Secrets of the Secret Place - Part 1

Let's begin with a prayer. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the privilege of coming together to study the secret place. We ask that your Holy Spirit would be with us mightily now. Inflame our hearts with love for Jesus Christ and may you equip every believer taking this course in the secret place we ask. In Jesus name, Amen. My name is Bob Sorge and I'm delighted to be able to share with you all in this course together. Now, before we go into it, I need to explain a little bit about my voice. Most of you have never met me and I want to explain that I suffered an injury to my voice 17 years ago. At the time, I was a pastor and a worship leader and you can do the math on that. What does a pastor do that can't talk? What does a worship leader do that can't sing? I found myself in the crisis of my life. I began to come after the Lord with a desperation and a passion like never before. For the first year, I pursued some medical alternatives. Basically, bottom line, what happened was a bad surgery. I had an ulcer near my vocal cords. The surgery removed the ulcer but did something else. Since that time, my voice is very small and my pain levels are pretty high. I pursued some medical options for the first year. After a year of hitting brick walls, I finally said to my wife, Marcy, I said, honey, I think this is a Joseph prison. Now, it took me a while to figure that out but I'm going to understand. God got Joseph in prison and it was God who was going to get Joseph out of prison. When God puts you in prison, you can try to get out but you're not getting out until he gets you out. That's our discernment on it. I haven't seen a doctor for 16 years related to my voice. I have no intention of consulting an earthly doctor again because I've got a doctor I'm consulting. He's the best doctor. He is my physician and I'm waiting on him to fulfill his promise. He's promised in his word. He's promised through prophetic voices. He's promised to my heart. So, I'm holding especially to the promise of his word. He is the Lord who heals me and I'm waiting on him to fulfill his promise and do that in my life. One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 49, 23. For they shall not be ashamed who wait for me. I have all my eggs in that basket. I am waiting for you alone, for you to deliver me. Psalm 69, verse 6 says this. Let not those who wait for you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me. David is basically saying, God, I'm waiting on you and I don't want anyone else to look at my life and decide waiting on God doesn't work. So, I'm asking you Lord to answer my cry and demonstrate with my life that waiting on God is a wise way to go. So, I'm getting on this DVD and I'm just going to be honest with you. I hope this thing goes around the world because I want as many people as I can possibly get to hear me. I am waiting on God alone. And now I want to say to you Abba, let no one be ashamed who waits on you because they looked at my life and decided waiting doesn't work. I am asking you Abba to honor your word in my life and demonstrate that waiting on you alone is wisdom. I think God wants to vindicate the glory of waiting on God. It's not real popular in the earth right now. It's popular to talk about it if your wait is finished. They'll say, oh yeah, your wait is over. Praise God, that preach is good. What if you're in your wait? So, I'm waiting on God, trusting Him. And the secret place has literally been my survival in these 17 years of walking in this crucible. The secret place is not for me, it's not a, oh it's a nice place, or oh I guess I should. No, it's like I live by every word that proceeds from His mouth. I have God to sit at His feet and hear His word. It is my source. You are my life, Lord. You are my survival. And I come to the secret place because it's the only way to live. And that's what I want you to find in your walk with the Lord as well. Now, it's like the Lord said to me, Bob, you will not go this way. You will go this way. And God has redirected my life in a way I never expected. But if I can be honest with you, I don't think I would have ever written this book without this. That part goes for all the books I've written. Because of the journey I've been on, that's been the context that the Lord has used. And for years, my prayer life was reduced to three words. All I could manage was I love you. I don't understand you. I haven't got this figured out. But I say I love you. And I thought that it was horrible. But here I am a pastor and all I can pray is I love you. I didn't even pray for our church anymore. I was just trying to survive. I love you. Little did I realize I was doing the most powerful thing you can do. When you're in your darkest hour, the most powerful thing you can do is give Him your love. Psalm 91 14 Because He has set His love upon me, therefore I will deliver Him. All things work together for good to those who love Him. And I'm resolved in my heart to love Him till the day I die. Now it's important that you learn how to complain right. Because if you complain right, God puts it in the Bible. If you complain wrong, He kills you. And I'm going to tell you how to complain right. You get in your secret place. You shut your door. And then you speak your mind to God. You can say almost anything if you say it to His face. What He doesn't have space for is when you have a problem with Him and you take it to somebody else. No, that doesn't work with Him. He says, you got a problem with me? You can't figure me out? You get in, shut your door, get in my face, and we'll work it out. Now I've said it many times, it's not the fire that changes you. It's the pursuit of God in the fire that changes you. There are many people that get in the fire, but they don't allow it to drive them into the face of God. And instead of being changed in the fire, they become a casualty. Man, when the fire gets turned up in your life, I hope you hear my voice. Get yourself in the face of God and