Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast.
We are a Bible -believing church located in beautiful
British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part
of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with 3
,000 churches around the world. We are a church
focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and
church planting. Here we will share recent sermons
from PHSA Church and other sermons from throughout
our fellowship. I'm Pastor David Bickford, and
I will be your host for this podcast. I thank
you for listening today, and we hope these messages
are a blessing to you and bring you closer to
God. Hello, and welcome back to the Potter's
House Salmon Arm Podcast. My name is David Bickford.
I'm the pastor here in town, and I just want
to thank you for coming again. And today's message
that I put together is saved from isolation,
man in a cave. And before we get started that,
I just want to also point you to that we now
have a YouTube channel where we are live streaming
services weekly. So the link for that is going
to be in the notes of the podcast. And I hope
that you join me there as well. And eventually
when I catch up with some of these messages that
I've been putting on to the podcast just by themselves,
I will just be taking the live stream and making
it into the podcast going forward just to kind
of simplify matters as we grow and as life gets
a bit busier. And so I just wanted to also let
you know what the YouTube channel is, our name
is for the Potter's House. So we are the Potter's
House Salmon Arm on YouTube and Potter's House
Salmon Arm. So it's just like it sounds. You
can look at it. It's Potter's House SA on there
as well. So again, go ahead and check the YouTube
channel and subscribe and follow us there as
well. Thank you very much. So saved from isolation,
man in the cave. The text that we're going to
be using as our jumping off point is going to
be Psalm 142 verses 1 through 7. And before we
jump into that, I have a quick quote here from
Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Sin demands... to have a
man by himself. It withdraws him from the community.
The more isolated a person is, the more attractive
will be the power of sin over him, and the more
deeply he becomes involved in it, and the more
disastrous is his isolation. We battle with this
idea of isolation, and oftentimes isolation leads
to more isolation. This is something I personally
battle even in my own life. And I know a lot
of people close to me do too, because I tend
to be somewhat of an introvert. I have to force
myself to go out and be a part of the community.
I don't have like a ton of friends that I hang
out with all the time. I tend to be very mission
or focused. And so it can cause us to battle,
if you're like me, a desire to just be alone
a lot. And this is disastrous for your salvation
and for your walk with Christ because we're called
to be evangelistic. We're called to be, you know,
going out from the church and sharing the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And you can't do that if you're
just going to be all by yourself. So here's an
illustration I found. It's from, you know, an
article from way back when a Japanese World War
II soldier who refused to surrender 27 years
after the war had ended. So when Japanese Sergeant
Sochi Yokio returned to his home country after
almost three decades in hiding, his initial reaction
was one of contrition. It is with much embarrassment
that I return. Then, 56, Yokio had spent the
past 27 years eking out a meager existence in
the jungles of Guam, where he had fled to evade
capture following the American forces' seizure
of the island in August 1944. According to historian
Robert Rogers, Yokio was one of around 5 ,000
Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender to
the Allies after the Battle of Guam, preferring
life on the land to the shame of being detained
as a prisoner of war. Though the Allies captured
or killed the majority of these holdouts within
a few months, some 130 remained in hiding by
the end of World War II in September 1945. Yokio,
who only rejoined society after being overpowered
by two local fishermen in January 1972, was one
of the last stragglers to surrender, offering
an extreme example of the Japanese Bushido philosophy,
emphasis on honor and self -sacrifice. So let's
look at our text in Psalm 142, 1 -7. This is
a... A song of David. It's You Are My Refuge,
if you're familiar with this one. Verse 1 says,
With my voice I cry out to the Lord. With my
voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out
my complaint before Him. I tell my trouble before
Him. When my spirit faints within me, you know
my way. In the path where I walk, they have hidden
a trap for me. Look to the right and see. There
is no one who takes notice of me. No refuge remains
to me. No one cares for my soul. I cry to you,
O Lord. I say you are my refuge, my portion in
the land of the living. Attend to my cry for
I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors
for they are too strong for me. Bring me out
of my prison that I may give thanks to your name.
The righteous will surround me for you will deal
bountifully with me. So the main idea of this
message today is that the battle is the cave.
versus victory in Jesus. Our lives are filled
with a consistent push and pull. The way we often
express this is with the term or a colloquialism,
one step forward, two steps back. We have periods
of great success and then pow, just like that.
