Secrets of the Secret Place - Part 10 — Bob Sorge

Welcome back to Secrets of the Secret Place class. This is session 10. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the privilege of gathering in this way, and we ask that your name would be honored and magnified now as we come to your word.

Holy Spirit, come and fill every room where your saints are gathered, taking in this teaching now in Jesus' name, amen. I'd like to begin this evening with Deuteronomy 10, verse 8. Call this verse my personal job description.

The Levites’ Calling to Carry God’s Presence and Stand Before Him

Deuteronomy 10, verse 8. It says, at that time, the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the Ark of the Covenant to the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister to him, and to bless in his name to this day.

So there are three elements to the job description of the Levites, and I feel like my calling is to be a New Testament Levite, so this is my job description. Number one, it's to be a carrier of the presence of the Lord, to bear the Ark of the Covenant to the Lord.

Number two, it's to stand before the Lord, to minister to him. And then thirdly, to bless other people in his name. For me, the most compelling part of that verse is the central one, to stand before the Lord, to minister to him.

Standing Before God When Identity Is Shaken

This is the primary calling on my life. And when we go through the seasons of life, the ebbs and flows, sometimes we're in a season of growth and increase in momentum, other times we're in a season of a decrease, the tide's kind of going out, and things are kind of diminishing in our lives.

And it's especially when we're in a season of diminishment, that's especially, it seems when our identity seems to get challenged. And when your identity is being shaken, you need a verse to return to.

The verse that I come back to whenever my identity, I go through one of those, you know, identity crisis seasons, which we all, you know, some of us, we just keep on having them, well, me at least. Whenever I go through one of those deals, I always go back to Deuteronomy 10, verse eight.

Who am I? What is my life about? And this much I know, I am called of God to stand before him and to minister to him. And if everything else falls apart in my life, this much I will do. I will stand before God.

The Cross and the Call to Stand Regardless of Circumstances

The cross tells me you can always stand before God. Even if heaven seems to forsake you, even if hell is against you, and if people are reproaching you, the cross declares you can always stand. The greatest battle ever fought was won by a man who just stood on the nail.

When God Seems to Waste Our Preparation

Now, sometimes, point B, sometimes God seems to be wasteful. I don't know if you've ever felt like this about it, but sometimes, you know, I mean, take Joseph, for example. Here's this young kid that has cultivated his gifts.

He's in Potiphar's house. He's being a faithful steward, and he's turning one talent into two, two talents into four, five talents into 10. He's being faithful with what God's given him. He's equipping himself.

He's growing in his abilities. And just about the time that Joseph is really getting established as a man in his own right, God throws him in prison. Lord, now that's useful to you, so you shut me down and put me in prison.

And sometimes, God just seems to be wasteful. It kind of happened with, with, kind of a similar thing with Elijah. Elijah had this expression, and he used it more than once. He said, as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, so Elijah, what do you do?

Elijah says, I stand before God. Well, now that's gonna get tested, Elijah, because God's gonna put you under house arrest. For three years, you're gonna be in a widow's house, and everybody around the world's gonna be looking for you, so you will not be able to stick your head out the door.

You're gonna be holed up in this widow's house for three years with no air conditioning, and it's gonna be fry cakes for breakfast, fry cakes for lunch, and what are we having for dinner? Fry cakes. For three years, Elijah is pent up in this house.

Folks, we are talking about Elijah. The guy has got some bullets in his gun. Can you imagine Elijah saying, Lord, now that I've cultivated all my ministry potential, now that I've really become dangerous in the kingdom, you have me under house arrest doing nothing.

God, in three years' time, I could have raised up a graduating class of the School of the Prophets, and we would be shaking the nations, and here you've taken all this glorious potential of everything that I've become and stuck me in house arrest.

And I imagine the Lord responding, didn't you say that you stand before me? Well, I said that, and yes, I do, but I didn't think I was gonna stand like this. I didn't think about this, but sometimes the Lord will test us, put us in a season of even imprisonment, and the question is, will you stand before me regardless of any situation in your life?

