Hour of Refuge

Last Sunday when April got up here, she said a word that really hit me in my heart, and the Lord took that word, and he just did that snowball. He'll tell you something and he'll just get bigger and bigger. And this word she used, she used a word called spiral. Remember that, spiral. Addicts know something about spiral notes. You relapse up here long before you go and take that drink and do that drug, don't you? The battle is up here. It's one or lost right there. And I experienced myself that Saturday, which was a Saturday for last, an attack of myself. And the Lord used what April said to get my attention in that fight and what went on. And the Lord, I was sitting in my car the next day and I was praying, I kind of prayed before I get out on these highways and out in the world because I need God's security and protection out there, and I want him to know that I need it. And I was out there and the Lord just kind of interrupted the prayer like he will do sometime. And I went back to what April had said, spiral, and I thought about my own attack that Saturday and what exactly happened there, and the devil across the period of time had been planting thoughts in my mind just sporadically, just ever once while throwing this thought. And he was setting me up for a time. He said he departed from Christ to return it a more what time, a more when he had a better chance of succeeding. And I thought about my attack and these thoughts being through in my mind sporadically and why did it happen? What happened to me leading up to this point? Well I had been on one of my fishing safaris down at the coop. Two weeks separated from the church, the body, all fellowship, family, and everything, very little praying, forgive me, very little praying, not around the Lord in the middle of the fellowship of the world fishing, and what happened, I know, the devil who has me under 24 hour surveillance and has a dossier on me that I couldn't even live, decided that this was an opportune time.

Tomorrow he's going to be back in church, he's going to be back and forth, and he's going to be getting built up under the hedge. We need to attack him now, now. So these little hints and what the devil had been trying to convince me of was I was suffering from depression. Now let me start at the beginning, I always am my life before the Lord saved me, lived under this cloud and a sadness. But that was caused because I was missing something in this hole in my heart that the Lord gives everybody, and I was stiff everything I could in there to satisfy the fear and nothing never feared. [BLANK_AUDIO] Was not. I've never been diagnosed with depression, depression, anything like that. But the devil had got me in this spin Saturday with all these thoughts that I was suffering from depression. And not only did the devil diagnosed me, but he gave me a prescription too. You need to talk to your doctor. And somewhere down the line, I can't remember, but I saw somewhere where they put people on lithium and it helps them with depression, and that hit me. And the devil says, you need to talk to your doctor about lithium. I got up on my chair and the first things on my mind before I realized what was going on, wins my doctor's a point, and I'm flipping the calendar. And it was there, something hit me, hit me strong. And it was these words, the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. The cleansing blood, and I thought about it,

I'd live under this banner, this something that I don't understand. I am a sinner, but it's saved by mercy and grace. There was a blood that shed his cavalry. And I have a dark, bad past. And my present ain't that great either. (audience laughing) But my future, past, present and future, is covered by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. And not only that, I am totally complete in him. And I have every right to tell the devil that. And to claim it, and to believe it. Because these are just words unless there's a spirit that backs it up with a purpose and a plan. It's not magical. It's not magic. It is the spirit of a living God that flows through them words, that changes the heart, changes the mind, and changes me, changes you. And that's what happened to me. When God saved me, when God came into my life and rescued me, and changed me, he made me a new creature in Christ Jesus. And I have every right to claim that. And I don't have to feel it. It's something I believe in the heart, and that's what makes the Word of God powerful. When it comes by faith. The Lord says that he prepares the feast in the midst of my enemies.

And this attack I'm in, he's got lunch playing. He's playing it on dinner. Here I am, I'm sinking fast. And what am I gonna do? Am I gonna spiral, or am I gonna take hold of what God has for me right then in the now? In the now. When you were under an attack, it's all about right then, isn't it? Jesus Christ didn't need a word to come to him when he was being dipped in tomorrow. He didn't need to pray about it. He had already prayed about it for 30 days. He needed it then and now. And he said something very important. He said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God." You know, he might say something that not word for words is in his Bible, but it's still God. It applies to you, it's your help. And you know, we all get an option of whether or not we're gonna be taking this meal or we're not. [BLANK_AUDIO] But as I was sitting in that car, the Lord brought back something that happened to me when I was up in the ministry. And I had only been there probably a year. I was still in classes, a student. And another student asked me a question. And I never thought about it much.

