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[0:00] very good evening to you thank you for welcoming me into your your church into your family thank you for for singing that psalm 23 i travel around many parts of the world and in many of those parts of those world of that world i do not understand a word that people say to me and when i go into the churches to preach there i have a translator and so they understand me but i don't understand them but you know there's something powerful about worshiping in your own language um it just struck me when you were singing it we have a work in burkina faso in west africa and the first time i ever uh went to visit burkina faso the big church in kadugu sits up on the hill pastor edion has a has a great heart to reach out into the people and he's taken literally the word of god that says we are to uh shine our lights and and uh the the scenery in burkina faso in many parts of africa is just bland brownness everything is very dull and land so wherever edion plants a church he tries to have it on the top of a hill and he paints the building bright blue so whenever you you go into any town you see this color and you know it's the church but when i was there i noticed in the front of the church there was a set of drums and two guitars and it turned out that the year before there was people visiting and they were very well intentioned and they they said to the young people can we give you something to aid your worship and so the young people asked they they wanted to be like many other young people they asked for drums and they asked for guitars and the folks kindly sent the money to which they bought it and the day after i was there the next time i was preaching they played the drums and the guitar to their worship and i have to say it it's it was okay but you see when they just played their own drums and worshiped their own way it was beautiful sometimes when we westerners try to modernize the world we don't do much service to people thank you for uh for your welcome uh when i do things like this the more sort of times i get into being introduced the more i feel like a w tozer once uh when he was introduced at a uh at a meeting and he was rather sort of embarrassed and he stood up and he said uh i pray lord that you will forgive my brother for all of his flattering words and i pray that you'll forgive me for enjoying them so much but uh it's good to be with you uh and uh i'm so glad of the connections that uh i have had and still continue to have through through the people here many of them uh from my time in tenerife i know more people from the united kingdom since i went to tenerife and then all of the years i spent in the united kingdom strange but true and i'm glad now that the the fruition of some of those friendships has come to being and i visited uh the isle of lewis my first time ever it's taken me a little while to get here and i hope it won't be as long to return uh mind you the the flattering words are a bit kinder too if any of you know me from tenerife um i was known to sort of be uh you know a little humorous and tell the odd joke or two so much so uh that when people would come to visit tenerife they would send me jokes back now i had to pray the lord's forgiveness in that too because i wondered whether some people just heard the jokes and nothing else but uh one gentleman sent me

[4:02] something from a church that he had been in the week after in tenerife back in england and uh i was just reminded of it also because he he sent me this note he said i hope this never happens to you he said i was listening to the minister this morning and they were having a visitor the following week and he said the preacher from next week will be hung from the notice board after the service uh to which the the man who came the following week uh just wished that it was only words and not the truth uh but however i want to speak to you tonight uh on a subject that is related to ephesians chapter one but i'm not going to speak from ephesians chapter one the the verses that we read together are one of four prison prayers written by paul when he was in prison in rome another one in ephesians one in philippians and then in colossians and if you read those uh those prayers and if you read paul's epistles if you read scripture and particularly in the new testament when that scripture is relating to the people of god and to the church collectively you discover that there there is a commonality and that commonality is that we are to know god now there are two sides to that we are to know god with our minds intellectually paul talks about about us being renewed in our minds by the transforming power of jesus christ it's important we need to know god in our minds we need to have the knowledge of course the knowledge needs to be changed then into wisdom and that's to know what to do with the knowledge but we also need to know god experientially in our hearts and it is that that i want just to explore with you a little bit tonight before i do that let me try and put it into context as to why i do this i'm standing here and i've spent the last few days in in the isle of lewis i have a great um heart i also have had the pleasure of of looking into revival right across the united kingdom and beyond it was because a time when tenerife when i did a series on revival and when i was reading generally about revival of course you cannot do anything in revival until you come to the isle of lewis and to the time from 1949 to 52 when duncan campbell came and visited this island and the great things that god did through him and and many others and i've always believed you know that sometimes there is the danger of course we live in the past and we we pray that the past would re-happen of course we don't want that to happen we want things to happen today afresh and new but yet we we have hankerings backwards and and i i come to the conclusion over my time you see revival is lacking it's not because god doesn't wish to do it and sometimes i hear in our churches this this this terrible sort of negative and pessimistic view of the law we're living in the last days but i don't see anything in scripture that doesn't say that god is not going to move even in the last days and i believe that it is the heart of god to send revival the problem is that the people of god are not ready for revival and revival starts in the house of god doesn't it it's when the people of god are revived salvation follows that yes but it is when the people of god are revived that's when when god does a work now i i believe and forgive me i i think sometimes we have made hard work

