now that have their time of trouble it doesn't matter what day of the week it may be it could be on a monday it could be on a friday it could be the earlier part of the day the latter part of the day people that face challenges in their finances in their marriage in their relationships with their children and with the basic elements of life they are confronted by different troubles different trials and i asked myself the question why would jerry go through such headache to design and build such an elaborate project and i could only come up with the answer that the lord put on my heart jerry was a man of great conviction conviction makes a difference when it comes to what follows our conviction if we are really convicted that there is a time of trouble coming our convictions should lead us to make preparation not only for the time of trouble that we may be alive to face but the time of trouble that we face in our day-to-day life in our day-to-day walk with christ in our day-to-day dealings with other people and i can sure i can be assured as i'm speaking to you today that you had some kind of time of trouble this week and i'm suggesting today that the only way that we are going to be making it making it through the difficulties that face our lives we have to ask ourselves the question not how great is our faith but how great is our conviction faith says i know it's coming but conviction says i've got to do something about it and that's why jesus said to us yes they're going to be difficulties but what are you doing about it to prepare yourself so that when these childs begin to test you you have a secret place that you can run to and be with the lord i've learned to appreciate that my wife has learned to appreciate that we have individually we have collectively learned to appreciate god's secret place and i've learned individually to appreciate god's secret place and my testimony is if i didn't have that secret place i could not effectively do what i do from day to day and week to week and even though i still have that secret place i told my wife about my secret place she told me about her secret place i said to her honey we have our devotions together we pray together we begin our day and end our day together going before the lord but i said but when you go to work that's my secret time with god and i've got to take that time because my schedule just takes off anybody know what i mean when the weed comes and your schedule just takes off and you try to fit god in there it's almost like a cascading uh tidal wave when you look at your calendar when you look at the things that are going to confront you during the week you think to yourself now how can i fit god into that schedule let me tell you something friends put god in your schedule before you put anything else because that is the one component that is going to be able to sustain you when the schedule takes off or when there's a change in the schedule or when somebody calls and it never fails to happen my wife and i have learned and i say my wife and i for those of you that don't know who i mean angela and i have learned that every time we get ready to go on vacation we say to each other it's going to happen this week it never fails every time we get ready to go on vacation somebody has a major crisis the day or two days before that completely twists our schedule and so now we're getting wise to say honey we got about a week we better pack now because if we wait just before the day somebody calls me do you know so so and so just got rushed to the hospital they're an emergency i'm on my way but she says but we're leaving tomorrow but honey i have to go we have learned that you got to put god in your schedule don't leave him last make god the first priority of your day can i get an amen that's why ellen white says in the in the morning the first thing we should do is put our plans before the lord so that he can either change them or endorse them as he see fit when the lord looked at what's going to come upon us it was a question that dr luke posed in the book of luke chapter 18 and verse 8. here's what he said here's what dr luke wrote when the son of man comes and i like the way this translation puts it will he really find faith on the earth why is dr luke writing it this way because faith today faith today is often just something in our minds and so many of us worry so many of us are confronted by anxiety and stress and so many of us are wondering what's going to happen tomorrow because our faith has not moved into our conviction let me explain what i mean by that you see faith and conviction on the human level are not the same faith believes that god will send rain conviction says i'm going to follow god's leading and build me an ark there's a difference faith says rain is going to come but conviction says i'm going to prepare an ark faith believes that god will respond by fire but conviction prepares an altar like elijah did faith believes that god can deliver but conviction says like the hebrews even if god doesn't deliver us we're going to stand firm anyhow conviction so our faith today has to go beyond the fact that well we understand the 28 fundamentals we have an insight into bible prophecy we could see things shaping up we could see how the world is going that's faith our faith is being confirmed however if we don't make preparation in our daily lives to confront the things that confront us we're going to find that when the time comes our faith is going to fail that's why jesus when he spoke to peter and he said to peter satan desires to sift you as we but i have prayed that your faith will not fail and i don't need to tell you you may be one of those that your faith