I didn't have no plan response for this. I had nothing. In fact, after it came out of my mouth, I was going, well, I didn't understand of myself. And often did stay thought about, I didn't have that consciously. I mean, it just came out of my mouth, this scripture. And I know it didn't hurt it before. But I couldn't remember where it was at. So I had to go and look for it and I found it. And I was totally surprised where it was at. And I was, but this scripture, it came out of my mouth at the time. It says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house a little forever. And I did not plan for that. And when I went back to look at it, I was if I was looking at it, I don't think it was no mistake. When I read that scripture, I'd worked at the one above it and said, the Lord prepared the feast in the midst of our enemy. You realize that? I didn't know that. And I was even, you know, all week this thing has just been going in my mind, just one thought right after another. I'd never be able to share it all and I forgot most of it. But it was just a building up in the spirit with me, you know, and the Lord wants us to understand that He has a word, a powerful word for us no matter what we go through. And these battles that we're going to have. And He wants us to use it, this world is getting dark and it's headed for the end, we know. We don't know in the future how long it's going to be before we can't even get together. Well we can't talk, we can't get whatever it's going to be. And I'm going to tell you, we might be separated by space and time.

But we are together by the Spirit of God, His Spirit. They can pull us apart but they cannot take Jesus away from any other. And when we have these attacks, when we're out there experiencing these separations, I'll tell you what God wants us to know how to use the Word of God and to stand on it. And if you think, you know, God probably got all of us under some kind of attack and if you have it, you're probably going to be where you're going to have to exercise yourself and the Word of God and stand on it. And I believe that's what the Lord is preparing us for. I believe He's preparing us for times when we're going to be able to get together on this. But God wants us to know that we are still together. They cannot take that away from us. What we have transceded in this world is boundaries, it's laws, it's gravity. What we have is a faith in Jesus Christ that overcomes all facts, facts. Faith in God could turn a fact into fiction in a second. That's what God is and that's why He's God. [BLANK_AUDIO] And surely goodness and mercy, if it has been following me all the days of my life, wasn't it following me at day one? Wasn't everything that I went through setting me up for this confrontation with Jesus Christ that saved my life? Was it that His purpose and plan for all that craziness, running from God, doing everything? I was a dope dealer in a renegade, prison, doing a trash can, and all of that was designed by a loving God to help me and to bring me to a place where I could see Him for what He really is. He's a God of love, He's a God of understanding, He's a God of purpose and plan. And He has a destination and a purpose for me that's going to go right on through eternity, and He's prepared me even now for that, even now. And God's real focus is what I'm going to be, not what I am, what I'm going to be, because even now He sees me as complete.

He sees me as a work already done because He has said it, that changes everything, folks. Ain't no law and nature can stop or prevent the plan of God in your life, old man. It's a shoe. You can ride a check on it. But surely goodness and mercy shall follow me on today's my life. Very good thing, flowing from the throne of God flows down a road called mercy, mercy. The devil does not have a long way to slay the stand on and these attacks on me and you, because we have obtained mercy from God who was the creator of all things, all things. And just as surely as He spoke in Genesis, let there be light, He can do it up here too. When He comes down with the Word and He says, let there be light. I tell you what, if you're a child of God, you're under attack. There comes a time when the Lord said, that's enough, that's enough. He has to step aside because the Word of God comes in there, comes in there. And the Word of God is going to be fulfilled. It's going to be fulfilled, cannot be stopped. And it goes on from there to surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, God said, he said that about every one of his children that are suffering in this world right now, surely goodness, mercy is following you all the days of your life. And you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is coming to we in, folks, and we're going to step into eternity as members of the family of God. And you know what upsets the devil to really get his go, messes him up, really. It just hit me, it's one day in the future, he's totally going to be forgotten about. There's nobody going to remember who he is, don't let that upset see him. That drives him crazy. [BLANK_AUDIO] Thank God, praise God, God, thank you Lord. I wish I could recall more, it was just overpowered, and all week, this has been turning in my heart and mind and sorting. I do want to read one thing, you don't have to turn here, you know what I'm saying.

