Ep. 065 Saved from Isolation

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast.

We are a Bible -believing church located in beautiful

British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part

of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with 3

,000 churches around the world. We are a church

focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and

church planting. Here we will share recent sermons

from PHSA Church and other sermons from throughout

our fellowship. I'm Pastor David Bickford, and

I will be your host for this podcast. I thank

you for listening today, and we hope these messages

are a blessing to you and bring you closer to

God. Hello, and welcome back to the Potter's

House Salmon Arm Podcast. My name is David Bickford.

I'm the pastor here in town, and I just want

to thank you for coming again. And today's message

that I put together is saved from isolation,

man in a cave. And before we get started that,

I just want to also point you to that we now

have a YouTube channel where we are live streaming

services weekly. So the link for that is going

to be in the notes of the podcast. And I hope

that you join me there as well. And eventually

when I catch up with some of these messages that

I've been putting on to the podcast just by themselves,

I will just be taking the live stream and making

it into the podcast going forward just to kind

of simplify matters as we grow and as life gets

a bit busier. And so I just wanted to also let

you know what the YouTube channel is, our name

is for the Potter's House. So we are the Potter's

House Salmon Arm on YouTube and Potter's House

Salmon Arm. So it's just like it sounds. You

can look at it. It's Potter's House SA on there

as well. So again, go ahead and check the YouTube

channel and subscribe and follow us there as

well. Thank you very much. So saved from isolation,

man in the cave. The text that we're going to

be using as our jumping off point is going to

be Psalm 142 verses 1 through 7. And before we

Psalms 142 · chapter mention

jump into that, I have a quick quote here from

Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Sin demands... to have a

man by himself. It withdraws him from the community.

The more isolated a person is, the more attractive

will be the power of sin over him, and the more

deeply he becomes involved in it, and the more

disastrous is his isolation. We battle with this

idea of isolation, and oftentimes isolation leads

to more isolation. This is something I personally

battle even in my own life. And I know a lot

of people close to me do too, because I tend

to be somewhat of an introvert. I have to force

myself to go out and be a part of the community.

I don't have like a ton of friends that I hang

out with all the time. I tend to be very mission

or focused. And so it can cause us to battle,

if you're like me, a desire to just be alone

a lot. And this is disastrous for your salvation

and for your walk with Christ because we're called

to be evangelistic. We're called to be, you know,

going out from the church and sharing the gospel

of Jesus Christ. And you can't do that if you're

just going to be all by yourself. So here's an

illustration I found. It's from, you know, an

article from way back when a Japanese World War

II soldier who refused to surrender 27 years

after the war had ended. So when Japanese Sergeant

Sochi Yokio returned to his home country after

almost three decades in hiding, his initial reaction

was one of contrition. It is with much embarrassment

that I return. Then, 56, Yokio had spent the

past 27 years eking out a meager existence in

the jungles of Guam, where he had fled to evade

capture following the American forces' seizure

of the island in August 1944. According to historian

Robert Rogers, Yokio was one of around 5 ,000

Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender to

the Allies after the Battle of Guam, preferring

life on the land to the shame of being detained

as a prisoner of war. Though the Allies captured

or killed the majority of these holdouts within

a few months, some 130 remained in hiding by

the end of World War II in September 1945. Yokio,

who only rejoined society after being overpowered

by two local fishermen in January 1972, was one

of the last stragglers to surrender, offering

an extreme example of the Japanese Bushido philosophy,

emphasis on honor and self -sacrifice. So let's

look at our text in Psalm 142, 1 -7. This is

a... A song of David. It's You Are My Refuge,

if you're familiar with this one. Verse 1 says,

With my voice I cry out to the Lord. With my

voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out

my complaint before Him. I tell my trouble before

Him. When my spirit faints within me, you know

my way. In the path where I walk, they have hidden

a trap for me. Look to the right and see. There

is no one who takes notice of me. No refuge remains

to me. No one cares for my soul. I cry to you,

O Lord. I say you are my refuge, my portion in

the land of the living. Attend to my cry for

I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors

for they are too strong for me. Bring me out

of my prison that I may give thanks to your name.

The righteous will surround me for you will deal

bountifully with me. So the main idea of this

message today is that the battle is the cave.

versus victory in Jesus. Our lives are filled

with a consistent push and pull. The way we often

express this is with the term or a colloquialism,

one step forward, two steps back. We have periods

of great success and then pow, just like that.