sometimes fails because you don't have that secret place between you and god faith requires something more than just the belief that god does it look at james 2 and verse 17 and 18. james chapter 2 verse 17 and 18. james says thus also faith by what is the next word itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith and i have works and then james says show me your faith without your works and i will show you my faith by my works so i got to ask you the question before i unpack psalm 91 because we're going to go through all 16 verses before we unpack psalm 91 i'm going to ask you the question does your faith have works is there something that you can trace in your home in your schedule in your life where you can say god and i are on a tight consistent schedule can you pick up your bible do you know where it is can you pick up a devotional book how far is it from your bed is there a particular place in your house where where's reserve for you and god alone or you can go to that place and sit down and say god and i have had many conversations right here can you open a cabinet or a dresser in your house and pull out something that reminds you of how far god has led you i'm saying these things because that's the reality in our home we can look back at the pivotal times in our lives when our trials were not normal our trials were great and we can go back and look at particular things in our lives we can say this reminds me when god was so close to us we felt his breath we felt his presence there was a time my wife and i it's way back in 1995 where we were on our knees in yosemite national park and it was about three o'clock or four o'clock in the morning in our little 29 cabin and we knelt down and we said to each other he's here we didn't say god is here we didn't say jesus is here we knew who we met we said he's here can you feel him he's here and we woke up the next morning with a faith so great and so strong that all that the devil had unfurled on us we knew that god was going to give us the victory and that's not that's not been the only time but we can go back in our lives and look at particular events and dates and we can say why did god allow that because somehow somewhere along the way our faith was it was not as strong as it could have been and god said i got to take you back to remember the secret place and i can tell you today praise the lord for it i can't even boast but i can praise god that i have a secret place that god and i know each other very well and i'm suggesting to you yes we can read the bible and look at understand like i did on the last couple of sabbats the mark of the b's part one mark of the beast part two and get our minds that's my favorite word calibrated to the times of the end but if you don't have a day by day secret place scenario with you and god all of that information just gonna frighten you because you have no building faith no strengthening faith it's like going to a gym goals jim let me tell you the best gold gym is in the presence of the throne of god that secret place and david highlights psalm 91 open your bible there with me we're going to walk through this powerful blueprint of what we need to develop now because psalm 91 is not a miracle chapter that is encouraging us to wait to the time of trouble psalm 91 is a blueprint and david points out that if we implement this blueprint god will give us insurance coverage against the time of trouble insurance coverage against the time of trouble i'm going to share this quotation with you from testimonies volume five very powerful as we lay the foundation we are told by inspiration testimonies volume 5 page 452 in paragraph one god has revealed what is to take place in the last days the what days the last days that his people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming let me go back of the coming storm comforting themselves that the lord will shelter his faithful ones in the day of trouble we are to be as men waiting for their lord not an idol expectation but in what friends earnest work with what kind of faith unwavering faith it is no time now to allow our minds to be what is that next word engrossed with things of minor importance and here's why while men are sleeping satan is actively arranging matters so that the lord's people may not have mercy or justice that's powerful so what he what what we're being told is we know what's coming but if we sit in idle expectation if we say well i know vacation is coming in three days and two days and then tomorrow and do nothing don't pack i've often looked around and i've seen young people i've said i thought you were going on vacation what are you going to pack tonight and they may be able to do that but i can guarantee you right before the time of trouble you're not going to get ready for what's ahead of you if you just use one night to prepare too late and so david begins this beautiful journey through psalm 91 with uh and ever since i've used this term it's now become one of my favorite words david begins psalms 91 with this epiphany word he's going to take verse 1 and show us something that really doesn't have to do with a distant event or a distant invitation here's what he said psalm 91 verse 1 he who dwells in the what secret place of the most high shall do what abide under the shadow of the almighty i'm a pause and pause and rub my hands together here because i know it's coming abiding is not a time of trouble word abiding is not a time of trouble reservation abiding is a daily invitation to hang out with jesus abiding means living with abiding means bathing in the presence of abiding means i am so connected with him that he is so connected with me abiding abiding is not you