If you'd like to turn to Psalm 46 and I'm going to read the passage my husband will
preach from today and thank you, Genio, for that reminder that Jesus wants to impart His
life into each one of us and praise God that His life is abundant life. So Psalm 46, God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear even though
the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its
waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swellings. There is a river whose
streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high. God is
in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her just at the break of dawn, the
nation's rage, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is
with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord who has made desolations
in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spearing
too. He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the
nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our
refuge. Amen.
It's good to be back. It's laid up for a week with a bug and you miss family of God when you're like
that and it's really good to be back in the house of God. I tell you what, without the presence of
God, we're just not the same. Father God, I thank you that we are not without you, that you are with
us and that you are our helper. That anyone who's here today that feels as though they are under
attack, be it in their health or the marriage or whatever. Father God, I'm asking today that you
will confirm to them that you are not only their God, but you will help them. That you will send
help through your power. You will change situations because you love us and you're good to us. Lord,
we just confess, we need no one but you. You are all that we need. We bless you and praise you in
Jesus' name. Okay, here's a passage here that is written to Israel and it's a time where they are,
it's like there is an existential threat and there is an enemy and it says that the enemy
surrounded and it feels like waters are roaring in verse three and they are troubled and it feels
like the mountains are shaking. The passage speaks about wars and it speaks about nations and kingdoms
rising against kingdoms and you know we're living in a time where all that is very, very real to us.
Read about war and we read about trouble and people can perceive that maybe the things that
are going on in the world today are going to get worse and worse and they're going to extrapolate.
In fact, I believe you can make a good argument the Bible says that and so Israel's in this time
where they are feeling surrounded, they are feeling their spiritual, their physical pressures coming
in on them. They are feeling that they are outnumbered, they're feeling overwhelmed and
God comes to Israel and in this time where they feel it's an existential threat, He comes and
gives them this advice. He speaks to them and says be still in verse 10 and know that I am God and
you know when there is a time, be it corporately or individually, where you feel under great pressure,
you feel there are forces around you that could even take you out, that could destroy your mind or
your sense of peace or the powers that are around you just feel overwhelmed. Maybe it's coming against
your family and your marriage or even it could even be a business thing where you feel there are
there are forces, even satanically inspired forces that are overwhelming and that you feel as though
you know you could be moved or you could be destroyed or you could be wiped out. There is
a temptation in all humanity that when that happens that we need to get active and that we need to
become more active and God says to the people at that very moment, He says, He gives them advice,
the very opposite, very difficult for type A personality and He says be still and I believe
it's relevant to not only our lives individually but it's even relevant to you know the spiritual
landscape in our nation because you know if you go into a lot of what I would call mega churches,
you know a lot of mega churches, there is, we've been to those mega churches, there is so much
activity and there is, you know there are smoke machines and everything's loud and you've got to
have a super media presentation and I'm not against all those things but it's like we have to make
sure there's lots of human activity and there's lots of stuff happening, we're going to entertain
the people that I want to tell you, when you're in a place like that nothing much is happening
spiritually. When you see the smoke machine come out I tell you nothing much is going on eternally
because those things happen to mask the fact that God is not speaking, the presence of God is not
speaking, the presence of God is not among us and you see the same thing in Israel where Elijah
comes and he's a man who's hearing from God, he's a man who walks in the presence of God and he just
comes to the top of Mount Carmel and there's a confrontation between the apostate, the thing
that represents God but is not real and the man of God who is real and the man of God is real,
he's very very quiet in his prayer but the things that are not of God that are counterfeit, the
people that are in idolatry and far from God, the Bible says that they're shouting and they're making
lots of noise and then Elijah says God must be asleep so they shout some more and they cut
themselves and they do some things and they put you know horns on and they make a great big display
and the Word of God says but God wasn't there and you know why do they do that? Why were they doing
that? It's because they're trying to create the illusion that God was among them and he wasn't.
