Dwelling Place

Al Pittman: And God delivered me, that's my past testimony, but he will deliver me. Amen. In other words, I'm not worried about the future because the same God who delivered me in the past will deliver me in the future.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow. To support this ministry financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at alpittmanministries.com. That's alpittmanministries.com. Your donations keep this radio ministry going. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here is Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: You have direct access not to Jesus, but to the Father. And it really clears up things for us in regards to prayer. Because when I first became a Christian, I didn't know who to pray to. I know if you pray to the Holy Spirit, Jesus, or the Father, you know, I just kind of add it all up.

Dear Holy Spirit, Jesus, Father, and Mary if you're listening, and Gabriel, I just throw them all in. I don't know, just all you up there. But when we read the words of Jesus, what does he tell us? He died on the cross so that you can have direct access to the Father. So when you pray, he said, when you pray, pray this way: Our Father. Not Mary. Not Gabriel. Amen. Jesus said you don't even have to come to me. Go directly to the Father. Amen. And that's the way we ought to pray.

We have direct access, and he's letting them know they have direct access. We don't need, he is our only mediator and our only advocate. He has made it possible for us to be directly connected to the Father. And the Father, thank God, the Father, when we call, again, he will answer our prayer. Sometimes he'll say yes, no, sometimes wait, but he will always answer your call, my friend.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, he will answer your call. I'm so glad that when you call the Lord, there are no dropped calls. Amen. When I drive from church, if I'm talking to somebody and I get to Fillmore and Centennial, sometimes my call will get dropped with the service that I have. Then you get on the other side of the hill and it picks up again or whatever. You got to call the people back.

I'm so glad in the Lord there's no dropped calls. I'm so glad in the Lord that no matter where I am, if I'm at Centennial and Fillmore or I'm on top of Pikes Peak or in the lowest valley, that he hears my call. And Jesus tells us why he hears in verse 27: “For the Father himself loves you.” For the Father himself loves you. Why? Because you have loved me. Because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God. Amen.

God will hear your call. You have direct access to him because Jesus Christ is risen, because Jesus Christ has gone to the Father. Psalm 50 verse 15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble,” the Lord says, “and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” There are no dropped calls with God.

The last benefit that we find here is peace in a troubled world because Jesus goes to the Father. Verse 29, his disciples said to him, “See, now you are speaking plainly and using no figure of speech. Now we are sure that you know all things and have no need that anyone should question you. By this we believe that you came forth from God.”

And Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? You're just now getting this? Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come,” he's getting ready to be arrested here and the cross is right before him. “That you will be, you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave me alone.” Underline this: “And yet I am not alone.”

Why? “Because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Amen.

Peace in a troubled world. Man, we have a lot of, it's a troubled world today. But I just want to remind you that as you're watching things line up in China and Russia and the Middle East and Iran and North Korea and all these things, things are just shaping up and lining up with what God's prophetic word says about the end times.

How God, the leader of Magog, which is the ancient name for Russia, would come down with nations such as Turkey and Syria and the rest to invade Israel. Did you know that? When you watch the news, it says as the Bible says, these things are going to happen. And the Bible says in the book of Revelation that the kings from the east, the Asian kings from the east will come across the Euphrates River when it's dried up to invade Israel.

We look at the kings of the east, we look at China, we look at North Korea, we look at these other places. Things are just lining up. We wonder why the world is the way it is. It's just lining up with what God has prophesied is going to happen. But there's a lot of trouble in the world today. A lot of trouble between nations and all of that.

The question is for many people today is where can they find true peace? Now we as believers in Jesus Christ know that peace begins with the Prince of Peace. It begins with Christ. But Jesus knew that his disciples would be troubled. He knows that you're going to be troubled.

And so he tells them the reason that he was teaching them all these things all the way from John chapter 14 up to now as he was talking on that night before his crucifixion. He says the reason I'm telling you these things, I know you're going to have trouble, but in this world you will have tribulation. But behold, I have overcome the world. He's there to encourage their hearts and to remind them that their peace is not in the world, but is in him. It's in him. In Jesus Christ our Lord.

In verses 29 to 30, it look like the disciples are really catching on. Oh, now we know what you're saying. Now we believe that you know all things and that you came from God. And Jesus said, “Do you now believe?” It's amazing sometimes when we think we know what we know, we know nothing.