We are put back on our heels and we find ourselves

retreating to our own personal caves of depression

or isolation. Society will often call this time,

They'll call it like me time or something of

that nature or some other euphemism. We create

this idea that what's the newest one I've heard

is that I need self -care. This is my self -care

time. These euphemisms that are used quite a

bit today, these words are used to sugarcoat

other words, a way of making us feel comfortable

with something that isn't really a desirable

outcome. In war, we call it a police action because

we don't like the idea of calling it war. War

is a dirty word, but a police action, that sounds

like it's justice. And so we sugarcoat the idea

of it. This is pretty important right now because

of the massive attack that the U .S. did to destroy,

hopefully destroy, the nuclear sites within Iran.

war, but they negate the fact that all past presidents

in recent history, going back a very, very long

time, did similar police action moves. And again,

this is semantical. I would agree that that was

an act of war, but it wasn't an unconstitutional

use of force according to the way that the law

is written. But the fact of the matter is, is

we like to sugarcoat these things when it's benefiting

our side or benefiting what we believe. Another

way we do it is if someone dies, we'll say they

passed away because the term death seems too

finite. So we just make it sound like they left

the party. They kicked the bucket. They've given

up the ghost. These euphemisms help us to deal

with the uncomfortable feelings that the actual

reality of the situation draws us to. causes

us to think about. The reality is that life can

be challenging. We all struggle in different

ways, but like our psalm, we need to focus on

the goodness of God and how he is there for us

in every situation. We need to take a cue from

King David and turn to God in our isolation because

with God, we are never alone. But when I witness

on the street and I talk to people who are battling

certain sins, there is a truth, there is a reality

that the worst thing you can do is to isolate

yourself. Sometimes the best thing you can do

is you're not leaving God behind, but maybe go

for a prayer walk. My daughter likes to do that

sometimes. She'll go for a prayer walk when stuff

is overwhelming her, where she can just walk

and pray to God. So she's out, she's not isolating,

and she's going to see people, she's going to

say hi, she's going to wave, but she is spending

time with her God in her time of difficulty.

Other ways that you have to recognize this is

if you're battling a certain temptation, the

best thing you could do is maybe just go to a

coffee shop, get back into public. And then you

can be there and you can do a Bible study for

yourself right there in the midst of these people.

Maybe it'll start a conversation, but what it

will... most assuredly do is it'll take you away

from whatever that temptation was. Because now

you're in a different situation. You've moved.

You've fled that temptation. The Bible tells

us to flee temptation. This brings me to my first

point, which is the battle wages on. In our illustration,

we are introduced to a man who allowed the whole

world to pass him by because he worshiped a false

god. And when he found himself alone, he had

nothing to fall back on. The Bushido code requires

a faith in the emperor of Japan at the time,

a faith in him as their godhead. That is what

the Bushido code calls for. So his god was defeated,

and he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe

it because he was worshiping an idol of a man.

He was cut off from everything and everyone,

and he created for himself a prison within his

own mind. So let's look back at his history.

He was born in the Aichi Perfector of Japan in

1915. Yokio worked as a tailor before being drafted

into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941. Per

wanapali .com, which maintains a registry of

Japanese World War II holdouts, he was stationed

in China until February 1943 when he was transferred

to Guam. After the American forces nearly annihilated

Yokio's regiment in the summer of 1944, he and

a group of nine or ten comrades escaped into

the jungle. From the outset, they took enormous

care not to be detected, erasing their footprints

as they moved through the undergrowth. Initially,

the holdouts survived by eating locals' cattle,

but as their numbers shrank and the likelihood

of discovery grew, they retreated to increasingly

remote sections of the island. Living in caves

or makeshift underground shelters and dining

on coconuts, papaya, and shrimp, frogs, toads,

eels, and rats, Yokio drew on his tailoring skills

to weave clothing out of tree bark and marked

the passage of time by observing the phases of

the moon. He eventually parted ways with his

companions who either surrender or fell victim

to enemy soldiers on patrol or died as a result

of their Spartan lifestyle. Yo -Kyo stayed in

sporadic contact with two other stragglers, but

after they died during flooding in 1964, he spent

the last eight years hiding in total isolation.