[8:02] of the christian faith and and doctrine and theology and you know i i believe we start off in our christian walk with the the simpleness of the gospel believe in the lord jesus christ and i shall be saved jesus said i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me there is a simplicity it is not by works we are saved but by the gift of god through faith and and then all of a sudden we make it really difficult and tough now i don't underestimate things and the battles we face we talk i talked about that this morning but but i think sometimes when when we're working out how is it that we prepare ourselves so that god can work through we become conduits for for a work of god and my experience tells me that there are two things that i believe that it can be done in the church the first one is unity and i'm not talking about that tonight maybe someone you can pick it up sometime amen unity in the church psalm 133 talks about that unity isn't it doesn't and it talks there about the unity of brothers and sisters like the jew falling off aaron's beard and you know psalm 33 tells that that when the people are in unity there god commands the blessing i find unity within the body of christ a priority that's given throughout scripture jesus jesus jesus in his in his high priestly prayer in john 17 when he prays for the disciples and then he prays for you and me the church that is to come those who will believe in him when he's gone he prays for us in that psalm what does he pray that they will be one there is a necessity for unity of the church and i think that's that sadly lacking and i'm not talking about the unity of people in here i'm talking about the unity of the body altogether you see unity is not uniformity unity allows for diversity but unity together to see the gospel flourish the kingdom come to see christ uplifted and god glorified to those brothers and sisters that you know that we fall out with sometimes over over silly things when there are greater things at stake when there's a world outside our walls perishing and they look at us let me let me just and then i'll move quickly into what i'm talking about because i don't want to keep here all night either can i turn you to two verses and i'm going to keep you active tonight through the word of god let's go into john's gospel chapter 1 and verse 18 john's gospel chapter 1 verse 18 and if you just hold that there and then turn over keep one keep john one turn over to john's letters then to the first letter so 1 john chapter 4 and verse 12 so that's john chapter 1 verse 18 and then 1 john chapter 4 verse 12 i'm reading from the new king james version you may be reading from others but i do not know this unless it's uh it's very different nearly all of the versions start the similar way anyway so we'll we'll get the connection here i trust so one john gospel chapter 1 verse 18 listen to this it says this no one has seen god at any time now if you flick over to 1 john 4 and 12 you'll notice the these these words verse 12 what does it say no one has seen god at any time that both verses start exactly the same way back into john 1 and 18 so no one has seen god at any time the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him what's that saying that's saying that no one has seen god of course god is spirit but god's in his graciousness his utter graciousness

[12:06] to our humanity he sent his son jesus christ and jesus said himself if you've seen me you've seen the father we had a revelation in in christ's humanity in this earth we got a glimpse of the glory of god and the glory of god was evidenced in the person of jesus christ but we know jesus has died he's been buried he's risen again he's ascended into heaven he's no longer here with us so now what does john the first letter of john 4 and 12 say starting the same way as the verse 18 it says no one has seen god at any time if we love one another god abides in us and his love has been perfected in us what's he saying there how does the world see god today how is god revealing himself today to this world you and me and how is he doing that when we love one another when people look at us and they and they hear us and they see division then they don't see god how could we say god is love and loves you if the people looking in at us see that we're not loving each other it's an oxymoron means one word does not go with another so the first thing is unity and we need to work on it folks and that's why i was so glad to be part of this sy connect this week and to be in that meeting on friday night now it doesn't matter my part in that meeting whatsoever doesn't matter whether you come away and thinking you know it wasn't up to much away it does not matter what matters is your part in it that you were coming together as a body of christ that's what the bible asks us to do not ask even commands us to do to love one another to be in fellowship and to see the greater glory of god here and to see people one for christ just purely and simply by us coming together in love that was wonderful and i encourage you i urge you keep it up keep going at it come together understand we may have differences in certain things but if we believe in the fundamental that jesus christ is our savior and lord there is no other way to heaven there's no other name given under heaven amongst men whereby we must be saved he is the only way and folks we get together we love one another in christ's name and we serve his cause by taking the gospel out now that's that's i think is a difficult thing when i was in america i had a great joy of being part of a meeting there where they're they were coming together and they were coming together as as ministers coming together as churches and and they were coming together and they had this emphasis they have they have this this five-year plan of the whole church in lynn county taking the whole gospel to the whole community and that's wonderful but then the second thing and i want to talk about tonight and i want to just take you through some parts of scripture and i believe this is the easier one because it's it's about us personally it's it's what we do personally and and that's for me an easy thing to tell you to do because then you go away and you by the grace of god and the enablement of the holy spirit to that is you drawing near to god getting to know god as you really ought to get to know him you know the whole point of our of our salvation is relationship with god is that we become sons and daughters we are adopted we cry unto him through that spirit given to us abba father but there's so many of us we're saved and so many of us saved a long time we don't really know god and you know that's that's what was so sort of exciting for me coming to lewis because

