God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
There is a river, the streams, whereof shall make glad the city
of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she
shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms
were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of
Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold
the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He
maketh wars to cease under the end of the earth. He breaketh
the bow, and cutteth the spear in thunder. He burneth the chariot
into fire. Be still, and know that I am
God. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. The Psalm itself. Let's look
together at this Psalm. This 46th Psalm. I bought several
messages from different places in it. But God's people, they're competent
people. They're competent people. Now,
they don't have any competence in themselves. I'm not talking
about having competence in ourselves. But God's people are competent
people. They find God to be their confidence,
God to whom they trust. And I can't help but be skeptical
about those who, when troubles come and things happen and darkness
comes, they act as if God's going out of business. Whenever they
get upset, get afraid, some kind of trouble or trial comes, well,
God's out of business. But here we have in this psalm,
The confidence of the Lord's people in their Lord, in their
God, in God Himself. The Lord's people, yes, they
have trials. Oh yes, they have troubles. They have troubles. Yes, they all have fears. And
yes, there's lots of questions that we ask. But I do know this
about them, they do not fall apart. Whenever something happens, they
don't just fall apart. And they don't excuse themselves
by just saying, I'm just weak. Because the scriptures teach
us very plainly that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
So we don't excuse ourselves because of our weakness. Our
confidence is in our God. And no matter what happens, if
we're going to preach God has all power, and all grace, and
all goodness, and all mercy, we're going to act like He's
God. And that's why I said, be still and know that I'm God.
I'd hate to believe in God the way we say we do, and then something
happens, and just absolutely give up all hope. It just makes
my message to be something that's not so. But here, in the 46th
Psalm, look at this confidence. Look at the confidence we have
in God. Got several little points I want to make here tonight,
and the first one's this. Here's why we have confidence,
because we have an infallible refuge. Look what he said in
verse 1. An infallible refuge. God is
our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. I just read that and it makes
me feel good. Just read that and it makes me, just by confidence
in my faith in God, go, just, you know, just read it. And it
says, God is our refuge. A refuge is a hiding place. And
what he said here, we're hidden in God. And what a hiding place
to be. To be in God, hidden in God.
What a blessed refuge, what a glorious refuge. That's why Paul said
over in Colossians 3, he says, you're dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, we'll appear with Him also in glory. Now look with
me over in Deuteronomy 33. Just look at this here. Deuteronomy
33. And I tell you what, we need
a refuge. We who know Christ, we need a
refuge. We want a refuge. And he says,
God is our refuge. What a hiding place, what a blessed
place to be hid. Rock of ages cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Look at Deuteronomy 33, 27. Look
what he says here. The eternal God is thy refuge. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. We sing that song. Leaning,
leaning on the end. And you know that's where that
comes from. And He shall thrust out the end,
before the end shall say, destroy them. But the eternal God is
your refuge, and not only is He highest, but His arms, everlasting
arms, are underneath us. And oh, bless His holy name.
Now we need a refuge. We need a refuge from sin. We
need a refuge from temptation. We need a refuge from the world.
We need a refuge from our inabilities. We need a refuge from our fears
and our troubles. And it says here God is our refuge
and our strength. And then it says He's a very
present help in trouble. Now we sometimes think He's far
off because of the way we are. But I tell you it says He's a
very present help. He's right there. You know we,
and how many times when something happens to the Lord's people,
they're right there to help, right there to do. Well if they're
right there to do and they're right there to help, imagine
what it is for God to be right there to help. God to be right
there to help. And then it says there again,
God is our refuge. What do we hide in God? What
do we find in God to hide? We can hide in His love. It never
changes. Our love varies and goes from
here yonder and about. But we hide in His love because
His love's eternal. There's no change in His love.
He don't love us for a while and not love us for a while.
His love is an everlasting love, an eternal love. And we hide
in His blessed grace. Oh, to shelter and refuge in
the grace of God. To find help and to find a place
in the grace of God and be shielded and be comforted and be refuged
and kept in the grace of God. All of us are gift. And oh God,
we hide ourselves in His mercy. And that means God not giving
us what we deserve. We hide in His power to uphold
us and protect us. And it says, you know, that He
is an eternal refuge for us. We are eternal. We are eternal
beings. Once we came into existence,
we'll never go out of existence. No, I forbid people. People who
know God will always have life. People who don't know God will
always have death. They're born dead in trespasses
and sins, and they'll have the second death, and it'll go on
and on as long as eternity goes, they'll be dead for as long as
eternity. And those who in Christ have
life, see we're eternal, and our souls and spirits, therefore
need an eternal refuge. And here's perfect, perfect safety
from anything that can truly hurt us, right here in God. Is there anything that can hurt
us? We can hide in God, because He is our refuge. Nothing can
hurt us. Then look here, what a confidence.
