Good morning and Praise the Lord! It's so very good to be back with you in the House of the Lord after such a long hiatus. Truly, God is a wonder in my soul, and I thank Him for His keeping and strengthening power through my surgery and recovery.
I also want to thank all of the fine Ministers for stepping in during my absence, and preaching such excellent things from the Word of the Living God. Truly, there is no shortage of sound doctrine and ministry talent here at Exousia Ministries, Inc.
Now, let’s get started with today’s teaching from Psalm 91:1. This verse will serve as our guiding Scripture for this three part Series entitled:
“Three Keys to God Rewarding You Openly.”
I'm using the Amplified Version of Psalm 91:1. It reads:
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no Foe can withstand].
GLORY BE TO GOD!
The last time I was with you, in April 2022, we learned that "All Power" in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus Christ. Satan, the adversary of God, has no power. (Matt. 28:18)
Wow, this is so awesome. As born-again Christians, we have no need to fear the devil and his wicked devices. Rather, the truth is, the devil fears the Church of Jesus Christ and the Saints of God. Indeed, sin and iniquity, sickness and disease, death, hell, and the grave have all been placed under our feet to tread down and trample over.
As sons of God, we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, who has so graciously delegated to us His Power (Exousia) over all the works of the enemy, and nothing by any means can hurt us. (John 1:10-12, Rom. 8:17, & Luke 10:19)
Psalm 91:1 affirms, those who dwell in the "secret place" of the Most High, remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty. Dwellers in the secret place wield the power of God, such that no foe can withstand them. Thus, the life of every born-again Christian should be chock-full of testimonies of victory over the enemy, as we move from faith to faith, to glory to glory.
This series is about dwelling with God in His "secret place." Yes, it’s all about doing “secret stuff” with God in the "secret place" of the Most High God! It is from the secret place of God, that God seeks to openly reward each one of His children. In secret—behind the scenes, behind closed doors, in obscurity, in private—is where God’s greatest rewards are openly given to those who dwell in His “secret place.”
So Saints of God, come on and decree this mighty truth with me now: Say, "I dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, so that God may reward me openly!"
In Christian circles today, Psalm 91:1 has become a very popular, and often quoted verse with much rejoicing. However, I would also venture to say that most Christians have no clue of what the "secret place" of the Most High God is, where it is, how to access it, nor how to abide in it.
How about you? What do you know about the "secret place" of the Most High God?
I assure you, this is not are hard or trick question. Rather, for born-again Christians, it is very easy to understand and answer. We just have not received much teaching on the "secret place" of the Most High God to readily give the answer.
But, let me give you some great news: God in Christ Jesus has “placed” every born-again Christian in the "secret place "of the Most High God!
If you are a born-again Christian, right now, your regenerated heart—the real and eternal part of your being—has been placed in the secret place of the Most High God, and will remain there forever!
However, notice I used the phrase “placed in the secret place” of the Most High God. I did not say every born- again Christian is, “dwelling in the secret place.” There is a distinction I am making between the two.
Consider the difference this way. In the natural, for example, a person can be given a room within a house to occupy, and the person may choose to confine themselves only to the space within the four walls of the room. In this instance, while the person may use the address of the house as the place where they live, the person has chosen not to access other parts of the house.
Thus, apart from the room they occupy, the person would for example lack access and use of the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and other amenities the house affords. Additionally, the person on their own volition, would potentially have little or no interaction and fellowship with the other people who live in the house.
Whereas, when a person “dwells in the house,” the person is given and enjoys free access to use every room and all the amenities at that house address. They can explore every nook and cranny of the house. Unlike the person who has chosen to confine themselves to their room, the person who dwells in the house has free and unlimited fellowship with the other people who dwell in the house.
Together those who dwell in the same house, can freely communicate, dine, watch television, and play games with one another. They have the opportunity to experience, grow, learn, and support one another in good times and hard times.
Saints of God, the Most High God wants His people to dwell in the secret place. God wants born-again Christians to have free and unlimited access to explore all of His secret rooms, in His “secret place.” God wants us all to be dwellers, and not place-holders in His secret place!