[16:11] because i i i feel that i have known and yesterday i had the most glorious afternoon with a dear lady who told me her stories and experiences of those times here in lewis and it was wonderful and since since that i've found another connection back at home that knew duncan campbell before he came here and you know it's duncan campbell said this of of revival he said it's a community saturated with god this is a statement he made once he says revival is a move of god i'm sorry the revival is the kingdom of god not going to be advanced by our churches becoming filled with men but by men and our churches becoming filled with god and i believe that's something that we can easily remedy folks and all i want to do tonight is to present you with god forgive me if i don't do it as well as i would like to but i want just to present you with god maybe maybe tonight you'll get a fresh glimpse of him maybe tonight that god by his spirit would reveal himself in a powerful way to you that you could just draw nearer to god now there there is something beautiful isn't there you know i know the whole the whole scene around mount sinai when moses came down with the the the stones and what was happening around the base of it and but you know you cannot get away from when moses came down from that mountain it says his face shone and the people knew he had been with god i have been privileged to be in the presence of some people men and women that as soon as i've walked into their presence i know i've been with a godly man a godly woman oh that people would just walk into our presence hear our words say hey they've been with god when you leave this building they've been with god that that like me standing up here you don't see me you see jesus you hear god and i'm going to do it i hope simply i hope something fresh i i hope that will help you find him and i'm going to do it this way you see god has a multiplicity of names most of us know him as just god but god has this multiplicity of name a name for every situation that you face and i just want to reveal that to you tonight you know i'm not trying to to to teach you anything probably you don't already know but let me just take you through a few verses and a few names and let me just hope to open your eyes afresh and behold this god and the very first verse is the very first verse in scripture genesis 1 1 where you find god for the very first time in the beginning god doesn't explain himself doesn't justify himself he just reveals himself here i am in the beginning god in the beginning elohim that's the first word of god we find in scripture elohim and it speaks of this mighty creator god it's it's a plural word and rightly so when you read through the creative verses in the beginnings of genesis you discover that god was involved in creation god the father god the son and god the holy spirit it is a plural word that means a mighty creator god and when you read genesis verse 1 in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth how did he create the heavens and the earth he spoke a word just a word just a word and he brought everything into being this elohim this great mighty creator god spoke a word and he brought everything everything into being ex nihilho is what the theologians call it he spoke a word and he brought something out of nothing