We are put back on our heels and we find ourselves
retreating to our own personal caves of depression
or isolation. Society will often call this time,
They'll call it like me time or something of
that nature or some other euphemism. We create
this idea that what's the newest one I've heard
is that I need self -care. This is my self -care
time. These euphemisms that are used quite a
bit today, these words are used to sugarcoat
other words, a way of making us feel comfortable
with something that isn't really a desirable
outcome. In war, we call it a police action because
we don't like the idea of calling it war. War
is a dirty word, but a police action, that sounds
like it's justice. And so we sugarcoat the idea
of it. This is pretty important right now because
of the massive attack that the U .S. did to destroy,
hopefully destroy, the nuclear sites within Iran.
war, but they negate the fact that all past presidents
in recent history, going back a very, very long
time, did similar police action moves. And again,
this is semantical. I would agree that that was
an act of war, but it wasn't an unconstitutional
use of force according to the way that the law
is written. But the fact of the matter is, is
we like to sugarcoat these things when it's benefiting
our side or benefiting what we believe. Another
way we do it is if someone dies, we'll say they
passed away because the term death seems too
finite. So we just make it sound like they left
the party. They kicked the bucket. They've given
up the ghost. These euphemisms help us to deal
with the uncomfortable feelings that the actual
reality of the situation draws us to. causes
us to think about. The reality is that life can
be challenging. We all struggle in different
ways, but like our psalm, we need to focus on
the goodness of God and how he is there for us
in every situation. We need to take a cue from
King David and turn to God in our isolation because
with God, we are never alone. But when I witness
on the street and I talk to people who are battling
certain sins, there is a truth, there is a reality
that the worst thing you can do is to isolate
yourself. Sometimes the best thing you can do
is you're not leaving God behind, but maybe go
for a prayer walk. My daughter likes to do that
sometimes. She'll go for a prayer walk when stuff
is overwhelming her, where she can just walk
and pray to God. So she's out, she's not isolating,
and she's going to see people, she's going to
say hi, she's going to wave, but she is spending
time with her God in her time of difficulty.
Other ways that you have to recognize this is
if you're battling a certain temptation, the
best thing you could do is maybe just go to a
coffee shop, get back into public. And then you
can be there and you can do a Bible study for
yourself right there in the midst of these people.
Maybe it'll start a conversation, but what it
will... most assuredly do is it'll take you away
from whatever that temptation was. Because now
you're in a different situation. You've moved.
You've fled that temptation. The Bible tells
us to flee temptation. This brings me to my first
point, which is the battle wages on. In our illustration,
we are introduced to a man who allowed the whole
world to pass him by because he worshiped a false
god. And when he found himself alone, he had
nothing to fall back on. The Bushido code requires
a faith in the emperor of Japan at the time,
a faith in him as their godhead. That is what
the Bushido code calls for. So his god was defeated,
and he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe
it because he was worshiping an idol of a man.
He was cut off from everything and everyone,
and he created for himself a prison within his
own mind. So let's look back at his history.
He was born in the Aichi Perfector of Japan in
1915. Yokio worked as a tailor before being drafted
into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941. Per
wanapali .com, which maintains a registry of
Japanese World War II holdouts, he was stationed
in China until February 1943 when he was transferred
to Guam. After the American forces nearly annihilated
Yokio's regiment in the summer of 1944, he and
a group of nine or ten comrades escaped into
the jungle. From the outset, they took enormous
care not to be detected, erasing their footprints
as they moved through the undergrowth. Initially,
the holdouts survived by eating locals' cattle,
but as their numbers shrank and the likelihood
of discovery grew, they retreated to increasingly
remote sections of the island. Living in caves
or makeshift underground shelters and dining
on coconuts, papaya, and shrimp, frogs, toads,
eels, and rats, Yokio drew on his tailoring skills
to weave clothing out of tree bark and marked
the passage of time by observing the phases of
the moon. He eventually parted ways with his
companions who either surrender or fell victim
to enemy soldiers on patrol or died as a result
of their Spartan lifestyle. Yo -Kyo stayed in
sporadic contact with two other stragglers, but
after they died during flooding in 1964, he spent
the last eight years hiding in total isolation.
This reminds me of David in the cave. King David
also found himself losing a war and alone in
a cave. And that is where our psalm is said to
have been inspired, alone in this cave. David
had a lot to despair over. He also had a choice
to make. In 1 Samuel 22, 1 through 2, it talks
about this. It says, David departed from there
and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when
his brothers and all his father's house had heard,
they went down there to him. And everyone who
was in distress and everyone who was in debt
and everyone who was bitter in his soul gathered
to him. And he became commander over them. And
there were with him about 400 men. So a decision
came to him. He was hiding out. But luckily,
others came to him. Luckily, others searched
him out. This is a good illustration of what
we call follow -up within our fellowship. If
you pray with someone, if you lead someone to
the Lord, and then they kind of go to a quiet
period. That's not uncommon. People battle. People
struggle. There is a process of sanctification
when you're a Christian and you're striving to
live for Christ. And life's not always going
to be perfect or easy. So these people came to
him. They followed up to see how he was doing.
