[0:00] Well, good evening, brothers, sisters and friends. Just the same intimations as the morning, just to remind ourselves of this week. I think the most pressing intimation in terms of time is the Tuesday Bible Study, which starts this Tuesday at 7.30.
[0:15] So it's Tuesday at 7.30. Let's resume our public worship of God. We can sing to his praise from the Scottish Psalter and Psalm 91. Scottish Psalter and Psalm 91.
[0:28] We can sing verses 1 down to verse 4 of the Psalm. Psalm 91, verses 1 down to verse 4. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, under the shade of him that is the Almighty shall abide.
[0:49] I of the Lord my God will say, He is my refuge still, He is my fortress and my God, and in him thrust I will. Psalm 91, verses 1 to 4.
[1:01] The God's praise. Thirdly, is the Patterson and BBQ, Your life is a life.
[1:37] I hope the Lord my God will save. Here is my salvation.
[1:56] Here is my salvation. My salvation.
[2:15] The joy of the Lord. Here is my salvation. Here is my salvation.
[2:29] Here is my salvation. Oh, so the power of the Spirit of God.
[2:44] The world shall be light. Here is my salvation.
[3:04] Here is my salvation. Here is my salvation.
[3:24] Here is my salvation. Let's join together in a word of prayer.
[3:36] Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[4:14] Now, we say again, saying from your word just now that we come to a God who knows his people, looks after his people, who keeps his people.
[4:26] We come to one who is God Almighty. That all power belongs to you. Not just a power as we understand it in our earthly context, but all power.
[4:38] The power of time. The power of creation. The power of reality itself. It all belongs to you. You have formed all things. You sustain all things.
[4:50] And one day you will bring all things to the very conclusion. One day you will make an end of all things. One day you will start all things anew. For you alone are God Almighty.
[5:02] Worthy of eternal worship. Worthy of eternal praise. And we join this evening as a small gathering. Lifting up our small voice together. And we praise God Almighty.
[5:14] We praise the Almighty One who exists eternally in ongoing praises. As a cherubim and seraphim are in the throne as they lift up their voices to praise you.
[5:27] We know that our voices, our small songs of praise, just join their praise. Become one and the same of their offering of praise. And together, all creatures on earth and creatures in glory, together we raise our voices to worship the Almighty God.
[5:45] Help us to have just a smallest understanding of that all-filled reality. What it is to worship a living and true God. Help us never to think of our worship as a small thing.
[5:57] Help us never to think of our gathering here this evening as a small thing. We gather just now, not just as brothers and sisters. Not just as friends here to hear the word of God.
[6:08] We gather just now, those of us here this evening who are your people. We gather just now as part of the full assembly of all your people. From the start of creation until the very end.
[6:21] We are here as part of your worldwide church. We are here as part of your historic church. Stretching back through all the ages and forward to the ages to come.
[6:33] We are part of the church. Part of your chosen, beloved, glorious people. Made glorious by the finished work of our Saviour. The times we feel perhaps isolated here.
[6:46] The times perhaps we feel as if we are such a small gathering of your people. Remind us that we, here in Tolstah, we are not the fullness of your people.
[6:58] But we are just here as part of your people. Across this island. Across our nation. Across our world. You have your people. And your church is not divided.
[7:10] Yes, humanly we are divided by denomination and divided by culture and language. Divided by, at times, secondary and even less than that, theological issues.
[7:23] But you are true people who love you and who worship you. We are not divided. We are one church. With one Saviour. With one hope. With one salvation.
[7:35] With that one spirit offering us that one baptism. With that one destination we are gaining towards day after day. Help us to have that in mind as we come together this evening.
[7:48] We once again remember our dear brothers and sisters. Even within our own denomination. We pray just now for the smaller congregations. We at times count ourselves small. But we know that our smaller congregations, much smaller even than our own.
[8:02] Who meet and who seek to serve and worship and love you. Lord, we ask you to be with them and encourage them. Small congregations without a minister.
[8:13] Small congregations even in our denomination who have currently, as it stands, no hope or no ability to even call them minister. Lord, we ask you to be with them this evening. Be with the supply who supplies preaching for them week after week.