An infallible refuge and an immovable confidence. Look here in 2 and
3. Since He is our refuge, our very presence and our strength,
therefore will not we fear. Though the earth be removed and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the seas, The
sea, though the waters there have roared and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Now this
world is shaking. It is shaking. There has been
lots of shaking. This is talking about the days of the flood,
that all the different things have happened. You know, great
big floods come and things come, and just as sure as you and I
are standing here, this earth is going to be removed. But our
soul is safe where it's at because it dwells in God. When God starts
shaking the mountains, when God starts sending the floods, when
God starts taking everything down and putting it into the
sea, you just hold on because we're hidden in God and our refuge
is good and it'll keep us through whatever happens. Look with me
in Hebrews. Keep this now. Look at Hebrews
12. Just a minute. Hebrews 12. And he's talking about spiritual
mountains here. He's talking about the things that's going
to happen. But still yet, God is going to remove the earth.
The earth has its tantra. Now it's going to be removed.
Look what he said in Hebrews 12, 26. Talking about God speaking
from heaven. And it says down there in verse
26. Whose voice then shook the earth.
When God spoke to Moses on the mountain, the whole earth, the
whole mountain shook. But now hath he promised, saying,
yet once more, I shake not the earth only, I'm not only going
to shake the earth when I speak, I'm going to shake the heavens
too. Next time you hear my voice, the earth is going to shake,
the heavens are going to shake, everything is going to shake.
And look what he said. And by this same word, it signifies
this, that the removing of those things that are shaken, anything
that can be shaken, The earth, the heavens, anything that ain't
got a foundation, anything that ain't got a hiding place, anything
that has not got Christ as its foundation, the gospel as its
foundation, found in grace, anything that can be shaken will be shaken
and only the things will remain are things that cannot be shaken.
Faith can't be shaken. God can't be shaken. Grace can't
be shaken. Our refuge can't be shaken. Christ
can't be shaken. But the world can. But we won't
be. And let me read this to you now.
Peter says this, The day of the Lord will come as a thief in
the night. That means he's just going to slip up and people,
when they least expect him, that's when he's going to come. In which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. Ain't that what
he said? The heavens and his voice will shake. And the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, all this earth. And the earth
and all the works therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
you to be? In holy conversation in godliness,
looking and hasting for the coming of the day of God wherein the
heavens being on fire. shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, nevertheless, we,
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,
there ain't nothing there but righteousness. We're already in him, so, oh
my, and our house is built on a rock, that's why it ain't gonna
be moved. He established our goings. We're not going to be
moved. The world's in a tumult. The foundations are crumbling.
I think it's in Psalm 11. It says, If the foundations be
destroyed, what shall the righteous do? You know what they do? When
they're destroyed, they do what they've always done. They've
always run to God. They've always hid in God. They've
always found God. They've always found their refuge
in God. And the foundations are destroyed. The foundations of America, the
foundations of religion, the foundations of everything that's
just, right, holy and true is being destroyed right before
our very face. Then what are we going to do
about it? I'm going to, by God's grace, I'll do what I can in
this world, but I do know this, that I'm going to be in Christ.
Go ahead and let them destroy this foundation, but I've got
a foundation that cannot be moved. Oh listen, this foundations are
crumbling, let it fall. And I'll tell you, they was having
a fight, they was having this battle. The Philistines and Israelites. They got up on the mountain,
they was fighting up on the mountains. And the Philistines was losing.
And they said, well our God is a God of the valley. So they
just moved down in the valley. Got down in the valley and they
got fighting down in the valley and the Israelites won the game.
You know, this Philistine's God wasn't the God of the mountains,
wasn't the God of the valleys either. Our God's the God of
the mountains, and the God of the valleys, and the God of the
river. You know, He's going to win the
battle no matter where it's at, because that's where our refuge
is at. Oh, He's the God of the mountains, and the God of the
valleys, and what a sweet refuge you have. That's why He says,
let the waters roar. Be troubled like when the floods
came and troubled the mountains and the mountains shook as the
floods came down on them. And he says all the floods will
come but I tell you we got a rock, we'll stand on that rock. And
then look what an infallible refuge and immovable, what is
this? An immovable confidence and look
here at infinite supply, look what he says there in verse 4.