So now he had a decision. Is he going to hide
or is he going to fight? Is he going to sulk
or is he going to pray? Is he going to surrender
or is he going to overcome? Elijah had a similar
case. When we look at 1 Kings 9, 1 through 3,
and I've actually used the scripture several
times. I like it quite a bit. It's when Elijah
flees Jezebel. It says Ahab told Jezebel all
that Elijah had done and how he killed all the
prophets with the sword. And then Jezebel sent
a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods
do to me and more also if I do not make your
life as the life of one of them by this time
tomorrow. Then he was afraid and he rose and
he ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which
belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
So he ran. Times got tough and he fled. One chapter
before this, we see Elijah standing up to King
Ahab and the false prophets. We see Elijah calling
literal fire down from heaven. We see this miraculous
event in this overwhelming picture of power of
our God. And then we see right after that, Elijah
foretelling the coming of the rain, and then
he runs past Ahab, who's in a chariot, and he
outruns him. What power, what victory did Elijah
have that day in the name of God? But then he
succumbs to his fears and he flees into hiding
at the words of a wicked woman. So even as a
successful battle has just occurred, he is feeling
the exhaustion. He is tired. Recovery and recuperation
are needy, but we have to be wary. of what can
become idleness. So I'm not saying that, you
know, whatever word it was again, self -care,
whatever, me time. I'm not saying that you're
not going to sometimes need time to relax or
decompress or sleep or any of that. That's not
what I'm saying. But we have to be very aware
of how that can become idleness. In periods of
calm or lulls in action, we need to be fervent
in our prayer just as we are in times of difficulty.
It is in these periods that we're most susceptible
to the slings and arrows of the devil. We can
double guess ourselves and our impact. We can
criticize our accomplishments and allow self
-pity and even sin to creep in through the door.
Sometimes being chased into hiding or a cave
can be for the glory of God. Sometimes the challenges
can shake us free and open our eyes and our ears
and our hearts to what God is trying to bring
to our attention. Elijah needed to be stretched.
These kind of situations can even bring us to
the foot of the cross and to salvation. Before
you were a Christian, God and the conviction
of the Holy Spirit might have driven you to a
cave where you found God. They might have driven
you to the wilderness just like Moses who encountered
God. We are all going to be brought down. The
cave doesn't protect us from God. Isolation is
not the answer. We find ourselves alone. This
is my second point. In our tale of Sochi, Yokio,
we see a once young man who is... Clinging to
his ideals, the self -isolation wore him down
and caused him to live an angry, fearful, and
lonely life. On January 24, 1972, fishermen spotted
Yokio checking a bamboo fish trap in a part of
the Talofo River about four miles away from the
nearest village. Yokio attempted to charge at
the men who easily overpowered him in his weakened
state. He really panicked. After encountering
humans for the first time in years, he feared
they would take him as a prisoner of war and
that would have been the greatest shame for a
Japanese soldier and for his family back home,
they said. After hearing Yokio's story, officials
at Guam arranged to repatriate him to Japan.
Though he found leaflets in newspapers detailing
the conflict's end two decades earlier, he viewed
these reports as American propaganda and continued
to resist surrendering. We Japanese soldiers
were told to prefer death to disgrace of getting
captured alive, the Yokio later said. Isolation
is not a strength. When we look back on David,
he did not stay alone. He did not stay in the
cave. He was met by hundreds of others who were
displaced by Saul. David led his people out of
the cave. David relied on God in his providence.
And David cried out to the Lord. In Psalm 142
.1, our text, it says, With my voice I cry out
to the Lord. With my voice I plead for mercy
to the Lord. This is the way we should respond
when we find ourselves in similar situations.
Rise up in praise to the Lord. Rise up in prayer
and worship. Even when we are in the darkness,
our God is risen. We're not serving a God like
Yokio was, a false God, a man. who left him in
the cave all alone for decades. Lord, our God
speaks just like he did to Elijah in 1 Kings
19, 9 -10. Then there came to a cave and lodged
in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came
to him and said to him, what are you doing here,
Elijah? He said, I have been very jealous for
the Lord and the God of hosts for the people
of Israel have forsaken your covenant, throw
down your altars and killed your prophets with
the sword. And I, even I only am left and they
seek my life to take it away. God questioned
Elijah and Elijah came back with his excuse.
