New Years Eve

Discover the spiritual stepping stones that promise to elevate your journey with God, as we unwrap a year steeped in scriptural wisdom and personal growth. Our latest episode is a tapestry of intimate revelations, with Rosie offering her unique blend of academic and divine insights, demonstrating how learning "precept upon precept" can deepen our faith. We traverse the landscape of Isaiah's teachings, navigating the importance of embracing the Bible as a living, breathing guide for continuous discovery and connection with the Divine.

Feel the resonance of worship's profound impact on our lives. This exploration leads us through the meaning of 'Reima'—those profound, spirit-filled instances that crystalize our faith into deeply personal truths. We converse about the incremental growth of our spiritual understanding, much like a child's grasp of mathematics, and remind you to carve out moments for stillness, worship, and scripture, ensuring we don't lose sight of the relationships that truly matter amongst the whirlwind of daily life.

The episode culminates with candid reflections on forgiveness and seeing others through God's compassionate gaze. the hurdles of pardoning a friend and how it reshapes our walk with Christ. We touch upon the solace found in God's just nature and the sanctuary He provides against life's storms, including the angelic support we are blessed with. As we bid farewell, we leave you with a blessing, looking forward to a new year under the guidance and wisdom that only comes from above—inviting you to partake in the transformative grace that awaits.

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Transcript

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 0:01

Amen. Good morning church. Happy New Year Almost. We're right there. We're right there. I don't know if you can say happy New Year yet, because we're not there. I think we can. So, good morning. My name is Pastor Angus. I'm so glad to be with you today.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 0:16

I'm the family pastor here at Cornerstone, pastor Jay and his family. They are away in Tucson this weekend. They're just enjoying some family time away, so if you would please just pray for them that they would have an amazing time of refreshment and relaxation as they're away, and so, while they're gone, we have a few speakers who are lined up for you today. That Pastor Jay has given us an assignment that what he told our speakers to do was to bring something that God has revealed to them through Scripture this year.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 0:49

Now, if you read your Bible at all and you spend any time with the Lord, hopefully, that's a really long list and a very hard one to choose from, because God should be speaking to you all the time, and you should.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 1:02

If you're pressing in, you should be getting revelation after revelation, and so I want to encourage you that, if you're not, you should and that's what our speakers today have done is they've taken their year. They've looked at the Scripture and they've asked the Lord what is it that you want us to share? So they have taken a year's worth of learning and things that God has poured into them, and they have distilled it down into just a short message for you. So you get the benefit of not having to go through all of the years of learning, or all the year of learning that they did. You get to just take their nuggets of wisdom and make it a part of your life. So be thankful for that, because you didn't have to go through it. Amen, well, with that, I want to invite our first speaker, rosie, to come on up to the stage. She's got some great stuff to tell you.

Rosie Stoffel: 1:56

Thank you and good morning. First of all, I'd like to take a moment and just express my gratitude and thankfulness for the invitation to be behind this pulpit. I know that our leadership protects it greatly for us on behalf of the Lord. So, as I was given this assignment and I began to really reflect and ponder and think about my year and all that, god and, for those of you who don't know, I crammed in and wrapped up my bachelor this year. So when I think about learning, I think about very quickly back to my academic of leadership, but when I think about, in between there and the busyness and the distraction of school, what the Lord has taught me and I found that there wasn't one moment, one piece, and made it very difficult because what I found was each of those moments, stacked on top of each other, to teach me the lesson that I would say was my lesson for 2023 from the Lord, and but that also took me on this mental process or thinking journey of thinking about the learning process. That it really is what we've heard forever here, growing up here as an adult. It is precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, and that is a scripture that I haven't heard it quoted, but I've heard that principle often. I'd like to start by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson. He says life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle. How many feel like that, that life gives us a riddle and the answer is another riddle, and this constant journey of being able to sort through that to figure out the message or the answer.

Rosie Stoffel: 4:01

So the Bible's version is that scripture I implied, and it's found in Isaiah 28, 9, and 10. To whom will he teach knowledge and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is a, for it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. So the word precept I stopped and kind of looked at that. It is a general rule that is intended to help regulate our behavior and our thoughts. So other biblical examples of a precept would be treat one another as you want to be treated, the golden rule, or love your neighbor as yourself.