There is a river. The streams. You know a river,
it goes down through and you got all these streams coming
up. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God. You know where the city
of God is? Us. Heavenly Jerusalem. And listen to what he says here.
And it's the holy place where the tabernacles are the most
high. God dwells in his people and all my soul listen and that's
why he started look over here at Psalm 36 and verse 8 there's
a river Psalm 36 and verse 8 there's a river they shall be abundantly satisfied
with the fatness of thy house and we are and thou shalt make
them drink of the river of thy pleasures. Now you know this is such figurative
language but you imagine a river and it comes right out from God
himself and out of this river comes everything that we need
all we need comes from God it comes through that forgiveness
justification Completeness, sanctification, assurance, and it flows from
the throne of God. And let me show you something,
Revelation 22.1. This will bless your heart. It did me today.
It did me. This will bless your heart. It
flows from the very throne of God where Christ sits on God's
right hand. That's where this river flows
from. And He showed me Revelation 22, he
showed me a pure river of water of life as clear as crystal proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb David saw that river before He saw it before John did. So
it flows from the throne of God where Christ sits on the cross
right here. It flows, this river flows through the gospel. When
the gospel is preached to them, the gospel comes in power and
grace and glory and we are allowed to see our Lord Jesus and fellowship
with Him and commune with Him. That's why our Lord Jesus Christ
said, if any man is thirsty, Let him come unto me. And you
know what he said? Out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. Now there ain't gonna be no rivers
of living water flow out of me. Rivers of living water flow out
of Christ into those who come to drink. He said, I'm the water
of life. How can any river of life come
out of us? All can only come out of Christ.
And that's where we go. He said, if any man's thirsty,
come to me. And I tell you what, he leads us by the still waters.
He takes us and leads us by the still waters, makes us lie down
there, and He leads us by the still waters of His will, leads
us by the still waters of His purpose. And we drank, God blessed
us, and this river flows through His precious Word. When we look
at this Word, it's a river going all the way through the Scriptures
and we get in there and we get our souls refreshed. We get our
soul, we get our thirst slapped. We come there and we find everything
we need in this blessed blue. And we drink from this river
of eternal truths. And all we need is found in Him. I want to show you one other
thing in Isaiah 32. There's four things here it says
about Christ. Four things it says here about
a refuge. And our Lord being our refuge.
Our Lord being our supply. Our Lord being everything we
need. Found in this hiding place. Oh, a river. Flows from God. Flows through the gospel. The
still waters of God's will and purpose. God's eternal truth. Look what it said here. In verse
2, and the man, and the man should be as a hiding place from
the wind. You know that when those houses
were built in Matthew 7, the winds blew, the rains came, the
floods came, and all kinds of things came to that house, and
the house built on the rock is good. The one built on sand has
failed. Now look here, a man should be
as a hiding place from the wind. When the winds blow, the winds
of temptation, the winds of the breath of the devil himself hot
on our trail, and then the winds blow, and then not only is he
a hiding place from the wind, That wind that gets so high.
That wind you think is going to put the trees down. That wind
you think is going to take your roof off. He said there's a hiding
place in this room from the wind. And then he's a covert from the
tempest. You know what a tempest is? That's when the rain runs.
And the wind just drives it. And it just goes in circles.
And it just will not let go. It just keeps coming around with
all that wind and tempest and rain. And he's a covert for us
to get in there. And then listen to this. He's
rivers of water. Oh, did you find a dry place?
Listen, God's got a river. When you get in a dry place,
where are we going to go? I tell you, I told a dear preacher
today, I said, you know, one thing that we dread worse than
anything is our hearts getting cold and lifeless and it's so
indifferent. It's a great, great burden. And
when it gets dry, Go to Christ and say, Lord, my soul is thirsty. I'm in a dry place. And I read
in your word that you said you was rivers of water in a dry
place. And I tell you what, just as
sure as you do that, that dry place will go away. And then
look what this is. So four things. He's a hiding
place from the wind. He's a cover from the tempest.
He's a river when it's dry. And then when it's real hot and
no place to go. And the sun's beating down on
you. He's a shadow of a great one. When you're going through
the red land and you're traveling and you get weary. And you say,
boy, I'd give anything for a place to sit down with us and shave.