never give up. Never relent until He answers your cry. Get in the Word, in fasting and prayer. Get in the secret place and God will redeem what the enemy intended for evil and use it for His glory. Now I used to think that you could tell the people that really had a lot of issues in their life based on the fire in their life. So I used to think like this. If you saw someone who had a lot of fire they were going through, you could safely conclude lots of issues. And then I came to Psalm 103 verse 10. He has not dealt with us according to our sins. God doesn't deal with you according to your issues. He deals with you according to your cry. So the guy with all the issues, King Saul, doesn't get any of the fire. And the guy with the heart after God, King David, gets all the fire. Go after God with all your heart and He will bring you through in His grace. Now there are some people in the body of Christ that say, don't ask why. I am not in that theological camp. I figure if David can ask why, I figure if Jesus can ask why. He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? If Jesus can ask why, I can too. Not only is it allowable to ask why, it is essential that you ask why. Because when you're asking why, you're asking about purpose. God, what is your purpose in the journey you have me on in my life? And God wants you to go after purpose. It's essential that you ask the why question, press into the heart of God, and discover His purpose for your life. Now I just want to, kind of at the outset of our course, just say thank you to all of you for receiving me in my weakness. Let me just read Galatians 4:13. Paul writes, and he says to the Galatians, you know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at the first, at my trial, which was in my flesh, you did not despise or reject. But you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. There's quite a bit of controversy over what Paul's physical infirmity may have been that he's talking about. My personal position on it, I think he's talking about his Lord in the flesh. Paul had something in his flesh, he didn't like it, it was a major pain, it was a hindrance to him. And it seems that whatever it was, we don't know exactly what, whatever it was, it seemed to be something that hindered his mobility. Because he says to the Galatians, this old thing flared up, and I got stuck in Galatia. I wasn't planning on being with you people, but when this happened, I got stuck with you. And since I was there, I preached, I wasn't a very pretty sight. You all looked at me and realized I was kind of a train wreck. But you received me as an angel of God, and I want to thank you for receiving me, even though it's very evident from the sound of my voice that I am not yet delivered from this affliction. Thank you for receiving and entering into this study together with us. Now it's in my heart to share from Hebrews 13 verse 7, come with me please. Hebrews 13 verse 7, Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You can't follow someone else's conduct, but you can follow their faith. Maybe this has happened to you. It's happened to me a number of times. I've read a book, or I've talked to someone, maybe I've heard a preacher, and they've talked about their secret place, life with God, and the dynamics of it, and what works for them. And many times as I've listened to them, I've just been a little bit turned off, like, that doesn't work for me. I don't even want it to work like that for me. And that happens quite often. You'll hear about someone else's conduct, and you'll have a disconnect. But when you look at their life, and how God honors their faith, you're like, okay, I like the outcome of their conduct, but I just can't really follow their conduct. And so the conclusion is, I can't follow how you do it, but I do want to follow your faith. And I'm asking God to raise up men and women in this hour, maybe you can't follow their conduct, but you can look at the outcome of their conduct and say, I'm going to follow his faith. I'm going to follow her faith. There's a generation coming after you. They're watching your life to see what is the outcome of your conduct. Will they see a godly conduct from your life, and a godly outcome, rather, based on your conduct? And this is what I'm asking God for. I'm saying, Abba, would you grant to me that somehow I can walk with you in such a way that others can look at my journey and say, okay, I would never walk like that, but I love what God did in his life, and I'm going to follow his faith. We have examples in Hebrews 11 of men and women who walked the journey of God of faith, but it's not good enough that we have heroes of bygone centuries that have a conduct that God honored. We need men and women today who are walking a journey in God whose conduct we can look at and say, God has given them the outcome of their conduct, and I will follow their faith. I wish I had time to share with you the story. One of the stories that is so dear to my life is the story of my own mother. My mom, when I was 13 years of age, came down with cancer. Now, I actually don't know that it was cancer, because there was never any biopsy, but at 13 years of age, I watched my mom, in desperation, go into the secret place. I would leave for school, and there's mom at the sofa, her Bible, book on divine healing, Kleenex box, and as I'm leaving, I'm watching her go into the heart of God. I would come home, get off the school bus, come home in the afternoon, and there's mom at the same couch, her Bible, her book on divine healing, the Kleenex box, crying unto God. My dad was a pastor at the time, going after God with the same fire. I watched my parents, in their darkest hour, press into the heart of God, and God came to my parents. March 17, 1970, doesn't mean much to you, it means a lot to me. God visited my parents in power and glory, and my mom was healed of cancer instantaneously. She's 80 years old today, and there's not a lick of cancer in her body. She's a feisty old German great-grandma, and I've