In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of making the word of God a central part of our lives. He encourages listeners to immerse themselves in the reality of the Bible and cry out to obtain it. The speaker shares his personal experience of steeping himself in the Psalms daily, which has made him more intense and earnest in his faith. He warns that in the last days, the church will face increasing oppression and challenges, and therefore, believers must contend earnestly for their faith and rely on God as their refuge and strength.

Lord, we thank you for our brother, for our dear brother, our friend over years now. And Lord, we ask really to bless him and we say welcome to him and his ministry. We open also the gates here in our country, here in Nuremberg, for his ministry. And Lord, we ask really for protection by your angels and be with us this evening. And Lord also, Lord, we ask really that you drive him, that you guide him with your Holy Spirit and that he can bring it out, the whole message you have given to him in the name of Jesus. Amen. Guten Abend. I am so surprised by the number of you who have come. Ich bin doch so überrascht über die Anzahl der anwesenden Leute heute Abend. This is after all Monday night. Es ist doch ein Montagabend. Raining and dunkel. Am regnen ganz bestimmt dunkel. Und Sie sind hier. So I'm grateful for your response. So bin ich dankbar auf Ihre Reaktion. And my brother is right. This has been a gateway into Deutschland for us over the years. Ja, mein Bruder hat recht. Es ist eine Türöffnung für uns. I didn't even think that you should be included in these days. Ich hatte gar nicht damit gerechnet, dass ihr auch eingeschlossen seid in den Veranstaltungen dieser Tage. Because I have already given you my best and been here so frequently. Denn ich bin doch so oft schon hier gewesen und habe euch mein Bestes schon gegeben. But the Lord has other thoughts. Aber der Herr hat weitere Gedanken. And he prevails. Und er herrscht. So we have started out this evening with a prayer. This morning from Innsbruck, Austria. Heute Morgen begannen wir unsere Reise in Innsbruck, in Österreich. It's been a long day of travel. Lange Reisezeit. Lunch with Klaus and Gertrud at their home. Mittagessen bei Klaus und Gertrud in ihrem Zuhause. And in the course of the day learning that the conference in Braunschweig, to which we were attending, has been for us cancelled. Und dann hörten wir heute Morgen, dass die Sprecherzeiten für Arthur in Braunschweig auf dieser Konferenz jetzt nicht stattfinden werden. So I'm a little bit discombobulated by the sudden announcement of our cancellation. So bin ich ein bisschen überrumpelt worden von dieser plötzlichen Ankündigung heute Morgen. Feeling a sense of loss. Und irgendwo habe ich das Gespür, ja, des Verlorenseins. It might have been a platform in which the Lord might have been pleased to make a statement for the nation. Vielleicht wäre es eine Plattform gewesen, um vor der ganzen Nation eine bestimmte Aussage zu machen. So we're announcing, telling you, in case you had made plans to come on our account, we will not be there. So möchten wir einfach nur ankündigen, wenn ihr Pläne gehabt habt, wegen uns dorthin zu fahren, gut, wir werden nicht da sein. But the Lord is not outwitted. Aber man kann den Herrn ja nicht irgendwie ausspielen. And we're looking to see how he will himself fill the days that have now been made free. Und jetzt wollen wir aufpassen und sehen, wie der Herr die freigewordenen Tage jetzt für seine Zwecke ausnützt. Please pray for that. So betet doch dafür. So how shall I tell you? Wie soll ich euch das jetzt sagen? What is the manner and mode of prophetic life and being? Was ist die Art und Weise und die Handlungsweise des prophetischen Seins? I'm not appealing for a human sympathy. Ich appelliere nicht an menschliche Sympathie. But a participation with us in drawing out the Lord's heart and word. Sondern dass ihr euch selber daran beteiligt, dass das Herz von dem Herrn heute Abend zum Ausdruck kommen wird. We have already been in Albania for ten days a week. Wir waren auch zehn Tage jetzt vor Innsbruck in Albanien gewesen. And now a significant weekend in Innsbruck. Ein besonderes Wochenende in Innsbruck. Very greatly contended against. Wo auch von österreichischer Seite sehr stark dagegen angegangen wurde. The pastor had been warned not to have me as a speaker. Der Pastor wurde sogar gewarnt, mich doch nicht als Sprecher einzuladen. But I would encourage antisemitism. Ich würde ja Antisemitismus vielleicht noch ermutigen. And various other threats and complaints. Und verschiedene andere Aussagen und Beschwerden. And that had been coming also for the Braunschweig conference. Und das war auch wegen der Braunschweig actual letters of appeal to German pastors to boycott the conference. This is a new kind of opposition for me. But I'm not expecting that it's going to decline but increase. So we have been knocked about a bit in these days. And then even got lost finding your church tonight. So I'm standing before you in my travel kleidung. But Klaus is properly dressed. Richtig angezogen. I'm expecting that tomorrow night will be the significant statement from the Lord through me. Tonight will be a preparation for tomorrow