This reminds me of David in the cave. King David

also found himself losing a war and alone in

a cave. And that is where our psalm is said to

have been inspired, alone in this cave. David

had a lot to despair over. He also had a choice

to make. In 1 Samuel 22, 1 through 2, it talks

about this. It says, David departed from there

and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when

his brothers and all his father's house had heard,

they went down there to him. And everyone who

was in distress and everyone who was in debt

and everyone who was bitter in his soul gathered

to him. And he became commander over them. And

there were with him about 400 men. So a decision

came to him. He was hiding out. But luckily,

others came to him. Luckily, others searched

him out. This is a good illustration of what

we call follow -up within our fellowship. If

you pray with someone, if you lead someone to

the Lord, and then they kind of go to a quiet

period. That's not uncommon. People battle. People

struggle. There is a process of sanctification

when you're a Christian and you're striving to

live for Christ. And life's not always going

to be perfect or easy. So these people came to

him. They followed up to see how he was doing.

So now he had a decision. Is he going to hide

or is he going to fight? Is he going to sulk

or is he going to pray? Is he going to surrender

or is he going to overcome? Elijah had a similar

case. When we look at 1 Kings 9, 1 through 3,

and I've actually used the scripture several

times. I like it quite a bit. It's when Elijah

flees Jezebel. It says Ahab told Jezebel all

that Elijah had done and how he killed all the

prophets with the sword. And then Jezebel sent

a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods

do to me and more also if I do not make your

life as the life of one of them by this time

tomorrow. Then he was afraid and he rose and

he ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which

belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

So he ran. Times got tough and he fled. One chapter

before this, we see Elijah standing up to King

Ahab and the false prophets. We see Elijah calling

literal fire down from heaven. We see this miraculous

event in this overwhelming picture of power of

our God. And then we see right after that, Elijah

foretelling the coming of the rain, and then

he runs past Ahab, who's in a chariot, and he

outruns him. What power, what victory did Elijah

have that day in the name of God? But then he

succumbs to his fears and he flees into hiding

at the words of a wicked woman. So even as a

successful battle has just occurred, he is feeling

the exhaustion. He is tired. Recovery and recuperation

are needy, but we have to be wary. of what can

become idleness. So I'm not saying that, you

know, whatever word it was again, self -care,

whatever, me time. I'm not saying that you're

not going to sometimes need time to relax or

decompress or sleep or any of that. That's not

what I'm saying. But we have to be very aware

of how that can become idleness. In periods of

calm or lulls in action, we need to be fervent

in our prayer just as we are in times of difficulty.

It is in these periods that we're most susceptible

to the slings and arrows of the devil. We can

double guess ourselves and our impact. We can

criticize our accomplishments and allow self

-pity and even sin to creep in through the door.

Sometimes being chased into hiding or a cave

can be for the glory of God. Sometimes the challenges

can shake us free and open our eyes and our ears

and our hearts to what God is trying to bring

to our attention. Elijah needed to be stretched.

These kind of situations can even bring us to

the foot of the cross and to salvation. Before

you were a Christian, God and the conviction

of the Holy Spirit might have driven you to a

cave where you found God. They might have driven

you to the wilderness just like Moses who encountered

God. We are all going to be brought down. The

cave doesn't protect us from God. Isolation is

not the answer. We find ourselves alone. This

is my second point. In our tale of Sochi, Yokio,

we see a once young man who is... Clinging to

his ideals, the self -isolation wore him down

and caused him to live an angry, fearful, and

lonely life. On January 24, 1972, fishermen spotted

Yokio checking a bamboo fish trap in a part of

the Talofo River about four miles away from the

nearest village. Yokio attempted to charge at

the men who easily overpowered him in his weakened

state. He really panicked. After encountering

humans for the first time in years, he feared

they would take him as a prisoner of war and

that would have been the greatest shame for a

Japanese soldier and for his family back home,

they said. After hearing Yokio's story, officials

at Guam arranged to repatriate him to Japan.

Though he found leaflets in newspapers detailing

the conflict's end two decades earlier, he viewed

these reports as American propaganda and continued

to resist surrendering. We Japanese soldiers

were told to prefer death to disgrace of getting

captured alive, the Yokio later said. Isolation

is not a strength. When we look back on David,

he did not stay alone. He did not stay in the

cave. He was met by hundreds of others who were

displaced by Saul. David led his people out of

the cave. David relied on God in his providence.

And David cried out to the Lord. In Psalm 142

.1, our text, it says, With my voice I cry out

to the Lord. With my voice I plead for mercy

to the Lord. This is the way we should respond

when we find ourselves in similar situations.

