Hello and welcome to the House of Faith Ministries. I'm Lisa Kaine and I'm recording this on Sunday, July 24th, 20122. And this message is called Hedge of Protection. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Father God, we lift up this message to your throne room and we bless it. Thank you for your blessing on it as well. Let it nourish our spirits. Let us apply and live this message in our hearts and minds and stay strong and well protected by you. Father God, we lift you up, honor you, glorify you, and bless you. And in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, let's go to our opening scripture here. We are looking at Psalm 139:5. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Okay. So, hedge of protection. So, kind of like what is that? I mean, you know, you hear about hedge funds, so you know, you've got protection over your finances. You hear about um like a a surrounding wall or moat or something of that nature that protects like a castle or something of that nature, you know. So, there are two principles with regards to a hedge of protection. You've got one that is a physical barrier that surrounds you and keeps you encased or enclosed and protected, but then you also have the spiritual dynamics of that which the Lord uses on our behalf, which is incredible. And the scriptures that go with this is just absolutely beautiful. So, I'm very excited about this message. So, let's look at that scripture one more time because I want you to see something here. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hand upon me behind and before. That's the thing about a hedge of protection. It has a width to it. So, there's a front, the outer portion of the hedge of protection. Then there's the inner part that you face as you look at it. And and by the way, this is a surrounding. So, it's a circle. So, whatever way you're looking, you are facing and seeing your hedge of protection on the inside. But notice there's more to it. There's a height

and then there's the amount of the circle left, right? So length, width, height, depth. What are we looking at? Okay. So there is a neat little principle in regards to the hedge of protection. And I really want to teach this to you. So I hope you're paying attention. Listen because this is this is incredible. Let's go to our next set of scriptures. Ephesians 3:14-19. For this reason, I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right. First principle, you need to repent and humble yourself before the Lord to be within the hedge of protection. Okay. There is a door to the hedge of protection that you can walk out and walk in. So the humbling, the repentance brings you within. All right, let's continue on. Verse 15. From whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Oh my word. You know that alone should encourage you, lift you up, and bless you that you have a family in heaven.

So here you've got a a humbling that takes place, a repentance that takes place, and then you have your whole family in heaven and earth is named. So you're part of this legacy. The moment you go into your hedge of protection, you are now a part of this legacy. Woohoo. Let's continue on. Verse 16. that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. Notice it says inner man. We are talking about an inner circle because the moment you repent, you come into the inner part of the hedge of protection. And here you've got your entire family surrounding you. And then you have this, you're in this inner protection and you have the riches of his glory that strengthens you. Strengthens you on the inside. So this inner protection has to do with your inside. Let's continue on with the scriptures here. We're going to get into this. Verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Powerful scripture. So we know that there is a purpose for this as well. height, width, depth, length, and then you have this love. Oh, this is a good message. This is very, very good. Okay, so let me lay a foundation here real quick for you. So the Israelites um the way they did their hedge of protection for their sheep especially in the past is they would put or grow a hedge of thorny bushes and it would surround they would have their door to it so that nothing from the outside could get in and they could enclose the sheep. We are the sheep. We get enclosed in this enclosure and see the door opens and and closes. The sheep can wander out and wander in. So, this hedge of protection though will be closed up if one of the wolves take a sheep and they take off with the sheep. Now, here's what's so fascinating about this. How can the wolf get to you inside your enclosure through a thorny bush? I mean, I I've seen some animals can jump some fences. So, it it there's a possibility it can jump, but then you build its height. Now, here's what's so fascinating about this. So, you're in the enclosure and you've got your wall built up. Can you see the enemy coming?

