Our Great God Psalm 91:14-16, NIV “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." The God in whom we believe and serve is really a great God. He is almighty God who created the world with His Word. Also, He is a loving God who sent His only Son Jesus Christ to this earth to grant His grace of salvation through His death on the cross while we were all dead in our sins. Our great God will pour His wonderful grace and blessings upon us when we keep Him in our hearts and live for His glory. Psalm 91 is a testimony of God’s people Israel experiencing His salvation and grace when they were in pain and despair. God’s people today can equally experience God’s deliverance from all life’s difficulties if they love the Lord with all their hearts and apply His word to their lives. He will raise us up as we call upon His name and live by His will. Our Lord will answer our prayers when we earnestly cry out to Him. He will grant our wishes and grace of salvation when we live for the glory of God. Our Lord is truly a good God. I pray such grace of God will abundantly flow in your life in the name of Jesus. First, the God in whom we believe and serve is the God who delivers us. Psalm 91:14 says: "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him." "I will rescue him." We may experience enormous problems and difficulties. At times we even fall into a darkness of despair. However, He will rescue us when we lean on God and cry out to Our Lord. David looked back to his past and gave thanks to God for His grace of salvation. Psalm 40:2 says: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." David confessed that God lifted him out of a slimy pit, out of mud and mire. He could not pull himself out of his difficulties and despair. That is why he said he was in a slimy pit of mud and mire. As God lifted David out of his slimy pit of mud and mire; so does God lift us out of our slimy pit of mud and mire. Sometimes God allows us to fall into a pit of mud and mire. There are times in our lives wherein God allows us to groan in economic despair and think that everything is over because we ask for the help of other people and they cannot or will not help us. At other times God may leave us to writhe in agony in the midst of overwhelming family problems, in the bottom of our slimy pit of mud and mire as our family falls apart and breaks up. A son of one of our church's elders who was running a business in the Philippines was shot. The bullet which penetrated his head immediately threatened his very life; however his father sent us his mayday pray request and we cried out to Our Lord for healing. Surgery could not be performed in the Philippines so our elder’s son was directed back to Korea to have his very delicate bullet removal surgery. God granted us a great miracle because the bullet had lodged itself in a very dangerous spot of his brain; however sometime during his plane trip to Korea and in our Korean hospital waiting for surgery; the bullet moved through a vein to a safe place in his brain so that the operation would be successful. Hallelujah! We give glory to God. The medical team in the Philippines declared this man as good as dead but the bullet was removed and he is in recovery of abundant health. We give glory to God. We can imagine how our elder felt when he heard about his son. He was very unexpectedly in a slimy pit. He heard his loving son was shot and the bullet penetrated his head. The doctors in the Philippines said they were powerless, “We cannot do anything. He is like a dead man.” Our God rescued him from his slimy pit. God is alive and has granted all of us amazing grace. Psalm 91:3 says: "Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence." How can we be saved from despair? God saves us from despair for only one reason. He loves us and if we love Him; He promises to rescue us from any slimy pit of despair. God will save us if we but love the Lord. In Hebrew, "to love" means "cling to." Our Lord will not leave us when we cling to Him. He will rescue us when we believe and completely rely on Him. One bible translation says He saves me because “He desires me.” Another translation says “…because He dedicates His love.” When we offer out love to God and are loyal to Him as our Lord; He will save us from all despair. We just need to cling to God. The Lord says in John 15: 5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Our Lord will show us miracles if we remain in Him. Matthew 22:37 says: "Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' If we love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and mind; He will save us from despair. We see in Daniel, chapter 3 that Daniel’s three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were captured and thrown into a blazing furnace because they would not bow down before the gold statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. Listen to their confession before they were thrown into the blazing furnace. Daniel 3:17 says: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king." "Our God is a God who delivers us. He will deliver us from the blazing furnace and from your hand." It was done according to their faith. God did indeed deliver them from the blazing furnace and King Nebuchadnezzar bent his knees and praised their living God. Matthew 6:33 says: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." "Give to you as well." E. Stanley Jones accomplished many great things in his mission work in India. After he graduated from Asbury College, he received invitations from three places to establish his calling. President Haynes of Asbury College asked him to be a professor and teach their students. President Haynes said that Jones' professorship was God's will. Secondly, he received an invitation from his colleague to co-minister with them. They felt it was God’s call for Jones. The third invitation came from a Methodist mission. They challenged him to pick up the call of becoming a missionary and preaching in India. E. Stanley Jones fervently prayed and lifted all three of his invitations to God. God touched his heart and directed him to India which was considered as a faith wasteland. Jones went to India at the age of 24. How long did he minister in India in obedience to God’s call? 65 years! Jones worked hard for the Lord until he was 89 years old. He did a great work in India and was then called to the Lord. He loved the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with his entire mind. Times introduced E. Stanley Jones as one of the greatest missionary in the world. The American Methodist Church described him as "the greatest Christian missionary since Saint Paul”. Jones was surprised when he was elected a Methodist Bishop in 1928. Bishop is a very honorable position. However, in