Ep. 011 Our Rest is in Jesus

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 P.H.S.A. Church and other sermons from

throughout our fellowship. I am 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. Good morning and welcome back to the Potter's House podcast for the Potter's

House Church and Salmon Arm British Columbia. My name again is David Bickford. I'm the pastor

here, and the message I've got today is, Our rest is in the Lord. God is sovereign in the storm.

So the text that we'll be using today, so if you have your Bible, if you're following along,

is going to be Isaiah 55 verses 1 through 13. So you can kind of go ahead and get ready or get to

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

that if you're going to follow along. As you're doing that, have you ever noticed how easy it is

to be grumpy when you're tired, cold, hot, or hangry? Isn't it amazing how even the most devout

believers or the most respectable people can let exhaustion get the best of them? Now I know this

is, this might have never happened to you, or I bet you know that everyone here listening today

can remain calm as a cucumber despite any of these kind of outside, you know, situations or

conditions. Even when you're tired and hungry, you're just the perfect, you know, you're perfectly in

control. When the weather's bad, I bet you're just a pillar of joy. As it's pouring down rain,

you're just, I love this liquid sunshine. It's the best thing ever. You know, as the blizzards are

hitting, you're like, man, it's such a beautiful day outside. You know, that's you, right? Well,

you know, I'm not personally one of those pillars. I can be quite grumpy if I'm cold, wet, and hungry.

If I am trying to sleep and, you know, heaven forbid somebody wakes me up prematurely, I have

been known to snap a few times. I might surprise you, but you know, it's, you know, let a resting

bear lie kind of a thing, you know. If I'm in the midst of my, you know, sleep cycle and I'm

abruptly woken up, I'm kind of in a fight-or-flight mode. And so it's kind of, you know, it's not

uncommon for me to snap and think, what the heck's going on here? Sometimes I wake up not having

slept well and it can be very hard to get moving. You know, we've probably all experienced that. In

those times, how do you react though? What is the standard way that you go, you know, you try to

get a hold of yourself in those times of physical stress? It can be very easy for us to act out,

but what do you do? It's also easy for us to direct our frustration onto others and even onto God.

So is that right though? That's the question. You know, when we're having these situations,

when all these conditions are plaguing us, you know, is it right for us to act out? How should

we react to our own frailties? Sometimes I'll try to force myself into action. You know, in the

Marine Corps, there's a term that we like to use. It's used in the military quite often, you know,

for multiple branches, but it's just the phrase sucking it up or embracing the suck. Now sucking

it up might work sometimes, but oftentimes it just makes things worse. Many of the injuries or

ailments I have for my time in the service come from me stubbornly sucking it up. With that,

you know, I have an illustration here. It's called His Sovereignty in the Storm. This is the story

of Sergeant Daniel B. Olson, who was part of the US Army Intelligence Unit, the 24th Mechanized

Infantry Division during the first Gulf War back in the early 90s. Their task was to seize the Iraqi

air base at Jalaba and trap the Iraqi army, preventing their escape from Kuwait. So as we

go through this story, you know, it's, you know, when you guys hear this podcast, it's going to be,

you know, around Remembrance Day or just after Remembrance Day or Veterans Day for the Americans.

And so keep in mind, too, like the to give give time in your thoughts to the fact of those

who have died, either to keep you safe or keep, you know, freedom in our land, or even those who

are currently serving. Because it is an important thing for us to recognize that it is an important

part of freedom for how to have somebody who's willing to sacrifice, just like Jesus sacrificed

for us in life. It is important for us to give recognition to those who willfully sacrifice

to maintain the freedom that we all enjoy in the Western world. That being said, let's dig into

this story about Sergeant Daniel B. Olson. The word came just as I was settled down to get some

rest after a sleepless night and nonstop mourning. We had two hours to pack up and move out of the

Saudi Arabian desert. We had anticipated this order since the start of the air war 40 days earlier.

By now, we were ready to go home. And we knew that for us, the road home led through Iraq.

I was part of the intelligence unit of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division. Our mission was to

seize the Iraqi air base at Jalaba and trap the Iraqi army, preventing their escape from Kuwait.