[8:27] Faithfully. Understanding that your word goes out. Whether to five people or 50 or 500. Your word goes out and it will accomplish what it is you have desired for it to accomplish.
[8:38] We pray the same for ourselves here in Tulsa. We pray as your word goes out week after week. We'll hear it as your word is read and proclaimed next door. We ask that you would bless your word.
[8:49] I would bless your word to your people. Help us to grow in our own understanding. Our own effectiveness. Our own missionary effectiveness. Help us personally as a congregation to be forward thinking and to be outward looking.
[9:05] And to see that you have placed us here not to protect our truth. You have placed us here instead to proclaim that truth. And to do so carefully. To do so gently.
[9:17] To do so with passion. With zeal. To do so understanding. That we have in our very much broken earthen bodies. We have through gold.
[9:28] We have through treasure. Help us Lord to proclaim that treasure well. Help us individually. But help us as a congregation also. To be engaged fully. In the service you have placed us here to do.
[9:41] To be salt and light. To be missionaries to our own homes. Our neighbours. To be missionaries to this wider village. We pray just now for the many homes in this place. Who do not pray for themselves.
[9:53] We bring before you just now the many homes. The many families in this place. Who have no understanding of even the basics of the gospel. Lord we ask that you would use your people. Use us.
[10:04] Help us to be witnesses. Help us to be bold. Help us to be brave. Help us to be careful. Help us to be gentle. Help us to be full of zeal.
[10:15] But also full of understanding. To share the truth. But to do it in love. As you have called us to do. Help us as a congregation here. To be effective witnesses. We pray Lord for the plans that we have.
[10:26] And the ideas that we have. And all of the upcoming realities of things we hope and pray and plan for. We leave once more of these things at your feet. For we understand that for all our planning.
[10:38] And hopes and preparation. For all our ideas and imaginings. If you are not in it. If you are not in it. It will not prosper. If you are not in it. There will be no benefit to the souls of those who attend.
[10:50] We ask Lord that you be glorified for all we seek to do. For we seek to do it for your glory. We do not pray for the advancement of the free church. We do not pray for the advancement of North Tolstah free church.
[11:03] We do not pray for the advancement of this ministry. We pray for the advancement of the gospel in this place. Removing from that our own personalities and ideas and desires. We wish to see Jesus known in our village.
[11:17] We pray that just now praying to God Almighty. The one who is able to make the smooth places mountainous. And the mountainous places smooth. The one who levels and who raises.
[11:29] The one who makes a way where there is no way. The one who provides water to a dry land. Lord we ask that this evening. You would come and indeed you would provide water. Even to the dry land we find here in North Tolstah.
[11:42] With many homes. Many families. Some with church connections. Many without. But all together they have no hope this evening. They have no help this evening. We ask Lord you would enter into their lives.
[11:54] And use your people. Use your word. Use the ways you always work. I would see and soon hear of blessings in our own area here.
[12:05] Until these days of blessings arrive. The days we pray for with not just expectation. But with a hopeful expectation. Help us to be faithful servants.
[12:16] With the small things you have given us. Not that you are God who gives small gifts. But you are God who gives gifts in our own time. And at this moment we are given a gift of small things.
[12:28] Of at times low numbers. Of at times low expectations. Help us in these days of small things. Not to be people with small expectations.
[12:39] And small understanding of you are great almighty God. Help us this evening to be shaped in our expectations. To be shaped in our hopes and our desires. To be shaped in all these things by who we are in Christ.
[12:53] That he would be preeminent in all that we are. All that we say. And all that we do. That he would be glorified through our whole lives. Our words. Our actions.
[13:04] Pray just now for those in our number. Who cannot attend as often as they perhaps would wish to attend. Pray just now for those who. Age and for other various reasons Lord.
[13:16] Are not here as often as they'd wish to be. As you be with them especially. And Lord we ask you surround them with your presence. And with that knowledge that. Even though they can't be here as often.
[13:27] They are still known and loved by us. And more importantly than that. They are still known and kept and loved by you. We pray once more for our friends here this evening. Our friends who attend all these many services.
[13:40] Lord again. We pray they would not just know our love for them. They would know the love of a saviour who has died. For all who come to him. And indeed a saviour who rose again.