But I'd like to read this really, it says, this message for me, this is all about the power of the Word of God, the power that has a purpose, and it has the Spirit of Christ behind it. It's not magic, folks, it's not a formula, it does not go, we do know that the Lord expects the suss to learn and to grow in the knowledge of faith in him. There is a certain amount of learning, but I tell you what, you learn all you want to, and it ain't going to get you to heaven without Jesus Christ. But it says here, my glass is over here, then I had to memorize this scripture when a program that I was in, you had to, when you come in there, there was a school class half a day, when you come in there, you had to turn in a paper on the chapter in the Bible, you had to do with paper every single day, you had to memorize the scripture, this is one of the scriptures that I memorized. And it says, for the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged swords, piercing into the vieting asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts it ends the door. I want to tell you what, is powerful in it, is piercing. I don't care what kind of grip the devil has on me or you. This is the power behind the Word of God right here. I had to memorize this verse and when I got through, quote me, I couldn't quote it now, but I did some years ago, and the director, he said to me, he said, "What does that mean to you?" And I was so afraid about what talking, you know, now I just said I don't know, but I had an idea, it means it's a powerful thing. It's the same word that spoke the creation and the being, that's pretty powerful. He spoke and put them stars in the sky, and when you read about some of them stars and where they had it, if you can't see God in that, you are blind. And that's the word that we have. And the Lord has come down and give it to children like this. And people, I'm not know learning me, when the Lord called me out, he picked somebody that absolutely didn't know anything that brought anything and didn't even like people. I didn't have one thing that you probably ought to have. He didn't have nothing, but I had this. I had a command from the Lord. And even this morning, when I was looking around and I was scared, I knew the Lord wanted me to get up here and share, and I was really just, what would you know I don't want to do this? And the Lord used this scripture many times, and as I was looking through the Bible, I just happened to hate it, and I have it highlighted in blue there, and it hit me. And the Lord just used this so many times in my life. worked with addiction, I worked at a facility and the Lord used this and it says here, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, I will uphold thee in the right hand of my righteousness." That's the righteousness I which is a gift from God, his blood, his righteousness. I tell you what, if you have Jesus Christ, you don't need no peel, you got all you need. I don't have depression, I ain't never had depression. What I had was a need for Jesus Christ in my life and when he came into my life, he made me happy and he took away that cloud. I'm going to tell you what, I was happy, I was excited and it radically changed my life. I mean it was a radical change. He changed the way I thought, the way I looked, the way I spoke in a complete change of direction. It was a complete and total change when he came into my life and he's still working on it.

He's still changing me and I thank God for the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. That's the difference folks. Between me and everybody that's inhaling going to heal because the people that are there, they are there because they've rejected God's salvation through his son Jesus Christ. That's how you get there. So I pray and hope that if you have not had an encounter with Jesus Christ, I pray and hope that when you do you fall on your knees and complete surrender. But that, there is something that needs to happen before. You need to start a conversation with God. Start talking to the Lord just like he's standing there and start talking to him. You can do this when you're doing anything working and you talk to the Lord just like that's where the strength and the power of this word through a relationship can take its power and means something. This fellowship, you get to talk to the Lord. If you ain't saved and you get to talk to the Lord, something is going to happen for you. I guarantee it. And if you have not started a conversation with Jesus Christ, there's no better time than right now. Right now because that's where God's at. You know, there might be something, we did this in convention one time. And you'll find that in this church, we don't really, there's not a whole lot of preaching on Hellfire, dying and going to hell, scared people in to become a Christian. I appreciate that the focus that we have is only merciful and loving God that can get your attention. And he can save you the way he wants to save. And there needs to be a communication. There may be some children or something that didn't understand what was going on last time. There might be some, maybe some visitors or something. [BLANK_AUDIO] But listen, this ain't about your head. This is opening your eyes, keep them open, and just talk to the Lord just like He's right there. And that's what we're going to do. And everybody is going to start a conversation with Jesus Christ right now that's going to go from here to eternity, and you can begin to talk to Jesus just like He's standing there. That's the way He wants to be community. When you're on the job, and somebody comes and says, "Who's you talking to? What a grand opening.

