Fear Less Living

ReCAST Church of Mattawan

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You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. Good morning, everyone.

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Welcome to Recast Church. Excited to be here and share with you one of my favorite passages of scripture from Psalm 91.

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When I was asked to preach a month or so ago, I began to pray about what to teach on.

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And this is where the Lord led me. And you can look at the title of my message.

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It's Fear, Less Living. Because, you know, I was thinking about this.

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And you read Psalm 91. And it's all about living without fear.

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And we live in a fearful world, don't we? And I began to think about this, like,

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I wanted to call it fearless living, like fearless, like we're going to be fearless, right? But then

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I thought, is that really a reality, this side of heaven? Yes, I can be brought into the state of being where he gives me courage.

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And in that situation, I'm fearless. But the reality is, is that fears are always going to pop up, aren't they?

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We can experience the peace of Jesus, we can know that God is our protector, we can know these beautiful truths of who

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God is, and then crises hits, or something goes wrong, or things get dark and scary, right?

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And that fear comes back in. So I want to talk about fearless living, how we can, as we progress in life, we can fear less and less as we gain in our confidence in God.

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I think it was back in the early 2000s, maybe some of you older people can help me with this.

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Does anybody remember when there was this popular little saying, slogan, whatever, you'd see it on people's caps, their t -shirts, two weird, two weirds, two words, no fear.

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Remember that everybody was wearing the, you young folks wouldn't remember that, you weren't even born then. Anybody remember that?

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Okay. It was like, it became like a fad almost, you know, all this no fear gear.

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And I remember, you know, seeing some of the tough, really tough young men that I work with at Youth for Christ wearing these hats, but I would just kind of chuckle inside because I knew it wasn't true.

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I knew that they had plenty of fear in their life, and it wouldn't take much for that fear to rise up.

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And so, you know, that's just not a reality, and yet we can grow in peace, we can grow in confidence in God.

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So speaking of fear, I googled, what are the top ten fears?

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And any guesses what the number one fear, now wait, I have two lists here, okay. I have one, these are the top ten most fears common among Americans.

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It's a little different here in America than it is in some other nations. And then I have the ten common human fears of the entire planet, okay.

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What do you think the number one fear would be? You're public speaking.

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Oh, I know that one. I'm so nervous. I'm so... All right, so I'm going to start in number ten, okay, one being the highest, okay.

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And we'll see if any of these fears hit you this morning, all right. Fear of birds.

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I thought, that one's kind of weird, you know, but you ever had a bird swoop down on you? Fear of flying,

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I can understand that one. Fear of the dark. I bet you there might be some people in here with that one.

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Number seven was fear of public speaking, so that one's definitely on there. But what's surprising that beat that one out is fear of clowns, fear of clowns.

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They can be a little creepy, can't they, okay. This is one that I have definitely fear of needles.

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I don't like to get shots or to have blood drawn. Fear of confined spaces, claustrophobia.

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I've felt that one before. This is probably one of my wife's number one fears.

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Fear of the dentist was number three, fear of the dentist. Sorry if there's any dentist in here this morning.

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Second most common fear of Americans, fear of heights. And then number one fear, fear of snakes, okay.

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Guarantee if one went slithering through your aisle you would probably jump up and scream, I'm guessing, maybe run out of here, okay.

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Now this is the more broad scope of the human experience, okay.

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So this was my second list that came up as I googled this. And I'll start with number ten.

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Number ten, fear of getting old. Number nine, fear of being poisoned.

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This one's interesting. Fear of being a coward was number eight. Fear of fear, I guess. I don't know.

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My son would get in on this one, fear of germs. Number six, fear of going crazy.

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Number five, fear of intimacy, getting close to someone. Number four was fear of spiders.

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And it's interesting they included rats, cockroaches, monsters, and demons. All under number four.

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Number three, fear of public speaking. Okay, there it is again. Number two, which it's interesting that didn't make the

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American top ten, fear of death. Fear of death is number two. And the number one most common fear is fear of loneliness, fear of being alone.

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What we're going to look at, Psalm 91, we'll read this together if you would go ahead and open up your word or your device.

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Psalm 91 addresses this topic of fear. My wife and I have been memorizing this

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Psalm on our walks, and it's took some work because there's like, what, 16 verses.

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And I told Cheryl to be ready because she's going to come up and do an interpretive dance while quoting

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Psalm 91. I tried to get her to do that, and she's not into it for some reason.