Rosie Stoffel: 4:49

The Bible's full of them. It's full of precepts for us to take, and take one and then the other and build, and the idea behind this scripture is to develop maturity. Would you agree that? Yeah, if you further read in that same scripture, continue through 11 through 13, I believe it is it takes those same lines, repeats it and talks about folly or foolishness.

Rosie Stoffel: 5:18

As a believer, because we can take this idea of precept upon precept, line upon line, and even though that is the process of learning, it is also how we treat the scriptures foolishly. If we have that attitude or an incorrect attitude with the scriptures. Because if we take one thing, a line in the scripture and interpret it, even though it may be a huge revelation to you, but you interpret that as you've arrived in that revelation, that there's nothing further to learn, then that's when we become foolish with the scriptures. Because it is a lifetime journey of learning. If you continue to read your scriptures, it is fresh every time which part of my story and applying this lesson, it will show you that it's scriptures that we hear. Matter of fact, this scripture right here. And Isaiah, I've heard Pastor Rich. I've been here for 32 years as a member and my entire adult life I've heard him with that principle precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little. It's a constant, constant learning if we will hear from the Lord.

Rosie Stoffel: 6:28

So this year these moments came to me, like I said, stacked on top of each other, but he gave them to me in a very specific order with different methods specifically for me. Can anybody relate to that God? I'm a real follower and so God speaks to me in obedience all the time. So if I'm struggling with something I'm very quick to hear in my monat, five, 10, 23 hours, whatever a week of struggling with something he's talking to me about, I'll hear him simply say so. Now you're choosing to disobey, and that hits me at my core of who I am as my personality and who he created me to be. He knows how to talk to me, he knows exactly how to speak to me.

Rosie Stoffel: 7:13

So my first of these moments came in the spring, when we were a handful of us ladies went off to a leadership or women conference and we were over way for a night and God brought as a keynote speaker a woman with a very similar personality to mine, very straightforward. She's out of Texas and she brought to us in one of her sessions, used Mary and Martha as her subjects for her talk and instantly a little bit of a wall went up for me, because I've heard if you're not familiar, let me pause. If you're not familiar with Mary and Martha, they are sisters and Mary is known to sit at the feet of Jesus, while Martha is busy in the kitchen, in the house, setting the table, getting ready because Jesus is there, right, she's organizing, she's planning, she's cooking whatever, and every message I've heard before this is one of those areas. I've heard several presentations of that scripture and I always want to be in more of a discouragement for me, because I would call myself a Martha, I'm a doer, I'm busy. If you guys watch me here on Sunday morning, you see me running around. I'm busy, I have things to get done, and a lot of that is because, as the administrator, sunday morning is when you are all here and you're not here Monday through Friday. So every Sunday I have this list of things that I can only get done when you're here.

Rosie Stoffel: 8:45

However, that keeps me busy, and so in the previous slave, I always felt like I had to lay down who God created me to be so that I could be this Mary and just sit at the feet of Jesus. And I know that's not true. I know God wants me to be and who he created me to be, but that's how those messages made me feel. This message I was able to walk away and hear from the Lord, the balance in it I could hear because she was another Martha speaking to a Martha. I could hear that there's a place for both of us. There's a place in the church for both. And, however, I also heard that there was balance and there's times when Martha needs to slow down and stop instead of the feet of Jesus, but there's also times where Mary needs to get up and help the Martha's in the room and get to work and get things done. That we can't always just say that ministry doesn't happen that way. It doesn't. It takes all of us working all together. So at the time I could hear that and for the first time, I walked away from message where I did not feel discouraged. However, I still had my perspective and my perspective was they can't coexist and I thought, if I'm gonna act like Mary, I had to stop doing and I had to stop being who I naturally just step into. And same thing for the Mary's If they get up, away from Jesus and they're not doing their natural what comes in easy. And so I still saw it as I had to stop being a cessation of my work and who I am to do this other. Even though I felt I walked away from that conference hearing from God and having a deeper revelation, that was still where I was at.

Rosie Stoffel: 10:42

The second time that I heard from the Lord, which is a stacking moment, is when we went to Barcelona. Now, most of you, we have our services. So when we got back, as ladies got back and we shared about our trip, I shared in first service. So if you come to second service, you didn't hear anything about my perspective of the trip and at the time it was very emotional for me. It kinda still is.

