The Hands Of God | Student Pastor Zach Hammond

Genesis chapter number one verse number one as we go to the Lord go to the word of the Lord tonight so thankful to be in his presence and he is here tonight he is here tonight I give honor to pastor and first lady so thankful that they are back from Chile and what a wonderful word we heard this morning amen from our pastor and we're so thankful for the word spoke to my life I know it spoke to many many in this room today I know that there there will be families that gather all across uh the county all across some of you have already got plans some have already uh are already having Christmas you know I'm I'm the bad one in the in the in the group that I I'm like we can just open presents now you know um we don't have to wait till then or whatever we can we can go ahead and just start fixing stuff now you know make some brownies now we we can just draw this thing out you know and so I know some have already they're already having plans and I know that this time of the year just rewinding back I we lost I lost both of my grandparents a few years back just just a few months apart and that first Christmas without them a change Chang the schedule it changed the scope it changed how we did everything and whose house we ate at and all those kind of things and I I know pastor ministered this morning I know that there'll be parties that happen there'll be tables with empty chairs and I know um sometimes maybe that's a prodal maybe it's someone who just didn't come home for Christmas or whatever the case may be but um I I want to preach uh somewhat in the same vein as pastor this morning as feel the Lord uh pushing me in this direction but um I I pray that the holiday season that that if nothing else you feel the peace and the joy in the goodness of God it's here tonight in this room and it doesn't it doesn't really matter what circumstances look like around you God is in the middle of your life and God is working in your life and I I I hope that that perhaps by the time we leave here tonight that you see God's hands in your life I said God's hands in your life in a very specific way I pray that I can communicate to you tonight what the Lord has given to me that it would open up your eyes to see life and just a little bit of a different angle Genesis chapter 1 and verse number one it's a good place to start the entire Bible starts here in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and the Earth was without form and void and darkness everybody say darkness dark darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved notice that the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light in the first pages of scripture we see that there is Darkness then God moved upon the face of the waters then God speaks into existence God moves and then God speaks God moves upon the waters then he speaks light into existence and when God's put something God puts certain things into motion if you see in creation he puts things into motion and he never has to put his hands on it again he set the the sun in orbit he set the Earth in orbit he did all of these things and if you really get to studying it and you really get into the scientifical facts of all just one little dial off on what would seem like the mass universe and we wouldn't be here change the angle of the sun just one degree we're we're gone you talking about global warming it's a barbecue one degree he sets it all into motion moves and speaks and all of a sudden here we are it all just works the Earth is still spinning Isaiah 48:12 I hope to tie this together this evening Isaiah 48:12 says hearken unto me oh Jacob and Israel my I called I am he I am the first and I also am the last mine hand also has laid the foundation of the earth my hand has laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand has spanned the heavens when I called unto them they'll stand up together he says my hand has laid the foundation of the Earth but my right hand has spanned the heavens but when I call they'll stand up together I hope that you can see this I pray that the god that God gave me this I can just somehow get it all to you tonight and uh some of you are thinking yeah I hope you do it quick and in a hurry um but I'm going to I'm going to work to move through this simple thought we're just going to talk about the hands of God the hands of God the hands of God if you would take both your hands and and lift them to heaven and let's ask God to bless our time tonight in the word Lord we thank you so much for your word it's such a such a lamp it's such a light it's such a sword it's all the things that we need in life and I pray that tonight it would be that eye openening factor for somebody that it's not just the revelation of who you are and the revelation of what you want to do in our lives but it's relevant to where we stand in this season of our life right now Lord I pray God for every individual under the sound of my voice tonight that they would hear your word and your word on God it's not by anything we can do it's not by my might or my power but by your spirit God that we operate and do all things Lord we give you glory tonight in Jesus mighty name we pray amen and amen come on give him the best praise you've given him all night come on clap your hands all you people and shout unto God with a voice of Triumph come on I think we can do a little better than that has God ever done anything for you Hallelujah Jesus we bless you tonight God you're so good to us Jesus name you may be seated tonight there is darkness before there is demonstration God's nature is revealed in the very early pages of scripture it depict and show us that Elohim the Creator the beginning and the end the first and the last he moves and he speaks Jesus cries in the darkness in the gospels my God my God God why hast Thou forsaken me in the second cry in