favor of his missionary vocation; Jones resigned that honor. He is recorded in history as the bishop who held his position for the shortest period of time being 24 hours. Bishops receive special treatment wherever they go because of the respect and admiration their position holds; however Jones found that title troublesome for his missionary calling to India and therefore he resigned. Jones suffered a stroke when he fell down at the age of 88. Thereafter he was unable to do much. During his 14 month recovery; Jones dictated his last book into a tape recorder. After his recovery, Jones went back to India where he continued his call as a missionary and then one day while preaching; he went to be with the Lord. Stanley Jones left these words in remembrance of his mission work: "I sing because I have reason to sing. My theme song is Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! The song that I sing about Jesus Christ is not the whistle that we blow for encouragement in the darkness. My song is the song that I sing with my all: with all my heart and with my soul and with my entire mind. I sing because I cannot do any other thing. If I remain silent, the stones, which are the reality of this cold life, will shout for help." "Because I love Jesus, my theme song is only about Jesus." Day and night, awake or asleep, twenty-four/seven, there is only Jesus. For 65 years, Jones preached only Jesus and did the work of God with his all in India and then was called home by the Lord. God saved him from all his difficulties, and in his end; God rescued Jones from a stroke. Because Stanley Jones loved the Lord, God rescued him and showed wonderful works in and through him. I pray that you love the Lord with your heart and with your soul and with your mind and dedicate yourself for the glory of God. Second, the God whom we serve is God who sets us high. Psalm 91:14 says: "I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name." The Lord says, "I will protect him. I will protect him." David professed God’s goodness. He rejoiced because the Lord prepared a table before him in the presence of his enemies. He confessed in Psalm 23:5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." The Lord sets us high. Joseph dreamt and he told his brothers his dream; but his brothers who hated him, threw him into a slimy pit and sold him as a slave. Joseph dutifully worked as a slave but was again entrapped and this time thrown into a prison. In the course of a day, Joseph was hated by his brothers, fell into a slimy pit, sold into slavery and then fell into an even deeper pit when he was thrown into prison. Then the Lord lifted Joseph up high. This time no man could pull Joseph down because it was God who set him on high. The prophet Daniel was loyal to his faith in God and was made Prime Minister of the country he was taken captive into as a slave. Then there was the evil man Haman who tried to kill Mordecai who also faithfully served the Lord as recorded in the Book of Esther. Again God lifted - he lifted Mordecai high as Haman was hanged on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai; and in turn Mordecai was given Haman’s high political position. It is indeed true. At times unexpected negative events spiral out of control and resentment and despair follows; but if we believe, rely only on God and keep our faith, our Lord will set us high. When does the Lord set us high? The Bible says the Lord set us high, "for he acknowledges my name." When we acknowledge the Lord, believe and rely on God, God will set us high. "Acknowledge the Lord" does not mean having knowledge of the Lord. This phrase means “knowing” Him by experience. God will set us high when we keep the Lord in our heart as our Savior and are touched and filled with the Holy Spirit. Psalm 29:2 says: "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness." This Psalm admonishes us to worship the Lord. The Lord will be pleased and set us high when we worship and praise Him. God always shows His glory and lifts up those who acknowledge His name, His will, His nature, and who are obedient to Him. Deuteronomy 28:1 says: "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.” "Set you high above all the nations on earth." Hallelujah! How thankful! Hosea 6:3 says: "Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him." The Bible says we need to acknowledge the Lord. Our God will set us high if we acknowledge the Lord. The Bible says to acknowledge God’s name. There are many names of the Lord in the Bible. Every name tells us about the wonderful power of God. Jehovah Jireh is the Lord our provider. Please repeat after me. Jehovah Jireh! The Lord our provider! Jehovah Rapha is the Lord our Healer. Jehovah Nissi is the Lord our banner. Jehovah Shalom is the Lord our peace. Jehovah Roi is the Lord our shepherd. Jehovah Tsidkenu is the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Shammah is the Lord, the Emmanuel God, who is there. Hallelujah! This wonderful God is our God. God is with us now. God sets us high when we acknowledge His name. Third, the God is God who answers our prayer. Psalm 91:15 says: "He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." In the Korean translation of the Bible, the word "earnest" is used. We need to cry out to the Lord and pray earnestly. Answers to our prayers will not come quickly if we do not pray earnestly. A person who falls into deep water needs to cry out "help me!" He will surely drown if he quietly says, “Help me! Help me!” He must cry out with all his strength. We also need to cry out to the Lord with all our strength when we are in despair, in sorrow, pain or our body is suffering from a disease. We need to cry out! We need to cry out saying, "Lord, save me. Please have mercy on me. Lord, rescue me. Let me be free from this disease." We need to continually cry out with deep determination and not stop until we receive our answers. I am sure you are aware of the story in the book of Luke of the widow who earnestly and continually petitioned the unrighteous judge. She was left without anything. He had lost her husband and her life was destined for great hardship. To make matters worse, she was falsely charged of something illegal. She didn’t even have money to pay the judicial costs of the charges that we brought against her. The only thing she could do was turn to the unrighteous judge and complain of injustice. She found the judge’s house and when he came out she would cry out for justice. “Judge, an unfair thing happened to me. Please have mercy on me." This judge tried hard to ignore her pleas for mercy but she returned to him again and again crying, “Judge, please save me." Day and night she petitioned this judge and would not release him from her case. She wore the patience