This is what he was feeling. And this is something
we can take into our own prayer life. You can
ask God. You know, what's going on? You can even
talk to God like Elijah did. Just know that the
response is going to be a correction. But it
gives us a beautiful picture of how a prophet
was dealing with God, a God that he heard directly.
We're going to be pushed against when we're confronting
culture. Elijah confronted a horrible culture
of the time, a culture of the Baals, the worship
of the false god Baal. This is a God of child
sacrifice. The children of Israel had been battling
wicked paganism since entering the promised land.
And you can see Gideon battling the same culture
in Judges 6 .28, where it says, when the men
of the town rose early in the morning, behold,
the altar of Baal was broken down and Asherah
beside it was cut down and the second bowl was
offered on the altar that had been built. So
the worship of Asherah and Baal were regularly
tied together because Asherah is a fertility
God, and Baal is the God that requires human
sacrifice. This is the epitome of evil and wickedness.
And we see the same cultural rot today. We see
free sex leading to unwanted children, but then
society enshrining the right to remove those
poor babies. So we see the fertility or the given
into the sexual depravity of our society gives
way to... procreation as God intends procreation
to happen. And so that same sin that led to the
promiscuity of the time leads to the murder of
the innocent. So we have Elijah dealing with
this post -achievement depression. Elijah was
coming down from the emotional high of confronting
these false prophets of Baal. He had succeeded
the people of Israel and rose up against these
false prophets and they praised the one true
God. He should have been elated. But he ran and
hid in a cave instead. He was dealing with post
-achievement depression, which involves experience
a sense of purposelessness or sadness after completing
a long -standing goal. This can produce a complex
range of emotions. including a lack of motivation,
tiredness, restlessness, frustration, self -doubt,
sadness, an overall sense of melancholy and existential
crisis. This is what Elijah was experiencing.
It's not wrong when we feel these emotions, but
what is wrong is when we allow them to take us
away from our God. The right response is to lean
into God. And God visits Elijah and this becomes
a pretty clear picture of how we're supposed
to deal with this in our own lives. In 1 Kings
19, 11 through 13, we continue on with this story.
And he said, go out and stand on the mount before
the Lord. Behold, the Lord passed by and a great
strong wind tore through the mountains and broke
the pieces of rocks before the Lord. But the
Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind,
an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord
was not in the fire. And after the fire, the
sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard
it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went
out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And
behold, there came a voice to him and said, what
are you doing here? Elijah, God calls us to exit
the cave. God visited Elijah and gave him a new
mission, gave him a new hope and a new direction
for his life. We continue on in verse 15. It
says, to be the prophet in your place. And the
one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall
Jehu put to death. And the one who escapes from
the sword of Jehu shall Elijah put to death.
Yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel, all the knees
that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that
has not kissed him. So although the mission is
not done, God is still in control and he has
risen up others to carry forth his purpose. This
brings me to my final point, which is the lost
lamb is found. We have heard the story of the
Japanese Sergeant Sochiokyo, but he was not the
only Japanese holdout. Second Lieutenant Hiro
Onoda hid in Lubang Island in the Philippines
for an amazing 29 years. He finally surrendered
on March 5th, 1974. He is the most famous of
all the holdouts. His story was widely reported
in the worldwide media, and he wrote a book translated
to English about his wartime experience and 29
years as a Japanese holdout. He was born in the
town of Canaan, Japan in 1922, and when he turned
17, he went to work for a trading company in
China. In May of 1942, Onoda was drafted in the
Japanese army. Unlike most soldiers, he attended
a school that trained men for guerrilla warfare.
On December 26, 1944, at the age of 23, Hiro
Onoda was sent to the small island of Lubang
Island. Approximately 75 miles southwest of Manila
in the Philippines, shortly after the Americans
landed, all but four Japanese soldiers had either
died or surrendered. Despite many efforts, he
did not believe the war was over, and on February
20, 1974, Onoda encountered a young Japanese
university dropout named Norio Suzuki, who was
traveling the world and told his friends that
he was going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a
panda, and the abominable snowman in that order.
The two became friends, but Onoda said that he
was waiting for orders from his commanders. On
March 9, 1974, Onoda went, to an agreed -upon
place and found a note that had been left by
Suzuki. Suzuki had brought along Onoda's one
-time superior commander, Major Taniguchi, who
delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender.
Intelligence Officer Second Lieutenant Hiro Onoda
emerged from the jungle of Lubang Island with
his .25 caliber rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition,
and several hand grenades. He surrendered. 29
years after Japan's formal surrender and 15 years
after being declared legally dead in Japan. When
he accepted that the war was over, he wept openly.
