Church: A People Marked by the Presence of God

From Faith Bible College here, you guys. Hey, so great to see you again. Welcome.

Awesome. Let's bring that college down here. We need, we need you down in Portland.

Okay, everybody ready to open the word together? Amen. I got to wake us up a little bit. Everybody here? Amen.

Amen. Here we go. Psalm number 46.

Let's read it together, then we'll pray. Thank you, Lord, for the worship band. Thank you for that band, Lord.

Thank you for them. Let's read Psalm number 46. To the chief musician, for the sons of Korah, a song upon Alamoth.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Sounds like some people have memorized this verse. Did I hear that? How many people need that verse? Amen.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling of it. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early, right at the break of dawn.

The heathen raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice.

The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah. Do you know what Selah means? It means pause. Verse 8. Come, behold the works of the Lord.

What desolations he has made in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in sunder.

He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.

I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah. Amen. What a beautiful psalm.

Let's pray. Let's pray together. Hallelujah to the Lamb who sits on the throne.

Hallelujah to our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray that you're honored today. I pray that your word would come alive in the hearts of every single soul who sits here today, Lord.

And I pray also, Lord, I just sense that after the sermon we'll have a time of prayer and I pray, Lord, that you would set souls free. I pray that you would heal people in this room, Lord, physically, spiritually. I pray that you would pour out your healing anointing in this room today, Lord.

Thank you for everyone gathered today. Lord, would you give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Lord Jesus, would you send the Holy Spirit to fill each one of us so that what we hear is not just words in our brain today, but that it's warm and it's fatness and anointing and oil and it goes all the way down into our hearts, Lord.

Lord, nourish your people today. Love us, Jesus. Pour out your love.

We praise your name. Amen. Amen.

The Lord's led me to do a short series of sermons, maybe three or four or 35. You all get that joke? Okay, someone's awake here. Three or four sermons on the church.

I just want us to talk for the next few weeks about the church. What is the church? And I want to ask that so that we know who we are here. Amen.

So that we know what we're about in the city of Portland. So that we know why we even gather. Did you know that a lot of us we can just get on sort of automatic pilot and you just go to church every Sunday and you just don't even think about what you're doing, right? But I want us to know exactly what we're doing.

I want the Lord to give us a clear vision of what the church is and how we're meant to move in Portland, Maine this year. Amen. So we're just going to talk about the church for a few weeks.

I've been married now for five years. Isn't that incredible? Isn't that amazing? I never would have thought I could do that. And just one month before Chiara's and my anniversary, don't tell her I told, well, you can tell her, she can know.

We were having scrambled eggs. And I looked at her and said, sweetie, you do like scrambled eggs, right? And she was like, no, I don't like scrambled eggs. And I was like, what? I don't like scrambled eggs either.

And then I realized I've been making her scrambled eggs for five years. And I didn't even know that neither of us like scrambled eggs. And I said, what do you like? And she said, you know, fried, like over easy.

That's what I like. I was trying to be a good husband, but I was just, I had no clue for five years. Can you believe that? What's my point? Some of us go to church in the same way.

It's like, I thought God just wanted me to go as a legalistic duty and just show up and put a ten bucks in the thing. Does he want that though? Does that even matter to him? Or does he want our hearts? Does he want us burning for Jesus? Does he want us having a clear vision of what the kingdom of God is and how to advance it in the city of Portland? Do you see what I mean? Okay, because we might just be giving God scrambled eggs and he's like, I don't even want scrambled eggs. I want your heart.

I want you to actually love me. And so simple, simple sermon today is this, the church is a people marked by the presence of God. Amen? The church is a people marked by the presence of God.

And you know, it's really easy for us as Christians to say, where is God? How present is he? And I bet a lot of you would say, well, he's omnipresent. Amen? Or if you're really theologically good, you'd say, he's in me and he's in you, right? And all of that is true and we'd say, amen. But there's another question.

Can you feel him? Do you feel him in this room? Do you feel him working inside of you? Do you know his omnipresence? It's not just, is it something in your mind? Can you tell me where he is? It's does he hunt you down? Is he always with you? And you know, we can add to that this thought, we as a church are meant to be a place marked by the presence of God. You could also say, we can, we are a presence hospital. Amen? So that if you don't feel the presence of God, or if you feel like I just went through the last week totally just white knuckling it, just legalistic, just trying to do duties for the Lord, you know, well, then come to church to get the presence of God back.