will abide under the shadow of the almighty but when we go through psalm 91 you're going to see that all the promises that unfold are there because you have been abiding under the shadow of the almighty like one of my favorite philip craig and dean's songs this song is i've got you covered i want to know that when i wake up in the morning god has got me covered god's got me covered and i can tell you there are days that i ended the day and i said lord you saw that coming didn't you and he doesn't respond to me audibly but i could hear him say [Music] i did but because i began my day in his presence i was able to make it through an event that if god hadn't seen it the story would have ended quite a quite differently let's see what abiding means abiding is not a time of trouble reservation it is a daily invitation look at john 15 verse 4 the words of jesus the words of jesus this amazing key to preparation daily preparation john 15 4 the words of jesus what did he say what's the first word abide where in me and i where in you what it means that as you can tell where you begin and i end and i can't tell where i begin and you end isn't that wonderful it's like a parent embracing a child so tightly that you can't get a piece of paper between them abide in me and i on you and here is the reason this is a powerful illustration as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it does what abides in the vine let's grab this if the tree is not connected to the branch if the branch is not connected to the vine if there is no connection the bible is saying it can't happen there is going to be no fruit on the outside of that tree if the branch and the vine are not connected and that's why he says unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me now what does that mean the assurance of future and daily deliverance stems i'm using this word about the tree stems from a constant connection let me make it even more practical what would happen if a tree branch disconnected from the vine six days and then just decided to connect one day how many fruit would we have there would be a produce and a fruit shortage if the tree said i am not connecting to the vine today or tomorrow or the next day or the next day what am i saying when monday morning comes and you just make it through your sunday preparation for the week i'm getting very practical today i was prophetic last week i'm practical today if you don't have that connection that is constant and here's the down here's the law i've learned this here's the lull in many of our lives friday comes and and the sabbath catches us sliding into home base we slide into the house one minute and got all our chores done just before the sum sunsets just before the or we pulled the vacuum out happy sabbath one minute before the sun sets allen white says guard well the edges of the sabbath in the jewish culture they would begin their preparation for sabbath by wednesday so that when sabbath came they literally celebrated the entrance of the sabbath if we celebrated the sabbath the way they do you go to jerusalem and see how they celebrate the men are together they are celebrating they are looking forward so much to the sabbath they shut everything down even in new york city b h photo which is a jewish owned business if you go to their website before the sabbath we are closed we will not reopen until and they tell you the time after the sabbath praise the lord 3abn does the same thing you can't buy stuff on three be in store during the sabbath but that connection is so looked forward to that they all week long are working out how can we get ready for the sabbath and i need to confess i i've had that i mean even as a pastor sometime i'm i catch myself driving as fast as i can coming home from sam club and i see the sun setting in front of me no response necessary you all have been there but i've also learned that when that happens and i'm still perspiring as the sabbath hours come in it just doesn't feel right anybody can testify to that it just doesn't feel right put up the room slide the chair out happy sabbath honey it feels it feels like god is saying i was wondering when you were going to put that vacuum away or when you were going to a b c d that secret place now let's put some skin on it if and i got a tiptoe on this one because this is still a sensitive issue if your favorite president was waiting at your house and he says i want to sit down and talk with you at six o'clock would you slide in at 601 and say sorry i'm a little late probably not or whomever you may put in that category or whatever you may put in that category when something is important to you god is saying there's going to be a shift in the way you handle that and john in this verse is saying until we daily have this thriving relationship with god we will never see the fruit of his presence appear in our lives that's why when you look at this verse four it says the branch cannot bear fruit of itself now to appreciate what that means because you might say okay fruit i've heard the phrase fruit before but to appreciate what that means let's go a little deeper into the text to find out what kind of fruit jesus is saying that we are incapable of producing all right you ready for it here we are galatians 5 verse 22 and 23 why does jesus use the phrase or the word fruit because we got plunged into this mess by one fruit so when you read galatians 5 verse 22 and 23 don't pluralize the word fruit it's a singular word all the all the properties that are being listed by the apostle paul here are like the ver or the various vitamins that are all contained in this one fruit so when we read galatians 5 verse 22 and 23 the bible is not saying