Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Our series is entitled, Hello,
My Name is God. We've been talking about names.
What's in a name? Names, first of all, signify
identity. Everybody say identity. Because that's
how we differentiate between each other, is by
our names, right? There's a curious thing about
me that... Hey, we got a lot of neighbors today
from Citrus Ridge. If you're from Citrus Ridge,
wave at me. Got a big neighborhood group over
here. And then we have another visitor with us
today. But names signify identity. Many of you
probably don't know this, but my real name is
No Name Forrest. And you're like, how could your
name be No Name Forrest? Well, my parents didn't
name me. Before we left the hospital. And we
didn't even figure it out until I was like 13
years old. I want to play junior high football.
I have to have a state birth certificate. It
comes in. We order it. Get a copy of my state
birth certificate in South Carolina. And it said
no name for us. Guess what? I still couldn't
play football. Because... They weren't going
to let no -name Forrest play on the team. So
I had to get my name changed. And even to this
day, my birth certificate has an asterisk on
it where my name was changed to the name I had
gone by my whole life. I guess a day or two after
we got home from the hospital, I got a name,
and my name is Jeffrey Dean Forrest. Most people
just call me Dean. Everybody say, hey, Dean.
Most people just call me Dean. I have another
name that is my identity. And that name is I
am a Christian. That means I'm a Christ follower.
It's not just something I do. It's who I am.
It's my identity. So those names signify identity.
Names also signify relationship. Now you might
not recognize how many names you have, but you
probably have a lot of names. Just like I have
a lot of names. A lot of my names are relationship
names. My mom always called me baby. Even when
I'm 50 years old, she's introducing me to someone
that I don't know. She'll say, this is my baby.
Baby Huey, maybe. But for those of you who know
Baby Huey. But I was the youngest of four. So
I was always the baby. Any other people, the
youngest sibling and you were always the baby?
Always the baby. My dad didn't call me baby,
my dad called me son. So that's a relationship
name. Got married in 1984 to Gayna and I am her
husband. That's a relationship name. But she
doesn't say, oh husband, would you like to go
shopping? Or oh husband, would you like to go
to the beach? We had a beach getaway on Thursday.
She doesn't say, oh, husband. Most of the time
she calls me honey. If I've been good. Sometimes
people look at me strange and they're like, you're
the preacher, you're always good. No. I wish
that was true. But she calls me honey. I'm also
Jeffrey's father. 1992, he was born. But he doesn't
say, oh, father, can I have $20? He never said
that growing up. He called me daddy, and then
that changed to dad. So all of these are my relationship
names. I'm also an uncle. I'm a cousin. All of
those are relationship names. But names also
signify activity. Everybody say identity, relationship,
activity. Names signify activity, what a person
does. I've done a lot of things. Like most of
you, I've been a student. I've probably been
a student more years than you've been a student.
So I took that on with a mission. I was actually
a cook. I mean, I was a junior in high school,
and that was my summer job. I worked for Quincy's
Family Steakhouse. They're out of business now,
but they were still in business when I left that
summer. I've been a salesman at a lumberyard,
at a recording supply and audio equipment place.
I've been a salesman at a Nissan dealership.
I've been a salesman at a recording studio. I've
been a sound man. I've actually been paid money
to run sound. I had a job for a while over at
Epcot where I was a custodian. and I was a trainer
and a coordinator, a relief coordinator there.
I've been a janitor because it took more jobs
than one or two to pay the bills. Gina and I
got a cleaning contract at an office. So when
we would leave our 40 -hour -a -week job, we
would go clean offices three nights a week for
a while. I was a screen printer. I had my own
screen printing business, all my own equipment,
printed T -shirts for all the recording groups
that came up in my later jobs that are listed.
I was an A &R director for Mark V Records, Heartlook
Records, Evidence Records. I was a vice president.
One day they came in and gave me a business card
that had that I was the vice president of Heartlook
Records. I didn't get a raise, but I got a business
card. I've been the music director of state and
national organizations. I've been an event planner,
planned events, rented space, all over the place,
as far as Phoenix, Arizona, to all up and down
the East and Midwest. So I've been an event planner,
been a crusade director, been the president of
state and national organizations, nonprofit corporation.
