Latest / 4-Freedom Podcast / 204. Leaving for Israel and Nathan Cravatt on "Who is the King of Glory? - Yahweh Sabaoth"

Transcript

204. Leaving for Israel and Nathan Cravatt on "Who is the King of Glory? - Yahweh Sabaoth" · 4-Freedom Podcast

0:01
Brett, welcome back to the podcast.
0:04
We are t -, 24 hours from hopping in a car, driving to
0:11
Atlanta, boarding a plane and heading to Israel.
0:15
But we're a day away from being around each other again.
0:18
I cannot wait tomorrow, tomorrow.
0:22
I'll. See you tomorrow.
0:25
I I don't want. Me a day away.
0:29
I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight.
0:32
It's like a giddy, A giddy schoolboy.
0:35
You know, we're waking up early in the morning.
0:38
And, you know, usually when we go on vacations and dad says,
0:43
all right, we're waking up 5:00 AM and they're like, oh, come
0:48
on. But this time Emma's like, yeah,
0:51
man, I'm ready to go because she, she's ready to go.
0:54
We got our luggage. We've we're already packed.
0:57
We got everything. Packed, their cars, loaded.
1:00
We're ready to go, baby. I mean, we are, we are ready to
1:03
go. I've got some guys from my
1:05
county that are coming with us and we're going to all caravan
1:11
and we're going to meet up at my house at 6:00 AM and then we'll
1:16
drive through forest and pick up another member of our group and
1:20
then we're going to Atlanta and man, we're going to be in the
1:24
Holy Land. That was here.
1:26
Who would have thought who? Who would imagine three years
1:29
ago when we when we went on this trip originally it this trip's
1:33
been moved like 3 times. I think it's been so long
1:36
coming. Three or four times it's been
1:38
moved. At one point I really thought
1:41
we're not going to do this trip. And now it's here like we're
1:44
we're getting on a plane, 32 other people and we're going to
1:48
go and we're going to see Israel again.
1:50
Brett, you were just telling me about places that have been
1:53
uncovered since we were there back in 23.
1:57
The pool of Shalom is like almost 100% uncovered a new
2:01
tomb. Tell me about the new the new
2:02
tomb. You're the new prison.
2:05
There have they all right. So we were at Cesare maritime.
2:08
We were in the the palace of Herod outside the Hippodrome
2:14
where they filmed been been hurt, all that stuff.
2:17
And we talked about, you know, we know that Paul was imprisoned
2:21
here and they pointed to the ground, to a little square in
2:24
the ground and they're like, maybe this is where the cell
2:27
was. And I was like, well, now they
2:30
underneath the palace, they have found the jail, they have dug
2:35
and excavated it. It's a big room, bigger than my
2:39
office here. And I had a couple preacher
2:42
friends who were in Israel a few weeks ago.
2:44
They stood in it, took pictures. This is this has been discovered
2:48
since me and you've been there last.
2:50
And now we're going to get to see it and go in it and to get
2:53
to actually not guess, but go in the confirmed cell.
2:57
We know this is the jail, so this is where they put Paul.
3:01
Yeah, this Brett, 3 weeks ago I preached on Paul being in prison
3:06
there at Sensory Maritime. There were four Festus and
3:10
before grip and all that. I can't wait to be there and to
3:14
see that man. It's going to be awesome.
3:16
We are just so close to jumping on that plane and being there.
3:22
I, I, I don't know if I'm more excited about Israel or if I'm
3:26
more excited about spending a week with you.
3:29
I mean, they're, they're really close up in the air about which
3:32
one I'm most excited about. But man, we're going to be
3:35
together. I can't wait to take our, our
3:37
stroll on the pier there at Sea of Galilee like we did.
3:40
Hey are. Are you going now?
3:42
Listen, the second, not the first morning, but the second
3:46
morning, me and Emily are going to get up and we're going to go
3:48
out there before the sun comes up.
3:50
And why sun come up? We're seeing Alley.
3:51
Are you coming out there with us?
3:53
As long as you don't make out in front of me, we'll be we'll do
3:56
it. Yeah, we'll do that.
3:58
We will go out there and experience the sunrise on the
4:01
Sea of Galilee. I can't wait.
4:04
I can remember the last time we went, we were walking back from
4:08
the the pier together. And that's where we're like,
4:10
Brett, do you want to do the podcast with me?
4:13
I think John's stepping down and then you're like, let's bring a
4:16
trip back. Like this is this is a reunion
4:19
of me and you in the Four Freedom podcast coming together
4:22
and. Jerusalem is where we, you know,
4:25
kind of Israel is where we kind of got together in the 1st place
4:28
and decided to do this thing. And so now it's coming full
4:31
circle. And, you know, I don't think you
4:34
have to worry about me and Emily making out.
4:36
I think Emily has to worry, but not just kidding.
4:38
Come on now. Come on now.
4:41
But listen, it's, it's going to be great.
4:43
I mean, in in less than 24 hours, we're going to be in the
4:45
airport in Atlanta getting ready to take our flight to Germany.
4:50
And dude, we're going to be leaving on a jet plane.
4:57
I don't know as long Armageddon humor there, but but yeah, man,
5:02
I can't wait. It's going to be awesome.
5:04
It's going to be great. We're going to be going to
5:06
places that we didn't go to the last time.
5:09
I'm going to get inked up and you're coming to get inked up
5:12
with me. That's.
5:14
Right. That's right.
5:15
So we are, we are looking forward to that.
5:18
And dude, we just can't wait. We're going to be recording some
5:22
episodes. We're going to be a couple a
5:24
couple of different episodes from the Holy Land.
5:27
And we're going to be, we're going to be putting out some
5:29
talks that we do while we're at different sites.
5:31
We're going to record all those talks.
5:33
So you can sort of feel like what we were there.
5:36
And then we're going to be recording a couple episodes with
5:40
Marcus and recording some stuff about Luther Rice and some
5:44
things they've got going on while we're there on location.
5:47
So yeah, we're we're thoroughly excited about what we've got
5:50
coming up. We're.
