Reverend Ben Cooper: 0:04

Thank you so much for joining us, wherever you are across the world tonight. God bless you and strength you the time is 738. So I know that here in the UK, whatever your time frame is across the world, we thank you so much for joining us. And we are so blessed that you are with us at this moment in time, wherever you are. We've got to strengthen you, thank you to all those in the world of podcasting, that download all this stuff that is going on here and even church, you can find us on iHeartRadio plus sprout, you can find us on Amazon music, platforms, and we're gonna turn into Psalm 118. And I just pray that God will give you peace tonight and God will give you rest alone. If you've got workplace issues and bullying issues going on in your life. You've got stress going on in your life, you've got worried going on in your life you've got now all that sort of stuff, just the general humdrum of life. Psalm 119, that we are in at this moment in time will give you rest of life in the spirit of mine, for your heart, and your very, very being. And God is with you. Wherever you are at this hour, I pray that God will strengthen you. And I thank you so much for joining us tonight on this Wednesday evening, across the world where we are so privileged to be able to share the Word of God. And as we just dive straight in Psalm 118. Let's flick the Word of God open together. Let's get straight into the Word and time is always against us on these evenings. And yes, good evening, I can see you're coming online. So we thank you so much for sharing and pushing all this stuff out. I just want to just pause a moment and just reflect on this morning when we had coffee and prayer. That was a wonderful time this morning in the Lord's house when we had coffee in prayer with my two brothers and Andy is a warrior in the mission field at this moment in time. And I read from Psalm 118 I really felt God was leading to me into that this morning. And I really feel that I'm being led into that this evening. And I just asked that you will just grab yourself a Bible and just flick straight into that wherever you are at this moment in time. It's a psalm that we can draw from when we're tired when we're weary. When the battles of life when we're on the battlefield of just general living you know there's there's been the general church press for such a long, long time, where you just got to keep smiling and you got to keep your church teeth in and and yes vicar, no vicar free bags for vicar everything is well vicar and thank you very much vicar. When actually true to life. True to Scripture. You know, the Bible says that we are hard pressed on every side. And we just look at Paul and we look at some of the disciples that they Paul was shipwrecked. He was beaten, he was stoned. He was sawn asunder. The scripture says he was he was ostracized, it was set aside, he was pushed out he was chased out of of towns, he was chased out of certain scenarios. So when you look at the Scripture, he is very clear to see that as a believer, as a believer, you know, we've got to understand that we are Christians, and what does Christian mean basically means to have to have Christ within us. We are a Christian Christ in us. But the word Christianity is being used. And it's been stretched for other things, when actually we got to be very careful. And we got to make sure of who we are and where we sit in this world at this moment in time. So being a Christian is going to be the hardest thing that anyone ever will do in their life. And in the hours in which we live. We are living in very high and very powerful spiritual atmospheres at this moment, we feel we see, you know, and people are weary people are tired. You know, God is speaking very loud and clear, and God is speaking to people. And I will use this terminology, God is speaking to people outside of what we call the normal church. Building, God is speaking very loud and very clear. And he has been doing that for 1000s of years and for many generations, and the church has tried to box it and say, no, no, no, God will only speak to you if you come into this building. When actually when you look at the Scripture, you look at the biblical reference, you will find that Christ was saving and drawing people in even before Church, the box church even was bought into construction into our physical eyes that we see. So God is working in people's lives. God is setting the captives free God is God is drawing people unto himself, and not into the establishment. We understand that Christ through the Scripture is the head of the body, which is the church. So Christ is drawing. But I also see very, very clearly in the hour in which we live, that there are many, many believers. I will use the word believers there are many Christians. There are many churchgoers, there are many people that are in church and been at church for many years and really are struggling at the moment, with just the things that are happening in their lives, in their workspace, in their home lives, in their relationships, even within the church within certain decisions that have been made, you know There's so much going on. And I pray that God, the God of the God of Israel, the God of Israel will give you peace will give you understanding whether you might you might not call yourself a churchgoer, you might just be dependent in this live stream. Wherever you are, I really believe God is calling, calling you. And God is speaking to you, and God is using you. And we need to strip ourselves away back from the word, church, a lot of us need to be desensitized from what church has done to us to almost be dipped in like the sheep, Paul, and dipped in that and just almost have that taken off of us. Because of that, I carry a cloak, I carry a church cloak, I carry a very traditional cloak, because it has been ingrained in my skin. It has been pressed on me the teaching and all that. So I'm, I'm learning to, to allow God to take the robe off to take the cloak off, to take the clothing off that the church puts over us. And there's a very interesting scripture in the Old Testament where, where Saul, David and Saul were, where David was going to go and fight Goliath. And Saul was giving David his armory, his his sword, his breastplate, his his his weaponry that he went into battle with now, we got to be very careful that we are not being dressed, we are