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I think it would have been beautiful, don't you guys? Follow along with me as we read through Psalm 91.

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He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the

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Almighty. I will say of the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom

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I trust. For he will deliver you from the snare of the follower and from the deadly pestilence.

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He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

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You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

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A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

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You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the

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Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you.

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No plague come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

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On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

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Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name.

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When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue and honor him.

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With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."

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Isn't that beautiful? All these beautiful word pictures and titles of who God is in this psalm and it's been a blessing for me just to camp out in the psalm for a while and soak in some of these beautiful names of God.

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And we are talking about fearless living. And that comes from verse 5.

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Look at that just for a moment. These beautiful words, you will not fear the terror of the night.

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You will not fear. But we know all too well that feeling of fear, don't we?

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But it's my prayer today as we gain a deeper revelation of who

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God is, is that we will learn and understand what to do when that fear arises.

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Because they definitely will. We live in a fearful world. This actually,

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I think, lists some more serious fears than what were definitely on our list.

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You know, I mean, come on if you're a dentist, okay. That's for your good, right? But this talks about the plague and the destruction and the arrow.

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If this was written in 2019, it would say the bullet that flies in the day instead of the arrow.

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But God, He clearly wants to be our shield and defender. And so I'm excited about exploring this together.

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I would like to pray and then we will spend some time in worship. So let's pray together. Father, we just thank you for who you are and this beautiful psalm that we just read.

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Lord, and the promises that you make as far as what kind of a father you can be in our lives and what you can help us through and protect us through.

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And Father, it clearly says in this psalm that you will be with us in troubles.

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It doesn't say we won't go through troubles, Lord. And you know that we do and we go through hard things,

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Lord. And I know even this morning some of our brothers and sisters here this morning are going through some hard things and facing very hard things,

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Lord. And I just pray, we pray together that you would help us through these difficulties,

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Lord, that many are facing. Lord, surgery is coming up. Father, for your protection in that.

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I pray that we could know you in deeper ways and just gain more peace in walking with you,

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Lord. And I pray that you will show us some beautiful things from Psalm 91 today. Father, I pray now as we sing your praises that our minds could be focused on who you are and that these songs would minister to us and to you,

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Lord, as we sing your praises together. We love you and thank you this morning in Jesus' name.

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Amen. Thank you, team, for that beautiful praise music.

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First time Cheryl and I visited Recast was, let's see, we're 10 years old. So that was about nine years ago in the storefront, little thing over on Red Arrow.

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And we loved it from the very first time we came. We just knew, wow, this is home.

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And I remember meeting David and I said, you know what, you're the sweet psalmist, David. And so that's who he is to me,

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David the sweet psalmist. Thank you, David, for that. I'm so glad that Pastor Don and his family are getting a break.

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If you know anything about a pastor's role, I think it's one of the toughest jobs on this earth.

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My son -in -law is a pastor. I have many friends who are pastors. And the things that they see and the things that they enter into just have a way of really, really wearing you out and beating you down.

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And so we are so thankful that Don and Linda can be away on vacation and then for their four -week sabbatical.

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And as a church family, I would just really encourage you all to be praying for them, that it is a time of rest and renewal and that Pastor Don comes back recharged and ready to go.

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Just a brief word on me, who I am.

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I know I have not met everyone here yet, but it's been my privilege to serve in the ministry of Youth for Christ for the past 32 years, working with some really hurting and struggling teenagers.

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And we get to come every week with the good news of Jesus and show them that they are loved and that there is hope and that they can be in the kingdom of God forever.

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And just seeing young people respond to that is my richest blessing in ministry.

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Also, I can't not say thank you to Recast. You guys are one of our supporting churches, and we really, really appreciate the support of Recast.

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Been married to Cheryl, who was going to do that interpretive dance. It's not too late. For 38 years, we have three beautiful grown children and eight very active, lively, beautiful, sweet grandchildren that keep us hopping a lot.

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And they all live in the area, so we're very thankful and blessed by that as well.

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And I love the Word of God, and it is our daily bread, and I'm excited for Psalm 91.

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I read a psalm every day. That's just one of my practices. That's how I start my morning, by reading in the psalms.

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This morning, I was in Psalm 75 before I came here. And if you're looking for something maybe to do different in the

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Word, perhaps try that. Just start in Psalm 1, and just ask God to speak to you through that, and read that in the morning, and let it get your heart prepared as you come into the presence of God.