Been a worship leader. Sometimes I didn't preach.
Me and my family just led worship many times.
I was a conference director. We started a conference
for teenagers over New Year's called the Big
God Conference. There were several years that
we were running like 1 ,900 students over New
Year's. I was an evangelist on the road for 20
years. That's why we have the bus that you know
that I live in. Went around the United States
in that bus telling people about Jesus. I've
been a chaplain at Lakewood Camper Resort. I'm
also the chaplain at Giovanni's. The team chaplain
at Giovanni's right here at the corner if you're
looking for some good local Italian food. I'm
a preacher. Some people call me preacher. Some
people call me pastor. Most people just call
me dean. I was a youth pastor. I was J .T.'s
youth pastor when he was in middle school for
a season. Different than pastor. It is definitely
different than a pastor. So I've got a lot of
names. I think now I've told you about 33, 34
names. But I'm just one person. And God has told
us in His Word. A lot of different names for
Himself. I don't know if you realize that or
not. But just because we have a lot of different
names for God, it doesn't mean that there's more
than one God. Okay? Just like I have 30 -something
names, I'm still one person. God tells us His
names, listen, God tells us His names so that
we can know who He is. So we can know the relationship
that He wants to have with us. And so we can
know what He wants to do or who He wants to be
for us. Somebody say amen right there, please.
Somebody say amen. Alright. So in names we find
identity, relationship, and activity. Psalm 9
.10 says this, and those who know your name,
everybody say God's name. Those who know God's
name. will put their trust in Him. Here's the
deal. If you don't know who God is and what He
wants to do for you and what kind of relationship
He wants to be in with you, then you can't put
your confidence in Him that that's who He's going
to be. You've got to know before you can apply.
You've got to know before you can have hope.
You've got to know before you can have confidence.
You've got to know before you can have faith
in who He is to see His activity and His relationship
manifest in your life. You've got to know who
He is. Those who know your name will put their
trust in you. That Hebrew word there can easily
be translated confidence. Everybody say confidence.
For you, Lord, have not forsaken. Those who seek
you. Hello? When you seek God based on who He
is, He's not going to turn His back on you. Never
has, never will. If you think He has, maybe you
were trying to seek Him in some area that you
don't even know that that's who He is and what
He wants to do for you. Maybe it's some imagination
that you've come up with. Because when you seek
Him based on who He is with complete confidence,
somebody say confidence, with complete confidence
in who He is, you know that He's going to hear
you. And you're going to see Him at work in your
life. Hello, my name is God. Today we're looking
at a name of God that is connected to one of
His divine attributes. Divine attributes, that's
just... That's who God is. That's how theology
has looked at the Word of God and God's interaction
with mankind. And theologians have come up with,
well, this is what God is like. That's His divine
attributes. And the one that's connected to what
we're talking about today is God is omnipresent.
God is omnipresent. Now, most people say when
they hear me preach that it's just simple. Everybody
say simple. I don't know if they're trying to
talk down to me or if they're saying it as a
compliment. I normally take it as a compliment.
Now, the reason why I said that is because I'm
about to read just some segments, some sentences
from a paper that I wrote in seminary. So it's
going to sound real intellectual. And when you
hear it, you might say, I wonder where he got
that from. It was from one of my papers where
I'm trying to be intellectual. But when I preach
on Sunday, I don't want to be intellectual. Because
I want you to get it. I want you to get it. Here
we go. A divine attribute of God that can be
comforting to those who love God and terrifying
for those who embrace sin is his omnipresence.
Proverbs 15 .3 said, The Lord is watching everywhere,
keeping His eye on both the good and the evil.
The evil and the good. So, there's nowhere you
can go to hide from God. He's everywhere all
the time. And for people who want to be embracing
sin and doing things that they know that are
connected to evil, It should be terrifying that
God is watching, right? But for those of us who
are embracing the kingdom of God, embracing His
love, embracing His life, oh, it should be encouraging
to us. It is impossible for humanity to be purposefully
or accidentally separated from God's presence.
