Finding Peace And Strength In The Midst Of Chaos

Praise God. Please pray for Pastor Tim. He's in San Diego today. We were texting at four or five this morning together. He's preaching in one of the most impacting church in the nation, reaching the world. And Pastor David Jeremiah's church. So what a blessing for our pastor to me. Whenever he's not here, he's ministering somewhere. And also know that he checks up on me and watches the services. So can we tell Pastor Tim how much we love him today? Thank God for you. I would like to speak today on finding peace and strength in the midst of chaos. I wanna speak a message from Psalm 46. And a message from, I'm speaking a series at our church and all our campus on our 11 sites and in France and throughout the French world on the book of Psalms. And the book of Psalms is the most accessible. And it means probably in the Bible for us because it meets us directly where we live. The Psalms cover the full range, the whole gamut of human emotions and experiences in life and in our journey as believers serving the Lord in all our relationships with men and with God. Someone said that to sum up the Psalms, the theme of the Psalms is life is hard, but God is good. When you say it out loud, life is hard, but God is good.

The book of Psalm is unique in all our scriptures. So many new people among us, the book of Psalm is unique in all our scripture in so many ways. It is the book with the most chapters, 150 chapters. The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, 176 verses and the shortest chapter in the Bible, two verses in Psalm 117. Now, Psalm 119 has 22 segments of eight verses each. All on one theme, all on what the word of God means to us and can do in our lives. And over 40 some years that have been walking with the Lord studying the word of God and praying the word of God and reading it and preaching it and living it, I can write a Psalm. I'm gonna give you a can say, I can write a Psalm on how this word changed my life. How the word of God comforted me and lifted me up and convicted me and changed me. And some mornings resurrecting me. The word of God is alive and it changes, it changes, transforms us. Can you give a God a hand for his word that's so alive? We can write a long Psalm. But Psalm 17 with only two verses is also part of our journey with God. All it says is praise the Lord, his mercy is great and his truth endures forever. And sometimes in life's battle facing chaos and when everything is spinning around, sometimes it's almost as if all I've got is that his mercies endures forever.

His word endures, his mercy is great and his mercy is endures forever. It's almost that, how many of you know? Sometimes that's all I can say, that's almost all I can muster up, but it's my rock, it's what I stand on and it's enough for me. Would you say yes? Now there's many authors, most of the well-known authors of the Psalms, the most well-known is David who wrote 73 Psalms and he's called the sweet psalmist of Israel and scripture. Asaph who was, asaph was a worship leader, he was the Ricardo and Elder Vicki of the Old Testament. And he wrote 12 Psalms. And the sons of Chorro, with the worship team, the word 11 Psalms, one thing that's significant is that we find 49 Psalms that are anonymous Psalms. There's Psalms without a known author that remind us that we are all writing our life, we are all writing a song of testimony and faith to God. Every single one of us, our faith and our struggles that are unknown to man are fully seen, fully known and so precious to the Lord. And after 40, 40 years of walking with the Lord, I want my life more than ever. I want my life to be a Psalm declaring his faithfulness and his goodness and God brought me out and he kept me and he transformed me and if that's your story, Say to somebody next to you, you're a psalm writer, say that to somebody next to you, please. The psalms are, the psalms covered, it's amazing from the beginning to the end of the psalms.

It covers a span of 1,000 years of history, but they are amazingly actual and close to our modern realities and challenges, battles, and battles because our struggles before God and with our flesh and with the enemy throughout the millennials are timeless and universal. The psalms are an extraordinary mirror, actually we read the psalms, they're like a mirror reflecting our relationship with God. Say to the person you haven't said hello yet to, say to them, I see myself in the psalms. Say that to someone, please. And on the other side, I see you in the psalms. The psalms are poetry and music, they're all songs, they, the psalms are portrait music with powerful principles and messages and passionate and deeply personal and moving praise and prayers. You will find psalms of wisdom and psalms of deeply practical living for everyday life as you live out your faith. There's a proclamation and celebration and worship, but also very tender, very intimate, very personal. You'll find psalms of battles and struggles, psalms of the valley of the shadow of death. We will find psalms, psalms that, psalms are psalms of wow, wow God you've done something amazing, you're so wonderful. There's psalms of wow and there are psalms of why, why Lord. There are psalms, there are psalms that are psalms of how lovely you are, we're just saying it, how lovely you are, how lovely you are O Lord. But there are psalms of how long, how long will it be O Lord, how long until? Now you smile when you write, when you read the psalms, because in the psalms you find believers on their best and most spiritual behavior. I would say you would find believers in their Sunday morning mood, but you also find them in their not so much at their best. You see the Christian on Sunday morning and you see sometimes the same Christian, the same believer, the same psalmist, the rest of the week. I'll give you an example, in Psalm 38, the psalmist of God, David himself, the man of the God's own heart wrote this.