not being set up for, for failure. Now, David could have been set up for failure, if he had gone in what Saul was given him, but David had the strength to say, actually, I'm not gonna go in what you are giving me. And I believe there is a lot of failure within within the church setting within religion, purely because we have gone in what the other leaders have gone in before, when actually we can't go in the old stuff. David was very bold, and David was very, was very strong. And he said, I can't go it doesn't fit. He said it this armory doesn't fit. And I believe there are a lot of people in the battlefield way down, not with so much pressures of the world but weighed down with trying to be dressed and and being suited and being fixed and being expected dress with expectation from church and religious leaders that there are a lot of people that dress us in expectancy of what we are wearing, they dress us and they expect us to go into the arena of life and live life and work life and in ministry with what they had what they had was okay for their timing, but we are living in different timings, we are living in different settings. And David was quite bold, and he said, So King. So I can't go down into the battlefield what you are giving me because what you had victory in was your was your suit what you went into the battlefield was for you. So what was for you is not for me. And I think that we are living in times when we got to be bold within the workplace, within business, within life within culture, within certain trends, that that we are trying to be dressed by many people, because that's how they want us to be. That's how they want us to react. People try and dress us in the way they want us to look. Now I'm referring, not too close. And you know what I'm referring to that the spiritual atmosphere, the spiritual expectation of leaders and ministers, and church and religion. But I believe there are many people in church and in leadership, that I've got to be bold and that need to say within just congregations, what you are and what you want, and your anticipation of me and your expectation of me. I'm not going to go into the battlefield of life because if I go any further with what you are trying to get me to where I will collapse and I and you are setting me up for failure. Now let's get straight into Psalms. Let's get straight into Psalms. I really believe Psalm 118. We're going to go from verse one. We're going to go down to verse 14, I believe many people are dressing you with expectation. Many people are dressing me with expectations. And we are getting weighed down with someone else's expectations, the armory that's the stuff that they expect us to go in when it's not suitable and it's not right for our lives. And I pray that wherever you are across the world tonight, as you jump onto this live stream for the podcast and everything that goes on here, that you will seek what God has for you as an individual. See, so was dressing David how Saul wanted him to be dressed, church, religion, family, parents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, workplace culture tries to dress us in the way that they have gone before. And we need to be very, very careful. We need to be very careful what the expectation is of others on our lives because we can get get ingrained, and we can get entrenched and we can get fixed ated. And there is a lot of distress and a lot of comfort in church and religion, and in life and in business because the expectation of the generation that was, is expecting us to go, how they went, when it's not right for us to go, how they went. It's the same in religion and culture and church and trends. And even when you look at the herding that we have in this world at this moment, governments are trying to hurt us governments are trying to, to get us to go like cattle to go the same way at the same time. Well, if you are a believer, what the government is trying to dress you in, and what the government of whatever nation you live in, that suit that they are trying to give us as believers doesn't fit, because it is not and it does not have the name of God on it. So if you are in a god less nation, if you are in a godless society, if you are in a godless culture, if you are in a godless environment, and they are trying to dress you with the world's way, with a political agenda, gender sorry, if they are trying to address you in a business way, if they are trying to dress you in traditional cultural settings, we are finding that that suit that they wore was okay for them at that particular point. But it doesn't fit us. So we are individuals, you are an individual, I am an individual. We are God loves us for who we are, God created each and every one of us. If you were to look in the book of Jeremiah, where where the Prophet went down to the Masters House down to the potter's house, down to the potter's wheel, the master was working on the individual. And God works on the individual culture and trends and political agendas, and government sources and an education and culture. It works on a crowd. But God works on the individual. God takes the individual and God shapes the individual how he wants the individual to be shaped. So you're either gonna either I'm going to be shaped by the world tradition, church and all the razzmatazz and and the political agenda, am I going to be shaped by that? Or am I going to be shaped only by the master. This is where the power of free will comes? Lord, I want to be on the potter's wheel. Because when I'm on the potter's wheel, I become an A individual. And I become a certain person and a certain character, and a certain disciple and a certain follower of Christ, who Christ wants me to be. Because He is the vine dresser. He is the gardener. And what God cuts away from me is not going to be the same from what God cuts away from you. What God cuts away from them over there is going to be different from what God cuts away from me and you. So God works with us as individuals, even though we are brothers and sisters, in the kingdom of God, God treats us as individuals, he does not hurt us as the mass, he treats us as His sons and daughters. As the individuals God treats you as the individual. And I pray that wherever you are tonight that you will find the power of the Holy Spirit, that God will strengthen you and bless you. And God will just touch your lives wherever