Rise up in praise to the Lord. Rise up in prayer

and worship. Even when we are in the darkness,

our God is risen. We're not serving a God like

Yokio was, a false God, a man. who left him in

the cave all alone for decades. Lord, our God

speaks just like he did to Elijah in 1 Kings

19, 9 -10. Then there came to a cave and lodged

in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came

to him and said to him, what are you doing here,

Elijah? He said, I have been very jealous for

the Lord and the God of hosts for the people

of Israel have forsaken your covenant, throw

down your altars and killed your prophets with

the sword. And I, even I only am left and they

seek my life to take it away. God questioned

Elijah and Elijah came back with his excuse.

This is what he was feeling. And this is something

we can take into our own prayer life. You can

ask God. You know, what's going on? You can even

talk to God like Elijah did. Just know that the

response is going to be a correction. But it

gives us a beautiful picture of how a prophet

was dealing with God, a God that he heard directly.

We're going to be pushed against when we're confronting

culture. Elijah confronted a horrible culture

of the time, a culture of the Baals, the worship

of the false god Baal. This is a God of child

sacrifice. The children of Israel had been battling

wicked paganism since entering the promised land.

And you can see Gideon battling the same culture

in Judges 6 .28, where it says, when the men

of the town rose early in the morning, behold,

the altar of Baal was broken down and Asherah

beside it was cut down and the second bowl was

offered on the altar that had been built. So

the worship of Asherah and Baal were regularly

tied together because Asherah is a fertility

God, and Baal is the God that requires human

sacrifice. This is the epitome of evil and wickedness.

And we see the same cultural rot today. We see

free sex leading to unwanted children, but then

society enshrining the right to remove those

poor babies. So we see the fertility or the given

into the sexual depravity of our society gives

way to... procreation as God intends procreation

to happen. And so that same sin that led to the

promiscuity of the time leads to the murder of

the innocent. So we have Elijah dealing with

this post -achievement depression. Elijah was

coming down from the emotional high of confronting

these false prophets of Baal. He had succeeded

the people of Israel and rose up against these

false prophets and they praised the one true

God. He should have been elated. But he ran and

hid in a cave instead. He was dealing with post

-achievement depression, which involves experience

a sense of purposelessness or sadness after completing

a long -standing goal. This can produce a complex

range of emotions. including a lack of motivation,

tiredness, restlessness, frustration, self -doubt,

sadness, an overall sense of melancholy and existential

crisis. This is what Elijah was experiencing.

It's not wrong when we feel these emotions, but

what is wrong is when we allow them to take us

away from our God. The right response is to lean

into God. And God visits Elijah and this becomes

a pretty clear picture of how we're supposed

to deal with this in our own lives. In 1 Kings

19, 11 through 13, we continue on with this story.

And he said, go out and stand on the mount before

the Lord. Behold, the Lord passed by and a great

strong wind tore through the mountains and broke

the pieces of rocks before the Lord. But the

Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind,

an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord

was not in the fire. And after the fire, the

sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard

it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went

out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And

behold, there came a voice to him and said, what

are you doing here? Elijah, God calls us to exit

the cave. God visited Elijah and gave him a new

mission, gave him a new hope and a new direction

for his life. We continue on in verse 15. It

says, to be the prophet in your place. And the

one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall

Jehu put to death. And the one who escapes from

the sword of Jehu shall Elijah put to death.

Yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel, all the knees

that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that

has not kissed him. So although the mission is

not done, God is still in control and he has

risen up others to carry forth his purpose. This

brings me to my final point, which is the lost

lamb is found. We have heard the story of the

Japanese Sergeant Sochiokyo, but he was not the

only Japanese holdout. Second Lieutenant Hiro

Onoda hid in Lubang Island in the Philippines

for an amazing 29 years. He finally surrendered

on March 5th, 1974. He is the most famous of

all the holdouts. His story was widely reported

in the worldwide media, and he wrote a book translated

to English about his wartime experience and 29

years as a Japanese holdout. He was born in the

town of Canaan, Japan in 1922, and when he turned

17, he went to work for a trading company in

China. In May of 1942, Onoda was drafted in the

Japanese army. Unlike most soldiers, he attended

a school that trained men for guerrilla warfare.

On December 26, 1944, at the age of 23, Hiro

Onoda was sent to the small island of Lubang

Island. Approximately 75 miles southwest of Manila

in the Philippines, shortly after the Americans

landed, all but four Japanese soldiers had either

died or surrendered. Despite many efforts, he

did not believe the war was over, and on February

20, 1974, Onoda encountered a young Japanese

university dropout named Norio Suzuki, who was

traveling the world and told his friends that

he was going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a

panda, and the abominable snowman in that order.

