The Guardian

When I was a boy. And boy that sounds like

a while back. You look in the mirror. When I

was a boy, no gray, no receiving hairline. You know

the weight thing. How many of you noticed when you

hit fifty it's harder to keep that stuff off. You

need potassium. You need to improve your based on metabolic rate.

You need to get some of those electronic vibrators that

make your chest. You know. You know what I'm saying,

that kind of do It doesn't work altogether. Well, I

am not a boy anymore, but I can remember when

it was. When I was a boy, the bullies used

to wait for me when I left school. Did anybody

here have problem with bullies in school? Oh, I'm not alone.

I felt special every day after school. Some of those

guys just look me out. We're gonna pick on Mike.

Back then, I was skinny, a little clumsy. I'm still

a little clumsy, and thus a perfect prey and target

for the wolves, the bully wolves at Gaylax High School. Now,

when we ran track, I could outrun them all the

four forty of the mile. I could just smoke them.

And that's probably why they picked on me, because they

didn't like that, but anyway it goes, they were looking

at for me. I tried to avoid them, and that

wasn't easy for me. One day, I was at the

local YMCA trying to play basketball, and I say, trying

to play basketball. I'm tall. In theory, I should have

been good at basketball, but I was lousy at basketball.

So I was practicing doing it myself, trying to think

of the theory of physics, the force vector that would

put it in and make it go down. And you know,

if you think too much about basketball, you're lousy at it.

And as I was there playing, a group of the

bullies showed up. One of them started, you know, doing this,

these real tall big and I'm real skinny and not

that tall. Then and he kind of went up to

me and put his chest, you know, like this next

to me. And then they started flicking my hair like this,

and I have I don't have as much hair to flick,

but back then I had a lot. And then I

don't know what happened. I just got mad, you ever

get I mean, I'm a little guy. I got mad

at the big guy and I said, ah, you have

I've had it with you. I'm gonna I'm gonna, I've

had it with you. And then I realized what I

was doing. Bad call. He started shoving me more big mistake.

Just then the biggest one started making moves to beat

me up, and the others started egging him on, and

it was a group thing against the little guy. You

don't want to get in a situation like that. I

was scared, real scared. Fear set in. I felt a

deep panic that day. My older brother's best friend was there.

His name was Tim Hash Tim. If you're listening on

the radio somewhere in the Gaelax area, yeah, I remember you.

He showed up just in time. Tim had taken some

karate lessons. Now, look, there was a There was a

cartoon I used to watch before I learned to honor

the Sabbath day. I used to watch it on Saturday.

It was Hong Kong fooy You ever hear of that

Hong Kong fooye faster than the human eye. I mean

it's just the idea of, you know, you wave your hands,

you look important, and people go, oh no, well he

did some of that stuff. I don't know to what degree.

Now it's kind of faded. And all of them were

impressed Now, there was another television series back then called

Happy Days that we used to watch and the Fauns.

You know, the Fauns was cool like that. But I

remember one episode where the faun it was this karate

expert getting ready to take the Fawns down, and the

Fauns knew nothing about it, but he kind of moved

and acted like he did, and he freaked him out.

So I don't know what Tim did exactly because it's blurry,

but he scared them off by acting so cool like

the fawns. Maybe he looked dangerous beyond his abilities, and

like a guardian angel, Tim quickly got me out there.

I really, I think they're going to beat me to

a pulp that day. And that was not a funny thing. Friend.

It's a fact that we all need a good guardian

in our lives to get us out of trouble and

to stand up for the spirit to the spiritual forces

that if Heaven was not engaged in your welfare, they

would wipe you out. We need someone in the unseen

world to take care of those things that can take

us out of God, that can destroy us. Jesus' disciple

Peter came to understand that Jesus himself is the perfect

guardian protector of the human race. That we have a

supernatural kingly power in Jesus, and he is exactly what

we need in our lives to face trouble. Take your bibles,

open them with one Peter two twenty one. I have

the verse on the screen. Peter wrote, for to this

you have been called because Christ also suffered for you

a keyword. Look, whatever you're going through in your life,

whatever you have to deal with, Jesus suffered for you.

He didn't just die. He suffered for you, and then

he tells you what it means, leaving you an example.

We are to do the same, that you should follow

in his steps. He committed no sin, No guile meaning

dishonesty was found on his lips. When he was reviled,

he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he

did not threaten, but he trusted to him who judges justly.