God's omnipresence reveals that He is ever -present
within His created world. that He is transcendent
over it, that He remains distinct from it. An
understanding of God's omnipresence in light
of Scripture also discloses the idea that God
can be present in different places within His
creation in different degrees or manners. God's
Word declares that He indwells every believer.
1 Corinthians 6 .19 says, Don't you realize your
body is the temple? of the Holy Spirit who lives
in you and was given to you by God. The fact
that the presence of God dwells more in the believer
than the unbeliever reinforces the principle
that God manifests himself in some places more
than others, yet the presence of God is everywhere
present. When we speak of God's omnipresence,
we mean that God is not conditioned, are limited
by space in His power of acting and is able to
put forth His entire power of action anywhere,
at any time, without any need that He move from
place to place to reach the scene of action.
Did you get that? God's not limited in space.
And where He is. If you need a touch from God,
He doesn't have to come all the way from heaven.
It doesn't take Him days and months to journey
to get to you. He's here. And His entire power
is available all the time, right where you are.
He doesn't have to move to reach you where you
are. Now, it's been so long since I've written
like that, I can't really read it to make sense.
But today's name of God comes out of Ezekiel
48, verse 35. The distance around the entire
city will be six miles. He's talking about Jerusalem
when they're coming back from captivity. The
walls around Jerusalem. The distance around the
entire city will be six miles. And from that
day, the name of the city will be, the Lord is
there. The Lord is there. Now, Ezekiel is prophetically
talking about God's people coming out of captivity
and going back to Jerusalem. He's prophesying
that God's people are going to return from their
time in captivity in Babylon. They're going to
come back. And where are they going? They're
going to the place of Yahweh Shammah. Everybody
say Yahweh Shammah. Now, most people know some
names of God like Jireh. And different things
like that. I don't know. I had to study to find
out that one of God's names is Yahweh Shammah.
Yahweh Shammah. Now in week number one, we talked
about God's name being Elohim, the Most High
God. And God's name, His personal name given
to Moses is that He is Yahweh. I am that I am.
Today we're looking at the compound name Yahweh
Shammah. Yahweh Shammah is translated, I am there.
Everybody say, I am there. I am there. And we
talk about God being omnipresent. He's everywhere
all the time. But why through this prophecy would
Ezekiel say, oh, this place where you're going?
That's where God is. Well, if God's everywhere
all the time, why are they saying, well, God's
in Jerusalem in the six -mile gated city? Why?
What does that tell us? I mean, we know that
God is everywhere all the time. We can't go anywhere
to escape from His presence. But there are some
places and sometimes, listen, When God is more
there. Now you and I, we're either there or we're
not there. But God can be there and more there.
Because He's God. It's like either I'm here or
I'm not here. Well, sometimes I'm here and I
don't feel like I'm here mentally. I mean, you've
probably been there, right? Sometimes you're
in a place, but you don't really feel like you're
there. Like today, I'm driving down the road.
I'm late already. And I get in my head so deep
that I come almost all the way to Sand Mine Road
before I realize I didn't have the trailer with
all the equipment for church in it. So even though
I was driving my vehicle, I wasn't all there
at the moment like I should have been. So I had
to U -turn back around, go all the way back down
to Ronald Reagan, get the trailer, come back.
That made me even more late than I was going
to be. I should have been more there. When I
got to Ronald Reagan. Yahweh, I am. Shom, the
first part of that, means there. God is there.
And sometimes God is more there or more here.
I want to draw your attention to some stories.
We're not going to read all the stories in the
Old Testament because you don't want to sit here
that long. But we find some times in the Old
Testament where... God was more here at that
moment. The burning bush. Would you say that
God was more there? The pillars of cloud and
fire where God led His people across the wilderness
to go to the promised land. Would you say that
when that cloud was there, when that column of
fire was there, that God was more there specifically?