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And then Psalm 2. And when I get too long, when I just divide it up, especially Psalm 119, that takes me about five days to go through that one, because I don't want to hurry through it.

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There's so much richness in there. Will you pray with me as we dive into the

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Word of God this morning? Father, we thank you, and we love you, and just thank you for those beautiful songs that we got to sing, that we don't have to carry these heavy burdens that often come upon us, that we can come to you.

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You said, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. And we thank you so much.

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Again, we know there's some heavy burdens here, even this morning, and even now would be a beautiful time to offer those up to you,

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Lord, in the prayer of our hearts. And just thank you that you promised that you will give us rest, and I praise you for that.

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And we pray that you would just bless Don and Linda and their family with a really good day today,

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Lord, and pray that in the next five weeks that are left for their time away, they would find that rest in you, that they would be renewed and refreshed,

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Lord, when they come back. And now thank you for this psalm, and Lord, my prayer is that you will show us your beauty and your glory as we look at this psalm this morning, in Jesus' holy name, amen, amen.

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Feel free to get up and get coffee, you know, especially if I'm starting to put you to sleep, please go get more coffee, okay?

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You can get up and stretch if you have to. I'm sure there's donuts left.

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We're kind of low in numbers today, so there should be plenty of those, so help yourself at any time.

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So open up to Psalm 91 if you're not already there, and I'm kind of going to go through this chapter, not so much in sequence as you'll see, but we're going to look at every verse in this psalm.

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But I want to start out by looking at Psalm 14, or Psalm 14, sorry, there we go,

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Psalm 91 verse 14. And this is God speaking, so obviously we know this is

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God's word, but you see the quotation mark here? The prophet heard

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God speak these words, that would be awesome, like a voice from heaven, says, because God is speaking, because he holds fast to me in love,

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I will deliver him, I will protect him, because he knows my name, because he knows my name.

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I want to say at the beginning that all the beautiful promises in Psalm 91 hinge on this one verse.

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And this verse is talking about a close, intimate relationship.

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God says, because he, because she has known my name. And you know this word is full of beautiful names and titles of God, from Genesis to Revelation, this is our deepest revelation of who

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God is. In each name, in each title, in each word picture teaches us more of who our

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Father is, and the more of we know our Father in these ways, the more we're going to be blessed, the more we're going to be at peace, the more we're going to be filled with hope and meaning in our lives.

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And in this Psalm, there are 13 different names, titles, and word pictures of who

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God is, in this one Psalm. Let me just read through my list, and then we're going to go through them one at a time and kind of look at a little bit deeper what each of these names mean.

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He is the Most High, verse 1. He is the Almighty, verse 1. He is the

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Lord, the Great I Am, verses 2 and 9. He is my refuge, verse 2, 4 and 9.

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He is my fortress, verse 2. He is my God, verse 2. He is a safe shelter that protects us from the scorching sun, verse 1.

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He is the rescuer who frees us from the enemy's traps, verse 3. He is like a mother hen protecting her chicks, verse 4.

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He is a shield protecting his people, verses 4 through 8. He is the commander of the angel army, sending them out to help his people, verses 11 and 12.

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He is the body armor of his people, verses 4, 13 and 14.

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He is an ever -present help in time of need, verse 15. I'd say that's a pretty beautiful list, amen?

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Isn't that beautiful? That's who our Father in heaven is. That's who our dad is when we're his kids.

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The first name I want to look at is found in verse 1 and verse 9. Let's read that verse together.

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It says, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the

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Almighty. The first name that we encounter here is this name, Most High.

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In the Hebrew, it's Elyon. Now some of these Hebrew words I can say, and if I think

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I can say them, I'm going to try to say them. I have this awesome program on my computer that has a

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Hebrew and Greek dictionary, and you click on the word and it actually says it in the original language.

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But what I found is even when I try to say them right, if you know Hebrew or Greek, you'll be like,

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Bill really messed that one up. So some of them I'm not even going to try to guess on, but we've heard this one perhaps,

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Elyon. It's one of God's more common names that He is known by, the

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Most High. In this Hebrew word, it speaks of elevation. It speaks of something that is very lofty and high, and it came to be known as the

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Supreme One. A really cool book, if you're looking for a book on the names of God, is

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Praying the Names of God by Anne Spangler. And in her book, she says this of the name

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Most High. When applied to God, the term Elyon means highest or exalted one.