[20:16] everything that is in existence today god spoke a word when there was nothing and he brought it into being and even though man's fall has has done so much to to mar it and damage it and destroy it it is still beautiful isn't it when i woke up this morning and went down to the harbor and i saw the light shining from from the clouds that were breaking up and the sun breaking forth and it was beautiful and god created it all out of nothing with a word tell me this you you somewhere today and you're in a cul-de-sac you don't know how you're getting out of it are you are you in a situation today and and and you have wrung your hands with despair and you wonder hey is there any hope for me god elohim is the god who brings something from nothing he's the god who took the children of israel to the cul-de-sac of the red sea and he said stand still and see the salvation he's the god who sat before them the promised land of canaan says go possess it god's that elohim he's the same god whatever you face today he's the one who takes nothing no way no answer and he makes something he makes a way he gives you an answer amen there are compounds of el for example el shaddai genesis 17 verse 1 you need to go to these and if you want to be here but you know to leave here before the morning you have to get quick okay so keep your exercise going genesis chapter 17 verse 1 speaks of abraham and the covenant with abraham when abram as it was then without the h was 99 years old the lord appeared to abram and said to him i am almighty god walk before me and be blameless here's el shaddai god almighty we sing the song back home blessed be the lord god almighty the one who was and is and is to come he's the one who reigns forevermore hallelujah see he's the lord god almighty you know what that tells me he has the last word about me he is the last word about you he just has the last word about everything he's the lord god almighty he's the final word he's the final authority and when it looks you know as if you know this is struggling to understand here's this lord god almighty who's the final word well well then we discover another one back a couple of pages genesis 14 and verse 9 and he is el elion he's the the most high god genesis 14 verse 19 says this melchizedek this great this great picture of the one messiah that was to come in the order of melchizedek the king of salem brought out bread and wine he was the priest of the most high god he blessed him and said blessed be abram the god of the god most high possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be god most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand this stresses god's strength his sovereignty his supremacy supremacy literally he is the most high god who has everything in his hands he has he's not some distant far off god that has walked away he is the god who has his creation in his hands amen i love the picture when jesus talks about our security in john's gospel we're told that we are in his hand

[24:16] and then there's this picture that jesus talks about you're safe in my hand and my father has my then you are doubly safe you are in jesus hands and then the father's hand comes around his hand and we're in that and we're held in those hands those awesome mighty hands from which no one can pluck us he's the lord god almighty el shaddai he's he's the most high god el yon when everything seems out of control folks and i know when we look at our news when we turn on our televisions and we see we see the awfulness in wails of young young april jones and we try to work out what is going on and i don't have all of the answers for you but i do know this i'd give you this everything is in god's control he knows he's el roy this is beautiful genesis 16 is about this story of sarai sarai's promised a child but no child is coming sarai she takes things into her own hands she she calls hagar the maidservant of her husband and she she orchestrates and organizes this disobedience and she sends her maidservant in to lie with her husband and a child comes forth as a result of that but as soon as the child comes forth then sarai deals with hagar disgracefully and sends her off dishonored and hagar is just left wondering what has happened do you ever get to a place maybe not under those circumstances do you ever get to a place maybe you are tonight folks maybe there's somebody in this church tonight and you have been dreadfully treated by someone and it's often someone who's so close to us it hurts deeply whether it's someone in the church or someone in our own family and we got to that place

[26:27] I just do not know how I've got into this place how has this happened does no one understand here here's this verse 13 genesis 16 then she hagar she called the name of the lord who spoke to her you see he spoke he said hagar I know I've seen so she says you are the god who sees you are the god who sees El Roy that can be really scary at times Psalm 39 that we sang at the beginning it tells us that you know wherever we go God sees us he's acquainted with all our ways the psalmist says there is nothing hidden from our god and that's scary at times but you know that's good for us we need that accountability because somehow sometimes we think you know that we behave one way when we come into church but when we go home and we close the door and we pull the blinds we can behave differently and we think no one sees us the whole argument over things going around our world today you know about homosexuality and all of this says you know we do it in private you know it doesn't affect anyone oh yes it does it doesn't matter whether we're in the darkness or in the light

[27:47] God sees and that keeps me accountable because wherever I am he sees me and say I have to behave the same way in my home the same way in my office tomorrow my shop wherever I might be in my workplace tomorrow or my school or my college I have to behave the very same way as I behave in this building here when I come in the Lord's day that's scary ah but isn't it wonderful too to know that when I feel a loneliness maybe some of you today you know your partners husband your wife you know you miss them dreadfully you feel the pain of loneliness and even in a crowd like this you know we can feel lonely we feel no one understands no one sees my heart

[28:49] God does not wonderful he sees your heart he's acquainted with all your ways he's el olam Genesis 21 verse 3 now there's only one verse I know but I can give you I can leave it with your minister I can give you my notes and you can see more verses but just picking up these verses that speak of the name it's Abraham again he planted a tamarisk tree Genesis 21 verse 33 in Beersheba and there he called the name of the Lord the everlasting God now now this is the most wonderful name for me because as you know smart people you know we've just looked in Genesis so far hey Genesis a long way you know thousands of years down the road since Genesis was written and we're we're now in the 21st century you say you tell me all about this this God these names of God that's wonderful that's fantastic well el olam says he is the God who does not change the new testament speaks of Jesus Christ in the same words the same yesterday today and forever