night. Preparing the soil for the word which I do not presently know but expecting that the Lord will use the occasion to speak something of significance. And that even tonight will not be entirely lost. So let's pray together. Lord be with my mouth. Let me not err against you nor against your people neither in word nor in the spirit of the speaking if I have been misguided in thinking to speak something that was not your intention put it entirely aside and bring forth that which is appointed for look at the congregation Lord that has been formed and listen to the worship that has gone forth surely these are earnest men and women and I'm expecting and believing something from you tonight and tomorrow let them not be disappointed not for my reputation's sake which is daily decreasing but for your name's sake send something my God into their deeps that is an appointed word and let me be beside myself for their sake and for your sake so we thank you for the privileged occasion that you have given for this privilege, this opportunity yes, Nuremberg has been a platform for your word into the nation let it be again now also we thank you and give you the praise for the privilege trusting you completely willing to be your fool and ready to be a fool for Christ come Lord and speak for your servants are hearing we give you praise in Jesus name amen well I have a little article that I found among my papers today entitled the trivialization of God how we make God something ordinary and it rings a corresponding note in my spirit I think the whole world has been guilty of trivializing God we have rendered him almost as being a commodity of our convenience even the best of us however well meaning our intentions there is something even about the very nature of religion and its repetition and its services and its forms that ironically tends to diminish the reality of God so I thought of the verse in Jude contend earnestly for the faith once and for all given the saints if we don't contend for it we will surely lose it and I know that God means much more than the articles of faith or the doctrines of faith that are to be contended for the genius of the faith the essence of faith the knowledge of God as God and not some projection of our own fancy or our own subjectivity we mustn't think that we are safe from this kind of tendency and maybe the shakings that are taking place now in the earth are coming as God's divine corrective for we don't know as we ought to know and we need thoroughly to be shaken to a deeper apprehension and knowledge of God as God Israel should be our textbook and our instruction in the very first chapter of the book of Isaiah where he describes the condition of Israel wretchedly and miserably your righteousness you become a city of murderers your wine is turned to water and your silver to dross even while you continue your festive days and sabbaths and new moons and sacrifices you're not even aware of the truth of your condition but what you are celebrating in your religious observances is already a stink in the nostrils of God isn't this ultimate irony and paradox that while God is being correctly celebrated according even to scripture the truth and the character of the nation has absolutely turned from God the ox knows its owner and the ass its master's crib but my people do not know and they don't even consider dumb animals have more of an instinctive affinity and allegiance with their masters and their owners than my people Israel with me even the way in which the first chapter begins hear oh heavens and give ear oh earth for the Lord hath spoken is that some kind of biblical rhetoric or a device or a prophet who is compelled to speak to the dumb because the nation is not hearing we need to be humbled by Israel's experience if the nation that has had such an exquisite history with God and enjoyed the benefit of a Levitical priesthood and the painstaking observance of all of the religious requirements established by God and that they could come to such a condition of actual apostasy and that they could actually come to such a condition of spiritual abomination although they technically observe the truth of their religion what shall we say are we made of better stuff is such a loss of actual faith possible for us when did the wine turn to water and the silver to dross was it over night or over a process of time a gradual erosion of which the nation is not even aware until the prophetic cry comes so I'm sensing that we're sharing in something of Israel's past predicament and I'm very sympathetic to the statement made by this writer our faith is becoming predictable and where is the reverence and awe of God where is the fear of God which I think is so conspicuously absent in the church and the world and isn't that the heart of Germany's tragedy can we understand the rise of Nazism as a demonic phenomenon except that it was the statement of something wanting in the Christianity of the nation whether it had become liberal or formal or orthodox something was lost and left a spiritual vacuum into which the evil could come that ought to be an instruction for every nation including my own so I feel like speaking to you out of Psalm 46 this evening and just to encourage you to all of the Psalms have I ever