Rosie Stoffel: 11:06

And because God took this opportunity of immersion on the other side of the world, I had no choice. Like I was busy, we were administrating a women's conference, I was doing what I do all the time and so but God took that because our lead missionary and the international church's pastor's wife is a Martha. What I got to observe was a Martha integrating what Mary did in her work. And I couldn't. On that Sunday we shared, I could not get to the understanding. What I had actually got was talking to me in it. What God showed me was they can coexist, they can absolutely coexist, because really isn't that like being like Christ? Christ isn't only a Martha either. And so I had to anyways. That was my second moment, that built upon my first. I watched Brandy walk through and remember this was a women's conference of 500 women in attendance an event bigger than I've ever planned and I watched her have challenges right up with our speaker, maybe not showing up the day before we were starting. I watched her deal with conflict. I watched her deal with the Martha work, the doing, but I watched her walk through a room and be present with every single person in front of her. I watched her do it. I watched her deal with the business and deal with the doing, but being led by the Holy Spirit, and for the first time I saw it coexist. It's possible.

Rosie Stoffel: 13:04

Just when I think I'm getting something like I got it on the 20th of December, just not even two weeks away, I woke up opening my email and I clear my email 10 times a day. I'm not one. You'll see a thousand emails in my email. I might have 10 to 20, and that's stuff I'm working on, and every morning I wake up and it's the first thing I do, because it's mental clutter and it's a way I've learned to. If I'm going to have any kind of getting ready and a piece of mind and getting to work which is, if you don't know, here at the church I have to get rid of some mental clutter out of my way. So I clear emails and so I don't take the time first thing in the morning to look at all the stuff that comes in. I'm like, don't have time for that, don't have a time, and one of those is Caleb's Word of the Day. It's not the time of day that I do that with, but for whatever reason, this morning on the 20th, I was looking at my emails. I'm like, huh, I clicked it and in that moment maybe it was a Saturday, I don't know what day of the week it is I didn't have anywhere to go, I wasn't rushing, I was awake early. I don't know why, but I clicked it and in it was a scripture, a Christmas scripture that I have read and heard 100 times in my life, if not more Matthew 22.

Rosie Stoffel: 14:16

And going into the house, they, the wise men, saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh. Once again, this was a moment very similar to Barcelona. It was that radical. It was like I was running and hit a wall. It stopped me in my thought process. It I don't even I came alive in it. It became Reima.

Rosie Stoffel: 14:45

If you understand that word. It's a church word, but it's when something you know, you've seen it, and all of a sudden it becomes you, it becomes a part of you, you own it, you now accept it and it instantly will change you. When it becomes Reima, it's an instance of full understanding of everything you've learned to that point. This is that moment, and it was over the word. Then they came, saw him, they worshiped him and then they presented him their gifts. And what God showed me was the how. This is the how. It coexists. The how is in everything I have, and my gifts are my administrative skill set, everything that lands on my agenda.

Rosie Stoffel: 15:37

Working for the church is my gift. And before I bring my gift which is more easier to do because it's nature, it's habit, almost I am to worship the reason I have, the gifts, the ability, the whole content that I have the ability of those gifts. My gifts is everything that God's created me to be and everything, everything he's created me with to fulfill what he's called me to do. But I'm to worship first. So in an instant I understood what I didn't clearly get in March and what I didn't clearly get in November. We tied it all together right before the end of this year. This means that I have to slow down, that I be very intentional to worship first and I'll pick up my phone and open my emails in the very waking moment that I do. It's worship, because whatever decision making I do with those emails, that's my gift. Whatever I do with any of that, it's my gift. So before I can bring my gift which you heard starts first thing when I wake up, my ability I worship him. I worship him Precept upon precept, line upon line.

Rosie Stoffel: 17:04

It is a lifetime, line upon line. It's very much like mathematics At a young child running the daycare for a while. At three years old they start really identifying. Actually, at two they can start identifying numbers. You have to know what a number is. It isn't until three or almost four that they figure out a number is not a letter. They just memorize that the number is a two when they see it, but they don't understand its use. They don't understand it's any different than ABC at three, two and three years old. They can't. So they learn the number. And then, once they figure out it's a number, it has quantity, it has a purpose, it has a different purpose. They can learn one plus one equals two, and then they subtract and you can't do division and multiplication without addition and subtraction and you've got to understand all four basic mathematical processes before you can get to geometry or algebra right.