the darkness he cries it is finished there is a demonstration and the veil is torn and all the pages of scripture begin to unfold and I've come to just simply preach to somebody tonight that the light is coming that there is a changing season the Sun is going to rise in your life there is a change that's coming but the hands of God everybody say the hands of God must be upon my life they must be upon my life John 16 and verse number 33 is one of my favorite verses of scripture because I believe it sums up who we are as Christians it says simply this these things I have spoken to you that in me you might have peace it sounds great but he says in this world you're going to have tribulation or you're going to have trouble and Jesus spoke all kinds of things here in John 16 he's talking I am the vine and you are the branches it's a lot of things that we would love to read and we would love uh to be able to embrace but ultimately he gets down and he finishes it all out with in me you're going to have peace but in this world you're going to have trouble and it's a very it's it's it's a it's a very odd statement here he says but be of good cheer I have overcome the world it's easy to comprehend John 3:16 but if we could really comprehend tonight John 16:33 it would really keep a lot of people from leaving God it would really Encompass who we are called to be as Christians yes you're going to have trouble but you've got an overcoming savior yes you've got the good days but you're also going to have some days where God's trying to teach you something in the darkness there's going to be moments where there's going to be darkness before there's going to be demonstration there's going to be times in your life where it doesn't look like you thought it was going to look like right but there's light coming he says I saw read just some time back in studying and and it's just kind of stuck with me one poet said that none comes to God but through trouble none comes to God but through trouble I can think back over my life to the people who ran from God and ultimately what turned them around was some trouble coming knocked on their door their life back to God started on the knock of a hospital room it started in the midst of something that shook their life that they never thought would happen and uncertainty all of a sudden put them in a place where God could begin to move and shape and mold their life he says in this world you'll have trouble but I'm also an overcoming savior so we have two very odd statements that are two seemingly separate realities and if you could look at it with me tonight as I begin to paint you a picture as two hands you've got a hand that's working in the light and you've got a hand that's working in the dark you've got a hand that's an overcoming Savior and you've got a hand that's a troubled situation think think of this with me tonight you I believe through life and the words of Christ we see and symbolically a very beginning of scripture in Genesis ties us to the nature of who God Is Right the divine nature of who we're to be as Christians Christlike to be like Jesus I want my life to be in the hands of God but we have to know that God has a dark side it's not all good and and if you ever experienced I I maybe can relate with somebody now have you ever experienced trouble huh have you ever experienced that Hing scripture that all things work together for the good and you didn't really want to include that in the all things right I can't stand when somebody's making something they just put a big old spoonful of mayonnaise in it I'm like why'd you have to show me that was in there it tastes good but I didn't need to know it was in there I don't really care for that stuff don't put no sour cream in there but that's what makes it taste good right you didn't realize that the those dark moments of your life were going to be the things that would mold you into who you are to be able to stand here at this very moment right so you you you've experienced those things and the good news from John tonight is if that that we see here Jesus is telling us that if you haven't had trouble young person young married couple Jesus says it's coming just hang on something's gonna happen so well that's not really what I come looking to hear tonight but he says those are two realities for Christians right and the problem that we have as far as from I can look and I don't have a great view but I have a somewhat of a view into our world today and from the the the Christian world and you look at statistics and you look at churches and you look at the way people who associate themselves with Christ they don't like to put these two hands together they want to serve God as long as they're in the light but when things start going wrong we seemingly can't keep doing what we've been doing for God and so we separate these two realities an overcoming savior but there's trouble it's the two hands of God it's the cross that has the two pieces of wood that come together you you've been maybe you have a terrible spiritual Viewpoint if you've really taken these two things apart and and I I really don't want to step on any toes tonight but you can't live for God with a with a a split reality it's a terrible spiritual Viewpoint if you separate these two hands you can't live for God and maybe you're you're trying to that he's just an overcoming savior nothing bad is ever going to happen to me and I'm an overcomer and we win we never lose and Christianity is just for smooth sailers and happily ever after people get in church and they expect oh these are good these are good church folks no these are sinners saved by grace all of us you expect to walk in and everything just be that great right hand of Fellowship that Paul talks about in Galatians just wonderful Smiles loving never have a bad day that is terrible Theology and you will never serve God that