Fear that Quells Our Fears

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Well message this morning is taken from Psalm 91 it'll be for this week and next week

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You know, I don't realize I haven't been up here for a while They were supposed to remain seated during the hymn so we can stand for the reading of God's Word So my apologies, but you must stand again the reading of God's Word Psalm 91

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He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty I will say to the

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Lord my refuge in my fortress my God in whom I trust For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler 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 a buckler

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

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Thousand may fall at your side ten thousand your right hand, but it will not come near you You will only look with your eyes to see the recompense of the wicked

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Because of you because you have made the Lord your dwelling place the Most High who is my refuge

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No evil shall be allowed to befall you. No plague shall come near your tent For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways on their hands

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They will bear you up unless 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 when he calls to me.

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I will answer him I'll be with him in trouble our rescue rescue him and honor him with long life

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I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. God bless the reading and now the proclamation of his word.

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Please be seated Psalm 91 What a beautiful psalm.

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This is what a strengthening word from God This is what an appropriate psalm this is in these times of unrest these times it can cause so much fear within people

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Including God's people if we're honest these times where so many things are happening Some seen and some unseen just as this psalm will address for us

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Psalm 91 is our topic for this morning and this morning be just verses 1 & 2 and Then next week

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God willing when I come here again in the afternoon come to this pulpit again in the afternoon

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We will be able to go into some of the more specific things that God says he's going to watch over his people against CH Spurgeon wrote of this psalm in the whole collection

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There is not a more cheering psalm. Its tone is elevated and sustained throughout faith is at its best and speaks nobly

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And the great Puritan Matthew Henry wrote of this psalm That because the promises of the psalm apply to Christ Jesus our

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Lord and come to us through him They are more sweet and sure to all believers

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So in a collection of precious gems, which is the Psalter Psalm 91 stands out with this glittering beauty that demands our attention and most especially demands our attention in these days of turbulence and Uncertainty and danger in This psalm we find encouragement for the ebbs and flows of life in this psalm

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We are reminded of God's self -made commitment to his people that he is a veil of protection that meets the need of the moment

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It is as Derek Kidner Kidner put it versatile individual and miraculous

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Like Romans chapter 8 verse 38 where the Apostle Paul lists the many perils we face and all the possible things that could move us away

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From God he concludes that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

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Lord And so also Psalm 91 leaves no stun stone unturned

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That could reveal a danger of which God is unaware of which God is unconcerned and against which

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God will not take action a Psalm for danger a psalm for times of uncertainty a psalm for dangers behind and dangers before for dangers seen dangers sneaking it's a bulwark that quells our fears in times of danger and uncertainty times of kovat and all its variants times of inflation and the unrest that it causes

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Times where every other week on the news we read about some maniac with an assault weapon Killing people for no other reason than to kill them

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And how do we quell our fear? Beyond just admitting that sometimes these things cause fear in us.

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We are failure fear is quelled by the fear of the Lord You know, what do you fear how about those things that I just mentioned that I just listed inflation economic uncertainty

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Danger in the streets people with guns that don't know how to use them or will use them wrongly kovat monkey pox and what's next

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God only knows only Jesus knows tomorrow Psalm 91 Psalm 91 is a word that prepares us

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For that which only Jesus knows which is tomorrow so like a strong three three -fold cord

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There are three verses working in this psalm in concert and The first and this is my own

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Appellation for it. The first is in verses 1 3 through 9 a and then 10 to 13

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The majority of the text go to this first voice, which I have labeled and Lord willing You'll understand why as we go through this the choir.

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I Label the choir to have most of the text of this song and then there's one who

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I label the hero And again, God willing you'll understand why I have labeled him so but he speaks very little this hero

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He speaks in verse 2 and he speaks in the first half of verse 9 It's gonna be the second half of verse 9 and the third voice in the last three verses of the psalm is the

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Lord God So our message this morning or this afternoon is the first two verses

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Where we hear from the choir and we hear from the hero and though the Lord does not speak Yet all the attention is where it must be and should be and always has to be which is on him on the

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Lord God First one is the choirs and again

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Lord willing you understand why I've called them this But it's he who dwells in the shelter of the

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Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty So what is the choir's purpose the choir's purpose is to encourage the hero to keep himself under God's care

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Could think of Joshua we could think of David going out at the head of the army leaving the camp to meet an enemy perhaps the

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Amalekites or the Moabites or whomever is trying to attack and do harm to God's people and Think of it this way where the people are lined up on either side and here's

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Joshua at the head of the army going out to meet this enemy and here's these people taking the part of what

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I'm calling the choir and Calling out to him and reminding him that he who dwells in the shelter of the

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Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty The leader then turns and gives an answer that he will indeed

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Put all his hope and all his trust in the Lord God as he goes into the dangers

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For the benefit of the people who are sending him off Yeah Excuse me

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There are in these first two verses Four names of God will probably take most of our time with these like so we'll come back to the rest of the psalm on Another Sunday God willing there's four names of God in these two verses and each one is saying something different About the

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God whose protection never fails Now the first of these names is the

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Most High He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High as Elion or El Elion in the

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Hebrew and Elion or El Elion the Most High tells of God's transcendent majesty of his otherness of his being there and not here of his

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Inaccessibility if you will it's a name that first appears in Genesis 14 You can read that for homework this afternoon if you like but in Genesis 14

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Abraham after a successful military adventure not adventure venture meets with this strange figure named

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MacKenzie deck Who comes into the history with no introduction? He has no family.