well eventually all these things will show up in your life can i make it very clear if you buy an apple you're going to get vitamin c you're also going to get vitamin a you're going to get vitamin d you're going to get a lot of different vitamins in that particular apple it's all there you don't say i like an apple with vitamin c in it come on right you don't say that or i'd like to get an orange do you have an orange with any vitamin c in it because the last one i bought only had vitamin a are we getting it what the lord is saying is when we partake of the fruit these qualities are going to show up in our lives look at it galatians 5 verse 22 and 23 and let me reiterate this let me go ahead and segue into this passage by saying the lord is saying if you don't abide in me these fruit will not show up galatians 5 verse 22 but the fruit of the spirit is can we read this together love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control and then the apostle says against such there is what no law meaning there's nothing to prevent that from showing up in your life what is in essence he's saying if you have this daily relationship with christ and the crisis comes you'll still be a person that exhibits god's love you'll still have joy when everybody else is angry you'll still be at peace when the world around you is falling apart here's another one you'll still be able to control your temper when the other person's long suffering has ended an hour ago you'll be able to be kind in a moment where people could say to you how were you able to be kind after so-and-so did that to you you will be able to show the goodness of god when you really don't want to but let me make a point here oranges don't decide to be oranges the tree and the connection determines what it's going to be you see the sap that's coming from the root through the bark through the vine through the branch into the branches they it eventually gets into the fruit and the fruit doesn't say i don't want to be that once the seed is planted it is going to become what the seed contains once the presence of christ is planted in our lives here is the here's the bulletin we will become what the seed contains pastor what are you saying if we are abiding in christ we will be what jesus is not because we decided today i want to be that but i'm abiding in him so frequently i'm abiding in him so consistently that my gentleness my self-control have you ever lost control you ever done one of these you do that because you you know you want to say something and you're fighting because you can feel that word just climbing up however it gets there climbing up you go reason why this is good for me is because i know i've been there but what is exciting to me and i'm going to use the word exciting here is because somewhere along the way we should be able to trace the evidences in our lives and it ought to get us excited that christ is really in fact changing us somewhere along the way we've got to get beyond the label that well i'm a seventh-day adventist christian and you know i keep all these things and i do this and i believe that somewhere along the way we've got to get beyond not just all of that we have to say not only do i believe this and i know it's in the bible but i am so excited that i could see myself becoming more and more like jesus every day but you can't do that if you're not abiding in christ but let me ask another question how much effort does it take for the branch to produce that fruit nothing it takes no effort at all for the branch to produce that fruit well how does it happen the branch simply abides it's connected now this is this is not alive but that's a beautiful illustration that's why the moment and this is kind of a i love giving my wife you know when those special occasions come some of you guys do it all the time but when special occasions come i like to give my wife roses and beautiful things like that there's only one downside to that once they are disconnected from the tree they're going to die husband's so proud he walks through a dozen roses honey like seven days later [Music] and wives don't want plastic roses they want the real stuff amen ladies but the point i'm making is once we are disconnected life can only last but so long what am i saying if you come to church and you get the push and you get the encouragement and you study on the sabbath and you have your sabbath school lesson and you feel good in the fellowship and this all gives you a booster when you leave church on sabbath morning which i hope it does if you are relying on that just to sustain you sunday and monday and tuesday it's going to wither it's going to die and as good as that thanksgiving meal is you are going to starve in about a day if you don't eat again the same thing is going to happen in your christian walk with christ if you don't have that constant abiding the great challenge today is christians are having a difficult time abiding in christ because the problem is in their responsibility to produce the fruit they think of something that's done naturally no i am not a naturally loving kind compassionate long-suffering person i can take you back to the days when i used to punch holes in the wall because i had such an anger issue am i telling the truth honey yeah both of us she was selfish i was angry but we dated nine years every now and then i guess there's some residual left oh yeah we dated we man we were we we dated from 16 to 25 before we got married don't recommend it but it was a long time and um until her brother confronted me one day and asked me if i'm going to date his sister forever and i said what do you mean he said you're going to date are you going to marry