Author: Rich Chatfield (Sep, 2016) School of Ministry Calvary Nexus – Teaching & Preaching Class

Subject: The Blessings of Living with God

Object: To have a desire to live closer with God

Text: Psalm 91

I.     Living in God’s house (v1&2)

A.   “Dwelling” means to live or to abide. Dwells in the presence of the Lord – John 15 Jesus says to abide in me (V1)

B.   This idea of being in the shadow of the almighty is communicating that to be in the shadow of something, necessitates a closeness. (V1)

 

Question: How do you get closer to God on a daily basis? Scripture says in James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” So how do you draw near to God? 4 – When I serve others I feel close to the Lord, When I read His word and He speaks to me, When Pray to Him, and When I sing and worship.

 

C.   How do you get close to God? (V2)

1. 1st –  Making a declaration of personal faith in God “IN WHOM I TRUST” (what does it mean to trust God?) Surrendered will/obedience (V2)

2. 2nd – I mentioned earlier that Jesus said to “Abide” in Him. How do you abide in Christ? (John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.)

 

Transition/Summary: So we see that to Dwell or Live with God is to both trust God and obey Him. It’s the idea, if you are going receive all the blessings of living under God’s roof, then you are going to live by His rules? Ok, so what are some of the blessings of dwelling and living close with God?

 

II.   The blessings of dwelling in God’s house, Peace, Deliverance, Safety, Victory & God personal promise of Salvation (v1-12)

A.    Those who dwell in God’s house will have peace:

1. Rest In the shadow of God (1) – If God is for us who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

2. Find Refuge (V2) – Live free from danger (wild life preserve) Jesus is the good Sheppard

3. Fortress (V2) – Secure in the strength of God’s protection – Our salvation is sure, nothing can separate us from the Love of God (Rom 8:37-39 More than Conquerors in Christ)

B.   Those who dwell in God’s house will have deliverance:

1.  (ADP Security)- Protection from those things seeking to destroy you both seen and unseen

i.   Fowler’s Snare (Devil comes to steal, kill and destroy) (V3)

ii.   DeadlyNoisome Pestilence (a Naughty thing, iniquity, it’s a besetting sin, the constant nagging of covetousness, lust of the flesh)(V3) (Delivered from 3 Enemies)

iii.      His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. When we say taking up the shield of Faith, what do we mean? Eph. 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one

iv.   Fear worry and doubt (v5,6&7) Delivered from a spirit of Fear

C.   Those who dwell in God’s house will have their own set of Bodyguards (Safety) (V9-12)

v.   Angels are ministering spirit to those who are heirs of salvation (Heb 1:14)

vi.   If Time Story about being saved by my Angel(s) – Pool Dive

D.   Those who dwell in God’s house will be victorious and overcome (V13)

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”  (Remind: Rom 8:37-39 More than Conquerors in Christ)

E.    Those who dwell in God’s house will receive God’s promise of Salvation (V14-16)

14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

 

Transition/Summary/Review: Well our time is almost done. Tonight we talked about what it means to Live with God. We learned that we need to trust Him and Obey Him if we are going to abide in Him or Live with Him. If we do that, we will find that living with God give us Peace. That we can rest, find refuge and security. We also found that living with God protects us the devil and sin and a spirit of fear. That God loves us so much he assigns to us angelic bodyguards to watch over us. We see that we will be victorious and that God himself promises to save us. I hope that by looking at Psalms 91 together has stirred in you a desire to want to live with God, and to receive all the protection and blessings that come with being close to Him.

 

Hear me…don’t miss this:

Do whatever it takes in your life to Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Maybe you are here today and you don’t know how to do that. Can I suggest to you the best way to start is with attitude of humility as you begin to contemplate your relationship with God and express a desire to be closer to Him. James gives us a bit of a clue as to how we can draw near to God and to have him draw near to us and be close to us.

 

James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

 

For me, there are four ways I feel close to the Lord daily:

1.       To daily seek Him in prayer and through His word. Me talking to Him and Him talking to me. Meditating upon His Word, His Ways and upon Him, His attributes, Who I am because of His love for me.

2.       Worship is another way in which I feel myself close to the Lord, as I come and worship Him with singing and praise.