5:52
Going to be taking pictures and uploading them to the group we
5:57
went with in 2023. Make them being jealous. 100%
6:01
yeah, yeah, they're going to make.
6:03
They're going to be envious and wish they were there with us.
6:06
And then we're going to what we're.
6:10
This is the plan of the podcast today Got a special episode that
6:13
we'll talk about in just a minute.
6:15
The month of February. We're going to be dropping our
6:17
Israel stuff in February, March and then at the end of middle of
6:21
March, we're going to jump into a manipulation boundaries
6:24
episodes, talking through Jim Jones and the People's Temple
6:29
and what manipulation looks like and how to have good, healthy
6:32
boundaries and working on a podcast, working on an episode
6:36
of a new a new book that's been coming out that just came out, a
6:39
little mini book called boundaries by Jim Neuheiser,
6:43
working on trying to get him wound up to come on and talk
6:45
about it. So that's going to lead up until
6:48
end of March, April, by the end of the season.
6:50
So be looking forward to those things coming out.
6:53
I know I am. I'm excited about being there in
6:55
Israel. But Brett, why don't you
6:57
introduce today's episode and then we'll jump off here to for
7:00
today. So we didn't have time to record
7:03
much this week because we're getting ready to go to Israel.
7:05
So we thought we have a special treat for you this past year for
7:10
a homecoming Sunday. I had the one, the only, the
7:14
great Nathan Cravat at my church.
7:19
And let me tell you something, I was so happy to have him here
7:24
with us, to be with our church, to preach to us, to spend time.
7:31
He spent time with us, with my family, at our house, just
7:36
talking about his story, talking about his testimony, Amazing,
7:40
amazing things. Nathan has got some amazing
7:43
things lined up for the future. It was such a blessing, such a
7:47
blessing to have him here. And so I want to share a little
7:51
bit of that with our audience. And so Nathan has agreed to let
7:57
us post the message that he preached at my church last year
8:02
for our homecoming Sunday. We're going to preach that.
8:05
We're going to post that today. And the title of.
8:09
His sermon is. Who is this king of glory,
8:12
Yahweh, Sabiah? And so that is the sermon and
8:17
that we're going to upload that for you today.
8:19
And I hope you enjoyed this special treat.
8:21
Yeah, it's going to be great. I know some people are going to
8:24
say sermons are not podcasts, but today you're going to hear a
8:28
great message by by Brother Nathan and I hope you enjoy it
8:32
today. For freedom set me free.
8:36
Not for change, not for guilt, not for Pharisee grace.
8:39
Let the flame. Now I'm puffing peace, cigars
8:41
and victory. Justified.
8:43
Released. Welcome to the For Freedom
8:47
podcast. This podcast exists to bring the
8:50
freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with
8:54
everyday issues. I ain't.
8:55
Saved by dress codes, not by what I eat.
8:58
I'm covered in the righteousness, washed from head
9:00
to feet. No tally of tradition.
9:02
No man made code. Blood bought my freedom.
9:05
Now I ride that road. They clutch pearls when they see
9:07
smoke rings rise, but my praise still ascends past the legalist
9:11
cries. Christ plus nothing.
9:13
That's the real math. So miss me with your fence laws
9:16
and your extra path. He sat with sinners, I'm sitting
9:19
with Saints. Slipping grace from the bottle.
9:21
No room for face. I like one for liberty.
9:24
Toast to the king. Every ash of sermon Death has
9:27
lost it's sting for freedom. He set me free, not for change,
9:31
not for guilt, not for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame.
9:34
Now I'm puffing peace, cigars and victory justified, release
9:39
for freedom. He set me free, not for change,
9:42
not for guilt, not for Pharisee grace.
9:44
Let the flame now Puff and peace, cigars and victory
9:47
justified, released. Let grace begin for freedom.
9:52
He let me free, not for change, not for guilt, not for Pharisee
9:56
Grace. Let the flame now.
9:58
Here are your hosts, Victor James, Seyfried and Brett
10:01
Martin. All right, let's open our Bibles
10:05
together this morning. We're going to be in the Book of
10:07
Psalms, Chapter 24, and I just want to say it is a privilege to
10:13
be here at Rocky Point Baptist Church this morning with my dear
10:17
friends Brett and Emily. Thank you guys so much for your
10:22
friendship and your love and your prayers over the years.
10:25
Got to spend some time yesterday with them just running around
10:29
and in Jackson and just encouraged by being around them.
10:34
I hope this church knows how blessed you are by having this
10:37
family. They love you, they talked a lot
10:39
about you yesterday. They love this church and
10:43
they're just, they're just a privilege and a pleasure to be
10:47
around. Excited about preaching this
10:50
morning and speaking to you on what God has been doing in my
10:54
life over the past year. This past year my family and I
10:57
have been through the fire. I've said that before, but I
11:00
didn't really know what I was saying and what I was talking
11:03
about in a lot of situations. But this year we've truly been
11:07
through the fire. And I'm going to share a little
11:09
bit of my story, but I want to start out in our text this
11:13
morning. The greatest thing I can give
11:14
you today are God's words, not my words.
11:18
And my goal is to use my words to help you understand God's
11:22
words. And in this chapter, which many
11:24
of you are familiar with, in Psalm chapter 24, David asks one
11:29
of the most important questions in all of Scripture.
11:33
So let's read chapter 24, starting in verse one together,
11:37
a Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's, and the
11:40
fullness thereof the world and those who dwell therein.
11:44
For he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon
11:48
the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the
11:51
Lord? Who shall stand in his holy
11:53
place? He who has clean hands and a
11:56
pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and
12:00
does not swear deceitfully, he will receive blessing from the
12:05
Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation, such as
12:09
the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the
12:12
God of Jacob. Sayla, lift up your heads, O
12:16
gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of
12:21
glory may come in. Here's our question.
12:24
Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the
12:29
Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and
12:33
lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come
12:38
in. Who is this King of glory?
12:40
The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory, sailor.
12:45
This is the word of the Lord for His people this morning.