Amen? Come to church to get the Holy Spirit flowing in your life again. I'm trying to tell you that's what we're here for, where we could actually be a presence hospital right here. And we got to be honest with each other, right? Oh brother, I'm dry as a bone this week.

I'm just so dry. I can't find God anywhere. And the minute we start to confess things like that, He flows.

He starts flowing again. But that's why we need the church, okay? Even in what I just said, isn't that a different picture of the church than you might have had? It's not just a place where we go. It's not just a place where we show up.

It's a place where we're seeking the presence of God. Amen? Okay, let me show you this psalm a little bit. I don't think we're going to finish the whole thing.

So let me just tell you a few things about it. And Carol knows if I say I'm going to preach short, I'm lying. But I won't go too long, okay? Just let me tell you something about this psalm.

Look right at the start. To the chief musician, for the sons of Korah, a song upon Alamoth. Does anybody know what Alamoth means? It means female singers, okay? So now you have to start to picture this.

This psalm was written for soprano singers. For female singers singing way up high, okay? And it's got three selahs in it. Look in verse three, selah.

Then look in verse seven, selah. And then look in verse 11, selah. So can you all start to imagine with me, what would this psalm sound like if you actually heard a band playing it? It would be pretty amazing, no? What I'm picturing is like a burning, ecstatic female choir singing way up high.

And I'm not gonna try that for you, but it's like, something way up there, right? High and burning and beautiful. And then they go, selah, stop. And then, and then selah, stop.

And then, and then selah, stop. That's really how this psalm would sound. Just a lot better than what I just did, okay? But isn't that beautiful? Think of it, this was actually sung, okay? And in each of these selahs, these three little portions, there's gonna be three points.

I'll just give them to you in case we don't get to all of them, okay? But the first is this. If you're truly a child of God, you can be fearless in His presence, amen? Fearless in His presence. Second point, you can be nourished in His presence.

Just totally nourished, having everything you need in His presence. And the third point is you can be still in His presence. Still, totally relaxed, totally content in His presence.

So those are the three ideas, amen? Fearless in His presence. Nourished in His presence. And finally, still in His presence.

I just want to go word for word here, line by line, and bring out a few things. And I pray, this is what I want you all to get from this, okay? Not just words about God's presence, but the fatness of it, the feeling of it, the warmth of it in your heart, amen? Let's dive in. God, verse 1, is our refuge and strength.

Let me ask you, does He say, God is my refuge? No, God is our refuge, which shows that this is a psalm for the people of God. This whole thing, it's not just for you, not just for you, it's for all of us together. God, isn't that powerful too? He starts with God, God.

Very simple. God is our refuge. Is God your refuge? The word here in Hebrew literally means like a little fort, a little shelter, or a lean-to.

Do you all remember playing in your backyard when you were growing up? I used to play in the backyard, and there was a little hill, and there were some ferns on the hill. And when we were hiding from our friends, we'd go into those ferns, and we'd just cut down a few ferns really fast, like chop, chop, chop, and then just hide right under them. Did you all do anything like that? No? Just a quick lean-to, right? A little fort, just chop, chop, chop, hide under there.

That's what He's talking about here. It's just a quick fort. You run into God.

God is our refuge, our lean-to, our little fort. And this is so rich. There's so much richness right here.

But look, the psalmists, they grow from verse 1 on to verse 7. Because in verse 7, you see a similar word, but it actually means fortress or castle. So you all with me? That's pretty amazing, right? In the first verse, they say, God is my lean-to. I run into Him occasionally.

I try to get under Him occasionally. But then by the time we get to verse 7, He's saying, the God of Jacob is my fortress. He's my mansion.

He's my castle. I'm in Him all the time. Amen? Have you all experienced that growth in the Christian life? We start off and it's just like, I'm going to hide in God.

I'm just going to hide under that teepee for a minute. But as you go on, you start to say, no, I'm always in God. He's my fortress.

He's my castle. He's my refuge. Amen? God is our refuge and strength.

I know I'm going real slow, but if we only cover a few verses, that's fine here. What does it mean that God is your strength? In the Hebrew, this is, He's my hardening agent. He's the thing that makes me harder.

