The Secret Place

i said lift him up a little more would you do that oh we worship you jesus we worship you jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah they've been they've ushered us into the presence of the lord isaiah put it this way he said in the year that king uzziah died we know what was going on there sad times things was rough he went to make the statement he said i saw the lord high and lifted up and his train filled the temple he begins to talk about what he was caught up in yeah we started off with isaiah uzziah dying but he ushered himself into the presence of god and put god on the throne where he belongs in this place today would you do that right now we have worshiped but i want you to put him where he belongs right now would you do that god you're high lifted up we sing about you god we sing about your goodness and your mercy we asked god that you would reach down for the next little bit speak into our lives speak to us oh god hallelujah you're worthy god hallelujah holy holy is the lord god almighty you're worthy god hallelujah in the name of jesus the name of jesus thank you pastor for this great opportunity i i do not take this for granted at all and uh don't you love our pastor yeah i'm glad they're getting i'm glad you're taking him away sister michelle i'm glad you're taking him away he needs to go away for a little bit but i want you to understand from my side he he stretches me i know i sit in his office and he gets to talking about visions and things that how many you know god's able there's faith being spoken those rooms when we're sitting there talking about the future for this church i'm just putting a a word out there god's got great things for chattanooga he does and i want to be right in the middle of it amen i love the church i i want to put a plug in for my security team i know pastor he goes down the road sometime these guys do a great job uh our guest services putting everything out and security team of watching over things i appreciate them don't you yes and i know he called me up here to preach today but i just felt like saying that i i love this church i love what god is doing here i wanted i want to say this this morning though for the last couple of days i have i have carried a burden now understand this a pastor asked me a week ago to speak you know and sometimes at my age you're starting it takes a little while to get things off the ground and uh but when he when he asked i did have direction but then later on into the week there was a burden that was laid on me and i hope today and i really feel this in the spirit that somebody's going to get direction somebody's going to get some some direct words whether it be here in this building or online because i thank god for the ability to speak to those online today but god's going to give you some things you're going to be able to get through some things that you didn't think you could mama she needed a little bit of direction today and i thank god for using me in that way i'm humbled today to say we've got something that i hope that by the time you leave today that you've got you've got it set in mind you've got it set you know psalms 91 and i've used this scripture before and many of you have probably quoted it psalms 91 verse 1 and 2. says this he that dwelleth 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 will i trust mama lift your hands with us once more the name of jesus god we ask for the next few moments use us god speak to each and every one of us this in this room give us the direction we need for life god give us the direction we need to take the next step god be our refuge today be our refuge today in the name of jesus stretch your hand up and say thank you lord thank you for your word thank you jesus hallelujah blessed be the name of the lord bless it be the name of the lord god bless you you may be seated a few weeks ago i had the opportunity to set this was at my job but i had an opportunity to sit down with a family and i say a husband and wife that they they came here 20 years ago they are they're bosnians and i ask her and so if by chance word gets back to her she said you can use this but this lady and her husband began to share with me their experience with tears in their eyes about how that they got here and how that all of that started and she was talking about war she was talking about things that was going on in her country and she was she had a child and she was telling us about her son that her husband was taken away from her and taken into a prison and there he was placed and i met him and talked to him and and again both of them in tears in their eyes and here it is 20 years later and they're talking about uh what had happened in their life and they're they're talking about their experience and she told me she said while we were in these camps while they had us held our children were not allowed to say anything they weren't allowed to when they would hear them cry he said she said there would be somebody walk in and all you hear is a gunshot and she was explaining how that she lived through this with tears in her eyes and and she said we discovered how that we could take the materials that we had in the room we could take them and we could build a buffer zone and build this this sound proof little area where that when mothers had their babies and their babies were crying that we would take them and put them into this area and and just kind of cover them with this with with these claws and with all of the material they had around them she said this was our quiet zone because they had lost many babies during this time now i'm telling you this is because i've got somewhere to go with it but she was explaining how that that their babies were taken from them just because it was too loud somebody heard a baby cry and decided it just needed to go away i sat and watched both of them share