12:49
Today I want us to see who the King of Glory, the Lord of
12:54
Hosts, truly is and why it matters for your life and for my
12:59
life. The Lord of Hosts is the Hebrew
13:02
title Yahweh Sabiath. Maybe you've probably heard that
13:06
before in the names of God. The English translations of the
13:10
Bible handle this in many different ways.
13:13
The NIV translates it the Lord Almighty, the New Living
13:17
Translation translates it the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
13:23
The NASB has the broader Lord of Armies, and the NET has the even
13:28
broader the Lord who rules over all.
13:32
So we're going somewhere this morning.
13:34
But before we do, I want you to know why it matters for your
13:39
life and for my life. Many of us are going through
13:42
difficult times. I look around this room and it
13:45
looks like everybody's happy, looks like everybody's healthy.
13:48
But I can't see your heart. I don't know what you're walking
13:50
through this morning. But many of us are going through
13:53
difficult times. And as I said this past year, my
13:56
family experienced the most difficult trial of our lives.
14:00
One year ago yesterday, Hurricane Helene hit Asheville,
14:04
NC. As your pastor was saying.
14:07
My family and I were there planning a church, and a large
14:10
oak tree fell into our house, and it was just a miracle of God
14:15
that our lives were spared. My wife and four, three
14:18
daughters and myself were all in the line of the tree at the back
14:22
of the house. And somehow, miraculously, the
14:25
corner of our house held that tree up.
14:27
The day after the storm, we drove in every direction trying
14:31
to get out of Asheville. It wasn't safe.
14:33
We didn't have any drinking water, no stores were open,
14:36
there was no gas. So we tried to escape, couldn't
14:38
get out, and we, in the middle of this situation, in the middle
14:42
of the mountains with no cell signal, prayed and asked God for
14:46
help. And somehow, miraculously, we
14:51
got far enough away from Asheville that our phones got a
14:53
little bit of a signal. And on my wife's phone, she got
14:56
a text from some of our dear friends that said, go back to
14:59
the airport in Asheville and we're going to get you home.
15:03
When we got back to the airport they allowed us to stay in the
15:05
private pilots lounge and we spent the night there.
15:11
My wife and four three girls had these amazing recliners they
15:16
slept in and I got to sleep on a concrete floor.
15:19
I didn't sleep very much that night to say the least.
15:21
The next day some of our friends arranged for a private jet to
15:25
come and pick us up in Asheville, NC and a short 24
15:29
minute flight got us back to Chattanooga, TN.
15:32
Now I do want to tell you this, I've prayed many times for God
15:35
to help me and that is the one and only time in my life He has
15:38
sent a private jet to help me. So you don't need to ask me to
15:41
pray for God to help you because I'm not sure that's going to
15:44
happen. I got my family safely settled
15:48
in Chattanooga, TN and some friends let them stay in a cabin
15:53
and I went straight back to Asheville, NC with a 26 foot box
15:56
truck that was loaded down with supplies.
15:59
I spent the next two weeks doing disaster relief, sharing the
16:02
gospel with hundreds, probably thousands of people that were
16:05
coming through a church property.
16:07
That's another prayer that God answered.
16:09
We had prayed. God allow us to reach this
16:11
community, allow us to impact this community.
16:13
And that's one of the only times ever seen a community go from
16:17
literally rejecting everything that we had to offer to the
16:21
entire community and more coming to our door, coming to our
16:24
property, asking us for help. And we helped them.
16:28
We were able to give them water, food supplies, batteries,
16:31
flashlights, all sorts of things.
16:33
And we were able to share the gospel with thousands of people
16:36
over those two weeks. On October 13th, we talked about
16:43
canceling the trip, but we had raised so much money and there
16:47
were things set in place that me and another pastor from Hope
16:51
Church, Danville, actually got on a plane in Charlotte, NC, to
16:55
fly to the country of Nepal. If you don't know where Nepal it
16:59
is, is it's between China and India.
17:04
So there's a little sliver of a country.
17:05
It's where Mount Everest is AT, and we flew over there.
17:09
I've been going there for three years, since the first trip was
17:12
in 2020, and we serve with a group of local pastors and
17:16
church planners. And this group has grown since
17:19
2020 to over 40 church planners. I think they're nearing 50 now.
17:25
And these church planners go out into the jungles and the village
17:28
villages to share the gospel with people that have never
17:31
heard the name of Jesus, people that have never seen a Bible
17:34
before. So while I was there, God bless,
17:37
this trip was absolutely the best missions trip I've ever
17:40
been on. I've had the privilege of being
17:42
in 24 different countries, sharing the gospel on three
17:45
different continents, and God has been so good to always
17:49
provide a way for His Word to be spread.
17:52
But this trip was like nothing I'd ever seen.
17:54
There were open, open doors at every single turn.
17:57
God blessed everything we did. I was able to speak at a youth
18:00
conference where over 100 students were able to invite
18:03
their friends to come and hear the gospel.
18:06
And this is in a communist country.
18:09
I did a pastor's training, training many of the pastor's
18:12
going into the mountain villages that haven't had any theological
18:16
training. We're able to replace, raise the
18:20
money and replace and build some roofs on churches over there
18:24
that had been damaged in the mud slides.
18:26
And everything on that trip was just blessed by the hand of God.
18:30
And on the way home, we laid over in Greece for 2 1/2 days
18:35
and just to kind of recover before we came back to the
18:37
States. And I began to feel sick while I
18:41
was there. I did not know it at the time,
18:44
but I had dengue fever that it that was actually spiking in the
18:48
country of Nepal at the time when we were there.
18:50
And I had appendicitis. So I was home for a full week
18:54
working, driving back and forth to to Asheville, NC, to
18:59
Virginia, to South Carolina and ended up coming back on
19:06
Halloween of last year. Got home and I was planning on
19:09
going to a outreach party with my family and I was so sick that
19:14
I just crawled in the bed. And from Thursday afternoon till
19:17
Sunday afternoon, I was in the bed and we didn't have
19:21
insurance. So I decided, you know what, I'm
19:24
tough. I can sweat this out.