The attack into Iraq wasn't supposed to start until the next day. But the collapse of the Iraqi

defense east of us caused us to move out 15 hours earlier. I would start the march into Iraq after

more than 24 hours without sleep, while the army and Marine divisions to our east slog through the

artillery fire and landmines, our division raced across the empty desert expanse. After 30 hours

of nonstop driving, our company finally paused for six hours of rest. I was physically exhausted,

having been on the go for two days straight and the adrenaline rush had run out. A chilling wind

blew sand in my face and I spread my sleeping bag over the rocky landscape and plopped down.

Drops of cold rain on my face interrupted my relief. I looked up at the dark sky in despair

as the drops began to intensify. There was no time to erect a tent. The fierce wind was blowing

the rain into every possible refuge. So we're going to go ahead and turn and look at our text now,

keeping in mind what we've already read. We'll find out more of the story.

You know, from our from the sergeant and in just a second, but let's turn to the word of God here

and let's let's make sure that we encompass this message within the framework of

biblical teaching. And so as we do that, let's also I'm just going to pray quite quickly that

dear Lord God, I just pray that you'd open our eyes to your word, give us wisdom and discernment

to be able to draw from you, Lord God, that what you'd have us to learn from this Scripture

this morning or this evening. Amen. So Isaiah 55 verses one through 13, the subheading to this

is the compassion of the Lord. Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he who has no

money, come buy and eat, come by wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend

your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligent to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear

and come to me here that you may your soul may live and I will make you an everlasting covenant,

my steadfast sure love for David. Behold I made a witness made him a witness to the people, a leader

and a commander for those people. Behold you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation

that did not know you shall run to you because the Lord your God of the Holy One of Israel for he

has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked

forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and that he

may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not

your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher

than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as

the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but the water but water the

earth making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my

word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that

which I have purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it for you shall go out

enjoy and be led forth in peace the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into

singing and the trees of the field shall clap their hands instead of instead of the thorn shall come

up the cypress instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle and it shall make a name for the Lord

an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off so as we turn I want to look first at the storm

your life is full of storms but God is always found in the storm what do I mean by that well

you know let's look at the the definition of the storm a disturbance of the normal condition

a disturbance of the normal condition of the atmosphere manifesting itself by winds an unusual

force or direction a company often accompanied by rain snow hail thunder a storm can also be a

violent military assault on a fortified place a strong position a heavy sudden volley or discharge

a storm of criticism a storm of bullets a violent disturbance of affairs a civil political social

commotion we're living in the times of storms right now everything that's happening between

Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Palestine and the other Arab nations these are storms these are

things that are happening and I don't know how how up to date you you tend to be with the news

but there have been many many attacks from Iranian proxy fighters against military US military

institute installations in the middle east and in retaliation the US has even had to do airstrikes

into Syria and into other countries to take out these threats so we live in this time of storm

right but God uses the storms so let's look at Job 38 real quick the Lord answers Job in Job 38 22

through 27 have you entered the storehouse of the snow or have you seen the storehouses of hail

which I have reserved for the times of trouble for the days of battle and war what is the way to the

place where the light is distributed or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth who has a

who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain a way for the thunderbolts to bring rain on the land

where no man is on the desert in which there is no man to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to

make the ground sprout with grass so here we have again you know God challenging Job about where

were you you know where how do you think you know you know my mind is the mind of the Lord

so as we go back to the story of sergeant Olson we can see this frustration beginning to rise in him

he's tired he's exhausted and now he is wet and cold why did there have to be a storm right now

we are in the desert how can there even be a storm right now so what does sergeant Olson do he prays

God please stop this rain I cried out in anger and frustration I begged God to see the depths

of my faith to show him how much I believed he could stop the rain I thanked him for the miracle

that would soon come and then it happened the rain came down in sheets why are you doing this

God I pleaded your own son said that a mustard seed of faith could move a mountain I only asked

that you would move a dark rain cloud I was disillusioned that God who controls the wind

and the rain would not say peace be still after all I was his child wet and cold on the desert

floor so you can see real you know real clearly here now this frustration is coming forth and

and it's challenging his faith this this faith challenge that he's being represented with is

like I'm tired I'm hungry and now I'm cold can you please just you know give me an out

help me out here Lord what what could possibly be the purpose of all this pain and suffering

right there's always this questioning you know Job did the same thing right

right other his friends and his wife were way worse with this but he did the same thing there

was a questioning of the why there's a questioning of the why why does this have to happen to me