Mount Sinai. When God's people got to Mount Sinai
and all of a sudden a cloud. descended on the
mountain. Moses went up and spent time with God,
face to face with God. Would you say that God
was more there? What about in the tabernacle
and in the temple? There are multiple times recorded
in Scripture where God was so much there that
you could almost see that He was there. It was
like a cloud. A cloud. 2 Chronicles 5 .14 Here's
one example. The priests could not continue their
service because of the cloud. For the glorious
presence of the Lord filled the temple of God.
Could you imagine being in a place that all of
a sudden it just became cloudy and it's like
a fog rolled in? And it's just cloudy. And the
glory of God is so present. God is so much here,
more here, that you can see His presence with
your eyes. That's what happened that day. And
these guys were so overwhelmed by the glory and
the manifested presence of God that they couldn't
even continue. their religious duty at that time.
The glory of the Lord. Now in our Bibles, in
the Old Testament, it talks about the glory of
the Lord being there. That word glory is a Hebrew
word that means weight. Like a heaviness. See,
most of the time when we think about heaviness,
we think that that's bad. Has anyone ever experienced
a heaviness before that was really bad and dark?
Anybody? Come on, be honest, people. We experience
that. But this is a good heaviness. This isn't
a bad heaviness. This is a good heaviness. Where
you sense the manifested presence of God. Has
anyone ever heard the word Shekinah? Who's heard
the word Shekinah? Now, Jewish literature, this
word Shekinah is not in the Old Testament. But
Jewish literature uses the word Shekinah, and
it's derived from the Hebrew word Shekan, which
means to dwell or to reside. So when the glory
of the Lord is here, it means that God's manifested
presence is here, that He is residing here, He
is dwelling here. In a greater way. Everybody
say a greater way. In a greater way than His
omnipresence. Matthew 18, 20 tells us today that
if we understand it and if we acknowledge it,
even today, right here, for where two or three
gather together as my followers, I am there.
among them. So when we sing songs about God being
here or His presence being here, you know what?
He really is. The sad thing is, I can't tell
you how many times I went into a worship service
with other believers and I didn't even expect
the manifested presence of God or the glory of
God. I didn't expect Him to be there. It was
more like I was just going through some kind
of religious duty. Now you may have never done
that in your life. You may have never done that.
It's amazing how spiritual people get when they're
in church and they're thinking about how spiritual
they are. They've never gone to a worship service
without expecting to meet the living God. That
He is here in His manifested presence in His
power. He promises to be. So if we miss out on
it, listen, if we miss out on it, is it the preacher's
fault because he didn't bring it? Is it the singer's
fault, the singers up front, is it their fault
because they didn't bring it? If you miss out
on it, whose fault is it? Individually. It's
our fault if we miss out. Because we didn't expect.
We didn't have a confident expectation that we
were going to meet with God. Sham means there.
The last part of that, shama, ma indicates direction
and purpose. So God is Yahweh, shama. I am is
there with direction and purpose. I got excited
studying this. I'm excited now. Yahweh Shammah
lets us know that the Lord is not only there,
that the Lord is not only here, He is here with
directed or targeted purpose. Sometimes we're
not here with directed or targeted purpose, but
God is always here with directed and targeted
purpose. Got another name that goes right along
with Yahweh's Shema. Matthew 1 verse 23. Look,
the virgin will conceive a child. She will give
birth to a son. And they will call him Emmanuel.
Everybody say Emmanuel. What does Emmanuel mean?
You've never been to church at Christmas if you
don't know what Emmanuel means. It means God
is with us. God is with us. Look to the person
beside you and tell them he's really here. His
name is Yahweh Shammah. His name is Emmanuel.
The Lord is not only here or there or here. His
targeted purpose, listen, is to live with his
children, to dwell with his children, to reside
with his children, to abide with his children.
That's his targeted purpose. It's that intimate
fellowship that he wants to have with his children.
He wants to be with us. I guess this was the
last name we looked at was pater and abba. What
difference does it make when our loving father
is here? I want you to think of a child. A child
that is in danger and they recognize that they're
in danger. What does it take for them to be comforted?