way that's right but you also can't serve in the the you see can't serve God from the angle of being a victim some people identify with the cross because that's the only thing they feel like they can identify with poor old pitiful me yeah I ain't it ain't never going to pick me it ain't never going to go my way I I don't ever going to get that promotion those dreams I had are never going to come true I've been sitting on this calling that I got as a teenager and it ain't never going to happen and a lot of those a lot of those Christians ultimately if you look at their life and you hate to see it and you hate to say it but it's ultimately that that's the whole thing where it just is what it is and it's a lot of faith without works want God to do something but they won't learn in the darkness that they're in it's terrible Theology and it's even more of a terrible way to live when you separate these two viewpoints God is in control and no matter what it looks like God is still in control no matter who doesn't love you the cross tells me God does love me no matter how uncertain it is in the left hand God is in control no matter how dark it looks on a night where he sits on he sits crucified with his his side split open on the the galtha hill we know it was a dark moment it was an uncertain moment but you better believe if there was ever a moment that that right hand of God was at work that the power power and the authority and the certainty of anything that could have happened in scripture happened at that moment cuz there was two hands of God at work that day there was two hands that were crucified to that cross that day and I've come to preach to somebody don't matter how uncertain it is or how bad it seems there's a Resurrection on the other side no matter what the doctor says there's a healing power still in his blood and God is going to take what looks like the worst and use it for Eternal good it's the it's the idea it's the philosophy it's the understanding that there are two hands that are working on your life it's trouble it's a cross but it's an overcoming savior the hands of God are something we see all so powerful we see his nature we see the stories of the explanation of scripture we see our lives his hands seem to be much like this Cadence of scripture that seeing over and over again and if I can help you see it tonight that God is at work in your life Psalm 16:11 says Thou Wil show me the path of my life everybody wants to know that right the path of my life in his presence is fullness of joy and at thy right hand are Pleasures forever more as I begin to study the scriptures and we'll get to kind of what brought me here here in a moment but as I begin to study his scriptures if you're a Christian you want to be at this right hand you you start reading through the scripture he says at thy right hand are Pleasures forever more I don't know about you but that sounds like a place I want to be the right hand is this place of strength and power the right hand is he says the Lord was Majestic in power Exodus 15 says at your right hand he'll Shadow the enemy God's right hand will it'll sustain you and in times of need Psalms 139 says and he says at the right hand of God is a place of honor and a place of blessing yeah the early churches I've already mentioned they believed in that right hand of Fellowship in Galatians 2 and9 it's a place you wanted to be everybody wants to be at his right at his right hand statistically there are way more people in this room tonight that are right-handed than left-handed I I begin to look over some things and the the right-handed and left-handed people and the science shows us a lot of things and it's intrigued scientists because right-handed people are left brained and left-handed people are right brained and it baffles science if you ever want to study where you get a lot of question marks and a lot of circling the wagon on answering the scientifically why it's it's quite baffling to them that it stimulates the person that is is you're going to do all the things you're going to write with your your right hand you're going to think with your left but just just it's the way it all works and so they they've examined and and I I've come to to to maybe explain to you tonight that that you know you would you would definitely probably I tried one time in school I broke my my my my arm and and um growing up I had I they just left my name on the hospital room I broke everything so I I broke my arm and I had to write a little bit with my left hand and that didn't last very long I just said hey I'll make up this work when I get when I get my arm back right you ever tried to do anybody wear contacts in here huh anybody wear contacts which you're going to take your contacts out what with what hand your right hand right you you're going to do it with your dominant hand whatever whatever some some people you know they're they're odd they're they're different they're able to do no different thing like I I do this with my left hand i'm would do this with my right hand I'm like I don't know what to tell you you know you know God was working late when he made you I don't know you know I had a cousin brother Yates that he he used to he he get confused with his words I don't know that he went all the way through school if they just passed him just to get him through he he would say you know he he said that guy he bat both ways he's amphibious I think you mean ambidextrious you know amphibious we just let him say what he was going to say he just yeah he's a Georgia a Kathy knows about him so but I I want to make sure that you understand tonight God is not weak on one side and strong on another God's not stronger on his right brain and weaker on his left brain he's not stronger brother Perry with one hand than he is with the other hand when he goes to work it's it's the almighty all knowing King