so when we look at our our original text and we pick it up you know in Isaiah 55 8 again it says

for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord for the

heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher

than your thoughts and that brings me to you know my next point which is sovereignty God is in

control you know God is our monarch right and sovereignty when defined it is defined in such

in a similar way a monarch or a king or queen or a supreme ruler that's part of the one way that we

look at sovereignty a person who has supreme power of authority so a dictator often oftentimes could

be considered a sovereign right a supreme and independent power or authority in government as

possessed or claimed by state or community and I always like to joke and it's true but I always

like to joke with people because they can ask you know what's the best form of government

you know oftentimes people say oh you know a constitutional republic or a democracy or

something of that nature but as Christians we are called to to you know pray for the day that we

live under a benevolent dictatorship because our king our Lord our Lord God is that he is

fully righteous and fully faithful to us and he has full sovereignty so if God has a full

sovereignty so if God is sovereign then he has the ability to control the weather like Sergeant

Olson quoted from Jesus Luke 17 6 and the Lord said if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed

you could say to this mulberry tree be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey you

this then certainly this prayer from a faithful follower should have been heard and the rain

would have stopped immediately the trick is that we neglect to remind ourselves about God's sovereignty

he is all the power he is all powerful but he is also all knowing and his thoughts are not our

thoughts which we see which we saw in our text that I read you know in verses you know eight through

nine for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my are your ways my ways declares the Lord

for the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts

than your thoughts so again you know I keep reading that that section or portion of scripture

because I want to drill that in because oftentimes we always want to reference our feelings

as an is a reason why God should give us our the answer we want to hear

and we always want to take away the sovereignty of the Lord for the situation

because we want something done our way right now Sergeant Olson's neglected to provide space for

God's will in the storm and often when we are in the storm we can't see the whole picture when we

are tired hungry cold wet grumpy that's when we judge God and and his lack of faith in fulfilling

our prayers so we ascribe to him a lack of faith when we don't get the answer to the prayers that

we are hoping to see but God is always there and we can find our rest in him even during the storm

so let's pick up the story with Sergeant Olson and say and and and here he says again it was

then that I felt the Lord speak to my heart Dan you say you have enough faith to believe that I

can stop the rain do you have enough faith to trust me when I say that the rain is for your own good

is for your own good my answer was simple no how could this exhaustion be for my own good

what I needed was rest I never did sleep and the rain continued through the night

I lay awake frustrated and cold until the sunrise when we mounted up again we continued to march

through the next evening and when we stopped I collapsed onto my sleeping bag the rain had

stopped and blissful sleep came upon me so this will bring me to my final point

but I want to before we jump into that final point which is salvation I want to I want to emphasize

this is a typical human reaction this is a typical reaction that we see throughout the word of God

we see you know proud men of God questioning when things don't go the way they hope they go

we see it with Joe questioning God we see it oftentimes even with Moses with with you know

questioning God with the with the people of Israel this is something that is very very common to us

in in mankind as humans is to is to feel that we deserve an answer

despite having any like without having faith sometimes we don't get the answer we want

sometimes we don't get an answer at all and that is where faith really has to take place

so let's look at salvation you can design you can define salvation as the act of saving or

protecting from harm risk loss or destruction the state of being saved or protected from harm

or risk a source cause or a means of being saved or protected and theology it it clearly means

deliverance from the power well as a christian theology it it means deliverance from power and

penalty of sin it means redemption that's what that means so let's let's finish off this story

from sergeant olson we seized jalaba after a fierce fight when the shooting stop and the smoke

cleared i got a closer look at the destructiveness of the 44-day war i crawled through the bunkers

and foxholes abandoned by the enemy and inspected an area where the iraqi troops slept day the day

before i felt the blankets that the enemy slept under the night that it rained so hard and in an

instant god opened my eyes the blankets were wet the holes in the ground were filled with mud

the bunkers stank with mildew could it be that the same rain that kept me awake and demoralized

had demoralized these troops did the clouds and the blowing sand that made me so miserable

conceal our forces as we maneuvered for our attack did the pouring rain uncover buried iraqi mine

fields and didn't the stormy weather keep the enemy from using chemical weapons did the god

whose hand controls the wind and rain know what was best for me that night as i cried out in

desperation i humbly bowed my heart and soul at that moment and declared he did titus 35 not by

