Protection Of God - Pastor Gus Urban

Welcome to Logan City Christian Church podcast where we bring God's Word to you weekly.

We pray that what you hear will bring clarity to your situation and open doors in your life.

Enjoy the message.

I believe we get so used to having a service that we sometimes forget the person that we come here for.

We can get so used to doing life Monday through to Friday and Saturday and come here Sunday and

somehow expect to fit God in our timeline, in our schedule.

I believe the Lord is wanting for all of us including myself to bring us deeper

in a way we've never experienced God before.

And the fruit of that is when we are experiencing God in a deeper way at home, personally,

we see the difference that we collectively bring here on Sundays.

When believers are lukewarm

and they come together, well we could only expect to see a lukewarm service.

But when the Church of Jesus Christ is seeking God,

is seeking God, that is surrendered to God.

When we meet corporately in a gathering, the Holy Spirit moves so powerfully.

See a lot of the time we want a man of God or a woman of God to step up and break through and do

all the work for us and God is saying, no I've given my spirit to all flesh.

Because he's given his spirit to all flesh.

That you and I have the authority of Christ, we have the power of Christ.

You and I are anointed and a holy people set apart to God for his work.

So when you and I are growing in the things of God, are surrendering to God daily,

seeking God and receiving from God, when we come here together,

the most natural thing for God to do is move.

I know the Lord is calling us, all of us,

myself included, more than anyone I suppose,

to get to know the Lord in a deeper way, a way that we have never experienced or known Him before.

That the church may truly shine, really, really burn bright, burn hot in this dark, cold, dying world.

That the Lord is bringing this church to a point and other churches

where we can see the Lord, the Lord is bringing the church to a point and other churches

where it's no longer about us.

That we see the call of Abraham, that God calls him,

and we read how it says that, and I will bless you and make you a great nation and in you,

and we read how it says that, and I will bless you and make you a great nation and in you,

all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

And we read that Abraham was a friend of God,

but at the end of the day, the call on Abraham's life was bigger than himself,

was bigger than the blessing that he received, was bigger than Isaac, his son.

The call of God on Abraham's life was to establish a nation and that his son, Jesus, God's son,

Jesus Christ, would come through and be the saviour of the world.

I hear many people saying that we are in the last of the last days and that is so true.

It is as if there's just a moment left on the face of the earth.

And this is why God is saying, that church, this is bigger than you.

This is bigger than me. This is bigger than us of what we want to do, what we feel is the

call or not call to do, the struggle of fully surrendering to God.

The Lord is saying, church, I'm calling you. I am calling you into a deeper relationship with me.

Where you are going, where I am leading you, you have no place in the world.

I am calling you into a deeper relationship with me. Where you are going, where I am leading you,

you have no place in the world. I am calling you into a deeper relationship with me.

Church, I feel just such a stirring, such a strong stirring. I don't know whether to start.

I don't know whether to wait. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do.

I know that one thing I don't want to do is to get in the Lord's way this morning.

I mean, we need a touch from heaven like never before.

Whether we're doing well or struggling, we need a touch from the Lord.

We need a touch from the Lord.

Glory be to God. Glory be to our Almighty God.

I

We're going to read from Psalm 91 this morning.

So if you want to turn your Bibles there to Psalm 91.

While you're turning there, Lord, we just thank you for this morning, God. We thank you for your word.

Lord, we know your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. It is our direction.

You guide us through your word. God, we thank you for sending the Holy Spirit, who is our Comforter,

the one who comes aside and leads us. And so Holy Spirit,

we are so dependent on you this morning.

You are our strength. You are our joy. You are the one that gets us through everything.

Lord, we thank you for seed sowing in Jesus' name, the seed of your word. God, I pray that

you would open all of our hearts, myself included, God. Lord, that our hearts would be good

soil for your seed to be implanted and grow and bear good fruit in our lives.

Holy Spirit, that throughout the week you would water that seed that has been sown. Lord,

that we would dwell on your word. Lord, we would meditate on the things of the Spirit

in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Psalm 91, we're going to read from verse one.

Psalm 91, we're going to read from verse one.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress. My God in Him I will trust.

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the phallum and from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall take refuge.

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,

nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand,

but it shall not come near you.

Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked,

because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the Most High God, your dwelling place.

No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.

For He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent, you shall trample underfoot.

Because He has set His love upon me, therefore I will deliver Him. I will set Him on high,

because He has known my name. He shall set His love upon me, therefore I will deliver Him.