The Angels’ Ministry Is to Stand Before God

Another example of this are the angels. Jesus said of the angels that they stand before God, they gaze on the face of the Father in heaven, and this is what the angels do. They just stand before God and minister to him.

Now, one of the angels, Gabriel, he comes to Zacharias, and he says to Zacharias, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. Gabriel says, I stand in the presence of God. That's what angels do. We see Gabriel three times in the Bible.

First time Gabriel shows up, it's in the book of Daniel, and then the second time, it's about roughly 600 some years later, he shows up to Zacharias. Third time is six months later, he comes to Mary. That was the busy season.

So Gabriel, what do you do? Gabriel says, I stand before God. No, no, I get that, but like, Gabriel, what do you do? Gabriel says, I stand before God. No, no, I get that, Gabriel, but like, okay, you're an angel.

You're a pretty powerful one, you know? Like, what does an angel do? Gabriel says, that's what I do. I stand before God. I gaze on his glory. If he speaks to me, I go. If he doesn't speak, I just stand there.

Have you ever thought about how wasteful this is? The most powerful creatures, the best assets God has in his army, and they just stand around the throne of God, gaze on his glory, and minister to him.

Really not so wasteful, because you are never quite so dangerous as when you are standing at the throne of God, giving him your full attention, with your ear open, with your heart engaged, standing and ministering to him in the secret place.

Waiting on God Instead of Acting on Our Own Initiative

You are never quite so dangerous as the time when you are found simply standing before God. Now, we have an expression here in America. It's a common expression. It goes like this. Don't just stand there, do something.

You've heard that one. When I had my first job, I heard that one a lot. My boss, he was like, don't just look like you're doing nothing. Even if you're not doing anything, look busy. And so he just got on my case.

Don't just stand there, do something. And then the Lord took that common phrase that we use here in America, turned it around on me, and spoke to me and said, don't just do something, stand there. And here's what the Lord was saying to me.

Bob, I'm not asking you to just kind of come up with something. You don't know what to do, so do something. Lord says, no, I'm not asking you just to do something. I'm asking you to stand there, minister to me, give me your love, wait on me, and wait till I speak.

Standing Before God Is a Higher Calling Than Standing Before People

If I speak to you, then go. If I don't speak, then just stand there and minister to me. Come on over to Ezekiel 44. Ezekiel 44, and there's a principle here that I want you to see that standing before God is a higher calling than standing before people.

Verse 10, the Levites who went far from me, this is the Lord speaking, the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who strayed away from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity, yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house.

They shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. So the Levites that went astray, the Lord says they'll be ministers of the house, and they'll be ministers to the people.

But he says, verse 13, they shall not come near me to minister to me, verse 15, but the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to minister to me, and they shall stand before me.

The highest privilege is to stand before God. Sometimes we tend to think the highest privilege is to stand before people, and we think the greatest honor is the platform ministries, those that stand before the people.

But the word of God is very clear. There is a higher joy in the kingdom of God, a higher blessing, a higher grace than standing before people, and it's this, to stand in the presence of God Almighty with your heart open, your spirit engaged, with love flowing from your heart and ministering in the Holy Spirit to the Lord himself.

Private Standing Before God Precedes Public Authority

Point five of your outline, you will have no authority when you stand before people in public unless you have first stood before God in private. When it's judgment day, every one of us is gonna stand before God one day, and when it's judgment day and you and I stand before him, I don't want judgment day to be the first time I stand before God.

What a terrifying thought to have on judgment day for that day to be the first day you have ever stood before God. How horrifying. No, I wanna stand before God a whole lot before judgment day. I want it to be a regular part of my life, standing in his presence, loving him and ministering to him.

John’s Revelation on Patmos Came Through Standing Before Christ

To Eve, our outline, John's most dramatic encounter with Christ happened at a time when all he could do was simply stand before God. John, he's on the Isle of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Christ.