Rosie Stoffel: 18:05

Precept upon precept, line upon line, a little here, a little there, brings maturity into our life. It's a mark of maturity, it shows that we are growing. So this year, in my moments away from my normal life because that's one thing in preparing for today that I observed was it's when I've laid down, when I've given God's space to talk to me. I registered for retreat and went away out of the city limits to a weekend away, away from I mean. I even look at my community and my agenda starts. I have to get away to quiet the mind. But it was in that moment and so I went to Tucson or cast a grant for a retreat, and then he took me all the way across the other side of the world to Barcelona and then, in a moment of quietness in the morning, without a real agenda, he used his scripture.

Rosie Stoffel: 19:06

So I challenge you to make sure that this scripture is alive and well in your life, that you are reading the word, that you're hearing God so that he can build upon the things he's already taught you. And don't treat the scriptures with fullness. Treat them with the authenticity that it is in your life. It's alive. I heard that Christmas scripture I can't even count how many times in my life, but in a moment it's living. In a moment I saw and heard something very fresh for me, very new, that built upon what God was trying to tell me for 2020-23. So I encourage you to do the same Quiet your mind and awaken your spirit so you can hear the Lord. Thank you, amen.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 19:59

Great job, rosie. Thank you so much. How many of you were blessed by that? I know I was Amen as a doer, as a fellow Martha. I completely understand what Rosie's talking about, that sometimes and God's corrected me on a few occasions that I need to set things down and be with the people. Like Pastor says, you've got to keep the main thing, the main thing, and sometimes that gets a little crazy. And so, rosie, thank you very much. Personally, I got so much out of it and what she shared first service. I'm just taking it all in so, if you missed, go back and watch it again, because you can gain from hearing it over and over, because I already am. So, with that, I want to move into our next speaker. She's our kids director. She helps us out doing all of the stuff that's going on outside of these doors, so I want to just invite Serena to come and share with you.

Sarina Bittle: 21:05

Good morning. How are you guys doing today? Good, I am blessed to be up here today in front of you guys, and just grateful for the opportunity to share what God has done this year. As Pastor Angus said before, you learn a lot of things in a year, and so I'm just going to highlight a few, but then one really important one that was really impactful for me. The first one God helped me with control, so I used to divide my M&Ms up. That's kind of the control that I was dealing with. I had like M&Ms and I would eat them in color order. I don't do that anymore, which is good. He taught me to slow down and, instead of rushing from building to building, to actually look up and look at people and connect with them, and he's taught me to sit in his presence and to just be silent and hear his voice. But the most impactful thing I've learned this year is how to forgive and love others, the way that God forgives and loves us.

Sarina Bittle: 22:27

In life, we get a lot of disappointments and people hurt us because we have these expectations for them that we want them to meet, and then they don't meet them and sometimes they say something and it rubs us the wrong way and we hold on to that. And a lot of the time it comes from the people that we're closest to. They come up with empty promises and you guys have different ways of thinking and you just clash. And again, with unmet expectations, we create an expectation that we want someone to live up to and then they fail right Because we put this expectation on them. And what happens when we do this is we start to harbor resentment and bitterness and the little actions that happen along the way start to build and we hold on to that.

Sarina Bittle: 23:36

I had a friend that I trusted and I gave a lot to and I just kept feeling like the relationship was one-sided, like I would give and give my all and then only get an okay part of her, and I felt like I was just giving so much that I couldn't do anymore. So I started harboring feelings that I was giving this and they weren't giving the same, and that started to build and I started having this resentment towards her that I didn't even realize was there until someone would say her name, and then it was like this feeling in my, my body, that was just like I don't, I don't want to hear that name, and it was slow. I didn't realize that she had hurt me until someone told me about her. Does that make sense? It wasn't until God dealt with me and my feelings in regards to her and he said have I not forgiven you?

Sarina Bittle: 24:49

It was a moment it took me back and I was like I almost started to argue with God, like what do you mean? That's not. That's not fair. This is not what we're talking about right now. But it was through scripture, through Ephesians 4, 31, 32, which says that all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. And I read that scripture and I was like, okay, this is what I need to do. I need to forgive her in a way that God forgave me, which means that I need to set aside my flesh feelings and look at her the way God sees her. I needed to see him through. I need to see her through his eyes and love her for who she was in Christ and who she was as God's daughter and not as the person who hurt me. I had to frame my thoughts to be more like his thoughts and I got this scripture again, isaiah 55, 8 through 9, which says for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. My thoughts had to align with God's thoughts and everything thought God thought about this person. I needed to think about this person and it took me. I had to stop and forgive her in order to be able to move on and continue my journey with God, because sometimes you won't be able to move on to the next thing that God has for you until you forgive that person because you're holding on to that unforgiveness and those feelings.