He wrote in verse 8 of Psalm 3, "Behold, Belong to salvation and blessing belong to the Lord. May you bless your people and all of these beautiful looking Christian on Sunday morning all over the world. May you bless your people, all of your people say amen." But the song just before it's, that's a Saturday night song. He wrote the same verse, just the verse before, "Strike my enemies on the cheekbone, slap them into face and break their teeth." Later somebody next to you, I never said that, I never prayed that. That's a Saturday song. Finding peace and strength in the midst of chaos, there are many types of Psalms, Psalms of relationship, Psalms of redemption and rejoicing and reverence. You also have Psalms that are, that are pretty radical and raw, raw and the emotions expressed. So you have songs of repentance and returning to God, songs of revival and rest. And today we look at a Psalm of refuge, Psalm 46 is a Psalm of refuge, what the theologians call the sheltering Psalms. Psalm 46 is the Psalm of refuge and at the heart of it you find this proclamation. We're going to read the whole Psalm in a second, but at the heart of Psalm 46 you hear this declaration of finding peace and strength in the midst of chaos in verse 3. Therefore we will not, this is a declaration we make today, therefore we will not fear when the earth is shaken. The message translation reads this way, this is why we are at peace when the earth and the whole world around us is in turmoil and in chaos. Now we live in a world where we, and in times, in these last days, when we feel the chaos. We feel the chaos, it's all around us every day. We feel it in the world, we feel it in the wars. We just the words evoke chaos in Russia, in Ukraine, in Israel, in Hamas, and we think of the US and Iran, and we feel the chaos in politics. We feel it in our government, we feel it in the climate and the earthquakes and the fires and the famines, and we feel it in the economy.

staring up our nation, but also the nations of the world watching online. And then we feel the chaos because there's powerful forces, social media, that feed the chaos 24/7. And oftentimes, there's all this chaos around us, but we feel the chaos because it's in us. We feel the chaos in our hearts, in our minds. We're sitting here this morning, Sunday morning worshiping God and offering him the sacrifice of praise. But we can be going through seasons of, in our heart, there's a chaos, this chaotic. It's troubling in our hearts and minds and emotions and relationships. Some of you, parents that are here that are just trying to focus on worshiping the Lord, but there's a son, there's a daughter, there's a situation in your marriage, in your family, in your home, in our spouse, chaos in our home, our spirits, and in our very soul. Psalm 46 is a very well-known song, and it's a song that teaches us why we can find how and why, we can find peace and strength in the midst of chaos. Now the Psalms are a bomb, they're a blessing to us, they're a boost to our faith when we just by simply reading them. But when we understand, when we are able, some Psalms, we have the actual context in which the Psalm was written.

And then we understand, when we understand the full context, it gives us the deeper meaning, truth, revelation, and hope. And Psalm 46 is a psalm of chaos. It was written, we add the historical context in scripture in 2 Kings 18 and 19 of the chaos in which the story is told after the chaos they went through and how they found peace and strength in the midst of threats and fear and chaos. You find it in 2 Kings 18 and 19, and the situation is the context is 185,000 enemy soldiers from Assyria, they're killing and destroying and everything on their path and they're coming toward Israel. And Israel's national and spiritual leader at the time is King Hezekiah. Now Israel had many bad kings in scripture, but Hezekiah is a good king. He is a man of integrity, he's a man of the spirit, he's a man of God. He's described as doing, he was doing what was right in the eyes of God, in the sight of God. He became king at age 25, he reigned 29 years, but in the 14th year of his reign, the enemy's coming in like a storm there. They're charging with full force towards Jerusalem. Listen to the Syrian secretary of war as he's trying to intimidate and demoralize and he's mocking their faith and he's warning them, don't you dare be foolish enough to trust

Ezekiah when he's telling you that God can take care of you and hold you, 2 Kings 18, 28 to 30. Then Raffachek stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, spoke to them in their own language and said, hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria, thus says the king. Do not let Ezekiah deceive you for he shall not be able to deliver you. From his hand, he says, sowing fear in their spirit. Now, nor let Ezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying the Lord was surely to deliver us. And this voice, this voice is still very real when we go through chaos and fear today. The voice of the accuser, the voice, you've heard this when you are holding on for God and with God and you're holding on to your testimony and you're holding on to do the right thing before the Lord and you're holding on to your faith in the midst of the worst chaos, you will hear the voice of the enemy of your soul mocking and you will hear him making you doubt and you will hear, I'm telling you here today, in those moments you need to hear his voice above all, above all the other voices. Now, listen to the wise spiritual advice and counsel from Ezekiah, who actually is so important for us till today in chapter 18, verse 36 of second Kings. He told the people, but the people held their peace. There's all these voices coming against their faith, but the people held their peace and answered him not a word

for the king's commandment was, do not answer him. I think it's still important for you to understand today. Don't answer the enemy's voice. Don't try to argue with, stand on the word of God. Don't listen, there's actually three, there's three types of voices you should never listen to, spiritually, don't listen to lying voices. The enemy is a lying thief and he will come and bombard you, but also the enemy in his spiritual realm, but in your mind and in your spirit, but the enemy will also use human beings. He will also use people that will come around you to attack your faith and to bring you down. Three voices you should never answer. Don't answer liars, don't answer fools, and don't answer swines. The Bible says don't answer a fool according to his own folly. Some, I mean, this media age is 24-hour foolishness bombarding us. Don't answer a fool according to his folly. And then the Bible says don't cast your pearls before swines. There's some people that just want to drag you in their mud, drag you in that spirit of the age. You need to say, I will listen to God and to God alone. I'm not answering this. I'm only answering with the word of God. Ezzakiah is not in denial facing his chaos. He is very realistic about, he's not in denial.