19:26
And I just about sweated it all the way out to glory.
19:31
But on November 3rd, my wife took me to the hospital and I
19:36
thought I was just dehydrated walking into the hospital, but
19:40
when I got there, I was in full septic shock.
19:43
My blood pressure was 70 / 40, multiple organ systems were in
19:47
complete failure. My liver was shutting down, my
19:50
kidneys were completely shut down.
19:52
I lost my spleen and my entire body swelled twice its size and
19:59
I was put on CRT dialysis, which is around the clock constantly
20:03
filtering your blood. I was on life support on a
20:07
breathing tube, on a feeding tube.
20:09
I began to throw so many blood clots that the dialysis machine
20:14
was clogging and it was a constant fight to keep from
20:17
losing all of my blood, which would have resulted in multiple
20:21
transfusions. In this process, my fingers and
20:24
my toes, due to the treatment I was receiving, my fingers and my
20:27
toes turned black and I lost multiple fingers on my left hand
20:32
and multiple toes on both of my feet.
20:35
And every single day, as Pastor Brett said, it just went from
20:39
bad to worse. I have people in my family there
20:42
that are in the medical profession and they just
20:46
basically told me there was. There was literally no hope for
20:51
you. The doctors did not know what I
20:53
had, couldn't figure out what the problem was.
20:56
They tested me for everything, found no answers so they ended
20:59
up just treating my symptoms and my family was beside me the
21:05
entire time. I want to show you a picture of
21:07
my family because this is the absolute greatest part of me.
21:12
If you don't remember anything else, I want you to remember
21:14
that God has blessed me with an amazing family.
21:16
My son and his wife are all the way to your left.
21:19
My wife, Carrie, we've been married almost 30 years, is
21:23
beside my son. My daughter Elena is 26.
21:26
And then my daughter Mia, who's my baby, who is 16 now.
21:30
She's a junior in high school. And then Elise is a freshman at
21:34
Lee University. And this, this family of mine
21:38
that God has blessed me with was beside me the entire time.
21:41
And they watched their dad just about die.
21:44
And every day, it just went from bad to worse.
21:48
On Wednesday, they told my family that there was nothing
21:52
else they could do for me. Thursday they told them they
21:55
needed to tell me goodbye. They said that there was nothing
21:59
else that they could do. I would not make it to the
22:00
weekend. And I remember seeing I couldn't
22:04
reply, I couldn't talk. But my eyes were open and I
22:06
could see my family as they met with the doctors and they were
22:09
weeping. And they turned and each one of
22:12
my family members told me goodbye and walked out of the
22:15
hospital room because they weren't allowed to stay there
22:17
overnight. And I was just laying there
22:19
weeping, couldn't do anything. I, I couldn't respond.
22:22
But I knew I was dying. And from the moment they sedated
22:27
me and put me on life support, I was mostly unconscious over the
22:32
next 5 or 6 days. And I had what many people call
22:37
a near death experience. And I'm not going to go in a
22:41
whole lot of detail this morning, but my body was in that
22:43
hospital bed and they had to call him rapid response multiple
22:47
times because they were losing me.
22:48
And they they kept getting me back.
22:50
But I want to tell you this morning, my body might have been
22:53
in that hospital bed, but my spirit had left my body.
22:56
I was somewhere else and I was having a spirit, an experience
22:59
in the presence of God, and I was surrounded by God's glory.
23:03
And I've always heard the verse that our God is a consuming
23:06
fire. I never knew what that verse
23:09
meant, but I can tell you what it means now.
23:12
When you're in the presence of God, it is a terrifying thing.
23:15
Everywhere you see in Scripture where God reveals some part of
23:18
himself to people, they fall down to worship because they're
23:22
unworthy. Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm a
23:25
man of unclean lips basically saying I have, I have leprosy,
23:29
get away from me. I don't deserve to be in your
23:31
presence. And I experienced a little bit
23:34
of what that felt like being in God's presence.
23:38
And the only thing that brought any peace to my heart in that
23:41
moment was the gospel. Knowing that I had placed my
23:45
faith in my trust in Christ alone.
23:48
There was nothing I could do to earn God's favor.
23:51
But because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, my sins
23:56
were forgiven, I was loved, and I was accepted by God.
23:59
And I want to tell you something.
24:01
In that moment, nothing else matters.
24:04
Nothing else. The size of your house, what
24:07
kind of car you drive, how much money you make, what your
24:10
profession is, how many followers you had on social
24:13
media, none of that matters. How much fun you had in life,
24:19
none of that matters. All that matters is that Jesus
24:21
Christ is your Lord and your Savior and his sacrifice, His
24:26
blood, is applied to your life. Well, in that moment I was
24:31
weeping and I asked God, I said would you please allow me to go
24:34
back to my family and would you allow me to serve you for the
24:38
rest of my life? And I don't understand some
24:41
people. You might call it a vision, you
24:43
might call it a near death experience, you might call it a
24:47
dream. Whatever you want to call it, I
24:49
believe I was in the presence of God and I asked Him to allow me
24:52
to come back. And Friday morning, against all
24:54
odds, at 4:00 in the morning, in an instant I went from being in
24:58
God's presence to being back in that hospital bed.
25:02
My eyes opened and I was wide awake.
25:06
And my nurse came in and I scared her to death.
25:09
She she walked in and they told me that every time she came in
25:11
the room, she would try to get a response out of me.
25:14
How are you doing, Mr. Nathan? And that particular time, after
25:17
six days, I turned my head at 4:00 in the morning and I said,
25:20
I'm good. How are you doing?
25:22
And she just got back. She had the most terrified look
25:25
on her face. And then this terrified look
25:28
turned into the biggest smile I've ever seen in my life.
25:31
And she said, do you know where you're at?
25:33
And I said, yeah, I'm in the hospital.
25:35
She said, which hospital? I said Erlanger Hospital.
25:38
And she started asking me all these questions and I knew the
25:40
answers to all the questions. I was back.
25:43
Like God had touched my body and healed me.