you are tonight. God is with you. I pray that you can hear me I just see something come up. If there's anyone else can just give me a quick shout and say I can hear you. That's fine. Maybe it's some device or someone else's device. But I pray that wherever you are, that God will strengthen you tonight, and that you will not allow culture and trends to shape you. But God will shape you as a individual. God will shape you. I pray that God will shape you. I've got to emphasize that because this is just sitting in my spirit. Thank you very much for putting that up there. I thank you for letting me know you can hear me Thank you. This is very important for the individual because you are a individual. I am an individual. God anoints God hills, God sets free. When you look in religion and tradition when you when you look all over the place in the world and you look at political agendas, it is always going with a herd in understanding. We are hurted the mass, the mass, the mass, the mass, and it's even the same in the culture of revival and it's in the culture of church. It has to be the mass the more people and it's it's really interesting as well when you when you study data and you study statistics, and you're you're studying the measures of religion and revival everything is done is done by the number by the mass when God does it by the individual godspeed X and cause the individual. You know, God is a God of the individual. God speaks to the individual. Yes, when Christ was preaching, he was preaching to the crowd. But when God calls and he calls and he hills and he sets for a, God anoints you and God anoints me and God calls us as individuals. God draws us as individuals, it speaks about that he is our heavenly Father, he is my rock, he is my Redeemer. So it make brings it into a very personal relationship with the God of Israel, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. So this is a personal relationship. This is a personal call, and this is a personal gift to you. God is your God, he's my God, but also we have a relationship, as as the corporate relationship as the body of Christ, but also we have a greater and we have a stronger relationship with him as individuals as sons and daughters. So as we dive into Psalms right now, I pray that you will not be herded by culture, by trends, by the by the politicians, by number 10 Downing Street, by business by by many areas of life, that you all know who you are, in Christ Jesus, you are a son, and you are a daughter of the living God, and you was created as an individual, you was created as whoever you are, you are unique, God created you. It says, When in the psalmist, it says in Jeremiah, it says, I knitted you together, it speaks very personally, and as a very individual, and God knows you individually. Yes, he knows all of us corporately, and as the body of Christ and us as the body of Christ, course he does. He knows us as the Son he knows us as the daughter. So as we dive into the Scripture, this is speaking to the nation of Israel, but also this is getting more personal. And this is bringing it directly to your heart. God loves you. God knows you. God is with you. Wherever you are, whatever you might be doing, you might be shopping, you might be walking, you might be resting at home, whatever you are doing tonight, I pray that you will feel the fire and the presence and the glory of God that you will find rest in his heart you will find rest in his innermost being. Because God is calling you wherever you are tonight. God is calling you and he is your God, He is your God, He is your King, he is your Jehovah Jireh he is my supplier, he is my healer, He is my refuge, he is my rock he is when we speak about he is it brings it to a personal relationship. God did not come and he did not call us to be like a when you when you look at the colon and you look at cults, when you look at the cult setting, when you look at cults, they are all very robotic, they all dress the same. When you certainly look at certain religions. When you look at certain areas of, of what we call certain faith groups around the world, you will find they drive the same car, as good as they dress the same, they look the same, they comb their hair the same, they wear the same headscarf, they talk the same, and they ostracize themselves from the very, from the very world when when the Bible says go into all the world, we are not part of the world. We do not engage in the world activities. But we do not separate as well. We do separate ourselves spiritually. But we all have to go to work. We all have to bring families up we all have to live our lives. And where do we do we do that we do that in the world. God said Go into all the world. So we have a responsibility. And by going into all the world by going into the dark places of work, by going into the cultural settings by going into the different areas, and the dark places that we go, we are taking God with us. God has gone before you. God is in your workspace God is in every area of your life. But what really is important is that you will find that a cult separates itself from the world in a way where it actually pushes everything away. And it becomes this huddle. And it's very insular place. The church is in a very dangerous place of doing just that, in rejecting and I don't want to go too far in that but what I'm trying to get to tonight is that you are an individual, and we was not created to be in a cult setting. We are in the kingdom of God. So you are an individual, you dress very differently to me I dress very differently to you. We work very differently in life but we belong to the kingdom of God. You know we are all individuals and I can tell you that now because the Bible says God knitted you together so when he knitted you together we all knitted together very differently with our characters, our understanding our makeup, our build up, our construction the way God constructed us, you are an individual and if you are finding In that you are in a church, if you are in a religious organization, if you are in a culture that is trying to set you and try and and I'll use the biblical terminology trying to dress you in an armory, in clothing in a cloak that doesn't fit, and you don't feel comfortable, get out of that space because he was not created to be shaped by some other human being you is created to be an individual. Now for us to go into