I will set Him on high, because He has known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer Him.

I will be with Him in trouble, I will deliver Him and honour Him.

With long life I will satisfy Him and show Him my salvation.

Glory be to God. Glory to you God.

Even though this is a psalm and a very famous psalm, Psalm 91,

one that we've all heard a million times, one that we love hearing every time it gets read out,

church we have to understand that this is a promise from God.

And so when we hear Psalm 91 or we read it, it's great, it's fantastic, it brings comfort to our hearts,

but I guess the biggest mistake we could ever make

is when we take a promise of God and not fully get into the depths of what God is trying to bring

out of His Word, what He's trying to show us, the character of who He is.

It's a bit of a shame that sometimes we can miss the very depths and parts of what God is trying to

bring out of His Word. It's a bit of a shame that sometimes we can miss the very depths and power

of God's Word, that we can hear it and love it and pray it and wish for it to be over our lives,

but sometimes we never actually see the fulfillment of God's Word of His Scripture in our lives.

And so this morning I want to get into mainly the first three chapters, we'll get into the fourth

as well, but mainly I want to focus on, sorry, verses, verse one, two and three.

And so,

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him I will trust.

I want to bring out two key words here this morning.

The first one is dwell and the second one is abide.

And when we fully understand these two words

and we

put it into our lives, it becomes part of us.

That's when we experience the fullness of God's Word.

See, like God's Word, whenever we read God's Word, and I feel like I'm jumping right ahead, but

I feel like I just need to say it right now, we have to understand this one thing,

is that the promises of God are not just a promise to us, they're promises to us.

I just need to say it right now, we have to understand this one thing, is that the promises

of God are always conditional. Can I get an amen for that? We read in Deuteronomy 28

of how God commands His people that blessed is He who does this and blessed is He who does that.

And blessed is the person that does this and blessed they shall be coming in,

blessed they shall be going out, their kneading bowl shall be full, the blessings of God. And

we read that God brings His Word out saying blessed is He who practices or does a certain thing.

And Psalm 91 is exactly the same, He who dwells in the secret place shall abide

under the shadow of the Almighty. I will save the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God in Him I will trust. We're going to look at dwells and abide. The word dwell means to sit

and to remain. To sit or to remain, to dwell, to be in a place, to be in a place,

to be in a place. And the word abide in a lot of other scriptures, abide can be to get along with,

to go with, to cooperate with. But here it's talking about to lodge, to stay the night,

being in a place. And so when we read this in context, we see that it is a person who,

like I said, I jumped way too far ahead, but those who dwell, who sit and remain in the secret place

of the Most High shall abide, shall dwell under the shadow of God. Can I get a raise of hands?

Who in their Christian walk would love to just dwell under the covering and the blessings of God?

I mean, you'd be silly not to raise your hand here this morning. I mean, it says that those who dwell

in the secret place shall abide. There's a guarantee of abiding under the shadow of God,

under His hand, under His blessing, under all the promises of God that you and I can stay and remain

and remain in that place, but it is conditional to the word those who dwell.

Are we seeing this morning that those who dwell in the secret place,

not just those who believe in God,

not those who once said a prayer and at one point in their life can remember that

they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, not those who are preaching every week or singing

every week or street witnessing or laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover,

it's saying those who dwell. And so those here this morning that you feel like, God, I don't know

what you've called me to do or God, I feel like my job in your kingdom is just to come in and sit down

and sit down and then go home and, but it's saying it doesn't matter whether you're up here behind

a pulpit or sitting down or whatever it may be, that the Word of God is saying those who dwell.

And so the invitation is for every born-again believer.

That last week we got into Hebrews, that getting into the throne room of grace, getting before God,

a dwelling place where we're in the presence of God is speaking about the same thing here.

Those who dwell in the secret place shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. In Genesis 6.5, I might just quickly turn there,

Genesis 6.5, we read about Noah and that at that time, that time on the face of the earth,

where it says that the thoughts and the intent of man was only evil. Church, it's sort of like

our world we're living in today, the most easy thing for us to do is turn on the TV and see evil

on the news or to go out and see evil surrounding us wherever we may go. Evil is a common thing

these days. We see that people can just be so rude, so harsh, do bad things.

Same when Noah was on the face of the earth. And Genesis chapter 6 verses 5 to 7

Genesis 6:5–7

says this, then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every

intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he made

man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have

created from the face of the earth, both man and beasts, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I

am sorry that I've made them. Verse 8, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

You and I can be living or working in a place that is surrounded by gossiping,

surrounded by swearing, surrounded by rude jokes, surrounded by people hating on you.