Sarina Bittle: 27:05

We need to think like him and see people the way he sees them. As Christians, we're called to be more like Jesus. We hear it all the time and that's really what we strive for is to be like him and love like him and forgive like him. So this year he taught me to frame my mindset and to see him, or to see people the way he sees them, and to pre-forgive people for what I know that they will do to. When I walk into a situation, I know that someone's going to be a certain way and I just need to expect that. If we don't love and forgive as he loved and forgave us, then what is this even about? So my challenge to you guys today is who do you need to forgive today? Is it a friend, a coworker, a family member? Is it yourself? I want you to think about how God sees them and reframe your perspective and align your thoughts with his thoughts, and it's a daily practice that we have to do every single day. Thank you.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 28:32

Amen. Thank you so much, serena. Great job. You know I love that our God is willing to go to such lengths to get a message or get a lesson into us. For Rosie, he took her across the world. For Serena, for all of us, these lessons that are being distilled to you took an entire year, and that's amazing, that our God cares so much about specific things in our life that he will deal with it for an entire year with you, and longer if you got a hard skull like I do.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 29:12

So our next speaker was supposed to be Josiah, who is our youth director, but he is not feeling well. He's down with a fever. So I want to just ask if you would please pray for him, but also pray for those other people who aren't here today because they're not feeling well. So pray for our brothers and sisters who aren't here because they're sick. And before I get into, because, since Josiah is not there, you guys get me Yay, so hopefully you guys are excited and ready for that. But before I start with what I want to share with you, I just want to let you know that this coming Saturday, erin Young's celebration of life will be held. Erin was a member of this church for a number of years and she recently went home to be with the Lord. So while we are very sad that she's no longer with us, we celebrate that she's no longer fighting cancer and that she is in the presence of the Lord. So next Saturday we will be gathering to support Kevin and Thomas her husband and son as we celebrate the life of Erin at 10 o'clock here. So we would invite you all to come and join with us as we do that.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 30:24

So, again, like I mentioned, I wasn't necessarily planning on sharing today. I was just supposed to be the emcee and I was excited for that. And then, when I found out Josiah wasn't feeling well, I started to think, okay, well, now this is my assignment, and it was. I hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into it because I wasn't going to be speaking on it, and so when Pastor Jay called me and let me know that I was going to be speaking, I was like great, what am I going to talk about? And I'm going to be very transparent with you, okay, because we're family, family knows all your stuff, right, and so I share my stuff with you because you're my family, okay.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 31:07

So yesterday I was having a rough day. I was having a really rough day, and so I'm always excited to come and speak, but with the day I was having yesterday, though, I was excited I got to come speak, I didn't know what I was going to speak on. My attitude was all wrong, and when we were, when I was at the probably the worst part of the day yesterday, my lowest part, my wife Annie, she said you know, I really feel I need to read this scripture for you. And so she read this to me, and that became what you're going to hear right now, and I share it with you, because when she read these scriptures to me, with everything that was going on inside of me and in my situation, it was like I was pulled into a safe harbor. And so we're going to talk about scripture, about Psalm 91. So if you want to turn to Psalm 91, I'm actually using the NIV version today just because I like the wording. So the wording may be a little different in your, in your version, but it's the same principles, the same ideas. So, again, this, this Psalm, should be a safe harbor.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 32:29

Yesterday, when she read it to me, I was able to just and take a breath, because, as I did, and as she read this to me, the Lord began to minister to me, and so what I'm going to do is we're going to go through line by line and I'm going to show you what the Lord showed me, to just give me to that. Now please understand the things in my life. There's still some things that are going on and and everything is not 100% hunky dory. Let's see, this scripture gets me to a place where I can go. Everything's going to be okay. I will make it through this. I must still be in some part of the lesson that I'm not at the end yet.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 33:21