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It emphasizes that God is the highest in every realm of life. This speaks of God's power,

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His mercy, and sovereignty that cannot be matched. God is above all.

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He is above all that we are going through. He rules over all. We can fear less because our

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Father is the Most High, and He is greater than all, and He is sovereign over all, and He is sovereign over what we are going through, and He will lead and guide us through it.

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As our 13th word picture of God is, He is an ever -present help in times of trouble.

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Number two, we can fear less because He is the Almighty, also found in verse one, talking about abiding under the shadow of the

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Almighty. You may have heard this Hebrew word in a song. Amy Grant, years ago, came up,

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I think the song was entitled El Shaddai. Shaddai is the name for Almighty.

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I looked it up in the Hebrew dictionary, and it had a one -word definition for Almighty.

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Guess what it was? Almighty. So that name means exactly what it said.

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I guess that's a really good translation there. But this speaks of God as being the most powerful one.

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It also points to God as being the all -sufficient one, all -powerful one, all -sufficient one.

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It speaks of God who can do the impossible, that He is a God of wonders and miracles, and that nothing is too hard for Him.

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You know, I remember growing up back in my neighborhood, a lot of us boys, our dads, kind of, you know, it's not like it is today where so many children, man, they are without a dad in their life.

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But pretty much all my neighborhood buddies, you know, we all had our dads still around, you know, and I remember arguing with each other who dad could beat up, you know, whose dad, and the different things that our dads could do.

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I don't know if any of you ever did that when you were little, but as you get older, then you're like, my dad isn't really that much at all.

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But anyway, man, our Father in heaven, right? He can take on anybody.

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He is the Almighty. Nothing is too hard for Him. Nothing you are currently going through is too hard for Him.

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And as the Sovereign One, the All -Knowing One, He is fully aware of what we are going through.

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And so we can fear less by knowing that our Father in heaven is the

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Almighty One. Number three, you can fear less because He is the Lord, the

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Great I Am. Look at verse two. I will say to the

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Lord, my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Anytime you see

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Lord in capital letters, that means it's the personal Old Testament name of God.

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It came out of Exodus 3 .14 from the burning bush when Moses said, as I go back into Egypt, who should

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I tell them sent me? And God said, I am who I am. Tell them

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I am has sent you. That is the meaning of the name Yahweh or Jehovah.

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We are not even sure the proper pronunciation of this sacred name because there were no vowels in this name.

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And in the Jewish culture, this name was so sacred that they would substitute the word

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Adonai or Lord when they would read the text with Yahweh's name in it because they felt unworthy to say

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His name. Aren't you glad we are not under Old Testament times? Under the new covenant, we have this nearness to God where He says, don't just call me

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Yahweh, call me Father. What a closeness we can have because of Jesus and what

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He has done. But this word, this name Yahweh, Hebrew scholars kind of land on that one.

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You've heard the alternative Jehovah, also for this sacred name of God.

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But it has the idea of the self -existent or eternal one. In the book, every name of God in the

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Bible, Larry Richard says this of the name Yahweh. God is not merely self -existent.

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As Yahweh, He is present with His people. In essence, the name revealed God as the one who is always present with His people.

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The immediate literary context of the revelation of God's name as Yahweh then leads us to understand and to translate that name as the one who is always present.

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I like that. He is the one who is always present. Psalm 139,

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He sees us every moment. He sees our every move. I just read the other day that He hears our every sigh.

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And it talks in the Psalms about our tears being stored up in a bottle.

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He is fully aware of all that we are going through. We can fear less because He is the ever -present one, the eternal one, the great

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I Am, who is all His people could ever need. This is who

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He is. He is fully aware of us and our struggles. When I learned this truth,

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I learned I can be totally honest with my Father about my struggles. I am not hiding anything from Him.

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He knows it inside and out. I talk to Him about everything, things that I would be embarrassed to talk to other people about.

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But He loves us, and He sees us, and He knows anyway. And He is the one who can transform it, right?

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He is the one that can change that in us, and He keeps loving us with that perfect love, like the devoted parent who will never stop loving their child because they are messing up.

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He continues to love us, and He says, I can help you with that, my child. I can help you with that if you will trust me.