You can be persecuted for standing up for righteousness in your family or around your

friends or your workplace or wherever it may be. Reading this, I see that here's a man of God

living in a time where evil is all around him, and the greatest influence on Noah's life

could have been an evil lifestyle. But it says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And as we continue on, we understand why. In verse 9, it says, Noah was a just man,

perfect in his generations. Now you ready for this? Because this is the key, Noah walked with God.

Noah walked with God,

the same way that God is calling you and I into a deeper walk, a deeper relationship,

a deeper prayer life, deeper, more meaningful, more powerful time reading and studying the words.

Noah walked with God, and we see that God didn't have favorites on the face of the earth.

It's just that Noah found the grace of God, the favor of God, only because he walked with God.

Now you and I have access to that very same grace here on earth that we see that when we get into

walk, it actually talks about he habitually walked. It was a habit. He did this all the time. Noah's

life was just encompassed. It was surrounded by the grace of God. And it's a very important

thing, that Noah's life was just encompassed. It was surrounded. It was founded on God.

That I'm sure that if you walked into Noah's house at that time, that it would have been a clean home

with no idolatry, with no sinful things, that there wouldn't have been any demons interfering

in the presence of God, I'm sure. I could imagine that a man that habitually walks with God could

only see the grace and favor upon his life. See, men, when you and I, when we as head of the home,

take up our role as priest of the home, and we know that we are that spiritual covering over our

wife and children, but we pray and we seek God where we do what we actually know we should be doing.

A change will take place. And so we could be driving in the car and say, oh God, why is my

life so bad? I wish this could change. God, I just want you to take this away and fix this and fix

that. Maybe he's saying, I'm wanting you to take up the role as priest.

We see this in the life of Noah,

where Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord because Noah walked with God.

You look at a few generations before, we see the same thing with Enoch,

where Enoch walked with God. Once again, it was that habitual fellowship. Every moment of every day,

this man was led by God, had fellowship with God, Enoch walked with God, and it says that

Enoch never tasted death, that actually God just took him. That one day Enoch was here and the next

he was gone, taken straight to heaven. I mean, that's pretty cool.

The two things that these men had in common is they both walked with God.

They both walked with God.

Matthew 6 says this, and this is talking about the secret place.

Matthew 6 says, but you, when you pray,

go into your room and when you have shut your door,

pray to the Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret

will reward you openly. Here we go again, Jesus speaking now,

Jesus speaking now, and another promise from God, but there are conditions to it.

Jesus tells us, even to this day, church, but when you pray,

have you noticed how we didn't say if you pray? If you ever get the chance,

if you feel like it, if you just happen to think about it,

I mean, I feel like the bar's being raised really high this morning. I'm not trying to be harsh or rude, but

I have to speak what I'm really feeling the Lord saying, but when you pray, in other words, Jesus

has an expectation for his church to pray, for the priest of the home to pray, for parents to pray,

for those couples that are married to pray, for parents and their children to pray,

for pastors to pray, for preachers to pray,

for preachers to pray. But when you pray, now listen to what he says, go into your what?

Let me hear you church, go into your what? In your room, hallelujah, and when you have what?

Shut your door, pray to you, who? God our Father, who is in what? The secret place.

It's conditional. He's saying shut your door. In other words, there are times, there should be

frequent times, just the same way that Noah dwelt and was in the room, hallelujah,

Noah dwelt and walked with God, habitually lived with God. He's saying church, you need to get into

a place of isolation. This deep walk with God. See, I understand the busy lifestyle and I'm so guilty

myself of committing this crime, but always fitting into God while I'm just praying in the car,

or praying while I'm doing this, or praying while I'm doing this. And church, it gets us by,

but the call of God on our lives to that deep spiritual connection with the Lord comes when we

are in a place of isolation. We see the very ministry of Jesus was founded on this, when

everyone, like let's say when we read the gospels and we see Jesus doing miracles and casting out

demons and doing all these incredible things, at the end of the day, everyone went home,

Jesus went to the mountain to pray.

It's hard.

But this life we live is such a busy life. I get that, I understand that, I live that.

But if we were to take Matthew 6 for what it really says,

we don't have a choice when it comes to prayer.