[13:51] Who is eternally at your right hand. Making that constant intercession for his people. That they would know the love of that saviour. That they would know what it is to serve him. And to have him as king over their lives.
[14:04] We come once more this evening. Confessing sin. We are so aware that just now even before you. We are unholy. That before just now we have in ourselves. We have done and said and thought things.
[14:17] Which are so against your holy nature. We bring these things before you. And we beg forgiveness from you. We ask these things. Many things. Through the finished work of our glorious saviour.
[14:31] In his name and for his sake. Amen. In turn to read in God's word. We have two short readings. Both in Genesis.
[14:43] First of all Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17. Genesis chapter 17.
[14:58] We can read first of all verses 1 down to verse 14 of the chapter. Genesis 17. Genesis 17 verses 1 down to verse 14.
[15:11] Let's again hear the word of God. When Abraham was 99 years old. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him. I am God Almighty.
[15:22] Walk before me. And be blameless. That I may make my covenant between me and you. And may multiply you greatly. And Abraham fell on his face.
[15:33] And God said to him. Behold my covenant is with you. And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abraham. But your name shall be Abraham.
[15:44] For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. And I will make you into nations. And kings shall come from you.
[15:56] And I will establish my covenant between me and you. And your offspring after you. Throughout their generations. For an everlasting covenant. To be God to you.
[16:07] And to your offspring after you. And I will give to you. And to your offspring after you. The land of your sojournings. All the land of Canaan. For an everlasting possession.
[16:19] And I will be their God. And God said to Abraham. As for you. You shall keep my covenant. You and your offspring after you. Throughout their generations.
[16:30] This is my covenant. Which you shall keep. Between me and you. And your offspring after you. Every male among you. Shall be circumcised.
[16:41] You shall be circumcised. In the flesh of your foreskins. And it shall be a sign of a covenant. Between me and you. He who is eight days old among you. Shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations.
[16:53] Whether born in your house. Or bought with your money. From any foreigner. Who is not of your offspring. Both he who is born in your house. And he who is bought with money.
[17:05] Shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh. An everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male. Who is not circumcised in the flesh. Of his foreskin.
[17:16] Shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. And again. Now reading forward. Still in Genesis. But now. Genesis chapter 35. Genesis chapter 35.
[17:30] Genesis 35. From the start of the chapter. Down.
[17:42] To verse 15. Genesis 35. God said to Jacob. Arise. Go up to Bethel.
[17:53] And dwell there. Make an altar there. To the God. Who appeared to you. When you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household. And to all who are with him.
[18:04] Put away the foreign gods. That are among you. And purify yourselves. And change your garments. Then let us arise. And go up to Bethel. So that I may make there an altar.
[18:15] To the God. Who answers me. In the day of my distress. And has been with me. Wherever I have gone. So they gave to Jacob. All the foreign gods. That they had. And the rings.
[18:26] That were in their ears. And Jacob hid them. Under the terebinth tree. That was near Shechem. And as they journeyed. A terror from God. Fell upon the cities. That were around them.
[18:38] So they did not pursue. The sons of Jacob. And Jacob came to Luz. And as Bethel. Which is in the land of Canaan. He and all the people. Who are with him. And there he built an altar.
[18:50] Which he called. And he named El Bethel. Because there God. Had revealed himself to him. When he fled from his brother. And Deborah. Rebekah's nurse died.
[19:01] And she was buried. Under the oak. Below Bethel. So he called its name. Alon Bakuf. And God said to him. And God said to him. Your name is Jacob. No longer shall your name be called Jacob.
[19:14] But Israel shall be your name. So he called his name Israel. And God said to him. I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you.
[19:35] And kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you. And I will give the land to your offspring after you. Then God went up from him.
[19:47] In the place where he had spoken with him. And Jacob set up a pillar. In the place where he had spoken with him. A pillar of stone. He poured a drink offering on it. And poured oil on it.
[19:59] So God called the name of the place where God had spoken with him. Bethel. Bethel. Amen. Good praise to God for his holy and his perfect words. Let's again sing to God's praise again in the Scottish Psalter.
[20:13] This time Psalm 97. Scottish Psalter and Psalm 97. Psalm 97.
[20:29] We can sing from verse 1 down to the first half of verse 7. The four stanzas there. Psalm 97. God reigneth, let the earth be glad. And isles rejoice each one.