3.       When I am experiencing true fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

4.       The last way I feel close to the Lord is when I am serving Him, in ministry, by serving others, giving to others and making myself less so that Christ’s love can be seen and felt in me.

 

Perhaps you are here today and this is the first time anyone has made you aware that God wants you to come and live with Him. Or perhaps you find yourself tired of wandering around through life, and feeling homeless and alone and you are looking desperately for a place to belong. A place to live. I want you to know that God loves you and has a place for you to come and dwell with him. The invitation is open to all. God says, “Whoever dwells…” say that with me… “Whoever dwells…” In John the 3rd chapter verse 16, it says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that “whosoever” believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 

Do you want to live with God? If you do

 

Then it is time to make your declaration of faith that you are ready to trust and obey Him. Whether this is the first time you are making this decision or whether you have been a Christian all your life, if this evening you want to Live with God, to Live Close to Him, then stand with me. I am already standing… I confess I want to live closer to God.

 

God Bless you, let’s pray…

 

Father we want to live with you. We want to trust and obey you. We confess Lord that we have tried to live life on our own and it’s not working. We need you. Today I want to repent of my past Lord and begin anew. To live for you and with you. Jesus, fill my heart with your Lordship and forgive me my sins, be my savior and my Lord and from this day forward let me abide in you. in your Name Jesus We pray, Amen.

 

****************** MISC NOTES + HANDOUT ********************

 

Intro:
Lord of all the Earth we lift our praise. lift our praise
Filling up the skies with endless praise endless praise
Yahweh… Yahweh…
We love to shout your name oh Lord
(2 more times) 

Let us pray:

 

 

 

Dwelling in the presence of the Lord
yä·shav’ – To remain, Sit, or AbideJohn 15 Abide in Christ, just as Christ abided in the Father(v-10)AKJV
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Home is where? Is it where you hang your hat? Is home where your heart is?

How close do you have to be to be in the shadow of something?

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

I will Testify

My faith is in Him

Personal trust “My God in whom I trust

Saved from Danger 3 Surely he will save you

from the fowler’s snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

deadly pestilence is correct but a better translation is in the KJV or NKJV the word here is “noisome” and it comes from the Hebrew word Hav va’ and it means desire, in a bad sense. Listen to the definition given from Strong’s ->>>

Snare is a trap

Fowler here may refer to Satan

Unseen Attacks

hav-vaw’; from H1933 (in the sense of eagerly coveting and rushing upon; by implication, of falling); desire; also ruin:—calamity, iniquity, mischief, mischievous (thing), naughtiness, naughty, noisome, perverse thing, substance, very wickedness.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

When you are close enough to be covered by His wings,

Your safety is based upon His faithfulness. In the new testament, we are told to put on the armor of God taking up the shield of faith

5 You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”

and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10 no harm will overtake you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

 Hebrews 1:14

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

12 they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Matt 4:5-7

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

 

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.

Jesus in garden Affirms that he could call thousands of angels to fight for him in garden of Gethsemane
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Victory and confidence
14 “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

The Lord answers. The Lord responds. James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.

 

16 With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handout – Living with God

Here are 5 ways to help you Dwell/live in God’s House:

  1. Laundry – That’s right. God gives us clean clothes to wear. If we confess our sins, he is just and able to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

  1. Communication – When you live in the same house with others, you need to learn to communicate. Communicating with God is done by praying and reading His word. To help us, God’s Spirit who lives in us will help us understand or teach us when we read His word and the Spirit will help us to pray. This is not automatic, communication takes commitment and effort, but the more you communicate (pray and read God’s word) the closer the relationship between you and God will become.

 

  1. Family Gatherings/Community – It’s important that if we are all going to live together in God house, we need to get to know one another, help one another and get along. Part of the way we do that is by attending services and also connecting with a small community group. Jesus said that to abide in Him is to obey His command and the command He gives, if for us to Love one another. For us to obey that command, we need to gather together.

 

  1. Giving and Serving – Just like any household there is lots to do. People to feed, meals to prepare cleaning to be done etc… Part of living with God is giving of your time, talent and treasure. This helps to meet the needs of others and allows you to share and express your faith and love for God.

 

  1. Sharing Your Faith – God wants you to share with others what God has done in your life and what God means to you,

 

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