And in Revelation 1 .10, he says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega. And now Christ is revealing himself to John.

And when this was happening, John, he's on the Island of Patmos in exile. It's a prison island. And he's somewhere around 90 to 95 years old, something like that. He's in his low 90s, seems to be a reasonable guess.

And I imagine being 90 years old and doing prison. It's like, Lord, does there ever come a point in your life when you get an exemption from this kind of stuff? 90 years old, I don't need this anymore.

I've kind of paid my dues. I've done the getting boiled in oil business. I've done some of this stuff. And isn't it like, when do I ever get a break? And here's John in his 90s. This is not a happy situation.

It's not comfortable. And it's horrible living conditions. The diet is miserable. And John, I think in the natural, probably could have had some reasons to have a little bit of a bad attitude. Add to that the fact that it's the Lord's day, which is resurrection day, Sunday.

And here we are celebrating the resurrection of Christ. And all I have is death working in me. I don't know about all that life stuff. I'm just dying on this island. And John probably could have had a little bit of an attitude, but the scripture says, in this place of darkness and confinement, he gets into the spirit on the Lord's day.

He stands in the presence of God, exile and all. John, what do you do? I stand in the presence of God. You can stick me on a barren island, but I'm still gonna stand and give him my love. And on the Lord's day, resurrection day, with death working in him, he is found in the spirit.

And the Lord comes to John and says, man, I love the way you stand before me. John, I am coming to you to give you a revelation. And now John gets the most amazing revelation of Christ in the entire Bible.

And the most dangerous aspect of John's ministry in all his life actually takes place on a desert island because he is found standing before God in the spirit. And God comes to his man who was standing before him and giving him his love.

Haman and the King’s Search for Someone Standing in the Court

And God gives him a revelation that absolutely transforms history. Another example from Esther chapter six, verse four. Point F of your outline. When the king decides to do something suddenly, he looks to see who is standing in the court.

Esther six, verse four. Now what's happened, the lead up to this verse is that I'm gonna give you just a real brief synopsis of what's happened. The king has just been made aware of some information he didn't know before.

And he suddenly says, I wanna do something about that. And so this sudden decision, let's do something about it. And so the king asks the question. The king says, Esther six, verse four, who is in the court?

See, there was a court, an outer court. It was a waiting area. If somebody wanted an interview with the king, they would come to the outer court and stand there and wait till he called for them. And so the king, he wants to do something right now.

And his question is, who is in the court? Who's just standing there and waiting? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

Verse five, the king's servant said to the king, Haman is there standing in the court. And the king said, let him come in. And the king appoints Haman to his task that he just decided, I wanna do this right now.

Haman gets the job because he's found standing in the court. When a king decides he wants to do something, the question is, who's standing in the court? The king of the universe gets a brainwave and he just, okay, he wants to do something.

Ananias Is Chosen Because He Is Standing When Saul Is Converted

The question is, who is standing in the court? If you're found standing, when the king wants to do something, he'll get the job. Let me illustrate this. And I'm gonna illustrate this in a little bit of, I'm gonna embellish the story with my own imagination just a little bit, okay?

So I'm gonna tell a story from the book of the Acts, but forgive me if I put my imagination into it just a little bit, okay? There's a guy on the way to Damascus. His name is Saul of Tarsus. God knocks him to the ground, blinds him with a vision of Christ.

And now Saul has gone to Damascus. He's not eating or drinking for three days. And he's in a house in Damascus and God has his attention. Saul is all ears. And so God's like, okay, I've got my guy. I've got him cornered and I've got his attention and I need someone to go talk to him.

And I can imagine, now I'm embellishing the story a little bit. I can imagine the king going like this. Who's standing in the court? Who do we have standing in the court that I can just use right now?

And so, and again, I'm embellishing the story. God says to an angel, can we send somebody down to Damascus and find who do we have standing in the court in Damascus? So the angel goes on his mission and sends back a call back to heaven.