of this uncaring, unrighteous judge down; and he ultimately gave her justice. Even this stubborn, unjust judge was touched by the widow who did not have any one or any power but she cried out and prayed. Will not our good God answer our prayer when we cry out to Him? Luke 18:6-7 says: "And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” We need to cry out to Him. Richard Foster wrote the following testimony in his book, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home. As a baby, Foster’s oldest son, Joel, had frequent ear infections. Often Foster’s wife and he had to take turns staying up through the nights giving care and comfort to their son. On one such night Richard held his sick baby in his arms as he screamed in pain and prayed until 4 a.m. at which time Richard was struck with the realization that God was listening to his prayer. Foster spoke to his son’s pain: "God is listening to my prayer now." We have received your message, and so you do not need to keep sending pain signals to my son’s ear. So in Jesus' name stop it, now. Leave!" Instantaneously, Joel's crying and fusing stopped and he fell asleep. When Foster’s son Joel woke later in the day, his ear infection was completely gone. Hallelujah! Boldly shout. The Lord heals our disease. He solves our problems. He listens to our prayer and answers. We do not pray and therefore do not receive answer to our needs. If we do not receive an answer to our prayers then it is because we are either praying for our greed or we do not persist in our prayers. Cry out to the Lord! Cry out until you receive God's answer. Our Osanri International Fasting Prayer Mountain is designed to specifically attend to the needs of people. There are church members who cry throughout the nights to the Lord in prayer grottoes. God listens to our crying out prayer and grants us wonderful miracles. Jeremiah 33:3 says: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jonah 2:2 says: "He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry." God’s answers will come if we pray crying out to the Lord. His answers will come! King Hezekiah was warned by a prophet saying that he would soon die. King Hezekiah heard this word and he prayed, crying out to the Lord, "God, do you know how I served you? Please prolong my life so that I can live for the glory of God." He earnestly prayed and cried out toward the temple. God listened to his prayer and extended his life 15 years. John 14:13-14 says: "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." "I will do it." God gave us prayer as an amazing blessing. Come to the church at dawn and cry out. Go to our prayer mountain and cry out. God's miracle will come when we fast and pray, crying out to the Lord continually. Last week we prayed crying out to the Lord in Seoul World Cup Stadium. 12,500 soldiers also gathered at Osanri Prayer Mountain and cried out to the Lord. God will listen and send us miracles when we pray. God will just watch if we work with only our own will. However, if we pray earnestly and cry out to the Lord; God will work on our behalf. I pray that you march forward with prayer so God can work in your life. Fourth, the God is God who gives us salvation. Psalm 91:16 says: "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." "Show him my salvation." God says He will show His salvation with long life. He gives His blessing of long life to His people who obey His Word. Deuteronomy 30:20 says: “And that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life; and he will give you many years.” The true meaning of living a long life is not living for long in this world; it is living forever with the Lord in heaven, which is our home. We will live forever with the Lord where there are not tears, concerns, worries and pains. Heaven is our home where we will go back to. Hallelujah! We will go to our home which is both ahead of us and behind us. Until then, we need to have faith in Jesus, enjoy blessings of good health and all that may go well with us as our soul is getting along well, as precious servants of God. I pray that you practice love and a devotion to the Lord so that you may one day receive a reward in heaven from Him. God gave us the blessing of salvation. How thankful! Jesus Christ is the way to salvation. John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." We live eternally - live eternally - live eternally! Life on earth is like a journey which passes in a moment’s time. Please look to heaven and keep your life faithful so that you can enjoy the blessings of God in this earth. God promises a life of happiness and thanksgiving eternally in heaven. The great evangelist Moody said to his friends before his death: "Someday you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody is dead. Don't you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher - that is all; out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that sin cannot taint, a body like unto His own glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh must die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever." As Moody was dying, he said he saw God’s glory. He said: "I see earth receding; heaven is approaching. God is calling me. I must go." He encouraged his sad family not to be sad. He said, "This is my triumph. This is my coronation day. It is glorious." Moody was then called by God and went to heaven in His glory. I pray your last day on earth will be your glorious coronation day. We need to always thank God for his grace of salvation saying, "Thank God for saving me from sin and delivering me from despair, disease, and pain and preparing eternal heaven for me. Thank God for giving the blessings of salvation to us mortal beings, health and all things going well with us as well as the blessing of heaven, through Jesus’ death on the Cross. The blessing described in 3 John 1:2 will come to us when we live a life of pleasing God in this earth. "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." Psalm 103:5 says: "Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles." I earnestly pray that you come to experience God's grace of salvation so that your heart is continually filled with happiness, blessings, and miracles and you will live a life of victory by the grace of God who saves us. This is my earnest prayer for you. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, how thankful is your grace and love! Thank you for rescuing us from the slimy pit and setting us high before our enemies and for answering our crying out prayer. Above all thank you for the grace of salvation, for your amazing love and blessing. Please help us to keep our Almighty God in our heart; and live for the glory and by the grace of the Cross. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. 11