He's the thing that makes me stronger. Does that make any sense? You know that we all just got a new parking lot out here, thanks to generous donations and thanks to the Lord's grace. Did you all see the new parking lot? Amen? So amazing.

I was praying over it the other day and just weeping. You should go look at it and just pray over it and say, it's just so beautiful, every little corner of it. And think the Lord provided that for us.

That's the Lord saying, go on, church, go on. I'm providing for you. I'm providing for you.

So incredible. But, you know, we were told by the people putting in that cement there, take two weeks before you put a car on it, right? Why? Because it has to harden, right? You just want that air to get in there and you want it to harden. And then they told us before the dump truck comes on, take at least a month.

Is that right, Jim? At least a month, maybe more than a month. And so you're waiting for that pavement to just harden and harden. That's what God is right here.

God is our refuge and strength. He wants to actually firm you up, make you stronger as the days go by. And it's just like that parking lot.

You should ask yourself, will you let him? Will you let him firm you up, make you stronger? One of the ways you have to do that is you just have to wait. You have to let him work in your life. You have to slow down.

Just get stronger by the day. God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.

Now, when I read this a few minutes ago, and I noticed this is just going to be more of a teaching, okay? I just, I'm going word for word here. When I read this a few minutes ago, I heard some people read along with me. I think it's because this is one of the most powerful verses ever, no? God is our refuge and strength.

A very present help in trouble. So if you're in trouble, how present is God? Very, okay, good. Always, amen.

The literally, the Hebrew here is, he is diligently present or vehemently present or speedily present. I had in my mind this week the image of the roadrunner, right? Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. Do you remember how fast the roadrunner goes? He's like, super fast, right? That's what it's saying here.

A very present help. A speedily present help. God to the rescue instantly.

I love that. I had a trial this week with some extended family. There was a problem.

I was getting calls at 10 at night, and then the calls were going on into 11 at night and 12 at night, and it was getting to be a hard night with someone in our extended family. And you know what the Lord brought to mind? I'm a very present help in time of trouble. Very present.

And it was like he was right there, right there. Is he that present for you? Amen. And you know what present means right here? I'm gonna go real slow today.

Wow. A very present. Present means findable.

Findable. You can write that down if you like. God is a very findable help.

What does that mean? You say, Lord, where are you? And he's like, I'm right here, right? Lord, I haven't felt you for so long. He's like, go to prayer meeting. I'm right there, right? Lord, I need to feel your presence.

Read your Bible. I'm right there. Very present.

Very present. Right? That's so beautiful. We have a very findable God.

He's not far away. He's not playing games with you. He's not playing hide and go seek.

He's very present in time of trouble. Verse two. I told you this first section here teaches us that in his presence we can be fearless.

Amen. So first you have to learn the lesson of verse one. And I'm amazed at how they wrote this psalm because it's like verse one goes by so quick, doesn't it? God is our refuge and strength.

Very present help in trouble. Boom. And then he says, therefore.

So they want us to learn the lesson of verse one so quickly, huh? But how many know that it could take a decade to learn verse one? It could take three decades to learn verse one. To really figure out that God is present to help me at all times. Amen.

But the psalmist, they move on really quick. They're singing in soprano like this. And what do they say then? Therefore, we will not fear.

Amen. So if you learn that God is close to you today, then you can say, therefore, I will not fear. Therefore, I will not fear.

But you have to learn the lesson of verse one. That he's your refuge. He's your strength.

He's your very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. Now what does it say in verse two? Everybody look at it with me.

We're just going to study a few more verses of scripture here. Does it say, therefore, we will not fear if our finances go bad? Does it say that? No. Does it say, therefore, we will not fear if one of our friends deserts us? Does it say that? No.

Therefore, we will not fear if a tragedy happens in our family. Does it say that? No. What does it say? It says, therefore, we will not fear if the earth is removed.

Right? Can you all imagine some big evil giant coming to the greater Portland area and taking the entire greater Portland area up by its roots? All of our houses are wrecked in one moment. And the giant takes this Portland area and chucks it in the sea. And the waves are flying all over that.

And it's just absolute chaos, absolute cataclysmic chaos everywhere. You imagining that? But what does he say? Even if that were to happen, we will not fear. Amen.