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No genealogy No history as the author did the Hebrew says he just shows up But we know that he is the priest of the

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Most High God And he's the priest of the Most High God there in what became Jerusalem It's the first time he peers now

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Abraham gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything that he gained in his victory And then he said to his allies

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The other kings who fought with him. I have lifted my hand to the Lord God Most High Elion Possessor of heaven and earth that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours

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Unless you should say I have made Abram rich Elion God Most High the one who is there the one who is not here the one

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Elion who is high and not close Elion may have been on Paul's mind when he wrote in 1st

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Timothy 6 18 that God dwells in unapproachable light Melchizedek's entrance helps to confirm.

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This is so odd. It's so strange. He just shows up But Melchizedek was according to Hebrews 7 3 without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning or days

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Nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God. He continues a priest forever He's a mysterious figure that corresponds to this unapproachable majesty that is

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El Elyon and yet We can approach this

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God Most High This Elyon who is so high as to be unattainable unapproachable

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They're not here other and not like us so Different and so far we can approach this

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God Now, how can we dwell with him? Who's so different? So other so far so incomprehensible as to Be that kind of a

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God how so? Because Jesus has made him known to us Jesus Christ according to John 1 18 he

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God the Son who took on flesh He has made God known to us

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The actual word there in the gospel in the original Greek is he exegetic God to actually deed is to explain to draw out the meaning of something not to read in but to draw out the meaning is

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Jesus Christ who draws out for us the meaning of what it is to be Who God is and what

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God has done for his people? Because of Jesus Even this unapproachable

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El Elyon this God Most High this God most different this God most far away draws near to even sinners such as us

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El Elyon unapproachable They're not here and yet in Jesus Christ With us and not there

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The second name is Almighty He's the Almighty and that's El Shaddai many of us are familiar with this name

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El Shaddai That's his omnipotence his unrestrained power displayed in his eminence his with us

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His power with us his power worked for us.

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This power is unimaginable This is the God who spoke and all that is became this is the

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God who spoke And Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day after he died for our sins

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That's omnipotence. That's unconstrained power. That's power unbounded. That's power beyond imagining

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El Shaddai is the power of God Brought to the needs of men

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El Shaddai The Almighty One who works his power for individuals for peoples and for nations

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It's God Most High who brings his working to bear upon the needs that we have

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Now the names are not related But we're El Shaddai works God's power in the here and now of our lives this idea fits

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Jesus's name Where the angel told? Joseph you shall call him

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Emmanuel Which is translated God with us It was

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El Shaddai who told Abraham walk before me be blameless implicitly promising his divine watch care in his nearness

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So here we have he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High of Elion that unapproachable one

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He who dwells there is in the shadow of the Almighty El Shaddai who works his power to the needs of men

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Here in the on this earth during our lifetimes The choir tells the hero

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Again my name's I hope you understand why I picked them that if he dwells in his shelter, he will abide in his shadow

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Shelter is what lot offered the angels when they came into Sodom And the reason that's the reason why he would sacrifice his daughters to that crowd who came back pounding on his door

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Because a shelter is a sacred place which security cannot be breached or must not be breached

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Anyone given entrance into that shelter has to be protected And this is the word that he uses here

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This is the idea that should come forth in this he abides under shed eyes Shadow in that shelter under his covering a shadow enveloping all who have placed themselves under his guardianship

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So the choir has reminded him of these truths so that his confidence will be bolstered

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His eyes sit on Christ and his success which would be their success would be assured

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Now you might think that El Shaddai which is God's power brought to bear on our needs would be the refuge in El Yon Who's high up would be the shadow?