Sae I was retaliating, but we're not to retaliate as

Christians now. Look at verse twenty four. He himself bore

our sins in his body on the tree. Friend, there's

not a thing you go through that you've done wrong.

Where you have messed up with God, You've messed up

with others. That Jesus didn't bring it into his body,

his mind, his experience, and he suffered the judgment for it.

So you would be loosed from your sins. You would

not be connected with your sins anymore. And this is

no small statement. He himself bore our sins and his

body on the tree, not just as God that he was,

but as the god Man. The human nature of Christ

processed the life of every human being from Adam to

the end. You know, Paul says Christ died for our sins.

Here he says that we might die to sin and

live to righteousness. Is sin a good thing? Yes? Or no? No?

Jesus died so we can die to sin by his wounds.

You have been healed for your strained like sheep, but

have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

I like that you have returned to the shepherd and

guardian of your souls. But Peter defines Jesus here is

the shepherd. He is thinking no doubt of Psalms twenty three,

which says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not

want the word lord. There is Yahweh. Jehovah is my shepherd.

Jesus will say in John ten, I'm the good Shepherd.

What is he saying? He's saying, I am Jehovah, I'm Yahweh.

That's why in the Gospel of John he'll say, I

am the light of the world. I am the good Shepherd.

I am the Bread of light, because God's name at

the burning bushes. I am Christ is God in human flesh,

so that we can know God. I've been recently reading

the works of Athanasius, who is the great defender of

the Triune God nature, but mainly the divinity of Christ

at the Council of Nicea in three twenty five. I

would highly recommend anyone read his writings on this. He

wrote a treatise on the incarnation. He wrote a treatise

called against Arius, some of the most christ like stuff

you'll ever read, and he essentially under has the same

view of the seventy weeks of Dale nine that we

have seventh the abentist do. He quotes Dale nine tack

on right as we do in our evangelistic series. Very impressive.

But one thing I noticed about Athanasius reason why he

defended the deity of Christ. It was because Arius was

going around saying that Christ cannot reveal God. If you're

not God, you can't reveal God. He was going around

saying that Christ is not the wisdom of God, even

though the Bible says he is. He's just a derived wisdom.

Excuse me. So his basic point was is that Jesus

is inadequate to reveal God. God the Father has to

do that for himself. And Athanasias stood up and said,

at the cross, we see the cross of Christ as

the revelation of the glory of God. And he quotes

John and all these great verses one John five, p.

Twenty revelation. You know Romans nine twenty five. The list

is law. And the man knew his Bible. Why was

he so concerned? Because he knew that you can't have

a good shepherd in your life unless that good shepherd

is Jehovah Yahweh, the Lord, and Jesus is the Lord

of the universe. Him and his father are one. Peter

refers to Jesus as the guardian of our souls for

this point. Peter's thinking of a number of versions versus

in the Old Testament that defined Jesus as our guardian.

When God created Adam, he told him in Genesis two

fifteen to till the garden and to guard the garden.

That was his first job description. Before the fall, Adam

proved to be a bad guardian for his wife, a

bad guardian for the garden, and a bad guardian for

the future of the human race. Centuries later, God called

Abraham out of ear of the kladies to go to

the Promised Land, where God would make of him a

great nation. Where God would send him to the ancient Melkasadak,

who is most likely Shem, and he would receive the

blessing that came from God to Adam, to the patriarchs

all the way down the timeline through Sam upon Abraham,

so that through Abraham all the nations of the earth

would be blessed. When Abraham showed up in the Promised Land,

it proved to be a rather rough place, with famines,

bad actors trying to steal his wife, wicked people all

around in cities that are corro And when the Kings

of chine Are from Babylon, stormed down from the north.

They captured his nephew Lot with his entire family. They

had gone to the cities of Sodom, goahmore, and they

also took those evil kings from Sodom and all the population,

and they were going to make them slaves. So what

did Abraham do? Well, I got news for you. Abraham

was not a non combatant. Abraham raised a small army

of how many of you know how many men he used,

remember that number in the Bible, one hundred and eighteen.

And he took those armies out at night guerrilla warfare.