The threat is real, the enemy is coming in like a flood. Listen to his words, to his chiefs, of war describing a situation that they are facing. He's realistic and responding. He's very aware of his own, of their human limitations and of the size of the attack against the media. He describes it so, so soberly in 2 Kings 19, 3, and 4. And they said to, and thus says Ezzakiah. This is his assessment. He says this day is the day of trouble and anguish and blasphemy, they're blaspheming the name of God. But for the children, look at this expression. For the children have come to be birthed, but there is no strength to bring them forth. Now the day, the word anguish here, Torah, in the Hebrew speaks of extreme distress. And this image, this image of the children, the children are about to be brought forth, but there's no strength to bring them forth. Speaks of these moments in our lives, when we carried something well, we something, we carried something well, we developed something well, we grew something well, it's your family, it's your business, it's your life, it's your testimony, there's a project, there's a ministry. I carried something well, but now there's something that I'm facing, that I don't have in myself the strength to bring forth. I need supernatural intervention from the hand of God.

Now Isaiah served alongside Ezekiah. And thank God for Ezekiah having Isaiah next to him. Listen, when you are facing chaos, you don't need one more talking head. You don't need one more influencer on social media. You need a man, a woman of God, with a word from the throne of God. And if I can take a step back and just say, "Thank God for the word from this pulpit week after week, after week, that brings life not only to us, but to the nation." Say yes, please. So Isaiah says in Second King 19, he said to them, "You shall say to your master, thus says the Lord. Don't do not be afraid of the words which you've heard, with which the servants of King, the King of Assyria as blaspheme. Surely the Lord says, "I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fail by the sword in his own land." And this is what happened, you read the chapters. God gave them this amazing, this is how Psalm 46 is birthed. It's birthed, God gave them this amazing victory, even while they had nothing to do with it. They surrendered, and he moved in. So here's the question, when you face fear and chaos, who are you listening to? When you face fear and face fear and chaos,

who are you running to? Look, take a look at what Hezekiah did in chapter 19, verse 14 and 19. And hezekiah received, he received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And it was a threatening letter. And hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and he spread it before the Lord. Now therefore, O Lord God, I pray, save us from his hand. All the kings of the earth may know that you are the Lord and you alone. When you are facing chaos and fear, don't spread it everywhere else. Come and bring it to God and spread it before him. This is your threat. No, no, this is like a golfing clap. I want you to stop for a second and know this is what we do. We bring it and we say, I'm bringing this to the Alpha and Omega. I'm bringing this to the king of king. I'm bringing the battle to the Lord of hosts. And leave it there. It's just battles, and this is all God answers. Have you in chapter 19 and 25. Have you not learned that I've prepared these things? I've prepared victories even before you knew the fight was coming. I've prepared these things from long ago, from ancient times. I have prepared and determined that these outcomes. And now I bring them to pass.

I'm speaking to someone in the midst of chaos but God says I've already prepared the outcome and the victory to my glory, hallelujah. About 10 days ago, there's a man at one of the elders of our church, 67 years old, thought of himself so healthy, perfectly healthy, then he started very, very rapidly, just in a few weeks, that to be just a strange thing that I'm able to tie his laces and just went straight to the hospital and they took a scan, and they said, sir, you have a brain tumor, and if we don't operate, you will be dead in less than three months. And we heard the news, and the operation was so urgent, and they told his wife, you have to have all these new, all the papers, all the will, the bank accounts, you have everything, there's percentages of patients that die on that table, and I called them on a, the operation was scheduled for the Friday, I called them, I think it was a Monday morning, and I'm calling to encourage him. And I said, hey, we're with you, we're praying, we have the prayer meeting, just Wednesday night, and he's speaking the word of God to me, he's saying, I see God's hand in all this, I'm not afraid, I hung up, I said, hey, he's exhorting me, he's encouraging me. So I said, well, we'll be praying for you Wednesday night, I know you're not gonna be able to come to the prayer meeting, he says, I'm gonna be at the prayer meeting,

so we had a thousand people in the middle of summer and the Wednesday night for the prayer meeting, he comes up, his whole clan, his whole family, around them, they're praying, they're worshiping, we're laying hands on him, this is Wednesday night, he finishes the service, hugs me, yeah, I said, we'll be praying for you Friday morning, Friday is the operation, Friday afternoon he wakes up, they warn them of all kinds of different effects, he's fine, he's strong, he's awake already, yes, he's out of intensive care on Saturday, he's less than a week later, he's back home, and he's in church this Sunday this week, testifying, come on, bring it up before the Lord, can you give God a shout, I bring it up before God, and I'll leave it there, so this is the context of Psalm 46, that that's why the Psalm is right, and he writes, God is our refuge and strength, now I wanna warn you, the simple reading of the Psalms usually causes a congregation to shout amen, I'm just gonna say that, I preached this last week in our church, so French people amen this verse very much, no pressure, but also all of you around the world, Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength, a very present helping times of trouble, therefore we will not fear, even if the earth be removed, and though the mountains carried in myths of the sea, though the waters roar in trouble, and the mountains shake with its swelling, there is a river who streams may glad the city of God,

the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high, God is in the midst of her, and she shall not be moved, God shall help her just at the break of dawn, hallelujah. It's not me preaching long, it's you, with you all your amends and your clapping, I don't, the nation rage, the kingdom will move, he hath heard his voice, the Lord opposes with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, come and behold the works of the Lord, he has made desolations, he who has made desolations in the earth, he made wars to cease to the ends of the earth, he breaks the bow, he cuts the spear, he burns the cherry of the fire, be still and know that I am gone, hallelujah. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in New York City, I will be exalted in your life, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge in Jesus name, would you say amen. Very simple, very simple, three decisions, three spiritual dynamics you must learn to develop with daily determination to find peace and strength in the midst of chaos, to keep and to communicate peace and strength. There's people around you, there's people in your family, there's people in yeah, all around us, people in this city, there's people all around us that are in need of somebody around them