And when we can get in the secret place, when we, bit by bit, start getting in our room,

closing our door to people, might even be your kids, I feel like some parents are like,

oh, I'm going to get away from my kids for half an hour. Praise the Lord, I'm getting a break.

Husbands, if you want some time to yourself, just say, honey, I'm going to be with the Lord,

and shut your door. Women when it's your turn, wives, mothers when it's your turn,

say, husband, I'm going to be with God, shut your door. And get with God.

Cry out to God, be real with God, open your heart before God, experience the presence of God,

the fullness of God, His joy that He has, that is always there through every circumstance

and every situation, that joy that cannot be taken from you by sickness or disease or financial

struggle. We experience that in the secret place. We receive it there, and we take it with our lives

no matter where we go, what we do, wherever we may be, we receive that. And in that place of

isolation, where it's just us and God, our room becomes holy ground. Church isn't that good.

That I don't have to travel all the way around the world to go to a fancy church or a temple

or a mosque or whatever it may be that people are doing, we can get before God in any place

where it's just me and Him. And I know that I'm going to be in the presence of God.

Just the same way that God revealed Himself to Moses and said, take the sandals off your feet

for the place where you stand is holy ground, we can be in the exact same place.

Could you imagine the presence of God flooding your house, flooding your home,

that the things that used to entertain us are just dead now. The struggles that would pull us down

and keep us in bondage have been broken.

The struggles that would pull us down and keep us in bondage have been broken.

The secret place.

Because as it says,

and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

When we practice this, when we live this, there is a reward that comes with it.

Hallelujah. One being the protection that we read about in Psalm 91 that He who dwells,

He who constantly gets in the secret place where we can get into that place

where we shut the door, it's just us and God and we're seeking God when that becomes our dwelling

place, our place of habitation, our place of visitation where we are always there.

We see the promises of Psalm 91 that we shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Now I

we shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Now I understand that we pray Psalm 91. When we

dedicate children here in this church, we pray and we personalise Psalm 91 over that child.

When we send missionaries off overseas, we pray Psalm 91. But can I just say this one thing,

that it's not just for babies being dedicated or missionaries being sent over. You and I,

when we practice getting before God in the secret place, Psalm 91 happens.

We don't have to repeat it over and over and over again or know it off the top of our heads.

It just happens. Why? Because it's God's Word and when we obey God's Word, He abides. He delivers.

God is a God of truth. He honours His Word. He is a man that He should not lie.

And so when we read in verse three,

surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.

We understand that there's a lot going on in this world. I remember in my late teens and early

twenties, I had this... How do I say it? I had plans, I had goals, very ambitious, knew what I wanted,

thought it was just, this is how life is going to be. It wasn't too long until I realised

how out of control I really was when it comes to life circumstances. Who knows what I'm talking

about? And now I'm all for planning. I'm all for having visions. I'm all for moving in a direction.

That's biblical. That's godly. That's wise. And so you and I, we're all going to be thinking,

what are the things that we're going to be doing in our lives? And so you and I, as people, are to

have goals, goals in our life, in our marriage, in our finances and all these things, they're good.

But at the end of the day, it's all subject to change. That there are things that happen in life

that are out of our control. I mean, we see in Job chapter one, Job is doing amazing.

And I remember, in these times where it was just like, God, how could this happen?

I have my plans. Lord, how could you allow this heartache or this struggle

to be lost in the hands of God? And I remember, I remember when I was in the church,

I was in the church, I was in the church, I was in the church, I was in the church,

Lord, how could you allow this heartache or this struggle? God, I feel like I've honoured you so

far with my life. I haven't turned my back on you. I haven't rebelled in any way. I love you. I want

to serve you, God. I love your Word. Your Word is truth. How could this happen? Lord, everything

that I've been putting in place and wanting to see take place in my life, God, it feels like you've

just cut it somehow. And so, when we read that God, He, shall deliver us from the snare of the

fallow, we have to understand this one thing, that there is a person out there, not of flesh or blood,

but there is a person out there who's after you, who is after me. And when we get down to Job and

and his story, we understand that Satan was after Job himself. See, in Genesis chapter one and two,

we read how God created the world by speaking. Amen. And so, we now understand, if you didn't

before, we understand that everything we see with our eyes, everything that is physical, tangible,

was created by the invisible, the spiritual, that there is a war going on that we cannot see with

our eyes. Hallelujah. And you and I, when we surrender our lives to Christ and we're living

for God, you and I have switched from the kingdom of darkness and we have been placed in the kingdom

of light, a glorious, marvelous miracle that is taking place. But it comes at a cost. You and I,

the day we got saved, we put on these targets over our bodies saying, Satan, shoot me.