He took him down one hundred and eighteen men. He

saved his nephew Lot from the bullies. He saved all

the bad guys from Sodomgamore, the kings there that would

later be destroyed. But Abraham was smart enough to not

take any of the plunder and spoil for himself. He

gave it to his men. But when he settled down

to think about what had happened, he realized that what

he had done had made him a target. Suddenly everyone

would be after him. He would be he was known

now as a man of war, and so who would

want to take him out? A lot of people in

the night of his sphear in Jenesis fifteen to one,

the pre existent Christ appeared to Abraham as the Word

of God. Remember John one one in the beginning was

the Word, The Word was with God, the Word was God.

That's the book of Genesis. So right here in Genesis

fifteen to one, the very first time Christ appears as

the Word of God. Now Arius in three twenty five said, well,

he's not really the word of God. He's a word

of God that God gives, but he's not the word

of God. And Athanasias said, wait a second. If you

are the word of the Lord, you are the Lord.

You can't separate the word of God from the mind

of God. So the pre existent Christ appeared to Abraham

as the Word of God, who can speak through our

deepest fears of the night, who brings God to us.

As Isaiah would say in Isaiah sixty three nine, the

Angel of his sad presence saved them, redeem them, and

carry them all the days of old. So here he

is now the Revise standard version, which is very much

problematic in this verse and a few others that relate

to Jesus divinity. It's a poor translation. Sodom. I'm using

the New King James version. In this one verse it

captures correctly the original Hebrew meaning turn with me. At

Genesis fifteen one. After these things, the word of the

Lord came to abramen a vision, and what's the next word, saying, now,

if the word of the Lord is speaking the word of

the Lord, here has to be a can you speak

if you're not a person? Well, you'n answer loudly. No,

you have to be a person to speak, right? Do

you realize every time this formally is used, It's used

many times in the Old Testament. It's used for Jesus

Christ speaking to the prophets. The word the Lord came

to Jeremiah saying, it's the formula. This is why prophet

he is the testimony of Jesus in the book Revelation,

because Jesus is the word of the Lord, the word

of God in the book Revelation. In John one. You

cannot separate God's word from God. That's why he is Jehovah,

the good Shepherd. The word of the Lord came to abramavision, saying,

now look what he says. Do not be afraid. Abram,

I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. Abram later

named Abraham, was afraid of the future. He was afraid

of the knight without the light. He was afraid of

the spotlight that comes when you are successful and thus

a target for ruthless bullies. He was an old man

who had no children, no social security plan, no ira future.

He had no one to fight off his enemies when

he become weak. The text says, after these things, the

word of the Lord came to Abramavision saying after he

had thought real long and hard about what he had

done to stir up trouble. Friends, when we read and

study our Bibles, God speaks to us just as clearly

as he did to Abraham in the night of his fear.

The same word of the Lord comes to us the

Testament of Jesus when we read our Bibles, and the

word of God, who is Christ, who speaks to us

in the Bible, is the living and abiding word of God.

According to Peter, the very first word, the word of

the Lord, that spoke to Abraham was a calming word.

It was a message of hope, and it met Abraham

in the night of his fear. The word of the

Lord said, do not be afraid. Now, who in the

New Testament would say that a lot come on who Jesus.

Remember when the stormy sea was going on, and suddenly Christ,

you know, he told his disciples, don't be afraid, calm

the sea. Peter there, and Luke five felt his feet,

do not be afraid. Christ is no different in the

Old Testament than the New. Jesus said the same things

to his disciples, that we hear the word of the Lord,

saying to Abraham, friend, we are by nature afraid. Fear

is part of our daily lives. In our DNA, it's

easy to let fear take over the heart when stress

sets in. You ever had stress so bad you just

got in your bed and you just got afraid? You

never have? Oh, come on, fess up, that's happened. Hasn't

it happened to you? We've had it happen in our lives.

It's easy to let fear take over the heart when

stress sets in. Maybe it's a cancer diagnosis you got.

Maybe it's a sudden financial challenge. Now I'll disclose this

to you this last year, this year has been a

very busy year for me personally. I've had so many

medical bills answering the question do I have cancer? And

they're in two areas they thought I might have had cancer,

and I had to get the MRIs and I don't

have cancer. Cost a lot of money to find out. Boy,

why to have to spend that money. But you know what,

it's an awful feeling when you think you might My

grandfather died of prostate cancer, so I hadn't got the

checks other kinds of cancer. I mean, when you get older,

can that happen to you? Yeah? Perhaps a fear of

losing your children, our spouse, or a friend because you

did something wrong or didn't do anything wrong, and all

of these and more. We feel the fangs of fear

and the sudden panic that comes, and we cannot manage

our lives on our own terms. As the word of

the Lord, Jesus was way back then telling Abraham don't

be afraid, so that he could tell us today, don't

be afraid. But that's not all he said. He also said,

I am your shield, the word of the for shield.