her which one is it and he was so angry he he was serious you're going to date her or marry her which one is going to be i said marry her he said when i said next month it's been next sabbath to be 38 years he put me on the carpet i'm not one for long dating but i tell you if you're dating somebody pray for a brother like hers but we had those days when we had to get past our selfishness getting angry in manhattan playing video games as young folk and getting angry she wants all the prizes i said well let me no i want all the prizes and i got so mad i threw my umbrella into a water fountain when my my my when my anger calmed down i couldn't go on the water fountain to get it because the water was too deep we've been through some stuff thank the lord that he knows how to get us right amen we're not all we're not all there yet come on say amen we ain't all there yet god's gonna put your fruit through some chopping blocks just so he can squeeze the juice of his presence out of you but we got to get to that place and here's the thing that david writes see see how productive and this is going to get you right where you live you know the tree can't grow fruit if it just connects one day a week how happy would you be you modern person if your internet just worked one day a week i won't even ask mike i already know the answer don't even ask me i know the answer don't ask anybody in production right janelle we know the answer we will not be a happy camper what do you think the lord feels when he has unlimited high speed divine fiber optic clear wave internet that he's just waiting for you to connect to every day to pour into you and you refuse to connect wondering why your life is out of whack and you can't get a prayer through because you're not connected look at the benefit of connection now i'm going to take you into hyperwarp speed ready to go to new york here we go psalm 91 verse 2. look at this david starts to talk about the blessing of remaining connected this is powerful he said i will say of the lord this is a connected person i will say of the lord he is my what personal he is my refuge and my fortress and my god in him will i trust that's personal you got anybody like that that you can call in crisis times and say he is my agent he is my insurance agent he is my doctor he is my physician god is saying if you stay connected you don't have to worry about our relationship he is my refuge he is my fortress he is my god in him i do trust i will trust and satan is determined to replace our connection with god to substitute connections that's why exodus chapter 20 and verse 3 makes it very clear in this modern society you shall have no other gods before me and the gods could either be digital the gods could be another person the gods could be your money it could be your possession it could be your toys it could be anything but if the devil can replace the relationship that david boasted about my god if he can replace that relationship with something that's transient and remedial and brings exciting moments and then disappoints you later on he says i got you exactly where i need you to be when anything eclipses god the negative impact is amazing my refuge meaning when you abandon god you have no reliable protection my fortress you have no one to depend on in times of difficulty my god all the other gods will fail you money possessions and people thou shalt have no other gods before me that's why david made it very clear in psalm 146 and verse 3 he says when you look for substitute gods what are the first two words say it say it together come on give me some umph what did all those words do not say it like he was said to your kids do not do that he says do not put your trust in princes nor in the son of man whom there is what no help when difficulty come nobody could help you when the trials of life hit you that man can't even see coming who's going to help you i will save the lord he is my refuge and my fortress my god and him will i trust and when we put our trust in god look at how david unfolds the promises yes here it is psalm 91 psalm 91 and by the way the reference there is verses three to six verses three to six that is my typo psalm 91 verses 3 to 6 notice what he says he says surely he shall deliver you from the sneer of the what fowler and from the perilous pestilence he shall cover you with his feathers when you're reading that take it as a promise he shall cover you with his feathers notice what else under his wings you shall take refuge his truth shall be your shield and what else your buckler now we continue in verse 5 of psalm 91 you shall not be afraid of the terror by night nor of the hour that flies by day nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that lays waste at what at noon day is not that an amazing set of promises it's like your friend's saying to you if you need me call me i got you covered i'm having difficult prevalence times the the enemy is after me i need to take refuge i need somebody with a shield and defense i am afraid your friend says just call me if any of these circumstances arise but god is saying if you abide with me daily whenever any one of these circumstances arise i have got you covered what do you say honey ain't no mountain high enough oh you're going back to the motown days relax that's right ain't no mountain high enough you got my wife singing songs on the front row there but i understand what you mean no mountain high enough no valley low enough no river wide enough to keep me from getting to you see what happens honey brought out my past but it fits right here when you have a connection with god there is nothing that can keep god from getting to you if you don't allow