Let me open the eyes of your understanding about the “secret place of the Most High God. The secret place of the Most High God, is "THE LOVE OF GOD." Here is a News flash for you. Scripture tells us that, "God is Love!" (I John 4.8 and 16) God does not just have love. God is love. Therefore, wherever God is, Love is, and wherever Love is, God is.
The love of God is the "secret place" of the Most High God because Satan and the demonic realm, as well as the people of this the world (the sinner man) know nothing about it. (I John 2:15-17) Neither can the people of this world find God's secret place without first coming to, acknowledging, and receiving Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior!
Jesus Christ told His disciples, "if you believe in God believe also in me." (John 14:1) Jesus said “without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Jesus said I and my Father are “One.” (John 10:30) Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man can come to the Father,” (God who is love), but by Him. (John 14:6). Thus, no person can be placed in, or abide in God's secret place, except they first come through Jesus Christ!
Indeed, the essence of the world's, type and understanding of love, is as far apart from God’s love, as heaven is from hell. The world's love consists of only the lust for self-gain, self-indulgence, and self-satisfaction. The world's love is diametrically in opposition to God and His Word. And, when the world's kind of love is neglected, challenged, tampered with in some way, or turned off, the world's love quickly sours and turns to hatred and revenge.
Umm, in fact, there was a song we use to sing when we were lost in sin in this world entitled, “It's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate." With the world's love, that's what you can count on—one minute a person can profess their love for you with all their heart, and the next minute, that love can turn to pure hatred with all their might!
At II Timothy 3:1-5, the Apostle Paul wrote prophetically to Timothy about the state of the world's love in the last days. We are experiencing a PANDEMIC of the world’s love grown wax cold in our society today! Paul wrote:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
The people of this world (the sinner man) have absolutely no concept of what it is like, to wake up each morning and lie down at night with the Most High God (love) dwelling in them. (I John 4:15) They have no understanding of what it’s like to have a perfected heart (mind, soul, and spirit). (Heb.10:14) Nor, what it’s like to have the Law of God (His love Commandments) established in their hearts and written on the mind of their souls. (Heb.10:16)
What it’s like to have the love of God spread all over and gushing out of their hearts. (Rom. 5:5) They have no concept of what it’s like to have a heart and life that's been made free from sin, and a relationship with God, where God remembers their sins and iniquities
no more. (Heb. 10:17)
In contrast to the world’s love, at I Corinthians 13:4-8, concerning the Love of God, the Apostle Paul wrote:
“Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth.”
Paul continued writing that charity (love) bears all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Charity, he said “never fails."
Also note, as Paul brings Chapter 13 to a close, he concludes by saying of the gifts of God; “faith, hope, and charity;” that charity (love) is the greatest. Oh yes, I say to you, the Love of God is the “secret place” of the Most High God!
Next, I want you to know that the “secret place” of the Most High God, is accessible to every person in the world who would believe on the name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. (I John 4:15-17)
Everyone who believes in their heart and confesses with their mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God has raised Him from the dead God, receives the baptism of Jesus Christ (the Operation of the Circumcision of the Heart) and God comes in, and resides in them, and they in God. (I John 4:15 & Rom. 10: 8-11)
Oh, but please look at I John 2:21-25. The Apostle John teaches that all those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God—God manifested in flesh—are of the anti-Christ, and are not in God.
Regardless of how nice a person may act; how many good deeds they have done; how educated, wealthy, or famous they may be; no matter the freedoms we enjoy in this country to choose a religion to practice—those who choose to deny the truth that, Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God and Savior of the world, are lost.
They are liars, they know not the truth, and are “not in God.” As such, millions, if not billions, of people on this planet are not dwellers, nor occupants, in the “secret place” of the Most High God—God’s love.
In Dr. King's Series on World Religions, we learned about numerous false religions and cults millions of people have chosen to make their religion. They deny that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Living God. The hearts and minds of these people have been deceived and darkened by the Anti-Christ. They must be brought out of darkness, with the love and truth of the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or they will be lost and burn in hell for all eternity.