the book of Jeremiah, very, very clearly, Jeremiah speaks about the potter's house, the potter's will. And when the Prophet went down, he said, I had a word from the Lord and I went down to the potter's house, the potters will and the master was shaping one piece of clay, the clay was marred, the clay was in was in had imperfections, I have imperfections. So God works on us as an individual, and He expects us to be an individual, the dark disciples did not look the same, they did not smell the same, they did not eat the same, they was not the same as each other. But coats, coats, they look like each other, they dress the same, they work the same, they have the same trends, culture, we got to be very careful of cultural cultural settings, that I am not getting caught in a westernized cultural settings, that I am not getting caught in a culture that I will say that is surrounded me. And when I get to an understanding, then I have the power of free, free will to break out of this situation or this culture that I'm in. When you look at the word cult, and you look at the word culture, and you look at the way they blend together, we all have to be very careful that we don't get caught in a cultural setting. And that cultural setting becomes an occult, you know, because you gotta be very, very careful, you aren't going to finish this, and I'm going to get into the song, you are an individual. That is what I'm trying to say, because God has got you. I will say the potter The master has you on the potter's wheel. And he is working with one piece of clay. And it says the master shaped that clay into what he wanted that to be. And every piece of clay and every earthen vessel that that Potter created was very different to the one that he created before the one that he shaped, you are being shaping. So you are being shaped, and you are being shaped into an individual person that God wants you to be. So don't go in the trends of the world. Don't go in the way of the crowd. The church is going in the word, the worldly crowd, make sure that you realize that you are set apart, you are set apart because God set you apart. But just because we are set apart by the God of Israel, doesn't mean to say that we won't have people around us trying to get us to fit in the shape that they want us to be fitting. So you may have and I believe that you do have an I have souls in our lives in the understanding of they are trying to dress us in the way that they want us to be dressed and the way they want to shape us. Saul was trying to shape David, through what Saul was doing was given him what Saul thought was best for him. There are people in our lives that are giving us and trying to dress us and trying to make us into the person they want us to be Saul was trying to make David into the person that Saul wanted David to be. But David said, I am not going down to the battlefield in what you are giving me I am going in what what did David say to Goliath? You come against me with sword, spear javelin, but I come in the name of the Lord. We go in the name of the Lord, because the Lord fights our battles. Now let's read this psalm together. Now let's read this psalm together. If you've got if you've got the word of God, flick it open before your very eyes. Let's grab a coffee. Let's come on let's let's have a look. Let's have a look. Can we can we actually say that we are being shaped? Do we find that we may feel a little bit strange at the moment that things don't seem to be quite the same. They won't be quite the same. If you are hungry for Jesus, the God of Israel, you will find that you are being stripped back of many things in your life. But through the process of being stripped back, maybe you are being almost forced to rest to be still spiritually to be still and there may be people being still in hospital beds at this moment. Force rest is upon you. You know maybe you're you're out of a job so you're being forced in a in a in an area of life where you were you were anything He's just almost on hold. Now let's quickly turn. Let's quickly quickly turn Psalm 180. Now we'll read from verse one. And wherever you are. Thank you for joining me tonight. First one of Psalm 118. And it says, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Let Israel say his love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say his love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord. This is where we come into this. Let those that fear the Lord say, sorry, his love endures forever. His love endures forever. Do I fear the Lord? Yes. Do I fear Lucifer? No. Do I fear the world? No, do I fear the Lord? Yes. And that is correct. So over this journey of lockdown, very, very clearly, I have started to take my eyes of Lucifer, the agents of darkness, taken off what they might be trying to do. And the church and certain areas of ministry and culture and certain areas of teachings will teach us more and draw us more into what Lucifer is doing and trying to tell us that we are always getting a weapon or licking and kicking off the devil when Rather, God is actually no more power than Lucifer. So I've got to keep my eyes on God, I gotta I gotta worry about what Lucifer is doing. Because he has no power over me. Because the Scripture that we read out over the weekend, it clearly says that Christ disarmed the powers and the authorities, Christ disarm them, so they have no power and no authority or authority over you. If I am a believer, if I know that my Redeemer lives, their power has been disarmed by the blood of Jesus. So I haven't got to worry about what is going on in the spiritual world of the forces of darkness. I've just got to make sure that I know and I come into the area of work out your salvation with fear and trembling, Lucifer is under your feet. Lucifers will always try to play mind games and Lusa will always try to detract but he cannot steal, he cannot steal, he cannot kill, he cannot take you because it was done at the cross of Calvary, the blood was shed one sacrifice once and for all. The enemy will always try to oppress, he will always try to press against but he can't get in because you have been sealed. You have been marked with a seal by the blood of the Messiah, you have been washed, you have been redeemed you have been set free, you have been healed, you have been set apart, who has set you apart, Who has created you. So there was a disarming at