I'm talking to Jesus Christ, what?" I guarantee you the first thing they're going to ask you, "Does He talk bad?" And you can say, "Yeah!" In all kinds of ways, He's got a whole creation that He talks through. Did you hear it? I imagine the birds in the sky, they're tweeting around in Morse code going, "Why ain't you here yet?" Raise God. Ours, I don't know what to say, I don't know how to say it, but I know that you are truth and life. And I know that you are God who saves in mercy and grace. And I know that you love us. And you want to see us succeed. And you want us to know better, and you want us to grow in your grace and knowledge and strength that's going to take us down through all this darkness. And we can have confidence in you and your Word, and we can love you back the way you love us, because you have God and you have rescued us. You have set us free. You have set our feet on holy ground, a firm foundation, with an anchor that holds. And we can have confidence in you and love you. Work at my heart that I may know and see you better than I do today, and give me each day that I need to be your servant, not the way I would be, but the way you would have me. And let me know the truth humbled me of being used by God when you flow through me. Because it's not nothing that lifts anybody up, but it lifts up the Lord, and it's actually very humbling to be used by you, it really is. That you can flow through somebody that is so unworthy is the truth. But I am worthy because of the blood that washes over me. And you see me through that blood, and I am a living, breathing son of the living God, and I can claim your word by faith. Because you've given it to me, because you love me.

Help me to love you like you love me. Praise be unto him forever. There's no amen to this, it's just more conversation. Just keep talking to the Lord. Praise the Lord. I definitely appreciate Rick's testimony there. But I guess the central thought that I keep having as he was talking is that he's found a refuge in Christ, a shelter, and I just thought about the Lord had to bring him from one place to another. But in between there was a road that led him to Christ, and I've had some thoughts. I do want to share, but I believe what Rick said is going to flow with what the Lord's given me. And it's in Matthew 25. a few weeks ago, Lord, I was just getting ready for bed. And you know Rick talked about having a conversation that's ongoing with him. And I wasn't thinking of anything, but the Lord just kind of popped something into my mind. And all I heard was the parable of the talents. And how I think the Lord wants to relate this to what Rick has shared is that there was some people in his life believers that was pointing him to that refuge and to the cleansing blood of Christ. And if we're, you know, we're walking with Christ, if we're born again here in this building, the Lord's called all of us to that. And that, of course, doesn't have to look like going out using a loud speaker or not going on people's doors to share the gospel. It can look like that. That's, that's a, I need to overcome. This is for me. I'll say that. I need to overcome some fear that I have in my life with sharing the gospel with people. But it doesn't have to look like something huge that you would think of, but just sharing a scripture with somebody or if the Lord lays even a brother or sister in Christ on your heart, giving them a call or sharing something with them. But we all know this, this parable pretty well, I believe it's the parable of the talents or the parable of the gold. And I don't want to read too much of it, but something that stood out to me after the Lord put that into my mind that night. I kind of watched a couple sermons and read the scripture and prayed with him about this. And there was something and something