[20:42] Dark clouds encompass and in right. With judgment dwells his throne. Fire goes before him. And his foes burns up round about. His lightnings lightened in the world.
[20:54] Earth saw and shook throughout. Psalm 97 verses 1 to 7. To God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise.
[21:05] O reign and then the earth's begun Our thoughts rejoice till all Our hearts shall come upon him right With God's name and wealth is born I know before him I'm disposed It burns the crown of God It's the sight of me, the sight of me The world where so much in the night
[22:15] Is another grace that it's all that art Thy watch still there and thou here Give not the presence of the Lord For all the earth I save Blessed in vain, best righteousness Amen The story is here For all the earth I save
[23:18] For all the earth I save For all the earth I save For all the earth I save As you come to look at God's word this evening A broad look We're going to cover the whole of the Old Testament Every evening for the next few weeks Our new series as I mentioned in the morning Our new series is looking at just some of the titles of God Some of the names that God uses for himself in the Old Testament And there's one name that featured in both of these readings We have five or six readings this evening That we're basing our sermon on But there's one name you'll note that comes up twice in these readings For the sake of a text we can just take chapter 35 for example
[24:19] And verse 11 And God said to him I am God Almighty We are taking this evening God Almighty But just to give us some context for the rest of our series We'll have the series running just into the start of the new year potentially And then we have another series after that But I thought after Judges We needed something that would lift our eyes upward Especially the last few weeks of Judges were pretty heavy Heavy to write you can imagine And I'm sure heavy to listen to And heavy to study together So a few weeks when we lift our eyes upwards Almost all of the names of God They have a similar structure in the Old Testament Almost all of them And we'll see that more as the weeks go on The basic structure is in two parts L and then the title, the description So L is just quite literally just the word for God
[25:22] It's a very simple word In the Hebrew it's two letters same as in English It's just God Quite simply God And followed by the description of God So God Almighty this evening is El Shaddai El Shaddai It appears roughly depends how you translate it At least 48 times in the Old Testament God is called El Shaddai Now there's two literal translations of El Shaddai So El being God This word Shaddai What does it mean?
[25:59] There's two areas that it means They both mean the same thing in the end And we'll see that But we call God El Shaddai What are we saying? How are we describing him?
[26:10] He is God who is what? Well Shaddai either means the mountain Or the overpowerer Bad English but it's perfect in Hebrew The one who overpowers Or the mountain It's used in both ways Shaddai meaning mountain It implies that God is solid That God does not move That God is ancient That as the world moves below him and around him God is there and he is steadfast Immovable and changeable He is El Shaddai God the mountain He is a solid presence In the life of his people But then there's the one who overpowers God whom overpowers God who is excessive Who is overflowing in power To be very literal In other words he is God of course Who is eternal in his power He is God who is supreme in his power
[27:13] And these two Hebrew words come together to give us El Shaddai God who is immovable But in his immovability is also God who is all powerful A strong mountain yes But a strong mountain who moves And who works Who plans And who acts And who does all these things With an eternal Sovereign Unmatchable Power That is El Shaddai That is God Almighty And we can look at just a few of the different uses of this title of God throughout the Old Testament I've tried to gather them into three very broad headings Three very broad ways in which God's name as El Shaddai Where that tells us something about God The two examples we had in Genesis are our first example But El Shaddai
[28:15] But El Shaddai is a God who plans The God Almighty is a God who plans He is El Shaddai in his planning work He is God Almighty in his will And in his carrying out of that will we could say God reveals himself We saw in Genesis First of all Genesis 17 God reveals himself there To Abraham Not quite Abraham yet He is still Abraham To Abraham God reveals himself as El Shaddai I am God Almighty Of course Abraham Or Abraham But Abraham is easier to say for now Abraham is 90 odd He is old He is a very old man He is a man who is past his age Of course of having children And God appears to Abraham And God says to Abraham That he is going to promise
[29:18] That from Abraham He will bring children He will bring lineage And lineage And people And offspring It is impossible This man who is 99 This man who is almost 100 And God appears and says Abraham I will give you generations You see that here I am God Almighty Walk before me And be blameless That I may make my covenant Between me and you And may multiply you Greatly Of course This is A physically impossible promise How can Abraham Have any hope of having children Especially not himself Especially not his wife And we know of course The story there God is making it An impossible promise A man in his 90s