God has you protected on the outer part. He knows the enemies that are out there and when they're coming. He also has the height built so that well what you can't see that means they can't come in. And here's the best part of it. It surrounds you. So to your left, to your right, you're all surrounded. But when you walk out of that hedge of protection, now you're vulnerable to the enemy. So because the enemy can't come in un I mean unless someone leaves the door open and nobody's standing there. But we know that Jesus is the door. So has to go through him. So the only way he's going to get to you is if you walk right out of that enclosure. Very very interesting. And I really want you to see that and understand it. So, what I want to do here as we get into this is I want to show you why God does this because it had to do with the factor of love. Did you notice that in our last set of scriptures here? Look at that again. Uh verse 19. To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. You have to understand you are in this hedge of protection because of what Jesus did on the cross. He redeemed us. He loved us. He did this on purpose. He absolutely did and did this while we're still sinners. Let's look at this a little further in Romans here. Romans 8:es 37-39. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That thorny bush, that door, that is the love of Christ encasing us in his hedge of protection. And it is up to you whether you're going to stay in there or not. Now notice what Paul is saying. Look at this. He says, "I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things come." Those are all spiritual things. I I want you to see and understand there's a spiritual aspect here. And this love is what keeps us from that spiritual enemy attack. So in essence, let's let's look at what love is because I really want you to see that and define it. And I want you to see why and how this works and why this applies to a hedge of protection because this is so powerful. This is really really revealing uh revealing. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love suffers long and is kind." You know, back in Noah's day before the flood, God could decide whether he wanted to end the world then or not. And I taught on this last week and I think or the week before and I taught on it message before that. God was thinking, "I know this person named Lisa. she's going to believe in me and I'm going to give her that opportunity. So, he could have ended the world and started over and decided to be done with it. But instead, he looked ahead and he saw Lisa. He saw you and he says, "This is for this purpose because I love you because you love me." But he loved us first. Do you see this love having this element here? So, got to understand how love is working here. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself and is not puffed up. You know what Jesus did? He has every right to come up and say, "Yeah, look at me, man. I got on that cross. I did it. I did it. It hurt. I did it. It killed me. I did it." But no, no. He's just patient, long-suffering, kind, and he's just waiting for you to come into that hedge of protection and be embraced by his love.

Uh verse five, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. You can just see the history of God in that scripture alone for what he's done for us. It's absolutely incredible. And and then to do it while we're still sinners. Look at this. Romans 5'8. But God demonstrates his own love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So now I want to go back a little bit and I want you to see that

how how the scriptures work. Just going back to verses 37 through38 in Romans 8 says um for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creator shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Okay, I want you to remember that by rereading it. I'm hoping it refreshes you. This is important. There's a Greek word called harpo and I'm sure I'm not saying it right, but that is the catching up of the rapture. So when Paul talks about it and it's in the scriptures, this is how this goes. And again, I encourage you to get in the scriptures, look up the Greek word, you can find it, and it's all there. You can go download Esword. It's a great Bible has the Hebrew and the Greek in there, so you can read all this. But it's the Israelites. And what they describe it in the Greek is it's a it's a word that grabs it. It It's like it grabs you out of danger. pulls you out really fast. And uh you know when Paul talks about the rapture in 2 Thessalonians and he's talking about being caught up that harpo that's that word harpato or I'm I know I'm butchering the word sorry but he catches you. He's snatching you out. Why does he have to do it so fast? Because you immediately become spirit. And when you become spirit, what happens is these powers and principalities that are spirit, angels, principalities, that's all spiritual things are now they're able to grab you. But he does it so fast that he pulls you out of them and away from them into his presence. So here on earth, you're in this hedge of protection, but he snatches you out and he pulls you into his presence. This is the love of God of what he's done and redeemed us for what is coming for those that choose to believe. Remember, I've been talking about a two-part. You are in the inside. He is on the outside. He's at the door. You can walk in or you can walk out. Whatever you choose, it's up to you. Let's describe that a little bit more. So, the outer part of the hedge, God protects all the way up. You cannot see that. You do not know what's coming at you. But you are in the inside. Now watch how this works. Let's use an example here on the earth. So let's say you see evil in the land. You're upset. You're upset about the abortion rights. You're upset about something. The moment you decide in your anger that you're going to take care of the matter yourself, we see people doing this with guns, knives, and shooting and killings. The moment you decide to do that, you walk out the door and now you are vulnerable to the enemy. But when you're inside that inner sanctum, that protection, that love, here's the most amazing part. You see that evil, you recognize that evil, you know what it is, and you say, "God," and you give it to him, and you stay within your inner sanctum because the love of God keeps you hedged in and protected. Now, you have the inner part, too. And the inner part is you see the the hedge of protection. You see God's love. You know the enemy can't pierce it. It It's thorns to them. It is comforting to you because you know that he is there for you. And if you're in that inner sanctum, in the presence of the Lord, spending time with him, you will see that all hell is coming and he has predicted it. He has prophesied it. And then you can know I can't interfere with that evil. God has declared that evil to come. You see how this works? And when you stay in that inner sanctum, you are protected. And that love of Christ is what does this. And knowing that he uh he redeemed us. Now, how does it get activated? How do you walk in that door? What did Paul say in our very first scripture? He repented. He humbled himself. The moment you repent and ask God to forgive you of your sins, you walk into that inner sanctum and the hedge of protection goes up and the door gets shut and the enemy stays out. You stay in. Now the enemy you fight inside is your brain is you. You are dealing with yourself because you see these evils going on and you're just like, "But God, somebody has to do that. If I could just do this." You see the slippery slope there? Let's continue on. Watch this. Psalm 61:es 2-5. From the end of the earth, I will cry to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Notice that my heart is overwhelmed. You see the evil. You are in the inner sanctum. And you say, "Oh God, my heart is overwhelmed." Look what happens. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. You go to Jesus and you say, "Jesus, I see evil in the land. I see wrongdoing. I see abortions. I see murder. I see what our government is doing." And you go to the rock and you say, "But God, but Jesus, what are you doing? Do something." But you stay in the inner sanctum. You give it to God. And you stay in the love of God, the love of Christ. For you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. That wall is up and around and you are in that inner sanctum. Do you see the scriptures supplying here so beautifully? This is absolutely incredible what the hedge of protection does. Verse four, I will abide in your tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of your wings. Say love by staying in that inner sanctum by even though you see the evil even though you're aware of what's going on and you think you can do something about it think again physically you can't do anything about it you are safer in the inner sanctum spiritually you can do something about it you give it to Jesus and let his love make wise decisions around you. You stay within the inner sanctum. You make the wise decisions because of his love and his redemption for you. Hallelujah. For you, oh God, have heard my vows. Think about that. It is a vow to repent and to sanctify, to to sacrifice, to humble yourself before God, to come into the door and to allow him to close it around you. That is so beautiful. That is your vow. That is your repentance. That's your humility. That is putting God first and letting God deal with the evil. Let him deal with the enemy. Let him deal with it, not you. You're safer there. And look, you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. Remember the family that we have in heaven. Look at all of our previous predecessors and what they stood for. Stephen getting stoned to death. Look at Jesus. Look at the apostles and how they died. I mean, the brutalenness of it. But the and you can find all this information in in Fox's book of martyrs. It is absolutely incredible to know that we come from a heritage of that that we have that strength because of the vow that we made. And we may not even know it or recognize it. And I do hope that I can express that in if I'm facing that kind of moment. But by being in that inner sanctum, I have no fear. I get to stand there and know that my Lord has me surrounded by his perfect love. And that perfect love is because I repented. And I stay within that sanctuary, within my vow. And that is what keeps me