Isn't that amazing? It's like they want us to go way beyond the worst thing that could ever happen in our lives. And if God is your refuge, you don't even have to fear. Amen.

Now, I'm just saying that right now. But it might take you a decade for that to come and pierce your soul. But I really hope that some of this gets on you.

Okay. If we really believe in this God right here. If he's your refuge, if he's your strength, then if your house gets taken away, you won't fear.

If the worst thing happens to you, no fear, no fear. And trust me, easier said than done, right? Amen. You know that I'm growing in that with you too, right? All of us have to grow in that.

But that's such a deep lesson. The absolute worst. I think of people in my family eventually passing away, right? You think of some of the changes that could come in the next five years, 10 years.

And you think, how am I going to do that? But he says, we won't fear if we keep running into God, running into God, running into God. Amen. Have a Selah moment with God right now.

Pause. Think about it. Verse four.

Let's go deeper. Just a few more minutes, okay? By a few more minutes, I mean two hours, okay? Verse four. Not only are we fearless in his presence, but we are nourished by his presence.

Amen. Not only can you, you can be really fearless. In perfect love, it casts out all fear.

We can get to the point where we are fearless. But then he goes a step further. And he says, there is a river.

Anybody here believe there is a river? Can anybody tell me what the river is? Anybody tell me a little louder? Amen. The river is the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Write that down in your notes. If you're taking notes, the river is the Holy Spirit. You can go to Psalm chapter one, and we see that river.

You grow by the river, and you're stable. You can go to Ezekiel chapter 47, and you see a river. And you go deeper into the river, and that river is the Holy Spirit.

You go to John four, John seven, and you see rivers of living water springing up from our belly, and that is the Holy Spirit. Amen. But I love what they say right here.

And imagine they're singing this, and they go, there is a river. And we should all just stop and ask, do you believe there's a river? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? Do you believe it's like this? There's a river right there, Jack. Caden, there's a river right there.

Or I could tell you all, you know, there's a beautiful river in Yarmouth, the Royal River. And there's a walk along the Royal River. That's about two miles long.

And you could go there and be so refreshed, and you can bring strollers for your kids. And it's just an amazing river. There's a river in Yarmouth.

And what are your reactions going to be? There's only one of two reactions, right? One is, okay, let's go to Yarmouth. Let's check it out. Let's walk by the river and get refreshed.

Or the other reaction is what? Well, I don't care. I've seen many rivers. I don't need to go to Yarmouth, right? And all of us, we can be that way with the Holy Spirit too.

I'm telling you right now, there's a river. And it's up to you. Do you want to stop and get refreshed at that river? Do you want to get in touch with that river called the Holy Spirit? Do you want to be nourished by the Holy Spirit? It says, there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, right? Now, what about those streams? I just want you all to know that that river has streams.

Amen. There's a big river. His name is the Holy Spirit.

He's available for you. He's screamed to the church since the day of Pentecost. Hey, everybody, I'm available to you.

I'm going to pour out of my spirit upon all flesh at Pentecost. He's here. There is a river.

It's for you. You can be baptized in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, bear the fruits of the Spirit, have everything that the Spirit has to offer. It's for you.

Do you want it? And then it says, He has streams. Isn't that amazing? Streams. These streams are going to go out and the streams are what make you glad.

Amen. Isn't that what it says there? The streams make you glad. So let me ask you, what are some of the streams of the Holy Spirit? Just think about this with me.

What are the streams of the Holy Spirit? You open your Bible. A stream. And you get glad.

Amen. You go to church. It's a stream of His presence.

And He gives you joy. Amen. What are some other streams? Anybody? What's that? Prayer.

Amen. You go to pray. You make that resolution.

I'm actually going to open my mouth. I'm actually going to do what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6. I'm going to shut the door. I'm going to seek God in the secret place.

And what does He do? He rewards you openly, right? That stream opens up and that water, that refreshment goes into your life. Isn't that beautiful? Is there anybody here who believes in a river with streams? Yeah. Do you see what I'm getting to? And I just want to drive home this point.

These streams are coming your way. And you can either open up to them or you can ignore them. Amen.

Kiara and I went on a lot of hikes on our vacation. And you can walk these paths and you see a stream right there. And you can just keep walking by.

Or you can stop and say, Oh, that's so beautiful. That's refreshing. That's so nice.