that I watched that really caused me to examine my own self and to search my own heart. And of course, in this parable, just a quick synopsis, the Lord is the master and he goes away and he gives five talents to one or five bags of gold, depending on which version you read, two to another and then one to another. And so the one he gives the five to goes out, does the Lord's work, doubles the talents. And then with the two, same thing, he doubles it. And when the master comes back, he says, well done, my good and faithful servant. And then we come to the last one, they got the one talent. And this, it's in verse 24, I'm just going to start right there. Then the man who had received one bag of gold came and master. He said, I knew you were a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. That right there is this man that convicted me. And I'm not trying to say that, you know, I'm up here speaking. I'm not trying to say that this is my gold or this is my talent. But even raising our children, maybe not hide it there as well. And here's the main thought I had what the Lord has given me is my testimony. And if you have a testimony here like Rick, that's your talents, that's your gold. It's simple to just go tell somebody what the Lord has done for you. The fact that we don't have to be separated from God eternally, that is a testimony. The fact that he gave his life on the cross for us shed his blood so that we can enter into eternal life. That's the testimony right there. And I mean, Lord, all throughout the scripture, it's said that we need to be encouraging, comforting and strengthening people. And only way we can do that is from the spirit that's in us flow out, but we got to be willing to step out of the boat and walk with him and do what he's calling us to do. And so it says I was afraid. But the question that was asked here at the end of this sermon that I listened to is if the Lord came back today and said to you, if he said, I gave you this ability, this opportunity or this mission, what did you do with it? And that just hit me in the heart. There's multiple times that I've heard the still small voice, but I haven't followed through. And the Lord doesn't condemn me there. And he forgives me when I repent from not listening to his voice, but may the Lord help me to step out like that and not be afraid. And I want to be tuned in having that conversation ongoing, like Rick said, I want to be tuned into his voice so that I can hear him. I mean, being afraid, perfect example.

You think about it. Oftentimes, I think I'm afraid of what people's reaction might be to what I share with them. I'm afraid of-- you can even get to a point where you can become over-religious about this kind of stuff. But if we're walking with him, he's not going to let us fail. And his voice is going to speak through us. Think about what he told Moses and Aaron. Moses said, I can't speak. He said, you go, and it will be as if I am speaking through you. May the Lord help all of us do that. Just, I mean, when he says, go. When the cloud moves, I want to move. When he says, stay, I want to stay. When he says, go up to the person at the gas station and share a gospel track with them. Say, can I pray with you about anything? And it's like I said, it doesn't have to become a thing where you feel like you've got to do it, but be listening and have the conversation so that we can submit to him. And then the man with the one talent, he said he was afraid, and I thought about the scripture where the Lord says, I didn't give you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. And when it's his power and his love flowing through us, we can make a difference in people's lives, just as someone made a difference in Rick's life. And we know that that was ultimately Christ and the cleansing blood that's freed him, but a vessel had to be used to draw him and to point him to Christ. And after I read that scripture, I asked the Lord as I normally do, Lord, is there anything you want to pair with this or anything else you want to show me? And I just got a scripture reference in Deuteronomy 19. And I'm not going to read through this, but I don't know. I'm just amazed that the Lord can give me and he'll do this to anybody. He'll speak to you and show you what he's trying to say. But in Deuteronomy 19, this is when Israelites had come into the Promised Land, and he commanded them to set aside several cities called the Cities of Refuge.

And in those days and times, if someone had killed another person, whether it was by accident or intentional, they had to pay for that with their life, and there was something called the Avenger of Blood, and that was a family member or a friend of the victim. And so that Avenger of Blood, legally, based on the law back then, could kill the person who did this. And an example in the scripture says the man was cutting a tree with an axe, and his axe had flew off, and it killed another person. Well, now that person's axe had to flew off, he's guilty, technically, according to the law. So he has to run to the city of refuge if he wants to live, run, because there's people coming after him. And I thought about this. Rick started out with the thought he had about depression, and what else does the enemy whisper in our ear? But praise God, we have a place to run in Christ. And right here, if the person accidentally killed someone, they had to run to those cities to find refuge and safety until their case was heard. And if they were determined that they were not guilty, then they were able to be free from that and leave the town of refuge, and no one could harm them. There was something interesting here. They were able to leave when the high priest died. And so if the high priest was a young guy, they might be waiting a while. But someone had to pay the price with their blood, and then they could go free. And once the high priest of that time died, then the person was able to return to their own city and freedom. But guess what Hebrews 4 says? And I want to make this point. The person there in Deuteronomy, they were able to go to that city of refuge if they were not guilty. But we have a great high priest and a city of refuge that we can go to when we are guilty. We are all guilty with sin from the beginning. Our mother's womb, I think it says, we were born in this world in sin, but we have a place to go. Hebrews 4, you don't have to turn there. It says, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest, let us hold firmly to the faith that we profess. I just thank God this morning for that great high priest