works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing

of regeneration and the renewing of the holy ghost regeneration the church suffers and lost but can

heal itself in christ animals that regenerate many animals can regenerate and that it's regrow new

parts of their bodies to replace those that have been damaged lizards who lost all their part of

their tails can grow new ones this is a good escape technique a lost tail will continue to

wiggle and might distract the predator and give the lizard a chance to escape most lizards will

have regrown their tail within nine months sharks continually lose teeth a shark may grow 24 000

teeth in a lifetime spiders can regrow missing legs and parts of legs starfish can grow new ones

sometimes an entire animal can grow from a single lost arm

these these somewhat odd ideas of regeneration what does that have to do with the rest of this

message well the simple point is the salvation can come in different ways obviously we know that

salvation is only through christ but what i mean by that is in our life god can work in very very

different ways we see with these animals that have regenerative powers god has equipped them

to be able to you know survive in very different ways other animals use self-replication

the church can also turn a loss into the ultimately into self-replication planarians are flatworms

and if you cut them into pieces they can grow into new worms sea cucumbers can have their bodies

grow up to three feet long and if you cut it into pieces pieces each one will become a new

sea cucumber sponges can be divided in that case the cell of the sponge will regrow and combine

exactly as it can it can be cut and grow back together so we have to be seeking salvation as a

church just like the sun or the prodigal son story shows us how we should always hold on to hope

that the lost will find their way home and that we should be glad for their salvation and not jealous

of grace when it's applied in luke 1532 it says it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for your

brother was dead and is alive he was lost and he was found so as i close

you know my final point point being salvation i want to really dive into here yes sergeant olson

didn't know what was happening in the storm he didn't realize he was being saved by the storm

it similarly as a church we we can go through storms as christians we can go through storms

as christians we can go through storms but through jesus christ we have the power of regeneration

you know the idea of baptism is that you you go down into the water you die to your sins

and then you come up a new creation in jesus christ you regenerated

your heart can be renewed it can be made new in christ

and then the point going forward from that is for us to self replicate it's to create

it's to disciple it's to spread the gospel of jesus christ so that others can also be regenerated

and then they will follow in the same pattern and then we'll see it grow over and over again and

that is why as a church we seek salvation we seek you know a ministry of growth we seek evangelism

we seek to evangelize for the message of the cross because that way even in the storm you're

not just crying out for the storm to end but rather you have understanding that the storm has a

purpose it has a purpose in your life if i could have every head bowed and every eye closed if

you're driving obviously keep your hands at 10 and two keep your eyes on the road and open

but just real quickly we come to the invitation maybe your heart's not right maybe you know that

you need something different maybe you know you need jesus christ maybe you've never you know

thought about it before but this message is speaking to you because you're in a storm and

you don't see any reason for the storm and maybe you've prayed you know idly to you know hey if

there is a god help me in my storm maybe that help is this right here i pray by the spirit that that

it is because if salvation is knocking at your door you shouldn't shouldn't you open it shouldn't

you answer the door but jesus christ is a perfect gentleman he's not going to bust the door down

you have to open the door so if that's you right now and you know that you're you're not you're

not saved you're not following the word of god you haven't given your life to jesus christ signify

that with an uplifted hand wherever you are i can't see it i'm just on the video or in the audio

rather but god sees it so signify that with the uplifted hand and then it's just a simple prayer

where you just admit your wrongdoing and you accept jesus your savior and it's just something

simple like dear lord god so you can repeat it after me dear lord god i know that i'm a sinner

i know that i'm not perfect and that i have failed i repent of my sin i turn away from my sin and i

accept you lord as my savior lord jesus i ask you to enter my heart in jesus name i pray amen

simple prayer simple invitation a dramatic life-changing event

life-changing event that simple thing i i pray that if you did you you you said that prayer and

you meant it you'll let me know you'll reach out because it's it's the whole purpose of what we're

doing here is to spread the gospel is to evangelize whether it's on the street here in salmon arm

whether it's in in the church on sunday or at our bible study that we hold on wednesday

the whole point of everything we do is to see people turn to turn to jesus christ in salvation

i truly pray that this message has impacted someone and i i have faith that the that it has

because we do know from the word of god that the the word does not go out and return void we read

that because there it's a supernatural power and i pray that this message has impacted you today

i thank you and can't wait for you to come back again next time thank you for listening to the

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