anything to prevent you from getting to god that's why the apostle paul says what shall separate us what shall separate us i'm at the place now i'm saying like a little kid nothing nothing nothing i ain't worried about nothing and i'm saying that not because i have confidence in myself but when i serve the god that meets me in my secret place i don't worry about nothing it again karen what peace david said and isaiah the prophet says about god i am god look at that i just took the latter part of the verse isaiah 46 9 i am god i am god and there is what none like me and i can guarantee today the reason why so many of us face the trials we do is because we haven't gotten into that secret place with god can you imagine having somebody that is available to you 24 7 every day every moment of the day and he's saying i just want to hang out with you i just want you to be in my presence and if you are there is nothing that you can ever be confronted by that i cannot handle and we'll discover that the lord will provide insurance coverage that kind of falls along the lines you're in good hands with jesus and like a good neighbor jesus is there amen somebody but i'm going to pause for a brief moment and i want to talk to the ladies ladies are you awake see ladies this advice that david is giving is not just for men david and david is pointing out and i know that when we read the bible we think of elijah and enoch and moses and noah and jeremiah and isaiah and all these great men of the bible but do you know that this advice that david is giving applies to women also husbands you could say man okay i guess you've been told not to because men are not the only ones in the bible that had a difficult time trusting and staying connected to god i'll give you ten of them i'll go to them very quickly women in the bible that had a difficult time trusting in god let's start with exhibit number one eve did not believe god so she decided i can't believe what god said so i'm gonna go ahead and investigate and she found out that the devil is in the details let's not stop there sarah god said i'm going to give you a child when you're old sarah laughed laughed at god's promise said really you're going to give me a child when i'm old she doubted god's ability and you know the rest of that story impatience let sarah to give abraham permission to do stuff that god did not approve of she laughed at god hagar there's another one hagar god said to her i'm gonna make of your son a great nation but when she was in the desert facing a lack of water and her son was about to die she doubted god's promise hagar and the lord said lord didn't i tell you that i would make of you a great nation so don't worry about water you think that water is going to prevent me from fulfilling the promise i made to you ladies when god makes a promise nothing that you face will prevent god's promises from happening in your life and then we have rebecca you know rebecca she didn't want her son jacob to be left out so she decided to go ahead and devise a scheme to steal esau's birthright some women don't want their children to fall behind and they try to fix it themselves rather than waiting on god let's not stop with rebecca you remember rachel she was impatient couldn't wait on god to give her a child so she said to jacob since god ain't going to be able to do it i'll go ahead and give you my maid impatience ladies be patient i can't tell you things that are too detailed but i can tell you that a lot of women struggle with impatience not sure if any of them go to this church but some of you husbands know what i'm talking about and you better not say amen right now then you have miriam who saw god blessing moses and said you think you're the only one that god speaks through god samariam for that you will become a leper mayor doubting god's divine leading let me let me say something here on this one ladies if god reveals something to your husband don't be a miriam and so you think that god only speaks through you there will be times that god will share something with your husband that he doesn't share with you and if you don't allow god at that moment to give your husband wisdom and guide your family you could have a miriam moment but you don't want to go from a miriam moment to a job's wife moment because job's wife said look at all them look at all the stuff you're going through job you just need to curse god and die because he is not reliable and i know my wife and i know a lot of pastors who would love to be in the ministry but their wives just say i ain't having that i am not having that i know so many men that want to be in the ministries but their wives are just not having you want to do that's your thing that god you want to go on i ain't going for that a little bit of money i need me some more money and they fall into the job's wife category that's your god you do that then there's lots wife the bible never said her name it just associated with her with a lot god told her don't look back refusing to take god's warning she became the first human salt shaker when god says go forward lady and don't look back ladies don't look back forget what's behind you come on somebody ought to say amen and then the last two these were sisters martha and mary jesus your problem is your schedule is too busy if you would have been here sooner my brother would not have died and jesus said oh oh oh you thought that i missed the schedule whether i come early or come late according to your calendar i am still the resurrection and the life amen somebody so so god is always on time he never he never he never fails on the promises he makes so we don't need to mention the men in the bible i'm not going to talk