Here is Megan. Do we haveing? Megan's out there? Your

name shield. It's built off the word gain in Hebrew

for garden. A garden was a place of protection, and

Megan was a shield. Now Adam was a flop as

a guardian of the guard garden. Friends, Jesus is the

guardian of our souls. The word of God is what

brings us back to Eton, and so Jesus is a megang,

a garden shield. Friends, Christ is the only way back

to Eton and the only way back to God, the

true protector for our lives. When we can't sort things out,

someone called me this week and they said, Pastor Mike,

I'm hurting so bad. I just need you to pray

for me. And they're hurting real bad, and they have

a medical condition it makes them hurt. So we prayed

and went over to pray. You know what you do

when you're facing pain, You keep on praying through it. Friends,

Jesus is the only way back to Eton, the only

way back to God, the true protector of our lives.

He spoke to Abraham as he speaks to us today.

Do not be afraid. I am your shield. Literally in

the Hebrew, I a shield for you that sounds kind

of direct. Any arrow that comes at you, Abram, it

comes through me first. And I don't let arrows hit

you that come through me. I'll take the blows, I'll

face the wolves, I'll meet the bullies. For you. I

am your shield. It's one thing to be protected, but

it's another thing to be rewarded. Jesus is the shield

who rewards us with himself. Now, what makes us rich

as Christians? Are we rich because we have a lot

of money. Now that's not a bad thing, is it. No,

So I don't want anyone here who has money to

feel like you leave. I'm not saying that, but you

may not one day. What makes us rich It's Jesus'

presence in our life that makes us rich. Period. And

so he finishes it by saying, don't be afraid. I

am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. Don't you worry

one bit. I am here for you. You aren't f

or poor if you are with me. As Christians, sometimes

we get a victim mentality. You ever get a victim mentality?

Oh me, look what I'm going through. I'm the only

defender of righteousness in the church. You know, if so

and so hadn't done that to me, then I would

be better off in my relationship with you. See, when

you're a victim, you can't be a conqueror. You can't

overcome with a victim mindset. So God comes to Abram,

and he's telling him, you're not a victim. I'm your shield,

I'm your reward. I'm the outcome of your life. So

you can get from A to B and be somebody. Abram.

Settle in with me, and he says the same things

to us. Don't worry one bit about how you're going

to fix your life. Hang in there with me, and

I'll be the riches of your future. Dear heart. Jesus

is the guardian of our souls. Jesus is the way

out of the woods, when little red riding Hood came

and escaped the hood and the dangers of the night.

Christ is the champion that defeats the enemy in our lives.

To Hagar, the outcast on her knees pleading with God

for help, he is in the Hebrew the God who

sees the Angel of the Lord. Appeared to her at

that famous well, and she's called it the well of

the life of my scene. For I have seen Yahweh,

when I have seen the Angel of the Lord, and

I am alive. I mean, God took that little girl

on the run and made her a prophet, gave her

the prophetic word of God. And the rabbis are correct.

I believe in their analysis the Old Testament that Katura,

which means incense, Abram's second wife, was in fact Hagar,

who came back to be his wife after the death

of Sarah, compelling reasons for that. For Jacob, in his

night of fear, he was the champion who fought with

his fears, so Jacob could be named Israel, one who

prevails with God. You see, the Lord will engage us

so that we have to struggle with God to overcome

in life. For Moses, who had murdered a man and

lost all he had, he was the light in the

burning bush and the word of God that spoke to

him to take off his shoes because he was standing

on holy ground. For Isaac, he was the protector who

scared a king off of Bemelech with a vision of

the knights so would give his wife back. For Joseph,

he was the God who took him to prison to

be the ruler over the king of Egypt, next to

Pharaoh himself. For the baby nation of Israel, the Word

of the Lord became the guardian Angel, who was God

in angel form. We know in Daniel ten that all

the nations on the earth have evil angels that are

their guardian angels. We know it also from Psalms eighty

seven that somehow evil angels became the guardian protectors of

these evil nations. But God of signed Christ at Mount

Sinai to be the guardian protector of the Jewish nation.

He fulfilled that role all the way to what he

died on the cross Exos nineteen four. You have seen

what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore

you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself Exus

twenty three, twenty twenty two. Now God, the Father is

speaking here of his son. They are both at Mount Sinai.