shared that with you before reading the Psalms daily and perhaps the word reading is not even the correct term immersing yourself in the Psalms daily swimming in the particular literature that the Psalms are if ever there was an end time book it's the book of Psalms if ever there was a book to save us from trivializing God keeping our faith alive and our sense of God as God no book more serves that purpose than Psalms who of us as New Testament believers can boast that we have a faith that exceeds that of the Psalmists there's such a quality of intimacy such a cry to God even sometimes of an accusing kind which would be for anyone else presumption but the Lord is not dishonored nor displeased the Psalmist cries out how long Lord how long do I have to suffer the onslaught of those who seek my life the Psalmist is so pathetic in his weakness you wonder why anyone would desire his life because his life is his life in God and there's a particular bitterness against him which he would not have to experience if he was satisfied with a lesser kind of faith it's the very intensity of devotion that marks him as an enemy by those who oppose God and he cries out for relief how long Lord will you come and vindicate your servant who stands for you in righteousness and will not walk in the way of the wicked look what it's costing me look at the oppression how long Lord this is not just the pathetic cry of a man for personal relief this is a man who recognizes that God himself is being dishonored and his name and honor is put to question because he has failed to come and give answer to his own servant it's the name and reputation of God that the psalmist is crying out about how long is not the relief of my personal distress how long before you vindicate your own name because those who are oppressing me are saying where is your God and this tears me and shreds me that your name is derided by the wicked who are having a field day with me so come and vindicate your servant not to bring me a personal relief I'm willing to bear this for your name's sake but that your name not be degraded that you'll show yourself faithful and reveal your true character in standing with those who stand for you that's the whole genius of the book of Psalms look how this psalm begins God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth should change though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains tremble with its tumult we will not fear beautiful poetry it's a delight just as a literature such a passionate cry such a cry full of warmth but for this reason we don't want to miss the actual content word for word is brewed over this text as you should over every text or your faith will become trivial otherwise your faith will become something ordinary what's the first word? God I can't think of a better beginning than that and I don't want to rush on to the next word I want to let that register upon my soul God what a resonance when a psalmist speaks it but when we speak it does it bear the same resonance only to the degree that we have a comparable history and relationship with God as does the psalmist himself otherwise the word God is a little expletive spitting out of a syllable how is it out of your mouth? is the statement of your history with God the depth of your reverence the extent of your intimate knowledge what you have been willing to suffer for his namesake what misunderstanding or what reproach will be expressed in the resonance when you speak the word God if ever there was a word that needs jealously to be protected if ever there was a word that we need to keep jealously then it's the word God and you know how orthodox jews are they will not even spell it in english it's G-D in english it's G-D they omit the O as a statement of respect for deity for only the high priest in ancient times came into the holiest place of all with the blood of a sacrificed animal and spoke the name of God for he alone knew how it was to be pronounced how do you pronounce how do you pronounce the consonants in hebrew you can say Yahweh you can say Jehovah all of those expressions are valid within the framework of the structure of the word but evidently only the high priest knew the correct pronunciation and so now in modern times only this melancholy note remains even by jews who are yet in darkness having the formality of their orthodox faith omit the middle letter as a respect toward God well i was a lifelong atheist before i was saved a swaggering blasphemer and yet the most painful thing for me as a new convert in the faith and in the pentecostal assembly was the looseness the shallowness and the familiarity with which God was addressed and i didn't come out of an orthodox background i came out of an atheistic background and yet i winced i recoiled at the frequency with which the name or the word God or Jesus was being pronounced as if something is lost by the very frequency of the use as if something is lost if you don't mention the name Jesus often enough it's not like you're doing something magical if you call this name in order to get something for the name there must be reverence for the word God God is God is a refuge and a strength not that he will show me a refuge and a strength he is himself the refuge and the strength God is