about the men in the bible that did not distrust god that did not trust god because the women know who they are you'll get that on tuesday but when you have a daily study life when you have a daily prayer life and when you seek the lord daily for the infilling of the holy spirit look at the rest of the promises here we go psalm 91 verse 7 8 the lord is saying if you if i'm with you when the difficulty comes a thousand may follow your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not come near you only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked now psalm 91 is not just based on the goodness of god but psalm 91 is based on god's response in our commitment to him and i can tell you based on this passage there are things that could have been a lot worse for me but god in his mercy made this promise to me that if i commit myself to him you're going to see it happening all around you but i'm going to prevent you from it but it goes on further and the reasons are stated right here in verses 9 to 14. what's the first word what's the first word bob i need to hear you bob because god is not saying i'm going to do this just because i'm god but because what's the next word you this god said since you did what i've told you to do this is what i'm going to do for you because you psalm 91 verse 9 because you have made the lord who is my refuge even the most high what your dwelling place here's the promise no evil shall befall you who else can say that but god nor shall any plague come near your dwelling when it's happening all around you i can tell you how many times god sustained us through car trouble and difficulty and financial ruin because we have made god even the most high our dwelling place amen somebody. he says why verse 11 for he shall give his angels what charge over you to keep you in harmony all your ways in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against what a stone god is saying i'll even watch out for the obstacles in front of you i'll protect you from the things that you could run into the things that can hinder you my angels will say this way that way go left go right stop let me move the stones god is saying i've got a plan that unless you implemented in this secret place you will never be able to benefit from the fine print in my divine insurance policies he doesn't stop there he said you shall tread the lion and the cobra the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot and look at how he ends because he now speaking of us has set his love upon me therefore i will deliver him i will set him on high why because he has known my name and all of god's people thought about saying amen have you had angelic protection have you looked back on that near miss accident and try to credit yourself as being a good driver no that's not it that's not it psalm 37 verse psalm 34 7 the angel of the lord encamps around those who fear him and do what deliver them this only happens by the daily moment by moment commitment to christ it opens to us the last two tremendous promises of psalm 91 the daily moment by moment commitment to christ opens to us promises that we don't even understand are available unless we are in that secret place if you were not reading your bible you wouldn't even know these promises are there to claim it's like an insurance agent saying you call well i need coverage on this but did you read your policy it's already there well do i need to did you read your read your policy read the bible it's already there look at the promises we end on psalm 91 verse 15 and 16 beautiful he shall call upon me and i'm going to suggest to you this is a daily call when you call god daily when you talk to god daily you don't have to worry where god is when difficulty comes amen for that he shall call upon me and what will happen i will answer him i will be with him in trouble i will deliver him and honor him with a long life i will satisfy him and show him my salvation you notice what that i will i will i will i will praise god when we are in that secret place with god we have a god who is not like the devil the devil said i will and he didn't god said i will and he does and look at my closing quotation messages to young people page 114 and paragraph two sanctification is a daily work what kind of work friends a daily work let none deceive themselves with the belief that god will pardon and bless them while they are trampling upon one of his requirements the willful commission of a known sin silences the witnessing voice of the spirit and separates the soul from god whatever may be the i like this phrase whatever may be the ecstasy of religious feeling jesus cannot abide what does that word abide in the heart that disregards the divine law god will honor those only who honor him when david ends by saying i will deliver him and honor him god is saying wait a minute there's some conditions i will honor you if you honor me so let me end with this point my friends you want to have less trials and difficulty in your life you want to minimize the heat let me make a point the heat does come the trials do come but what would they be if we didn't have that secret relationship with god you may have heard about david green david green is a billionaire but he's a christian david green people that know david green said they look at david green's life and they said david greene set a good example for christian businessmen and for christians in general david was born in emporia kansas in the year 1941 and people that know him and they saw his growth in his christian walk getting stronger and stronger as he got older praise the lord it should get stronger as we get older they remember what david would say when