that he came, that he died, that he shed his blood, and that we are cleansed by that blood, and that we do have an eternal hope and an eternal refuge. And we have been freed from all the guilt of sin. And I believe why the Lord kind of showed me these two thoughts together is that he doesn't want us to hide the talent. And like I said, that's the salvation he's given us, the deliverance that he's given us, the testimony that he's given us. He doesn't want us to hide that, but rather he wants us to show. And in the King James, it says, prepare thee away when it's talking about the city of refuge. And the Lord's prepared the way, but he wants to, I just imagine back in this time, there was probably signs saying refuge up ahead. And I believe that's what the Lord wants us to be a signpost and signs for him. We could tell the lost, the burdened, those who are in captivity to addiction, to fear, to depression, to trauma in their life. We can say there's a refuge up the way. His name is Christ, look what he did for me. That's where not bearing the talent comes in is we can share that and it points to Christ and to the cross. In Psalm 46, it says, God is our refuge in strength and ever present help and our time of need. This kind of stood out to me in Isaiah 62,

you don't have to turn there. Prepare a way for the people, build up the highway and remove the stones, raise a banner. I believe that's us again, sharing what he's done for us, raising the banner of Christ. Look, there's love in Christ, there's compassion in Christ, there's, he could pull you out of a pit, rescue you from the dominion of darkness. That's all in Christ. Hebrew six is interesting here. It says, we who have fled to him and when this person in the Old Testament did that, they weren't walking to the city of refuge, they were fleeing because they knew their life was on the line. But guess what, if you don't flee to Christ and if the people out here in the world don't flee to Christ, their life eternally is on the line and that's why it is important that we step out and not bury the talent but that we go out and tell them what Christ has done. But it says, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence, great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us, praise God for that hope. Just something we could, some things we could share with the people. There's a city of refuge down that way, go to him. You can be free of the burden of fear,

the burden of anxiety and addiction. You don't have to live in sin and shame and guilt and trauma and here's something and I feel like I failed the Lord here but you know what, there's forgiveness in Christ. If we confess to him. But what about a person who doesn't have long to live? And you don't know their eternity. That person needs to be visited and I failed recently. I felt that the Lord was telling me to go visit someone but I never got to it and I just trust the Lord with that. I don't want to hold on to that condemnation and I give that to him at the city of refuge but that is very important and may the Lord help me and help all of us that if we don't know a person's eternity and they're on, for instance, on hospice, they only got a few weeks or a few days to live. Let's go and not bury the talent. And like I said, I'm examining myself there and I will have to say I failed the test. With Christ, he's still worthy and he's able to redeem. Yeah, just go tell him there's a refuge in Christ who can rescue you. Christ is the truth, he's the life, he's the way. He is the only way. And I thought about this.

When you go to that city of refuge, all right, goodness, this is just Christ's love but you don't have to actually make it to that city of refuge. to embrace you and he's gonna deliver you. If you go to him with a truly repentant heart wanting to have a desire to serve him, he's gonna meet you right there just like the prodigal son and the father. I just praise God that we have a father this morning that loves us who's paid the price, Christ rose from the dead. He's seated in heavenly realms this morning, interceding for us. We've got more than enough reason to not hide what he gives us and I just need the Lord. I appreciate your prayers because I don't want to, like I said, I don't want to do more than he's calling me to do but I want to be willing to do what he is saying to you. And if we are there, he won't let us fail. Just keep looking to him. He's worthy of this woman. you you.