Uh, we don't have anyone standing in Damascus. Actually, we have mayhem down here in Damascus. It's kind of crazy down here right now because all the saints have heard that Saul of Tarsus was sent to Damascus to arrest them all.

We've got some of them hiding in their basements. We got some of them have gone to other cities with their relatives. We got some, we don't even know where they've gone. Everybody's kind of scared spitless.

And the whole, the church is kind of in chaos in Damascus right now because Saul of Tarsus has come with orders to arrest everybody. And there's nobody standing in the, wait a minute, excuse me, Lord.

We have another call coming in. Yes, Lord, it seems like we may have somebody standing. Just a moment, yeah. What you think you have, you found? We have found somebody standing in Damascus. You found somebody.

What's the guy's name? Lord, do you recognize the name Ananias? Lord goes, yeah, I've heard of him. Well, we've found a guy standing in the court, Ananias. We have a man and God says, give Ananias the job.

When everyone else was running, Ananias was found standing before God. And Ananias got one of the most privileged assignments. He got the assignment to go and commission the apostle Paul to his international ministry.

Life of standing before God for simply one moment of greatness. Because Ananias was found standing at a critical moment of history. He got the job and now he's got a story in the cloud of witnesses. Just stand before God.

Resolving Not to Be Moved from God’s Presence

Whatever's going on, stick me on a prison island, I will stand before God. Send Saul of Tarsus to arrest me, I will stand before God. Let nothing shake you, let nothing move you. Stand before God, give him your love, resolve in your heart.

I'm gonna stand in the sacred place. I'm gonna give you my love no matter what comes my way. I shall not be moved. I'm gonna stand in the presence of God. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is my identity.

When everything else gets shaken, when everything else seems to fall apart around my life, this much I know. I am called of God to stand in his court and minister to him and give him my love. And by the grace of God, I shall not be moved.

Psalm 15 and the Promise of Never Being Moved

Psalm 15 says it this way. Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? It's asking the question, Lord, who? Who's gonna have the privilege of standing in your presence like this?

And then it describes the person, he who walks uprightly, works righteousness, speaks the truth, so on, so on, until you come to the end of it, verse five. And it says, this one, he who does these things shall never be moved.

Little bit of a dialogue with the Lord about that. Once I said, Lord, you said he shall never be moved, but I don't get it. I've been moved from most everything in my life. I've been moved from my ministry.

I've been moved from my office. I've been moved from my friends. I've been moved from beautiful upstate New York to Missouri, 1 ,100 miles. Hello, where is Missouri? Anyways, God, how can you say he shall not be moved?

I've been moved from everything I've ever known. Holy Spirit came back and whispered to my heart, have you been moved from before my throne? I said, Lord, I shall never be moved from before your throne, as long as you help me and as long as you put your grace upon my life, I shall never be moved from standing in my office.

You can take my title, you can take my nameplate, you can take my platform, you can take my microphone, you can even take my voice away and take my song away, but there's something you can't take away from me.

I stand before God and I will love him and serve him and minister to him all my days. And I believe there's nothing more dangerous, nothing more powerful that you can do than resolve in the face of every challenge, I shall not be moved.

I'm gonna stand here, somebody says, but my secret place is so boring. Stand there, somebody says, but I just, there's nothing moving, I'm not getting anything out of it. Stand there, give him your love, invest in the spirit, sow in the spirit, fasting, prayer, abiding in his word, abiding in his love, may you be found standing when the king wants to do something, I want to be found standing in the court.

Prayer for Unwavering Devotion in the Secret Place

Lord Jesus, thank you for your word that has encouraged us and we set the resolve of our heart. Lord, if we never stand before people, if we never do anything else, if things are stripped from us, if we are even incarcerated in a prison, Lord, may we never be moved from before your throne.

I pray you would put this resolve in the heart of your people to stand before you, minister to you and give you their love. I pray this.