their stories and how that he finally was able to get released and how he had lost all the weight that he had lost and she told me something she said now again understand belief systems may not be just as we would think they should be but she said in my mind she said i knew that i had to make it for my son she said there was things come to mind that was horrible things but she said i knew i had to make it for my child she said my faith is what kept me i've often times thought about how that we as as children of god as people that believed in the almighty god we have got a war that is that is just stricken us that we know nothing of you don't really know exactly what you're fighting today well i know that this this and this but what what really what is it i've asked him to put up this scripture ephesians the sixth chapter verse 12 says this for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against rulers of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places there is a war that is going on in your life right now and many of you could probably say that i get it i understand what you're talking about brother gibson but there are things that is happening in your life right now that is a spiritual attack upon your life there are things that you are faced with and and forgive me for heading this direction this morning but we have got some of our our own home family here this morning that you understand what i'm saying when i say this but i want to be direct with you today is there are things that that has attacked your family and attacks your body and i am going to tell you this morning it is a spiritual thing i felt this in the holy ghost the last few days is god is wanting us to understand that what we are fighting now it's not something of this world it's not just just another headache folks it's not just another backache it's not just another symptom i i don't want to spiritualize everything today but i want you to understand this that that we're wrestling against things that is in high places the spirit of the antichrist is this is to wear the saint out that's the spirit of the antichrist and if he can wear you down he's got you if he can put something in your mind that says you know what oh i don't know if i'm going to make it through this he's got you if i can just get them to stay home and and just kind of isolate themselves he's got you folks i i want you to understand this morning that the scripture tells us in our text we read says if we would dwell in the secret place of the most high the psalmist writes this because he is saying that outside of this place outside of this safe place it's a bad world outside of what you know today there's a lot going on out there there there's a lot that is happening in our world today there's a lot that there's a lot of struggles that is in our world and and and the apostle paul writes it and says it's so clear he said that these things that you're wrestling are not flesh and blood these things that you are up against are not just flesh and blood they're not there are principalities there are powers there's things that's happening in the spirit world there's things that is going on out there and i want to bring this to you today if you can find that place i want to challenge you today find that secret place today find where you need to be with god find that faith inside of you that says i'm going to hold on and i'm not going to let anything go find that place that you can say god you are my refuge you are my strengths proverbs 18 verse 10 says it this way the name of the lord is a strong tower the righteous run into it how many are grateful for the name of the lord that you can call on that name no matter what's going on no matter what's facing you you today or tomorrow you can say in the name of jesus how many have ever had that happen and you said the name of jesus and everything just seems to it's like everything just seems to come down the turmoils the troubles of this world the things that's going on around us that that finding that secret place in our hearts and in our minds saying god i want to find that safe place i want to find that quiet place no matter what's going on around me i want to find that place in the book of daniel the sixth chapter and sorry about this guys i i started adding to it as we was going and i did not add to your list but daniel the sixth chapter we find the setting there where darius has king darius has set rulers he has these men that are ruling 120 that he put in rule and then he had presidents that he set up he had three different presidents that set over these that were there one of those the very first one that darius picked guess who it was daniel a man that believed in god the scripture goes on to tell us that daniel begins to rule along with everybody else and but daniel's practice is is that he's got a secret place daniel goes to his bed he goes to his lodge wherever he was staying and he opens up the window and he kneels down and he begins to pray toward jerusalem he's praying in his quiet time seeking god gets up goes back to his daily works but the scripture tells us in daniel 6 that there was a group of these leaders and even his own the ones that was he was that was under him and the ones that was beside him they were jealous they began to say hey you know what we don't like the way that he's doing things so we're gonna we're gonna trick him and they begin to tell others hey i want you to vote on this today hello got a little politics involved let's vote on this today that we're going to vote that the king would write an order that anybody in the next 30 days that that says anything about any other god has any kind of outside of the king that he will go to the lion's den and be they already had this plan after the scripture tells us after daniel hears of this writing what does daniel do the scripture tells us that daniel