25:46
I knew it. I felt it.
25:49
And as I began to answer her questions, the only thing I
25:52
couldn't answer was questions about what day it was, what
25:56
month it was, because I got sick at the end of October, went in
25:59
on the 3rd of November. And as you know, in that time
26:03
process, the six days that I was unconscious, the United States
26:07
of America got a new president. So I, I almost died and woke up
26:13
to an entirely new world, basically.
26:16
Then I, I had gone to sleep in and it was, it was crazy.
26:20
It was like I was watching a movie.
26:22
But I want to tell you something.
26:23
I had no idea how many people were praying for me around the
26:27
country, including you, this church, your pastor and his wife
26:31
and their family. And so many people have told me
26:34
details about prayer meetings that they had, where they came
26:38
together spontaneously at the church and lifted my name and my
26:41
family's name up. And God heard those prayers, and
26:44
God answered those prayers. The first miracle is that I
26:49
lived, that I survived it. The second miracle is that even
26:54
though I lived, they told me that my kidneys would never work
26:57
again and I would be on dialysis for the rest of my life.
27:00
And about 3 weeks later my kidneys started coming back to
27:04
life and the doctor said I've just never seen anything like
27:07
this. God spared my right hand, which
27:10
also began to die and now is perfectly healthy.
27:15
My feet are healing way more than any of the doctors ever
27:19
expected. And I just want to tell you my
27:21
story this morning to let you know that God, Yahweh Sabiath,
27:29
the Lord of Armies, the Lord of Hosts, is with us in the darkest
27:34
hours of our life. Many of you are facing bigger
27:39
trials than you ever thought you would have to endure and maybe
27:42
trials that you feel like you can never survive.
27:45
Our world is broken. We live in a broken, sin, cursed
27:49
world. Nations are at war.
27:51
Natural disasters, injustice, oppression, famine, genocide
27:57
threaten our world every single day.
28:01
A Christian man was executed publicly for speaking the truth
28:06
this month in the United States of America.
28:09
And it doesn't matter what your politics are, when a man was
28:15
killed for speaking the truth, something is wrong in our world.
28:22
And as believers, we long for the words of Psalm 46 to be true
28:28
and to become a reality. If you don't remember, Psalm 46
28:32
says this in verse 8. Come, behold the works of the
28:35
Lord, how He has brought desolations on the earth.
28:39
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.
28:42
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.
28:45
He burns the Chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God.
28:50
I will be exalted among the nations.
28:52
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts, Yahweh
28:56
Sabioth, is with us. The God of Jacob is our
29:01
fortress. We know that this is going to
29:04
happen one day, where he will cause all wars to cease, where
29:07
he will bring peace on a new heaven and a new earth.
29:12
But this hasn't happened yet. But we're stuck in a place where
29:15
our souls are longing for that. And this sermon matters.
29:20
This passage of Scripture, this chapter in Psalms matters for
29:24
our world, and it matters for you.
29:26
And I pray that God will transform your thinking and my
29:29
thinking and ignite our faith in the Lord of hosts.
29:33
This morning. Before I go any further in the
29:36
sermon, I just want to pray. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
29:39
Father, I just ask that you would in this moment speak to
29:42
the hearts of your people. May your word cause us to
29:46
respond and worship to the Lord of hosts.
29:51
God, you are worthy, and my desire is to lift you up this
29:55
morning. And I ask that you would draw
29:58
all of us to yourself. The powerful name of Jesus.
30:01
I pray, Amen. So let's look at this text just
30:05
briefly. First of all, I want us to see
30:08
what it means. The Bible is a self revelation
30:12
of God. We know that as Christians, it
30:14
was given to us, to mankind, to introduce us to our Creator.
30:20
And the primary reason we read the Bible is to learn about God.
30:24
It's true that as we read Scripture, we learn about
30:26
ourselves and we learn about the world around us.
30:28
But the primary reason we read the Bible is to learn about God
30:33
and to worship him and to love him in a deeper way.
30:37
And one of the primary ways that God introduces himself to us in
30:42
the Bible is through his names. You've heard many of these
30:46
names, El Shaddai, El Elian, the most mighty God, El Olam, the
30:52
everlasting God, Adonai, Lord or Master Yahweh.
30:58
Another pronunciation for Yahweh that we use in English is
31:02
Jehovah I am, the name that God gave to Moses.
31:07
This name was so sacred, Yahweh was so sacred that many people
31:11
wouldn't even pronounce it or write it down because they
31:14
revered this name so much and they were terrified of taking
31:17
God's name in vain. So in scripture many times the
31:22
word Lord is substituted for Yahweh.
31:26
You also see other names in scripture where the name Yahweh
31:31
is combined with another word like the word Hallelujah is
31:35
praise Yahweh. We see it in names.
31:38
Isaiah is salvation of Yahweh. Jeremiah, God will raise or
31:45
elevate the name Joshua, which is actually Jesus name.
31:49
Yeshua the Lord saves. And then we see many places
31:54
where there's a compound name of God in Scripture.
31:57
And one of those that we're studying this morning is Yahweh,
32:01
Yahweh Sabi off. But there are many others.
32:03
Yahweh Nisi, the Lord, my banner, Yahweh Rah, the Lord my
32:07
shepherd, Yahweh Rapha, the Lord that heals Yahweh Shama the Lord
32:12
is there. Yahweh sig canoe, the Lord our
32:15
righteousness, Yahweh Jireh the Lord will provide Yahweh Shalom
32:19
the Lord is our peace. But I want us to look at this
32:22
name, Yahweh Sabiath, because David asked the question, who is
32:26
this king of glory? And he answers it.
32:28
Yahweh Sabiath, the Lord of hosts.
32:31
He is this king of glory. So we see what the name means,
32:36
but I want us to understand it greater.
32:39
So let's look at where we see this name in Scripture.
32:42
Where do we see it? He's he's called the Lord of
32:45
hosts, but what hosts is he talking about?
32:49
What hosts is he the Lord of? Well, I'm glad you asked.