And you come up and there's the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's
that great rock. And he's got this glorious shadow.
And you say, oh boy, here's a wonderful place to sit down for a while. Oh my, bless his name. Look with
me again now. Not only is he an infinite supply,
river, river, streams, makes us glad. Don't it make you glad? Oh, it makes me glad. And then
look what he says, an unfailing comfort. It says in verse 5,
God is in the midst of her. Where at? The city of God. These people of God. And she
shall not be moved. God shall help her in that right
early. All the heathen are raging. Kingdoms
are being moved. He utters his voice and the earth
melts. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. What a comfort here. God's in
the midst of us. God shall help us. God utters
His voice. And it says here, the Lord of
Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob. When it says, He doeth His will
among the armies of heaven, that means the Lord of Hosts. That
means He's got great armies in heaven. Our Lord said, I can
call twelve legions of angels. Don't you know that? And he says, but listen, I'm
telling you, he said, the Lord of Hosts, He's got these great
armies, armies of angels, armies of seraphims, armies of seraphims. And the Lord of Hosts is with
us. God will help us. Women will
help us. And that right earlier, that means just as sure as you
get up in the morning, God's right there to help you. You don't even ask for His help
sometimes. And He does it anyway. Have He
ever helped you and you didn't ask for it? Oh, listen. And I'll tell you
what, it says, God is for us. Oh, God is in the midst of us.
God's for us, He is in us, and He's among us. As Christ in you,
that's the hope of glory. God shall help her. God is in
the place. Jacob, when he came up to Bethel,
and he got there, and that's when the Lord laid hold on him.
He says, God's in this place. And I tell you what, beloved,
God's among us, and God shall help her. Let me ask you, has
anybody you ever known that's known the Lord ever said God
ever failed them one time? Has God ever failed anybody that
you know? I'm talking about believers now.
You know the world is going to find fault with God no matter
what happens. But I'm talking about us as children of God.
Has there been an operating room you've been in that he wasn't
there to help you? Has there been somebody sick
that you know, has he not been there to help you? Has there
not been times when money was real tight and scarce years ago
and was not God there to help you? When you had a sick child
and you worried and stayed up with it all night, was not God
there to help you? When you lost some loved one
and you carried them away, was not God there to help you and
be your comforter and be your saint? When all you could say
is, Lord, help me, help me, help me, help me, and just the fact
that you're saying, God, help me, help me, help me, shows that
you was looking to Him for help. And when you was crying help,
He was helping you. If you hadn't, you'd have went down, you'd have
folded like a chair. And I tell you, God helped us.
He uttered His voice. Listen. He uttered His voice.
The heathen rage, God moved the kingdom down, and He uttered
His voice. And when He uttered His voice
for us, He speaks peace and He speaks comfort. Sometimes He
rebukes us. And then, but you know where
He speaks at? Name but one place He speaks.
Right through here. Right through here. That in His
Word. And then He's our continual protection. Ain't that what He
says? The Lord shall help her in that
right early? Look with me in Exodus 33. Look at Exodus 33,
just a minute. In verse 14, I believe it is.
Exodus 33, 14. Oh, we have a continual refuge,
continual protection. God never leaves us, never forsakes
us. Now Moses, he's going to go.
God told him to go. And God told Moses in verse 14,
He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I'll give thee
rest. While you're traveling, while
you're going, what you're doing, I'll go out my presence to go
with you and my bird presence will give you rest then look
what he said and Moses said to him and he said unto him if our
presence go not with me then don't you carry us you know he
said if your presence don't go with us then don't carry us then
you know you think about something he says if your presence don't
go up with us he said well then don't carry us up there if God
don't carry them up there Why in the world does he think God's
presence is not going to be with him before it's carrying him? You know, I never will forget.
I never had heard that word before. I got way over in eastern North
Carolina. You get over there and somebody say, I got to go
carry my mama to the grocery store. And I automatically thought
about picking somebody up and carrying them. But that's what they say. I got
to carry so and so to the doctor. That means that they're going
to get him in the car and they're going to carry him over there. They're going
to take him there. We say, well, I'm going to take him to the
doctor, but they say we're going to carry him. That's what God said to
Moses. He says, Moses, I'm going to go with you and I'm going
to give you rest. And then Moses said, if you carry yourself and
don't go with him, he's going to carry him. You think he's
going to go with him? He's carrying him. We're amassed
if it wasn't for the grace of God, wouldn't it be? And that's
what Moses has done there. And then let me go back over
here and let me just say something else about this. The Lord of
Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Let me say
something about being the God of Jacob. Take two or three things
about Jacob. First of all, he was loved before
he was ever born. He hadn't done anything good
or bad. God loved him before he was ever born. Secondly, he
was God's elect on purpose. The election of God according
to purpose was going to stand in him choosing Jacob. And the
third thing about Jacob was, is that Jacob inherited the blessings. And the God of Jacob is our God,
and he loved us before we were. He chose us on purpose, and we
inherit the blessings. And we didn't have no right to,
but we got it anyway. And oh, let me hurry on here.