that is able to communicate peace to them. I believe we are called to be filled with a peace that is so past understanding in the midst of the coming present and coming chaos that we will shine by the peace we are able to communicate where everyone else is shaken, the people of God have this peace, they keep this peace and they communicate this peace and introduce the Prince of Peace. So three, three very simple principles, the first one, when you are to find peace and strength in the midst of chaos, run back to your refuge. Run back to your refuge. Verse one to three, God is our present help. Therefore, we will not fear God is our refuge in our strength. The word makka, mak set in the Hebrew, it's an elevated place, the refuge, the presence of God. The under his wing elevated fortified place, the shelter, a place of total security, a fortress of strength. Our refuge in God is awesome, it's accessible, and it's active. It's not God was the refuge, God will be the refuge, God is the refuge in the present time. It's not he was or he will be. There's no expiration date, there's no shortage. Our refuge in God is not a hybrid that needs to be recharged. The Hebrew expression for a very present is in fact, his present help never fails. He's never not there. The French Bible translates, he's a refuge

and his help never, never, never fails. Now, we've all experienced when in the human realms this so cruel disappointments of human relationships failing us, you weren't there for me. That person that I was so counting on was not there for me. I was so wounded because this person was not, she's just what I needed you the most, you weren't there. And as a pastor, I've heard for all the four decades of ministry, many, many times people say, "I don't feel God, I don't feel he's there. I feel like he's abandoned me." This is a generation of what I feel is king, but we live by faith and not by our feelings. I will not let my emotions define my theology and define my God. Our refuge is awesome, it's active, it's accessible, and it's also ageless. Some, I'm gonna interpret the songs with the songs this morning, Psalm 102 says, "Here my prayer, O Lord." This is a prayer in chaos. And let my cry come to you, do not hide your face for me in the day of my troubles, the day of chaos. And climb your ear to me. And in that day that I call, answer me speedily. That's us, I want the answer now. But as we pray for the answer now, we have to be reminded that he's the God from generations to generations. But you will Lord shall endure forever. And the remembrance of your name to all generations,

this will be written for the generations to come. And this is something that's in my heart, I'm so blessed when I come to Times Square Church and I see so many young people, when I watch, when I look at the people watching online and you know that all these generations are watching, I wanna say it this way, as God has moved so mightily in past generations in our church here in New York City, we are the remnant, the last days remnant, so that the young generations, I'll say it this way, our young people, our young adults, our children, our young people, our young adults, need to see the glory of God in this generation, the mighty hand of God in this generation. And Psalm 91 reminds us why, why we need to always need to run back to our refuge. Psalm 91, 1, "He who dwells in a secret place for the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, you dwell, you abide." I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God and Him, will I trust. Surely don't miss this, He shall deliver you from the snare of the Fowler. The snare of the Fowler, the Hebrew word means a trap, the snare is a trap, it's the image of the bird catcher, 20 times in the Old Testament when we find this image, the bird catcher, the enemy has a bird catcher, it's a hidden trap to capture a prey, it represents the lies, the traps, the lies, the snare of the enemy of our soul,

the demonic spiritual traps, a scheme, temptations when we are during trials and during our disappointment seasons and seasons of chaos and weariness, the bird catcher would do this, he would meticulously craft a trap adapted to the nature, to the need, to the longings, the weakness, the conditions and the specific season of its prey. That's why the promises, he's a very present help in the present times of trouble, listen to me well. They are snares of the enemy, they are temptation and traps that you're going through today that are different than yesterday's. In every season of your life, there's universal traps and schemes and lies of the enemy. But in every season, there are also things, seasons that happen, things that happen to you, events you go through, new chaos, I'm not a prophet. But let me give you a prophecy that is absolutely guaranteed to be fulfilled. This life will always bring new chaos. women of God that serve God 10, 20, 30 years with amazing fruit. And then you look, what, in their 40s, in their 50s, in their 60s, in their 70s fall to some trap of the enemy. In every season, you cannot rely, you cannot, you have been under the wing, you have been under the shadow, you have to dwell, you have to abide, you have to be in the refuge today for the traps of today. He will deliver you from the traps and the salt 91 even gives us four types of traps of the enemy, of snares of the enemy that are still

very real today. In one verse, in verse 13 of salt 91, you shall tread upon the lion and the viper, the dragon and the young lion, you shall trample underfoot. Four types of snares that you have to, you could only defeat, you could only discern, resist, and overcome if you stay close, if you are in the shadow, if you abide and you dwell. The lion represents the satanic trap. It needs to be said again and again, in this very modern secular generation, in this very rational generation, Christians that have been walking with the Lord for so many years, come to a place of almost walking as if there's no spiritual reality going on. As if there's no darkness, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and wickedness in high places. The weapons themselves of our warfare are not carnal. They are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. Your adversary, the devil is coming around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, resist them with faith. I'm here to tell you today, you need to run back to your refuge because there's a satanic attack that is constant on you, on your mind, on your family, on your story, on your marriage, on your children, and the one that is in us is greater than the one that is in the world. There's a lion, run back to your refuge. There's a viper that's the sudden trap, the sudden trap, expected. The viper comes right out. One, Solomon said, there was a breach, and the wall of the viper came and bit. The viper speaks of the fear that comes out of nowhere. It's a diagnosis, it's a cancer. It was a regular checkup, but the doctor says, no, it's cancer. It's something that happens to you, to your kids, or to your grown, or your teenager.