Now, you might be thinking, no, I never did that. Yes, you did, unwillingly.

That's why it's so easy to live lukewarm for the Lord.

That's why it's so hard to keep pressing on and pressing on and pressing on towards the goal,

as Paul says, to continually seek Him. We see Paul, a man of God, that just goes through so many,

went through so many struggles. Why? Because he had a bigger target than anyone else.

It's as if this spiritual war between God and Satan is being played out here on earth,

just as if church, sorry, not church, just as if earth is some kind of giant chessboard.

You know what I'm trying to say? It's like we're being used whether we realize it. I heard a saying,

which was incredible, he says, God has a great power, and he's a great man.

He's a great man. He's a great man. He's a great man. He's a great man. He's a great man.

He's a great man. He's a great man. He's a great man. He's a great man. He's emblematic of the

ity around His Kingdom. He was a great man. He's emblematic of the Our Lady of Manhood.

disciple that God has. He's emblematic of whatever Satan plays with His kingdom.

And then he says, God has a plan for you. He says, God has a plan for me.

He says, God has a plan for my kingdom, God's a plan for me to stop you fromuges즈

but no. I've seen over the years so many people taking captive through many different things,

allowing Satan to come in. See, 1 Peter 5, 8 says this, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary,

the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. In other words,

you and I, we are, yes, when we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, we abide under the shadow

of the Almighty. God's hand is upon His church to those who dwell. Amen. So we understand that

principle this morning, but we also have to be careful knowing that the moment I stop dwelling,

that I have to understand that Satan is out there and his will for my life is still very real.

John 10, 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy, but Jesus says,

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

There's the two wheels right there summed up in one verse.

Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler. A snare can be different.

I mean, we are all different people. We have different likes, dislikes, whatever it may be.

We have different strengths and we have different weaknesses. Amen.

And we understand now that because of those differences that you and I have, what may work

for my wife may not necessarily work for me. So if Satan is trying to pull my wife down,

he's going to use something different. He's going to use the same thing that I'm going to use.

He's going to use something different than what he will use for me to try and pull me down.

I know this. I know my wife. I know that we're different. Our struggles are different.

So I know that what Satan uses against her is different than what Satan uses against me.

And so we see all different types of evil, whether it may be unforgiveness, sexual immorality,

morality, gossip, idolatry, adultery, pride, whatever it may be. What works on one doesn't

necessarily work on the other, yet Satan knows, as it says, he walks around like a roaring lion.

He's looking for someone to get, to grab hold of, to devour, to destroy.

That there's no partnership with the devil. Once he gets hold of someone,

his only intention is to destroy. And the fruit, we see fruit of these consequences,

giving into these snares, being snared, means that we can open our lives up to things like

depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness. The list just goes on and

on and on that we understand that this is very real being played out in our life today,

that there is a spiritual wall going on in heaven and you and I need to be careful of the things we

say, what we open our hearts and our minds to, because Satan is laying snares for you and I.

Now, you're probably thinking, Gus, my week's been hard enough, this is the last thing I wanted to hear.

Couldn't you just tell me that God loves me? Well, God loves you with an everlasting love.

And we're going through God's word this morning because of love. And sometimes because of love,

we tell the truth. I mean, who watched the podcast on Friday or whenever it was?

Mike said something fantastic. We're working with Christ in the ministry, aren't we? Those who are,

amen, those who are in the ministry, we're not doing a job that means, we're partnered with Christ,

we're moving in His power. And when we're in a partnership, we're working together,

when we're not doing our job, Mike said this, that Christ is close and loving enough

to give us a nudge and say, hey, come on, just fix this area in your life.

It's only going to benefit you. He doesn't get down and say, oh, you've messed up, it's all over.

Sometimes we see an attractiveness in snares. Sometimes these snares that Satan lays out in

our lives is actually very attractive. We see that there's a snare that was laid out in our lives,

in the garden in Genesis chapter three. And that snare, when it come upon Adam and Eve,

we see that there was a consequence to the entrapment, a consequence to sin,

that there was a spiritual separation from man and God, and that there was a spiritual separation

from the devil, and that there was a spiritual separation from the devil, and that there was a

spiritual separation from man and God. The very way that God created the world, the very way that

He designed man to be in a certain relationship, a closeness, a pure and holy walk with God,

was separated because of a snare. And snares are always attractive.