my refuge and my strength this isn't a play on words this is the statement of the actuality of the faith of the psalmist God is this very thing to me and then look what follows such a description of of catastrophe and natural disaster as stretches the imagination of the reader though the earth should change though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam as if the psalmist has gone out of his way to finger those things that are the most durable, the most stable the most counted on things in very nature and creation itself though these things could be shaken the very foundations of earth collapse and shake and the waters roar and foam mountains tremble I will not fear I don't care what catastrophe is taking place therefore I will not fear therefore from what God is my refuge and my strength my God what does it take to come to a faith like this are you teasing us are you raising a standard that is impossible for us to attain as believers or are you shaming us that there's no reason why we should not have attained to a comparable faith in our own generation why haven't you become for us a refuge why haven't you become for us our strength because you have not cast yourself upon me as radically and totally as the psalmist of old that's why you have your own strengths you have your own places of safety and confidence in institutions in finance in your own self possession you have not been as radically cast upon me is that the reason Lord that you've allowed the financial world center towers to be brought down not only to shake the institutions where the world finds its trust and confidence but where we ourselves have found it more than we know more than we realize you are not our total confidence society is, government is institutions are we look at statements like this as if it is some kind of esoteric literature that's impossible for our attainment so I'm saying this is an end time book want to be saved from trivializing God making his name or the word a common place out of your own mouth as usual then sink yourself into the reality of this book and cry out to obtain it ask for a history like unto the psalmists and if he is not your refuge and your strength you perish so I steep myself in the psalms daily and it makes me less attractive and less fun than I used to be not that I ever was fun but now dangerously intense and earnest not one with whom even christians can casually relate you're coming from another place and it makes the casual christian uncomfortable who wants to suck you into the orbit that is customary and normal who wants to drag you into his orbit that is normal for the people you have to contend earnestly for a faith like this you have to be willing to suffer the humiliation of weakness and you have to be willing to endure the humiliation of weakness which you can obtain for example during a 7 week trip in south east asia day and night on the philippines indonesia or singapore australia, new zealand until you have expended all your strength and yet another requirement but brother you can take it easy it's only a service you can fill the need you have enough background oh you dear saints you don't understand fanatical men like me never look upon any occasion as a mere meeting including tonight there is too much at stake the unknown requirements of the last days the unknown requirements of the end times the increasing oppression that will come to the church from the world what future catastrophes of which the recent ones in new york were only a beginning what we heard from new york was only the beginning this earth will be shaken everything that can be shaken will be shaken the mountains, the sea will be foaming but we will not fear because we have made our god our refuge and our strength don't think he'll not test you in this where you look to him to be your strength and you'll not dip into your own reserves if he's not quick to answer you should have seen me last night in innsbruck i told them what was already visible to them i said i am death warmed up i have no inspiration concluding service after a dynamic series of days no inspiration no eagerness to speak and yet something had to be brought to a conclusion that will serve them in good stead all of their days and if god was not my strength shameful collapse shameful disappointment but when you trust him he becomes your strength then he becomes your strength we live beneath this great provision and as i said to them last night i say to you tonight we're austrian all too austrian german all too german jewish all too jewish what do we all have in common this germanic speaking world a very impressive sufficiency and proficiency in ourselves we're unwilling to suffer the shame of weakness to be dead and hid with christ and god until his life is revealed well we can always supply from ourselves what is needed sufficient to get us through and falling short of the glory of god oh i understand these psalmists this faith was not cheap it comes with a price but has something to do with the whole past with the sacrifice with the resistance god is indeed for such a refuge and strength and a mighty help in need because the psalmist is not his very devotion to god guarantees he will experience trouble but in that trouble god is a very