Psalm 74 says this, it says,
your enemies roar in the midst of your meeting place, they set up the banalists for signs,
they seem like men who lift up axes among the trees and now they break down its carved work
all at once with axes and hammers so it's like there's a lot of noise going on but the
noise is being made by the ungodly people in the temple.
The noise is being made by the ungodly people in the temple. You know historically
when Israel got this advice to be still they weren't very good at taking it. In Isaiah chapter
30 the people are in decline spiritually they're in decline and they're there everything about the
nation is going down, everything about them is declining and God wants them, he wants to redeem,
he wants to help them, he wants to get them back to the place where they had victory before
and he says to them, he says, the key in returning and rest verse 15 of chapter 30,
you shall be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength but you would not, you said
no for we will flee on horses therefore you shall flee and we will ride on swift horses therefore
those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of
five you shall flee till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain, as a manor on a hill therefore
the God will wait and he'll be gracious to you therefore he will be exalted and he will have mercy
on you. What he's saying is that God is saying to them just return to God, just come back to God
and have confidence in him, have confidence in him in the midst of your problems that God will work
for you, that God will solve things, put your trust in him but you need to return to him and they said
and he said if you do that in confidence and quietness and confidence shall be your strength
internally and externally God will strengthen you when you come and be still and put you to us
but they said no no no we actually got to trust in external things, we're going to trust in human
activities, we have horses, we're going to trust in human strategies to get away from the enemy,
we're going to trust in all our own wisdom and he said because of that rather than be strong
you'll become weak, 1,000 shall flee at the threat of one and at the threat of five you shall flee
so instead of becoming strong through waiting on God and being still they chose human activity and
got weaker and weaker and weaker and God actually says to them and he says I'm going to wait for you
in verse 18, I actually go when you're like that God says I'm going to wait for you till all you're
running and all you're going here and all you're going there and all you're trusting in your own
so I'm going to wait till you till you completely fail and when you fall apart I'm going to be over
here and because I'm so good I'll have mercy upon you and they wouldn't wait and you know we
some of us we face external threats to as I said before maybe your marriage, maybe your health,
maybe your finances there's all sorts of external threats you can be facing and we have the same
temptation when you actually you know Satan could come at your marriage, Satan could come at your
family, Satan could come at your health, Satan can come there can be pressures he can use things of
the world to come at you and you could just feel as though oh my goodness we this could we look
like we're for it you know this looks really really serious and there's a I've seen people
at these times even godly people there's a temptation that they then turn around they
go to every council they can to see about their marriage they go everyone who will speak to them
they go and they they just get busy with human activity and if you're sick you go to every
specialist and every doctor I'm not against doctors but you you start moving you think I have to do
something when you get up you know your business is under threat you think we've got to get many
business coaches in here we're going to put all these things and we're just going to get busy and
all of our human activity we're going to somehow that's somehow going to make a difference and we
start the trouble is we start trusting in the human activity you know it's the same thing that
happened in the new testament with Jesus, Jesus put his disciples in a boat to teach them a lesson
and it was a lesson about faith and it was a lesson about how to overcome existential threats
because when they're in a boat I've been on Galilee when you're on Lake Galilee the
the lake is between these two mountains and when storms come you don't see them they're just upon
you and they're violent now they're in this storm the disciples with Jesus and it was
it was more like a hurricane and it was violent and it came out from nowhere and Jesus when this
existential threat came to him he was still he chose at that moment not to do what was humanly
sensible to do and he was still and the disciples were demanding this is why Jesus rebuked them at
the end because they were demanding Jesus perform human activity they came to him and says you're
being still that means you don't care do something and interesting because Jesus was still
and interestingly the only thing Jesus did he stood said peace be still and so he was speaking
to the disciples as much to the storm he said be still and see if you will be still at the what
happened when Jesus was still in that boat right at the moment when the storm was its most violent
and threatening to destroy them because he was still the word of God came and he spoke
and if you are prepared to be still and not trust in human activity