But, praise be unto God, we know the truth and have believed and confessed that Jesus is the Christ, and thereby have been all placed in God and His love (the secret place of the Most High God) and have eternal life!
Next, I would have you know that born-again Christians dwell in the secret place of the most High God, when they walk (daily practice) loving God and all people, including their enemies. Dwellers in the secret place of the Most High God, practice without prejudice unconditional love, forgiveness, and kindness toward all people, and God rewards them “openly.” But, also understand that the Love of God never compromises the truth. Love is always full of grace and truth, no matter who it may offend.
If indeed we are the children of God, then without exception, we owe every person love. (Rom. 13:8) In response to God's love, in which, He first gave us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ for the sins of the world, we are to love God wholly and all mankind. (Rom.5:8, I John 4:7, 20-21, & 3:16-17)
Moreover, our practice of the Love of God toward God and every human being on the plant is to be identical, and as authentic, as the love displayed by Jesus Christ to all people (I John 2:6) I say, if you say, you dwell in the “secret place” of the Most High God, your love of God and of others must match that of Jesus Christ the Lord! (John 13:34)
Glory be to God, we can open the Bible and read the “Gospels,” which tell us about how Jesus Christ went about loving, forgiving, and doing good; and by the help of the Holy Ghost and power, use His life as an example of how we are to love God and all people. (Acts 10:38) The accounts of Jesus' life and walk on earth should serve as a bench mark for every born-again Christian’s striving to be more like Him in all that we say and do.
Furthermore, I would have you to understand that every born-again Christian has the proof that the love of God is in them—that they have been placed in the secret place of the Most High God; because God has given us of His Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the ever faithful witness. (I John 4:13) And, the Holy Ghost has taken the love of God and spread it abroad throughout our hearts. (Rom. 5:5)
So from the secret place of the Most High God (the Love of God) we must understand that God’s Love must always be the motive for everything we say and do, in order to please God, and receive the rewards of God openly.
From this day forward, know that anything and everything you do, if it's not motivated by the Love of God, it has no spiritual power, wisdom, or profit from God. Whether you work miracles, engage in other spiritual gifts, give tithes and offerings, fast, pray, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, give your body to the burn-out to help others— if the Love of God is not the source of motivation for it, it all means nothing to God, and will yield no reward from God! (I Cor. 13:1-3)
I give to you “high caution” to always remember that God is the examiner and prover of the heart. (I Sam. 16:7 & Jer. 17:10) Your entire relationship with God is fundamentally based on the matters and condition of your heart. (Ps. 51:6) God rewards us according to the thoughts and ways of our hearts. What's going on in your heart (as you think in your heart) determines how God rewards. This is why King David's supplication to God was to create in him a clean heart and renew within him a right spirit. (Ps. 51:10 & John 4:23-24)
Again, I say, the motives of your heart provide the means and measurement for which God chooses to openly reward, or not reward you. You can do and say all the things that look good on paper and in the eyes of people, and they may applaud you and give you a temporary good feeling. But, with God if the motives of your heart are not purposed in love, it will not amount to a dunghill to Him.
Let’s go even deeper now into our understanding of dwelling in the “secret place” of the Most High God (the Love of God). Born-again Christians who keep and obey the Lord's love commandments, to them, God reveals secret things prepared from the foundations of the world.
Please read with me I Cor. 2.9-10. The Amplified Bible describes those who love God, as those who keep His Love commandments. “Those who hold God in affectionate reverence, who promptly obey Him, and gratefully recognize the benefits He has bestowed on them.” The things that God has prepared for those who love Him are secret things kept hidden from the foundations of the world for our glory—and Satan, the demonic realm, and the people of this world know nothing about them!
This is a very opportune time to examine yourself to see if you are abiding in the secret place of the Most High God—let this be a measuring stick of where you are with your love walk with God:
- Do you hold God in affectionate reverence? This means is God and His Word held in the highest honor and esteem in your life.)
- Are you quick to obey the Commandments of God? (To love God wholly, love all people, including your enemies without conditions, regularly attend church services, give tithes and offerings, and preach the gospel to others for the saving of souls. Not because you are required to, but because you love God.)