present help not as present as you would like not as immediate as to relieve you of your tension but very present even when his supply and answer is not yet evident therefore let the earth shake let the seas roar let the mountains convulse i'll not be afraid i make a choice and a decision based on my knowledge of the faithfulness of god with whom i have a history who has proved himself faithful in my times of trouble therefore whatever unforeseen thing comes in the future that shakes the very foundations of earth i will not be afraid because in verse 7 the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our refuge only to the degree that he is the god of jacob that's not just a mere honorary title that's the designation of god that's the designation of god as the god of israel the god of the jews the god of the hebrews the god of jacob yes even shameful jacob the usurper the cheater god is not ashamed of being identified with him god is not ashamed of being identified with him the question is are you ashamed it becomes a little uncomfortable to be reminded that this god is first and foremost the god of the jews and it will become less comfortable as they come into increasing criticism and rebuke it was right in this neighborhood of nuremberg where i spoke at a hotel where we will be coming again having spent that afternoon at a jewish cemetery where the ancient gravestones were so thick that the nazis could not topple them i can't tell you how melancholy it makes me feel how i go out of my way to find every jewish cemetery in germany that i could find to see the faded inscriptions in hebrew on the one side and the german inscription on the other side in hebrew on the other side in german oh it pierces me through those ancient gravestones and where is the remnant of that people today gone and i come into the meeting room and i look out on my german audience self satisfied content assured german all too german and i say to them as my first statement how is it that my jewish people have lived in your midst for two thousand years and you never communicated to them that the god that you celebrate is their god have you ever understood that your god is the god of jacob you would have thought that the word hit them on the head like a bludgeon their jaws dropped no they had never thought of it that their god is the god of jacob somehow in their gentile minds in the narrowness of their new testament understanding they had omitted this recognition and i had to say to them not only have jews suffered for this omission but you yourself have suffered because unless you acknowledge deeply and willingly and joyfully that the god that you celebrate is the god of jacob you are missing god in his fullness and fashioning something in your own image that serves the purposes of your culture your nation but you have forfeited the knowledge of god as god as he himself desires to be known and recognized which is humbling for you that the god whom you ostensibly celebrate and worship is the god of jacob and until he has become that deeply for you you can forget about his becoming a refuge he is only a refuge in proportion to this deep knowledge and apprehension that he is jacob's god psalm 47 verse 9 says that the princes of the people gather as the people of the god of abraham that's a statement of the millennial future when the end of the age comes and the millennial glory is established the princes of this world will acknowledge that there is but one god the god of abraham, the god of jacob we the church need to make that clear now so a key verse in psalm 46 psalm 46 after telling us that we should behold the works of the lord in verse 8 and see what desolations he has brought in the earth who makes wars to cease to the end of the earth you see the psalmist does not have the advantage of time or newsweek magazine or some other frankfurt allgemeine blatt or something his notion of causation is strictly god it's god who causes wars and makes them to cease to the end for the psalmist there is no such thing as historical accident he has a complete confidence in the sovereignty of god he has an expansive knowledge of god because if you don't see him involved in the causation of events taking place in the world you are minimizing and diminishing god if you ascribe the collapse of those towers as merely the accident of men as if god himself is looking the other way or sleeping are you not trivializing god and making him one who is without a knowledge who if he sees and knows he is impotent and cannot effect change this was not the problem of the psalmists a sublime and complete confidence in god's total sovereignty no such thing as accident or something attributed to men god makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burns the shields with fire i wonder if president bush knows that or would he have embarked on the ambitious program which i believe began today which i believe we will long regret of course if the issue is just man islamic man who needs to be punished and chastised by force then maybe there is a justification for the use of force even though it will engender fresh anger and reprisal yet again but if the issue is not man but god then you don't send your bombers in but you call the nation to a fast and prayer