perfect with him in spite of being in the flesh. And remember, I'm fighting myself. Oh, because I see something. It's like if I could just reason with these people. Second Thessalonians talks about first or second Thessalonians talks about, and again, I encourage you to go read the scriptures. I want you to meditate on the scriptures and to learn. I don't want to spoon feed you. I need you to get into the presence of God. So, you need to go find these scriptures and look them up yourself. But God says he's going to put a strong delusion on these. If God is deluding them, who am I to try to go reason with them, right? So, you know, you've got to understand the purpose of God in that perfect love and have be in that surrounding tower, the strong tower where the enemy cannot penetrate. And as long as you stay within those walls, you are saved. Look at what Romans says. Oh, the scripture I love. I use it almost in every message here I teach. Romans 10:9. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and believe in your heart that God's raised him from raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That is the whole point and the purpose. Jesus said, "I love you. I love you so much that I'm going to die for you even though you're a sinner because I know you're going to believe in me eventually. I saw Lisa before she was a believer. I saw her when she was in the womb. I saw and I knew." And if you look at what he says to the churches in Revelation, he's talking to the church and says, "I saw you. I know you." That word no is an intimate knowledge meaning he saw with his own eyes. Even though he said there's still something wrong with the church, he called the church golden candlesticks because he values us so much that he said, "I'm going to that cross because I see you. You need it. I'm here for you. Repent. Come into my inner sanctum and be saved and I will keep you protected within that inner sanctum. Stay inside. Don't leave the door. Don't go to try this on your own. Give it to me. And this is our arc of salvation here in the time of trouble that we are in. We all know that we're seeing Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13, Daniel 12. All of these are starting to get into place. The prophecies are beginning to fulfill. But as a believer in Christ, you can still smile. You can still go to God even though you see evil in the land that he's got given permission to be here. As long as they have permission, you can only go to God and support God in what he's doing. That will keep you safe. And to do it is hard because you see well, you want to go reason with you want to shake them. But all you have to do is just say, "God, Jesus, I have to give this to you because I don't know what else to do." Amen. Let's close in a word of prayer. Father God, we bless this message and we thank you and we pray for that strength to stop ourselves from doing something stupid and give us the strength to just say, "God, I give this to you. Jesus, I give this to you. Thank you for giving me that strength." In the glorious, wonderful name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. God bless you and I will see you in the next message. Bye-bye.