Sister White correctly says that when the Ten Commandments was spoken,

it was spoken by Christ, the word of God at Sinai,

and the Father was there side by side. Christ spoke

the law as the word of God. But when you

read Exes thirty three and thirty four, you can see

the Father and the Son interacting, and the Holy Spirit

as well. If you know the imagery, Behold, the Father

is speaking. I send an angel before you to guard

you on the way, to bring you to the place

which I have prepared. Give heed to him. Hearken to

his voice, do not rebel against him, for you will

not pardon your transgression. It's meant rebellion. For my name

is what in him, God's name, God's law, God's character,

same thing. He is the Angel, the covenant. He's the

messenger of my nature. I am in him God, we

are one. This angel isaiahould call the Angel of his presence,

because when he is there, God is there, God an

angel form. And it says he will not pardon your rebellion,

for my name is in him. But if you hearken

attentively to his voice and do all that I say,

then I see when he speaks, I speak. God's word

comes through this messenger, then I will be an enemy

to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. Friend,

if you want God to fight for you in life,

here's what it's saying. You need to surrender to His

word in your life. The word of God that comes

through Christ, that's in our Bible is God speaking to us.

It's not a secondhanded knowledge given to us. God cannot

fight for you if you are fighting against Him in

his word in your life. He can't fight for you

if you be little Koji, Jesus is who is the

Word of God, that is God in your life. The

Angel here, who has God's name in him, is God

in angel form. In Isaiah sixty three nine, I'd mentioned this,

Isaiah calls him the Angel of his presence, the redeemer

who carried them all the days of old. He's the

good Shepherd. Genesis forty eight, fifteen and sixteen Jacob called

him the redeemer Angel, and then he said who is God?

He called him God, recognizing that Jesus was God in

angel form way back then. So God told Moses. Number one,

give heed that means pay attention. Number two, hearken to

his voice. That means follow the word, and pay attention

to the Holy Spirit. Call in your heart. When God's

word speaks to you with conviction, obey, don't say ah, well, obey.

Three do not rebel against him. See when we reject

God's word, it's Christ for rebelling against I. Do you

not rebel against him? That means, don't give Jesus a

hard time when Christ is trying to save your soul. See,

God gives us straight testimony in the Bible. He gives

us the Word of God. So we will be saved.

I don't know about you, but that's the ultimate retirement plan,

isn't it. Eternal life? You don't have to worry about

where you're going if you have Jesus. God told Moses

that if we hearken to Jesus, that means listen to

him and do what he says. God will take on

the bullies in our lives defeat them so we can

make it to the Kingdom of God. We don't need

to fight our battles in life to live. We need

to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ as our guardian angel,

so God can fight the battles we cannot win on

our own. Some people say, Pastor Mike, where'd you come

up with all this idea that Jesus is the guardian

angel of the Jewish nation. From the Bible and from

Jesus and John John One, he was in the world,

The world was made through him. The world didn't know him.

He came to his own people and see he was

the guardian protector of the Jewish nation. His own people

received him. Not the Protestant Reformers. The vast majority of

them recognize the Angel of the Lord, who is the

Lord in the Old Testament as Jesus, and they recognize

the Angel of the Lord is Jehovah because they were

good Bible students. They were not shallow students of the Bible,

nor should we be. And it's interesting in the book

Great Controversies, Ellen G. White never corrects them for this

view because she held the same view. Friends, we need

Jesus to use all the powers of God to be

our guardian angel of life. What kind of protector do

you want in your life? Do you want someone to

protect you who's weak, who's inefficient, who doesn't know the

mind and character of God, who does not have full

access to the power of God. No, we need God

with us, he manuell. When you read So thirty four,

you should have Jesus in mind, because Jesus has Us

in mind. When we are afraid in life. Turned to

verse four Psalms thirty four. I sought the Lord, and

what does it say? He answered me? He delivered me

from how many of my fears? All my fears? Are

you afraid of the future? Jesus is the future. Are

you afraid of failure? Jesus is success? Are you afraid

of loneliness? Jesus is here. Are you afraid of the enemy.

Jesus is the deliverer. Are you afraid of fear itself?

Jesus has a godly fear, the fear of the Lord

that overcomes fear. Jesus delivers us from all our fears.