I never thought, it's the police knocking at your door. It's your job. It's your boss saying, no, it's not a promotion. We have to let you go. It's something in your mind. It's something totally unexpected. And without the refuge, the sudden attacks blinds you to his sovereignty. It says if everything passes before you're on, you need to run back to your refuge, because there's the attack of the lion satanning, the viper, the sudden attack, and then there's a dragon. That's the silent trap. The dragon's not real, but it's your mind taking something that is present in chaos that is real, and you're imagining the worst. You're making it so big. I'm going to say I'm going to say I'm going to say I'm going to say I'm going to say I'm right now. But I'm going to say I've ever been even in church listening to a preacher and your mind was going in mind just so far. But this thing is real, but nobody wants to admit it. I'm going to ask for confessions right now. Your mind is saying it's a dragon. It's a dragon. And you can only drag. You can only step on the dragon when you stay in the refuge, when you are abiding. And then there's the young lion trap. It's the subtle trap. Subtle means something small in appearance, not immediately obvious or easy to notice. It can refer to something deceptive and dangerous. The young lion is this thing you know is wrong. You know it's sin. You know it's not pleasing to God. You notice relationship, this attitude, these words, this bitterness, this criticism, this you know that this relationship, illicit relationship at work, that's just turning to making a turn. It's becoming something. But you are reasoning with yourself saying, well it's just a young lion. I can handle it. It's just like, no, no, I can stop any time. It's you that I've been so set free by God from a dependence on alcohol or drugs, but now years have passed and you say, well, I can handle it now. It's just like a young lion. I can play with it.

You can go in YouTube. This is such crazy, crazy days. You can go in YouTube and see the ultra rich. That's one of the pet things now. The ultra rich are actually buying lions and tigers as pets. But you can also see some of you have seen this. You can also see one story after another go, oh no, the baby lion goes, rah, rah, rah, rah. Oh, I can handle him. And then you see him six months later, he just tore his face off. Don't play with a young lion. God send me today. God send me today. Say, run back to your refuge. Don't say, I can handle this. The rest surrender it all to God while you can. Right now, don't let it destroy everything. And the God is our refuge infinitely high, mighty and powerful, riding the heavens to help us. His excellence sees in the clouds. But he's also infinitely close, close to us in battles, in our battles, to fill us with peace and strength. Deuteronomy 33, 26. There's no one like our God who rides the heavens to help you and His excellence see on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge. And underneath are the everlasting arms. When we, in major times in our church history, in major projects, major advancement for the kingdom, there's always very specific demonic attacks. And when we build the church that we have now,

that has grown to over 9,000 people with all the services, and it was, one thing that my son was only 7 years old. And for about 10 months, he had the, he was going through this horrible night terrors. Never had that before, strong young boy, hockey player. And he just, we checked on all sides. We checked everywhere. We looked at every possible thing that could have happened. He spoke to the doctor, prayed, but he was terrorized. He would take two, three hours every night just to put him to bed. And so one thing that we started to do, my wife did it so many times, and I did too, and we do. But we would, I would actually remember so many nights where I would hold him in my arms. I would sing songs to him. I would sing worship songs to him. I did two, three hour concerts with my son in my arms for months and months. Singing of the goodness, and sometimes it's sing with me. And you know when you just wanted to go to bed, "Go to bed, Sammy, Sammy, go to bed." "Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed, go to sleep." And then eventually I was feeling kind of weak. So many times I'm just trying to go, "Okay, okay, okay." And he would say, "Where are you going, Dad?" (congregation laughing) Fully awake. And I would say that he's here, so I mean underneath. Look, my arms are still there.

I'm hearing God saying to somebody today, "Run to your refuge." He's not only, listen, he's not only, there's this balance we have to find to be truly, truly true to our God. We can have such a elevated version of where he is. He runs in the heavens and brings us his excellencies in the clouds. But on the other side, you have millions of American Christians that treat God as if he's their buddy or, no, no. He runs with excellency in the clouds, but never, never, never forget underneath are the everlasting arms. He's always holding you through this time of chaos. Run to your refuge. Finding peace and strength in the middle of chaos, you run back to your refuge and you rediscover your source of strength. There is a river. There's a river, verse four. There is a river who streams, shall make glad the city of God. The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved. When the waters are rowing, the waters are troubling, the mountains are shaking. You find a word in many songs, maybe you understand this word or you don't know this, but you will read, "Sila," right?