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Yet our God in all his works and all his person and all his descriptions is but one true and living

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God He's God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit as much as he's El Yon and high and mighty and other and different He's El Shaddai Who is all -powerful and with us

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We don't split God up and the names don't give us different gods. He's all one God one triune

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God And even we who trust God Even we who've known and trusted

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God for a very long time for decades even We need these reminders. Don't we we need these reminders that our confidence is well placed that as we dwell we will abide and We don't just dwell in a place because it feels right to us

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We're dwelling in a place that is a shelter where God has committed himself to our protection to our good

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We dwell under a shadow an enveloping embracing shadow

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Where God knows each one who's under there just like Jesus Christ in John chapter 10 where he knows his sheep

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And we get that picture of the shepherd who watches each sheep coming into that sheepfold Where he's gonna close it up at the end of the at the end of their entrance and guard them

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He's gonna lay and he's gonna be the door to the sheep But he knows each one of the sheep many of us have heard this picture of the

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Middle Eastern Shepherd the ancient Near Eastern Shepherd who takes each sheep and he can pick him up and he recognizes sheep and he checks

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Him for health and takes the birds out of the fur and such like that And that's sort of the picture we have here dwelling under the shadow of El Shaddai That power being brought to bear for your needs

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Because God knowing each one under that shadow just like Jesus knowing each sheep that comes into his fold

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Even we who trust God and have trusted him for many years and have seen his work in our lives and others lives

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We need these Reminders that our confidence in God is well placed

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As Paul says for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for his power of God to salvation for everyone who believes

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Why does he mean by not ashamed? He means that the gospel accomplishes that from which God sent it

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He means that his confidence in the gospel will never do him wrong that the gospel will do that which

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God Promises it will do And we need these reminders. We need this choir in that sense calling out to us reminding us that yes in Christ You're well placed in Christ.

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Your confidence is correct in Christ. Your faith must remain and Christ's promises are all yes, and amen all the

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Word of God is fulfilled in him We need the church. We need our brothers and sisters to be this choir

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Reminding each other that if we dwell in God's protective custody, we do abide steadfast and safe Those are just the first two names

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El yon and should I ll yon and El Shaddai and then the first two metaphors shelter and shadow

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Now the next two come from this one who I've labeled the hero This one who

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I believe is being prepared by the choir for this great feat of arms or some spiritual battle

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Something on behalf of those who are sending him off with these confidences these reminders verse 2

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I Will say to the Lord my refuge in my fortress my God in whom I trust

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Wherever he's about to go. Whatever he's about to do fight a battle like Joshua like David Approach God like the high priest once a year going into the holiest place

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Whatever he's about to do perhaps a preacher a pastor coming up on a pulpit to preach the gospel as your pastors do

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Sunday after Sunday Whatever that great adventure is or great venture is

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He's committed to doing it in full trust and confidence in Christ for without faith is impossible to please him

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So he returns this response I Will say to the

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Lord as I go out on your behalf as I fight this battle for your safety

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As I come to preach the gospel for your good. I will say to the Lord that he is my refuge

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And he is my fortress. He's my God in whom I trust So there we get the third name of God He's Elion he's

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El Shaddai and now he's the Lord he's Yahweh Self -existent the one who has life in himself

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Unchanging Jesus Christ same yesterday today and forever This is the Lord who answers to no one or no thing.

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This is the name of God Revealed to Moses when the Lord came to him to keep his word to Abraham Isaac and Jacob To redeem his people from Egypt and their slavery there

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Nothing can keep Yahweh from keeping his word So the hero promises that he will indeed call upon this faithful Reliable Yahweh this

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God in all his endeavors on their behalf Excuse me

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He says Yahweh is my refuge in my fortress a place to flee. He's a refuge Like the cities in Israel where the manslayer could go if found innocent by the elders there if he's innocent of murder

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He could abide there. His safety had to be guaranteed by the elders of the city according to God's Word.

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That's the refuge He promises that Yahweh will be this for himself as he goes out on their behalf

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Like our him put no confidence in princes nor for help on man depend He will die to dust returning and his purposes shall end and he is my fortress

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My stronghold my very present help in time of need that's psalm 46.

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He's my mighty wall. He is impervious to attack See in Christ is our safety his word guides you in spirit his spirit empowers you

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You know pastor Brian preached last week about grieving the Holy Spirit about the risk of stepping outside the gate of the fortress

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About going away from God's safety and putting your safety into your own hands, which is a foolish move to make

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In the early 1980s, there was a made -for -tv movie called the scarlet and the black It's a true story of Monsignor.

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He will flatter the clarity played by Gregory Peck and This month senior had this whole network for getting

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Jews out of Nazi -controlled, Italy he's Christopher Plummer played

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Herbert Coppola who was the SS officer who wanted to kill Flaherty so he could stop spiriting

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Jews out of there But so long as O 'Flaherty was within the confines of the

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Vatican He was safe Couldn't be touched not by snipers rifle or anything

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So a flowery knowings be watched Gregory Peck with some guys go out and dance and he just let his foot go so Close to the edge, but he couldn't go out by a centimeter

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Well, this is sort of what's like for us To dwell in the shelter of the Most High as long as we dwell and abide within the fold of God's great shepherd of the

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Sheep whose Jesus Christ were safe when we stop dwelling under Elion or abiding in the might of El Shaddai We're in immediate danger

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So Christian men and women Brothers and sisters in the Lord stand or a shadow abide in his shelter avail yourself of the means of grace

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He's given us sit under the preaching of the word study the Word of God yourself pray in the spirit always

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Keep yourself in that protection know what that protection is and know what the dangers are That's all

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Yahweh And the fourth name is Elohim, which is God the name in Genesis in the beginning

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Elohim created But there's a change here He says I'll say to the Lord my refuge in my fortress and what's he going to say to Yahweh to El Shaddai?