in the when you're facing big crisis the same thing will happen look at verse 6 of Psalm 46 again
in the midst of her he added his voice the earth melted
and
verse 6 he uttered his voice the earth melted and verse 10 as God standing up
and he's speaking says be still no I am God I'll be excited about the he's basically saying
to all the the powers that threaten Israel be still I'm God I'm in control you've got no chance
but God speaks when we trust and us still you know when he speaks when you need it
so God this Psalm the psalmist is saying that when we're in trouble what we need to do we need
instead of doing what is humanly natural what what we what what our humanity feels like doing
rushing here and being busy and and listening to human voices
the psalmist says what you need to do is close down the human activity
and get still before God boy boy the church today hates being still the church universal
we demand activity we demand act and and to really see God move we have to be coming to a place again
where we are confident not in our own abilities but we are confident alone in God and he says be
still and secondly he says and know be still and know that I am God in the very next Psalm 47 it
says sing praises to God of all the earth but sing praises with understanding and what's the
understanding we need in our praise it says God reigns over all the nation God sits on his holy
throne so what he's saying is that you know the the first thing that you teach you when you go
to Bible college if it's decent Bible they teach you about what is called the sovereignty of God
and when you are facing a situation and it could be you know situation for nations or a situation
your own family but you've got to know that you know you're not you're not in a problem
that has taken God surprised God by surprise and now he needs to react you serve a God who is on
the throne who oversees everything that's happening in the world if it gets to you he allowed it he's
got a good purpose for you because he is sovereign he is sovereign overall he controls the nations
what's going on in the world today God knows about it he is in control of all of that he's using all
the bits and pieces in the and in the end you will see no matter what happens God will be exalted in
the nations because he is a sovereign God and you need to know that he is sovereign then what does
it mean it means that he is sovereign and he is faithful but God has he's made promises he's made
promises about what is going to happen in this world he's made promise what's going to happen
in your life and if you believe his promises it will come to pass if you look back at what God has
said to you it has always come to pass because he is a faithful and he is a sovereign God who can be
trusted because he is completely in control and you need to know that that whatever you're going
through God knows all about it he is the Alpha he is the Omega he is before it happened he is after
it's going to happen and he is in control he is going to use it for your good because he is faithful
he is faithful he is faithful everything he says he does and he says so you need to know that God
is sovereign and you also need to know God is our refuge and strength verse one a very present help
in trouble verse five God is in the midst of her he shall not be moved he shall help her just at the
break of dawn that when you when you actually cease to trust in human activity and you come to the
place where you say oh well I know it doesn't seem logical I'm not going to be applauded by the world
but I'm actually going to put my trust in God I'm actually going to be still my strategy is to
believe that God sees all this he reigns over it all he rules over it all he is still on his throne
and all my hope is going to be in him see when you do that and you stop trusting in flesh and you stop
running around the power of God is released in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit
but not until you put all your trust in him why it says when we do that he says is what you got
to you got to know when you're in trouble that God is in control he is sovereign over it he knows
about he knows the challenge to my health he knows what I'm going through he knows what's going on
he knows what's going on but he knows about and he's going to but I also got to know that he
is a concrete practical God who helps he helps
this when he says helps the word help here it actually means divine intervention
that God if you trust him he's a God of action he will get involved in your situation and he will
release his power where you have no power and when will he do that
he's a very present help in trouble he shall help her just at the break of dawn
you know when does the enemy attack must be a soldier the enemy attacks at the break of dawn
when does God send his help I've often called him he's a god of the 11th hour he allows our
faith to be tested he allows us to be tested because we grow from faith to faith faith's
like a muscle this is exercise it doesn't grow but God allows challenge and he allows tests
he allows us to come under problems but at the exact right time if we trust him he will
send divine help which is his intervention Psalm 121 says this it says it speaks about
someone who's in dreadful trouble and they say what am I going to do and they write this they say
I will lift up my eyes to the hills from where comes my help my help comes from the Lord
comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth he will not allow your foot to be moved he who keeps