32:53
He's the Lord of the hosts of heaven, the planets, and the
32:56
stars in the Galaxy. The 1st place that we see this
32:59
word used in scriptures in Genesis 21 and then again in
33:03
Deuteronomy 419, and he's talking about all the hosts of
33:07
heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars, all the galaxies in the
33:11
planets. Then we see that in Exodus 12 it
33:16
refers to the hosts of Israel. Yahweh is the God of all the
33:21
hosts of His people, the people of Israel.
33:24
It also refers to it in Numbers 31 as the hosts of the armies of
33:29
Israel. When God's people gathered
33:32
together to fight against evil and stand for truth in their
33:36
world, they were called the hosts of the Lord and He is the
33:41
God of the armies of Israel. But we don't see the name Yahweh
33:46
Sabiath, the Lord of hosts as a name of God until it is
33:50
mentioned in first Samuel and it's in verse chapter one verse
33:55
3. It says now this man used to go
33:57
up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to
34:01
Yahweh Sabiath to the Lord of hosts.
34:05
And then in verse 11 where we see Hannah praying and pouring
34:09
out her heart to God begging for a baby, she says, it says that
34:14
she vowed to vow to say, O Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabiath, if you
34:20
will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and
34:22
Remember Me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your
34:26
servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of
34:30
his life. We see that God resided in the
34:35
Tabernacle, in the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts,
34:40
Yahweh, Sabbath. Then later he resided in the
34:43
temple in Jerusalem in the Ark of the Covenant.
34:47
We also see this in one of the most famous verses in all of
34:50
scripture or passages in all of scripture where David is facing
34:54
Goliath. And what is the name that David
34:58
calls on as he faces this giant? David asked in verse 26 how this
35:05
Philistine could defy the hosts or the armies of the living God.
35:10
And he goes on in verse 45 and says to to Goliath, you come at
35:14
me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come
35:19
to you in the name of Yahweh Sabbath, the Lord of hosts, the
35:25
God of armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
35:29
Later in the life of David, we see that God, the Lord of hosts,
35:36
is the one that makes the covenant with David, the
35:39
everlasting covenant to bless all the nations of the earth
35:43
through the offspring of David, the same way that he had
35:46
promised to Abraham. And David calls on the name of
35:52
the Lord of hosts. We also see that Elijah on the
35:56
mount of Mount Carmel, where your pastor and I have stood
36:00
before, and I know he just preached a sermon on this.
36:03
But when Elijah stood against 450 prophets of Baal, he boldly
36:08
announced his intention to come before King Ahab by calling on
36:12
the name of the Lord of Hosts in this impossible situation where
36:18
he was certainly going to be killed by the king.
36:21
And he alone, as the single prophet of God, stood against
36:25
450 prophets of Baal. And he called on Yahweh,
36:30
Sabiath, Elisha, the prophet that followed Elijah.
36:37
We also see in a very important passage of Scripture in Second
36:40
King six that the king of Syria had sent his armies after the
36:46
man of God, Elijah, and they surrounded the city of Dothan.
36:50
And I just want to read verse 15 to 17.
36:53
It says that when the servant of the man of God rose up early in
36:56
the morning and went out, behold, an army or a host with
37:01
horses and Chariots was all around the city.
37:04
These are the enemies of God, the host of the enemies of God.
37:08
And the servant said, alas my master, what shall we do?
37:12
And Elisha said do not be afraid for those who are with us or
37:17
more than those who are with them.
37:20
Then Elisha prayed and said Oh Lord, please open his eyes that
37:24
he may see. So the Lord Yahweh Sabiath
37:27
opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the
37:31
mountain was full of horses and Chariots of fire all around.
37:36
Elisha we also see, and I don't have time to read all the texts
37:40
this morning, but we also see in Psalms 13 * 2 of which I've read
37:45
this morning, Yahweh Sabioth, the Lord of hosts.
37:49
This name is used Isaiah 60 times, Jeremiah 81 times, then
37:55
all through Hosea, Amos, Micah, Naeum, Abaka, Zephaniah, Haggai
38:00
in the small book of Haggai, in two chapters, 12 times the name
38:04
of the Lord of hosts is used, Zachariah 46 times, and then in
38:09
Malachi 24 times. What's my point?
38:14
This name of God is used 285 times at the best count that we
38:19
can get in the Old Testament. Over and over and over again in
38:24
impossible situations, people called on the name of Yahweh,
38:29
Sabbath, the Lord of hosts. And I just wonder, as a believer
38:33
this morning, have you ever called on this name?
38:37
Have you called on the name of the Lord of hosts when you had
38:40
no other option? I challenge you to do that
38:43
because I know for a fact that He answers prayers.
38:46
He answers the prayers of the people that call on His name,
38:50
not always in the way that we think he should.
38:52
He doesn't always give healing when we ask for it, but he's
38:55
still good even when he doesn't because he still has a plan and
38:59
a purpose. The Apostle Paul, one of the
39:01
most amazing men in all of Scripture, called on the name of
39:06
God, the Lord of hosts. And God saved him and rescued
39:09
him many times, but eventually his life was taken.
39:12
He was a martyr for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and God was
39:16
still good. If I had died in that hospital
39:19
bed, my family would have stood there and said God is good.
39:23
Blessed be the name of the Lord of hosts.
39:27
But there are only two specific times that this title, Lord of
39:31
Hosts, is used in the New Testament.
39:34
And I point this out because while it's only used 2 specific
39:38
times, there's a lot of language in the New Testament about hosts
39:42
or armies. Where do we see the language of
39:45
armies in the New Testament? What about Second Timothy 2-3
39:48
where it says that believers like you and me should share in
39:52
the sufferings as a good soldier in the army of Jesus Christ?
39:57
Ephesians 613 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you
40:02
may be able to stand against the devil, and having done all, to
40:05
stand firm. The Church is the host of the
40:09
people of God. This isn't a name we refer to
40:13
ourselves very often, but I think we really should because
40:16
we serve the God of hosts and we are the host of God.