Come on, use your brain. What does it take for
that child that realizes they're in trouble,
what does it take for them to be comforted? A
loving parent. Wouldn't you think so? I remember
times when Jeffrey was in trouble. Most of the
time when he was in trouble, he didn't even realize
the danger that he was in. Like climbing on the
roof of the church on Wednesday night when he
was hiding in the ditch right beside the road
on a road that had about as much, well, not as
much traffic as 27. But for our little country
town that only had a yellow light, flashing yellow
light, there were a lot of transfer trucks that
cut through to get on 85. So there was like transfer
trucks just flying. I mean, they're running 60
miles an hour down this little two -lane road.
And Jeffrey and his friends are like playing
right beside the road. When he got afraid. What
did he do when he got afraid? He either ran to
mama or ran to daddy. I want you to think about
that and I want you to think about you being
a child of God. I want you to think about the
situations that you face and the trouble and
pressure that you face. And I want you to come
to the... understanding that if you can experience
Yahweh Shammah, if you can experience Emmanuel
during those difficult times, His manifested
presence, that all the things of this world will
just melt away. And you might say, I don't believe
it. Well, if you don't believe it, you're not
going to experience it. I believe it because
I have experienced it. Listen to the benefits.
Sometimes when we read Scripture, we look at
it different ways. But I want you to consider
these verses that I'm about to read with the
benefits that come along with it. Is that okay?
1 Chronicles 28 .20 Don't be afraid or discouraged.
Why? For the Lord God, my God, is with you and
He will not fail you or forsake you. So what's
the benefit? When we realize that God is with
us, that He's not going to fail us, He's not
going to forsake us, what can we do? Can you
see it? We cannot be afraid or discouraged. Deuteronomy
31 .8, in case you just think I'm just cherry
-picking some verses, I'm going to cherry -pick
some verses. Deuteronomy 31 .8. Do not be afraid
or discouraged. Why? For the Lord will personally,
everybody say personally, personally go ahead
of you. He will be with you. He will neither
fail you nor abandon you. You want some more?
Psalm 46, 1 and 2. God is our refuge and strength.
He's always ready to help. King James puts it
like this, a very present help. Everybody say
God is here. A very present help in times of
trouble. And what's the result? We will not fear.
Hello? Somebody smile. Mike's the only one smiling
at me. He's the only one I saw. Because when
I said that, I looked and I saw some other smiles.
Isaiah 43, 2 through 3. Listen to this. This
is God's Word. Hello? This is... The Holy Spirit
talking to you and to me. When you go through
deep waters, has anybody ever been in a situation
where you thought you were about to drown? I'm
talking about metaphorically, not just in water.
When you go through deep waters, when you feel
like you're going under for the last time, listen,
I will be with you is what God said. When you
go through rivers of difficulty... Has anybody
ever gone through any difficulty in the house?
Like a river with rapids in it. Has anybody ever
gone on a whitewater rafting trip? That's what
I imagined when I saw this. Whitewater rafting
trip. It's just like... Has anybody ever felt
like that in life before? When you go through
rivers of difficulty... You will not drown. When
you walk through the fire, has anybody ever felt
like you were walking through the fire? At work?
At home? Just life? Come on, somebody. When you
walk through the fire of oppression, you will
not be burned up. The flames will not consume
you. Why? For I am the Lord your God, the Holy
One of Israel, your rescue, your Savior. Joshua
1 .9. You might have even memorized this one.
Be strong. Look to the person beside you and
tell them, be strong. Be strong. Be courageous.
Tell them to be courageous too. Be courageous.
Do not be afraid or discouraged. Why? For the
Lord your God is with you wherever you go. He
is there. He is here. He is with you. He's a
good God. He's for you. So I ask you a question.
When does fear, discouragement, trouble, oppression,
worry, and thoughts of failure, when do those
things overwhelm you? I'm just letting you think
about it. When do they overwhelm you? Has anyone
ever been overwhelmed with fear? Has anyone ever
been overwhelmed with discouragement? Overwhelmed
with trouble? You can just leave your hand up
like I'm going to leave mine up. Overwhelmed
with oppression? Overwhelmed with worry? Overwhelmed
with thoughts of failure? Anybody? If not, you're
probably not alive. But when does that happen?