you will not slumber the Lord is your keeper goes on to say the sun shall not strike you by day nor
the moon by night the Lord shall preserve you from all evil he shall preserve your soul so it says
the practical help which God sends through divine intervention is a help which preserves God's people
and protects them at the right hour so just when you think this could destroy me this could wipe
me out somehow God says at that very hour I will help you I will intervene in your situation
for those who trust me for those who trust me and you know this this all this week
I think God's been doing something wonderful in my own life something new and so great
and I've been just aware this way this I want to apply this this passage not only applies
be still and know that I am God to a people who are under attack and facing you know
odds which could overwhelm you God says in that time be still and know be still don't run around
know that I'm sovereign know that I'm in control know that I'm a faithful God know that and believe
for my help to turn up and he says when you do that God will help you God will bring you through
I don't I can't tell you what he'll do but he will bring you through because he's going to help you
because he's a faithful God he will not allow your enemies to prevail over you because you are in
Christ who is a conqueror but I want to speak about what else we need to be still about and
I've been and I'm going outside the passage here but I want I want you just to dwell on this it's
just it is so captivated me lately I read it when I was sick at home and I came across 1 Corinthians
3 verse 16 it says this do you not know that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells
in you if anyone defiles the temple of God God will destroy him there you go for the temple of
God is holy which temple you are now I want to tell you that the temple in the old covenant was
the center of God's plan and it's an extraordinary thing for God to say that now you and I are the
temple of God we are the center of God's plan and and you know in the temple the temple had
Holy Spirit told David what to put in it and the temple had the best of everything
in it you have the best of everything all the all that you need to become all that God promises you
to be is already in you you have the Holy Spirit Christ in you the hope of glory he's already in
you and God says because my Holy Spirit's in you anything that threatens to destroy you is already
in you and God says because my Holy Spirit's in you anything that threatens to destroy you I'll
destroy it but the temple was also a holy place and you and I are already holy that's why God says be
holy because you are holy and I was just reflecting on this you know Solomon's temple
Solomon's temple was so great and in 1 King 6 you see how it was constructed there's so much here
that I can't go into but it's a it's a type of how God constructs your life in Christ
and it says in verse 7 when the temple was built no hammer or chisel or any tool was heard in the
tool was heard in the temple was being built I love that you know there was no noise there was
no noise there was no banging there was no there was no you know human activity like that
it's and it's like this is a this is a type this is a type of what God did in Christ because Christ
was hammered outside of Calvary and we don't have to make noise all the work was done for us but
it goes on to say in the temple the inside of the temple was cedar carved with ornamental buds
and open flowers then it says so Solomon at the end overlaid the inside of the temple with pure
gold he stretched gold across it so this this ordinary temple had something a craftsman on the
inside of the temple and this craftsman carved out something ornamental buds and flowers so this
internally this craftsman carved out something on the inside which was a work of beauty and then
that work of beauty was overlaid with gold don't forget I'm saying that you are the temple of the
Holy Spirit and so you have something come on the inside of you it's called the Holy Spirit who wants
to carve out your anger and he wants to produce the beauty of self-control he wants to carve out
your pride and produce the beauty of of humility he wants to carve out your selfishness and produce
the beauty of love on the inside that's what the work of the Holy Spirit is doing he is a helper
he's a he's a creator and then he wants to overlay our life with gold that's why Job says after I've
been tried I shall come forth as gold so when we are told that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit
it's an extraordinary promise that God has placed the most valuable thing inside you
to create and carve out something so beautiful of your life but here's the point how does it happen
same thing it doesn't happen through human effort and human activity
it's what God's saying it comes by being still
you've been filled with the Holy Spirit the most valuable thing is already in you but the way the
Holy Spirit works and changes and produces is when you stop striving and you just believe God's
promises you are still and God wants to create something so wonderful in his people a work of
such beauty and a work that is so precious you know what happened to the queen of Sheba when
this is a type when she came to see Solomon's temple she was someone who was a queen in her
own right she had resources she had money she had her own temple but when she came and saw Solomon's
temple was different Solomon's temple everything that was in it the Holy Spirit had told
David to tell Solomon what to do so Solomon's temple was a work produced by God and when she