40:20
Jesus said he would build his church and the gates of hell
40:24
would not prevail against it. This church started in Acts.
40:29
It's just a few, a small group of people, and then it grew
40:33
quickly to thousands. And Paul clearly taught that
40:37
Jesus was the head of his church.
40:39
Jesus himself declared that he was the head of the church.
40:45
Today, the church has grown to a host of billions.
40:50
This includes those who are living and those who have died
40:53
in Christ as believers in God, followers of Jesus.
40:58
And in Revelation we see an amazing, amazing description of
41:03
the host of the church. It says in Revelation 7, verse
41:07
9. After this I looked and behold a
41:10
great multitude that no one could number, from every nation,
41:13
from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the
41:17
throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm
41:22
branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice.
41:25
Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the
41:29
Lamb. And the angels were standing
41:31
around the throne and around the elders and the four living
41:34
creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne
41:37
and worshipped God. We are there in the scene, the
41:42
host of the people who have been saved by the blood of Jesus
41:46
Christ, and we're singing Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom
41:51
and Thanksgiving and honor and power, and might be to our God
41:55
forever and ever. So the name the Lord of Hosts,
42:00
Yahweh Sabiath, emphasizes God's sovereign control over every
42:06
dominion, every power, every force over every realm.
42:11
God is the universal. Every time we use this name,
42:15
we're declaring God is the universal ruler over all nature,
42:19
every man, every woman, every ruler, every king, every
42:24
president, every Kingdom, every empire, every force, every
42:28
power, every Angel and every demon, whether in heaven or on
42:33
earth. That is the God that we serve.
42:37
That's right. And that's what this name means,
42:42
and that's where we see it in Scripture.
42:43
But specifically, I want to close this morning by asking who
42:48
is this King of glory? Specifically, who is Yahweh
42:53
Sabiath? We see in Joshua 513 that he's
42:57
called the commander of the army of the Lord, and in this passage
43:00
of Scripture he appears to Joshua and tells him to take off
43:04
of his, take off his shoes because he's standing on holy
43:07
ground. Who else declared that to
43:09
somebody in Scripture? God declared that to Moses at
43:13
the burning Bush where Yahweh appeared to him.
43:18
And Yahweh appears as the commander of the army of the
43:21
Lord, the Lord of hosts to Joshua.
43:26
And it's clear that God himself, this, some of you may think, I
43:30
don't need to say this, that this goes without saying, but
43:33
church, I believe in our day and age, we need to say it clearly.
43:37
God is the commander of his own army.
43:40
God is the Lord of all the hosts, including the Lord of his
43:43
church. And we see him, Malachi 3 in a
43:46
Messianic Psalm that Yahweh Sabbath speaks.
43:51
And he says, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare
43:55
the way before who before me, Yahweh Sabbath.
44:00
And the Lord whom you seek Yahweh will suddenly come to his
44:04
temple, and the messengers of the covenant in whom you
44:07
delight, Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
44:12
There's our title. So he declares that God himself,
44:17
Yahweh Sabiath, is going to come and that the spirit of Elijah
44:23
would go before him, declaring the way.
44:25
And if you look back at Isaiah chapter 8, this is another way
44:30
of another place where Yahweh Sabiath, the Lord of hosts, is
44:33
listed. And he says, the Lord of hosts
44:38
him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, let him be
44:43
your dread, and he will become a sanctuary.
44:46
Listen. And a stone of offense and a
44:49
rock of stumbling. Now who is this talking about in
44:55
Isaiah chapter 8 verse 14? We'll both Paul and Peter in the
45:02
New Testament tell us that this rock of stumbling is Jesus
45:08
Christ, who is rejected as the Messiah by the very people that
45:13
he came to save. So both Paul and Peter called
45:18
Jesus Yahweh Sabbath. And I don't want you to lose the
45:23
impact of that because that's either the greatest blasphemy or
45:29
it is the most powerful truth in all of the universe that Jesus
45:33
Christ himself is Yahweh. He is the Lord of hosts, and he
45:39
even Paul even makes it more clear in Philippians chapter 2
45:43
verse 5 through 11, where he says that we need to have the
45:47
mind of Christ, the one who humbled himself, became a
45:51
servant even to the point of death on a cross.
45:54
He says God has highly exalted him, bestowed on him the name
45:58
that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
46:02
shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, in that
46:06
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
46:10
glory of God the Father. Most of us realize that this is
46:14
one of the most clear declarations of Jesus Christ,
46:17
divinity, divinity in Scripture. He is divine, He is God.
46:22
But did you know that Paul in this passage of Scripture is
46:26
quoting Isaiah 45, which is talking specifically about the
46:32
Lord of hosts? And the Lord of hosts declares
46:36
there is no God beside me, a righteous God and a Savior.
46:40
There is none beside me. I am God and there is no other.
46:47
And if that's not enough for you, that's not enough.
46:51
That Paul is quoting, that the one that every knee would bow to
46:55
is a direct quote from Isaiah 45 where it says every knee will
47:01
bow to Yahweh Sabiath. Paul tells us that's Jesus, He
47:05
came, He lived, He died, He raised from the grave.
47:08
And if that doesn't convince you, then look at Revelation 19.
47:13
And this is clearly talking about Jesus.
47:16
In the book called The Revelation of Jesus Christ, it
47:19
says, then I saw the heavens open verse 11 and behold, a
47:23
White Horse, the one sitting on it is called faithful and true.
47:27
And in righteousness Jesus judges and makes war.
47:30
His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many
47:34
diadems or crowns. And he has a name written that
47:37
no one knows but himself. He's clothed in a robe dipped in
47:41
blood. And the name by which he is
47:43
called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, the
47:47
Host of heaven, a raid in fine linen, white and pure, were
47:52
following him on white horses. From his mouth comes out a sharp
47:57
sword with which to strike down the nation's, and he will rule
48:01
them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of
48:04
the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
48:06
And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of
48:11
Kings and Lord of Lords. Who is this King of glory?