First John 2, 15 and 16 says this, do not love the world or the things of the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Verse 16,

for all that is in the world, three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Even the garden being tempted by Satan, we see so clearly that Satan is there with this snare

of forbidden fruit, offering it on a silver platter to Eve, and the fruit of the garden

on a silver platter to Eve, and let's look at what gets her, the lust of the flesh.

Genesis 3 says that it was good for what? Food. The lust of the eyes, we see that she saw

that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the pride of life,

she saw that it was a tree desirable to make one wise.

And so no matter which way we look at the fall of man in the garden of Eden,

that snare that Satan laid was so attractive. Very, very beautiful.

And James chapter 4, 1 says, where do wars and fights come from among you?

James 4 · chapter mention

Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

Hallelujah. Do they not come from these things in our heart that have not been dealt with?

See, in James we see that he uses an example as a hunter. Let me get to this.

In James chapter 1, let's quickly read this. James chapter 1, 12 and 14 says,

James 1 · chapter mention James 1 · chapter mention

blessed is the man who endures temptation. In other words, when Eve was being tempted,

that snare was laid out that they saw that she was a hunter, and they saw that she was

a hunter, and they saw it, and it pulled the heart, yet they resisted that temptation.

Now you and I face temptations, and having being tempted isn't sin. If it was, we would see when

Jesus was tempted by Satan, we know that Jesus never sinned, right? That he was pure, holy,

never sinned. He was the Son of God. He offered sinless blood as a sacrifice for all mankind,

yet Jesus was tempted. So when you and I get to this point of temptation, don't think, oh my

goodness, I've failed. How could I have this evil thought? How could I have this feeling? Oh,

wretched man, all these things don't get down. Say, Lord, my flesh is rising up, but I'm

surrendering to you. Hallelujah. But James is saying, blessed is the man or the woman who

endures temptation, for when he or she has been approved, he or she will receive the crown of life

which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted,

I am tempted by God. Did you hear that church? Does God tempt us? No. For God cannot be tempted

by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away

by his own desires and enticed. See, James is saying that just the same way that a man goes

out fishing, are there any fishermen here or fishing women, whatever you call it? I don't know.

But when you go out, whatever you want to catch, you've got your rig, your rod, your reel, your

bait, your setup, your lure, whatever it may be to catch something specific. And so Satan is the same

way. Did you know Satan didn't offer Eve a chainsaw? I'm sorry, that's a bad example. That's all I could

think of just then. Lord help me. But I can picture just Eve walking past and seeing this going,

I wonder what that tastes like. And then a week later, geez, that's starting to look really good.

And then some time passed, walking past it again, I wonder how much I would actually know

if I just bit of that fruit, if I could just taste it. It looks so good.

And sometimes we can give in to sin because we are drawn away by things that are in here.

And now there is a moment in everyone's life where we get snared. It happens. All right,

now I'm going to finish on this. You're like, thank you, Lord.

Jesus was tempted, but he prayed. The power of Psalm 91, he who dwells in the secret place of

the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge

and my fortress, my God in him I will trust. Do you know, even when you're snared,

it's good to trust in the Lord. Even when you're snared, it's good to trust in the Lord.

Even when you've made a mistake and you know you've gotten yourself into a situation, Lord,

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. That was stupid of me to do. Don't wallow. Don't allow

Satan to keep you down. It is good to trust in the Lord because it says, surely he shall deliver you.

Surely God shall deliver you. He shall deliver me from what? The hand of the snower,

from the snare of the fowler and from perilous pestilence. In other words, there is not a thing

that we face that God cannot deliver. Hallelujah. Jesus says this, as I close on my last scripture,

Jesus says this, as I close on my last scripture. Now when I read this, we always read this scripture

when times are good, when we're cruising well, when we feel motivated, when we've been praying,

when we're kicking goals. Jesus says this,

behold, I give you, me, you, us, the church, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions

and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm you.

Nothing shall by any means harm us. We know that no weapon formed against us,

formed or fashioned made specifically for you, made specifically for me to entice me, to pull me out

and snare me, shall prosper for those who dwell, for those who abide under the shadow,

because God's hand is upon us. But Jesus says, behold, I give you the authority to trample.

We have that authority. When you and I are snared, we have the authority.

When darkness is surrounding our lives, we have the authority.

When Satan has come and said it's all over, just quit. We have the authority.

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