I don't know about you, but think about that. I'm

so worried. If I'm gonna make it, well, you're going

to make it with Jesus. Don't worry. Verse five. Look

to him and be radiant so your faces shall never

be ashamed. Friends, stop wasting your time looking to things

on the internet and the television that won't help you.

Look to him, look into his eyes by reading your Bible.

That's how you get a picture of Jesus and watch

your face come alive. When you are afraid of the night,

instead of trembling, pray for the light. Verse six. This

poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved

him out of his troubles. You ever pray and you

were just in tears. The Lord, I'm losing it. My

life's apart. It's nothing's working for me, He's saying. This

poor man cried and the Lord heard him. Isn't that

neat and saved him out of how many of his troubles,

all of his troubles. Now the keyword is poor. It's

not for the arrogant. Here, this poor man cried to

the Lord. Jesus said, blessed or the poor in spirit,

not the proud, not the self important, not the self

sufficient or self secure. Not the person who feels like

they're God's gift to the church and the human race. No,

this poor man cried, if you want the true riches

of God, you have to be broken to get them.

Got to get off your high hobby horse where you

think here's something, and realize you're nothing without God. This

poor man cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard him.

What happens when the Lord hears you. The text says,

he saved him out of all his troubles. I've noticed

some troubles that have come into my life after sixty Now.

Some people here have tonightis works, deny, But I have

a ringing in my ear all the time. It's come

on this year, and anybody here have tonightus where you

have ringings in your raise your hands high so we

can know who's in the club. Okay, a number of

us are well. You know what. I listened to the

Bible at night, and I figured I won't hear the

ringing if I hear God word and I go to

sleep listening the Bible. It puts me down like a baby,

and I wake up to it. I have this iPod,

you know, thing that goes in my ear. That's become

a blessing for me. Really, the text says he saved

the amount of all his troubles. I wonder what's going on

in my subconscious when the Bible is just going into

my brain downloading, you know, when I'm not awake. Who

knows it's hard to have a nightmare when you're hearing

stuff like the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not

want He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

Don't have to count sheep. Now, look, instead of complaining

to God and others, how about calling on the name

of the Lord for help in your life. Now I've

complained in my life. I'm not talking down to you

or virtue signing here I have. I'm not a good

example in every time in my life. Like this verse

seven is talking about Jesus, who is the Angel of

the Lord, the guardian of our souls, who protects that

man or woman or child who humbles up in life

enough to have a full surrender. I mean, don't expect

God to be your shepherd if you're running in the

other direction. Verse seven, the Angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him. That means full surrender and

delivers them. Now, full surrender doesn't mean you're perfect. It

means you get on your knees and say, Lord, I'm

not perfect. Help me at surrender, and then God begins

to work in your life. Solomon says, the fear of

the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because there is

a fear that overcomes fear in our lives, the fear

of the Lord. The fear of the Lord means to

take the Lord's word seriously in our lives enough to

surrender to hit. It would means surrender to Jesus because

he's the word and enough to trust in God to

deliver us from evil. What does Jesus do when we

do this, The text says, he encamps around us. The

Angel of the Lord is Jesus who encamps around those

who fear him and delivers them. He becomes the big

tint in your life. The pavilion of God. In John two,

Jesus is the sanctuary this temple. In three days, I'll

raise it up in the tomb, the angels are pointed

at his head and feet, because right there in the

tomb he is the Shakaina glory of God. In the

tomb it becomes the ark of the Covenant. That's why

Daniel nine twenty four and Athanasius brings this out. I

didn't get this idea. Athanasius says, one of the proofs

of the divinity of Christ is the seventy weeks of

Dale nine. I mean he's say in this fourth century,

it says the prophecy predicts that the most holy One

would come. And you know, angels can be holy, but

when you're the most holy, you're God. So it brings

in everlasting righteousness, puts an end to sin. The victory

of the Cross, ethanatheist, wrote, is not the victory of

a creative being. It's the victory of God in human flesh,

saving us from our sins. The Lord is my shepherd.

Christ becomes the big tent in your life that brings

you to Him and God to you. He delivers us

from evil. What are the benefits of having the Guardian

in charge of our lives Verses eight to ten. Spell

it out, Oh taste and see that the Lord is.