Because the Lord really knew their hearts and he knew that their commitment was shallow and that when trouble came, they would scatter. How many times have we been guilty like the disciples? We've studied the Bible, and as many times I've studied scripture and I've put sermons together and I've read commentaries and I've looked up the Greek words and the Hebrew words and I got a well-rounded meaning of what the text is saying and I understand it and can comprehend it and all of that.

And yet that word that you hear is going to be tested in life in real time. Many times the things that I've read and I've studied and I thought I knew, I didn't really know. Because when trouble came, I scattered. My faith was scattered. And I realized, Lord, I think I know things and I really know nothing. And I need the Holy Spirit to teach me truth and to really give me revelation and understanding.

So the disciples here like, “Oh, now we get it.” Jesus is like, “No, you don't. Because when the trouble comes, you're all going to be scattered.” Now here's what blows my mind. We see the love of God in this. Knowing of their shallow commitment, Jesus was still willing to go to the cross and die for them.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be around shallow, committed people. If I was Jesus and I knew these guys were going to abandon me and run out on me, I'd be like, “You know what? I was going to go to the cross for you, but I'm not now.”

But aren't you glad that his commitment was not according to our faithfulness, but his faithfulness? The Bible says when you are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny his mission, who he is, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who came to die for the sins of the world. He is faithful when we're faithless. He cannot deny himself.

But Jesus tells them, we shouldn't just gloss over this. He says, “You guys are going to leave me alone, but you know what? I'm not alone. For those of you who feel alone today, for those who are watching online, you feel alone. If you are in Christ, you're never alone. He said I will never leave you nor forsake you. He said, you know, it looks like I'm alone, but I'm never alone because the Father is with me.”

In 2 Timothy, Paul the Apostle has a similar experience. Paul was being persecuted by a guy by the name of Alexander the Coppersmith. And he was giving Paul a hard time because he didn't like the message Paul was preaching. And Paul faced great persecution at his hand.

In verse 14 of 2 Timothy chapter 4, the Bible reads, Paul says that Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. In verse 15 he says, “You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.”

Now I love this because this is Paul's response to the world that is antagonistic against the gospel and all. He says don't be foolish, don't be naive, be aware of these people and mark them and be careful and deal with them with wisdom. Be mindful of this person and what they're trying to damage, they're trying to do to the church. But then he addresses the church itself.

As he says in verse 16, he says, “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me.” Amen. “And strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me.”

I love that because he's saying, God strengthened me and stood with me, not so that I could just have comfort and ease and vengeance on my enemies or whatever. But the Lord stood with me and he strengthened me for his own glory, for the furtherance of the gospel.

And then he said, “And that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion,” out of the devil's schemes and his agenda. “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom, to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

I love that. Paul says, “I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” And God delivered me, that's my past testimony, but he will deliver me. Amen. In other words, I'm not worried about the future because the same God who delivered me in the past will deliver me in the future. And he will present me and enable me rather to accomplish that which he has called me to do. To him be glory. Amen.

But what blows my mind about Paul's words there is he says, the world is persecuting me, beware of this guy, Alexander the Coppersmith. You know, don't be naive, this guy's bad news. But what about those in the church that have abandoned him? And Paul says these words, which are powerful. He says, no one stood with me, all abandoned me. And he says, “May it not be charged against them.”

Did you catch that? May it not be charged against them? People who have abandoned you in your greatest hour of need. People who have disappointed you, who have hurt you by their decisions, who have hurt you, who have abused you. People who have forsaken you when you really needed them the most. When you called them on the phone and they didn't answer, when they said they'd show up, they never did.

And Paul says to them, “No charge. No charge.” How do you say that, Paul? How can you say that? Because his hope was in the Father. Even when he was alone, he knew he wasn't alone because God stood with him and God delivered him and strengthened him. You see, you and God, as it's been said, is a majority.

You're never at a disadvantage with the Father. If we truly believe that God is my source, my flesh and my heart may fail, Psalm 73 says. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. If you really believe that, then you'll believe this: where people fail, God always succeeds.

Where people fail, you in your life, God always succeeds. No matter if you've been forsaken, abandoned, people said they love you, then they don't love you anymore. People said, “Hey, I'm always going to be there, man,” and they don't show up. In your hour of tremendous need when you need them the most, you can say, “No charge.” Because I was never alone anyway. Because God stood with me when you wouldn't. Amen.