goes to his place that he above he opens up the windows toward jerusalem and he gets on his knees and he begins to pray he knows what is going on out there but why is it that daniel would take and and he would make such a such a big deal of this folks because he found his secret place he knew what brought happiness in his life he knew what could solve whatever was going on in his life he knew what could calm this this crazy mind that he had he knew what could could could solve all of those things that he was thinking scripture said that he gets in there and he prays toward jerusalem and as he's praying the ones that are standing outside the door says hey we've got him yep i see his window open we know what he's doing they bring him to darius and darius understood at that point he knew he had been tricked but he had signed a decree scripture says that they take daniel we've all heard the story but i want you to get this today daniel they say we you've broken the law they take daniel and they stick him in the lion's den i found it interesting that the relationship that daniel had with darius very interesting that that darius didn't say it in black and white but darius believed in this god that he was talking about there there was there was faith that he saw through daniel may i tell you today there's people looking at your faith today you've got people that are in in high places that notice your faith daniel knew what was coming so they led him to the lion's den cast him into the lion's den now darius seals it off with his own seal that your god that you serve that he he will deliver you i think darius already understood what was getting ready to happen i really do seals it off the scripture says that darius the entire night he didn't sleep he didn't eat didn't call music in to soothe his conscience and his he said you know there's something in me that says that that faith that that man had there's a part of me that says i i sure hope he's still there in the morning people looking at us saying i i missed you today where were you they know where you're at the next morning walks out there takes the stone away he hollers for daniel if you're in there daniel let me know if you're there i want to hear your voice the scripture tells us that daniel cried out to him so live on okay i'm okay i i tell you this because there are some of you today that have faced lions dens there there are some of you that sit here this morning or this afternoon that that you've got things going on in your life and and you're saying what now what next you're waiting for that next shoe to drop and you don't know why this is happening may i tell you your face your faith is in front of you scripture tells us let your light so shine before those around you before men don't don't give up on god today don't give up on god don't give up on the fact that god is able well i know god's able but this little bottle right here can help me out don't give up on god i i want you to get that today is is we have got to find that secret place that secret place that says god though things is going crazy out there though all of these things are coming against me though everything is happening around me and i don't quite get it i don't understand it that there is that secret place that if you will the scripture said he that dwelleth in other words he that liveth and stayeth he that that stays in that that's that's that place that i don't want to leave he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high there is a shadow that you are underneath i don't have it but i should have brought it well i think maybe how many remember this right here y'all remember those uh that that was neat uh it was in my coat pocket this morning and i thought i'd laid it out on the dresser and i didn't but it reminded me this morning that that there there is there is a shadow in that scripture it talks about the shadow of the almighty there is an anointing and there there is a power that comes with abiding under that shadow we've got a man that leads us he is our pastor and may i tell you that god has god has him in place every one of us that said here this morning that you call him pastor there is an anointing and there is a power that lies within staying underneath that i i don't want to break down and do a bible study today maybe you can grab it and run with it bro but there there is there is an anointing that falls underneath a husband and a wife he he's given that that authority to be over that household and there's an anointing that comes if you stay underneath the shadow see there was something about daniel's faith in god it didn't matter where he went he was in the lion's den he was getting ready to be eaten the scripture tells us that daniel explained to them what happened he said god sent angels to shut the mind the lion's mouth do you realize the power that lies in the fact that you are underneath that shadow that you are underneath that anointing that comes that flows that you can call on the angels of god to descend and god take take control over this a lot of you that know it uh know who she is um i grew up with a girl that her husband pastors over in nashville now her name is carla duke how do you remember carla duke she won't mind me saying this because this is her testimony she was i remember where they lived she attended the church that my dad passed her and she went out into the road to get the mail and got out in the street where a car was tried to i think she was trying to run across the street or something car hit her flipped her uh her her hair you know where she got a lot of hair her hair wrapped around her face she had skin marks but her face was untouched whenever they when they got to her and she was really messed up bad and and that's always amazed me how that god takes takes things that are around us he takes things that are around us and he he buffers us