and seek the god who makes wars to cease and burns the shields and arrows together and seek the god who makes wars to cease and breaks the bow and shatters the spear and burns the shields you will catch this together with us you heard it on the radio in the car special defensive measures being taken in bavaria because of your alliance with the US and you are also at risk of retaliation so you are being threatened by a world that has trivialized and omitted god from its history oh he is up there somewhere he set the world in motion and it's ticking like a clock but we are the ones who need to act and change and do what kind of god is that who leaves to us the issues of disaster and the condition of the world and the safety of men how then is he a refuge if we are turning to our bombers if we are turning to our bombers and use our own strength well it is obvious that the faith of president bush is not the faith of the psalmist but the faith of a conventional christianity not only of the american kind but the german kind even when it is imbued with the extra benefit of that which is charismatic oh you dear saints the faith of the psalmist is not some esoteric ideal that is unattainable it's god's provision for last days trouble by those who know their god and have not trivialized him by omitting him from the circumstances that have come upon the earth and those very circumstances have come to trouble the earth for he's not happy to be allowed to be trivialized yes and he'll bring judgment and shake our institutions in which our false confidences have been deposited because he knows if we continue in this sinful rejection of himself as god even while we profess to honor and acknowledge him as christian nations we'll suffer the consequence of that real rejection eternally and that without remedy it's the mercy of god to destroy our towers and we should read it as a wake up call to contend for the faith once and for all that we fight for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints that we contend earnestly by being up early every morning before you go to work to have your time of devotion with the lord not in some obligatory mechanical german way not in some obligatory legalistic german way i read a whole chapter i spent 15 minutes that trivializes god find a place in your bedroom how many times have i made the toilet bowl an altar if i had no other alternative not to disturb my wife or the house by turning on lights i'll sanctify the bathroom and bow before the toilet bowl and call upon the god of my fathers oh god and read the psalm for the day really read it over and over god is a refuge and a strength a present help in time of trouble and therefore though the whole world convulses in nature i will not fear be staggered by the word of god don't reduce it to idle poetry learn from the psalmist of old be jealous for their faith and their relationship with the living god or it will bring you trouble you'll not complain and you'll not cry out pathetically how long lord do i have to suffer this because the issue is not your inconvenience the issue is your jealousy for his name and his honor how long lord before you vindicate your name for those who profane it by thinking that they can run over your saints like me without any consequence for themselves i will say where is your god as if you don't in fact exist i'm willing to bear anything that you should vindicate yourself before these scoffers who think that they can act as if you don't see and don't require as if there's no judgment no eternal consequence how long lord have you changed have you become something less than you were in old testament times or are you the same yesterday today and forever forgive us for our modernity that we find it hard to think that in modern times you should be a god of judgment still it's not a comfortable equation of course the god of the old testament was a god of vengeance and wrath but now to think in terms of judgment a god intervening in history allowing our institutions to be brought down before our sight conflicts with our modern view so choose for yourself what constitutes your reality the time and newsweek interpretation or the biblical the view of the psalmists because you steep yourself in literature daily and call upon that god with reverence as the god of Jacob and Abraham even though it will make you strange and you'll not be as much fun you're a little too extreme for you have chosen the biblical reality as being the true reality and you condemn what appears as reality in the modern world as a fiction and as an illusion you'll be a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth but you'll know your god who will be for you a present help in time of trouble and because of that a help to others who themselves have not that faith even my jewish kinsmen who are coming into the greatest trouble of their entire history the time of Jacob's trouble that will catapult them out from the state of Israel and uproot them in every nation and make them to flee for the persecution that pursues them the time of Jacob's trouble but they have not the faith of the psalmist to bear it but to understand it until they come to you and see your calm and your deep peace that passes understanding you're not coming apart