He will never abandon us. And by the way, a lot of times we like to judge folks. But Paul tells us in Romans chapter 14 verse 4, “Who are you to judge another man's servant? For under God he will stand or fall, and God is able to make him stand.”

So people may be flaky, amen, in your life. So what? They belong to the Lord and the Lord's able to make them stand. You carrying a grudge against somebody in the house of God all those years because they let you down is sinful and should be repented of. You're judging the Lord's servant, and you have no right to do so. So Paul could just say, “Hey, no charge,” and move on.

True peace can only be found in Christ, not in other people and their performance, nor can it be found in the world. Jesus said in the world you will have tribulation. Tribulation's coming. That word tribulation is from the Greek word thlipsis, and it means pressure.

Pressure or pressing, anything which burdens your spirit. Wasn't too long ago I was standing outside, I think it was here at church and I just got some news and the burden, the pressure. I just walked outside the door and I just stood. I was like in combat, they call it the thousand-yard stare. You've seen so much, you just can't take anymore. And I was just like looking up at heaven going, I can't do this.

But God strengthened me. I was feeling the pressure. I was being squeezed. You know, sometimes, “Lord, I'd like to have a pressure-free day.” Isn't that why we go on vacation? But then vacation's pressure. You got to drive someplace or you got to go through the airport, and everybody knows demons hang out in airports. Amen.

I tell you what, I had one guy that got that settlement from that airline being dragged off the plane. I said, “Man, I wish I'd have known that, I would have laid down in the aisle a long time ago. Drag me off, so the brother could get paid.”

But there's pressure everywhere. Then you go on vacation, it's pressure getting there and you finally get there, sometimes things don't work out right or whatever, then you come home to recuperate and there's pressure here. Trying to live life without pressure is not reality.

We all want to be great witnesses for Jesus. We want to see God glorified through our lives, but we don't want pressure. We all want to be diamonds, but we don't want pressure. But many of you know that diamonds are created under pressure. I was reading an article, it was talking about the two basic processes for creating diamonds in the earth, in the ground.

And it talked about the fact that temperatures, there's heat first and foremost that has to take place and the heat, temperatures can be as high as 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. God uses heat in our lives many times. And then the pressure is applied as much as 725,000 pounds of pressure per square inch to make a diamond.

That's a lot of pressure. You say you want to serve the Lord? You say you want to glorify him through your life? Then you're going to experience pressure. That's why a lot of people, they come to church here incognito. They don't want to be involved with anybody, don't want to know anybody, just kind of slip in and slip out. Because they don't want the pressure, they're trying to avoid the pressure, see.

Because when you start loving people, when you start being a part of the church, life happens and there's pressure. And that pressure is there not to destroy you, but to create you into the likeness of Jesus. There's pressure in your marriage, amen. “Well, the Lord gave me my wife as a helpmate, she's supposed to help me do what I want to do, and she's not very helpful.”

No, no, no. He gave you a helpmate to make you more like Jesus. She's there to help you be like Jesus. Amen. That's why you need to be patient with her and you need to be kind and you need to be loving and you need to serve her and wash her feet and all that because he's making you like Jesus. Isn't that great?

It's not to help you do what you want to do. God uses your wife as a helpmate to make you what God wants you to be. And he wants you to be like Jesus. The pressure is on. Amen. God sovereignly takes the pressure, the tribulation of our lives and produces purpose that is diamonds for his glory, that we might live as overcomers.

The Greek word for overcomer is nikao and it means to subdue, to get victory. Christ has subdued the world and the prince of this world who is the devil. And we share in his victory. How? By placing our trust in him. Not by fighting harder, but by simply placing our trust in him, we are overcomers.

We have overcome the world. Jesus said, in the world you would have tribulation, but behold, I have overcome the world. So if I'm going to overcome, I must be in Jesus and my victory is in him, the victory that he has brought to pass.

In 1 John chapter 5, John writes there also, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, our trust in Christ. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Period. Amen.

In the world we are guaranteed tribulation, but in Christ we're guaranteed peace. And it's not peace according to the world. It's a different peace. It's a peace that only Jesus Christ can give us. In John chapter 14, he says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives.” Not according to circumstances, situations, or what you have in your 401k or what you have in your bank account this morning. But it's a peace that only he gives to us. It's the riches that we have in Christ Jesus. Not as the world gives do I give to you.