Nations, mountains are shaking and the waves of the sea are raging. "Sila," it means take a moment, stop. It means recognize. This warns us against the sin, the cruelty, the voluntary and destructive blindness and callousness of the hyper prosperity preachers. And people that won't even acknowledge the pain and real human sufferings because it doesn't fit in their theology. No, God way, God says that there's situation and when I was studying for this text, the Lord put again on my heart as a pastor, there will be people listening for this word, that's what they're going through right now. What was solid, the mountain is shaking and what they thought was gonna be so calm is like a raging sea. The roaring waters raging, the mountains are shaking, but Psalmist response must become ours. He, yes, he pauses to recognize what is shaking and what is trouble, but he doesn't stop there. He says there's a power, there's a promise because there's a person to return to for your peace that in the worst chaos, but God is a river that we come to for peace, say yes, please. Now it's interesting because there was no river, there's no river in Jerusalem. But we know from second chronicles 22 and second things 20, that whenever an ancient city,

though I thought they might be held captive in their own city, but their fear most was that the water supply would be cut off from outside the walls. So when is the Kaya realized that the Assyrians were coming, you read this in scripture, they were coming toward Jerusalem, he took great care to make sure the city would be protected. Out in the in the Kidron Valley, outside of Jerusalem, there's a deep spring called the spring of Geon. And this spring, I visited it, this spring was Jerusalem's water supply and had to be protected. So has the Kaya redirected the waters of the springs through a conduit that was 1,775, 70 feet long, cut out of a solid rock. And by means of this conduit, Hezekiah was able to divert the waters from the spring of Geon into a reservoir which was inside the city walls of Jerusalem. The conduit project was done with such precision that the Assyrians never found out about it, did not know that in the midst of the walled city with their enemies on every side, the people at a source of water that would never run dry. What a powerful reminder to all of us when we are facing in chaos, you feel there's only enemies around you, you feel your walled in, there is a river, the presence of God to feed your soul.

God's intention was never, never for the river of His presence to be confined, to be reduced to a place, to a tabernacle in the desert, or to a temple, or to a city, or to religious gatherings where believers by the millions in 2026 just come, listen to a couple of songs, listen to a study and go home again. No, Jesus, Jesus stood, stood in one of those feasts because the Pharisees had reduced the river of God to these cyclical religious feasts that were all ceremony, there were all repetition, there were all symbols with no reality. In John chapter seven, Jesus goes the last day of the feast, it was the feast of Sukkot, the feast of the tabernacle. And when you read what they did, they actually would pour water many times a day during the ceremony and people would be gathered and watch them pour out the water and they would say, they would read scripture, you could drink from the wells of salvation, all symbols and no spirit, no heart reaching out to God, and Jesus just couldn't even handle it anymore. The Bible says he was standing in the midst of it, it presumed that he was there for the whole festival, but John seven, 37, then in that great day of the feast, the last day, Jesus stood up and cried out, and I believe in my heart, all the world you're watching, that Jesus is standing in the midst of gatherings that are without the spirit, that are legalistic,

and that are all rituals, and he's standing there in the midst and he's still crying out if anyone first let him come to me and drink, he who believes in me, he said, rivers, rivers of living water put, he spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, whom they believing in him with death, those who believe in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given and Jesus was not glad, he had glorified, beloved, the Holy Spirit has been poured out, Jesus died and is resurrected and he's glorified and we can come in a midst of chaos to the river and drink and be supernaturally strengthened in the inner man in Jesus' name. I felt, I felt to speak this word to someone needs to hear, faith to someone today, there is no, there's someone for you, but also for people all over the world watching and you hear in the house, 50 seconds in Broadway, that we need to hear in our spirit for someone next to us, it might be a son, it might be a daughter, somebody you've been interceding for so long, that is troubled mentally, that is bound with depression, that is bound and every human consensus says, well, that's just a permanent condition and the enemy like the Secretary of War of the Assyria is shouting in your mind, just to be faith to, be holistic about it, just to let it go, just I wanna speak to someone and say there is a river and God can strengthen us powerfully in the inner man

by the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. I wanna share with you the testimony of a good friend, a young man called Benjamin Pitter-Schmidt and he's a pastor now, pastoring in his father's church and his grandfather founded the church, it's in Moulouse in France, it's one of the largest churches in France, And Benjamin now is co-passoring with his father, but also is giving his testimony all over the world. Benjamin grew up in a deeply committed Christian family. His father, his pastor, grandfather was a pastor, started the church by ear, the church he grew up in this. But despite his environment, he developed a profound and a struggle, even as young in the age of seven and eight, he experienced severe bullying. He hated the way he looked. He had absolutely no self-esteem. I'm reading from his testimony. And he gave his testimony in our church over 100,000 views. He developed suicidal thoughts at age seven. As a young boy, he would climb on the roof of his house and be tempted to jump and to kill himself. Through his teenage years, it just kept increasing and getting worse and worse. At age 19, he left for England to go to a Bible school, but then over there, the experience became his first psychotic breaks, attempted to jump from windows at the Bible school, returned to France, he became to experience auditory and visual hallucinations,

experienced suicidal impulses. He was admitted to psychiatric hospitals. By the time he was 19, 20, he, in December 2012, with his family in them one day, he tried to commit suicide three times, he jumped out of a car that was going over 70 miles an hour on the highway. And it's his fiancé who just grabbed them. She said his face was inches from out with the door open and the car driving just in there. And then he finally was put into try to commit suicide. It was hospitalized once again, put in isolation and during that whole time, hallucinations and his church. In fact, grandfather said it was the most trying chaotic times of our whole lives. But the father and the family just, and he came to a place the way they tell the story, they prayed and you see it. But it almost became, it became just like Hezekiah. They came to a place where they said, Lord, he's in an institution right now. We're putting him in your hands. And Benjamin tells of the visitation from God while he was in the psych ward. And he called his parents the next day. And everyone said the doctor, it was yesterday and it's today. It was a before and after, and he stood there and he called, there was no more news to the nation. It was lucid, he was talking about the Lord. They went step by step, no, they didn't stop medication right away, I'm not telling you to stop your medication right away.