[29:55] Malachi he says for I am the Lord I do not change the great prophetic word of Isaiah in chapter 9 in verse 6 speaking of Jesus Christ part of the title he talks about the mighty God the wonderful counselor the everlasting father that means this God changes not he's the same so the God that we see in Genesis is the God we know today and there's more there's a word that's seen throughout scripture but particularly the old testament in its Hebrew word which is Yahweh from which we get the word Jehovah and it's found in so so many places but the one particular place that I draw your attention to is Genesis chapter 3 and Genesis chapter 4 go home read through them but let me draw your attention to just a couple of verses from Exodus chapter 3 and Exodus chapter 4 forgive me verse 12 of Exodus 3 says so he said

[31:03] I will certainly be with you and this will be a sign to you this is to Moses remember all of the wrangling and discussion Moses had with the Lord you know I'm not qualified I can't speak oh I can't go Lord to these people who will I say he sent me then Moses said to God indeed when I come to the children of Israel verse 13 Satan and the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me who what is his name and what shall I say to them and God said to Moses I am whom I am the word I am is Yahweh which we get Jehovah the Lord but in particular the covenant keeping Lord the one who keeps his promise the one on whom you can depend the one you can trust I'm old enough now to know this I have been let down by people all along my journey and I have to say sadly all along my Christian journey too I have learned that there are not a lot of people you can depend on these days used to be that you could make a deal with people shake on it and say my word is my bond can't do that anymore sure you can't anybody says that to you check your fingers afterwards but here's here's the name of God and it's all over scripture

[32:31] Jehovah the covenant keeping God the one who keeps his promise the one I can absolutely depend on if anybody else lets me down he will never let me down you know folks even even when I am unfaithful he is faithful because he cannot lie the greatest thrill for my heart knowing especially now that I'm a grandfather and all these beautiful children come to me and you know they can be rascals at times and I can get angry with them at times but I never stop loving them they're always there I was telling at lunch today and I was telling the folks there that I always loved Val Doonigan's expect he said about his grandchildren if I knew it was so good I would have started with them first you know there's something you know well isn't it true that the whole relationship we find it whether it's husband and wife or or whether it's you know in our family homes that we see this beautiful picture of the love of God for you and I as children and so

[33:43] I discover here you know that here's a God he loves me unconditionally there's not a skeleton in my closet as far as God is concerned he knows me inside out do you know folks there is nothing I can do to make him love me anymore but there is nothing I can do that will make him love me any less isn't that great isn't that wonderful there are compounds just like hell of Yahweh or Jehovah Genesis chapter 2 22 and verse 14 if you if you want to turn there Genesis 22 and verse 14 and Abraham again and confirming his faith he says Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide as it is to this day in the mount of the Lord it shall be provided of course we we know what that is in the circumstances when he's been asked to sacrifice his own son Isaac and he's responded just instantly by taking his son he doesn't know what the consequence although he trusts God he believes

[34:55] God and he believes that when God tells him to do something God has a reason and God will provide in the ends and so as Abraham tracks up one side of the mountain with Isaac we know the story we have the word from the beginning and the end we have the end and it says there was a lamb making his way up the other and when he got to the top he looked and caught up in the bush was the lamb that God provided Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide one of my other great heroes is Hudson Taylor the founder of the China Inland Mission Hudson Taylor when he arrived in China dispensed with everything that was known to him clothing language everything he had no possessions he carried around with him two simple plaques one had written on it Jehovah Jireh the other from one Samuel 7 and verse 12 Ebenezer that's wonderful place to be isn't it you know when you stand and look at your larder and it's empty and you have no food for your children when you look at the bills tomorrow and say