came and saw the difference between what man could produce and what religion can produce and the
work that God could produce that says she had no breath in her and this is what God wants to do
and this is what God wants to do you know people out there can make their own life they can create
something that appears good appears successful but God wants to make something of your life
when people come to you they recognize that this is not your life is not something that is a result
of human activity or human effort this is something that God has built and you know I just think of my
father's salvation he never was saved because we preached to him he got saved because he acknowledged
he said I've seen your family the pressures that have come against you I know there has been
someone standing behind you protecting you preserving you providing for you I have seen
a work of God in your family that's why he was saved this is what God wants to do for your life
he actually but but it's not going to come out of reading your Bible more although it's good to read
your Bible it's not going to come by attending more and more meetings it's not going to come
by religious activity what how the Holy Spirit works is through faith he gives us promises and
when we when we are still and believe them that this anger I have is going to go because he's
going to do the work this pride I have he's going to it's going to go because he's going to do the
work internally he is got Holy Spirit is going to do when I'm still and I trust the Holy Spirit
and I stop human activity I stop running here and there then and then alone does God come and help
and as he come and take out that which is not of him and bring in the peace and the joy and the
fruit and you know I believe that as the world gets more and more difficult there are going to
be people I just know the world's going to get more and more difficult wars are going to rage
but for those that have learned to be still and trust in the sovereign faithful plan of God
there are going to be people that God's done such a work in they come and say to you you're different
I see something that you know there's something that's been built in your life that is not human
nobody else has that hope nobody else has that peace nobody else has that joy
but doesn't come through running it doesn't come through you know there is a I
I took a long time in my Christian life to to move from being an old covenant believer to a new
covenant believer in an old covenant you know God says to Deuteronomy 20 obey and I will do
but obey means obey everything and when you when you fail you come back and you end up on the
side this this this cycle of sinning and confessing because you can't completely obey God that's the
problem that's why the law was given and then I got this revelation it's the new covenant is not
obey and do and God will bless it is believe what God has said about you
believe what God has said be still believe that he is faithful believe that he is sovereign
believe that he is going to produce Christ in you the hope of glory stop trying to do it
just believe and he will take out the anger and he'll put in the self-control
when you stop striving when you stop working and you start resting and believing God will produce
a work in your life that people look at it and they will say like the Queen of Sheba this isn't
something the world produces this is something in this person that I can see God has produced that
this is the greatest witness we have a changed life but comes not through working
not through running here and there it comes through being still
being still and trusting the Holy Spirit who is in me
he's going to do it he's going to change me because he promised he promised when I take God
at his word his power is released so maybe you're that's kind of a side application there
but I just know God's not impressed with our programs God is not impressed with our technology
God is not impressed with the amount of meetings we have God is looking for people
who will believe him will when they believe in God they will believe in God
who will believe him will when they come into challenges and problems
and things that you know maybe maybe the existential to you is depression
you know maybe it's anxiety just feels like it's going to destroy you I just suggest you today
whatever you're if it's not working whatever your strategy has been stop it stop it and get into the
presence of God and get out his promises and declare over his word and declare to yourself
that God is a faithful God that what is happening in my life has not taken God by surprise it's not
too big for him he's sovereign and he's over it and he will release divine intervention to help you
at the exact right moment I want to tell you if you believe God he will never let you be moved
he will never let you be destroyed he will preserve you and he will protect you
because victory doesn't come through human activity comes through faith comes through faith
so if that's you I just want you I really believe God is just saying stop it stop it
stop it when you run and do that stuff you trust in it I'm not saying you don't go to the doctor
but don't trust in the doctor put your trust in God
stop rushing stop human activity close it all down be still and know know in your knower
in your knower not in your head knowing your knower the faithfulness of God that he is sovereign
and that he is your helper he will intervene he will intervene in that family situation he will