looked at their lives, and I said, now there's some conduct that God put a stamp of approval on. I'm going to follow their faith. See, I thank God allowed my parents to go through that, because he knew there was going to come a day when their son was going to walk through something that he would need someone to look at, something to hold on to, an example in the body of Christ, somebody who had walked something in God. And so now, I've got a steely resolve in my spirit. I'm going to come after my God. I'm going to wait on him only, and I'm going to contend until he fulfills his promise in my life, and does for me what I know he does for those that wait for him alone. And it's not, now I realize, it's not just about me. I've got three kids in my quiver, and actually I've got three, almost four grandchildren now in my quiver, and they're watching my life to see what will be the outcome of his conduct. And beloved, the outcome has not yet been determined. The jury's still out, but I declare in the grace of God, I am coming after my God. I'm going to live in this secret place. I'm going to get close to him. I'm going to give you my love, Lord, until you finish what you have started in your life, and I am asking for a testimony for my children, for my grandchildren, for every soul sitting in this room this evening, and for everyone within the sound of my voice via these DVDs, I am asking, Lord, that you would establish, not just me, but in the body of Christ, give us mothers and fathers of the faith who will lay hold of something in God that another generation can look at the outcome of their conduct and say, I'm following her faith. Well, there's one guy in the Bible whose conduct produced an outcome that I just love. He's my buddy, Job. Job is a guy who, when everything went south, went into the secret place. Book of Job calls it an ash heap. He parked himself on an ash heap and said, God, I'm coming after you until you talk to me. Job is the only guy in the book who prays. Everybody else in the book talks about God. Job is the only one who talks to God. I want to suggest he got in the thing because he was a man of prayer and a worshiper, and he came through the thing because he devoted himself to pray. Somebody says he had a bad attitude. Well, you would too, but he did it in the face of God, and God brought him through. Job's ordeal is intrinsically wrapped up in the story of his children. Chapter 1, he's got 10 kids that he loses. Chapter 42, he's got another set of 10 children that he gets at the end of the story. You've got to see Job's crucible in the light of his relationship with his 10 kids. I want you to hear this statement. The only thing that transfers universally between generations is a life of prayer. You can't really transfer universally your gifting, your charisma, your accomplishments, your talents. You might impress another generation, but you won't impart and release another generation with your giftings and talents. The thing that you can pass on is a life of prayer. Are you giving to the generation coming after you an example they can follow? Are you demonstrating a life of prayer? I outline the book of Job in a very simple three-point outline. It's an outline of three tornadoes. Chapters 1 and 2, Satan's tornado. Chapters 3 to 37, man's tornado. Chapters 38 to 42, God's tornado. If Satan's tornado ever hits your life, fasten your seatbelt. Man's tornado is probably close behind. But if you ever get visited by Satan's tornado and man's tornado, could it be that coming behind it is God's tornado, where God visited Job in a whirlwind and revealed his glory to Job? That's why I'm after the secret place. I am in this thing for God's tornado. Now the book of Job ends in a way I love. Eliphaz comes to Job at the end of the book. This is chapter 42, and he says, Job, God just talked to me, and I'm scared out of my wits. He says, Job, we're in trouble. Me and my friends are in trouble. God says that we haven't spoken right about him like you have, and we're in trouble. And if you don't pray for us, God might deal with us according to our folly. Job, please, I've never been so scared in all my life. Would you please pray for us? I can imagine Job's response being something like, I'm glad somebody else is scared stiff around here. It's kind of lonely for a while being the only one. But I can imagine Job, I don't have to imagine this part. He says, sure, Eliphaz, yeah, I'll pray for you. That part's in chapter 42. What I'm about to say is not in the chapter. This is my sanctified imagination. I wonder if it could have sounded like this. Job says, Eliphaz, yeah, I'll pray for you, glad to. But can I ask you just one question? Eliphaz goes, sure, what? I can imagine Job asking. He says, Eliphaz, when God talked to you about me, did he say my name? Eliphaz goes, well, actually, yeah, he did. Job goes, he said my name. Eliphaz says, yeah, actually, that's not all he said. He said my servant, Job. Job says, he called me his servant. Eliphaz says, yeah, and he did it four times. I can imagine Job going, OK, thanks, Eliphaz. That's all I needed to know. He owned me. I feel, Lord, like I could go through anything. I could endure any fire, any hardship, any trial, if at the end of it you would say my name. You would own me. Visit me with your whirlwind and show me your glory. Would you make it personal? Would you establish that it's personal between you and me? Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I'm asking that as we come to the study of the secret place, that you would bring each of us into a personal, intimate, fiery, communing relationship with you. May your grace be upon us for this study. I pray in Jesus' name. Now, to the class watching this on DVD, I've just got a few more things I want to say. Your homework assignment is going to be to read the first five chapters of Secrets of the Secret Place. So read those five chapters and come back to us next week and we will talk them through together. Underline, bring your questions, and we will study.