[36:29] I do not have the money the Lord has said he will provide what you need not what we want not what we hanker after but what we need he's promised and how is he promised well Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 4 verse 19 my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus now not proportionately to but according to what does that mean God has enough to provide for your need my children all three of them are now married they've all got children I was in America two weeks ago my son's over there with his two children and his wife I can't remember where we we were in some restaurant or cafe and he turns around and says dad have you got money they still want money off their dad but there are times when I have to say I don't have enough money to give you but I never know that of God he says he'll meet our need isn't that good he will meet our need we trust him now that doesn't mean laziness or foolishness or apathy folks you're in the will of God and God has permitted or taken you down an avenue where you've come to that place where you do not have what you need

[37:51] God says he will provide it Exodus chapter 17 is another word from Jehovah Jehovah Nisi Exodus 17 and this is the connection between Moses Moses he's struck the rock and water has come forth he's known the God who would provide and then we come here where a battle suddenly ensues it's always the case with the Christian life you know be careful when you're being blessed because that's when you'll be attacked and it's the same here so the people have murmured against Moses Moses has prayed to the Lord the Lord is revealed to him Moses strike the rock out flows the water the Lord will provide the people are being blessed when the enemy attacks the Amalekites come Joshua sent out take the people out fight the battle and we're always sort of that people that sort of say well okay

[38:52] I can get into this now I'm blessed I'm ready for the battle but we're not ready for the battle and Joshua he wasn't ready for the battle but Moses knows the truth and where the battles are won and he goes up to the hill and her and Aaron go up with him and there we have this picture in the hill where they held Moses hands up when his hands came down Joshua and the people were being defeated but when he kept his hands up and he prayed to God the Amalekites were beaten amen and then we have this word Jehovah Nisi the Lord is our banner he's our rallying point he's our victory he's the one who fights our battles he's the one we need to be on his side remember Joshua outside Jericho he's told what he's to do but he's not sure about this so he goes to investigate he goes to look at these walls and as sure as he looks up at these walls how are we going to do this and then a figure appears it's the theophany it's a revelation of Jesus in the

[40:08] Old Testament and Joshua approaches and says are you on my side and he says no I stand here as the captain of the Lord's army it's not whether God's on our side it's whether we're on God's side are you on God's side tonight see if you're not on God's side if you don't know Jesus Christ if you're not in a relationship with this God well these words are meaningless are you on God's side tonight he's our he's our banner and you know we fight battles don't we and those battles Paul tells us they're not against flesh and blood but he tells us the weapons that our God gives us are mighty to the pulling down of strong holes he's our victory hallelujah hey lest we run out of time he's Jehovah Sabaoth 1 Samuel 17 and verse 45 takes us to the scene of David and Goliath and Goliath comes out day after day and he taunts him and he taunts him and he said who are you

[41:21] David to come before me I'm the I'm the the slayer of men I'm I'm the mighty one and who are you is puny and these these people of God and David says hey who are you to defy the Lord and in verse 45 he describes the Lord in this way you're defying the Lord of hosts that military figure the Lord who is the commander of the armies of heaven the one who has this legion of angels that he can send to our assistance doesn't Psalm 91 and 11 say he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways you know the story remember the story of Elisha and one day Elisha is surrounded by the Syrian army you'll find the story 2nd Kings chapter 6 and his servant of

[42:25] Elisha comes in and he's petrified all he sees is this massive army surrounding besieging the city and he's petrified with Elisha how are we going to win this how are we going to defeat these people we're done for and Elisha says don't fear don't worry for those that are with us are far greater than those that are out there besieging the city and he prayed he says Lord open his eyes he's the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha he's given angels charge over you keep you in all your ways he's the Lord of hosts he's Jehovah saboth he's Jehovah rohi the Lord my shepherd Psalm 23 he's the one who cares for his people and leads us to the pastures leads us on the right road when we don't know when to go guides us through all our days and eventually leading us to live with him forever more

[43:32] Jehovah Rafa Exodus 15 and verse 26 the Lord who healed when Moses brought the children of Israel to the bitter waters and there right beside it the tree from which he pulled the branch and threw it into the water to become sweet the Lord he's the Lord that heals he's the one that says to the doctor what medicine will work or what medicine won't work he's the one that says if you need any medicine at all and when you go to the hospital you go there in the confidence that the great physician the Lord who heals goes with you as Jehovah said can you the Lord is our righteousness Jeremiah 23 verse 6 when the devil taunts us when people misunderstand us he's our righteousness when my God looks upon me he doesn't see the guilty sinner that I am but he sees me clothed in the righteousness the perfect righteousness of his son and I can stand before him and he knows that