The two became friends, but Onoda said that he

was waiting for orders from his commanders. On

March 9, 1974, Onoda went, to an agreed -upon

place and found a note that had been left by

Suzuki. Suzuki had brought along Onoda's one

-time superior commander, Major Taniguchi, who

delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender.

Intelligence Officer Second Lieutenant Hiro Onoda

emerged from the jungle of Lubang Island with

his .25 caliber rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition,

and several hand grenades. He surrendered. 29

years after Japan's formal surrender and 15 years

after being declared legally dead in Japan. When

he accepted that the war was over, he wept openly.

This is why I want to look at the parable of

the last lamb as we bring this message to an

end. In Luke 15, 4 -7, it says, What man of you,

having a hundred sheep, if he had lost one of

them, does not leave the ninety -nine in the

open country and go after the one that is lost?

Until he finds it. And when he has found it,

he lays it over his shoulders rejoicing. And

when he comes home, he calls together his friends

and his neighbors saying to them, rejoice with

me for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just

so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven

over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous

persons who need no repentance. Jesus searches

for his lost lambs. All sinners are the lambs

that Jesus is looking to save. He tells us that

he searches far and wide. And if you are lost

here today, he is searching and he is trying

to reach out for you. You might be in a cave,

but Jesus is calling to you. He has a plan for

you. He values and loves you and wants to bring

you into the fold. But not even death can separate

Jesus from loving us. In John 11, we read the

story of Lazarus, and this is a story that's

powerful in many, many ways. The story of Lazarus

is in John 11, and it starts with the horrible

news that Lazarus, the brother of Martha and

Mary, who anointed Jesus with oil, had fallen

ill. We see the death of Lazarus. We see Lazarus

being entombed, and nobody yet understood the

power of Jesus. There was an obvious confusion

with the disciples. And with Mary in John 11,

it says, verses 25 through 27, I am the resurrection

and the life. Whoever believes in me, though

he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives

and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe

this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that

you are the Christ, the son of God, who is coming

into this world. Later on in John 11, 39 through

44, we see the tale of the rising of his Lazarus.

Jesus said, take away the stone. And Martha,

the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord,

by this time there will be an odor for he has

been dead for days. For Jesus said to her, did

I not tell you that if you believed you would

see the glory of God? So they took away the stone

and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father,

I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that

you always hear me, but I said this on account

of the people standing around, that they may

believe that you sent me. And when he said these

things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus,

come out. The man who had died came out, his

hands and his feet bound with linen strips, his

face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,

unbind him and let him go. Immediately after

this miracle, many came to believe in Jesus.

Jesus went even to the grave. to find his lost

lamb. And he does this for us even today. In

Jesus, we have the confidence that we will rise

from the dead and spend eternity with our Savior.

Jesus will find us even in our caves and in our

tomb to set us free. We do not need to hide from

the world, but rather live in confidence that

our Savior, Jesus Christ, has already defeated

death. And that his sacrifice on Calvary has

made a way for us to live in victory, both in

this life, and forevermore. I could have every

head bowed, every eye closed as I bring this

to a conclusion. Again, I do this at the end

of every message. I want to give an invitation.

Maybe your heart's not right that this message

has impacted you. Maybe you are living right

now in a cave of your own creation. But the message

is simple, that Jesus is reaching out to you.

And maybe that's a little prick that you're feeling

in your heart is a conviction, is the start of

belief. And you recognize you're not right with

God, but you want to make it right. I want you

to signify it wherever you are with an uplifted

hand. It's a physical choice to say, yes, I know

I'm not right. If you rose your hand, God can

see it, even though I can't. And I want you to

repeat after me a quick little prayer. Dear Lord.

I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you

sent your son Jesus and that he died for my sins,

and I accept him as my Lord and my Savior. In

Jesus' name I pray. I turn away from my sin.

Amen. All that is is recognition that you know

that you're not complete without Jesus Christ

being your Lord and Savior. And if you prayed

that and you meant it, and God knows you did.

then there's going to be a change that's going

to start in your life. I want to thank you for

listening to me. But if you prayed that prayer

and you meant it, I want you all to reach out.

You can send a message. All sorts of ways. There's

notes in the podcast notes on how to get a hold

of me. You can even send me a quick text message

if you want. It's 604 -997 -8446. I'd love to

hear if you prayed that prayer. I could send

you a Bible. We want you to move forward in a

life with Christ. Come out of that cave and let

Christ do a miracle in your life. So again, thank

you for listening to me. Please go over and check

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And I thank you again for listening. God bless

and have a great rest of your day. Amen. the

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