of Kings Lord of lords there's no weakness there's nothing that he's not doing and so job begins to tell us all about it because job if anybody has an understanding of God working in your life job is the epitome I was telling a brother this morning said he had listened to a a sermon that I had preached a while back about job I said you know I was thinking the other day if I could just take a hint of job and pinch him off and sprinkle it on Jonah if I could just put a little bit of his philosophy in Jonah's head we could have got somewhere but job begins to tell us it's very interesting job 23 verse number 8 behold I go forward I tried to sing the song tonight but he ain't there I went back I didn't perceive him nowhere on the left brother Ericson hold on though he says on the left huh on the dark that's where he does his work CU job has this perception that I don't seem to have it's where he does and I can't see him he hideth himself on his right hand where we all want to be right huh that's where his strength his glory His blessings his honor well will we will dance shout huh tear the pews out the floor when he starts singing huh but he says I'm going to hide that hand from you and I'm going to do some work with the left hand and he says I I can't see him here but but verse number 10 says but he knoweth the way that I take when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold he tried me he's just he's referencing putting me through the fire because God does some of his best work in the darkness God does some of his best work with that hand that we don't really want to associate David didn't write much about the left hand on them songs huh sir he said I want to be at his right hand where his Pleasures are forever more God does some amazing things when I can't see it God does some amazing things when I don't understand it God's doing some of his best work when you're in that season where you don't have the answers God's doing some things when you feel like that you're you just you're just kind of spinning your wheels and you don't really know why this sickness is coming to my life and why I can't seemingly get past this moment or why my kids don't want to serve God or why this is happening or why that's happening I'm here to tell somebody to tonight and just encourage you in being in the hands of God that God's doing some of his greatest work right now in the midst of what you seem to not understand you say but I I just want the Lord I just just want an answer the question is is when God is working with his left hand and he's hi he's hiding that power he's hiding all those things from you can you bless his name then can you step out like a brother Thompson tonight and just shout unto the Lord and dance unto the Lord when you know I don't really know why my wife has the sickness in her body that she has can you step out of your seat like a sister Helms and come up to the front and lift your hands to the Lord not knowing why maybe maybe not knowing why there some of the things within our own family whether I guarantee every single one of you if you stepped out of your seat tonight and just begin to Worship the Lord or you throw your head back when they begin to shout unto the Lord like the lion of the tribe of Judah but you really feel like the lamb that's being slain that you really don't understand that can you can praise him with the it's the hands of God true Faith true faith brother Nolan from what I'm looking at I know we talk about faith all the time but true Faith seems to be left-handed work true faith means when it's dark and I can't see and it's troubled times it's uncertain it's sickness it's challenging it's grief it's hurt from other people it's sometimes self-inflicted it's dark but it's necessary and job said I can't see what you're doing but I know he's working yes it's the hand of the Lord that was we see it over and over again open up your Bible and you'll see they'll get into some kind situation the hand of the Lord was with Abraham it don't look like the hand of the Lord was with him the hand of the Lord was with David the hand of the Lord was and most of the time you'll see they're in the midst of a mess but I thought at his right hand was Pleasures for every more and that that don't seem to seem too much they don't seem to be too much pleasure there but he says the hand of the Lord was with Moses the hand of the Lord was with David the hand of the Lord was with Ruth the hand of the Lord was with it's just so interesting to me that there are story after story after Story I couldn't help but think that you you can see in life it wasn't always the right hand of blessing and anointing strength and power it was on the left side of the mountain perhaps where there was a ram climbing up to meet Abraham and Isaac it was on the other side when they couldn't see him walking but I know he's coming when I've got a son Isaac who's asking where's the lamb I don't know I I have no idea where he's at but all the while that Ram is walking up perhaps the opposite side perhaps in the other hand we're walking in the knowledge we're walking in the faith we're walking in all that we know we're walking in past promises we're walking in what God has previously done and I've come to just simply tell somebody tonight that God is working when you cannot see him there is a ram on the other side of the mountain there is a moment where things are going to shift and you're in the hands of God Jonah was in the belly of hell as he called it God was working a miracle but Jonah just don't get it he just don't understand it I I don't know why Jonah there's times where if I feel like I'm just being open and transparent with you I there's times where I beat myself up I go read the Book of Jonah and make myself feel better brother Sutton sometimes I just need a little encouragement I stop reading Paul and go read Jonah I'm