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Why won't you talk to me about this? Why won't you ask me for help? Number four, we can fear less because He is our refuge.

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Whenever I have the young men that I minister with, and I love to hear the teens read the

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Word of God, and I love to hear, I love to ask them, what do you think God is saying here? What's He trying to tell us?

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And the beautiful things that they will see. But whenever they read this Word, they always say

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God is our refugee because it's got that E on the end, right? Okay? And you know what?

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You think of a refugee, and you're kind of starting to get the picture of what this word means.

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A refugee is fleeing from somewhere that is dangerous, somewhere that is bad, and they're seeking refuge.

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They're seeking a safe place where they can live in peace and have all of their needs met.

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And God says, I will be your refuge. And this word in the

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Hebrew, it means a shelter. It means a refuge. And it's also translated trust, which is kind of interesting.

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This place of trust, this place of safety. I looked up this word in the dictionary.

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You know, we're learning God's Word. Word is important because if we don't understand what the word means, we're going to miss the deep meaning in it.

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And so I looked it up in Webster's, and it said shelter or protection from danger, distress, or difficulty.

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Shelter from distress and difficulty. I'm hoping none of you are currently living in danger, but that might not be true either.

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Someone could be here living under the oppression of an abusive spouse.

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But God says, come to me. I'll be your refuge. I'll be that safe place where you can find rest and your needs can be met.

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I will lead you out of this storm of life. He says, come to me in the storms of life.

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I will shelter you. I will help you through. Jesus spoke to that storm.

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He said, peace be still. And there was a great calm. Can't tell you how many times through the years that I've come into his presence with such a troubled heart, especially when

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I first started walking with him. And he was pulling me out of the darkness of my old life.

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And my heart would get so troubled. And I would just find a quiet place and come into this refuge and talk to my father, my

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Lord, about what I'm going through. And asking for his help and opening his word.

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And all of a sudden, the hope would come in. And the peace and the assurance that my child,

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I will help you through this. We are going to get through this together because he is our refuge.

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Number five, he is a fortress. Wow. Think of that one for a minute.

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What comes to your mind when you hear this word fortress? In Hebrew, it's masud.

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And I think I'm saying that correctly. Masud. It sounded just like that. I listened to it this morning. If you're thinking like a castle with really thick stone walls, stone blocks, you're thinking in the right manner.

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One of the definitions was a castle for this word refuge.

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A defense, a fortress, a stronghold, a strong place. This word is used in Psalm 31 too.

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Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.

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A strong fortress to save me. Coming under his shelter, under his protective hand.

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I don't know about you, but you know, we live in a crazy world, don't we? It's dangerous out there, really.

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For some more than others. But I pray every morning, never miss,

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I pray protection over my entire family, name by name. I'm praying

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God will protect them and keep them safe from harm and evil because I know that he is a fortress.

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A fortress is a fortified place. It's a place where we are safe from the enemy.

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Look at Psalm 61 with me. Turn there for a moment. Keep your finger in Psalm 91.

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And see, for those of you using your device, you can bookmark that, can't you? Right? I hope. Okay, because we're going to come right back to it.

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I'm old school. I just like having the book in my hand. Psalm 61, verses 1 through 3, we find these beautiful words.

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Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth,

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I call to you. When my heart is faint, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

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For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

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A strong tower against the enemy. I know that some of you have felt the enemy's attacks in your life.

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And I would say that all of you have felt the enemy's attacks in your life. But maybe you haven't identified yet that that is coming from our enemy.

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There is a spiritual war raging upon this earth.

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And I believe that we're getting closer and closer to the return of Christ.

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And things are going to become even more intense. And Satan and this demonic host.

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Man, if you're trying to live for the Lord, he's going to come against that. I have young people tell me, since I asked

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Jesus in my life, it's only got harder. What is going on? It's because you have entered into a spiritual warfare and the enemy is attacking you.

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He does not want you connecting with Christ. He does not want you shining as a light in this dark world.

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And he's going to do all he can to oppress you and depress you and keep you quiet.

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So that you're not speaking that powerful name of Jesus. But our God, he says,

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I am your fortress. Come to me. I will shield you. When you feel that oppression coming upon you.

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When you feel the enemy beating down on you. When you feel that darkness coming upon you.

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You have to flee to your fortress. You have to flee to your God. To your

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Father. To your mighty Savior. And he will shield you and help you through.