48:16
Yahweh Sabioth? Jesus is the Lord of Hosts, the
48:20
Almighty God of armies, the name above every other name, the name
48:27
in which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that
48:30
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
48:33
I was recently reading a Messianic Jewish rabbi who was a
48:38
follower of Jesus, and this is what he said about this title.
48:43
The combination of ideas throughout scripture revealing
48:46
Yahweh Sabiah, the Lord of Hosts, in our modern scientific
48:51
age of understanding, clearly means that all of the atoms, the
48:58
host of all the atoms, the host of all the molecules, the vast
49:02
array of them are working together, all assembled and
49:05
acting toward a purpose like an army.
49:08
And at the head of that army, this vast host, is one person,
49:13
Jesus Christ. So Jesus is the Lord of hosts,
49:18
the Lord of heaven, the Lord of nature, the host of humans, the
49:21
host of angels, the host of demons, the host of his church,
49:25
and even the host of cells and molecules and atoms in your
49:30
body. This is why Hannah could call on
49:32
the Lord of hosts, because he's the Lord of the human body.
49:38
The very atoms and molecules are commanded by His Word.
49:43
He's the God who opens wombs. This is why my family called on
49:48
Yahweh Sabbath, Jesus Christ as the name above other every other
49:53
name to heal my dying body in the hospital bed.
49:57
This is why David called on the Lord of hosts to defeat an
50:02
undefeatable giant and his superior army.
50:05
This is why Elijah and Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah, all of
50:10
their names contain the name Yahweh and all the prophets
50:14
called on Yahweh, Sabiah. This is just not ancient
50:19
history, Church. This is not just a title in the
50:22
Old Testament. Jesus Christ is alive today.
50:28
He's the King of glory. He commands the stars, the
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angels, the nations and the church, and every atom in your
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body. This means He's greater than
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sickness, greater than your trial that you're walking
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through, greater than your fears, greater than every enemy
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you will ever face. And Rocky Point Baptist Church,
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you are a part of the innumerable hosts of the Army of
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God, and we serve the God of armies.
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You're not just another church in the South.
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You're not just another American church.
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You are soldiers of the living God of armies.
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You're a division that's dedicated to this specific
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community and this region for such a time as this to spread
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His Kingdom and His name and His gospel here.
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That's who we are, and our lifetime may just be a blip on
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the timeline of history, but this blip is connected to the
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eternal story that's been being told throughout all history.
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And we may only be alive for a blip.
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But in our blip church, we need to declare that we are not going
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to be silent, that we're going to declare the name of Jesus
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Christ as King of Kings and Lord of the Lords.
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He is Yahweh Sabiath. Everyone who believes in Him and
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calls on His name will be saved. And there's salvation in no
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other name under heaven. He's the only way of salvation.
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And one day we will gather with all the hosts, all the armies of
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those who have been saved and believers, and all the hosts of
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the angels who eternally sing holy, holy, Holy is the Lord God
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Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
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And while today may seem dark, this month or this year may
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find, and it does find the Church of Jesus Christ under
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attack. But we will rise from the ashes
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and we will see his Kingdom come and his will done on earth as it
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is in heaven. We have that confident faith
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that the armies of the living God cannot be stopped because
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greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world.
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And everyone who opposes the God of hosts and his armies will be
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defeated and destroyed. There is no other option for
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those who rebel against the rightful rule of King Jesus.
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So his truth is marching on. We're not going to slow down.
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We're not going to sit down. We're not going to lay down.
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We're not going to shut up. Church.
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We need to stand up and we need to speak out in this generation
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and proclaim His name. Many of you may not realize but
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this very topic that the fact that Jesus is the head of his
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church is the very thing that sparked the Reformation.
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In the 16 hundreds, 15 and 16 hundreds, the church and the
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reformers were fighting for the truth that Jesus is the head of
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His church. Martin Luther wrote one of the
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greatest hymns I believe of all time in the year 1529 of his
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knowledge of the scriptures because in his in this hymn he
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calls on the name of Yahweh, Sabbath.
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There aren't aren't many songs being written today that are
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using that title. And you may know this song.
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If you do, I'm going to ask you to sing it with me.
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I'm asking you to stand together.
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I asked these guys if they would come forward and help me sing
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this song. Brother, would you give me AB on
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the piano? The church has been singing this
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song. There we go that that is not the
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BI was looking for. The church has been singing this
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song since the 1500s. And as the hosts of the Lord of
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Armies, I want us to lift up our voices and sing this together.
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Here today, a mighty fortress is our God.
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The sea to work US woe his craft and power grain and on with crew
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owing on earth is not easy Woe did we in our own strength come
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by our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
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side, the man of God. Don't you lose me.
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You ask you that maybe Christ Jesus.
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It is he Lord sadly of his name. From age to age the same.
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Father, I thank you so much for your truth, for your Word.
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You are King of kings, You are Lord of Lords.
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You're the Lord of the Host of this world, the hosts of the
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angels, the host of the demons, the Host of the heavens, and the
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Host of your Church and God. You are sovereignly ruling and
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reigning as King of kings and Lord of Lords over all, and I
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pray that this morning we would submit our hearts to you and
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trust in You. No matter what we go through, no
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matter what storm, no matter how dark the trial is, we declare
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that you are Lord and we trust in You and you are good.
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And whatever each one of us is walking through this morning,
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God, I know that you love us, that you care for us, and that
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You're with us in the fight. God, we give all these things to
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you. We trust you.
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I pray that the people of God and those who need the Lord will
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respond to this word this morning, to your scripture and
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obedience and repentance and trust and in faith.
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Ask all these things in Jesus name, Amen.
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Found my new. Name found.
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That good grace found that healing, and the tears fell down
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my face when I found my beginning.
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It has no ending. I found that second chance,
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found my best friend, found my forgiveness, found my happiness.
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I've been singing ever since I found my.
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Freedom. Thanks for listening to the Four
57:54
Freedom Podcast. If you enjoyed our content, do
57:57
us a favor by liking, subscribing, or sharing our
58:00
podcast, or whichever podcast platform you use.
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Be sure to join us next time for the Four Freedom Podcast.