Right? So are you doing that with the Holy Spirit? Are you stopping for those streams? Are you praying? What are some other streams? Amen. Peace. If God says to you, Have peace.

And you say, I'll take it. I'll take the stream. I want to get my canoe going down that stream.

Right? Take it. Or He says, Forgive your aunt. Right? And you say, No, I don't choose that.

I don't want to go down that stream. I want to be bitter. I don't like her.

I don't like what she did to me. Then that stream gets closed up, right? The beavers start playing in that stream and it gets all damned up. Right? What about the stream of hearing the voice of God? This happened to me the other day actually.

And I'm just trying to drive this point home so you all understand this. I was sitting outside and watching Shiloh play. And it was the most beautiful day.

And the light was coming through the trees. And Kiara was over there. And she was happy.

And everything was so amazing. And then I could feel the Lord saying to me. It was like, It was like, I'm about to speak to you, Sam.

Right? I could hear that his voice was about to come. I don't know if you've all ever experienced something like that. And in that moment, it was like, Should I answer my cell phone? Or should I wait for the Lord to speak? Right? Should I get still before the Lord right now? Or should I go and get anxious and get busy over here? Right? So there's that moment in your life where he's saying, Look, a stream is coming.

I'm about to set you free. I'm about to speak to you. And you have a choice.

You can either say, Okay, Lord, speak. Your servant is listening. Or you can say, I don't care.

I mean, what's happening on Facebook? Right? Do you see what I'm getting at? And you know what the Lord spoke to me? I'll just share with you because it was so powerful. He just said, And again, I was so content. I was so happy.

I was like, I couldn't ask for anything more in life right now. I feel the Lord's presence. Everything is so good.

But I'm sitting in that chair. And you know what the Lord spoke to me? He said, The time is short and the veil has been torn. And it was like, What? What, Lord? But it was so glorious because it was like the Lord saying, Sam, you can come even closer.

And not in a bad way, not in a legalistic way. He was just saying, Come on, buddy. I'm even closer than you think.

Is this getting across to anybody today? Are you hearing me? Okay. So not only can we be fearless in the Lord's presence, but we can be completely nourished in the Lord's presence. Amen.

I mean, if there's a river, and it has streams, and we get glad and happy from these streams, and it says in second Peter, that God, in his divine power, gives us all that we need for life and godliness. Then why are many of us as Christians going around saying, I just feel so depressed. I'm so anxious.

I'm so dry. We have to come to believe in this river right here. Amen.

There is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. Get in touch with the river.

If he opens up a stream to you, don't ignore it. If he says, go pray to me. Or if he says, go enjoy going to Hannaford's to get your groceries and have communion with me at Hannaford.

I don't care what he says. Whatever it is, open up the stream and take it. Amen.

God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early.

I love the old King James there. Isn't that nice? Right early. It sounds like pirate language.

Right early. What does your translation say at the end of verse 5? God shall help her. Amen.

Right at the break of dawn. When morning dawns, has anyone ever been in a place of trouble or confusion or sin or temptation in the night? And you think, I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. But you know what the Bible says? Lamentations.

It says, his mercies are new. When? Every morning. Amen.

His mercies are new every morning. Sometimes we try to act all super spiritual, right? Like, no, I got to figure this out tonight. And you know what God is saying to you? Go to sleep.

My mercies will be renewed in the morning. Amen. What does it say here? God shall help her right at the break of dawn.

Right in the morning. I love that. So beautiful.

Two more verses and then we'll stop. And as we end the service, I am going to just open it up up here for prayer, okay? So if anybody has anything you need in prayer, this is a stream. I just want to open up this stream, okay? If you need prayer for physical healing, prayer for spiritual healing, if you want to accept Jesus into your heart today, come up.

That stream is open. Amen. Amen.

I just think of, I went 29 years just rejecting Jesus. Just no Jesus in my life, whatever. And I was so sad and I was so depressed and I drank so much and I was so bad and I was so mean to my friends.

But I just tell you, if you want to get closer to Jesus today, if you want to accept Him, if you want to make Him your Lord, just do it. You can come up here after. You can talk to anyone at the church today.

Keep those streams open. Amen. Open the stream.

Come on, everybody. Let's open the stream to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Two more verses and we'll be done here. Verse six. Check this out.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. This is a picture of the world. Everybody sitting here can agree that this is what the world looks like.