[30:20] And his wife Have a similar age giving birth And because God is El Shaddai In one sense He needs not To make a covenant God has no need To make a covenant God is powerful enough To accomplish his plans Without making a covenant With this man God doesn't need Abraham He is powerful enough To do his work without Abraham Without Abraham But because he is also God Almighty He chooses To make a covenant With Abraham Because he is almighty He doesn't have to Because he is almighty He chooses to He is El Shaddai In his plans His plans make no sense To us At times his plans Are so above our understanding And they make no sense Of course to poor Abraham In little sense to him We see that And the wonder That they both have Themself And of Sarah
[31:21] They don't quite understand They laugh at the prospect And we would do the same I would bet to say At times Even as Christians We don't understand God's plan We say well God How can this be How this thing is working It's way out How can this be Your sovereign plan We know you as El Shaddai We know you as God Almighty All the power That brings with it How then Is your plan Going to work out This way You have a promise That you're going to keep me Till the end Well my current situation Shows that to be Quite different You promise to hear The prayers of your people Why are my prayers Being ignored You promise to be a God To me and to my children Why then are my children And grandchildren So far away from you And so on and so on And so on God is El Shaddai He is God Almighty And that is shown In his planning God promises Abraham Against a very physical reality
[32:23] Of this old man Almost a hundred And God says Despite that I have a plan for you And I will accomplish That plan We read again in Genesis That name appearing In Genesis 35 Where again God makes another covenant In fact There's a pattern here When God makes a covenant He almost always makes a covenant Under the title Under the name Of El Shaddai The God Who is Almighty The reminder God doesn't need us But friends, brothers and sisters God uses us Because he chooses to Here we see Genesis 35 As a second example We are of course Now two generations Later As God speaks to Abraham's Grandson We see a similar pattern Taking place As God Appears to Jacob And God Tells Jacob in verse 10 The same thing
[33:24] He told his grandfather You are now called Jacob I will now call you instead Israel Israel itself It is interesting It is actually technically A name almost Of God Yes And El Yes And El El El of course being God Yes Is to preserve Yes Israel God preserves El Shaddai God Almighty Is the one who also preserves His people That is a sermon for a different day A different day El Shaddai El Shaddai appears to Jacob He says to Jacob I will now call you God preserves And again God does not need Jacob But he uses Jacob To accomplish his perfect plan God Almighty is the one Who makes and carries out His perfect plans According to his will In the ways he chooses to do so Brothers and sisters We worship this evening
[34:25] El Shaddai We worship God Almighty Who is able to take us And make use of us As we pray for Tulsa As we look around us In our own families perhaps Our own immediate family perhaps We think Lord I can't do it anymore I am so worried about my loved ones I am so worried about their physical health perhaps But more than that I am worried about their spiritual health Look to the village Say Lord The task is too big There is 40 of us 50 in a good day There is 28, 29 odd members 30 members We can't do it The task is too big The mission field is too big There is 400 other people in North Tulsa What do we do?
[35:13] We come before El Shaddai Who has his perfect plan And who has the power to carry out his plan According to his perfect will That is the second word Power He is a God Because he is God Almighty He has a plan And now because he is God Almighty He carries out his plan In power We can turn to Job For this Job There are two readings in Job Where we see El Shaddai being used Now admittedly Both these readings are by Job's friends And often Job's friends are less than useful sources of help to Job We know that Job's friends are often pretty useless in their theology And pretty shocking and abysmal in the things they say But there are times when even Job's friends get it right And talking about El Shaddai, Job's friends do a pretty good job First of all we see Job 11 I'll read it for you, don't worry But Job 11, verse 7 For those taking notes just to keep you on track
[36:17] Job 11, verse 7 We see El Shaddai in terms of his power Job 11, verse 7 Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
[36:31] See God is not just distant in his plans God is active in his power El Shaddai is active in his day to day workings In all that he is and all that he does The eternal power of God here Is being seen in his infinite nature Can you find out the deep things of God?
[36:54] You cannot Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? When it comes to El Shaddai The question is, how far does his power extend? How powerful is God?