How does it read in your bible? Good? Happy is

the man who takes refuge in him. Okay, now, if

we're in a fully surrendered state, are we miserable? Or

do we choose to be happy? Come on, say the

word happy? Could you say it loud? Happy? Happy? The

homewor you know the songs like that? Why? Because you're

in Jesus' hands, we have a reason to be happy,

No victims. If you're in Christ hands, it doesn't matter

how bad it is, you have a reason to be happy. Oh,

fear the Lord, you his saints. For those who fear

him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing

good Psalm. I want to focus in on a few

words in it, Verses fifteen to twenty two. My eyes

are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my

feet out of the net. You ever been caught in

a net trap in life? Thou turn thou to me

and be gracious to me, for I'm lonely and afflicted.

Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out

of my distresses. Consider my affliction, my trouble, and forgive

all my sins. How many of the sins does he

want to forgive her? All my sins? Consider how many

are my foes? And with what violent hatred they hate me? Now, Friends,

it's Christians. We're not in the hating business. We should

be in the loving business. Right. If you make people

targets in your life, you've got the wrong kind of focus.

Here Verse twenty, Oh guard my life and deliver me.

Let me be put to not be put to shame.

Why for I take refuge in THEE May integrity and

upright and has preserve me. We got to be genuine

when we ask God to help us, right, we can't

be acting awful and ask him to help us. We

got to surrender that for I wait for THEE redeem Israel,

O God out of all his troubles. Thank you, young

people for helping me in that reading. Friends, you cannot

overcome in life unless you have an abiding relationship with

Jesus Christ. That's what it means. Is that valid? So

I'm gonna overcome, But forget the devotional life. Forget praying.

Forget studying the world. You're not going to overcome that way.

We find Christ by abiding in Christ. And when we do,

all of these promises are ours. David says, I wait

for thee. That means I take time to pray, to

meditate on the Word, to seek God's presence, to hear

his voice, to lean on him as the guardian of

the soul. In verse twenty, he says, guard my life

and deliver me. And the Book of Daniel Jesus has

many titles and roles worth taking note of. I like

to just review them. Daniel one Jesus is the Jehovah

Yahweh who disciplines God's people, and Daniel two Jesus is

the rock of Ages that smites the world kingdom image

at the end of time. And Daniel three Jesus is

the Divine Watcher who comes down to set and Nebuginnism's

straight so he can be saved in Daniel four Jesus

is the fourth Man, that is, as this one of

the sons of the Gods or son of God in

the fire, who protects Daniel's three friends so the fire

will not destroy them. And Daniel five Jesus is the

hand that writes on the wall the words of the

judgment that sets God's people free. In Daniel six, Jesus

is the angel that shuts the lion's mouth so Daniel

can live. And Daniel seven, Jesus is the son of

Man who comes before the ancient days in the preadvent

investigative judgment to receive his kingdom from his father, one

person at a time, all the nations of the earth

come under his authority. And Daniel eight, Jesus is the

wonderful One in dany On Late thirteen who is the

mighty Man of Daniel eight fifteen who dies for our sins.

In Daniel nine and danel nine, Jesus is the Voice

of God and the Messiah Prince. In Daniel ten, Jesus

is the man in Lenin who is Michael, the first

of Heaven's princes and the Prince for God's people who

guards them from evil angels in every age. And Daniel eleven,

Jesus is the Prince of the Covenant who dies in

the flood of our trouble and sin. And Daniel twelve

Jesus is Michael, the Great Prince who guards and delivers

God's people at the end of time. Christ has divine

credentials in the Book of Daniel, the same in the

book Revelation, because we need a shepherd who can get

the job done Downel ten twenty one. But I will

tell you what is inscribed in the Book of Truth,

Gabriel speaking to Daniel. There is no one who contends

by my side against these except Michael, your prince. Michael

is a question Hebrew who is just like God? And

the answer is given New Testament, he Manuel God with

us Daniel twelve to one. At the very end of time.

Here is a picture of the second coming. The apostle

Paul draws from it in First Thessalonians four when he

says the Lord himself Alf shall descend from heaven with

the cry of command, with the voice of the Archangel.

Then he says the dead in Christ would be resurrected,

And that's what happens in Danel twelve. We know in

Jude nine that Michael is the archangel, which means the

ruler of the angels. Christ told you, know, Pilot, the

same I would command my angels, and they deal with you,

he says to John and John in Revelation twenty two

sixteen iy, Jesus have sent my angel, so he's in

charge of the angels. At that time shall arise Michael.

This is the name for the Angel of the Lord

and the Old Testament. Who is the Lord, the great Prince.