When does that happen? It happens when we don't
have confidence. When we don't have trust. When
we don't have faith that God is with us. When
we don't have confidence, trust, and faith that
God will never leave us. When we don't have confidence,
trust, and faith that God will never turn His
back on us. That's when we're overwhelmed. We've
lost confidence in God, in His faithfulness,
in His goodness. That's when we're overwhelmed.
So what do you have to do to not be overwhelmed?
You've got to know Yahweh Shammah. You've got
to know it. It's got to be His name, who He is,
who He wants to be for you, what He wants to
do for you has to be established in your heart
to the point that when you face those opportunities,
listen, we're all going to have opportunities
to be overwhelmed with fear and failure. We're
all going to have those opportunities. You may
think you're the only one with an opportunity.
Every single person in this room has the same
opportunities to be overwhelmed. Everyone. But
when you know that you're not alone, when you
know that God is there, when you know. It can't
overtake you. It won't overtake you. I know I've
shared this story. And guess what? I'll share
it again after today. Just going to go ahead
and let you know. I'll share it again. But I
can't talk about God being there without telling
you again this. It's probably one of the top
five stories of me encountering God. in my entire
life. I tell you, I was overwhelmed with worry.
I was overwhelmed with fear. And listen, I'm
a preacher. At this time, I've been preaching
for 10, 15 years. But I was overwhelmed. It was
like I was in the deep water thinking that this
was my last breath. Before I was done. I told
you in everything that I did, we started a youth
conference. I know that God laid it on my heart
to do it. I prayed and talked to God about who
we're going to invite and who's going to be there
on the program. All those things. I spent a lot
of time in prayer. I wouldn't have even started
it except one day we were in the motorhome. up
in Hickory, North Carolina. Gayna went in to
see her mom and dad. She came back. I said, guess
what? I just had an experience talking with God,
and we're going to start a youth conference.
And I said, and here's the theme song. Because
I got the song right at the same time that we
sang. We Serve a Big God was the name of the
song. She said, how are we going to do that?
I didn't know. But I felt like that's what God
wanted me to do. So we rented the Myrtle Beach
Auditorium, Convention Center Auditorium. We
rented it. So many things. Had to rent a stage.
Had to rent lights. Had to rent sound equipment
for 2 ,500 people. Look to the person beside
you and say, that's not cheap. It's not cheap.
It was right when all these intelligent lights
came out. It was like moving around. So that
was like the most expensive thing you could get
at the time. I booked Rebecca St. James. Most
people don't even know who that is anymore. If
you've heard of For King and Country, that's
their sister. Nobody would know For King and
Country if it wasn't for their sister. So we
had the power team, we had Rebecca St. James,
we had Audio Adrenaline, which was the youth
group singers. Everybody had motions for come
and go with me to my father's house. Every youth
group was doing that. So I booked in. It was
amazing. We'd been on the road for all these
years. I just knew all my pastor friends, all
their students, they would bring their youth
groups and come. It was going to be a wonderful
time. I think we had 2 ,300 seats. All we had
to have was about 1 ,300, 1 ,400 people to pay
for it. We got 900 extra seats. That was going
to help us do it again next year, right? Only
problem is, my friends didn't show up. Most people
in the room were strangers. And there wasn't
very many of them. I wish I could remember the
exact number. Between two and three hundred.
How many of you know if it takes thirteen hundred
to pay the bills that when you have two or three
hundred people there, you're probably not going
to be able to pay the bills? It was a bad day.
All these groups were there. All these people
were there. All this equipment. I did a terrible
thing. I don't recommend anyone in the room.
ever doing what I did because I did something
terrible. I just wrote everybody a check for
what the contract was. Some people call those
faith checks where you don't have the money and
you write the checks. It's not a good deal. You
can write a faith check, but keep it in your
hand until the money's there. That's all. Because
it's kind of illegal to do it the other way.
It's not kind of illegal. It's definitely illegal.