[37:07] It feels like a Sunday school question, doesn't it? We asked the kids this morning How much does God love his people? Well, there's no limit to that love, is there? It's eternal How much power?
[37:22] What level of power does God have? How exhaustible is his power? It's inexhaustible El Shaddai is perfect in his power And is eternal Perfect in his plan And eternal in his power He is almighty in his glory He is almighty in his power He is almighty in his unsearchable wisdom and being Friends and brothers and sisters We come before El Shaddai this evening And we say before his power Who sees us and who knows us We are undone We come to this place perhaps And we come to times of worship As Christians and as friends together Those who know Christ And those who have yet don't know Christ We're all guilty of some similar sins at times We come to times of worship And we think I said this before but I'll say it again I'll keep saying it until you're sick of me saying it We come to times of worship
[38:24] And we dress the part We act the part We sound the part And we look good And behind our suits and our ties and our hats Behind our collars We are cold and dead in our affections We are so far from him God almighty El Shaddai He is not tricked by us He sees all things All of creation Is in his hand We are mortal El Shaddai is immortal We have limits El Shaddai has no limits We see then he is seen in his power Again in Job This time Job 33 And verse 4 Job 33 and verse 4 Verse 4 again Willow is taking notes The spirit of God has made me The spirit of God has made me And the breath of the almighty Gives me life The breath of the almighty
[39:26] Gives me life Here we see El Shaddai being used In God's personal creating power In making you and me In the individual sense In the individual sense Of his creating us In our mother's womb We are not looking this evening At the trinity in the Old Testament God willing we will get to there one day I am sure that is a whole study in itself That is glorious But this is an important verse When it comes to seeing the trinity In the Old Testament Here we see two incredible things taking place Verse 4 again The spirit of God has made me That is Ruach El Ruach El, Ruach El, Ruach El The spirit, the wind, the breath of God Has made me The spirit of God has made me And the breath of the almighty Gives me life In medical process And as I were under a microscope And there is some here who
[40:27] A few here who know this more than I will ever begin to understand it Even recently of course with Emma starting her degree Again I have been reading some of the books And some of the processes And Emma has been telling me Some of the processes of what even goes into the most basic forms Of what life is The very cells inside us Each individual cell Itself is glorious And you put it under a microscope And you can see how it works You can see all the interactions in our body And we know as it were We know the physical biological process By which a new life is created We know that, we understand that We can study that step by step From conception all the way to birth We know how it works But just because we can know As it were the biological Scientific process of something
[41:29] It should never mean that it takes away from the glory And the beauty And the reason for us to praise God for it So as Christians we should never fear As it were looking into the science of things We should never fear looking into how things work Because the deeper we delve The more we realise That we worship El Shaddai God Almighty Who is glorious in his power His creating power But not just glorious in his power As he makes and holds the universe But as this second reading in Job shows us He is El Shaddai In his individual care And power In making you and making me In his individual creation of us He is God He is El Shaddai He is not just the one who has made And sustains the universe He has made and he sustains Every one of us Who made you and me in the womb Who formed you And who declares you as a good creation
[42:31] That's the beauty of El Shaddai Terrifying in his power Beyond us in his glory But then close and personal enough To form you and me With our quirks and personalities The ridges on our fingertips Our fingerprints Down to the very way we live and act and move and think He is powerful But he is also powerful El Shaddai means God Plans El Shaddai reminds us That God has power El Shaddai God Almighty It reminds us That God protects God protects In two things First of all the reading we had In our first Psalm, Psalm 91 When it comes to Psalm 91 And we will be covering this for the Lord's help In the prayer meeting Again in our spiritual warfare series Psalm 91
[43:33] It covers in detail What it is like to engage in spiritual warfare Psalm 91 is a psalm about protection It's a psalm that both the early church And that the Jews have used The people of Israel have used The faithful people of Israel have used From its writing To pray and to sing And to remind themselves Of God's protection Over even the worst of spiritual enemies And Psalm 91 begins By calling of course upon the name Of El Shaddai To protect us To look after us To keep us If we read together He who dwells He who dwells Where In the shelter of the Most High Will abide In the shadow of the Almighty Will abide in the shadow of El Shaddai To be literal What a greater source of hope We have as Christians