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He will help you to be ready to go back out into the field, so to speak. To shine that light.

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He is a mighty fortress. He is our fortress. And he is our

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God. Number six. We find in verse two, the word God. And then back to Psalm 91.

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It speaks of him being my God. And I like how this is all made so personal.

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He says, my refuge. My fortress. My God in whom

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I trust. And this is the word Elohim in the Hebrew. Genesis 1 .1.

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In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth. And this name

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Elohim, it speaks to his creative power. His authority.

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His ownership. And his sovereignty. Again, he is God. And he is holding it.

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He is holding this entire creation together. He is keeping our earth in its orbit around the sun.

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Which just boggles my mind how we're spinning right now. And not feeling dizzy. But he holds it all together.

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He can hold our life together because he is God. Oftentimes we feel like our life is falling apart.

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But he's the one who can hold it together as we trust in him.

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Number seven. He is a shelter that protects us from the scorching sun. Look at verse one.

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He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

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Anybody out in the sun this week? Yeah? Didn't take long to feel that scorching sun, right?

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Like, oh my word, I am so hot. I want to get in some shade, right?

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Okay? So this is a beautiful word picture. In a land where the sun can be oppressive and dangerous, that was the

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Bible lands. Okay? Even here in Michigan, it can be that way.

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A shadow was understood as a metaphor for care and protection. For care and protection.

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Getting out of that scorching heat. Psalm 63. Oh God, you are my

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God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you.

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As in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Wow. Don't we live in a dry and weary land?

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Like people are so thirsty for something real and meaningful, and they don't even know they're thirsting for God.

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Because he put that thirst within us. How we need to come and sit under his shade and let him refresh and renew us.

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And he is the one who can quench that thirst in our soul. That your spouse can't quench.

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Your best friend can't quench. Money can't quench. A drug, alcohol, nothing can quench that thirst for God that he has put within us, but he can.

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Number eight, we can fear less because he is a rescuer who frees us from the enemy's traps.

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Look at verse three. Psalm 91. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.

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Oh, okay. Wow. What in the world is a fowler, right? Somebody hitting a bunch of foul balls.

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Man, you are such a fowler. You need to learn how to hit better. No, no. That's someone who traps birds, okay?

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Someone who is catching birds. And this is going to be carried out into verse four also when it talks about us being under the wings of God.

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But who is this fowler? This fowler, this one who is seeking to trap us because it's talking about us.

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This is our enemy, Satan. And he seeks to snare us and to trap us.

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Jesus said that he is the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. It speaks about the deadly pestilence.

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He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. What in the world is the deadly pestilence?

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Whatever it is. I don't want it, right? It doesn't sound very good, does it? Deadly pestilence.

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Anybody want that? No, thank you. Okay. I think that it's talking about the lies of the enemy.

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That his lies may sound really good, but they are a deadly pestilence.

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When they get into our souls and into our hearts, they can poison us on the inside.

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Here's some of his deadly pestilence. Take this pill and all your troubles will be forgotten.

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Drink this. You'll feel better. Just drink some more of that. If it makes you feel good, it must be okay.

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There's no harm. It's just an image. You're not hurting anyone.

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That's the deadly pestilence, the lies of the enemy that get in. One of my close friends, her son believed the lie just like I did that, oh, marijuana, man, that stuff is great.

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Oh, it'll make you feel so good. It's cool. It'll relax you. And that's how he started. In his 20s, it led him down this dark path, and he stuck that needle in his arm, and he shot up, and he never, he went to bed and never woke up.

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Killed him in his 20s. That's the deadly pestilence. The enemy's stinking lies that he comes against us with.

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Well, he's the one who can free us from the enemy's traps. My question to you this morning is a very personal question.

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Is there something you need to be set free from? He can do it.

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He can do it. I know he can. He can break that chain. He can free you from the enemy's traps.

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He can help you to say no to that deadly pestilence. I know because of what he has brought me through.

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And you have seen what he can do, even in your own lives. Number nine, we can fear less because he is like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

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Now this is, this is a really interesting one. Okay, because when you think about what

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God is comparing himself to, here is quite, quite amazing. I like what

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Charles Spurgeon said about God being compared to a mother hen taking care of her chicks.

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And if you ever want to do a deeper study on the Psalms, The Treasury of David is an awesome resource.