Then look what an assuring prospect here in verse 8 and 9. Behold
the works of the Lord, what desolations of the earth hath he made in
the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth, he breaketh the bow, cutteth the spear in
sunder, he birthed the chariot into fire. And here's the first
thing he said, come behold the works of the Lord. What are some
of the works of the Lord? That's a whole other message. But in the context he says, come
behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he has made
in the earth. What desolations he has made in the earth. And
he makes wars to cease. And all this, come behold his
work. This is a backward look at what God's done and a forward
look at what he's going to do. Now it says here, he hath made
desolations in the earth. You know what he's done? He's
made desolations. of men's works man may trust
in his God said that he makes desolations of men's works he
makes desolation of men's ways he drove Adam from the garden
he rejected Cain he destroyed Sodom he brought Jacob down to
nothing and whole nations he made desolate without the gospel
of Christ Great Babylon, because they look at this Great Babylon
and I said, Babylon don't even exist anymore. Rome, the city
that every road in the world at one time led to Rome. And
now Rome, the only thing famous about Rome is the Pope. That's why people want to go
to Italy to see the Pope and get a suit. And I'll tell you
this, and he said, and Greece, Greece was a great world power
one time. Intellectual center of the world.
And now Greece down there, they're bankrupt. They're bankrupt. Ain't nobody got a job down there.
The government's bringing, they're out of money. That just does
this. And what is it? Dust desolation. And look what
he made our works desolate. Look at his works when he did
dust. Did he not make our works desolate? Did He not make us
self-righteous, desolate? Did He not make us understand
that we have nothing? Everything we have is just desolation
compared to what He did and what He does for us. And I tell you,
I know this, that He'll make men and their arrogance and their
pride and their boasting to be desolate one of these days. And
He makes wars to cease under the end of the earth. And I tell
you what, wars have already ceased in my heart towards Christ. He's
already caused the war to cease in me. Has He caused the war
to cease in you? And I tell you what, when the
Prince of Peace comes, He stops the war in our hearts. He stops
the war between us and God. And He establishes peace through
the blood of His cross. And then here, look what a peaceful
attitude we ought to have. Peaceful attitude. Psalm verse
10. Oh, verse 10. Be still. and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God.
That word still just means to be quiet, to be peaceful, to
be restful. That's all it means. That's why
Paul says, let every man study to be quiet in his own breath. Let him be still. Don't let his
life be in a turmoil. Just be quiet. Rest in God. Be still in God. Does God change
when we're in tough circumstances? No. No. Does He change when we are afraid?
No. Does He change when we don't
understand what's going on in our lives or anybody else's?
No. And I tell you what, how can
we know He's God unless we're still? Be still. Be quiet. Be restful. Be still.
You can't, you know, people just, religion just goes on and on
and on about the healing. A fellow asked me yesterday,
do you believe in healing? I said, I believe God heals.
And he says, well I had this problem and me and my wife prayed
about it and it went away. I had another problem, me and
my wife prayed about it and it went away. I said, well if you're
talking about praying over some ache or pain or something, you
know. I remember praying for people that's sick and to ask
the Lord to please comfort them and have mercy on them. But it
was the Lord that had done the work. But all they want to talk
about is that, let's be still and let's know God. If God sends
us trouble, let's just be still. If we're conviction of sin, some
sin we've committed, let's just be still and go to God, let's
be quiet. A man can't know God if he can't listen to the voice
of God, if he's making all the noise. You see, it's in the stillness
of our soul that we totally learn to know God. It's when we are
real quiet and still, and we begin to contain, and begin to
thank, and begin to wonder, and begin to stand in amazement at
God, that our minds get lost in the greatness and glories
of God. And oh, just to stand and say,
Oh God, It's your word. Oh God, it's your will. Oh God,
it's your purpose. Oh God, it's your life. Oh God,
everything we have, our children, our grandchildren, everything
that we hope for, everything is in your hands. Let's just
be still. Whatever you give us, we'll wait
on it. And we won't get upset with you. We won't raise our voice to you.