gonna make it huh God frustrates me I don't think there is a more perfect way to end the Book of Jonah and I don't think it's coincidental but Jonah 4:11 says and should not I spare Nineveh the great City wherein a more than 64 thousand persons that cannot discern this is Jonah talking between their right hand and their left and their left hand and also much cattle Jonah of all people talking about someone who can't discern between the right hand and the left hand Jonah couldn't see God whether he was being swallowed or he was being spit up Jonah couldn't see God didn't matter what God did or how miraculous as it was I mean we we really stretch it I'm like we look through the Bible Bible curriculum for kids and I'm why why we putting Jonah in there I know it was cool I know the well swallowed him and they'll never forget that but he's just not that guy huh but God does all these miracles for Jonah and he just don't get it he don't comprehend Mercy he don't comprehend the hand of God working when he can't see it Jonah's got to see it you're going to have to give me an answer why you're going to have to explain to me why you didn't send Amos over here or why you didn't send another Prophet you're going to have to make me come down here they're going to skin my high they're going to kill me if you didn't give him an answer he didn't see why they should be saved and so Jonah sits there and I just can't help but think that God doesn't have a sense of humor he doesn't have just this perfect way of putting it in the scripture of the thing that Jonah just don't comprehend that all the while Jonah just can't get out of the left hand of God because he can't learn the lesson he can't learn the lesson he just keeps showing him he just keeps proving him self he just keeps trying to work and God will put him in his right hand and then he have to put him back in his left hand and it seems to be this this process with Jonah and there's there's quite significance uh favor in Jonah's story and you can see the things that God's trying to do but he just says these people these people can't D from the right hand or the left hand and I can't help and I'm not going there tonight I just not really what that's not my narrative not what I want to preach but how how many times do people that have the issues and have the struggles all they want to talk about how somebody else can't get their life right Jonah's up there and can't get out of the left hand of God he ain't learned a lesson in the belly of a whale it took him how many days to pray telling y'all take it out of the Sunday School curriculum it might be the issue we have with some of y'all Jokers you know just kidding I love y'all it's reality though and he says I I it's just and again I'm not going we're not going to spend too much time there but it's like hey why why why are you telling people how to live for God and you can't make it to church on time huh why why is it there's all it's like I want to make sure that I'm learning and living where I'm supposed to be and Jonah just don't get it right he's given all the he just can't understand Mercy he can't comprehend God want to save instead he he just he speaks things talks through things and there's times I I know you've experienced it you're sitting there talking to somebody I'm like man if you would apply that in your own life it'd be amazing so Jonah ends his whole book but they just can't tell between their right hand and their left hand it's just it's it's amazing you can you can I told brother Jacob he asked me what I was preaching tonight I said bro I've said I've got so many words that the whole Bible could preach in this concept think of Joseph Joseph's like a juggling act Joseph is like Joseph gets it he understands it Joseph God God will put Joseph over here in a pit Jo God God he'll let him Brothers lie on him and somehow Joseph steals big hands up back over here in favor huh it's just it's like the it's the craziest thing when you see that God is moving in somebody's life it's like that they get they got both hands involved in their story it's not that everything goes right because that's a bad reality to live in and it's not that everything's wrong but there are going to be Seasons there are going to be valleys there's no mountain tops without valleys there's no moments with god with without you having to go through repentance and Joseph Joseph just becomes this epitome of what you and I should really understand about the hands of God God blesses Piper God blesses prisons God blesses sometimes it seems like everybody but Joseph but the whole time God is pushing Joseph Higher and Higher and Higher and Higher Joseph never come over here and pouted Joseph never come over here and pointed fingers Joseph never come over here and asked questions Joseph not one time in all the depictions of everything we understand that the famine is why there's favor see this both hands the prison is why he becomes a prince it's both hands being involved it's I can't just live over here and everything go right young people if you can learn this at an early age that it's the right hand it's the left hand that there's days I'm going to wake up and I ain't going to feel the greatest there's days somebody's going to do something wrong there's days it's not going to be great there's seasons of life where things are going to happen but blessed be the name of the Lord God's doing something great no matter if I'm over here in blessing and honor and goodness and power or he's teaching me with a thorn in the flesh he's teaching with a cross of Cru it's the hands of God I can't help but think and maybe you're in this same boat that dream came to Joseph in the dark that dream came to Joseph at night and what came to you at night there may be some uncertain questions that it may not have come to full fruition yet but it's going to I've come to prophesy to