at the seams you're not rattled you understand the times this is not an accident of history this is the prophesied last days of Israel's tribulation but he will save Jacob out of it and their salvation will come with what they see in you who are not afraid even of being caught in helping them you're willing to take that risk you even consider it a privilege what strange person are you who believe that you even will obtain an eternal reward by any suffering that you must bear for their sake you will show them the faith of their fathers as Gentiles, Germans who have deeply appropriated that faith and demonstrated it actually in time of trouble you're not afraid for you know their God for you know their God and you make him known and so the redeemed will return to Zion because they met you in the way and you showed them the reality of God not by your doctrinal correctness but by your peace that passes understanding because you know your God not just in the last final moment but in all your moments he has long been your strength he has long been your refuge you're not afraid so be still and know that I am God that's more than just keeping quiet that means putting down what rises up in questionings against God how come Lord why me what's happening in the world look at the disasters where are you be still put that down shut up how dare you be impertinent to ask him as if he's not God as if you demand and deserve an explanation in the midst of catastrophe and the shaking of the earth and the mountains trembling be still and know that I am God because I will convey to you a knowledge of myself that awaits your obedience to be still to stop your questioning and critical attitude toward me trusting my sovereignty that I alone make wars to cease be still and you will know that I am God I want to pray for such a church in Germany because you have a historical destiny with the distressed and anxious panicking fearful lost sheep of the house of Israel and all their bluster and bravado will go and the things in which they trusted will collapse and they have not a knowledge of their own God to sustain them until they see the revelation of him in you who do not share their panic nor their apprehension or taking issue with God how come, why you're still and you know God and you make him known let's pray for this faith for the alternative is to trivialize God even when we think to celebrate him contend for the faith earnestly morning by morning make him your refuge and your strength so Lord I pray for the church of Deutschland yes Austria was a warm up this is where the action is this is where the significant thing must take place this is where the final act must be performed casual churches might exist elsewhere of which President Bush is the product in America but that's not a luxury that we can enjoy in Germany we have an ultimate destiny for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and we must show them the God of their fathers as those who really know him who are still and obey the commandment put down their human reasonings and arguments against God that they might know the I am and make him known this is not a Christianity of convenience it wasn't for the psalmists and it will not be for you so I'm praying blessing I'm leaving my peace behind in your house I'm calling you to be as fanatical as myself to become Hebraic more Hebraic to steep yourself in the Old Testament steeping yourself in the Old Testament drinking deeply from that sauce from the psalmists who knew him so I bless this church Lord let them determine from this night an end of religious convenience this kind of faith that is being put before us shall not come cheaply it didn't come cheaply for the psalmists and it will not come cheaply for us we want a history with you of testings and trials where if you are not our strength if you are not our safety we will perish but we have forfeited every other confidence we will not trust in our German ability we will trust in God and if you are not the God of the fathers we of all people are most to be pitied but we would rather perish believing that than we should succeed in something less and more trivial already the world is bringing its persecutions because we have gone already too far for them and those troubles will increase as we continue on deeper and deeper in the reality of God where we will conspicuously stand out and will be called all kinds of names but you will be a present help in our trouble your word says so and we believe it we are willing for the trouble that reveals you as a present help our nation needs to see it for it is unbelieving caustic, critical, cynical humanistic looking at man, looking at events they do not see the God who makes wars to cease unless we exhibit him not as the trivial God the God of Jacob and Abraham the holy one of Israel who is a present help a very present help in the time of trouble we are willing to bear it if that will reveal you to a cynical nation that refuses to acknowledge you as God it is a privilege seal these things Lord let this be a critical night for this congregation and other expressions of the church in Germany that shall hear and receive this word and determine on this faith and earnestly contend for it together in Jesus name we pray Amen