and he strengthens us he he has people that's in the right place at the right time and whatever's going on in your life things that's happening around you he has somebody that walks up just in time to to to keep you from that that harm and that danger those things and and i it just that was one of those things that amazed me about about what was taking place and we we know that that we talk about the hair and we talk about the glory that that comes in that and how that is part of her blessing but but it was always amazing to me how that all just happened her her hair wrapped around her head and it was not not a scratch and i thought you know that's that's part of living for god that is part of living for god and trusting god how many of you ever been in a situation where you called on the name of of the lord and then all of a sudden things changed i was i was thinking about this just a few moments ago when i was standing back there my mother one night i'm coming home and and i was probably up to no good because it's late i don't even remember what it was driving this old oldsmobile and my mother felt that to wake up and pray for me she woke up and prayed for me and all of a sudden something started going on in front of my car and i finally slowed down and got off the road and found out that the wheel was coming off of it and when i got home after we got it all fixed and got home my mom said why are you so late i said well mama will almost come off my car she said what time was it i told her the time and that was the time she was praying i'm not saying all of this just to try to make up stories i'm talking about how that god works and how that god performs miracles in spite of what's going on in our lives there is there is something to be said about your faith god that i have that place that i can go in my prayer time say god whatever it is going on i i how many you ever felt that there was something going on just i don't i can't put my finger on it but i know something is happening and and the whole time there's a war going on and all we know is this little simple things going on in our life but the truth is there is an enemy that's trying to take you out trying to take your family trying to take your children and here we are we're worried about this one little thing that's going on and the whole time said god says i got it i got it i know exactly what's going on i know what's going on around you i i don't know and i know god didn't give me no names don't worry about that you know i don't i i don't do that stuff but i do do this when god lays something on my heart some of you in this room know when something said to brother g i'm going to come to you and i'm going to tell you it may not be some eloquent word just be something simple but you understand what i'm talking about i want you to know this today in this room some of you've been struggling with some things and say that sounds general yeah but there's some things that's about to drive you insane there's some things that that are that are really getting to you and you don't know i i want you to understand this today that god is allowing some things to happen in your life so that he can get glory he's allowing some things to take place to strengthen your faith and said it this morning didn't i sometimes god will lead us through some things and we don't know why it's happening and you've got two options you can either give up on it or you can do as job said and say though he slay me yet will i trust you lord i'm still going to trust in whatever is going on whatever is happening i'm still going to trust you no matter what it is and physical things is going on there's things going on and i know these things happen but there's some things that are spiritual attacks upon your life may i tell you that this morning in faith there's things that the enemy's out to take you and you know his face you know what he looks like but he's wanting to take and he's wanting to get you he's wanted to get your spirit down he's going to get your faith down pull yourself back in and pull yourself back into that secret place there is a place and you know where that's at you know exactly where that's at there is a place that only you and him meet nobody else meets in that place but you and god pull yourself back into alignment with him and say god i i don't i don't i don't understand it but i do know that i've got peace in the midst of storms i know that i've got a joy in the midst of whatever is happening in my life i know that i've got direction and deliverance in the middle of all of that's going on around me if i align myself with him i know this that he's going to make a way through this he's going to make a way for me to get through this this morning or this afternoon wherever you are i want you to know this if you're willing to align with him if you're willing to get back into the shadow that place that place of the whole the most high god that place that only you and him go there's no guarantee that i can give you but i can tell you this god will he will i can't guarantee that i can tell you this that i've seen him work i know that god is able i know that he's a miracle worker how many of you have had things happen in your life and you can say i saw the hand of god reach down and touch that situation i want to strengthen your faith today and let you know that these things are not not come to destroy you they've not come to destroy you they're here for a reason can you can you agree with me today that there's things that is happening in your life and you can't understand that can you agree with me on that there's health things that's going on and i i i can't understand that i don't understand it i can't give you an answer but what i can do is say that god will give you peace in the midst of whatever is happening he's going to give you peace right in the midst of that if you will find