the cross of Calvary for the shed blood of the Messiah. So when it says in verse four, Psalm 118, let those who fear the Lord say his love endures forever, this is us, this is you. This is me, if you fear the Lord, you come into this capture of this scripture, when hard press say I might be pressed on the outside. But greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. So it's not inside influence. It's outside influence. The world might be pressing against me, but it can't take me the world might be pushing against me, but it can't destroy me. Because my Redeemer lives I know that I can face tomorrow. When hard press I cried to the Lord Psalm 118, verse five, when hard press I cried to the Lord, he brought me into a spacious place. God knows when we're going to be hard press. God knows when we're going to come to the end of the road and go God This road has run out. And I believe God is almost saying to us take a leap of faith. Because when I take a leap of faith, I'm doing what the disciple done. In the New Testament, I jump out of the boat, God is saying, jump, walk on water. Come God if you are calling, Lord, if you are calling, let me hear your voice. Because I want to jump I want to take a leap of faith. I want to stretch out Lord, I want to jump out of the boat of religion. I want to jump out of the bow tradition. I want to jump out of the boat of the crowd. See, when you jump out of the boat, you are away from the others. It's just you and Jesus. It's me and Jesus. When I walked towards him, it's just me and him. A very individual walk. But to walk by faith takes something that is not of this world. It takes the understanding of what how can I walk by faith? It takes obedience. When I walk by the Scripture, I am walking by faith. When I walk by what God God's instruction is, I walk by faith because I am walking by the supernatural word of the supernatural God that I serve. So when I live by the Word, I begin to walk and live by faith, The just shall live by faith, how shall I live? I live according to the Word of God, the Word of God is my manual, my life instruction might the word is the way that I live. Yes, I will come out, yes, I will live to the left and to the right. You know, yes, I will make wrong lifestyle choices. Yes, I will make wrong head decisions. Yes, certain things in my life will, will act and will come against me and I will make a mistake, I will sin again. But I am saved by grace and my sin does not affect my salvation. I can never say that I will never sin again, I can never say that I've reached the point of complete purity, because that would make me a liar. And that would make me are someone that is that is completely believing that I have made it because I haven't made it until he draws me into the kingdom of God. Every one of us will go into the continuation, and into the scenario and into the walk of of letting someone down. unforgiveness. You know, just because my life might look like I am living, right? I might be carrying unforgiveness. That's not right. Just because I might look like I'm walking doesn't mean to say that my thinking is right. So we got to be very careful. Because it is impossible. It is impossible to live absolutely incomplete purity, because of the world that we are in. But when I live in Christ, what happens to me over the journey, that my life, my life is a journey. And on this journey, I am being shaped I am being formed. I am being stripped back of this, I mean, stripped back of that. God is reshaping me God is reforming me. I'm on the potter's wheel, and the clay that is in his hands. I am clay you are clay and we are in the father's hands. And if you are that clay being shaped, the Scripture says that there are imperfections, but their imperfections can only be shaped out and fashioned out by the power of the Master and the Master is working on us. So as we journey through the masters will and the plan of the Father. Yes, the sin in there it goes, it moves, it disappears. But I am on a journey. And if I think for one second, that I am completely right completely perfect, complete completely, wholly and completely never going to sin again. I am believing the lie of of religion. I've got to understand what the what the what the writer writes in the New Testament, a wretched man admire that is really important to understand. Paul, the greatest writer of this earth made a very clear statement, a very clear biblical reference. Why do I do the things I hate. So all the time I'm in this earth suit, I'm gonna make bad choices, but by the grace and by favor and by the love of God, through the bad lifestyle choices that I have made, that I will make, because I am a sinner saved by grace, by the power of the living God, by the power of the potter by the power of the master, he is shaping me. And when I do something, he he just presses me harder. And he shapes me through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is God that reshapes us we cannot reshape ourselves. Religion cannot shape you. And it's interested to come back to the text and the conversation that was having very, very clear, very clear, very clear about David would not go in someone else's armory that is very, very clear. You know, God will shape you God is always now the scripture that says He is the vine dresser. I am the gardener. I am the vine dresser, I am cutting away there is always an area of removal with Jesus. If I think that I have reached the place and I'm that beautiful, lovely little dandelion, why have I chose chosen, attended and I ain't got a clue. What if I if I think that I've reached that place of I've grown right? I'm perfect in every way, shape and form. You know, it's wrong. It's wrong. I am a sinner saved by grace. I am blood washed and sanctified. If I think that I've reached that place of purity, I am living in a coal I am living in a place that is not correct. I'm living in a place that is not scripture, because Paul writes very clearly a wretched man am I by bots bots but but the big bots is that I have you had been washed in the blood of Jesus, He is our salvation. When did he Rescue me, he rescued me in the style of life, he rescued me in the dark place, he rescued me and brought me into the light. But God is always reshaping and reforming, and cutting and removing and dealing, and God is always speaking, and God is always shaping. Even Christ when he was in the garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, he was in the will of the Father, to be in the will of the Father is to be and to be separated from the will of the flesh. If it is possible, take this cup from me, but not my will, Your will be done. Christ says a very interesting statement in the New Testament, He says, I have not come to do My will. This is the living word, I have not come to do My will. But I've come to do the will of the Father, Google that have a look at that do as Bible study in that. And I've got my own understanding of that Christ said, I have come not to do My will but to do the will of the one that sent me. Very, very interesting what Christ says, verse five of Psalm 118, I just want to lay this scripture out across the table tonight. And I believe that through revelation or knowledge, God will reveal His word to you. I am just an instrument that is reading from his word. But God is speaking directly to you, I'm just an instrument for these 40 minutes or wherever long, you know we are in the studies for, but when hard press I cry to the Lord. It's about being an individual. It's about being individual in God, it's about being the individual that God is calling us to be. So when I look at this scripture, it says when hard pressed, I cried to the Lord, he brought me in to a spacious place, the Lord is with me these these wordings these, these biblical references that we are reading, are very powerful in the way that they are speaking to me and to you, as an individual, as a son and a daughter of the living God. So when we look at this text tonight, it is speaking to the nation of Israel, but also then it brings it into an intimacy, time with God with an individual's walk. So as we look at this text, it says, He brought me into, it is not talking about corporate, suddenly it goes from talking about a nation to an individual. It says when hard pressed, I cried, I cried to the Lord, he brought me it's talked about me It talks about you as an individual, me into a spacious place, the Lord is with me, me, The Lord is with me, The Lord is with you. He is with you as an individual, he's with you, as a son or daughter, he is with you. What can mere mortals do to me, the Lord is with me, he is my helper, he is he is very individual, not corporate, not not crowded, not hurting, but a very individual speak a very individual language, a very individual calling a very individual press from the Word of God because you are called as an individual you wasn't called. Because the denomination you are in US called as an individual. And God is working with you as an individual. God is speaking to you as an individual. God speaks to you very different to how God speaks to me through His Word, through His word. He says, I am the same yesterday, today and forever more, but it brings it to a personal conversation. When hard press I call to the Lord, he brought me into a spacious place the Lord is with me. I will not be afraid, I will not speak in using the word using the reference as I as he. It says in verse seven, the Lord is with me, he is my a helper. It's talking and he's speaking in the biblical language that we have, about very individuality being an individual, being a person being a son, being a daughter, as an individual in God, but then it speaks very clearly about nations Excuse me. It speaks very clearly as a nation of Israel, it speaks as a nation, but then it brings in it draws it right right back right back. The Lord is with me. I will not be afraid if you are afraid tonight. Don't worry about being afraid God knows you're afraid if you are fearful. Don't worry about being fearful. Fear is a very interesting driver in someone's life. Fear is a very interesting shaper. Fear. Fear shapes a person. The enemy uses fear and the world uses fear. Governments use fear governments the way it's very interesting the way speeches are written. Very interesting, the way that that is delivered the way that it comes over. And word in through media, we've got to be very careful of media, the world of the medium is the media got to be extremely careful what I listened to news channels, culprits got to be very careful because they will hurt and social media, you know, social media is, is a very big and a very powerful instrument to hurt people look, look at what people and how people are being shaped by media, you know, it's trying to hurt us. It's not speaking to us as an individual, but he's speaking to us as the corporate body. It is very robotic. It is heart less. But God is speaking through his word to you as an individual, I knitted you together in your mother's womb, I you you I knew me and you He is our God. He is our rock. He is our king, very individual, we're going to come to a close in just a few moments. And I pray that God will continue to reveal his word to you, wherever you are tonight across the world. And it says, when I was hard pressed, go down to verse 10. And it talks now it brings it back to two nations, it brings us brings us into a cultural press. It brings us into a political press, it brings us we can throw that open it talks about Israel, but then it is talking about the surroundings, the familiar area of my life, what are we surrounded with in the UK, we are surrounded by a big political drive. We are surrounded by a big educational drive. We are surrounded by a big church drive. Just because I use church doesn't doesn't mean to say that I'm talking about the Church of Jesus Christ. We are surrounded by every culture drive we are surrounded by a money drive we are everything in this world is measured by numerology. And what I mean by numerology is numbers and stats, and everything is measured. If it isn't measured, it has no value. Well, actually in the kingdom of God, there is no value there is no measure on a human beings life. If you just let me hold a minute you was bought with a price, and the price was the blood of Jesus. So the measure that you could use in the world way of thinking is that you was bought with a price 30 pieces of silver. But very interestingly, the 30 pieces of silver was given back and suddenly you was bought as a slave to righteousness, by what by the blood and you cannot put a price on the blood of the Lamb. It it is impossible. But I know theologically, and I know in maybe a deeper podcast and a deeper study that we could show that we was bought with a price Yes, I