speak to somebody tonight that your your answer is on the way you can't get frustrated in the left hand of God you can't get frustrated in all the wise and the what's and the who's and the how and the uncertainty I'm telling somebody tonight if you will embrace the left hand of God there is a right hand of power that's coming there's a right hand of demonstration coming from your Darkness there is something that God wants to do but you got to trust him in the left hand come on I wish somebody receive that right now Lord wants to speak to somebody right now oh Hallelujah God wants to do something in your life there's a shift there's a change coming the quicker you learn the lesson in the left hand is the quicker God will do something to confirm the anointing the power the blessing the promises sometimes it's a lack of it's a lack of really ultimately gratitude or thankfulness of understanding where we're at to even appreciate the right hand of God Christianity Today a lot of it is just the entitlement to the right hand that makes you feel like that you're living in the left hand and in reality you're not in his hands at all all right you become entitled to the right hand you become entitled to goodness and mercy you become entitled to the things of God I I believe and I I I I I I want to make sure that we comprehend this but some of us make living for God look so miserable because we can't understand and see what God is doing in our lives to try to show us that we claim to be in God's hands but we're not God shifts your life over oh yes into that left hand and begins to work yes Lord and begins to try to teach you something yes Lord and let me explain something to you and I hope that you could see this clearly people don't back back SL backslide out of the right hand people leave God cuz they don't comprehend the left hand and what ultimately happens this is the process they come into church and God God demonstrates himself and great things happen and they fall on their face because of trouble most of the time repentance draws them to an altar trouble that left hand shakes them up and God's demonstration of the Holy Ghost comes in with the right hand and the first time God comes back in and wants to mold them and shape them and turn them with that left hand I don't think this is what I signed up for and that's the process of someone leaving God and if we're not careful it becomes like a little childhood game called the game of hot potato and God only gets your life when it's hot God only gets your life when you're in trouble God only gets your life when you're in turmoil and eventually you get so frustrated because that's what the Bible says it frustrates the grace of God and it's really just the thing where you come in you go you come in you go and you you FR to the point where you take life into your own hands you'll pass it to a job you'll pass it to a relationship you'll pass it to a new and the list goes on and on and you'll try this and you'll try that and every person that used to know God and used to serve God that's the definition of their life right now they're just passing around their life from one thing to another when God took scars upon his hands to create a place oh with an answer in both of his hands I've studied and I've studied and I've studied and I've looked I've looked and I can only find just a couple of scriptures ones referring to wisdom in Proverbs it's not referring to God but the other time I can only see I I I I can only see brother white where he refers to his hands plural is a very powerful scripture we see that testing and Trials come over and over again we see that all these things happen but my question tonight is can you stay in the hands of God all right when you're tested when you're tried you'll see there's a test of discouragement sometimes there's a test of frustration there's a test of the Wilderness perhaps Moses there's a test of of servitude elishah well you can you can you serve there's a motivation test there's a character test there's there's a time test there's all these things that God does in his left hand that you can see in the lives of so many people and there's all all these powerful Psalms and songs and great things that happen at the right hand of God and we could see that depicted over and over and over again if you type in hand and God you'll get all kind of things but when you go to the plurality when he says hands for we know Hebrews 10 and3 him that said Vengeance belongeth to God I will recompense saying the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God because a living God wants to keep you in his hands a living God don't want you falling in his hands a living God Wants You In His Hands it is a fearful thing yes to fall into the hands of the Living God because that Living God wants to be allowing you to live the best life that you can notice those scriptures and we don't have time to go back through them but they all mentioned plan purpose path all of these things I'm going to show you your path for you I'm going to do this for you and I'm going to allow you to see if you'll let me put you in the left hand and show you some things some of the greatest Ministries out there are people who've been through some things I don't want to fall into his hands I want to live there Isaiah 59 And1 I want to encourage somebody tonight behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear stay in his hands stay in his hands I know at times it's a dark place I know at times you feel like you just can't get out of this season but know that if you're bowing your knee to pray and you're putting God first it doesn't matter what it looks like there's a ram on the other side of the mountain there's a Resurrection on the other side of that cross there's something great on the dark side of what God is doing stay in his hands you may question a lot of things you