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Spurgeon did a commentary on the Psalms and he took all the best commentaries of his day and compiled them in this incredible study of the

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Psalms. And this, this is what Charles Spurgeon said about this word picture of God being this mother hen.

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It is a wonderful expression. Had it been invented by uninspired man, it would have verged upon blasphemy.

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For who should dare to apply such words to the infinite Jehovah? But as he himself authorized, yea, dictated the language, we have here a transcendent condensation, such as it becomes us to admire and adore.

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Doth the Lord speak of his feathers as though he likened himself to a bird?

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Who will not see herein a matchless love, a divine tenderness which should both woo and win our confidence?

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Even as a hen covereth her chicks, so doth the Lord protect the souls which dwell in him.

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Let us cower down beneath him for comfort and for safety. Hawks in the sky and snares in the field are equally harmless when we nestle so near the

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Lord. My neighbor used to have chickens and he had a little chicken coop and he had the top with chicken wire, you know, so they couldn't fly out or whatever.

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And my grandkids, they used to love to go look at those chickens. So I would take them over there and we'd pick grass and throw it in and they would, they'd eat the grass, they'd eat anything you throw in there almost.

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And my grandkids, they thought that was the funniest thing. And I remember we went over there to see the chickens and there were some little baby chicks in the coop.

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And we're watching them and all of a sudden the mother hen, she kind of starts clucking funny like, right?

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And she raises up her wings like this and all the little chicks just come running right to her side and she goes, boom, like that and hides them.

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I'm like, what is going on? Because she didn't do that when we came. She wasn't afraid of us. I looked up in the sky and there was a hawk circling that mother hen, right?

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She called her chicks in under his wings. That's a beautiful picture. God says, I know you're being attacked.

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I know you're oppressed. I know you're depressed. Come under my wings.

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Seek your shelter in me. Seek healing in me. He can heal us up. He cares for us like a mother chicken would care for her chicks.

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I found that one really amazing. Verse four, we can fear less because he is a shield protecting his people.

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Psalm 33, but you, O Lord, are a shield about me. Psalm 28, 7, the

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Lord is my strength and my shield. Back in the day of this, no soldier would dare go out into battle without their shield.

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It protected them from the arrows of the enemy and the spears. And God says,

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I will be your shield as you walk through life. This is a picture of you going through your day. A refuge is where you kind of get away from the storm and find that quiet place.

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But a shield is where you raise it up because you're being attacked and the enemy comes at you.

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In Jesus' name, I say no to this. And you raise up that shield.

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Number 11, we can fear less because he is the commander of the angel army, sending them out to help his people.

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God has a vast army of angels. We don't think about this very often, but they are active on this earth.

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One of the names for God is Lord of Hosts. And that word host in the army, it means, or in the army, in the

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Hebrew, it means an army. And God has this powerful angelic army and he sends out his angels.

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Hebrews 1 .14 says, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

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I've heard some incredible stories of God's angels protecting people.

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I wish I had time to share a couple of with you, but I don't. But this should suffice.

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Psalm 34 .7, the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.

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I wonder how many times we've been helped by angels and we didn't even know it. Because you know what?

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They can look just like an ordinary person. Did you know that? It tells us in Hebrews, be careful how you treat strangers.

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They might be an angel. You never know. We can fear less because he is the ultimate body armor for his people.

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I find that in verse 4, where he is called, his faithfulness is our shield and buckler.

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This word buckler, if you looked up in a dictionary, a buckler would be a smaller type shield.

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But in the Hebrew, it talked about a shield that goes all the way around us.

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In the New American Standard, it translates it a bulwark. A bulwark was a protective wall around someone.

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The New Living Translation says this, your armor and protection for that word buckler.

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Ephesians 6 .11 tells us to put on the whole armor of God. And this armor is so effective.

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Look at this armor of God. And I call it body armor because of Romans 14, where it says, put on, but put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Like be clothed with him. He is our body armor.

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And this armor is powerful. The reason the

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Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3 .18. Romans 16 .20,

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the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. And look at how this armor covers us.

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Verse 5, you will not fear the terror of the night. I've felt that before. Remember, just waiting for the sun to come up.

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Nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

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A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. Only with your eyes will you see the recompense of the wicked, because you have made the

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Lord your dwelling place, the Most High who is my refuge. No evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

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On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash, strike your foot against the stone.

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You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion, and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

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What a word picture. The lion. It says in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8, the devil is compared to a roaring lion whom he is seeking to devour.