We won't, oh by your grace, even let our hearts rise up in us.
You know where we find our strength at? It's to sit still. Sitting
still is one of the hardest things you've ever done. Ain't that
right? Man, let's get this done. Let's
get that done. I'll tell you some things we
can't do. We cannot change our circumstances. We cannot change
our stature. We can't change our trials. We
can't change our health. There's so many things that we
can't change our relationship with. There's only one. Listen,
there's some things we can't do. And that's why God says,
be still. Just be still. That's what God
said to Moses when everybody was in that fortress. They said,
oh Moses, what have you got us into? Look at that army coming
to kill us. God said, Moses, tell them to
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still! That
means everybody be quiet. Just hush. And see the salvation of the
Lord. What a salvation it was. Let me show you this in Isaiah
30. And I'll be done just in a minute. Isaiah 30. Verse 7. Oh my. It's in the stillness of the
soul that we truly learn to know God. Oh, it's in those nights
and in those great, great trials. It's in the toughest, toughest
situations that we really learn to know God when we're still.
When we're still. And look what he says here in
Isaiah 30 verse 7. For the Egyptians shall help
in vain and to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this, their strength is to sit still. Don't you get up and fight
the Egyptians, just sit still. That's where your strength is
at, to sit still. Isaiah 30 verse 7 The strength is to sit still. Look down at verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning in rest shall you be saved, in
quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Quietness and
confidence. That's where your strength is
at. Just hush. Hush and listen to
God. Be still and know. And then look
what he says there, verse 10 again and 11. He said, I'll be
exalted among the heathen. Well, we're the heathen. Is He
exalted among us? How high is God to us? How high is
He? How exalted is He? What do we
think of Him? How do we view Him? We're the
heathen. How high is God to us? He's exalted
in the earth. among us and then look what he
says and I will be exalted one of these days though everybody
on the earth is going to know he is God and he is exalted as
our refuge he is exalted as our strength and we attribute everything
to him and he shall be exalted someday and he is going to be exalted
in this whole world as everybody is going to know him And then
he says this, the Lord of Hosts is with us. God and all of his
armies is with us. Is with us. You all remember
that story about Elijah? They sent this great army, found
out that he was telling the army everything that the other Army
was going to do it, and they just outmaneuvered him. Finally
found out he was doing it. They said, there's a prophet
down there. He said, oh, this Syrian army, they just can't.
They sent thousands of soldiers out, and they just got around
his house. He just had a little house, you know. He didn't have
no big house. He just had a small house, and
he had a servant there. Oh, Ghazi was his name. He ran
outside, and he said, oh, master, master, master, oh! Oh, we're
going to die today for sure. Look at that army out there.
Well, Elijah just sat still. He didn't even get out of the
house. He said, Lord, open his eyes and let him see there's
more force than there are gifts. The Lord opened his eyes and
there was chariots, a boat, chariots, a boat, chariots of the Lord's
army around him. And that's what he said, the
Lord of hosts with us. And that's what it is. It looks
like an army of actors. But boy, oh, God, open your eyes
and look at that great army that's with us. The Lord of Hosts is
with us. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to know you, to know you, to
wait on you, to rest in you, to wait for you to speak, to
wait for you to work, to wait for you to work out your will
and things when we get in a turmoil in our heart and in our soul,
just to be restful, quiet, and peaceful. Oh, to find you to
be our refuge. You are our refuge. And oh Lord,
we find such great delight in hiding ourselves in you. Great
encouragement and confidence. God is these dear saints. Go back to their jobs, their
homes, all the things that they deal with. God bless them. Lord
strengthen them and encourage them. Hold them up. Nobody goes
to preach this weekend. God bless him. Oh Lord, use him. Quicken his mind, quicken his
understanding. Warm his heart. Bless him and
use him greatly. And Father, we thank you for
him. Thank you for Gary. Thank you for Bruce. And thank
you for Brad. Lord, these men that are so faithful,
so committed, and know the truth, I thank you for them in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen. Oh, there is a name I love to
hear I love to sing His word It sounds like music in my ear
The sweetest name on earth Oh, how I love Jesus O how I love
Jesus, O how I love Jesus, because He first loved me.