as you trust him and he will at the break of dawn at the perfect time just when the enemy looks
like he's going to destroy you God will not allow it he will intervene
maybe you're somebody who you know you you want to be godly and you really want you know Christ in
you the hope of God you know you've got the Holy Spirit in you but you you're trying to produce
this the peace and the joy out of your own abilities you're trying to make yourself
godly you can't make yourself god I've tried I want to tell you I have stopped trying to be godly
I want to tell you I have stopped trying to be godly and you know it was the greatest relief
in my life I spent 15 years trying to be godly but but that's the temptation of Adam in Satan
in the garden you can be like God without God and when I stopped trying to be godly without God and
said God I'm coming to the end of myself I can't do this and I was still and just started to believe
what God had said suddenly my life started to change sadly my life started to change because
it really is all of him none of us be still God is in control he knows all about what you're going
through be still you are filled with the Holy Spirit he is a master craftsman
stop trying to solve your own anger issue and your own short temper issue start trusting the
Holy Spirit to take out the old and produce something beautiful and overlay it in gold
trust the Holy Spirit to make something of you that people look at you and say God did that
that's not done through human discipline that's not done through human programs
God did that God did that be still and trust him and he'll do it amen
let's bow our heads I'm going to pray for people today Father God I want to thank you
that you are on the throne that you your word says Lord you laugh at the nations that rage and plot
wars because Lord you are completely over it all you are sovereign you knew it was coming you know
it was happening you know every plan of man and you're going to override every plan of man because
you are a sovereign God who is in control Father God help us to know you as that and Father where
where people are thinking that you get taken by surprise that you need to react Father God I'm
asking for correction this morning that you tear that lie out of people's minds and give them the
knowledge of your sovereignty and Father God where where we've been trying to make ourselves into
something even something good and something godly Father let that come to an end and let us come to
the place where we simply grab hold of your promises and we believe we believe you're going
to do it we believe you're going to take out what is wrong put in what is right we're going to believe
the Holy Spirit will do it because I can't Father God I want to thank you there will come a time
where people like the Queen of Sheba will come to God's people and acknowledge
God has built something in and through us that is not possible humanly
Father this is what you want for your church in this day just think of Acts chapter 2 when the
people came after all that years of religion when they saw the outpouring of the Holy Spirit they
knew this is something God had done this is something human beings can't conjure up something
the religion can't produce oh God do it in us do it in us by the power of the Holy Spirit teach us
to be still and to trust you completely I thank you that you are our helper Holy Spirit you do
what we cannot do you are a protector and our keeper we bless you and we praise you
because you are good in Jesus name and all the people said amen amen amen I'm not going to have
an altar call today I don't feel we need to have an altar call but I do want actually I'm not going
to lay hands on anybody but I do want to give you an opportunity to come to the altar if you're
somebody who you know in the you're a good person and and you do want Christ to be seen in you
you really do and you you do want that anger to go and that self-control to go but you're just
aware through the word I just became aware in my life that at some stage and I'd been trying to
produce godliness apart from God apart from the Holy Spirit and that was the day that I really
believed that I experienced liberty in the Christian life I got free and I realized you know you just
come to the end of yourself you've got to come to the end of yourself and so I've been trying this
for years and I can't do I've failed over and over and I'm the cycle of sinning and confessing
and you say I'm done with this now I'm going to surrender to the Holy Spirit and I'm just going
to believe God to do it that's where God wants you that's the new covenant that's the new
covenant so if you're in that place and you're tired you just know you're tired I just know God
wants to do something new just come and be still say to God I'm done with that I want the Holy
Spirit to come in not only come in but take out all the garbage and make something beautiful in
my life carve out something from the inside that is a work of God if you want God to do that I
believe we're in the season where God is going to do that God is going to do exceedingly abundantly
above all we ask but it's going to be by the power of the Holy Spirit it's going to be nothing of
flesh it's going to be nothing a man this is why how he's going to have a humble beautiful church
because they're going to know God did it Holy Spirit did it all
God is just ending the noise the striving is going to produce the people of faith
we're able to know their God he's in control but you you come forward let God deal with you let
God do something new in your life amen