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In Revelation 12, we find Satan referred to as the serpent.

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And it says that with God by our side, with God shielding us, we can trample upon the enemy.

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This doesn't mean that I can stomp the enemy out. It means I can trample on his lies and his attacks and say

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I will not give in to that in Jesus' name. I will stand with my God.

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We don't have to walk in fear. Number 13, we can fear less because he is an ever -present help in time of need.

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Verses 15 and 16. It says when he calls, I will answer him.

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I will be with him in trouble. It doesn't say you won't go through trouble. He says

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I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him.

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Psalm 46, 1. God is our refuge and strength, very present help in trouble.

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This is who our God is. Because we know his name is the Most High, the

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Almighty, because he is Yahweh the Lord, the Ever -Present, Eternal One, the Great I Am, our refuge, our fortress, our

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God, our shelter from the scorching sun, our rescuer from the traps of the enemy, our protector who shelters us under his wings, because he is the commander of the angels, because he is our armor, our mighty warrior, because he is an ever -present help, we don't have to live in fear.

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We don't have to let the fear consume us and dictate how we're going to live our lives.

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But all of this is found in a close relationship with God. You could have the knowledge of who he is in your head.

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You could know every name of God in the Bible and yet not experience the comfort and protection of Psalm 91 because this is promised to those who are in relationship with him.

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This is the key to all of these promises. Verse 14.

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God says because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him.

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I will protect him because he knows my name. Oh, this one that I'm talking about,

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God says, is my child. They have that relationship through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

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They've received his forgiveness and they are children of God. They have the relationship.

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Now he says those who are holding fast to me in love. And this word for love here in the

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Hebrew is not the normal word that is used for love. In fact, I could not find it anywhere else. I looked it up and it said to hold to tightly.

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Okay, it's kashak. It means to cleave to, to hold to.

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The Nelson study Bible said this, the verse used here for love, usual Hebrew word for love.

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It has the idea of holding close to, even holding tightly in love.

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That's the kind of relationship God is seeking. He wants us to have a close relationship.

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And that means us seeking that relationship. He has done everything to make it possible.

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It's as we grow in our awareness of who he is and how to walk with him in our daily lives that we will experience fearless living, or maybe perhaps even fearless living.

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And so I just challenge all of us, myself included, to take that time every day to meet with our

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Father, with our Savior, with our Lord, to be learning who he is, learning how to connect with him.

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As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5 .17, to learn how to pray without ceasing, to walk with him throughout our day.

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And we could say as the psalmist of old, yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

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I will fear no evil for thou art with me. I don't have to fear when

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I'm with my Father. He's got, he's got us. He loves us. We're going to celebrate communion together this morning.

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And Jesus, he made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could know this awesome

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God of Psalm 91, where he gave his body broken on that cross, and he allowed his blood to be poured out for our forgiveness.

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And he said, he said, take this bread in remembrance of me.

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This is my body broken for you. And he said, take this cup in remembrance of me and what

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I have done for you, in remembrance of the shed blood that he poured out to us.

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This is a weekly reminder for us here at Recasted, and I love that we do it every week because it constantly reminds me of the ultimate price that he paid for me and how much he dearly loves us that he should pay such a price.

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So let's celebrate that love together. We have the communion in the back corners.

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Just feel free to go up and bring it back to your seat and talk with the

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Lord, and we will celebrate that together. This is for believers who have made that commitment, and Jesus Christ is in your life.

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If you have not made that commitment, I would love to talk to you more about it. Any of our elders or our brothers or sisters here, please, if you have questions about that, please let us know.

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We would love to talk with you and pray with you. Feel free to remain in your seat. Of course, this is, no one feel obligated to get up and partake of it, okay?

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It's between you and the Lord. Let me pray, and we'll celebrate communion.

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Father, just, there is so much in that Psalm, Lord, and I feel like I just kind of scratched the surface, but I just wanted all of us to see who you are, just in that one

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Psalm, and who you can be in our lives, and I pray that we could know you in these powerful ways, that we could know that you are ever -present, and that we can shelter in you,

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O Lord. We love you, and just thank you for loving us, and thank you for the ultimate price paid at the cross for our forgiveness, and we celebrate your salvation this morning through this communion time.

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Lord, just, we love you, and we praise you, and thank you for these gifts this morning.