He went step by step with the doctors, but then after a while the doctor said, and they had to see He are now, He's now healed. He's now steady. It's been decades, and He's traveling the world, giving His testimony to the Father, He's a pastor. I am only, I'm speaking, I'm speaking in Jesus name. And I'm asking you to say, yes, Lord, you are able, there is a river whose streams can still bring healing to the most troubled heart in Jesus name. And let our fate rise and say amen together, please. And let me close with this, let me close with this as the musicians are getting ready. When you're finding peace, to find peace and strength in the midst of chaos, run back to your refuge. Rediscover your source of strength, there's a river. And the last thing is redirect your reasonings. You have to redirect your reasonings. And Psalm 46, the battle's in your mind. Psalm 46 verse eight, come and behold the works of the Lord. He's made desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear into, he burns the chairs of fire. Be still and know that I am God. And I will exalt myself. I will glorify myself all over the earth in the worst of your situation and the worst of your chaos. Come and behold the works of the Lord.

He makes wars to cease. The Psalmist is calling them to redirect the reasonings towards the victory of God, reminding them of the 185,000 that attack. Bring your mind back, your heart back to the glory of God. The reasoning, the process of your thinking and pondering. Yeah, the facts, the events, the beliefs, your values, your conviction, your faith towards God. Come and behold, why is it so important? Because it is in our nature in the midst of chaos to forget all that God has done. And for our minds to be tormented. That's why you'll say in Romans 12, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. When we read the nation's rage, but God makes his voice to be heard. We have to come and see, I wanna close with this. Come and behold, the works of God. When you are going through trials and chaos, you have to be intentional in saying, I'm setting my eyes and my heart and my mind on the works of God. Our peace and our strength will be nourished by our spiritual commitment and intentional pursuit but to be transformed in the renewing of our mind. Not to be conformed with a devilish and a dark and an accusing and despising and dividing spirit all around us. To cultivate, come and behold the works of God.

I'm gonna give you a Psalm 46 homework. I want you this week. Take one less hour of Netflix and take one hour and go before God and write the 10 most amazing things God did in your life. A word of wisdom, husbands, your wife better be high on the list. Right after Jesus. Redirect your reasoning. He makes wars to see, it's the word shavad. We get the word shavad for a Sabbath from it. He brings rest when it was only chaos. And again, I felt in my spirit to say to someone, because sometimes when we're in a chaotic situation, there's chaos in the family, in a marriage, you're going through a divorce, there's one of your children, there's something happening, sickness, something happening in your life right now, and it's so chaotic. Sometimes when we're in the worst of the worst, we feel like they'll never be alive on the other side of chaos. I wanna say to somebody, there is life on the other side of the chaos that you're going through now. There's peace on the other side of this chaos. There's God working evil into good on the other side of this chaos in Jesus' name. Could you give encouragement to someone who needs to hear it?

(congregation applauding) He breaks the bow, breaks the spear, and even a chair to fire burns. What grew into something that seemed irreversible, God is speaking to someone, and he will say not only when he says he will burn to testify, he's saying, come and look at me. Be still, stop, and look at me. I cause wars to cease. I can not only bring this deliverance, but I can break the sources of this chaos in your life, not only for a momentary deliverance. He released everything to me. When we read, be still. We can often read it as if it means don't move. But in the Hebrew mind, it is much closer to let go. The word for be still in Hebrew is actually loosen your grip. Let go of it. Leave it to me. And we could be a Christian's worshiping, but we holding. I have this, I can't let this go. Be still doesn't mean you lie down and die. Be still means let go. Let me be God in your life. Be still, stop and release. Stop and let go. Stop and give me the control. I'm saying this in love. God is addressing someone, many of us

that are just trying to control this thing. God says, leave it to me. God says, release the grip. Stop and redirect your reasonings. Stop and look at me. Did you ever do this as a parent? Your child is scared about everything around them. Actually Ricardo, but the Ricardo said this word for word in this, during the worship service, confirming to me. You ever seen the, your child is so, he's looking around, something's terrifying. And you actually grab his face and you say, don't look around, look at me. This is what God is saying. Don't stop looking around. Look at me, stop and know. I fought, I'm fighting the battle with you. I'm not only the Lord of blessing and beauty, I'm the Lord of battle. I'm the Lord doing battle with you. Stop and know that I will be exalted in the nations all over the earth, I'll be exalted in your life. I will be glorified through this chaos that you're going through. This is a special day for my wife and I here in New York, we'll be coming here for so many years. But today is actually the 33rd anniversary of the starting of our church. The first service we had 33 years ago. (audience applauds)