This is why I want to look at the parable of
the last lamb as we bring this message to an
end. In Luke 15, 4 -7, it says, What man of you,
having a hundred sheep, if he had lost one of
them, does not leave the ninety -nine in the
open country and go after the one that is lost?
Until he finds it. And when he has found it,
he lays it over his shoulders rejoicing. And
when he comes home, he calls together his friends
and his neighbors saying to them, rejoice with
me for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just
so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous
persons who need no repentance. Jesus searches
for his lost lambs. All sinners are the lambs
that Jesus is looking to save. He tells us that
he searches far and wide. And if you are lost
here today, he is searching and he is trying
to reach out for you. You might be in a cave,
but Jesus is calling to you. He has a plan for
you. He values and loves you and wants to bring
you into the fold. But not even death can separate
Jesus from loving us. In John 11, we read the
story of Lazarus, and this is a story that's
powerful in many, many ways. The story of Lazarus
is in John 11, and it starts with the horrible
news that Lazarus, the brother of Martha and
Mary, who anointed Jesus with oil, had fallen
ill. We see the death of Lazarus. We see Lazarus
being entombed, and nobody yet understood the
power of Jesus. There was an obvious confusion
with the disciples. And with Mary in John 11,
it says, verses 25 through 27, I am the resurrection
and the life. Whoever believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives
and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe
this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that
you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming
into this world. Later on in John 11, 39 through
44, we see the tale of the rising of his Lazarus.
Jesus said, take away the stone. And Martha,
the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord,
by this time there will be an odor for he has
been dead for days. For Jesus said to her, did
I not tell you that if you believed you would
see the glory of God? So they took away the stone
and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father,
I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that
you always hear me, but I said this on account
of the people standing around, that they may
believe that you sent me. And when he said these
things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come out. The man who had died came out, his
hands and his feet bound with linen strips, his
face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,
unbind him and let him go. Immediately after
this miracle, many came to believe in Jesus.
Jesus went even to the grave. to find his lost
lamb. And he does this for us even today. In
Jesus, we have the confidence that we will rise
from the dead and spend eternity with our Savior.
Jesus will find us even in our caves and in our
tomb to set us free. We do not need to hide from
the world, but rather live in confidence that
our Savior, Jesus Christ, has already defeated
death. And that his sacrifice on Calvary has
made a way for us to live in victory, both in
this life, and forevermore. I could have every
head bowed, every eye closed as I bring this
to a conclusion. Again, I do this at the end
of every message. I want to give an invitation.
Maybe your heart's not right that this message
has impacted you. Maybe you are living right
now in a cave of your own creation. But the message
is simple, that Jesus is reaching out to you.
And maybe that's a little prick that you're feeling
in your heart is a conviction, is the start of
belief. And you recognize you're not right with
God, but you want to make it right. I want you
to signify it wherever you are with an uplifted
hand. It's a physical choice to say, yes, I know
I'm not right. If you rose your hand, God can
see it, even though I can't. And I want you to
repeat after me a quick little prayer. Dear Lord.
I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you
sent your son Jesus and that he died for my sins,
and I accept him as my Lord and my Savior. In
Jesus' name I pray. I turn away from my sin.
Amen. All that is is recognition that you know
that you're not complete without Jesus Christ
being your Lord and Savior. And if you prayed
that and you meant it, and God knows you did.
then there's going to be a change that's going
to start in your life. I want to thank you for
listening to me. But if you prayed that prayer
and you meant it, I want you all to reach out.
You can send a message. All sorts of ways. There's
notes in the podcast notes on how to get a hold
of me. You can even send me a quick text message
if you want. It's 604 -997 -8446. I'd love to
hear if you prayed that prayer. I could send
you a Bible. We want you to move forward in a
life with Christ. Come out of that cave and let
Christ do a miracle in your life. So again, thank
you for listening to me. Please go over and check
out the YouTube page. Subscribe to that because
that's where our live streams are being put up.
And help us to build something here in Salmon
Arm so that we can continue to touch the world
for Jesus Christ. If you live in Salmon Arm,
I'd much rather see you in person than just online.
But I hope that this will give you the opportunity
to share the gospel. So subscribe and share so
that we can touch the world for Jesus Christ.
And I thank you again for listening. God bless
and have a great rest of your day. Amen. the
phsa potter's house salmon arm podcast be sure
to follow us on instagram at potter's house underscore
salmon arm to keep up to date on what we are
doing join the conversation and discover how
jesus christ can revolutionize your life