So, starting with verse one, whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty man. It starts out, and as soon as she read that first verse to me, I just oh and so if your shoulders did not drop when you heard that first line, maybe you should examine your relationship with the Lord just a minute, because whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. If you're resting in the shadow of the Almighty, your shoulders should be out of your ears. I will say to the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Sometimes it's important that we remind ourselves who he is, especially when we're in times where we're doubting who he is or maybe we aren't fully present of how amazing and awesome he can be and is being in our situation. We have to refocus Verse three. Surely he will save you from the foulers snare and the deadly pestilence.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 34:36

Now, for some of us, a fouler, that's kind of an old term. See, that was for somebody who used to hunt birds, back before shotguns and bird shot. Okay, and so before you wanted to catch a bird, you had to kind of sneak up on it, you had to be tricky, you had to trap it, and if any of you have tried to swerve and hit a pigeon, you know those little things are fast. You really do need something like a shotgun to help you with those birds. But see back, before that you had to be cunning, you had to set a trap, you had to be patient, you had to wait.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 35:23

And the reality is is there is a fouler after each and every one of us. There is an enemy of our soul that is setting a trap. See, satan could use a shotgun, and sometimes he does, and he takes out a whole bunch of people. We call those concerts Just kidding no, really. So Satan can take out a whole bunch of people in a concert, that's a shotgun blast. But what he really does is he sets an individualized trap for you, one trap that others will walk by and not give a second glance to you, but it'll snare you. Surely he will save you from the foul or snare and the deadly pestilence. We don't have to be scared that. There's somebody after us. He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 36:28

Have you guys ever seen a big bird before, like I'm talking, a really big bird whose wingspan is taller than me? Because there are birds like that and Lord, don't ever let me meet one in the wild, please, unless I have a shotgun. But there are birds that they've got these enormous wingspans Grown. Men, don't mess with these birds, because they're strong. But see, birds protect their young, they protect their eggs, they protect their young. And so when a big bird with big, strong wings covers you with their wings, you're good. How much better is our Lord as he protects us.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 37:24

You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day. How many of you have nightmares or problems sleeping, see, maybe you need to show them who your God is, need to speak to them. You can speak this scripture. There's a lot of other ones in there too. When you have a nightmare, you say no. No, you can come after me, but understand this. We win. Now, leave me alone.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 37:55

And I have this theory. I don't know if it works, because I don't have night terrors, praise God. But I have this theory that if and this is bonus material, try it out and let me know how it works If the enemy is waking you up at night, what's he trying to do? Rob you of peace, rob you of your sleep? What happens if you get into scripture and start getting armed instead? So what happens if he wakes you up with fear and you get into the training ground? Well, I'm up already. Might as well, go to the gym, right, I'm up already, might as well. Go learn how to use this sort of the spirit. When you wake up, press in and see what happens. I can almost guarantee you the enemy will go. I'm going to let them leave it alone, because the enemy wants you to go back to sleep. I'm going to fight with them in the spirit.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 38:50

Don't let nightmares take over, because it says here that you will not fear the terror of the night Skipping to verse six nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You'll see people perishing all around you, and we see that all the time. Right, we see people at our jobs, in our families, that are perishing as we speak, but we know that that is not for us. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. I'm going to read that one again, because this one's so good you will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. So what it's talking about is you're going to see all these other things that are happening to everybody else around you, but he's got something else in store for you.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 39:57

What I really really like about this particular scripture, this verse, is that it says see the punishment of the wicked. We serve a good God who is an amazing judge, and he will not let sin stand. So everything that has been done to you in your past, everything that will be done to you in your future, it's all been paid for, and those people who perpetrated those things against you, if they don't come to Christ, they will pay for it. They will absolutely answer for everything, and that's why I'm so thankful that God offers me the same forgiveness that he offers you and the people that I upset, and I'm so glad that he doesn't withhold my forgiveness because somebody else is mad at me, because I did something to them. And so, if that's the perspective we need to understand and that's where it goes back to Ms Serena and what she said in pre-forgiving If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, like I do every once in a while if you wake up and you know that today is going to be one of those days and you just say you know what I'm going to pre-decide to forgive everybody today.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 41:27