- Are you grateful for all the benefits God has bestowed on you? (Willing and ready to share with others your personal witness of what Jesus Christ has done for your life. To tell it to all people regardless of persecutions that may come, even unto death.)
How did you do with the questions? Are you a dweller in the secret place, or still occupying a place in the secret place of the Most High God?
I pray God that you are a dweller in the secret place. When the Saint of God is a dweller in the "secret place" of the Most High God:
--God will show you secret things,
--God will tell you to do secret things,
--God will give you the power to do secret things, and
--God will reward you openly for doing secret things.
Here me now, I've come to understand that God's rewards for obedience, His blessings run exceedingly deeper and higher than the gifting of material things. God's thoughts and God's ways are superior to our thoughts and ways. (Is 55:8-9)
As a younger follower of Jesus Christ and Pastor, I was amazed at all of the material manifestations of blessings that would come on my life as I practiced the Word of God. But, as a far more seasoned Christian leader, I have learned that the material blessings are not even worth mentioning—not even to be compared in the same breath with—God rewarding you openly! Glory be to God!
So far during this Sermon, I chance to say that at least some, if not most of you, may have thought that God rewarding you openly, has to do with receiving material blessings from God, things that directly benefit you in this life. But, when I talk about God rewarding you openly, I am not talking about material blessings, such as giving you a new job, house, car, money in the bank and so forth.
No, no, no! God has already given you all these things when you received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. (Rom. 8:32, 10:12; II Cor. 8:9; Eph.1:3, 2:4-7; and II Pet.1:3) Further evidence of this is found in Matt. 6:33. Jesus Christ admonished His disciples to take no thought for how they would be clothed, fed, and housed, but to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things would be added/multiplied onto their lives.
After Jesus Christ’s finished works on the cross, the kingdom of God was placed and established in the hearts of every born-again believer. (Rom. 14:17 & Luke 17:20-21) The mere fact that the born-again Christian has been placed in the “secret place” of the Most High God makes available to us all the things we need in abundance in this life.
Any time you open your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ has died and risen from the dead to supply all these needs, you will receive them manifested to you. The Lord is your Shepherd and you never lack any good thing! (Ps. 23:1)
What God wants to reward His children with openly is His Agenda! He desires to reveal and trust us with the matters of His Heart, so He can put each of us into greater service for His kingdom!
TO DO THIS REQUIRES “AN UPRIGHT LOVE WALK!”
Before I close this introductory Sermon on the “secret place” of the Most High God, I want you to consider a very familiar Scripture in Christian circles in a new light. The passage of Scripture is John 14:1-3. Jesus Christ told His disciples:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Now, traditionally and correctly so, we have preached from these verses that Jesus Christ promised the disciples, and all who believe in His finished works on the cross, that God has many mansions in heaven and our risen Savior Jesus Christ has prepared a place for us to dwell there, when we die and go to heaven.
So our hearts need not be troubled by the fear of physical death in this world. As we have eternal life; and never shall see, taste, nor experience death if we believe in Jesus Christ.
Indeed, we all await with great expectation for the day to come when we take our last breath on earth, and are absent from our bodies and are present with the Lord within the pearly gates of heaven. And, our hearts will surely rejoice even more so, when Jesus Christ returns to rapture the Church, and our bodies will be raised like unto the glorified body of Christ.
But, in this passage of Scripture, it is my belief, when Jesus was speaking of His Father’s House having many mansions, He was speaking literally and figuratively. Yes, there are physical mansions in heaven, but there also spiritual mansions (secret places/hidden places in God),
Notice in John 14:2, Jesus Christ said “in my Father’s house are many mansions.” Meaning, there were already many mansions built and established in heaven long before Jesus Christ even came to earth and went to the cross.