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to Elion What will he say what must we say when we step out the door? We prepare to lead our children or our wives and worship

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When I or Conley or Brian presumed to stand here and bring you God's holy and true word

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What must we say when we say what the hero is going to say here? The heroes answer the choir's encouragement my

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God in whom I trust But not just Elohim not my

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Elohim is Elohi It's the possessive form is how Hebrew would change a word to this is mine

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I take possession and this name is the privilege that we have in Jesus Christ Who's the way in the truth of life?

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No one comes to the Father but by him and no one has the right to call God my God But by faith in him

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So Elohim the God who created the heavens and earth to Elohi My God who recreated me by giving me faith to believe in Jesus Christ This is what the

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Lord gained for us on the cross the right to call God my God He said

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I'm ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God Later in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20

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Paul says I've been crucified with Christ is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me the life

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I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Can you hear

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Elohi in there? I live it by faith in my God This God this

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Elion this high and away God El Shaddai this mighty God and I can call him mine

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My protector my shelter my refuge my shadow Because of Jesus Christ Who on the cross bought us that privilege from Elohim to Elohi is so huge Any great endeavor for the

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Lord would do well to begin this way with a chorus of brothers and sisters Singing the truths about the

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Lord our God to those who are going to the front lines and singing to them in Jesus name as They go out in Jesus name

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Charles Spurgeon once said of his church the Metropolitan Tabernacle that his powerhouse was this cadre of Saints who prayed constantly

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Imagine a church that has this kind of prayer Imagine if this church Increased his prayer and his prayers called we're gonna go to prayer in a few moments

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Really? I will end in just a few moments and we will go to prayer together and that is the powerhouse of this church

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Like any church that goes to God in prayer Imagine though If we prayed all the more

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If we prayed with greater intensity if our hands were clenched tighter If our thoughts were more focused among Christ And we prayed every moment the

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Gospels being proclaimed We prayed every moment our brothers and sisters were out in the neighborhood Proclaiming his word to our neighbors if we prayed every moment

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That our brothers were before the Planned Parenthood site in San Jose Imagine what might

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God do? I have no word of God that's gonna tell me he will do this and I guarantee it nothing like that But just let your thoughts go there for a moment if we were that choir calling out to those who are going out in Jesus name for our benefit and Reminding them if you dwell in the shelter of the

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Most High he will abide in the shadow of the Almighty Say to the Lord my refuge in my fortress my

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God He's your God because the Jesus you're going to proclaim if we did something like that.

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I'm not changing anything We do or don't do We can't even be metaphorical

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Brethren, let's pray Let us call out encouragement to those who go out on our behalf Let's remember all the ministries of this church and how hard people work in the physical sense

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But the spiritual work must be at least as much engaged as Imagine just imagine

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If our faithful brothers and sisters who go out on our name in our name Actually heard us and saw us

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How much greater spiritual vitality might they have a brother or sister came up to them afterwards and said, you know

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I prayed for you when you're on the street. I prayed for you and when you were in front of Planned Parenthood I wasn't there and you didn't see me send you off, but I was praying for you.

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Tell me How did it go? What happened? Who did you meet?

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Who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ from your lips and that sort of thing? I want encouragement what an expanding ministry that would be from you to those

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Each Sunday your pastors with your worship team. We sit out on a great spiritual endeavor to bring you the gospel of our

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Lord Jesus Christ We should hear a chorus like this one. We should be reminded of who it is who we represent.

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We should be reminded That we go for your benefit From that study where these sermons are crafted to this pulpit where the

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Gospels proclaimed to you We need to hear the support and encouragement

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You need to give it as much as you need to hear it Our musicians need to hear this sort of encouragement and strengthened word our

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Sunday school teachers Need to hear this from you He who dwells in the shelter of the

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Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty How good it is to be reminded of this so that when fear wells up when we lose our grip on Christ and sink into Self -dependency be it ever so slight when we forget that the

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Lord our God the Lord My God is our refuge in our fortress. This chorus will restore the fear of God and quell all other fears.

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Amen Heavenly Father we thank you for this day of worship that you've given us

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I thank you for like -minded churches. I thank you father for the gospel of Jesus Christ And for the word that you've given us that we can proclaim it be reminded that he is our refuge our fortress

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He is the one who allows us to say my God in whom I trust and because of him

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We go to you in prayer in a few moments. We know father that as we abide in your shelter