that secret place would you find that place get back to it find that place in him and say god i don't understand it i don't know why i don't know why this is going on i don't know if it's going to take me under but whatever it is i know that you you you've got it you've got it how many of you struggled with fear yeah doubt those things that you wonder if god can is he even listening to my prayer we're talking real life here i'm not i'm not here painting some pretty picture but if the enemy wants you that bad what do you think's on the other side of this what do you think he's got planned for you if he's fighting you this bad horton you've got a ministry that's just that god's leading you in and things are starting you guys are doing doing things for the kingdom of god do you think for a moment that he's overlooked any the enemy would even overlook that no god is my refuge he's my strength present help time trouble he didn't he didn't bring you all the way to this point in your life across this room today i want you to stand with me if you would there's some of you today that because i live with you i know that you're facing some trials and tests i know that that that's not some mystery and that's not something that god has revealed that's just who we are we live with each other and around each other and we know that we face things but this is something that i can't i can't figure out but i do know this we are wrestling some some pretty rough stuff paul why did you put it that way paul because flesh flesh and blood blood is some of those things that you and i can we can get right down with it we can take care of it whatever it is these things that we wrestle are not flesh and they're not blood you don't hear a lot of people talk about it much anymore but may i tell you this morning there's angels in this room and they're here on assignment for you and there are the enemies set his out too and they are on assignment for you and if you would just recognize today that god just as you shut the lion's mouth you'll dispatch angels to be around me in whatever i'm going through whether it be a physical whether it be a spiritual where whether it be an emotional thing you've put the angels of god around me and i thank you for that this morning god can you recognize the presence of god in this place today he's here and he's drawing us to come to that secret place i want to invite you today find that place maybe you're in this room and you want to make that that walk and say god my faith is weak and i've got some stuff going on would you would you bring me back into that place that only you you and i talk has nothing to do with anybody else it's just you and i god because may i tell you this there is coming a day that the conversation that goes on is only going to be between you and him and you're not going to have a whole lot to say because that conversation will be more more than likely one-sided and he'll make his mind up based upon how you handled things and what you did god let me find that place that only you and i go i want to invite you today if you would would you come find yourself place here i know these things are these this is sobering folks i i know it is but whatever valley you've got to walk through today whatever valley you're going to walk through tomorrow know this that god right in the middle of that you give me peace whatever it is you give me peace in the name of jesus across this room why don't you surrender to him right now would you lift your hands to him in the midst of my storms in the midst of my my battles that i go through god that i i know that you're there wherever i go i know your word says if if i decide to go to the mountaintops you're there and no matter if i descend and i go to the lowest point you're there god help us today to find that secret place help us god she would created me that clean heart that right mind that right spirit to have but no matter what i'm faced with in the name of jesus that's it stretch your hands out to him right now in the name of jesus oh in your name jesus hallelujah oh that's right come on find the lord right now lord i know i sure need you today i know i surely do need you today jesus i'm at the end of the road lord i don't know what else to do i surely do i do need you jesus i do need you jesus hallelujah oh come on somebody reach for him i need you lord i know that you're in control jesus trusting you lord i'm trusting you lord i'm trusting you jesus i'm trusting you hallelujah to the lamb hallelujah jesus i love you savior i need you lord i need you lord did you find somebody close by would you pray with them come on connect with them let the lord use you today lord my brother needs you today my sister lord she's reaching for you today come on that's right reach out pray with someone oh god honor their faith lord honor their faith jesus come on that's right hold on honor their desire lord to be close to you that's right in the name of jesus honor their faith lord today speak o god into their life lord reveal to them jesus your power your plan and your purpose i pray for that in the name of jesus in the name of jesus the name in the name of jesus yeah that's right i love you lord i need you jesus i trust you lord i need to hear from you with a clear voice jesus with a clear voice lord let me know it's you let me know lord what's going on i pray your hand upon my life yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh that's right come on believe with somebody connect with somebody right now lord you can do a work in them jesus you can make a way in them lord god of glory you can open doors for them yes you can jesus yes jesus you can do great things in their lives hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah oh that's right come on walk into his presence come to love you today jesus we've come to love you today jesus i've come to love you jesus