We know that these mansions in heaven were not physically occupied by Old Testament Saints when they died. As they all upon death went to a compartment of hell, and were held captive by Satan against their will. They were there until Jesus Christ freed them from captivity, when He descended into hell upon His death on the cross. (Eph. 4:8-9, Rev. 1:18)
We read for our foundational Scripture at Psalm 91 of the Old Testament, that there is a “secret place” of the most High God. How could the Psalmist of Psalm 91 write so much about the benefits of dwelling in the secret place of the Most High God, without experiencing, knowing, and benefitting from it? Also, note that at Deuteronomy 29:29, Moses wrote:
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Further, the writer of Hebrews, Chapter 1:1-2 wrote:
God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
I posit that in Old Testament times, men and women chosen of God, the Patriarchs of old and the Prophets, as they walked with God and obeyed His Word, were abiding in the “secret place” of the most High, (metaphorically speaking, in the mansions of God’s House) where they received hidden secrets from God—His commandments, prophecy, including revelation of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. If you will, they received, God’s Agenda!
Remember at Mark 4:11, Jesus Christ said to the disciples:
…Unto you it is given to know the mystery (hidden secrets) of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.
In fact, while Jesus Christ ministered on earth for three and half years, He continually revealed His Father God to His disciples, and secrets pertaining to the kingdom of God, and of the kingdom of heaven.
Recall at John 14:9, Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus, asked Him to show to them the Father, and then they would be satisfied. But Jesus replied to Philip, “…If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9) We can say then, that since Jesus and God the Father are One—as the disciples walked with Jesus they were also walking with God—walking with the Love God—dwelling in the secret place of the Most High God. As they were hearing, learning, and practicing the secret things Jesus taught them, they were also dwelling in the mansions of the Father.
Let’s go further. So in John 14:3, when Jesus Christ said, I go to prepare a place for you, and that He would come again and receive them unto Himself, that where He is they would be also—Jesus was first referring to after His Resurrection, He would bring together the born-again spirits of the disciples and all believers in Him as “One” in heavenly “places” in God in Christ Jesus.
For reference, see Ephesians 2:4-7, the Apostle Paul wrote:
But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
After His Resurrection from the dead and quickening us all together, (This included the spirits of the Old Testament Saints, Christians who have died in Christ, as well as all born-gain believers living on earth until the Lord’s return) Jesus Christ has prepared “a place” for all believers to dwell in heavenly places together in Him at the right hand of God. The purpose in joining us together in Him, is so we can walk uniformly in love with God and one another in the “secret place,” and be rewarded openly by God throughout eternity.
The Saints of God living on earth today are gathered together in Christ, so that God through the Holy Ghost, can grant unlimited access to us to live, learn, and experience other rooms and amenities within the mansions in God’s House. Deeper and deeper revelation of God (Who is Love).
This is why the Apostle Paul prayed that our understanding would be enlightened to come into a deeper revelation of the knowledge of God (Who is Love) (Eph. 1:16-20 & 3:14-21) The Holy Ghost has been given to us to lead and guide us into the mansions (Secret places of God, where the amenities in the rooms of the mansions are exceedingly and abundantly above all we can ask or think.) so that we might grow deeper in the love of God, revelation and comprehension of the breadth, length, depth and height of the Love of Christ.
God through Jesus Christ has given to us the Holy Ghost to teach us all things and reveal all things that are to come. (John 16:13) God has given us languages from the Holy Ghost, unknown and unlearned tongues, so we can communicate with God directly, and to speak hidden wisdom (secret things/answers) for our glory from the foundations of the world. (I Cor. 14:2)
God has given us unlimited access to His mansions, and it is high-time for every born-again Christian to start exploring, living, and moving about in the spiritual mansions of our Father God, abiding in our hearts. I say to you, just increase your love walk, and watch God give you the key to a new mansion in His House abiding in you! By the Spirit of God: Love, Forgive, and be Kind to all and God will share secret things with you!
I close now, with Matthew Chapter 6:1-18, which we will examine for the next few weeks in detail. From this passage of Scripture, Jesus Christ revealed three Godly actions we take in order for God to reward us openly. We will discuss each of the actions, and put them into practice. They are as follows:
- GIVE TO THOSE IN NEED IN SECRET 6:1-4
- PRAY TO GOD IN SECRET 6:5-7
- FAST AND BE YOUR NORMAL SELF 6:16-18
Give God all the honor and praise for His mighty Word poured into your hearts today!
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