But I just knew, because I had a great relationship
with the bank, I just knew that I'd be able to
call the bank and borrow the money. Well, I called
them. And he said, Dean. He said, I think you're
good for the money. But if I let you borrow that
much money, you've got to understand something.
I need my job. And if I let you borrow this money
and you don't pay it back, how am I even going
to find you? You live in a motorhome. And at
that point I said, well, Let me see if I can
get some people to co -sign. Let me see if I
can get some family and friends to co -sign.
And I said, whatever you do, please don't return
the checks. Call me when you get them. I called
some friends. I called family. Boy, I had some
great friends and family. After talking with
several people, I got up to the point where they
were willing to co -sign for $5 ,000. The only
problem is I owed more than 10 times that much.
So it was a bad day. We were in Myrtle Beach.
We were parked. Our motorhome was parked right
there where the dune goes over to the beach.
That time of year, first, second week of January,
nobody's there. It's just completely empty. We
were there, and several days went by, and the
banker's first name was Forrest. Forrest called.
He said, I think I have all your checks. What
was I going to do? Gannon and I, well, I pulled
out the atlas. Anybody know what an atlas is?
It's those paper maps. It's a book of all 50
states. Pulled out that atlas. I mean, we're
laughing now. It wasn't funny then. Pulled out
the atlas and we looked at it and we said, okay,
is it quicker to get to Canada or Mexico? Because
our ministry is about to change. We're either
going to be Forest Ministries International,
or I'm going to have a really good prison ministry.
I'm serious. We've looked at the maps, figuring
out where to go, what to do. I've been praying
the whole time. See, I prayed before I did it,
and I just knew that God was walking with me,
and we were... talking about it, and I was trying
to follow what he was leading me to do. He didn't
lead me to write those bad checks. But I was
asking him, God, where'd you go? Here I am. I'm
in trouble. I'm about to go to jail for doing
ministry. I'm about to go to Mexico or Canada.
Where did you go? The banker said, we've got
to do something about this in the morning. So
we went to bed that night. I'm rolling, I'm tossing,
I'm turning. We're in bed, but I can't sleep.
I was so overwhelmed with fear. So overwhelmed
with worry. So overwhelmed that I was a failure.
So overwhelmed. It's probably the lowest day
of my life on this earth. So I'm rolling, tossing,
turning. And all of a sudden, people think I'm
crazy when I say that God talks to me, but God
was talking to me. Still small voice. Inside.
Holy Spirit. We're supposed to follow Him. We're
supposed to know His voice. Right? I want you
to go to the beach. It's about 3 o 'clock in
the morning. It's cold outside. It had to be
at least in the 40s. It's cold. At least I'm
warm. I'm not sleeping, but at least I'm warm.
I want you to go to the beach. I had the audacity
to start arguing with God. I mean, I've been
asking where He was and why He wasn't speaking.
Now He's speaking and I'm like, why would I need
to go to the beach? Finally, because I'm thick
-headed, I'm glad somebody didn't say amen right
there. Finally, I got up, got dressed, walked
out of the motorhome. The thickest fog that I've
ever seen in my life. I stepped down off the
steps of the motorhome and I did this. I held
up my hand in front of my face this close. I
could not see my hand. That's how thick the fog
was and how dark it was. No moon that night.
Just thick fog. All I can see is a little white
speck. That was a street light that went over
the dune to the beach. So I knew the direction
to head in. So I walk over to that little bridge
over the dune. I walk up the steps. I get in
the middle of it. And then all of a sudden, God
says, stop. And then He asked me a question.
He says, where is the ocean? So I'm out there.
You might think I'm crazy, but now I'm talking
to God out loud. I said, it's right there. I'm
pointing. I'm talking. It's right there. He says,
you can't see it. How do you know it's there?
Because you can't see it. I said, it's there
because I've been here before. It's there because
I can hear. The waves. I've been here before.
And then God said in the loudest and audible
voice that I've ever heard, I'm here. I've been
asking Him, God, where'd you go? I'm drowning
here. Where did you go? Have you turned your
back on me or are you going to let me go under?