Look at verse six. The nations, they're raging. The kingdoms, they moved.

The news is going back and forth. Fox is arguing with NBC, whatever, right? Everybody's raging. All the nations are against each other.

Everybody's looking at Israel. The nations, everything is raging, right? This is a perfect description of the world right now. But what can God do? It says, He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

Isn't that beautiful? Can we stop just looking at all the chaos in the world? And what's this news channel saying? And what's that news channel saying? And what's going on in that country? What's going on in that country? And can we just say, if God utters one word, everything will melt, amen? And we forget how powerful prayer is. Right there, verse six would be such a wonderful prayer for us to bring before the Lord, no? Just say, Lord, melt Portland. Lord, melt my family's hearts, amen? Just take this to the Lord.

We get so embroiled in everything, right? And we think, if I go out and fight with them, that'll get it, right? If I go tell them who's right, that'll get it. If I put the right bumper sticker on my car, that'll do it, right? Or you could just pray, Lord, melt them, melt them. And realize that prayer is powerful, amen? I love that picture.

It's like grilled cheese, right? Melt, melt their hearts, Lord. Melt them down. Hearts of stone, hearts of flesh, melt them, Lord.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. We can end with this, but I want everybody to understand something, okay? Again, this is a teaching.

Let's just get verse seven under our belts. Look at it with me. The Lord of hosts is with us.

I just want you all to understand what with means, okay? The word in Hebrew here is imanu. So does this sound familiar? Imanu el. That's what this verse is talking about.

Imanu el. What does that sound like? Imanu el, yeah. So this verse is screaming, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is with us.

Imanu el, Imanu el. But we often have a wrong picture of what it means for Christ to be with us, okay? And just give me a few more minutes, but you have to understand this, okay? When I used to think Imanu el, I would think here I am, and He's right here. He's with me, right? Bob, would you mind helping me, brother? Could you come up here for a second? Bob is a big man, so I'm going to use him for this.

So lock arms with me, Bob. Okay, that's what I thought it looked like. Imanu el, right? The Lord of hosts is with us.

Bob is with me, right, brother? Amen, he's with me. But that's not what it means. Imanu actually comes from a word which means to darken, to overshadow, or to eclipse.

Amen? So this is what it looks like if I say Bob is with me. Could you stand here, brother? Okay, now he's with me. Do you all see what I'm after? Now it looks more like Bob is my bodyguard, right? I hope you don't mind.

That's the picture of Imanu. The Lord of hosts is with us. It actually means He's eclipsing us.

He's darkening us. He's so over us. You could translate it this way.

He's got us covered. Amen? The Lord of hosts has got us covered. Thank you, Bob.

I was going to use Chris for that illustration, but he's way back there. Is it your birthday? No, it's not Chris's birthday, everybody, okay? Good. Can you all think of that, though? I just want to drive this home and then we'll end here.

The Lord of hosts is with us. And it doesn't mean He's just locking arms with us. It means the Lord of hosts is eclipsing us.

The Lord of hosts is so over us. I love that phrase in English. He's got us covered.

Amen? He's over us. And I heard this one preacher, Brian Guerin, say, then how did Elisha heal that young boy? Remember when he just laid down on him his whole body? And this guy said it's because Elisha was eclipsed by God. He was so full of God, there was no more Elisha left.

Amen? Or Peter, how did Peter heal with just... No, it wasn't Peter, it was Paul. How did Paul heal with just one of his handkerchiefs? Because he was eclipsed by God. Amen? He was so full of God, people would walk by and just, okay, I'm healed.

That's for real. I want more believers in this church who are eclipsed by God. Amen? The Lord of hosts is with us.

He's over us. He's eclipsing us. And I want you to get one more thing here.

The Lord is with us. That's not what it says. It says the Lord of hosts is with us.

What does that mean? I like Chris Tomlin's translation. The Lord of angel armies is eclipsing us. Amen? That means it's not just like Bob right here, but Bob and then angel armies flanking him out that way.

Angel armies flanking him out that way. And you can't even see Sam anymore. Because the Lord of hosts has so eclipsed me with his angels all around.

I'm nothing. I'm done. Amen? You see how that works? Isn't that a glorious chant right there? The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Hallelujah. Can I just invite you all?