If you do that, when those times come, you've already forgiven them. Now you just have to walk it out. But see, once you've pre-forgiven them, it saves you so much time and energy because you don't have to be mad at them, you don't have to be angry at them, you don't have to be rude to them If you say the Lord is my refuge and you make the most high your dwelling, so this, this is a big part. This is one of the most important words in here if, if you say the Lord is my refuge and make the most high your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come to your tent. Now it doesn't say in there that nothing bad is going to happen. It says nothing will overtake you, which is a military, it's a, that's a, that's a fighting term. That means your enemy is not going to overrun you and win the battle, win the war. It may win some battles. We win the war.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 42:54

So we will face difficulties, but we know that if we say the Lord is my refuge, then these other things will happen. No harm will overtake you, no disaster will come to your tent, for he will command angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Now, that's a scripture for celebration, so I'm going to read it again and those of you who feel like celebrating celebrate Okay, ready. So for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Guys, I don't know if you know anything about angels, but if you're putting together a basketball team. You want them on your team and he says he will command them for you. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion in the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent, if Right.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 44:12

So up to this point we see that he's a refuge, that he's there to take care of us. But why See? Because I've looked in the mirror and I've seen me as pastor said. I brush, I brush his, that guy's, teeth every day. I know the stuff that's in me. I know the things that should have present prevented me from being a pastor. But why is this so good? Why does he do this? It's right there in verse 14.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 44:47

Because he loves me, because he loves me, because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him, I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. I'm standing here speaking to you because he loved me, because he has loved me and it continues to love me. He's rescued me from things, he's protected me from things. So, man, you better believe I acknowledge his name, he will call on me and I will answer. I will be with him in trouble and I will deliver him and honor him With long last life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 45:52

There's so much in here, but, like I said, if you've got a storm going on in your life, pull into this harbor. Let these words wash over you, because, guys, I'll be honest, if these words hadn't washed over me yesterday, I don't know what today would have looked like To be very transparent, because I didn't have this in me yesterday. See, we serve a God who is so faithful to come and show you how much he loves you. And if you recognize that, you're outside of this harbor and you go, man, there's a lot of stuff, but I don't think that applies to me, because I don't know this God. I don't understand what it means to have him protect me. That's okay, because that's what we're going to talk about right now as I invite the worship team to come.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 46:57

We see, like we sung earlier today, we were all wicked at one point. Man, I know how bad I was, but I also know that in coming to Christ and fostering a relationship with Him not just wearing the name tag, not just putting the jersey on and saying, yeah, I'm a Christian, because we can all put the jersey on. It's a lot harder to play the sport. So maybe you're sitting here and you go. I haven't even put the jersey on yet. That's okay, because in Romans it says this. It says because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 48:04

So I'm going to ask that everybody would stand with me, please, and with all heads bowed and all eyes closed, if that's you, if you realize that you are outside of the harbor and these things don't yet apply to you, we're going to pray a simple prayer. My brothers and sisters here that have prayed this prayer before, they're going to pray it along with you. It's nothing magical, it's just a position of your heart that says Lord, I recognize where I'm at, I recognize I need you and I'm ready to come to the safe harbor. So if that's you, if you would just raise your hand when I see your hand, you can put it back down. I just want to know how to pray for you. I see that hand. Praise God. If there are any others, praise God, amen, amen.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 49:09

So what I'm going to encourage you to do is pray this prayer along with us. Just repeat after me Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. I pray Amen, amen. Friends, if that's you, we celebrate with you. Today is your birthday, amen, and so, if you would, we have some people back over here by this prayer banner that we would love to give you some information on next steps and how to progress in your journey with Christ and have somebody pray with you so we can do that over there and for everybody else, this altar is open.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 50:16

Take some time and reflect on the three messages that you've heard today and pick the few things that you really want to tie this year up with or start the next year off with. Take some time to be with the Lord. Allow him to be your safe harbor. Allow him to teach you how to pre-forgive. Allow him to help you to relax, if you're a Martha, and to help out a little more if you're a Mary. I would be thank you for this time that we have and I just pray that, as we enter back into this time of worship that you administer to us, that you would finish the work that you've started. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Pastor Angus MacLeod: 51:15

But before we go, I would love to pray this blessing over us May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, we pray this blessing over your people, over your church. We ask that you would be with us as we go out into the world and share you. Lord, we just ask that you would help us to learn those lessons that you've been trying to teach us, that you can tie it up in a bow for this year and get us ready for what it is that you have for us next year. Lord, we are so excited to see what we're going to do with you this year. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. Have a great, wonderful day.