[44:35] What greater source of help As we feel ourselves overwhelmed And cry out for help and protection We cry out to who? To God Almighty To El Shaddai In his shadow as it were We stand In his shelter we find ourselves As Psalm 91 reminds us Friends Our shelters soon begin to blow away The second the wind makes impact El Shaddai is a true shelter The shelter of Donald It soon develops leaks It soon crumbles to absolute nothingness It is soon proved to be useless The shadow of El Shaddai is different And the image here is of him going as it were In front of us And we are behind him protected We dwell in the shadow of God Almighty We dwell, we abide in the shadow of El Shaddai So as he goes before us We stand behind him
[45:37] And we are in his shadow That means he is bigger than us That means he is larger and more powerful than us And we stand in the shadow behind him As he goes before us Keeping his people safe Protecting his people Loving his people The beauty The wonder The glory of it El Shaddai God Almighty It reminds us that God Protects his people He does so in glorious, obvious, big ways Like we have in Psalm 91 As you find yourself being oppressed by Satan As you find yourself in spiritual attack And you pray that the Lord would save you You pray that the Lord would end this attack You pray that in the name of Jesus That you be reminded that his power And that he is the one who has stopped the enemy And you feel the attack stop That is a glorious, obvious way That God also protects
[46:40] And God is also El Shaddai In the small, subtle ways He protects his people We mentioned this morning in Ruth Chapter 1 We see El Shaddai Again being mentioned to us Ruth chapter 1 And verse 20 Again, we won't go through it again We know the account But Naomi and Ruth have returned home And Naomi makes this heartbreaking declaration Naomi here speaking She said to them To the people back home She said to them Do not call me Naomi Call me Mara Why?
[47:21] For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly With me Well that's a bit of a rubbish example Donald isn't it? To show us how God protects Ruth saying and Naomi saying I should say that God has dealt with me bitterly How has God got Almighty When God has completely In this passage at least Seemed to have failed Naomi Husbands dead Sons dead She's now returning back home again To a place that's no longer hers really Her people are gone pretty much And she's there on her own And she feels completely her own And she's saying here El Shaddai has abandoned me El Shaddai has dealt bitterly With me There's times in life Where we might repeat the same words As Naomi Indeed I'm sure there's times We have repeated similar words Perhaps not as boldly as she did But in ourselves we think
[48:23] And we ask the question If God protects his people If God protects his people Then how on earth Has this taken place In my life In my situation To my family To my loved ones And so on and so on I won't give examples Because I don't want to Miss out your perhaps situation If God protects his people Then why this illness?
[48:48] If God protects his people Then why this financial Family complicated situation If God protects his people Then why this awful Spiritual situation And so on and so on and so on If God is truly El Shaddai Who loves his people Who keeps his people Who protects his people How can he allow Naomi to go And to lose her husband And to lose her sons Because El Shaddai sees the end from the beginning And the beginning from the end And we as we all know We move hour to hour Day to day Year to year And indeed being honest I am sure there are months And years We find ourselves worrying And concerned At times doubtful El Shaddai El Shaddai Remains El Shaddai God is still God Almighty He still keeps And protects his people And even when our immediate circumstances
[49:50] Seem to show otherwise Ultimately God has proven of course To be true to his promises As we saw this morning Even in the In the account of course Ruth And Naomi Naomi has had a hard time with it She has lost her loved ones I am sure she is in deep grief You can only imagine the misery Of her life Then the story of Ruth progresses We see then by the end Of course Naomi is mentioned once more As we read this morning I will read it again Ruth ends with this glorious thing Where Naomi is seen once more Ruth 4 chapter 16 Ruth 4 Sorry verse 16 Naomi took the child Her grandchild now Grandchild If not in blood Then grandchild In reality Because we see here Naomi took The child
[50:52] Laid him on her lap And became his nurse And the woman of the neighbourhood Gave him a name saying A son has been born to Naomi Naomi The son born to Naomi She is Born to Ruth The grandchild of Naomi She is by no means A close blood grandchild of Naomi We know the story But for Naomi She is This child's grandmother And she is overjoyed And we see That God is vindicated Because for all the trouble She has faced She now has A new home A new family She now has a grandchild And she is calling her own Quite happily But God has been used To bring forth David And the lineage We saw this morning Even when the plans Of God feel hidden to us And confusing to us And indeed like Naomi When El Shaddai Seems to be not protecting us Instead when he looks When he looks to have forgotten about us And indeed Even dealt bitterly towards us
[51:54] And were so bold To think that Or to say that As Naomi was And friends and brothers and sisters Let's note God In his wording In his word Not just a word In his word In his word In his word It's a word In his word In his word But it's a word Of his word However In his word Again We see the same As we are saying Or thinking that God And we see the psalmists And the psalms Again and again God loves his people enough We can ask the hard questions Of God And share how we feel With our Lord He knows us He understands us he has not forgotten the promises to keep and protect and love his people.