may ask some questions but don't ever get out of his hands right don't ever leave don't ever put yourself in a situation where that's ever a question Psalms 91 And1 I I want to encourage you for a moment just read a few scriptures but it says he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty there's a secret place it's in the shadows it it's it's there's Light present I know he's good but there's a shadow that's cast and I can't seemingly get out of the dark space it's a secret place but it's a shadow I'm not experiencing all those things and he says I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my Fortress I will abide in the shadow of the almighty says he's my Lord he's my refuge he's my Fortress he's my God in him I'll Trust you understand what he's doing here he's in the shadow he's in the left hand he's in a place where not everything I can see the light there's light there but it's not shining on me he said in all these things he said surely Thou shalt Deliver Me From The Snare of the Fowler and from the noise noise and pestilence he shall cover thee with his feathers under the wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be a shield and buckler we've read all this Thou shalt not be afraid by the terror by night nor the arrow that flyth by day nor the pestilence that work walketh in the darkness nor the destruction that wasteth at noon day A thousand shall fall by thy side and 10,000 by thy right hand but it ain't coming nigh to thee I've come to ask somebody tonight can you live in the shadow can you you said well that's an awful odd question can you serve God when you know his goodness you know what's creating the space that you're living in is the light that's on the other side the shadow is the darkness that's cast from something that is bright over here but it's casting a shadow here and I'm just living in the shadow I can't see all the answers I don't know I don't understand all of the things but I know God's good because there a light on the other side and he says that there's a secret place in the shadows of the most high and I'm here to to tell you and I want to remind you here beginning the new year that there is a battle going on and there is a struggle within your flesh and within your spirit for the secret place the secret place in the left hand of God can I preach to you for just a moment that a lot of us we serve serve God on Sundays we serve God when everybody else is doing it in the right hand if you can't feel the presence of God here we've got big problems but do you have a secret place on Monday do you have something that happens that keeps you acquainted with the left hand of God where you get down on the knees and you come up beside the bed and you find you a place and it's your secret place with you it's the left hand of God I intentionally go there so that when it shows up I'm not blindsided by I come here and I say God would you try me now God would you show me if there be any wicked thing in my heart God would you put that thorn in the flesh if I'm not right with you God I want to be associated with your left hand because I want to be who you've called me to be could you see it with me it's so clearly he says cuz because we we see that God himself robed in flesh Jesus comes and the the trilogy of this spiritual discipline sermon of the sermon on the mountain Matthew 6 what does he say he gives us these three concepts Matthew 6:3 says but when thou givest or doest arms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine arms may be in secret that thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly when you give you got to give from a secret place you say well why do you give like you give because God's done some things for me that he's not done for any body else and I know that God's blessed my finances and God's touched my life and God's manifested himself and so I don't give based upon what everybody else is doing I give based upon a secret place but Landry it's not just in giving he says he says in verse six I'm going to teach you three things but when you pray enter that closet you better go into a place I I know and I I here and I I'll put you a little spiritual thermometer up for a moment if you can't pray in here you ain't fooling nobody you don't have no secret place of prayer if we're calling 5:30 prayer and you're in the lobby or you're sitting back here and you could give a rip about 40 or 50 people up here calling upon the name of God you have missed it and you have no relationship with God I know that's strong and I know that's straightforward but if you want it just on the right hand that's not a relationship with God come on there's people praying together calling upon the name of the Lord well I got my secret place no this ain't no circus you're not full of nobody I got to be familiar he said when you pray you go in that secret place so that what you do in secret what I do in secret brother Sullivan it demonstrates the right hand and when I'm able to step out people say well how are you able to walk when everything looks the way it looks how are you able to do when everything's happening around you how are you able to say blessed be the name of the lord it's because of a secret place where God's dealt with me and God's it's the hands of God it's the hands of God when you fast anoint your head wash your face appear unto men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret I got to associate myself with the left hand of God he's going to tell you some things he's going to talk about some things and the devil is fighting every single child of God who claims to be in the hands of God in the will of God in the path of God for this secret place that's that's the struggle it's not for some people it's not coming to the house of God it's finding that closet on Monday it's the consecration God can work in the darkness of a life that has