they asked him the reason for his success and david said if if i have anything or if you see me with anything it is because it is given to me by my creator if i have anything if you see me with anything it's because it is given to me by my creator and david was a billionaire who could buy anything but he said hey i may have money but the creator made this possible for me you don't know david but you know hobby lobby that was david's dream a committed christian man who he said the secret to my success was my daily time with god and now david according to the u.s market has more than 520 hobby lobby outlets around the united states why he's he's ranked among one of the 400 richest americans with a net worth of 6.8 billion dollars and that was in 2018. why because david greene said the strength of my life is my daily time with god and you can walk in hobby lobby today and there's something about hobby lobby that's different from other stores when you walk in it's relaxed you often hear christian music the people that deal with you at the cash register are so kind and nice the people that deal with you in the back they have a spirit about them that's not in a hurry now you know why you see when god affects one person in that daily avenue of life everybody around that individual will somehow be affected by that you want to affect the world around you start by spending time when you commit to god in that secret place where you are alone with god daily in that secret private place god will give public evidence of his presence in your life and here's what he promises the last text your father psalm i mean matthew 6 and verse 4 your father who sees in secret will himself reward you how openly you want people to know that you've been with god don't try to show that you've been with god let god show that you've been with him let god be your advertisement agent let god say i know him he knows my name i know his name i know her she knows my name we talk all the time do you have a friend like that we talk all the time that's the kind of friend i want to have with jesus prophecy is great but if you don't have a friend like that prophecy means absolutely nothing i'm looking forward to see jesus not because prophecy says he's coming i'm looking forward i'm looking forward karen to see jesus because i've been talking with him so much i can't wait to meet him anybody else here so this week do something different the key to your relationship with christ is spending time walking in to that secret place when he invites you daily to come in go in and you'll find him sitting there waiting i'm tempted to tell you another story but i won't do it this morning i was on a plane ride going to miami to meet my wife and her family and i had a i had a moment with god i was sitting next to a young lady i think she was chinese or whatever there's another guy on the outside i was sitting by the window and god took me in that moment to a secret place i was overwhelmed by his presence tears came out of my eyes when god literally showed me i went into a room that the reason why i chose that color today joe is because that was the color of the room that god showed me it was an azure blue room the throne was azure blue and god was sitting on it with his white robe covered in azure blue light and he leaned forward and said to me come in let's talk i was so overwhelmed by that that when i landed and went to my brother-in-law's house in fort lauderdale i sat them down to tell them about it and i could not recapture that and the only thing that broke me out of that was when the flight attendant says prepare for landing and i had to wipe my eyes so that the lady sitting next to me wouldn't see all this water on my face let me tell you something when you're in that secret place with god something's gonna happen and you will never be the same and he'll give public evidence that you have been with him in his secret place do you want that that's the best preparation we can make for the time ahead of us let us stand together gracious loving lord gracious precious loving savior i want to dwell on the secret place of the most high and abide under the shadow of the almighty where satan can look at me from a distance but he dare not come into your presence lord you're making that available to us today you're saying to your people it's there the key to your growing confidence in me is spending time in that secret place picking up the bible reading all the words of love and compassion and promises that i have for you that can only be found in that secret time that i've chiseled out that have shut the world down that i said i must have this or i will die help us lord to go and find that secret place in our own personal lives for our family may they be one for our children may they grow up to see daddy mommy had a secret place and now i do too finally lord the day is going to come when that secret place will reveal what has always been a secret to us and we'll be able to see your loving face hold and touch your loving hands and see how much you have loved us and all the things that have been kept secret that can't even come to our minds would one day be made sight as we stand before you on that glorious day prepare us for it guide us for it may we be patient not only are people of faith but of conviction knowing that the storm is coming but we are moved to add works to our faith and when we spend that secret time with you may it be evident to all that he or she has been with jesus and we ask you for this blessing that you may be glorified in your holy name we pray amen you

Channel: Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 74min 34sec (4474 seconds)

Published: Sat May 15 2021