And my wife said, and you're spending it at Times Square Church, yes I am. There's a picture that's going to appear, that's the, if we can put it up again, that's actually, there's over 9,000 people this weekend in our church, but this was the first service. So, yeah. (audience applauds) I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth. You still let know that I am God. I would love to tell you that those 33 years, my wife and I, pondering's 33 years. And we started with that group, little rented room. It's 33 years of conquest, yes. that God turned into conquest. It was 33 years of strength, yes, but it's 33 years of struggle that God turned into strength. It's 33 years of faith, yes, faith. It's 33 years of fears that God turned into faith. God is our refuge, a very present help in times of trouble, and I can stand here today after 33 years of pastoring the same church, telling you every single year we've had battles and we have moments, and I can say this, and I was hesitating 'cause it's very personal, but I felt to say today with everything that is happening, and church is all over the nation, and God giving us an outreach to the French world,

but even today as I stand with you today, I'm 64 years old, but there's battles both in family lives and situations around us where it's chaotic, it's chaos, and we brought this, we carried this well up to this day, but without God we can't, and I've done everything I could and I've held it, and I blessed it, and I prayed it, and I fought it, and I battled it, and I bound it, and I named it, and I claimed it, and I rebounded it, and I thanked it, and I worshiped. (congregation applauding) But now, God said, are you ready? Release it to me now. Release the threat to me in the name of Jesus, and all of God's people shout amen. And can we, now when you, I'm gonna have you stand, I'll give you, please stand with me, all over the world, where you are standing, if you can, if you're in your car or in a podcast, stay at the wheel, but if you're standing, wherever you can. Now listen to me well, this is a very important moment. Sometimes you don't know what, when you read Psalm 46, probably in the intro you read to the chief musician, it's the Psalm of the sons of Kora, song for Alamat, you never knew what that meant. Songs for Alamat was the type of songs that the Sopranos would sing. It was a high voice. It would actually, it was Psalms with shouts of joy. There's some of the songs, it's the basis that's saying it. But this one is a song that you call,

and you shout, you say, God, the high voices, men and women, all the voices going high and saying, oh God, you're a very president. So can we, can we give him a shout of praise? He's our president help and can you give him, can you give him, then a shout ring, then a shout ring, hallelujah. He's our firm foundation. He's my firm foundation, he's my firm foundation. Come on, come on, come on, give him an outstanding foundation. That will ring, that will go to this stage. Come on man, come on man, come on man, come on man. Come on man, come on, come on, give him an outstanding foundation. That will ring, that will go to this stage. Come on man, come on, come on, give him an outstanding foundation. That will ring, that will go to this stage. Come on man, come on man, come on man, come on, give him an outstanding foundation. Let me speak for the sake of the gentleman. My life is now so I would eat the hell that you want. Lift your hands to the Lord, we're going to sing it again. This is their altar call, lift your hands to him all over the world. All over the sanctuary, main floor, Indiana, on our campus in New Jersey, but also all these cities in the world. You might be watching it live, or you might be watching it later on. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is here for you. Lord, this is the moment when we make our declaration of faith. Lord, I have been battling fear and chaos, but I am running to my refuge in Jesus' name. You've been running away from the refuge, this is your day. Lord, I'm running back to my refuge. Come on, begin to speak to him all over before we sing.

Lord, I need divine strength in my inner man, come and strengthen me with your Holy Spirit. I am thirsty, O God, come and fill me. You said, let him come if he thirsts. Lord, God, someone I'm praying for that's tormented and captive, it seems impossible. There's a war raging, but you are the one who causes the war to cease. You will break the bow, you will break the bow, you will cause a chariot to be destroyed. In the name of Jesus, what looked insurmountable, what looked impossible, what looked like a chariot of all, you can make disappear in Jesus' name. Lord, I have been drifting from my refuge in you, but I'm coming back today. I feel like saying this. Lord, I've been playing with a young lion. I've been playing with something. I've been allowing something in my life that could destroy my testimony and cause so much hurt. I'm releasing it to you today. I repent of it today. And I declare today Christ is my foundation. He's my firm foundation. And you will never, I be, I let go. Come on, open your hands. Lord, I let go. Lord, I come, be still and know. Release the grip and know that I am God in Jesus' name. And now, it's not a song. It's your declaration of faith. Come on, let's sing it together, God. ♪ Christ in my forsake ♪ ♪ Christ in my firm foundation ♪ ♪ The rock of Jesus' name ♪ ♪ Where everything around me is shamed ♪

♪ I've never been my life ♪ ♪ I've been playing with God ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ Please never let me ♪ ♪ Smash the holy tape of the gentle race ♪ ♪ While we're leaving now ♪ ♪ So I will shit again ♪ ♪ Christ is my Christ is my firm foundation ♪ Come on, come on, sing it, declare it. ♪ The rock of which I stand ♪ ♪ Will everything around me is shamed ♪ ♪ I've never been my life ♪ ♪ I've never been my life ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, he's never let me down ♪ ♪ Shamed from generation ♪ ♪ Why would he thank me ♪ ♪ So I will defend my own way ♪ ♪ King ♪ ♪ Blue from my house ♪ Hallelujah. ♪ That's your voice and sing out ♪ ♪ I'll sing with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪ ♪ This game and the wind's closing ♪ ♪ The rain, the wind ♪ ♪ Blue from my house was filled with you ♪ ♪ I'm saved with you ♪ ♪ I'm saved with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪

♪ Shamed from generation ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪ ♪ 'Til the breeze keeps the wind through the rain ♪ ♪ It's game and the wind ♪ ♪ Blue from my house was filled with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪ ♪ I'm saved with you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪ ♪ See, I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it ♪ ♪ So stand strong on you ♪ ♪ I'm standing strong on you ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ I'm gonna make it through ♪ ♪ I'm saved with you ♪ ♪ I'm standing strong on you ♪ ♪ Christ, Christ in my life ♪ ♪ Christ in my life ♪ ♪ Christ is my third foundation ♪ ♪ You're not gonna win ♪ ♪ Just stand strong on you ♪ ♪ Put everything around me ♪ ♪ You're a shame ♪ ♪ I've never been more alive ♪