I mean, that's basically what I was saying to
God. But he reminded me. I'm here. Listen, the
peace of God, when he said I'm here, the peace
of God just flooded me. It flooded my mind. I'd
been so overwhelmed. But at that point, I walked
back to the RV, I walked in, I got back in bed,
and listen, as soon as my head hit the pillow,
I fell asleep. I want to ask you a question.
Had anything changed? It's not a trick question.
Did I find a... Did I find a treasure chest on
the beach? Did I trip over a bag full of cash?
Drug deal gone bad. Now I got $50 ,000 worth
of cash. Had anything changed? Was I still facing
the exact same thing that I was facing when I
was rolling and tossing and turning in the bed?
Nothing had changed. Besides God telling me that
He was there. Here's what changed. My confidence,
my trust, my faith in Yahweh Shammah had changed.
So I went fast asleep. You want to hear the rest
of the story? Next thing I heard was a telephone
ringing. Somebody called and said, Dean, God
told me to call you this morning and ask you
if you needed anything. I said, I hem -hauled
around. You know why I hem -hauled around? Because
I didn't think any one person could help me.
And then this person on the phone said, well,
if you're too proud to tell me what you need,
I'm going to hang up and don't call me back.
About that point, I swallowed a lot of pride.
And I told them the number. Within one hour.
Everybody say one hour. Within one hour. Everything
I needed plus another $1 ,000 was wired into
our ministry bank account. Why did I go through
all that? Maybe since I called the conference
the Big God Conference, maybe God was wanting
to let me know just how big He is. That's the
way I look back on it. So, what I have experienced...
Hey, you can't convince me that God has left
me anymore. I'm established in that now. You
can't convince me that He's not here with intended
purpose, directed purpose. You can't tell me
He's not. The reason why I shared that wasn't
so that you can be impressed by my faith because
I showed you how little faith I had through multiple
steps of that. I don't want you to be impressed
by me. I want you to be impressed by God. No
matter what you face. No matter what you face,
He's there. But you've got to believe that He's
there. He is there, but if you don't acknowledge
Him being there, you're not going to see the
deliverance. You're not going to see the victory.
You've got to acknowledge Him. In your darkest
days, in your darkest hours, you've got to acknowledge
Him. You've got to know that He is Yahweh Shammah.
He told you that in the Bible, that He is here
with a directed purpose to abide with you, to
live with you, to reside with you. You've got
to know it. You've got to know that when you're
in deep waters, you're not going to drown. When
you're in troubled waters, you're not going under
it. When you walk through the fire, you're not
going to be burnt up. You've got to know it.
Because that's who He is. And that's what He
does. Hebrews 13 .5 God has said over and over
and over and over again, I will never fail you.
I will never abandon you. But it's up to you.
It's up to me to walk by faith and not by sight.
It's up to you. It's up to me to walk by faith
and not by sight. It's up to us to live by believing
and not by seeing. Back to Peter stepping out
of the boat. When he was focused on Jesus, he
was walking on water. But when he focused on
the waves and the storm and the wind, he began
to sink. It's up to us to focus on Yahweh Shammah.
For us to focus. on Emmanuel, that God is with
us. Because when we know who God is, when we
know His name, we can put our trust, we can put
our confidence in Him, and we know that He will
not forsake us when we seek Him. His name is
Yahweh Shammah. His name is Emmanuel. I want
you to stand and say this with me. We need to
put our words in agreement with God's words.
Say this with me. Repeat it after me. God's targeted
purpose is to live, dwell, and abide with me.
I do not live by what I see or feel. I live by
God's established truth. I will not be afraid.
I will not be discouraged. I am strong and courageous.
God is always with me. He will never leave me
or fail me. Do you believe it? Do you believe
it? God, I thank you for your word. I thank you
for your truth. I thank you for who you are.
Thank you for showing us this. God, I pray that
we can be established in this truth. Not just
visit it this week and forget it when we visit
some more truth next week, but help us to be
established in this truth that you are with us.
That's your targeted purpose, is to be with us.
Help us to acknowledge that. In Jesus' name I
pray, amen. This online worship experience was
brought to you by the friends and partners of
Elation Church.