a well-worn path of sacrifice I've never seen a prayer Warrior backslide I've never seen somebody who call upon the name of Jesus and pray oh with a fervency of prayer I've never seen them jump out of the hands of God and you I'm just here to demonstrate it for you tonight in scripture you say why is job able to do what job was able to do he was able to know that God is working on his left side that God's hid himself God's not coming to pull me out of this God's teaching me a lesson and when I learn is when I will transition why is job able to see it in all the chapters of job this one dies and that one dies and the tornado comes and all the things happen and his friends tell him that he's messed up his friends tell him that he just needs to that he just needs to you know go go I don't know what's wrong with you but you need to go get yourself right with God cuz he's obviously mad at you all of that transpires but Job 1 and5 tells us why he can see the left hand of God and it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about and job sent the S and Sanctified them and Rose up early in the morning and offered burnt sacri offerings according to the number of all them for job said it may be S that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts thus did job continually I can't read that without making the point that job went to God on a maybe job went to God on a maybe job went to God not because he had a problem but he went to God because I want to be familiar with this secret place job went and sacrificed unto God for something he was about to lose job went and he uh he he he found himself he said I'll get in the shadows so that I'm familiar in chapter 1 so that I can relate to 2 three four he says I'm going to continually do this job had a secret place so that he could recognize what God was doing in his life I know God's working I know God's moving but can we see him in the shadows I want you to stand your feet tonight I felt very strongly tonight what a word in preparation what a word to minister that God was going to speak to some specific people and I want you to Bow your heads in this place tonight if the saints of God begin to pray but I want to open these altars up for somebody tonight who simply just going say God I'm struggling for answers God I'm struggling with seeing it the way you see it and I'm opening up these altars right now that he's here for somebody who's going through some things he's here for tonight for somebody who don't understand but you want to put your hands back in your your life back in the hands of God right now you're here tonight but you're troubled I'm still I'm here to tell you he's an overcoming savior I know there's trouble but he's an overcoming savior he's got scars in his hand just for you there's a ram coming up the other side there's light at the end of the tunnel come on there's a promotion somebody's been waiting on but you got to get your perspective of the pit right now you got to get your eyes on it the way God has on it his hands are here to work his hands are not short his ears are not heavy tonight come on church family can we make our way up around this front and be the body of Christ and can we pray with those come on if you can relate if you've been through some things tonight you can come up and lay your hands on somebody as a testament to his goodness I know God's working come on young person I know some of you may you may not have been through a lot but I'm telling you trouble's coming and you better know that God is for you you better know that God is with you come on consecrate yourself tonight consecrate yourself tonight there's a struggle for the secret place I want to consecrate my life tonight God I want to be what you've called me to be God I want to be on that path oh God whatever it takes come on there's there's a father there's a mother that needs to establish that place right now you need to make a commitment to God you need to make a commitment in your heart for the things of God I'm going to stay right here God I'm going to stay committed I'm going to keep doing what I know is right come on he's a savior he's a redeemer you're an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb come on let's just somebody cry out to the Lord right now come on cry out to the Lord right now he's working he's working on that prodal he's working on that prodal son he's working on that prodical daughter he's moving in that situation you can't see it I know you don't understand it but he's moving right now I'm asking you to find somebody to pray with right now you don't know what that person next to you is going through you don't know what they're dealing with right now we should pray for them come on call upon the name of Jesus on their behalf God encourage my brother tonight God encourage my sister tonight h come on that just somebody's going to get a touch from the Lord tonight somebody's going to get a touch from the right hand tonight come on acknowledge where you're at God I see you moving God I see you working God I I see what you're doing in my life oh God I trust you God I trust you God I trust you oh God I trust you come on that's it I know I know there's questions but God's here to wrap his arms around you God's here to put his hand on your life tonight come on get what you need from the Lord he's able He's Able He's Able he's able I wish there'd be a spirit of encouragement that would break out come on maybe you know somebody's going through something maybe you know somebody's struggling with something I wish you'd make your way through this audience and pray with somebody come on encourage somebody I've been through it I know oh there's somebody that's struggling that you can encourage tonight come on you can pray with them you can maybe lay hands on them on let the Lord lead you right now to be the body of Christ God is able God is able