know we was bought with a price. And the price was the blood of Jesus, but you wasn't bought with cash. You wasn't bought with, with policies he wasn't bought with, with statistics he was he was bought as an individual. The Redeemer bought you back he was bought by redemption. He wasn't bought with 30 pieces of silver, that was just putting the scriptures for religious and for us to read. But the 30 pieces of silver was what they was given back. So it wasn't actually 30 pieces of silver. They didn't actually buy Christ because we was bought with the blood of the Messiah, you was bought with blood, you was redeemed by blood, the 30 pieces of silver was given back. So that cancels that out and the religious organization rejected that as well. And we know that that bought a field of blood, very interestingly what that bought, but you was bought with a price that is impossible to price up through the liquidity and through finance, and through economics, you as bought with a price that the world cannot put a price on. The amount of money that is in the world will not come nowhere near what or trying to value what was bought with the world cannot value salvation. The world is always measuring political agendas are always measuring. We are in a world we are in a business setting. We are in church settings. We are in certain settings of this world where everything is measured. And everything is has a pie chart and a flowchart. Everything has a number on the end of it, but you have been bought with the price of the blood of Jesus. It is impossible for the measures of society is impossible by the measures of business. Is it possible by the measures of church it is impossible by the measures of what we see before us to measure what you was bought with but we understand that you was bought with a price and the price was the blood of Jesus. It wasn't a cash price, even though 30 pieces of silver was in the Scripture, you was bought, and you was redeemed. You are and I am a slave to righteousness. So we belong who do we belong to? We don't belong to the politicians. We don't belong to our family. We don't belong to anyone of this world, but we belong to Jesus, you belong to God. You were bought with a price. You were sealed, you were sealed. With the Holy Ghost, you were sealed with the blood of Jesus, you were sailed through the outworking scriptures that we have before us. You was bought by Jesus through the his blood through the shedding of blood. And Christ came to this earth as the redemption plan. There is no liquidity. There is no financial price. I know I got this bell ringing in my spirit of 30 pieces of silver that was just placed in there for that reason, you are saved because of Jesus. And money cannot buy Jesus, he creates the money. He creates the financial value of things. He is the Creator of heaven on earth. Now, I don't want to come off this text because I've got to finish. I've got to finish this right now in verse 14 of Psalm 118. And if you would allow me just to take us to this scripture, if you can just put your eyes on Psalm 119, verse 14, The Lord is my strength and my defense, he has become my salvation. That sums it up, that finishes it up, that brings it to a a full stop for a moment, and it doesn't bring it to a finish, it brings us to a place of pause, it brings us to a place of just grabbing a breath, it brings us to a place of just holding a moment. Now, you as Bo I was bought by the blood of Jesus. There was a price, there was a price. And that was the Messiah. There was a price. And his name is Jesus there was a price if you want to use the word price. But there was an there cannot be any financial summing up of Jesus. The world is measured statistics. You know, stats as we know it. information is gathered for information purposes. But you wasn't saved for information purposes. You were saved, because the God of Israel created you and God loves you so much to get from this. But if you are in worry if you own fear, if you're in doubt, just look at Jesus, focus on Jesus. How can I bring this to a land? How can I bring this to stop? I can't. I literally can't because God's word is always moving. God's word is always fluid. And what I mean by fluid, God's word, and God is the living word. Because we see very clearly that John chapter one verse one says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And Jesus says to the lady at the, the Samaritan lady at the at that well at Jacobs, well, you are thirsty and I can give you living water and, and he says, I am the living water. So God's word is always moving. And we see very clearly that Christ gives water Christ gives them refreshes and restores. So I pray tonight that God will refresh you Christ will refresh you, the anointing will will just give you peace tonight that you will realize that you are on the potter's wheel, and God is shaping you, the master is shaping you into the vessel that he wants you to be. Don't look at the trends of the world don't allow the trends don't allow the HAST hashtag to shape you don't allow business to shape you don't allow your family to shape you don't allow your wife or your husband or your parents to shape you don't allow the culture that you are in to shape you. You are an individual and God is the one that should be shaping you. So if you are feeling very uncomfortable, if you are feeling that you do not fit in is not that is because you wasn't created to fit in to the trend and the hashtag of life. You as created and you was brought into existence to be a worshiper. Because that's what we are, we are worshipers of the God of Israel. We cannot worship the foreign gods. We cannot worship the way of the world. We have to worship the King of kings and the Lord of lords because he was created to worship. I was created to worship you we were not created to worship Mary. We were not created to worship Elam I was not created to worship one another. We were not created to worship any human being. We was created not to lift up any other human being. We was created to lift up and to worship the God of Israel. I should be worshiping Him. If I worship religion, if I worship any other leader, if I worship statues, if I worship statistics if I in a way that I do that, I worship what the world is doing if I worship statues, if I worship symbolism, now, gotta be very careful. I've mentioned the word symbolism. Church uses