There's no greater prince than Jesus, who has charge of

your people. He is the guardian protector of God's people

in every age. And there shall be a time of

trouble such as never been since there was a nation

till that time. But at that time your people will

be delivered. Everyone whose names shall be found written in

the book Christ is the good shepherd. At the end

of time, nobody takes his place. So we see him

here mentioned in the Book of Daniel second Thessalonian's three

to three. But the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen

you and guard you from evil two Timothy one to eleven.

For this gospel, I was appointed a preacher and apostle

and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. Paul

went through all kinds of bad things because he stood

for the truth of who Christ was. He stood for

prophetic truth, and he suffered because of it. But here's

what he says. But I'm not ashamed, for I know

whom I have believed, and I am sure that he

is able to guard until that day what has been

entrusted to me. He will keep me, he will hold

me together. I will finish my ministry, and nobody's gonna

stop me because I have a guardian of the soul.

I don't know about you, but I had a bad

week this week. Anybody I have a bad week this week?

Anybody have a bad week this week? I raise my

hand alone in the church, but I did. I had

a bad week this week. I mean really bad. When

I went through write this sermon. I didn't even think

I could do anything. Yesterday I got some to eat.

That helps. Because your blood sugar goes down you feel bad,

I'll tell you it made it good? Is that all right?

I have a guardian for my soul. He cares about me.

He died for me, He lives for me. All hell

can throw its arrows at me, but those evil devil

darts have to go through his tough hide to get

to me. My guardian has thick skin that is tougher

than Satan's arrows. The longer I live, the more I

come to know that Jesus is more, much more than

what I thought he was when I was baptized. The

power of God is in Jesus in our lives. Jesus

is the way out of the woods you can't get

out of. Jesus is the from my sins that I

can't process right inside my head unless I have a

savior who died for my sins. Jesus is the right

now righteousness that Paul talks about in Romans three, that's

good enough for the judgment day and every day of

my life, the everlasting righteousness that God brings in in

Daniel nine twenty four. Jesus is the peace I need

when I am afraid and troubled. Jesus is the answer

to the questions I cannot answer. Jesus is a shield

a great reward in my life when I feel vulnerable

and poor. Jesus is the destination that brings God down

to me on the road of life, that leads God

to God in a life that is rich and worth living.

Why not because there's not trouble to deal with, Not

because there aren't challenges. Because Jesus is the good shepherd

and the guardian my soul with me on the road.

I'm rich so I can't do a single thing right

without Jesus my protector. But with Jesus I live the

empowered life. You see, the key to good life is

in me. It's Jesus, the good shepherd and guardian of

my soul. God help us all me included, to realize

that Jesus is the good shepherd, the Lord Yahweh is

my shepherd, the good shepherd and the guardian of our souls,

the Word of God who protects us. Don't give Jesus

a hard time, friend, so Jesus can do his wonderful

work without your interference, the job of saving you, protecting you,

carrying you in the tent that is him, the sanctuary

that is Him, all the days of your life to

be in the pavilion of God. The protection of God

is Jesus. And then you'll get to his father's kingdom

with Jesus in the journey all the way. One day

we will shake the hand of God and discover that

it is the wounded hand of Jesus who was holding

us up and carrying us all the days of our

life in the road that leads to God, the rich,

the rich and safe road, in his presence that leads

to God. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is

the guardian of my soul Psalms thirty four to seven.

The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear

him and delivers them. Father, God, thank you for the

guardian of our souls. Who's not a guardian. He's the guardian,

who's not a power. He's the power who's not a

word from God. He's the word of God, who is

the good shepherd, the light of the world. Father, help

us not to walk in our own light and lay

down and torment, as Isaiah says, but to walk in

your light, the light of the world. Bless every person here.

It could be that someone's saying, Pastor Mike, I hear you,

but something needs to happen in my life. There's unfinished

business there, and you know what it is. You need

a full surrender. Father. I'm going to open this up

for someone to raise their hand and say it's me.

I need a full surrender to you. And then, Lord,

hear that cry of that poor person crying out to you.

Save them from all their sins, deliver them from all

their troubles. Thank you that when we seize You, we

are justified from sin as if we had never sinned.

Help them to lay hold of Jesus as the guarding

of their life, in order not to figure out how

they're going to fix their life, but let him start

working in the life. So Lord, bless your children to day,

those who have responded to you, those who need you.

It's all of us in Jesus' name. Amen.