[44:40] I am his lastly in this part he's Jehovah Shalom when it comes to Gideon in Judges chapter 6 and verse 24 we meet the Lord is peace ah don't we need that these days folks when everything is in turmoil when everything is so uncertain he's Shalom thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee my peace I give unto you said Jesus to his disciples as he was going to Calvary on that last supper not as the world gives give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid I tell you tonight are you afraid do you know Jehovah Shalom folks do you know this

[45:42] God do you know that this multiplicity of names that describe the character and the attributes and the acts of this wonderful God that is your God and my God he's Adonai like Elohim this plural word that we find coming from the Old Testament it's in there too but into the Greek and into the New Testament we find Adonai the Lord used over and over and over again the master or the owner the word most commonly used throughout the Bible what does this name says he's in charge and when you put it together Adonai with El Shaddai he is the Lord who is the Lord God almighty he is in charge there's no government in charge there's no world power in charge he is in charge I don't have a thing that's going on at the minute and wonder oh what's David Cameron going to do hey my God is in charge and he has the final word

[46:42] I answer to him and when I put all of these promises together hey I can trust him and I'm going to tell you this I'm maybe not as old as David was when he penned the words but when David wrote the words I am old but I was young and I have never seen the righteous forsaken or begging for bread my God has answered my need my God has been that faithful God and even when I look back on the days I was saved when I was 31 years of age but in my police days before that I can see the preserving hand the gracious hand of God in my life even before I knew him even when I was a sinner he showed his love to me and the Christ died for me he's a wonderful God I love him the most precious of all you know here's this this God we've listened to being described he's the awesome he's the majestic he's the powerful he is the sometimes words fail me to describe the enormity of this

[47:48] God who is mine and yet and yet he has invited me to call him father our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name but it's our father the Lord is my shepherd it's personal he's not he's not a God that I have to go back and oh I have to appease the God I have to sacrifice to this God he's a God who has drawn near to me and he says come near to me he's the God who has opened the throne room of heaven and he says come with confidence where you can find grace and mercy to help in time of need see if all we're left with are these mighty and awesome names of God then we lead to God to accept him but the greatness of salvation the greatness of

[48:54] Christianity is that God came from heaven and sent his son and revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus and he invited you and me into a personal relationship with him and said hey you can know me but even more importantly I want to know you you can know me intimately you can find in me everything you need and folks he is Emmanuel you shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us the one who will never leave us nor forsake us the one who walks with us all of the way home and the one we've only glimpsed at tonight and glimpsed really from the

[50:10] Old Testament but he's he's the doctor when you're sick he's the lawyer when you're in trouble he's the commander of the army when you're in battle he's the baker when you need bread he's the comfort when you're sorrowing he's the defender of the weak he's the helper of the poor he's the mother of the motherless he's the father of the fatherless and he's the friend that sticks and with this I finish we've only glimpsed at him from this part of the book but I've read the whole book have you read the whole book you need to read the whole book you need to get to the end you need to read the whole lot of it and when you get to the end you find this God who have spoken of this faithful God this honorable God this victory we are ready in victory he's the

[51:15] God assures us that the battle is won that heaven is there Jesus is preparing a place for us that where he is we will be also and to sit around the throne with all the saints that have gone before and to worship around the throne and to say holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty and to praise him for who he is to praise him for what he's done for us and to praise his glorious name and all the multiplicity of names that sum him up that's the God that I'm urging you to get to know even more and when you get to know God and you draw near to him he promises to draw near to you and to me and you know something folks people will see it and I believe that you will draw people to him just simply by you drawing nearer to God sounds simple doesn't it well then why are we not doing it spending time getting to know him hey thank you for so much for listening

[52:22]  God bless you God bless your ministry here your evangelism here God bless your your leaders and your ministers keep up the work folks the Lord is coming soon so until I see you again or maybe up in glory Maranatha Amen thank you very very much for a very stimulating challenging and wonderful message and we cannot do greater than to focus upon the Lord as we heard in all this wonderful display of his attributes and his power and drawing close to us let us let us vote