[52:42] He brings all things to a good end to those who love him, as Romans reminds us. We come and we end our thought this evening with a reminder that with El Shaddai we see God who is almighty. And El Shaddai, God almighty in his wisdom sent his son to creation to show that God almighty, maker of heaven and earth, sustainer of creation itself, he is not distant, he is not far away from those who cry out to him, indeed he is eternally close to his people. For he himself took on human flesh, became like us in all ways apart from sin, to live a perfect life, to die a necessary death, to rise again from the dead, to be eternally crowned as king of kings and saviour and king and protector and elder brother of his beloved people. God almighty had a plan for salvation that no one could understand or see from the beginning, but it was there from the start, age by age, generation after generation. We saw this morning El Shaddai is carrying out his plan and bringing it to full fruition. This evening we worship El Shaddai, we worship God almighty, we do so in his power, we do so for his glory. Never think God does not know, never think God almighty does not understand, never think God almighty dear brother or sister has forgotten you. El Shaddai who made the mountains, El Shaddai who is a mountain, El Shaddai who is eternal in his power, he is close to all his people. The person and the finished work of the Lord and Jesus Christ.
[54:39] Spirit heads now, a word of prayer. Lord, as we come, as we try and as we at times fail to find words to describe your true majesty, your true glory, we come with thee and give you praise for the truth we find in that name, that name which reminds us of your power, that name which reminds us that you're the God who is eternally more powerful than any of the obstacles of this world. You are the immovable mountain, you are the immovable solid base of all what we have and are, but with that you're also the God who is close to his people, who protects his people, who has a plan for creation, a plan for your people. Help us Lord to understand these things this evening as we have grappled with hard theology and deep theology. As we grapple with reality that we live in a sin-sick world where at times things make no sense to us. You accomplish and you have your plans and you accomplish them in time and in space. Help us we come to an end of our time of worship today to do so of hearts and minds full of adoration for you, for El Shaddai, for God Almighty who cares and protects, has a plan for
[55:57] God and who loves your people. We see that fully shown to us in the coming and the person and the life and the death and resurrection and the ongoing reality of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name it's for his sake we ask you many things. Amen. We can bring our time to a conclusion this evening. We can sing together in Psalm 145, Scottish Psalter, Psalm 145.
[56:29] We can sing verses 7, verses 1 down to verse 7 of the psalm. Psalm 145, verses 1 down to verse 7.
[56:56] I'll be extoll my God, O King, I'll bless thy name always. Who will I bless each day and will thy name forever praise. Great is the Lord, much to be praised. His greatness search exceeds.
[57:08] Race unto race shall praise thy works and show thy mighty deeds. Psalm 145, verses 1 to 7. To God's praise. Psalm 145, verses 1 down to verse 7.
[57:23] Let the exo, my God, O King, I'll bless thy name always.
[57:39] I bless each day and will die in forever peace.
[57:53] Renews the Lord unto thee, His goodness served as he.
[58:10] Praise the Lord, shall praise thy Lord, now show thy light in peace.
[58:29] I know thy glorious majesty beyond every hour.
[58:47] I speak of all thy mighty works, which wonders our Lord.
[59:06] May I nightthare my child show, thy light bright, O Lord.
[59:25] I am holy to perhaps thy Ouimetze Church in heaven, The memory of thy goodness In the heart which shall express With thoughts of this great childless soul Thy birth in righteousness In the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both of you now and forevermore. Amen.
[60:33] Amen.