symbolism. symbolism is used through idolatrous worship. idolatrous worship is a cult, a cult is idolatry, to worship worshiping foreign gods, I've got to be careful if I worship statues, if I worship idols, if I worship saints, if I worship religious figures, if I worship certain areas in religion, I become an occultist. Because an occultist is someone that washes worships a statue. Right? What rather than worshiping the God of Israel, if I'm not worshiping the God of Israel, I am worshipping someone else or something else, I am lifting up symbolism higher than I am lifting up my God. So I've got a look at my life, and I've got a question my life and I've got to be very careful about my life of who I lift up. Do I exalt them more than God? Do I expect more from them than I expect from God? Am I a very Am I a very ritualistic person? Do I lift up symbolism and religion? Or am I in a relationship with the God of Israel? I would like just to say this, there are many in in the platform and in church, and in religion, that have been called in symbolic worship, through statues, through crosses through crucifix, through certain measures through very, now the church, I'm going to use the word church, and I'm going to use the word religion, because I am seeing and I believe that we are seeing, not the church of Jesus Christ, because the Church of Jesus Christ is the kingdom of God. And Christ is the head of the church, the Body of Christ. So we can use this in a different way that the way that the biblical language references, if I'm using symbolism, if I'm using crucifix, if I'm using saints, if I'm going to certain statues. Now we looked at this, very interestingly, in the book of Jude, we see that very clearly. And we see in the book of Deuteronomy, that God buried Moses, if God hadn't buried Moses, and there was a dispute in the book of dude, between the Ark Angel and Lucifer, because if Lucifer could have marked a place, religion, and a cultic activity, always marks a place always marks a person. But God buried Moses and no one knows where he is. Because Israel would have gone and worshipped the grave, rather than than worshiping the God of Israel. We're going to leave it there. We're going to leave it there I've left that probably in quite a deep place, but through the power of revelation or knowledge, God will reveal what I believe God is speaking to me through tonight through the word, so I cannot worship symbolism. The church and religion uses jewelry. The church and religion uses sim embolic statues that would remind us the saints we gotta be careful of cathedrals, got to be careful. You've got to be careful of symbolism, because symbolism is exactly idolatry. idolatrous worship, and idolatrous worship is making a symbol and lifting up the symbol the golden calf, the idol, rather than lifting up the God, but God told Aaron and Moses melt all your jewelry, melt everything and just get written, get rid of it, move it away. sackcloth and ashes been stripped back of everything. But religion and church uses symbol symbolism sorry, it uses the timeline of history. It uses very symbolic figures in the world today. Rather than focus on focusing on the God of Israel. So I pray that wherever you are, that none of us lift up symbols and tradition, more than we lift up, the God of the Scripture, the God of Israel, that is before our very eyes. There's a lot in tonight, there's been a lot being said, there's been a lot focused on this. There's a there's been a lot of coming from what we've been looking at. And I thank God for your life. And the reason I say that is that God is calling you to greater things. God is leading you into new beginnings. God is leading you. Psalm 23. The Lord is your shepherd. You look to your Shepherd, who is your shepherd, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I look to Jesus. Just in closing, we've we've we've done some study on this. The church and religion has herdsman a herdsman can look and can be dressed like a shepherd. But there is something very distinctive between a shepherd and a herdsman, a herdsman, clocks in and he clocks out, a herdsman is a hired hand. And within church and religion, we have a lot of Hired Hands. But in the kingdom, we have shepherds, shepherds that will lay down their life. But there is only one shepherd. Jesus got Christ, whatever. What the scripture says it very clearly the biblical reference. Christ says, I am the good shepherd. So we look to Him. So wherever you are tonight, Psalm 23, is for you. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. In Jesus, you lack nothing. In religion, we won't find peace. In tradition, we won't find peace. In political agendas. We won't find peace. In business areas to certain degrees you we won't find peace, in education, we won't find peace. In the hashtag of life. We won't find peace, social media, we won't find peace. The only place that we will find peace is Christ. Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. Christ says in the New Testament, I am the good shepherd. I am the Way the Truth and the Life No one comes to the Father except through me. We are done. We are out of here. I'm a vicar get me out of here. We've done we busted we're gone. The 50 P is going to run out any moment the electric is going to go put the Peacekeeper gone over. We're finished. Whoever you are, wherever you are tonight. You can find us on iHeartRadio you can find us on Buzzsprout Spotify you can find us on Amazon music and so many other social platforms. May God bless you and strengthen you. And please please go and share all these podcasts go into the search engine type in Reverend Ben Cooper podcast, then you will find a such an assortment of podcasts that we've done over the three years or there abouts. And please just go in download them, comment on them, share them, push them out. If you disagree with me, please let me know. Please let me know. You know, come let us reason together as the scripture says, You are blessed and highly favored. You are a child of the living God. God is your shepherd the Lord is your Savior. You are saved you are blood washed and sanctified. see you Sunday morning. For all those that will be joining us in person and all those that will catch us online. Take care. Stay in the Word of God and never give up. This is the day that the Lord has made. I shall rejoice and be glad God bless. Thank goodness